Your Rune For October 30th is Othala

Your Rune For Today
Othala

Othala represents a solid, immovable home, prosperity and safety. Good fortune based on your heritage and character is yours to enjoy.

Additional information about Today’s Rune, Othala

OþILA: property

Phonetic equivalent: o

DIVINATORY MEANINGS: property, land, inheritance, home, permenance, legacy, synthesis, sense of belonging

MAGICAL USES: for acquiring land or property, to complete a project, to strengthen family ties

ASSOCIATED MYTHS & DEITIES: the nine worlds of Yggdrasil

ANALYSIS: In oþila, we find ourselves back in the seemingly mundane realm of wealth and property, just like the first rune, fehu. However, while cattle represented a more movable, transitory form of wealth, the land (as Mr. O’Hara said) is the only thing that lasts. It can be passed on as a legacy, but more importantly, it defines who we are by defining where we are. It is, ultimately, our home.

This rune brings us to the seventh cardinal point, which is the centre. It is the meeting place
between Midgard and Asgard; between our Gods and us. It is the axis around which our lives revolve. The idea of land or property is only a symbol – we must all find our own “centre” (or, as Joseph Campbell termed it, our “bliss”) to give our lives meaning, and this is really the ultimate goal of the runic journey. Like Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz, we discover that after all our travels and adventures, we all eventually end up going home. But this doesn’t mean that the travels and adventures are pointless. On the contrary, it is only through those explorations that our ‘home’ or spiritual centre can have any real meaning for us. “There’s no place like home” of will have no power to send us there unless we come to truly understand what and where our home is to us.
Conversely, none of lessons learned along the way can be of any real use to us unless we actively integrate them into our ‘mundane’ lives and find that centre point to anchor them to. Oþila not only completes the smaller cycle of the third aett, but also brings us back to the beginning of the fuþark itself, only on a higher level. We may now begin the grand cycle of the runic journey again.

Your Daily Rune for Sunday, August 9th is Othala

Your Rune For Today
Othala

Othala represents a solid, immovable home, prosperity and safety. Good fortune based on your heritage and character is yours to enjoy.

Additional information about Today’s Rune, Othala

OþILA: property

Phonetic equivalent: o

DIVINATORY MEANINGS: property, land, inheritance, home, permanence, legacy, synthesis, sense of belonging

MAGICAL USES: for acquiring land or property, to complete a project, to strengthen family ties

ASSOCIATED MYTHS & DEITIES: the nine worlds of Yggdrasil

This rune brings us to the seventh cardinal point, which is the centre. It is the meeting place between Midgard and Asgard; between our Gods and us. It is the axis around which our lives revolve. The idea of land or property is only a symbol – we must all find our own “centre” (or, as Joseph Campbell termed it, our “bliss”) to give our lives meaning, and this is really the ultimate goal of the runic journey. Like Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz, we discover that after all our travels and adventures, we all eventually end up going home. But this doesn’t mean that the travels and adventures are pointless. On the contrary, it is only through those explorations that our ‘home’ or spiritual centre can have any real meaning for us. “There’s no place like home” of will have no power to send us there unless we come to truly understand what and where our home is to us. Conversely, none of lessons learned along the way can be of any real use to us unless we actively integrate them into our ‘mundane’ lives and find that centre point to anchor them to. Oþila not only completes the smaller cycle of the third aett, but also brings us back to the beginning of the fuþark itself, only on a higher level. We may now begin the grand cycle of the runic journey again.

Your Rune for Wednesday, July 22nd is Othala

Your Rune For Today
Othala

Othala represents a solid, immovable home, prosperity and safety. Good fortune based on your heritage and character is yours to enjoy.

Additional information about Today’s Rune, Othala

OþILA: property

Phonetic equivalent: o

DIVINATORY MEANINGS: property, land, inheritance, home, permanence, legacy, synthesis, sense of belonging

MAGICAL USES: for acquiring land or property, to complete a project, to strengthen family ties

ASSOCIATED MYTHS & DEITIES: the nine worlds of Yggdrasil

This rune brings us to the seventh cardinal point, which is the centre. It is the meeting place between Midgard and Asgard; between our Gods and us. It is the axis around which our lives revolve. The idea of land or property is only a symbol – we must all find our own “centre” (or, as Joseph Campbell termed it, our “bliss”) to give our lives meaning, and this is really the ultimate goal of the runic journey. Like Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz, we discover that after all our travels and adventures, we all eventually end up going home. But this doesn’t mean that the travels and adventures are pointless. On the contrary, it is only through those explorations that our ‘home’ or spiritual centre can have any real meaning for us. “There’s no place like home” of will have no power to send us there unless we come to truly understand what and where our home is to us. Conversely, none of lessons learned along the way can be of any real use to us unless we actively integrate them into our ‘mundane’ lives and find that centre point to anchor them to. Oþila not only completes the smaller cycle of the third aett, but also brings us back to the beginning of the fuþark itself, only on a higher level. We may now begin the grand cycle of the runic journey again.

The Mysteries and Esoteric Witchcraft

The Mysteries and Esoteric Witchcraft

Author: Rhys Chisnall

“The most beautiful and profound emotion we can experience is the sensation of the mystical. He to whom the emotion is a stranger: whom no longer wonder and stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead. To know that what is impenetrable to us really exists, manifesting itself as the highest wisdom and the most radiant beauty, which our dull faculties can comprehend only in their primitive forms- this knowledge, this feeling, is at the centre of true religion.” – Albert Einstein

One of the hardest aspects of the esoteric initiatory Witchcraft to write about, or even communicate, is its strong mystery aspect. Yet, in my opinion, it is one of the most important things that distinguish it from New Age and Popular Wicca/Witchcraft. By its very nature the mystical aspects of Witchcraft are a thoroughly subjective experience and as such any cursory and brief exploration such as this article or any other in print are going to be subjective and inadequate.

“Second hand mysticism has generally an unsatisfactory experience, since if these notions are not the driving force of our life, are not the pulse beat of our heart or are not personally integrated into our whole, then they are empty gestures. Then they are devoid of meaning similar to reading a literary criticism rather than reading the poem itself. The mystical experience is immediate not vicarious or deputed” (Armstrong 1999)

The mysteries need to be experienced, and they cannot be explained in everyday language, hence the need for the metaphors of myth and the communication of the experiences through the metaphors of symbols and ritual. The religious commentator, theologian and mystic Karen Armstrong said that.

“There is a linguistic connection between the three words, myth, mysticism and mystery. All derive from the Greek verb musterion: to close the eyes or the mouth”. (Armstrong 1999)

There are many roads to the mysteries and the mystical experience. As Prof Joseph Campbell (the late expert in comparative mythology) quotes from the Rig Veda, “Truth is one, but the sages speak of it by many names.” He also tells the story of an interfaith conference set up between Shinto and Catholicism. He was struck at how the priests of Catholicism and Shinto found it difficult to find a commonality or a common religious language to communicate with each other, but the monks and nuns of each religion could. This was because the priests were concerned with holding up their metaphors, their myths, symbols and rituals as ends in themselves, whereas the monks and nuns had moved beyond the metaphors to the experience of the sacred and the divine itself. They were not stuck with believing that the metaphors were the reality and the end goal. They had gone past the virgin birth, the resurrection, and even God, to find a community in the mysteries and mystical experience that were shared by their Shinto counterparts. As Campbell said, “Religion is misinterpreted myth”

The Armenian-Greek esoteric philosopher and practitioner G. I. Gurdjieff suggested that there were four paths to the mysteries. The first three, the way of the fakir, the way of the yogi (nothing to do with picnic baskets) and the way of the monk are mostly eastern ways to experience the mysteries and represent the three disciplines of the mind, the body and contemplation. These three paths are typical of the Eastern Mystery tradition in that they all involve a withdrawal from society and the world.

To my mind esoteric initiatory Witchcraft liturgy and ritual are full of mystical language, myth and metaphor. For example within Gardnerian and Alexandrian Witchcraft there are phrases such as, “there is no part of us that is not of the god.” And of course the classic mysteries phrase of the Charge of the Goddess, “If that which thou seeketh, thou findest not within thee, you will never find it without thee.” These and other parts of Witchcraft ritual (not to mention many of the techniques used in ritual to help induce these kinds of states of mind) , strongly suggest the mysteries and mystical experience. The myths of esoteric initiatory Witchcraft point to the internal experience of the mysteries within the individual Witch, relating them to the cosmos, designed to take us beyond mere religion to the direct experience of numinous, divinity and the sacred. The systems, techniques and processes of esoteric Craft, to my mind, seem designed to take us beyond ourselves, and the sum of the parts of the tradition itself, into personal transformation and a new awareness.

So what are mysticism and the mysteries? According to the psychologist Lawrence Le Shan, “Mysticism from a historical and psychological viewpoint, is the search for and experience of the relationship of the individual himself (herself) and the totality that makes up the universe.” (LeShan 1974)

Karen Armstrong agrees when she writes, “Mystics have long claimed that he [God] is a subjective experience, mysteriously experienced in the ‘Ground of Being’…………..they claim that he did not really exist and it is better to call him No-thing”. (Armstrong 1999)

As such the mysteries go way beyond the dogmas, metaphors and systems that have been inspired by them. The techniques and participating within the metaphors of myth, relating it to the self and personal transformation give the practitioner a direct and vivid experience of a unity with a ‘different order of reality’, or perhaps, an expanded order of reality of which they are a part- unified with. They experience eternity within a second, being and non-being, beauty and horror but with no contradiction, no duality, no difference between sacred and profane. In essence the experience is indescribable expect through the language of metaphor, which sadly is mistaken for reality and an end in itself. The effect of these experiences is an inner alchemy, personal transformation- life and indeed you are never the same again.

Campbell hints at this when he says, “But the ultimate mystical goal is to be united with one’s god. With that the duality is transcended and forms disappear. There is nobody there, no god, no you. Your mind, going past all concepts, has dissolved in identification with the ground of your being”. (Campbell 1988)

Now sadly for the bit that people don’t like. The path to the mysteries is not an easy one. Rather it is one that requires hard work, commitment and dedication; it is not for people looking for instant results or an escape from reality. The starting point on the road to the mysteries and esoteric Witchcraft has got to be that of a coping adult, as Joanne Pearson reports in her essay Assumed Affinities (the difference between Initiatory Wicca- specifically Gardnerian and Alexandrian- and New Age spiritualities) .

“In the questionnaire, mentioned at the start of this chapter, none of the hundred (Gardnerian/Alexandrian) Wiccans who responded indicated that they had become involved in Wicca because ‘their life was not working’, and supplementary fieldwork does not indicate that these Wiccans assume there lives or the lives of other Wiccans are, or were Dysfunctional.” (Pearson 1998)

The Witch Dr. Dave Bracey confirms the difficulties and hard work of pursuing the mysteries when he says, “The mysteries are not easy to apprehend. It requires long training, usually with a spiritual guide or facilitator, and a considerable investment of time. This is not something that has much appeal to many in our present day society, conditioned as it is with fast cars, fast food, fast solutions and instant gratification and speedy communication. The mysteries do not arrive ready made and pre-packaged. They cannot be experienced as quickly as the instant high of the new age. But neither does the (esoteric initiatory) Witch’s ‘awareness’ wane, as does the let-down that so often eventuates when the newness of the ‘reborn’ convert fades to be left with the forms and structures of religion which so often become ends in themselves.” (Bracey 2001)

Like much else in life things that are of value are often thing that require a lot of hard work. Saying that though, there are circumstances where mystical experience arises quite spontaneously in some people. This may be down to horrific or beautiful situations, which invoke tremendously strong emotions within individuals that lead them to having an experience of the mysteries.

I am sure that there are many, many people who are perfectly happy practising their religion of non-initiatory exoteric Wicca and Witchcraft and good luck to them, each to their own. I am sure that people get a great deal of spiritual fulfillment from them. So just to reiterate so there is no confusion, esoteric initiatory Witchcraft is not better than New Age and Popular Wicca. It is just different, with different aims, philosophies and purposes and practices. So if the mysteries are not for you, then please feel free to ignore this article, remember that this is only one way and there are many others.

I shall finish with another quote from Dr. Bracey as he talks about the relationship between the mysteries and Craft. “So the mysteries are not for all, but is the way of (esoteric initiatory) Witches. We who ride beyond the ordinary, rejecting the supernatural in favour of the supra-natural, and who are aware of the relationship of the part to the whole.” (Bracey 2001)

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Footnotes:
Campbell, J, (1988) , ‘The Power of Myth’, Doubleday
Campbell, J, (1959) , ‘The Mask of God (Primitive mythology, Oriental Mythology, Occidental Mythology and Creative Mythology) ’, Condor
Campbell, J, (1949) , ‘The Hero with a Thousand faces’, Princetown University Press
Campbell, J, (2001) , ‘Thou art that, transforming religious metaphors’, Joseph Cambell Foundation
Campbell, J, (2004) , ‘Pathways to Bliss, Mythology and Personal Transformation’, Joseph Campbell Foundation
Crowley, V, (1989) , ’ Wicca the old Religion in the New Age’, Aquarian Press
Armstrong, K, (1999) , ’ A History of God’, Vintage
Armstrong, K, (2005) , ‘A Short History of Myth’, Cannongate
Pearosn, J, Roberts, R, Samuel, G, (1998) , ‘Nature Religion Today’, Edinburgh University Press
Pearson, J, (2007) , ‘Wicca and the Christian Heritage (Ritual, Sex and magic) , Routledge
Fortune, D, (1935) , ‘The Mystical Qabalah’, Aquarian
Hutton, R, (2003) , ‘Witches, Druids, and King Arthur, Oxford University Press
Heselton, P, (1995) , ‘Secret Places of the Goddess’, Capal Ban
Underhill, E, (1993) , ‘Mysticism’, Oneworld
Lamond, F, (1997) , ‘Religion without Beliefs’, Janus
Lamond, F, (2004) , ‘Fifty Years of Wicca’, Green magic
LeShan, L, (1974) , ‘How to Meditate’, Turnstone
Bracey, D, (2001) , ‘A Personal View of God’, TNW

Witches Do It In A Magical Circle

Witches Do It In A Magical Circle

Author: Rhys Chisnall

Sacred space is a space that is ‘experienced or seen as’ sacred but remember, this need not mean it has any extra unseen property. In many religions, it is a permanent structure such as a church, a mosque, a druid’s grove or a temple. The place is seen as sacred, as numinous and special suitable and worthy of where the Divine can be experienced. These places are often made sacred through certain rites and ritual… a form of magic, which to my mind is the manipulation of meaning to transform phenomenal reality. The rites are the manipulation of meaning which leads to ‘experiencing as’ the church as sacred (even to those who never partook in the original rituals) and if that is not the transformation of phenomenal reality I don’t know what is.

Witchcraft differs from other religious and spiritual traditions in that it does not have any permanent sacred spaces. There are no permanent temples in the initiatory Craft perhaps because it is a spiritual tradition where the focus of the experience of the Divine is through life and death, where there is no dualism between the sacred and the profane, therefore there is no need for a permanent temple. In the Craft the sacred space is declared at every meeting, wherever and whenever the coven meets.

This sacred space is declared when the circle is cast by the High Priestess with her athame and is both psychological and mythological in character. It is psychological, firstly, as it is visualised by and ‘felt by’ the participants as the sphere is formed about them. It is ‘experienced as’ by the mind through an act of imagination. Secondly, the setting up of the sacred space in the Craft prepares the Witches for the rite in which they are to participate. For example a church is laid out to either assault the senses such as in the stain glass, incense, bells, candles, crucifixes and robes of the priest in Catholicism, or the in the stark whitewash and lack of symbolism of the Methodists. The symbolism, the bells and smells of the Catholic or the austerity stemming from the suspicion of idolatry of the Protestant both work to put the worshipper into a worshipful and receptive state of mind.

Likewise the words, gestures, incense, candle light and nudity involved in the casting of the circle puts the Witches into the state of mind where magic (the manipulation of meaning to transform phenomenal reality) can occur. If the same method of casting is used each time (as in Initiatory Craft) , then expectation and classical conditioning (like Pavlov’s dogs) combine to create the appropriate state of mind with little effort on the part of the Witch. Vivianne Crowley (1989) tells us of one priestess who says something like, “I only need to hear the swish of a broom and I am in an altered state of consciousness”. I can confirm from experience that that this is certainly the case. During the set up of our rituals and the casting of the circle, after twelve years of being with the same coven, I automatically slip into ritual consciousness.

The circle is also mythological and is full of symbolism. The circle can relate to four of the classical elements, air, fire, water and earth. It can relate, like the phases of the moon and the wheel of the year to the stages of life such as youth, maturity, old age and death. To my mind this means it can relate to stages in the hero’s journey, the mono-myth described by Professor Joseph Campbell in his book, The Hero with a Thousand faces. This is the journey of the mystic, who goes out into the metaphorical wilderness, fairy land, the world of adventure. It is here that the mystic has their adventure/experience, attaining gnosis (spiritual knowledge) , before returning to everyday life where they have to integrate what they have learnt. The failed hero or mystic is not able to do this and is stuck in the adventure world and so perishes. The circle can also be symbolic of the changing seasons of the year, spring, summer, autumn, and winter, which of course, underpin the myths of the Craft.

The circle, mythologically speaking, is out of time. It is also all time, all the seasons, all the stages of life, all parts of the hero’s quest and so paradoxically, which can happen in myth, is all time and at the same time it is out of time. The circle is experienced as the mythological every-when, fairy land and eternity where the tick, tick, tick of time does not pass; there is no past, present or future. Mythologically speaking, this is the mystical state. It is in this space were we experience mythologically, rather than logically. We participate in mythology, finding meaning that allows us to engage with the mysteries.

It acts as a mythological circle that psychologically contains the emotion and meaning. It represents the keeping away of thoughts and feeling not required for the ritual. These are the daily round of duties and thoughts, which might be stresses about work, money, or whether we have left the cooker on. They are outside the psychological circle and we within the ritual are on the inside. It is a psychological and mythological barrier between the emotions, thoughts and meaning necessary for the job at hand, and those that would distract us from our purpose. So the circle acts as a boundary and protection of meaning containing the emotional power we raise.

To conclude it is both a mythological space where we engage with and act mythologically and a psychological boundary. However, while this requires imagination, visualisation and concentration; it is not the same thing as play-acting. Rather it is ‘seeing as’, making and experiencing as profound meaning rather than simply make believe. This meaning can be allegorical but it is also archetypal in that it related to our deep feelings that are invoked by what is fundamentally important in life.

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Footnotes:
Campbell, J, (1993) , The Hero with a Thousand Faces, Fortana Press
Crowley, V., (1989) , Wicca: The Old Religion in the New Age, Aquarian Press

The Mysteries and Esoteric Witchcraft

The Mysteries and Esoteric Witchcraft

Author: Rhys Chisnall

“There is a linguistic connection between the three words, myth, mysticism and mystery. All derive from the Greek verb musterion: to close the eyes or the mouth”. (Armstrong 1999)

The fourth way is ‘the way of the hearth’. It is the way of the Western Mystery Tradition of which esoteric initiatory Witchcraft along with Hermeticism, Qabbalah, mystical Christianity and Sufism are parts. It is the way of being fully integrated with the world, identifying with the universe and with life and not attempting to escape from it (with the notable exception of Gnosticism) . It is seeing no separation between humanity, nature and the divine.
To my mind esoteric initiatory Witchcraft liturgy and ritual are full of mystical language, myth and metaphor. For example within Gardnerian and Alexandrian Witchcraft there are phrases such as, “there is no part of us that is not of the god.” And of course the classic mysteries phrase of the Charge of the Goddess, “If that which thou seeketh, thou findest not within thee, you will never find it without thee.” These and other parts of Witchcraft ritual (not to mention many of the techniques used in ritual to help induce these kinds of states of mind) , strongly suggest the mysteries and mystical experience. The myths of esoteric initiatory Witchcraft point to the internal experience of the mysteries within the individual Witch, relating them to the cosmos, designed to take us beyond mere religion to the direct experience of numinous, divinity and the sacred. The systems, techniques and processes of esoteric Craft, to my mind, seem designed to take us beyond ourselves, and the sum of the parts of the tradition itself, into personal transformation and a new awareness.

The Mysteries and Esoteric Witchcraft

The Mysteries and Esoteric Witchcraft

Author: Rhys Chisnall

“Second hand mysticism has generally an unsatisfactory experience, since if these notions are not the driving force of our life, are not the beat of our heart or are not personally integrated into our whole, then they are empty gestures. Then they are devoid of meaning similar to reading a literary criticism rather than reading the poem itself. The mystical experience is immediate not vicarious or deputed” (Armstrong 1999)

“There is a linguistic connection between the three words, myth, mysticism and mystery. All derive from the Greek verb musterion: to close the eyes or the mouth”. (Armstrong 1999)

The Armenian-Greek esoteric philosopher and practitioner G. I. Gurdjieff suggested that there were four paths to the mysteries. The first three, the way of the fakir, the way of the yogi (nothing to do with ) and the way of the monk are mostly eastern ways to experience the mysteries and represent the three disciplines of the mind, the body and contemplation. These three paths are typical of the Eastern Mystery tradition in that they all involve a withdrawal from society and the world.

Candle Colors and What They Mean

CANDLE COLORS AND WHAT THEY MEAN

White:
A balance of all colors; Spiritual enlightenment, cleansing, clairvoyance, healing, truth seeking; Rituals involving lunar energy. May be substituted for any color candle.

Yellow:
Activity, Creativity, unity; brings power of concentration and imagination to a ritual; use in rituals where you wish to gain anothers confidence or persuade someone, or in rituals that require solar energy.

Gold:
Fosters understanding and attracts the powers of cosmic influences; beneficial in rituals intended to bring about fast luck or money, or in rituals needing solar energy.

Pink:
Promotes romance, friendship; standard color for rituals to draw affections; a color of femininity, honor, service, brings friendly, lively conversation to the dinner table.

Red:
Health, passion, love, fertility, strength, courage, will power; increases magnetism in rituals; draws Aries and Scorpio energy.

Silver:
Removes negativity and encourages stability; helps develop psychic abilities; attracts the influence of the Mother Goddess.

Purple:
Power, success, idealism, psychic manifestations; ideals for rituals to secure ambitions, independence, financial rewards, or to make contact with the spiritual other world; increases Neptune energy.

Magenta:
Combination of red and violet that oscillates on a high frequency; energizes rituals where immediate action and high levels of power or spiritual healing are required.

Brown:
Earthly, balanced color; for rituals of material increase; eliminates indecisiveness; improves powers of concentration, study, telepathy; increases financial success; locates objects that have been lost.

Indigo:
Color of inertia; stops situations or people; use in rituals that require a deep meditational state; or in rituals that demand Saturn energy.

Royal Blue:
Promotes laughter and joviality; color or loyalty; use to attract Jupiter energy, or whenever an influence needs to be increased.

Light Blue:
Spiritual color; helpful in devotional or inspirational meditations; brings peace and tranquillity to the home; radiates Aquarius energy; employ where a situation must be synthesized.

Blue:
Primary spiritual color; for rituals to obtain wisdom, harmony, inner light, or peace; confers truth and guidance.

Emerald Green:
Important component in Venusian rituals; attracts love, social delights, and fertility.

Dark Green:
Color of ambition, greed, and jealousy; counteracts these influences in a ritual.

Green:
Promotes prosperity, fertility, success; stimulates rituals for good luck, money, harmony, and rejuvenation.

Gray:
Neutral color useful when pondering complex issues during meditation; in magic, this color often sparks confusion; it also negates or neutralizes a negative influence.

Black:
Opens up the deeper levels of the unconscious; use in rituals to induce a deep meditational state, or to banish evil or negativity as in uncrossing rituals; attracts Saturn energy.

A Meditation on Magick

by Bestia Mortale

I’d like to examine three levels of magick, the world, the will and the spirit, from a particular perspective I shall describe.

Like most things, magick looks different from different sides. The word “magick” normally conjures up spells, unseen forces, strange worlds and mysterious beings. This is the “supernatural” point of view. This is the vantage from which we see sorcerers pursuing arcane knowledge to gain amazing power.

Take the skeptical version of this point of view, and magick signifies self-delusion, wish-fulfillment fantasy, unconscious deception and intentional fraud.

But then stroll around to another viewpoint, where you assume knowledge rather than ignorance. Assume for a moment that you can understand everything (not that anyone can). From this perspective, much of what we think of as magick vanishes, becoming just another technology, just another way to get what you want.

When you want something, you use your understanding of the world combined with your intelligence to identify a course of action that might achieve it. Then you use your will and determination to follow that course of action. As you go, you use intermediate results to modify your course of action. Are you a sorcerer or an engineer?

Both historians of science and historians of magick are well aware that until relatively recently, the two were more or less indistinguishable. In the last several centuries, the techniques of modern science and engineering have emerged as by far the most powerful and effective means of doing magick in the world. The spells of physics almost always work reliably, and when they don’t, physicists are delighted – there are always reputations to be made in perfecting them.

The magick of getting what we want in the world is fascinating and impressive but not necessarily deeply moving. Take doing the dishes, for example. Some people still eat with their hands from food that lies in their laps. Others have pursued centuries of dogged experimentation to produce specialized eating surfaces and utensils. Some people clean such surfaces and utensils in streambeds, while others have devoted amazing ingenuity to channeling and heating water and devising special chemicals that make cleaning these surfaces and utensils easier. Some people wash their own dishes, while others have devised complex social transactions that result in “servants” of various sorts doing the cleanup. There are even electric dishwashing machines, and if that’s not supernatural, nothing is.

At the same time, who cares? We eat. If we do it right, we are nourished, we don’t get sick, and we don’t have to devote too much of our energy to doing it. Fine china, beautiful silverware, exotic spices, gourmet recipes, all these are lovely if they don’t cost us too much.

From a perspective of understanding, the magick of getting what we want tends to merge disappointingly into what we like to call “technology,” our ancillary crafts, and its appeal seems less bright, if no less useful, from this point of view.

There is also magick of the will – the art of being able to decide cleanly. Each of us is full of ambivalence. We want a thousand contradictory things, consciously, semi-consciously, entirely unconsciously. Magick of the will aligns and balances all those conflicting desires so that you can choose consistently and effectively to achieve a given end.

Will is an elusive magick that varies radically from person to person. Like music, painting or writing, it can be taught, but like any art, it is based on talent and taste. It is practiced by every successful person in the world, although few would regard it as magick. The ability to choose consistently and well, at least within a narrow focus, is essential to success in almost every undertaking.

There are easy ways to achieve will. Some of the peskiest and most disruptive of our desires are ethical and emotional. Simply by suppressing these, you can become much more effectively decisive. Fortunately, few people want to pay that price. Indeed, it may be that no one has the resources to pay that price, except by foolish borrowing.

Will is like health. Many of us are blessed with it initially, but to keep it takes luck, attention and good habits. Many of the disciplines of what we narrowly refer to these days as “magick” can be helpful, but plenty of people who have never used the word are masters of will magick.

Finally, there is magick of the spirit, the magick of listening to the quiet voices. This is a magick that is easy to lose in modern life. Plenty of atheist engineers and salesmen may be better sorcerers or better at will magick than you or I, but few of them have found a way to meet their spiritual needs.

Following Carl Jung and Joseph Campbell, many of us have come to see the roots of our spiritual yearnings sinking deep into our unconscious minds, down among primal cultural artifacts and almost universal archetypes. Whether they re-emerge on the other side of the unconscious into an astral reality is a philosophical question, not a practical one. After all, satisfying the deep yearnings of your unconscious mind is important whether or not you want to believe that the spiritual world is “real.” Lots of people know that it is, and lots of other people know it isn’t, but I don’t like the question.

I’m very clear that something really happens when I give myself over to magick of the spirit. It happens often, particularly if I make the effort to let it. It happens in loving sex just about every time. It happens at the oddest moments. It happens in meditation, speaking with a goddess or a god. But particularly, it happens when I connect to the spirits of place, of the earth.

Sitting on the ragged stones at the edge of the sea watching patterns in the water, crouched with my back to a rock high in the mountains, listening to the songs of the wind, standing among the old trees in a forest glade feeling rain on my face, I find myself lost in wonder. Minutes pass when I am far, far away. I come back changed. My yearning is answered and affirmed. These are moments of pure magick for me. I don’t know what happens, but I know it’s important. It doesn’t have to do with getting some specific thing I want or honing my will; it has to do with receiving some kind of deep sustenance.

This magick of spirit goes well beyond our wisdom.

The Law Of Attraction

By: Robin Retallick

The Law Of Attraction turns out to be the big one. It’s the basis of everything. Simply put the law is – “We attract into our experience that, and only that, which we think about – whether wanted or unwanted”. This means that whatever we give our energy, attention or focus, will inevitably be drawn to us.

The corollary is the Law Of No Assertion – “Nobody and nothing can assert anything into our experience which is not a match to our vibration”. This means that nobody or nothing, (including “God”, fate, friends, family, governments, strangers, tsunamis, star signs etc. etc.) can cause us to experience something that does not resonate with what we are thinking.

Another way of stating this law (putting it in terms more closely aligned with the language of modern physics) is the Law Of Alternate Realities – “We choose which reality to step into by the things we give our energy, focus and attention”. This last version appeals to me – but pick whichever version suits you – they all mean the same thing – we create our own reality.

Now let’s think a little more on that “whether wanted or unwanted” piece from the Law Of Attraction above.

We all have an Emotional Scale. To simplify, we either feel good or we feel bad. If we’re not feeling good, then what we’re including in our thoughts is what we don’t want. The Emotional Scale runs from Depression-Grief-Fear-Anger-Frustration-Annoyance-Boredom Where we’re thinking about what we DON’t want through to Contentment-Interest-Happiness-Excitement-Passion-Ecstasy where we’re thinking about what we DO want.

To put it another way – the Universe hears no negatives. So if we are fearful that something might happen, we are attracting it. Nothing – nada – zilch – is more important than feeling good. Our “work” therefore is to get ourselves to the place where we focus on what we want – to move ourselves up the scale from:

Worry -> Hope -> Optimism -> Confidence -> Certainty.

The more we can move >>> to the right hand end of the scale, the faster we can manifest what we really want.

So what we’re spending our time thinking about is all-important. And so is how we’re thinking about it. For every subject, we have a resonant point of attraction. If you want to know where you are on any subject, look around. What you’re experiencing is where you’re resonating.

For a minute, pick a topic on which you’d like some change in your life. For example – say money. Is your first reaction “not enough”? Every time something you’d like-to-have flashes into your awareness, is the like-to-have immediately drowned out by can’t-afford-it? Or do you get into a feeling of delicious anticipation?

So where does action – doing things – fit into all of this? Well first we need to understand what I call the BE-DO-HAVE™ principle.

In the world I was raised in, action was all important. It didn’t matter whether I wanted to do it, or felt like doing it – I needed the self-discipline to do it anyway. With a combination of hard work and being lucky enough to be in the right place at the right time, maybe things would turn out OK. Well according to the Law Of Attraction, that’s all hooey. There’s no such thing as “luck”, and there are no “accidents”. Our actions in themselves cannot get us what we want.

But – the Universe is a powerful orchestrator. It always responds to our thoughts and always has us in the right place at the right time. To take advantage of this, we have to reverse the process – to Be-Do-Have.

If we can see/feel/imagine ourselves where we want to BE, then we’ll be inspired to DO the things that will allow us to HAVE all that we want (more on BE-DO-HAVE later).

So – if we look at the way successful people order their lives, we see that many directly acknowledge this Law Of Attraction. Others, as you begin to see the principles they live by, inherently take advantage of it. That is they clearly order their lives according to its principles. Also, there are legions of books on this subject – either directly acknowledging the Law Of Attraction, or giving principles and procedures that are in line with it. In summary, what they all say is – spend time visualizing what you want, and it will appear.

A few quotes:

“Man must cease attributing his problems to his environment, and learn again to exercise his will – his personal responsibility.” – Albert Schweitzer

“The greatest discovery of my generation is that human beings can alter their lives by altering their attitudes of mind.” – William James

“Your circumstances may be uncongenial, but they shall not remain so if you only perceive an ideal and strive to reach it. You cannot travel within and stand still without.” – James Allen

“Whatever your mind can conceive and can believe, it can achieve.” Napoleon Hill

“Follow your bliss, and doors will open for you that you never knew existed” Joseph Campbell

Beginner Witchcraft – What to read:

But reading is less important than observing. You will be tempted to try to become a witch by reading, because those of us w/ big brains and big educations always operate that way. Try to keep a balance between hours spent reading, and hours spent walking in the woods.

Other references:
–Joseph Campbell’s PBS series on mythology is now available on video. He’s a good storyteller and has a wonderful philosophy of how to incorporate myth into your life.

Objects/tools/toys:
Anything can be a tool for working magic and gaining understanding (a leaf, a stone, a pen, a plastic dinosaur)–it’s all in what you invest it with –be slow to acquire toys (blades, wands, etc.)–it’s better if they find you, then your finding them –more important than a lot of gidgets, is setting aside a special place in your home as an altar. Start with candles and incense, and invent simple rituals: lighting a candle while you read, burning incense while you meditate. –because it’s nonverbal in form, the Tarot is actually a better source for learning about the Craft, than any book. Seek out one of the less Christianized decks–I personally like the Barbara Walker and the Motherpeace.

Sacred space:
The first formal “magic” you should learn, is how to set aside sacred space. Pick a place in your home or your yard where you will practice this, and practice often, even if at first it makes you feel self-conscious.

I realize that a lot of this sounds terribly vague. I used to get frustrated when I read books about the Craft, and they didn’t have, like, RECIPES to perform. The hard part of it is, that you learn more from the Goddess, than you do from any human being. But that doesn’t mean you can’t do some simple spells, right from the very beginning: both Adler’s and Starhawk’s books have some straightforward descriptions of working magic.

Don’t get hung up on issues of reality, or the unknown, or the verifiable, or whatever. Just DO. It’s far more important to TRY things, than it is to READ about them.

On the Spirit of the Thing

by George Jackson

People throw the word “spiritual” around all the time, and a large number of us have probably never taken the time to really examine what the word means and how we relate to it. We seem to take for granted that everyone understands the concept at one level or another. I had this driven home to me at the 2001 Spring Mysteries Festival, when someone of the Gardnerian persuasion tried to tell me that doing magick didn’t enhance the spirit. It left me wondering what he thought all of those invocations — a magickal form of merging with a deity — were about if not an attempt to enlarge the understanding of the spirit. I then realized that I was taking a lot for granted, too. So here is my attempt at describing the concept of spirit.

The dictionary defines spirit as the life principle, and the word is derived from the Latin spiritus, meaning breath. This definition is further elaborated on to include the thinking, motivating and feeling part of a person that is sometimes called the soul. There is a tendency to separate this aspect from the physical body, and in some cases to connect it with the supernatural. This result, from my point of view, leads us a bit astray as it does not take into consideration the gestalt (whole greater than the sum of the parts) power that is inherent in a living person. Going back to the original definition, it can be said that any living thing is infused with a spirit. People who practice shamanism take this idea a few steps further, or it might be said they extend the definition of “living” beyond the usual scale of such things. At this point, I’m going to accept the definition of spirit as life force and work from there.

For the most part, a sorcerer’s intent is focused on ordinary reality. The complexity of substance and interaction occurring in this arena is so immense that it is as best very poorly understood. For instance, if you read Time Magazine this past June, you will know that the astrophysicists now believe that the majority of the universe is made up of “dark matter and energy,” the properties of which are pretty much unknown. One of the observable characteristics of ordinary reality is that everything moves, and the vast majority of this movement is not in what we call an orderly fashion. Out of these observations, chaos theory arose in the late 1960s. From this and quantum theory came the metaphysical concept that the universe was primarily chaotic in nature and that order was at best temporary, and for the most part, illusionary. From this observational standpoint, the universe cherishes two principal things: change, and what grows out of it, diversity. This is the benchmark that a chaos-theory sorcerer operates from. Thus, the sorcerer works to harmonize with the waves of probability coursing through the universe and by strength of will fueled by spirit (read life-force) causes shifts in flow.

Ge, Gaea and Gaia all mean Earth. Gaea in Greek mythology is the Earth personified as a goddess, the mother of Uranus and the Titans. In chaos theory, there is a concept called the Gaia Hypothesis, in which the conditions necessary for life are created and maintained by life itself in a self-sustaining process of dynamic feedback. Carrying this into the realm of metaphysics, it could be used as a partial justification for the belief in reincarnation. I’ll admit that my concept of deity lies within the Gaia area. On the popular culture scene, George Lucas brought Gaia, greatly expanded, to the public’s attention as the Force in Star Wars. This was not an accident, as Joseph Campbell was a significant collaborator on the Star Wars script. This concept should not be a surprise coming from Lucas, whose company is named Industrial Light and Magic, and who is recognized by his peers for having a powerful, questing spirit. And so, if you have ever said, “May the Force be with you,” even in jest, you have acknowledged Gaia, the spirit of our planet and perhaps our spiritual source.

Within quantum theory lies the statement that everything is connected to everything else. This is especially true of body, mind and spirit within a person. It has also been said that the body is the temple of the spirit that dwells therein. The body definitely processes outside sources of energy in the forms of food, liquids and other environmental elements that are necessary to sustain both the spirit and the mind. Both the disciplines of Yoga and the Hawaiian practice of Huna recognize this, and further both have some specific breathing exercises to raise power. The word haole in Hawaiian, which has come to mean “outsider,” originally meant “without breath” and referred to a lack of spiritual ability. Max Freedom Long publicized the art of Huna, which he considered a psychospiritual discipline that could be fitted into most religious paradigms. Much of his work concerns the establishing and maintenance of the spiritual three-in-one gestalt (basic self, the subconscious; middle self, the conscious; and high self, the superconscious) that make up a human being. It is good not to underrate the importance of a healthy body in regard to the support of the spirit. Of course, this is a two-way street, and a strong spirit goes a long way toward preserving the body.

Now, what are some of the ways of enhancing the spirit? A lot of these methods can be listed under “accomplishment.” If you set yourself a task and carry it through to a successful conclusion, part of your reward will probably be a spiritual “lift,” a sort of buoyant feeling of achievement. Another method is an appreciation of something one considers beautiful or awesome. The more esoteric routes to enhancement are initiation, illumination and gnosis. Gnosis is “the knowledge that impels action.” In other words, once you know the thing in question, you must act on it.

Within the psychospiritual paradigm, initiation, illumination and gnosis are the three primary methods of enhancement. They are a process. In ordinary reality, we undergo levels of initiation of one sort or another all of the time, and hopefully we learn from them. What we learn in the broad sense can be called a state of illumination. This leaves us with gnosis, which is part of the application, the knowledge that impels action. All of this process can be spiritually enhancing in that it widens our options for accomplishment of something beyond the ordinary. The chaos factor may truly surprise us when it comes to what such accomplishment yields in the long run. For instance, Athens, Greece, became a democracy almost overnight. Democracy had never been practiced on that scale before, as far as we know. Thus was set in place an opportunity for the spirit of the citizens to be expressed in both an individual and collective manner.

As I have mentioned, spiritual enhancement is a process. Most of the time what popular culture calls “spiritual” is connected with a religious paradigm or something that is considered supernatural. From my point of view, our life force is a force of nature and is connected to everything that surrounds us. I went through a major personal initiation event in the early 1970s that firmly set me on the road to becoming a magick user. At the time, I was already experiencing crisis and call (a general dissatisfaction with the spiritual status quo that brings on the need for change), and as the result of a gestalt experience, I experienced initiation and illumination as one continuous series of events that lasted for several minutes. I was superenergized from participating in a circle that had not been grounded. I was alone in a room and asked myself the question, “What’s next?” My subconscious altered, and I received my answers.

This initiation left me with the task of learning gnosis. Gnosis has been defined in several ways, from the state of no-mind, one-pointedness, to understanding the knowledge that impels one to act in a certain way. Like much of what we know, it has to be experienced to really grasp its meaning. Practicing magick gave me the experience that I was seeking and expanded both my personal reality and the energy needed to delve more deeply into it. From this point of view, I feel that I have been spiritually enhanced.

The spirit does have an enemy. The name of this enemy is depression. If this state of mind is not brought on by a biochemical unbalance, it probably stems from a loss of faith in one’s ability to positively interact with one’s environment. This inwardly focused state of negativity constricts the production of life force by the subconscious and in extreme cases can lead to death. For example, during the Korean War many American prisoners of war literally turned their faces to the wall and willed themselves to death. Much was written about this after the war, and some steps were taken to counter the effect, primarily in the form of encouraging prisoners to focus on resistance and escape. There is little doubt that one can’t be upbeat all of the time. There is a neutral status. Depression, however, is contrary to solving problems or maintaining faith in one’s self. Learning to consider obstacles as temporary in nature sure helps the spirit along.

In summation, I consider being spiritual as opening up one’s consciousness and becoming aware of the place we occupy in nature in all of its complexity and diversity. There are probably as many methods for accomplishing this as there are people. How people express their spirituality should always be a matter of personal choice. Our forebears struggled hard to establish this opportunity for personal choice for us, and we should not neglect the right to exercise our options. We pagans are considered by some of the major religions to be heretics. This means we hold views that are not sanctioned by their official church doctrine. The word “heretic” comes from the Greek, and means “able to choose.” Let’s keep up the good work!

Dragons In Alchemy

In alchemy, the dragon was considered to be matter, metal and the physical body. Often mentioned in conjunction with the dragon was the dragon’s sister: spirit, metallic mercury, and the soul. Ancient alchemy used the picture of a dragon or winged serpent as one of its many secret symbols. A common symbol of spiritual alchemical work was the dragon or serpent holding its tail in its mouth, an unending circle of eternity. Near this circled dragon was written the Greek motto “en to pan,” or “all is one.” The fabled Philosopher’s Stone of alchemy was also considered the One Which Is All. This Stone was closely connected in ancient writings with the Great Work of alchemy; the Great work simply means humankind becoming God, or merging with the Supreme Creative Forces within, thus completing the cycle of human growth by returning to the Source.

Jung wrote that the alchemists considered the winged dragon as female, the wingless dragons as male. Jung also considered water in dreams and analysis as unconscious spirit or the water dragon of Tao. This water dragon of Tao symbolized the yang embraced in the yin, or balanced growth in spirit. In Chinese Taoist symbolism, the dragon was seen as ‘the Way,” the bringer of eternal changes. Often in was depicted as guardian of the Flaming Pearl, or spiritual perfection. Joseph Campbell also speaks of the winged dragon or serpent as being the balance between Earth and Spirit. To the Chinese, the dragon was a potent symbol of luck and power. Silver dragon amulets were worn to help gain these qualities.

“Dancing with Dragons”

D. J. Conway

Seasons of the Witch

The Witches New Year.
Halloween
Samhain
Magic Day
Druid’s Samhain Autumn Sun Festival.
Ancient Roman Feast To Pomona.
All Hallow’s Eve, 10th Century.
All Saint’s Eve.
Old Celtic New Year’s Eve. Struggle Between Old & New Years.
Festival Of Inner Worlds.
Joseph Campbell, 83, Dies. Mythologist.1987
National UNICEF Day
Beggar’s Night
Apple & Candle Night (Wales)
National Caramel Apple Day
10/31 eve to 11/2 eve: Old Sumerian & Canaanite-Hebrew fast recalling the descent of Inanna/Astarte (Goddess of Life) to the Underworld. Ereshkigal/Sheol (Goddess of Death and Rebirth) detained Her until She agreed to have Dumuzi/Baal (God of Life and Death) remain there each Winter.
10/31 eve to 11/2 eve: Samhain–Old Celtic New Year and feast of Morrigan/Cerridwen (Goddess of Death) and Balor/Beli (the Holly King – God of the Waning Sun).
10/31 eve to 11/2 eve: Old Teutonic fast marking Hod (God of Darkness) unintentionally killing Balder (God of Light), and devoted Nanna (Goddess of Flowers) dying of a broken heart.
10/31 eve to 11/6 eve: Mid-Autumn/Day of the Dead/Hallowmas–Festival marking the transformation of life to death – the end of the agricultural year, departure of migrating and hibernating animals, and decay and death of vegetal and animal life. Observed by remembering departed ancestors and contemplating one’s own mortality.
Witchcraft Hysteria (This isn’t a game-very interesting) http://www.nationalgeographic.com/salem/index.html

Excerpted From GrannyMoon’s Morning Feast Archives, Earth, Moon and Sky and/or School of Seasons
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Remember the ancient ways and keep them sacred!

Samhain Goddess – Ishtar

Ishtar’s Descent into the underworld

One of the most famous myths about Ishtar describes her descent to the underworld. In this myth, Ishtar approaches the gates of the underworld and demands that the gatekeeper open them:

If thou openest not the gate to let me enter,
I will break the door, I will wrench the lock,
I will smash the door-posts, I will force the doors.
I will bring up the dead to eat the living.
And the dead will outnumber the living.

The gatekeeper hurried to tell Ereshkigal, the Queen of the Underworld. Ereshkigal told the gatekeeper to let Ishtar enter, but “according to the ancient decree”.

The gatekeeper lets Ishtar into the underworld, opening one gate at a time. At each gate, Ishtar has to shed one article of clothing. When she finally passes the seventh gate, she is naked. In rage, Ishtar throws herself at Ereshkigal, but Ereshkigal orders her servant Namtar to imprison Ishtar and unleash sixty diseases against her.

After Ishtar descends to the underworld, all sexual activity ceases on earth. The god Papsukal reports the situation to Ea, the king of the gods. Ea creates an intersex creature called Asu-shu-namir and sends him-her to Ereshkigal, telling him-her to invoke “the name of the great gods” against her and to ask for the bag containing the waters of life. Ereshkigal is enraged when she hears Asu-shu-namir’s demand, but she has to give him-her the water of life. Asu-shu-namir sprinkles Ishtar with this water, reviving her. Then Ishtar passes back through the seven gates, getting one article of clothing back at each gate, and is fully clothed as she exits the last gate.

Here there is a break in the text of the myth. The text resumes with the following lines:

If she (Ishtar) will not grant thee her release,
To Tammuz, the lover of her youth,
Pour out pure waters, pour out fine oil;
With a festival garment deck him that he may play on the flute of lapis lazuli,
That the votaries may cheer his liver. [his spirit]
Belili [sister of Tammuz] had gathered the treasure,
With precious stones filled her bosom.
When Belili heard the lament of her brother, she dropped her treasure,
She scattered the precious stones before her,
“Oh, my only brother, do not let me perish!
On the day when Tammuz plays for me on the flute of lapis lazuli, playing it for me with the porphyry ring.
Together with him, play ye for me, ye weepers and lamenting women!
That the dead may rise up and inhale the incense.”

Formerly, scholars believed that the myth of Ishtar’s descent took place after the death of Ishtar’s lover, Tammuz: they thought Ishtar had gone to the underworld to rescue Tammuz. However, the discovery of a corresponding myth about Inanna, the Sumerian counterpart of Ishtar, has thrown some light on the myth of Ishtar’s descent, including its somewhat enigmatic ending lines. According to the Inanna myth, Inanna can only return from the underworld if she sends someone back in her place. Demons go with her to make sure she sends someone back. However, each time Inanna runs into someone, she finds him to be a friend and lets him go free. When she finally reaches her home, she finds her husband Dumuzi (Babylonian Tammuz) seated on his throne, not mourning her at all. In anger, Inanna has the demons take Dumuzi back to the underworld as her replacement. Dumuzi’s sister Geshtinanna is grief-stricken and volunteers to spend half the year in the underworld, during which time Dumuzi can go free. The Ishtar myth presumably has a comparable ending, Belili being the Babylonian equivalent of Geshtinanna.

Dragons In Alchemy

“Dancing with Dragons”

D. J. Conway

Wandering Through Faerie Land: Metaphor and the Semantic Landscape

Wandering Through Faerie Land: Metaphor and the Semantic Landscape

Author: Rhys Chisnall
On Midsummer’s Day, the corn stood half grown and green, knee high in Suffolk fields. The bumblebee buzzed as it flew from flower to flower and overhead high above the corn the skylark sang. The midsummer’s sun beat down from high in the clear blue sky as I walked along besides the footpath than ran between the field and the hedgerow. I hadn’t drunk enough water so as I walked I noticed the sleight effects of dehydration. I continued onwards, creeping thorns grasping at my boots, while the stinging nettles failed to penetrate my jeans. The heat of midday, the smell of the corn, the summer flowers, the humming bee, the singing skylark all swirled in my awareness. And then it seemed to me that time stopped; it stood still.

I was in eternity, in faerie land, out of time. The experience and the realisation of timelessness was both beautiful and horrible. Beautiful as there is no ageing and no sting of death. But it was also horrible for nothing reaches its potential in faerie land. The corn never ripens and babies are never born; trapped in between time beautiful and horrible, both and neither.

Then the air moved again and a breeze stirred the corn which began to ripple and sway. I heard the buzzing of the bee again and the skylark continued to sings up high. I was back in time, back in the field. Did I ever really leave it? Had I really been in faerie land? Is it really a real place?

For some people it is, they believe that fairyland is an actual literal place. They may have had experiences similar to mine or more likely have read about it in books on popular Wicca or even in books on mythology. Many of the ‘Celtic’ myths feature stories of fairies, the Sidhe or the Tuatha de Danaan (what fairies are is another story) . How are we to view such things as intelligent people who are interested in a view of the world, which is life-enhancing but still congruent with what we know about reality? There just seems to be no way that faerie land can be a literal place. Remembering as Doreen Valiente reminds us in her book An ABC of Witchcraft that faerie comes from the Old French meaning enchantment, perhaps it could still be saved as a metaphor.

Metaphors are essential to how we use language; linguists tell us that we could not have complex language without them. Simply put they are when we describe something (called the target by linguists) by analogy (the source) . So, for example, we might say that my child is a fairy. The child is the target and the fairy is the source. This does not mean that we believe that our child is literally a fairy rather we are suggesting that she has some fae like qualities. Interestingly we somehow know which fairy qualities to apply to the child, so unless we are on the autistic spectrum we would not think that the child is an immortal with wings or likes to steal babies and put changelings in their place (remember no babies are born in faerie land) . Rather we would assume that the metaphor meant that she was small and cute looking or perhaps cute and full of mischief. So the description of my experience is a metaphor, an analogy. But what is it a metaphor for?

This metaphor is how I would try to communicate what my experience is like and what it means to me. Quite simply, we use metaphors to hint at things we can’t describe directly or in any other way. To understand this we need to look at three types of metaphor although there are in reality many more. The three we are interested in are conceptual metaphors, paralogical (or absolute) metaphors and extended metaphors. My experience falls under the heading of paralogical and extended metaphors but let’s first discuss conceptual metaphors.

Conceptual metaphors are used to illustrate one concept with reference to another. It sounds complicated but you may be surprised to learn that you use conceptual metaphors all the time. Consider for example when we say, “it was the high point of my life”. This is a classic example of a conceptual metaphor. If you think about it unless you were parachuting or bungee jumping you were not literally high up. It is a metaphor that we use to describe how we feel about a particular time in our lives. Another example is “I turned the music down”, after all music noise does not literally have a direction. What is especially interesting about conceptual metaphors is that they are indicative of our subjective view of reality. They illustrate some of the filters through which we perceive the world.

Consider for a moment what we mean by high point. It rests on an assumption that high is something that is good and desirable, while conversely low, as in “it was a low point in my life” we see as bad and something that we intuitively see as undesirable. The American magician and Linguist Patrick Dunn in his book, ‘Magic, Power, Language, Symbol’ (a book well worth reading) suggests that metaphors in general are so ingrained in our though patterns and assumptions that they often fall under the radar to all but linguists. Yet language and thought are fundamental to how we subjectively experience the world.

The underlying metaphors which make up beliefs are so important and taken so literally that Professor Joseph Campbell has lamented, “People are dying for metaphors all over the place”. Conceptual metaphors are worth a great deal of consideration and I recommend keeping your ears open for them and meditating on how they underpin your assumptions of reality. This is a very worthwhile and illuminating exercise.

Without paralogical metaphors the Craft, the occult or religion in general could not operate. Paralogical metaphors are utterances where there is no obvious link between the source and the target. So when we say, “the weather is pants”, you have to be in on the metaphor to understand what is being said. There is no way to infer the link between weather and pants if you were not already in on the expression and understood what it means. It also makes some underlying assumptions on pants suggesting that they are not very nice things. I wonder what assumptions people who use the term, “the dog’s bollocks”, make.

Paralogical metaphors can be seen as being symbols and the study of symbols is called semiotics. The discipline of semiotics includes not just written things like pentagrams and ankhs as symbols, nor even just spoken language, but body language, haircuts and the deliberate arrangement of trees; in fact anything that carries information. Some postmodernists such as the magician Patrick Dunn argue that as everything we perceive and experience is represented by information (via symbols to consciousness) in the brain, so our whole subjective experience is a symbolic representation. There may be an objective world out there, in fact there probably is, but we can never know it directly. We only know it indirectly through our senses that provide us with symbolic a representation filtered through an attention bottleneck based on biology, biases and the symbolic information of our beliefs formed by experiences. We live in our own little reality bubbles, in our own stories and narratives created from our symbolic representations. This is an idea that is finding considerable favour with many modern occultists, mostly because it seems to be backed up from the finding of perceptual, cognitive and discursive psychology.

The most obvious examples of paralogical metaphors in the Craft are tools, symbols, the elements, and the gods. Let us take tools to illustrate what I mean. In the Craft, as in ceremonial magic, there are several symbolic tools, which represent certain things. These are paralogical metaphors because these symbols are not obvious and difficult to infer the target (the concept/experience we are trying to understand) from the source (the tool and metaphorical expression) . There are several tools and symbols used in the Craft. As the Craft is organised into small autonomous covens which tools are used depends upon the Craft tradition and the coven.

In the coven in which I am a member the tools used are the besom, the athame (sword) , the dish, the chalice, and the censer. We also use other symbols such as the stang, the cords, the skull, the hare and others. Like all good symbols these parabolic metaphors have a loose associations, allowing room for individual investment of meaning. Roughly speaking the stang is a metaphor for the Dark Lord (who is himself a metaphor) , raised during the winter months between Halloween and Beltaine, the besom is the union of male and female, the cords for masculinity or femininity depending on the colour and the skull for death. The elemental tools are the athame for will and phallus (a metaphor for masculinity) , the dish for the body, the censer for thought and the cup for both emotions and the mystery of femininity, life and the Lady (again more metaphors for metaphors) . The tools themselves are not important, it is what they are metaphors for, in other words what they represent which is.

This is all very well but you would be justified in asking why bother with this talk of metaphors? The answer is that these metaphors have a semantic content in the mind of the practitioner. In linguistics, semantics means meaning. So in other words the tools and symbols of the Craft hold meaning for the practitioner. These symbols activate the meanings in the mind of the Witch when they are used. For example, if the Witch uses the athame to cast the circle (another paralogical metaphor) then its meaning infers and invokes the will of the Witch. These metaphors are like keys that flip the mind into the state that the metaphor represents, provided they have been invested with their semantic content.

As such the Witch can deliberately buy into and build up these semantic connections. As paralogical metaphors are not obvious, so then associations need to be built and assumptions about reality implicit in the metaphors need to be examined. The witch builds up a semantic landscape, a landscape of meaning and metaphor. It is in this semantic landscape, itself a metaphor, in which the Craft operates. The world of faerie, the world of enchantment.

Occultists, philosophers and scientists have a long history of using metaphorical places in order to better understand difficult concepts and meanings. For example in the Western Mystery Traditions we have the astral and inner planes. The problem with using metaphor, especially in the Occult, is they are often taken as literal, in other words some people believe that the astral and inner planes are real places. Rather they are analogous to the ideas of ‘prime space’ in mathematics, ‘design space’ in evolutionary biology and ‘possible worlds’ in philosophy, though used to understand different concepts.

Prime space is a metaphorical space which helps mathematicians understand how reality would be effected if the mathematical language of the universe was different in some way. It is a useful tool because by understanding what would happen under different conditions it helps mathematicians to get to grips with why the math of the universe behaves the way it does. Likewise with design space, in enables the evolutionary biologist to understand why organisms are the way they are by exploring the way they could be but are not. The ‘possible worlds’ in philosophy allows philosophers to conduct thought experiments, which highlight our intuitions about concepts, and the way the world is. These are metaphors, conceptual tools and so are astral and inner planes. In a sense like myth, they are extended metaphors. They go beyond just one symbol, into many symbols that are analogous to states of mind, complex concepts and help us to understand complex information.

The astral plane is a metaphor for the emotional mind while the inner planes are a metaphor for the deeper levels of the psyche. They describe states of mind where the characters of deities, elementals and other spirits (more metaphors and memeplexes) can communicate with the occultist, or where the unconscious mind can come through, communicating according to Freud and Jung through the language of symbols. Likewise the semantic landscape is not a real place, but rather entering into a state of mind where one is aware of the symbols as metaphors and what they represent. The more one connects with and builds up these metaphors, the richer ones semantic landscape. For example, if you learn the folklore, the medicinal and magical properties of local plants, a walk in the countryside becomes richer in the sense that you will also be taking a walk through a semantic landscape full of meaning and association. Each plant will be a metaphor for various states of minds, various experiences, various connections, enriching your life and being put at your disposal.

You may be tempted to ask the question so what? And that would be a good question to ask. Why bother building up our semantic landscape and considering what assumptions our metaphors make about reality? The answer is as mentioned before, we are as Stewart and Cohen suggests ‘the storytelling ape’. We perceive and communicate our reality as a narrative. This is why Jung’s ideas about archetypes are so powerful even though we know they are not literally embedded in our brains (if you cut open a brain you won’t find a single archetype anywhere) . Rather they are embedded in how we tell stories, including the stories of ourselves. Stories are metaphors, they are full of meaning, which operates on many different levels, but they are not directly the way the world is. If they were then we would have discovered evolution, germ theory, the heliocentric solar system much, much sooner than we did.

By building up our semantic landscape, by taking control of our stories of reality, we can then change them if we wish. And if we are really good at it, and understand other people’s stories, we can change those as well. By understanding that our experience of the world (and entities) is a collection of narratives we can also avoid the obsession and eventual mental breakdown that has afflicted some literally minded dabblers in the occult. When we build up our semantic landscape, when we weave meaning and metaphor it gives us some power over the narrative, though the narrative will always have some control over us.

My experience of wandering through faerie land is a metaphor for an experience. It is a metaphor for the state of mind where I experienced the wonder and horror of eternity. Faerie land is not a real place, there are no literal fairies out there, but the experience nonetheless like many other experiences that many others and I have had was real and very useful. The experience of faerie is the state of mind that we enter into when we cast the magic circle. Putting aside the results of operant conditioning of casting the circle in that after a period of time and experience it automatically puts us into a certain state of mind, the circle becomes the semantic landscape. It is the world of metaphor, representing not only the totality universe but also the state of mind that is out of time and all of time.

The circle represents the whole of time, a metaphor for all the year, the whole of our lives and so, like faerie land, it is a mind state in eternity. We are metaphorically between the world of the physical and the semantic landscape of our narrative minds, wandering through the story, wandering through fairyland. And it is from here, in those states of mind that we can experience and change the stories and encounter the characters of our narratives including our self. It is when we are wandering through faerie land that we meet that grand narrative which we call the Divine.

The Mysteries and Esoteric Witchcraft

The Mysteries and Esoteric Witchcraft

Author: Rhys Chisnall
“The most beautiful and profound emotion we can experience is the sensation of the mystical. He to whom the emotion is a stranger: whom no longer wonder and stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead. To know that what is impenetrable to us really exists, manifesting itself as the highest wisdom and the most radiant beauty, which our dull faculties can comprehend only in their primitive forms- this knowledge, this feeling, is at the centre of true religion.” – Albert Einstein

“There is a linguistic connection between the three words, myth, mysticism and mystery. All derive from the Greek verb musterion: to close the eyes or the mouth”. (Armstrong 1999)

Footnotes:
Campbell, J, (1988) , ‘The Power of Myth’, Doubleday
Campbell, J, (1959) , ‘The Mask of God (Primitive mythology, Oriental Mythology, Occidental Mythology and Creative Mythology) ’, Condor
Campbell, J, (1949) , ‘The Hero with a Thousand faces’, Princetown University Press
Campbell, J, (2001) , ‘Thou art that, transforming religious metaphors’, Joseph Cambell Foundation
Campbell, J, (2004) , ‘Pathways to Bliss, Mythology and Personal Transformation’, Joseph Campbell Foundation
Crowley, V, (1989) , ’ Wicca the old Religion in the New Age’, Aquarian Press
Armstrong, K, (1999) , ’ A History of God’, Vintage
Armstrong, K, (2005) , ‘A Short History of Myth’, Cannongate
Pearosn, J, Roberts, R, Samuel, G, (1998) , ‘Nature Religion Today’, Edinburgh University Press
Pearson, J, (2007) , ‘Wicca and the Christian Heritage (Ritual, Sex and magic) , Routledge
Fortune, D, (1935) , ‘The Mystical Qabalah’, Aquarian
Hutton, R, (2003) , ‘Witches, Druids, and King Arthur, Oxford University Press
Heselton, P, (1995) , ‘Secret Places of the Goddess’, Capal Ban
Underhill, E, (1993) , ‘Mysticism’, Oneworld
Lamond, F, (1997) , ‘Religion without Beliefs’, Janus
Lamond, F, (2004) , ‘Fifty Years of Wicca’, Green magic
LeShan, L, (1974) , ‘How to Meditate’, Turnstone
Bracey, D, (2001) , ‘A Personal View of God’, TNW

Quotes On Spirituality That Will Change Your Life

By Deon Du Plessis

On a deep emotional level we are all aware of our spiritual nature and underneath the surface level of life there is a dimension that we all long to make contact with. There are many views and definitions of what spirituality really is, but what I would like to do here is to present 3 quotes on spirituality from 3 very influential people; people who have made vastly different contributions to life and our understanding of what it means to be a human being in this world.

The first quote on spirituality is from Joseph Campbell, a man who spent a lifetime writing and thinking about the mysteries of life. Here’s what he had to say:

“All you can learn is what your own inward life is and try to stay loyal to that.”

In our ego driven world we all tend to look around for approval and for how to act and behave. We tend to compare ourselves to others to determine where we are in life and also where we ought to be going.

Spirituality calls on you to look deep within to find your own unique place and path in life. You are unique in every way and on a spiritual level you have a journey tailored to suit only you. When you look within you will discover that authentic spiritual part called your Self through which your entire life is lived. Joseph Campbell tells us to find this part of ourselves and then to stay true to that instead of always looking outside of ourselves for answers.

True fulfillment in life will never come from living up to someone else’s expectations or living your life the way you believe you ought to. It will never come from the attainment of goals or achieving what’s considered to be success. The ultimate purpose of life is to find out what you are about on that deeper spiritual level and then to live it.

“We need to find God, and he cannot be found in noise and restlessness. God is the friend of silence. See how nature – trees, flowers, grass- grows in silence; see the stars, the moon and the sun, how they move in silence… We need silence to be able to touch souls.” – Mother Teresa

The first quote on spirituality from Joseph Campbell was about finding your own authentic path in life. In this quote from Mother Theresa, she tells us how to do it. When mother Theresa offers spiritual advice I for one am willing to listen.

She gives us a very profound spiritual lesson and that is to embrace silence. God is the friend of silence and when you quiet your mind, you get to reconnect with God on a personal level. In our crazy-busy world, time for silence is probably the last thing on most people’s list of priorities, yet this is where true authentic power in life comes from. When you empty your mind from all the mundane demands and you return to the centre deep within you are once again connected with that divine power that orchestrates the entire universe.

In a world dominated by new trends and technologies it seems like there is an even greater demand on our attention from every direction. We marvel at the latest inventions and the wonders of new technology, but still it’s all very temporary and only lasts until the next best thing comes along.

Even when you look beyond all the man-made wonders and venture into nature to observe a sunset, a shooting star or a thunderstorm, there is one thing that is universally mysterious about it. Even with our technology and scientific knowledge, there is still a huge chunk of it that we simply do not understand. This is what Albert Einstein had to say about it:

“The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and all science. He to whom this emotion is a stranger, who can no longer pause to wonder and stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead: his eyes are closed.”

Behind all the surface wonders of the world lies a deeper mystery – as if there is a divine hand behind it all that silently orchestrates and organizes it. This is the true wonder of life. At the heart of spirituality is this wonderful and mysterious force that is the essence of life.

Spirituality is about really waking up to life and to develop a higher awareness – an awareness of that mysterious force behind all of life. If you are not absolutely fascinated with life then you simply don’t know enough. It’s ironic that our modern day scientists are becoming more and more spiritual because the more we find out about the true nature of life, the more they are realizing that there is an indescribably force behind it all.

These 3 quotes on spirituality are from 3 very different people, but their message is the same: beyond the mundane activities of life there is something bigger; a higher force that some call God. It is in your nature to know this Force. By discovering your own unique place in the world, by embracing silence and making contact with God you can awaken an awareness deep within yourself that will open your eyes to a whole new way of life.

Wicca Spirit Newsletter

Today’s Tarot Card for April 9th

The Fool

Full Meaning: Key Words for the Fool Tarot Card Meaning
* Innocence
* Beginning
* Simplicity
* Fresh Start
* Blind Faith

The Fool Tarot card meaning deals with that youthful exhuberance we feel when starting out on a new adventure or taking a journey of faith. We feel anticipation, butterflies flutter in our stomach, and our skin prickles with excitement…our journey is underway – we’re unstoppable!

However, along with this passion comes impetuousness. The Fool makes no plans, or gives no thought to possible complications along the way. Happy to be doing something different, the Fool blindly sets out where all else may fear to tread.

When contemplating the Fool Tarot card meaning, I think of Joseph Campbell’s landslide statement: “Follow your bliss.” We can see this attitude in this card, which is wonderful. But, we must also note the lack of care about consequences – blind faith is the Fool’s only guide.

Key Symbols:
This section focuses in on a few select symbols that can help us further define the Fool Tarot card meaning.

The Dog: Dogs typically represent loyalty and faithfulness. In this case, the dog symbolizes our reward when we express true faith on our path. As we continue to step out in faith, and blindly follow our bliss we shall gain the loyalty and recognition from people, places and events in our lives. Other Tarot decks depict the dog loyaly tugging at the Fools robes, preventing his fall into the chasm below. Yet another confirmation that when the Fool continues on his mission of passion, protection is available, and the details miraculously fall into place.

Knap Sack: How long do you think the contents of the little knap are going to sustain our hearty fool? Exactly, here again, the Fool is taking little time to consider the practical matters of his journey. However, what if the knap sack contains something far greater than consumables. Look closely at the image. Some say it resembles testicles, and these represent the seed of the Fool’s philosophical offspring. In short, as the Fool sows, so too shall he reap. This depiction is a reminder of personal responsibility. We all carry the seed of consequence upon our own journey.

The Rose: Again, hitting home that balance of the two messages this card represents: Blind, beautiful faith is equal to the beauty of the rose and a caution to heed the voice of reason/ practicality are evidenced in its thorns. The rose is the driving force – the desired goal for which the Fool strives. The color indicates it is a worthy goal for which to strive – white, the color of purity assures us the adventure is worth every step.

Key Questions:
When contemplating the Fool Tarot card meaning, ask yourself the following questions:

Am I following my dreams?
Am I honoring my prime passion?
What would the Fool do in my situation?
What do I value most…my beliefs or my image?
Do I fear adventure or do I fear practicality?
If my life is my message…what kind of message am I sending?

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15	16	17	18	19	20	21
22	23	24	25	26	27	28

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