Throughout my book on the Pentacle Path of Elemental Witchcraft, I explore the many ways that our patriarchal, dominator over-culture creates imbalance in the natural order of Divine Love as understood within a Hermetic paradigm of Modern Witchcraft. We fear the lack of Divine Love as experienced on earth. These fears and deprivations wound our fivefold self: in physical, mental, emotional, will, and spiritual ways. I dare say that everyone alive has been wounded at some point, on some level. Wounds left by a denial of the nine Divine Love Conditions promised by our God/dess are like a computer virus that creeps into our programming from the subliminal and overt abuses of an unnatural society. That rogue programing has been running in the background of our operating systems; they are systemic.
Unless the true source of those wounds is recognized, balanced and healed, you continue to vibrate from a wounded state of consciousness, which is detrimental to a practice of effective witchcraft. Attempt the high-octane magick before restoring your wholeness, and you’ll strike the match on the first Rule of Witchcraft for Personal Sovereignty: Don’t burn the witch.
Consider this: If Divine Love is everything, it is also the answer to every problem. Divine Love of the God/dess is the cure for every wound. Below, I define the nine Divine Love Conditions, map them to the fivefold self, and then propose the area of wounded consciousness caused by a fear of a lack of that form of Divine Love. Reflect on where and how you may be experiencing these wounds, either in your own life, or played out in the world through harmful actions and societal problems.
Healing Physical Body Wounds
Divine Love Condition: Resources
I have what I need to ensure my physical survival in comfort; clean air and water, nourishing food, safe shelter, adequate clothing to protect me from the elements, and access to medical care. I have no fear of suffering.
If someone is wounded by a lack of physical resources, they vibrate with poverty consciousness. They project harm through greed, theft, hoarding, over-indulgence, etc. Think about the criminal level of greed it takes to become a multi-billionaire while your own employees need government assistance to barely survive.
Divine Love Condition: Affection
I have inclusion and access to the kind of desired physical intimacy that I prefer. I have no fear of abandonment.
If someone is wounded by a lack of the inclusion and affection they prefer, they vibrate with deprivation, or abandonment consciousness. They project harm through non-consensual violations, like sexual assault, rape, domestic violence against spouses and children, stalking, pedophilia, and violence toward anyone perceived as rejecting them, like the ravings of so-called INCELs (involuntary celibates.)
Healing our Mental Body Wounds
What rogue programing has been running in the background of your mental operating system?
What do I believe to be possible? Which programs are hindering my balance–are not for my highest good, and must be purged?
Divine Love Condition: Expression
My opinions are registered and I am treated as a valuable contributor. I have no fear of disenfranchisement.
If I am wounded by a lack of expression, when I’ve been convinced that I’m not important. I vibrate with impotency consciousness. I project that harm through silencing others, censorship, book burning, gerrymandering. Consider the efforts currently being made by Republican legislators to hinder the voting rights of minority populations in Georgia, and gerrymandering to divide the educated populations in NC, whom they know would vote against their discriminatory policies.
Divine Love Condition: Authenticity
The outward declaration of any circumstance is the actual truth, without deception. I have no fear of exploitation.
If I am wounded by a lack of authenticity, I vibrate with exploited consciousness. I project harm through lying, cheating, subversiveness, embezzlement, exploiting the trust of others for your own gain, etc. This lack is the breeding ground for con-artists and cult leaders. Consider the entirety of the Evangelical Christian establishment, and how many of it’s leaders eventually downfall into scandal and incarceration, like Jim Bakker of PTL Ministries back in the 1980’s. Consider the cult following which surrounds the #1 con-artist of our time, Donald Trump.
Healing Wounds to the Body of our Will
What monkey wrench is still stuck in the gears of your will’s engine?
Divine Love Condition: Free-Will
I have agency and Free Will to pursue happiness as I see fit, and am treated with dignity and respect. I have no fear of oppression.
If I am wounded by a lack of free-will, I vibrate with oppression consciousness. I project harm through unjustified internment, slavery, conservatism, restriction of immigrants, etc. Everything about the US Justice system is designed to disproportionately incarcerate minority populations for forced, mostly unpaid labor and removal of voting rights.
Divine Love Condition: Acceptance
I am accepted as my whole, authentic self. I have no fear of bigotry.
If I am wounded by fear of a lack of acceptance, I vibrate with bigotry consciousness. I project harm through self-denigration, racism, homophobia, transphobia, nationalism, xenophobia, etc. I gesture broadly at the America revealed by Trump’s cult, and the outrageous number of “conservative, family values” legislators working overtime to deny rights to LGBTQ+ people, who are eventually discovered be closeted homosexuals themselves. Or legislators caging immigrant children from Central America, who are themselves children of immigrants from Central America.
Healing our Emotional Body Wounds
What toxic heartbreak has been poisoning the waters of your emotional well?
Divine Love Condition: Security
I have safety on all levels, boundaries honored and privacy respected. I have no fear of violation.
If I am wounded by a lack of security, safety, or privacy, I vibrate with victim consciousness. I project harm through physical violence, invasion of privacy, imposition of power over others, treason, sedition, etc. Consider the many command-mode magi working curses to purposefully inflict harm on others. Consider the extremists who become domestic terrorists and mass shooters, or cult-like civilian “militias” hoarding military-grade armaments just sure that their second amendment rights will be taken away. But their threatening extremism may actually necessitate the very thing they fear the most, fulfilling their own prophecy.
Divine Love Condition: Trustworthiness
I can rest assured that those around me, and my environment, can be trusted not to harm me. I have no fear of duplicity and deception.
If I am wounded by a lack of trustworthiness, I vibrate with paranoid consciousness. I project that harm through betrayal, distrust, gossip, back-stabbing, espionage, and just plain assuming everything is out to get me. Consider the “conspiracy theories” that abound currently among conservative and liberal extremists alike, like QAnon and Covid-deniers, Anti-vaxxers, and Climate-Change-Deniers.
Healing our Spiritual Wounds
Divine Love Condition: Reciprocity
There is a two-way street of trustworthiness between myself and the world around me, with mutual care that all beings have these nine love conditions. I have no fear of betrayal.
If I am wounded by a lack of reciprocity, I vibrate with betrayal consciousness. The cosmos is a mirror that reflects above and below, but we also see the outer world as a mirror of inner selves. If we are spiritually betrayed by a world that does not fulfill its promise of Divine Love to us, the spiritual suffering is chaotic and excruciating. This is what I imagine Christian “hell” might feel like when one knows their god “cast them into the void.” That kind of pain blocks our link of spiritual interconnection with others, or an inability for empathy. I think this is the mental illness afflicting all of Evangelical Christianity.
This pervasive spiritual fear of betrayal could result in psychopathy, and mass violence done to inflict an outer pain. This is a desperate and despotic means to fulfill the reciprocity of the mirror. Only this time, mirroring the fear and the Lack of Divine Love, rather than the fulfillment of that Love. Doesn’t that sound like the plot to every evil super-villain comic book plot?
Moral of the Story:
Identifying how we are wounded by the lack of the nine Divine Love Conditions, and how those wounds of imbalance result in problematic behavior and societal ills, is just the first step in a process of a witch’s “shadow work” and healing. You have to know the source of the problem in order to properly diagnose and treat the disease. I think the source of our problems is the systemic domination and deprivation inherent in the Invasive Orthodoxies inflicted upon us. I also think the cure is a restoration of the cooperative culture possible within a Neo paganismof the God/dess. Once healed, the real magick of a Witch’s transformation into a fully empowered and beneficial being can begin.
For more information on this subject, with many exercises, rituals and elemental Witchcraft spells designed to heal and rebalance these specific wounds, check out my forthcoming book from Llewellyn Worldwide, to be released on December 8, 2021. To pre-order from Amazon click this link: The Pentacle Path series, Vol. 1: Elemental Witchcraft: A Guide to Living a Magickal Life through the Elements
Soon, I will also be offering the book signed through my own shop’s website. Stay tuned for the announcement when we launch this fall.
Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In