So many saints, being professional Celibates, and such holy fools, believed We can awaken only by self-denial And pure, unfeeling thought, as if we were Angels, who cannot marry or be given in marriage. O Santa Teresa, Doctora Ipsissima. Did you ever know the ecstasy of the body Can bless us more than any rapture of the soul? San Juan de la Cruz, who taught us That the dark night of the soul Always precedes the Awakening,... Read more
How do you know but every bird that cuts the airy way Is an immense world of delight, closed by your senses five? [Wm Blake] As the Earth turns, molecules of air Rise past the edge of the Earth, and are Struck by photons. Excited, they Release apparently random Squeals we can hear if We know how to listen. Astronomers call these sounds sferics (That’s short for atmospherics) And call them the Dawn Chorus, Because they sound much like... Read more
Suppose the Lady made us that we may love Her. Suppose She already loves us as a mother Falls in love with her first-born child, And we are each of us that child. Love is not love unless I give it freely. So I must be free even to doubt Her Or choose not to love Her. That I may love Her freely, She makes Sure I am always free to choose. If She were to appear to me in... Read more
Triskellion is a tradition that incorporates classical Wiccan (Gardnerian and Alexandrian) theology with magical discipline. It was founded in 1977 by Ken and Elizabeth McCaskie, known as Ken Ra and Lady Delthea. At least seven covens have descended from it. Ken Ra relates that he is a descendant of a Scottish Pagan and priestly lineage that is part of Clan MacLeod (owners of the Fairy Flag of Britain) and related to the Royal House of the Isle of Man. He... Read more
Not ex nihilo, out of nothingness, For nothingness does not exist. The word selects what adds up to a name From all the possibilities we might perceive. We see what we name; the name comes first. Truth bore names into our world for love of us, Because we cannot learn it without names. Because there was a morning when words quit Their normal job of filtering out most of reality, Because I know how William Blake... Read more
At Samhain 1976, Judy Harrow attended her first Wiccan circle and knew that she had found what she had been looking for all her life. She joined Margot Adler’s study group, about which she has written,[2] My “Gardnerian” training was unique, especially for its time. Not just unique among Gardnerians, unique among Wiccans. By the time I came along, Margot had finished the Questionnaire, the visiting, and the extensive in-depth interviewing. She was in the process of digesting the material... Read more
[ I should note that this is from 1997, at the worst of my illness.] Seven red temptations have I felt: Of seductive bitterness at the edge Where I begin to descend into clinging Fog, turning light grey, dark grey, black. Of relief as I return to my sweet abuser. Of the bright taste of alcohol After years of brown sobriety Even knowing I will descend Into the dull inferno From which I may never rise again.... Read more
In the holy of holies The boy from the hearth Has already drunk the juice From her sacred poppies. He is not afraid As he is swung through the fire That can be seen from miles away. When the swing returns, On it is a black ram. On its fleece the initiates Will stand next year As they take their oaths. As he raises the knife, Abraham is not afraid. He already knows The still, small voice Will speak... Read more
As his right arm supports me, I hold his left arm with both hands. Gently he lowers me Back, down, beneath the surface. In the water, undeceived, From the angels’ bonds relieved, I by mercy now reprieved From the cell where first Eve fell. All of Heaven in me dwells. I know the Wisdom of my self And the glory of the Love Whose name I claim forevermore. As I rise from the water I know that I... Read more
The early days of the Blue Star tradition. Read more
Aidan Kelly: Including Paganism
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