Monthly Archives: June 2012

Earth, Divine Goddess

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‘Earth, divine Goddess, Mother Nature who generates all things and brings forth anew the sun which You have given to the nations; Guardian of sky and sea and of all Gods and powers….through Your power all nature falls silent and then sinks in sleep. And again, You bring back the light and chase away night and yet again, You cover us most securely with Your shades. You do contain chaos infinite, yea and winds and showers and storms; You send them out when You will and cause the seas to roar; You chase away the sun and rouse the storm.

Again, when You will, You send forth the joyous day and give the nourishment of life with Your eternal surety; and when the soul departs to You, we return. You are indeed duly called Great Mother of the Gods; You conquer by Your divine name. You are the source of strength of nations and of Gods. Without You, nothing can be brought to perfection or be born; You are Great Queen of the Gods. Goddess! I adore Thee as divine; I call upon Your name; be pleased to grant that which I ask of You, so shall I give thanks to Thee, Goddess, with due faith.

Hear, I beseech You, and be favorable to my prayer. Whatsoever herb Your power does produce, give, I pray, with goodwill to all nations to save them and grant me this my medicine.

Come to me with Your powers, and howsoever I may use them, may they have good success to whosoever I may give them. Whatever You grant, may it prosper. To You all things return. Those who rightly receive these herbs from me, please make them whole.

Goddess, I beseech You, I pray as a suppliant that by Your majesty, You grant this to me. Now I make intercession to You; all Your powers and herbs and to Your majesty, You whom Earth parent of all has produced and given as a medicine of health to all nations and has put majesty upon You, I pray You, the greatest help to the human race.

This I pray and beseech from You, be present here with Your virtues, for She who created You has Herself promised that I may gather You into the goodwill of him on whom the art of medicine was bestowed, and grant for health’s sake good medicine by grace of Your powers. I pray grant me through Your virtues that whatsoever is wrought by me, through You, may in all its powers have good and speedy effect and good success and that I may always be permitted with the favor of Your majesty to gather You into my hands and to glean Your fruits. So shall I give thanks to You in the name of the majesty which ordained Your birth.’

(Modernized version of a 12th century herbalist spell. Original translation from ‘Early English Magic and Medicine’, by Dr. Charles Singer. Proceedings of the British Academy, Vol. IV )

Image: Susan Seddon-Boulet

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Speaking Through the Veil – Ancestor Veneration

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The idea and practice of ancestral honour for modern pagans is one that has not found a huge following. This is strange when you consider that every continent and almost every country on Earth, practices or has practiced ancestor worship or honouring of the familial dead for thousands of years; Africa, Egypt, Rome, China, Japan, Korea, Burma, Mexico, South America, India, the Philippines, Vietnam, Thailand, Europe and North America.

It is sad that we as modern pagans, especially those of us who claim to communicate with Spirits regularly, ignore or neglect this basic tenet of paganism.

In my tradition, the Veil of Death is a reality; a thin gauze of perception that separates the ‘Living’ from the Dead. It can be breached, and Those on the other side can come to us, and we can go to Them. It is the Way of the true Worker to operate on both sides of the Veil, traversing back and forth with caution, care and courage.

Veneration of the deceased is based on the belief that souls of the Dead have an existence past this world and can help influence (for good or ill), the daily fortunes and circumstances of the living. Some people make propitiation to their angry Dead, trying to placate and appease. Some honour out of filial duty and consider it a cultural obligation, nothing more.

In many Egyptian, Eastern and Native American cultures, homage is paid to ensure the soul’s well-being in the land of the Dead; to ease their journey across the Death River and to help make them comfortable in their new home. In that way, the living help the Dead in the transition and hopefully, the Dead will return the favour when once safely across the River.

There is a difference between ancestor veneration and ancestral worship. While I honour my Dead, I do not worship them. They are not Deity. The veneration is a remembrance, an offering of gratitude for what they did for me when they were alive and hopefully, for what aid and guidance they can offer me through their deaths. In cases where the relationship may have been strained or tenuous while one party was alive, showing respect and honour after death can bring healing and reconciliation.

I have found this true in my own case, with my mother especially. There were things I meant to ask her and things I wanted to tell her before she passed. I have now told her those things and received of her the same. Even in Death, our relationship is one of constant change and shades of emotion. Death does not heal all wounds.

Ancestral veneration is neither difficult nor complicated. I have an altar with pictures of my father, mother and grandma (the three most influential people in my life). I have a bit of tobacco for mom and dad who were both smokers, snuff for grandma, a few candles and some vodka (mom loved vodka). For my aunt, who I stayed with often, I have a handkerchief (she cried very easily) and one fresh flower.

I usually honour them when the Sister is full, sitting in quiet thought, conversing with them. I remember their influence on my life; what they gave, what they took away, and how I can still learn from them. It’s interesting because often, during these meditative states, my memories are jarred and I recall things that I thought I had forgotten; plant Spirit workings with my dad, card reading techniques with my mother, jokes, stories….memories from the Shadows.

The Veil is thin. We tap into that unconscious state, where the living and the Dead are the same. This mortal coil cannot hold our Spirits back from our ancestral bloodline. Our family lineages provide us strength and stability in a world of constant change. I know that I too, one day, will be deceased. I hope to be a help to my bloodline, to my family tree. I hope to provide wisdom and a helping hand to my descendants as I am able.

Often, many people won’t have a permanent altar, but will honour their dead on certain days of the year. For me, this day is Dia de los Muertos, (Day of the Dead), usually on November 1st. The night before (Halloween or Samhain), I prepare Mexican dishes that my family enjoyed and set out their portions on a table lit with candles and decorated with fruits and flowers. I ask for their presence, aid and guidance. I leave the food overnight. The next day, (November 1), I remove the food and return it to the Earth Mother.

This food has been ‘eaten’ by the Dead. We are not to eat it or throw it out as this is disrespectful. Laying the food outside allows the creatures of the Earth and the Mother’s own grounding capabilities to safely dissipate the energy of the Dead. I offer prayers and written petitions to them on this day. I keep a consecrated candle lit for all three of them. I feel gratitude, I feel honoured to have known them and I feel blessed that their presence is still in my life.

If you are not quite ready to commit to an permanent ancestral altar, please do take the time to remember your deceased, at least once a month, preferably when the Sister is full. Light a candle, burn some incense, make an offering, say a prayer. Just REMEMBER. Their blood pulses through your veins, their heritage is yours, their aid and assistance yours for the asking. The Veil is thin. We can communicate through it.

“We die with the dying:
See, they depart, and we go with them.
We are born with the dead:
See, they return, and bring us with them”.

T. S. Elliot – Four Quartets

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Honouring the Elements

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I am not a circle maker. I know that flies in the face of many who practice the Craft, but,  I see no need.  I am not keeping anything out, I don’t wish to keep anything in. The ground where I stand is Holy, due to Her presence. I need nothing to consecrate it or make it ‘safe’.  The rituals I relate here will not include casting a circle or compass rose. However, if that is your system, please feel free to do so. These workings will be just as effective with or without.

The following is a simple ritual designed to increase your awareness of the power of the Elemental Gods and to honour Them in your life. I try to honour Them daily, each morning while I stand outside, greeting the Dawn. Once you incorporate an honour ritual into your routine, it’s amazing how much more ‘aware’ and conscious you become of Them; the breeze, the rain and dew, the light and warmth of day and the nurturing Earth Mother which sustains us all.  I thank Them for life.

I stand facing East, bow in reverence and say, “Hail and thank you, powers of the East, powers of air and intellect. Guide, guard and direct me this day. Make me powerful in the Path, make me knowledgeable in the Way”.

I turn to face South, bow in reverence and say,  ”Hail and thank you, powers of the South, powers of fire and passion.  Guide, guard and direct me this day. Make me powerful in the Path, make me knowledgeable in the Way”.

I now face West. I bow in reverence and say, “Hail and thank you, powers of the West, powers of water, ocean and intuition. Guide, guard and direct me this day. Make me powerful in the Path, make me knowledgeable in the Way”.

I now turn and face North. I bow again in reverence and say, “Hail and thank you, powers of the North, powers of Earth, ground and sustenance. Guide, guard and direct me this day. Make me powerful in the Path, make me knowledgeable in the Way”.

I stand in gratitude and mentally make note of how each Elemental God gives me life.  I am now in awe of all that surrounds me and my life and work take on deeper  meaning for giving honour where honour is due.

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Where is Our Dance?

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In our star-lit pagan past,
Fire lit dancers raised the Power
Gyrating to the beat of the Eternal Drum

The young world crackled and hissed with the Heat of the Wise.

Now, we sit as heavy stone.
Cold, incarcerated with tired eyes
Staring at endless screens, which tell us endless lies.

Where is our Dance?
Where are our Wise?

Pagan Know-It-Alls or When to Keep Your Mouth Shut

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There is a type of virus that has been plaguing the pagan and occult community for decades, a virus for which the only cure is suicide or euthanasia. This virus is rampant; a disease so powerful, so malicious, that it strikes at the very soul of paganism: education, free thought and self-empowerment.

This virus is self-importance and narcissism.

Now, here’s the rub: the virus seems to affect primarily those who make money off their occult practices. Those who market themselves as immanent authorities in their fields; those whose blathering blogs, websites, Facebook pages, and forums literally ‘boil over’ with their own enthusiasm about themselves; how superb they are at what they do, how excellent their wares, how impeccable their performance and petitions to the Gods, and most importantly, how lucky we poor mortal souls are to have such enlightened and inspired folks among us. How lucky indeed.

I would like to say, that I also, have very strong opinions on matters of Divinity, herbal uses in magic and healing, Spirit divination, rituals and workings, summoning and communing with the Disincarnate, etc. However, what I hope never to do and what I loathe about some, is the claim to ‘know everything about everything’, and to spout off unsolicited advice and opinion where none was asked for or desired.

We are all ‘specialists’. Building an occult knowledge that is truly powerful, real and Divine, takes a lifetime and even then, we have just scratched the impermeable surface. People spend their WHOLE lives learning just the magic and mystery of the Tarot, or concentrating specifically on Stellar Spirits or Elementals. To purport to be expert in all things occult is not only insulting to those who spend lifetimes on one ‘specialty’, but to the Gods themselves, who have called us. Even the Gods are specialists; war, herbs, summoning the Dead, oracles, etc. Even They have their own areas of expertise and stick to it.

What irritates and harms the pagan community isn’t the fact that people may disagree or argue about some personal characteristics of the Gods or the superb magical benefits of Mandragora, but the fact that so many believe themselves and market themselves as Superior Prefects in Occult Knowledge and Performance. You may be good at what you do, but you cannot be good at everything. You may have a wonderful ‘general’ knowledge; you may know a great many specifics about your own system and that to which you were ‘initiated’ or trained, but please never fool yourself (or think you are fooling us), into thinking that you know ‘all about all’. You are vastly more dangerous and insidious in your self-importance and conceit than any novice or non-initiate who dabbles with the occult on the weekends, fancying themselves as Aleister Crowley, in hooded cloak and pentagram.

Yes, the occult can be dangerous. Yes, not all Gods are kind and not all Spirits are helpful. Not all people are ‘cut out’ either mentally or emotionally for an occult life style or mind set. People can and have, got themselves into serious trouble ‘rushing in where Angels fear to tread’ and even worse, summoning Demons or invoking Goddesses of lust and wrath, not knowing Who they summon and not knowing what to do with the Great Ones once They arrive. I understand those warnings and agree.

But what is not helpful, what is NOT of benefit to the pagan community at large or even struggling, unlearned pagans individually, is the seemingly never-ending platitudes and condescension that just pours off of some ‘pagans for profit’, those that hold themselves as authorities in their fields, and it would appear, authorities in ALL fields.

They drown us with endless, useless verbiage, full of self and offering very little useful or practical information, because really, they believe ‘we just won’t be able to handle it’. Like church priests, the protectors of hierarchies and monotheism, you, my pagan friend, need an ‘intermediary’. You must buy my ointment, you must buy my wand, you must let me make your mojo bags, you must buy my book to really learn the ‘secrets’ of the Craft. Bah…humbug.

I am all for free market, making money, rolling in the gold and earning a living doing what you enjoy and what you know. However, that does not mean that just because you can put a curse on my neighbour, that you also, somehow miraculously know all the intricacies and characteristics of the entirety of the Greek pantheon or that I care to hear your opinions on such. I don’t.

You may be able to make a mean potion to help me achieve trance or visit the astral. Well done. But please don’t purport yourself to be an expert on Luciferianism and their adherents, and spout off about who I should or shouldn’t listen to if I am interested in Luciferianism. You don’t practice it, and you can’t with accuracy know all the detailed information about a system you don’t follow.

For us as diehards, for us of the Old Ways and whose passion for it inflames our hearts and makes us insane, I offer this solution: Do what you do and keep your mouth shut on the rest.

If you are of the Voodoo persuasion, and this is your passion, and life’s blood, wonderful. Keep to it, please share what you know. Please make a great living at it if possible. But don’t clutter the pagan consciousness with your little snippets of genteel wisdom on the worrisome aspects of evoking Circe or Lilith. I am not interested. If I want your opinion, I’ll ask for it.

If your path is one of circles, athames, the Lord and Lady and candle magic, I am happy for you. I hope all your petitions are granted and that while ‘harming none’, you increase in prosperity, abundance and health. But I am not interested in your warnings of summoning Shades or working with the Dark. You don’t know about it, you don’t practice it, you don’t agree with it, so….kindly be quiet.

When you come right down to it, the Gods have blessed us all with specific knowledge to aid in our growth, and that of our brothers. The Great Spider Woman Herself has set each of us on Strand, not on the whole Web. We are to work what we know. We are to continue learning and hopefully share wisely what we have learned and what has been given to us.

Work your Strand. Do what you do with honour, diligence, authority and peace. But, where your knowledge is closed, your mouth should follow.

Temple Dance, Lilith Responds

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Just a temple whore, whirling in the Dark
Blood lust, sin and rank desire

I am Lilith incarnate,

Mortal Demoness set aflame by Her skull-fed fire

Burning where I stand
Teeth shatter, flesh hangs in drapes

Brimstone in the Air

Primitive bones clatter in Arachnia’s lair

I am Death
I am Decay

I am vampire blood on the Shards of the day

Keep your infants safe
Hide their cradles and cloaks

I bow to no one

Railing against that desert joke

Eating his offspring with relish, tiny bones as toothpicks

I am Death
I am Decay

I am vampire blood on the Shards of the day.

Plant Spirit Communication – Foundations of Primitive Witchcraft – Essay 2

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In the darkest recesses of our ancient imagination, where the collective unconscious of ages past rests on our minds like a heavy blanket;  in this deep, dark place, shrouded in mystery, if we allow ourselves , we can become as we once were.

We can regain our lost heritage, history, wisdom and wholeness. When the Earth was young and the Divine Feminine held sway; in this place, the Earth spoke. We were wiser then, and silent, moving in honour and showing reverence.

Here, in our primordial past, the plants would speak to us. We were made whole by their presence and with their medicine, we were healed. They were our green saints; giving audience to our petitions, offering relief, regeneration and direction.

Now, we watch TV. We play video games or spend endless hours on the internet. We rarely even sit outside, or take the time to notice the flora that surrounds us. All more the pity, for it’s in this consecrated place,  outside our front door, that the Spirits of the plants would still speak to us with shadowed, whispered movement and delicate breath. They wait.

This is plant Spirit communication. This is knowledge gained, wisdom shared and the cycle of life continuing, one species bestowing gifts upon another, in an endless parade of sharing, taking, sharing, taking. How glorious it all was and how far we have wandered from this shaman’s Paradise.

It is not too poetic to state that my life has been radically influenced by plants. I have been blessed with a tradition that honours them and was trained from a young age to be respectful of them. How thankful I am for this training, for this appreciation. The greatest gift my dad ever gave me was the gift of Spirit awareness,  listening, ever listening, to the multitude that surround us.

Each plant has a special Spirit within; a personality, a characteristic, a method of co-existing with the world around it. Just like humans, they have their likes and dislikes; their preferences and predilections.  Some love the water, keeping their toes forever in the moist earth and wilting almost instantaneously when that moisture isn’t available. Some crave the heat of the Brother, the hotter and more focused His rays and light, the better. Some are nocturnal, putting out scents and shows for the waxing or waning  Sister and those of us who prefer  the Dark.

Just like our human friends,  plant Spirit communication is built over time, as a relationship. It doesn’t happen overnight. The plants have come to mistrust us and rightfully so. We take and take, greedily breaking the cycle of giving and sharing. We use and take from the Earth Mother without regard. Because of this, the Spirits of all the plants from the grandest trees to the tiniest wildflower are now ill-at-ease and introverted. It will take patience to mend this chasm. It will take dedication and diligence. It will take discipline and a walking away from the things of this modern world to step back into the past.  Are you up for it?

What sets dedicated farmers and gardeners apart from plant shamans, witches and medicine men is that of SPIRIT.  Most people can grow a plant. Most people can harvest a good supply of whatever seed is sown. The Mother is good to us like that. But where we miss the trick and where we lose the thread, is ignoring the Spirit inherent in the plant; that invisible, intangible Force that permeates each growing thing.  To really learn, to really be healed in Spirit and body, one must make contact with this Force. In times past, one learned this from an elder of the tribe or the village wise woman. Now, unfortunately, in most cases, we must educate ourselves.

The easiest way to do this to get acquainted. Just like dating, just like that tender beginning of human relationships, building plant Spirit communication is no different.  Choose one plant that you feel drawn to, either because of scent or appearance; attraction is key.  Start with one. Learn its name. Just like dating, you can’t get to know someone without knowing their name. Learn the common and Latin botanical name.  Learn its habitat (where it lives).  Take time to research what it likes: dampness, dryness, heat, or cool shade. Take time, every day if possible, to touch it, speak to it, sit in silence next to it.  Mentally ‘connect’ with the Life Force of the plant.

Silence is key to all paths of true shamanistic wisdom. Close your mouth and open your heart. Lean into it and listen. Listen. Listen. Calming of your own inner chatter and restless mind is part of the training. All Spirit communication, no matter what form it takes, will always start the same: in silence.

You will find as you practice this, as you start to learn various plants and recognize them by their auras and faces, as you take time to listen, and sit in solitude with them, that just like your human friends, they will start to trust you and open up to you. They will share their lives and their ancient memories with you. You will become initiated into the great brotherhood of plant and root doctors who for eons have healed and been healed and have been transformed.  The primal path can begin anew, with you, today.

Go outside.

 

Image courtesy of www.lunafina.com

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