Dragon of Water Chant

The following call or brief ritual are meant to be included in your other rituals, within a cast and sealed circle. They are used to add greater power to any spell working because they specifically call the elemental dragons of Spirit. This taps into a vast reservoir of power current which can amplify any other power raised within the magical circle.

Dragons of Water

There are several good environment tapes that play the actual sounds of the ocean or running streams. Some harp music is also reminiscent of Water. Let yourself be Water in your dance and singing; feel yourself flowing along a streambed or riding the ocean waves.
Note: Use candles or other objects of a pure blue color. Choose herbs and oils that are listed as of the element of Water.

Repeat this chant three times:

Calm Water, moving Water, seas and lake

I call upon the Water Drake.

Naelyan (nail’-yon)! (Ring gong three times)

Teach me the psychic. Grant to me calm.

And peace of mind, compassion warm.

Naelyan! (Ring gong three times)

Dragon of Fire Chant

The following call or brief ritual are meant to be included in your other rituals, within a cast and sealed circle. They are used to add greater power to any spell working because they specifically call the elemental dragons of Spirit. This taps into a vast reservoir of power current which can amplify any other power raised within the magical circle.

Dragons of Fire

 

In your dance and singing, imitate the movement of flames. If you have ever closely watched a wood fire, for instance, you become aware that fire dances and sings in its own manner. Choose music that helps you to reflect this mental imagery.

Note: Use candles or other objects of a pure red color. Choose herbs and oils that are listed as of the element of Fire.
Repeat this chant three times:

In your cavernous, fire-filled hall,

Echoes the Name that I now call.

Fafnir(faf’-near)! (Ring gong twice)

Stir my blood with will power bold.

Create new changes from the old.

Fafnir! (Ring gong twice)

Breaking Ground With Other Faiths

Breaking Ground With Other Faiths

Author: Draconis Wierinsan Kinthasil

I was working on my garden the other day, we had turned the soil over last week and I saw the small lumps of dirt that the Rota tiller had left behind. It reminded me of what we must do as Pagans.

Out in the larger world are folks who have different beliefs. Sometimes they think that we are bad people or do bad things because of what they think we belief. This is what I call breaking ground; they need to know that they may be wrong on a number of points. I’m not saying you should preach at them but explain to them that you think differently. The better folks (like a Catholic Friend of mine who was Wiccan for a while) will listen to your thoughts on your beliefs with an open mind.

Other times they might pretend to be listening so that they can jump down your throat with the whole “You will burn in Hell Witch!” bit. Thank the Gods I haven’t met these sort (yet) . And the rest will be the kind who will ask the stupid “If you’re a Witch where is your black hat and broom and why are you out when it isn’t Halloween?”

The thing is some of the time most folks just don’t give a horse’s rump how you believe. If you aren’t a Christian you must be converted. I saw the article on Witchvox about most folks not wanting to vote for a person who is Pagan for President. Well la de da! This is a free country (or at least is supposed to be!) and I’m Pagan and I think that it is time for a change.

I will run for President in 2024, won’t that make headlines! “Disabled Pagan for President” I can hear the churches ranting now.

Well I’m sorry that this country is so messed up but maybe if we would stop building a bridge to nowhere and sending food and clothes to foreign countries when we can’t even feed our own people maybe we could improve our country. Sorry a little off topic but look at it this way. If every Pagan, Christian, Muslim, Jew, Hindu, Buddhist, Atheist and everybody else would just give five bucks then think what we would have.

That’s the point of this article, Pagans: When you hear the “Devil Worshipper” crap. Be the bigger man! Walk away.

Christians remember the Golden rule I quote “And as ye would that men should do to you, do ye also to them likewise.” King James Version Holy Bible. To Muslims remember always to keep an open mind and that goes for the rest of you too! United shall we stand, divided we fall, Alone will we break, together we are unbreakable.

If we spent half the time we spend on fighting over whose way is better on loving our neighbor and practicing what we preach, then think how much better off we would be. If we would look for the things that tie us together instead of tearing each other apart we could see that we are more alike then we think.

My vision for all faiths is that one day you will see a father take his kids outside to cast a circle at the White house and as folks go by they say “Good Morning, Mr. President” as he communes with his Gods. Then he stands up and sweeps his hair out of his eyes, pats the pentacle pinned to his lapel and goes to work in the Oval Office. As he greets people he will say “Blessed Be Brother/Sister” as he goes about his day for all Americans are his family.

Then at the end of the day he goes to a ritual with his son who is a mirror image of his father and teaches him the old ways. And on Monday nights they go to Boy scouts and a Pagan father stands proud as his son earns his religious emblem along with everybody else and the boys ask the Pagan scout What the silver pentacle on the red, white, and blue ribbon means and the Pagan scout smiles and explains the meaning of his emblem, that is so much simpler and for that reason so much more meaningful.

And when he tucks his son in that night he says “Sleep well my son, may Sabdh cradle you in her arms this night and Wierin guard you as you sleep” and the boy smiles and replies “Goddess bless, Daddy.”

The President smiles and says “Goddess Bless son sleep well” and turns on the crescent moon nightlight and goes to bed and he and his wife curl up to sleep. As he drifts off his last words are “Now as I lay down to sleep I pray the Gods my soul to keep and should I pass before I wake To Summerland my soul shall take” and he smiles and drops off.

I would sure like to see the meanness and hatred that people throw at each other become a thing of the past and that religious labels like Pagan and Christian become terms of respect and are not spoken like a curse.

I know this may never come to pass in my lifetime but if we young people of all faiths don’t work to find some common ground then I predict a time not so far away when this, the greatest country in the world becomes a theocracy and that the government dispenses with the bit about “no law establishing religion or preventing the free exercise of” and makes on faith supreme to the exclusion of all others.

Please in The Stag-Lord’s name join me in working against this terrible vision! Let us not return to The Burning Times! Let us as Americans — not as Pagans or Christians but as Americans, as members of the human race — work together. Think of what we can do if we learn from each other and treat each other with respect.

In this regard let go of those prejudices that you have. Stop hating someone because they are different or because of their skin color! We are all the children of the Gods. We are not different races! We are all of us members of the human race. The only difference is that in Their wisdom the Gods made us different. For if we were all the same we would all think, feel and believe the same way.

You wouldn’t need to ask an opinion because you would already know the answer. Fat chance of that ever happening.

How Do You Order Up Your Pagan Group?

How Do You Order Up Your Pagan Group?

Author: Greenbridge (Ellen Bergstrom)

Would you call it bold and spicy? Or is it more like creamy and smooth? My guess is that it is more like the former, bold and spicy…and perhaps even outrageous, loud, and obnoxious, angry, or even destructive. Hopefully it has not gotten to the physically violent level as yet, but hey, give it time.

Am I being a bit sarcastic here? Well, yes, but there is a lot of accuracy in what I say. Pagans are often obnoxious, loud, angry, and even attacking each other. What’s wrong with that you say? Don’t like the “fluffy bunny” approach? Well okay then, you violent ones, why don’t you all stick together. Perhaps you will all destroy each other eventually or else mellow out to realize you really don’t want your children, your grandchildren, and continuing generations to be as mean and nasty a bunch that you were.

Perhaps as you reach your elder years, become sick and frail and unable to care for yourselves that you’ll really begin to appreciate those “fluffy bunnies” that signed up to care for people like you. Perhaps so but if you get a caretaker like you, a mean one, what will they do to frail ole you when no one is watching. Perhaps it will only be then. Or maybe not even then. Maybe you will say you are tough enough to put up with the abuse, abuse that you yourself have given to others during your life of eating fluffy bunnies for snacks and fun. You may have to only realize it on your deathbed when you finally figure it out. Perhaps you would have lived longer, or perhaps even recovered from this elder illness you had but alas none of the fluffy bunnies survived to care for you.

Well now. Obviously I am not the obnoxious mean type of pagan I talk about (but I used to be, I’m in recovery I guess you would say.) Or you may think I am what you may consider to be a fluffy bunny or at least advocating that kind of thing. Think again. Actually, the term “fluffy bunny” was invented by those who are perhaps arrogant and self-involved to the extent that they wish not to consider the needs of others except when they are being patronizing. Patronizing is a lot like the “trickle down” stuff. Give a few crumbs to the peasants to keep them quiet and get credit for being generous.

The real fluffy bunnies are infants and small children who are being raised in love and kindness. They are still naive, of course, they are children, and are filled with love and hope. They want to spend their days discovering new things and having lots of fun. They think kindly of others and want to help those in need and it comes from their hearts. Few of us adults have been able to retain that kind of spirit. Too many of us have become tainted, rebellious, and skeptical. Or perhaps we were spoiled rotten and never learned to think of others except for “our own.” Others of us harbor hate in our hearts and will destroy others when given the chance.

Some of the greatest people among us are those who have been deprived of the necessary love and kindness that all children should have received yet discover that the hateful way they were treated is not the life they chose. These people have learned that love and kindness is strength not a weakness. They realize the worldview is upside down. Strength means kindness not meanness. They have learned that being kind to others often will bring that back to them. In fact they have learned that true respect of others is only respect for the self. They discovered what is perhaps one of the greatest secrets of all: that we are all connected. And since we are all connected, hurting others is like one hand trying to harm the other. In short we all hurt.

I have a theory why so many Pagans are so mean to others and even to other Pagans. I think it is because so many of us have been forced to follow old fundamentalist ideas like those of the Fundamentalist Protestant and the Catholic Church. We learned that to be considered “good” we follow what we are taught to do but not necessarily what the others do who taught us. We learned that life is mean, tough and competitive as we grew up with it. We learned to rebel against these awful ideas as young people since we have a brain. But then instead of joyfully entering Paganism, some of us bring that anger and hate right to the place we thought would be the best for us. Think of it. Bringing your hatefully past to a place you think will bring you to some kind of happiness in life.

Some of us never learned how to love and kind to others. Some of us never learned what joy that kindness brings into your life. Instead we were taught that it was a sign of weakness. We learned we had to fight and compete. Or perhaps we were so spoiled and rotten we never learned to even consider the needs of others.

Perhaps we learned we had to talk loud and take over the discussion, not allowing others to talk. Perhaps even we were taught to belittle others who have ideas different from ours. Perhaps even we were taught physical destruction against the property of others or even violence such as hitting, etc. Those who continue to be nasty perhaps have never learned the skills of kindness or the understanding of the strength it takes to be kind. These are just simple social skills that anyone can do to show respect for another human being. The strength comes in when they are practiced.

Turning the channel now.

Aaaahhhhh. Now I enter thoughts of love, kindness and peace. As I do so, I leave behind the abusive parents I had, the mean teachers, the hypocrites from the church I grew up in, the bully kids at school, the bullies at work. And those bullies at the last Pagan gathering I went to. I relax by myself and with others who are like me interested in having a loving and peaceful world. I know that is the only way I can fully develop all my talents and abilities and create the life I want.

There are many of us Pagans, those of us that want love and peace. We are not “fluffy bunnies.” Many of us are still full of piss and vinegar…spicy as all get out! We are very strong women and men who despite all the meanness and destruction in the world around us are strong enough to be kind to others. We care lovingly for those who need our help. And we care lovingly for our loved ones and for ourselves. We have known how easy it is to be mean and nasty to others…we did it ourselves. After all, that is how we were brought up too! But we realized it was the cowardly way out. We decided we did not want to be cowards.

We found out that after all it is the harder life to have in the long run though it “seems” to be easier. We discovered that it just seemed easier because it was something we were accustomed to doing and thus it was an automatic response. Being kind… that was hard because we never did it before. But when we started doing it, it turned out to be a happier life after all. We found out that it is a far easier, better, and more enjoyable life to simply be kind to others. We found that we could be kind to everyone, not just “our own.” When will you find that out, now, or will you wait till the moments before your death.

Oh and about that “bold and spicy” as opposed to “smooth and creamy”, I’ve decided that I don’t have to chose either one. I can have one of them today and perhaps the other tomorrow. I can have them both! I also discovered that I could add and subtract from things, juggle them around and make them the way I like. I choose to add kindness to the “bold and spicy” label but I delete out the mean part. Think I’ll create just that. Care to join me? Why not have it all together? What would you create? Let me know? I promise, I’ll be kind.

We Can Change The World

We Can Change The World

Author: Lady Wolfwind

I am growing older. That’s a fact. I’m still in the Mother stage of my life, but I am fast approaching Crone. I am okay with this. More than most people, I would guess. I’ve learned that part of my contribution to society, as a Crone, is to provide wisdom and guidance to those seekers who ask. I’ve fit into this role flawlessly. Most people don’t want to hear what you have to say and if they do, they don’t listen anyway. I’m sure this is just a natural part of life. I never listened to my elders either. I look back on it now and I remember their words. How I wish I’d heeded their advice. The road would have been so much easier and I would have traveled so much farther.

I think that we’ve all learned some hard lessons on our journey. I believe that it’s what life is all about. I believe that our lessons and experiences have shaped who we are and what we believe to be true today. I wonder what experiences have led all of you to the Goddess’s path? What made us choose to be so different than mainstream society and their beliefs?

I was talking to my husband this morning. He is not Pagan, but he respects me for who I am. I had had a conversation with our daughter the previous night and there were some things that were said that bothered me. It seems that in talking to my children, they expect me to “be” a certain way. They have expectations of who I should be and how I should be living my life and even what I should believe. They are grown and out of all the people in my life, they are the ones I feel pressure from to live the way society says I should. To put on a false face to please them and the world. They don’t live near me so there is no embarrassment that Mom is a Pagan. Most time I don’t think they know what it truly means and they don’t care to ask or to listen. They are caught up in living their lives and making a living.

As children, I put aside dealing with my own life and figuring out what I wanted for my future to raise them. I didn’t let my past life experiences determine how I would make decisions regarding them. I have come to realize, now that they are older, I’ve grown into the woman I was meant to become. All of my life experiences have made me who I am. They don’t seem to understand that I had past experiences before they were born. They don’t understand that I am living my life exactly the way I want to. They don’t’ seem to understand that it’s a person’s choice to not fit in. It’s the way it has to be. They talk about their past experiences and lessons and think that if it is so with them, it must be so with me. I can never be the person they think I should be.

My husband feels that this is a lesson for them to learn. That it takes years of wisdom before you understand what I’m trying to say. I’m so afraid that even he doesn’t understand what I’m trying to say. Maybe he feels that I should live like everyone else as well. He is younger than me. He set my fears at rest when he looked me in the eyes and told me, “ There are not many people who have the courage to live as you do.” I knew then that he understands me. He said it with such a deep feeling of respect and love that it brought tears to my eyes.

I am afraid that my children will wish they’d gotten to know me after I pass to the other side. Isn’t that the way it usually is? Don’t we all stand back and wish we’d said this or that? Don’t we wish we’d listened to one more story or just sat a few moments longer? Is there a time when we have that “ah ha” moment when it all becomes crystal clear and we finally put the final piece of the puzzle in place and understand the whole picture we’ve struggled with for so long? It is a sad realization that we never took the time to get to know the ones we love the most. Why do they feel the way they do? Why do they believe what they believe? Why is Mom so quiet? Why does Aunt Mary not cry? Do we know? Do we care? Wouldn’t it be nice to figure it all out while you’re sitting with them, looking into their eyes?

This is one of those lessons that I know will have to be learned the hard way. One day they will realize that I had a life before they were born. One day they will honor my strength for overcoming the obstacles that could have stood in the way of me being a good mother to them. One day, they will understand what it means to be Pagan and they will honor me for my courage to walk a different path. One day, they will realize how much I love them. One day, I will not be here. I want them to know me and understand me before that time comes. I don’t think it will work out that way. I think we all walk around with the wounds of “what if.” I don’t think it has to be that way. I think we need to take more time with the ones we love. We get so caught up in the daily grind. We get angry at each other for things that don’t even really matter. We need to learn to listen, not just hear. We need to listen to their body language, and we need to listen to the voice inflections. We need to listen to the subtle clues that vibrate through the air currents, which tell us about the other person. We need to take a moment each day and consciously decide to learn one thing about another person. Take the time to tell the ones you love how you feel about them.

I think if we would take a few moments each morning, instead of running out the door, to make a decision to slow down for a little while each day. If we would make the choice to not keep procrastinating about visiting our aging mother who tells the same stories over and over, to sit with our child and understand how their understanding the world around them, we would become better people for it. I believe it would change not only the ones we’ve taken the time with, but also ourselves. We have to stop letting life get in the way. I think we would understand how we all became to be the people we are and how the ones around us became the people they are. I think all of us would be able to let things go easier.

I believe, as a society, we have lost the course we were supposed to be on. Somewhere, we allowed money and instant gratification to become more important than even the ones that are supposed to mean the most to us. I think, as a Pagan community, we need to be different than that. I think we need to set the standards and set them high. I think we should start living as we talk, to be the example of change in our world. One person can make a difference. I feel that our time is coming. We need to be united and to send a message to the world. We need to slow down and let the message come through loud and strong. Pagans are about love and about doing what is right. We’re about caring about each other, even others of different races and beliefs. We have to start at home.

Tonight, call someone you haven’t talked to in awhile and tell them how much you’ve missed them. Reach out to someone who’s made you angry and tell them that you have forgiven them, set up a date with your spouse, dinner with your parents, a movie with your kids. Don’t worry about how much it will cost. It will cost you much more to not do these things. Don’t worry about what others will think. It is up to us to be the example. Today is the time to take the first steps toward a new world; one we all know is possible. I don’t believe we can put it off any longer.

The Wicca Book of Days for March 5th – The Ship of Isis

The Wicca Book of Days for March 5th

The Ship of Isis

March 5 marked the start of the sailing season in ancient Greece and Rome. The return of ships to the sea after their dry-dock overwintering was celebrated with a festival dedicated to Isis Pelagia (“Isis of the Open Sea”), the Egyptian goddess in her capacity as the protector of sailors. The high point of the Navigium Isidis (“Ship of Isis”) ceremony was a procession led by the priests of Isis bearing items sacred to her, the focal point being a cart carrying an ornately decorated model ship. When the company arrived at the shore, this ship of Isis was launched as a placatory offering to the goddess in the hope that she would avert disasters at sea.

 

Treat Your Tresses!

Being ruled by Pisces, March 5’s polarity is feminine, so take advantage of ts womanly vibes. Women enacted smoothing Isis’s hair with ivory combs during the Navigium Isidis, so why not splash out on a top-quality hairbrush or deep-condition your locks?

Solitaires Are Pagan Too!

Solitaires Are Pagan Too!

Author: Crick

Guess what, folks? Solitaires are pagans too!

Over the years I have personally visited many a different gathering, have been a participant in many divergent conversations and have been a member of numerous chat groups. And there seems to a divisive undercurrent in certain parts of the pagan community that solitaires are less pagan than anyone else. Good grief, do we really need this kind of elitist nonsense?

Neo paganism as it is today has to vie for acceptance in the general community at large because of misguided stereotypes. Because of the modern mind-set where everything has to fall under instant gratification or risk losing ones attention, there is a serious lack of will and discipline when it comes to learning the ages old principles of the Craft.

Add to that the proliferation of Christian concepts into paganism due to the influx of former members of that particular religion; and at the end of the day, neo paganism has more then its share of internal problems. Do we really want to ostracize folks simply because they want to pursue their spiritual path as individuals without a membership in a coven or similar gathering?

Does this attitude really make a particular gathering and/or person more pagan, then others? I personally have spent half of my pagan related journey involved with a family clan and covens and half as a solitaire. Does this make me only half as good a witch as I could be?

There seems to be one group in particular that has a problem with solitaires, which is something that I don’t understand at all. Please understand that this is not about singling out and pummeling any particular group, just a pragmatic view at issues which affect us all as pagans.
As such, the Wicca seems to be the one group that solitaires consistently cite as having divisive issues with. How the Wicca set up and run their gathering is no ones business but their own, but there are a few questions in general that begs an answer.

The Wicca has a well-known tenet that “all Wicca are witches but not all witches are Wicca”. It has been explained to me by various Wicca that one is not a true witch unless they have been initiated as a Wicca. For without such initiation one cannot be validated through lineage. This particular mindset would certainly leave out solitaires for such folks are usually self-initiated.
And any witch who came before 1954 and/or since who is not a Wicca would also be excluded under such narrow tenets.

Yet, unless I am missing the mark, paganism in general and witchcraft in particular did not begin in 1954 CE. And so such views leave the taint of elitism in the air.

So lets look at this viewpoint from that of a solitaire.

First of all, one could question what in the world does lineage have to do with the Craft?
Regardless of who from the mid 1950’s till now is in ones learning tree, it is the individual who is responsible for ones own spiritual growth and the way that one engages in acts of energy and other aspects of the Craft. If I may use an analogy, one can pay an instructor to teach them to be a black belt in karate; however the belt is only as good as the person that is wearing it at the time.

I realize that folks like to have a family tree or “lineage” as is the case here, to present to their peers, for bragging rights. But for all intents and purposes, it has little if any practical value in the Craft. When it comes to working with energy, even covens are made up of individuals who come together to weave their energy into a tapestry made up of their individual wills. So why solitaires should be disparaged for doing what is natural to them is a mystery unto itself.

Perhaps such thoughts present themselves within Wicca because in part, Wicca is fashioned off of the ideals of the Masonic Order. And those folks place a heavy emphasis on lineage. And yet another point to this concept that is confusing is that Cunningham was a self declared solitaire even though he was associated with the Wicca movement. Does the Wicca think less of an author who played a huge part in bringing them to the public eye even though he saw himself as a solitaire?

When Cunningham wrote and published his book Wicca for the Solitary Practitioner, was there any attempt by the Wicca to block such a hugely popular book? And were the proceeds from this book turned away because they were predicated upon unacceptable concepts as endorsed by the Wicca?

One cannot have it both ways. A group cannot accept the vehicle that brings them their greatest source of recognition and then denounce the folks who follow the precepts that such a vehicle was created from. That is commonly referred to as hypocrisy.

And this brings me to my next thought.

If such a well-known advocate of Wicca is given the nod to write a book for solitaires based upon Wicca tenets, even if it was a tacit nod. And then there is a ground surge of interest in Wicca because of said author, couldn’t one assume that there will be folks who will want to identify with Wicca without becoming a formal member of a Wicca coven?

Should such an interest and desire be used as a platform to snub folks in order for those doing the snubbing to feel more important about themselves? Is that what paganism is about?

Another tenet held forth by the Wicca is acceptance of others beliefs and the idea of diversity. Where do solitaires fit into these grand ideals or are such ideals, simply superficial window dressing for something else all together?

If it was okay to lure such folks into the fold when a profit was being made, should they be shunted aside now that they no longer serve such a purpose?

Paganism in general is considered a minority belief system because of the very successful propaganda put forth by the three main organized religions. Do we as a perceived religious/spiritual minority really want to turn away solitaires who are just as devoted to their spiritual journeys as are any other kind of pagan?

At the end of the day, there is no pagan group or gathering that is loftier then any other. For every gathering is the sum of its members. And even if that gathering happens to number only one member, they still count.

It would be a real act of maturity and growth if the pagan community as a whole would spend less energy on the “my pop is bigger then your pop mentality” and concentrate instead on the issues that “really” matter in a magickal and nature based belief system.

I’m sure that Mother Earth would appreciate a bit more attention.

Neo paganism in general seems to be wrapped up in convincing others of our ilk, of a perceived self-importance and level of ability, which in all reality so few have actually taken the time to cultivate. The rest of the time is taken up in trying to convince society in general which consists of the conquerors that we are a valid belief system, though paganism has been just that, for eons.

What causes such insecurities one may ask? And what causes one pagan associated group to feel that it is necessary to diminish those such as the solitaires, in order to elevate themselves to a dubious standing?

In my personal life I have served for a number of years as a HP of a very active witchcraft coven and yet as a student of shamanism, I practice as a solitaire. Does that make my glass half full or half empty? Or does it really matter?

At the end of the day, all of us, whether we practice as a solitaire or not, still have to answer to our chosen Deity in regards to our spiritual growth as individuals. And so in essence we are all solitaires at heart. Let’s put to rest the hypocrisy and antipathy over solitaires for they are our brothers and sisters walking a common ground.

Besides, elitism is nothing more then a façade that is devoid of any real substance.

And so in closing, yes, solitaires can be witches too!

Embracing A Religion of Love

Embracing A Religion of Love

Author: Pagasus

Most of us who have turned to Paganism have turned to it because we were unsatisfied with our previous religion, but still needed that void to be filled. The void to feel small, the void to feel that there is a higher power, the void to feel loved by that higher power. The power that is God/ Goddess. This is the explanation why I became disenchanted with Christianity, why I came to love Wicca/Paganism, and possibly some other random ramblings.

I was raised as a “Roman Catholic.” I put the quotes around that phrase because I can remember being, well as young as five, maybe even younger, and just throwing a fit! I’d be begging, pleading if I could have a baby sitter and miss church. But that’s not really where it all started. My disenchantment began some years later.

I was still in grade school and I was playing a game board at recess. My friend was nearby and talking to another kid about religion. All I remember is that the girl she was talking to said, “Well I was raised Catholic so I was raised right and you weren’t so you weren’t raised right.”

I was so shocked at this because I was being bought up Catholic too, but I felt that people who were bought up in other faiths (my Jewish/Druid best friend) were being raised right, too. I was just so angry with that girl and I don’t know why. Maybe it was because she said it to my best friend, or maybe it was for some other reason but I think a small part of my affection (What little I had for it since I hated going to church/CCD) for Catholicism died in me right there on the playground that day.

Now, I know I have had other negative experiences with Christianity (as I’m sure we all have) but none of them stick out quite as much as that one. Although I still had issues with my father about my religion and my beliefs (numerous of them of them protesting my not wanting to go to church, because God should just love me whether I prayed in “his house” or my house) .

One day I had to go to confession. We had gotten a new priest. Everyone thought he was an amazing priest! Except me. I don’t know why but for some reason I just didn’t like him. Later on I’d find out why.

I was new to Wicca and Paganism in general (still am) . I was still trying to like the religion that my parents wanted me to have and by parents I mean my father. My mom, who is a Lutheran, could have cared less if I had a religion at all. Goddess bless her for that!

Anyway, that day I was at confession with the new “wonderful” priest telling him my “sins”. And he chewed me out and was very rude to me!

Now normally at my church it went like this: Bless me father; I have “sinned”. …Blah blah blah. You tell him your sins. He says “And for your penance, say, # Our Fathers, # Hail Marys. God bless you. Go in peace.”

Not this priest, oh no! It was butt chewing. You need to be more Christ -ike. My “sins” weren’t even that bad. Things like I’ve lied to my parents (Don’t we all when were teens?) . I haven’t been the nicest to my friends (typical high school drama, ya know?) and maybe something like I ate meat on a Friday of Lent. I thought if I’m supposed to come to you and God who is all loving, for forgiveness, why is his messenger a “man of God” being so rude and not so forgiving?

This one sermon though completely changed my view of the Catholic religion and made me lose all hope and faith in my birthed religion.

The new priest was giving a sermon around the time of the Summer Solstice, I believe it was. His lecture was about the comparison between Paganism and Christianity… and not how much they are alike but rather how much better Christianity is than Paganism and why it’s better to be a Christian than a Pagan. He didn’t even get most of what he was talking about right! That was the part that really got me mad.

I remember thinking that this guy has read too much Greek “mythology.” He preached to the church body that it’s better to be a Christian than a Pagan because the Christian God loves us and reveals Himself to us in many ways. The Pagan Gods only reveal Themselves to us when They want to come down out of the sky to wreak havoc on us, or to throw lightning bolts at us.

Now honestly when was the last time one of your Gods/Goddesses came down from the sky to reveal Him/Herself to you just to throw a lightning bolt at you? Probably never.

Then he would say, “Now aren’t you glad you’re not a Pagan?” We Christians get dressed up in nice clothes to go sit in a nice beautiful protected-from-the-elements church building. The Pagans get dressed up in animal skins, put antlers on their heads and go outside and talk/pray to trees and rocks. Now aren’t you glad your’re not a Pagan?”

Okay, maybe some of us do that but when I go do something spiritual I just normally wear my everyday street clothes. Maybe that makes me less of a Pagan than the antler wearers, but I don’t care.

The priest’s statement about us dressing a bit weird for our ceremonies made me think though.

It made me think, “Okay bud, what about you? Why do you dress like you do when you go give a sermon? Why can’t you wear your street clothing? How is dressing like that have anything to do with your religion?”

Our antler animal skin wearing can actually have something to do with our religion. Maybe we’re dressed like that to help us be more like that animal since we’re nature based religions and animals are a big part of nature.

And what about the Pope? Why does he dress like that? How does that bring him closer to his religion? It probably doesn’t, that’s how.

We wear what we wear for our ritual because it helps us connect to our religion.

Then he went on to talk about how we go to Stonehenge and pray/talk to these massive rocks and other imaginary Gods. But, oh, the Christians go to church to pray to a real living God. Now aren’t we (again) glad we’re not Pagans?

I am a Pagan. I’m glad that I am a Pagan. I love my religion.

Why? After I wrote all that? Well, I am not going to go in to much detail. I’ll save that for a later article. In short, I don’t have to get dressed up, go outside, and if it’s wet, get my good dress clothes wet and dirty. I can just wear my PJ’s, stay in, and have a nice relaxing quiet ritual and commune with the Gods/Goddesses that way.

Best part about that is They will still love me whether I worship Them in my house or “Their” house. If I do choose to go outside to have a ritual, I can wear weather appropriate clothing. I love Paganism because, yes, I can wear ‘funny’ clothing if I choose… antlers and all!

The Gods/Goddesses Whom I choose to worship have revealed Themselves and helped me out many, many times. I can’t count how many times They have revealed Themselves to me, just so they could hit me with a lighting bolt. (Actually, They have never done that. Not even once. So there are no times ‘to count’. LOL!)

Maybe we should all learn to talk to our Earth and rocks and trees… and not only talk to them but also listen to what nature has to say back. Maybe if we all did commune with rocks/trees maybe we could learn something from our great mother, Mother Earth.

I am Pagan. I am glad that I am!

Blessed Be to everyone who is Christian, Muslim, Jew, and from all the other religions in the world. (And yes, even to those of us who pray and perform spells to Gods who only visit us when they want to hit us with lightning bolts.)

Blessed Be To All…. And May All Gods/Goddess Be Worshiped Equally.

Kitchen Witches Do It Root Up

Kitchen Witches Do It Root Up

Author: Seba O’Kiley

Not too long ago, I was thinking about the idea of “selfishness.” As a Kitchen Witch, and as a Southerner, it is not in my nature to be selfish. After all, I provide sustenance and healing energy to my tribe, show up to a neighbor’s house with casseroles after a loss and am surrounded by other Southerners who would hand you the shirt off of their backs. I never forget a birthday and will sit in my rocking chair on the front porch until the wee hours of the morning to lend an ear if someone is in pain. Raised in a primarily Christian state, it was impressed upon me as a young child that to be selfish is a sin–but here’s where the equation gets a bit slippery. I’m Pagan. I’m a Hereditary Witch. It occurs to me often to ask: where’s the line between the concept of selfishness and the preservation of legacy? The answer comes back to me, more and more lately, as simply this: when the gift is demanded.

Let’s say your great auntie had a recipe for peach cobbler. Now, she finally taught you said recipe under an oath of secrecy, or if you are Pagan, an Oathe of Secrecy (big deal, y’all) . You get inundated at the football tailgate, somewhere between the cheese ball and the crescent rolls, with plaintive pleas for the recipe.

Do you:

A. Smile with restraint, hand it over, worry over it all the way home and never bring the dish back?

B. Throw a hissy fit, storm out, then have your husband tell everyone it was the “change?”

C. Thank them for their compliments, but graciously say “no” until they stop asking?

That depends. Are you going through the change? Sounds like the only fun to be had, then. (Make it a good one, though. Think Scarlett O’Hara. They’re never having you back, anyway. Stomp, wail and take off your brassiere yelling “yeehaw” on the way out the door. Then call me and we’ll have a good guffaw over a glass of wine.)

I pick C every time. There are Oathes in our practice that preempt all politeness, and my friend RB always says when someone stops being polite to you, all bets are off. Like all other situations in life, if you Oathe something you just stepped all the way into the water. In the South, this equivalates to baptisms, consecrations or anointings and there’s no way out but death. I grew up specifically in Alabama, but have lived around the South a bit, too, and one sure-fire promise you never break is the blessed transference of a hereditary recipe. Sharing is in the food, not the preparation — and if folks act a fool about it, take their fork away.

Now, sometimes the reason something is secret is simply because it’s always been. Some of us do not relish the thought of losing the sacredness of an oral tradition and the history it protects. Other times, it’s simply because we swore on it and that’s good enough. Occasionally, though, it’s due to the nature of the transference. My Grandma thought me to be of sound spirit, a good heart and a natural spoon-hand, but she also relied upon my respect for the old ways. She counted on the fact that I would rather wax my nose hairs than let someone put walnuts or clove in her cobbler–thereby keeping a dish that her own momma whipped up in one divine, pure, peachy piece. Perhaps she was protecting its simplicity and possible criticisms, or perhaps she was preserving the whisperings of a matrilineal cooking heritage: hand-over-hand, steam and thick, molasses love. That moment cannot be handed out on a three by five card, y’all. Wouldn’t come out the same, anyway.

I have a sister-friend who loves several things I create: dark chocolate, hazelnut torte, brown sugar, bacon sweet potatoes and homemade honey and ginger ricotta. I have offered her, as she is my sister and as I invented these dishes my-own-self, the recipes. She has graciously declined. Her feeling on it is thus: wouldn’t come out the same. I plan to teach her son, thereby insuring a new hereditary cooking line as well as her own culinary satisfaction when I’m long gone. (See my posts on adopted family and being Cherokee.) That being said, about a month of Sundays ago she asked me to teach her how to make gravy. Not just any gravy, but the one I Divine with wine or brandy, a little bacon grease, a smidge of sugar and thyme. It took only about twenty minutes over her cast iron cauldron, but with a little hip swinging and a helping of giggles, gravy came into being on her stovetop. The difference between handing a recipe down and handing it over is simple: being present. Stirring and chopping to the sound of heartbeats and the warmth of camaraderie. Can’t buy or steal that, folks. Gotta’ inherit it proper. Camenae DeWelles did it with an Oathe to only transfer that moment to family. Imagine the blasphemy of disregarding that form of magic?

No, skip the eternal damnation of your soul and just pick C. Or B, as I do dig a good full-tilt-boogie in-your-face slap-down. But do the right thing. You see, kitchen witchery has a full set of other ancestors to consider. Mine, for instance hails a little Cherokee/Celt/Christian/Southern, but also holds to other rituals and precepts outside of the kitchen. As a Kitchen Witch (since about 1970) , I am perplexed and saddened at concepts of our craft as only “domestic” and find those considerations to be at best ignorant of our heritage. While there is nothing belittling about the term “domestic, ” it simply does not accurately encapsulate our craft in all of its amorphous facets. A true Kitchen Witch is always already Pagan somewhere in his/her bones and most often has farming knowledge, garden experience, merchant proficiency, story-telling and humanity enough to eclipse any diplomat. The hand that rocks the cradle rules the world, folks, and the heart of the home is the kitchen. My Celt, and my Cherokee, ancestors knew one thing to be true: if no one eats, no one fights, no one lives. (And nothing beats down an unruly dog or unwelcome visitor like an iron skillet. Or a butcher knife.) No, we are often just a bit underestimated and that’s just how we like it. But just for fun, and no Oathe breakin’, how about:

I plant by the moon. Every single time. This requires a steady knowledge of the phases, the seasons, inter-planetary space, meteorological cycles and celestial bodies. Later, all of this will taste one way or the other in my herbs, eggplant and peppers, depending.[1]

I utilize scientific ratios for minerals, water, sun and fertilizers to grow my garden. Slip that one up, and you end up with pumpkins that won’t fruit. (An overworked witch is a civilian, at best.) [2]

I consider the spiritual nature of my plants. How are they placed? Do you have a table set out in their circle from which they can draw upon your laughter? Are their roots well-tended, protected, fed, aerated?

I utilize every bit of the plant, root to fruit. No man is left behind. We have made burning men/women out of old vine, crumbled dried tomato leaf in jars for craftwork and cooked squash flowers in garlic butter. The impulse is both Cherokee and Celt, although I have known ancient Cherokee woman to pray before a plant as prelude to the reaping.[3] Blessed be.

And then, garden aside, we have process:

I bless my knife, my spoon and my food. Comfortable clothes and bare feet are usually requisite measures to insure good standing in my kitchen while music plays, soft and acoustic over candles and a glass of port wine. A good Kitchen Witch clears her mind, her metaphysical space and her counter before calling in this kind of magic. She/he considers everything from the temperature of the room to the speed of the wind outside of the window before cutting nary a stalk of celery. It’s a heavy responsibility, this fuel of the soul and body of family and friends; it is, in effect, the lifeblood of the human heart. I believe in transference, and ain’t nothing good ever come of transferring slop into life. (Except maybe a pig. But even then . . . best consider the desired taste of your bacon.)

As to transference, it’s a “root-up” kind of magic. While I teach top-down (moon phases, how they affect life cycles, why moon flowers open only at night, how their seed must be planted in the waxing phase, etc.) , I cast root-up. A good Kitchen Witch understands the paradox of utilizing pre-existing energy (reduce, reuse, recycle) from the ground on which she/he stands. Attempting to cast top-down is, as my oldest mentor taught me, playin’ God. Everything that goes up must come down, and until we are not, we are physically on this plane of existence. To be a little crass, my sister-friend likes to put it like this: you just can’t go down on that. My molecular energy, among other metaphysical things, desires and aligns to that which is around itself. Bungee cords are fine–but first one must climb the ladder. Everything else is EGO, plain and simple, and nothing shoves its fist up spirituality like that bitchy beast. Energy can neither be created nor destroyed; therefore my work begins at home. Call me domestic, if you will, but mundane? Naw, shuga. It’s the ontology of the craft. Labeling kitchen witchery as simply “domestic” shrugs off its inherent roots of potion-making, world-leveling potential.[4] No one messes with a cook who boils her bones, every time, and dances with a knife called an athame. Not if they know what’s good for ’em.

The rest is, well, secret. I took an Oathe a long time ago with butter on my tongue and a kitchen towel tucked into my dress for a napkin. It was about the only thing I inherited, and I’ll be damned if I’m handing that out like candy. Hereditary cooking is akin to hereditary teaching: we do not go all Sophist on that number.[5] You won’t catch me teaching the Secrets on an open forum simply because it’s sacrilegious to my heritage. Plato and Socrates would be proud at this “purist” notion of keeping the flies out of the ointment, I believe, and I’m damn certain my Grandma would agree with them. While I dearly value, respect and honor other traditions and the folks who follow them, I hold mine tight to my chest so that it beats with my heart. A hereditary anything refuses to hand over that indelible legacy simply because it wouldn’t be polite to do otherwise. Why, I don’t find it very Southern for anyone to ask me to do so.

But that won’t stop me from defending my heritage. My kin never did place much value in monetary goods, but Laws, we did in our traditions. You see, there are folks out there that understand friendship or cordiality as something owed and paid out in material increments or measurable checks and balances. Sad to think, isn’t it, that these souls walk around and never understand that words like “I love you” or time spent waxing long on a telephone about their children, their worries, and their hopes were always already goods. When those folks demand payment that they can see, say, a recipe on a card, this means that they missed the point. It was always in just the sharing of the cobbler, ‘specially if you got it handed to you by a Kitchen Witch. She got that from her Grandma.

We are taught right slap out of the word “mine” when we are small.[6] It’s not nice. You aren’t sharing. Hand that over to Susie right now. Let me tell y’all something secret here: some things are yours. Some things are sacred and sweet and without it, your heart won’t be right. I don’t share my man, my skivvies, nor my Hereditary Inheritance.[7] If there is such a thing as sin, it’s in the asking of these precious treasures. It’s vampiric in the truest sense of the word. Naw, I pee all around those trees and keep my leg down around ‘yorn.

But I will offer you my time, my love and a sweet, buttery piece of cobbler.

Blessed Be,

Seba


Footnotes:
[1] For the delicious science and history of the art, read the article here: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2003/07/0710_030710_moongarden.html

[2] Regretfully, I learned this one the hard way. Last spring, exhausted from planting, I confused my watermelon seed for pumpkin, thereby planting pumpkin in late March. When the aphids landed, I fell horribly from grace and in a shameful moment of weakness declared “war” by the use of Sevin dust. Neither of these sins will be repeated by the Southern Kitchen Witch. Ever.

[3] My little tribe is a wild Southern hybrid of Celt and Cherokee. At Mabon, cornhusk dolls nestle neatly next to Green Man wreaths on the table. Amen.

[4] See the etymology of the word at: ttp://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=domestic

[5] Plato had strong views on the transference of the art of rhetoric to unethical practitioners. I strongly disagree with the Sophistic disregard for form and ethics. Marina McCoy writes that: “Plato differentiates [the sophist and the philosopher] by the philosopher’s love of the forms and his possession of moral and intellectual virtues. However, because sophists do not even acknowledge that the forms exist, the philosopher is separable from the sophist only from the viewpoint of the philosopher. From the sophist’s viewpoint, a philosopher is merely a deficient sophist.” McCoy, Marina. Plato on the Rhetoric of Philosophers and Sophists. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2008: 111.

[6] It tears my soul up a little to think that, especially as Pagan parents, we don’t allow a little “mine” in a child’s life. To grow up believing that everything is up for grabs cannot be good for their sweet souls and is a direct violation of their personal rights. Rather, I would like to see a parent correct them if ownership is in question, then remind them of all those lovely things that are, in fact, their own. This is particularly crucial when dealing with female babes. Think about it.

[7] Hereditary recipes and their sharing has to do with friendship and family. But as my momma has pointed out, when you are at a function and someone is judging you by your shoes, you just go on and tell them you made that lemonade (and skip the part about Country Time Lemonade and some sliced lemons for good measure.)

The Wicca Book of Days for February 24th – Going with the Flow

The Wicca Book of Days for February 24th

Going with the Flow

There is so much methane in Neptune’s atmosphere that the planet appears to be blue, which is one of the reasons why it was named for the Roman god of the oceans, seas and rivers. Because water was said to obey this God’s command, it may be worth invoking Neptune in your rituals if your life is frequently made uncomfortable by water retention (especially if it has nothing to do with your menstrual cycle). There are certain step that you can take to alleviate temporary bloating, too, like steering clear of salty foods, but remember that you must never limit your fluid intake – indeed, drinking more water helps to flush salt out of your system.

Grasp the Nettle

The stinging nettle is packed with nourishing and healing nutrients, including sodium reducing potassium and iron. Infuse some of the dried leaves, or else in a herbal teabag, in boiling water for up to 10 minutes before drinking.

Just How Old ARE We, Anyway?

Just How Old ARE We, Anyway?

Author: Talitha Dragonfly

Neo-Pagans. We’re new. We’re not new. We’re as ancient as humanity itself. We’re recent newcomers. We’re preserving the Old Religion. We’ve invented a New Religion. We’re celebrating original traditions. We’re staggering silly neophytes reinventing how the world views the Divine.

Which of these statements is true?

Heck, quite honestly I don’t care.

I love what I do, and that’s all that really matters.

As we explore the question of our supposed birthday, let’s consider a brief definition of “Pagan.” Generally speaking, one who is a Pagan is considered to be a person who is not a Christian, Jew, or Muslim (dictionary.com) or a follower of a polytheistic religion (Mirriam-Webster).

Of the major three, Judaism is the oldest. How old is Judaism, then? If you mean when the Jews received the Torah by Moses, then it is about 3300 years old. Of course, this religion has gone through some major revisions since the time of Moses, especially after the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 CE. Just pick up a copy of the Hebrew Bible, start reading from the beginning in Genesis, and look for how things were done differently than they are today.

So Paganism, it can safely be suggested, is at least older than 3300 years old.

Hinduism has a long and checkered history of at least 6000 years, and is arguably the oldest living religion in the world. Technically this religion fits the official definition of Paganism in that it is not Christian, Muslim, or Jewish, and that it is a polytheistic belief system. But do Hindus truly consider themselves to be Pagan?

I would like to pepper in another relevant fact into the mix.

Since the advent of writing, there has never been a single religion uniformly practiced across Western Europe before Christianity.

Many modern sources refer to Wicca as the “Old Religion”, a religion that survived in secret in Europe through the Christian period. Frequently, the age of this “Old Religion” is stretched to impossible proportions. Some people quite ridiculously claim unbroken ties from the Neolithic period. The late Dr. Margaret Murray traces Witchcraft’s origins all the way back to Paleolithic times.

This is silly! No single culture has ever survived this long. Cultures migrate and eventually merge with each other, and their spiritual beliefs merge with them. Cultures eventually die out, and when this happens, their religions generally follow suit.

During the Neolithic and Paleolithic time periods, no written language existed. Although oral traditions are often extremely important, nothing beats the power of the written word to preserve the integrity of a tradition. And even against all odds, if a tradition did survive without the help of writing, we would have no way of knowing it.

The needs of a society changes. People hunted and gathered in small groups in antiquity, and there were no cities and no agriculture in humanity’s beginnings. The eventual needs of a city are very different from the original needs of a nomadic tribe.

As culture evolves, so too do spiritual beliefs; i.e., hunting gods would be replaced by agricultural gods, male deities take supremacy over female deities, lunar deities are replaced by solar deities, gods begin to “specialize” in areas that suit the current technology, etc.

Each culture that populated a particular continent or specific region possessed their own pantheons, their own mythology, their own myths of creation and the afterlife. Read various pre-Christian or pre-Jewish myths from across the globe and see for yourself.

There are, of course, some archetypal similarities. Anyone who is a devoted reader of Carl Jung would definitely agree. Humanity seems to be hard-wired somehow for religion in achingly similar ways. And perhaps some of these similarities can be attributed to interactions between these cultures.

But in whole, every separate religion of all of the world’s religions was its own independent entity.

So why do many people INSIST that there was ever this single “Old Religion”?

For the sake of this argument, you can find beautiful and relevant similarities between all the world’s sacred traditions. You can find similarities between many ancient traditions and Christianity, for that matter.

That does not mean that all religions in antiquity are all the same, or that they all originate from a single common denominator.

Many of us today celebrate old deities, and many of us try to incorporate the spirit of the old rites into our modern rituals. But the simple fact is that our actual and complete knowledge of these rites can be sketchy or sometimes even nonexistent.

Many of these rites were either purposefully secret, or the knowledge of them was repressed or destroyed.

The Egyptians, for instance, did not write most of their magickal rites down because of the belief that written spells and incantations would take a life of their own; the symbols WERE the spell and completely capable, it was believed, to leap off of the papyrus or stone.

The rites, worships, and beliefs of the Eleusinian Mysteries were kept secret, as initiation was believed to unite the worshipper with the gods, including promises of divine power and rewards in the afterlife. There are many paintings and pieces of pottery that depict various aspects of the Mysteries, but at best we have but fragmentary glimpses from outside sources, mere casual observers who were not even part of the culture, giving uninitiated opinions like a reporter from Action News.

The Library of Alexandria was destroyed by fire on a number of occasions, and to this day the details of what this library may or may not have contained remains a lively source of controversy.

Other cultures, like the Mesoamericans and the Etruscans and the people of the Indus Valley, documented their practices in a form of writing that has not been completely deciphered.

Gerald Gardner himself acknowledged this fact as it pertains to his invention of Wicca. He said that the rituals he received from Dorothy Clutterbuck (and oh boy, try to prove that she ever actually existed!) were extremely fragmentary.

In order to make them workable, he had to supplement them with other material. And the age of those “fragments” is hardly ancient. He directly lifted material from occult sources of the 19th and early 20th centuries like the Golden Dawn, Thelema, and Freemasonry.

Wicca as an “official” religion did not begin until 1954. This hardly qualifies it as an actual “tradition” in the broadest meaning of the word. It is even historically proven that so-called Wiccan theology did not begin to be compiled before the 1920s.

But yet still the compelling thought persists with many people that they have to believe that their “religion” is ancient.

The first question that I have to ask is why people find it so important to prove that their religion was here first. Every religion had to be a new religion at one point in time.

Wicca, and for that matter most of Neo-Paganism which spun off or was inspired from the practice of Wicca, is only about 60 years old. It is much less old in the United States, having been introduced in the States in the mid to late sixties, and not really beginning to take off until the seventies by different feminist groups.

It wasn’t really until the nineties until most of the rest of us heard about Wicca and Paganism.

Sure, we’ve all adopted certain aspects of older religions. We are inspired by many of the old Gods and Goddesses. But in good conscience, we can never say that we are truly authentic followers of those religions.

Judaism and Christianity share an entire Old Testament, not to mention the Supreme Being Yahweh. But to say that they are the same religion is ridiculous.

So what is the point I am trying to make here?

Let’s not take ourselves, as Neo-Pagans, too seriously. Let’s not give more weight to ourselves than is properly ordained. Neo-Paganism is a beautiful way of life, and if others had not invented it before me, I should like to think that I would have eventually to answer the primal calls of my spirit.

Magick works. I can definitely attest to this fact. The Gods and Goddesses speak to me fervently through their ancient archetypal voices. I love the old myths that were told throughout the world’s history, and I find modern relevance deep within the many layers of their story lines.

I find inspiration from many sacred texts: Hindu, Hebrew, Buddhist, Christian, Greek, Roman, Celtic, Mesopotamian, Native American, etc. I am a modern High Priestess who walks comfortably between all realms of possibility.

Let’s just admit to ourselves with a firmly clear and honest voice that we are reclaiming some of the ancient mysteries but with a thoroughly modern twist. We are taking religion to its logical next step in a way that suits the times and the needs of those who would approach the Divine with love and inspiration, and hopefully honesty and humbleness and gratitude, in our hearts.

Let’s get off our bogus high horses and just BE.

There is no shame in this honesty. There is no need for explanation. There is no need for legitimization. It is what it is.

And that’s perfectly okay by me.

Happy, Happy Thursday to all my dear brothers and sisters!

Thursday, Thirsty Thursday Pictures, Images, Comments, Graphics
How are you doing this fine morning/afternoon? I hope fantastic considering there is only one more day and the weekend is here. Hmm, is it me or does the weekdays seem to fly by? Well have you given much thought to what I left you with yesterday. You know, about them wanting to shoot a commercial about us? I am weighing the pros and cons. Heck in the past, I had one Rock Group that wanted to know theirselves after us. At the bottom of the shirt, they were going to put our web address. Then I have Witchcraft magazines wanting to do interviews. I have never given in but now I am having second thoughts.

I know this is going to sound crazy but Witchcraft needs a PR boost. There are all the old myths and stereotypes. The awful ones I remember are the witch with the green skin, long nose and wart. Not to mention luring some poor, unsuspected children into her cottage in the woods. I think it is time that the world really knows what we are all about. I guess we could put on an informative commercial showing the new face of Witchcraft. Show them, we are just like everyone else. We mean no ill will to anyone. We just want to be given our rightful place into today’s mainstream religions. Most of all we want to right the wrongs that were done to our ancestors. Not too much to ask, do you think?

Now how wants to be the witch flying around on her broom, lol!

Got to love me,

Lady A

Hey Ya’ll, It’s Wednesday Again! Can You Believe it???

Wednesday Pictures, Images, Comments, Graphics
Time flies when you are having fun, lol! I hope you are having a great day. I am having a super fantastic day! I am full of energy, jazzed up and excited!!! You might wonder what the heck is she so excited about? The answer is simply……The WOTC’s Ribbon Campaign has started today! Woo Hoo! In case, you aren’t familiar with the Ribbon Campaign, I will explain a little bit about it. We have done the Ribbon Campaign for several years now. The first year we done it, our Ribbons were all over the net. I am hoping for the same results this year. All of our campaigns have had something to do with or effect the Pagan community and Witchcraft (mostly Witchcraft). The year before last was the first time the campaign deviated from The Craft. It was to unite the Pagan community once again. This was when MSN disbanded the groups. This year’s campaign is right back on target, WITCHCRAFT!!! We have accomplished alot of good with these campaigns. We have opened a lot of minds and hearts also. This year, we want to continue our number one goal. That is moving Witchcraft into its rightful place in mainstream religion. We want to sit The Craft right smack dab in the middle and keep it there. People today are  disgusted and fed up with the mainstream religions. They are looking for answers and other alternatives. They want to go back to their roots. The only problem, is they don’t know how to begin to get back to their roots. We want to show them the way. Show them there is another religion to choose from now, Witchcraft.

This year there are two ribbons you can choose from. One is a “We Stand United” ribbon and the other is a “2012 WOTC’s Ribbon Campaign.” The “Stand United” ribbon shows you are sympathic toward our movement and cause. The “2012 Ribbon” will link back to us and then the person can see what our movement is about and we are about. In the past, we have had webmaster take the whole page and copy on their site. That is perfectly fine. If you are a webmaster, that is probably the best way to do it. That way they can read right on your site what is going on. But whatever you decide to do, do something. Now is our time, it is time for Witchcraft to come into its own. We have been stripped of this right for so many centuries. Now it is our time to right the wrongs that have been done to us. Now is our time!

Get psyched up, get that energy flowing, grab a ribbon and let’s get busy. We have the Goddess’ work to do. We have to put Witchcraft in the mainstream of Religion. Let us restore what has been stripped from us. Let us dispel the lies and old myths spread about us. Let us move forth spreading the truth and beauty of Witchcraft and the Goddess’ Love.

Grab this ribbon to link back to the WOTC & let everyone know what we are fighting for.

 

 

Celtic Wicca (Church of Wicca)

Celtic Wicca (Church of Wicca)

The Church of Wicca was founded by Gavin and Yvonne Frost. They offer correspondence courses in their brand of Wicca, which is sometimes called Celtic Wicca. The Church of Wicca has just recently begun including a Goddess in their diety structure, and has been very patrofocal as Wiccan traditions go. The Chuch of Wicca terms itself “Baptist Wicca”

*The Frosts call their tradition of Wicca Celtic. To me it seems more of a mixture of high magic and eclectic Wicca, with a smattering of Celtic thrown in. For instance, they use three circles, one within the others, made of salt, sulphur and herbs with runes and symbols between them instead of just one circle. They also insist on a white- handled athame and will not have a black handled one, whereas all the other traditions I have heard or read about use a black handled one. It seems to me the Wicca they practice and teach should not be called Celtic at all; but since a lot of it is made up or put together by them from other traditions they should also give it a made-up name; say Frostism. If you DON’T have to pay for the course, and have some extra time, it would probably be worth reading just for comparison. [*From Circe, who took their correspondence course.]

 

The Frosts have always been rather more public than most traditions (advertising their course in the Enquirer and similar publications) which has earned them heavy criticism in less public Craft groups.

 

Wiccan Fundamentalism

Wiccan Fundamentalism

by Ben Gruagach
http://www.WitchGrotto.com
This article may be reproduced for non-commercial purposes, providing that this original copyright notice stays in place at all times.

Religious fundamentalism is characterized by literal belief in specific spiritual claims, often about a particular religion’s history, regardless of any available evidence. A particular dogma is promoted as the One True and Only Way and anything that deviates is considered heretical.

The Roman Catholic church has an office within its organization called the Sacred Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith. In previous times this office had another name: the Holy Office of the Inquisition. Despite the name change the office’s role has remained the same. It is responsible for keeping doctrinal discipline and confronting and eliminating deviations in doctrinal thought. It’s all about maintaining the authority of the Vatican and the Pope and ensuring that all Roman Catholics are following the same religion and respecting the established hierarchy.

Wicca is a religion based on autonomy. It draws its basis from Pagan religions of the past but primarily from lore about witches and witchcraft. Most today consider Wicca to trace back directly or indirectly to a single man, Gerald Gardner, who promoted the religion starting in the 1940s or early 1950s in Britain. Gardner described Wicca as based on covens with each coven being autonomous. If there was dissent within a coven the rules as Gardner presented them allowed for the dissenting parties to separate and form new covens. This way of dealing with conflict resulted in encouraging diversity within Wicca and reinforced the idea that there was no central authority which would dictate that one coven was wrong and another right on matters of philosophy or practice.

Gardner also insisted that there were other Wiccans out there that he did not know about who had been practicing before he was initiated. He did this partially to promote the debatable claim that he was merely passing on an intact ancient religion. One consequence of this is that it left the door open for others to come forward and claim they were witches or Wiccans too from a common mythical ancestry and Gardner could not really insist they were wrong. Even if these other Wiccans practiced things differently, Gardner’s “old laws” clearly made it acceptable for variety in the way covens and practitioners did things. He might not have intended to do so but Gardner’s decisions regarding how to handle things in his own group had set the stage for Wicca to become much more than just his own teachings in his own groups.

The result of all this was that Gardner essentially gave away the right to exclusive ownership over the label Wicca for his groups and those directly descended from them. He might not have anticipated this possibility but in any case it is what happened. Many groups, sometimes with conflicting philosophies and ways of doing things, have come forward under the banner of Wicca. New groups have been created and old ones have splintered into other quite distinct groups. Autonomy was there so of course it was exercised!

Not everyone has been happy about this. Some of Gardner’s direct spiritual descendants have argued that only they and a few select groups that they approve of should have the right to call themselves Wiccan. However the autonomous structure had already been set up and no one group has the authority to dictate to the rest of the community. Wicca did not have a central authority structure in the past and it does not have one now. It is highly unlikely at this point that a central authority could be established which the majority of Wiccans would respect.

There have been attempts to seize power and establish a central Wiccan authority but these have all failed. One example is when Alex Sanders proclaimed himself the King of the Witches but it was quickly pointed out, particularly by Gardnerian Wiccans, that he did not have any authority outside of Alexandrian Wiccan covens. Another example is when in 1974 at the Witchmeet gathering in Minnesota, Lady Sheba (a.k.a. Jessie Wicker Bell) declared herself the leader of American witches and demanded that everyone hand over their Books of Shadows to her so that she could combine their contents and then establish a single authoritative Book of Shadows which all American witches would be expected to follow. She was laughed at and needless to say was not successful in establishing the central authority she sought.

It was at that same 1974 Witchmeet where we had probably the closest thing to a central Wiccan authority created in the declaration of the Principles of Wiccan Belief. This set of thirteen principles attempted to outline in a very general way the basic foundation of Wiccan philosophy. The concept of autonomy of both groups and individuals is clear in the document. It also specified that lineage or membership in specific groups was not a requirement in order to be Wiccan. Many Wiccans, both as groups and individually, consider the Principles to be the foundation of their spiritual path. However, true to the autonomy inherent in Wicca, there are some Wiccans who do not consider the Principles to be part of their individual or group philosophy.

Some are not satisfied with how things are in the Wiccan community and actively work to establish a central authority with their own particular outlook of course identified as the One True and Only Way. They are not satisfied with the fact that the autonomy they personally enjoy in Wicca also means that other Wiccans are free to follow their own different paths. These are the Wiccan fundamentalists who see variety as heresy. As far as they are concerned, if you’re not practicing things the way they personally do, and don’t believe things exactly the way they personally do, then you must be wrong and should either correct your ways or else stop calling yourself a Wiccan.

Perhaps these attitudes are carried over from previous religious education where the idea of One True Way was key, such as in many varieties of monotheism, particularly the evangelical and literalist varieties. Often the Wiccan manifestation of the One True Way idea comes through as a literal and absolute belief in the truth of a particular teacher’s work. Most often the teacher elevated to the status of never-to-be-questioned guru is Gerald Gardner since he was the one who began the Wiccan movement in the middle of the twentieth century. In the mind of many Wiccan fundamentalists, if Gardner taught it then it must be absolutely true!

Unfortunately for the literalists Gardner has turned out to be a mere human being just like the rest of us. Some things he got right and some things he got wrong. The history of Wicca that Gardner presented, especially the part that explains what came before Gardner was initiated, has proven to be largely speculation with very little evidence to support many of its major claims. Historians aren’t completely ignorant of what happened prior to the 1950s in England. We have enough evidence to know that Gardner’s historical claims were not completely accurate nor were they completely supported by the evidence.

A religion’s value does not depend on the literal truth of its historical claims. Many millions of people find Christianity to be meaningful despite the fact its history is not absolutely settled. Buddhists seem to still find their religion to be valuable despite the questions regarding the provable history of the religion’s founders. Wicca too is a precious treasure for those who practice it even if they don’t believe one hundred percent of the historical claims made by Gardner.

Some religions do consider blind obedience to authority to be a virtue the faithful are expected to cultivate in themselves. Wicca though cherishes autonomy and this is in direct conflict with blind obedience. Wiccans who value blind obedience are welcome to make that a part of their religious practice but they are out of line in expecting others to abide by their dictates. Wicca does not have an Office of the Holy Inquisition and many Wiccans will actively fight against the establishment of such. And that is to be expected.

Wiccans who play the fundamentalist mind-game of proclaiming that those who do not agree with them are not “true Wiccans” deserve the same reaction that Lady Sheba got back in 1974 when she declared herself Witch Queen of America – they should be laughed at and then ignored. Wicca is not a One True Way religion and never has been. Those who would make it over into one are in for a long hard struggle that they will likely never win. Is it really worth it for them? After all, if they wanted a One True Way religion there are plenty of those out there for them to join. Wicca is for those of us who are free-thinkers, rebels, nature-worshippers, who laugh and love and dance in the name of our Gods and Goddesses in spite of what the stiff-shirt self-declared authorities around us tell us is right and proper. Others can try to co-opt our religion and turn it into yet another fossilized dogma of right and wrong to be blindly followed on pain of excommunication or threats of torment in other lives. The witch’s cat is already out of the bag and has been for some time now, and we’re all enjoying the nighttime revels and the daytime ignoring of arbitrary conventions too much to just follow what someone else tells us is the One True Way.

References

Bonewits, Isaac. “Witchcraft: A Concise Guide.” (Earth Religions Press, 2001.)

Heselton, Philip. “Gerald Gardner and the Cauldron of Inspiration.” (Capall Bann Publishing, 2003.)

Hutton, Ronald. “The Triumph of the Moon.” (Oxford University Press, 1999.)

Lamond, Frederic. “Fifty Years of Wicca.” (Green Magic, 2004.)

Valiente, Doreen. “The Rebirth of Witchcraft.” (Phoenix Publishing, 1989.)

Bewitching

Bewitching

Author: Bob Makransky

Witchcraft is a craft. It’s something you learn. Witches usually do have supernormal powers. However, these powers are learned. There can be inborn talent, but it takes a lifetime of practice just to perfect one such power. This is why the terms “occultism”, “secret science”, “mysticism”, and so forth are silly. There is nothing secret or hidden going on here. Witchcraft is merely a matter of paying conscious attention to the things, which our society has taught us to ignore.

Witchcraft is what everyone is doing all the time, beneath the surface of everyday life. Most people just pretend they aren’t doing it or else they don’t consider what they do to be witchcraft. For example, infatuation is a species of mutual bewitching. Lovers bewitch one another and themselves. But they wouldn’t consider this witchcraft. They consider it love – at least until the bewitchment, the infatuation, wears off.

Similarly, people who cannot break free of an abusive relationship are usually bewitched by their partners. Doctors, and all healers, cure people by stimulating and encouraging the people’s own faith in getting well. Good salespeople are adept at bewitching their customers. And so on.

Everyone is manipulating everyone else on a witchcraft level all the time. Any time people command another’s attention, or manipulate their feelings in any way, they are bewitching them. Thus all art is witchcraft, and great artists are merely great witches. Artists are highly intuitive people who can tune into profound feelings in their art and take other people with them.

Witches are perhaps a bit more psychic to start with than average people. At least witches rely upon and trust in their intuition more than average people do. To most people, psychic events such as precognition, prophetic dreams, omens, telepathic communications happen now and then unbidden, but are beyond control. Such things happen to witches with somewhat more frequency because witches welcome, or intend, such things. Or better said, witches are more attentive to such things whereas average people tend to brush past them (or in many cases, reject what they just experienced because it contradicts their beliefs about what is “real” or “socially acceptable”) . With some experience and practice witches learn how to control their psychic abilities.

For example, when faced with a problem, one thing many witches do is to pray (intend) upon retiring at night for the solution to their problem to come to them. With a little practice they find that this works most of the time. They receive the answer in a dream that night, or else it comes in the next day or two. And as they see this technique work time and time again, it builds their faith, and as their faith builds the technique keeps working better and better for them.

Faith, the emotional content of belief, is the key to making witchcraft work. It can move mountains. It is the lever by which we create our own realities. The only reason our thought form world works is because we put our faith in it. If we believed in witchcraft with the same certainty that we believe turning a key in an ignition will start a car, then witchcraft would work as well for us as science and technology do.

That’s what faith is all about. There have been societies on this earth, which were based upon witchcraft, such as the Mayan Indians of Central America. These societies get witchcraft to work for them as well as materialistic science does for us, because that’s where they put their faith.

The reasons why witchcraft often doesn’t work as well as the books, and one’s own spirit guides, for that matter, say that it should, are sundry. Sometimes it just isn’t time yet. “To everything there is a season.” All the prayers and spells in the world won’t make Christmas happen before December 25th. Sometimes our prayers and spells are contingent upon the right astrological influence occurring.

Other times our prayers and spells don’t work right away because we have heavy karma in the way that has to be cleaned out first. This is often the case when what we are telling ourselves consciously that we want (love, wealth) contradicts self-esteem issues left over from our childhoods. Moreover, this karmic barrier to realizing our desires might stem from previous lifetimes, as well as this one. In my own case it took twenty years of just putting in the time and paying my dues between when I first made the decision to follow the witch’s path (after reading Carlos Castaneda’s books) , and when my spirit guides appeared in my life, which was my actual entry into the world of witchcraft. From there it was another fifteen years until I started seeing some real results from witchcraft working on my own, without spirits backing me up. However, I never lost faith, and that’s why I have succeeded so far.

The difference between witches and average people is that witches have infinite patience and a willingness to confront any danger and endure any pain necessary in order to realize their desires. Average people, on the other hand, always seem to be looking for a free ride or handout in life. Average people’s decisions don’t have enough power behind them to accomplish anything worthwhile because they back down and reverse their decisions the minute the going gets a little tough. What helped me a lot in my own quest, I see now in retrospect, was that my situation was truly desperate and miserable. I had nothing to go back to, so I had no choice but to press forward.

The Spirit always plays little games on our heads to test us in our resolve. It always makes it as difficult as possible to stand by our decisions. Things never happen the way we fantasize them or rehearse them. Average people are ready to throw in the towel and weep in self-pity at every little disappointment. Witches know that once a decision has been made, there’s no going back unless the Spirit itself grants release. The basic principles of witchcraft are to make absolutely irrevocable decisions; and to go to any extreme necessary to stand by those decisions.

Power is the same thing as luck. True power involves leaving nothing to chance. Average people, if they believe in witchcraft at all, believe that witches control chance. This isn’t correct. Witches, at least white witches, don’t dominate chance or enforce their own will on the universe. Rather, they are wholly dominated by it. They give up all personal desires of their own, cease caring whether they win or lose, or get their own way or not. In this way witches become one with chance and merge themselves with it. Then their will becomes unstoppable.

Witches will to accept the Spirit’s will as their own. They give up all their own images of what they think they desire and let the Spirit’s desires for them prevail. When witches synchronize their own desires with those of the Spirit, everything becomes possible for them. The great enemy of witchcraft is doubt.

I happen to have the power to bewitch women to fall in love with me (okay, no snickering out there, this happens to be true) . My spirits taught me how to do this to show me that witchcraft does indeed work – that it is possible to make impossible things happen merely by willing it. They also wanted to teach me to hold my attention fixed upon a single object, moment-to-moment, all day long every day. They know me pretty well: they knew that the only thing that would motivate me to put out the effort and discipline needed to do this was the promise of sex.
I’ll save the details of my experiences with bewitching women for my autobiography, except to say that the last time I tried it, it backfired on me in such a way that I’ll never do it again. Besides, although you can get sex by bewitching, you can’t get love that way, so why bother?

Psychic healing works the same way that bewitching does. The healer visualizes the patient as being well, and thus overrides the patient’s doubt and self-pity. Any form of ‘ensorcellment’ involves substituting the witch’s will for the subject’s will. This can only take place if the subject is willing, consciously or unconsciously. That is to say, no one can be bewitched, or healed, against their will.

Bewitching is really no different than Creative Visualization. Witches know to keep their Creative Visualizations within the realm of reasonable possibility. Thus they don’t try to bewitch famous movie stars to fall in love with them, or to win the lottery. These sorts of outcomes are too unlikely. In order to make witchcraft work it is necessary to overcome doubt, and wishing for something that’s way out of one’s league, or too improbable, starts off with too big a doubt debit.

When bewitching for love, for example, witches start out with someone with whom they already have desire lines in place. This means someone with whom they have already shared feelings; someone they’ve already looked directly in the eye and flashed with. That flash doesn’t necessarily have to have been one of love. The flash could have been anger, disgust, humor, or sadness as well as attraction. It doesn’t matter. If, for an instant, two people look in each other’s eyes and some emotion passes between them, then at that moment they stuck lines in each another. They bewitched one another. If there is any feeling at all between two people, whether positive or negative, then they can be bewitched through that feeling.

What passes in brief moments of direct eye contact is very powerful sexual witchcraft. It is so potent, in fact, that it scares most people. They immediately get flustered, avert their eyes, and pretend that nothing happened. Even when the emotion that is being shared is humor or gaiety, there is a polite limit to how long direct eye contact can be engaged before it becomes threatening, i.e. sexual. Even if the emotion is anger or disgust, that just means that the feeling is so sexual that it has to be hidden by its negation

Sexual feeling is the matrix of all feeling. Sexual feelings are actual lines that people shoot into one another, like arrows, whenever they flash on each other by sharing a feeling. These lines appear to people with psychic vision as fibers of living light. It’s through the light fibers, which join people that they pass emotional information, such as the psychic knowledge that the other person is hurt, or dead, or having sex with someone else. It’s also through these light fibers that bewitching takes place.*

In short, if two people have ever shared any direct feeling, then there’s already a sexual bond between them. Witches can use this bond to bewitch, or to heal. They force energy through that desire line by intense visualization of their desire coming true. This brings pressure to bear upon the interpersonal barrier. This barrier is the pretense that there’s nothing going on between the participants.

Sexual desire can exist from previous lifetimes and realities – this is usually what’s behind the phenomenon of love at first sight. If there’s an underlying sexual attraction (which can in fact be read from the natal horoscopes of the people involved – e.g. the man’s sun or Mars conjunct or opposition the woman’s moon or Venus) , then there’s fertile ground for bewitching even if the two people have not yet met face-to-face.

On the surface, the witches act cordially but disinterestedly. They keep a poker face and they do nothing on their own account. Eventually that pressure brings about a moment in time when the Spirit itself opens the floodgates and the other person’s defenses evaporate. If and when it’s time for an overt move, it comes on its own in a moment of power.

In everyday society most of the actual sticking of desire lines into other people is done in the state of dreamless sleep, although the intent is set up in waking. If you have ever had a dream war with someone, that person was trying to stick a line into you, but you successfully fought him or her off. If you hadn’t successfully fought them off, you wouldn’t have had that dream. It would have remained unconscious, on the level of dreamless sleep.

Witches, both black and white, sometimes rely upon spirit helpers to cue them on what to do and when. These messages come across as sudden ideas or inspirations. But witches don’t act unless prompted.

In other words the witches’ superficial behavior betrays nothing of what they are actually thinking or feeling. Contrast this with how most people try to make their desires come true. Most people get caught up in making obvious moves, polishing their self-presentation, trying to somehow flag other people’s, or God’s, attention: “Yoo-hoo! Here I am! Over here!”
This approach will work sometimes, but it’s really inept. This is what the dating game is all about, which is why people find it so boring and predictable. There’s no sport to it. Besides there’s no true feeling to it, much less love. It’s all phony.

When witches bewitch, all their energy is held rigidly in check. Desire is inflamed by visualization, which is why witchcraft is basically a matter of bewitching oneself. Witchcraft is hypnotizing oneself into an intense, single-pointed desire. Witches first have to bewitch themselves to be madly in love – they go first. Then they impose that feeling on the subject of their desire. Better said, they give the subject a powerful option.

No one can be forced to do anything against his or her own will by witchcraft. It’s quite possible for the person being bewitched to block the ensorcellment by detaching his or her light fibers from the witch. This is felt as closing up to them emotionally. What witches, particularly black witches, count on is that most people’s wills are so weak and confused.

Witches may use some object symbolic of their desire and pour all of their attention on it. They imagine the face of the person in it and talk with it and make love with it and cuddle with it at night. For example, in the movie Bell, Book and Candle, Kim Novak bewitched Jimmy Stewart with a cat. In the book The Witch’s Dream by Florinda Donner, the protagonist bewitched his love with a devil’s mask. The symbolic object can be charged like a charm.

Thus bewitching is like normal daydreaming or fantasizing, carried to an extreme (visualized in the here-and-now rather than projected to a future which will never come) . When bewitching for love, the witch visualizes him or herself in the physical presence of the beloved – holding hands, kissing and caressing, having fun together – as if the person were actually there. In bewitching you look the other person (the lover you desire, the boss you want a raise from, the jerk you want out of your life, whomever) directly in the eye.

In normal daydreaming and fantasizing, by contrast, you’re usually not making eye contact at all. In bewitching the focus is on the other person and how enjoyable it is to be in their company (or to be rid of them, depending upon what you are bewitching for) . In normal daydreaming the focus is on yourself. Other people serve only as mute witnesses to your own glory and vindication. This is the difference between bewitching and fanning the breeze with idle daydreaming. When you bewitch someone you’re right there in front of him or her eyeball-to-eyeball. You let them do the talking and make the moves. In daydreaming they’re fawning over you while you carry on a monologue.

This is another difference between Creative Visualization, what witches do, and fantasizing and daydreaming, which average people do. Visualization is a matter of feeling, of longing, of reaching out for the object of desire. Daydreaming is a matter of thinking, imaging, distancing oneself from the object of desire. Daydreaming is actually reaching out towards self-pity, not towards the realization of one’s true desires.

You should not daydream or have romantic or sexual fantasies about someone whom you are bewitching. They will feel this through the light fibers you have in them as a sleazy vibe, a sexual expectation, coming from you. They will raise defenses against it. Creative Visualization, true bewitching, usually doesn’t have a context of sexual or romantic excitation at all. It’s too here-and-now, too spontaneous and unpredictable. It has a light, joyous feeling to it as compared to the obsessive and directed intensity of most daydreaming. Daydreams are about control, whereas Creative Visualization is about joy.

When bewitching to get rid of someone, witches don’t visualize bad things happening to that person. Rather, they visualize themselves happy, relieved, joyous, now that said person is gone. Psychic healing is done by visualizing the person as well. The point is that the visualization has to be done as if the action is unfolding in the here and now, unlike normal daydreams, which take place in the future. One has to feel all the feelings – joy, relief, health, whatever – that would be felt if the visualization were actually true. It’s those feelings, which are being felt which attract the object of desire; which make the visualization come true.

My Mayan teachers showed me some techniques for bewitching to overcome. I really think this whole thing is childish; but since it does it indeed work; and since it has helped me out a few times (e.g. when I was subjected to a nuisance lawsuit) ; I’ll pass the information along here. If you can obtain a photograph of the person you wish to overcome; or a hair or fingernail cutting from the person – great. If not, just make a small drawing of the person by hand. Make a little cross of sticks (my Mayan teachers use jocote – flat pine sticks oozing sap and used for fire starters) . Wind a red thread around the sticks to join them into a cross. Then place the photo or artifact of the person you wish to overcome in the center of the cross. Fasten it to the cross by winding the red thread around it (my teachers said not to pierce the photo, since that would be definite black witchcraft and result in physical injury to the person being bewitched. The idea is to overcome the person – not incur bad karma, which will have to be paid in other lifetimes) .

After performing a “Scat” ritual over the cross (Choose a Saturn hour for this and follow instructions in the BOS in the Witchcraft 101 folder
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/WitchcraftalAlmanac/files/How%20to%20use%20Witchcraftal%20Almanac/) , place the cross in your shoe (I wrap these crosses in duct tape first to keep them intact) ; and imagine grinding the person you wish to overcome into the dirt with every step you take (as Nancy Sinatra crooned) . As I said, it’s childish; but it does indeed work.

Conscious awareness is where all links ultimately have to be made. A witch, however, never makes links through direct intervention, by acting on his or her own accord. This is how most people blow things or trip themselves up. They fail by acting on their thought forms, by being impatient and pushy, by being unwilling or unable to trust in the Spirit to bring them what they want in the fullness of time.

This shows lack of faith. Only the Spirit can move the wheel of chance. Therefore the basic principle of witchcraft is patience. Conscious awareness can only exist if there is also unconscious awareness – something that is being hidden. The trick of witchcraft is to take in everything so that nothing is any longer hidden. Another way of saying this is, we must become aware of our own prejudices and taken-for-granted assumptions, since it is our own images and expectations which blind us to the truth.

Everybody already knows intuitively how to make witchcraft work, but they don’t do it much since if they succeeded they’d scare themselves silly. This is another difference between daydreaming and Creative Visualization. In the former the person doesn’t really want the desire to come true. He or she is just playing games, fanning the breeze with self-pity. Therefore it usually takes an intense, overwhelming desire or desperation to activate average people’s true witchcraft powers. Miracles do sometimes happen, when people are 100% clear in their intent – when they permit their higher self to surface and take command. Witches strive to make every moment a miracle.

Creative Visualization, is the same thing as prayer. Everyone intuitively understands the efficacy of prayer, but most people don’t call upon it unless they’re desperate. However, desperation isn’t the best motivation for prayer since people create their own realities. They wouldn’t be in that situation in the first place unless they created it for some reason, to learn some lesson. If that lesson happens to be learning the power of faith, that prayer does work, then their prayers will save their butts; but not necessarily otherwise.

The problem with witchcraft as a spiritual path, and bewitching people in particular, is that it hangs us up in all the same stupid games of winning and losing that average people play in normal, everyday society. Witchcraft is like capitalism – it’s really pretty slimy and distasteful, but it’s the name of the game; so if our demonic society forces us to play such games, then let’s at least play to win. Witches – like capitalists – aim to be winners… whereas average people aim to be losers – to wallow in helplessness and self-pity.

In the coming century and a half our decadent, degenerate society will collapse under the weight of human greed and stupidity, and the pressure of the earth herself turning against us. The surviving remnant of the human race (if there is one) must willy-nilly reorganize itself along the lines of what is now considered to be “witchcraft”. Or another way of saying this is, that only witches – people who have learned to rely upon their own intuition and intent instead of belief in society’s lies – will survive the coming holocaust.

Fundamentally witchcraft is as much a dead-end street for an aspirant on the spiritual path as is seeking the validation and glory of society. The only value to witchcraft, which seems baffling at first but which is learned through experience, by making lots of mistakes, is understanding the difference between when one is acting on one’s own impulse, or when one is truly being prompted to act by the Spirit. This is the crux of the matter, and the reason why learning witchcraft is worthwhile.


Footnotes:
* See the drawings of humans interacting on a light fiber level in Barbara Brennan’s book Light Emerging, Bantam NYC 1993.

Brennan, Barbara, Light Emerging, Bantam NYC 1993

So Many Questions and Ideas…

So Many Questions and Ideas…

Author: Divine Witch

I have decided to be a witch. Well, I think I have. For the past three years I have been going back and forth with the infatuation with Wicca and Witchcraft. But really it started before that. As a child, I wondered about Voodoo or Black Magic. My grandmother was afraid of it. She would tell me not to let people play in my hair because they could use the hair strand to put a curse on me. Also, she didn’t like me giving pictures out to friends for the same reason. I always thought she was a bit paranoid about the whole thing. So I grew up with that and for that reason I never really heard about good witches, the ones that practice good or white magic. Except maybe the ones in fairy tales or Disney. But we all know that stuff is a joke anyway.

Of course for Halloween, kids dressed as Witches, Wizards and things of that nature. I was a Witch quite a few times. My granny (yes the same one) even made me a witch costume from scratch one year. Then when I was about thirteen, I got invited to a Halloween party last minute and had nothing to wear. So my aunt made me into a Gypsy.

I had no idea what a Gypsy was at the time. But it was fun being dressed up in all of the jewelry and other things she put on me. I don’t remember everything I had on but I do remember it was fun, and that she went a little overboard. Damn, I wish I had a picture. So really, that’s all I got about Witches and stuff like that. I always assumed it was just fairy tale Disney stuff and that it was never really real.

Then when I became an adult I had an older boyfriend who swore his last girlfriend and well as another did Voodoo on him. He would tell me stories on what happened to him. Now I’m not saying that Voodoo is nonsense or that it doesn’t exist but sometimes he was a little dramatic also. So even though I partly believed him, I was becoming more interested about it by this time.

In 2000, I took a Tarot reading class and ended up buying two decks of cards. One I actually used and the other for was more for collection purposes. Still have them I believe. After my youngest son was born in 2001, I used the deck to do readings on myself, mostly for practice. Since I wasn’t really good about reading due to lack of experience, I didn’t really understand what I was getting. But I wrote it down to see if it would make sense later. And sometimes it did. Years went on and I would be touch and go with things; I wore an Amethyst pendant around my neck or maybe I would carry a “good luck charm” in my purse from time to time.

Then in 2007 it happened. By this time I was heavy into Native American studies and culture (still am as that is my heritage) and was looking to connect more with Natives. I ran into a lady on a Native American news/culture/events website and she told me about a retreat that is held every year in June. I received more information about it and wanted to go. So I went and found about Goddess worshiping and the moon cycles, and loads of other stuff I never really thought about. Oh, and I participated in a sweat lodge too. Wore me out but it was a nice experience. But the whole three days was an eye opener for me. It was full of women, regular women like myself that were Witches.

I went home with my head spinning and swimming with ideas and thoughts. I never knew there were publications catered to the Goddess or Witches. I never really heard of Wicca either. All I heard about was the negative stuff. So I bought Scott Cunningham books and Sage Woman magazines. Then I started purchasing candles, athames, seashells for incense burning and other things for my altar. And I really wanted to work with herbs. I even wanted to grow my own herbs for magickal purposes.

Then I would practice. Or try to. I could not concentrate. For one, I was waiting on one of my kids to get out of bed and disturb me, or the phone to ring or whatever. My brain would never shut up, that didn’t help either. So I grew frustrated and walked away from it. Well, not entirely. I would still pick up a Sage Woman magazine every so often or read about the Salem Witch Trials. But then it was hard because school kept me busy and I really couldn’t dedicate myself to it.

And now here I am again with all of this time gone by and still basically at square one. I know so much but still know so little, feeling just as lost as before. So now I do have a couple of friends that I could get insight from but one lives in Canada and the other does not practice really anymore either. So in between being uneducated and being in an area where witchcraft is taboo I am stuck. And I don’t like being stuck.

So you’re probably asking was is the point of all of this? Well, it’s really because I need some help. And maybe I felt that I needed to say this and I has helped me realized some my problems too. One of the reasons I felt I could not concentrate is I still have some stigmatizing behavior and thinking to take care of. And I also realized that I am more passionate about Witchcraft and root work. Go figure, huh?

So now I need to find someone or something to help me on that path while working with the stigma and other things as well. But how do I get over that? How long is it going to take before I feel like a real Witch? But hey, I’m getting there. As a kid I never thought it would come to this.

Slowly but surely.

Before You Call Yourself A Witch

Before You Call Yourself A Witch

Author: Alorer

“When can I call myself a Witch? What are the basics everyone is telling me to learn first?” In this essay I will try to provide you with some answers to these questions. Please note that this is by no means the “end-all, be-all” of such views; it’s simply my own answer to a seeker’s aforementioned questions. Take it with a grain of salt people; this is the Internet after all!

So, you found a path that seems to fit you and satiate your spiritual hunger. You have probably read a couple of books, skimmed through a couple of sites, talked with a couple of people and feel a genuine, honest and strong pull towards religious Witchcraft. Thus you proceed to call yourself a Witch. Right?

No!

Before you pause in disbelief and stare the screen calling me all sorts have… names (mehehehe) for my apparent “bigotry” stop and think. What does calling yourself a Witch entails? Is it just a name for this spirituality that anyone delving into can take up? Or does it mean something more, something deeper?

Well, I’d say the second. Why you ask? Because any name or title of any empirical, practical and knowledge-filled system has specific connotations and denotes an understanding and a form of capability in the name’s/title’s fields. For our own example, what does one profess, even unknowingly, when taking up the name of a Witch? Well, you’ll find that views differ on this (just as they do on any other subject) , so I’ll present my own view here.

I believe that by calling one’s self a Witch, that person professes a level of mastery, understanding and experience in a variety of fields. Specifically, it denotes a range of various experiences, a degree of mastery over various arts of Witchcraft, a developed and well-grounded spirituality and an effective relationship with deity. I doubt any newbie that starts studying or is at the first few months of their studies have attained or reached any of those things.

I’ll provide a list of requirements that one should meet before they can take the name Witch for their path.

1. Sabbats: One should have acquired an understanding and comprehension of what the Wheel of the Year and its Sabbats deal with as well as have observed it wholly (without having missed any of the sacred days) at least once (meaning, throughout at least a year) .

2. Seats: One should have acquired an understanding and comprehension of what an Esbat deals with as well as have observed any number of Esbats between 4-7 or more within a year.

3. Arts and Crafts: One should have acquired an understanding and comprehension of a number of arts of Witchcraft of their choice and preference as well as have attained a level of mastery in those.

4. Deities: One should have acquired an understanding and comprehension of the deities of their choice and preference or calling as well as have built a working relationship with them.

5. Organization and Structure: One should have formed and follow a standard, stabilized and concrete path, with regular observances, rites and practices.

Of course, those apply on a specific form of religious Witchcraft, one that is influenced heavily by outer court Wiccan material (known as Neo-Wicca or Dedicatory Religious Witchcraft) or has Celtic influences. If you find yourself drawn to another form of religious Witchcraft, simply replace the sacred days, the requirements etc with the appropriate ones. In addition, this is geared mostly towards solitaries and not people under training with a traditional coven. If you happen to fall under the latter, please consult with your uplines/High Priest/ess regarding the requirements that specific Tradition has set.

Why do I say all this? What does it matter whether you meet certain requirements or not? I say all this and it matters because to call yourself something you have not yet attained, have not yet fully understood and have not yet fully realized will cause issues.

First of all, it will deceive and trouble those that seek you out for help be it practical or spiritual. Second of all, it will confuse you since you’ll find yourself unable to neither meet the expectations of the community nor help those in need. You’ll say, “But I don’t intend doing so!” I know you probably don’t wish to deceive others or find yourself in a tough position.

I’ll give you an example: let’s say you have a medical issue and want to find what it is and how to treat it. What will you do? You’ll probably seek out a doctor. Now, think for a moment how you will feel if the person you found calls him/herself a doctor but in all actuality is still only a sophomore of medical school. Won’t it cause you problems? It’s something similar with calling one’s self a Witch.

After reading all this you’ll most probably feel confused, lost and wondering, “What the heck do I call myself then?” Call yourself a Seeker. Call yourself a Student. Or find another term that fits your case better. However, I ask that you do not mislead others and burden yourself by calling your path something it isn’t yet or something it might never be.

NOTE: Due to the fact people might overlook this part of the essay: this refers only to Wiccan-influenced paths. If your path is different, more power to you. I am not Wiccan-influenced either. I simply understand that the majority of people are indeed on such a path, at least while in their Pagan “infancy”. These are completely my own views of the “basics” of such a path. I am in no way an authority on a subject. My word is not law; it’s not written on stone.

I Am A Witch! Hear Me Roar!

I Am A Witch! Hear Me Roar!

Author: Diana Midnight

 

I remember when I was a little girl; I used to ask my mother why we never went to church like other families. My mother used to come up with various excuse, and I kept asking anyway.
Later in life I became friends with the little Christian girl down the street. If I wanted to spend the night on Saturdays they told me I had to go to church with them the next day. I didn’t mind, it was a new experience in my life, and I had always wanted to go. Since we were younger kids, we got to go to youth group. They talked about god and did booklets; by the end of the class they did trivia.

Being stuck watching OPB all my life, I learned a lot about all religions and they had lots of stories from the Bible. Anyway, while my friend goofed off I listened to the teacher. For some reason things didn’t feel right. It felt wrong as soon as I stepped inside the building, I couldn’t breathe and I felt judged. Despite my discomfort, I was respectful and used my manners. I helped my friend answer all the questions, even though she should of known the answers herself. At the end of class, before we were allowed to leave, the teacher asked us a very personal question. “Have you excepted Jesus Christ into you heart?”.

It was said to the whole class, but seeing as I was the new kid, I knew it was directed at me. She told us that if anyone hadn’t that we should all close our eyes and raise our hand. I slowly raised my hand. I knew that for me that this was a brave move. I was the only one. She told us to put down our hands and open our eyes. Our eyes met and she told the class (Well, just me really.) that if we wanted to accept Jesus into our heart we could stay after class and talk to her.

When my friend and I were at the door she looked at me and gave me the meanest most judgmental look I had ever seen. I was glad to get out of there; I knew that I could never be a Christian. After that experience, I was ashamed to claim any religion as my own. I felt that they were all to judgmental and that I’d rather spend my time out in nature.

I’ve always loved nature. Night or day, sunny or cloudy, wet or dry…It’s all so beautiful, so MAGICAL. I could sit in one spot for hours, just laying in the grass and listening to the animals or playing in the water and making images in the sand. In a way, I was always a Pagan, a Witch. But I never put a label on my love for nature, for the Earth.

Watching the moon and stars was just a hobby: hikes and walk in the park just something I did for fun. Gardening. That was what first got my interested in Wicca and Paganism. I could make anything grow, and the results were amazing. I wanted to learn more. I started reading books on herbs and natural medicine. I went online a lot, because I often kept library books too long and my late fees were amazing (and not in a good way.) . I often stumbled onto a few Wiccan websites talking about using herbs for magick as well as medicine. I was…intrigued. I just couldn’t help myself.

Herb lore was an important thing in natural medicine. We wouldn’t have figured out more then half of the things in modern medicine if it weren’t for fork lore. Well, after a while I started to read about the other parts of Wicca. I read everything I could find or put my hands on. The library was limited for Wicca. Judaism and Christianity books filled the shelves, and I found only three books. Sad, I know.

The web was my only unlimited source. But before you get the good you must first sift through the bad. Which is a lot of work, and takes hours upon hours to work through. If I saw sites that spelled magick as “magic”, I ignored them. I ignored websites with free love spells and that told you if you buy their services you could get back your ex or become rich. I focused on the spiritual part of the religion, and that cut out all the weirdoes and creeps. I studied and studied, never stopping, always reading and learning.

Finally, after much study, I decided to call myself a Pagan. It felt as if a great weight was lifted from my shoulders, and as if my spirit was lighter. It felt RIGHT. It was if I was always meant to be Pagan. I was 13 years old by then. 2 years had passed before I was brave enough and sure enough of myself to claim such a strong connection to the Earth and others. I kept telling myself, you’re a WITCH! My passion for my religion made my heart sing, it was the deep bass of thunder, a lions roar. It could never be contained!

Of course I had to tell my family, I was so proud of myself. My father took it well; he wasn’t surprised at all. My mother…well, she was raised Catholic. I don’t think she even took me seriously, or if she did she thought I was crazy. My little brother was (and still is) rude and told his friends that I only thought I was a Pagan and didn’t even celebrate the holidays. Little did he know, I had been celebrating them for years. As for my big brother, he thought I was an idiot. I knew he wanted me to be a Christian, and like my childhood friend, probably thought (and still thinks) I’m going to Hell.

Personally, I not worried. I’m not sure if my big brother ever found out, but his wife (now his ex) after finding out, gave me a small spell book. “The little book of spells” was cute but very cliché. I loved it, it had novelty and it showed that not all Christians thought the same about Wiccans/Pagans. It showed that I had the love and respect of my sister in law.

I’ve been a Pagan for 6 years now, and I will be forever more. I am proud of myself and what I’m apart of. I shall never be ashamed to be me. We are all Earth’s children, and all of us have a need for faith. Even if we hear our wisdom from different voices. That little Christian girl and me are still best friends, despite religious differences. She listens instead of tuning out when I mention something involving my religion. I do the same for her, and I believe no matter what we need to listen to others even if we don’t want to hear it.

I’ve been working on a Book of Shadows for a few months now. My love of poetry has really helped with that, and with all I know about herbs my book is filling fast. I’m hoping that one day I can share the Earth’s wisdom with my children and grandchildren, and hopefully they do the same.

May the Goddess bless you and light your path in your times of darkness.

Blessed Be! XOXO

Witchcraft 101: Directed Imagination

Directed imagination you ask? Yes, a Witch without imagination is like a car without gasoline. It takes imagination to make Magick! And this is the point of lesson three!

Let’s define imagination first:

This is the dictionary definition of imagination:

  • The formation of a mental image of something that is neither perceived as real nor present to the senses.
  • The mental image so formed.
  • The ability or tendency to form such images.
  • The ability to confront and deal with reality by using the creative power of the mind; resourcefulness: handled the problems with great imagination. A traditional or widely held belief or opinion.

Archaic definitions.

  • An unrealistic idea or notion; a fancy.
  • A plan or scheme.

AJ’s definition

Since I write these articles, creative license rules supreme! I define imagination as the power of the mind to concieve ideas and plans from the formless world and to give birth to these ideas in our world of form. The process by which imagination takes shape is mysterious and not well understood, but is dominated by the subconcious and is a potent and useful force for good and change in the world.

On to the lesson!

WitchCraft is the study of forces and movement of energy. In this third moon, we are looking at the means of Magick, what it takes inside of your inner being to bring it to the surface, and how to direct this energy.

As we mentioned in earlier lessons, spells are virtually powerless containers that only serve to contain the forces being directed by the Witch. A spell is like a beaker that brings life giving fluid to the lips of a parched throat. Without the container, the life-giving water cannot be delivered to the parched throat of the drinker, and without the water, the container is just another object in the universe, without true purpose or use, until intent and imagination combine to make the water and the beaker become more than the sum of their parts.

Thus, we find that Magick spells are exciting and actually fun because of the “water” aspect. Spells use the imagination of the Witch. Like water, imagination flows, it is deep, it contains mystery, and no one can quite say where it comes from, where it goes, or can truly contain it for very long.

Imagination can be channeled like water in a river. It can be focused, directed, and refined to laser-like intensity, cutting problems to shreds with it’s sheer force. Combined with the structure of the spell to direct it, the two components become Magick!

Lesson two saw you perform a spell, but I left out a key ingredient!

Before you performed the spell, I ask you this simple question; How did you prepare yourself emotionally, physically, and spiritually before you did the working?

Answer this honestly. You’ll need to go back in your mind, or look at your book of shadows to find out the answers to this question. When you feel you’ve reached that answer, spend time to record the answer to this question in your BOS.

I’ll use my own preparations for Magick as a potential guide to you. Mind you, many people do this differently, but after 14 years of Magickal practice, I tend to use a very tried and true procedure that evolved from my own workings and learning around very experienced teachers. All I know, is that it works for me, and if you see fit to alter it to your special circumstances, go for it. The trick is to use your own sensibilities and comfort levels as the guide to getting your mindset right!

 

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