Tag: Wheel of the Year

Imbolc Ritual #2

Imbolc Ritual
Adapted from Edain McCoy’s The Sabbats


Cleanse and cast the circle. Then call the elements in the manner with which you are most comfortable. We used the corner callings from Spiral Dance, by Starhawk.

The high priestess takes the chalice from the alter and holds it up to the sky.

HPS: Blessed Lady Goddess, we humbly ask your presence at our circle tonight as we honor you at this season.

Coveners: Blessed be the Lady.

The high priest takes the athame from the altar and holds it up to the sky.

HP: Blessed Lord God, we humbly ask your presence at our circle tonight as we honor you at this season.

Coveners: Blessed be the Lord.

The Virgin Goddess leaves the circle. She comes to the edge of the circle with her candle wheel in her hands. She should stand at the West quarter (the doorway to the Land of the Dead). The high priestess will cut a doorway in the circle and allow the Goddess to enter. Everyone should greet her in their own way (verbal, motion, etc). The Goddess should walk three times clockwise around the inside of the circle, and come to a stop before the alter and kneel before it, facing North.

The coveners should walk in single file to the altar starting with the person to the altar’s right. This will make the procession head clockwise. When everyone is back in their places holding their lighted candles, the ritual can continue.

HP: Behold the light. The God has returned for his bride.

Coveners:

Blessed be the light which warms. Blessed be the God.
Blessed be the Wheel which turns. Blessed be the Goddess.

The child God steps out from among the rest and stands before the bride, who is still kneeling. The God bows to the goddess and she to him. Then they do a few flowing dance steps around the circle without touching each other, but conveying the idea of awakening sexuality. When they are finished, they lift the besom from its resting place on the altar. The Goddess should hold the straw part and the God the stick. They should make sure they do not physically come in contact with each other while they do this. The high priestess stands in front of the besom and takes it from them by grasping it firmly with both hands. The Goddess and God step back to take their places with the rest of the coven.

HPS: With Imbolc we sweep away the last vestiges of winter.

The Coveners turn and face outward from the circle. The Priestess moves counterclockwise around the circle behind the covenors, sweeping from the center outward. As the High Priestess passes each covenor he or she should voice either aloud or silently all the things that he or she wishes to have swept from their lives. When this is finished, the Virgin Goddess and the child God step forward again and take the besom fromt he High Priestess in the same manner in which it was given. Then the High Priestess steps back and the Virgin Goddess and child God place the besom back onto the altar, and again take their positions among the covenors around the circle.

HPS: The God has claimed the Goddess bride and the Wheel of the Year turns on. Who is Goddess?

All women: I am Goddess.

HP: Who is God?

All men: I am God.

HP and HPS: Who is Goddess and God?

Coveners: All living beings are Goddess and God.

HP and HPS: And who are we?

Coveners: We are the children of deity. And we are deity. We are part of the creative life forces which move the universe. we are microcosm and macrocosm. We are part of all that is.
Cakes and Ale

HPS: Though we are apart, we are ever together – for we are one in the spirit of our goddess and God. Merry meet. Merry part.

Coveners: And merry meet again.

All: Blessed be!

Ground, take down the circle.

13 Ways to Celebrate Imbolc

13 Ways to Celebrate Imbolc

by Heather Evenstar Osterman

 

Regardless of what religion we grew up with, most of us have favorite memories of things we did every year for specific holidays. These traditions were what made our celebrations special. So what do you do when the holidays you celebrate now aren’t the same ones you grew up with? How do you share the joys of Imbolc with your family?

Imbolc (or Candlemas/Brigid/whatever you choose to call this celebration) falls on February 2nd and is a time to honor the quickening of the earth and the first manifestations of spring emerging from winter. This Sabbat is sacred to the goddess Brigid in particular, and is a wonderful time to acknowledge your own creativity, expand your knowledge, and practice the healing arts. Here are my suggestions to get you started developing your own family traditions!

  1. Help your kids go through all their clothes, toys, and books to find the unwanted and outgrown items. Donate everything to a charity that will give the items to children who need them.
  2. Collect canned goods from family and friends to give to a food bank. Yule isn’t the only time people are in need.
  3. Go for a walk! Search for signs of spring. Take off your shoes and socks and squish your toes in the mud.
  4. Open all the doors and windows and turn on every light in the house for a few minutes. Let the kids sweep all the old energies out the doors.
  5. Lead the family on a parade around the outside of your home, banging on pots and pans or playing musical instruments to awaken the spirits of the land.
  6. Make corn dollies and a cradle for them to sleep in.
  7. Create a sun wheel out of stalks of grain and hang it on your front door.
  8. Meditate as a family. Have everyone explore what it would feel like to be a seed deep in the earth, feeling the first stirrings of life. Lie on the floor and put out tendrils. Stretch and bloom.
  9. Have your children hold some herb seeds in their hands. Talk to the seeds. Bless them with growth and happiness. Fill them with love. Plant an in-door herb garden.
  10. Decorate candles with stickers, metallic markers, paint and anything else you can think of! Light your candles and give thanks to Brigid for her inspiration.
  11. Help your kids make a special feast! Spicy foods and dairy dishes are traditional. Try Mexican or Indian cuisine. Top it off with poppy seed cake. Drink milk or spiced cider.
  12. Set a fabulous dinner table with your candles, evergreen boughs spring flowers, dragons, sun symbols, or whatever says Imbolc to you. Use the good china.
  13. Let your children make their beds in a special way to represent Brigid’s bed. Go camp style with sleeping bags or build a makeshift canopy! Have sweet dreams…

Heather Osterman is the Family Services Coordinator for the Aquarian Tabernacle Church.

Imbolc Is The Season for Cleansing

This Sabbat is a time of cleansing and newborn lambs, a good time for the Blessing of seeds. It is a festival of the Maiden in preparation for growth and renewal. Imbolc is a time to honor the Virgin Goddesses, along with the first signs of returning life in a frozen Winterland. In many places, the crocus flower is one of the first to show itself popping up through the snow, and so it is also a symbol of this Sabbat. Candlemas is a Festival of Light and is therefore celebrated by the use of many candles.

 

 

Symbolically, many Pagans choose to represent Imbolc by the use of Candle Wheels, Grain Dollies, and Sun Wheels – these may be used in ritual or simply as decoration. Candle Wheels are generally round decorated “crowns” made of straw or some type of natural woven substance which is ringed with either eight or thirteen red, pink or white candles and decorated with colored ribbons. In many Imbolc rituals, it is traditional for the High Priestess or the Maiden to wear this “crown” during the ritual at some point.

Imbolc and Grain Dollies

Grain Dollies can be made many different ways, and need not take on human shape unless you desire. They are made of wheat or sheaves of other grains such as straw, corn or barley. The sheaves are formed into some semblance of a “dolly” by folding, tucking and tying here and there. They can then be “dressed” in white cotton or satin and lace to represent the bride. You may even choose to create a “bed” (from a basket usually) for your grain dolly, commonly called a “Bride’s Bed”. There are many Pagan books available on how to create Candle Wheels, Grain Dollies, and Sun Wheels. Imbolc is also represented by burrowing animals, and the bride. Some other altar decorations may include a besom (Witch’s broom) to symbolize the sweeping out of the old, a sprig of evergreen, or a small Goddess statue representing Her in the Maiden aspect.

ABOUT OIMELC

ABOUT OIMELC

The Church calls it St. Brigid’s Day, but Brigid (or Bride) is simply the
ancient Celtic name for the Goddess as maiden.

Here in America we know it as Groundhog Day, a day of weather divination. And
Iomelc was always a time of weather divination.

It’s also called Valentine’s Day (but moved a couple of weeks away), because
love divination was also practiced on the Day of the Maiden (or Bride).

It’s winter’s end. The bridge between the cold of winter and the promise of
spring. Iomelc was the time for caring of the sheep in ancient Britain.

It’s the midpoint between Yule — the rebirth of the sun as the wheel of the
year turns — and Lady Day (Ostara or Easter) — the full moon of the vernal
equinox.

Candlemas = Renewal

Candlemas = Renewal

Each year, we celebrate February 2nd around the world. We call it Brigid,
Candlemas, Imbolc, St. Brigid’s Day, and yes, of course, Groundhog’s Day. Why
do we celebrate on February 2nd? Is it like President’s Day – providing a nice
day for state and federal workers to stay at home? Not really… Brigid has
been celebrated for many thousands of years. It is the day on which we
recognize and honor the awakening of the maiden aspect of the Goddess.

Some of us celebrate the holiday as Brigid, in honor of Brigid who was a Celtic
Goddess of poetry, healing, fire and smithcraft. In years past, the people of
the British Isles would build a nice fire in their hearth, light torches and
candles, and celebrate Brigid. What were they celebrating? The Maiden aspect
of the Goddess awakes or returns from the underworld. At Winter Solstice she
was impregnated with Spring. She sleeps until Brigid and returns, bringing
Spring and renewal for the earth with her. The other names for this holiday
are just different names for the same celebration.

Some may ask what this really has to do with us? We see that some of the
animal kingdom hibernates through the dark time of the year. We tend to follow
the same cycle. During the dark time of the year we retreat within ourselves.
We focus internally. We stay inside our homes in the warmth and think about
what is upcoming for us. We may not even recognize it. We may not even think
about it consciously, but subconsciously we are very much aware of it. We are
very much a part of the spiral of birth, death, and rebirth throughout the
year. We are interconnected with the earth and all that is on it. You have
likely heard the old expression “Spring Fever” many times before. This is
simply our anticipation of Spring’s return, when we can go out and live a full
life upon the earth once more.

Often if we look at our ancestors and the His/Herstory, we can find the answers
to many of our questions. I hope that everyone has a beautiful Brigid and
remember… Spring is just around the corner.
Mayfair Lightwind

Use Imbolc to Ask for Brighid’s Inspiration

Use Imbolc to Ask for Brighid’s Inspiration

by Melanie Fire Salamander

At a Northwest Imbolc, grey days pass under grey skies. The furor of the solstice holidays is over, and cold and rain face us for the next six weeks, or six months. Here, Imbolc lacks even the bracing snow of winter. Nor is it time for flowers and fresh breezes. A few crocuses may poke their heads above ground, but Imbolc, the first pagan holiday of spring, doesn’t speak of spring’s fulfillment, rather of spring’s promise.

Imbolc is the pregnancy of spring, the first stirring of seeds sown in autumn. One derivation of the holiday’s name, which is taken from the Irish, is “in the belly,” according to R.J. Stewart in Celtic Gods, Celtic Goddesses. Animal life also begins to stir. Around Imbolc, ewes begin to lactate, a time important to hungry traditional peoples. This association is reflected in medieval European writings. Cormac’s Glossary, composed around year 900, derives “Imbolc” from “sheep’s milk,” Ronald Hutton writes in The Stations of the Sun. In the tenth- or eleventh-century Irish tale “The Wooing of Emer,” this holiday is called “Imbolc, when the ewes are milked at spring’s beginning.”

At Imbolc, early Europeans also rendered fat for candles, having saved the fat from meat eaten through the winter. Hence the holiday’s alternate name Candlemas, from the Christianized version of the day. Christian Europe observes Candlemas with candlelight processions, parades that may hark back to ancient torchlight ceremonies for purifying and reviving the fields at spring sowing, according to Funk and Wagnall’s Standard Dictionary of Folklore, Mythology and Legend. The February ceremonies of the pagan Romans were also rites of cleansing and preparation for the coming year. Likewise, February 2 is the Aztec New Year, observed with early-spring agricultural rites and renewed fires. After other purifications, covens at Imbolc traditionally initiate new witches.

Around the Northern Hemisphere, Imbolc is a time of beginnings, of hopes for success in the coming year. But hope is double-edged; the ancient Greeks put it into Pandora’s box with other human ills, a lying daemon. In this grey weather, it’s easy to see hope as a lie. Of all holidays, Imbolc is the most based on faith. If you don’t feel faith, if you lack inspiration, Imbolc is a good time to seek it.

Brighid’s Day

Imbolc comes strongly associated with a Celtic goddess who oversees inspiration. The Irish, Scots and Manx considered this holiday to belong to Brighid or Bride (pronounced breed), a patroness of smithcraft, healing and poetic inspiration whose name can be derived from the Gaelic “breo-aigit” or “fiery arrow.”

Brighid’s attributes are many. She was known as a smith and fighter, patroness of the armies of Irish Leinster. As a healer, she rules wells and streams. Worshippers in medieval times walked around her holy wells deosil (sunwise) on hands and knees and left valuable pins or buttons in the water, or hung rags in the trees nearby, asking for relief.

An Irish celebration of Brighid’s day reflects another healing aspect. In this observance, Hutton writes, a family would hold a formal supper, during which they would place food, usually cake or bread and butter, on the windowsill as a gift for Brighid. The family might also leave a cloth, garment or ribbon on the sill overnight, asking Brighid to bless it. Family members would wear it later in the year to prevent headaches.

Brighid also oversees childbirth. In the west Scottish Highlands as late as 100 years ago, midwives would bless newborns with fire and water in Brighid’s name, Caitlin Matthews reports in The Encyclopedia of Celtic Wisdom. Fire and water come together also in Brighid’s water, which you make by plunging a burning coal into water while asking for the goddess’s blessing. The water, used to anoint and purify, combines Brighid’s natures of smith and healer.

Brighid’s midwife aspect perhaps conceals an earlier goddess of fertility, a corn-mother, as shown in the tradition of Bride’s bed. To create this bed, Pauline Campanelli in The Wheel of the Year has you decorate a grain maiden made at the autumn equinox or from the last harvest’s wheat or corn. You dress the maiden in white, lay her in a basket and set across her a priapic wand — an acorn-tipped wand of oak — twined with ribbon, so that wand and bride form an X. You then place lit candles to either side and hail the maiden with a chant, or incorporate her into a ritual saluting the fertility of the coming spring. After the ritual, you undress the maiden and at sunrise place her on your dwelling’s front door. There she forms an amulet of prosperity, fertility and protection, which can remain till the next Samhain.

The Celtic traditions behind this pagan practice are many and varied. In the Isle of Man, according to Hutton, followers of Brighid left her an empty bed in a corner of the house or barn, beside it bread, cheese, ale and a lighted candle. In the Scottish islands of the Hebrides, where householders made a figure of Bride from oats, families would leave her abed overnight and look for an impression of her wand in the hearth ashes the next morning. A mark meant a good crop and a prosperous year, and a footstep was held marvelous, but if nothing appeared the family took it as a bad omen. To avert misfortune, members would bury a cock at the junction of three streams or burn incense on their hearth fire.

Elsewhere in Ireland, people plaited a criosog Bridghe, St. Brighid’s cross, of rushes or straw, hanging it on Brighid’s Eve over a door or window or in the rafters to welcome her. Others set their crosses in stables to ask for blessings on the animals. The Irish left their criosogs up through the year, replacing them the next Brighid’s Eve.

Besides giving health and agricultural fertility, Brighid lends clear sight into the future and creative fertility. According to Matthews, she presided over a special type of Irish augury called a “frith,” performed on the first Monday after a cross-quarter day, such as Imbolc, to predict what the year’s next quarter would bring. Brighid was said also to inspire poetry, and many Irish poems hail her. Cormac’s Glossary calls her “a poetess… the female sage, woman of wisdom, or Brighid the goddess whom poets venerated because very great and famous for her protecting care.” Matthews attributes to her the “nine gifts of the cauldron” mentioned in the Irish poet Amergin’s “Song of the Three Cauldrons”: reflection, lore, research, great knowledge, intelligence, understanding, wisdom, meditation and poetry. If inspiration is what you seek at this grey Northwest Imbolc, Brighid is a good goddess to turn to.

A Ritual to Seek Inspiration

This ritual is to find hope and inspiration in a project or your life as a whole. Before you start the working, I’ll ask you to spend some time in journal work and meditation. For these and the magickal rite, give yourself at least one undisturbed hour (two is better). Turn off the phone, and put your pets in another room.

A good time for this ritual is first thing Imbolc morning. If that doesn’t work, try the night before, or during a waxing moon. It’s best done in spring, but don’t let the season prevent you from doing the ritual if you want.

Have on hand:

  • A white or pastel candle to meditate by, and a candleholder for it.
  • Paper and pen to create a journal entry and for use during meditation. (You can create the initial journal entry using a computer, but you’ll definitely want the old-fashioned tools later.)
  • A cauldron or earth-filled bowl large enough to contain a burning piece of paper safely.
  • Anointing oil or Brighid’s water.
  • A candle of a color that says inspiration to you, possibly rainbow-colored, silver, gold, lavender or
    green — use your own personal associations.
  • A candleholder for this inspiration candle.

Journal Work

First, create a journal entry looking at what you’re thinking and feeling. Whether or not you keep an ongoing journal, writing about your thoughts and emotions helps clear your head before a ritual and make sure that unconscious ambivalence doesn’t color your work. Even if you already know what’s in your head, getting your feelings out on paper may reveal new information or connections. And the simple act of formally acknowledging a thought or emotion by writing it down can help that energy move.

So ask yourself: How do I feel? Why?

Next, ask yourself: What do I want out of this ritual? Write the answer on a separate page as a single, formal statement; this will be the statement of your working.

Then ask yourself: What within me stands in my way? What benefits do I get from not succeeding here?

This ritual assumes you are already dealing with any practical roadblocks preventing your success. For me, it’s rarely the outer blockages that most hinder me — it’s the inner ones.

So look at the inner urges that block your desires. As they come up, don’t judge them, if you can avoid it. These shadows all exist for a reason. If you can honor these urges, understand them, talk to them, promise they will be met in some way other than preventing your success, you will clear the way for inspiration.

On a separate piece of paper, write out a list of your inner blockages for use in meditation, following.

Meditation

To meditate, start with relaxation. Light your white or pastel candle, and sitting in front of it relax your whole body. If this doesn’t come easily, try tensing each body part, then releasing it. (For more meditative techniques, see other articles in this issue.) Looking at the candle flame — if you don’t want spots before your eyes, look at the base of the wick — take 20 deep breaths, breathing into your belly, saying to yourself that each breath relaxes you further. Count each breath.

Once relaxed, ground and center. Make your grounding cord strong and deeply rooted, and center yourself in the middle of your head — your third eye, a neutral space. Neutrality is a good tool when looking at inner blocks. Next, create a protective energetic circle around yourself in whatever way you prefer.

For the following step, give yourself some latitude. Don’t force yourself to do work you’re not ready for; doing so will enforce rather than clear obstructions.

From your list of inner blocks, choose one. Let it be personified in a way that you can be neutral about — not a monster, simply a presence. Then ask the block in meditation: What do you want?

For me, the answers to this question always surprise me and usually simplify matters. What your blockage will usually want, first, is acknowledgement. Then it might have some specific request. Nine times out of ten, at least for me, such requests can be dealt with in ways that allow me to move forward with my desired goal.

On a separate piece of paper, write down what the block wants. If you can, promise to fulfill that need, but at very least write it down for your knowledge.

Thank the block, bless it and let it go.

Then choose the next block on your list (unless you have only one), and repeat the process, collecting all the blocks’ requests on one sheet.

When you’re done figuring out what your blockages want, briefly decide how to address the requests. Often the action required is something simple, such as recognizing and honoring a formerly hidden emotion. Sometimes addressing the blockages’ needs will take further practical or ritual work. The answer isn’t to do the work right now, but to make an honest commitment to do it over time. If you don’t feel you can do what your blocks request, at the very least promise to keep thinking about the issues raised till solutions can be found. However works best for you, make a commitment to do the work to satisfy and thus release these blocks.

Write that commitment down on the page with the blocks’ requests, fold the paper and, when you can, set it in some place you will see daily, such as on your altar.

Now ground and center once more. Connect with the energies of earth and sky, and from the sky draw down cleansing, healing energy. Let it meet healing earth energy within you, and fill yourself completely with healing and comfort. Wash any pain or negative emotion down your grounding into the earth. Take time to do this slowly and fully and come back to equilibrium.

The Rite Itself

Now that you’ve done your personal work in journal and meditation and cleansed yourself, it’s time to ask for inspiration from the goddess.

Connect again with your grounding, center yourself and renew the circle around you, this time so as to work magick. Call the elements, directions, fey or all three to your circle as you usually do.

Now call to your circle the Celtic goddess Brighid. Do so in a speech inspired in the moment; call to her from your heart. The description earlier should give you a feeling for her attributes and nature. Call her strongly; let her fill your circle.

Besides your original journal entry and the page listing your blocks’ requests and your commitment, you should have two slips of paper: the list of the blocks themselves and your formal statement of ritual intent. From that statement, read aloud what you want this ritual to do. Feel free to amend your statement based on what you learned from journal work and meditation.

Now take up the list of things obstructing you. Say aloud the following, or something like it:

“To do (my project), I have committed to satisfy these blocks. Having made that commitment, I release them.”

Focusing on letting go your inner blocks, fold the page and light it in the flame of your meditation candle. Let the flame burn up everything that stands in your way. Drop the burning page in your cauldron or earth-filled bowl, and watch till it flares out.

Now pick up the anointing oil or Brighid’s water. Hold it above your head, and call out the following or something similar:

“I dedicate this (oil or water) to the Goddess Brighid and her brilliant inspiration!”

With the dedicated oil or water, anoint the candle you’ve chosen to represent inspiration. Holding the candle above your head, stand and raise the energy of inspiration either by toning wordlessly or by chanting:

“As this candle flames and fires,

Let me be renewed, inspired.”

Pour energy into the candle, imagining yourself filled with inspiration and hope. Imagine too the goddess lending you her aid.

When you have sent the power you raised into the candle, touch the surface below you and ground out any excess energy. Set the candle in its holder, ready for use. Then thank and release the goddess and other entities (directions, elements, fey), and take down your circle.

Light the candle whenever you work on the project you created it for, or whenever you’re in need of inspiration or hope.

Mind/Body/Spirit Cleansing for Imbolc

Mind/Body/Spirit Cleansing for Imbolc
By: Lotus Moonwise
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Although Samhain is commonly considered to be the Witch’s New Year, Imbolc has always felt more like New Year to me. After going through winter “hibernation” mode, this is the perfect time to start clearing everything out, moving some energy around and making way for new things to come in Spring. Ever since I started practicing the Craft, this has been my favorite Sabbat of all because it brings Change, which I am so very fond of. Stagnation blocks creative power, so I usually do some kind of total cleansing at least twice a year, but preferably every quarter.
 
I like to set aside one or two weeks before Imbolc for this cleansing process, so that by the time the Sabbat rolls around, I’m fresh and new and ready to invite the new energies in. Here are some ways to cleanse yourself and your space:
 
Your Home:
· Do a total house cleanse, dedicating at least one day to each room.
· Go through each room and move everything. Create a system of organizing. Divide things into categories of what you know you want to keep, what you know you can let go of, and what you’re not sure about. Also, as you go through the rooms, if there is anything that is not where it belongs or anything that doesn’t have it’s own place, set that aside for now.
· Be honest with yourself and let go of things you no longer need. If there are clothes in your closet that you haven’t worn in a year, chances are you can let them go. As time goes on and our energy changes, our styles change, too. Make sure that everything in your home matches who you are NOW, not 5 years ago.
· If you come across anything that is broken, either repair it or replace it. Broken items in the house bring down the vibration. Remember that your house is a mirror of your soul.
· Once you’re sure of what you want to keep, start arranging those items in a way that is pleasing to you. Take time to sit in the room and meditate. If you pay attention, the room will tell you want it needs. Often it is something much simpler than you might expect.
· A good way of increasing abundance in your life is to create an altar somewhere in a direct line from your front door. When energy comes into your life/home, it comes in through the front door. In my home, the front door and the back door are in a direct line. As I did rituals to increase abundance, I noticed that the abundance was coming in, but it was also going out very fast. Extra expenses would just keep coming up. It was “easy come, easy go”. An altar situated between those two doors would magnetize the energy and anchor it into the house.
· Clean and re-dedicate your altars. Also cleanse and re-consecrate any ritual tools that you use.
· Placing a piece of rose quartz near your bathroom mirror is a good way of helping increase your self love and self esteem. You can also write some affirmations on an index card and post them here, since this is a place you’re likely to see them everyday.
· To keep the abundance coming in, you need to complete the cycle by giving. Take the items and clothing that you no longer use to a donation center or a shelter. A continues outflow of energy insures a continuous inflow.
 
Your Computer:
· This is also a good time to go through your computer and get rid of some clutter. Go through your email files, internet bookmarks, files saved on your hard drives and see what you truly need and what can be deleted. Organize the stuff you do keep into folders so you can easily find them when you need them. Many times I have done this and found useful things that had gotten lost in the mass of clutter. Clearing everything out also means your computer will work quicker and this is a metaphor for your mind working more efficiently. Once everything is clear, it’s a good time to back everything up to prevent it from being lost forever if something happens to your computer.
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Your Body:
· This is a great time to get a makeover. Maybe you want to try a new hairstyle or try out a new style of clothing. Making changes can be very uplifting and that energy will carry over into all your creative projects.
· Address any medical concerns you have. Get a checkup, maybe do a spring “fast” or undergo a detox program.
· Meditate on what you need to do to nurture wellness in your body. Talk to your body – it knows what it needs to heal itself and if you listen, it will tell you. Sometimes what your body truly needs goes counter to the generally accepted ideal of what is healthy. Trust yourself. Each person and each body is unique, and the best source for answers about you… is YOU.
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Your Emotional/Mental Self:
· This is a very important part of a total cleanse. If you don’t already, start keeping a journal. Start to observe the thoughts you have. Do this without judgment or analyzing yourself – just observe. Notice if your self talk is nurturing or hurtful. If you notice negative thought patterns, write some affirmations to counteract these and say them daily.
· Write all your fears, concerns, hopes, dreams. Get clear about what you want this year, what you don’t want this year, and what steps you can take to achieve your desires.
· This is a great time for divination focusing on the coming year.
· Create a visual representation of your goals for the coming year. I love to make collages, or what some call “treasure maps”. It’s a collection of images and phrases that becomes a powerful focal point for your energy. Put these up in places you’re likely to see them often.
· You can also do a collage as a way to release your fears. Do that same thing, gathering images and phrases that represent your fears. Then you can either bury this or burn it.
· Another technique that is helpful in clearing out emotional clutter is the Emotional Freedom Technique (EMT) The “Personal Peace Procedure” is a very thorough way of getting to the core of your fears and blocks, and releasing them in a pain free way.
· Write a “Statement of Intent” that outlines your personal philosophy on life and spirituality and your intention of how you will embody that philosophy in the coming year. This is a commitment you make to your self, your Spirit, and the Universe as a whole. Re-write this statement annually, since we are constantly changing, learning, and growing. Keep this statement in your Book of Shadows.
 
Doing all or some of these things will create a “clean slate” feeling. Then when you invite Brigid into your space on Imbolc, you will feel empty enough to be filled with Divine inspiration and creative fire.
 
About The Author: Lotus Moonwise is a Priestess of the Order of the White Moon, and is currently studying to receive ordination as High Priestess. She leads a small family coven. Lotus is a Shambhala Reiki Master/Teacher and offers online classes and attunements. In addition, she is studying to become a licensed massage therapist and lives in Oregon with her husband, three children, and two cats. Contact her via email at lotus@…

Paths and Journeys

Paths and Journeys

Author: Janice Van Cleve

Paths and journeys are not the same thing. Paths are like nouns and journeys are like verbs. Paths are routes that lead to this or that destination. Journeys, on the other hand, are how we drive on this or that path, where we have been, and where we think we are going. Sometimes we take one path and sometimes another. In fact, since we are pursuing multiple short term and long term goals all the time, we probably are journeying on multiple paths every day. We have career paths, relationship paths, financial paths, aging paths, health paths, and many more. We are driving at different speeds, in different vehicles, and talking on different cell phones. No wonder we sometimes get lost or crash into things.

Some paths are determined for us – by bosses, by laws, or by how much money we have or don’t have. Some paths we fall into by chance – job layoffs, traffic accidents, or forces of nature. Some paths we choose because we like the path or because we think it will get us to a desired destination. Spiritual paths are no different.

An illustration might clarify. When I was a Roman Catholic, my spiritual path was the church, my roadmap was the Baltimore catechism, and my destination was Rome. I suppose a good Mormon kid takes the interstate to Salt Lake City, a Muslim travels to Mecca, a Jew to Jerusalem, and a Buddhist evaporates into Nirvana, metaphorically speaking. It all seemed so clear to me back then that if I drove this path with this road map I would get to Rome just like they told me I should. A funny thing happened along the way, however. I got pulled over by the Holy Police and when they checked my drivers license and found out I was a lesbian, they said I couldn’t drive on that road.

So there I was out in the middle of Nowhere, Kansas, my journey aborted, and no clear destination. I got out of the car and wandered around in the cornfields for a while until I met a country girl who guided me to a side road. It was then I discovered that there was a whole network of side roads going to all sorts of interesting places. She told me that this was the Pagan path, or to be more accurate, one of many Pagan paths.

Pagan paths are fun. Some are long, some are short, and some are under construction. There are many intersections, many maps, and many road signs, but no Holy Police. Most of the paths don’t pretend to go to any one special destination; rather, they just seem to go for the joy of going. And that’s when I began to notice a striking thing about these Pagan paths. They have lots of interesting attractions on both sides of the road and no commandment or necessity to reach an ending. What a contrast to the Holy Roman path I had been driving on!

Or was it? Now that I had seen the reality of multiple paths, I looked back at that Catholic highway. For the first time I noticed that it had exit and entry ramps, too. There were Catholic road crews repairing and replacing sections of it as well. Even the Catholic road maps got updated eventually (although it took the Vatican 400 years to exonerate Galileo) . I had not been aware of the varieties of Catholic experience before. Then I noticed that not all the Muslims or all the Jews were driving down their respective straight and narrows either. I wondered then if all paths were actually more or less equal and a journey on any one of them would be just as meaningful and of value as any other. Then I heard the sirens of the Holy Police and I remembered the difference between the highways and the side roads.

That’s not to say I have not encountered sheriffs on the side roads but most of them are pretty laid back and the only laws they enforce are those of common civility and mutual respect as expressed in the Law of Love, the Wiccan Rede, Kharma, and such like. What really holds Pagan paths together is not enforcement but traditions, particularly their seasonal traditions. There’s no denying the seasons. They come and they go as the Wheel of the Year turns. Even in parts of the world where the differences of weather are minimal, the energy forces of each season are still at work. Our various traditions help us align with the seasons, the forces of the universe, and our inner spirits so we don’t get lost or crash.

Where do these traditions come from? Tevya asks that very question: “You may ask, how did this tradition get started? I’ll tell you. . . . I don’t know. But it’s a tradition, and because of our traditions every one of us knows who he is and what God expects of him. Traditions, traditions! Without our traditions, our lives would be as shaky as a fiddler on the roof!”

Our traditions come from many places – intentional design, borrowing from someplace else, a good idea that sticks, or who knows where? What makes a practice or a set of words a tradition is that it is used repeatedly over time and those who use it invest it with value through their applied energies. In ancient days it was the elders, the loremasters, the bards, and the shamans who remembered the traditions and passed them down orally through the generations. Modern Pagans – and other religious folk – write them down in Books of Shadows, prayer books, and liturgies.

Thus we have many paths, each supported and balanced by their traditions. However, paths all by themselves do not get us to our destinations. We have to choose which paths to follow, and when, and for how long. We have to put our own energies and efforts into motion. Scribes and shamans, priests and priestesses, bards and loremasters are responsible for maintaining the paths and traditions but only we are responsible for our individual journeys.

One of the most delightful features of paths – either side roads or highways – is that if they are alive, they are continually under construction. Our Women Of The Goddess Circle is a good example. It has been under construction for almost 19 years as of this writing. Over time it has developed some pretty good traditions and practices, based on much study, experience, and good judgment. That’s not to say that we haven’t built a bridge or two to nowhere in those years, but we learned and altered course as necessary. We continue to encourage our women to seek out many paths and bring back good ideas.

New ideas are sifted and even if they are tried, it is understood that they are on probation until they prove themselves. Too many changes too often can erode a group’s traditions. On the other hand, closing the door on changes that would improve the performance and appeal of a path could doom it to limited usefulness. The challenge is always to maintain a careful balance between tradition and change.

Part of that balance is to keep reminding ourselves of the mission and purpose of the group and of the path it is on. It is more important for each path to offer its own distinct features and attractions than for it to become either all things to all people or nothing to nobody. Another part of the balance is for each individual to take personal responsibility for their own journey, to contribute enthusiastically to the path she is on while she is on it, and to seek other paths to round out her spiritual needs.

As for myself, I follow the Dianic Wiccan path and I do have a care toward maintaining its traditions and those of the Women Of The Goddess Circle. However, I do journey sometimes on the Gnostic path or the Aquarian path, or I take to the stars with astrology or take to the outdoors alone into the wilds of Nature. My journey is enriched by all of them – and out here there are no Holy Police.

The Law

The Law

We are of the Old Ways, among those who walk with the Goddess and God and receive Their love.

Keep the Sabbats and Esbats to the best of your abilities, for to do otherwise
is to lessen your connection with the Goddess and God.

Harm none. This, the oldest law, is not open to interpretation or change.

Shed not blood in ritual; the Goddess and God need not blood to be duly
worshipped.

Those of our ways are kind to all creatures, for hurtful thoughts are quiet
draining and aren’t worth the loss of energy.

Misery is self-created; so, too, is joy, so create joy and disdain misery and
unhappiness. And this is within your power. So harm not.

Teach only what you know, to the best of your ability, to those students who
you choose, but teach not to those who would use your instructions for
destruction or control. Also, teach not to boost pride, forever remember: She
who teaches out of love shall be enfolded in the arms of the Goddess and God.

Ever remember that if you would be of our way, keep the law close to your
heart, for it is the nature of the Wicca to keep the Law.

If ever the need arises, any law may be changed or discarded, and new laws
written to replace them, so long as the new laws don’t break the oldest law of
all: Harm None.

Blessings of the Goddess and God on us all.

(* Wicca – S. Cunningham)

The Law of the Power

The Law of the Power

The Power shall not be used to bring harm, to injure or control others. But if
the need rises, the Power shall be used to protect your life or the lives of
others.

The Power is used only as need dictates.

The Power can be used for your own gain, as long as by doing so you harm none.

It is unwise to accept money for use of the Power, for it quickly controls its
taker. Be not as those of other religions.

Use not the Power for prideful gain, for such cheapens the mysteries of Wicca
and magick.

Ever remember that the Power is the sacred gift of the Goddess and God, and
should never be misused or abused.

And this is the law of the Power.

(* Wicca – S. Cunningham)

Who Am I?

Who Am I?

Author: EarthPriestess

It seems that people in the Pagan world cannot accept that there are many traditions, yet not everyone belongs to one. I want to talk about my path, Eclecticism, and why I believe that Eclecticism is perfectly acceptable.

I have my own doubts and questions of faith and religion and yet now I don’t even know if I have a religion. I am spiritual however and that means the world to me. I don’t even know if I can call myself Wiccan.

People on the Internet have made me feel guilty by calling myself a Wiccan, as I do not follow the Gardenerian or Alexandrian traditions. I follow my completely unique way. I would resent following rules and set beliefs that another human has laid out for me and told me to believe, so when I learn about something I first decide for myself if I believe it.

Because I am currently sixteen, some older Wiccans or Witches can be cynical and say that I am ignorant or naïve or that I am eclectic because I don’t know what to believe.

I do know what to believe. It just so happens to not belong to any one tradition. Like all religions, all traditions have truth in them and so what is wrong in seeking what you believe to be true within each?

SABBATS: Some traditional witches and other traditions are critical of Wiccans, or witches who call themselves ‘eclectic’.

“In the Wiccan wheel of the year, why do you celebrate festivals from all sorts of cultures (Samhain being of Irish origin, and Ostara being German) ?”

My answer to this is: When I first read up about Wicca, I learnt to call the Sabbats by these names. I learnt about the background of the days and what they meant and represent and I believe in those days regardless of their name or origin.

The days themselves are days marked by nature and therefore I worship the day of nature rather than a man-made tradition. I celebrate in the way that I feel best befits it and not necessarily what other people have written to be “the Ritual of Beltane”. I will offer the Earth milk at Imbolc because it will encourage the new Spring life and stands for the milk that the baby animals will suckle.

GOD AND GODDESS: I can be considered eclectic in my choice of God and Goddess. I believe that there is a divine male and female force that ultimately forms into one. However in ritual work, I will call upon different Goddesses from different cultures because each Goddess is a spirit in her own right. If I need help in love, I will call beloved Aphrodite; when I am in need of bravery, I will call on Sekhmet.

Some think this disrespectful and messy saying that I am unable to choose any one culture.

Every Goddess and God is a spirit and in the sense of the Divine I too do not know all the answers. I believe in The God and The Goddess but I believe in as well all the many hundred Gods and Goddesses.

Also the Goddess is no more important than the God. Both are just as important in the act of love and reproduction and creation.

THE WICCAN REDE: “An ye harm none, do what ye will.” A “rede” means advice or guideline and so I uphold this advice and try not to hurt people in any way for a peaceful life, however I do not feel utter guilt on my spirit if I do hurt someone. If someone is hurting someone you love, can you honestly say that you would do nothing?

“Mind the Threefold Law you should, Three times bad and Three times good.” I do believe in karma or the threefold law regardless of whether or not “karma” is a Buddhist philosophy.

INITIATION: I do not believe that you need to be initiated into the craft to be Wiccan or a Witch. Nor do you have to belong to a coven; you can be a solitary witch. If you have been practicing and learning and worshipping the craft for say, twenty years, then how can you not be a witch simply because you haven’t been “formally initiated”? If you have shown your dedication to the Gods and nature, then you have already initiated in their eyes.

I now call myself an ‘Eclectic Witch’ as I have been criticized so much when I call myself Wiccan when I do not follow Gerald Gardner’s ways. Maybe I don’t even have a religion? Just spirituality? To me though, Wicca means “Craft of the Wise” or “Craft of the Witches” and so can I not call myself Wiccan with that definition?

All this nonsense about being a part of one tradition, one religion I think I wrong and unfair. Is there much point in dedicating to one tradition when within it there is a particular practice that you are required to do regardless of whether or not you believe it. How often to humans agree 100% on what another people believes and has said? Even Christians doubt certain aspects of what they are told to believe.

I say follow your own path.

If you believe 100% of what one tradition or religion believes then go for it! Practice away! You are not wrong in what you believe. But if you had the trouble that I had and couldn’t decide — as you agreed and disagreed with what every tradition said — then don’t fret. Be a part of your own. Every path is a path to truth; we all seek the same thing after all!

I felt really confused about who I was when all this trouble over traditions and paths came up. I had to question what it was I actually believed. I do not follow a belief system that is man made exactly, apart from made by myself I suppose. I follow a religion that is the oldest religion known to this Earth. Yet I practice it my way.

I am a Witch. I practice magic, herbs, spells, astronomy and divination; I live by nature. I worship nature and the Earth. I feel the spirit and pulse of life and I love and am one with the God and Goddess.

Who cares what my label is?


Footnotes:
http://www.spelwerx.com/wvtw.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QmwoiIFNiV4 and feature=channel_page

Dark Night of the Soul

Dark Night of the Soul

Author: Draconis Wierinsan Kinthasil

I always knew I was different. I spent almost twelve years blindly accepting what I was taught was the only truth, that there was only one God and He was unchanging. That the Church was always right and if you disagreed, then you were a, “Godless Pagan!” A soulless heathen, lacking in morals and, perhaps even humanity. I accepted it, even praised myself for my avoidance of “sin”, or at least anything remotely connected with pleasure, happiness and joy, which was how I thought of sin.

But, in my heart of hearts, I had begun to question everything I had been raised to believe. I was lost in a sea of my own inner trials. I had thought for many years that my view of the world was right, that I was an essentially good person. Seeing the crimes, the hatred and pain that came from taking faith, any faith to extremes, soured me on it all. I questioned, asked for answers and still came up spiritually empty.

It had been a difficult time for me; I had left the Hanover-Horton school district after the sixth grade and I was still having trouble with the aides they had me working with. One in particular, Mrs. Paxton made me seem like an idiot, when she tried to say that I needed to have periodic meetings with her three or four times a year. One of the things that got me was she was actually nice when I saw her later. All I ever heard from her and her cronies was “He’s unorganized! He can’t spell! He doesn’t understand the simple concepts!” On and on they went about stuff that didn’t matter, things that only added to my feelings of loneliness and isolation.

Though I was not forced, it was in essence assumed that I would believe a certain way. My parents, though they never espoused any particular religious faith, both came from fairly mainstream backgrounds. My search for my own truth, for what I truly was as a person, led me, at first, to reread the Bible and other books, seeking answers. This however, proved more confusing. I saw for the first time the contradictions, the deep chasm between what the Church-folk and Bible-thumpers preached, and how they acted.

The hypocrisy of spending six days a week drinking, lying and stealing, then crawling to church on Sunday and everything was supposedly “forgiven.” I remember I saw it firsthand when I was stupid enough to ask a pastor “Why can’t women be priests?” He sputtered, turning away. He never did give me an answer. Later I learned that the clergy didn’t appreciate those sorts of questions. So I expanded my search, including religions that were a complete departure from what I had known.

The impetus to this process of self-transformation came in the unlikely form of Mr. James Wright, a leader of Boy Scout Troop 134, of which I was a member. He and his wife had given me a pamphlet that gave a brief overview of several different faiths. It, combined with my inner turmoil, proved to be the kick I needed to launch me on a journey of self-discovery.

Just before Samhain, an old Celtic name for Halloween, of 2003, I rediscovered papers I had printed from the Internet two years before. They contained things I’d pulled from the multitude of sites that covered the many faiths of the world. Reading through them again, my thoughts were skeptical. At first I had the attitude that all faiths other then the Christian one were false. This prejudice soon fell away as I began to discover that I was less of a Christian then I’d thought.

I spent days wrangling with the issue. What was so wrong with believing differently? That haunted me for a long time, making my break with the Christian faith more difficult. But, like a drowning man I grasped at the one thing I knew was still true. That “If I can’t blame myself for the foolish deeds I’ve committed, how can I blame others for the choices they made?”

One night shortly thereafter, I prayed for guidance as I took the first step what will soon be an eight-year journey of, awakening, study, meditation and prayer. I discovered the Craft (Witchcraft, the Craft of the Wise) through the Internet and other forms of media.

It was as if a light switch had suddenly flicked on in my brain. I felt something…a sort of gentle nudge from somewhere inside, a little voice saying that I needed to know more. I made a choice then and there, for a year and a day, one complete cycle of what Witches call the Wheel of the Year I would walk the Path, learning if it was what I sought.

So I wandered along the winding road of transformation and discovery. I studied, I prayed, and I learned. Many obstacles, the disapproval of my family, my own fear of what I might find out about myself and my fear of taking that step into the unknown, stood in my way. Greatest among them and hardest for me to take were my parents thinking “Oh it’s just a phase he’s going through” and this required me to keep my inner travels hidden from the outside world. At times I felt like I was walking in darkness, seeking something I couldn’t name. What I found was the essence of my true self, the truth of my faith.

As that first year and a day flew by, I read and pondered the words of those learned men and women who spoke of the Craft. Raymond Buckland, whose books showed me the spiritual side of the Craft, It was his description of what a Witch really was that gave me my first glimpse of the spiritual realm that intersects our own. Scott Cunningham and Raven Grimassi both pioneers in the study of the historic roots of the Witch and the modern form that practice took. Gerald Gardner, the first to bring Witchcraft out of the shadows and offer it to the world. Ted Andrews, whose writings on the roots of animism and shamanic magic gave me new insight into our relationships with our environment, were my first teachers. Through their writings and my own emerging sense of self-empowerment I began to become a Witch in truth, not just in name. Being a Witch as I soon learned meant having self-control. It was difficult for me, to break the cycle of fear and self-hatred but in doing so I began to shed the worst aspects of my character I worked and studied, learning and absorbing information, learning more about myself, and who I was.

Prayer, once central to my life as a Christian, took on a new meaning. My soul recoiled from the thought of bowing my head in fear. That was what I had been taught, that God was wrathful and powerful, casting all but his followers into Hell. I rejected fear of the Gods, instead, I prayed in homage and in reverence. I honored them for their power, not because someone told me to. Now, for the first time in years, I had a reason to pray, a desire to know the Gods. I called out to the powers of the universe, asking them to show themselves. I paid homage to the Lady and Lord, as I first knew the Goddess and God, celebrating the eight sacred festivals of the Wheel of the Year, wondering in the back of my mind if I was just being foolish. That was my greatest fear at that point, what if I was truly damned? Was I risking my very soul? About six months into that first year, I received the answer.

I had prayed that evening as had become my custom, asking for guidance, expecting nothing. I remember I had readied myself for my daily meditation when it happened. I had a vision. I was awake, and yet I was dreaming. I felt a tingle on the base of my neck and a jerking, swooping sensation in my stomach and before my eyes was a vast field.

I was standing before a great temple, carvings of leaping stags and running wolves adorning its doors, the scent of freshly turned earth filling my lungs. A swirling mist enveloped me, cool and damp, fresh like the air after a spring rain. As if brushed away by an unseen hand a tendril of mist swept away on the wind revealed massive standing stones, weather-hewn monoliths carved with symbols and signs from some long ago time.

As a long mournful howl split the air, a shiver raced down my spine and my blood ran cold. From the mist that surrounded me came a tall, masculine figure, his face half hidden by shadow. A flash of silver, like spun moonlight solidified into a kilt of linen He wore belted at His waist. His skin was dusky gold and I felt power coming from Him, a wild, untamed, feral power.

The hair on the back of my neck prickled, this wasn’t a dream; something inside told me “This is real.” My eyes locked on the spear in His hand, a shaft of ebony and gold with faint silver symbols I couldn’t make out engraved along its length. Finding the strength somewhere deep inside, I lifted my gaze to His face. But, fear held me immobile and coiled around my heart, as he came into the light of the luminous silver moon, I saw for the first time the true nature of his outer form.

Atop His shoulders was the black furred head of a great wolf, his eyes a fiery amber-red. Ornaments of bone hung from His wrists and neck, and His eyes burned with the wild essence of a true predator. Yet, there was no malice in his gaze, no cruelty, only wisdom and caring. In the Wolf-Lord’s eyes, like fiery pools of molten metal, I saw compassion and love. Such emotions were weakness, or so I’d always thought, but no one would call Him weak, for no weakness could be seen in the corded muscles of his powerful body.

I felt His hand rest on my shoulder, warm, like the summer sun. Then, He spoke, His voice like rolling mountain thunder. “I have heard you, my child. The wildness in your soul, the freedom you crave, the passion that burns within you, these are my gifts to you.” I felt His hand clench on my shoulder as He pronounced with solemn authority, “To mark you as one of those who keep our ways, take for yourself a new name. For it I call you Kinthasil, Shapechanger, One who Serves the Old Gods.”

Before I returned to my body, as if shouted from far off, I heard His name, Lupercus the Wolf-Lord, the Hunter in Shadow. I knew then I wasn’t dreaming; this had felt too real, to be just a dream. The Gods had heard my call and came at my summons. So with no other taskmaster, and more determined than ever, I redoubled my studies. But, nearly a year after that first questioning, just before Samhain 2004, I again had a vision.

This time, I stood in a twilight glade and a woman approached Her movements lithe and graceful. She wore a gown of russet and brown buckskin that matched for her reddish brown hair and doe-soft eyes. The sliver of the waning crescent moon lent hints of dusk and shadow to the creamy color of Her skin. Belted around her slim waist was a cord of spun silver, knotted at both ends. But my eyes were drawn to the necklace of antler and silver, shaped in the image of a star in a circle set between a pair of crescent moons, the points on each facing outwards, the circle between them connecting them both.

The Lady, whom I would thereafter call Sabdh, the Doe-Maiden, smiled, Her eyes filled with warmth. She beckoned somewhere beyond me and, as if by some spell; a russet-gold stag, His antlers wide and branching, points too many to count, stepped forth from the shadows.

I stood in awe as the Antlered Lord raced across the glade, His hooves raising gusts of wind and yet, no blade of grass bent under His weight. Even more amazing, was the Lady, racing along at His side, matching Him step for step. They circled around, and just before His antlers impaled me, He slowed to a stop, the cool smooth tips of His antlers resting over my heart.

He reared and in a flurry of movement changed form. He became a man, His bare chest shining with sweat, His amber eyes alight with the fire of life and massive antlers sprouting from His brow. In those eyes, I saw a great power, the same force I’d seen in the face of the Wolf-Lord.

My eyes were drawn to the long, yew bow that hung across His back and beside it, a quiver of maple-shafted arrows with fletching made from the white feathers of the Peregrine Falcon. From His belt, hung a knife; its bronze hilt shimmering in the sliver of moonlight overhead and on his left hand a ring of silver and moonstone glittered like a star.

Even now, I can still hear his voice echoing in my mind. He placed His palm around the staff that rested against a nearby tree. As he spoke the antlers and golden sphere atop it glowed with a radiance that was like white-hot fire, but cool to the touch. “I am Wierin Cernnunos, ” He said, and as He spoke I saw a montage of images of leaping stags and men with bows, arrows drawn and ready, praying to Him in homage.

Then, like the Wolf-Lord He gave me a new name. “Wierinsan” He called me, “Son of the
Stag-Lord Ye shall be.” It was in essence, a coming home, a rebirth. A few months later I took for myself the name Draconis or “Of the Dragon” in Latin. It is a symbol of my ability to dwell in the spiritual realm and yet remain grounded in the physical, the “real” world, the here and now. Thus by the Gods I am called Draconis Wierinsan Kinthasil. It is the new name I chose to represent the person I had become. Through the trials of spirit, through the pain I endured came the power of the flame that shaped and tempered the iron of my soul.

As the years have passed, for my newfound faith, for the peace I had found in my soul, I have faced criticism, hostility and, at times, outright ridicule. But, knowing what I knew, that the Gods have seen fit to choose me, mark me for some special purpose I have yet to understand, has kept me strong. It has allowed me to stand firm against the scorn, knowing at last what I was and what I believed.

Those like me, the Witches, Pagans, Heathens and others who worship the Old Gods, when I finally met them, welcomed me as a kindred spirit, a fellow wanderer in the Realms of the Gods. Through my Internet connections I have become what I had once sought, a guide to others on the path. But, though I have done and learned many things, I am still and will always be a student.

Walking the path of the Witch is not about controlling others, or bending another to your will. It is about shaping yourself from your experiences, learning from the foolish, stupid things you have done, of controlling yourself. It is walking the earth in friendship, not in dominance. That by helping others, you are helping yourself.

Though I didn’t plan it when I first began my studies, I am determined to learn and train to serve as a priest. By doing so I hope to help others to discover the peace of spirit and sense of fulfillment I have attained.

My experiences, real, spiritual, mental and physical have shaped the man I have become. They have shaped the core of my ethical code, the one fact I have come to see as divine truth: That harming none does not mean playing the other guy’s doormat. It is about standing up, for yourself, your Gods and your faith.

It means tempering your destructive emotions with passion and love. Giving of yourself completely in faith or in love. It is being honorable and just, but not blind to the evils of the world. Doing good, not for yourself, not for what you can get out of it, but doing good for others.


Footnotes:
Names have been changed

The ‘Power’ Of A Word

The ‘Power’ Of A Word

Author: Lady GoldenRaven

I am so tired of hearing the constant misuse of one particular word: POWER.

We need to lose the egos people. Being a Wytch, Pagan, or Wiccan is not about power. It is about honoring and celebrating the Old Ones and Their Ways. It is about keeping them alive.

Being a Wytch (from this point on WYTCH will refer to Wytch, Pagan and Wiccan only to simplify the writing) is about caring for Mother Earth and her children. These children include ALL life, not just human. Being a Wytch is about honoring the God and Goddess. It is about observing the Sabbats as well as other rituals.

First, we must understand what the word power itself means. According to Merriman Webster Dictionary, the word power means:

Main Entry: 1pow·er
Function: noun
Pronunciation: ‘pau (- and ) r
Usage: often attributive
Etymology: Middle English, from Old French poeir, from poeir to be able, from (assumed) Vulgar Latin potere, alteration of Latin posse — more at POTENT
1 a (1) : ability to act or produce an effect (2) : ability to get extra-base hits (3) : capacity for being acted upon or undergoing an effect b : legal or official authority, capacity, or right
2 a: possession of control, authority, or influence over others b: one having such power; specifically: a sovereign state c: a controlling group

For most people, the word usually refers to the second meaning: possession of control, authority, or influence over others. For those making the transition from other religions to the Old Ways, they misuse this word.

As a Wytch, we DO have power according to the first definition. We can produce effects, but we can also misuse it as in the second definition.

Being a Wytch for over 30 years, I have seen many folks attempt to threaten others with their wytchy “powers”. I have seen wytches brag how “powerful” they are over other wytches.

In those 30 years, all those who claim to have this “power” have all misused it. They use it to control other people.

They use it to get what they want instead of either working for it, or obtaining it from some other means such as bartering for it. Most of what they want is not material items, but just the ability to “show off” to friends, feel threatening to those they wish to bully.

We need to first of all, strip the old familiar mindset of what power truly is. The power as described in the second definition is one that comes from man’s need to control everything. Yes, I mean men as opposed to women.

Don’t get me wrong, many women throughout history have misused this as well, but true misuse did not come along until Christianity and when MEN decided they had more power than women. I am not writing this to bash men–that is not my intent.

When women ruled this planet, there was a lot less war, killing, and rape? Puh–leeease!

But, I digress.

I hear so many young people say that they turned to Wytchcraft for the power. They are NOT in it for the religion. This upsets me terribly. We are trying to get rid of negative connotations to our religion and along come those who think they can have Power like they see on television.

I tell people, if I were a wytch like they portray on television, why would I be working my butt off week after week? I would not be in debt; I would have enough food so I would not go hungry, etc.

If I were a wytch as seen on television, I would be popping over to Paris for lunch with a twytch of my nose. I would be in the Bahamas with a blink of my eye during the cold winter nights.

I would not be driving a car that is old and falling apart. I would drive my Mercedes one day, my Porsche the next. I would have hit the lottery for millions several times over.

You get the picture.

What really almost pushed me to my limits was an event that occurred the other day. Debbie, a friend of mine considered an “adopted” daughter, is under my guidance as she learns our Ways.

She met a 23 yr old girl whom I will call Mary and they were talking about wytchcraft.

Mary said my daughter, ” I am more powerful than you will ever be!”

At age 23!

This girl claims to have more power than those older than her?

The wrath of a pissed off Wytch comes to the surface. Now, all my self-control was sorely needed. Not just because I felt the urge to just slap her silly, but I also had to watch my mouth.

I think the definition of the word ‘Power ‘should be changed to “the ability to maintain control over oneself”.

I am glad I had some time in between hearing the above statements and in my future meeting with Mary. It gave me time to think how I would handle this situation. I am still torn in some ways. The egotistical human side of me wants to just beat her down (verbally), but the Old Crone in me knows there is a better way to handle this situation.

I think we need to redefine the word power. As wytches, we do have the ability to influence not just other people, but events our professions, etc.

Have you ever heard the phrase: He had the Power to Influence others on the jury?” (Ok, the statement is redundant. It is like saying He had the Power to Power others.)

Our biggest “job” as a wytch is to not just worshipping and praying to our respective God/Goddesses, it is not only to heal Mother Earth and Her children.

Our biggest job is not letting egos affect us in any way.

We are HUMAN–we will NEVER be so powerful that we can instantly snap our fingers and have a mansion appear on our path.

Our jobs in healing the earth and in other rituals and/or spell works that we do is, in fact, to act only as a conduit through which the Ancient Ones may affect Their will. They alone know the Big Plan.

Let’s say we were doing a healing ritual for a person who is ill. This person recovers. Did WE do the actual healing? No. We sent our energies, prayers, and thought forms to the Ancient Ones. It was in Their plan that this person recover.

What if this person had crossed over? Some people blame themselves. Again, it is not our choosing nor is it our call on what happens to whom. If this person has crossed, the Ancient Ones had it in Their plans long before any of us were born.

As a Reiki Master/Teacher, I give my body to the God/Goddess to use as a conduit for their energy to heal. One can stand in the room and feel the heat increasing.

I am not supplying the energy that is being used to heal. If this were the case, none of the Healers in this world would be doing anything except sleeping to restock their supply of energy. The amount of energy used is far greater than what I as a human could ever “conjure” up.

Final words: Drop the word POWER from your repertoire. You really are not all that mighty and powerful.

The Return Of The Sun God

The Horned God

In traditional and mainstream Wicca, the Horned God is viewed as the masculine side of divinity, being both equal and opposite to the Goddess. The Wiccan god himself can be represented in many forms, including as the Sun God, the Sacrificed God and the Vegetation God, although the Horned God is the most popular representation, having been worshipped by early Wiccan groups such as the New Forest coven during the 1930s. The pioneers of the various Wiccan or Witchcraft traditions, such as Gerald Gardner, Doreen Valiente and Robert Cochrane, all claimed that their religion was a continuation of the pagan religion of the Witch-Cult following historians who had purported the Witch-Cult’s existence, such as Jules Michelet and Margaret Murray.

For Wiccans, the Horned God is “the personification of the life force energy in animals and the wild” and is associated with the wilderness, virility and the hunt. Doreen Valiente writes that the Horned God also carries the souls of the dead to the underworld.

Wiccans generally, as well as some other neopagans, tend to conceive of the universe as polarized into gender opposites of male and female energies. In traditional Wicca, the Horned God and the Goddess are seen as equal and opposite in gender polarity. However, in some of the newer traditions of Wicca, and especially those influenced by feminist ideology, there is more emphasis on the Goddess, and consequently the symbolism of the Horned God is less developed than that of the Goddess,  In Wicca the cycle of the seasons is celebrated during eight sabbats called The Wheel of the Year. The seasonal cycle is imagined to follow the relationship between the Horned God and the Goddess. The Horned God is born in winter, impregnates the Goddess and then dies during the autumn and winter months and is then reborn by the Goddess at Yule. The different relationships throughout the year are sometimes distinguished by splitting the god into aspects, the Oak King and the Holly King. The relationships between the Goddess and the Horned God are mirrored by Wiccans in seasonal rituals. There is some variation between Wiccan groups as to which sabbat corresponds to which part of the cycle. Some Wiccans regard the Horned God as dying at Lammas, August 1; also known as Lughnasadh, which is the first harvest sabbat. Others may see him dying at Mabon, the autumn equinox, or the second harvest festival. Still other Wiccans conceive of the Horned God dying on October 31, which Wiccans call Samhain, the ritual of which is focused on death. He is then reborn on Winter Solstice, December 21.

Other important dates for the Horned God include Imbolc when, according to Valiente, he leads a wild hunt. In Gardnerian Wicca, the Dryghten prayer is recited at the end of every ritual meeting contains the lines referring to the Horned God:

“

In the name of the Lady of the Moon, and the Horned Lord of Death and Resurrection

 ”

According to Sabina Magliocco, Gerald Gardner says (in 1959’s The Meaning of Witchcraft) that The Horned God is an Under-god, a mediator between an unknowable supreme deity and the people. (In Wiccan liturgy in the Book of Shadows, this conception of an unknowable supreme deity is referred to as “Dryghtyn.” It is not a personal god, but rather an impersonal divinity similar to the Tao of Taoism.)

Whilst the Horned God is the most common depiction of masculine divinity in Wicca, he is not the only representation. Other examples include the Green Man and the Sun God.In traditional Wicca, however, these other representations of the Wiccan god are subsumed or amalgamated into the Horned God, as aspects or expressions of him. Sometimes this is shown by adding horns or antlers to the iconography. The Green Man, for example, may be shown with branches resembling antlers; and the Sun God may be depicted with a crown or halo of solar rays, that may resemble horns. These other conceptions of the Wiccan god should not be regarded as displacing the Horned God, but rather as elaborating on various facets of his nature. Doreen Valiente has called the Horned God “the eldest of gods” in both The Witches Creed and also in her Invocation To The Horned God.

Wiccans believe that The Horned God, as Lord of Death, is their “comforter and consoler” after death and before reincarnation; and that he rules the Underworld or Summerland where the souls of the dead reside as they await rebirth. Some, such as Joanne Pearson, believes that this is based on the Mesopotamian myth of Innana’s descent into the underworld, though this has not been confirmed.

Cobwebs

Cobwebs

Author: Brewan Blacksmith

A little while back, while driving around with, a friend I asked a simple question. “Is an artist still an artist if she loses her hands?” After a brief moment of pause she replied, “Yes.” I knew this was to be her answer and it was the same for me when the question first arose in my mind a while ago. It was easy for the both of us to answer being we are both artists. We understand that the underlying beauty in an artist is what resides in her mind and heart. At the same time, we both thought of the hardships that would come should an artist lose their outlet of expression. Painters paint and sculptures sculpt, but what if they no longer did? They would still see and think as they once had, but without physically doing what calls to them, what kind of an artist would they actually be?

For me, the thought later crossed over into another subject matter. “Is a Pagan still a Pagan if he no longer practices?” I asked myself. It was uncomfortable to think about as it pertained specifically to how my life hit me. For ten years I have been a Pagan, but since the recent recession a few years ago, day-to-day living removed the comforts of past practices. I wasn’t celebrating lunar rites, esbats, or sabbats like I used to. What once were coven celebrations amongst friends were now a lit candle and a prayer of thanks at best.

No more smudging, no more spell casting, no more divining and no more creating sacred circles for me. Good jobs became very sparse, living conditions changed, and disposable income disappeared. The time I once had for sharing with my coveners was removed, and all I was able to do was keep in connection with my gods through short prayers and silent conversations. The old ways of practicing the Old Ways were gone. The same held true for my coven friends.

While in this state of staleness I pondered briefly a few scenarios in which I wouldn’t be affected as much by these sudden changes in the way I lived my new life. Perhaps if I were a materialist I could cope by buying new things. Or maybe if I were of a more mainstream religious belief it would be easier as society makes time for it. If I were working a job that actually paid well, that would solve most of my problems. But, I’m no materialist, I’m devout Pagan until the end, and my job was a dead end. I always kept in mind that many people have it worse. I always kept in mind the beauty of my family and the smiles that they bring. But still, there was a void inside me. A great part of me remained dormant without my coven and all the great things we did. Within me there was a shadow, a lack of motion, a death.

Death, however, is often a misunderstood thing. People fear death because it is a physical end to what they know to be true. Death is a removal of what we see and that with which we are familiar. It is change, and it is inevitable and because of these it is something feared. Yet if you truly think upon death, which can be perceived as a lack of growth or motion, you will find that even in this state of stillness there is a spiraling of energy. Like the winter months when the trees shed their leaves and cold blankets the soil, beneath the snow there is life. In shadow there is gestation, evolution, transformation, and change. All of the energy witnessed during the warmer parts of the year trickle down the roots of the trees and plants and gather in the dark earth below.

The caverns of the Underworlds are filled with this energy. The realms of shadows and death are filled to the brim this time of year with the same energy the spurs us along when the sun is bright in the warm sky. So in death there is life, and also change.

When a mythic hero would die and enter into the Underworld, a place where one would never return, he in fact would eventually return. How is this so? The hero would escape death by embracing change. Through transformation he evades the clutches of death, but upon his return he is no longer the same person. He returns to the realm of the living, but at the same time he does not. Had he accepted his new place in dreary shadows in a void of timelessness? Only then would he truly have died.

It was this lesson that I learned during my college years that helped me get through a couple somber periods of my life, including this recent recession. At some point my inner, Sagittarian optimist took hold of it and I was altered by these life changes. Whether it’s making lemonade out of lemons, or always doing the best you can with what you have, death is not an enemy but a teacher about living. It is about transforming who you are to move unhindered with the ebb and flow of each incarnation.

We are given but a few decades with which to learn as much as we possibly can before we must start over again. Yet even within the span of a single life we can experience minor “deaths” which we can either submit to and become lethargic, or emerge from and become something more than we originally were. Within in each life we can mimic the life-death-rebirth cycle much like one year of Sabbats symbolizes the life’s journey of the Goddess and God. These murky times that shall strike our stable existences over and over are cosmic challenges, or tests, that help forge who we become. They bring sadness, depression, struggle, fear, and often hopelessness. But through them we become great, and that is one of the tasks this Earth is designed to do for us. So long as you do not succumb to stagnation and ignorance, even the darkest moments can strengthen you on your journey through each life.

It is through this wisdom that I tread forward. I feel no guilt any longer when I brush the dust off my old texts on Paganism. The cobwebs that have gathered on my robes and oils and tarot cards are wiped away free of sadness. I have missed my old tools that have gone years without use. But here they are now awaiting me once again. Little by little I get back into the habit of practicing as I once did. Yet every act now is different, improved, changed from my changed perspective.

I spent the last few years with my hands cut off. No Arte did I make. Yet within my inactivity my mind still churned, and many lessons were learned. And in many cases, epiphanies pertaining to Paganism came to me only through temporarily leaving behind my familiar Pagan rituals. Various mysteries are solved beyond texts and temples. Many require you to step outside your comfort zone and take with you only what you once knew.

It may seem through this that sometimes the Path of the Wise trails beyond our sights or that we lose our footing. But often it remains right under our feet as we walk upon it the entire time despite feeling otherwise. Rites and spells may be what a Pagan does, but in the mind and heart is where a Pagan resides. In my humble opinion I believe this as true, and with this I eternally move forward through every obstacle without regretting facets of the past. So long as I change for the better from every dark struggle, I can never consider those moments a waste of time. Learning keeps you moving forward no matter which direction life takes you.

My hope is that these words can bring a little comfort and understanding to those who have gone through recent hardship.

Pagan Wheel of the Year

Pagan Wheel of the Year

by Perseus

 

Yule (Winter Solstice) 21 December: Longest night of the year, various methods of celebrating, most involve some form of lights (sometimes affixed to an obvious phallic symbol like, oh, a fir tree) which are employed in an act of sympathetic magick to encourage/welcome the return/rebirth of the sun/son. A major female deity gives birth to (insert name of preferred solar deity here). There is much rejoicing and praise unto Him while Her husband, the God of the Old Year who, dressed in a tacky red suit trimmed with rabbit fur, watches and packs Her an overnight bag in anticipation of Her departure. Celebrants light candles (indoors), ignite bonfires (outdoors mostly), drink to excess, sing carols, remove clothes, sing dirty carols, engage in group unprotected sex, drink some more, vomit copiously, have more unprotected sex, exchange gifts, have one more drink/boink for the road and return home.

Imbolc (Groundhog Day/Candlemas) 2 February: More lights, however by this time we’re pretty sure the days are getting longer so we can throttle back on the pleas for Apollo/Ra/Lugh/Baldur to return. The aforementioned mother of the newborn solar deity returns to this plane of existence from the underworld, bearing the sun/son with Her. Not as big a bonfire this time, but still excessive drinking, plenty of bare-butt-on-the-ground sex to warm the earth for seedlings, lots more drinking to excess followed by the projectile vomiting “Write your craft name in the snow” competition, more sex to make sure the ground is good and ready, a few more drinks, back home.

Lupercalia (Valentine’s Day) 15 February: (The 14th for Saint Valentine being a pre-emptive usurpation of the Roman Ides of February pre-spring fertility celebration. Not an actual sabbat but still a sentimental favourite.) The wolves come down from the hills around Rome looking for a little nosh. This is related to the weather prognosticating involved in the observance of hibernating animals like the groundhog emerging around Imbolc. Bears were ruled out as an appropriate animal for observance by trial and error and attrition of the bear watching advocates. Note that this is about two weeks after the Imbolc solar cross-quarter; if the groundhog didn’t see its shadow (and remained out) Winter ends here; if it did see its shadow (and returned to its lair to resume its nap) Winter ends about six weeks later at Ostaera, the next sabbat. Anyway, pretty much the same activities as Imbolc but candles/bonfires are optional (unless you insist on watching for a bear, in which case a bonfire is stronglyadvised).

Ostaera (Spring Equinox) 21 March: Probably named after a Germanic Goddess, Eostur, whose name translates literally as “Easy lay, easy May,” a reference to and reminder of the importance of the next Sabbath, which is actually concerned with sex, unlike the previous two in which sex is a (welcome) bonus and potential life saver in the colder climates. The baby born at Yule here ages to childhood and the major female deity absorbs His youthful energy to grow younger, back to childhood; they then play “Asclepius.” Once again celebrants drink to excess, paint a few eggs (rebirth representation) with increasingly blatant yonic/phallic symbols, followed by more drinking, then paint a few hares/rabbits (fertility totem), boil the eggs and probably the rabbits too, what the hell, chow down on the eggs and rabbits since nobody remembered to pack a lunch, still more drinking followed by rabbit-fur-lined vomiting, group unprotected sex, lick rabbit grease out of the pot, more sex (any remaining rabbit grease at this point is given priority consideration as a sexual lubricant), a couple of more drinks, dress up in rabbit skins and back home.

Beltane (Walpurgisnacht/May Day) 30 April-1 May: “Hooray, hooray, the first of May, outdoor (sexual act euphemism) begins today!” The Goddess and God who are at this point both of adolescent age actually get it on, after which they become betrothed. Celebrants erect large Maypole (get it?), half the dancers going deosil and half widdershins interweaving their hand-held ribbons until they clothe the pole in colourful array and the Maywreath, previously laid at the top, rides the ribbons down to the very base of the pole — as close as Pagans ever get to “safe sex.” After which everybody attends the bonfires, usually two bonfires so you can pass through your livestock to be blessed by Prometheus/Ba’al/Wotan/Elvis but the really adventurous just build one big fire, or let the two smaller ones get out of hand until they become one big fire. Attendees then jump the fire (bare naked, as if I needed to mention), and preceded by the at this point mandatory excess drinking, there follows a MAJOR ORGY of the Mongolian Cluster-Fuck variety, wherein the bodies of the participants are so thoroughly entangled and interlocked that you can’t tell who’s doing what to whom and you couldn’t care less and the vomiting is actually partof the gestalt and provides much needed lubrication.

Litha (Summer Solstice/Midsummer’s Night) 21 June: Longest day of the year. The young Sun God at His zenith, “Gather ye rosebuds while ye may.” This is the marriage of the Goddess and Her incestuous consort who are both fully adult at this point and it turns out She’s knocked-up anyway so He has to. This being a Pagan wedding celebration…well, you can just imaginethe debauchery. Here is the origin of the “Honeymoon,” where bride and groom stay plastered for a month (moon) on mead, a honey based wine.

About this time the God of the Old Year has grown bored with the rather limited interpersonal interaction with ghosts in the underworld and bit parts in Ingmar Bergman films and so travels as a spirit to the womb of the pregnant major female deity and inhabits the unborn child, to be near His rejuvenated love.

Lammas (Somebody’s day somewhere) 2 August: Sad day for the young God; having passed His prime last sabbat at this first harvest of the grain festival the Goddess decides He is more useful as compost and fructifies the ground with His blood to ensure future abundant harvests. Several methods may be employed by Her, perhaps no Pagan version being quite as picturesque as being nailed to an uneven armed solar cross with blood running down the upright beam to the ground, but She gets the job done none the less. On this solemn occasion celebrants are expected to drink until they fall down in imitative honour of the dying God. Sex is for those still conscious or who at least had the foresight to pin “Do me anyway” notes to their beer and vomit drenched clothes.

Mabon (Autumn Equinox) 21 September: Preggers and alone, sure, now she misses Her slain lover/son and decides She cannot abide this world without Him. He, meanwhile, has found the abandoned throne in the Land of the Dead and is having a high old time trying on the crown which looks suspiciously like a pair of antlers and is getting horny…the God that is. Depending on whose press release you read the Goddess is abducted by the just-back-for-a-quick-one God or She jumps onto His chariot and won’t get off until He takes Her all the way down (get that one?). This harvest festival centers around grapes, so celebrants consume barrels of wine and each then take turns climbing intoa barrel to play the traditional “Guess which orifice I’ve placed at the bunghole?” game. This Sabbat’s accompanying lunar cycle is sometimes referred to as the “Keith Moon.”

Samhain (All Hallows Eve) 31 October: The by this time big-as-a-house Goddess is crowned Queen of the Underworld. She and Her reunited and now mature King shoo all the souls out of their realm so they can have a little quality time together, which is why it gets so crowded up here around then. Ghosts, Goblins and Ghoolies come topside for a little R&R or just to wish that special someone good-bye, in their own inimitable fashion. Celebrants offer food and drink to the dead and attempt sex with any who posses sufficient ectoplasm to generate friction. A lovely time for all.

Yule (Again, to complete the circle): The once young and vital Sun God becomes the God of the Old Year in His turn, and takes up sewing to pass the time. Since red is one of the few colours visible to the dead He makes Himself a red suit to keep them from bumping into Him during the long dark nights and trims it with some leftover rabbit fur. Waste not want not. He knows what’s coming and packs a bag for His wife and new son to take on their journey back to the land of the living.

The Witches Credo

The Witches Credo

Hear now the word of the Witch,the secrets once hid in the night,When darkness was for protection,We now bring forth in the light.Mysteries of the Water and Fire,The Earth and the wide-ranging Air,By hidden Quintessence we know them,and we bring honor in silence and fair.The birth and rebirth of all Nature,the passing of Winter and Spring,We share with the life Universal,rejoicing in the never-ending RingFour times in the year we give homage,come forth the Witches are seen,At Lammas and Candelas we’re dancing,so too on May Eve and old HalloweenWhen daytime and nighttime are equal,when sun is at it’s greatest and least,The four lesser Sabbats are summoned,again the Witches gather in feast.Thirteen silver moons in a year,thirteen to be the magikal array,Thirteen times at Esbat we make merry,for the work of the night and the day.

The knowledge has passed down the ages,each time between woman and manEach century unto the other,old times since the ages began.When drawn in the Magikal circle,by sword or athame of light,It’s compass between two worlds opens,in honor and love for this night.Our world has no right to know it,and the world beyond will tell naught,The oldest of Gods are invoked there,the great work of light’s Magik is wrought.For two are the mystical pillars,that stand at the gate of the shrine,And two are the powers of Nature,the forms and the forces divine.Do what thou wilt be the challenge,so be it in love that harms none,For this is the only commandment,By wisdom of faith so let it be done.

Becoming a Witch

Becoming a Witch


These steps will take at least two years if you do them correctly.

STEP ONE – discovering your path
Read and study. Read everything you can get your hands on. You need to read anything that will tell you more about the beliefs of witchcraft, magazines, books and web pages. While studying there are other forms of the craft that help. (nature) For example you could go hiking or go camping. Sunbathe, moonbathe, watch animals etc. This step should take you at least 2 months.

STEP TWO – defining your path
In a notebook, folder or journal start writing down some reasons why the craft is for you. What does being a witch mean to you? What do you hope to achieve? How do you visualize the God and Goddess? What does the Divine mean to you? Be honest. This notebook will become your book of shadows.

STEP THREE – Exploring magic
Magic is simply raising and channeling energy that is found in yourself, nature and the divine. Before you begin working with magic you need to understand what it is. You also need to know the basic structure of a ritual, casting circles, calling quarters, invoking the God/dess, raising and directing energy, grounding and centering and closing the circle. Know the moon phases. Learn to feel how the moon effects your body. Keep records of all you have learned in your book of shadows. This step will probably take you about another couple of months.

STEP FOUR – learning to focus
Now you should start working on meditation and visualization exercises to increase your concentration. Learn to be calm. You can start out by meditating at least 3 times a week for about five minutes. You should do this for at least a month. Remember to keep a record in your book of shadows.

STEP FIVE – working with magic
Now you can begin some basic spell work. Start with a full moon ritual or a new moon ritual. Every witch should write her own spells.

STEP SIX – self dedication
After you have been studying for at least five or six months on meditating and working with magic it is time to perform a self dedication ritual. Design it however you want. A self dedication ritual means you are dedicating yourself to the craft.

STEP SEVEN – the year between dedication and initiation
You can initiate yourself when you feel you are ready. The year you spend between your self dedication and your initiation you should spend celebrating the Sabbats, meditation, practicing your spellwork and studying. Use this time to learn about different forms of divination, such as Tarot or Runes, and different forms of healing, such as herbalism. Make sure you are recording in your book of shadows.

STEP EIGHT – Networking
You should spend a solitary year study after self dedication before a witch considers joining a coven or a circle. This gives you a full year to celebrate the cycle of Sabbats.

STEP NINE – Initiation
An initiation should be something that’s meaningful to you. The ritual should be written only by you. A coven initiation is a means of bonding a group together. Initiation into the craft should always be a solitary ritual.

You still have to learn and practice. If you truly want to be a witch be prepared to spend the rest of your life studying and learning about this religion.