A dialog about whether the Gods are infinite or not often begins with “Gerald Gardner wrote that the Gods of the Wica are ‘little gods.’” Yes, he did, but he was not very interested in abstract theology. I don’t think he was asserting that, if the Abrahamic God is infinite, then our Pagan Gods must be finite. Rather, his point was that, whereas (many) Christians believe in a God who is distant, arbitrary, angry, vengeful, and punishing, Witches believe in Gods who are nearby, kind, … [Read more...]
Aporrheton5: The Laws of Magic (Revised), Part III
April 12, 2013 By 1 Comment
[Yes, this is the third and last part, for now.] 9. You must not betray the secrets that cannot be told. This Law addresses the Arrheta. Insofar as Craft Laws are simply observations of how psychic reality works (and it is for that, really, that we should value them), then they are "self-enforcing" like any other statement of fact. So what this law means is: (a) Never give anyone power of life and death over you; (b) Don't violate your own sense of your self-integrity; you know … [Read more...]
Aporrheton 5: The Laws of Magic (Revised), Part II
April 11, 2013 By 1 Comment
[This continues yesterday's blog, updating my thoughts on magic and psychic talents--since I am unfortunately thought to have some expertise about such matters. Sheesh!] 3. You cannot use the arts of the Craft to win fame, fortune, power, or any other sort of material or social advantage. This is how all the psychic arts work, not just those of the Craft. Why they work thus is another question—that they do work thus is well-known. Perhaps the simplest explanation is that if your … [Read more...]
Aporrheton 5: The Laws of Magic (Revised), Part I
April 10, 2013 By 3 Comments
In the early 1970s I wrote a series of “Flying Scrolls” (as they were called in the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn) for internal use in the New Reformed Orthodox Order of the Golden Dawn. I chose to call them Aporrhetons, because the Greeks separated the secrets of the Eleusinian Mysteries into two classes: the Arrheta “inexpressible,” which could be known only by experiencing them and which therefore needed no protection by a mere human law; and the Aporrheta, the “not to be … [Read more...]
Some New Pages for the Book of Shadows
April 4, 2013 By 1 Comment
These are some pages of original materials that I wrote for the NROOGD Book of Shadows back in the early 1970s. Seems like it might be neighborly to share them. A Daily Litany for the Lady. This was written at the request of Mathonwy and Idris in May 1971, to give a couple a way to use the Craft daily, aside from working a shortened version of our basic ritual. [Notice that this litany uses the original NROOGD correspondences.] 1. To be said at sunrise, or on rising in the morning. … [Read more...]
On the Necessity of Awakening
March 29, 2013 By 4 Comments
The Castle Frankenstein poem I posted as a blog records an experience that set me on a Gnostic path. It think it must be significant that I recovered my memory of it during a strange, dark prelude—maybe calling it “existential despair”is not too inaccurate—to my 1963 Awakening experience, of which I have not yet posted a full description, although my long History poem was one attempt to describe it. My experience in 1954 had been an Awakening also. Afterward I knew many things; in … [Read more...]
A History of the Craft in America: California and Councils, VI, The Second PEC
March 10, 2013 By 8 Comments
In discussing the first Pagan Ecumenical Council meeting afterward, Gwydion, Alison, I and several others realized that we had not arrived at a specific proposal for an organizational structure because, in fact, the Pagan groups represented at the meeting did not have enough common ground to define any goals or structures. The PEC had focused on Pagan religions, excluding the magical lodges, political associations, and metaphysical churches, yet we still differed on what we did, how we worked, … [Read more...]
A History of the Craft in America: California and Councils, Part V, 1974-1975
March 7, 2013 By Leave a Comment
Here begins what will become Volume IB or II of the finished book. As I mentioned, many important changes took place in 1973 within at least half a dozen different Traditions. As a result, the period 1974 to 1979, which I will now begin covering for the whole of the USA and parts of Canada, requires a new chapter. I’m starting with events in California in the mid-1970s, not because they were the only developments at that time, but they turned out to have national implications. Focusing … [Read more...]
A History of the Craft in America: The Council of Earth Religions and the Green Egg Yellow Pages
February 17, 2013 By Leave a Comment
[I apologize to my dedicated readers. It has been rough. I plan to resume posting something almost every day.] Tim Zell’s discussions with the groups he had visited in California in August 1972 established the basis for dividing the Council of Themis into two separate organizations; hence various groups formed the new Council of Earth Religions on August 31, 1972. COER represented a continuation of the effort to find a way to create a national networking organization for Pagan religions. … [Read more...]
Of Infinity, Divinity, and the Big Bang
February 4, 2013 By 6 Comments
My poem Five Canticles of Wisdom begins 0 In the beginning there is no beginning. There is only the Goddess and her name Is Everything-All-the-Same and Fullness. I When Her name is Wandering Wide, She danced on the waters. Before She turned upon the wind, The stars are Her daughters. She turns upon the elements A dance of celebration That to watery nothing gives A name and habitation. Her dancing turned upon the wind; The wind snake … [Read more...]
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