Day: April 13, 2011

My Broom is Bigger than Your Broom

My Broom is Bigger than Your Broom

Author: Lady Abigail

Walking across the freshly harvested field of hay, I watched the sun as it sank, little by little, between the great oaks on the hillside. The trees seemed to be burning in the autumn colors of orange, gold and red. The air quickly became crisp and cool.

Smoke from my Great Grandmother’s chimney lay heavy in the air, like it was dancing in the vanishing twilight. The sweet aroma of the evening placed images within my mind. For me, it was as if the essence from times past were encircling me in a mist of stories not yet told.

I could hear the crunch of each of my footsteps as I walked across the field home. Suddenly, the sounds changed around me. I heard more footsteps, a wagon bouncing across the bridge, and cars turning down the dirt road, chased by the dusty shadows behind them.

I ran as quickly as my short legs would carry me to reach the house so I could hug those that were my family. My heart was pounding like a drum from some distant land. This night was special; this was the night of the ancestors, the night of the calling, calling the dead.

I had been watching all day, for I understood the magick that this night would bring. The energy found within the veils and the mystical visions that would be called to those that stood within the circle to be cast.

They were called the sisters, my aunts. Each one filled my life with stories and knowledge of the old ways. Each was a Witch and Crone in her own right. Each one was different and each was a force of nature, independent and strong. Not one was accountable to the other until they stood beneath the moon as a covenant of power.

My aunts, my family, were not as other families. We didn’t look the same, we didn’t speak the same, and we didn’t even think the same. But that was okay. Now I see what a wonderful and magickal gift that was; diverse energies, histories, and traditions that came together as one all-encompassing power.

My Great Grandmother was Cajun. Her Native American beauty gave her dark skin and silken raven hair marked with silver from time and wisdom. Myself, born of mixed blood, had been given extremely light-colored skin and white blond hair, what those in the old south called a “toe head.”

Even as a child, I learned the judgmental hearts of others. I saw how some treated my Great Grandmother, how some looked at us as odd when they saw us together. Sometimes people could be extremely rude and say hurtful things.

Many would turn their backs as we walked by. Some didn’t understand and didn’t realize that this dark-skinned woman was my Grandmother. But within all the dim-wittedness of those around us, what I remember most was my Great Grandmother’s pride and forgiving heart.

As twilight turned into night, the great feast was placed on the long table in my Grandmother’s house. The sisters respectfully placed the setting on the table for the ancestors. I was now old enough to help and got to light the candles all around the room.

There were countless candles. Most were the bees’ wax candles my Great Grandmother and the sisters had made during the spring and again just at the break of fall. I walked quietly from table to table, lighting each candle with a blessing. The honey-scent fragrance, mixed with the smells from the food and the holiday, gave way to an energy that made my skin tingle with excitement.

Once the feast was ended, it was time to ready for the calling. My Great Grandmother asked me to go to the back porch and bring her in her broom. I stood for a moment outside on that tiny wood porch held in place by the stones under each corner.

I looked at the glow coming through the windows and falling on the sparkling ground, now wet with dew. The sensation of my family gleamed in the warmth that shown from within that small house. I had no doubt that the spirits would be moved to join us that night. My spirit had found flight with the energy of love that surrounded me.

The sisters now walk within the veils with my Great Grandmother, and at this time of year, the time of the calling, I will welcome them all and ask that they join my table for the feast. Now I am the Crone; I seek within my Great Grandmother’s teaching to be a wise woman.

I endeavor to teach all those that walk our path in the old ways, with acceptance, truth, and light. My family has aged, changed, and grown. My circle is filled with those that I love, both brothers and sisters, aunts and uncles, in a blending of various traditions. I am truly blessed.

Not long ago, while attending different gatherings, I sadly watched and heard many that walk our path begin to rank themselves among each other. For lack of a better term, I would have to say it was a syndrome of “my broom is bigger than your broom, ” or my tradition is better than your tradition.

It frightens me that we have somehow decided we are better than another because of what name they choose to call themselves or what magickal path they walk.

Do we really need to judge each other?

Many of us proudly call ourselves Witches and Pagans. Some use the traditions of the path they have selected within their title. Some will call themselves by nothing at all, but simply know they have found themselves within their own hearts.

Along this diverse path, I have spoken to many within our communities, and they speak of finding their way home and reclaiming life within our varied and blending traditions, escaping the critical judgments of past beliefs.

The sisters, my aunts, were also very different. They came from all over the Ozarks. Some of them were old, some younger, some dark, some light, some with grey hair and some with red. They were scholars, teachers, mothers, and wise women. Each was as different as the night is to the day, yet each was respectful of the other beyond question.

They did not talk about what the other family members were doing or not doing. They did not discuss in what manner one worked within magick over the other. They respected each other with honor and shared their understandings together.

In truth, we are each individuals; our practices and beliefs are equally individual. We are all following our own spiritual and magickal path. Let us be a gathering of like-minded souls, yet, at the same time, strive to be open- minded and accepting of each other’s personal differences. We are all equal as we walk together, no matter which path we take in the walking.

It is not necessary to pull others down to strengthen ourselves. Strength is found as our circle grows in understanding of each other. As we enter this time of welcoming the ancients and the wise ones, let us stand as a cohesive brotherhood and sisterhood, brought together by the belief, that within understanding, all things are possible.

It is time that we all, each one of us, reflect on how far we have came, and how hard a path we all traveled. Remembering the sacrifices of those that walked this path before us, let us think before we judge or criticize another. Then shall we truly stand together in this magickal circle as it expands within the universe.

Together let us be as one family to celebrate our beliefs within life and magick.
 

Copyright: Copyright © 10102007
Lady Abigail
High Priestess, Ravensgrove Coven
Greenfield, IN

How Much is That Witch in the Window?

How Much is That Witch in the Window?

Author: Sage Runepaw

We’ve maybe even written an essay to someone telling them that witches are real, that they live, breathe, and look like normal people and don’t have sallow, waxy skin with pointy black hats on, that they don’t fly on broomsticks or sacrifice babies or spew dark Words of Evil to the Devil or even that they cackle, “I’ll get you… and your little dog too!” We’ve even probably surprised someone by telling them we even (gasp!) had children of our own who play among all the other children.

We may have become enlightened through our personal beliefs and practices, and we may have taken offense at one point or another at the stereotypical ‘witchy’ image- but at what cost?

The cost of a part of our childhood?

Just think about it a moment, if you will. We all celebrated Halloween at some point or another (unless of course, we were forbidden by our parents for some reason that likely at the time seemed horrible and cruel to us). We all dressed up- put on some flimsy store-bought costume or something we thought was the best we could make at the time, or painted our faces or done -something- to get dressed up and raid the local streets in search of a free sugar overdose.

And it was great, wasn’t it? In fact you maybe even bounced off the walls until 3 in the next morning.

But hey, we were kids then, right? Now we’re Witches! – and we have to take Halloween seriously and point our fingers at the stereotypical witchy images we see every October, don’t we? Samhain is a death-energy time, not a time where children should be dressing up in some image that was used to persecute probably innocent people centuries ago, right?

I admit, this sounds a bit harsh, and perhaps it is- but isn’t there someone out there who’s every bit as sick of people pointing and taking offense to the stereotypes? Sure, they might go away if we wail and stomp our feet loud enough, but seriously- just take a look around any city or even on the Internet, and you’ll see that stereotypes don’t go away.

If anything, they just get ignored and outdated, but they’re there. If we take offense to them and work to combat them, power to you- but- and maybe this is just me- I’m tired of the fighting.

Get your robes back in proper order; don’t let the stereotyping phase you. As I hinted about above, we too once played dress up and might have dressed up as a witch years ago. Sure- what’s wrong with that? As it may have fooled the spirits once upon somewhen, didn’t you feel free, feel -alive- then?

Where then, along the path of your life, did that suddenly get traded out for taking offense to the stereotypical witchy image?

As a child, I never did dress up as a witch, I admit- I personally favored black cats for years on end, and a few times, something else which is now forgotten- but my grandmother, who raised me (and is Catholic, though it doesn’t matter for the purposes of this essay) always had this one Halloween decoration we would put up year after year.

Apparently, I’d dubbed it “Witchypoo” when I was a toddler, and the name stuck. It was this black bead-eyed, stuffed witch with black and orange felt for robes and none of the green-skinned stereotyping. And she sat on this little round wooden dowel broom. I wish I could show you it; it was very cute. Amazingly cute. But you get the point- I took childlike, innocent glee at this witchy figure that took to dangling underneath the kitchen light every October.

And just last October, my grandmother bought a stuffed mantle decoration of three green-faced witches smiling crookedly and brightly out at the world, with purple and black robes and stuffed witchy hats and a pumpkin at their feet. All of October thus far, I’ve worked retail and sold many such stereotypical things: hundreds of pounds of candies, spooky costumes- and witchy ones, too.

Should I be offended by my grandmother’s decoration? No, not really- I could choose to if I wanted. She knew by that point what my practice was, that it wasn’t Satanic (though she expressed her worries and I allayed them as best I knew how at the time) and was something I was serious about.

Should I be offended by working retail and selling these things for a large chain store? I could.

Would the same things offend someone else who’s witchy? Maybe; everyone’s different. But if I chose to be offended and started fighting against the stereotypes, who knows who I could impact?

What if there was a child just down the street telling her mother that she wanted to be a witch for Halloween? Or that she wanted to be a smart witch like Hermione Granger from the Harry Potter movies? – Or something along those lines.

Now, let’s take it a bit further. Supposing I stuck that stereotypical image on my living room windowsill for everyone to look at whenever they walk by my suburban home this month, or on Halloween eve next to a glowing carved pumpkin? Supposing some youth dressed up in a Witch outfit this Halloween saw it, and after some time had passed, found out about ‘real’ witches and that Halloween became a catalyst for him or her- a catalyst that spurred the youth on to become a real witch and transform their lives through their spirituality?

I’m tired of the fighting over stereotypes in a bid to be recognized as legitimate- aren’t you? We already -know- we are legitimate. We know that, and we know also that with time comes acceptance. We work our butts off year round at our jobs and taking care of our children, and fight for our rights.

Why can’t we just recover that moment of our childhood where we took glee at these figures again, if even for a little while? Sure, they might be meant to offend us- but we have the choice to -let- it affect us. Those stereotypes are images of the past. Yes, let’s change it- but let us not lose a part of ourselves by becoming too jaded to smile.

Even the best warriors need to smile and laugh on occasion, after all.

I, for one, see those witch decorations on tree trunks and bushes that portray the witch as having run into a tree face first as an amusing reminder not to get too “hung up” on things in life.

So let us make our celebrations for Samhain and honor the ancestors- but times are a’ changing. Even though there may still be witch-hunts and witch wars somewhere, we cannot fight all the time.

Let us laugh for once, regain a bit of the child within, and see this coming Samhain with newer eyes. Let us release feeling as if we must fight for our rights all the time- just for a bit- and relax. While we can educate our children (if we have them) about those stereotypical images, we can still take time to let our inner child take a breather. Our ancestors, after being oppressed for so long, would want to take a breather from being persecuted.

We have the choice this time- but it is we who are doing the fighting. Perhaps it’s rightfully so- but no warrior can fight all the time.

Even though it’s the dark half of the year, let the light inside you grow brighter. Give yourself a much-deserved respite from the fighting- and smile. Maybe those decorations will help some young one down the road become a priest or priestess of the Craft. After all, you never really know how the universe works. Let us restore our own inner children by taking a brief break. The gods know we work hard enough all the time as it is.

Someday, we’ll achieve what we desire. But we must be careful of those who could be affected- and we must be careful not to let the price of that achievement be our own inner children. We must not become jaded.

Balance in all things, after all.

Today’s I Ching Hexagram for 4/13

Today’s I Ching Hexagram for Everyone:

64: Nearing Completion

Wednesday, April 13th, 2011

Hexagram 64

General Meaning: The situation is incomplete, but the chaos of the past is slowly giving way to order, and the goal is in sight. Nevertheless, you are still treading on thin ice — the way ahead is unobstructed, the goal is clear, but a cautious and careful attitude is essential, lest you slip and fall.

Nearing Completion is the last hexagram of the I Ching. It suggests that the ever-spinning wheel of life never reaches an absolute conclusion. Just as a hidden sadness resides in the heart of true euphoria, just as the seeds of great achievement often sprout first in a cauldron of adversity, so too no end is ever really complete without a new beginning stirring inside it. Though we divide life into categories in order to understand and master it, experience itself is seamless. With this reading, the 64-spoked, timeless wheel of change is ready to spin onward, ever evolving, ever staying the same.

A situation that is represented by this reading can be compared to that of taking a lengthy trek over a high mountain. At some point before reaching the peak, you can see in detail exactly how much farther you must travel. You will have a good idea what it will take to reach the top, because of the climbing experience you’ve accumulated thus far. However, when you do reach the peak, which has been in sight for quite a long period of sustained effort, you will have done only that. You will have reached the top — achieving your initial goal — but you must still descend the other side. This last critical segment is what remains before completion.

You may have little information and no experience of what it’s like descending the other side of the mountain. All your attention may have been focused on the route up. The coming cycle may seem very strange to you, unlike anything that you have experienced before. The backside of the mountain is where all of the true mysteries reside. Proceed carefully, cautiously and alertly — then you will reach your goal.

Your Daily Number for April 13: 2

Your Daily Number: 2

You’re more sensitive and intuitive than usual. You may find yourself having vivid dreams or even premonitions. Today you may wear the hat of mediator in a dispute, and you’ll do so with great success. Love and romance are also likely to have an effect on you today.

Fast Facts

About the Number 2

Theme: Adaptable, Tactful, Gentle, Cautious
Astro Association: Moon
Tarot Association: High Priestess

Today’s Tarot Card for Everyone:

Today’s Tarot Card for Everyone:

The High Priestess

This Tarot Deck: Fantastical Tarot

General Meaning: Traditionally called the High Priestess, this major arcana, or trump, card represents human wisdom. She can be viewed as a kind of female Pope, the ancient Egyptian Priestess of Isis, the even older snake and bird Goddesses, the Greek Goddess Persephone, or the Eve of Genesis before the Fall.

For the accused heretics who were burnt at the stake for revering her in the 14th and 15th century, she symbolized the prophecy of the return of the Holy Spirit, which was perceived as the female aspect of the Holy Trinity.

In the sequence of cards in the major arcana, the High Priestess appears as soon as the Fool decides he wants to develop his innate powers, making a move toward becoming a Magus. The High Priestess is his first teacher, representing the Inner Life and the method for contacting it, as well as the contemplative study of Nature and the Holy Mysteries.

General Daily Horoscopes for 4/13

 

General Daily Horoscope

 

It’s difficult to escape the possible complications that stem from Mercury’s continuing retrograde phase which lasts until April 23. However, message mix-ups and schedule snafus are more likely if we’re overextended. Unfortunately, five planets, including Mercury, are in impulsive Aries, encouraging us to take on too much. Thankfully, an expressive Leo Moon harmoniously trines three of these planets, enabling us to accomplish more than we expect.

 

Aries Horoscope
Aries Horoscope (Mar 21 – Apr 19)

It feels as if you’re on an emotional seesaw because you have been up and down so often recently that it’s difficult to see what’s happening from a wider perspective. But your outlook is sunny and upbeat, even if there’s nothing special happening today. Make use of your positive attitude now by jumping in and tackling problems while they don’t seem so overwhelming.

 

Taurus Horoscope
Taurus Horoscope (Apr 20 – May 20)

You really don’t have to show off by demonstrating how together you are today, for the very act of drawing attention to your security exposes your lack of it. While it’s possible that your self-confidence has been vacillating lately, it’s more important now to do something that makes you feel good, instead of trying to gain approval from others. Concentrate your attention on your rich inner world instead of placing undue significance on outside influences.

 

 

Gemini Horoscope
Gemini Horoscope (May 21 – Jun 20)

You should take extra precautions today because your life may be a whirlwind of activity. Although you typically like thrills and surprises, you could be caught off guard if you lack enough confidence now. Don’t be distracted by every interesting thing that goes flying by. Maintain a soft focus, instead, since this allows you to stay balanced while you’re still in motion.

 

 

Cancer Horoscope
Cancer Horoscope (June 21 – Jul 22)

It’s stressful today trying to balance your time between work demands and domestic matters. But this current dilemma brings up a deeper issue about your fears of not being able to do it all. Although you might slide by now if you demonstrate how serious you are about doing a good job at home and on the job, this won’t be helpful in the long run. The ultimate solution may require you to face your insecurities by talking about them with someone you trust.

 

 

Leo Horoscope
Leo Horoscope (Jul 23 – Aug 22)

The Moon’s current visit to your sign is emotionally intense, as your moods swing wildly like a pendulum out of control. However, you can continue to make steady progress by observing your feelings without necessarily saying anything about them at all. It isn’t always easy to let the wisdom of your body react naturally, without an audience. Keep your feelings to yourself until things settle down in a day or two.

 

 

Virgo Horoscope
Virgo Horoscope (Aug 23 – Sep 22)

It may seem as if others are hiding important information from you, but you don’t know what it is so there isn’t any simple way to investigate without appearing to be paranoid. However, the more you ignore your current uneasiness, the louder it grows. Watch out, for you could end up creating a problem that was never there. Be totally upfront today; admitting that you are worried can help lessen your insecurities right away.

 

 

Libra Horoscope
Libra Horoscope (Sep 23 – Oct 22)

Your interest in creating a relationship with a workmate may be piqued by a surprising conversation today. This probably isn’t just a passing fancy; it’s more likely the seed of an important journey ahead. In the meantime, plan something special for yourself that’s not about work or about taking care of someone else. Think bigger than usual and act boldly. Taking a risk can prove to be more fun than you ever imagined.

 

 

Scorpio Horoscope
Scorpio Horoscope (Oct 23 – Nov 21)

Managing details at work is a wise thing to do now that the Moon is in your 10th House of Career. Working quietly behind the scenes often has its benefits, yet today you actually need to feel appreciated. Unfortunately, trying to win approval from your superiors could end up being a waste of your valuable time. Your safest path to being noticed is simply doing your job to the best of your ability.

 

 

Sagittarius Horoscope
Sagittarius Horoscope (Nov 22 – Dec 21)

You don’t need to withhold your enthusiasm today because your confidence will have a positive effect on your co-workers. At first, they might think that you’re filled with hot air. But you’re not promising more than you can deliver and your peers will become true believers when they see what you can do. Remember, your ultimate talent isn’t in telling others what to do; it’s the gift of joyfully leading by example.

 

 

Capricorn Horoscope
Capricorn Horoscope (Dec 22 – Jan 19)

You may feel very close to someone special today without being physical at all — intimacy comes in many flavors. Now, with the Moon illuminating your 8th House of Deep Sharing, consider how to enhance an interaction with a friend or family member by opening your heart. Simply expressing your fears with someone you trust will create a doorway to a more meaningful relationship.

 

Aquarius Horoscope
Aquarius Horoscope (Jan 20 – Feb 18)

The self-expressive Leo Moon is visiting your 7th House of Partners today, cajoling you to reveal yourself through acts of generosity. But you still need to set clear boundaries by defining your limits or your magnanimous behavior could pull you overboard. Remember, you grow less believable when you overstate your case, so be quiet once you’ve made your point.

 

Pisces Horoscope
Pisces Horoscope (Feb 19 – Mar 20)

It’s helpful to be able to count on something real today. Thankfully, the Moon’s visit to your 6th House of Habits encourages you to lean on your familiar routine as a strong foundation. Regardless of how spaced-out or confused you might be feeling, it’s crucial to go through the motions of whatever you do on a daily basis. However, this is not about playing your part mechanically or detaching yourself from your emotions; it’s about reestablishing the meaning in your everyday life, instead.