November 21, 2016

November 21, 2016 By

It’s not often that I read a blog and feel compelled to write a counter opinion. Generally speaking, I do not like getting into “blog wars” and dislike the drama of the back and forth. I will make an exception in this case where I strongly disagree with one of the “popular kids” and many of the commentators for a recent blog about the veil. As a practical magician, I know a tremendous amount about the veil. My magical praxis has openly and publicly been about manipulating the veil (and by manipulating, I mean temporarily shredding). I will share some of my techniques on weakening the veil. You can decide what perspective is more correct.

On November 6, John Beckett wrote a blog on this topic too. You can find his blog here. John is, without a doubt, an intelligent and well liked guy. I just disagree with his perspective on this, and more so wish he would have thought about the language he used more carefully. I consider myself intelligent, probably not as well liked and that’s OK, but I come from a very different perspective.

a pair of plush elephant dolls in a baby stroller
MirelaSchenk / pixabay.com

In the blog post, John immediately laid this out:

“…speculate that malevolent magicians are working spells to shred the Veil. That sounds too much like opening the hellmouth on Buffy the Vampire Slayer to me. Very few people who would do malevolent magic have the focus and discipline to develop the kind of skills it takes to be truly dangerous”

WTF? Really? Really?! I have over 25 years of experience in practical magic not needfully worship and this is pretty insulting to me. There is a whole bunch of assumptions to unpack in this statement.

People who would try to shred the veil are malevolent

Word choice matters here, and John further backs this up later with “Boundaries are an important feature of life, both spiritually and materially.” This assumption is political. A certain worldview is being supported even by the choice of language. This language supports a certain set of human spiritual relationships within a boundary of set conditions (“you are here” and “they are there” spirits). 5 minutes reading occult material on the internet will tell you, no one will agree on what that looks like and, fundamentally, I would disagree with what that should look like as compared to John. I know this just by the combinations of statements.

The word “malevolent” is a political choice and these unfortunate word choices reveal a spiritual political opinion that I just do not agree with. Using the label says more about your beliefs then any absolute truth. By my own standards, I am far from malevolent. Maybe a little trickster-ish at times, but malevolent? No.  My teachers were mostly healers and aligned very closely to “light” forces. They openly taught methods of lowering the veil too. We will go over the reasons why further in the blog.

Malevolent magicians lack discipline and focus

Again, malevolent is a word that displays a political choice in worldview.  Who is malevolent?  In most cases, it is people you do not agree with in worldview.

Sounds too much like opening the hellmouth on Buffy the Vampire Slayer to me

Can I use this example to my students as a reductio ad absurdum argument? Does shredding the veil in practice look like a hellmouth situation? No, it does not. Nor does completely shredding the veil seem fully possible. Is the veil “shredded”? No, but it is weaker. Shredding the veil entirely for a temporary and very localized area is a Sidhe and is worth it, but really the spiritual alchemy that occurs on the journey is far more important.

From my experience, let me counter these political points with actual experience.

  1. The magicians I know that use techniques to weaken “The Veil” are some of the most focused, talented and disciplined magicians I know. Yes, they tend to be sorcerers who lean towards chaos magic in a serious way and definitely like to transcend certain boundaries as limitations. Many of these people share a deep love of spirits. Real love, not just acquiescence and obedience.
  1. There are quite a number of strong magicians who may not agree with me or John that someone has labeled as malevolent, that are quite disciplined and powerful even if I, or someone else, finds their techniques repulsive. Once you leave the “internet” aside, rest assured, these people exist.

Weakening the veil is possible and requires less magical skill than most people think. The so called power of “The Veil” is entirely localized with different areas having barriers of different strengths. Interested in a “low veil” area? New Orleans has a weak veil. The single most important skill is patience and tenacity.

a sprouting plant surrounded by barbed wire
MarkoLovric / pixabay.com

Prison by a Different Name

Again, John states “Boundaries are an important feature of life, both spiritually and materially.  His metaphor uses the arbitrary difference between states as the example. Interesting, a “state boundary” is entirely a human constraint. Ultimately, that barrier is a symbol of “state identity”. The land does not care. We care.

A prison has boundaries.  We call them walls. People have been talking about walls a lot lately in the media. What is the difference between a wall and a boundary? To me a boundary is something that is present and can make sense to distinguish two or more things.  It marks a useful separation.

A wall or fence is a boundary that one or more parties decided to empower with force and in some cases violence. In the case of a prison, we can classify this as a type of state-sanctioned violence. Who goes to prison? Well, often times that is political as well.

“The Veil” has become something more like a prison. It is unclear whether or not we were the prisoners or prison guards to many magicians. I think the answer is both. For many of the magicians working on the veil issue, we listen to the stories from our family from other countries or the tales of ancestors at the altar and realize something has changed in the last 100 years. What changed the most, was people and how we have transformed our relationship to the environment.

Do we Live in Fear or Joy of the Spirit World

Various religions do not agree whether or not we should be in fear or joy of the spirit world, but the dominant Western religions (Christianity and Material Scientism) both are extremely spirit averse.

I live in joy with the spirit world. Even the “bad things” in the spiritual world bring me some joy.  I forget that sometimes, but generally I want spirits around. I value their counsel and value the lessons. I was so attracted to Vodou and Fae magic (not necessarily book-based Fae magic), because the spirits are immediate, intimate, and present. If spirits are immediate, intimate, present and potentially alien, they also can be quite frightening.

The forces of nature were quite frightening. Notice that for most of our history, our gods and spirits are tied to the forces of nature. Shamans were actually feared. For most of humanity’s history, those that interacted with the natural world did so from a fear and need. We had those who would reach out to the spirit world and try to make things better for the tribe or city.

Then science and technology happened along with a set of cultural values and a mindset of industrial imperialism. A very different view was injected into the minds of people across the world and it was empowered by various forms of force (economic, imperialistic, educational, etc). Generally speaking, we were forced to lose our need to communicate and all that was left was fear or disdain.

a woman standing in the middle of a road facing away from the camera looking into a fog bank
Unsplash / pixabay.com

What is the Veil and How Does it Change

First, I am not a Celtic reconstructionist, or a strict polytheist, or even a theocrat. I am a results-oriented practical magician and shaman that often does good work in the astral realms to affect physical spaces. Everything I will say here is from practical experience and somewhat verified by other practical magicians. I can only speak to my observations.

First “the veil” as a monolithic idea is almost certainly wrong. The veil is much more mist-like or fog-like to me and there is a continuum of reality from a weak to relative strong “veil”. From area to area the strength of the veil can and does change and it changes depending on the time of the year.   The strength of the veil can even be vastly different in a forest within a city, a temple, dwellings, and places of business. It depends on who and what goes on in those areas. Magical temple areas tend have much weaker veils, some Christian churches tend to have much higher veils.

Places of high artistic activity and creativity tend to have a weakened veil which in part reveals some hints about the veil, spiritual world and creativity. If you know how to work it, places associated with the spooky and unknown such as forests at night, graveyards, etc, tend to have a weakened veil. Graveyards are interesting, since people are very conflicted about whether it is a place of paranormal activity or not. If you know how to wake up the spirits, it can be a truly peaceful place or a happening one. At night, the veil tends to be lower across the board.

The veil itself tends to be reactive to the people around it. Magical work can directly affect it in a localized way, and depending on who is doing the magic and what is being done, I have seen the veil around a temple strengthen or weaken. Political magic or magic against “corporations” seems to get a response where it tends to strengthen, personal magic tends to weaken it.

The topology of the land and especially rivers and water has an impact on the strength of the veil (water seemingly weakening it).  Social unrest which tends to disrupt the normal social flow, tends to actually break down the veil as well.

From a purely practical point of view, the veil is a metaphor not just for spirits, but the ability to work magic in the world. It partially reacts to the collective unconscious of the people who are around it and partially is changed by it. In a way, the notion that it is somehow a separate concept from people just does not hold water. It is and it is not inside our deeper minds as well as the external reality. Like many things in spiritual world, boundaries sound good on paper but are difficult in practice since spiritual work itself tends to resist binary either or language.

Have we Done a Good Job Alone?

When thinking about the techniques I have outlined, have we done a good job alone? My spirituality has provided hope in dark times and has tangibly transformed my life. Why would I want to to have a wall that prevents other people who are equally in need from accessing that? The bad has in some cases been far outweighed by the good. Now we need wisdom, love and insight- and not just to make the crops grow.

As a species, we literally have the power to transform the weather, planet and do unbelievable damage. Have we done a good job on planet earth? From the spirit’s point of view, the changes we have made to the planet probably are similar to a blink of the eye in timescale. I don’t think they actually knew what to do or what was going on? What if the veil being lowered is not just a result of the people, but the spiritual world applying pressure to the veil itself to hook into individuals?  From the desire of the people themselves to find something deeper than what the modern world holds for us? Perhaps the tears of both worlds wash that wall down. It’s still a boundary, and still takes a lot to cross fully over, but perhaps the moments of fully crossing over from the spiritual world are the spirit’s way of reinforcing the idea we are not alone. A means to re-negotiate our collective relationship in the face of our new found power, so we don’t blow them up too. The world has gotten a lot starker but we have been on this trajectory for a long while. I think most people, in our hearts, even regardless of who they voted for feel like there is something existentially wrong with modern society that is difficult to express in words. The yearning is there and in a joy based spiritual world, perhaps it is on both sides. Perhaps, magicians working to shred the prison aspects of the veil are merely a type of antibody to a system that neither most people (at a deep level), nor most spirits want.

a monk in orange robes meditating in a bamboo grove
Mirigama Indawansa Thero / pixabay.com

Techniques of Weakening the Veil

If you have some inclination that perhaps this different vision for the veil sounds or feels right, I can give you some techniques to weaken the veil in a localized manner. The rabbit hole is deep and the learning curve is steep. While I do not cover this in my shapeshifting course, most of the prerequisites for doing this sort of work are covered in the course. You have to be very good at meditation, astral work, and energy work while being patient. 3-4 workings may have little effect. 10-15 will likely provide some effects such as more art being expressed or more spirits popping in around you. When I got to about 15 in an area, I saw artists gathering more toward the area I was working in.  Poetry slams, coffee meetups, real inspiration. That fact was replicated a couple times and is enough for me alone to continue the work (although I have gotten better results than that as well). I have not seen the number high enough to “shred the veil” in the “let’s make spirits walk into this world like a hellmouth.” It takes effort to manifest spirits in that manner and the results are always temporary. The best way to do this is to have a partner who has some psychic ability to observe the results.

My simplest way to do this is to find an astral place of relatively high magical energy. You have to be able to go to the astral and find such a place. Some forests or other places have natural tendencies to be like this. When you are doing this work, split your consciousness partially in the astral area, and partially in the physical world. Hold both places in mind as you sit in meditation, allowing your body to vibe ( but use all five senses) acting as if you are a bell (but a bell that can ring in five senses). Allow the physical body to vibrate with the 5 senses and allow your mind to fully engage at the same time.

Once you get the technique down, you may perceive that there is something or somewhere (depending on your metaphor) that seems to resist that bell ringing or is a strong dampener. If you can focus on that third area, time or place on the process that seems to dampen the astral area of high energy, this is very likely a clue to the veil. Vibrating that high energy strongly across the five senses until these “dampener” areas will tend to affect the veil and weaken it. Projecting a Mass of Chaos via Peter Carroll in this manner has also had a tendency to greatly weaken the veil (if you connect between the physical world and do the work in astral temple). Connecting to relative stasis energies and vibrating that in the dampener areas of perception will tend to strengthen the veil.  These concepts are difficult to describe in language because they require a level of spiritual progression and practice to do this type of work. They really have to be understood in terms of personal experience and magical praxis and then verified by the observer.

The effect is cumulative, but individual workings are transitory. You will learn patience doing this type of work.

It is my hope that I have inspired you in some ways with this blog post. We are all facing an increasingly dark future it seems, and I think we need to start re-conceptualizing our boundaries in radically different ways. To paraphrase the Bhagavad-Gita, in the age of darkness, spiritual assistance will be offered to those who sincerely, and from the heart, ask in spite of the hardships in the physical world. Perhaps the weakening of the veil represents the first stages of our collective hearts asking, and yet not knowing yet what we are asking for. The people willfully trying to weaken the veil I think have a sneaky suspicion of where and what that assistance might look like despite the harshness of the world. Much Love and Peace to you all.

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November 17, 2016

November 17, 2016 By

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Heathenry is an increasingly visible form of spirituality in the modern world yet not much is well-known about the people who practice it. The most prominent works of scholarship on our community are Jennifer Snook’s American Heathens and the Norse Mythology Blog Worldwide Heathen Census.

For our community to continue to grow it needs to be better understood, both by the public and ourselves. To that end, we are proud to announce Huginn Heathen Hof’s first ever Global Heathen Demographic Survey. With this survey, we are seeking to better understand who are the people practicing Heathenry, what motivates them to take up our form of spirituality, what their communities are like, and their general views on a number of key topics.

Anyone who identifies as Heathen is welcome and encouraged to submit their responses to the survey. For this survey, we are using the same definition and terms as the Norse Mythology Blog Census. For our survey the term Heathenry includes but is not limited to those who identify as Anglo-Saxon Heathenry, Ásatrú, Asatro, Firne Sitte, Forn Sed, Forn Siðr, Germanic Heathenry, Germanic Neopaganism, Germanic Paganism, Heathenism, Heathenry, Norse Paganism, Norse Religion, Northern Tradition, Odinism, Old Way, Theodism, Urglaawe, or Vanatru or any other spiritual practice influenced by the traditions and practices of the pre-Christian Germanic peoples.

Below is the link to the question form that includes all of the information we would like you to submit. Unless you specifically give us permission to quote you all of your responses will remain anonymous. This survey will be open until January 16th. The findings of the Huginn’s Heathen Hof Demographic Survey will be posted by the beginning of February of 2017 and made available to the public for use as a resource for the modern Heathen community.

If you would like to participate, and help build a better understanding of the Heathen community, please select your primary language below.

(More options will be added as we are able!)

English

Spanish

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November 15, 2016

November 15, 2016 By

At the end of last month, I had the opportunity to travel to Ireland as part of a sacred sites tour dedicated to the Morrigan which I co-facilitated with Stephanie Woodfield. This was a big deal for me because I cannot, generally speaking, afford to travel especially internationally, and I have wanted to go to Ireland for over twenty years. Being able to participate in this tour was significant, and thanks to Land Sea Sky Travel who were arranging the trip; it hit on all the sites I would have wanted to go see and many I didn’t know I’d want to go to until I was there. Important to me not only for the religious aspect of connecting to places associated with my Gods, but also because I have a passion for the old mythology and folklore itself, and I was driven to make the most of an opportunity to see the places I’d read about.

a photograph taken from within a human-made cave-like passage facing its mouth
Hands on history – crawling through a souterrain at Knowth

I am usually a very vocal advocate of connecting to the spirits – Gods, Other Crowd, and land spirits – where we are, of a very fingers-in-the-dirt spirituality. I still am a proponent of that, but there is also value¹ in seeing firsthand where the myths took place, of walking in the literal footsteps of the Gods and spirits. The backbone of our spirituality should be, I think, the daily things but that does not eradicate the numinous moments to be found in places that have been held sacred for millennia. And its one thing after all to read about something and another thing to altogether to directly experience it – I’ll certainly never think of souterrains the same way again.²

I was in Ireland for 10 days and it would be too long to recap all of it here. I have written a more personal blog about my experiences called “Muddy Boots; or setting my feet on the path before them”  if anyone is interested in reading that aspect of my trip. What I’d like to look at here is what it was like to visit places where the myths that form the core of my religion actually took place. To stand on the ground the Gods were said to have stood on and to touch the earth and stones in those places. Because of the nature of the tour everywhere we went had its significance; some more well-known, some more obscure; some more moving and some less so. I want to highlight a few here that particularly stood out for me.

Rathcroghan – One of the main myth cycles in Irish mythology is the Ulster cycle, and a place which features often in that series of stories is Rathcroghan. Rathcroghan, part of the larger complex of Cruachan, includes the site of the royal palace of Queen Medb as well as Uaimh na gCat which is strongly associated with the Morrigan. Our group was lucky enough to be guided this particular day by Lora O’Brien who led us up the mound of Rathcroghan and later into the cave. Standing on the mound of Rathcroghan and envisioning the palace which once stood there was an amazing experience and more intense than I expected.

The Mound at Rathcroghan
The Mound at Rathcroghan

Although we had already visited Newgrange it was at Rathcroghan that I realized the power of being in a place you have read over and over about; of looking around and imagining that story taking place where you are actually standing. We were no longer simply talking about Medb but we were standing where her palace once stood, we were looking around at the same land that she would have looked around and seen. We weren’t just having an abstract discussion about the Morrigan when we went to Uaimh na gCat – we were touching the earth She is said to come and go from; we were ourselves going into the place which is called in the Dindshenchas: Her “fit abode.”

That tactile experience, that connection between the mental and the physical senses was a truly profound experience for me, as an American pagan who had not had that before on such a deep level. It is one thing where I live to see a historical site and know that a battle took place there, or a famous historical person lived there, but its something else to be somewhere that is so intrinsic to the story of a deity that I am closely connected to.

Tlachtga – I spent Samhain at Tlachtga, the Hill of Ward in Athboy. This is where, its said, the pagan Irish would gather to celebrate Samhain in the Iron Age with bonfires and ritual. For more than a decade I have re-enacted this ritual in my own home as part of my Druidic practices and I was excited this year to be participating in the public ritual on the Hill itself. I hadn’t anticipated though the emotional impact that would come with standing in a ritual surrounded by a crowd estimated at 2,000, able to see the distant fires lit on Teamhair [Tara] and knowing that everything we were doing was a modern interpretation and echo of practices rooted in thousands of years of history. That is a feeling that truly transcends words and I will take the experience and my gratitude for being able to be part of it with me for the rest of my life. You can watch this year’s Samhain Fire Festival on Tlachtga at the attached Youtube video, and if you stick it out to around 42 minutes you can listen to me offering a prayer to the aos sidhe for and to the gathered crowd.

a solitary standing stone split down the middle
Cu Chulain’s Stone

Cu Chulainn’s Stone – We also visited Cloch an Fhir Mhóir [stone of the big man] the standing stone which its said Cu Chulainn tied himself to as he was dying so that he would die on his feet. Our group gathered around it as dusk fell and I re-told the Aided Conculaind, the death tale of Cu Chulainn, gesturing to the stone and the land around us as I spoke. There is something deeply visceral – no pun intended – in telling that kind of story on the very ground that local lore says it occured on. In pointing to the stone itself as we talk about Cu Chulainn binding himself to it. Honestly as someone who has always described myself as neutral towards Cu Chulainn – I neither like nor dislike him – I was surprised by how moved I was to stand by the stone and tell the end of his story there. It was more moving than I expected to look around that empty field and envision that final battle, and ultimately the hero’s death.

Emhain Macha – I am dedicated to Macha, so perhaps it is no great surprise that one of the most moving places we visited was Emhain Macha, Macha’s eponymous territory, called Navan Fort today. As we walked the path out to the temple mound, Vyviane Armstrong of Land Sea Sky Travel talked about how local lore said that the path we were walking was the very race track that Macha had run while pregnant and pointed out a low stone which, she said, was where Macha was supposed to have given birth and died. Standing there and looking at that stone was a powerful moment for me, whether or not the story was true, because it drove home that this was one reason why this place was named for her. As we stood later in the area next to the main mound and I retold the story of Macha Mongruadh, pointing around us and talking about Macha drawing out the boundary of the fort I had another such moment where it ceased to be a simple story for me and became something more tangible and real. Not just a myth but an actual event grounded in the dirt and stones around me.

a hill of grass
The main mound at Emhain Macha

The trip was a life changing one for me and something I am still processing on deeper levels. I’ve already agreed to another Ireland trip with Land Sea Sky Travel in 2018 during Bealtaine, this one focused on southern Ireland and the mythology of that area. I am really excited about digging into the history and mythology of Munster and Cork, of Áine, Goibhniu, Donn, and the Cailleach and of making the same connections there that I made in Armagh, Roscommon, Louth, and Meath.

Endnotes:

  1. There is an inherent and undeniable privilege associated with being able to travel, and I don’t want to downplay that here. There will always be many reasons why going to sacred sites might be impossible for someone and I will never argue that such a thing is essential to anyone’s spirituality; however if it is possible there is value in it which should also be considered. (back)
  2. Tangential side story but the short version is I crawled through a souterrain at Knowth and it gave me a very different view of souterrains. Literally. (back)
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November 14, 2016

November 14, 2016 By

What makes a potion more than a tea? In witchcraft the simple infusion of plant matter into liquids is elevated from a drink to a magical brew. The manner in which a witch makes recipes into a spell is by carefully selecting components fit to the potions purpose and ensuring the elements included know the goal and work towards its completion.

potion bottles
Photo by the author

First something triggers the desire to make the potion and the purpose the brew will serve:

  1. Perhaps one is hiking outdoors and stumbles upon Saint Columba’s plant “armpit package of Columba kindly, unsought by me, unlooked for! I shall not be thrust upon iron.” Because this plant also known as St. John’s wort is to be used for magic when found without looking for it – the discovery of itself prompts it’s use – upon seen it if you aren’t worried about that all perhaps you remark instead “plant of the joyful feast that was in the delightful quart of Fionn.” (Carmina Gadelica).
  2. Should a pressing need or want to send you seeking a plant for a potion you might go where are you know it grows, is sold, or stored. Do tell it as you gather it why you are requiring its virtues: “Verbana, do good for me! Bless that which! The fairy that has me marked!” (Aradia: Gospel of the Witches by Charles Leland and Madellena, the Puzzaglino translation).

Back in the kitchen, the witch stirs their brew, be it mulled wine or the wert of a gruit ale, a pot of boiling water poured over leaves for an infusion, pungent bulbs and roots in an oil or an herbal vinegar, honey, hard alcohol, or glycerin. Does the witch murmur the standby “For charm of powerful trouble-Like a hell broth boil and bubble. Double, double toil and trouble, fire burn and cauldron bubble.” from Macbeth by Shakespeare? Or more likely something less gruesome like: “Ascend from earth to heaven and to send again to earth, combine the power of above and below” (the Alchemist’s Kitchen by Guy Ogilwy).

At the last minute even, a witch can whisper over a drink to awaken the magical engagement of the materials to the purpose. Concentrate for a moment, draw in the celestial power of the sun above and land below and speak it into the cup: “coffee bean and hazelnut, revive my heart, ground my will, as I drain the strength of confidence from this cup.”

If you are curious about growing your own potions with magically selected ingredients with traditional and poetic charms, check out my class on Patreon. This month we are making a witch cider with warming herbs and wild fermentation.

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November 12, 2016

November 12, 2016 By

My friend comes home after an evening of dancing and moving energy for Standing Rock. She’s exhausted from an intense week of community gatherings — first a Samhain ritual in honor of the beloved dead, with so many passing this year and so much collective grief in the air, and now tonight, a passionate, full-embodied group prayer for protection, for peace, for justice.

All of this was a preparation for what awaits her. Death has arrived on her doorstep.

two wolves eating their kill
Photo by Shellyse Szakacs / Used with permission

Two four-point bucks, with their antlers impossibly locked, are wound together in a huge piece of seine fishnet. Her car headlights illuminate them in the darkness. She bears sacred witness to these beautiful wild beings, heart wide open and broken, as they thrash violently all over her property for an hour, unable to free themselves.

The bucks are exhausted, terrified. Fortunately she has a friend who is a gentle hunter. When he arrives, he’s able to take clean shots, killing the bucks instantly and saving them from an agonizing death. Strangely, in their dying the second stag lands on the first. In death, the combatants lie serenely on top of each other, like a pair of sleeping cats.

As sacred witness and gentle hunter, these two friends speak to the fallen bucks, pray for them, and mourn their passing.

The image of the bucks and the story I’ve just shared, in the words of my friend, appear in my Facebook feed. I stop what I’m doing, my heart wide open and broken, understanding that these bucks have gifted my friend, our community, this world, with a powerful vision that speaks to the tumultuous change of these times.

I too have been sacred witness this week, at our local Samhain ritual. In this role, I sat veiled and silent, dropped into the deep dream of our magic, watching between the worlds as the names of the dead were spoken, and our community danced a spiral in honor of the blessed newborn.

Here I saw the dead, not just from our community but a thousand souls drawn to our ritual fire, making their crossing in the light of our honoring and love. And as our spiral dance built to a peak of energy, my body became a birthing mama as a thousand newborns passed through me, through our magic, into the world.

Another powerful vision that speaks to these times: a thousand deaths for a thousand births — we are living an epic death-rebirth moment.

These two vision brew in me, colliding with the intense drama of the US presidential election, the building momentum of political, social, economic and environmental crises and unrest, and the mythic forces moving through our world calling us to an evolutionary, change-or-die revelation.

We know, in our flesh and bones, that things have reached a tipping point; we just can’t keep doing what we’re doing to the planet, and to each other, without dire and lasting consequences.

At the exact time we need progressive government, substantive action, social justice and hope, we get the very worst case scenario, our darkest nightmare has come true: President Trump.

Take a deep breath. Feel your warm heart beating inside your precious body. Do not despair. We’ve been heading toward this exact moment for years, decades, millennia.

Death has arrived on our doorstep.

The end is near, and it looks a whole lot like the two bucks in the vision, battling to the death, with locked horns, inextricably tangled in the net.

This net is our known world, woven of the threads of our inner and outer conceptions of reality, and the infrastructure of culture and society. This net is everywhere, interweaving every aspect of our life in webbing that is strong, resilient and specifically designed to ensure there is no escape. Many of us call this net patriarchy.

Together in this net, we thrash about, stuck in the stories we tell ourselves about our world, each other, and this mess we’re in. We lock horns with the enemy, be it Trump, or Clinton, or whoever holds contrary views, or lives by the things we find abhorrent. We lock horns with our inner demons and personal wounding that tangle us in our pain and our past. We lock horns with our judgements, rage, fear and despair.

Many of the stories we tell are true, and the battles are necessary to protect the Earth, the vulnerable and each other. Yet there is always a combatant, across the battle lines, with a different story and agenda, ready to meet us full on. So we thrash about, terrified, exhausted, and headed for an agonizing future that will take us all down, and our planet home with us.

Take another deep breath. Open your heart, wide and broken, and step away from the battle, step away from the net; enter the deep dream beneath this drama, and become the sacred witness.

The sacred witness knows she can’t stop this battle. She can’t disentangle the combatants from the net. She honors death as a messy, heartbreaking business. She can only witness what is, knowing that this stuff of life — the angst and longings and beauty and horror and struggle and triumphs — is the crucible of our greater becoming and our deepest dreams coming true.

From a thousand deaths come a thousand births. Rebirth is not possible without death.

Her only desire is to ease the suffering for both sides of the struggle, and to bring a quick, clean ending. So she calls the gentle hunter to her side — to speak, to pray, to mourn, to facilitate death. This gentle hunter can be many things — a loving touch, a listening ear, an open mind, an incisive word, compassion, forgiveness, goodness, gratitude, tolerance, justice — qualities that are deep and ancient, arising from the best of our nature, outside of the net, outside of the battle.

What comes next for our humanity is unknown. We ride the razor-sharp edge of our evolution, still in the midst of the battle and the tangle of the net, and things have definitely taken a turn for the worse.

I won’t pretend that I totally understand these visions that I’ve shared. They’re new, raw, emerging out of the depth of my community’s magic, the power and presence of my friend, and my own deep-dreaming soul.

I only know that the Mysteries have spoken, through the sacrifice of the two magnificent bucks, and the dead and the newborn who graced our Samhain ritual. We’re not alone in our struggles. So many forces are calling us home to the best of our nature, and a better, kinder, more loving and sustainable future.

We are combatants, tangled in the net, fighting for our life, our beloveds, the vulnerable in our midst, and the Earth. We are sacred witnesses and gentle hunters, bringing love and presence to the battle and the combatants. We can hold all of this, be all of this — complex, resilient, bruised, wise, powerful, loving — knowing that death will come, one way or another, because the world as we know it, the net of patriarchy, has run its course.

In these visions and realizations, I find my hope, my inspiration, and this prayer, from my open and broken heart to yours: out of our struggles, out of the pain and suffering of so many, out of the great harm we have inflicted on our Mother Earth, out of the thousands and thousands of deaths, rebirth will come; we will live once more from the love, beauty and goodness that are the best of our nature, and the world will be forever changed.

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November 11, 2016

November 11, 2016 By

[Author’s Note: Despite my dismay at the recent election results, I will not dwell on them here. Other authors here at Patheos have discussed them much better than I could. Instead, I’ll focus on what we can do to help make our communities better able to weather this new environment.]

The All Gods Event is a ritual I created a few years ago when I was involved in a lot of intrafaith work in the Bay Area. I felt then, as I do now, that politics being what it is, it is even more important for us to pull together and support each other, because the upcoming political regime will not. It was very important for me that this happen not just on the community level, but on the spiritual level as well.

Believe it or not, unless we are part of some very rare family tradition, we modern Heathens are part of the Pagan movement. It’s in our best interest to get along with other Pagan traditions and groups. As a devotional polytheist, I think it’s in our best interest to get along with their Gods, as well. (Also, it makes me happy to see different deities being presented and honored by those who love them. At Heathen events, all I usually see are the Aesir and Vanir gods.)

a painting of the greek pantheon of gods and goddesses
The Council of the Gods / Raphael – Public Domain / Wikimedia Commons

Welcome to the Party

a circular symbol with a blue border shwoing three hands clasping a ring in which Thor's hammer is pictured. the hands are of three different skin tones. The caption reads "Inclusive Heathenry"
Illustration by Lorrie Wood of Hrafnar Kindred / Used with permission

The key to this kind of event is open mindedness and acceptance. Any person who is willing to come and respectfully honor or make space for other deities as well as their own should be invited. (This is not Sleeping Beauty; no Gods should be “left out” because they have a bad rep.) This is a great way to get to know those people in your larger Pagan community whom you know of but have never worked with, because you’re in different traditions or honor different Gods. I have found that getting to know someone through their devotion to their deity or their spiritual tradition can be a powerful way to grow understanding and empathy among community members.

The first time I ran this event, individuals from many groups showed up, representing we Gods from several different pantheons. At the beginning of the event, I gave a lengthy reminder to all and sundry that given that all the old pantheons honored hospitality, I expected all who attended, both human and divine, to honor that hospitality and act as a good guest. All of the deities who showed up played well with others, and no notable problems arose.

The Gods we called that day were representative of the people who attended, and for the most part they were an easy-going lot. We honored Freya, Hermes, Dionysus, Ariadne, Aphrodite, Hreda, Odin, Loki, Njord, Freyr, Nerthus, and a few others as well. Many off-color jokes were told, much food and drink was shared, eloquent speeches made and libations poured, and many new human connections made and old ones strengthened. Though I would have liked to include a few more pantheons, the event was a success. The general consensus was that the Gods represented were happy to be included and got a kick out of being honored in front of people other than their usual worshipers.

a sculture of Hermes's face on a rectangular base which includes an erect penis
Hermes ithyphallicus, Herm form Sifnos, islandic marble, circa 520 BC (National Archaeological Museum of Athens) / Photo by Zde – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0 / Wikimedia Commons

Our offerings took many forms, as well: food, drink, song, stories, and jokes, including an unexpected–but apparently historically appropriate–round of Hermes’ dick jokes: “Hermes’s dick is so big, every time he gets a hardon there’s a solar eclipse,” etc. (He is represented by big, phallic hermes, after all). Most importantly, though, together we created a safe space where all of our Gods could be honored respectfully.

How It Works

Basically, I brainstormed the details of the original event with a few friends; booked a great campsite for the event; and invited all of the pagan/polytheist groups and people that I knew. Being a unrepentant idealist, I am generally sure that Everything is Going to Work Out Just Fine most of the time, but even so, I’m pay close attention to what works and what doesn’t. I took away from the experience couple of suggestions for the next time I run this event. So, for those who would like to try this at home, here’s my advice:

  • First, create a set list. To the extent that is possible, get an idea of who will be there and which Gods will be represented. Make a timeline and stick to it. This will help avoid confusion, wasted time, and hurt feelings. Because several attendees had scheduling conflicts, I ran this event as if it were an Open House, with participants rolling in at different times; however, this caused more confusion than anything else. I’m still undecided on whether the set list should be organized by pantheon/trad or not; personally, I liked it best when we skipped from pantheon to pantheon.
  • Second, avoid politics. I strongly recommend that this event be made up of individuals representing their Gods rather than people representing a group. It’s not about the politics and it’s not about the personalities; it’s about coming together as a community to help honor and respect each others’ Gods.
  • Third, invest the money to get a decent location for the event. Though it’s unlikely that you’ll find a place with a fire pit, a running spring, an accessible bog, a beach, and a sauna, it’s a good goal to aim for. I ended up scoring a group campsite in a public park on a marsh next to the Bay. It had a huge fire pit, ample space for food prep and grilling, plenty of benches and picnic tables, running water, and a permanent restroom. (Unfortunately, it also had a lot of outsiders walking through or near it, so I, as the person running it, got to spend a lot of time and energy on the landtaking part of the ritual.)
  • an african american woman holding a statue of loki
    “Everyone’s invited to the party, even Loki.” Loki’s Carrier Pigeon, Gari Farmer, holding her statue of Loki / Photo by Gari Farmer / Used with permission

    Which leads me to my fourth recommendation: Demarcate and purify the crap out of that space before you get started. Do it before the participants have even gathered and have someone designated specifically to hold the larger space. (Not ward the space, per se; but hold the space, keeping it as sacred space set aside for all to attend.) Also, since each tradition (and even each person) has their own way of setting and sacralizing space, when it is their turn to honor their Gods, let people set/cleanse their space within the larger space as they wish. As far as I could tell, the different ways of setting space did not negatively impact each other.

  • Finally, five: Make this a event a “low-woo” event; i.e., no trancing or journeying or intense energy work. I can see different versions of this event being higher woo or with a specific focus (such as trancing a deity), but the low-woo restriction allows the focus to remain on honoring the Gods and allows as many people to attend as possible. An event like this is meant to be a community service event. Some people are just not interested in or prepared to participate in a high-woo event, but they still have the right to come to the table and worship their Gods in the way that they see fit.

We Are the World

I’d love to see this ritual (or something similar) happen across our nation. The Gods—the large and the small ones; the local and the universal ones; the Gods of war and peace and art and poetry— They are interested in what happens here on Earth. In the times to come, they are the bedrocks of support that we will need to overcome the challenges facing us in the future. They are our most powerful allies, healers, and helpers. Think of how much powerful we and They can be when we honor them together.

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November 11, 2016

November 11, 2016 By

Paganism and guns isn’t something you see an article on very often. We Pagans love our wheel of the year and moon cycles, and magic as well as our love of nature and harmony with everything. I love my athame, and sword, but I would never consider ever using either besides in ritual. So, what was this Pagan doing at a gun range?

 Well, I decided to get way outside of my usual and was invited to go shooting one afternoon, to see if I could shoot and to assess my proficiency. Truth be told before this, I had never held a gun in my life.

It was also one of the strangest days of my life, and here’s why.

two women sillohuetted by the setting sun holding pistols
axiomgenius / pixabay.com

Guns have always scarred me. Statistics of deaths and violence aside, I have never felt the need to shoot one, carry one or ever own one. I can say with all honesty “know thyself,” I would be horrible at and would not ever consider being in Law Enforcement or the Military. I also detest the video games that let you shoot and cringed whenever my husband or son were actively shooting in them as I hurriedly left the room. It just was NOT my thing.

a photograph taken while looking down the subject's leg at their cowboy boots
Photograph by the author

Oddly though, I love movies and at one time the more action, the better. But going to a range changed everything about the way I will look at movies now, forever. The biggest change, is realizing all the fake that exists in them, and after holding one and shooting firsthand I can make the observations that are the hallmark of either the real thing or Hollywood.

Going to the range brought up a lot of things also, that surprised me, like looking strangely at the man who brought his 10 year old son. I couldn’t help thinking about my son, at his age, with all his friends playing legos and matchbox racers. “Why would anyone bring a child to a gun range,” I thought.

There were hardly any women there, and I do not mean that to be sexist, but the guys way out numbered women. I couldn’t help but put them all in perspective too, wondering what they did for employment, and whether they were married, had kids, what kind of parent were they, did they ever shoot animals?

Once at the desk it became immediately apparent safety was a serious issue there. I had to appreciate that. Turns out, you can’t even rent a gun unless you are with someone. Only if you are already a gun owner can you come by yourself. I did not know this, but learned that this is to prevent someone coming alone renting a gun and committing suicide. Apparently before they made that rule that’s what happened, but if you are already a gun owner you must be responsible enough to have maintained that gun so are considered less of a risk.

No background check was needed, but a test was given after we had been told to read over some pages in a binder with a ton of rules of behavior protocol at the range, as well as everything you needed to know about handling guns and loading and etiquette, inside range, outside range, ammo, I was on gun overload. I got 100% on my test.

As we looked to select our rentals, I couldn’t help but notice the Tuesday Date Night advertisement and I laughed. Chris, behind the counter set me straight, that this was a popular thing. But I still think it’s weird that couples would come to a shooting range on a date, sorry, chuckle. Then my mind wandered to what kind of guy would ask a chick on a shooting date and whether I would even date this guy to begin with.

Yes, there were a lot of emotions and feelings that I never thought would emerge from simply going to a range one afternoon with my husband. He does not usually go, but had taken a few classes and highly recommended learning if I was interested. I was here to see if I was.

The weight of the 38 special was heavier than I would have thought. All of a sudden, granny carrying this in her purse floated through my head, and I seriously wondered how anyone carries this around looking normal or comfortable.

The smell that hit me as I went into the actual shooting range in that huge room of bowling alley lanes and people shooting was so intense I wanted a mask. The other thing that really shot through my entire body was the noise with each gunshot from people shooting all manner of equipment. I will never forget the noise. There was a quick moment where I wanted to cry like a little girl and just run out of the room entirely, giving the whole thing up, but that was overcome by focus as I listened to and watched my husband show me how to open and load the gun and aim and focus on the target. Soon, after watching him a bit, it was all mine. I went outside my body and became more relaxed as I just practiced and went with the flow. I was also aware of being engaged in how my accuracy was, so he reeled in the target paper to check. We started using different marks on the sheet to analyze my area vs. his and I was surprised to find I did better than I even thought. But there were still some shot holes that were way off the target.

a photograph of the author and an employee at the gun range
Photograph by the author

One of the biggest issues that hit me with all of this, was really analyzing owning a gun, and whether a person is even psychologically prepared or responsible over grabbing that owned gun in a heated emotion after argument or an impulsive act of defense or perceived justice.

Although my target practice was not moving, a conversation, later with an older gentleman let me know that moving targets put an entirely different spin on your proficiency, and my mind immediately wandered to what the real world must be like for any Police Officer, especially when they are threatened and not the only one with a gun.

Yes, even though this afternoon took me outside my comfort zone, I was left with an entirely different perspective as well. I do recommend this to anyone who has never handled a gun. No one should be sheltered. I don’t think I would ever bring children, and I don’t know if I will ever return.

The experience definitely left me considering so much I had not thought of before. Including statistics such as:

  1. The US is home to more firearms than adults; more people own guns here than in any other nation; and the US is also host to more gun deaths per capita than any other advanced country.
  2. An estimated 16,000 to 18,000 indoor firing ranges are in operation in the United States.

Hillary Clinton called for the reversal of a law that protects gun manufacturers from liability in lawsuits over shootings. She’s also proposed taking executive action to end the loopholes that allow gun show sales and internet sales to escape background checks.  She has, additionally, called for a ban on the sale of assault weapons, as well as the closure of the “Charleston loophole” — a reference to a law that allowed the Charleston church shooter to obtain his firearms. Closing that loophole would mean extending the window for FBI background checks to take place on gun purchases.  And, she pushed for comprehensive background check legislation, which would include banning all domestic abusers or the severely mentally ill from buying or possessing guns.

Donald Trump on the other hand wanted to create a “national right to carry.”  He believes concealed carry permits should be valid in all 50 states.  His campaign website says that “a driver’s license works in every state, so it’s common sense that a concealed carry permit should work in every state.”

I know it’s our second amendment right to have a gun, but I will not feel cheated never exercising that right.

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November 9, 2016

November 9, 2016 By

Roaming fearlessly at the stone circle in Hunn, Norway (Photo: Bent Søresen)
Roaming fearlessly at the stone circle in Hunn, Norway (Photo: Bent Søresen)

Last night I found myself comforting a student of Cards and Magic who has been worried about election day: If Trump wins…

‘Relax,’ I said, and then continued: ‘Things are as they are. Acknowledging this is a fearless act. Being fearless takes courage and requires discernment.’

I often talk about fearlessness in my cartomantic lessons, for the simple reason that this is why we read cards, namely, to get fearless. But there’s a catch to fearlessness that most people don’t think about.

Fearlessness is not for everybody. You must hide your fearlessness if you want to escape subjecting yourself to the constitutive gaze of others: ‘There goes the mad one’, people tend to say, when they look at you and all they see is your freedom: Freedom from fear.

Says culture: “What do you mean you’re fearless? You can’t be serious. We’re here to make you fearful, because that’s the only way in which we can sell you shit, from ideology to irritable colon remedies that our pharmaceutical industry has devised just for you, because you’re so special and because you deserve it.” Right.

What I’m saying is this:

Hiding that you are fearless is not only a means of protection, but it is necessary.

Hiding your fearlessness is the only way to counter the claims against madness. What did you think that all that talk about being silent is all about? Some sort of a mystical act that no one really understands, unless you are the sphinx or some ugly witch from Romania? No.

The advice about being silent, after you have done your share of willing, daring, and knowing, is related to being silent about your fearlessness.

You flaunt your fearlessness, you pay the price of subjecting yourself to pointy fingers: ‘Look at that fool,’ culture would say, and perhaps, for once, culture would be right about it.

In this sense, hiding your fearlessness is a subtle act that displays discernment and the capacity to remain dispassionate in the face of escalating threats.

What am I afraid of?

So here’s a short practice that takes its point of departure in the question I hope everyone poses to themselves as a matter of common sense practice: “What am I afraid of?”

Go through these simple steps, beginning with this very question:

  1. What am I afraid of?
  2. Make a list of your immediate concerns, for example: “I’m afraid that Trump will win today”, or “I’m afraid that my coffee doesn’t prompt me the way it used to with the regular existential question I pose about the meaning of life every morning”, or “I’m afraid that my children are not very bright”, or “I’m afraid that my husband is an asshole”, or “I’m afraid that my wife is vulgar”, or “I’m afraid that I’m lazy and incompetent”.
  3. Once you have identified your fear – keep to one at a time – lay down three cards and ask: “What is the purpose of my fear of . . . Trump, uninspiring coffee, children, husband, wife, myself?”
  4. Read your cards and devise a magical spell for yourself inspired by the cards that aims at dissolving your fear.

Here’s a recent example:

What is the purpose of my fear of my desire to be my own boss?

But first, bear in mind that you may already have an answer to the why: ‘Why am I afraid of being my own boss?,’ as this is not the most interesting.

What you want is to go beyond the why to identifying the purpose of your fear. For example, your fear of desiring to be your own boss may well be buried in your unconscious identification of ‘boss’ with ‘a lot of responsibility’ that you would prefer not to have for whatever reason. What you want is to identify the purpose of your fear. That’s a hell of a lot more sophisticated, as I hope you will discover if you try to answer this question.

The Sun, Justice, Temperance

three tarot cards laid out on a red cloth: the sun, justice, and temperance
Jean Noblet Marseille Tarot, 1650, by J.C. Flornoy (Photo: Camelia Elias)

A purpose operates with referential points, points of identification between motivation and end result. In other words, when there’s a purpose, there’s movement and direction. The dictionary defines purpose as “the reason for which something exits”. It’s good practice to transliterate your question so you really get a sense of what is at stake when you ask it, here thus: “What is the reason for which my fear exists?” that is, my fear of my desire to be my own boss.

In light of this definition of purpose, I’d read the cards like this:

The reason why this fear exists is because there’s the assumption of warm sharing in a community where no one is the boss (the Sun). If you have to rise to that function, you have to be discerning and impartial (Justice) and smooth things out if needed, making compromises (Temperance) you would rather not.

Fair enough. This is a very good reason why anyone with the desire to be their own boss may fear fulfilling that role. But is this reason, or to get back to our formulation, purpose, not based on projection?

While this situation, going from carefree sharing to policing others, may arise at any time, upon further reflection we discover that it does not validate the fear itself.

Upon even further reflection, we discover that fear has no anchor. Things flow as they flow. While flow may be regulated (Temperance) and regimented (Justice), it is still flow, pulsating from heart to heart (Sun).

So we’re back to the old noble truth: Just as nothing has substance, fear has no substance. But in a play with fear using the visual language of the cards, you may discover just how your fear dissolves and through which concrete channels of manifestation.

Once you know this, you can then hide the particulars of your fearlessness, and thus enjoy your madness beyond the vigilant and watchful eyes of your culture, passing judgment on what it deems appropriate and not.

Eat your fear

In your madness you can try this:

  • Take a slice of bread and toast it (Sun).
  • Cut it into two halves and weigh each of them in your hands (Justice). Get a clear sense of this balancing act. What does it need for perfection? How about some some milk and honey?
  • Make a concoction of the mix and pour it over each of your two slices (Temperance).
  • When you’re done, take the first slice and eat it, saying these words: This is my fear. I offer it to my body to digest and dissolve.
  • Eat the second slice of toast, saying these words: This is the purpose of my fear. I offer it to my body to digest and dissolve.
  • Go out in the sun and say ‘thank you’ for the illumination.

♠

More of this work?

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November 7, 2016

November 7, 2016 By

The Priestess is dying. She’s been dying for a long time. She’s had various medical complications for years, and she knows that she’s only got so much time left. “I want you to help me teach my coven leadership skills so that they can keep the coven going when I’m gone. So that they can become leaders. So that the coven doesn’t fall apart.”

My heart breaks as she says this, because I know people. I know groups. I know people. I know how things fall apart. Frequently my inner optimist and my inner pessimist fight a bloody battle inside of me. They tear each other up; my optimist believes in the best in people and what could be. The pessimist sees how groups fall apart, how people really treat one another. The pessimist sees how this election and Trump has made bigotry and hatred far more acceptable, far more visible.

As we reach Summer’s End, as we pass Samhain and go into the last days of this horrid election, I find myself thinking about death. Death, and groups, and people, and how things go.

My pessimism is clawing ribbons into the flesh of my optimism. My soul is screaming for hope, for justice, for good things. Not just for this small Pagan coven, but for the whole world around us.

a rose surrounded by a jeweled circle
Art by Shauna Aura Knight

How Groups Work (Or Don’t)

I know small, subcultural groups, in specific…and there are only so many “do-ers” in any group. There are only so many people who have the desire to get up and get things done. There are only so many people who are willing to learn all the skills you need to learn to take on various leadership roles, only so many people who are comfortable with public speaking.

There are a lot of different types of leadership, of course. What she’s talking about is the visionary initiator, the person who gets things done and is willing to make decisions and do the work.

Her coven’s got a pretty good base of leaders that are comfortable in the support roles. People who bring food, or come over to the covenstead to cook. People who help out with physical tasks. People who handle scheduling and social media and administrative logistics.

But here’s the problem; they look to her as Mom. They look to her as “the one who will make it happen.”

And she thinks of them as her children, too. “That’s why I want this for them. I don’t want them to lose this when I go.”

I work with her group on and off for about a week, since she and her high priest/husband are hosting me. In fact, in the year before I traveled out for this tour, I had more contact with her high priest. I didn’t know until right before I arrived that one of the primary reasons she wanted to engage me to teach leadership is because she has a life expectancy of less than five years due to her medical issues.

She’s hoping for the best, but planning for the worst.

Her coven doesn’t want to talk about her health. They get uncomfortable when she speaks frankly about “When I die.” This frustrates her, because it doesn’t allow her to discuss things like logistics of who will take over what roles when she’s gone.

A few folks are willing to take on speaking roles in rituals, but she needs others who are willing to take on some of the basic classes. And she has administrators and supporters, but what she wants is for each person in the coven to step into the Sovereignty of the group, to be willing to step up and make things happen. But typically, I don’t see many groups step into shared power like this, not unless the group was formed that way. Consensus process and other similar models can work well to engage a whole group in holding the Sovereignty of the group. When a group is formed under a hierarchical model with a dictator–benevolent or not–people tend to want to be led. They are used to that dynamic.

This coven meets regularly–sometimes multiple times a week–between classes, rituals, and social time. They are truly a family in a way I don’t often see with Pagan groups. And they’re eager to learn; though I only spent a few hours with them formally teaching leadership, I feel that most of my work with them was in the smaller conversations.

They have the raw stuff to make a stable group work. And I wonder if they’ll find the alchemical balance of leadership skills needed to keep a small group running. The love these folks showed to one another gives me hope not just for them, but for humanity.

Things Fall Apart

For all that hope, I don’t know that this group has what they need to survive the death of their founder, their priestess, their mom.

And I don’t know that that’s a bad thing–sometimes we get attached to a form and an idea of how things are supposed to go. Who knows, perhaps the coven can’t sustain itself as a single group, but the members of the coven go off to seed or join other groups and create something new and stronger.

It’s just like some relationships end–and when we’re in the throes of that relationship we think, this can’t end, we/they have to stay together! In fact, sometimes the worst thing we can do is try to make people in a group, or in a relationship, try to work things out; all they’re going to do is fight and fight til it escalates and they say the horrible things to one another that can’t be taken back.

Because people are people. 

And sometimes people are just people in the roles they automatically take in a group. Some want to just attend, to follow. Some inherently want to lead. And the problem is also that many of the folks who are motivated the most to step into leadership, are also often the folks who are the most visionary and the most stubborn. In fact, their strength and motivation that helps to build a group is often what causes the group to fall apart later.

People behave in predictable patterns. But sometimes, those predictable behaviors terrify me. It terrifies me because I see conflicts in small groups, and then I see it in the larger world around me, and it’s the same pattern.

So many Pagans tell me they don’t like politics, and yet, the conflicts within Pagan groups, and between Pagan groups and in the broader Pagan community are the same conflicts that we see that makes the news. It’s just that conflicts between countries have budgets and a military force. It’s the same struggles of people wanting to be right, people wanting other people to do things their way.

People are people.

Yet, there’s something that goes beyond that. There’s being stubborn, and being a complete jerk. There’s being driven to the edge by some circumstance in your life and saying the harsh, hurtful thing…and then  there’s being a bigot, threatening people who don’t do things your “way.” And then there’s the rabid defense of people’s right to be bigoted.

And my optimism and pessimism go back at it.

Is this just the way people are? Are we destined to fall apart? Are we destined to tear each other up in endless conflict? Are we destined to hate?

Or is it just a fraction of people who are like that? For that matter, what makes someone bigoted and hateful? Is there a way to change that?

Why are people the way we are? Can we work past our own patterns, the patterns that harm us?

Death & Politics

The priestess is still dying. Her group’s going to live on without her, or not. Maybe someone will step forward to become the central anchor-point, the hearth fire that draws everyone together, the visionary decisionmaker that makes things happen. Maybe they shift gears into a more consensus-driven model and step into mutual sovereignty. Maybe they try to keep it going and internal politics fractures the group. Maybe, without that central focus, without that parental energy of love and support, the group just slowly dissipates and fades. Maybe this seeds other groups to rise and strengthen, maybe not.

But she continues to work to build that safe space, that coven and family built on the fertile field of love, to try and build something that will continue. And if that love continues on as that coven, or as many other covens, that love will remain.

We all die. And the world will change around us. People will still tear at each other, there will still be bigotry and hatred. But the love that we seed, the ways we try to heal and build, the ways we try to build something better for our descendants of blood and spirit…this is all we have. All we have is the hope of a better future. The hope of something that strengthens us and heals us. People will be people, but we can do our best.

Tomorrow’s the election. Someone will win, someone will lose. I’m praying that the loser is the misogynistic bigoted one, and I won’t name him here. And I pray…I pray…that though this campaign made it clear how many Americans are hateful, bigoted people…I pray that by airing the dirty laundry, we can make true progress and find a way forward that leaves behind that hatred and that bigotry.

I pray that we are better than this. I have hope.

Love is the answer.

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November 5, 2016

November 5, 2016 By

a slug and a Lego policeman figure
aitoff / pixabay.com

In a sub-series for Full Frontal Magic, I would like to call attention to “How to Work with a Professional Sorcerer or Priest(ess)”. I want to talk specifically in this article about clearing, banishing, and exorcism in relation to the healing process.

For example, things can get stuck in a person’s energy or aura when it’s so close to the holidays for the dead. This “sticking” can happen with no purposeful malevolence on the part of any third parties. Of course, curses (from others or even from the self) start doing the same thing.

First, some assumptions for the purposes of this blog. I know some people believe that magic is really just psychological. I have no judgement there. While some of the techniques will be very useful in that context, this blog post assumes that spirits have an external existence outside of our mental construction, that our energy/mind/spirit are linked strongly, and that non-linear, non-psychological effects are possible with magic. Another assumption is that it is perfectly natural and acceptable to hire a priest(ess) or sorcerer to help you with various issues.

The fact that people throw curses and spirits do “attach” to people is way more common than you might expect. Of course in polite company, people do not admit to such things.  From my perspective, the way most curses and spirit attachments “work” is by getting into a person’s energy system, which then causes psychological and physical changes.  Sometimes these curses cause physically diagnosable problems that are often aggravated by financial issues, bad habits, and emotional stress.

Sure, some curses or spirit work can directly cause a major event in a person’s life, but more often it seems to be that the person’s reaction to the negative events is far more important.  When a curse hits a person, one way to think of the event is that the curse is like a wave hitting a ship. If the ship is in a vulnerable position, or has a weakened hull, the ship might sink outright or be forced to take a different course. That course change often moves people away from the things that make them happy. Perhaps the ship does not sink, but instead takes on water. Now the ship moves slowly, or differently. The ship metaphor is not exact, but it does start to give a way to conceptualize the process.

When a self-induced-curse gets into the energy system of a person, negative thought loops inside of the person are enhanced and strengthened. As I cover in the shapeshifting course I run, the energy system of a person, reality around a person, and mind of a person all mirror each other. The system (aka the person), adapts and re-orientates, developing new habits for the new reality. Essentially, the person actually makes new habits in line with the “curse” energy. However, in the case of a self-induced curse, the newly created habits are not adaptive and cause more pain, suffering and frustration which only empower a degrading of the energy system and thus mind of the person who is suffering.

There are a few tricky things about this process. First a person can look very strong in one area, but in another area can have this degrading process going on. Second, sometimes these type of spirit attachments and curses can sneak past even someone who is doing daily work (although that is rare). More often than not, the person is not doing daily cleansing work and it gets into the system and becomes “sticky.”

If you really think about the process I am describing from a holistic point of view, the curse or negative spirit attachment can affect all aspects of a person’s life and by the time someone notices, they can have made a lot of life changes that do not help them. So what happens when someone like me removes the original curse or spirit attachment? Let’s think in metaphors again. When a car is going 65 miles an hour down the highway, turning off the engine alone does not stop the car. Or, perhaps in this case, a train is a more apt metaphor.   The longer an embedded curse or attachment has been in the system, the more weight it has in a person’s life. This kind of momentum can be tremendous and extremely difficult to stop.

For most people, they will very slowly start to make subtle changes to make things better once the original spiritual cause is gone.  That momentum requires a healing process even when the original spiritual cause is exorcised. In most cases, this takes much longer than the banishing or exorcism, and requires a fair amount of life coaching either through a formal life coach or supportive friends, family and or tribe. The changes that caused the problems did not happen overnight, and coming back will usually not be an overnight process either.

When this happens, lives are fundamentally changed by the experience. Relationships have changed, jobs are different, even the physical body and physical processes may have changed. Every person I have taken on as a client, will go through grieving stages about their “former life.”  Attachment to the details of that “old” life only empower regret which is more momentum on the train reinforcing the old destructive energies and patterns. Regret comes with self-blame and the “how could I let this happen.” Instead we have to look at life as a changing cornucopia of details. We can work to have certain qualities like love, joy, health and wealth in that cornucopia. In many ways, this is the 5 second secret of many eastern religions and what practical detachment looks like.

a pristine pond in a forest
LaughingRaven / pixabay.com

 

A lake is changed, simply by throwing a pebble into it, just as you are changed by experience.

People come to me all the time and ask for exorcisms and or spirit attachment removal and I usually tell them that while I can do that service, it will not entirely fix the problems they are trying to fix. Even if I remove the negative spirit or energy, they have things they need to do in the world to counter the momentum. In most cases, I will not even do the “spiritual” exorcism unless people agree to some coaching.  At least one session to create a life plan that encompasses their new life vision.

a treet next to a road extending into the distance
Unsplash / pixabay.com

While I can and do help people with this process and do go the extra mile, a person can do this themselves. Keeping in mind what I said about exorcism, if you have a problem, you can work to create a new life. Remember, NEW life, not get the old life back. (It is helpful to confirm with others and to get verification through divination from other people to help you confirm that the problem is not just a projection.)

  • Start with an Exorcism or Larger Banishing Ritual.
  • Ask for help of those connected to you, or pay a professional you know and trust.
  • Write the outcome of the new life you want to have 5 years out. You must move forward to a new life and get some feedback from people you trust as to whether or not this outcome is realistic and achievable. Ask those same people if you are really presenting a future that pushes you in constructive, positive growth. It’s easy to give people a status quo plan. It is harder to include that necessary growth. The ideal new outcome should have growth and be achievable. 5 years is a long time and you will make some real progress.
  • Break down the future into tasks, moving backwards from the final outcome step by step forward into the present. Try to break down the tasks backwards into “Milestone” events.
  • Continue the breakdown of the time line, moving backwards in time and identifying the tasks between your Milestones so that each and every task you have is achievable, measurable, reasonable, and doable. Each task should be something that you can know you can measure your success on and adjust as you are doing the work. You should never have a step between tasks that you are left thinking, “how do I get from here to there?” If you have gaps like that, make your steps smaller and smaller till you know you can make the jump from the step you are working on to the one before it.
  • These tasks form a life plan and serve as a guide when you read the list going forward in time. Of course, no plan ever goes perfectly and you WILL need to adjust, possibly many times, midstream. This is OK and expected!
  • Although it is weird to think of the plan as a healing plan, in many ways this is a healing plan for the psychic injury that occurred and affected other aspects of your life. The forward plan also gives you great insight into where to put positive magical operations.

In the process, a funny thing will happen. The curse or spirit attachment that initially caused so many problems can be redeemed as a source of alchemical growth and personal power.  Instead of a “wound”, the curse becomes a powerful motivational tool which can propel you much further than if nothing had happened. The curse itself shakes things up in a negative way, but we can reclaim the negativity and use the breaking down to move forward much faster. Adversarial paths of magic often work in this way, but that is a topic for a future blog.

Author’s Note:

Are you struggling with a situation like I described? Touch base with me. Together we can work out a plan and get you moving in the right direction. I have both the magical and hypnosis based skills to do the exorcism and the cognitive rewiring to get you back on that road to a happy and personally meaningful and fulfilling life!

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