Tag: Devil

Today’s Tarot Card for December 21 is The Devil

The Devil

This Tarot Deck: Folklore

General Meaning: What has traditionally been known as the Devil card expresses the realm of the Taboo, the culturally rejected wildness and undigested shadow side that each of us carries in our subconscious. This shadow is actually at the core of our being, which we cannot get rid of and will never succeed in taming. From its earliest versions, which portrayed a vampire-demon, this card evoked the Church-fueled fear that a person could “lose their soul” to wild and passionate forces.

The image which emerged in the mid-1700’s gives us a more sophisticated rendition — that of the “scapegoated Goddess,” whose esoteric name is Baphomet. Volcanic reserves of passion and primal desire empower her efforts to overcome the pressure of stereotyped roles and experience true freedom of soul. Tavaglione’s highly evolved image (Stella deck) portrays the magical formula for harnessing and transmuting primal and obsessive emotions into transformative energies. As a part of the Gnostic message of Tarot, this fearsome passion and power must be reintegrated into the personality, to fuel the soul’s passage from mortal to immortal.

Today’s Tarot Card for December 8th is The Magician

The Magician

This Tarot Deck: Winged Spirit Tarot

General Meaning: Traditionally, the Magus is one who can demonstrate hands-on magic — as in healing, transformative rituals, alchemical transmutations, charging of talismans and the like. A modern Magus is any person who completes the circuit between heaven and Earth, one who seeks to bring forth the divine ‘gold’ within her or himself.

At the birth of Tarot, even a gifted healer who was not an ordained clergyman was considered to be in league with the Devil! For obvious reasons, the line between fooling the eye with sleight of hand, and charging the world with magical will was not clearly differentiated in the early Tarot cards.

Waite’s image of the Magus as the solitary ritualist communing with the spirits of the elements — with its formal arrangement of symbols and postures — is a token of the freedom we have in modern times to declare our spiritual politics without fear of reprisal. The older cards were never so explicit about what the Magus was doing. It’s best to keep your imagination open with this card. Visualize yourself manifesting something unique, guided by evolutionary forces that emerge spontaneously from within your soul.

Today’s Tarot Card for November 18th is The Magician

The Magician

This Tarot Deck: Cat People

General Meaning: Traditionally, the Magus is one who can demonstrate hands-on magic — as in healing, transformative rituals, alchemical transmutations, charging of talismans and the like. A modern Magus is any person who completes the circuit between heaven and Earth, one who seeks to bring forth the divine ‘gold’ within her or himself.

At the birth of Tarot, even a gifted healer who was not an ordained clergyman was considered to be in league with the Devil! For obvious reasons, the line between fooling the eye with sleight of hand, and charging the world with magical will was not clearly differentiated in the early Tarot cards.

Waite’s image of the Magus as the solitary ritualist communing with the spirits of the elements — with its formal arrangement of symbols and postures — is a token of the freedom we have in modern times to declare our spiritual politics without fear of reprisal. The older cards were never so explicit about what the Magus was doing. It’s best to keep your imagination open with this card. Visualize yourself manifesting something unique, guided by evolutionary forces that emerge spontaneously from within your soul.

Today’s Tarot Card for November 11th is The Devil

The Devil

This Tarot Deck: Folklore

General Meaning: What has traditionally been known as the Devil card expresses the realm of the Taboo, the culturally rejected wildness and undigested shadow side that each of us carries in our subconscious. This shadow is actually at the core of our being, which we cannot get rid of and will never succeed in taming. From its earliest versions, which portrayed a vampire-demon, this card evoked the Church-fueled fear that a person could “lose their soul” to wild and passionate forces.

The image which emerged in the mid-1700’s gives us a more sophisticated rendition — that of the “scapegoated Goddess,” whose esoteric name is Baphomet. Volcanic reserves of passion and primal desire empower her efforts to overcome the pressure of stereotyped roles and experience true freedom of soul. Tavaglione’s highly evolved image (Stella deck) portrays the magical formula for harnessing and transmuting primal and obsessive emotions into transformative energies. As a part of the Gnostic message of Tarot, this fearsome passion and power must be reintegrated into the personality, to fuel the soul’s passage from mortal to immortal.

My Black Kitty

My Black Kitty

Author: Zodiac

I remember the first time I got a black cat. I was three or four years old and my uncle worked at a dairy farm. One day he found a black cat trying to steal some of the cream. He brought me out to his place to work and I took the cat home.

Although the cat was a she, I named it “Tio” which means “Uncle” in Spanish. I loved my black kitty with all my heart. My mother recalls times when I was clumsily carrying Tio around and the cat would scratch me because I was being too rough. Despite my crying, I told her not to yell at Tio.

Unfortunately it turned out that my father was allergic to the cat. Although he liked Tio too, we had to give the cat away. I cried and cried. My tender four-year-old heart broken.

It would be 21 years before I would get another cat. This time a yellow beast for Christmas from my wife. I loved the new animal, but still longed for pet of my youth: a black cat.

Imagine my surprise when I went to the pound. The first thing I discovered was that black cats were hard to get adopted. The second thing that surprised me was that most shelters don’t adopt black cats during the month of October.

I had considered the superstition surrounded the black cat. How a black cat crossing your path is unlucky is a common theme in children’s cartoons. And as a joke, I even named my black cat “Dreizehn” meaning “Thirteen” in German. But I never imagined how seriously it was taken. There is something strange that in the modern day when people are taught not to judge by things like skin pigmentation that the black cat would be stigmatized. After all, any biologist could tell you that a cat’s colorations are caused by the same biochemicals. Why the hate?

Believe it or not, originally black cats were considered lucky. The Pagan Egyptians worshipped Bast a Goddess who would appear as a (you guessed it) black cat. When the animal “crossed your path”, it meant the Goddess was watching you and protecting you. One could tell the Goddess apart from other black cats because she would always appear as a completely solid black cat. (Dreizehn is not the Goddess. He has white hairs in his otherwise glossy coat, but I digress.)

The Pagan Egyptians decided not to take any chances. Killing a cat was illegal in those times. The crime was taken so seriously that the punishment was death. Moreover they built an entire city to the cats. Worshippers would travel from miles away to bring offerings of milk and food.

Okay so where did all this unlucky stuff come from? Well a new religion called “Christianity” began to move in to the region. To the Christians all Pagan deities were the Devil or his Demons. They began to convert the population and the old Gods began to be rejected. Now suddenly a black cat following you around was a Demon trying to drag you body back to the cult and your soul to Hell. Like the Egyptians, the Christians weren’t going to risk it – only this time they were out to get rid of black cats.

The poor animals were condemned all because of their fur.

It’s strange because a later cult called “Islam” would once again revere the cat, black ones included. When Mohammed wandered the lonely deserts it was the wild cats that kept him company. There are stories of Mohammed cutting the sleeves off of his robes rather than disturb his sleeping feline pets. And from what I understand, it is against Islamic law to chase a cat from a Mosque.

But these are the customs of the Middle East where most people consider themselves Muslims. Not the West where most people consider themselves Christians.

So the black cat has to live with its reputation as a partner in Satan’s conspiracy to pull us all down. Which is strange because I guess “Satanists” sacrifice black cats on Halloween. I put Satanists in quotes, because I’m pretty sure these people are mostly stupid, mean teenagers trying to look cool for their friends. And it makes me want to VOMIT.

It somehow seems unjust that I had to give up my black kitty when I was four and live the rest of my life with a broken heart meanwhile some turd out there is killing their cat for fun. (My good Christian neighbors would probably fall out of their chairs if they read that I a witch of all people was advising not to sacrifice animals. But I digress again.)

Today I own several cats. Dreizehn is not too different from any of them. Maybe more set in his ways. He really likes being a house cat. He has a set routine that he likes. Dreizehn wants his canned kitty food at the same time.

We used to take him to a vet that specializes in cats. They told us that he has some of the softest fur they’ve ever seen. He also has these gold eyes. Just like the in the kids cartoons, when he’s in the dark all you can see is the two quarter sized discs staring out at you.

And like the Halloween decoration, I’ve seen him arch his back and put out his claws – but that was usually because he was leaning in to one of my pats. And I’ve seen him snarl and hiss, but that’s because I was trying to move him from the softest, warmest place on the bed and he didn’t want to move. And I’ve seen him skulk in the shadows, but that’s because he was hiding from the dog. And just like every other cat I own, there are times when he coughs up hairballs and misses the litterbox. But none of these things has ever made me want to hurt him.

My Dreizehn kitty is a loyal friend and a great companion. He seems to sense when I’m sad and comes running to my lap when I’m down. Dreizehn came running in to greet my son when we first came home from the hospital. Dreizehn jumped in the crib, took that “I approve” cat look and just purred and purred. Even today when my son cries out in pain or sadness, the black cat is usually the first one on the scene.

He’s one of the best pets and best friends I’ve ever had. If more people could just look past the silly superstitions, they’d learn that too.

UNCROSSING AND CROSSING SPELLS

UNCROSSING AND CROSSING SPELLS

Ingredients

If you have been having bad luck for a long time or are suffering from an unnatural illness
but you have no known enemy and no one has ever openly declared themselves against
you, you may have been crossed or jinxed, or someone has put roots on you. You may not
know who did it…but you may suspect and even be able to remember how it was done.
One common way to cross someone is to sprinkle Crossing Powder, Hot Foot Powder, or
Goofer Dust across their trackway or doorstep, or dress their socks or shoes.
Another way to fix a person is to get something personal of theirs and stop it up in a bottle
with roots and nails, pins, or needles. Your hair may have been gotten this way, or a piece
of your clothing, or your personal concerns. This trick may have been done to you by an
enemy to control you, dominate you, or get revenge on you by destroying your happiness
in love and money matters.
If you want to undo this sort of work, it helps to know who put the jinx on you so you can
call their name back at them, but even if you don’t know who did it or how it was done,
there are things you can do to take off the jinx.
Check around your home and see if you can find something that anyone could have
secretly put there to jinx you, like burying something in your front yard. If you find
something, like a bottle with personal effects, roots, or hairs in it, dig it up and burn it
or throw it away in running water. Even if you can’t find such a thing, you may have
been fixed with some mess sprinkled on your food or on your shoes.
You need to get 2 white offertory candles for uncrossing and some Uncrossing oil to dress them.
Also, and this is important, before lighting the candles, take a bath in some purifying
herbs or Uncrossing type bath preparation. The hyssop herb bath is something you
can make up yourself from hyssop leaves or you can buy ready-made Uncrossing
Bath Crystals with Hyssop, or — for a really strong job — you can use the 13 Herb
Spiritual Bath, which contains hyssop and 12 other uncrossing herbs.
Use 13 packets of 13 Herb Spiritual Bath and take a bath every morning for a
total of 13 days to clear away a really bad jinx. Hyssop is what is recommended
for purification. Call upon the deity of your choice.
To prepare the bath, you either brew up the herbs into a tea and strain it or dissolve
the mineral crystals in warm water. Then you recite an uncrossing spell of your choice
as you pour the bath water over your head. If you are taking the 13 Herb Bath, you
pour the water and recite your prayer13 times for each morning’s bath.
When you have finished the bath, step out of the tub and light the 2 white candles
that have been dressed with Uncrossing Oil. Stand between the candles. Do not dry
yourself with a towel — let the bath water dry on you in the air as the candles burn

Procedure

Recite voice your request in your own words that the jinx be lifted and the one who
put it on you be struck down. Pinch out the candles (don’t blow them out) if you intend
to work this spell for the full 13 days. If you do ill only be doing it for one day, just
let the candles burn until they go out, no matter how long that takes.
After taking this bath, some people then use the remaining bath water to wash down
their floors and especially the doorstep of the house. Mix the bath water into a bucket
with some Chinese Wash to make it even stronger. Wash from the back of the premises
to the front. Sweep out the front doorway area while the floor is still wet. Once you are
done with the wash water, carry whatever remains out of the house and pour it on the
ground outside (not down the drain).
Do this every morning upon awakening — bathing, praying, lighting the white candles,
and washing down the house — for 13 days and this will bring you relief from crossed conditions.
If you know who has put this crossed condition on you and you want to reverse the spell
onto them, the best thing to hope for is to find the mess they put down — whether that be
powders, a doll, or a bottle spell. If you find it, just burn it all up or throw it into running water.
Not only will this take the root work off of you, it will send it back to the one who sent it.
Most times, unfortunately, you will not be able to find what they put down to hurt you.
In that case, one well-known way to reverse their work back onto them is to burn a black
candle on their name (putting their name on a paper beneath an overturned saucer under
the candle) or carve their name on the candle. If you use a black candle in the figure of the
Devil and carve their name on it, dress it with Cast Off Evil Oil and things will go harder with them.
If you don’t know the name of the person who did this trick to you, carve the words “My Enemy”
on the candle. Burn the black candle on the toilet tank, a little bit each night, pinching it out
between burnings. Burn it while the moon is growing smaller — and on the dark of the moon,
the darkest night of the month, turn the burning black candle upside down and extinguish
it in the toilet bowl, saying “Thus will you, [name of enemy], meet your fate!”
Throw the remaining black candle stub and wax into a crossroads — or into the yard of the
person who had put the roots on you or jinxed you.

Today’s Tarot Card for October 29 is The Magician

The Magician

This Tarot Deck: Winged Spirit Tarot

General Meaning: Traditionally, the Magus is one who can demonstrate hands-on magic — as in healing, transformative rituals, alchemical transmutations, charging of talismans and the like. A modern Magus is any person who completes the circuit between heaven and Earth, one who seeks to bring forth the divine ‘gold’ within her or himself.

At the birth of Tarot, even a gifted healer who was not an ordained clergyman was considered to be in league with the Devil! For obvious reasons, the line between fooling the eye with sleight of hand, and charging the world with magical will was not clearly differentiated in the early Tarot cards.

Waite’s image of the Magus as the solitary ritualist communing with the spirits of the elements — with its formal arrangement of symbols and postures — is a token of the freedom we have in modern times to declare our spiritual politics without fear of reprisal. The older cards were never so explicit about what the Magus was doing. It’s best to keep your imagination open with this card. Visualize yourself manifesting something unique, guided by evolutionary forces that emerge spontaneously from within your soul.

Today’s Tarot Card for October 22nd is The Devil

The Devil

This Tarot Deck: Hanson Roberts

General Meaning: What has traditionally been known as the Devil card expresses the realm of the Taboo, the culturally rejected wildness and undigested shadow side that each of us carries in our subconscious. This shadow is actually at the core of our being, which we cannot get rid of and will never succeed in taming. From its earliest versions, which portrayed a vampire-demon, this card evoked the Church-fueled fear that a person could “lose their soul” to wild and passionate forces.

The image which emerged in the mid-1700’s gives us a more sophisticated rendition — that of the “scapegoated Goddess,” whose esoteric name is Baphomet. Volcanic reserves of passion and primal desire empower her efforts to overcome the pressure of stereotyped roles and experience true freedom of soul. Tavaglione’s highly evolved image (Stella deck) portrays the magical formula for harnessing and transmuting primal and obsessive emotions into transformative energies. As a part of the Gnostic message of Tarot, this fearsome passion and power must be reintegrated into the personality, to fuel the soul’s passage from mortal to immortal.

Herb of the Day for October 11th – Dodder

Dodder

Folk Names:  Beggarweed, Devil’s Guts, Fireweed, Hellweed, Lady’s Lace, Love Vine, Scaldweed, Strangletare, Witches’ Hair

Gender:  Feminine

Planet:  Saturn

Element:  Water

Powers:  Love Divination, Knot Magick

Magickal Uses:  Pluck the dodder throw it over the shoulder, back onto the host plant (dodder is a parasite), and then return to the plant the next day. If the dodder has attached itself to the plant again, the person in question loves you. If not, no.

Use the “laces”as cords for knot magick (don’t tie the knots too tightly).

Cunningham’s Encyclopedia of Magical Herbs
Scott Cunningham

Today’s Tarot Card for October 9th is The Magician

The Magician

This Tarot Deck: Cat People

General Meaning: Traditionally, the Magus is one who can demonstrate hands-on magic — as in healing, transformative rituals, alchemical transmutations, charging of talismans and the like. A modern Magus is any person who completes the circuit between heaven and Earth, one who seeks to bring forth the divine ‘gold’ within her or himself.

At the birth of Tarot, even a gifted healer who was not an ordained clergyman was considered to be in league with the Devil! For obvious reasons, the line between fooling the eye with sleight of hand, and charging the world with magical will was not clearly differentiated in the early Tarot cards.

Waite’s image of the Magus as the solitary ritualist communing with the spirits of the elements — with its formal arrangement of symbols and postures — is a token of the freedom we have in modern times to declare our spiritual politics without fear of reprisal. The older cards were never so explicit about what the Magus was doing. It’s best to keep your imagination open with this card. Visualize yourself manifesting something unique, guided by evolutionary forces that emerge spontaneously from within your soul.

Today’s Tarot Card for October 2nd is The Devil

The Devil

This Tarot Deck: Folklore

General Meaning:What has traditionally been known as the Devil card expresses the realm of the Taboo, the culturally rejected wildness and undigested shadow side that each of us carries in our subconscious. This shadow is actually at the core of our being, which we cannot get rid of and will never succeed in taming. From its earliest versions, which portrayed a vampire-demon, this card evoked the Church-fueled fear that a person could “lose their soul” to wild and passionate forces.The image which emerged in the mid-1700’s gives us a more sophisticated rendition — that of the “scapegoated Goddess,” whose esoteric name is Baphomet. Volcanic reserves of passion and primal desire empower her efforts to overcome the pressure of stereotyped roles and experience true freedom of soul. Tavaglione’s highly evolved image (Stella deck) portrays the magical formula for harnessing and transmuting primal and obsessive emotions into transformative energies. As a part of the Gnostic message of Tarot, this fearsome passion and power must be reintegrated into the personality, to fuel the soul’s passage from mortal to immortal.

Today’s Tarot Card for Sept. 12 is The Devil

The Devil

This Tarot Deck: Hanson Roberts

General Meaning: What has traditionally been known as the Devil card expresses the realm of the Taboo, the culturally rejected wildness and undigested shadow side that each of us carries in our subconscious. This shadow is actually at the core of our being, which we cannot get rid of and will never succeed in taming. From its earliest versions, which portrayed a vampire-demon, this card evoked the Church-fueled fear that a person could “lose their soul” to wild and passionate forces.

The image which emerged in the mid-1700’s gives us a more sophisticated rendition — that of the “scapegoated Goddess,” whose esoteric name is Baphomet. Volcanic reserves of passion and primal desire empower her efforts to overcome the pressure of stereotyped roles and experience true freedom of soul. Tavaglione’s highly evolved image (Stella deck) portrays the magical formula for harnessing and transmuting primal and obsessive emotions into transformative energies. As a part of the Gnostic message of Tarot, this fearsome passion and power must be reintegrated into the personality, to fuel the soul’s passage from mortal to immortal.

Today’s Tarot Card for August 30th is The Magician

The Magician

This Tarot Deck: Cat People

General Meaning: Traditionally, the Magus is one who can demonstrate hands-on magic — as in healing, transformative rituals, alchemical transmutations, charging of talismans and the like. A modern Magus is any person who completes the circuit between heaven and Earth, one who seeks to bring forth the divine ‘gold’ within her or himself.

At the birth of Tarot, even a gifted healer who was not an ordained clergyman was considered to be in league with the Devil! For obvious reasons, the line between fooling the eye with sleight of hand, and charging the world with magical will was not clearly differentiated in the early Tarot cards.

Waite’s image of the Magus as the solitary ritualist communing with the spirits of the elements — with its formal arrangement of symbols and postures — is a token of the freedom we have in modern times to declare our spiritual politics without fear of reprisal. The older cards were never so explicit about what the Magus was doing. It’s best to keep your imagination open with this card. Visualize yourself manifesting something unique, guided by evolutionary forces that emerge spontaneously from within your soul.

Today’s Tarot Card for August 23 is The Devil

The Devil

This Tarot Deck: Folklore

General Meaning: What has traditionally been known as the Devil card expresses the realm of the Taboo, the culturally rejected wildness and undigested shadow side that each of us carries in our subconscious. This shadow is actually at the core of our being, which we cannot get rid of and will never succeed in taming. From its earliest versions, which portrayed a vampire-demon, this card evoked the Church-fueled fear that a person could “lose their soul” to wild and passionate forces.

The image which emerged in the mid-1700’s gives us a more sophisticated rendition — that of the “scapegoated Goddess,” whose esoteric name is Baphomet. Volcanic reserves of passion and primal desire empower her efforts to overcome the pressure of stereotyped roles and experience true freedom of soul. Tavaglione’s highly evolved image (Stella deck) portrays the magical formula for harnessing and transmuting primal and obsessive emotions into transformative energies. As a part of the Gnostic message of Tarot, this fearsome passion and power must be reintegrated into the personality, to fuel the soul’s passage from mortal to immortal.

ANIMALS IN WITCHCRAFT

ANIMALS IN WITCHCRAFT

ANIMALS IN WITCHCRAFT-ANIMALS ON TRIAL

Witches and Cats

Locust on Trial

The Animals of Salem

The Animals of Finnish Witchtrials

The Trials of Familiars

Familiars of the Chelmesford witches
——————————————————————————–
——————————————————————————–
WITCHES AND CATS

“The rise of Christianity in Europe heralded a fundamental shift in attitudes to
cats. During the Middle Ages, the cat’s links with the ancient, pagan cult of
the mother goddess inspired a wave of persecution that lasted several hundred
years. Branded as agents of the Devil, and the chosen companions of witches and
necromancers, cats, especially black ones, were enthusiastically tortured and
executed during Christian festivals all over Europe. It was also believed that
witches disguised themselves as cats as a means of traveling around incognito,
so anyone encountering a stray cat at night felt obliged to try and kill or maim
the animal. By teaching people to associate cats with the Devil and bad luck,
it appears that the Church provided the underprivileged and superstitious masses
with a sort of universal scapegoat, something to blame for all of the many
hardships and misfortunes of life. Fortunately for cats, such attitudes began
to disappear gradually during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries with the
dawn of the so-called Age of Enlightenment. However, not until the middle of
the nineteenth century did cats eventually begin to regain the popularity they
once enjoyed in Ancient Egypt.”

********************************************************************

LOCUST ON TRIAL

The discussion so far has put me in mind of a terrific book I once read on
European animal trials, which were conducted up until I think the 17th century.
One example especially pertinent to the topic at hand: if a plague of
caterpillars or locusts or whatever infested an area, the local legal community
would put the swarm on trial. A locust would be captured and taken to the
courthouse. It would become the “defendant” , and would in effect stand-in for
the whole swarm. The trial would be conducted with all pomp and circumstance,
with a lawyer appointed to represent the swarm and etc. There were a number of
standard defensive strategies, and sometimes the swarm was even judged innocent
if their lawyer was especially able. If judged guilty, however, the locusts
were ordered to get out of town. If the infestation abated, the trial was given
credit. If the infestation continued, this does not appear to have been seen as
an argument against conducting animal trials in the future. I trust the
resemblance to the raindance ceremony is fairly clear here.

The author of the book (I cannot recall the title or author; I remember that it
was published in the early 1900s and the cover shows a reproduction of an old
print, portraying the public execution of a pig by hanging) argues that such
trials are an attempt by the human community to intervene in the natural order,
to exert its will over the world. I think this is a pretty insightful comment.

“Exerting human will over the world” could serve as a definition of the goal
of science. Bacon sometimes describes science as the human “conquest” of
nature, and certainly many modern critiques of science (feminist, for example)
have taken this to be the self-defined goal of scientific inquiry. I’m not
arguing for the ultimate truth of this particular position, but on the other
hand if you look at things along these lines than certain aspects of religious
and scientific thought seem to be closely related, at least in their purpose.
Bacon’s studies of heat are supposed to yield a (universal) process for making
heat, the shaman leading a raindance is trying to make it rain, the animal trial
is an attempt to bring the plague to an end etc.

Note that the various rituals used for bringing about these interventions don’t
have to work very well in each case for the ritual to be accepted within the
community. The community may simply accept that human powers are limited in
what they can accomplish. I believe that within alchemical studies this was a
common view; even if all the processes were carried out correctly, you might
still not create gold from lead or whatever, and in fact usually would not.
Note also that the ritual might have multiple functions within the community.
The rain-dance both be used for bringing rain and bringing about group
solidarity. These are not mutually exclusive. Again, I have read something
similar with respect to alchemical procedures; that the alchemist “purifying”
metals with his various tools is also going through a process of spiritual
purification. And certainly the animal trial, even if it does not drive out the
infestation, makes the community feel better. The community is “doing
something” about its situation, even if its acts are ineffective.

I also like the animal trial example because it muddies the waters here in
interesting ways. The conversation to date has concerned itself with
comparing/contrasting religious/scientific thought. Yet here we see legal
institutions using their procedures in a way that suggests a religious ritual.
Conversations on the distinctions/similarities between legal and religious
thought, and legal and scientific thought, would also be good to have.

************************************************************
THE ANIMALS OF SALEM

Salem Story: Reading the Witch Trials of 1692 by Bernard Rosenthal Cambridge
University Press 1993

p.18 John Hughes, while testifying about seeing beast transform into Sarah
Good, Sarah Osborne, and Tituba, also mentions that on March 2 “a great white
dog followed him and then disappeared, and then that night in bed he saw a great
light and a cat at the foot of his bed.” (from Narratives of the WC Cases 1648-
1706 ed. G. LO. Burr)

p.21 Tituba’s testimony included many animals…black dog/hog/man/yellow bird
told her to serve him; yellow bird was accompanying Sarah Good (who had already
given accusers legitimacy); also said she saw a cat with Good on other occasions

p.22 T. saw 2 cats, black and red. “What did the cats do? Tituba did not
know. Had the cats hurt or threatened her? They had scratched her. What had
they wanted of her? They had wanted her to hurt the children. They had forced
her to pinch the children. Did the cats suck Tituba? No, she would not let
them.”

p.82 Bridget Bishop (owner of shuffle-board and cider teenage hangout) was
testified against by Wonn, slave of John Ingerson. He “told a story of
frightened horses, the vanishing shape of B.B. (at the time B. Oliver), the
appearance of an unknown cat, and mysterious pinchings and pain.”

p.124 Martha Carrier: 7 yr. old daughter Sarah was induced to confess that “a
cat, identifying itself as M. C., had carried Sarah along to afflict people when
her mother was in prison.”

**********************************************************

THE ANIMALS OF FINNISH WITCHTRIALS

I have studied over 1200 finish witch trials 1520-1700 (with PD Marko Nenonen)
and there is a certain role of animals. “Para” was a small “cat-like” animal,
used to steal milk and a butter called cow lucky especially in swedish
speaking west coast in Finland. The “Para” was not found out by judges, but it
had a long folk tradition. There are many examples where a neighboug was
accusing another by stealing “butter lucky” with “para”.

“Para” is just the same “trollcat” as it was in Sweden and Norway. You can
find “Para” in court protocolls in western part (Swedish speaking part) in
Finland (1520-1600), but not in finnish speaking parts on the country. So
“Para” can’t be shamanistic (Lappland) phenomenom, but it surely is known all
parts of Scandinavia.

As time goes, You could find “Para” in finnish speaking areas too, but in in
1500-1700. So we have learned it from swedish speaking people.

But, as we are dealing with animals, you can find other animals than “trollcat”
too. We have cases with “trolldog” which I mean the Devil with a shape of a
dog. Some of our accused had meet the devil with a shape of a dog (and a coat).

We have at least one case with a “metapmorphose”, where people have been accused
of being “werewolves”. In Estonia the tradition of those being wolves in night
time was strong. There were many cases like that.

I think, the idea of “trollcats” is not shamanistic, it is surely
Scandinavian!

There is quite a lot of articles abou “Para” (Trollcat) but only few of them
would be available in english.

But, there is one point we have to keep in mind. People were ACCUSED of having
“Para” and they were CONVICTED to using witchcraft, but they were never
CONVICTED TO HAVING PARA! The matter of trial was not, is there really
animal shaped “butter stealing” para, but it was a question of practicing
witchcraft or superstition!

In Scandinavia we have very old “lore”, written by one historian about
1200-1300, were a man was killed by “Mara” (bad dream animal?) because he had
not kept his promise to his Finnish wife.

Another instance of using “para”, other than trying have luck in stealing
butter, was a “Finnish way” to use a bear as a helper for killing someone’s
cattle. People believed that some (almost always a man) people had ability to
force bears to kill enemy’s horse or cattle. But I have no idea, if the
bear wanted some price of it’s doings (nourishment or protection).

Even in the oldest witch trials (before people had any idea about satanistic
pact with devil) witches were believed to use some animals as a helper of their
maleficium. So, this belief must be older than the christian theory of pact.

The bear cases seems to be common way to do harm among finnish speaking
people. In some rare cases the helper was a wolf. In some cases (1670s) the
helper was a dog, but it seems that the dog was not really an animal, but it was
a Devil with a shape of a dog.

Some ladies used cows (or even a pig) to ride to “Bl=E5kulla” (the Sabbath),
but those animals were usually “borrowed” for some neighbour and they
were not acting like a helper – they were forced to do so.

Lapplanders who had long shaman traditions used to use “animal spirit
helpers” to do things, but they were not accused of forcing real animals to do
any harm, as far as I know.

There is one big difference between using a “Para” and a bear. “Para” was
supernatural familiar, but bears were really acting animals whom could be
seen. Damage made by para was a loss of butter or milk lucky, but a damage made
by bear was real. Anyone could see the damage.

In some cases there was so called “tonttu” (tomptegubben or rgubbe in
swedish). They were not used as helpers, but You should give them some
presents for getting rid of harms they could do. People believed, that
“tonttu” was living in particular place and people living in same area were
disturbing the tonttu. So You had to do something to keep tonttu in good
mood. Tonttu was spiritual, because no one had never catch one. Tonttu was
not an animal, but small human kind of creature.

Then there was “Nekki” or “Nacken”. It was a creature living in lakes and
killing people by taking them under the water. Nekki was not a real animal and
it did not acted like a helper for anyone – it did what it wanted to do.

First little more about “para”. The belief of “para” helping to steal cows
must be very old, because in one finnish church there is a painting of para.
The painting is older than the belief that a Witch have a pact with the devil,
the devil then giving a “spiritum” to a helper for the witch (This belief
was not known in Finland until 1660s.)

Secondly, I think too, that a witch-hare (para)is common in Sweden. Probably
Finnish speaking people have borrowed in from Sweden, because there are
no witch-hares in our oldest mythology as far as I know. The witch-hare (para)
was mentioned in trials some times in the Swedish speaking area of Finland
(west coast), but not in Finnish speaking Karelia, suggesting it is borrowed.

Thirdly, I have to check my papers to find out is there any “pet
connection” in finnish witch trials, but without doing so I can’t remember
any cases where pet animals had some part of being helpers and neither did PhD
Marko Nenonen as we discussed today.

But I could find at least one case where a man was killed by his own dog. The
victim, Antti Yrjonpoika Paivikainen, was a customer of famous witch Antti
Lieroinen who did all kinds of maleficium for salary. After their contact
Paivikainen was found dead and the cause for that was his own dog. So
Lieroinen was thought to cause the death by using victim’s own dog to kill
him. This was not proved, but Lieroinen was executed for other witchcraft
he had done. This happend in 1643.

Fourthly, 27.3.1641 witch Erkki Juhonpoika Puujumala (“Treegod”) was convicted
in Turku Supreme Court. He was sentenced to death for many reasons – for
killing people with witchcraft etc. He has had an arguement with other
people and he had said that he was going change those people into wolves with
his maleficium. This was not proved to happen, but it was one prosecution among
many. By the way, Treegod said that he was 120 years old.

Fifthly, we have some cases where a witch has used a snake to do some crime.
One witch argued with his wife and then separated. Later that ex-wife get
pregnant from a snake, and later gave birth to some snakes. In one another
case the snake had gone inside of a woman (and they used a lappish healer to
try to get it out).

Snakes had also a strong part of shamanism, but I don’t know what really was
the function of shamans snake-shape belongings(??instruments??). Finnish
folkloristics seem to believe that the snake was for the shamans protection.

We had few cases where a snake’s head was used by magical meanings.

Sixthly, in 1732 court was dealing with a case, where Lauri
Heikinpoika Tervo accused his neighbor “of sending a bird with fire on its
head (nose)” to burn his house, which burned. Due to losses of protocols, we
don’t know how the case was handled, but I’m sure the court did not find
neighbor guilty. Birds have been known to used to carry fire in saami
tradition (says finnish folklorist Aune Nystrom).

Seventhly, we have found one case where a woman gave birth to some frogs, and
one case where a frog was put in a box and buried inside of a church. The box
was just like those boxes they used with human bodies.

Eigth, we have a case where they used a fish to heal sick person. The idea was
that the “Grande mal” (falling sickness) would be moved from people to fish.
So they did it, but unfortunately one innocent person touched the fish and
got himself sick. And of course the sickness was grande mal.

Ninth, I have a strong feeling, that finnish courts did not tried to found out
if the accused had animal helper or not. The law mentioned nothing about
animal imps or spirituals, so they were not needed as evidence. Maleficium
was maleficium and it could be proofed without any animal helpers or spirits.

10th According the old folk tradition the bear will not harm the cattle if
one takes a blind puppy dog and buries it with some rites in the land on area,
where the bear lives. But I have no evidence that this has ever been done.

11th In Finland was believed, that milking others cow, would steal not only
the milk but the further milk lucky too. I think this believe is common in
whole Scandinavia.

12th A bear could be sent to harm neighbour’s cattle. But at least in one
case (1746) shows, that it could also to sent back to harm the original witch.

13th I have no reason to believe that the animal (exept the bear or wolf
sended to do harm) were real ones. If it was so that the helpers were
real pets, why they did not execute the pets too?

I think that the judges has sent the animals to death as they did with cases
where humans had sexual intercourse with animal. They executed both! One
reason to not to do so could be, that the animal was not “guilty” for anything
because it could not differ the right and the wrong from each other. But so
did the raped animal neither.

14th The worms. At least in one case the witch used worms to destroy a pig. He
used some magical technique and the victims pig get “full of worms” as they
found out when they slaughtered the sick pig. Worms could be sent to a human
being too.

15th The lycanthropy. Werewolves had no part of finnish trials, but they had
one in Estonia. Why? The Finnish people have common roots with Estonian
people and our languages are still guite similar. Our oldest pre-christian
religion is common, and there is no werewolves in that tradition, as
far as I know. So, where the estonians got the idea about werewolves? I
think that they have adopted it from germans. Estonia has been under
strong german influence, but Finland hasn’t. So, I believe, that they must
have copied the idea from German “Werewolffe”.

According Maia Madar (Estonia I: Werewolves and poisoners, in Early Modern
European Witchcraft ed. Bengt Ankarloo and Gustav Henningsen,
Clarendon Press, Oxford 1990).

“Belief in werewolves was widespread. At eighteen trials, eighteen women and
thirteen men were accused of causing damage while werewolves. At Meremoisa
1623, the defendant Ann testified that she had been a werewolf for four
years, and had killed a horse as well as some smaller animals. She had later
hidden the wolf skin under a stone in the fields.” (page 270)

Maia Madar tells other examples, too. And in one case where 18-year old Hans
had confessed that he had hunted as a werewolf for two years, “when asked
by the judges if his body took part in the hunt, or if only his soul was
transmuted, Hans confirmed that he had found a dog’s teeth-marks on his own
leg, which he had received while a werewolf. Further asked wether he felt
himself to be a man or a beast while transmuted, he told that he felt
himself to be beast.” (page 271)

Madar writes: “It was acknowledged that people could be transmuted not only
into werewolves, but also into bears.”

So as a lawyer I must ask why they were confessing that they were hunting as
werewolves in Estonia. The answer must be torture. Torture was widely
used in Estonia ecen it was under the Swedish jurisdiction, where torture was
forbidden.

16th The devil in a shape of a dog. All over the Scandinavia we had trials
where the accused said, that the devil they’ve met had a shape of a dog. Why
the dog? Danish witchhistorian Jens Christian V. Johanssen writes (in book
mentioned above), that the popular culture (peoples believes) borrowed ideas
for wall-paintings in the church.

“In Ejsing church, Christ is tempted in the desert by the devil – in the shape
of a ferocious-looking dog! Popular imagination was so vivid that on given
occasions the devil came to take his form”. (Johansen: Denmark: The
Sociology of Accusations in Early Modern European Witchcraft.. page 363-364).

Well, so and so. But surely the popular culture appointed ideas from elite’s
culture.

17th The shamanism. I have not specialised about shamanism, so I’ll now follow
the ideas that finnish shamanism expert Anna-Leena Siikala writes in her
book “Suomalainen samanismi” (Finnis Shamanism), Hameenlinna 1992.

Siikala writes about moving the demon from someone to another. In finnish
folklore it is usuall to remove a disease from patient to an animal or some
idol, like wooden puppet. This is common between Middle- and East-Siperia
shaman too. She remind, that even Jesus removed demon from a man to some
pigs. (page 187)

There is information about this kind of “removing” in German and Estonia
too. In Finland this was usually done by soothsaying, but this was not
common in Middle-Europe or Scandinavia.

Siikala guesses, that this habit has very old shamanistic roots and that the
churhes middle-age tradition has forced this old religion. (pages 188-189)

In these cases animals are shamans helpers and they carry the evil demon
away. Shamans (spiritual) animal helpers are also spyes, Shaman can send
them far away to collect information what is happening. Helpres also
carry the information from here to the “heaven”. “Because shamans helper
animal do not only to take the disease to themselves, but carry it to
“heaven” (or “to the other side” as shamans say), they are=20 not usuall
(real) animals” (page 191).

Siikkala says, that middle age church adopted these old ideas and they used
the idea to their rituals (to carry out demons).

Shamans used to call their helpers for instance by singing (and using the drum).
In my opinion it is surely understandable that shaman was all the time
demonstrating to the audience, that he has very important helpers.

The shaman uses his helpers to fight agains other shamans helpers, too. So
when shaman is healing a patent, he first find’s out where the disease has
become, and then force it to go back. If the disease is caused by demon, you
have to fight against demon. If it is caused by other shaman with his helpers,
so the helpers must fight together. (as Carlo Ginzburg’s “benandati” did).

The idea about shamans fighting together is old and it is common in Northern-
Asia, too. In Siperia tradition the fighning shamans could take a shape of
animals.

But I could not find any reason to believe that the helper animals were real
animals in Siikalas book either.

According to Joan’s Witch Pages they executed a dog in Salem Witch trials.
This is something I had not pointed out earlier. If they really executed the
dog, so I’ll have to reuse my argument: why they did not executed other
suspected “pets” too (if the “pet theory” is right)?

************************************************************

THE TRIALS OF FAMILIARS

One reason why they may not have executed pets is because the law assumed
that these creatures were supernatural beings – by definition. If the animals
had been captured, brought to court, examined by authorities, etc., it
would have been difficult to avoid the conclusion that the witch’s cat or dog
was, in fact, no different from any other cat or dog. In addition, according
to folklore, these animals could not be killed by ordinary means because they
were spirits. We have found one account, for example, of a suspected familiar (a
poodle dog called Boye, belonging to Prince Rupert) being killed by a silver
bullet fired by a ‘soldier skilled in necromancy’ at the battle of Marston
Moor in 1642. Also, perhaps it was assumed that the familiars would perish as
soon as the witch was executed, since they were assumed to depend on
her/him for nourishment (coincidently, of course, the animals probably didn’t
survive for long once their owners were incarcerated and executed). However,
I agree with you that the fate of these animals is somewhat mysterious. My
guess would be that the witch’s neighbours dealt with them swiftly and
discretely, but I have no evidence either way. I wasn’t aware of the Salem dog
execution but will now look into this. In the bestiality trials, the animals
were not generally executed as criminals. Rather they seem to have been
regarded as polluted creatures which might have a corrupting influence on public
morality if allowed to remain alive. Thus, there was a particular incentive to
identify these (real) animals and kill them.

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Today’s Tarot Card for August 19th is Wheel of Fortune

Wheel of Fortune

This Tarot Deck: Connolly

General Meaning: The central theme of what is traditionally called the Wheel of Fortune card is cyclical change. The Wheel keeps on rolling, churning events in a ceaseless progression of ups and downs, either way freeing us from the past. No one can escape its cyclical action, which can feel somewhat terrifying — no matter whether we are rising or falling. When one is balanced on top there is a moment of crystal clarity, but the only part of the Wheel not going up and down is the hub, which is your eternal Self, the Source of Freedom.

Every one of us will occupy all the points on the wheel at some time or another. The cycle of the wheel is its lesson — and we can learn to take comfort in it (as we do when we celebrate our birthday). If you don’t like the look of things right now, just wait — things will change. Of course, if you do like the look of things right now, enjoy it while it lasts, because that will change too!

Witches & Broomsticks ñ Use & History

BROOMSTICKS & BESOMS

Witches & Broomsticks ñ Use & History

The BroomstickÖ

The traditional companion of the witches was the enchanted broomstick, used for
their wild and unholy flights through the night and probably to some distant
Witches’ Sabbat. This is one of the first images you get to see as a child and
this was doubtlessly believed by the prominent rulers of Europe. The number of
actual confessions of witches doing so is remarkably small. Usually confessions
state that they went to the Sabbat on foot or on horseback.

Legends of witches flying on brooms goes back as far as the beginning of the
Common Era. The earliest known confession of a Witch flying on a broom was in
1453, when Guillaume Edelin of St. Germain-en-Laye, near Paris, stated that he
had done so. In 1563, Martin Tulouff of Guernsey said to have seen his aged
mother straddle a broomstick and whisk up the chimney and out of the house on
it, saying “Go in the name of the Devil and Lucifer over rocks and thorns”. In
1598 Claudine Boban and her mother, witches of the province of Franche-Comt, in
eastern France, also spoke of flying up the chimney of a stick. The belief of
flying off though the chimney became firmly embedded in popular tradition,
although only a few people ever mentioned doing so. It has been suggested that
this idea was connected with the old custom of pushing a broom up the chimney to
indicate the absence of the housewife. The Germanic Goddess Holda or Holle is
also connected with the chimney.

Other indications that lead to the popular belief that witches actually flew on
broomsticks can be found in an old custom of dancing with a broom between the
legs, leaping high in the air. In Reginald Scot’s book, The Discoverie of
Witchcraft, published in 1584, we find a similar description:

“At these magical assemblies, the witches never failed to dance; and in their
dance they sing these words, ‘Har, har, divell divell, dance here dance here,
plaie here plaie here, Sabbath, Sabbath’. And whiles they sing and dance, ever
one hath a broom in her hand, and holdeth it up aloft.” Scot quoted these
descriptions of Witch rites from a French demonologist, Jean Bodin, who made
observations of a kind of jumping dance, riding on staffs. These customs might
have contributed to the popular picture of broomstick-riding witches through the
air.

In 1665, from the confession of Julian Cox, one of the Somerset coven, mentioned
“that one evening she walks out about a Mile from her own House and there came
riding towards her three persons upon three Broom-staves, born up about a years
and a half from the ground. Two of them she formerly knew, which was a Witch and
a Wizard”.

——————————————————————————–

Where do these beliefs come from?

Some authors claim that the oldest known source of witches flying on broomsticks
is a manuscript called Le Champion des Dames by Martin Lefranc, 1440. This might
be one of the oldest images representing a hag on a broomstick, but it is
certainly not the first. A wall painting from the 12th century in Schlesswig
Cathedral (Germany) shows the Norse deity Frigg riding her staff.

If we really dig a bit deeper into history, we’ll find that from the Roman world
there are reports that mention witches flying on broomsticks as well as having
used ointments, as early as the first century. They were called Straigae
(Barnowl) and the Lamiae from Greek culture had similar characteristics. Later
in Roman history, the goddess Diana was the leader of the Wild Hunt:

“It is also not to be omitted that some wicked women, perverted by the Devil,
seduced by illusions and phantasm of demons, believe and profess themselves in
the hours of the night to ride upon certain beasts with Diana, the goddess of
pagans, and an innumerable multitude of women, and in the silence of the dead of
the night to traverse great spaces of earth, and to obey her commands as of
their mistress, and to be summoned to her service on certain nights”. (See:
Canon Episcopi).

Similar beliefs existed in many parts of Europe. From Norse mythology, we know
that the army of women, lead by Odin (Wodan), called the Valkyries, was said to
ride through the skies on horses, collecting the souls of the dead. In
continental Germanic areas, the goddess Holda or Holle was also said to lead the
Wild Hunt and is connected to chimneys and witchcraft. Berchta or Perchta,
another Germanic goddess, which can be identified with Holda, has similar
characteristics.

Again in Celtic Traditions, the Horned God Cernunnos, and/or Herne the Hunter
was leader of the Wild Hunt and the Scottish Witch Goddess Nicneven was also
said to fly through the night with her followers. Eastern Europe sources also
have a wealth of folklore about witches flying through the air. So flying
through the air, evidently, was a deeply rooted mythological theme, associated
with the free roaming of the spirit, the separation of soul and body.

——————————————————————————–

Symbolism

The broomstick is a female and male symbol, “the rod which penetrated the bush”.
Its symbolism and interpretation is therefore purely sexual.

——————————————————————————–

Broomstick Weddings

“To marry over the broomstick,” “jump the besom”, was an old-time form of
marriage, in which both parties jumped over a broomstick to signify that they
were joined in common-law union. Also in the Netherlands, one can still find the
old saying “over de bezem trouwen” (marrying over the broomstick). At gypsy
wedding ceremonies, the bride and groom jump backwards and forwards over a
broomstick. A besom used to be placed before the doorway, the married couple
had to jump over it without dislodging the broom, from the street into their new
home. At any time within a year, this process could be reversed to dissolve the
marriage by jumping backwards. All this had to take place before several
witnesses.

In folk-belief, like that in Yorkshire, it was unlucky for an unmarried girl to
step over a broomstick because it meant that she would be a mother before she
was a wife. Light-hearted wags used to delight in putting broomsticks in the
path of unsuspecting virgins.

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RITUAL USE

Artificial Phallus

There are hints of its use as an artificial penis or dildo. In a curious old
book, A Dictionary of Slang, Jargon and Cant, by Albert BarrSre and Charles
Godfrey Leland (1897-1899), we are told that the slang term in those days for a
dildo or artificial penis was “a broom-handle”, and the female genitals were
known vulgarly as “the broom”. To “have a brush” was to have sexual
intercourse. Noteworthy is the evidence from Witch trials mentioning the “cold
hard member of the Devil himself”. In 1662, Isabel Gowdie, accused of
witchcraft, made a confession which could suggest that some sort of artificial
phallus of horn or leather may have been used:

“His members are exceeding great and long; no man’s members are so long and big
as they areÖ.(he is) a meikle, black, rough man, very cold, and I found his
nature as cold within me as spring-well waterÖHe is abler for us that way than
any man can be, only he is heavy like a malt-sack, a huge nature, very cold, as
ice.”

——————————————————————————–

Broomsticks and Ointments

That ointments used to induce astral projection has been known for a long time.
Therefore the belief of witches flying away on their brooms probably has its
true origin in this shamanic practice of applying narcotic herbs. There are
numerous paintings, engraving and woodcuts from witches, anointing themselves,
before flying off to the Sabbat. There are also quite a lot of confessions of
ointments being applied to leave the body and fly off. These confessions
sometimes show an unawareness that they were not actually flying, but often it
is obvious that the witches knew that the ointments they used had the effects
requited for leaving the body and making spiritual journeys. These practices we
now call astral projection, were obviously known throughout large parts of the
world, but especially worthy evidence comes from French and Italian records.

There is also a hint of use of besoms and sticks as a means to insert the
witches unguent into the vagina to potentate the aphrodisiac effects and for
optimal absorption and effect, while serving as an artificial penis.

The confessions of a woman named Antoine Rose, a Witch of Savoy (France) who was
tortured and tried in 1477, stated that “The first time she was taken to the
synagogue (Sabbat) she saw many men and women there, enjoying themselves and
dancing backwards. The Devil, whose name was Robinet, was a dark man who spoke
in a hoarse voice. Kissing Robinet’s foot in homage, she renounced God and the
Christian faith. He put his mark on her, on the little finger of her left hand,
and gave her a stick, 18 inches long, and a pot of ointment. She used to smear
the ointment on the stick, put it between her legs and say “Go, in the name of
the Devil, go!” At once she would be carried though the air to the synagogue.”

Alice Kyteler, a famous Irish Witch of the early 14th century, was supposed to
have owned a staff “on which she ambled and galloped through thick and thin,
when and in what manner she listed, after having greased it with the ointment
which was found in her possession.”

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Book and Article Resources:

An ABC of Witchcraft by Doreen Valiente, 1973. De Benedanti: Hekserij en
Vruchtbaarheidsriten in de 16e & 17e Eeuw by Carlo Ginzburg, 1966, 1986.
Encyclopedia of Witchcraft & Demonology, 1974. Europe’s Inner Demons: The
Demonization of Christians in Medieval Christendom by Norman Cohn, 1975, 1973.
Heksen, Ketters en Inquisiteurs by Arie Zwart en Karel Braun, 1981. Practical
Magic in the Northern Traditon by Nigel Pennick, 1989. The History of Witchcraft
by Montague Summers, London, 1927. Witchcraft, A Tradition Renewed by Doreen
Valiente and Evan Jones, Phoenix Publishing, 1990. Witchcraft & Demonology by
Francis X. King, 1987, and various online resources and articlesÖ

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The Four Rules and The Law of White Witchcraft.

The Four Rules and The Law of White Witchcraft.
by Torin W. (e-mail: athame@flash.net)

copywrite 1996 White Circle Enterprises
All rights reserved.

 

 

**Notice**
This document may be distributed freely so long as it is not altered, edited, or changed in any way from its original form. A copy of this document in its true original form may be gotten from our home page.

In order to live a full and successful life as a ‘White Witch’, one must first understand what the rules of the game are. The princliples which are put forth below are intended to be a very simple, basic way to remember the way of the White Craft.

The total idea may be visualized as a four legged stool. Each of the Rules can be seen as a leg and The Law may be seen as the seat. The Rules without The Law are uncomfortable and nigh on to useless in their function. The Law without the Rules gives you a comfortable place to be, but it is rather impractical and again, nearly useless. However, when all of these are brought together they make a highly stable, functional, and enjoyable life.

The Four Rules:

1) Live – Live each day as if it were your last, for one day you will be right.

2) Love – Love yourself first and foremost. For when you truly love yourself, loving those around you will come as easily as breathing – and we all must breathe.

3) Learn – Learn your life’s lessons – each as it comes – for that is the reason we are here.

4) Enjoy – Enjoy your life, because if you do not most likely someone else will enjoy it for you… and then your time here will have been wasted.

The Law:

Harm None.

Explanations

**Live

The first Rule put forth sounds pretty straight forward at first. Then you actually try to live it! 🙂 Living each day as if it were your last means maximizing your potential for every moment that you have been given.

If you are let go from your job… that is an opportunity to face truth and see what you can do to make yourself more marketable and go get a BETTER job. Or, if you are highly motivated, dedicated, and a risk taker you can take that chance to start your own company.

When I first began to follow these principles, my business was not very successful, my marriage was only tolerable, and I often felt depressed about my situation as a whole. Then I began to live each moment.’Carpe Diem’ (Sieze the day) became my motto. I began to maximize every moment and live in the moment, not for the moment.

This does not mean that in order to be a good witch that you have to work like a rabid squirrel on ‘speed’… but it does mean that you have to be honest with yourself to see what your situation really is and to make the most of it.

I believe that if I can go to bed at night and think to myselfthat I had done the very best I could that day with the information I had at each moment of opportunity, then the day was a success. But if I go to bed thinking that I had let an opportunity slip away I do not beat myself up over it. I simply say to myself, “Gee Torin, that was one you missed. I’ll get it the next time it comes along.”

**Love

What is life without love? Honestly, I can’t imagine what that would be like. Yet many people live their lives without the most important form of love there is – the love of the self. If you truly understand yourself and are willing to take responsibility for your own actions you will suddenly find a great love for yourself.

In order to give free and unconditional love to another person you must first have that kind of feeling for yourself. This is all this means.

**Learn

One of the cornerstones of The Craft is the belief that our souls are here on this plane of existance at this point in time to learn lessons. Your lessons are different from (although probably quite similar to) my own. Learn what life teaches you. It is no more difficult than this.

**Enjoy

The life of the witch does not require you to live your life in suffering nor poverty. There are no mandates for pain, unhappiness, or unpleasantness. We do not see suffering as the ‘key’ to getting into Heaven (or the Summer- lands as some of us call it). Indeed, we see such things as exactly what they are… unpleasant! This does not mean that we never have unpleasant things happen to us, nor that we walk around in a constant state of denial.

We see suffering as either the result of an action we took (i.e. going to jail for robbing a bank) or the way that The Unknown (see “The Dieties of Witches” by Torin W.) has chosen to teach us a lesson which we need to learn but have not done anything consciously to bring about the circumstances (i.e. the totally unexpected death of a close friend).

Witch Craft allows you to reap all of the happiness and prosperity from your life that you can muster… so long as you stay within the accepted boundaries. For instance, if you work hard at an honest job you like to do then there is nothing which says you should feel badly for being more suc- cessful than others. But if you rob a bank, you may be happy with the things that the money can buy for a short period of time, but eventually you will suffer far greater than if you had simply worked for it. (I know this may sound some-what like a contradiction to what I said earlier, but I do not believe in keeping a job which does not give me enough pleasure, satisfac- tion, and money to make up for the difficulties I endure.)

**The Law: Harm None.

I have been asked to explain this statement more than all of the previous ideas combined. I often describe ‘Harm None’ as “the Law which must remain unbroken, but cannot remain whole at all times.” Think about it, you can’t do it as a human being.

In order to actually harm none you would have to be in total and complete harmony with all things int he Universe at exactly the same time. Your immune system would not kill bacteria and other infections (because that would be harming them). Nor would you allow the bacteria to infect you because that would cause harm to yourself. You would not eat meat, nor vegetables because it would cause the destruction of either. Neither would you not eat because that would harm you. Do you see how this is simply an impossiblilty?

What I teach my students is to take great pains to Harm None and to think out the results of any act as far as possible ahead of time. I also stress that whenever magics are being worked that the free will of any individual or group should never be infringed.

I have been asked specifically about the use of various types of drugs in witchcraft and their relationship to the ‘Harm None’ principle. I believe that The Bright Ones gave us a sober state of mind for a reason. They also gave our brains some of the most potent chemicals known to man for achieving altered states of consciousness. Therefore i see no reason to alter the chemistry of the brain in order to ‘gain enlightenment’. Ask any recovering drug addict… he/she will tell you that the drugs lie to you.

Because of part of the training I give, I require that no illegal drugs are used while under my tutilage. In fact, if a student becomes sick during training and requires a prescription strength pain reliever, the training schedule is re-worked to allow for the purging of the body before training resumes.

One of my students used to do a good deal of psychotropic drugs (i.e. LSD, mushrooms, etc.). Then he and I began to work together. After a few months of training, we worked a circle to allow him to develope his psychic senses (i.e. clairaudience, clairvoyance, etc.) When he left the circle he related to me a feeling such as none he had ever known. His words were, “It was a hundred thousand times better then the best acid trip I had ever taken.”

In short, I personally feel that drugs can be a great hinderance and only cause damage to your soul. But I also recognise the free will of the individual. I can only tell you that in my own perception, drugs do cause harm to you.

Today’s Tarot Card for August 10th is The Magician

The Magician

This Tarot Deck: Winged Spirit Tarot

General Meaning: Traditionally, the Magus is one who can demonstrate hands-on magic — as in healing, transformative rituals, alchemical transmutations, charging of talismans and the like. A modern Magus is any person who completes the circuit between heaven and Earth, one who seeks to bring forth the divine ‘gold’ within her or himself.

At the birth of Tarot, even a gifted healer who was not an ordained clergyman was considered to be in league with the Devil! For obvious reasons, the line between fooling the eye with sleight of hand, and charging the world with magical will was not clearly differentiated in the early Tarot cards.

Waite’s image of the Magus as the solitary ritualist communing with the spirits of the elements — with its formal arrangement of symbols and postures — is a token of the freedom we have in modern times to declare our spiritual politics without fear of reprisal. The older cards were never so explicit about what the Magus was doing. It’s best to keep your imagination open with this card. Visualize yourself manifesting something unique, guided by evolutionary forces that emerge spontaneously from within your soul.

Today’s Tarot Card for August 3rd is The Devil

The Devil

This Tarot Deck: Hanson Roberts

General Meaning: What has traditionally been known as the Devil card expresses the realm of the Taboo, the culturally rejected wildness and undigested shadow side that each of us carries in our subconscious. This shadow is actually at the core of our being, which we cannot get rid of and will never succeed in taming. From its earliest versions, which portrayed a vampire-demon, this card evoked the Church-fueled fear that a person could “lose their soul” to wild and passionate forces.

The image which emerged in the mid-1700’s gives us a more sophisticated rendition — that of the “scapegoated Goddess,” whose esoteric name is Baphomet. Volcanic reserves of passion and primal desire empower her efforts to overcome the pressure of stereotyped roles and experience true freedom of soul. Tavaglione’s highly evolved image (Stella deck) portrays the magical formula for harnessing and transmuting primal and obsessive emotions into transformative energies. As a part of the Gnostic message of Tarot, this fearsome passion and power must be reintegrated into the personality, to fuel the soul’s passage from mortal to immortal.