So Mote It Be.
Elder’s Meditation of the Day – January 27
There is no death. “Only a change of worlds.” Buddy Red Bow, LAKOTA
The Elders tell us of the other dimension, the Spirit World. Our spirit in our bodies does not die, it only looks that way to our eyes and our brains. Some of our ceremonies allow us to see into the Spirit World. Death is only part of a process of life. It shows the transition into the Spirit World. The Elders tell us this is a joyful life journey.
My Creator, help me to understand both the seen world and the unseen world. Let me not be afraid of the world You live in.
Making Your Life Magical
Author: Wulfcempa
Most Wiccans and witches – and many other pagans – practice some form of “magic” (often spelled “magick” to distinguish it from stage illusions) . Magick is a topic at which most modern westerners would likely scoff, and doubtless this attitude throws into question the credibility of those who claim to practice it.
We do not believe in the “supernatural“. All that exists that is part of this universe, is part of nature itself and is therefore “natural”. If intrusions from other universes or realities happen in this one, then that too is part of its natural processes. In other words, everything – everything – can be rationally and scientifically explained; we just don’t know all of those explanations yet.
We accept that there are many things about this universe that we not only cannot explain in concrete terms, but things of which we’re not even aware. Bear in mind that there was a time that germs, bacteria, and viruses were all completely unknown to humanity; a microscopic world of living creatures has surrounded us for as long as we’ve been on this planet and we only recently learned of it.
Scientists have never actually seen an atom, and many modern physicists feel confident that evidence indicates such incredible things as multiple universes. We’ve learned so much, but that which we still do not know boggles the mind while thrilling the imagination.
As I have said many times, being a witch or a pagan is more about what we do than what we believe. Whether it’s a magickal activity or a religious ritual, we engage in time-honored rites that – for whatever reason – just seem to work for us. It’s a bit like exercise; one need not understand advanced kinetics and physiology in order to benefit from a brisk, daily walk. Nor does one need to understand ritual and magick in order to reap its benefits; those who do it regularly will experience mental and spiritual gains.
But this post isn’t about magick; it’s about life.
I have an Egyptian-themed altar/shrine at home, and among the items on it is a statue of Thoth. In Egyptian mythology, Thoth was – among other things – a god of writing, magick, and science. I’m not sure what initially drew me to him, but my attachment is long-standing and strong enough that I made an altar for him and the goddess Bast.
By day, I’m a computer programmer. I write, using computer languages, things like this:
begin
select responder, recipient_role
into v_emp_user_name, v_recipient_role
from temp_notifications
where message_type = itemtype
and user_key = v_requisition_no
and notification_id = history_record.notification_id;
exception
when no_data_found then
v_emp_user_name := null;
v_recipient_role := null;
result := ‘COMPLETE:N’;
end;
…and when these words are “executed”, they result in the taking place of literal, real-world actions.
Remember Arthur C. Clarke’s famous statement, “any sufficiently-advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic“? It is easy to see the parallels between what I do by day and the concepts of magick. I use special languages full of words that have power, and yet I must order these words properly for them to have the desired effect. Sometimes they definitely backfire! But most of the time, I get the desired results.
Over time, I began to think of Thoth as having a modern role in addition to those normally attributed to him: the “patron saint” of computer programmers! But then, more recently, I made another connection. If what we pagans call “magick” isn’t supernatural, and if what computer programmers do is so similar to the methods of magickal practices… what, then, separates the two? Is it merely the fact that we humans have a scientific understanding of computer processing?
If modern magickal workings were to be defined scientifically tomorrow, would we put a new name on those activities and cease to call them “magick”?
I’m fond of blurring lines. A line that we’re forced to cross is no different from a line that holds us back; true freedom happens when there are no lines. And true magick happens all around us, every day.
Aleister Crowley defined magick as “the art and science of causing change in conformity with will”. We all do this, every day. For instance, when I sat down to write this post, it was something that I chose – to share my thoughts – and because my will to do this was strong enough, I made the time and put forth the effort. It is art (writing) and science (grammar, spelling, word processors and the Internet) , it is change (because this document didn’t exist before I wrote it) and it was my will.
Am I trying to diminish the practice of magick? Of course not. Instead, I am suggesting that we bring magick into our everyday lives… where it belongs. Learning to see the “magick” in the things that we choose to do means seeing those things in a whole new light… because when we realize that those elements that make up an act of magick exist in so many of our daily actions, we begin to see ways that even the mundane can be made special.
In many eastern philosophies, adherents are taught the value of living in each and every moment:
“As you practice Zen in your life, you will see that living in the present moment is like living heaven on earth. Even though we can all deal with this one moment right in front of us, we rarely live in this one moment right in front of us. We don’t know how. We have been conditioned since our early childhoods to live in the future or the past.” -Everything.com, Zen: Living in the Moment
Seeing ordinary actions as magickal is one way of helping us to live more consciously and building in us the habit of “living in the moment”. Yet it works in the other direction, as well… for as people who have studied the ways of “magick”, we are already trained in the skills necessary to embrace a magickal life.
This is convergence; when the ordinary and the magical become one in a person’s life, the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. The ordinary takes on new vibrancy, and those energies, which are normally reserved for our rituals suddenly, work their way into our everyday lives.
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Footnotes:
http://www.everything.com/zen-philosophy-living-in-moment/
Magick is…?
Author: Darksky
Magick. We are all here to do magick. Call it what you will… spells, circle, ritual… it’s all magick. It’s all the same… high magic, low magic, candle, poppet, herb, and so on and so forth. Magick. In a nutshell: Magick is the ability to manipulate your surroundings within your environment, to manifest your desires, and protect yourself from outside unwanted energies. That is how I define magick.
So, if we are going to manipulate our surroundings and our environment, don’t we need to be in a position to do so? Meaning, don’t we have to have our spiritual house in order? Is the true magician able to manifest his or her environment even if their inner space is in turmoil? Does magick require us to first have ourselves in order before anointing a single candle or casting a circle?
Circle casting has a great deal of importance placed on preparation. Why is that? Is it about the tools, altar cloth, food, participants, the right moon phase, or even the right time of day and color? They are important factors to consider, but I feel they are adjuncts to the Magick itself, not the whole of the equation.
We chose to pursue a belief system that has no rules per say but yet has numerous procedural protocols. Protocols are merely guidelines. Isn’t it about energy and intentions? The preparation starts way before we check to see what phase we are in or if Mercury has gone retrograde. The prep actually starts with that initial spark of a thought to cast, conjure, and manifest.
I believe magick starts by challenging us to master ourselves. Being able to place our consciousness in another realm, another plane of existence is more than colors and oils. It’s magick; regardless of your practice — Gardenerian, Dianic, Wiccan, Luciferian, Thelemite, Asatru, to name a few — still at the core, it’s magick.
The practice of manipulating your environment has to start from the inside out. All of the belief systems have varied circle/ritual celebration, spells, and different types of celebration. The belief systems start basically the same… meditate, and find yourself so as to not have doubt in your abilities, understand the path and purpose you are on before pursuing the practice of magick and attaining higher states of consciousness.
Magick, in all its various forms, is all around us in everyday life. We are just moving so fast at times that we don’t realize or appreciate it. Some folks don’t even know they are doing magick in everyday life. Take for example church-going folk… they deposit a few dollars into the collection box, take a long match, then choose just the right candle, light it and then kneel and pray. They are empowering that light. They are transferring their intentions to the candle, be it for health, money, peace, or guidance. They are performing candle magick without knowing it.
Does magick have to be ceremonial, with a full circle cast? If magick is the manipulation of one’s environment to manifest one’s desires, is blowing out the candles on a birthday cake after making a wish, magick? What about a coin in a fountain, blowing on a dandelion, a shooting star?
I believe some will disagree, that to manipulate, to be able to manifest, starts within ourselves.
Magick seems to be at work whether we are conscious of it or not. Vibes, intentions, desires, emotions… they are sent out from us every day in staggering volume. How many thoughts would you say you have in a 24-hour period? These emotions, intentions, vibes, and desire flow from us, both positive and negative. We sometimes don’t realize how much magick we do.
“If you realized how powerful your thoughts are, you would never think a negative thought.’ –Peace Pilgrim
When we cast spells, perform ritual, and/or commune with our Gods and Goddess, we are emitting energy. We are sending out vibes, intentions, desires, and energy that is emotionally charged. Sending up smoke, burning oils and incense, offering food and drink… all charged with our energy, our essence. Think about it. We should not just go through the motions, to perform a circle/ritual/spell (or whatever your belief system may do) . It’s not to just be “performed”; it’s the essence of the practitioner that envisions, builds, executes and completes the act of circle/ritual/spell.
Magick requires a certain level of commitment. Magick is a living, breathing, consuming thing. Most all belief systems have some rules, mantras, or credo (for example, in the Wiccan tradition, the statement “in perfect love and perfect trust bide the Wiccan rede we must”) . How far does that go? What is that applicable to? Is it just for magick or everyday life? Do we light candles, cultivate herbs, dress our altars, cast our circle, have ritual and then turn that off? Is magick a ready-made thing? Just add water, break glass, needs no batteries? Or is magick and being a magician a lifestyle?
My wife and I took some classes a while back and they where very informative but we were taken a back at the teacher and with the other people in the class. It was not what we expected. It was a coven atmosphere, there was a HP and a HPs during class and ritual. Almost everything seemed to be in its proper place — a general feeling of respect, reverence — but the gossip and petty drama that ensued was confusing. Perfect love and perfect trust? Karmic pattern? Three-fold law? Is it all just words?
Magick, I think, needs to be a way of life. Not a controlling facet, but one that is integrated into everyday life, actions, words and deeds. Magick, I believe, is correctly executed when we mesh with the universe. Magic doesn’t have an on and off switch. Magick must flow uninterrupted, without obstacles placed in its way by us.
Witches are not a rare breed. We were here long ago and shall endure the ignorance of others and their belief systems and persevere, prosper, and pass on our traditions. Being accomplished at anything takes time, patience, commitment, and practice.
If you look at some of the most astute and learned people in any chosen field, notice a common thread: the path they walk, the call they answered, the vision they saw, is a lifestyle. It’s not a hobby; they are manipulating their own environment to manifest whatever it is they want. They perform magick.
Your Rune For Today
Dagaz
Dagaz represents the fresh light of a new day. You are close to making a breakthrough. You have the will to change whatever you deem necessary. You may see the world with absolute clarity at this time.
Although it has taken on a strictly romantic revision of meaning in some modern decks, traditionally the Lovers card of Tarot reflected the challenges of choosing a partner. At a crossroads, one cannot take both paths. The images on this card in different decks have varied more than most, because we have had so many ways of looking at sex and relationships across cultures and centuries.
Classically, the energy of this card reminded us of the real challenges posed by romantic relationships, with the protagonist often shown in the act of making an either-or choice. To partake of a higher ideal often requires sacrificing the lesser option. The path of pleasure eventually leads to distraction from spiritual growth. The gratification of the personality eventually gives way to a call from spirit as the soul matures.
Modern decks tend to portray the feeling of romantic love with this card, showing Adam and Eve at the gates of Eden when everything was still perfect. This interpretation portrays humanity before the Fall, and can be thought to imply a different sort of choice — the choice of evolution over perfection, or the choice of personal growth through relationship — instead of a fantasy where everything falls into place perfectly and is taken care of without effort.
So Mote It Be.
The Whole Is Greater
Women’s Circles
Women’s circles are formal or informal gatherings in the interest of bonding, sharing energy, and creating ritual. The origins of women’s circles are ancient, but their applications are as modern as the women who participate in them. There are no hard and fast rules as to how to form a women’s circle or how to run one. Some circles invent their own agendas, rituals, goals, and ceremonies, while others borrow ideas from sources as far-ranging as Buddhist or Native American cultures. Some circles are open to new members at all times, while others prefer to practice with a set number of members, closing the circle once that number is reached.
In a typical gathering, the women who are present sit in a circle. Generally, for the sake of cohesiveness, one woman is chosen to lead the circle each time. Allowing a different woman to lead each meeting allows for a multi-perspective approach to the process. One circle leader may choose to create and teach a ritual involving using the voice to release negative energy, while at the next meeting another leader may feel inspired to lead a silent meditation. On the other hand, a circle may choose to be more focused over the long term and gather around a particular intention, such as working together to determine a course for healing Mother Earth. When the healing feels complete, the women may choose to stay together with a new focus for their work, or the circle may disband.
At their best, women’s circles perfectly illustrate the idea that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. The work that can be accomplished within the loving embrace of our sisters is far more powerful than what we could achieve on our own. If you are not already part of a circle, you may want to start one. Follow your intuition as to the women with whom you’d like to work, reach out to them, and set a date to begin. After that, you can simply allow the circle to create itself. Men need not be forgotten when it comes to circles and they, too, can come together to form their own circles and create strong bonds and healing in a way that is specific to all men.
Supportive Practices of the Craft
Author: Iain Quicksilver
In addition to the practices of witchcraft usually discussed, such as divination and herb lore, there are practices, which support a witch’s overall efforts. The following seven sections describe practices I have found useful for tuning up my Craft practice and keeping it properly focused.
1: Cycles
Witches follow cycles in everything they do, out of respect for their overall balance of health. They don’t work all year, and then try to relax through a brief vacation; witches take little mini-vacations all the time. They sometimes appear to be laid back and lazy, but they respond well in a crisis, and they somehow get their tasks done.
A witch aims at discovering her own biorhythms, so as to work with, rather than against, her natural energy cycle. But in practice there are usually compromises to be made with work and other factors. Her actual daily schedule may be set somewhat askew to her biorhythms, but a witch will adapt to it and arrange for periods of rest between work to attend to quarters other than South / Will / Fire. There are knowledge and skills to acquire, and emotions and the circle and the practice of inner and/or outer stillness to attend to. And there is a little goofing off, daytime rest, which is essential; just watch the animals.
Starting with the Sun cycle and making allowances for work, etc., a witch reserves the earlier parts of the day for practical affairs. She will not work on taxes, for instance, into the evening hours, but will start earlier in the season and devote some weekend daytime hours to the chore. Evening is for going within, withdrawing to one’s own hearth and communing with ancestors and familiar spirits.
2: Directions
It isn’t on any list of witch tools, but a compass is important to the modern witch so she can orient her life and work to the four directions. Witchcraft is always done in a physical context. Pagans are highly aware of their immediate environment and traffic with spirits of the field, yard, stream, the most prominent local tree, as well as with household spirits. The key to contacting household spirits lies in feelings.
When you first move into a new house or apartment, it feels cold and uninviting, especially if it hasn’t been lived in for a while. Not much later, it fits you comfortably like a suit of old clothes; and if, in addition, it is alive with saged boundaries and household shrines, you feel liked by the house as well as liking it yourself. This is a boundary perception, which we are taught to ignore or treat as a subjective matter, but if instead we address the good feelings and express our appreciation for the atmosphere of our dwelling, we break that boundary and begin to recover ancient pagan perception.
In the same way, outdoor sprites can be contacted through greater sensitivity to one’s feelings without discounting them from habit.
Upon awakening in the morning, when a witch is ready to start the day, it is a good practice to take out the compass and address the four quarters. One begins in the North, opening oneself to calming energy. Then to the East, holding in mind briefly what needs to be known or learned today. Then to the South, deciding the first tasks. Then to the West, expanding awareness according to one’s ways. Then seal to the North, stilling the mind and body once again. The witch is now ready to face the day.
3: Expanding Awareness
One way of expanding awareness when silently addressing the West is to relax and wait for something in your peripheral awareness to stand out and beckon your attention. It might be the reflection of something in a window, or the shadow of a tree or the spaces in its foliage. Whatever it is, when it gets your attention, continue to view it peripherally. You are in touch with its mana, or magical energy, and can use it throughout the day when you call it to mind. The image in your memory should be peripheral, not central, i.e. the way it looked when it got your attention. This can also be done with things heard peripherally. These are some of my ways.
4: Conserving Magical Energy
There is a kind of energy or power that the modern world has forgotten, though the memory of it is preserved in folk tales and myths. Indigenous peoples are well aware of it and live their lives with reference to it. While the immediate environment abounds in it, and we take it in all the time, we do not notice it because we squander it in habitual ways, habits that have been with us from early childhood. The ancient Latins called it numen, and the Mongolians, hiimori. It is always personal, taking on the features of the person holding it.
It is only by conserving this energy that the witch becomes ready to do magic, both in the circle and life. We don’t realize that everything takes energy, even unconscious ignoring of things in our environment, such as shadows, eyeglass frames, or background sounds. When we expand our attention to include such things, we gain the energy that was used in keeping them in the background of our attention, the penumbra or half-shadow. This energy is always exponentially higher than the small amount required to expand the attention.
The energy takes four forms for witches, associated with the four ancient elements. The energy of Air makes us learn and understand new things that hadn’t occurred to us before. In everyday life, it also manifests in any new knowledge or understanding.
The energy of Fire boosts the will and lets us accomplish tasks in life that seemed too big to tackle. In order to bring changes into our physical lives, we have to both give up some things, at least temporarily, and adopt other things or actions that further the goal. In the Craft, habits or actions that squander magical energy have to be sacrificed, and then the freed energy finds new outlets on its own.
The energy of Water attracts us to the unknown, and gives us the daring to escape the current limitations of our lives. This is the energy of initiation, which expands and transforms our awareness and can give our lives a whole new basis.
The energy of Earth is cloaked in silence. Witches seek inner and outer stillness, quite as much as Zen monks or Hindu yogis do. This stillness is deep, and the deeper the witch descends into it, the more he or she is transformed and the greater the magical energy that results. It is pursued gradually and at first in little things, like learning to sit still and not scratch, or refraining from certain topics in conversation.
Not that the witch is inactive, quite the contrary; Earth, the North, is also the place of our physicality, and the witch exercises regularly, and takes care of business through Fire and the South. Stillness refers instead to the enormous amount of energy we waste in fidgeting and performing other small, unnecessary actions, both mental and physical: for instance, compulsively repeating past conversations in one’s mind or rehearsing conversations to come in some hypothetical future event (for all thoughts of the future are hypothetical) .
The witch sums up a past event and plans for the future, but these are finite acts that come to an end, instead of repeating over and over and wearing on the nerves. The energy to be had by restricting such habits cannot be anticipated in advance. Out of stillness comes new understanding, closing the circle of practice towards Air and the East.
Thus the witch pursues the four powers of the magus: to know, to will, to dare, to keep silence. But there is a fifth power that results from the balanced development of the four: to go. The witch is saving energy for his or her definitive journey, the flight to the True Sabbat, fellowship and celebration with the ancestors, spirits, and deities in the other world. Folklore depicts it as a joyous occasion, and colors it with the pleasures and longings of the time when the tales were spun. Some tried to cut corners and get there more quickly through the use of the witch’s flying ointment. The actual flight may or may not follow traditional lines.
One may not literally fly up the chimney and then meet the Wild Hunt in the sky and fly to a rath or burg and descend therein through a tunnel into the Otherworld. The journey may parallel many of these features, nonetheless; and there are preliminary journeys to be made that go partway there.
The flight to the True Sabbat is a milestone on the way to the witch’s ultimate journey to the Sun, when he or she acquires a body of light that can materialize at will, so that further incarnations here in middle Earth are no longer needed. This transformation seals the work of the Craft and completes the vows made at initiation; thenceforth one does other work, perhaps as a guardian elemental, paying back for the help received along the way on this side by paying forward.
5: The Familiar
Witches traditionally kept a cat, sometimes a horse, as a familiar. The witch’s astral journeys were made in company with the spirit of the familiar.
The best information I have found on this practice is in Timothy Knab’s A War of Witches, a factual account of an anthropologist’s investigation, some twenty plus years later, of a battle with brujos and brujas in the highlands of central Mexico. In the course of his investigation, he is inducted into Toltec brujeria by one of the survivors and makes a journey to Tlalocan, the Toltec Underworld.
Tlaloc, the Lord of the Underworld, keeps animal spirits called naguals in his corrals. He gives a nagual to each human at birth. The nagual could perhaps be thought of as the link, within each of us, to other animals, inherited though latent from the prehistoric past. But it is a real spirit and to be a brujo one must find one’s nagual. Afterwards, an experienced brujo, through many journeys to Tlalocan, may have acquired a number of naguals, keeping them in fetish objects like puma’s claws, or in a special gourd.
The human soul is called the tonal. It has two halves. One faces towards the Sun and stands guard over the body when the dark lower half, the shadow, goes on journeys down the world pillar to the underworlds. The shadow is so called, both because it lies below our daily awareness and faces towards the nether regions, and because it follows its nagual into the depths as the latter’s shadow.
If the nagual is a cat spirit, the shadow takes on the semblance of a cat spirit. This is done for protection from hungry denizens of the deep, who prize the heart blood of a tonal but will let a nagual go by.
The discipline Knab goes through in becoming a brujo is well worth the reading. But to return to our own practice, preparation for a liaison with a cat familiar’s spirit, besides the obvious step of getting a cat, would seem to involve re-molding one’s own psyche closer to that of a feline. We do this unconsciously when we sit in company with a cat and enjoy its utter relaxation. Cats are content to go from moment to moment doing whatever they are doing, even if it is only resting.
We, however, often have a habit of doubting whether we are making best use of our time, or regretting we are not elsewhere doing other things. Cats, apparently, have no such qualms. The daily practice of witchcraft in fact promotes a calm mind fully given to the moment. Apparently cultivation of inner stillness connects us with the animal, pre-rational mind, so that we can enjoy shuttling between two minds, as the occasion permits.
This is only an example of how the witch models him or herself on a cat familiar. Whether or not one goes on journeys with the cat, cultivating a close relationship with one will draw the witch closer to his or her own inner, pre-rational mind, through which he or she can call up power from the Deep in circle.
6: The Patron Deity
It isn’t incumbent upon pagans to have a special relationship with a single deity, but it can be a rewarding experience. The pagan will continue to honor the other deities and spirits, of course, and may enter into a similar relationship with another later on. Suppililiumas, the king of the Hittites, was singularly devoted to his goddess, and as we know, his subject Abraham devoted his wandering life to his family god, the later Yahweh.
All gods stand ready to teach by sharing their consciousness, and by helping the devotee to practice the disciplines that lead to that awareness. Pagans will generally choose a patron deity (male or female) on the basis of temperamental preferences, though they may be influenced by a dream or vision. The relationship can be devotional or more like a friendship. In the latter case the deity is like an older mentor or senior partner. In late heathen times, Thor was popular with people seeking this latter relation.
In the Craft, the Lord and the Lady serve as patrons. The Lord is the year-god, who has waxing and waning aspects, and these replace each other at the solstices. Because the outgoing aspect dies and is reborn six months later, the Lord (sometimes called the Lad) is more of a demigod, and is not quite up to the Lady’s level. Witches and warlocks alike tend to relate to the Lord as a tutor or preceptor, and to the Lady devotionally.
The continental Celtic god Cernunnos is associated by modern witches with the year-god. He is known only from artifacts and only by the description given him by Greek traders in antiquity on the Ister or Danube river – the horned or antlered one (we do not know his Celtic name) . Cernunnos teaches witches the way to deal skillfully with both the outer and inner life.
The Oak King or waxing year aspect teaches, by example, how to deal with the outer world joyfully and fruitfully. The Holly King or waning aspect is the psycho pomp or soul-guide in Craft initiation, and also provides fellowship with ancestors at Samhain, October 31st.
On the Gundestrup cauldron, found in a peat bog in Denmark, Cernunnos is the central carved figure. He has two antlers, wears a torque or neck-ring signifying wealth, and holds another in his right hand, as bestower of wealth. His left hand grasps a ram-headed snake by the neck, an Underworld animal linked with healing and sacrifice.
It often happens that a pagan already pursues some discipline designed to conserve magical energy, and chooses an appropriate god or goddess, asking him or her to be the patron of that practice. If the god is willing, he or she will help, first of all, by reminding the devotee to practice whatever part of the askesis is appropriate for the present situation.
The devotee thanks his or her patron for these reminders, knowing from experience that practice would be slacker without them. As the partnership goes on, the world will start to take on the colors peculiar to that deity’s consciousness and personality, and will cause subtle changes in the personality of the devotee as well.
The patron deity also teaches in dreams and guides the devotee in waking life by means of signs and omens, often peculiar coincidences that seem mysteriously significant.
The Lady nurtures and feeds witches as well as all her children on the earth, and also teaches those who prefer to relate to a female divinity. The discipline taught by the Lady involves cleansing the emotions of their verbal accretions. The devotee learns to feel without thinking or analyzing or labeling the feeling. In this way, the witch or warlock draws closer to the animals, who have naked feelings unclothed in thoughts. The askesis of the Lady is especially suitable for couples.
7: Inventory
Supportive practices of witchcraft aim at optimizing the free flow of energy through the life of a witch.
A cluttered life is full of energy knots that trap old, stale energy called `miasma’ by the ancients. The first phase of a spell, purification, is designed to unravel one or more of these knots, so that an increase in the flow of magical energy renders the flow palpable. The energy must be felt to be directed, and as some of it is flowing all the time (however feebly) , the rate of flow must be increased for it to be felt. It can then be directed to a chosen purpose in the consecration phase, and, in the final phase, charged with all the force the witch can command through expanded awareness.
But if the witch’s life is full of energy knots, untying one or two of them by purification may not result in a very strong flow of energy. For a stronger flow, the witch must gradually remove clutter from his/her life so that energy knots are few and easily unraveled.
Clutter comes in many forms. There is mental and emotional clutter; the clutter of always being too busy because of over-commitment; the memory-clutter of too many unfinished projects; and the material clutter found in the home: over-stuffed closets, garages, basements, storage sheds, etc. This section is about material clutter.
By learning and applying the principles of feng shui, we can facilitate a free flow of the energy the Chinese call ch’i throughout the home; but before putting feng shui into practice, we must face and do something about the mountains of clutter tucked away in corners, closets, cupboards and other hiding places. We may think that if our accumulations are out of sight they will be out of mind as well, but the deeper, pre-rational mind we share with the animals keeps tabs on every least thimble.
When the writer Aldous Huxley’s house in California burned down, he remarked on how clean it felt to be free of so many possessions. This was a drastic example of what we can achieve in a smaller degree through the practice of inventory.
The deep mind keeps a file on every item we own, and these files must be closed and cleared away if the witch is to use the filing function for fulfilling oaths and following threads of self-discipline. Accordingly, at regular intervals a witch will go through some of his or her clutter, putting things together that belong together, and getting rid of items no longer needed. A good rule of thumb to follow is to keep what one can use (sentiment counts as a use) and put the rest where it is likely to do the most good. In this we see an illustration of the balance of the Craft, which aims at getting maximum enjoyment and effectiveness from possessions without getting bogged down in being possessed by them.
Putting things you don’t need where they will do the most good may mean giving things away; but be careful doing this, as you may lose friends if they feel you are dumping stuff on them. And above all, never tell anyone you are following the rule of inventory, as gifts should at least appear to be made from a feeling of friendship.
Closing accounts with past unfinished business, either by abandoning old projects or by completing them, leads to a greater integration with one’s past selves, and can clear a channel through memory, and far memory, for the witch to travel in the inner journey down to the Summerland.
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1. For numen see Rose, H.J. in the bibliography.
2. For hiimori see Sangerel, both references, in the bibliography.
3. For the folklore of the Sabbat, see Jackson in the bibliography.
4. On the journey to the Sun, see Grimassi, p. 219, in the bibliography, also Nikhilananda, vol. II, p. 158.
5. See Knab in the bibliography.
6. See Gurney in the bibliography. More recently, a royal charter of King Suppliliumas has been found, authorizing a mercantile expedition to Byblos on the ancient Lebanese coast. Abraham may have been in it.
7. See Davidson (I) in the bibliography.
8. For the significance of Cernunnos in modern witchcraft, see Farrar in the bibliography.
9. See Davidson (II) in the bibliography.
____________________________________
Footnotes:
Bibliography:
Davidson, H.R. (I) , Gods and Myths of Northern Europe, London, Penguin Books, 1990.
__________ (II) , Myths and Symbols in Pagan Europe, Syracuse, NY, Syracuse
University Press, 1988.
Farrar, Janet and Stewart, Eight Sabbats for Witches, Custer, WA, Phoenix Publishing, 1988.
Grimassi, Raven, Ways of the Strega, St. Paul, MN, Llwellyn Publications, 1995.
Gurney, O.R., The Hittites, London, Penguin Books, 1952.
Jackson, Nigel, Call of the Horned Piper,
Knab, Timothy J., A War of Witches, Boulder, CO, Westview Press, 1995.
Nikhilananda, Swami, translator, The Upanishads, in 4 vols. New York, Ramakrishna-
Vivekananda Center, 1975. Prasna Upanishad is in Vol. 2.
Rose, H.J., Religion in Greece and Rome, New York, Harper Torchbooks, 1959.
Sarangerel (I) , Chosen by the Spirits, Rochester, VT, Destiny Books, 2001.
_______ (II) , Riding Windhorses, Rochester, VT, Destiny Books, 2000.
Each one of us has powerful inner guides to help us find our way along the path of our life-journey. These guides bring gifts for us and offer very specific help. When we connect with the guide we need in the moment, our journey becomes smoother, we feel supported, and we can make swift soul-progress.
Is your present guide a powerful Shaman King, spirit-centered Priestess Queen, questing Knight, or youthful Child? Find out with this quiz:
Make note of the numbers of the following statements that are TRUE for you.
1. I need to make wise plans for my future and set better boundaries and limits.
2. I would like to feel more safe and secure.
3. I feel out of connection and as if I’m living superficially–but I know there’s more to my life than this.
4. I am hungry for nurturing, passion, deep feeling, and/or inspiration.
5. I feel as if I have lost something important that would improve the quality of my life.
6. I need to feel more galvanized to go after what I need.
7. I need more playtime in my life: everything feels like a chore.
8. Old, painful memories and feelings have started to surface in my life and I am sick of repeating my old patterns.
9. I feel completely unsure of where I am at the moment, sort of lost in the fog–as if I know nothing at all.
If you answered TRUE to 1 or 2, the Shaman King is the guide who will help you now. Look to this grounded, wise, powerful part of your Self to help you feel stable, safe, and able to plan and protect yourself. Collect images of mature and stable power to keep with you. Give your Shaman King a name. Imagine being filled with his strength and certainty.
If you answered TRUE to 3 or 4, the Priestess Queen is your guide. This part of you can help you to feel more deeply connected to All That Is, deeply nourished and alive to the wonder of living. Find pictures of this archetypal helper to keep where you will see them and feel supported. Give your Priestess Queen a name. Visualize her walking beside you, sharing her qualities of spirit-filled grace and dignity with you.
If you answered TRUE to 5 or 6, the Knight can help you to find what you seek. This questing part of the Self is a great helper when you know there’s something you need. Visualize a bold companion who knows every step of the journey that leads to what you most deeply desire. Give this companion a name. Imagine him or her beside you as you venture into unfamiliar territory.
If you answered TRUE to 7 or 8, the Child will help you to reconnect with your playful inner child-self, who knew exactly what she loved to do. She can show you what you need to do in order to heal from old wounding and create healthier new patterns for yourself. Collect old photos of yourself and imagine asking that child-self for her input.
If you answered TRUE to 9, your guide is the Mystery. Difficult though it may be, you need to trust that you are not meant to know–AND that it is alright not to know right now. Eventually, things will become clearer. Right now, see if you can enjoy being in the place of not-knowing.
Traditionally entitled “Empress,” this major arcana or “trump” card portrays the energy of the Great Mother. She is Nature, around us but also within us, the ever-unfolding Source of life-giving power. She is often pictured as a pre-Christian Goddess, as the one whom the High Priestess is channeling down to earth for the rest of us.
In medieval Europe, the Empress card was painted to represent whatever Queen currently ruled the land, probably to satisfy the Inquisitors. But the scholars of the Renaissance and beyond had no doubt of her true identity, although she could not be fully revealed on Tarot cards as the “woman clothed with the sun” until after the French Revolution.
This supreme archetype of femininity also symbolizes fertility. It is She who provides us nourishment and security. She is also sometimes seen as delighting us with flowers and fruit. A potentially terrifying aspect of this archetype manifests itself whenever karmic mood swings wipe out our plans, like a storm that has come upon us. Whatever happens, the Empress is the Source of our Embodiment and of Natural Law. She might even be called “the Great Recycler.”
Decorate your altar to Brigid with her cross or any other appropriate symbols because she is the Goddess of inspiration and poetry. She is also a warrior for the weak and Goddess of Mid-wifery. To me, she represents everything women embody – strength, nurturing, creativity. That is why she gives me power when I speak to her in my magickal workings and also why I chose her to call upon when blessing my BOS.
Perform this on a New Moon because this is the time for new beginnings. Light one white candle dressed in an appropriate oil with her name inscribed on it. Burn some incense as an offering. Then speak this prayer aloud while handwriting it in your Book of Shadows.
Great Goddess, Brigid
to you I send
a Witch’s words
from start to end.
I seek your help
so wisdom grows
and from my pen,
magick flows.
Please bless these pages
with your light
and keep this book safe
day and night.
Let the candle burn out on its own and save some left over wax. Take this wax and place it in something safe. Then secure it to your book’s blessing page for good luck. Brigid will inspire you with her magick every time you write in it.
Please note that this does not have to be done on Imbolc for the Gods are always with us. If done on Bride’s Day, however, your Book will be especially blessed.
(c) Kelli Sposato, 2003
Archangel: Anael
Candle colour: Green or pink
Incenses: Rose or geranium
Crystals: Jade or rose quartz
Use Fridays for spells for love, fidelity, healing, for anything to do with beauty, the arts and crafts and for all spells concerning the environment.
Where possible, work in any enclosed beautiful place outdoors, for example a botanical garden, a field, park or your own garden – even in a circle of plants indoors.
Good Morning, WOTC! Oops, Good Afternoon, how’s that, lol! I am sorry we skipped out on today’s issue. I would lie and say it was too cold and we all stayed huddled up together (but I won’t even go there about the weather, brrrr!). I got up this morning and looked at all my drugs (prescriptions) and I was out of everything. Then I got to watching the News and it wasn’t going to warm up at all. So I said, “What the hay? Why not go now?” The only time I notice all the nuts and bolts in my back is when it is cold like this. To run out of medicine is a big no, no for me and I know it. For those of you who don’t know, I have a three level back fusion. That involves a lot of metal cages, nuts, bolts and more metal. Hmm, the way I said that I could come around as Mrs. Frankenstein, lol!
Anyway you know what is going on with us. I do believe while we ain’t actually doing anything today I will take the time to update a little bit. I know I need to change the main page info but I can’t make up my mind what to put on there. It seems like that info has been on there forever (well at least since Samhain). If you have any ideas of what you would like to see, let me know within the next hour or two. I would definitely appreciate the input, right now I am brain dead. Or perhaps, my brain is froze up (sorry, promised I wouldn’t go there).
I am going to run and pick my brain a bit for ideas. I just wanted to let you know what was going on. I hate to be left not knowing what is going on. So I try not to do others that way or am I just nosy. Anyway I am off for now. I hope everyone has a super Thursday. Definitely stay warm and in as much as possible. See you tomorrow….
Luv & Hugs,
Lady A
The Time of Your Life
Learning to Slow Down
Throughout our lives, we are taught to value speed and getting things done quickly. We learn that doing is more valuable than merely being, and that making the most of life is a matter of forging ahead at a hurried pace. Yet as we lurch forward in search of some elusive sense of fulfillment, w
e find ourselves feeling increasingly harried and disconnected. More importantly, we fail to notice the simple beauty of living. When we learn to slow down, we rediscover the significance of seemingly inconsequential aspects of life. Mealtimes become meditative celebrations of nourishment. A job well-done becomes a source of profound pleasure, no matter what the nature of our labors. In essence, we give ourselves the gift of time—time to indulge our curiosity, to enjoy the moment, to appreciate worldly wonders, to sit and think, to connect with others, and to explore our inner landscapes more fully.
A life savored slowly need not be passive, inefficient, or slothful. Conducting ourselves at a slower pace enables us to be selective in how we spend our time and to fully appreciate each passing moment. Slowness can even be a boon in situations that seem to demand haste. When we pace ourselves for even a few moments as we address urgent matters, we can center ourselves before moving ahead with our plans. Embracing simplicity allows us to gradually purge from our lives those commitments and activities that do not benefit us in some way. The extra time we consequently gain can seem like vast, empty stretches of wasted potential. But as we learn to slow down, we soon realize that eliminating unnecessary rapidity from our experiences allows us to fill that time in a constructive, fulfilling, and agreeable way. We can relish our morning rituals, linger over quality time with loved ones, immerse ourselves wholeheartedly in our work, and take advantage of opportunities to nurture ourselves every single day.
You may find it challenging to avoid giving in to the temptation to rush, particularly if you have acclimated to a world of split-second communication, cell phones, email and overflowing agendas. Yet the sense of continuous accomplishment you lose when you slow down will quickly be replaced by feelings of magnificent contentment. Your relaxed tempo will open your mind and heart to deeper levels of awareness that help you discover the true glory of being alive.
WHEN MAGIC DOESN’T WORK
by Van Ault
Every magician has occasions in which the magic he is directing does not seem to
work. The desired result, whether internal or external, does not come into
manifestation. These occasions are opportunities for greater development in the
magical arts, and by working through the disappointment and discouragement, he can reach greater self-knowledge and technical expertise in the art.
I believe that magic always works. Magic is a tool, a reality shaper. Like any
tool, how-ever, its ability is limited to the operator’s knowledge and skill.
For an illustration, let’s use the bow and arrow. Your intention is the arrow
and your magical technique for directing that intention is the bow. You use the
bow/technique to poise, balance and guide the intention/arrow with the strength
of your arms and hands/ determination and will.
What happens when this all works together optimally? The will firmly grasps the
clear intention, balances it upon the technique, you gather your emotional and
mental force, and then fire the intention into the invisible world to be made
manifest. In its own time and way, your wish materializes.
Conversely, if you haven’t got the skill to bring all of these efforts together,
things can go askew. Your arrow can veer and stray, or it may travel a few feet
before losing power. Your bow can break, or not be strong enough to propel the
arrow. Or, you may find that you’ve got your bow and arrow ready to use, but
you haven’t got sufficient strength to manipulate it.
I offer the following meditation process for those times when it seems that your
magic doesn’t work. When you’ve tried all the techniques, when you’ve gotten no
results, when you’re wondering if any of this matters at all, the process in
this meditation can produce miracles and create a sense of completion. You can
read the script into a tape, or have a friend lead you through it.
River Of Life Meditation
Find a comfortable place where you can relax and be completely
quiet…relax…allow your thought snow to just come and go…come and go…and
take a deep breath in and hold it…(pause)…now gather up the tension in your
body, and release it as you exhale …take another deep breath, and as you
exhale, let go of anybody else’s energy or thoughts you may be carrying….and
breathe in new energy…breathe in new possibilities …and allow your body to
fill with lightness…feel it becoming lighter and lighter as you relax more
and more…relaxing deeply…going deeper…feeling very light now…so light
you could almost float away……….
And as you relax, imagine a beautiful colored mist is swirling up around you,
billowing up around you into a cushiony, soft, cloud of energy…and you are
resting completely upon this cloud…and you are safe…as you breathe in and
out, let your thoughts just come and go…relaxing more and more…and the cloud
of energy now lifts you up into the air and carries your down into your own
inner world…down between the boundaries of time and space…to a place of
timeless beauty and infinite possibilities…floating down now, going deeper and
deeper, leaving the outer world and its concerns far behind, as you drift and
float on this beautiful cloud….going further and further- ….down below you
is a rock, a giant rock…and the cloud gently and effortlessly lands upon the
rock and you step off it, as the cloud swirls back into a mist and disappears
for now…
Stand upon this rock now, and feel the strength of it under your feet…and as
you turn around, you look out upon a great river…flowing as far as you can
see…seeming to come from some infinite place…and disappearing into an
infinite place,,,a flowing, endless river of energy…this is the river of all
life waters…all of life draws upon the life-force that moves through its
steaming currents…look closely at the water…what color is it? It may look
like liquid light to you…look deeply into it, and sense the power and depth of
the river…what sound does it make as it courses through its channels?…as you
stand securely upon your rock, notice and fragrance…and bend down and cup
your hands in the living water, and splash some of it on your face…feel the
life giving force on your skin…take a sip of the water…allow the river of
life to nourish you….
Now relax a moment upon the rock…and bring into your mind the magical
intention that never seemed to go anywhere…what were you trying to
accomplish?…what was the basic intention you had?…what was the emotion
behind the intention?…feel the energy of that emotion moving onto the palms
of your hands now…feel the energy glowing… pulsating…breathe and allow
your intention that you’re still clinging to externalize…the energy of it is
now shimmering, glowing…swirling into a sphere…allow all of your desire to
flow into this sphere…and allow this sphere to appear to you however it
appears…and just observe what you see…you may see pictures or symbols
emerging within the sphere…whatever you see is fine…
When your sphere is completely filled with the last of your desire, emotion and
intention, hold it aloft…feel the power of it in you hands, a globe of power
that you can now release…and look out into the river of life…watch as its
currents of possibility flow for ever and ever, as far as you can see…and
whenever you’re ready, with as much and as little force as you need, throw the
pulsating sphere into the river…and give this intention to the life force of
this great river…watch as the sphere touches the water…and gradu-ally
disappears into the current…
Take a deep breath… as the sphere disappears the last of your intention and
emotion and desire merges with the source of all life, from which it originally
came…and leaves you…
Now complete any business here that you need to finish…take a few moments to
enjoy the flowing river of life, and know that the possibilities it nourishes
can bring miracles into you life too…
Take another deep breath, and notice the colored mist is once again swirling
around you…billowing up underneath you to form a beautiful cloud of cushiony
energy, which is lifted up into the air, with you upon it…relaxing into the
cloud you are returning the way you came…lifting up up through time and space,
coming back from the inner world… coming up… further and further…floating
and drifting back…coming back…bringing you all the way back into your body
now, into this room…brining your attention completely back into this time and
place…take a deep breath and begin to re-orient yourself to the outer
world…and when you’re ready, count to three…, and on the count of three open
your eyes, and return feeling relaxed, alert and at peace.
* * *
As always, change any of the wording or images in this meditation if it suits
your purpose better. The important part is just to finally and completely let
go of your intention, so that the energy can be recycled in whatever form the
creative force and your own consciousness will allow. Out of this release, new
lives, new opportunities, and new magical opportunities are born!
THE PHYSICS AND ETHICS OF MAGICK
What we truly and earnestly aspire to be, that in some sense, we are. The mere
aspiration, by changing the frame of mind, for the moment realizes itself
– Anna Jameson
Magick has always been part of Witchcraft. From the dawn of humanity it has been
a tool used to help alter the forces which shape our lives. Today’s Pagans have
reclaimed this viewpoint; we are not merely helpless masses of flesh, void of
any personal power, groveling at the mercy of the fates.
The precise content of our spells has changed over the centuries, but not
the methods, and certainly not human need. It is interesting to note that the
magickal desires found in weathered grimoires are the same desires we have
today, principally: love, security, health, and fertility.
What Magick Is and How It Works
Our detractors try to tell us, and anyone else who will listen, that magick is
inherently evil; that it utilizes “unnatural” or evil forces in order to work.
They believe that mere humans cannot naturally possess any power of their own;
therefore it must be obtained from some supernatural source and, they
illogically rationalize, any force that would aid human desire must therefore be
wicked and ask a perverse allegiance in return. This source was personified as
(need I say it?) their Satan, or anti-God.
It is this inherent power, one with which we are all born, that is the
force behind successful magick. Often we may combine this personal energy with
that of nature (by using herbs, stones, etc., as our catalyst and focal point),
or with that of the elemental world (by aligning our inherent power with that of
faeries, elementals, or of the elements themselves), or by working in tandem
with the creative power of Gods and Goddesses. But no matter how many of these
combinations we try, we, the practicing magickians, are the ultimate source of
magickal power.
Belief in magick as part of religious practice was an accepted part of
everyday ancient Pagan life, and flourished for many, many centuries before
Satan became an accepted theological construct of Christianity nearly two
thousand years ago. For the old Witches, magick was not viewed as an operation
of supernatural forces since, logically, nothing supernatural could exist.
Whether one believed the universe was created by a sentient deity, or wished to
believe that it exploded into existence of its own accord, the fact remained
that certain natural laws operated from which no deviation could occur. Cats
don’t sprout antlers overnight, autumn does not suddenly appear to follow
winter, and a maple tree doesn’t become an elm at will. Everything has its place
in the time/space continuum – including magick.
Magick has long been understood by its practitioners to be no more than
the manipulation of natural forces not yet understood by either science or
psychology. To create a spell we teach ourselves to sense and “see” these
energies, and invest them with our own energies in order to bend them to our
will. On the physical plane we can see this same concept used in the martial art
known as Judo. Through Judo one is taught to take advantage of the natural
energy and momentum of one’s opponent, making it possible for a ninety-pound
woman to toss a two hundred-pound man over her head. The natural energy that
makes this feat possible is there, waiting to be harnessed and directed to
release itself to the desired outcome.
Look around you. Right now. Put down this book and note all the items in
the place you are in at this moment. Note all those modern miracles of
technology you take for granted that would have gotten you hanged for being in
league with the Devil only two hundred years ago: your car, your television,
your CD player, radios, electric lights, even a simple ballpoint pen. All of
these things would have been seen as manifestations of magick by virtually
everyone, and as a sign of the presence of evil by more than just a few. But for
those who understand – or pretend to understand – the factual scientific
principles on which these items work, they are not “magickal” at all. They are
simply things which operate through natural scientific principles.
It is highly likely that the magick of today will be the science of
tomorrow, that eventually we will discover what it is about the energy of the
trained magickal mind that can manifest wishes and desires. As scientists and
psychologists continue to study the evolving human mind, they may unlock the
secrets of creation from a single directed thought. This conceptual hinge upon
which all magick is hung may be seen as being overly simplified, but it is the
basis of all spellwork. Everything that exists – everything – had to first begin
as a single thought, and somehow those thoughts had to be directed, both on the
mental and on the physical planes, in order to manifest as reality. (Even Judeo-
Christian mysticism teaches that we are merely thought-forms in the mind of
God and, when he ceases to think about us, we will perish.)
Five basic ingredients are needed for any successful spell.
1. The desire or need for something
2. An emotional investment in the outcome of the spell
3. The knowledge to work the spell
4. The belief that it exists on the mental/astral planes
5. The ability to keep silent
Without desire and need there can be no spark of the imagination that
fires the emotions to drive the spells. Without magickal knowledge a Witch has
no idea of what to do to make the magick. Without belief that focused thoughts
create a reality that can be brought into the physical world, there is no magick
at all.
Keeping silent about magickal work is another very old belief. It may have
stemmed partly from fear of discovery by the Witch hunters. On another level
there is an old adage that energy divided is energy lost. In other words, the
more you speak to others of your work, the more energy you lose, energy which
could otherwise be channeled into your desired outcome. You may also find
yourself talking to someone who does not believe in the power of magick, or has
some vested interest in your failure, perhaps jealousy or a need to “prove” the
unworkability of magick. Such people can do great damage to your magick by their counter-energy. Never mind that they do not believe in what you are doing. We all have the power to project energy, and their mental output can work against you.
Those who do not understand the principles of magic fear the mysterious
source of the manifestation more than the manifestation itself. If we look again
to the natural laws of the universe for answers, we find there is really no
mystery. All of us were taught the basic law of physics in junior high science
which states:
MATTER CAN BE NEITHER CREATED NOR DESTROYED, IT CAN ONLY CHANGE FORM.
Unlike television Witches, such as the ever-popular Samantha Stephens, we
cannot wiggle our noses and create something from nothing. In order to manifest a house on a vacant lot we do not – and cannot – create matter. Rather, we set up energy patterns that draw the energy to us and shape it into the form we want to see. This would involve consorting with a good contractor rather than with demons. The language that has evolved around magick over the centuries also tells us that it is not an instantaneous event, but a process of building piece-by-piece. Various mythologies tell of Goddesses of magick who are spinners and
weavers, creating their reality step-by-step as a seamstress embroiders a
tapestry. With her patience and persistence a rich picture is born, and it is no
accident that we have adopted the words spinning, weaving, casting, working,
crafting, and creating to describe our spellwork. There is no rule anywhere in Paganism to tell us how much or how little magick we must weave, or even that we have to make magick at all. If you are not sure about its working principles, or feel that you are not ready for magick in your life, then don’t do it. If you continue to follow a Pagan path the time will eventually come when you win find yourself casting a spell as easily as you call upon your deities.Once you decide to create a spell to meet a need, begin constructing it by following these twenty-four steps:
1. Clearly understand and define your magickal goal. Write it down or state it
out loud to help form it solidly in your mind. By doing this you begin to invest
the spell and the desired outcome with your emotions and energy. If you have
more than one need, you may wish to spread them out. You can work more than one spell at a “session,” but doing so will dissipate and scatter your energies,
leaving less for each spell. If you feel you must do multiple spells, limit them
to three and try to relate them in some way, so that the energy you raise
remains as focused as possible.
2. Be sure of the ethics of your hoped-for outcome. Approach the spell from
all angles to satisfy yourself that you are not violating anyone else’s free
will or being manipulative. Many Witches like to do a divination first, to be
doubly sure that their spell will not have any unforeseen ramifications. If the
results of the divination are negative, try rethinking your intent to see if you
can circumvent the problem. Then do another divination and see what comes up.
3. If you wish to use a specific element as a focus for your magick, decide
which one is most appropriate and collect items to represent that energy.
4. Plan how you will visualize your goal and believe in what you see. The powers
of the mind are only just now beginning to be explored by science. We have all
heard stories of terminal patients who have healed themselves, and of faith
healers who use belief to manifest miracle cures. Visualization uses that power
to form mental pictures that are invested with personal energy and emotion. It
is the soul that breathes life into all magick, and the soul that is the most
important element in its outcome. The moment you start visualizing the
resolution of a magickal need is the moment you begin to create the changes in
your deep mind necessary for the magick to manifest.
5. If you are working with advanced natural magick you will need to prepare a
long-range plan in accordance with the above guidelines. This will entail
checking moon phases, laying in enough supplies for the duration of the spell,
and planning how the energy can be sustained through each day.
6. Gather candles, stones, or whatever else you intend to use as a catalyst for
your focus or to direct the energy you will raise. Empower those items with your
personal energy by projecting into them the energy of your goal. Keep in mind
that these tools, including your cherished ritual tools, have no power in and of
themselves. The power is not in the tools, but inside the Witch trained to use
them. Without you, they are useless. They merely provide a way to focus your
energy and a means for directing it towards its goal.
7. Decide upon your “words of power,” the words or chants you will use to help
focus and raise energy. You may write them out, or simply remember key phrases you wish to use as you improvise. Some Witches like to create simple poems so they will be easier to remember.
8. If you wish to use a special deity or mythic figure in your magick, decide on
which one or ones, and on how you will evoke, invoke, and/or honor them. You may wish to write out special prayers or blessings and memorize them.
9. Decide when you want to do the spell. This can be any time you personally
need the magick, at the time when your coven regularly meets, or you may wish to take into consideration moon phases and/or other astrological influences. If
your life is as busy as most people’s today, you may have to choose the only
night when you will be free and alone. The timing is much less important than
the energy you bring to the spell.
10. At the appropriate time, gather what you will be using and go to the place
where you will perform the spell. This can be at your altar, indoors or
outdoors, at your coven meeting site, or anywhere else that feels appropriate,
comfortable, and private.
11. Cast your circle and, if you like, call the quarters, or do as you would
when opening any other ritual. If you are using advanced magickal techniques you win definitely need to employ these visualizations to be effective.
12. Your magick is now beginning in earnest. Invite whatever elementals,
faeries, spirits, or deities you wish to have present as you work. They should
always be welcome, but they are not necessary for spellwork.
13. Clear your mind and begin visualizing your goal. This is probably the most
important step in the spell-casting process and you should invest the mental
image with as much energy as you can muster. Recall your need and make your
emotional connection with it as deep as you can, on as many levels as possible.
14. Raise energy within yourself and pour it into the magickal object(s) in
whatever way feels right to you. This can be done as a mental projection,
through dance or song, or intense visualization.
15. Do whatever physical actions your spell requires. Some need no special
actions, but many require some basic movement, even if it is only lighting a
candle. Use your words of power, light your candles, bury your herbs, mentally
charge your stones, and/or raise your cone of power.
16. Take advantage of natural phenomena that can help you raise energy. A storm, for instance, is an excellent source of energy that any Witch can draw upon to help feed a spell. Allow yourself to become part of the storm and feel yourself psychically drawing on its vast stores of energy as you seek to raise your own energies or cone of power.
17. When you feel you have put as much energy into the spell as you possibly
can, send the energy out to do your will. You can visualize this as a cone of
power being sent out, or use any other mental image you like. Body language
helps, too. Relax, throw up your arms, raise a tool, kneel, send out a cone of
power, or do whatever else makes you feel the energy go forth. Be sure to direct
it out from you visually as well.
18. You should finish your spell with words such as the traditional “So Mote It
Be.’ Mote is an obsolete word for “must’ The phrase is synonymous with “Amen,”
“So It Is,” and “It is Done” It is a statement of completion and an affirmation
that you know your magick is successful. All magick is worked from the point of
view that the desired goal is already manifest – it will not come to be, but IT
IS. Always phrase your magickal desires in the present tense; for example, “I
have love in my life now,” or, “My bins are now paid in full.’ Talking of magick
happening in the future will keep it forever in the future, always just out of
reach.
19. Meditate briefly on your goal. Again, visualize it as already manifest.
Smile, breathe a sigh of relief, and know the magick is already at work for you.
20. Thank and dismiss all faeries, spirits, and deities who have come to witness
or aid in your magick.
21. Ground your excess energy into the earth and open your circle. Excess
energy, raised during your spell work but not fully sent away from you when you
sent it to do its job, lingers on and around you, The best way to ground this
excess is to place your hands palms down on the earth, into a bowl of soil, or
on the floor of your home. Physically and psychically feel the excess energy
draining out of you. Know that it is being absorbed and dispersed into mother
earth.
22. If you have ritualized your spell, dismiss your quarters or do whatever
other endings your rituals traditionally require. If you are working your magick
with a coven this is standard practice.
23. Record your spell in your Magickal Diary or Book of Shadows with the date,
time, weather conditions, and any astrological data you wish to include. This
will be useful later when you have done enough spells to look for patterns. For
example, you may see that your most efficacious spells were done on Sundays or
when it was cloudy or snowing, or when you had faeries present, worked with a
particular deity, burned green candles, or when the moon was full. Everyone has
different affinities. These patterns will help you pick the best times for your
spell work.
24. Back up your desire on the physical plane. This is a must. For example, if
you have done a spell for healing don’t avoid seeing your doctor. You will need
all the help at your disposal to overcome your illness, and magick and medical
science make great partners.
Until you achieve your magickal goal you should spend some time each day
focusing on it by dearly visualizing it as a fait accompli. These added boosts
of daily energy can often mean the difference between success and failure.
————————————
**This is an excerpt from Lady of the Night – A Handbook of Moon Magick &
Rituals by Edain McCoy, 1995. If you like this information, please buy a copy of
this book. It will make a great addition to your book collection. ISBN 1-56718-
660-2
It seems to be a given that many (if not most) practitioners of the magickal
arts and sciences regard the acquisition of material wealth as being an
activity that is “beneath” them. It’s as if material possessions and creature
comforts will somehow sully their spirituality. Or at least distract them
away from more spiritual pursuits. But all of us who have ever known want
(which is just about everybody) will at least occasionally, as has Morgan,
wistfully express a desire for the freedom from that want that the “root of
all evil” can bring.
I’d venture to say that most participants in computer net discussions would
like to think of themselves as having loftier goals than mere material
wealth. And it’s pretty much true (*I* like to think of myself that way!)
“Money spells” and the like are called _Low_ Magick workings and thought of
with contempt. However, I’ve always had little respect for someone who claims
to be an adept magician but can’t afford to eat properly. These people have
no appreciation for the advantages that an adequate income can contribute
toward their spiritual projects.
Over the last six months I’ve been working on some magickal theory and
practice intended to bring Wealth and it seems to be yielding results. I
can’t say it’s made me _rich_ (yet!), but it has taken me from joblessness
and near-homelessness to a comfortable, if not ostentatious financial state.
It began as a philosophical discussion with some fellow magicians about the
nature of money and wealth which brought out some interesting ideas.
Wealth in ancient times was a matter of land; wealth was measured in acres.
So it could be thought of as being of the nature of Earth. Even when it
became gold and other precious materials, it was still of the nature of
Earth. Most “money spells” one could find operated from that point-of-view;
wealth is “material”, therefore “Earth”, so the Earth element must be the
basis of the magickal work. Just about anyone who composes ritual workings
nowadays still proceeds from the same basic assumption without questioning
it. So we questioned it. And came up with the idea that the nature of wealth
has changed just as money itself has changed — from land to gold to paper
to plastic to bits in a data stream.
Money is no longer of the nature of Earth; it is of the nature of Air.
Like Air it is ethereal; difficult to grasp and mostly unseen. Above all, it
likes to _move_. Money in motion replicates itself. Money hoarded slowly
dies. Of what use is money that is never spent?
We also raised questions about exactly what _wealth_ really is. It is more
than mere cash on hand. Even having cash on hand is not an accurate
indicator of “Wealth” (with a capital “W”.) The all-too common stories of
the lottery winners who end up broke again a year later are good examples of
what happens to those who don’t _believe_ that they “deserve” to have money.
They prove it — the money runs away from them! On the other hand, a
stockbroker who works herself into a heart attack, mercilessly driving
herself day after day for the dubious reward of drinking herself into a
stupor on expensive booze in front of a fabulous home entertainment center
every night can be said to have achieved the condition of anti-wealth. This
is not Wealth!
True Wealth consciousness pays itself to have a good time. Misers are a
miserable lot, regardless of how much cash is in the mattress. If you hoard
money and not share it, it will curse you with anti-wealth.
Wealth is ultimately the control of resources. If you drive a company car
(and take it home with you every night) the Wealth of that car is _yours_,
regardless of whose name is on the pink slip. My employers _gave_ me a Mac
Color Classic as a “company computer”. I didn’t _buy_ it, but for all
intents and purposes, it’s _mine_. It’s _Wealth_ is mine.
But most “spiritual” types have disdainful attitude toward money that merely
serves to drive money away from them. Money has attained the status of a
spiritual entity; like all entities it has it’s likes and dislikes. Respect
it, value it, and provide it with a conduit by which it can *move* and it
will flow toward you naturally. Treat it with antipathy and it will flee your
presence. Invite it to come to you, believe yourself worthy of it’s
blessings and it will seek you out. Spend, share and reinvest it with relish
and it will replicate endlessly. When money moves, it is having sex. Make
love to money and it procreates!
So in practical terms, how can these realizations be used?
It’s important to remember that in order for Money Magick to manifest
results, it is necessary to provide that “conduit” for the money to flow to
you. Giving a magickal “push” to a business venture is far more likely to
yield results than trying to divine lottery numbers. Even worse, if you
don’t provide money an easy access route to your life, your magickal working
may end up getting disastrous results — ie. you get a million dollars…
from the lawsuit over the accident that left you crippled for life!
I’ll share with you the first Money Magick working my partner and I came up
with that yielded VERY rapid results — within a few days of the working I
got a call out of the blue offering me a ridiculously high paying gig (I’m
an audio engineer by trade.)
Many old occult writings promote the technique of “sacrificing” a dollar
bill as part of a money-attracting spell. We didn’t like the idea- it was
too related to the old “sacrificial” style of Earth-magic. (In the old days,
lambs and/or wheat sheaves, the symbols of Earth-based wealth, were
sacrificed to gain more of the same in the future.) However, the dollar bill
itself has been esthetically charged to the _max_ by the general population as
a “talisman” for a hundred years. It’s perfect for symbolic magick purposes.
Exploring the premises that like attracts like, and that money likes to
move, we took a dollar bill and devised a talismantic sigil for the “spirit
of Money” and inscribed it on the bill. (I should mention that at the time,
it was very nearly the last dollar we had to our name.) The bill was then
magickally charged (We used sexual magick techniques for the charging, again
demonstrating the age-old link between sex/money/power <g>) as a talisman.
For the next several days, she and I (we were living together) used the bill
to _pay each other for anything we did for each other_! She’d get up to
answer the phone, and I’d pay her. I’d get her a glass of water and she’d
pay me. We paid each other for sex. That dollar bill changed hands several
times an hour. This little game had the curious effect of making each of us
feel more “worthy” of “getting paid”. After a few days of this the phone
call came through from an old connection in my profession who “thought of me
out of the blue” when a job prospect came up that was perfect for me. The
money sensed the frenzied motion and came running! Afterwards, we gave the
dollar to a homeless person, combining the idea of “sacrifice” with the idea
of “keep it circulating”!
E S A U T I S M
the
ULTIMATE MAGIC
(c)1994 GardenStone/Holzwurm
We made a loooooooooong journey.
And on this journey we’ve found IT.
If coincidence would exist, it might have been the most extreme form
of it.
But as coincidence doesn’t exist……….
Who or what has guided us is still unknown; of course we do have our
thoughts on that, but we didn’t agree with each other. It might have
been Eris, but ………….. could it be too.
We don’t want to keep our new knowledge a secret, nor want we to
build a Temple around it. We are the TRANSMITTERS.
No need to ask for seminars, courses or other mind-prisoning techniques.
Be your own guru!
First we weren’t aware at all THAT we found IT, but after concretizing
verbally our discovery and combining our personal new knowledge,
we got a first suspicion about the extreme importancy of our discovery.
Because IT is important, VERY important indeed!
We’ve found the Ultimate Magick!
It is the Magick of the
ESAUTISM TRADITION.
A Follower of this Magickal Tradition is called an
ESOTAUR.
The name might point to the fact, that this Magick has its roots in times
before mankind existed on Earth. Therefore, the conclusion that this
is the oldest Magickal Tradition we know now is correct, because
we don’t know of any other pre-human Magickal Tradition.
According to this, the probability is very high, that if one
devotes and studies thoroughly ESAUTISM for an appropriate time, one
isn’t human anymore. You might also conclude that an Esotaur isn’t human.
The Esautism Path is a free Path for everyone.
That doesn’t mean, that everyone will become an Esotaur. The PATH is
very heavy and difficult. A strong will, great perseverence, a trained
mind in multiple disciplines and a limited life span is required.
Everyone has already made some experience with this kind of Magick,
of course without knowing it. In fact, every human has made acquaintance
with this Path, it was just not recognized as IT.
Because ESAUTISM doesn’t use spoken or written words, it is very difficult
to describe it, but we will make the great effort.
Trying to describe ESAUTISM, it might clear you up, if we call it a
FIVE-PILLAR-CRYPT.
The five Pillars are the Pillars of Potention and only those who have
mastered those Pillars and can use them simultaniously without mistakes,
can enter this Crypt without being smashed back into the boring dayly
human life.
The PILLARS.
The first pillar ist the Pillar of CREATIVE VISUALISATION.
Creative Visualisation is the Art of imaginating pure mentally those
pictures that are desired. You can create pictures from your earthly
reality, but that isn’t nessesary. That means, you don’t need the sensory
reality. You don’t need your eyes either.
The second Pillar is the Pillar of CREATIVE OLFACTORISATION.
Creative Olfactorisation is the Art of imaginating pure mentally wished
smells. That might be the smell of a pizza, a roommate or any sensory
smell from everyday life, but smells that don’t exist on earth are okay
too. You don’t need your sense of smell, you even don’t need your nose.
The third Pillar is the Pillar of CREATIVE AUDIOLISATION.
Creative Audiolisation is the Art of imaginating pure mentally any sound
that is wished. It might be the sound of a train, a screeming crowd or any
other sound you have heard before somewhere on earth. But sounds that
you’ve never heard, sounds that even don’t exist, will do fine too.
It might be clear now, that you do not need your ears.
The fourth Pillar is the Pillar of CREATIVE GUSTATATION.
Creative Gustatation is the Art of imaginating any flavour that is wanted. That may be simple tastes or flavours, but very exquisite ones will do too. Creating complete new flavours is as acceptable as trying existing ones. Any organ of taste isn’t required. In fact, having still any sense can be an obstacle on the Path.
The fifth and last Pillar is the Pillar of CREATIVE TACTILISATION.
Creative Tactilisation is the Art of imaginating the sensations that occur when someone touches something he or she wishes to touch. That can be a tree, a pudding or anything from the tactile reality or above or beyond that reality. This Pillar doesn’t need any tactile instrument, not even a singe feeling-point in your skin. You don’t need any skin.
This five Pillars are connected to eachother and are made a Whole by the MENTAL LANGUAGE. This mental language is combining the just described
mentalized senses into mental orders.
With help of the five Pillars and their Language you can get EVERYTHING you want to. A good ESOTAUR serves him/herself ALWAYS with success. If one has mastered this kind of Magick totally, he/she is completely independent of materialism; other people, animals, plants, stones, air, sun and moon are not needed anymore.
An ESOTAUR does not believe in any GOD or GODDESS except in him/herself,
because he/she IS GOD(DES).
You are allowed to copy, print and/or publish this NEWS under the condition that it is not changed and that it is credited. If you ever earn any money with this, you should know, that your material desire is keeping you off from the Path of the ESOTAUR!
Witches Of The Craft® 
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