Category: Articles

Finding Your Own Pagan Family Values

Finding Your Own Pagan Family Values

by Sienna

Before I got to know any pagans in my area, I was a stay-at-home mother of two. Because this was a very boring lifestyle, I volunteered to help out an organization called Parents Anonymous and became a group therapy counselor. What a relief it was to learn that much of the organization’s methodologies tied in with pagan values. I’m sure many pagan families can benefit from this experience, so I’ll share what I know here.

Pagan families are growing, both in number and in size, and now at the family season of Yule it’s a good time to take a look at the environment that pagan children grow up in. Many of our children (including mine) are getting to the age of puberty. This means that there are some heavy lessons ahead involving sex, drugs, peer pressure, societal pressure, setting morality and setting guidelines.

In a Christian community, the Bible provides the framework of morality that parents can teach their children. A Christian community has 10 commandments that allow parents to draw lines between right and wrong behavior. But what framework can we work from if we are pagans?

The answer is simple: An ye harm none, do as ye will. Even if you are not Wiccan, this guideline (or something similar to it) is in most codes of behavior for most non-Christian belief systems. But whichever code of conduct you choose for yourself in your dealings with other adults, you must use the same code of conduct when dealing with your children. Kids are the first to spot a hypocrite, and if they spot you being hypocritical, you will have a hard time regaining their respect.

So let’s take a look at what that phrase, as stated above, means. Doing your will, and by this I mean your True Will, which has been defined as “the true purpose of the totality of one’s being,” means finding out what suits you best. Your Will is made up of tiny decisions made every day that lead you in one particular direction. The voice of your conscience is a part of your Will, as well as your long-term goals, and what people and things are attractive to you. Everything you have done so far has put you where you are now. So remember: When you are interacting with your children, it was an act of your Will that put them there.

One of the things that we sometimes forget about Will is that I have no right to guess what my kid’s Will is, and she has no right to guess mine (or anyone else’s, for that matter!). Although parents can offer advice and information, in the end the decision to act or not act belongs to the child. Whether my daughter goes to college, is gay or straight or chooses Christianity, it’s none of my business, unless she tells me it is. Just because my daughter is my offspring doesn’t mean I get to set her Will. Any attempt to do so violates the first part of the sentence: An ye harm none.

Let’s take a look at the word harm. Harm occurs when one person attempts to stop another person from doing his or her Will. Kids can do harm to their parents by breaking the law while they are minors, not telling the truth or breaking well-established rules. Parents can do harm to kids by expecting too much, disciplining too much or neglecting their needs.

Watch yourself and your reactions to your child, and see if there is any Will subversion going on. Do you give in when he gets emotional? Do you get angry when she states her own opinion? Discuss the rules of your household with your children. Make sure that all of them are logical, and take the time to explain each one to the child. If you can’t explain it in words he or she can understand, do you really need that rule? This means no because-I-said-so’s.

But what about when someone’s Will is causing harm? What happens when a drug dealer sells drugs to curious children? What happens when someone’s sex drive causes him or her to react inappropriately toward a minor? How does one deal with the harm that this causes without hurting our children or impeding another person’s Will? This gets tricky, indeed, when there are no commandments that outline particular behavior.

Each lifetime has its lessons to learn, and perhaps your path has crossed the path of one of these types of people. Think about the lessons learned from a drug dealer, an oversexed acquaintance or a violent maniac. The lesson to “stay away from these types” had to be learned somewhere in life. Would you be who you are if no one had ever done you harm?

This is not to say that drug dealers should be allowed to sell crack to your kids on the playground. This is never good, for Christians or for pagans. But what is more effective, openly attacking the drug dealer, or telling the kids how it does harm to themselves and their parents if they choose drugs and why the dealer is a person to stay away from? Many people would choose both of these methods; however, an open attack on someone usually makes them sneakier or more determined in the behavior you want stopped. The most peaceful resolution is to educate those whose naïveté would allow them to be harmed. In this way, you are helping your children choose the correct path of their Will and allowing the lessons they need to learn to happen.

When I have warned my children of all dangers, when I know they understand what my words mean, I have done all I can do without causing harm to them myself. Ultimately, we are all responsible for our own behavior and with whom we choose to associate and avoid. Therefore, getting angry at children for getting themselves in trouble is pointless and sometimes heartless.

Punishment in a pagan family is yet another issue of Will. If my son’s Will is to stay out all night on a school night, he will pay the karma in lower attention span and perhaps lost grades in school. But teenagers have very little idea of what the long-term consequences are, because they have not lived a long term. Therefore, it is my job as his parent to drive the lesson home. When he says he’s going out, I ask him what time he is coming home and discuss whether or not this is an appropriate time to be in bed for a full night’s rest. Then I explain that if he does not stick to his word, he will be given extra chores, have privileges revoked or have other nonviolent unpleasantries occur. At that point, the decision of whether to stay out all night is back on him, and because he knows I’m consistent, he knows he’s going to do those chores if he is not!

In writing this article, I was asked, “So what about the kid who is impossible to deal with, who is entirely unreasonable?” There is no such child. Just because your teenage daughter is not listening to reason from you doesn’t mean she is entirely unreasonable. Someone, somewhere, has her attention, even if it’s her best friend who gives her lousy advice. What has happened here is that the child has lost respect for you somewhere down the line. All it takes is one time for her to see you not being honest, fair or reasonable yourself, and she may lose respect for you. Just once.

So begin by reinforcing the positive parts of your relationship with your child. Remember, you are both individuals, and you can be yourself with your kid, as much as you are with your best friend. When you understand that this is an adult in the making, and not an annoying, needy creature that you have to support, you will find the most reasonable path of communicating with her or him.

Which brings us to communicating with kids. Think about how young you were when you began having independent thoughts of your own. Your kids have been thinking for themselves since day one and will continue to come up with their own original ideas and attitudes for the rest of their lives. Allowing your kids to tell you these ideas without judgment will encourage them to think for themselves and preserve the level of respect that they have for you. Showing respect to my children while explaining my point of view makes sure that they have heard me, so that they don’t learn the lesson the hard way. Children listen when they have respect for the adult speaking. Winning respect that has already been lost is a long, hard job, so it’s easier not to disrespect them in the first place.

If you provide a basis for communication that cuts through all the fear and worry with your kid, there is nothing that any other person can do or say to undermine your authority with the child — including his or her other parent. Don’t fear what the other parent will say, and don’t pull any punches when talking with your kids.

Lying is something that all children attempt at some point in time. In most families, this is the point where communication breaks down and arguments start. Saying “You’re lying” will just get the kid defensive. However, if you know your child is lying to you, do you really have to tell him or her that? Just act as if you did not hear the actual words that came out of his or her mouth, and behave as if you know the truth. In other words “I didn’t make that mess” is not answered by “yes, you did” but by “clean it up.” Once a kid figures out how pointless it is to lie, he or she will stop on her own.

The most effective way to communicate with children is positive reinforcement. Catch them acting in a way you like, and tell them you like it. When writing this article, I asked my well-behaved 11-year-old, “What keeps you from breaking rules?” She said, “I want you to be happy with me.” This is a natural reaction for all kids; they want to please. Use this tendency by telling kids when they are being pleasant.

Most attention-getting behavior (which is 90 percent of “misbehavior”) can be rectified by giving the attention energy that the kid is trying to get. If you’re used to doing energy work, just visualize a direct line of energy between yourself and your kid whenever he or she wants your attention. Yes, you might find yourself giving more energy than you were prepared to give at the moment, but isn’t that the job of a parent? Realize that eventually your child will have enough energy from you and learn to find some within his circle of peers. In the meantime, make sure the lines of communication stay open.

Open communication is especially important when you are trying to teach your children to follow their own Wills and oppose outside manipulators or people who would do them harm. Respect is important here. Even though the person committing the act against them is not necessarily respectful, it is important to teach kids a perspective of respect for their own minds. Two wrongs do not make a right, and two disrespects do not teach respect.

If possible, it’s best to begin response to any unwanted pressures with a simple “No.” However, if someone puts a hand somewhere that my daughter didn’t agree to, it is perfectly acceptable for her to say in a loud voice “Get your hand off my ____!” This is a clue to everyone around to protect her. It also tells the perpetrator that this child is not a pushover and will help my child be able to withstand the real world and its manipulation tactics.

When it comes to drugs and alcohol, it is extremely important to explain to kids that after that first drink, you are no longer in a position to exercise your Will. Remind them that it is illegal for a minor to drink, which could harm you, the parent. Secondly, if they find themselves being pressured to alter their awareness against their Will, the safest bet is to walk away. This is one argument they need not get into at all.

The best approach I’ve found yet in dealing with Will manipulators is to know your own Will so that you recognize when it is violated. Explain to kids that it is probably not within their Will to get high, give sexual signals to an adult or commit acts of violence. It is a kid’s Will to create his or her future and learn how to live in this society. It is a kid’s Will to dance, sing and play and make good decisions about who to dance, sing and play with.

To help children stay safe, give children healthier options in the first place. Ask any “good” kids why they don’t shoot heroin, and they will tell you that they have better things to do. The kids who wind up doing drugs typically have unhappy home lives, no knowledge of addiction patterns or consequences and access to drugs. All three of these are direct lines into drugs and can be stopped by the parent, if the parent is paying attention and interacting positively with the kid on a daily basis.

One of the fastest way to lose a child’s respect is to overreact in situations where the child’s well-being is at stake. It’s easy to get angry when you see your children pressured or hurt. Many parents overdefend their children in such cases, often causing harm for others in their zeal. To keep yourself from this situation, keep your actions balanced: equal energy returned for the amount of energy received. If someone insults your kid, it is not equal energy to get violent with him or her. If someone pressures your kid once, it is not equal energy to spread rumors about that person for the next six months. It is, however, equal energy to ask that the person leave your child alone.

Balance cannot be kept if you are acting in anger, because anger adds to the energy you return, and therefore it becomes more than what was received. Calm down before taking any steps to correct the balance between your kid and whoever stepped on his or her Will. Always return the same amount of energy that was given; in my observation, the laws of karma become instantaneous in such situations.

We don’t live in a perfect world; however, we raise our children the way we do because we all value our freedoms. Respect, communication and love are all we have to combat the negativity in our environment. To keep our children safe, we must first not allow ourselves or them to be vulnerable. The best gift you could give a child is the capacity to walk his or her Will.

How Do We Include Kids in Ritual Without Making Adults Run Screaming?

How Do We Include Kids in Ritual Without Making Adults Run Screaming?

by L. Lisa Harris

Ask a group of ritual facilitators what their philosophy on children in ritual is, and at best you’ll get as many different opinions as there are people in the room. At worst, you will have pushed a hot button that operates an opener attached to a huge can of worms. This topic is near the top of my “ways to start an argument at a pagan gathering” list. I’ve seen this issue turn a harmless candle-making party and ritual planning session into a virtual war zone, and don’t even get me started on what it can do to an e-mail list.

Groups that put on large public rituals, those who work in small family coven structures and every sized group in between all eventually face this issue. Public ritual comes to most people’s minds first when they think about controversy over kids in circle. But even in small covens, where all of the members consider themselves a family and parents or “aunties and uncles” to the children of other circle members, disagreements as to if and when children should be in circle do crop up.

One of the many issues that parents who want to include their children in ritual can run into is what circle members wear (or don’t wear). Bob, a member of a “medium-sized traditional coven” is concerned about the legal ramifications involved in having children present in a group that works skyclad.

“There are certain considerations when allowing children in ritual,” he said. “For instance, being skyclad in front of a child can get a person charged with sexual abuse in many states.” Just because a child is taught that nudity is perfectly normal and not necessarily sexual, it doesn’t mean that society as a whole and the judicial system will see it that way. If a small child casually mentions seeing “Uncle John’s wee-wee” to a teacher or member of the medical profession, the parents are likely to receive a visit from Child Protective Services.

A greater danger arises when the parents of a child are separated or divorced. Even if there is no ritual nudity, a parent who wants full custody can claim that what goes on in ritual is damaging to the child. Seeing someone hold a blade to Mommy’s throat and issue a challenge to her when she enters a circle, or even witnessing a light ritual scourging, can not only be frightening to a child, these things are also not going to look good if a complaint is filed by an ex-spouse with an axe to grind.

Some small groups prefer that ritual be a place for adults only. “Circle is a place for women to relax and take a break from their daily parenting responsibilities and nurture themselves,” said Luna, who facilitates a women’s circle. She doesn’t want new mothers to be left out of circle but has very clear rules regarding the presence of children. “Babies at the breast are welcome in our women’s circle, but once a child is old enough to be left with family or a sitter, we expect that mothers will come alone. They need to be able to bond with other women and to have time that is theirs alone.”

Sage, a father of two, feels strongly that children should be included in circle. “It is vital that we teach our traditions to our children, or they will be left open to conversion by more aggressive religions and there will be no one to carry on after us.” His partner Oana agrees: “We have a responsibility to provide for the spiritual education of our children. Christian churches have Sunday school, so why is it wrong for us to teach our religion to our kids?”

When it comes to public ritual, not everyone has or understands children, and many people have very different ideas as to what is appropriate behavior and how much parental discipline is called for. Stardancer, a mother of three, feels “watching children joyfully play in a circle is a beautiful sight. We don’t want to suppress their natural energy, it can be quite infectious.” Kim, who is married and “childless by choice” does not agree. “Poorly supervised kids in ritual distract everyone else, and they don’t learn or experience anything. Don’t get me wrong, I like kids, but ritual should be a sacred space that is not filled with running around and yelling.” She doesn’t place the blame for disruptive behavior on the kids. “It’s ludicrous to expect a 3-year-old to stand quietly in a circle or to understand what’s going on.”

Some groups don’t allow anyone under the age of 18 at any event. “Our circles can get a little wild and crazy sometimes, and the owner of the place where we meet doesn’t want to worry about having minors around,” said Wolfehawk, a member of a small group that hosts open events. Other groups restrict the age of the children to middle-school-age or older and specify which events are appropriate for kids. Freya, a Covenant of Unitarian Universalist Pagans member, said, “We let older kids par-ticipate in most of our rituals, with the excep-tion of Samhain, as it tends to be a bit too intense. Although middle school seems to be a good cut-off point, it’s not always that easy. Reaching a chronological age or grade in school is not always a good indicator as to how a child will behave in circle. I’ve seen very young children pay attention and be respectful, while older kids in middle school have behaved atrociously. It’s really all about the individual level of maturity and how the child has been allowed to behave in public by their parents.”

A few groups have experimented with various forms of paid and shared childcare. “The problem with the concept of co-op child care is that one or two parents get stuck with all the kids all the time while the parents that tend to have the most badly behaved kids just dump them off and go have fun,” advised Morgan, a solitary witch and mother of two. “Sooner or later, you get tired of doing all the work and missing out on the festivities and ritual workings.”

Some groups that have considered hiring a babysitter to provide paid childcare have run into liability concerns. They are afraid that if a child gets hurt when childcare is being paid for at an event they sponsor that the group members will get sued. Anne, an attorney, advised, “The fear of lawsuits for an injury or allegation of abuse is very real, particularly if someone is providing care without a license. People will sue over anything, and you never know what a jury will do. Liability releases aren’t worth the paper they’re written on.” Another problem with paid childcare is the policy that most pagan groups have of not turning anyone away due to inability to pay. Either you give some people free childcare and not others, or you allow some parents to bypass childcare. Either way, someone is going to feel that it’s unfair.

Yet another possible solution is making all kids under a certain age check into childcare and requiring all parents to work a shift. This concept did not go over well with me at all when one local group suggested it about a year and a half ago. My daughter, 11 years old at the time, was still in elementary school and would have been required to check in as a kid. I have trained her as a witch, taught her circle etiquette and even given her small roles in ritual at the Unitarian Universalist Association of Tacoma (UUAT). She generally behaves better than many adults in circle, and I most certainly was not going to “reward” her hard work and good behavior by allowing her to be labeled and treated as a “child.” My rule is that if a young person has continually behaved like a responsible adult in circle, then he or she deserves to be treated as such. In addition to my objection to what I considered an insult to the maturity of my daughter, an older, well-behaved young woman, I didn’t feel that I should be required to baby-sit the children of parents who couldn’t be bothered to teach their children manners or to supervise them.

Several local groups have had great success with separate rituals specially designed for kids. I was at a Mabon event earlier this year where just such a ritual was put on. The quarters were marked with colorful balloons, and the adult leaders led the children in a merry dance to lively music. I overheard several adults say, “I wish I was a kid, so that I could be in that ritual.” In this case, the children’s ritual, along with other kid’s activities, was held before the adult ritual, which still left the issue of what to do with the kids during the adult ritual.

One of the major obstacles to successfully including children in ritual with adults is the lack of a standard of behavior. What one adult interprets as children freely expressing themselves is often viewed by other adults as a lack of parenting. “I have to ask myself, do these parents let their children behave like this in school, restaurants or in other peoples’ homes?” said Laura, a mother of a 7-year-old daughter whom she is raising in a goddess tradition.

David, whose children are grown, has had negative experiences at public festivals where children were not supervised by their parents. He said, “I was at one outdoor festival where a very expensive drum was ruined by kids whose parents were nowhere in sight. There was a band of unsupervised kids running around all over the place banging on the drums and playing with things on the altars. It was like their parents just walked off and figured that the community would take care of their kids for them.”

I am one who feels very strongly that we should include our children in our rituals when possible. I tried for almost three years to bill events at the UUAT as child-friendly and trust that parents would ensure reasonable behavior from their children. It became increasing apparent to me that this was not going to work. After several complaints from adults who felt that ritual was disrupted and after having to clean up several messes left by unsupervised kids, the Gaia’s Grove earth-spirituality group had to implement a set of rules for at UUAT events. The following statement is available at the check-in table, is posted on our Web site under the heading “parents please read” and is also addressed in pre-ritual discussion:

We love our children.

We want them to be part of our community and events.

We design our rituals to be child/family friendly.

Due to past damage to chairs, carpet and other UUAT property, and to ensure that all ritual guests get the most out of their experience, we must now abide by the following rules.

  • Children must physically be with a parent or adult guardian at all times.
  • Children must respect altars, drums and personal item as hands-off.
  • Children must not climb on stacked chairs.
  • Children must not walk on the furniture.
  • Children may not run nor roughhouse in the building.
  • Children in circle should participate in the circle, not play with other children and/or disrupt the person/people who are speaking.
  • Children may play in the nursery downstairs WITH ADULT SUPERVISION. The nursery must be picked up afterward.
  • The circle guardian will gladly cut parents with fussy kids in and out of the circle as necessary.

Even with the new rules in place, it seems that some parents are just not sure exactly where the line of “disrupting the ritual” gets crossed. I found that often the parents with the most disruptive children were oblivious and did not think their kids were a problem, while the parents with well-behaved kids, who weren’t quite perfect, stressed out trying to make them behave well. We decided to enlist the help of a circle guardian who gently and discreetly offers assistance to parents whose kids are pushing the limits of being disruptive. After Gaia’s Grove implemented the rule, a handful of people decided not to bring their kids anymore, which is too bad. The ones that still bring their kids are making a concerted effort to help them to respect the ritual and others in the circle.

The challenge to groups of any size is to balance the needs and desires of parents and communities to involve children in ritual with the needs of adults who don’t want their ritual experience disrupted. It is ultimately up to parents to decide if their children’s behavior is appropriate for the circle they are bringing them to, but it is also vital that ritual facilitators address this issue and make expectations and behavioral standards clear in a supportive, yet firm, manner.

Rekindling the Fires: How We Gather and Celebrate for Yule

Rekindling the Fires: How We Gather and Celebrate for Yule

by Catherine Harper

I am a person much concerned with the rituals of hearth and home, and in general I am more likely to mark the turnings of the year in my kitchen or garden, or alone in the woods, than I am in larger gatherings. But even this preference aside, Yule seems to me a holiday that focuses around these intimate spaces. In the face of the darkest time of the year, who we share our table with is especially important. If sunlight brightens the whole community, away from the sun one can pick those who are each of our chosen families by candlelight. Winter, to me, breeds a love of small spaces.

Reaching for this sense of family and continuity is a challenge for the many of us who are first-generation pagans. I know that I want to be able to reach back to my own memories of being a child and find something there that I can bring forward to give to the children in my life. But this can be almost an archaeological challenge, finding amid so much past the right pieces, bringing them to the surface, cleaning them and restoring them to some kind of meaning.

I have a vague fondness still for stockings, but no context from which to hang them, and the woman who knitted the stockings I once loved is dead and gone. That memory I can love and yet watch recede into the distance.

I remember the candles on a tree in the yard of one of my dearest childhood friends that, starting with the youngest child, we would each light in turn on the eve of the winter solstice, singing carols into the night.

I love and remember the smell of a fresh fir tree brought inside, but equally I remember being seven and in tears faced with that same tree two weeks later that had died and dried and lost its needles. And mixed in with my childhood memories of yearning for lights and magic are my adult wishes for fewer malls, a different sort of family and a clear line of demarcation drawn between what I do and what is so nationally celebrated as Christmas.

Out of these conflicting needs has come our own synthesis. I don’t pretend that the answers that our dialog with the past has produced extend to anything beyond our own threshold. We don’t bring in a tree, though that ritual is as pagan as it comes. We do exchange presents and stay up all night and party and play and keep a light going through all the long hours of darkness. At midnight, everyone gathers in front of the fire and feeds it with tokens of things they are glad to have seen the last of, accompanied by explanations and applause. (A ritual that started more or less by accident but has grown and continued until it has developed such momentum I suspect I will never see the end of it.) We make candles. We eat soup, bread and little sandwiches, and trays of cakes, cookies and fruit tarts.

In the last several years, these gatherings have begun to set fruit. When they started, we were college students and young adults, mostly. Now, we are overrun by children, competing among each other to dip candles thicker than their own wrists, gorging on sweets, playing tournament mancala, helping grind flour, swimming laps in the hot tub and staying up far past their accustomed bedtimes.

My senses of past and present are becoming satisfied. Bit by bit, out of the flotsam from our childhoods, from the chance occurrences that recurred and became tradition, from literature, from history, from the stories we have imagined for ourselves, we are building something solid, something that returns and carries us along with it, something that we will pass on.

(To people who will doubtless prune it into a shape they find pleasing. There is no point in being too attached to any particular notions for the future….)

Meanwhile, for me Yule will smell like fir and beeswax and taste like cinnamon. In this land of evergreens, it is natural to bring in a little greenery when so much else has died away. In a time of darkness, of course we make a fuss over light and warmth. And when there is so little in season for the table but we need the extra nourishment to stave away the cold, our celebratory food is rich with saved eggs and butter, and spiced to overcome the monotony of the winter stores. And in 15 years, or 20, if the gods be kind, a nephew, or niece, or godson (or child?) will call me from another city where they have gone to work or to school and say “That cake, you remember? You used to make it on longest night? Do you still have the recipe?”

Gingerbread

This is simply the best gingerbread in the world. The recipe is not original with me, but it has changed more than a bit in my keeping and may in yours as well.

  • 1/4 cup butter
  • 1/4 cup sugar
  • 1/2 cup molasses
  • 1 teaspoon ginger
  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 1/4 teaspoon cloves
  • 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
  • 3/4 very hot water
  • 1 1/4 cup flour
  • 1 egg
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Butter and flour your baking pan. (I use a 9-inch round pan, but a pair of loaf pans also works well.)

Cream together the butter and sugar. Add the molasses. (It is very efficient if you pour the hot water in the same measuring cup you just poured the molasses out of — it will dissolve the molasses residue and save you time.) Add spices. Alternately, add a bit of the hot water and a bit of the flour until both are thoroughly blended. Beat in the egg, and then quickly whisk in the baking powder and soda. Now quickly, before you lose any rise from your leavening, pour the batter into your pan and pop it in the oven. Cook for about half an hour, or until the middle is firm.

Moldable Shortbread

When I was young, I found a variant on this recipe and used it to make cookies in the shapes of fruit, stippling little balls of orange-colored dough to give them the texture of citrus peel, piercing them with a clove to make a blossom end, painting a blush on the surface of peaches and so forth, rather in the manner of marzipan. But the dough can be made into almost any form, as long as it is mostly flat. You can think of it as an edible, cookable play-dough. Don’t be timid with the food color — bright colors make it much more fun.

  • 1 part sugar
  • 2 parts butter
  • Flavoring to taste
  • 5 parts flour
  • Food coloring

Cream together the butter and sugar, add flavoring if desired and then blend in flour. (If your one part is equal to half a cup, you can use &fraq12; to 1 teaspoon vanilla extract, or a bit less almond extract, a bit more Grand Marnier, a teaspoon of citrus zest, a couple of tablespoons of minced candied ginger or whatever suits your fancy.)

Divide the dough into sections and add a different color of food coloring to each one, mixing it in first with a fork and then with your fingers. Form each color into a ball, wrap with plastic and refrigerate for at least an hour.

When it is chilled, form it into whatever shapes you — or your children — like. Bake at 325 for 20 to 30 minutes. If the dough becomes hot and sticky while it is being worked, just stick the cookies into the refrigerator to chill before you bake them. As long as they are cold when they hit the oven, the texture will be fine.

2012- A Witches View of Life and the ‘End’

2012- A Witches View of Life and the ‘End’

Author: Fayte Ravencraft

Unless you have been living under a rock, you have undoubtedly heard of the phenomenon that is 2012. The calendar of the ancient Mayan civilization ends on December 21, 2012, and many believe that it spells out disaster for our planet. Others think that it will be a time of transformation and spiritual rebirth. Here is the opinion of one humble Witch:

I won’t lie and say that the whole ‘2012 hysteria isn’t a little scary. I mean we have several extremely rare celestial occurrences, which also coincide with this exact date, which seem to add to the possibility of strange or catastrophic events occurring. The Earth and the Sun will be perfectly aligned with the ‘Great Rift, in the center of our galaxy, and this alignment is said to occur only every 21, 000 years or so. The Sun will also reach its solar maximum, the peak in its level of sunspot activity. Scientists have noticed recently that the Sun has been alarmingly weak for this point in the cycle — the lowest in over one-hundred years according to one article—, which may mean, in my own opinion, that when the Sun activity does pick up, it may cause a little trouble here on Earth.

The Sun’s own magnetic poles are supposed to switch in 2012 as well, which may cause further issues here on earth. These are simply the facts. Not even the most brilliant among us can truly say what they mean because it has never happened before in recorded history, and all theories are just that: theories. I encourage you to do your own research before coming to any assumption, and do not panic about the ‘approaching disaster, ” because there is not necessarily anything to be worried about. You do, I’m sure, remember the same mass hysteria about the supposed apocalypse in 2000, which never occurred.

I say all this simply so that you, the reader, may come to your own conclusions as to what the future may hold, and so that you know just what everyone is causing all the commotion about. I have listed as many Internet sources as possible so that you may further research them if you wish.

It is my personal feeling that December 21, 2012 will be a time of extraordinary power, a time when the veil between the worlds will be at its absolute thinnest. The Great Rift in the center of our galaxy has always been symbolic of the creative power of the Goddess, the ‘Great Womb, so to speak. The fact that the Sun, the symbol of the Lord, The Great Rift, a symbol of the Lady, and our Earth will be aligned will have a significant meaning magickally. There will never be a better time in our lives to perform magick of all types especially that of the divinatory type.

I do feel like it is a significant milestone in the history of human kind, and that, for those of us who are enlightened and willing, it is the perfect time to reach the maximum of our potential. Being a time of great power, it is also a time when we can make a powerful commitment to change things, both within and without, and to decided just where it is we want to go with our lives. Any energies set to work during this rare alignment are going to have extraordinary results, so why not use this as a time to heal the Earth, and with it, all of mankind. The Maya knew that this would be a time of immense power, and both feared and respected it.

We have a great thing here on our planet, and we too often take even the air we breathe for granted. The gifts we have received from the Universe have been greater than we could ever ask for, and it is time now to realize that. I am not convinced that 2012 marks the end of our world, but I certainly hope it marks a great change within the heart of mankind. We must learn to be grateful for all that we have; our lives and this astoundingly beautiful planet, or we might as well have never been here. I hate to say it, but if by some chance the world truly does end in 2012, I am just glad that I’ve had the blessing of spending this life on this beautiful planet. If it doesn’t end, I hope we all do our very best to be more appreciative; we have a good thing going on here, and we get too caught up in the daily grind of things to realize it sometimes.

While I do not feel that the world is truly about to end, I do think that we need to start living as though the end of the world were today, because it very well could be. We have never been guaranteed any amount of time here, and should view every second, the good and bad, as a gift. If we could truly follow ‘In perfect love and perfect trust, ” and have that love and trust towards ourselves and our fellow man, we would truly be making the absolute best of our time here.

As the great Henry David Thoreau said:

“I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived.”

Let us learn all that we can in this life so that when the end comes, we will have the satisfaction of knowing that we have done something that few ever have: Truly lived. If we can say in all honesty that we have lived a full life, then we cannot possibly grieve at its ending. We were lucky even to have one day here, let alone an entire life of loving, laughing and learning! The Great Cycle will continue eternally and we are all but small parts of the infinite cycle. When we embrace the entire cycle, life, death, and rebirth, then there is absolutely nothing to fear.

Nothing is ever truly destroyed, simply changed; and change, my friends, is a very good thing. Embracing change is embracing life.

Blessed Be,
Fayte Ravencraft


Footnotes:
Interview with NASA Solar Scientist

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/sthttp://www.witchvox.com/vu/fms/farticle.htmlory.php?storyId=128268488

http://www.interestingfacts.org/fact/2012-interesting-facts

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z4JuoBD56HQ

Druidic Wicca: A Deeper Exploration

Druidic Wicca: A Deeper Exploration

Author: Rev. OakLore

Human beings are drawn naturally toward the mystical. Perhaps it is the Divine seed within us that whispers to our spirits and beckons scholars and skeptics alike to contemplate the timeless message of the Druid tradition.

What would the world look like if seen through a Druid’s eyes? Nature would be elevated, once again, into a position of noble equality. It would be revered and protected as a sentient living and Divine presence. It would no longer be seen as something to simply dominate and exploit for wealth, entertainment or power. The mystery of nature would reemerge and we would suddenly be filled with wonder.

Within the wonder and mystery of nature is the flame of hope for mankind. Druids kindle and tend that flame with great care, full in the knowledge that what good is performed today, shall forever be felt in the years and generations to come. Humankind must not remain alienated from the very home of our spirit, but return to it, love it and celebrate that union, found in the gentle rhythms of the world of Druids.

Why The Druid Path?

Druids receive Divine inspiration or “Awen, ” which manifests itself in a variety of ways. Inwardly, the changes are subtle ones. Our conscious minds are opened to the greater possibilities of the world and awaken, thirsting for knowledge. Our subconscious minds are opened and the mystery within pours forth and awakens in us senses, long asleep, and we are suddenly aware of the unseen world. These gifts enable us to grow and continue our journey toward enlightenment, gathering in the knowledge and wisdom of those who journey with us now, and all those who have traveled this way before us. We together — past, present and future — shall converge in the center of all that is and find the source of Awen, which is Truth.

Druid spirituality is simplistic: Nature is Divine. There is nothing to divide you from your Gods, for They are manifest in everything! They speak in the soft whisper of wind stirring the trees. They sing with the water rushing in the streambed. They sprint through the forest, wing breathlessly skyward or remain as still as stone. Our hearts cannot escape Their gentle touch and neither shall They remain untouched by the love we give Them in return.

But Druid spirituality is also complex. We honor simplicity yet highly value the pursuit of knowledge and truth. The exploration and quest for truth becomes one of such intensity as to almost define a person’s soul. We explore the concept of reality and existence and its impact on the trinity of body, mind and spirit. We find ourselves provoked to deeper thought and further exploration and interpretation of life experiences. So too do we engage in conscious devotion to spiritual pursuits and the soulful exploration of our higher self. We seek the love, comfort and affirmation of communion with the Divine.

The term “spiritual progression” can probably best be defined as a labyrinth, in which we slowly, through the course of many lifetimes, achieve a greater understanding and awareness of our spiritual self, as well as the universe and the nature of all existences. This journey takes place on the plane of “Anwynn” or “place of rebirth.” It is here that our energy consummates its eternal longing for the Divine creator. This is the place of soul rest where healing and compassionate understanding is a sweet cup from which we drink. As we traverse the wheel time and again through the natural process of birth and death and rebirth, we attain spiritual progression. The purpose of spiritual progression is to bring the soul to a level that Buddhists might characterize as “total enlightenment.” This level of achievement is marked by a shift in awareness to embrace, with total understanding, the mysteries of the universe. Without further need to experience the mortal plane, the spirit moves away from the process of rebirth and goes to its ultimate reward, union with the Divine.

A Druid better understands these mysteries by mapping the soul’s journey through time. The Druid calendar is divided into an eight-fold year. Each holiday represents an event in time, the changing of seasons and celebration of the fertility and abundance of this our Earth Mother. There are four solar festivals, which celebrate the equinoxes and solstices dividing the year into four equal parts. There are four fire festivals that commemorate historical events as well as the passage of time.
Upon this wheel of the year we can plot the course of a human lifetime: birth, coming of age, young adulthood, middle age, elder years and finally death. This is a gentle and comforting wisdom that instills in us the natural cycle of our existence, which is in harmony with the cycle of all creation. We discover our own mortality and also the promise of immortality secure in the knowledge that the circle of life is indeed a circle.

We often find ourselves filled to brimming with the knowledge we gain as we traverse the wheel. We seek out means by which we can express and/or illustrate these events making them available to others. We reach into our own center to find wisdom and embrace the sacredness of life. Through artistic expression, esoteric knowledge, divination, natural philosophy and other means, we share what we have learned, as we walk the paths of the Bard, the Ovate and the Druid.

Contemporary Druids hold as truth that the mortal soul is not limited unto itself, but enjoys a greater communion with the energy of all living things and indeed the Divine source. When we come fully into this awareness there is within us a startling metamorphosis. We begin to see clearly our connection with all life and know that all life is sacred. That sacredness not only forms the foundation of all life, but is the root of Druid philosophy.

Chris Travers in his 1996 essay, Who were the Druids writes, “The picture that emerges of a druid is one of a thoughtful philosopher and magician, schooled in the lore of the traditions, and in charge of the education of the chieftains as well as those who sought esoteric knowledge. A druid is a knower of truth.”

So we see that from both historical and contemporary perspectives, Druid philosophy, though shrouded in mythological beginnings, has a poignant relevance in today’s world. Druidry is the wellspring from which human beings will begin to once again recognize and accept our role in the circle of life, rather than trying to dominate or change it. We will begin to honor and love all creation, for it is the embodiment of the Divine. We shall honor our ancestors and harken to their voices and their spirit. We will not be afraid of the wildness of our own spirit that beckons us to explore and renew our connection with the blessed land and with the Gods. We will walk with dignity these modern times, and live the Elder Ways not only for the betterment of self, but for the benefit of all.

The Harmony of Wicca and Druidry

“While the cunning folk (Witches) worked alone or in small groups, and were the local wise people and healers in rural communities, the Druids were an organized elite, exempt from warfare and paying taxes, and they acted as judges, teachers, philosophers and advisors to chieftains, kings and queens. They appear very different to the image that we hold of Witches, until we examine them in more detail.”

— Excerpt from Druidcraft: the Magic of Wicca and Druidry by Philip Carr-Gomm

From the writings of the earliest historians of the period, we have come to know that Druidry as an ancient practice was divided into three areas of specialization: Bard, Ovate and Druid. The Druids were priests, teachers, philosophers, and in many cases, as experts in the law, would preside as judges and mediators. The Bards were poets, musicians, storytellers, keepers of lore and myth; they were enchanters, as easily able to bewitch as to entertain. But of these specializations, it was the Ovates—the seers and diviners, healers and herbalists—that are most akin to what we would describe as “witches.”

With the coming of Christianity to Western Europe around the sixth century C.E., the Druids had been assimilated as part of the professional elite in the new social order. Their assimilation was both professional and religious; they were compelled to embrace the new faith and apply their expertise toward building a society ruled by the church. On the other hand, the Bardic profession continued to flourish, although its religious emphasis (being pre-Christian) became somewhat diminished. Bardic schools continued to exist in Ireland, Scotland and Wales even into the seventeenth century. The Ovates, however, seemed to disappear from all record.

What this suggests however is not that the Ovatic stream died off—much to the contrary in fact—rather that it went underground. The teachings though less formal than before, became passed from generation to generation in a largely oral tradition. Evidence suggests that over the generations that came after them, the Ovates eventually became known, in close-knit circles, as “cunning folk, ” or “Wicca, ” meaning “wise ones.” It is from this meaning that the modern term “Wicca” finds its place in contemporary Paganism.

In the same chapter of the book Druidcraft as is quoted above, author Philip Carr Gomm goes on to say, “When the two worlds of Witchcraft and Druidry are brought together, we find at the place of their meeting the figure of the ‘Ovate-Witch’ who presides over a knowledge of the mysteries of Life and Death, whose cauldron offers the wisdom that is known in Druidry as ‘Bright Knowledge.'”

It is easy to see then where the harmony between Wicca and Druidry lies; for indeed Wicca owes its origins to Druidry, and Druidry, in no small way owes its survival to the Wicca, who in generations before them were the Ovates of the ancient world. It was these “wise ones” who passed on their teachings through the generations, keeping their folk magick alive long enough to be re-discovered, revived and re-invented by scholars and visionaries like Gerald Gardner and Ross Nichols.

A modern embrace of Druidry and Wicca together as a way of life may involve a study of folk magick and metaphysics, respecting certain ceremonial rites and liturgies of worship, while also exploring the disciplines of philosophy, sciences and the arts, and culminate in an endless pursuit of knowledge, both spiritual and scientific. At the core of Celtic spirituality is the belief that all things are connected. It is a concept expressed in the earliest examples of Celtic art and literature, and remains a part of our spiritual heritage. And it is profoundly at the heart of what we mean by “the harmony of Wicca and Druidry;” that each tradition compliments the other, and can powerfully enrich the life of any Pagan.

In the Fellowship of Anamastia, we seek that enrichment through scholarship and well-founded liturgical expression that brings into our worship a marriage of the best aspects of both traditions. It is that which both illuminates the past and shapes our understanding of how to build a better future for the Earth and all the creatures that live upon Her. For more information visit us on the web at http://anamastia.webs.com.


Footnotes:
Nichols, Ross. The Book of Druidry. London: Thorsons, 1990.

Carr-Gomm, Philip, et. al. The Druid Renaissance: The Voice of Druidry Today. London: Thorsons, 1996.

Orr, Emma Restall. Principles of Druidry. London: Thorsons, 1999.

Rutherford, Ward. Celtic Lore: The History of the Druids and Their Timeless Traditions. London: Thorsons, 1993.

Carr-Gomm, Philip. Druidcraft: The Magic of Wicca and Druidry. London: Thorsons, 2002.

Buckland, Raymond. Buckland’s Complete Book of Witchcraft. St. Paul, MN: Llewellyn, 1986.

Travers, Chris. Who Were the Druids?. accessnewage.com. 1996.

Why Do You Want To Be A Druid?

Why Do You Want To Be A Druid?

Author: Sencha the Druid

When I stepped into the Sacred Circle thirty years ago and dedicated myself to a lifetime of the study of Druidry, one of the first questions I was asked was, “Why do you want to be a Druid?”
Every year since that day, I have asked myself the same question. It has been interesting to watch how those answers have changed over the years.

Back then, I didn’t feel quite at home with my Christian upbringing. I was more comfortable with nature than I was with church. I grew up on a farm in rural South Carolina, and nature surrounded me. Most of my playmates were animals, not humans. I saw then that everything was connected, and that everything depends on everything else for survival. So my answer then was that I wanted to learn more about nature, and how to reconnect myself with it.

I still feel that way, but I would add more to it if I were asked the same question today. I would add what I have learned after fifty years of journeying on this planet.

What I have learned is that a lot of us have disconnected from nature. We go to work in shiny metal boxes, and sit in shiny metal cubicles without windows, and punch buttons on other shiny metal boxes. We eat our chemically-processed lunches from more shiny metal boxes, and eventually, if we live long enough, we go off to spend our last days in a box called a ‘Retirement Home.’ Then at the end of our lives, we get stuck in a shiny metal box and put in the ground to wait for eternity.

We take vacations and spend one or two weeks visiting places in shiny metal tubes. Some of us go to amusement parks where we spend our days riding in shiny metal boxes for recreation. Some of us might actually go out into the woods on camping or hiking trips during vacations, but our lives are still dictated by a tiny shiny metal box called a ‘clock.’ We have to be home on schedule, after all.

To me, Druidry is an escape from shiny metal things.

It’s easy to see that we have so far removed ourselves from nature that we forget that it is the source of all life. We forget that we didn’t create the web of life…we’re just strands in it. What we do to nature, we do to ourselves. When we take ourselves out of nature, we remove ourselves from the source that gave us birth.

That isolation from nature has become ingrained in our culture. Material goods have become the things that matter in life. We have gotten to the place now that we define ourselves more by what we own than by who we are. Our mainstream religious institutions seem to support those who are hell-bent on destroying the planet, as do our governments and our corporate culture. In other words, even our mainstream religious institutions serve to disconnect us from Mother Earth, our source, our spirit and our home.

So how do we solve this problem?

Many would say that the way to solve it would be to enact legislation that protects the environment. I believe that there may be a place for such legislation, but I have rarely seen change come willingly from a top-down mandate. I believe instead that the most effective way to foster change is for it to take place in a grassroots sense, from the bottom up.

Lao Tsu suggested that if you really want to change a society, you start with the family unit, and not with the Emperor. This is especially true in a democracy, where the will of the people rules…or should, anyway, in theory. If enough of the people become interested in taking care of the planet, then governments, corporations and religious institutions will have no choice but to accommodate us…especially if they hope to be re-elected under a majority-rules democracy.

I live in suburban South Carolina, a very conservative place. In my career as a Marriage and Family Therapist, I work a lot with teens and their families.

I have discovered that even here in the Bible Belt, the coming generation realizes that many of our institutions have lost their way. These youth are hungering for something more meaningful. The traditional “me first” conservative values of the present American way of life are not their values. Many of them have an intense interest in Pagan belief systems and Earth-centered spiritualities. They are also intensely interested in environmental activism and in equal justice for all. I think this is a good sign for the future…in spite of the fact that many of them ask me not to tell their fundamentalist Christian parents about their beliefs.

There’s an old story about the Goose who laid the Golden Egg. In this fairy tale, the goose gives a farmer one golden egg per day. But one day the farmer, in his greed, decides that he wants all the golden eggs at once. So the farmer kills the goose and cuts it open in order to get to all the eggs. But when he cuts open the goose, he finds nothing. So not only does he not have a huge pile of golden eggs, he has also killed the source of what golden eggs he could have gotten if he had been more patient and less greedy.

In our constant hunger for more and more material possessions, are we, in fact, killing the goose? How much longer can our planet provide for us if we continue to fail to live in a sustainable way?

That is why I want to be a Druid. That is why I continue to choose Druidry as my path and as my way of being in the world. Druidry teaches us that we are not separate from nature; that what we do to nature, we do to ourselves as well. As our traditional mainstream religious paths become increasingly anti-nature, followers of these religions will continue to fall away. I believe that deep down, at an almost instinctual level, we realize what we’re doing to our planet.

Many of the followers of mainstream religions will be seeking a spiritual path that allows them to honor both nature and the natural world. I believe that Druidry is one of those spiritual paths. I believe that Earth-friendly spiritual paths are the way of the future, if we are to have a future at all.

The Sacred Household: Rites and Mysteries

The Sacred Household: Rites and Mysteries

Author: Ian Elliott

To Joseph Brazauskas, a true pagan

The Threshold

The sacred household in ancient and more recent indigenous cultures bears certain analogies to the human body. The front door is similar to the eyes, the hearth to the heart or solar plexus, and the central supporting pillar to the spine. Shrines or altars at these locations were guarded by spirits who were linked with internal spirits in each family resident, and the proper worship of the household guardians involved being on familiar terms with their inner analogues and tending their inner shrines.

This study of the sacred household uses the names of Roman household spirits, but it is based more broadly on a number of other cultures. We no longer live in Roman houses, so some latitude must be taken in locating household shrines; and we are not all of Roman descent, so some attention must be paid to the forms of piety practiced by our ancestors from other lands.

It is not enough to study household rites and set up modern versions of ancient shrines. Our early conditioning separates us from some pre-verbal modes of awareness, by teaching us to ignore certain readily available perceptions; these must be recovered if we are to properly install our internal shrines and so link them with those of the household. I have called practices that open up these perceptions ‘mysteries, ’ because having been forgotten they have become secret things.

The Roman god of the threshold was Janus, who has two faces, one looking outside and the other inside the home, as well as forward and backward in time. To enter a house, as H.J. Rose pointed out in Religion in Greece and Rome, is to begin something, and so household piety always began by honoring Janus at the threshold. His annual festival was on January 9th, and offerings at his shrine were made on the Calends (the day after the dark moon of the lunar calendar) , as well at the beginning of any endeavor, such as a journey; also on one’s birthday.

The Romans, even after they came under Greek influence, were by preference an aniconic people; that is, they preferred worship without images. Perhaps this was because they focused on the link between the inner and outer shrines and found external images a distraction. I keep my own threshold shrine simple, hanging a god-face about a foot and a half above a small offering shelf, the shelf set next to the front door a little above eye-level. On the shelf is a candle, a stick incense holder, toy-sized dishes for water and salted grain.

Upon crossing the threshold one always steps over it, never on it, and one should touch the doorpost as an acknowledgement of the threshold guardian and to receive his numen. We can tentatively define numen as liberating and empowering energy that is unknown or at least unfamiliar.

My prayer when offering to Janus is the same as the one I used when setting up his shrine:

Honor and thanks to you, O Janus,
for guarding the threshold of my home.
May only harmonious beings enter here,
and may the discordant depart!
Please accept these offerings of salted grain, water, light and scent,
Open this week [month, journey, etc.] for me on blessings,
and teach me to look out and in at once as you do,
so I may guard the threshold of my inner home;
for I, too, am a threshold guardian.

The god-face for Janus looks straight in, as I prefer to imagine his head imbedded in the wall, with his outer face guarding the outside of my doorway.

The Inner Threshold

This ability to look out and in at the same time holds the clue to Janus’ mysteries, to the pre-verbal mode of perception that will give us the ability to look in the same manner, outward and inward simultaneously. To do this we must ‘stand in the doorway, ’ and Douglas Harding provided the best description of this in his important little book On Having No Head. Harding was hiking in the Himalayas and one morning he suddenly saw the world differently:

“…I stopped thinking…Past and future dropped away. There existed only the Now, that present moment and all that was given in it. To look was enough. And what I found was khaki trouserlegs terminating downwards in a pair of brown shoes, khaki sleeves terminating sideways in a pair of pink hands, and a khaki shirtfront terminating upwards in – absolutely nothing whatever! Certainly not in a head.”

This nothing, however, was filled with everything: mountains, sky, valleys below, extending to the horizon. Harding felt light and liberated. He had ceased to ignore the sensations of his own headlessness, ending a habit acquired in infancy when told that ‘the baby in the mirror’ was merely his own reflection. In addition to his headlessness, he was now attending to the limits of his perceptual field. Consequently, he wasn’t tracking on this or that object, as we spend so much of our time doing, using our eyes as searchlights for our impulses and desires. Instead, he was looking at his whole visual field at once, and the lightness he felt resulted from dropping the burden of his eyes from incessant tracking, and of his mind from incessant thinking.

Indigenous peoples are aware of the difference between these two ways of looking at the world. When the psychologist C. G. Jung visited an Indian pueblo in the American Southwest years ago, he had a conversation with the local chief, Ochwiay Biano (his name means Mountain Lake) .

“The white man’s eyes are always restless, ” the chief told Jung. “He is always looking for something. We think he is mad.”
Jung asked him why they thought that.
“He says that he thinks with his head.”
“Why of course, ” answered Jung. “What do you think with?”
“We think here, ” he answered, indicating his chest.

There are two potential errors in assessing what Ochwiay Biano said. One is to take his words sentimentally, as if he were merely speaking of ‘heartfelt thinking.’ The other error would be to dismiss his words as expressions of a primitive, pre-scientific physiology. The Pueblo chief would not have been troubled to learn that Western science has determined through experiments that we think with our brains. This would have seemed to him irrelevant to what he was talking about, namely the sensation of where the thinker seems to be located in the body. We feel we are located in our heads because of certain muscular tensions around the eyes from tracking, and in our foreheads from ‘knitting our brows, ’ and performing other social cues indicative of taking thought. But these external muscular contractions, though spatially closer to the brain, are nevertheless external to it and involve muscles on the outside of the head. The feeling we get from them of being ‘in our heads, ’ therefore, is no more scientific than the feeling the Pueblo chief evidently got of being in his chest.

When we look at our headlessness, our chests come into view as the closest part of the body that is completely visible; and when mental talk quiets down as a result of tracking being replaced by restful awareness of the whole available visual field, words are employed only as and when necessary for external communication. The rest of the time one simply looks, listens and understands, and this quieter form of awareness allows feelings to come to the fore since they are no longer drowned out by incessant mental chatter. For these reasons, Ochwiay Biano felt that he thought in his chest, or solar plexus.

The Hearth

The ancients associated this part of the body, including the heart, with the hearth, and regarded it as the seat of memory. The hearth was the center of the home as well as the place of contact with ancestors. It was the place where the family gathered and traded experiences of the day, recalling in the process the words and deeds of the past. Without memory there is no family, even if the people living together are all related, as we know now that the hearth has been replaced by the television or computer as the central focus of the house, especially if meals are taken individually in the living room.

In the old days, the hearth gave heat and light to the home and was also where food was cooked. Nowadays some are fortunate enough to own a house with a fireplace, but they usually have a stove as well, so that the functions of the ancient hearth have become divided, and it is difficult to decide where to place the hearth shrine.

I have no fireplace where I live now, so my hearth shrine is near my stove. My stove is electric, but I keep a large candle in the shrine and light that, together with stick incense, when I want to awaken the hearth guardian. Additionally, I keep there somewhat larger versions of the offering dishes described above for the threshold shrine.

The hearth guardian is both a goddess and the hearth fire itself. In ancient Latium she was called Vesta. She accepts offerings for herself and also passes on some of them to the ancestors, godlings and blessed immortals. Because I cannot maintain a perpetual flame, I have a picture of her in my shrine, and close to her picture is a statuette of my family lar. The lar familiaris is an ithyphallic youth pouring wine from a wineskin into a chalice. He symbolizes the vigor and luck of my family line, and as such forms a link back to the ancestors, and onward to posterity. If I want to honor and pray to another deity, I can conveniently place his or her statue in the shrine for the occasion. This saves on shrines.

At the shrine or close by are photos of my parents and maternal grandmother. These are the ancestors who were my caregivers when I was small, and with whom I still share a bond of love. The Romans and other ancient peoples represented their ancestors by small clay figurines on the altar, as seen in some recent films.

When my offerings are laid out, I light the candle saying “Honor to fire, honor to Vesta, honor to the hearth.” Then I light the incense. Then I pray: “Holy Lady, please accept these offerings of salted grain and pure water, light and scent for thine own dear self, and pass on some to the lares and penates, the di manes, daimones and blessed gods, thanking them for their good regard for me and my family, and asking for a continuance of their favor.” To this basic prayer I add anything special for other deities.

While the fire is lit in the shrine, I call on my ancestors and talk to them. I let them know how things are going in the family with me, my sons and grandson, our concerns, blessings, problems and plans, just as I would if they were still in the flesh. If any of them has appeared recently in a dream, I thank him or her for the visit.

At the close of the rite, I bid farewell to ancestors and deities and extinguish the candle, letting the incense burn down. I say the opening prayer in reverse order, ending with “Honor to the hearth, honor to Vesta, honor to fire.” In Roman houses the hearth shrine was decorated with fresh flowers and offerings made at least three times in the lunar month: on the Calends, that is, the day after the dark moon; on the Nones, the ninth day before the full moon; and on the Ides or full moon itself. In Caesar’s solar calendar the Ides was regularized as the fifteenth of each month, which would place the Nones on the seventh.

The Inner Hearth

When we practice ‘standing in the doorway, ’ we naturally do not do so all the time, and this provides us with a contrast between the two modes of experience, so that we begin noticing things that were formerly invisible to us because they were constant. Some of these things are external to our minds, such as shadows and clouds, and some are internal. One of the internal things is the synopsis or background summary we take to experience, the mental account we refer to offhand when answering the common question “How is it going?” The synopsis is more readily observed in dreams, because it is different for each dream-story or sequence, whereas in waking life it is ongoing and only changes gradually except in moments of crisis.

When we enter a dream-story we generally enter in the middle of it, provided with a ready-made background that tells us where we are and what we are supposed to be doing. We are provided with dream-memories, sometimes selected from previous dreams (as in recurring dreams) , and unless we become aware we are dreaming, we do not question it or the actions of other dream-figures.

Similarly, in waking life we are generally absorbed by the problems and affairs of the moment, as supplied by an ongoing mental summary or synopsis. From this we derive our sense of who we are in the present and what we need to do. The synopsis is based on a selection of memories, and these change gradually unless we are in the throes of a crisis, in which case we need to revise our orientation, sometimes on the basis of earlier memories, in order to cope with the situation. At times our synopsis can become so obsessive that we throw it over in a breakdown and temporarily become disoriented.

Standing in the doorway provides a milder sort of disorientation, as the contrast between it and our usual awareness brings the operation of the synopsis to the forefront of attention. Then, as in the onset of lucid dreaming (when we suddenly realize we are dreaming) , we become free to question who we are supposed to be and what we are supposed to be doing in the present moment. The process of interpreting present experience in terms of our usual selection of memories is suspended, and earlier memories are able to surface, bringing with them earlier feelings of ourselves and of life, derived from past synopses. This is a familiar experience when we go on a trip, especially if we visit old neighborhoods we haven’t seen in many years, and perhaps explains why we like to take such trips after surmounting a difficult crisis.

Vesta’s power to call up the ancestors from old memories works in a similar way, and when our focus of awareness has moved to the chest or solar plexus, continual standing in the doorway can help her to perform the same feat for us at our inner hearth, especially if we augment our headless attention with another pre-verbal mode of awareness involving sound.

The first stage is to listen to all the sounds around us, without dividing them into ‘background’ and ‘foreground’. This comes about naturally once our visual attention rests on the limits of the visual field instead of tracking on this or that object. It is easy for the attention to waver, however, so the focus on sounds must be augmented by mentally copying sounds just heard.

Small children learn to speak by mentally copying sounds, and there is reason to believe that animals do something similar. Mentally copying sounds and associating them with specific situations would seem to have been a major part of humanity’s pre-verbal thought processes.

Once we learn to speak, and to speak to ourselves, mental mimicry of sounds is relegated to a minor role and generally limited to copying sounds for which we have words. When we begin ‘thinking with the chest, ’ like Ochwiay Biano, our minds become quieter and we become aware of feelings and images for which we have no words, not because they are ineffable, but simply because no words have yet been assigned to those experiences. Consider smells, for instance. We have many words for colors and quite a few for sounds, but our olfactory vocabulary is very limited. If a dog could be taught to speak, he would find himself at a loss to describe the many odors in his daily experience. If he invented words for the many different odors, we would find it hard to understand him, lacking referents because we are purblind in our noses.

In the same way, this particular sound I have just heard has no precise word describing it. We can say, ‘that is the sound of a car engine, ’ as we say ‘that is a tree, ’ and ignore sensory detail in either case. Our everyday minds can deal with such thumbnail descriptions without having to disturb the selection of memories forming a background to our moment-to-moment synopsis. But if we mentally repeat the precise sound of that car that just went by, our memory background is rendered more porous, as it would become in a crisis, so that feelings and images from past memories are able to emerge.

I tried mentally echoing sounds just heard as an experiment in 1972, while walking along a busy street in Encanto, California. I was also keeping my sunglass frames in view, an earlier version of ‘standing in the doorway’. I did this for an hour or more, and recorded the results in a journal:

“The result of this double exercise was three full days, not counting sleep, in silent awareness of total sensation…At one point the feeling of lightness became like a breeze flowing through my body from back to front. Everything seemed to take on a bluish tinge…By the third day, the breeze had risen to a light wind and was blowing through my memories. My personal history, the sense of who I am, was being shuffled like a deck of cards…By the end of the third day the wind set me down somewhere else in myself; that is, my store of familiar memories was completely revised and my feeling of myself permanently changed from that point on.”

After this experience, my dead grandmother began visiting me regularly in my dreams. I noticed that in many of these dreams I appeared to be younger, and to feel as I did when she was still alive, but my understanding was linked to the present. It was common to realize at the time that I was dreaming, if not at first then as the dream progressed, for I would remember that she had died. These earlier feelings of myself, and of my grandmother when she was alive, enhanced a feeling of harmony with her and allowed us to converse in close intimacy. However, as I had no unresolved issues with her, there was nothing specific to work through. I usually asked her how she was, and she said fine, but she felt tired a lot, and this probably came from memories of her as she was towards the end of her life.

My practices of the threshold and hearth continued over the next several years, and long after my father died I did have some serious issues to work through with him. This took about three years to get through, during which time I was periodically out of work (I was doing contract programming and moving around a lot) . In both dream and waking I agreed with my father to resolve certain problems for good with him in exchange for obtaining help in finding employment. On each of three occasions, I received job offers within twenty-four hours of these conversations. Skeptics may make of this what they will; but taking the view that I was in contact with the spirits of my ancestors, it makes sense that they would find it easier to relate to me after I had recovered earlier feelings of myself and of them, which I had when, they were still alive.

The Pillar

Before chimneys came into general use in the Renaissance, the old-style hearth was usually located centrally under the smoke-hole in the roof, and the central supporting pillar or pillars were set close to it. The main pillar in pagan times corresponded to the World Pillar, round which the heavens appear to revolve and which links the Underworld, Middle-Earth, and the heavenly realms of the cosmos together. It also corresponds to the human spine, and the subtle passage therein known to yogis as the sushumna. An upright person has a straight spine and thus a direct link to the vigor of the ancestors. He or she can stand before the ancestors unashamed, with a record of honorable conduct.

In the old Roman religion, every man was born with a guiding spirit called his genius, and every woman a similar spirit called her juno. These were inner spirits, with a meaning originally connected in some way with sexual vigor, but later they became mixed with the Greek notion of a personal daimon who guided one through life. The connection of the genius with sleep and dream is suggested by the lectus genialis, located in the atrium just opposite the entrance-door. Rose conjectures that in the days of one-room houses it probably served as the marriage bed, hence its sexual significance; but in later times it persisted as a sacred furnishing that was reserved for the genius of the paterfamilias and never used by the house’s human occupants. Presumably the lady of the house had a similar place in the women’s quarters dedicated to her juno.

While we must do without a pillar in modern houses, we can set aside a special area in the home for meditation, and include a shrine to a personal guiding deity, giving external form to our indwelling genius or juno in the shape of an image if we prefer. A staff can be set up in a nearby corner to represent the pillar, perhaps with alternate red and white bands spiraling clockwise around it from the top to the bottom, like a Maypole. The main thing, of course, is to sit there with an erect spine, the seat being raised by one or two cushions.

If you offer to your patron or patroness (or directly to the genius or juno) as at the other shrines, ask for guidance or wisdom in both dreams and waking life. It is also good to do this before going to sleep. If you remember your dreams on awakening, take a few moments to ponder them and try to determine what the deity was saying to you. Even seemingly trivial dreams often contain a message if we take the time to examine them.

The Inner Pillar

As the World Pillar is the link between the realms of our cosmos and thus with the ancestors, so the inner pillar is our own personal link with them through memory. As we have seen, memory contains more than the record of events: Vesta at our inner hearth can recall past versions of ourselves, our feelings and impressions, our viewpoints, joys and fears, all the way back to birth, as well as that strange kind of nostalgia, with phantom images, associated with the distant past which we call far memory. Like the rings on a tree-trunk, these vital memories represent different stages of our growth-journey from the realm of the ancestors, and each is vitally available to the present moment.

It will come as no surprise, then, to learn that each man’s genius and each woman’s juno resides in the inner pillar of memory and has the job of guiding, not just our present selves, but each of these versions of ourselves, guiding all of them together. Thus, as Vesta calls back our previous selves and integrates them with our current self, the genius or juno shows us the path linking them, the plan our life has been following, and the living form of our self through time, of which our current self is the growing tip. For whereas the ancestors are concerned to help that growing tip, our current selves, with advice and vigor, our indwelling genius and juno are concerned with the growth of the whole plant, clear down to the roots. The journey down the inner pillar of memory, taken by the silent, inward-looking self, is not like a train-journey, which leaves behind each station as it travels to the next one. It is rather a projection of awareness from the present back through the past, uniting with the whole trunk of memory as it goes. As such, it is a preparation for the fuller integration that will take place in the Underworld after the death of the body.

In the Underworld the integrated soul will undergo further integration with its selves from previous lives. Thus, the answer to the question, “What age shall I be on the Other Side?” is “All ages to which you have attained.” This is expressed beautifully in the Lakota (Sioux) myth of Falling Star. It seems long ago there were two sisters who wished to marry stars when they grew up. Then, when they were about to go to bed, two men appeared outside the flap of their tepee:

“They were men, but they were not like other men, for they made the light they lived in, and there was no shadow where they stood. This light was soft and kind, and when the two men smiled, it spread about the sisters so that they were not afraid at all. Then they saw that one man was young and one was very old. The younger one was taller than any man the girls had ever seen; but the older one was even taller. I think he stood above the other like a tree, and the light which he made was that much brighter. He was old, old; but he was young too. I think he was older than the other because he had been young so much longer.”

Journeys down the inner pillar can take place in lucid dreams or in waking moments when inner silence begins to deepen on its own, spontaneously. The latter experience feels like being in an old elevator that has suddenly slipped its cable a little. There is a feeling of being lowered into deeper silence. Present sensations continue, but new senses open up, or perhaps feelings, for which we have no descriptions. These seem to be showing through the current landscape, if we are outside, that is. Time undergoes subtle changes as well, with the mind taking in more rapid details occurring, as it were, between successive instants of time. This continues until one has had enough and decides to re-surface into the everyday present.

Standing in the doorway and mentally echoing sounds just heard help to set up lucid dreaming. Additionally, after closing your eyes at night, instead of becoming immersed in thoughts, watch your phosphenes, the lights and shapes created by the pressure of the eyelids on the optic nerve. As we fall asleep, dream images will naturally become superimposed on our phosphenes; but if we fall asleep while watching instead of thinking, we shall watch the images in our dreams afterwards and be less caught up in the words of the dream-synopsis. When dream images become superimposed on phosphenes, it is like a door opening, and when it is fully open we are asleep and immersed in a dream. If we have watched our phosphenes change into dream-images, it is only a step further to realizing we are in a dream, when the journey down the inner pillar can commence.


Footnotes:
Bibliography

BERNSTEIN, Frances, Classical Living, San Francisco, Harper Collins, 2000.
ELIADE, Mircea, Shamanism; Archaic Techniques of Ecstasy, New Jersey,
Princeton University Press, 1964.
HARDING, Douglas, On Having No Head, London and New York, Arkana , 1986.
JUNG, C. G., Memories, Dreams, Reflections, New York, Vintage Books, 1963.
NEIHARDT, John G., When the Tree Flowered, New York, Pocket Books, 1974.
OVID, Fasti, transl. by A. J. Boyle and R. D. Woodard, New York, Penguin Books,
2000.
ROSE, H. J., Religion in Greece and Rome, New York, Harper and Rowe, 1959.

On Creating Magick

On Creating Magick

Author: Lady Wolfwind

I have been blessed with another bright and beautiful day. I’m not sure what I will do with it. It is like a gift to me. I think for a while I will just lay in my chair outside under the tree. It’s my favorite place to be when I choose to seek peace. For a while today, I think I will try a visualization meditation. I find that I can travel anywhere and see anything I choose to. When I come back to a waking state I feel refreshed, more alive. The mind is a wonderful tool if we learn how to use it.

I close my eyes and take a deep breath. I feel the breeze blowing and lifting the ends of my hair. I feel the touch of the sun on my skin. I concentrate on my breathing. In, out, in, out. I let all the stress leave my body. I feel it slowly melt out of my fingers and toes. In my mind, I open my eyes. I have been transported. Today, I float on a raft in the middle of a lake far, far away. It is not where I live now, but my native state of New York.

I continue to breathe. I am alone. All around me are the trees of autumn. It is a warm fall day. The maples and the poplars are decked out in all their glory, the orange, the gold and the browns that make this time of year special to me. It’s funny; when I left, it was August. At this place and time, it is October, my favorite time of the year. I take a deep breath and I can smell the water all around me. I can smell the crisp scent of the leaves and the subtle scent of my mother, the Earth. I open all of my senses. I can feel the breeze on my skin and also the warmness of the sun. There is promise of winter in the air. A sense of someone whispering and telling me to enjoy this day, this gift. Soon the snow will be flying and the earth will rest for the winter.

As I listen I hear the quiet swirl of a fish that has come to the surface to snatch a bug. I hear the singing of the frogs on the nearby shore. It’s as if they are singing a song just for me. I hear the leaves rustling and I realize that this is the music of the Earth. I just lie on my back and look at the puffy white clouds in the sky. I remember when I was a child and I could lie for hours and pick out shapes and animals. Today, I spend some time doing the same. I’ve forgotten what it feels like to just stare into the sky without a worry in the world.

After some time, I grow bored with the clouds and I flip onto my stomach, lay my chin on my arms, and stare at the reflection of myself in the water. I smile. I am so at peace. I know that this feeling will follow me for weeks to come. I also know that I can travel this way whenever I need to. I focus deeper and see small minnows swimming just beneath the surface. I also see small bits of moss suspended in the water floating by. I let my one arm free and feel the refreshing coolness of the water. Part of me would like to take off my clothes and dive right in. At this moment I am too lazy to move. I close my eyes and drift in and out of sleep. I know that here I am safe. In travels there is nothing that can hurt me.

I lay here for a few hours, dreaming of my life at home and of the people I know. The rustle on the bank interrupts my thoughts. It is a family of rabbits stopping by to take a drink. The mother rabbit eyes me nervously, but we communicate on a different level, without words. I sense that she understands that I mean her no harm and they continue to take a drink of the cool water. There are birds flying overhead, gliding on the current. I am sometimes envious of their ability to do this. At times I visualize that I am a bird in flight. I can hear the wind rushing past my ears and I feel the quietness that surrounds me. I look at the earth below and feel the freedom. Today, I just watch in amazement as this great creature glides over my head.

I am in no hurry. I know that I have left my body behind in a semi conscious state. I have nothing to fear there either. I continue to drift. After a time, I hear the cry of the loons. I’ve always thought it was such a haunting sound. I wonder what it would be like to lay on this raft at night. I’ll have to try it sometime. I wonder what sounds I will hear. Instead of looking at the clouds I can look for the constellations and contemplate how it must have been to live so long ago and have to chart courses using only the stars.

There are many places to go. I will wait for another day. After some time, I reluctantly let myself return to my body. I slowly open my eyes. I’ve been gone for quite awhile. The sun has changed position and it is cooler. I feel so at peace, I have a hard time describing this feeling of quietness within me. I sit in my chair for a while longer and allow my spirit to settle into my body completely. I laugh at the thought of someone asking me what I did today. “Well, ” I’ll tell them, “I traveled to another time and place and drifted on a raft, celebrating life.” Won’t they look at me funny?

Sometimes when I’m having trouble sleeping I will slip off somewhere and lie under the stars and look up at the moon. Before you know it, it’s morning and time to start my day. When life gets to be too much for me to handle, I escape somewhere else where life is more peaceful. Sometimes I may spend the day with my mother or father, lost long ago. We don’t usually talk, but we sit, quietly enjoying each other’s company for a few hours. If this is not a gift from the Goddess, then I don’t know what is. I have been blessed with this ability and I’m happy that I’ve shared it with you all here.

It didn’t just happen overnight. I’ve spent years developing my meditation techniques. I’ve spent years developing my imagination and my insights. It’s like anything else, it’s something you have to work at, but oh, so worth every moment spent. I get so lost in these places I visit, and the people who spend time with me there that I’ve often wondered what is real and what is imagined. At times, it feels as if I could reach out and hug my parents. Maybe one day I’ll try. I may scare myself though.

Once I had a dream. It has always haunted me. I dreamed that I was in a wolf’s body. It was a cold night. I was standing on the edge of a stream with my front feet in the water. There was a fallen tree beside me and I could smell the decaying of the wood. I could feel the coldness of the water on my feet. I turned my head and looked at my mate behind me. I looked right into her eyes. I woke up with a start. I expected to feel that my hands were wet. I have never had a dream so vivid before or since. I’m not sure of its significance. This is the way it feels when I visually meditate, except I am in control. I make up the sequence of events. This dream was spontaneous and very odd.

So, today, I share with you a little piece of me. I think that, maybe, we all have this ability, to let go of all the stress and slip away, if only for a few short moments. I’d like to think that we could all find a peaceful place in the middle of chaos, where we can breathe, where we can think, where we can focus on what matters, just living.

We all speak of the Goddess. What gifts has she given to you? Are you afraid to develop them, to use them? You may be surprised. I’d like to challenge you to step outside your comfort zone and test the waters of some of your abilities. She gave them to you for a reason. There is no reason to be afraid. We all have unique abilities. It’s part of your magic; it’s how you create magic.

Some ask how do you create spells or how do you create magic. I believe that it is all around you. The problem I see is that we don’t truly believe deep down inside. Ever since we were children we were told that such things were myths and did not exist. As a child, you know they did. We were bashed and brainwashed to conform and to not talk about such things. Look, deep inside of yourself. Find that magic and that belief again. You know it’s there, sleeping, waiting, wanting to come to the surface again. You would be surprised what magic you can create if you discover the gifts that were given to you.

The Karma Hypothesis

The Karma Hypothesis

Author: Pagan Media that Bites.Com

“Karma is going to get you!” Really, oh really. I am an experienced mage and sage and I find that people tend to use the threat of Karma all too conveniently without a simple understanding of what Karma really is or the grass roots of the idea of Karma! I personally don’t believe that Karma ‘is going to get you’. In fact, I know Karma can’t get anyone. In the simplest refined thought, I find people who use this threat of Karma are a step down from folks who say, “That is a sin. You are going to hell”.

Let me explain the true ideology of Karma. If you read up on Buddhism they strike down the vulgar connotation that Western society has brought Karma to which, is unnecessary excessive baggage of fear mechanisms, i.e.: Something bad happens to another and they think, “ See that is Karma; it bit so and so in the butt. Karma got him/her!”

Buddhists actually liken that to ‘karmic fatalism’. It is as a crass derivative of western thought used in order to justify human suffering or undignified human injustice! Basically a person who uses this tactic is indeed saying that someone deserves to suffer, that people deserve injustices imposed upon them (such being targeted, lied about or being ganged up by others) .

Buddhists will tell you that this way of thinking of Karma is a misconception, is false and is NOT the true ideology of Karma. Early Buddhists and the grass roots of Karma was non fatalistic. Early Buddhists saw Karma as being of free will and free spirit but with feedback loops. Sort of like a parent guiding a child, you take two steps back and three steps forward to correct a behavior. Instead of Karma serving as a fatal act of causation, it was merely a stepping stone to help a person analyze a set of behaviors within him/herself and divert those behaviors in any direction that the Karmic person chooses by taking steps to promote the growth of one’s eternal spirit.

Karma was never meant to force a person to bow down with resigned powerlessness. It was never deemed nor meant to be an opportunity for someone to exercise infinite power over others by saying, ”Karma is going to get you!” It indeed was meant to invoke power into each person for growth, spiritual balance, and achievement and encourage the prospect of becoming an enlightened human being. So there you have it once more: Western society takes a concept and annihilates the true meaning of something good and makes into something dark and putrid in its menacing threat.

In ending this point, if one is going to adopt a language of the unknown then please have the decency to read up on the concept before adopting the language of the ideology and bestowing threats of harm to people simply because you don’t agree with others.

In short, Karma could be thought of as a flowing river of wonderful thoughts that are turned into human spiritual energies that are directed to the good not only of the Karmic person but also towards the entire universe. If Karma gets you, it will be one of the most beautiful and beneficial experiences that a person can have. It is not to be thought of as a justification for all that goes bad in a person’s life.

Now getting back to fatalistic extremes of the Karma threat: In spirit thoughts, we all have lessons to learn in life and within the core of our growing spirits we never stop learning or growing. In fact, we can pass on and we are still being taught, learning and growing. Thus we have both positive and negative experiences in life to insure that we grow in spirit.

Hypothetically speaking, whenever one wishes ill on a person by uttering the damning words ”Karma is going to get a person” then it is reasonable that the same person should anticipate that he/she too will suffer under the same justification that Karma would get him/her for wishing ill, bad things, and hate on others. The western thought of Karma is defunct and not in line with the true purpose and intent of Karma. Simply, Karma was always meant to help a person grow in spirit!

As pagans, we all journey — and transcend to that journey — as we go along our chosen paths. We all aspire to the variant paths that appeal to us as individuals. At the end of any cherished pagan appeal and path, our spirituality combines into one just as it does with anything called religion, spirit, or pagan.

Moon Signs in Everyday Life

Moon Signs in Everyday Life

Make the most of the Moon’s journey

All eyes are on the Moon as we near the Full Moon Lunar Eclipse in Gemini on December 10. But how much do you know about the Moon and how it affects you? Changing signs every two and a quarter days, the Moon is the fastest moving astrological “planet.”

The Moon represents our emotions, and as it travels through the different horoscope signs, our moods follow suit. We feel best and operate most effectively when we’re cooperating with the energy of the Moon, as indicated by the horoscope sign it’s in at any given time.

Monthly power times

Pay special attention to when the Moon is in the same sign as your Sun sign — these few days of each month are your power times! The tides are flowing in your direction, so you’ll feel more confident and energized, and people are more likely to respond to you positively.

So, if you’re planning to invite someone special out on a date, ask for a raise, go on a job interview or any other task requiring self-assertion and risk-taking, these are the days to go for it.

On the flip side, when the Moon is in the sign opposite to your Sun sign, keep a low profile. (If you’re not sure which sign is opposite, just count six signs away from yours.) Catch up on rest, and do for others rather than expecting things to go your way. Plan accordingly — this is not the time to push it and try to get ahead.

Discover how to make the most of the Moon’s visit to each horoscope sign:

Aries Moon

Get physical! The first horoscope sign calls for action and movement. Go for a run or hike, dance, work out at the gym or find some other way to let off steam. Tempers can rise under this fiery Moon, so find healthy outlets for expression — physical and/or creative. This Moon can light a fire under you to start putting your ideas into action, so take a risk in the direction of your desires.

Taurus Moon

Slow down and take time to nurture your body and the planet. This sensual and earthy sign invites you to appreciate the physical world and the realm of the senses. Walk through the woods, work in the garden, get a massage or play soothing music. This tends to be a mellow, restful and reflective Moon — a time to practice simply being.

Gemini Moon

Call your friends, catch up on emails and chat with the neighbors while the Moon visits the airy sign of the Messenger. Your mind is especially active, even hyper-active, so give it something to stew on. This is an ideal time for taking (or teaching) a class, learning something new and exploring multiple perspectives. Follow your curiosity and keep an open mind.

Cancer Moon

Curl up on the couch with a good book and a cup of tea during this homebody Moon (Cancer is, afterall, the Moon’s home sign). As a sensitive Water sign, the Crab calls for tuning in to your inner world. When you give yourself permission to feel and express your emotions, you’re more likely to avoid the down side of this Moon — crabbiness. Cook a nourishing meal, perhaps inviting a close friend or family member for dinner.

Leo Moon

This fiery Moon wants to play and celebrate. Let your inner child take the lead and do something spontaneous that serves no purpose beyond having fun. The Lion rules the heart, inspiring romance and passion — an ideal time for getting decked out in your most glamorous attire and hitting the town. Creative energy abounds — express yourself!

Virgo Moon

Attend to the nitty gritty details of daily life when the Moon enters this sign of service. Catching up on household chores, organizing the closet, balancing your checkbook — these mundane tasks might sound like a bore, but you feel so much better when you stop procrastinating and get the job done. People tend to be more critical and fault-finding than usual, so pay attention to the little things.

Libra Moon

The Moon in the horoscope sign of the Scales brings attention to what’s out of balance, inviting you to create more harmony in your relationships, environment and inner world. Libra is ruled by Venus, the goddess of love, beauty and the arts. Enhance your appearance with a new hair style or clothes, and plan to socialize. Cultural events and creative activities are especially recommended.

Scorpio Moon

Invite your inner witch or wizard to come out of hiding during this magical Moon, a prime time for casting spells and performing rituals. You’re more tuned into both the invisible realm and the dark side now — including shadowy emotions that require an outlet. Share your deepest feelings with someone you trust. This is not a time to party hearty with the crowds — plan an intimate date instead.

Sagittarius Moon

When the Moon visits the horoscope sign of the Archer, you’re ready for adventure, exploration and expansion. These days are perfect for travel. If you can’t take a trip in the physical world, broaden your intellectual and spiritual horizons by attending a lecture or workshop. Restlessness is common, as your mental arrows shoot out in multiple directions — plan for lots of activity, movement and socializing.

Capricorn Moon

Now is the optimal time to accomplish any ambitious projects requiring hard work, perseverance and pragmatism. For best results, mimic the Mountain Goat — move slowly, cautiously and deliberately as you reach for the top. Don’t let the heaviness and somber tone of this Moon get you down — if you stay focused on your plans and goals, you feel energized and productive.

Aquarius Moon

You’re in the mood for networking, connecting with friends and all group activities when the Moon calls on community-minded Aquarius. Your intuition is heightened, inviting flashes of insight that help you to see your life from a higher perspective. If you’re feeling stuck, this revolutionary Moon wants to liberate you from old ways of thinking and inspire you to make changes that enhance your sense of freedom.

Pisces Moon

During this sensitive and squishy Moon, retreat, rest and reflection are recommended. Your dreams are more active than usual, so pay attention — they may have important information for you. The sign of the Fish activates your imagination and fantasies, offering an ideal opportunity for creative expression, especially music, dance, painting and poetry.

 

Tarot.com

Candle Cleansing and Consecration

Candle Cleansing and Consecration

 

Cleansing a candle removes any psychic debris or residual energy, think of a cleansing as a spiritual ‘reset’ button.

You can cleanse a candle using any of the following methods:

Pass it through incense smoke
Allow it to bath in the light of the moon overnight
Bury the candle in sea salt, and leave it for a day

Consecration is when you reprogram the tool, in other words – you tell the item what it’s purpose is:

Hold your projective (writing) hand over the candle and imagine that white light is beaming from your palm, and into the candle – say the following:
“I consecrate you, candle of wax,
to cleanse you and purify you,
so that you may serve me in my magickal workings.
In the name of the Mother Goddess and Father God
you are consecrated.”

After this you need to charge it, hold the candle with both hands, and say:

“I charge you by the power of the Ancients: the Goddess and the God
by the powers of the Sun, the Moon and the Stars
by the elements of Air, Fire, Water and Earth
May you serve me well.
So Mote it Be.”

The candle is now ready for use.

 

Pagan Magic

Dressing The Candle

Dressing The Candle

Chose type and colour of candle appropriate for the ritual at hand.

Cleanse the candle prior energies: you may use water, salt, pure soap, or baby oil (all previously blessed and consecrated).

Bless the anointing oil to be used, appropriate to ritual.

State and engrave (if you wish) what the candle is to represent.

Anoint the candle with oil and focus on desire (purpose of ritual).

For ritual of achievement: anoint oil from the top of the candle to the middle in a downward motion, then from the bottom of the candle to the middle in an upward motion.

For ritual of banishment: anoint oil from the middle of the candle to the top in an upwards motion and then from the middle to the bottom of the candle in a downwards motion.

Bless the candle and then meditate on the desired outcome.

Some do not use matches to light candles, the sulphur is considered unclean. If you feel this, use an incense starter or stick to light your candles. Others feel that lighters are not natural enough – choose the method that you feel comfortable with.

To extinguish a candle, snuff it out, do not blow it out. Blowing a candle out blows desires away and is considered by some to be an affront to the element of fire.

Candle Magick

Candle Magick

 

One of the simplest of magical arts which comes under the heading of natural magic is candle burning. It is simple because it employs little ritual and few ceremonial artifacts. The theatrical props of candle magic can be purchased at any department store and its rituals can be practiced in any sitting room or bedroom.

Most of us have performed our first act of candle magic by the time we are two years old. Blowing out the tiny candles on our first birthday cake and making a wish is pure magic. This childhood custom is based on the three magical principals of concentration, will power and visualization. In simple terms, the child who wants his wish to come true has to concentrate (blow out the candles), visualize the end result (make a wish) and hope that it will come true( will power).

The size and shape of the candles you use is unimportant, although highly decorative, extra large, or unusually shaped candles will not be suitable as these may create distractions when the magician wants to concentrate on the important work in hand. Most magicians prefer to use candles of standard or uniform size if possible. Those which are sold in different colors for domestic use are ideal.

The candles you use for any type of magical use should be virgin, that is unused. Under no circumstances use a candle which has already adorned a dinner table or been used as a bedroom candle or night-light. There is a very good occult reason for not using anything but virgin materials in magic. Vibrations picked up by secondhand materials or equipment may disturb your workings and negate their effectiveness.

Some magicians who are artistically inclined prefer to make their own candles for ritual and magical use. This is a very practical exercise because not only does it impregnate the candle with your own personal vibrations, but the mere act of making your own candle is magically potent. Specialist shops sell candle wax and molds together with wicks, perfumes, and other equipment.

The hot wax is heated until liquid and then poured into the mold through which a suitably sized wick has already been threaded. The wax is then left to cool and once is this has occurred the mold is removed , leaving a perfectly formed candle. Special oil-soluble dyes and perfumes can be added to the wax before the cooling process is complete to provide suitable colors and scents for a particular magical ritual. Craft shops which sell candle-making supplies can also provide do-it-yourself books explaining the technicalities of the art to the beginner.

Once you have purchased or made your ritual candle it has to be oiled or ‘dressed’ before burning. The purpose of dressing the candle is to establish a psychic link between it and the magician through a primal sensory experience. By physically touching the candle during the dressing procedure, you are charging it with our own personal vibrations and also concentrating the desire of your magical act into the wax. The candle is becoming an extension of the magician’s mental power and life energy.

When you dress a candle for magical use, imagine that it is a psychic magnet with a North and a South pole. Rub the oil into the candle beginning at the top or North end and work downwards to the half-way point. Always brush in the same direction downwards. This process is then repeated by beginning at the bottom or south end and working up to the middle.

The best type of oils to use for dressing candles are natural ones which can be obtained quite easily. Some occult suppliers will provide candle magic oils with exotic names. If the magician does not want to use these, he can select suitable oils or perfumes from his own sources. The oils soluble perfumes sold by craft shops for inclusion in candles can be recommended.

The candles you use can be colored in accordance with the following magical uses:

White – spirituality and peace.
Red – health, energy, strength, courage, sexual potency.
Pink – love affection and romance.
Yellow – intellectualism, imagination, memory and creativity
Green – fertility, abundance, good luck and harmony
Blue -inspiration, occult wisdom, protection and devotion
Purple – Material wealth, higher psychic ability, spiritual power and idealism
Silver – clairvoyance, inspiration, astral energy and intuition
Orange – ambition. career matters and the law.

If you wanted to use candle magic for healing, you would select a red candle to burn. To pass an exam, burn a yellow candle, to gain esoteric knowledge burn a blue candle or for material gain, burn a purple one. It is obvious these colors relate to the signs of the zodiac and the planetary forces.

The simples form of candle magic is to write doesn’t the objective of your ritual on a virgin piece of paper. You can use color paper which matches the candle. Write your petition on the paper using a magical alphabet, such as theban, enochian, malachain, etc. As you write down what you want to accomplish through candle magic- a new job, healing for a friend, a change of residence, a new love affair, etc.- visualize your dream coming true. Visualize the circumstances under which you might be offered a new job, imagine your employer telling you that your salary has been increased or conjure up a vision of your perfect love partner.

When you have completed writing down your petition, carefully fold up the paper in a deliberately slow fashion. Place the end of the folded paper in the candle flame and set light to it. As you do this concentrate once more on what you want from life.

When you have completed your ritual, allow the candle to have completely burned away. You do not need to stay with the candle after the ritual, but make sure that is safe and that red-hot wax will not cause damage or fire. Never re-use a candle which has been lit in any magical ritual. IT should only be used in that ritual and then allowed to burn away or be disposed of afterwards.

If you are conducting a magical ritual which involves two people (e.g. an absent healing for a person some distance away) then the second person can be symbolically represented during the ritual by another candle. /all you need to do is find out the subject’s birth date and burn the appropriate candle for that zodiacal sign. These are as follows:

ARIES red
TAURUS green
GEMINI yellow
CANCER silver
LEO orange
VIRGO yellow
LIBRA pink
SCORPIO red
SAGITARIUS purple
CAPRICORN black
AQUARIUS all colors
PISCES mauve

 

Pagan Magic

History of Candles

History of Candles

Candles have been used as sources of light for thousands of years. The ways in which these candles have been made has differed greatly over time. There has also been a wide variety of different ways in which candles have been fuelled and also a wide variety of different uses for candles. The humble candle has become a multi use item with thousands of benefits that go well beyond the initial use – to produce light.

The candle’s other primary function has been to provide heat and many versions of candles have been developed to maximise the heat output. Candles have been around for a long time and in this time they have been used in religious ceremonies and also for timekeeping as well as for decoration, for air freshening and also for adorning a birthday cake.

The products used to create candles are different all over the world and throughout time candles have been made out of different substances. Candles that were made in the early parts of the 19th century were made from beef fat rendering known as tallow. The modern candles are more commonly made from wax. There are many different types of wax including gel, soy and beeswax but the most predominant type of wax is paraffin.

Candles are typically made with a wick that is lit. This wick is covered in wax which melts and vaporises. This vaporised wax provides fuel to the fire and keeps the flame burning. This encourages the candle to burn slowly and last for a long time. The process is also beneficial as it is self sustaining and does not require the person to monitor the candle or relight it.

As the flame warms the wax into vapour it works slowly down the candle and slowly uses up the wax. This is an efficient method that makes candles last longer. The science behind the burning of a candle helps us understand the processes that go on when a candle burns. In the area of the candle that burns blue a reaction is taking place in which the hydrogen is being separated from the wax and is burning. This process results in water vapour. The yellowy section of the flame occurs as a result of the oxidisation process that sees carbon dioxide being created from the carbon.

The position of the wick as these processes take place is very important to the time in which the wax is fuelled. One way to slow the rate at which the wax is used up is to reduce the length of the wick. The shorter the length of the wick that is exposed the longer the candle will last. Many people often decide to cut their candle wicks short manually with scissors to lengthen the life span of their candles. There are even special instruments called wick trimmers that are designed to make this task easier.

There is evidence of candles that were in use in Roman times. At this period of time many candles were made from the animal fat residues and the long pith found in a rush. Beeswax was used as a fuel by the Egyptians and many of their candles date back over 3000 years. By the 18th century was much more common for the fuel to be extracted from the oil taken from sperm whales.

Pagan Magic

THE LAW OF THE POWER

Witchy Comments

THE LAW OF THE POWER

          
1.  The Power shall not be used to bring harm, to injure or control others.  But
if the need  rises, the Power shall be used to protect your life or the life of others.
2.  The Power is used only as need dictates.
3.  The Power can be used for your own gain, as long as by doing so you harm none.
4.  It is unwise to accept money for the use of the Power, for it quickly controls
its taker.  Be not as those of other religions.
5.  Use not the Power for prideful gain, for such cheapens the mysteries of the
Craft and magick.
6.  Ever remember that the Power is a sacred gift of the Goddess and God, and
should never be misused or abused.
And this is the Law of the Power.  

 

 ~Magickal Graphics~

THE ORDAINS (Witches Laws)

Witchy Comments
The Ordains(The Witches Laws) 

 

 1.   And ye harm none, do as ye will.
 2.   If you know the Rede is being broken, you must work strongly against it.
 3.   Watch, listen and withhold judgment; in debate you your silences be long,
       your thoughts clear and your words carefully chosen.
 4.   Never boast, or threaten, or speak evil of anyone.
 5.   Be truthful always, save when speaking would lead to a great harm.
 6.   Keep clean your body, your clothes, and your house.
 7.   Should you take a task upon yourself, work hard and well to accomplish it
       properly and in good time. Always do the best you can.
 8.   Do not haggle over the price of your ritual tools.
 9.   Witches know that there are no absolute truths.
10.  Witches understand that the universe consists of perfect balance; therefore,
       everything has an opposite.
11.  Witches realize that for every action there is a reaction. (The Law of 
       Three).
12.  Witches know that we are all one, we are all connected.
13.  Never lie to yourself for this is the ultimate act of deceit.
14.  Witches understand that the ultimate act of spirituality is the act of 
        positive creation through love.
15.  Witches realize that the energy created through worship and rituals
        manifests as a circular stream of positive energy.
16.  Witches should never close their minds to knowledge.
17.  Never practice a magickal system that you don’t fully understand.
18.  Do not set a price on your magickal work.
19.  A Witch uses the magickal circle as a physical and non-physical
       representation of a temple on the earth plane.
20. Witches use the energies around them to assist in raising power.
21.  Witches use common sense and do not share their mysteries with fools.
22.  A Witch who knowingly breaks the Law (Ordains) will not be permitted to
        incarnate on Earth again.

What is the I Ching?

What is the I Ching?

The origin of I Ching: the world’s oldest divination system

 

The world’s oldest book and intuitive decision-making system
The I Ching, or Book of Changes, is the world’s oldest book and earliest known intuitive decision-making system. Based on the binary logic of yin/yang, it is used to derive personal strategy and insights based on natural wisdom — as pertaining to human problems that logic alone cannot handle.

The most intricate numerically-based oracle ever devised
This ancient divination system (approx. 4000 years old) is the most intricate numerically-based oracle ever devised. Most commonly experienced in the form of a book consulted by means of tossing coins or stalks, it is a system for pegging and interpreting patterns of change — based on a profound understanding of the dynamic processes of Nature that is beyond the daily consciousness of most of us.

A complete and balanced set of human situations
Essentially, the Oracle is used to produce responses to questions and problems. The system interprets which numerical patterns and which responses “like to go together” with what questions posed at a specific moment in time. The founder of depth psychology, Carl Jung, studied the embodiment and operation of the Synchronicity Principle in the Book of Changes for 30 years. He examined the arrangement of universal principles represented by the 64 main readings and their permutations and demonstrated that the system was a self-contained holism. Like Confucius, who reportedly said he wished he could devote an entire lifetime to its study, Jung’s conclusions were positive and enthusiastic. He recognized the universality of the I Ching’s 64 “archetypes” and how the entire system comprised a complete and balanced set of human situations.

Benefits of using Visionary I Ching

The use of the Visionary I Ching can help you

  • make decisions that logic can’t handle
  • reduce stress around changes and decisions
  • better manage sensitive relationships & office politics
  • develop superior timing
  • access creative insight and intuitive power

 

The Visionary I Ching Supports Success on the Highest Level
The consistent quality of our choices determines our level of success. In times of accelerating change, we have to face more and more challenging issues. When crises or emotional reactions take over, logical reasoning alone becomes inadequate, if not impossible. Yet few of us have a personal advisor — a mentor whose wisdom we respect, an experienced guide to confer with. So we must do our best to tap our own intuitive resources. The Visionary I Ching experience will give you immediate access to profound inner resources in a pleasant and easy-to-access way.

Generally, no matter what decision you make, it’s easy to be plagued by the fear that it was the wrong one. In stressful times, this is only natural, but this anxious feeling works against you. It increases stress, which makes it more difficult to be receptive to a resolution. This is a vicious cycle which skillful use of the I Ching will help you break.

The Visionary I Ching not only makes dilemmas easier to solve but also makes your final decisions easier to live with. It can transform stressful situations into confidence-building opportunities.

Mental Clarity
The I Ching consultation process begins by helping you articulate your question, problem, or dilemma — to get clear about what it means to you and what you really want from the situation. The simple act of achieving clarity about an emotionally charged issue is a significant first step in the right direction.

Skillful Detachment
The Visionary I Ching is structured to take place between a question or dilemma on one hand and your enquiring mind on the other. As a result, the process forces you to distance yourself from the problem. The more detached you are, the less threatening things appear. You are able to see things from a wider perspective, with more objectivity. Skillful detachment gives you a powerful advantage leading to more creative approaches.

Focused Relaxation Around a Problem
The Visionary I Ching’s keyboard process makes it easy to focus on an issue of personal importance without becoming distracted by the busy work of analyzing how coins land, recording the lines, etc. This slightly hypnotic exercising of the mind, both relaxed and focused at the same time, aligns the conscious and subconscious parts of your mind so that you can coordinate them for maximum effectiveness.

Stimulating Intuition
The Visionary I Ching experiences stimulates intuitive processes by means of specific feedback which is actually selected by your subconscious mind. The text derives from a a time-honored system of timeless principles and natural laws known as the Book of Changes or I Ching. Your interpretation of it is what activates your intuition — whether you take the response you get literally or not. It is NOT a question of blind faith.

Relaxation
Studies prove that a calm state of focused relaxation is best for the function of intuition and creativity. The Visionary I Ching’s art make excellent accompaniment to any meditation or personal insight break.

Tarot.com

An Urban Pagan Manifesto (A Rant)

An Urban Pagan Manifesto (A Rant)

Author: Ruadhan J McElroy

Now I want to make it quite clear that I have nothing against people who get most of their spiritual experiences from nature or the wilderness. I think the Nichols’ Arboretum here in Ann Arbor, Michigan is a great place to take a walk, and as a Hellenic Polytheist I’ve really felt some “nymph presence” there on more than one occasion. Trees are great, as are flowers and open fields and rolling hills.

…but that’s not all that paganism is about. Trust me.

Let us take a moment to look at the etymology of the word “Pagan” for a moment: The English-language word “Pagan” is from the Latin root “paganus” which is often translated as meaning “country dweller.” Now I’ve seen some debate (usually in on-line forums) as to where the original pejorative context of “paganus” began. So far, the argument that seems to hold the most water is that it was pretty much synonymous with “mundane”, “civilian” and “hillbilly” at various points in its history.

In ancient polytheistic Rome, the “paganus” were people who lived in rural areas, generally closer to nature than those who lived in the ancient and considerably high-tech Roman cities. When Rome became Christian, the “paganus” were those who clung to the old “nature spirit” traditions out in rural areas, though it quickly became a term that was synonymous with a pejorative use of “civilian” as it came to mean anybody who was not a part of the Holy Roman army.

Now, over time, the relationship of the word “Pagan” to Christianity came to include anybody who followed a spiritual path that was non-inclusive of the God of Abraham, though typically (and for a long time) the term has generally been reserved to those whose spirituality has been linked to European pre-Christian faiths as well as Atheism and Agnosticism.

While nowadays it’s relatively common to see people refer to Hinduism and Shinto and even Buddhism as “Pagan” spiritual paths, and Atheism and Agnosticism are recognized as being distinctly different from Paganism, I’m going to stick with more traditional use.

Over time, let’s say from the crusades to the pre-Victorian, it came to be that anybody who was distinctly non-Christian and non-Jewish (at one time, Moslems were commonly referred to as “Pagan” by Christians) was called a “Pagan” – be they Atheistic or Agnostic or actually “Pagan” (as we may know it these days).

Some “Pagan” traditions even survived through Catholicism in Ireland, where the church had come to incorporate ancient rituals and deities into Catholicism as prayers and saints (furthermore, there was almost nothing in the way of witch-trials in Ireland) and in rural areas of Greece (where there were absolutely NO witch trials – the Greek Orthodox church has always been skeptical of sorcery, but when the France and Germany were having a collective cow, the Greeks pretty much just didn’t want to get involved) .

Now enter the mid-Victorian and the William Morris school of back-to-nature Romanticism of the “ancient Pagan ways” where everybody who was really spiritual way back then, before industrialization, was living in some simple house out in the woods — and through this Romanticism, cities became the antithesis of spiritual growth. There was a lot of anti-Industrialist sentiment in the Nineteenth Century, and this shows in a lot of the literature of the time.

It therefore makes sense that in that socio-political climate, the idea that “rural” people were somehow more spiritually aware would be well-accepted as fact, no matter what times those rural people depicted actually lived in – it could prove especially popular if those people were ancients and there was no way to back these facts up, since they’re all long-dead at the time of writing, and very few people had access to ancient texts.

Now in this day and age, “Pagan” has become a catch-all term for just about any spiritual person whose spirituality has no connections to the Abrahamic faiths. It’s still considerably rare to see it applied to Hinduism, Tao, Shinto, Buddhism or any other “Far East” spiritual paths, Native American/First Nations/Inuit spirituality or Australian Aboriginal spirituality, and I have never seen it applied to Zoroastrianism but in general, it’s become rather accepted that “Paganism” is more-or-less synonymous with non-Christian beliefs, often of European extraction.

This means it is applied not only to Ancient [Culture] Polytheism Reconstructionist faiths and “new” faiths more loosely based on ancient European polytheism (such as Wicca and Feri), but also to very loosely defined “nature-based” spirituality.

Now there is little, and dubious at best, evidence that ancient polytheists were any more “nature-based” than any other religious paths that have existed since. Indeed, it could be argued that the Amish are a “nature based” Christian sect (or at least “primitivist, ” when compared to the immense sprawling urban Catholic cathedrals), as the Amish have a great respect for the natural world, teach their children knowledge of sustainable crops, “live off the land” and are comparatively more self-sufficient than most of the Pagans who I personally know.

Still, I’ve encountered a high rate of pomposity amongst undoubtedly modern Pagans who continue to self-delude themselves into believing that “Paganism” and “nature-based spirituality” are somehow one-in-the-same. The two concepts are not synonymous, nor was the “Paganism” (as defined by Random House, def 1: one of a people or community observing a polytheistic religion, as the ancient Romans and Greeks) of the ancients any more nature-based then than now.

There were polytheistic city-dwellers whose primary practices were based in urban temples and their own modern (for their time) houses and apartments; they took part in regular festivals to certain deities that were sometimes held out in the woods, but to an ancient urban-dweller, there is no evidence nor any other reasons to believe that their day-to-day religious practices were any more “nature-based” than ours.

And that which we do know of the religious and spiritual practices of the paganus doesn’t show any exceptional reverence toward nature nor any tendencies to gravitate toward “nature-based” deities more than others – in fact, there is evidence that rituals to Apollon (for example) survived longer amongst rural peoples, but He is also a God of Civilization, credited with bringing Man music and literature, he was one of the Gods honored in the theatre and gymnasia (two things you would have had a hard time finding in ancient rural Greece and Rome, but at the same time, in the cities, theatre and gymnasia proved quite popular, and this is where those institutions flourished) .

Does He have His rural and agrarian aspects? Of course you would be hard-pressed to find a member of the Greek pantheon who isn’t at least somewhat important to both urban and rural life.

But to continue spreading the modern-day fallacy of the “ancient nature-based religions” does a disservice to the Pagan community at large.

While it is perfectly acceptable for modern people to find their spirituality in a manner that gives reverence, even an exceptional reverence to the “natural world, ” the dominance of and stress on “nature-based spirituality” in the modern Pagan community can, in fact, turn away many people who feel otherwise called to a polytheistic or rather, a distinctly Pagan spiritual path. Not everybody needs to give an exceptional amount of reverence to nature to be “Pagan” – in fact, the ancient Pagan Romans and Greeks were more than just the paganus — in fact, they built some of the most intricate and well-designed cities that the world has ever seen, and which we moderns still marvel over. And there is no reason to believe that those who lived and worshipped in cities were any less devout than those who maintained more humble dwellings and existences in the countryside.

The modern paganus have their place in our community, but in English, the word “Pagan” has become so much more complex than its Latin root, and that word, Pagan, has come to include a broad spectrum of non-Abrahamic spirituality. I don’t think of one kind of person when I think of “Pagans” – I think of rural moderns who grow their own herbs and grind all of their own spices with mortar and pestle and often dress in patchwork “Gypsy” skirts and peasant blouses who simply honor “Mother Earth”, I think of eclectic suburban Midwestern Wiccans who have the best of the countryside right out their back door and live less than a ten minute drive from a bustling city that gives them so many options at building a true community, and I think of modern urban ecstatic Dionysian performance artists playing the Pan flute in galleries and on busy boulevards.

I also think of Apollonian concert cellists and novelists. I think of ceremonial magicians living in a converted warehouse loft where they also hold ritual. I think of Dianics who give lectures at universities and distribute self-published newsletters from their tiny Manhattan efficiencies and write regular columns for Ms. And Bitch magazines. I think of Fiona Horne in Los Angeles, I think of the band MT-TV from London, and I think of Faith and the Muse, who are from Los Angeles and Washington D.C. respectively, and are currently based in Hollywood, California.

And ultimately, I think of myself: an artist, musician and writer born and raised in metro-Detroit; a modern ecstatic mystic Hellenic Pagan, working with quasi-Reconstructionist principles, who has designated himself a cultist to Apollon, Hermes, Dionysos, Eros, Pan (yes, Pan!) and Hecate (and not to mention possibly the only person in Michigan with a shrine to Narkissos), who has a place in his kitchen with offerings for Hestia, Zeus and Demeter and a hand-painted caduceus to Hermes (appropriately) on his messenger-bag; who maintains wall-shrines to the Dawn, Sun, Moon and Stars, Seasons and Days; and who will never cease being amused at the exclamations made by friends and acquaintances of “oh my, I never would have guessed that you were a Pagan! You’re just so involved in city life!”

Who Inherits Your Knowledge?

Who Inherits Your Knowledge?

Author: Lady GoldenRaven

Here is a thought: For us older wytchs, have you ever thought about who you will pass down your wytchy items to when your time comes to cross over? By the time we hit our “golden years”, most of us have amassed a rather large collection of books, articles, herbs, oils, etc. So where does it go?

We have thought about how we divide up the money we leave for our children, which one gets the house and this one gets the car. But, has anyone given thought to the wealth of knowledge we have put into our Book of Shadows?

Who gets the special oils you created? What becomes of the beautiful staff and wand we created with our own hands?

Do we leave our sacred Book of Shadows to our covens?

Is there a special child or friend who will use this information wisely and keep its secrets to themselves?

Has anyone thought of donating them to the military or some other organization?

Will they find their rightful owners or will they end up in the trash or floating around space with all the missing socks.

As I approach my Crone years and since I have taught many students in the ways of the Wise, I have often thought about leaving my stuff to one of them. However, several of my students have been online. It would be hard to leave my trusted Book of Shadows to any of them, since I have only had little contact with them. So, that leaves the students I taught in person, who are now either in my coven or have moved on.

However, I am lucky. I recently met a woman who is 25 years old. She and I have become really close friends. She had several pagan friends (who are also my friends) who had taught her a little bit about their path.

She calls me Mama Beth, since I am older and she can talk to me about things one cannot talk to about with her real parents. Since I have no children of my own, she is now my adopted daughter. She is serious about her learning of the craft, so I am now teaching her my ways.

I thought long and hard about whom would be heir to my wytchy fortune. I do not own a home, so all I have to pass along is my wytchy stuff, my Led Zeppelin/Robert Plant collection, and my car.

All that has been decided. And now, I have made my decision as to where my Book of Shadows and the rest of my stuff shall go. My daughter shall be heir to all I have in my Wytchy World. I have such a huge collection of books on the subject that is would fill two walls!

I started thinking about this when a friend of mine nearly died a few months ago in a terrible accident. I put much thought and many hours of thought into this decision. Once I decided, I made my intentions clear.

When I told Debbie of my decision, I thought she would never stop crying. She was happy yet sad. It was something she did not want to think about.

Well, nobody wants to think about such things, but you must. She is the only one allowed to even touch my Book of Shadows, let alone look in it to read from it. She has come over for her lessons on time every time. She is learning the Craft well. Most of all–I TRUST HER.

Now, I don’t know about you, but I surely do not want my Book of Shadows, which I spent many hours working on, ending up in a dumpster somewhere. I wrote every word in that book in calligraphy. If anything, it is a piece of art. For one, I have the fortune of having bought a grand Book of Shadows from a great company called Brahm’s Bookworks (link enclosed at the end), which is like the one you see on the show Charmed. Mine weighs over 30 pounds. Now you see why I do not want it simply dumped in the trash.

Who do I know who would appreciate this? My daughter!

Where will the hundreds of jars of herbs end up? Herbs that I lovingly planted, nurtured, and harvested. I have many bottles of oils which I have made, not to mention the holistic medicines I have made from all the above.

My staff, which I lovingly hand picked, designed by me for me, blessed and consecrated and has become a part of me, I do not want to end up in a burn pile somewhere as trash. If, my daughter chooses to burn it in memory of me so that none can use my “magickal” staff, then so be it.

A few of my friends may end up with a few things–some of the herbs and oils and such. My stones and all I promised to a friend who also makes jewelry. So he can use what he wants for wytchy works and pick what he needs for jewelry.

Of course, some things, I can leave to the world via the net. Some of this I have accomplished already. But face it, out in the world of Cyberspace, one cannot be too sure of who they are dealing with. A lot of my stuff is found and will be found as I continue, on Pathways Seminary.

But, I thought I would offer up this little essay as a reminder to all not to forget about whom you will leave your most precious Wytchy wears to. Since the baby boomers are now into their Crone years or close to it as I am, there are a lot of us pagans who belong to this age group.

So while you are sitting there, making out your wills, reserve space and time to have it in writing, to whom you are passing down your religious and magickal items to. I know, whomever ends up with them shall appreciate both the deep thought you put into giving it to them, as well as appreciating the work you did, and all the knowledge contained within these items.

I am happy that I know where my knowledge is going to be used and appreciated.

Thank you,
LadyGoldenraven


Footnotes:
Link to Book of Shadows: http://www.brahmsbookworks.com/id2.html

In Defense of the Practice of Magic

In Defense of the Practice of Magic

Author: Lupa

You don’t have to practice magic to be a good pagan. In fact, you can theoretically go your entire life without casting a spell or performing a magical rite.

However, over the years I’ve seen a recurrence in the idea that not practicing magic is the superior decision. The general attitude seems to be somewhere along the lines of “I don’t practice magic—I just use mundane solutions instead of wasting my time!” A variation on this is “You’re not supposed to work magic for mundane and/or selfish purposes”. And there’s even “Don’t work magic when you don’t need to—you don’t want to overburden the gods!” I’ve also heard the sentiment that “Magic is a crutch, and if you think you need it then you’re too dependent on it”.

I would imagine that the roots of these attitudes are embedded in the fact that when some newbies to paganism are first getting started, they’re totally enamored of the idea of casting spells and whatnot. They get the idea that magic can solve all of their problems, and so dive right in. For them, religion is something they learn about later, only after the shiny newness of “I’m a witch!” wears off, and they get a little better idea of what paganism is about besides magic.

Since this is so common among newcomers, I would guess that at least some people who exhibit anti-magic attitudes are doing so in order to seem more experienced and mature. It resembles, in my mind, the child who puts his/her toys aside in an attempt to seem more grown-up.

This isn’t to say that everyone who doesn’t practice magic is just posturing. However, I’d like to address the attitudes that I’ve mentioned.

–I don’t practice magic—I just use mundane solutions instead of wasting my time

Okay, admittedly you don’t want to only use magic to get something done in this world. The clichéd example is the job seeker who casts a spell but then doesn’t go out and job hunt, instead waiting for work to miraculously fall into his/her lap. However, magic is a tool that can be used to augment mundane actions.

A well-executed ritual can increase the probability of success in mundane affairs. Don’t view the magic as something separate from your “real world” efforts; rather, see them all as complementary to each other.

Magic isn’t some detached, spooky force with no bearing on physical reality. Rather, it’s a practice that involves seemingly casual events joined together to create change. Whether you see this as manipulating invisible energies, asking for help from the Divine, or simply changing your psychological outlook on a particular issue, it has just as much relevance to everyday life as any mundane activities.

The methods and mechanics of magic may not be as obvious or as widely accepted, but I don’t see them as being superior or inferior to mundane actions.

— You’re not supposed to work magic for mundane and/or selfish purposes

I’m not sure where this one came from. If you look at magic throughout history, it has primarily been used for everyday issues affecting the individual. Whether that individual worked the magic him/herself or asked someone else to do so, practical magic for common problems has been prevalent for quite some time.

A study of folklore, witchcraft and related topics throughout history shows an abundance of spells and charms for love, money, health and other such concerns. While there’s also been plenty of magic designed to help the individual ascend to higher planes of reality, there’s no denying the strong interest in cultures around the world in using magic to make this reality better to live in.

And that includes “selfish” magic.

If you have a headache, you take a painkiller of some sort. If you need money, you find a better job or take out a loan. If you’re lonely, you find people to hang out with. What’s wrong with using magic to augment these things? The “no selfish magic” idea strikes me as rather Puritanical, not to mention incredibly impractical.

I’m assuming that if you’re not supposed to do magic for yourself, you instead work it for others. How are you supposed to help other people if your life is a mess? Would you get financial advice from a broker who was declaring bankruptcy? How about relationship advice from someone who’s been through eight divorces in ten years?

No one has ever been able to give me a solid reason why it’s such a bad thing to work magic on my own behalf; people who are going to be selfish to the point of harming others are going to be that way regardless of whether they have access to magic or not.

I also don’t fool myself into thinking that denying myself automatically makes me a more virtuous person. Personally, if I’m going to make the conscious effort to improve my life, I’m going to use every tool at my disposal, which includes magic. Which brings me to the final point I’d like to address…

— Don’t work magic when you don’t need to—you don’t want to overburden the gods

For some people, magic is inextricably bound to spirituality. When they cast a spell or otherwise work magic, they expect that some deity or spirit is going to make the magic work for them. With such a belief, I can see why they might want to avoid asking too much of the entities they work with. Granted, it’s quite possible for someone of a dependent nature to get to the point where s/he feels that s/he can’t do anything without divine intervention, but this is an extreme case.

Magic doesn’t have to involve deities and spirits if you don’t want it to. We’re quite capable of working magic by our own wills. If you’re that concerned that you’re asking too much of your deities, then just do the work yourself.

I’ve found, from my own experience, that the spirits I work with the most (totem animals in particular) actually appreciate it when I put forth the effort myself to the best of my ability. They know that if I do call on them for help, it’s because I really need it. “The Gods help those who help themselves”.

— Magic is a crutch, and if you think you need it then you’re too dependent on it

Anything can be a crutch if you allow it to be. Yes, there are the people who think that magic alone will solve any problems they have (even though they continue to have those same problems). However, this shouldn’t be taken as proof that magic itself is more likely to become a crutch than, say, religious fundamentalism.

I’ve known pagans who allowed their spiritual beliefs to completely take over their lives (without the practice of magic, mind you). People can get obsessed about literally anything; it doesn’t necessarily mean that what they’re obsessed over is what’s at fault.

Those of who practice magic on a regular basis aren’t necessarily obsessed. I practice magic because it’s beneficial, and because I really enjoy the experience. I can act quite well without it; I don’t cast a spell for every single thing in my day. But it’s an effective method of furthering my actions, and I use it when I think it’s warranted. If I find that it’s warranted on a regular basis, that doesn’t make me obsessed. It just makes me a magician.

In the end, it’s a personal choice. If you don’t want to work magic, that’s fine. Nobody’s forcing you. And for some people, it’s just not a necessary part of their lives. However, I really recommend against looking down on those of us who do work magic on a regular basis.

I’ve been able to use it to improve my life (along with mundane actions) in numerous ways, and intend to continue to do so. I believe that there’s absolutely no reason I shouldn’t be allowed to be happy, and I certainly don’t think it’s selfish to want that.