Tag: Wicca

Samhain Spell – Spell for Astral Travel

SPELL FOR ASTRAL TRAVEL

(an out of body or lucid dreaming experience.)
“Syn, good Goddess of Locks and Doors, Open the Gates I now Implore.
Allow me to pass through the Astral veil; with speed, Grant fair winds to me sail.And when I’ve gained what I can learn, Roman Grant a hasty return”

Say this before Astral projection! I personally enjoy this one it really helps when I am trying to have an out of body experience. Most of the people would agree with me to use a meditation before some invocations to the
Gods and Goddesses. I would personally recommend it very much, because meditation allows you to float in the magical world, where you can make spells, pray, as well as meeting new friends from the other world. When preparing yourself for the magical working, let the feeling of love and peace flood your mind and your heart. That way you will never, ever hurt anyone
within the magical workings. (This is my personal advice. You do not have to take it but karma and the rule of three are real and you do tend to get back what you send out.)
When? waxing moon for spells of invitation or increase -Examples: spells to find love or get a job waning moon for spells of banishing or decrease -Examples: spells to end loneliness or financial problems full moon for: -maximum power -coven work

What for? The spells are often made according to zodiac circle. Every sign has its traditional needs, like:
Aries battle, beginnings
Taurus money spells, sex magic
Gemini communication
Cancer psychic work, lunar magic
Leo leadership, solar power
Virgo purification
Libra balance, work in law or for justice
Scorpio power
Sagittarius honesty, expansion
Capricorn overcoming obstacles
Aquarius healing
Pisces psychic work, endings

But, often spells are not made for traditional purposes, but for custom or adapted by you to suit a purpose or intent you fashion or look them up for in your personal Book of Shadows.
Who? This is very large question. It depends of what You believe in (I believe in Goddess,but for spells I use Gods also). You can use Gods, Goddess, Spirits, Heroes, etc. Try a good Wicca or Witchcraft Web page for a list of Gods and Goddesses and Invocations and Chants for Invoking them.
Isis: Protection, magic
Thoth: Protector of scribes and magic
Aphrodite: Love and passion
Invocation
Invocation can be as simple as they can get, like this:
O,____________
O, Isis
Just a little more complex:
Mighty ________, invoked by me
Mighty Thoth, invoked by Me
or very complex:
Seven stars of brightest skies invoke You, _______ to seek and find to love
in might, to give, to take and nothing to break.
Seven stars of brightest skies invoke You, Ra to seek and find to love in
might, to give, to take and nothing to break.
Make Your own and make it right, with the power of the Light.
Or if you can take the Karma try the darker or Black magic spells.
Find your own way to the Goddess’s or God’s word. You can listen and hear everything that happens within your world and make your own choice.
We are all born with the Divine gift of Freewill.

Samhain God – The Horned God

The Horned God is one of the two primary deities found in pagan religions. He is often given various names and epithets, and represents the male part of the religion’s duotheistic theological system, the other part being the female Triple Goddess. In common Wiccan belief, he is associated with nature, wilderness, sexuality, hunting and the life cycle. Whilst depictions of the deity vary, he is always shown with either horns or antlers upon his head, often depicted as being theriocephalic, in this way emphasizing “the union of the divine and the animal”, the latter of which includes humanity.

The term Horned God itself predates Wicca, and is an early 20th century syncretic term for a horned or antlered anthropomorphic god with pseudohistorical origins who, according to Margaret Murray’s 1921 The Witch-Cult in Western Europe, was the deity worshipped by a pan-European witchcraft-based cult, and was demonized into the form of the Devil by the Mediaeval Church.

The Horned God has been explored within several psychological theories, and it has also become a recurrent theme in fantasy literature since the 20th Century

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 different 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 decent into hell, though this has not been confirmed.

“Samhain Dream”

“Samhain Dream”
by Myria/Brighid October 1999

It is Samhain …The Night of Shadows. The Circle is cast around the fire, And through the darkness, we glance, For the veils are thin, in this sacred night! Ancient voices around us, Whispering old and forgotten songs, While we dance the Spiral Dance, To meet Her. And there She comes, The Lady of the Gate! Power and compassion evolving us, As a dark but comforting wave. Beautiful Queen of the Dark Night! With Her mantle of raven’s feathers, And eyes deep with wisdom. Cerridwenn! She opens Her arms, in a welcoming embrace, We feel around us the flow of love, Of Her Eternal Grace. And then we hear Her voice, Melodious and grave, That speaks from inside our soul, As an echo in a cave. Blessed Daughters of My Heart, I hear your prayers from afar. And that is why I came tonight! Do not despair when the times are hard! Do not abandon the Path you found! For time has come for My return, And you, Loved Ones, shall open the way, Singing my name as the ancient bards. I am always with you, do never doubt that! I am the Old and the Young One! I am the Keeper of the Gate! I am the Master of Time! I am the Dark Goddess of Death! I am the Bright Goddess of Dawn! I am The One! I am Cerridwenn!

About Samhain: A Guide to the Sabbat’s Symbolism

About Samhain: A Guide to the Sabbat’s Symbolism

by Arwynn MacFeylynnd

 

Date: October 31.

Alternative names: All Hallow’s Eve, Halloween, the Witches’ New Year, Third Festival of Harvest.

Primary meaning: Samhain, pronounced “sow-en” — not “sam hain” — marks the beginning of the cold months or winter; it is the Day Between the Years. Primary elements to contemplate are endings and beginnings, change, reflection and reincarnation. Celebrations honor the dead, ancestors, the wisdom of the Crone and the death of the God.

Symbols: Cauldrons, jack o’ lanterns, masks, balefires, besoms (brooms), bats, owls, ravens and the ever-present witch and black cat.

Colors: Orange, black, brown, golden yellow and red.

Gemstones: Carnelian, jet, obsidian and onyx.

Herbs: Aborvitae (yellow cedar), acorn, allspice, apple, autumn flowers, catnip, corn, chrysanthemums, dittany of Crete, fall leaves (especially oak), ferns, flax, fumitory, gourds, grains, hazel, heather, mandrake, mugwort, mullein, nightshade, pear, pumpkin, sage, straw, thistle, turnip, wormwood.

Gods and goddesses: Crone goddesses, the Father or dying gods, gods of the underworld or death including Arawn, Cerridwen, Cernunnos, the Dagdha, Dis Pater, Hades, Hecate, Hel, Inanna, Ishtar, Kali, Lilith, Macha, Mari, the Morrigan, Osiris, Pomona, Psyche, Rhiannon, Samana, Sekhmet, Teutates and Taranis.

Customs and myths: In England, it formerly was the custom to go “a-souling” on this night, asking for little “soul cakes” and offering prayers for the dead in return.

In the British Isles, lanterns carved out of turnips (in the New World pumpkins) were at one time used to provide light on a night when bale fires were lit, and all households let their fires go out so they could be rekindled from the new fire.

Another custom was the Dumb Supper, in which an extra plate was laid for the dead and the meal was eaten in silence. Bobbing for apples, roasting nuts in the fire and baking cakes that contained tokens of luck are ancient methods of telling the future now. Ducking for apples was a divination for marriage. The first person to bite an apple would be the first to marry in the coming year. Apple peeling was a divination to see how long your life would be. The longer the unbroken apple peel, the longer your life was destined to be.

In Scotland, people would place stones in the ashes of the hearth before retiring for the night. Anyone whose stone had been disturbed during the night was said to be destined to die during the coming year.

Now I Am Going To Do Things Just A Little Different….

Samhain Comments & Graphics

~Magickal Graphics~ 

 

I thought today I might change things up just a tad. I get tired of the same old same old, don’t you? Anyway today, I am going to give you a closer looker at some of the Goddesses, Gods, incense, recipes, crystals and etc., associated with Samhain. I know Samhain is still a couple of weeks off, but I hate to wait to the last-minute to do anything. Besides Samhain is our highest holy day, why not get familiar with the things associated with it?  I hope you enjoy!

The Survival of Ancient Ways in Today’s World

The Survival of Ancient Ways in Today’s World

Author: wolf witch

Witchcraft, Wicca, and Pagan belief systems in general are more popular now than since the advent of Christianity in the West. As society gradually moves away from the group and toward individuality with respect to spiritual development, people seek alternatives to “organized” religion in order to more thoroughly immerse themselves in that sense of inner spirituality that, in the East, comes from meditation and a closely controlled lifestyle and in the West has its roots in the ancient Western Mystery Tradition in part or in whole surrounding the teaching founded upon Hermetic philosophy.

Wicca is, depending on which “expert’ you read, either very ancient or extremely new and linked to Neo-Paganism. Still, its practices demand individual dedication and action, and, even in its most basic form, stirs the inner workings further toward the sort of self-realization equated with spiritual enlightenment. Whether this enlightenment is as thorough as that of the Buddhists or is that a devoted Christian attains through constant prayer is unimportant. What is truly a key factor here is that Wicca, in whatever form, requires the individual to ultimately take responsibility for his own spiritual development, as must the Buddhist or the Christian or any other person of faith.

The claim for the Craft being a part of the spiritual movement of modern times collapses in the face of archeological and anthropological evidence to the contrary. The Internet and the ready availability of books from a wide range of authors resulted in an incredible number of “traditions” birthing literally overnight, each of which possesses their adherents and, in the case of many founding members, zealots, a rather surprising response from a religion that is by no means evangelical. The point of this text is not to criticize new or old traditions. Each finds its place in spiritual development. Those with more parochial views may learn something here but will find no further argument with any modern path.

If no other law holds true in the Craft, “Each to his own” certainly applies.

In order to understand Western occult philosophy, one must grasp the words of the Emerald Tablet, the essence of which is the statement, “As above, so below, ” and its reverse. There is no dictum of control implied here, so the phrase does not lose, as suggested by some authors, its validity in reverse. It merely explains that the nature of things is best discovered in any one thing within the set; that is, if something exists in this universe, then its structure and function resulting from that physical existence resembles in kind all other things in this universe.

The axiom applies equally to Man and Spirit. The whole reason for its existence is to tell man that the universe he sees and the Universe his spirit knows is hardly imaginary but very, very real. The stone is the Almighty’s message to Man that what he cannot see has no reality whosoever in relation to the greater Universe of gods, angels, demons, and the like. Man is part of that magnificent continuum.

Thus is the Creator known to Man.

There are as many paths to spiritual awakening as there are people on the planet. Some folks are so convinced their method is right that they insist on bringing it to others which in some cases is a truly positive gesture. However, when that new system comes into place through the annihilation of what went before, then the result proves destructive and dangerous.

In the time of Charlemagne, Paganism died in Europe at the hands of Christians bent on destroying every other belief system but their own. St. Patrick did not drive the snakes out of Ireland (there were none to begin with) , but he did burn every piece of literature concerning the religious history of the Celts, a close equivalent to the burning of the great library at Alexandria by the Romans who simply knew no better. Patrick knew exactly what he was doing, and the Church made a practice of eliminating all but their own warped view of religion as a source of power and authority.

The Craft has few written records that cover events from the Dark Ages. All such literature became personal as each witch kept a Book of Shadows though few would have called it that. The books held recipes and formulae for everything from herbal remedies to dynamic rituals, most of which these days are drawn from a single surviving grimier, the Key of Solomon. From this text, Gardner drew the rituals in his book.

Fortunately, the worst persecution could not eliminate folkways, and many made their way to the present, especially those regarding healing. This knowledge forged an excellent foundation for modern witches to expand their knowledge of the human psyche in order to better help those in need.

All of the present day’s rites and rituals owe much to Hermes and his simple statement. Understanding the universe makes clear the path delineated by the Craft, so the study of how the universe works is definitely worth the effort. In the end, the universe unfolds itself to each in its own way.

Here is one of the great gifts of the Goddess, as claimed in Celtic tradition: the Stone, a foundation upon which all else stands.

The occult deals with those entities and forces that, in general, lie outside the bounds of what most would define as normal existence. Where the world around us takes its description from physics, the occultist studies metaphysics. Where the scientist relies on proof as determined by experimental data, the occultist speculates using intuition as an equally valid point that influences understanding the true reality of any situation. While science plods on toward a complete understanding of the universe in detail, the occultist works more as a generalist using Hermes’ statement as a guide: “As above, so below”.

Today’s trend, thanks to the rapid spread of information and its verification relying very much on popularity rather than true alacrity, creates almost as many Craft belief systems as there are individuals capable of committing those beliefs onto a web page. More than a few seek a sense of authority within the old religion earned only in their own right. Many forget the trials that shaped Wicca over the years and the powerful forces and strong enemies that sought to wipe the Craft from the planet, burning, killing, and torturing every follower and many more who were rumored to be followers of the ancient ways.

There is a common feeling among these folk and a host of other witches that the burning times are over; that the public broadcast of one’s own faith can safely travel the Internet airways without fear of any repercussion.

One careful perusal of the news will prove this merry affection dangerously incorrect. With the smallest change in today’s status quo, the burning time could come back in force. Fundamentalism favors intolerance. There is absolutely nothing wrong with stating one’s beliefs in any public forum, but the defense of those beliefs to the blood must be the heart of that statement.

Stuck On Stupid?: A Seeker’s Perspective

Stuck On Stupid?: A Seeker’s Perspective

Author: R. T. Hummingbird

Anyone who has done Customer Service work in just about any capacity has encountered a scenario similar to this one at least once, if not many times: A customer or client is not able to access their account, or use whatever service is provided by your company, and they call Customer Service for assistance.

Let’s say for example that this particular problem the customer is experiencing is usually resolved by a Customer Service specialist resetting or unlocking their account. But, in this particular instance, the customer needs to submit an access request form to get the account restored from a disabled state. From the point of view of the Customer Service specialist, this is a very simple process that provides a very quick resolution to the issue.

However, from the customer’s perspective, this may be an alien and frightening territory you’re asking them to enter… and, for whatever the reason may be, they feel apprehensive about performing whatever steps are required to resolve their issue. They would much rather have the Customer Service person “work their magic” and make their problem (s) go away for them… a testament to our society’s addiction to instant gratification, but that’s a whole other essay.

For my full-time job, I work at a somewhat huge Information Technology firm that provides computer services to many big-named companies here in the United States and worldwide. My job function at this firm is to provide end-user support to our client company’s employees. This particular client I support is another huge corporation whose primary business is quite different from Information Technology.

Our client’s employees are very skilled in their own crafts, and see the computer sitting on the foreman’s desk, or in the manager’s office, as a mere tool that is only used for one or more specific purpose, and nothing more. Whereas, for someone who works in Information Technology, a computer is much more than a mere tool. The Information Technology person tends to have a much deeper understanding of these machines and how they work… and (most of the time) knows how to fix them when they break.

To illustrate the contrast, if you were to place me in an aircraft mechanical shop and told me to diagnose and fix an issue with a broke-down airplane, I wouldn’t have a clue what I was doing. Whereas, if you were to take an airline mechanic, place him in front of a crashed computer and ask him to diagnose and fix it, he wouldn’t know what to do either. In fact, he may grab a sledgehammer or whatever heavy tool he had handy and smash it to pieces in frustration.

He may or may not be willing (or have the patience) to perform whatever steps may be necessary to correct the issue with the machine simply because he is not familiar with it… or perhaps he doesn’t understand how it works well enough. Or, maybe this person is a “techno-phobe” – one who tends to steer away from new technology, and favors the “old-fashioned” ways of doing things.

Whatever the reason may be, a specialist or expert would perceive this individual as someone who doesn’t seem to possess enough intelligence to tie their own shoes, let alone use whatever product or service the specialist supports… when in fact they may be quite intelligent in their own right, and are likely more knowledgeable in other subject matters than the specialist. This could apply to many things aside from Customer Service. I’m sure this perspective applies to just about every occupation there is.

As for me, I’ve worked in Customer Service for about a decade for various companies and in various capacities, and at just about every job I’ve held, I’ve experienced the scenario I described above many, many times. Currently at my job, I am training to take on a new position with new responsibilities. My trainer (to whom I owe a tremendous amount of credit and respect) is the most-skilled Customer Service specialist I have ever met. She has a very broad understanding of how most people think, and knows how to appease a customer while resolving their issue at the same time. This is a skill that I’m working on perfecting myself, but I doubt I’ll ever be at the same level as she.

While I’m pretty sure she is a church-going Christian, one can definitely sense the Goddess within her. She is aglow with Her Love, and is also extremely patient. She could be considered the exact opposite of the “Teacher” described in Arianna Reibia’s essay “The Best Teacher?” ( http://www.witchvox.com/va/dt_va.html?a=uswv and c=words and id=12019) .

Yesterday during class, our Trainer was describing a scenario where a client customer had called our Help Desk 16 times within the last 3 days about an issue with an account on our system. Each time, the customer was directed to the correct procedure she needed to perform to restore her access. Apparently this particular procedure was well outside her comfort zone, as she didn’t seem willing to do it herself.

The Trainer described this person as being “stuck on stupid”, implying that she was being too stubborn about remaining inside her comfort zone, and insisting that the Help Desk would solve her issue if she asked enough times.

When this customer received the good fortune to speak with our Trainer about the issue, our Trainer used her mastery of Customer Service to appease the customer, and figuratively “take her by the hand”, lead her to where she needed to go, and walked her through the process. Later that day her issue was resolved.

As a new seeker of Wicca, I see a lesson from The Goddess in this. While something may be second nature to you, it may be uncharted territory to someone else. This doesn’t make the other person any less intelligent (or perhaps it does, depending on the person and the situation) .

When such a person approaches you for help with something that may seem amazingly simple to you, this doesn’t mean they lack intelligence. Instead, they may be in search of a caring, patient individual who will take them by the hand, relieve their fears with a caring disposition, and show them how it’s done. I believe this to be one of the qualities embodied by the Goddess, and as I continue to learn and pursue my Wiccan faith, I will bring honor to the Goddess by offering a caring hand to those who seek my help… within my job and in the world.

And so concludes my first essay submission to The Witches Voice. Thanks for reading!

Footnotes:
“The Best Teacher?” essay by Arianna Reibia ( http://www.witchvox.com/va/dt_va.html?a=uswv and c=words and id=12019)

Realistic Magical Advice for the “Good” Witch

Realistic Magical Advice for the “Good” Witch

Author: The Wyld Dream

 

As a spell slinger I am often referred to those in “dire need.” Sometimes the problem is rather simple. I have been sent after lost keys, a missing cat, and have had many requests for the usual prosperity spells. Occasionally the difficulty is more occult in nature and there is a problem spirit, a nasty Witch, or even a demonic possession.

Often the person in need is not a Witch and has little or no familiarity with real Magic. They have heard from others that I am “the real deal” and that I can help them. They are willing to suspend their disbelief and trust their contact’s assertion that I can and will magically solve the problem for free. Such is the way of the “good Witch.” A real Magic user often puts themselves out there as a white hat, a do-gooder, a veritable magnet for trouble and we traditionally do it for free.

There is a little saying, “You get what you pay for.” In the case of magical advice this well-known axiom tends to work in the reverse. Very few truly good and helpful Witches make significant amounts of money from practicing their craft. Most won’t take a dime. All that these generous folk ask for is the acknowledgement that they are “real” Magic users, and that you fully accept that when all is said and done that you have been helped by their use of Magic.

I firmly believe that the craft of will working reality is a skill. Yes some people have natural talent, but in the end most people can learn how to consciously change reality and “make things happen.” I believe that everyone, even the most dense and ardent disbeliever already uses Magic daily. The difference between Witches, sorcerers, Wicca, and other will workers is that we do it with purpose.

Using Magic is like dreaming. All people must sleep and all must dream but some people are able to lucid dream. They can control their dream reality. Some have a natural ability to lucid dream, others have taught themselves this skill, several people can lucid dream only rarely, and a few people simply cannot seem to ever remember their dreams at all. Those who can lucid dream have different levels of skill, a number of them can change themselves, some can change their environment, and others can force various people or elements into a dream.

In our waking world there are people that are natural magi. They don’t think much about how they do Magic and find that almost any technique of ritual, focus, or magical practice will work for them. Then there are people who have to try a little bit harder. They have to seek out the magical practice that works best for them. This is an ongoing process of trial and error that can at times be exhausting.

Then there are the difficult ones, the ones that really want to believe, but simply cannot “see” Magic. Where others see providence, they can only see coincidence. And then there are the unfortunate ones. They are completely blind to all Magic and insist that those those of us who do see Magic are mistaken.

Real Magic is a balance between the two opposites of providence and coincidence. For one who is aware of the underlying structure of reality there is no such thing as coincidence, and therefore conversely there is also no true providence. Somewhere between destiny and random happenstance lies the will worker’s mutable continuum of existence. They see that there is a multiplicity of Truths to this existence, and often Witches who are actually capable of effecting change can choose the Truth or the reality that they want to accept at any given moment.

This leads us back to the simple problem of a set of missing keys. When dealing with this predicament there are certain Truths that must be established: Have the keys been stolen, or are the keys “lost?” When and where the keys last seen? Where would the keys normally be? How many other people could have affected the location of the keys?

However before I lift so much as an eyebrow in an effort to find the keys using Magic I must first establish that the client has tried every mundane way possible to find the keys. Why? Because Magic isn’t a toy. Magic is not the easy button you slam whenever you are finding that things in life are inconvenient. If they were my keys, and I was practicing my skill with Magic I would attempt to use my ability of just “knowing” to find the keys. This practice would be for my own edification, and would teach me a valuable lesson on accepting my “knowing” but when working for someone else I need to consider the fact that I may be removing an opportunity for them to learn.

There are many lessons in a lost set of keys. Just telling someone where their keys are teaches them nothing. There are lessons about responsibility, about caution, about being organized, and in the case of an unrecoverable set of keys, about replacing locks. Casting a Magic spell won’t help them in the long run because they will just lose their keys again. Do I have a right to helps someone circumvent their lessons? Do I want the client to put me in their speed dial and call me every time they lose their keys or a contact lens? I don’t think so. Though, maybe just this once they need to learn that Magic is real. So, if I decide that is indeed the lesson that they need to learn the best way to teach them is to let them do it for themselves.

If someone has tried every mundane means feasible short of renting a metal detector to find their keys and are ready to ask for magical help I would consider what would work best for them. In this case dowsing rods seem appropriate. I would take two pieces of thick wire of nearly the same length, bend the ends to make handles and give them to the client and explain that they will point toward the keys. This has in the past lead to a merry chase where in we find every set of keys except the right ones when all the while I know the keys are in their car.

Sometimes there are no keys to find. The keys have been “found” and moved and are no longer lost. A stranger picked them up off the sidewalk or a coworker absconded with them. In these instances I have no choice but to tell people, “Sorry. I don’t see them. I don’t think that they are lost.” We can try to find them, but sometimes some things don’t come back even with real magical help. At this point I recommend putting an ad in the local paper.

This same logical approach can be applied to even the worst situations such as the negative spirit, and the demonic possession. First have they tried any and every possible mundane way to deal with the problem? Have they looked into medical help and made sure they don’t have a brain tumor or a chemical imbalance? Do they live underneath major power lines? Are they exposed to hallucinogens or drugs on a regular basis? Did they do LSD in high school? Think about it, the client isn’t a doctor, nor are they a Witch, can they honestly tell the difference between a hallucination and a visitation? Probably not, so try to encourage them to seek medical advice first.

Once you have established that they are indeed sane and healthy, ask them why they haven’t gone to their church. This is an important question. I am a Polytheist and therefore I don’t casually recommend organized religion as a way to deal with these problems but historically it has been effective to use high ritual to strengthen the mind of the afflicted and allow them to use their faith to either overcome the spirit or close their mind to random spiritual minutia. If you are their clergy then it is your duty to give them as much help as you can. Do not offer help you are not qualified to give, such as medical advice. Do seek a second opinion. Sometimes when you have a very good hammer, such as Magic, all problems start looking like nails, but not every problem is magical or spiritual.

The difference between a hallucination and a visitation is generally speaking academic. Do you honestly believe that there is a presence behind the voices your client hears? Do you hear them too? Can you “feel” a presence? Do you think you can make them go away? If the answer is yes, then you have a visitation. Otherwise if only a single individual can experience the disembodied presence it is a hallucination, and if it isn’t caused by a chemical imbalance there are a myriad of other mundane explanations that can be examined, and finally there is the potential for a genuine but singular haunting or possession.

It is important to consider the possibility that the problem can also be both chemical and magical, and sometimes solving one half of the equation; the chemical, you can also solve the magical problem. Someone who has a lithium imbalance or a drinking problem is far more likely to draw dark spirits than other people. In essence their minds are often more open to negative influence. Righting their chemical imbalance through professional help of doctors, medications, or addiction programs can lead to a reduction in spiritual problems.

And then there are those that don’t fit into either category, the emotional. Occasionally you will find that a person is physically healthy, spiritually unhindered but still disturbed by an inability to cope with reality. Some people have emotional damage that you cannot help. They seek attention, are overly dramatic, and while they might truly believe that they are haunted are completely unwilling to take logical action to take care of the problem. Generally they will only take steps to make things worse because they are seeking attention. In such cases it is best for you to walk away and don’t look back.

Furthermore, it is very dangerous to try to help people who are not mentally well, and whether magical, chemical, or simply emotional someone who is fighting a dark presence is not well. Proceed with caution. Emphasize a mundane solution first. A sane healthy person has nothing to lose going to get a cursory medical examine. They won’t balk at speaking to their doctor nor will they shun getting their home checked for uncommonly strong electromagnetic fields caused by power lines, fault lines, or poor wiring. Someone who doesn’t want to deal with the mundane problem and solutions probably won’t actually be able to accept your magical help either, so don’t waste your time.

This leads me to EM fields, radiation, and other sources for visual and auditory delusions. There can be many reasons why someone suddenly experiences negative or positive “spiritual” presences that have to do not with their personal psychic or magical ability but instead are based on their environment. By spiritual I mean disembodied non-corporeal entities. These disturbances can come in a vast array of visual, auditory, tactile, and olfactory “hallucinations”.

Again I must emphasize that it can be both a real tangible scientific cause, such as disruptive electromagnetic fields that cause the brain to see things that aren’t there, and it can also be a spirit using those same EM fields as fuel and “messing” with their poor human neighbors because they can. Take care of one problem, poor wiring causing a high EM field in a house, and generally the person won’t have visions, or the ghost won’t be able to bother them any more. (Or at least, not as much.)

And as frightening as the situation likely is for your client there are things they can do that will help. First they must deal with the problem rationally and explore all possible causes and cures and consider possible compromises. Not all spirits are evil. Usually they will come to a Magic user for help because this is a new and frightening experience for them. You must ask them is the really that bad, or is it something they just aren’t accustomed to? If you believe the presence is tied to a location you must ask them why they won’t move. Keep in mind that just because their house is old doesn’t mean it is a ghost bothering them, nor is the strange noise just the house settling. Sometimes the answer is both, and occasionally it is neither.

Teenagers, mostly girls, tend to draw particularly violent and aggressive spiritual disturbances known as poltergeists. This label is a misnomer. It indicates that there is a “noisy ghost” haunting the subject but I have fond that half the time it is subject herself having uncontrollable psychic energy surges unrelated to any outside manifestations. Generally these go away as the girl matures; rarely does the individual learn to control the phenomenon. Some have reoccurrences later in life under particularly stressful situations. If you interrogate a subject you might ask if they were “haunted” in their teenage years and if they are currently under stress from a source other than the visitation.

In the case of possession, there is no positive compromise. A human has exclusive and prime right to their body and under no circumstance should they be encouraged to “share” that private space. In this instance I must insist you ask for and ardently seek help in your area. Start with medical. A chemical imbalance can make a person weak, and susceptible to possession. An emotional imbalance can cause that as well. Remember that if you are not experienced at exorcism you can get hurt, the client can get hurt, and sometimes you can fail utterly. Possession is often linked with suicide, homicide and self-mutilation. It is not for the inexperienced. Do not take it lightly.

Finally sometimes there is no solution, all your best efforts mundane and magical fail, and the best advice you can give to a client is in any situation other than a possession is “Deal with it.” Sometimes a person just has to be strong and accept that their reality is not going to conform to the norm.

Before you compose an email to me you should know that I am not going to help you any more than I already am right now. I wrote this article to give you all the advice I have. It is my very best advice. I am not going to let you fly me to your city to deal with a ghost. I am not going to let you drive the possessed individual to me. This is your quest, and if it leads to them being institutionalized. I’m sorry but it is for the best. At least they won’t be able to hurt themselves as easily.

Remember, a good Magic user is a practical Magic user. Seek every solution, not just the magical solution. Try the mundane way first; it works for billions of other human beings.

Remember that real Magic comes in many forms. Sometimes the magical solution comes through apparently mundane means such as a client getting your number from a friend who happened to be ease dropping on a conversation and thereby leads to you wisely mentioning that they should the couch or the car for the keys. Use the techniques that work for you and just let Magic be.

Put The Book Down!

Put The Book Down!

Author: Siantia

I quarrel about the meaning of the term ‘Wicca’ or ‘Pagan’. I argue over the rules and structures of the various ‘Wiccan paths’. I label myself with the correct label for my position in the craft and demand others do the same. I adhere to set structures and rituals and judge those that do not. I look to occult figures to gather my instructions on how to worship my Goddess and God. I rely on another human being to give me permission to have a spiritual identity. Does this sound like you? If you have ticked any of the ‘boxes’ above then I urge you to read this article. But I’m warning you – there are no labels here for you. No man/woman to tell you the rules of your religion and no words given to you to describe what you are.

How many books on Wicca/Witchcraft/Paganism and any others of a similar nature do you own?

How many of these books have rituals for you to follow, incantations for you to recite and sabbats for you to adhere to?

How many people do you know that say you MUST be in a coven, or you MUST do that or you HAVE TO think this way?

How often, when engaging in a Wiccan/Magickal discussion or argument have you opened your most prestigious Wiccan book to read the answer and then quoted it and sat back happily knowing you must have won the argument because you used the words of an occult icon?

Quarrels about rules and words feature so strongly in Wicca/Witchcraft, everyone has their own opinion and everyone seems to have their biography of Gerald Gardner or Alex Sanders at the ready to use if the argument gets tough. But I ask you – where is your Goddess and God when you are debating this and arguing about that and proclaiming you know more than this person about that subject?

How many times do you put your book down, step away from the laws of your coven, stop listening to the ‘more experienced’ Witch and look inside your heart to talk to your Mother and Father? What do you think they would tell you about all these rules, paths and words?

“Quarrelling about words only serves to ruin those who listen to them” is one of my favorite quotes, and one I read often when I find myself almost getting involved in an argument. There is no piece of information so grand that you need to quarrel and argue over it. There is no right so right that has not come directly from The Goddess and God. I urge people to put their books down and to talk to the source that can give them all the knowledge they’re looking for. It starts by looking inside yourself and not at your favorite author; once you have looked inside yourself you find the Goddess and the God were there all along.

When you next meet someone that refers to him/herself using certain labels, or when you next are involved in a conversation about the rules of a Wiccan ritual ask the goddess and the god to show you the truth of these man-made creations. Listen and feel what you receive. What do you think your Goddess and God would say to the people arguing over the exact meaning of the term Wiccan? What do you think they would say to the couple trying to win the argument about the importance of initiation? Do you think our loving Mother and Father would see the relevance or importance of any of this?

When you feel afraid that something you are doing is not correct, who are you afraid of? The person who wrote the book you are following? The high priestess of the coven you have just joined? Or the judgmental ‘experienced’ witches you socialize with? Out of all the people you are afraid will judge you if you are not adhering to the label you have been given (or have given yourself) do you think any of them have the authority or power to say anything? Do you believe a man or a woman has more knowledge about The Goddess and The God than the Goddess and The God themselves? And do you believe that anyone but yourself can find the right answer to your problems?

Put the book down, and while you’re at it socialize with less rigid people. We are our own masters, because all of us are children of our Mother and Father. No matter what words you read in books, no matter what ‘high’ priest/ess tells you – no being knows more than The Goddess and God. It is to them you should talk, not to ‘man’.

Religion can be a beautiful life choice that makes your incarnation more colorful and interesting; a way of life that inspires you and makes you feel fulfilled as a human experiencing the Earth, knowing deep inside that it is a creation of man and that simple love of your creators will always triumph. Is this you? Or have you become so consumed with your chosen label, so consumed with the words and their meanings that you have forgotten the simplicity of the universe? What is it they say we have here? Ah yes – free will.

Perhaps you feel your religion and structure, fine details and correct interpretation of words are still important to you? Perhaps you feel that the Goddess and God are with you on that, and they wouldn’t like you to throw away labels and boxes? Then, debate away. Open your forum and join with everyone else that wants words to be important. Words have power after all!

I will go and sit beside the Goddess and The God and we shall watch you in your hall of right and wrong. When you are ready…put the book down, and see what the Goddess and God has to discuss with you.

Merry Meet to all the masters of themselves.

 

Footnotes:
*This article is intended for thought provoking and not direct insult. The opinions expressed are my own and so of course are not being imposed or ordered onto anyone else. Live and let live after all.

Lady A’s Spell of the Day for Oct. 4th – Clear The Air

Clear The Air Ritual

An argument or upsetting experience has left bad vibes in your living space. To rid your home of disruptive energy, perform this cleansing ritual.

What you will need:

  • A broom
  • A bowl
  • Water
  • Sea salt
  • Sage (bundled, loose or incense)
  • A fireproof holder that you can carry easily
  • Matches

Best time to perform this ritual: Any time

If possible, open the windows and doors. Start sweeping your home with a broom – not just the floor, but the air as well. Wave the broom through the entire area, side to side, up and down, until you feel you’ve whisked away the emotional dirt. Sprinkle a little in each corner of your home, then flick some water in the center of each room.

Finally, put the sage into the holder and light it. Blow out the flames and let it smoke. Carry the burning sage from room to room, allowing its cleansing smoke to clear the air and restore peace to your home.

Encounter with an Ancient God

Encounter with an Ancient God

 

by Janice Van Cleve

As Samhain night approaches, our Women of the Goddess circle quickens into high gear. We collect old mattresses, blankets and cushions. We buy cases of garbage bags and rolls of duct tape. Don’t forget the red candles! We haul, we clean, we make architectural decisions on the fly. For this is the time of the year when we transform a simple basement into the Underworld.

We are so excited! On Samhain night we gather in silence, black-robed and -caped, in the living room. No lights shine nor music plays. No conversation passes between us. One candle only illuminates the room as we wait in nervous anticipation. At the stroke of the hour, the hostess rises to lock the door. Then she bids us line up at the head of the stairs and descend, one by one, as we are called.

Save for flickering votives in colored glass strategically placed here or there, the narrow passages of the Underworld are pitch black. Garbage bags by day become unearthly living walls at night. As we carefully feel our way through the maze, we encounter the Dark Goddess in several of her forms. She may appear to us as Hecate, Kali, Baba Yaga or Erishkigal. She may appear as the Fates, the Norns or as sorceresses and witches. Each challenges us before she admits us past her portal. At last, we all arrive in the Underworld chamber and conduct our rites, thankful for the cushions and other items that give us some comfort from the cold stone floor.

I am as excited as the rest, but my appreciation of the Samhain rites this year will be undeniably affected by an encounter I had in another underworld last month in faraway Peru. I was in Peru for an archeological expedition to various Inca and pre-Inca sites. One of many we visited was Chavin de Huantar, a mysterious temple complex hidden in a steep valley on the Amazon side of the Andes. The Chavin culture exerted enormous influence throughout the region of Peru about 400 BCE, around the time that Rome was just beginning. In the Americas, the Chavin invented the weaving of cotton and wool, engineering with stone and massive architecture. The complex itself is a combination of huge three-story block buildings and large sunken courtyards. The exterior of the buildings was originally decorated with carved heads and painted red. However, it was the interiors that I found most fascinating.

Inside the solid mass of stone were corridors, passageways and rooms in a series of underworld labyrinths. They were ingeniously constructed so that water was drained out and fresh air circulated in through small vents that tunneled through the rock to the outside wall. Linking the rooms were galleries with modern fanciful names such as Gallery of the Captives, Gallery of the Bats and Gallery of the Madman. Just enough electric lighting is installed to present the outlines of the chambers without taking away from their shadowy quality. It was in one of these underworld corridors that I encountered The Lanzon.

The Lanzon is an imposing idol of carved stone some 15 feet tall. It stands in a narrow chamber barely large enough to hold it. Passages less high extend in all four directions from the midpoint of this chamber so the viewer can see only the head and midsection of the idol. A gate prevents visitors from approaching too close. Light filters in from cleverly contrived roof openings above the statue, bathing it in a surreal glow.

The idol itself is a curiously rendered icon, etched into a smooth, wedge-shaped granite prism whose angle faces the viewer. The figure is of an anthropoid being with snakes for hair and fat smiling lips that display a proud set of finely spaced teeth and two fanged incisors. Long sharp fingernails grace its hands; the left one hanging at its side and the right raised as if in greeting. On its head is a tall crown of feline heads, and from its ears hang huge round pendants. Set edge-on to the visitor, the whole work cannot be appreciated at once, but only the portion in view from the corridor. From that position, one or other of the idol’s baleful eyes looks directly at you.

“It’s just an old stone,” I said to myself. But it wasn’t. It was a real idol. To it had been sacrificed human lives, their blood splattered all over the corridor where I stood. Into it had been fused human energy and power, and these I could still feel from it even after all the intervening centuries. It was strange and eerie to be aware of this undead presence, to acknowledge it and yet not be part of it. The Lanzon was the god of a people long past, not my god, yet worthy and real for the human potency with which they imbued it. It disquieted me, yet I felt a respect for it that was different from my own traditions, but for all that no less valid.

So as I approach this Samhain and prepare to enter the Underworld we will create, I am a bit more aware that there are deities and beings in the darkness beyond my ken. They are different. I don’t understand them. I don’t even know them. Yet they do exist, and as the veil between the worlds draws thin this night, I realize my view must be broader and open to the unexpected. No matter how many times I celebrate these rituals and how many roles I take, they still present a mystery. And now, because of my encounter with The Lanzon in its own underworld, I can appreciate the mystery of my own that much more.

Bring Out Your Dead: Celebrate and Grieve at Samhain

Bring Out Your Dead: Celebrate and Grieve at Samhain

by Freya Ray

Sometimes it seems the past is this great labyrinthine thing, infecting, affecting, even overshadowing the present. When you’re “doing your work,” it’s easy to get stuck in process hell, reliving the painful events of your past. If, on the other hand, you’re busily pretending your past is no longer affecting you, the serpentine tentacles of old behaviors and fears reach out from your subconscious, pushing you to recreate your pain until it can finally be healed.

Quite frankly, both of these extremes suck.

We all have pasts, we all have old pain that needs to be healed. We have all lost friends, loved ones, cherished places and times. We have all had things that brought us joy that are no longer part of our lives. All of us.

Bring out your dead!

There is a middle ground. I don’t mean “therapy light,” or giving lip service to your “issues.” I mean truly honoring and grieving the things you have lost, in their time, and then moving on.

There is a saying that I’m going to mangle, something to the effect that the deeper our pain, the deeper it carves the channels for our joy. Samhain is not the time of year that encourages you to continue in a shallow, placid existence. Samhain is not big on denial or avoidance. Samhain is the time of the dead. The time when the doors between the worlds open.

This is not a trivial moment! It is a spectacular opportunity to bring out your dead. Bring them out! Celebrate their lives, their passings. Honor the good and the bad of what there was. Grieve, rage, and celebrate. All together.

For the worlds are mingling on All Hallows Eve. The worlds are closer, all this month.

Feel the presence of those who have gone, and take this moment to celebrate their passage through your life.

Celebrate.

Grieve.

It is all one; both are the path to truth and beauty. You must explore both of these extremes to be at peace with your past.

To be at peace with what has gone.

Your dead need not be physically dead. They can be dead to you, the relationship shattered. They can be an active part of your life, but some aspect of your relationship is no longer possible. When you think of what you have lost, it may be your innocence, or your childhood home, your first love, your soulmate you’ve never met, the eighties, dependence or independence, being part of a family or a lost pet.

No matter. We have all lost things that were precious.

We move through our lives, full of “I’m fine” and “No big deal.” Or we relive it over and over, complaining about it to anyone who will listen, paying therapists to be our guaranteed audience.

Three things must happen: grieving, celebrating and moving on.

Leave out one of this magical trinity, and it loses its power. You must admit the feelings of pain and loss to get them out of your body. Unshed tears form a wall around your heart like a moat. I can see them when I look at people’s auras. They stay there until you move them out of your body, flowing toward release on your tears.

Celebration cannot be neglected. If you don’t honor the good things brought to your life by something gone, you cannot understand the pain. You cannot embrace the experience as a gift, a lesson. You disempower yourself if you choose to ignore the gifts of any experience in your life. “Poor me, that sucked” is a weak stance. “Yes, that hurt, what a pain in the ass that I had to go through that loss, and yes at the same time I am grateful for the gifts the experience has brought me” is a powerful stance.

“It was my experience, you cannot take it from me. You cannot convince me that I am a lesser person for having lost that thing I cherished. I made no mistakes. I chose my path, as the best path for my growth.”

And then moving on. That’s why we have the seasons, the cyclic energies of the planet. The larger forces that surround us are here to aid us in releasing that which no longer serves us. The energies will be building, coming to a peak. October 31 is a beautiful night for ritual, for honoring, grieving and releasing that which is gone. That which is dead.

Bring out your dead.

Bring them out! Create an altar honoring those who are gone. Put pictures or mementos of your ancestors on it. Arrange photos of family or friends who have passed. Draw representations of things you have lost — pictures of your feelings about hope vanished, possibility eradicated, love lost, opportunities gone. Bring it all up, let it all out. Put it all there, together, where you can see it.

When you’re done crying…

Stand there and love it. Love it! Love them all, all the things you’ve let go of. Love yourself for being a living, breathing being standing there loving what’s gone. Love the gifts of memory that allow you to cherish beings who no longer have physical form. Love all of life, which teaches us with pain as well as joy.

Love. Decorate your altar with offerings. Choose items from your heritage to honor your ancestors, or borrow freely if you resonate more with another culture. Burn sage, offer pollen or cornmeal, put out cups of whiskey or tea, light a cigar, give chocolate or rice or sweet cakes or honey, arrange fresh flowers.

Allow this altar to be a part of your life for a few days, bringing the lost into your consciousness.

When it is time, let it go. Burn offerings or painful reminders. Burn your drawings of your pain. Send prayers of gratitude and good wishes for the departed off wherever prayers go. Send your ex your blessings.

Release, release, release.

When your tears are done, when the time of grieving and celebrating the past is done, let it go. Dismantle your altar, putting photos back where they belong, giving the offerings to the earth, getting rid of that which no longer serves you.

Release, release, release.

Then bring your attention back to you. Still standing, you. Still breathing, you. Still loving. Take your attention and your power back inside your own body, and embrace this moment. This one moment, when all power is yours. When all choice is yours.

And move forward with the living.

Freya Ray is a professional psychic, shaman, writer, and teacher.

Cellphone Magick

In today’s world, it might seem strange to think of someone not owning a cell phone, and it probably seems equally bizarre for a phone to be associated with magick and casting spells? So it may surprise some people to learn that high-tech gadgets and gizmos do have a very important place in a modern witch’s toolbox.

Although there are some eccentric witches out there who still brew steaming potions in remote corners of forests, they really are quite a rare sight these days. We’ve gone mainstream, and most of us have cell phones. I remember when I purchased my first mobile phone some years ago, even before I’d figured out how to call someone, I was seeking ways in which I could use the device magickally. It didn’t take me long to figure out that by transmitting my desires over the cellular network, I could turn all of my wishes into reality.

I can’t take all the credit for this new way of spell-making. My trusted friend and coauthor, Shawn, helped me to try out many different ways of weaving together these contemporary spells, and after a few months of experimenting we figure out how to make the cell phone work to our advantage.

It’s all in the power and intent of the message. We know, for example, that by sending a thought to the universe, we attract the things we desire. Writing spells with pen and paper is a quick and easy way of getting what you want, but because of the energy that powers cell-phone towers and the speed with which we can send and receive texts, sending spells as text messages takes them to the next level.

Another easy aspect of spell texting is that you don’t need candles or any other objects. All you needs is a companion, preferably one who also owns a cell phone and who knows you well enough to recognize that you are not completely mad! This person doesn’t necessarily have to have any magickal know-how, just as long as they are open-minded and eager to experiment. In the past, I have known some witches wo do this process alone by using two mobile devices, but in my opinion the spells work best if you actually enlist the help of another person.

A Modern-Day White Witch’s Guide
Wiccapedia
Shawn Robbins & Leanna Greenaway

Neo-Paganism: What is it?

Neo-Paganism: What is it?

Author: Crick

Neo-Paganism. What is it?

There is an old adage that no one is an island unto himself or herself. Which I believe is a prelude to the adage that misery loves company.

As a witch I walk this world as one who truly feels alone. Am I an island? Absolutely not, just a tired old soul who sees the world as it truly is.

I see the same level of hypocrisy within the pagan community as I see in the organized religions perhaps because so many who call themselves pagan today were members of those organized religions yesterday. Or perhaps it’s just because people in general tend to be apathetic when it comes to any real effort to grow spiritually.

I see the same insecurities in folks regardless of their chosen beliefs. By insecurities I refer to the way that folks claim to be individuals and yet they live and die each day by what others are doing and/or say. Such folks spend more of their time making judgments about others then they do asking how they can better themselves spiritually.

And so in general, we as a species continue to mouth the words and yet do just the opposite.
There are those who claim to be pagan and yet spend most of their time increasing the artificial lifestyle they have created for themselves. They do this knowing full well that such an artificial lifestyle comes at the expense of Mother Gaia. Raping and pillaging Mother Gaia is something that the human species is very adept at. If only so much time and effort were directed at improving the condition of our world. But then to do that we as a species would have to stop being so self centered and selfish and actually live up to the values that we claim to engage.
And so exactly what defines Neo-Paganism in today’s world?

Is it simply a way of being different in ones mind and yet the same in ones actions? Much like the teenager of every single generation who seeks to establish an individual identity even though in all reality they are following the same trail already unfolded before them.

Is Neo-Paganism, which in all reality is a revival of that which existed openly before the advent of organized religion, a true attempt to break away from the established mode of society as it presents itself today?

Do those who call themselves pagan in today’s world have the desire and discipline to break away from the established mindset?

After all, such folks come from a society where no one is to blame, unless it is the other guy who is at fault. They come from a world where the ego seems to reign supreme over human humility. Even though such displays of egotism is simply an acknowledgement of ones personal insecurities.

In some parts of the pagan community, paganism is used to control the hearts and minds of others in much the same way that organized religions attempt to do so. There are certain pagan groups who seek to set themselves as above others who reside under the same pagan umbrella. Is such personal control over others and elitism the definition of Neo-Paganism?

Do folks in today’s mystical society have any established concept of what it is that they believe in as pagans?

Judging from all of the maneuvering to be seen as the “master” by so many who really have no clue, and judging from all of the infighting amongst various pagan individuals and groups, one has to wonder if there is any coherent concept that one could apply to the description; Neo-Pagan.

Such a general concept should apply not only in description but in action as well. Granted there are “individuals” who walk the walk, but these folks are often set upon by those who claim to follow the same tenets as they apply to the general parameters of paganism. And so the hypocrisy continues unabated, for these folks are within the minority of a minority belief system.

And so one has to wonder if Neo-Paganism is truly an effort to establish a nature based belief system which is empowered by a people who actually put forth effort to acquire a higher sense of self. Or is it just a continuation of the same lack of principles and personal discipline that defines modern society, albeit under a different title.

I personally believe that the jury is still out on this last musing. In my personal opinion, if one is to follow the path of paganism in whatever form, then one needs to develop a sense of unbiased honesty. For in my mind, true paganism begins with one’s own spirit. There are no masters in this weary world of ours. We are all simply students of life, each seeking the lessons that befit them. Perhaps once we realize this we can begin the real work of identifying our own faults and worry less about the faults of others. Only then will we be able to separate ourselves from the status quo of today’s world and perhaps then we can add a real meaning to the definition of Neo-Paganism.

Are you one of those who believe that Neo-Paganism is all about Light and Love? Are you being realistic to yourself? For in all reality our pagan ancestors were quite adept at mayhem and war. One has to realize that there has to be dark in order for there to be light. This is polarity in its truest form. And even the various pantheons around the world contain those who were of an unsavory nature. It is how we balance these two aspects that define our lives regardless of which path we choose to follow. But one without the other is simply an empty facade.

In closing, how many hours this past week did you sit in front of a TV or a computer? How many hours this past week did you walk amongst the trees and listen to the birds sing or gaze up at the moon at night with unadulterated love? It is by these simple actions that we as “individuals” contribute to the definition of Neo-Paganism.

Are you content with your contribution?

Samhain Verse

Samhain Verse

Dionysus
by Pat Califia

The grapes must be cut down
Or no one but the bees
Will be drunk next summer.
They are full of juice,
Tight-skinned like the testicles
Of a boy with his first shadowed chin.

The harvesters move, row by row,
Unburdening the vines
And making the bees angry.
The grapes are trampled, then put away
While the darkness works its magic.

Not all harvests are so orderly
Comes a day when chaos pours out
Along with the blood of the grape.
Threshing ground and trampling vat
Are abandoned for a wilder dance
In the green meadows, high on the hills.
Where the elder trees of the forest
Still remember their sisters,
Who once cast their leaves and shadows
Upon the floor of the valley.
The plow may subdue the earth, for now.
But the wilderness remembers its ancient boundaries.

And as the sun goes down, Dionysus appears
To dance among his feral women,
His own life safe
Only as long as they can sieze and rend
Anything else athwart their path –
And the wine holds out.
The dance as if they were trampling
The fruit of the vine,
But the red stain has crept
Much higher than their ankles.
They wear golden bells and the skins of leopards.
The hunt has made them happy at last.

If the women cannot kill the god
Who pretends to direct them,
They will take the head of any man
Who struggles to remain upright
When madness has become a virtue
And everything forbidden is permitted.
Backs straight as if they had forgotten.

A lifetime of toiling over field and stove,
The prancing shrieking women dress
Their fores in ivy and demand
They bend their knees or hit the ground
To service what can never be tamed altogether.

The darkness works its magic.
The grapes must be cut down.
A plowshare may be hammered
From a sword,
And just as easily turned
Once more into a weapon
With enough force, enough heat, and
Hard punches from a hammer.
Women are so dangerous
When they become overheated.

Only the profligate might survive this night
And waken eager to drink
Still more of the grape god’s blood,
To help them forget the fences
That were so easily trampled down
Within the walls of this temperate town.

(Reprinted with permission from Pat Califia’s newest book, Diesel Fuel. Pat Califia’s WWW page address is http://www.patcalifia.com)

The Broom Closet

The Broom Closet
By Ezevia Rose

My friends have brooms
I have one too
They sweep with theirs
I do too

My friends have knives
I have one too
They use it to cut
I do too

My friends have goblets
I have one too
They drink their wine
I do too

My friends have tables
I have one too
They gather round
As I do too

Now they wonder what makes me different?
If they only knew!

My broom’s a besom
My knife an athame
My goblet a chalice
My table an altar

I use them for ritual
I use them each day
I pray to Goddess
Every day

Now you know I am a Witch
They do not
Can they accept it?
Sometimes I fear not

I wish they would
Let me sweep my own way
And say prayers the Matriarch way
The Earth could be happy
And we could be too
This Samhain Night
I pray for them too

By Ezevia Rose

About the Author: Ezevia Rose, 51 is a wife of 28 years, mother of a son 24 and daughter 26 and a grandmother of a 7 1/2 year old, who she says is the spark of her life as are her children. She is also a teacher of young children and owns her own school,(23 years in business and growing) which, she says is not only her livelihood but her life. She is also a singer and an artist, with a B.A. degree in Elem. Ed and Art Ed., she loves animals, reading and gardening, and says musical instruments and books are her vices.

Living a Magickal Life

I ran across the following article several days ago. I have been aiming to share it with you but got busy updating the blog. The article first caught my eye, which is unusual because I seldom read short ones. Then I got to reading it, the article really touched my heart and soul as Samhain approaches. I hope you enjoy it……..

Living a Magickal Life
By Lotus Moonwise

It might seem strange to tell a story about Beltane in an issue about Samhain, but the two go hand in hand. Beltane is about manifesting the Goddess externally, through union with others and the World around us. Samhain is about manifesting Her internally, by going within, connecting with the deepest parts of yourself, and allowing Her messages to come to you
from across the thin veil.

Last Beltane, I was just coming down from an intense “expansion” phase, working hard, making major changes in my life and was feeling uncentered, caught up in a frantic, unnatural pace. I felt like I was going around and around in circles in my mind, feeling so overwhelmed with all I had to get done that I couldn’t get anything done and was beginning to feel more and
more paralyzed and disconnected from my Spirit. I wondered how I was going to find the energy to organize a big Beltane celebration, like I do every year. The more I thought about it, the more I felt sure, I just didn’t have it in me this year. So I threw my hands up in surrender and made the decision to “skip” the Sabbat.

On the Thursday afternoon before the weekend of Beltane, my husband came home and told me he’d gotten a surprise bonus at work. That same day, my friend called and said she was in a jam and needed some money and offered to watch my three kids for the weekend in exchange for the cash she needed. Everything was suddenly in place for a quiet weekend away.

I wanted something in the mountains, near a river. I found this place that looked perfect and I called up the reservation company. It was booked, but they had just had someone call earlier that day to cancel, so had an opening for another house. It was in the mountains, down a dead end dirt road, at the point where two rivers meet. They call it Two Rivers Cottage. We booked it on the spot. What followed was two days and nights of intense, deep quiet, cradled by the one I love with the forest surrounding us like a blanket. We made love by the huge stone hearth, cooked a feast for two, and enjoyed the fullness of silence, together.

As I sat near the hearth, with my tarot cards laid out, Hecate kept coming up – showing me the crossroads. And it hit me when I looked at the image. The two roads… the two rivers….they were just outside my door. I put on my coat and walked outside. I stood at the point where the two rivers converge into one, and heard the message She whispered in my ear : it doesn’t matter which path you choose, it’s all leading you home. I heard the words of a song flow through my heart…”there’s no need for turning back, for all roads lead to where we stand, and I believe we walk them all, no matter what we may have planned.” I felt like a huge weight was lifted off my shoulders. I could relax. I didn’t have to figure everything out right now. It was enough to just be here, in this space with Her, loving myself and loving the moment.

The weekend was magickal. And even though I hadn’t planned anything for this holy day –the Goddess had planned something for me. A weekend of pure, loving union between the God and Goddess, embodied within us and expressed through us in the most natural and effortless way possible.

As Samhain approaches, I reflect on the magick in my life, the gifts from the Goddess, and the sense of trust and allowing that has become the cornerstone of my faith. This time of year, especially, I am reminded how to live a magickal life, day in and day out. Living a magickal life is about allowing the Universe to express itself through you. As you pay attention to the subtle clues She leaves along the way, a path of possibilities is paved. Every question is answered before it’s asked. In the moment of need, all things are already there, in your life, placed there by your Goddess self before you even knew you needed them.

Blessed Samhain to all…….

(Song lyrics by Don McLean)

About The Author: Lotus Moonwise is a High Priestess and leader of a small family circle. She walks a wise woman path, recognizing the union of the spiritual world with the physical. She considers herself an eclectic hearth witch, honoring her home, family and circle of community as the central focus of her service to the Goddess. She is a massage therapist, Reiki
master, writer, and artist and lives in Portland, Oregon with her husband, three children and three cats.

Beyond the Fluff

Beyond the Fluff

Author: Maggi Setti

I’ve been struggling with not feeling that I want to call myself a Pagan; that somehow I missed the cultural boat. This boat feels like something I will never understand nor connect with. Yet, my religion is Wicca, and I am a Qabalist, ritualist, and magick worker. I never towed the feminist political line enough for the Goddess community, wasn’t political enough for others communities either. I’ve always been missing the Pagan cultural “norm” boat!

I have finally come to a resolution for why I go into culture shock every time I go to a festival. I don’t see Wicca, my religion, as a game and its certainly not something to mock or laugh at. Yet time and time again I meet Pagans with the audacity to laugh and sneer in the face of the Gods. I meet people who introduce themselves as Lady Twinkle Toes and are dressed like clowns. There seems to be acceptance in flamboyant, attention seeking behavior that to the rest of the world makes us look like we weren’t allowed to play dress-up as kids.

I want our government to take my religion seriously. I want a respect and understanding among the families, Friends, park owners, co-workers, Masons, and neighbors in my community. I want the seats we seek on the Parliament of World Religions to be seats that are respected, and be positions with voice and gravity. How can our society take us seriously if we persist in presenting to the rest of the world like a joke and don’t even take ourselves seriously? I don’t even need to mention witches on reality TV shows.

On the surface, Paganism is freedom, freedom from guilt, sin, the strict confines of the mindless ranks of conservative society. So why not throw care unto the wind? Drink until you win an award for the most gruesome vomit! Leave all your regular medication at home so that you’ll have the conscientious EMT’s rushing you to the ER when you start having a major medical emergency. Don’t eat, don’t hydrate, and for Gods’ sake run around naked all day in your Celtic-skinned red-headedness without sunscreen! It would but funny, only if I actually were exaggerating.

We say that we are a religion that lives the value of personal responsibility. We say that we seek balance and the mastery and integration of the parts of our being. How can it be that we are so bored, suppressed, or alone in our every day lives that we must make cartoonish spectacles of ourselves when we get together to learn and worship?

I like a raucous party as much as the next person. When it’s time to party, I let my hair down and pull the stops out. But my point is that worshipping, doing important magickal work, and studying, is not the same thing or the same time as a party. “What is your intent” is the constantly echoed question for planning ritual. If my intent is to party, then I should throw a party, not have a ritual. When I plan a ritual, it’s time to get some magickal work done.

I meet people that insist on wearing all black and gigantic pentacles to their jobs run by conservative religious groups (other religions mind you) , preach forced “acceptance” of their religion as part of their freedom of religion. These same people are flabbergasted when they are disliked at their jobs and are then fired. If we create a hostile work environment and scare people, what do we suspect?

Our religion may be in its early stages, but it’s time for each one of us to grow up and think about our actions. My religion is not a game, not a circus, and I do not want to be seen like a clown. I worry about grouping myself with the same label with people who, because they are more colorful and flamboyant, are more seen by the media and the greater society. Those same people wind up being spokespeople for the whole community. The result is that society doesn’t take us seriously or outright disrespects us because they wind up with no common ground for understanding.

Is there a solution to this labeling issue? I don’t know. It makes it harder and harder as this movement grows for serious seekers to find the heart of the real stuff past the layers and layers of sugarcoated fluff. I fear a dilution of the availability of magickal training opportunities as time progresses. I am led back to a qabalistic image of the shining spark concealed within and hidden. This means several things, foremost that the eternal spark of spirit within every person’s mortal, physical body. In this instance though, I think it could shed some light that the spark of truth and real magick is buried beneath the extraneous layers of fluff and distraction. Even the meaning of esoteric is hidden.

To those wondering if there is more, there is. Follow your nose and keep searching. You’ll find it in connection beyond words. You’ll find it in your own cry out to the Gods. You’ll find it in the exact moment of the solstices and equinoxes. You’ll find it in the voice of that hidden spark calling to you in the dark of the moon.

Such part of me that wishes for decorum and for actions and interactions to makes sense wants to go underground. My coven could work quietly in hiding to the betterment of the individuals within our small population. We won’t though for we are all ready hidden within the meaningless hullabaloo swarming about already.

What is your intent? What are you seeking? A party? A club? Experiences? What about magick, wholeness, power, gnosis, connection, life purpose? It’s all there. Know your intent and stay true to that which you seek. You will find it, hidden and tarnished, water stained, and rusted beneath the layers of fluff. A little bit of polish will let that spark of truth and magick shine through. Don’t give up. You’re not alone out there.

The Responsibility of the Witch in the Modern World

The Responsibility of the Witch in the Modern World

Author: wolf witch

In ancient times, the person most gifted in reading nature’s sign and in maintaining the health and well-being of the tribe became, essentially, the wise one or witch of that tribe. Through the periodic exchange of information with others of such kind and the constant study of herbs, natural phenomena, and basic human nature, such individuals gained an encyclopedic knowledge that vastly raised the survivability of the tribe existing in a harsh environment, providing an important barrier against human extinction.

Witches took responsibility for healing the sick, predicting the weather, determining the best times for planting and harvest, animal husbandry, finding the best places to live, and generally developing the circumstances under which a community could flourish. Lately, tremendous academic effort goes into delineating shamanism from witchcraft, and those individuals intent on proper nomenclature deny one in favor of another, but reality removes any doubt that function within a society belies any title. That the individual with a demonstrated talent for providing the tribe with information and service outside the practical efforts of hunting and gathering had significant value deserving of some distinction from the average person is all that mattered.

The progression of human development over time reduced the apparent need for these talented people, and the final blow to their overt existence came with the rise of organized religion and its dread of any source of spiritual power other than its own as an influence upon humanity. Culminating in the “burning times”, the position of village wise one was erased throughout most of the civilized world. The very capabilities that gave them note resulted in their demise, and the fact that the deaths of ten ordinary folk for every witch (counting those people accused of heresy and other such nefarious crimes among the ten) mattered little to an organization bent on control of human destiny in the name of its particular god.

One terrible consequence of those persecutions was the abandonment by the truly wise of humanity to its own devices. Spurned and burned, tortured and cursed, those who once directed the fate of entire communities retired almost completely from any participation in society, in part driven away by fear and, once the burning times ended, kept distant by the conviction that Man was no longer in need of their talents.

Currently a new openness and the removal of oppression from significant portions of modern society is allowing paganism to flourish and has removed most of the dangers associated with being publicly acknowledged as being a witch.

Unfortunately, the new witch is more dedicated to personal spiritual development that to helping humanity to survive in these trying times. There can be no faulting found for witches taking this direction. Hundreds of years of repression coupled with the present crop of very vocal fundamentalists determined to link the Craft to whatever devil they happen to fear go a long way toward pushing the average solitary practitioner back into the closet.

Exclusivity has always been a part of the Craft as well, so the IT revolution that has opened communications globally to anyone who can work a keyboard has actually increased the closed tribal nature of people within the Craft birthing a tremendous number of web sites each proclaiming itself and its owners the one true way to achieve whatever spiritual goal one desires. Forums are full of backbiting based on everything from the “true” names of the gods to the simple linguistics of “Wicca” and “witch”.

Considering that we live in a time when the errant acts of man, whether they be the push of a little red button launching a nuclear nightmare or the endless denuding of the planet to strip its resources at the expense of the very environment that sustains human life, witches have far more important matters at hand than debating what name best applies to the craft of the wise.

Not all of us are equipped to dedicate resources to organizations designed to provide help to those who are in need, but each of us can write to those in government responsible for the allocation of such resources. Our most valuable asset has always been our ability to persuade those responsible for some aspect of human existence to follow the wise way as determined by our talents for divination, conversing with the Otherworld, and understanding the special needs of nature as it applies to human existence. We are more than a lobbying group and much more than a political party.

We carry a tradition of aiding in the survival of humanity, and we cannot abandon that responsibility now or ever if we intend to live up to our calling.

Some of us have very little free time, but each of us can buy an extra can of food for the collection bin at the supermarket door.

All of us can ask those who have what others need to donate what may be no longer needed there to someplace where the need is great. One country in Africa has only a single working dialysis machine. A letter to major hospitals and regional dialysis centers asking them to donate replaced machines that still have a working life takes minutes, and email makes the whole process faster, it will cover more ground than any old fashioned conventional mail-out.

Many witches are already involved in charitable programs and deserve the highest accolade for understanding our real, historic place in society, but there are still a great number who are not involved and must become so if humanity is ever to find its true calling as a unified species dedicated to the well-being of each member of the species and the preservation of our greatest treasure, the planet upon which we rely for our survival.

The tribe is no longer a few isolated individuals in a tiny ecosystem. We are globally united, a genuine tribe of Man. The responsibility of the wise one is no longer the survival of a handful but of entirety of humanity.

We, as witches, must accept this responsibility, fir it is the single most essential element to our spiritual development and maturity.

Relationships: When Only One of You is Pagan

Relationships: When Only One of You is Pagan

Author: Ryan Hatcher
I’ve been in my current relationship for about a year and a quarter and like any relationship, we have our ups and downs. One thing that tends to pop up regularly, whether in jest or debate and sometimes a jibe, is the subject of my being a Pagan, because my partner isn’t and this will sometimes cause conflict.

And so, I thought it would be interesting to write about what it’s like to be in a relationship with a Pagan when you aren’t one. And the best way I could think of doing that would be to do a sort of interview with my other half. And that’s exactly what I did! I’ve also included my side of the response so it gives both perspectives (a Pagan with a non-Pagan partner and vice versa) .

[Begin interview]

How would you define your personal spiritual or religious standpoint?

Chris: I don’t really have a religion and I wouldn’t really class myself as being particularly spiritual, I feel there’s no physical presence [of divinity] but we enlighten ourselves through our interaction with nature and natural forces. I see nature and natural forces as the spiritual essence of the planet.

Ryan: If I was to label myself, I would say I was a Witch of my own tradition, though mostly I use the term Pagan first. I see nature and the forces of nature personified through my Gods.

Have you ever had any experience with paganism prior to meeting your partner? (If so, what did you make of it?)

Chris: [lengthy pause]…Charmed, Buffy, The Craft…media images! I bought a couple of books from a local ‘witchy shop’ when I was younger to see if it took me to a place where I wanted to be. Experimenting with the spells wasn’t what I expected. I expected there would be more obvious results.

Has your perspective or any preconceptions of paganism been changed or confirmed? How do you perceive paganism now?

Chris: I see paganism now as any other form of religion/worship, etc. with its own set of beliefs, which I respect even if though I’m not pagan.

What do you find are the difficulties of being in a partnership when one of you is Pagan?

Chris: Finding space for the paraphernalia mostly! Such as trying to find areas for some things to be on display while not imposing on the rest of the house! I’m not too keen on ritual clothing; robes and stuff makes it seem much more like dressing up, like a play or pretending. It makes it seem more ‘out there’ to me.

I find it difficult trying to understand his need and want to practice Paganism. It makes me think that he must feel there’s something lacking in his life or in himself… as if he’s not enough of a person as he is, like he needs some extra support. Does he lack a self-belief to be able to go out there and do things himself? Maybe he needs to work behind closed doors using spells to get a result instead of going out there and grabbing the bull by the horns?

Ryan: It’s kind of hard trying to get him to understand the point behind my beliefs and practices. The religious and spiritual side of paganism is easier to understand, as it’s not that dissimilar to Chris’ own point of view, though perhaps I take it to another level. The hard part is trying to explain magic and spell work. It ranges from trying to quantify the ‘how’ of magic to justifying reasons why. I think it gets taken out of perspective sometimes and he thinks I work a spell for everything I want in life, when it’s really only for things I can’t physically influence in the world.

Sometimes I think he feels embarrassed as well. I like to have some things on display, for a mixture of aesthetic value and providing a sense of spiritual connection to our home. It may be that he is worried whether people will think we’re/I’m odd and not want to get involved any more, or more likely it’s because I’ve gathered so much stuff over the last 10 years he’s worried about clutter!

I think the hardest thing, though, is that I’ve got someone to share my life with, yet I can’t share all of it as he’s not interested, or embarrassed. It just means ritual has to still be done alone, but when he’s out of the house, just in case he thinks I’m being weird!

Are there any advantages or things you enjoy about only one of you being Pagan?

Chris: I don’t think there are any advantages or anything I enjoy that is different to having a non-pagan partner.

Ryan: Not really. I guess there are no arguments on the right way to do ritual and things like that, but apart from that, there are the same basic dynamics as in any other relationship.

Have you ever been involved in ritual together and what did you make of it?

Chris: Yes. I don’t know what to make of it. It wasn’t like I expected. I expected to be able to feel presences and energies, which, unfortunately I did not. I understand the concepts of ritual and offerings, but it’s not for me. I don’t feel it achieves much for me.

Ryan: It did feel a bit awkward as, admittedly, I spent a lot of the time wondering what he thought of it and whether he was put off me! I was also kind of embarrassed with saying ritual words and what he’d think of the idea of chanting. Turns out chanting wasn’t taken to all that well, so we didn’t bother so much. Sad though it is, I can safely say I’ve had better solo rituals.

Would you ever consider reading or studying some Pagan introductory books to learn and understand your partner’s spirituality and religion better?

Chris: Not really if I’m honest, unless I had a specific interest in it to begin with and then I’d want to read up on the subject anyway.

Ryan: I’d like him to, as I feel it would give him a better perspective rather than it just coming from me. Authors are generally better at explaining things clearly and in a way for people with no Pagan background to be able to understand.

[End interview]

I just hope this essay provides a different perspective on Pagan life, and maybe strikes a chord with people in a similar situation. It may seem like a public therapy session, but sometimes it’s nice to share experiences that could be just as valid to someone else. I hope you stuck with it and it gave you a little bit of food for thought.

Thanks for reading!

Blessed Be!