October 26, 2017

October 26, 2017 By

The Bagabi Incantation is often associated with witchcraft rituals at Samhain, and with initiations in British Wicca. I’ve also seen it used by Modern Witches to raise power for magickal workings, and to summon Spirits. But where does the Bagabi incantation come from? Does it conjure the “devil,” or invite witches to come scrub the Samhain feast dishes? As per standard witching procedure, there are a host of varying opinions. Either way, it has summoning power.

Embed from Getty Images

Rutebeuf: Summoning the Devil?

Just about every source I’ve found references a french play  from the 13th Century called, Le Miracle de Théophile, by the trouvère Rutebeuf as the first known printed use of this incantation. From an article in wikipedia:

“The play is a religious drama…[that] refers to the legendary history of St. Theophilus of Adana, who according to traditional saints’ legends made a pact with the Devil and repented of it…This play is the original source of an influential invocation to the Devil (in an unknown language)…given to the character Salatin…labelled a sorcerer; Salatin uses these words to invoke the Devil:

(Ci conjure Salatins le deable.)
Bagahi laca bachahé,
Lamac cahi achabahé,
Karrelyos.
Lamac lamec bachalyos,
Cabahagi sabalyos,
Baryolas.
Lagozatha cabyolas,
Samahac et famyolas,
Harrahya.

Some postulate that Rutebeuf just made up some mystical sounding gibberish a sorcerer might say, and it was not sourced from witchcraft at all.

CC0 Creative Commons - Pixabay
CC0 Creative Commons – Pixabay

Gerald Gardner: Initiations and Samhain Rites?

Gerald Gardner, father of British Wicca and infamous for his syncretism, may have been familiar with Rutebeuf’s play – or the later occult texts that lifted it from the play – because the Bagabi incantation is used in his novel, High Magic’s Aid. One version of the Bagabi chant can -allegedly- be found in the Gardnerian Book of Shadows, and so tends to be incorporated into the practices of those who inherited his Wiccan tradition. Though, they did not claim to know what the words meant. Rumor has it that Wiccans use it for initiations and a power raising call to Samhain Rites.

Aleister Crowley: Barbarous Words of Power?

In occult magickal systems like Thelema, there is a concept known as the Barbarous Names of Power.

From the Thelemapedia:

“Crowley concluded that ‘the most potent conjurations are those in an ancient and perhaps forgotten language, or even those couched in a corrupt and possibly meaningless jargon.’ (Magick, p. 187)  Barbarous Names used in evocation serve the purpose of exalting the mind from the vulgar world through a release from rational, discursive thought. They are a mechanism for provoking ecstatic consciousness.”

Aleister Crowley also wrote this in “Eleusis” (Epilogue and Dedication of Collected Works, 1906) “It is because the names are senseless that they are effective. If a man is really praying he can’t bring himself to utter ridiculous things to his God, just as Mark Twain observes that one “cannot pray a lie.” So that it is a sublime test of faith to utter either a lie or a jest, this with reverence, and that with conviction. Achieve it; the one becomes the truth, the other a formula of power.”

I agree and would add that “barbarous words” conjure power by tapping the egregore (1) created by generations of magi intoning them with similar intent. Basically, if enough witches channel power through the same words, with the same purpose, for long enough, those words take on a life of their own. Then any schmo-witch who chants them taps that powerful keg just by speaking them aloud.

I’ve spent a fair amount of time chanting these words while attempting to memorize them, and I can tell you that big energy shifts DO happen, and time does strange things for me while I’m down that particular rabbit hole. It drops me into a deep trance quite effectively. To hear it sung, or droned in a magickal circle in the firelight, is spine-tingling, and sets the stage for some witchy business.

Michael Harrison: Basque invitation to do the dishes?

But does anyone actually know where it came from or what it was originally supposed to mean? Michael Harrison spent time diving deeply into these questions. In his book The Roots of Witchcraft he examined the etymology including a traditional first line as chanted by a priestess at Witchcraft initiations. He cites his sources:

“The chant is given both in Peter Railing’s The Warlock’s Book (W.H. Allen, London, 1971) and Raymond Lament Brown’s A Book of Witchcraft (David & Charles, Newton Abbot, 1971). I shall give the Haining version here…” p.123
Eko: Eko: Azarak; Eko: Zomelak
Bagohi Lacha bachabe
Lamac cahi achababe
Karellyos
Lamac lamac Bachalyas
Cabahagy sabalyos
Baryolos
Lagos atha cabyolas
Samahac atha famolas
Hurrahya.

Harrison makes a compelling linguistic case for these words being derived from the old Basque language. The Basque are a people who live on the Spanish side of the Pyrenees mountains, and have been linked to Witchery since the famous Witch Trials at Logrono, held by the Spanish Inquisition 1609-1611. Harrison has a different translation of the Bagabi Incantation – having little to do with initiation, nor even of summoning the devil. His translation based on ancient Basque language is more of a rallying cry for witches to gather for the work of the slaughter and harvest, and then share in feast and toasting at the first of November. Its an invitation to come party and then help wash the dishes!

One possible English version – by Harrison:

Kill (or the Feast) in November; kill!

I shall transport thee there myself,

and without the aid of a sieve,


to scour the plates and dishes with sand:

work (which must be done) with those plates and dishes.

(We 
shall meet our friends) ready for the drinking-cup

if they shall go (to the Feast), their bellies full with


quaffing from the drinking-cup.

O Sons (of the Master) with your Families (shout His praises with the
 cry)’.

‘HURRAHYA’!

On the flip-side, in Wicca: Magickal Beginnings, historians Sorita D’Este and David Rankine discuss the origins and usages of the Bagabi, and are skeptical of the Harrison-Basque translation, adding: “No linguistic equivalent in any language, or barbarous version in grimoires or old magickal papyri seems to exist for this particular chant. However, considering the villain in the original tale of Theophilus is a Jewish Magician, it is possible that the Bagabi is in fact a corrupted Hebrew Chant.” page 184

William Shakespeare: Witches Travel in Sieves?

However, the mention of the sieve in Harrison’s translation could be indicative of a connection to Witchcraft because in the transcripts of Witch trials it was often mentioned that a witch would travel in a sieve. Even Shakespeare mentions it in the words of the first witch in Macbeth, “But in a sieve I’ll thither sail…”

Macbeth Glossary
sieve (1.3.10)

i.e., large kitchen strainer.

Along with a bubbling cauldron, toads, eye of newt…one would find a sieve in the kitchen of every competent witch. Using their brooms as oars, witches would set sail in sieves and journey over rough waters. A text written in 1591, Newes from Scotland, reports 200 witches at one time traveling across the sea in their sieves. source

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 Timothy Roderick: Mandala of Life and Death?

My first exposure to the Bagabi chant was on Day 60 of Timothy Roderick’s, Wicca: A Year and a Day. As a new witchling, I did the exercise as instructed and it was very powerful for me. He suggests a solitary, slow walking meditation, one step per word. Focusing less on the pronunciation and more on what the chant invokes for you.

Roderick mentions that there are several versions of this chant in distribution, and that his version has some changes. Notably, there are 4 additional lines that are not found in the French play by Rutebeuf, nor in Harrison’s translation, nor any other source I’ve found anywhere. Since 2005, I’ve been dying to know where these lines came from.

Palas aron ozinomas
Baske Bano tudan dona
Geheamed cla orlay
Berec he pantaras tay.

So, today I contacted Mr. Roderick to ask their origin, and he replied that they are -allegedly- found in the Gardnerian Book of Shadows. However, the public version which can be referenced here at SacredTexts.com, in the November Eve Sabbat rite, doesn’t include them either. Is this is a secret-squirrel-wiccan-oath-thing? [EDIT: SOURCE NOW FOUND! See below!]

Roderick writes: “On Samhain, Witches traditionally chant the Bagabi Incantation while walking widdershins (counterclockwise) around the inner perimeter of the magical ritual space they create. This widdershins movement ritually symbolizes the state of death as a counter-movement to life. In combination, both the widdershins movement and ancient sounds of the Bagabi form a magnificent symbol of the interplay between the principles of life and death.” Wicca, Page 59

Pronouncing the Bagabi Incantation

Following is Roderick’s version of the chant, interspersed with suggestions for pronunciation from The Goodly Spellbook: Olde Spells for Modern Problems by Dixie Deerman and Steven Rasmussen.

As a way to help my own coven learn this chant, I came up with this handy tune and recorded myself (attempting) to sing it. It works for me; I hope it is helpful for you. I also included the mysterious last four lines, with my best guess at what they sound like. Play this track while reading along with me.

Bagabi laca bachabe  [Bah-GAH-hee LAH-ka BAH-khah-hey]
Lamac cahi achababe  [Lah-MAHK kah-HEE ah-KHAH-bah-hey]
Karrelyos!  [Kah-RREL-yohs]
Lamac lamec bachalyas  [La-MAHK Lah-Mekh bah-KHAH-lee-ohs]
Cabahagy sabalyos   [Kah-BAH-hah-gee Sah-BAH-lee-ohs]
Baryolas!   [Bah-RREE-oh-lahs]
Lagoz atha cabyolas   [Lah-goh-sah-THAH kah-BEE-oh-lahs]
Hurrahya!   [Hah-RRAH-hee-yah]

Palas aron ozinomas
Baske Bano tudan dona
Geheamed cla orlay
Berec he pantaras tay.

Heron’s two cents: Reverence and Mirth

Whether or not these are just “barbarous words” not meant to be understood, OR they are a mandala of balance between life and death, OR they are an old Basque invitation to feast together at Samhain, this chant does hold magickal power. At least it does for me, but I challenge all my witches out there to try it for yourself this Samhain. It has at least 80 years of eregore power built up behind it, and maybe even 600 years worth, depending on what shenanigans Rutebeuf’s cast got up to back stage in France.

Approach the work of Samhain with both reverence and mirth, and sing this incantation with the proper preparation of an energetic circle. Either the French “Devil” will come knocking, or Scottish Witches will show up in their sieves, ready to do the dishes. Either way, it is bound to be a Samhain party you won’t soon forget.

Blessed Samhain! Hurrahya!

~Heron Michelle

p.s. If anyone out there can share with me another source of intel about those last four lines of the chant, I’d love to know about it in the comments.

EDIT: New Source Found!

[update Oct. 28, 2017] Thanks to a helpful reader, I have new source of information for the mystery of the additional four lines:

From a Wikipedia Article:

“Jean Bodel (c. 1165 – c. 1210), was an Old French poet… He also wrote a miracle play called the Jeu de Saint Nicolas, which was probably first performed in Arras on 5 December 1200. Situated in the middle of an epic battle between Christians and Muslim, the play tells the story of a good Christian who escapes the battle and is found by the Muslim forces praying to a statue of Saint Nicolas”

“Similar to another French miracle play from the same time period, Le Miracle de Théophile, Jeu de Saint Nicolas contains an invocation to the Devil in an unknown language. [Grillot de Givry, Witchcraft, Magic & Alchemy, Courier Dover Publications, 1971, p. 109.]

Palas aron ozinomas
Baske bano tudan donas
Geheamel cla orlay
Berec hé pantaras tay”
  1. Egregore (also egregor) is an occult concept representing a “thoughtform” or “collective group mind”, an autonomous psychic entity made up of, and influencing, the thoughts of a group of people. The symbiotic relationship between an egregore and its group has been compared to the more recent, non-occult concepts of the corporation (as a legal entity) and the meme. Wikipedia
August 28, 2017

August 28, 2017 By

Saturday afternoon, things got pretty exciting around The Sojourner, our earthy, witchy, metaphysical shop here in Greenville, North Carolina. For the first time in nearly nine years in business, we attracted the attention of not ONE, but TWO (unaffiliated) sidewalk-variety, preach-at-’em, “Christian” evangelists. EC Street Preacher set up his rig directly outside our front door holding a sign that reads: “WWJD: Who Will Jesus Damn?” followed by a list of sins and scripture references.

On his video from August 11th, he mentions finding us, saying: “I’ve seen a witchcraft store near the spot [where] I preach and I’m going to find a day and preach outside of there, as long as I can, as long as I have to. Because there’s no business any kind of store like that [has] being anywhere.”

Who Will Jesus Damn? Sign held by EC Street Preacher, Photo by Heron Michelle
Who Will Jesus Damn? Sign held by EC Street Preacher, Photo by Heron Michelle

 

EC Street Preacher: Who Would Jesus Damn?

According to EC Street Preacher, the grievous sins for which his “Lord and Savior” would cast you into the Fires of Hell forever, include:

  • Fornicators
  • Idolaters
  • Adulterers
  • Effeminate
  • Sodomites
  • Thieves
  • Covetous
  • Drunkards
  • Revilers
  • Cowardly
  • Unbelieving
  • Murderers
  • Partiers/Revelers
  • Sorcerers/Druggies
  • Liars
  • Lustful
  • Porn Watchers
  • Immodest Women
  • Hypocrites
  • Hateful/Selfish (I think that is what it says.)

If he is correct, and we were to use this as a score card, (I can boast a 10) I’m gonna burn up nice and crispy. I do love a good drunken, immodest revel.

I think this is a highly selective list which illustrates this one man’s bias, wounds and fears. It is fascinating which things he chose to include with Old Testament references that were not mentioned by Jesus at all, like Sodomy.  The real kicker is which things he chose to exclude, but have very famous stories of Jesus going berserk about, like money-changers in the Temple.

"EC Street Preacher" witnessing outside of The Sojourner with his "Who Would Jesus Damn?" sign, August 26, 2017. Photo Credit: Heron Michelle
“EC Street Preacher” witnessing outside of The Sojourner with his “Who Would Jesus Damn?” sign, August 26, 2017. Photo Credit: Heron Michelle

The Jesus Loves You Man

On the other end of the block, was the “Jesus Loves You Man.” I rather liked this jolly fellow who stood there quietly and talked to people who approached him, handed out his card with his legal name and contact information, and invited anyone who needed a friend in prayer to seek him out. While I’m not a fan of the Christian obsession with the torture device upon which their Messiah was murdered (The Cross,) I have to say that spreading the love of Jesus, rather than his condemnation, seems a more effective way to go. Though, the emphasis on donations does tweak me a smidge.

The Jesus Love You Man's Truck
The Jesus Loves You Man Photo Credit: Heron Michelle

Two Priestesses, Odin’s Evangelist and EC Street Preacher Debate the Fine Points of Theology

The good news is that EC Street Preacher is a YouTuber on a sacred mission, and he posted a 58 minute video of our interactions on his channel. So, you too can enjoy the full glory, passion and hilarity of our afternoon. Caution: Do not watch this video while drinking beverages that may shoot out your nose, or near sleeping babies who will awaken as you guffaw loudly, especially there at the end when “Odin’s Evangelist” shows up.

It begins with his commentary about the experience, and how victimized he was by my “intolerance” of him “just standing there holding his sign” on our doorstep, condemning all our customers. In truth, I wasn’t “tolerating him” at all; I dislike the word tolerate as it is a back-handed rejection and condescension toward another human being, who I try to remember are all incarnations of the Divine. Though, I may have failed at this with a spiky word or two (old wounds run deep, y’all) I was accepting him as a fellow member of the priesthood, in service to Deity same as me, and offering him the respect of listening and engagement in civil religious discourse. I didn’t ask him to leave, because I was rather excited he was there to draw attention to our very existence, and bring our message to his viewers.

From a Google Search: Tolerance is “the ability or willingness to tolerate something, in particular the existence of opinions or behavior that one does not necessarily agree with.” Tolerance does not mean lack of engagement or lack of questions. Tolerance does not mean standing by while another does harm to your livelihood. (This was offered by my covenmate, Webweaver.)

My one religious taboo is proselytizing, so I usually just walk right by and ignore these yahoos – to each their own – but he brought it to my doorstep, and once you project your opinions into my domain, it is GAME ON. If I have to listen to your “witness”, you may be obliged to listen to mine. Plus, there is no such thing as bad publicity, folks. In fact, I found him on his YouTube channel and left a message that I enjoyed our talk and he was welcome back any time. I’ve found that victim-consciousness is a real problem among this type of evangelical.

Generally speaking, I LOATHE the presence of this inflammatory type of street preacher, because around our college town, they tend to be raging, raving, vulgar, and aggressive to innocent bystanders. I don’t think EC is mentally ill, or threatening, and as long as he remains a respectful witness, he is welcomed to find safe haven at our shop, just like everyone else.

Religious Trauma Syndrome is a real thing

I was raised by a woman just like EC, so I know its dangers first-hand. There is a psychiatric diagnoses for the variety of PTSD caused by the religious abuse EC is inflicting. Religious Trauma Syndrome. I felt compelled to share my mother’s story with him in the video, in hopes that her “witness” might do some good.  I’ve also written extensively about her death and funeral in the Death Toll series, and how she haunted me rather than go into the light.  She guarded, guided and inspired me to live my path authentically for four years, before she was able to speak directly to me through a Spiritual Medium. I tell that story in A Witch’s Carol: A Tale of Three Hauntings.

After I walk away, he is just sure that I was being deceived by a demon, and not the loving spirit of my Mother. I promise you this was not the case. Confirmation bias is also a real thing, sadly.

Odin’s Evangelist

The best part of the video is when a former employee of The Sojo shows up to stand beside him holding an “Odin’s ok with ’em” sign. Nate is an extremely well-educated Norse Heathen (Asatru,) hilarious, awesome on all accounts, and by far the most effective, non-combative heckler to a street preacher I have ever seen. Sadly, he doesn’t show up in much of the video, but you can see his reflection in the shop window, and hear their conversation.  Y’all should all watch, listen, and take notes.

Then, if EC ever shows up to “Preach at us” again, I’ll send out the call and we all should show up with signs like this, and stand there just as calmly, and talk about our own mythologies and beliefs, because we all, including EC, have the freedom of speech and religion. Let’s exercise that right! I’m going to make a sign with all the things the Goddess suggests we do “as worship.” All acts of love and pleasure, y’all!

Nate as "Odin's Evangelist." Photo Credit: Courtney Varnadoe
Nate as “Odin’s Evangelist.” Photo Credit: Courtney Varnadoe

A Few Theological Points to Consider

The first person who came out to greet EC was our Apothecary Manager. Courtney is the very vision of the Goddess, a witch and priestess of beauty, grace, deep sensitivity and wisdom. She is an herbalist extraordinaire, with an *extensive* knowledge of plant-lore, history, usage for both medicinal and spiritual purposes – and a gift for snark that will set a fool on fire. So, this guy Godsplaining to her about how ancient herbal medicine worked is HILARIOUS to me. I would pay big money to hear the snarky thoughts running through her mind as he twists the translation of the Greek Word Pharmakia.  This is his source for why Drugs, (and being a Drug Abuser, and/or a sorcerer) are sins.

We talked about how that word gets mistranslated into the King James version of the English bible as Witchcraft or Sorcery, Magickal Arts. Remember this gem from Exodus 22:18? “Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live.”  He is referring to this line of thinking:

The Greek word “pharmakia” literally means “drugs”, and appears five times in the New Testament: in Gal 5:20, Rev 9:21, 18:23, 21:8, and 22:15. “Pharmakia” is translated into our English Bible as either “witchcraft” or “sorceries”. We also get our English word “pharmacy” from the Greek word “pharmakia”.

The King James Bible translators translated “pharmakia” as “witchcraft”, because almost no one but witches and sorcerers used drugs 400 years ago. Drugs were most commonly used in pagan worship to hallucinate and to try to get in touch with evil spirits…In Rev. 21:8, God says that people who are continually characterized by drug use will have no part in the Kingdom of God. Source at True Discernment by John

Drug Abuser, Healer, Sorcerer or Poisoner?

Now, I was taught that the mis-translation from the Greek to become “Witch” was from a Hebrew word that means a poisoner, or someone who knew the poisonous properties of plants and used them to harm people. We cannot even guess how many innocent herbal healers were accused of “witchcraft” and violently murdered over the centuries thanks to this translation bias, but it killed a LOT of folks.  I think this passage was intended to mean: Suffer not a murderous poisoner to live. That is something I sort-of agree with, but with less violence, perhaps a friendly binding spell, or banishment. More like this source:

Definition: Pharmakeia

  • the use or the administering of drugs
  • poisoning
  • sorcery, magical arts, often found in connection with idolatry and fostered by it
  • metaph. the deceptions and seductions of idolatry Source at Bible Study Tools

Just for shits and giggles, I went to look up Revelations 21:8 mentioned above, and because it was on his sign, and I can see why EC Street Preacher would have his knickers all in a bunch about a Witchcraft shop that specializes in selling occult goods and organic, bulk herbs in our Medicinal and Magickal Apothecary.

Revelation 21:8 (NIV)

“But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars—they will be consigned to the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death.”

“Fiery lake of burning sulfur,” Huh? That is a really sweet love note he is dropping on my doorstep. We do love us some idols and magickal arts, and I don’t believe a single word of Revelations to be anything more than the ravings of someone who got into the funny mushrooms, or the Ergot-riddled grain, and had a bad trip.

Though, I’d remind him that Jesus himself didn’t say anything in Revelations. Biblical scholars generally attribute that vision and writing to some guy named John who was NOT the apostle, writing in Greek, sometime during the reign of the Emperor Domition A.D. 81 – 96. Here is a good patheos article about the sources of Revelations.

Satan in the Inferno is trapped in the frozen central zone in the Ninth Circle of Hell, Canto XXXIV By Gustave Doré - Public Domain - Wikimedia Commons
Satan in the Inferno is trapped in the frozen central zone in the Ninth Circle of Hell, Canto XXXIV By Gustave Doré – Public Domain – Wikimedia Commons

On the Creation of Hell and Satan

In the video, you’ll hear me challenge him by saying that Hell was a creation of that Catholic church to control people with fear. I was thinking about the influences that John Milton and his epic poem, Paradise Lost, had on Christian Theology in the Renaissance, and is the currently fashionable vision of Satan, and Hell.

“Paradise Lost is an epic poem…by the 17th-century English poet John Milton (1608–1674). The first version, published in 1667…The poem concerns the biblical story of the Fall of Man: the temptation of Adam and Eve by the fallen angel Satan and their expulsion from the Garden of Eden. Milton’s purpose, stated in Book I, is to “justify the ways of God to men”.

Satan is the first major character introduced in the poem. Formerly called Lucifer, he was the most beautiful of all angels in Heaven, and is a tragic figure who describes himself with the now-famous quote “Better to reign in Hell than serve in Heaven.” He is introduced to Hell after he leads a failed rebellion to wrest control of Heaven from God. Satan’s desire to rebel against his creator stems from his unwillingness to be subjugated by God and his Son, claiming that angels are “self-begot, self-raised,” and thereby denying God’s authority over them as their creator.” Wikipedia

However, I more accurately should have said “middle ages” because it was Dante’s vision of hell, sin, and “Satan” as this demonic, winged beast, rather than a fallen angel of light (Lucifer,) that informed Milton’s work, and continued to shape the Western world view of these concepts.

Inferno  Italian for “Hell” is the first part of Dante Alighieri’s 14th-century epic poem Divine Comedy. It is followed by Purgatorio and Paradiso. The Inferno tells the journey of Dante through Hell, guided by the ancient Roman poet Virgil.”  Wikipedia

But where did Dante get such ideas? In this very informative article: Hell: Origins of an Idea by Richard Burky and Jeannette B. Anderson, they trace it back to Augustine in the Fourth Century, whom we can thank <snark> for damnation by “original sin.”

“Playing a key role in the development of the Christian doctrine of an ever-burning hell was Augustine, the influential fourth-century bishop of Hippo in North Africa. A leading definer of subsequent Christian faith, he wrote a number of books…

Augustine wrote that “hell, which also is called a lake of fire and brimstone, will be material fire, and will torment the bodies of the damned.” He also wrote of “those everlasting pains which are to follow” the final judgment (City of God 21.10, 13). The bishop argued that every child born is immediately and automatically condemned by Adam and Eve’s first sin…Augustine’s arguments are held up even now as foundational to what many Christian churches believe and teach.

Nearly a thousand years after Augustine, the Italian Dante Alighieri wrote The Divine Comedy. Dante was a committed Roman Catholic, a politician, a poet and a philosopher. His work, like Augustine’s, is considered one of the cornerstones of Western religious ideas…His gruesome picture of hell has taken root in Western society, having inspired such notables as Michelangelo, Gustave Doré, Sandro Botticelli, John Milton and T.S. Eliot.” Source

At any rate, these modern ideas of the seven deadly sins, the firey sulfurous pit into which God the Father will damn you, and Satan, their agent of Evil, were certainly not the same ones held by Yeshua of Nazareth, the Jewish Rabbi. On that I will stake my entire reputation.

Reasonable Christian preachers who would agree with me: John Shelby Spong

My favorite voice against this horrific concept of hell that binds so many people of Abrahamic faiths in fear, is this video of retired Episcopal bishop, John Shelby Spong, from 2006. I understand that he was a local priest here in Eastern NC, early in his career. I just adore this fellow.

“Spong: I don’t think Hell exists. I happen to believe in life after death, but I don’t think it’s got a thing to do with reward and punishment. Religion is always in the control business, and that’s something people don’t really understand. It’s in a guilt-producing control business. And if you have Heaven as a place where you’re rewarded for you goodness, and Hell is a place where you’re punished for your evil, then you sort of have control of the population. And so they create this fiery place which has quite literally scared the Hell out of a lot of people, throughout Christian history. And it’s part of a control tactic.

Morrison: But wait a minute. You’re saying that Hell, the idea of a place under the earth or somewhere you’re tormented for an eternity – is actually an invention of the church?

Spong: I think the church fired its furnaces hotter than anybody else. But I think there’s a sense in most religious life of reward and punishment in some form. The church doesn’t like for people to grow up, because you can’t control grown-ups. That’s why we talk about being born again. When you’re born again, you’re still a child. People don’t need to be born again. They need to grow up. They need to accept their responsibility for themselves and the world.”

If I may make a request of you, dear reader:

If you’ve watched the YouTube video of EC’s above, I encourage you to leave a thoughtful, reasonable comment on his video in support of paganism, or challenge him in some way, but let’s not act like trolls, okay? Let’s raise the bar on this conversation, not lower it as their evangelical internet trolls are want to do. Share this link widely for me, and we’ll fire up the lighthouse flames a little brighter together. I know that I am not intimidated by this attention, and would like to transmute it into some change for the better in this tumultuous time.

Thanks!
Heron

August 12, 2017

August 12, 2017 By

This warding spell for spiritual cleansing and protection can be used for any physical space, but is especially important for your home. I recommend regular energetic hygiene practices of some sort for everyone. Beyond the basics of smudging, this provides permanent protection wards that are powered by allies from the Spirit, plant, animal, and mineral realms. Warding can be dialed up or down to be as simple or complex as you choose, and customized to your particular practice.

Old door with antique keyhole
CC0 Public Domain – Pixabay

Psychic and sensitive folks appreciate the sanctuary that a warded temple provides. The beauty of a magickal ward, is that you can charge it to perform in any way you desire. Much like programming a security system, you can choose who gets in, when and how they are invited to enter, and what sort of behavior is welcome during their stay.

This ritual spell-work will use four main components:

  1. Clearing, and consecration by the four classical elements
  2. Use of banishing pentagrams
  3. Evocation of protective Spiritual Beings; Archangels, Gods/Goddesses, Animals, Ancestors, etc.
  4. Creating spell-bottles for the four corners of the property as the anchoring ward.

Banishing Pentagrams: Bouncing the Trouble Makers, then Locking the Door

Pentagram - CC0 Public Domain - Pixabay
Pentagram – CC0 Public Domain – Pixabay

The pentagram is a five-pointed star that is an ancient symbol of balance, power and protection. Each point represents an element: earth, air, fire, water, and Spirit, perfectly interwoven. A common usage of this symbol in magick includes its drawing in a specific pattern, called a “banishing pentagram.” The “all-purpose” banishing pentagram we’ll use for the clearing and protection of the home from unwanted spirits, is the one for the element of Earth, as that is most related to the physical safety of our bodies and buildings.

To draw the banishing pentagram, you begin in the lower left corner, at the Earth point, then draw upward to the Spirit point, and then on around in a clockwise fashion until the star is complete. Think of it as pointing down to everything here in the material plane that you want to banish, then flinging it back “up” to the Spirit realms where they belong. When I draw the banishing pentagram during protection work, I think of it as bouncing the trouble-makers, by putting the key in the lock between dimensions, and locking the door behind them. The banishing pentagram is like turning the key in that lock.

Preparations and Acquisitions

Step 1: Get your house in order.

Begin with a physical cleaning and organization of your home. Chaos and filth in the material world mirrors into chaos and filth in the spiritual world. As above, so below; As below, so above. Think about it this way: In the material world, if you leave your dirty dishes laying around, and garbage everywhere, you invite the cockroaches, rats and parasites to move right in and have a feast. The nasty bottom-feeders of the world will just looooove to hang around your house. 

Step 2: Get your Spirit in order.

The same is true of the spiritual realms. There are energetic equivalents of cockroaches, rats and parasites. When you live in an energetic miasma of your own mental and emotional funk – baneful self-loathing, guilty, shame-y, fearful, hateful, violent and angry turmoil – you make yourself delicious to the nasty bottom-feeders and parasites of the spiritual realm. They, too, will looooove to feast upon YOU. The entirety of Witchcraft is there to help you get your head on straight, and become the terrifyingly effective, well-balanced, and powerful bad-ass that simply will not abide any exploitation.

To paraphrase the Rede: What you seek is within you… if you don’t find it there first, you will never find it in the outer world. So get to witchin’!

Spiritual Home Clearing and Protection Warding - Witch on Fire
Warding Materials – Photo by Heron Michelle

Step 3: Planning and Acquisition

You have some decisions to make about whose aid you will call into these wards, and what materials you will need as an anchor, amplifier and conduit to that power.

Materials:

  • 4 glass jars with lids – one for each corner of your home.
  • Paint pens in the four elemental colors, or other decorations on the lids to signify which quarter of your home they will anchor.

Now, what to put in your jars? In the end you will need 9 ingredients that fit in each jar.

This is the part that is highly customized to your personal practice.  You know how ceremonial magicians will call upon “The Watchtowers” of the four quarters? See these four ward jars to be a physical watchtower that you are building, and imbuing with powers from the three realms – Upperworld (or heavens,) middle world of the elements, and underworld.

Each ward jar will need:

  • 1 stone or metal to amplify the upperworld Deity or Archangel of your choice.
  • 1 stone or fetish to amplify the underworld animal spirit or ancestor of your choice.
  • 1 stone for Air – with mental and communication nuances.
  • 1 stone for Fire – with active, defensive, motivational nuances.
  • 1 stone for Water – with emotional and relationship enhancing nuances.
  • 1 stone for Earth – with protective, grounding, material nuances.
  • 3 varieties of dried plant material – with any properties you’d like to bring to the party.
The Triumph of Bacchus and Ariadne by Annibale Carracci, 1602
The Triumph of Bacchus and Ariadne by Annibale Carracci, 1602

Upperworld Powers

Deities: You may choose to call on “Great Spirit” with a single ingredient – like a quartz crystal. Or choose something for two jars to be held by the Great Goddess (perhaps jet) and two for the Great God (perhaps amber,) if that is your style.

For a more polytheist approach, consider choosing a God and Goddess of the Upperworlds, and a God and Goddess of the underworld.  In this case, research specific stones or items that are sacred to each of those Deities. You would then assign each Deity to one of the corners (and one ward.) Make sure that you also work out an appropriate offering or exchange in service in gratitude for their aid.

Archangels: OR – You may choose to work with the four archangels associated with the watchtowers in ceremonial magick. Choose either an individual stone for each angel, there are many to chose from that are sacred to each, or four of a single stone. Angelite, Celestite, or Selenite stones are my favorites for connecting to Angelic forces in a more general way.

  • Gabriel – Water – Copper
  • Michael-Fire – Sugilite, or an agate
  • Raphael – Air – Emerald or Malachite
  • Uriel – Earth – Amber
Animal Fetishes of dolomite and pewter - Heron Michelle
Animal Fetishes of dolomite and pewter – Heron Michelle

Underworld Powers

Spirit Animals: If you don’t already have a few Underworld Deities on the team, you may choose to work with four animals spirits: If you can ethically and legally obtain a fetish from the animals of your choice, do that. (tooth, claw, bone, shed, bit of fur or hair, feather, etc)  Seek consent to work with any part of an animal. Or you may substitute an emblem to represent their powers in the working – one animal and item per jar, in the quarter you think they best relate. Here are a few examples:

  • Air – Birds; Hawk, Crow, Raven, Wren, Owl
  • Fire – Lion, Red Fox, Ram, Horse
  • Water – All fish; Salmon, Dolphin, Crab, Snake, Eagle
  • Earth – Bull, Stag, Goat, Bear, Beetle

Ancestors: OR you may choose four of your ancestors, or mighty dead, and ask if they will aid in guarding your home with you. Include a photo, a slip of paper with their name, or an object that will draw them near in their jar. Make sure that you also plan to make an appropriate offering in exchange for their aid.

Middle World Allies from the Four Elemental Planes

Choose a stone to amplify each element – you’ll need to acquire four of each (one for each jar.) Here are a few suggestions that I like…

  • Air – Citrine –  Success, confidence, mental clarity
  • Fire – Pyrite – Shielding and protective, stirs ambition and focus, financial riches.
    • Golden Tiger’s eye – motivation, creativity, success
    • Iron Nail for Mars energies and protection, banishes enchantment.
  • Water – Blue lace agate – clear communication, peace, calm, tranquility.
    • Rose Quartz – universal love,  trust and harmony, friendship, deep inner healing, and feelings of peace.
  • Earth – Green Aventurine – growth, luck, abundance, relieves anxiety, calms one’s emotions, provides comfort,
    support, and balance.
    • Hematite – protection, grounding, de-stressing and mental/emotional balance.

Plant Allies:

Dried herbs and botanicals that have powers you’d like to bring into the home, all of these have protection qualities, but they have other nuances as well. Choose three varieties, and have enough for a teaspoon or so in each jar.

  • Rose petals or Lavender for love
  • White sage or Juniper for purification
  • Frankincense and myrrh for the balance of Divine forces.
  • Angelica root for angelic aid and guidance.
  • Cinnamon, Ginger, or Bay for fiery power and success.
  • There are literally hundreds of options to choose from – just know why you choose to use each ingredient and what power you wish it to bring to your home.

Step Four: The Cleansing and Warding Ritual

Assemble everything you will need on your altar in a central place in your home.

Open your ritual in your traditional way, lighting and awakening consecration tools and calling upon Spirit to be present as you normally would.

State your intention. Something like: I cleanse this home of all baneful influences and Spirits; I consecrate and ward this home to be a sanctuary of peace, abundance, health and safety. Only Love may enter in; only Love may emerge, for the Highest Good of all involved, harming none. So Mote it Be!

I like to have both a black and white candle on the altar. As I light the black candle to start, and charge it to absorb and nullify all baneful energies that are present. I will allow this candle to burn out completely in one burning.

Consecration by the Four Elements

This part should be repeated regularly.

Materials needed:

  • Tealight candle, a red one is even better.
  • Smudge bundle of a purifying herb, such as ceremonial white sage, cedar, lavender, palo santo, etc. Or a burning incense blend of Frankincense and Myrrh – but I recommend using a high quality resin incense stick, like these from Nature Nature Incense Company, so you can draw the banishing pentagram with it in the air.
  • A bowl of purified water, salted with sea salt

Air and Fire: Carry the burning smudge or incense with the tealight candle on a heat-safe plate or bowl to the front door. Open the door. Hold up the smoking smudge: With the same power and authority you would use to open the elemental gates, state: I consecrate this home by air and fire!  Draw a large banishing pentagram in the air with the smudge/incense stick. Visualize all baneful energies, all harmful thoughts, communication, and actions being blown out the door.

Now, repeating that phrase I consecrate this home by air and fire! carry the smudge, wafting as you go, clockwise around the entire inside perimeter of your home. Wind up and down stairs and other floors in whatever way seems natural, always flowing clockwise. When you come to an outside window, door, mirror, fireplace or any other opening, draw the banishing pentagram.

When you arrive back at the front door, see the space sealed. State with power: This home is sealed by Air and Fire! So Mote it Be!

Water and Earth: Now, do the same with the salted water. Carry it to the front door, present it and state with power: I consecrate this home by Water and Earth! Dip your index finger of your projective (dominant) hand into the water and draw the banishing pentagram over the door frame and on the front door itself. See all baneful emotional and physical energies nullified and banished from the home.

Now, walking clockwise around the perimeter of your home along the same path, continue chanting, I consecrate this home by Water and Earth!  while sprinkling the water on the floor as you walk.  Stop and draw the banishing pentagram with the water over every window, door, opening and mirror.

When you arrive back at the front door, see the space sealed. State with power: This home is sealed by Water and Earth! So Mote it Be!

Return to the Altar, state for the second time: This home is cleansed of all baneful influences and spirits; I consecrate and ward this home to be a sanctuary of peace, abundance, health and safety. Only Love may enter in; only Love may emerge, for the Highest Good of all involved, harming none. So Mote it Be!

Light the White candle and charge it to fill the home with blessings.

Building your Protection Ward Jar

Have all your jars open and arranged so that you know which quarter they will go into eventually. Pick up each ingredient in turn. Touch it, connect, and seek consent to work together. Awaken the ingredient by name. Blow gently across it and tap it three times, saying: Awake, Awake, Awaken to your powers of__________. (Name of ingredient) lend your strength and amplify the protective ward of my home. With gratitude, blessed be! Drop it into the jar.

Begin with the Deities or angels of the Upperworld. Invoke them into the stone or fetish that will anchor and feed their power into the ward. Pray in earnest for what aid you seek from Them and if you feel that agreement has been met, make an offering in exchange for this Aid. See the stone as a conduit of their power. Continue by invoking the Spirit animals or ancestors you are calling from the Underworld in the same manner. Lastly, include the plants and stones from the middle world of the elements.

Sealing and Weaving the Wards Together

When everything is in each jar – making nine individual ingredients, seal it tightly. Hold the jar in your hand, push power into the jar: Say: This jar is my protective Ward. May it stand guard in the (associated compass direction) quarter of my home, protecting this sanctuary of peace, abundance, health and safety. Only Love may enter in; only Love may emerge, for the Highest Good of all involved, harming none. So Mote it Be!

(Note that you’ve now repeated your intention three times.)

When all four jars are sealed, take up your wand, or with your index finger, tap each in turn while chanting “peace, abundance, health and safety”  in a clockwise direction, weaving them together and raising a cone of energy. Drop the cone into the jars; visualized a bubble of power that the wards continue to feed.

The Work is done! So Mote it Be!

Photo by Heron Michelle

Setting the Protection Wards

Now, carry the jars to the four corners of your home, according to compass direction, as close as you can manage.  All while visualizing that sphere of power that weaves them together expanding to envelope your entire home (and property). You can set them on the floor in the corner of the room behind furniture. If you’d like to carry them out to the four corners of your land, you may bury them there, but remember to set a marker should you ever choose to gather them for relocation and reuse.

Closing Circle

Return to the altar, thank and release all the attending Beings and energies that you’ve called, and close your ritual without formally deconstructing the “temple” as you might in a typical esbat or spellcasting. Allow both the black candle and white candle to burn out completely. This temple is now permanently erected around your property.

May it bless you and your family always,

~Heron

For a wealth of additional information, lists of correspondences and personal protection techniques, I recommend The Witch’s Shield by Christopher Penczak

July 27, 2017

July 27, 2017 By

As a shopkeeper, I have a problem with some aspects of this metaphysical industry within which I find myself working. I gave my “Confessions of a Snake Oil Salesman,” here. For the most part, the products being wholesaled to retailers like me are the real McCoy: conscientious, all-natural or culturally authentic wares. However, there are also products offered in those same catalogues that I know damn well are “snake oil.”

So many burnable options for cleansing with smoke. Photo Heron Michelle
So many burnable options for cleansing with smoke. Photo Heron Michelle

Discernment between Woo and Power

I try not to impose my religious bias of what materials we stock – this is a “general store” so I carry the widest variety I can based on what people ask for, across cultures and folk practices. You want to clear your home of baneful energy with a smoke? Sure, I might prefer burning a lavender bundle, but I also carry the palo santo sticks favored in south/central American traditions, and the white sage, cedar and sweetgrass favored by Native American tribes, and a Jerusalem blend of Frankincense and Myrrh resins. The perceived outcome of burning these things in your house may be a subjective opinion, but the botanicals themselves are all objectively the “real” plant material they claim to be.

Our skeptics criticize every blessèd thing in a new-age or witchy shop like as being no more than over-priced, wishful-thinking-woo. With some of these prepared, packaged and trademarked products, I agree with them.   If a customer asks my opinion, I share what I know. At this point in my considerably long witching career, I can discern the difference between woo and power just by touching them, smelling them, connecting to the material through consciousness and asking it – Hello friend, tell me about yourself… If its a synthetic, toxic, petroleum-based piece of garbage, the feeling I get in my guts is sickening…it has a dead, silent, poisonous feeling.

Unfortunately, retail is a two-way street of supply and demand, and there are big segments of our clientele that DEMAND that we carry some highly questionable products. They will hear no argument against their favorite brand, despite any proof that what they are using is a fake, chemical cocktail without a single jot of energetic authenticity, beyond whatever placebo effect they are bringing to it. That is some blind and stubborn faith, that is steeped in exploitation.

Exploitation is the ugliest word in the English language.

beeswax candles in a rainbow of colors and sizes
“Big Dipper Wax Works promotes sustainable resources, positive envrinmental practices, and greener living. For more information visit us at www.bigdipperwaxworks.com.”

What quality products are you demanding of your suppliers? Your dollars are like votes. You can continue to cast a vote for cheap, fake, petroleum-based, artificially colored and scented, spiritually dead garbage made in sweat shops by starving children.  OR you can use your dollars to vote for authentic materials made sustainably,  by legit magickal practitioners, who create their products as a sacred act of devotion. These are your choices.

From whom do you purchase your materials? Do you support the local priest/ess–so they can continue to teach, heal, and counsel–or do you buy that incense a little bit cheaper on-line? Your local shop provides so much more than mere merchandise. They are publicly available havens here in the real world. If you don’t purposefully shop there with the intent to support your local temple, no one will have access to one, and wouldn’t that be a sad world?

Hint: Do not report to the local small business person how much cheaper you can find something they sell on Amazon.com. It makes us grouchy.

Magickal Supplies are Spiritual Allies

I don’t have to tell you these things. You are intelligent, thoughtful practitioners, who understand the co-creative alliance with the Powers that Be. The ingredients from the realms of flora, fauna, and mineral in your spells are chosen for their inherent Spiritual attributes and only the real deal will do, yes?

A Few Examples:

Flora: Spirit of Rose is present, because that drop of essential oil is the “blood” of real roses, and is exorbitantly expensive because it is rare and difficult to obtain. Its preciousness is part of the magick. Rose “fragrance oil” may be cheap, but it is synthetic, and no replacement. If your spellwork requires you ally yourself to the Spirit of Roses, go buy an actual rose, and include the petals in a different way. Adding a dried rose petal to an oil blend is another way to bring that power to the working.

Another issue is sustainable harvesting of our plan allies – for example sandalwood powder.  Courtney Varnadoe manages the apothecary at our shop, The Sojourner, and she recently posted a poignant “Pagan PSA” on this very subject:

I’m particularly tired of pagan folk being disgruntled, disappointed, or otherwise “inconvenienced” when I explain why I do not order endangered or over-harvested magical plants for sale. What the hell is so hard to understand about the fact that I would prefer for the species to live than slowly peter out because a bunch of mystical motherfuckers wanted to cleanse their auras? Seriously, y’all. (Spoken as a self-proclaimed mystical motherfucker, by the way.) – Courtney Varnadoe

Mineral: Spirit of turquoise is present because it is real turquoise, with it’s specific molecular structure, it is rare and becoming more difficult to obtain, so it’ll cost you. An artificially-dyed howlite is so much cheaper and too often is sold labeled as turquoise, but it has the spirit of howlite. That is lovely, but is not the same thing. The same goes for “African Turquoise” which is a deceptive marketing tactic, because it is actually a Jasper. Here are some handy resources on how to tell the difference. Gemrock Auctions, and Turquoise Sky

Hint: If something that looks like turquoise has a low price, its unlikely to be the real deal.

Natural gemstones and crystals - CC0 Public Domain Pixabay
Natural gemstones and crystals – CC0 Public Domain Pixabay

Fauna: Parchment is often used for the writing of petition spells, and is made of skins, likely goat, sheep, or calf. This is one way we work with animal spirits in our spells. Parchment is precious, and witchy as all get-out. I don’t care what the catalog says, tan-colored card stock paper is not a replacement. If you can’t afford, or do not have access to real parchment, any paper will suffice. Another traditional petition paper is the brown craft paper that grocery store bags are made of. For a great source of parchment scraps by the pound, check out Pergamena.

Water: This is the one that really gets my knickers in a twist. Right this minute a well-regarded metaphysical wholesale catalogue company sells…get this…rain water IN A CHEAP PLASTIC BOTTLE. The only claim the company makes is that it is rain water, and that using naturally collected waters can enhance your spell work. <Well, DUH>

Let’s just give them the benefit of the doubt and assume that the product is exactly as advertised. The point to using “naturally collected waters” is that YOU COLLECT THE WATERS.  Even if you live smack-dab in the middle of the Sahara desert and want to whip up some rain magick, that is a tall order to fill, so you better put some effort into it– travel to where it rains, or wait until that miraculous moment that it DOES rain where you live and the waters you collect will be exactly the precious magickal ally you need for the job.  Besides, any water stored in plastic likely has BPA and Dioxins from the bottle now leached into the water; that matters to me. If you give these snake-water salesman your money, consider your witching license revoked. By the power vested in me by the Gods of Good Sense, you are fired.

Rain Water - CC0 Public Domain - Pixabay
Rain Water – CC0 Public Domain – Pixabay

Candles: Candle burning is a witches’ magickal sweet spot. Paraffin candles colored with chemical dyes bring their own energies to the team, but I doubt its what you have in mind. I use them, too, when I must, but paraffin is a by-product of the petroleum industry which does systematic harm to our mother earth, from cradle to grave. Burning a paraffin candle inside is carcinogenic and harmful to all within the breathing space. Beeswax, soy and other vegetable-derived candles remain a far better choice. The hard work of the bees are systematically beneficial and sacred to mother earth. They even improve the indoor air quality when burned. Yes, they cost a bit more, but I feel that it is a necessary part of a worthwhile sacrifice required of devotional practice.

Courtney’s Pagan Community PSA: Willful Ignorance

Willful Ignorance: This is a term that is defined by purposefully ignoring a fact in order to avoid change or difficulty. As pagan folks, we generally agree on a few key issues:

  • That the environment is important, and should be respected.
  • That living beings (of all types) are important, and should be respected.
  • That spiritual energy exists, in some way or another, within all that is.

With this information, you should then understand why I get particularly impassioned when I see pagan folks willfully ignoring factual knowledge they possess that aligns with these values. One small example? I can’t imagine how I am still seeing local pagan folk buying candles that are not beeswax. I don’t know how many times I have stood on that particular soapbox, but it should be clear to the majority of local pagans that paraffin wax = byproduct of the oil industry, with all of the energy that goes along with that process.

Beeswax candles are available, and a sustainable option that supports the preservation of bee populations. In fact, they are as easily available here as paraffin, and sometimes even in a greater variety. The excuses I hear from the mouths of people who know better? “Beeswax is sooo expensive!” “I really wanted my candle to be a brighter blue.” “This one comes with a printed jar.” Willful ignorance.

If you cannot afford to hold a ritual with materials that are in line with your spiritual values, or if you find minor visual detail to be an inconvenience, then maybe the true magic is in not participating in that indirect harm. Maybe if it’s not worth the cost, you aren’t truly making the sacrifice that authentic magic requires. This isn’t just a candle problem. It’s synthetic oils, it’s over-harvested and endangered plants, it’s exploited labor in far-off lands… What intentions are we enacting if we take part in this harm? Willful ignorance. Food for thought.

I’m going to also be clear that I use the candles as an example because it is not life-impeding to either go without or make the choice that costs half as much more. Life is a grey area; in order to function in our society there is a certain amount of willful harm that we are more or less required to take part in until society reaches a new consensus. This is not one of those areas. – Courtney Varnadoe

Believe me, we know the struggle is real. We also struggle as shopkeepers balancing the line between supply and demand, ethical standards and financial survival. Let’s all just keep bending this arc toward authentic, sustainable, beneficial lifestyles – one purchase, one spell and one ritual, at a time.

Blessed be,
~Heron Michelle

July 20, 2017

July 20, 2017 By

For a long time now I’ve been a merchant of metaphysical goods, energy healing and psychic services. For the most part, I think we do good, honest work.  Then there are days when I feel like a snake oil salesman.  I confess my disenchantment with the metaphysical industry, which I know to be just as exploitative as any other business, despite its “self-help” facade.

Snake Oil Salesman - Public Domain
Public Domain – “Snake oil is an expression that originally referred to fraudulent health products or unproven medicine but has come to refer to any product with questionable or unverifiable quality or benefit. By extension, a snake oil salesman is someone who knowingly sells fraudulent goods or who is themselves a fraud, quack, charlatan, or the like.” ~wikipedia

Corporate Witchcraft and the Bottom Line

I am a Witch who holds dear the Wiccan Rede, having sworn to harm none.  “Harm” is a tricky and complex idea, and I work within an industry that does not necessarily share my ethical standards.  I am also the president of a corporation, and sometimes that feels like a conflict of interests.

Note the use of the word industry. Metaphysics is lofty and philosophical, the arrow to point you in the direction of enlightenment. However, once you tack on the word industry it becomes a business that requires profit to continue. Being in business implies that great investments of time and money were laid down by people who want very desperately to continue to feed their families.

Hint: Opening a metaphysical store so that you can devote your life to priest/essing is tantamount to taking a vow of poverty, but we still expect to eat and sleep indoors in exchange for our service.

I confess that personal ego is also a big part of my choice to remain open; I cannot throw in the towel on my investments and let everyone down, so I will not give up. I’ve put everything I have into this shop because it finances the Spiritual work I’ve vowed to do. That makes for a compelling motive. The last thing society needs is another religious hypocrite; however, just like any other business, we need people to buy what we are selling with a reasonable profit margin. Demand drives supply; that is the truthful ass-slap on the bottom line.

Supply and Demand

My shop has a “general store” model.  We are in the bible belt where an overwhelming majority of our neighbors are conservative Christians. The only way we can survive is if we try to cobble together under one roof everyone else that has an alternative culture, religion or lifestyle, we call them the “less-traveled paths” and this is a seriously under-served demographic here in Eastern North Carolina – that ranges from yoga-chakra-Ganesha-crystal-natural soap customers, all the way to occult-athame-Hekate-Dragonsblood Resin customers, with every stop in between.

I serve diverse people with diverse backgrounds and spiritual practices, and it is our job to make sure they have what they need, without interference or judgement. However, here is the rub: while all these paths may have an esoteric, mystical, magickal thread that connects them, and I consider them all my first cousins, the *things* they demand that we supply are not all equally beneficial in my eyes.

various altar tools including a knife, crystal, cauldron, candle, etc.
Witches Tools / Heron Michelle

The Dirty Little Secret: Fear Sells

The dirty little secret of the metaphysical industry, and all profit-based industry everywhere, is that fear sells.  Specifically, fear of a lack of love, can sell just about anything, when tweaked just right within the subconscious. The common folk are terrified of social rejection, of powerlessness, of lovelessness, and when they’ve suffered some difficult lack, they’ll go to desperate measures to get back what they need. Talk about a vulnerable market ripe for exploitation!

“When you have and hold a need, hearken not to others greed.” The Wiccan Rede

I serve a huge variety of people, from a wide range of spiritual paths, and different levels of understanding. In other words, I can assume nothing, nor should I impose my own judgement about the relative benefit of what a customer is doing with the products they are there to buy. As a salesperson, I can offer information about their options, and the quality/value of the products they are demanding, but ultimately their choice is their choice and that has nothing to do with me. If I attempt to impose a Wiccan ethos, or even a pagan ethos onto my esoteric cousins, I’m being the asshole, and that breaks my second rule of witchcraft, Don’t be the Asshole.

That being said, I’m also a priestess and our mission is to help educate and empower our community to be as successful and effective, happy and fulfilled, as possible. There is a part of me that feels their distress, and wants to gather them all up in a big hug, infuse them with the Divine Love of the Universe until their wounds are healed, their eyes opened to possibility, and their fears all conquered. I would much rather teach them all about their own self-worth, rather than to validate their fears.  But if they aren’t ready for that lesson, and don’t want it, again…that is none of my business.

Three-Modes; Three Prices

The metaphysical industry covers a range of options to deal with this fear. The New Age industry sells you an expensive mode of transcendence and forgiveness for this fear that is Spirit-Based – all upper strata Divine, mental, angel, higher-vibration, ascended master, cosmic stuff. This end of the spectrum is often mocked by the folks on the other end as being the “fluffy bunnies or the “love and lighters” because it seems so passive and benign. Perhaps it offers transcendence of this earthly strife, but that will seriously cost you. There is a big profit margin to be made from folks seeking to transcend their suffering, if you can live with yourself after the sale. Why is it that something marketed in New Age-y parlance is three times as expensive as the occult idea from which it is derived? There is cult-like danger-zone that forms around the gurus and branding that promotes their trademarked “golden ticket.” I find most of it to be dubious, and so – alas – I just don’t go there.

Mid-range, there are many Pagan, Earth-Based options that teach personal responsibility, harmonious connection with nature, and long-term healing through re-empowerment.  This is the middle-world, dig in the dirt, herbal tea, seek-within-yourself, gritty, messy, sexy stuff.  They are based on radical personal sovereignty that is difficult and demanding. While there is a minefield of taboo that cult-proofs it with limits to how money changes hands, and a distrust of organized religion and dogma, paganism make no promises that life will be any easier or safer, just more manageable. Its hard to sell that, but for the people who choose this middle, crooked path, they will know what raw materials they actually need, where to find them growing wild, how to prepare spell components for themselves, and aren’t likely to fall for flashy, pre-packaged sales gimmicks. Again, not a huge profit margin in the very valuable curative of going out into the woods to hug a tree.

On the other extreme end of the magickal range, there are various Fear-based forms of what I’ve come to think of as Thug-Magick. They tend to have ties to the Abrahamic paradigm of “good vs. evil.”  This is bully magick, hustler magick, command-mode magick that wants to be quick, easy, and disregard the greater consequences beyond what they get out of it.  Here is where the market for spoon-fed, “just add fire” gimmicks flourishes; quick fixes to seduce, get revenge, smite, coerce, exploit, win at gambling, or to tilt the tables of justice in their favor, whether they are deserving of that advantage or not.  Generally speaking, they don’t know the occult mechanics behind why these things work, but they put their faith in the placebo of a recognizable package, rather than their own power. I know this because they will not hear any suggestion otherwise.

Don't Insult the Witch sign, Bergen, Norway / Tony Culbertson (used with permission)
Don’t Insult the Witch sign, Bergen, Norway / Tony Culbertson (used with permission)

Healing or Enabling

If a wounded person can conceive of a “magic bullet” fix, I promise that there is a brightly packaged “curio” out there made by an enterprising manufacturer, insinuating their name brand product will help them win the lottery, get laid, entrap the object of their desire, smite their enemies, and protect them from the boogymen, while legally promising nothing but “entertainment.”  All this for the low, low price of…good gods, y’all! HOW MUCH ?!?! The majority of our customers will not only demand these products, but line up and fork over their last dime for them, even as we suggest more beneficial options.

Hint: You don’t need expensive stuff to lead a beneficial and happy life, not really. That can help, if you understand how they actually work, but YOU are the source of this power. Start with you. Going direct to Spirit costs next to nothing. <—this is why I’m a lousy retailer.

As time goes on, I find that I just can’t stand participating in this racket, and I’ve been known to be blatantly honest about my skepticism about their value, when I’m asked. There are times when I know that I’m enabling baneful behaviors, but there is the shop rent to pay, and so week after week I sell them another Lucky Gambler candle, Fast Money oil, another High John the Conqueror Root.

When I see how powerless and victimized a customer feels, I know they purchase these defensive things as a way to try and protect themselves, but that is like a band-aid on a mortal gash. They remain the victim. If they are convinced someone put a curse on them, it is as good as being true. Maybe they are right, but if they continually blame forces outside themselves for all their problems and take no responsibility for their own lives–they will never change their luck.

But I have kids to feed, and payroll to pay, so week after week, I ring up another sale, and offer them my blessings for success. In psychology parlance, they are projecting the locus of their control outside of themselves. The fastest way to “burn the witch” is to attempt to work magick before you have internalized that control. Yet, out they go, purchase in hand, and I sold them the matches. In psychology parlance, I am suffering from cognitive dissonance.

Cognitive Dissonance

I think metaphysical retailers need to show discretion on what they make easily accessible to the untrained. There are some legit ingredients for magick that we simply won’t carry, because we honestly don’t think enough people in this area would use them responsibly.  Some magick should be hidden from the the average, raging muggle on the street.

Beyond the spiritual effects,  I think we have an ethical obligation to provide goods that have as sustainable a lifespan from cradle to grave as we can possibly find. That would mean no more cheap stick incense of chemical-dipped-sawdust made in the sweatshops of India. That would mean no more cheap paraffin wax candles colored with coal-tar dyes, or synthetic “fragrance” anointing oils that are no more powerful than “sacred Febreze (1).” Basically, I’d have to just stop stocking a majority of our staple sales that keep our rent paid – no matter how many safer alternatives are sitting right there getting dusty.

At some point we’re all going to have to make a choice about what kind of magick we aim to make….cheap, easy and fake? or valuable, worthwhile and genuine?  What sorts of stewards of the Earth are we going to be? I know that I have to get my own choices in better alignment with my values.

A time is coming when I will be forced to make hard decisions about my participation in this industry. How can I align my life with the sacred mission of service without harm? What sacrifices will we all be willing to make so we may walk more lightly upon this web we all share?

 

  1. Matthew Venus, maker of fine occult products at Spiritus Arcanum, originally coined this term.
June 23, 2017

June 23, 2017 By

I began this series last year with The Pentacle Approach to Wellness in Dark Times, offering a magickal framework for creating a harmonic balance between the physical, mental, will, emotional, and spiritual bodies. This concept is symbolized for Witches by the Pentacle, an encircled five-pointed star. As the fires of summer solstice burn, I find I am finally able to continue this series with a look at the element of Fire, and Highest Divine Will.

Pentacle Approach to Wellness: Balancing the Body of the Will, Witch on Fire, Graphic by Heron Michelle
Graphic by Heron Michelle

The Mechanics of Magick

It has been said by modern-era mages that true magick – magick with a K – “is the Science and Art of causing change to occur in conformity with Will.” That quote was by Aleister Crowley, whose Thelemic maxim, “Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law. Love is the law, love under will,” is believed to have influenced Gerald Garner’s ethical guideline in The Rede of the Wicca, “An it harm none, do what ye will.”

Personal will vs. Highest Divine Will

What do mages and witches mean when we talk about the Will?

I immediately think of my personal fires; of the yellow solar plexus chakra radiating like the sun at my center. The Will is the “engine” of my being – drive, action, oomph, verb. There is a difference between my personal will and my Highest Divine Will. My personal will may be short-sighted by the little needs of the moment. Like, my will to eat this pizza; my will to possess the shiny new Iphone; my will to shag the sexy stallion who just sat down next to me at the bar. Or maybe its my will to keep jogging until I lose 10 pounds before bikini season, to reach the summit of this hike, or get that promotion at work. In my microcosm, personal will compels me to do whatever it takes to satisfy what my ego wants, and that isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but it is just a smaller part of the ultimate thing.

“There is a single main definition of the object of all magical ritual. It is the uniting of the microcosm with the macrocosm.” Aleister Crowley, Magick in Theory and Practice

Highest Divine Will is what the greatness of the interconnected-to-macrocosm me needs at the most epic level. My Divine Will compels me toward my destiny, fueling the achievement of my sacred mission, the spiritual purpose to my existence.  I unite microcosm to macrocosm through magick by aligning my personal will with Highest Divine Will. This taps the source of power that creates the Universe – and the magus becomes the conduit for that power.

The Pentacle Approach: Balancing the Body of the Will - Witch on Fire
CC0 Public Domain – Fires of the Forge

Pentacle Approach to The Will

My will is how I apply my fires to all the other aspects of myself: my vision, my emotions, my physical strength, my spiritual mission. When I attempt to define the Will, I inevitably choose words that evoke the other parts of myself. Again, the holistic nature of existence is interwoven at every level, just as the Pentacle depicts. To use this power of Highest Divine Will safely, I must be in healthy balance on all levels.

My Will fuels what I’ve set my mind to…my ideals, the vision I’m driven to manifest.

My Will acts upon the deepest desire of my heart….my passion, the emotional power behind that vision that stubbornly prods me to rise from the mat and keep fighting for that thing , no matter how many times I’m knocked down.

My Will compels me to pour my energy, my resources, my very sweat, bones and flesh into The WORK my spirit was sent here to do. My Highest Divine Will is the marching orders, my commission as a Divine warrior, and the war machine I need to win every battle set before me.

My will is my fire; and when my personal will is in alignment with my Highest Divine Will – when my power flows freely from microcosm to macrocosm – I wield the most powerful tool in creation: magick.

 

Balancing the Body of the Will
Element of Fire on The Great Work Wheel of the Year Graphic by Heron Michelle

Point 3: Element of Fire – Wellness of Will

Balancing through The Great Work -Beltane to Lammas

In my Wheel of the Year ritual system (pictured above), from Beltane to Litha – the sabbat associated with the element of Fire – I work to kindle the fires of my will and apply them to whatever Great Work intention I’m working on that year.  Then from Litha to Lammas, as the heat of the summer blazes to it’s height, I surrender anything that is hindering my progress. The trick to this method is in discerning the balance between feeding the beneficial fires, without burning out or blowing up.

To Will and to Surrender

As the Hermetic Principle of Polarity informs us, everything in the universe is a range of possibility containing both extremes. Fire is primarily considered masculine and in the “Pyramid of power” system of magick, is associated with how we apply our Will. That is its active, projective mystery…charging forth like a warrior into battle to create all that change.

The flip side of the mystery of fire, the passive, receptive, feminine and less obvious lesson, is about surrender. Think about the log on your bonfire. The fuel that is burning must surrender to that catalyst so that its raw material is transformed into something amazing. When we surrender to the fires of Highest Divine Will, all that does not serve that sacred mission is burned away. Our impurities and weaknesses are transmuted into power. What remains – like a sword in the forge – is stronger, purer, and sharper.

Rekindling our fires during dark times

Surrendering what isn’t good for us, isn’t the same thing as “giving up.” During hard times, when we feel powerless to change the lousy things happening to us, or in our society, it is easy to feel depressed and let the wet-blanket of hopelessness smother our fires. I’m a Pisces sun, a water sign. I feel things very deeply and am sensitive to the feelings of the surrounding world. This makes me prone to puddling. Over the course of my life, I’ve come close to drowning in my own puddles of despair a fair few times. Witchcraft provided me the tools that helped me climb out, dry out, and find my spark again.

I think this spark of fire is the hardest part while feeling blue, because the watery sides of ourselves are drowning it out–we are receiving too much and holding the blargy energetic refuse of the world in an inappropriate and ineffective way. For wellness on all levels there must be a balance of giving and receiving, active and passive, out-flowing and in-flowing. When we engage with our inner fires, it is an active, out-flowing moment that helps us escape the puddle of depression.  Like a warrior, we accept a mission, armor up and strike out; This is when we go DO THE THINGS.

The Questions:

Ask what your Highest Divine Will is for your life. What is the sacred mission that you came to this earth to complete in this lifetime? You are an incarnate God/dess with access to infinite power.  Being granted a body to live here on earth is never a mistake–its more like winning the jackpot–and the Grand Plan includes something amazing for you to do; I can assure you that just laying down to wallow in despair wasn’t it.

CC0 Public Domain ~ Pixabay
CC0 Public Domain ~ Pixabay

Take action, enjoy life, claim your victories

As anyone that has ever been depressed will tell you, getting up and doing things may seem an impossible feat. Be kind to yourself. Every little action and victory counts. What is your passion? How shall we indulge our free will today? Maybe that is a hobby, maybe that is your studies of the Craft, or learning to cook, but give yourself permission to enjoy that passion a little bit every day.

Fires and the Solar Plexus Chakra are also associated with the muscles. Find some kind of physical exercise you like, and do that regularly. Perhaps this is simple stretching, taking a walk around the yard or neighborhood, a yoga or tai chi class, or going dancing. Witches are known to spontaneously dance around the yard at all hours. Don’t hold back now.

Fire burns and consumes; it moves. Fire NEEDS the interaction with oxygen and fuel to even exist and cannot sit still. Engaging with our fires requires an extroverted effort, which is tough on some folks but is necessary to a comfortable degree for you.  Make social plans of some kind. Even if you don’t feel like it, find whatever level of social-ness you can manage and do a little bit. Maybe this is studying at a coffee shop, or the library. Maybe it is making dinner plans with just one other person, but make an effort.

Every day, set a little goal, and then accomplish it. For example, going to the market to buy the ingredients for that fabulous dinner you’ll make in the earth exercises.

Exercise: Fire Breathing

  • Build a fire in a fire pit, or the hearth, or a plate full of tea-light candles. Sit by the fire, get into your meditative state while scrying into it.
  • Reach out with your Spirit and deeply connect to that Fiery energy, breathing in deeply and slowly while imagining a red light filling you to the count of four–hold it til the count of four.
  • Exhale slowly to the count of four, while surrendering all hindrances to your full-activation and motivation being burned away by those fires…purified, tempered.
  • Hold your breath for a count of four. Repeat this square pattern of 4 breaths until you feel fully energized.
  • Dance around the fire. Bang a drum with wild abandon. If you have a partner, now would be an excellent time to make love!
Fire Breathing Dragon
CC0 Public Domain Pixabay

Exercise: Sun Soaking

  • Make a solar brew and drink it! Apple cider mulled with cinnamon, clove, allspice and orange slices is traditional at Yule, but is a solar infusion that helps me banish the darkness. I like to add all the ingredients to a large glass mason jar with a lid, and allow to brew for a few hours in the sun, then strain off the herbs.
  • Prepare it and take it outside to sit in a sunbeam with you. Sit in the direct sunlight, with as much skin barred as possible, and imagine your open chakras letting that light pour into them, soak it up. (beware sunburn…wear sunscreen, and stay about 30 minutes.)
  • While you are out there, take stones associated with solar plexus and FIRE, like citrine, sunstone, yellow and orange calcite, fire agate, golden tigers eye. The metal IRON is really helpful, too.
  • After your brew, your stones and yourself have all had a nice sunbath, drink up, and wear your stones in a pouch near your Solar Plexus Chakra (just above the navel, below the sternum.)
Sun Soaking to Balance the Fires of the Will - Witch on Fire
CC0 Public Domain – Pixabay

Exercise: Take out the Trash

The magickal art of surrender is about releasing all those things that weaken us, that no longer serve our highest good.

  • We can actually take out the garbage–the stinky, bogging refuse in our spaces. De-clutter the house by donating old crap you don’t need. Clear out the junk drawer, or that one closet of shame you hope no guests ever open. We may not be able to oust the politicians we don’t care for today, but we can go organize the garage and sweep it right out. Go wash the car and show yourself who’s boss in your own driveway!
  • Physically, we can exfoliate our skin, do a juice cleanse and flush out toxins from the body.
  • Emotionally, we can take out the trash by overcoming our addictions; to junk-food, to caffeine, alcohol or baneful habits; addictions to fear, anger, and toxic relationships. In the Water exercises (coming soon) I’ll include an emotional bond-breaking spell-working.
  • Spiritually, we can clean and prepare a fresh altar. I always feel better after scrubbed out all the bowls, dusted the statues, and laundered the altar cloths. A great way to engage with fires is to light the candles and incense. Ritual is the “DOING THE THINGS” part of witchcraft.  I always feel better when I lay an offering of flowers and liquor for Aphrodite and Hermes on my fresh altar.

Visit an Instructor or Trainer

Remember that if you are having a hard time, I always recommend the team approach: magick is best applied alongside the care of skilled professionals.  Before beginning a new physical exercise regime, consult your doctor, and then work with a trainer, or other qualified instructor – like a yoga teacher. This can be immensely helpful to avoid injury and design the physical exercise program that is most effective for your needs.

As the fires of summer burn, may we also burn brightly!
~Heron

I’ll update links as they are posted, stay tuned for a look at the lessons of Earth, Air, Fire, Water and Spirit.

The Pentacle Approach to Wellness Through Dark Times

The Pentacle Approach to Wellness: Balancing The Physical Body

The Pentacle Approach to Wellness: Balancing The Mental Body

The Pentacle Approach to Wellness: Balancing The Body of Will

The Pentacle Approach to Wellness: Balancing The Emotional Body.

The Pentacle Approach to Wellness: Balancing The Spiritual Body

 

May 23, 2017

May 23, 2017 By

The longest day of the year, when we celebrate Summer Solstice is celebrated when we enter the sign of Cancer. As we begin preparations for our sabbat celebrations, I offer for your consideration this Litha ritual with techniques to engage all the celebrants as contributors, regardless of their previous witching experience.

CC0 Public Domain ~ Pixabay
CC0 Public Domain ~ Pixabay

One thing I cannot abide is a boring slog of ritual theater, standing around in circle formation, just watching the ritual leaders pontificate among themselves like its a show. That is too much like the dry-white-toast churches of my youth. I can’t stand “chur-cle.” You know, church in a circle? I didn’t pursue witchcraft to remain a bystander.

I’ve had a few opportunities to enact this rite with different groups over the years, and I think it is successful because it engages all the senses, includes both an inner working that is still and reverent and an outer working that is robust and gets the heart pumping. Both work together with the high-intensity power of the sun at Litha, to further the Great Work of personal evolution.

Then once all is said and done with the main rite, there is a “take away” spell-crafting of a Sun Fetish, that everyone can use to continue their magick as the wheel turns on. My favorite sabbat rituals result in something you take home with you, to utilize personally until the next turning, much like our Ostara Fire of Aries Candles.

A Litha Ritual of Highlight and Shadow

Circle Layout:

  • Outline perimeter with flowers, 18’ in diameter.
  • Set tiki torches at the cardinal points. Enter through the east.
  • Altar set in southeast edge of the circle, golden yellow altar cloth dressed with sunflowers.
  • Fire pit in center of circle, lit with additional fuel.
  • Cauldron of water in the Western side of circle.
  • Metal pan and fire shovel for collecting ash.

Altar Goods Needed

  • Consecration elements: Incense, water, salt and fire candle.
  • Smudge Bundle and Litha anointing oil
  • chalice of mead
  • plate of cakes
  • libation bowl
  • silver goddess and gold god candles, white spirit candle
  • deck of divination cards, I like the animal guide cards

Tools: Hand-held mirror, stang (If you use one), athame/sword, wand. Singing bowl, frame drum with mallet.

Spell Materials near the altar:

  • Unfinished straw wreath (Sun wheel) on the stang.
  • Small cauldron of burnable healing herbs, like eucalyptus.
  • Self-drying clay and cinnamon powder
  • Florist Ribbon cut into 36″ lengths, sharpie markers.

Roles

  • RL: ritual leader, guide and narrator. If your coven has both a High Priest and Priestess, the duties may be divided between them.
  • Maiden
  • Summoner
  • 4 Elemental Gatekeepers

Pre-ritual preparation:

Before we begin, I like to go over the ritual intent, and get every one thinking about some time in their lives when they accomplished something really awesome…they got that degree, won that championship game or the spelling bee, passed some big exam, birthed a baby, won whatever battle they were fighting. For this rite, they will share with us an example story of their previous, shining greatness. Everyone then writes on their sun wheel ribbon… “My skills and talents shone most brightly when I accomplished______________.” Then drape around the shoulders and wear their ribbon into ritual – each like a ray of the sun.

Purify the Celebrants:

Gatekeepers smudge each celebrant with burning sage; anoint their brow with a litha oil blend.

Maiden treads the circle edge playing the singing bowl, banishing any baneful energies from the physical/energetic space.

Challenge at the gate:

Summoner (brandishing the sword or athame:) How do you enter?
Celebrant: In perfect love and perfect trust.
Summoner: It is good, you may pass.

Celebrants follow the maiden as they circle deosil (jed-sil, clockwise) 3 times before finding the place in circle that feels right.

Tapping in:

RL: Let us begin tonight’s ritual by tapping in to the flow of nature’s power all around us.  First we’ll take 3 group breaths from the belly. (Pause)

Imagine yourself like a tree with branches that extend above, breathing in the air. Your leaves soaking in the fires of the sun, extending all the way to the galactic center. Breath down their vitality, flowing down through the crown of your head to fill your trunk, all the way to the root of your spine. (Pause)

Now, extend those roots from the base of your spine deep into the earth, touching the waters and minerals, all the way to the core of the planet. Breathe up their nurturing power, filling your trunk. (Pause)

Breathe in a cycle now. As you exhale, visualize any tension you may be carrying flushed down the roots, or released into the atmosphere to be recycled. Inhale and  pull up renewed and awakened vitality, confidence and power. (pause)

Consecrate the altar:

Pull up the energy from the earth, pull down from the sky, out through the hands. Maiden chimes bowl three times. RL awakens and prepares the consecration elements, lights spirit candle. Maiden chimes bowl three times. (Full Instructions for an Altar Consecration Ritual)

Bright sun casts long shadows CC0 Public Domain ~ Pixabay
Bright sun casts long shadows CC0 Public Domain ~ Pixabay

Erecting the Temple:

Welcome and Ritual intent:

RL: Welcome Friends!

All: Welcome!

RL: The Wheel of the year turns on. We are gathered on this sacred eve to celebrate the summer solstice.  The earth is a riot of vitality. Just as the fruits grow on the vine, the womb of the mother goddess quickens with child.  The seeds of The Great Work we planted at Imbolc, continue to grow. The sun reaches his zenith, shining brightly through his strongest, longest day.   

But today is an out-of-balanced light that casts harsh shadows.  The Oak king falls to the Holly King. As the sun slips over the horizon, so do we also turn towards the darkening half of the year.  We celebrate our personal zeniths–as well as our shadows.

We step aside from personal ego, release knowing, and seek wonderment. We release personal will, and seek surrender to Divine Will. We accept our greatness, then dare to strive for improvement. We hold the space, seeking the next resonance. We will celebrate our greatest accomplishments then look inward to find the source of our inner light, setting ourselves on the path to discover “what’s next?”

Let us erect the temple, by first hallowing our sacred space with the four elements.

Hallowing with the Elements:

Gatekeeper of the East: (Summoner delivers burning incense, gatekeeper faces the east) I consecrate this circle with the powers of air… (all repeat as element is carried around the circle. When arriving back at the gate…) Air! I your brother of air, greet you with air and ask that you blow free any unwanted energies from our circle today. So Mote it Be! (Summoner returns the element to the altar.)

All: So Mote it Be!

Gatekeeper of the South: (Summoner delivers lit candle, gatekeeper faces the south) I consecrate this circle with the powers of Fire. (all repeat as element is carried around the circle. When arriving back at the gate…) Fire! I your brother of Fire, greet you with Fire and ask that you burn free any unwanted energies from our circle today. So Mote it Be! (Summoner returns the element to the altar.)

All: So Mote it Be!

Gatekeeper of the West: (Maiden delivers water dish, gatekeeper faces the west) I consecrate this circle with the powers of Water…(all repeat as element is carried around the circle. When arriving back at the gate…) Water! I your Sister of Water, greet you with Water and ask that you wash free any unwanted energies from our circle today. So Mote it Be! (Maiden returns the element to the altar.)

All: So Mote it Be!

Gatekeeper of the North: (Maiden delivers salt dish, gatekeeper faces the north) I consecrate this circle with the powers of Earth…(all repeat as element is carried around the circle. When arriving back at the gate…) Earth!  I your sister of Earth, greet you with Earth and ask that you ground any unwanted energies from our circle today. So Mote it Be! (Maiden replaces element on the altar.)

All: So Mote it Be!

Cast the circle:

RL: (All take hands with thumbs pointing left.) Together we will cast the circle with the Awen Cone of Power. Pull vital, protective energy from the universe and release it through your voice, surrounding us with multicolored light at the circles edge.

All: Ah–oo–wen (chanted repeatedly, starting low and slow, rising in pitch and speed, to peak at the top with arms thrown to the sky.)

RL:  A ring of our energy dances around us at the circle’s edge.  See it pulsing with light and life–all colors, all vibrations.  Together we will close the sphere.  Hands to the sides, close it above us gathering in the heavens (bring hand to a peak above our heads) and below us, gathering in the underworld (sweeps hands to close them pointing to the earth.)
The circle is cast; let it be our protection, our amplification, and our magnification for our work this day. Naught but love will enter in. Naught but love will emerge.  We stand in a temple of our own making, between the worlds, in a time out of time.  Blessed be!

All: Blessed be!

Opening the Elemental Gates:

RL: Let us now open the gates, beginning in the East. (We all turn to face each gate with a salute, flowing deosil.)

Gatekeeper of the East: Guardians of the East! Powers of air!  We ask your breezy, cleansing presence into our circle tonight.  Liberate us. Give our voices wings of flight. Hail and welcome! (Draw invoking pentagram)

All: Hail and welcome!

Gatekeeper of the South:  Guardians of the South! Powers of Fire!  We ask your passionate, transformative presence at our circle tonight.  Embolden us. Ignite our Will with your power. Hail and welcome! (Draws the invoking pentagram)

All: Hail and welcome!

Gatekeeper of the West: Guardians of the West! Powers of Water!  We ask your flowing, ever-changing presence at our circle tonight.  Inspire us.  Break free the banks of our emotions.  Hail and welcome! (Draws the invoking pentagram)

All: Hail and welcome!

Gatekeeper of the North:  Guardians of the North! Powers of Earth! We ask your sturdy, comforting presence at our circle tonight.  Strengthen us.  Manifest our dreams. Hail and welcome! (Draws the invoking pentagram)

All: Hail and welcome!

Evocations:

RL:  (Walking around the circle, making eye contact with each celebrant.) The Great Spirit fills this place.  Spirit has never been separate or elsewhere.   Every atom, every molecule, the soil, the burrowing worm, each blade of grass, breath of air and drop of dew are spirit swirling into manifestation.  I also honor the transcendent deity–the impetus to BE, to evolve, to come together and bond in new ways.  We are animated and connected by the divine spark. Welcome Spirit!

All: Welcome Spirit!

RL: (All standing in Goddess Posture, hands cupped and raised to the heavens) Mother Goddess! Nurturer! You who are the fertile earth! Aid our journey with your strength. Hail and Welcome! (Light the silver candle.)

All: Hail and Welcome!

RL: (All standing in posture of Esoterism, right hand saluting above, left hand saluting below.) Father God!  Provider! You who are the blazing sun! Aid our journey with your devotion. Hail and Welcome! (Light the gold candle.)

All: Hail and Welcome!

Ritual Body:

Outer Work: Releasing attachment to former greatness

RL: Just as the sun is at it’s zenith today, we also have achieved zeniths, or times when our strength, skills and talents gained us great accomplishments.  We were in our full power and on top of the world!  Our pride and self-confidence grew. Our egos swelled. 

While ego is an important part of our psychological make-up, *attachment* to our former accomplishments can be limiting.  If not released, it begins to define us as what we were, and derails us from what we can become.  So we’ll each come forward, declare that accomplishment for which we are most proud then attach the ribbon to the wreath. When we are done, we will then burn the wreath and with it our attachments to that part of ego.

Starting with the RL, we go around deosil, each person stepping forward to the altar, shares the story of their accomplishment (briefly), reads the ribbon aloud, the voice filled with power, and then ties it to the straw wreath “sun wheel.”

“I shone most brightly when I ___________________.”

After each declaration we all applaud and cheer them on. When all have had their turn…

RL:  (All Repeat in call and response) How brightly we shine! (repeat) We are strong! (repeat) We are powerful!  (Repeat)

The sun wheel is dropped onto the fire.

RL: But we are not limited by this past greatness!

Treading the mill (rhythmically stomping the edge of the circle, widdershins) or dancing to raise the cone of power…

All: (Chanting) Burning, burning, higher higher, feeding pride into the fire.

RL: (leads chant to a peak directed downward into the fire,  then everyone sits around the circle to ground the remaining energy. Pause to catch our breath.

CC0 Public Domain ~ Pixabay
CC0 Public Domain ~ Pixabay

Inner Work: Opening to Mystery

RL: Our attachments to previous greatness are set free.  Where they once lived within us is now an open place, a void of potential. Let us invite into that space our next greatness.  Open yourselves to the mystery of what comes next.

(Long Pause)

Affirm your connection to the earth–strengthen your grounding root.

(Long Pause)

Feel the residual heat of the Sun at your back and open yourself to the Cosmos before you.  Look deep–stretch your awareness all the way to the Galactic Center.  Where will your path take you next?

(Pause for a lengthy inner journeying – RL shamanic drumming while walking around fire)

Thank any beings you have encountered.  It is time to return to the Circle.  Be present in your body again. Please stand with me once more…As I come around to each of you with the mirror,  look yourself in the eyes and see the divine within you–your light–and affirm you will continue to seek this mystery.  While we do this, let’s all softly sing…

“I am the flow, and I am the ebb, I am the weaver, and I am the web.”

RL As the chant begins, RL goes to each celebrant in turn, holding a hand mirror for each to see themselves. (If ritual is at night, Maiden holds up the spirit candles to illuminate their faces.)  RL will whisper in their left ear in two parts of the affirmation for them to repeat.

Individually: It is my Will to seek the Mystery within me / which is the source of my Light

After the affirmation, celebrant is offered a sparkler by the Summoner, they light the sparkler from either the fire pit or the spirit candle, then walk or dance the circle, as they desire.  Each person may scry at a cauldron of water…feeling the water and doing any ritual cleansing they desire.

RL: By this act of your will, you are on the path of en-Light-enment.  Your coming greatness will be in the service of that path, and in service to the Divine will in your life. So mote it Be!

All: So mote it Be!

CC0-Public Domain ~ Pixabay
CC0-Public Domain ~ Pixabay

Grounding and Closing the Temple:

Prayers and Thanksgiving:

We pass the small cauldron of healing herbs around the circle and holding them while praying, visualizing ourselves or other loved ones in good health, sending healing energies and intentions. We then cast the herbs in the fire declaring that type of wellness by name. End with “Blessed Be!”

Divination for Further Guidance:

RL: Goes around to offer one animal card to each celebrant to receive guidance on which animal spirit medicine will guide our journey through the dark half of the year.

Simple feast:

RL: Blessing of the mead and cakes, offering a libation to the goddess, god and spirits of the land into the libation bowl.

RL: May the gods sustain us all through the dark half of the year. Blessed Be!

All: Blessed Be!

(The chalice and cakes are passed around the circle deosil, each saying to the next, “You are a god/dess may you never thirst/hunger.” Each answers, Blessed be, before taking a sip/bite and passing it on.

Dissolving the Temple:

RL: Blessed Be this midsummer’s night!

All: Blessed Be!

RL: Summer is here and our work is complete.  It is time to dissolve our temple and step back into the flow of time.

Release the Center:

RL: Great Spirit!  Universe weaver! You who are mother and father to all things.  Thank you for the inspiration, nurturing, protection and devotion felt here tonight.  You are carried ever with us. Guide each of us in our Great Work as we Turn the Wheel. Hail and farewell! (Extinguishes the three candles)

All: Hail and Farewell!

Closing the Elemental Gates:

RL: We’ll close the elemental gates widdershins beginning in the north.

Everyone faces North with a salute. Once closed, all bow.

Gatekeeper of the North:  Powers of the North and of Earth.  Manifest our magick, lend solidity to our purpose.  As above, so below. Thank you for your aid today.  Hail and farewell!  (Draws the banishing pentagram)

All: Hail and Farewell!

Everyone faces West.

Gatekeeper of the West:  Powers of the west and of water.  Nourish our magick and succor our hearts.  As above, so below. Thank you for your aid today. Hail and farewell!  (Draws the banishing pentagram)

All: Hail and Farewell!

Everyone faces South

Gatekeeper of the South:  Powers of the South and of Fire.  Empower our magick and lend your transformation to our purpose.  As above, so below. Thank you for your aid today. Hail and farewell!  (Draws the banishing pentagram)

All: Hail and Farewell!

Everyone faces east

Gatekeeper of the East: Powers of the East and of air.  Realize our magick and inspire us to our sacred mission. As above, so below. Thank you for your aid today.  Hail and farewell!  (Draws the banishing pentagram)

All: Hail and Farewell!

Circle release:

RL:  We’ll release the energy of our circle to light our paths during the darkening half of the year.  With your hands, gather the bubble of energy we’ve created.  Feel it tingling in your hands as together we push it, mold it into an intense ball of energy.  Smaller and smaller, charge it with all your intent, your will.  (When we visualize it beach ball sized hovering over the central fire) We charge this sphere to be the light on the path before us, leading us back together again! On the count of three, release it into the universe for the highest good of all! One, two, three…RELEASE! (We throw our hands upward, and clap, to break the space.)

RL: The circle is open, but never broken!  Merry meet, Merry part…
All:  And Merry meet again!

(We sing the song and usually frolic around a bit like a square dance….)

Grounding as needed.

Post Ritual Personal Spell working: Sun Fetish

After the sun wheel is burned to ash, and cooled, we collect that ash, mix a smidgen of it with the self hardening clay and cinnamon, an herb of the sun. Kneed it together thoroughly while visualizing your Great Work intention for the year.

Fashion a sun-shaped fetish that can either be turned into a pendant, or a figurine for personal use in the furthering of the celebrants great work through The Wheel of the Year.

Harden and charge it in the summer sunlight for at least one full day. It may later be painted or (even better) covered in gold leaf.

May your Summers be blessed,

~Heron

I would be remiss not to give credit here to the ample influence of one of my early mentors, Diana Rice of the (now disbanded) Lunatic Fringe, a Shamanic Witchcraft circle that offered public Sabbats for over 18 years here in North Carolina. Every young witch needs a good mentor, and Diana was an excellent guide and friend to me when I needed it most. Thank you, dear friend, for your most excellent Work.

Heron’s Sabbat Rituals for every Season!

Candlelight Yule Ritual: A Meditation for Hope and Peace

Yule Log Ritual for Winter Solstice Magick

Imbolc Ritual: Dedicating to The Great Work of Magick

Ostara Ritual Ritual for the Large Coven

Rites of Beltane: Sacred Marriage of MayQueen and King, Tying the Knot

Litha Ritual of Highlight and Shadow

Litha Ritual for One: Solar Potion for Fortune, Success and Prosperity

Lammas Ritual of Integration and Sacrifice

Mabon Ritual of Feasting and Toasting

Samhain Ritual: Wake of the Fallen King

May 22, 2017

May 22, 2017 By

Over my 8 years in this witching business, a few special stories stand out in my memory. I wonder if sometimes the gods disguise themselves as my more interesting customers and come to confront me with some shadowy prejudice I still have. Do they offer me an initiatory test, the way the gods challenged the mythological heroes of old?

In my first year of business, I served someone who helped me learn the humble lessons of decency and responsibility when one is the first “real witch” a person meets…because you never know what personal challenges they may have, nor what misconceptions they are innocently holding.

Howarts Castle at Universal Studios, Orlando Florida ~ CC0 Public Domain ~ Pixabay
Hogwarts Castle at Harry Potter World, Universal Studios, Orlando Florida ~ CC0 Public Domain ~ Pixabay

The Hogwarts Disappointment

A young woman came into my shop by herself, and spent a fair few hours exploring all the witchy and metaphysical wares, asking questions, ooooing and ahhhhing over all the sparkling, mystical curiosities, and generally being sweet and pleasant. Eventually, she strikes up an animated conversation about some website she’s been reading, and all about these “amazing magic spells” she’s been trying. “Oh, yeah? What kind of spells?” I ask amicably.

“I’ve been practicing one to change my eye color to purple. I think it might have worked for just a second once, but I can’t get it to last very long.  Would one of these crystals help me increase my power?” She asks as she gestures to the tumbled stone display. <okie dokie…sketchy website alert; need more intel>

I ask for the URL to this website, and bring it up on my shop computer. This was back in at least 2010, so my memory fails me as to the name, but it looked about as serious as a 13 year old girl’s myspace page, and read like a piece of fantasy fiction in the same genre of Sabrina the Teenaged Witch. For the most part, it was just mystical mumbo-jumbo thrown in with glitter wishes and pictures of unicorns. “So, what do you think?” She eventually asks.

“I don’t think this website is going to be very useful for you in the long-run. If you’d like, I can recommend a few reputable resources of modern witchcraft that I’ve come to trust.” I grab a pen and paper, and turn back to her across the counter. She’s stopped dead in her tracks a few feet away, arms slack at her sides, face blank and staring at me like a doe caught in headlights.

“Wait…are you telling me that witchcraft is REAL?”

<<um…what? Sarcastic ShadowHeron wants desperately to gesture broadly at all these witchy things and just say, “NO, we devote our lives to selling this stuff because its all fake!” ResponsibleHeron shushes her naughty side and tries very hard to play nicely with others…>>

“Yes, though that depends on your definition of ‘real’ and the kind of ‘witchcraft’ you are looking for. The Modern Witchcraft tradition that I practice is a real thing, though I doubt you’ll find any spells to change your eye color. That sounds more like Hollywood magic, which is mostly just fantasy?”

She has now dropped everything she was carrying on the counter, and leaned in to clutch my edge of the glass with enormous, excited eyes. In a low rushed voice she asks, “Are you a REAL WITCH?”

Harry Potter World, Universal Orlando, CC0 Public Domain ~ Pixabay
Harry Potter World, Universal Orlando, CC0 Public Domain ~ Pixabay

<with trepidation> “Um…yes? I am as real a Witch as you are likely to find around here, anyway.”

With an energetic lunge into my personal space that had me reeling backward, her hands now clasped under her chin like a little kid about to ask a department store Santa Claus for a Red Rider BB Gun*, she practically shouts at me, “OH MY GOD DID YOU GO TO HOGWARTS!”

People, she was dead serious. I did take a moment to process the subtle information and carefully consider my next move, so her question hung in the air for some time before I answered. All my developing skills of straightfacery and subtle correction were in direct conflict with my overwhelming desire to burst out laughing, but I managed to collect myself just in time…

The innocent delight of childhood was standing on a cruel threshold of an adult reality smackdown. Do I have to be that cruel taskmaster of truth? Yet, this young woman was at least 18, out here on her own shopping in a REAL occult shop, and dabbling in questionable “magic” already. A witch ‘s gotta do, what a witch ‘s gotta do…

So I softened my demeanor and leaned back in, I touched her outstretched arm gently, and with my most motherly voice, said “Oh sweetheart, I really wish I did. I’m a huge fan of those books, too! If Harry Potter was a true story, I’d be the very first person to camp out on the steps of Hogwarts until they let me in! However, I’m afraid that those books aren’t about my kind of “real witchcraft” at all; they are works of fiction written by a Christian woman (as far as I know) within a Christian world-view of good vs. evil.  I’m referring to a modern nature-centered religion, that has a very different kind of natural magick.”

As I spoke, she slowly retracted backward across the counter, eyes sad, her previous smile now flattened and lips now quivering just a little as she asked, “So nothing in the books is real?”

“There are many real and helpful lessons in those books that are the same in Modern Witchcraft, like taking personal responsibility for yourself, and the power of Love to overcome all evil!  But no, there is no real Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, as far as I know.  But maybe I’m just a muggle! I never got my letter on my eleventh birthday, anyway.” At this we both laughed and the tension was broken.

Since I’m an UBERFAN of Harry Potter, we spent some time comparing our favorite parts of the books, what Hogwarts house we’d likely be sorted into (Ravenclaw!) I took her on a tour of some of the real witchy things that they mention in the books, like the herbs and cauldrons, and the hand-carved wands we had, and how Modern Witches like me actually use them.

By the time she left, she was restored to her bubbling good humor, and I had both a very interesting afternoon, and an important personal lesson.

Magic Wands CC0 Public Domain
Magic Wands CC0 Public Domain

Moral of the Story

  1. Some disabilities aren’t apparent at first glance. Be kind to everyone, because you have no clue what challenges an individual may have. 

I haven’t seen that young woman in at least 7 years, but I did find out eventually that she had some sort of cognitive or developmental disability that meant she was operating at a much younger maturity level than her appearance would imply.

2. We are all just walking our own path up the mountain of personal evolution. We all start somewhere, but every step along that path is equally important.

Don’t get me wrong, in private company, we’ve had a good laugh over the comedy of the situation, because once you are middle aged with lots of life experience and education, and standing on the *real* witching side of the *actual* besom, the innocent bumblings of youth can be hilarious. But every sage and wizened old witch was, at some early point, a gullible and hopeful child who needed gentle guidance from an older person like myself. I am infinitely glad the older people I knew as a teenager weren’t assholes to me, because WOAH did I give them plenty to laugh about.

At the time of this story, I was pretty new to the “public witch” gig.  Back then I was far less schooled in humility and personal responsibility required to do this sacred work, and I am so very glad I didn’t let the sarcastic, ego-bound, ShadowHeron out of her cage that day, because there was a time when I might have let her slip.

Oh yes, ShadowHeron still exists. Of course she does, everyone has a shadowy self they aren’t particularly proud of, but with years of practice and many a spanking – er, I mean lesson – in Divine Love from my patroness, Aphrodite, she quiets. If my sweet Hogwarts Customer really was one of the old gods come to challenge me, I hope I passed the test.

Many Blessings,
~Heron

*Red Rider BB Gun, you know that kid in The Christmas Story Movie is just sure that if he asks Santa Claus for his deepest wish, that he’ll get what he wants for Christmas? Because he still believes just that innocently in that kind of magic.

May 3, 2017

May 3, 2017 By

Beltane is in full dancing swing, and just in time for your reels and jigs around the Maypole, I present to you two brand new Beltane songs, just written by our coven’s newest initiate: Epona Petra (1).

Enjoy!
~Heron

Ding-Dong! The Witch Is Wed!

A Beltane Feasting Song, with Bells
By Epona Petra
(Sung to the tune of “Ding Dong the Witch is Dead” from the Wizard of Oz soundtrack)

Chorus:
Ding-Dong! The Witch is wed!
Which young Witch? The Goddess Witch!
May Queen and her May King.
Our Gods of Spring are wed!

Join hands and celebrate!
Pass the ale!  I’ll have some too.
Pass the meats! Where is that pie?
With joy we all congregate.

Chorus:
Ding-Dong! The Witch is wed!
Which young Witch? The Goddess Witch!
May Queen and her May King.
Our Gods of Spring are wed!

Their union is Divine
Bringing life to crop and field,
Ram to Ewe, Boar to Sow,
All lives grow, both yours and mine.

Chorus:
Ding-Dong! The Witch is wed!
Which young Witch? The Goddess Witch!
May Queen and her May King.
Our Gods of Spring are wed!

Beauty wakes in the Earth
Flowers bloom and  pollinate
Goddess blooms, the God grows strong
Wheel’s turning now to happy Birth.

Chorus:
Ding-Dong! The Witch is wed!
Which young Witch? The Goddess Witch!
May Queen and her May King.
Our Gods of Spring are wed!

CC0 Public Domain - Pixabay
CC0 Public Domain – Pixabay

Beltane Maypole Song

(to the Tune of Pop Goes The Weasel)

By Epona Petra

Chorus:
Around, around the Maypole we go
To join the Gods together
With ribbons red and ribbons white
The two unite forever.

Their love is joy and we are here
To join it and to pump it
This sex is love and love’s Divine
And we can help to jump it!

Chorus:
Around, around the Maypole we go
To join the Gods together
With ribbons red and ribbons white
The two unite forever.

From God and Goddess all life flows
And so the joy of Being
Bring life to bud, to bird and fawn
Creation we are seeing.

Chorus:
Around, around the Maypole we go
To join the Gods together
With ribbons red and ribbons white
The two unite forever.

For growth in us, we ask the Gods
Beltane’s spell of Making
We freely dance for Spring’s delight
The energies are waking.

Chorus:
Around, around the Maypole we go
To join the Gods together
With ribbons red and ribbons white
The two unite forever.

  1. Actually, We will be holding Epona Petra’s initiation rites on the exact Friday night of astrological Beltane, at our weekend sabbat camp-out tomorrow. Epona is a fiery pistol of a Witch with a gift for whipping out ritual poetry and songs at just the right moment to create some sincerely effective magick–especially through laughter. Her sense of reverent whimsy and soulful mirth are a great gift that is worth sharing with the greater Witching Community.  I hereby name her our “Shenanigator in Chief!” I feel certain that she’ll take off from these gates of initiation like a rocket and do great things in the world!
May 2, 2017

May 2, 2017 By

May 1st is sometimes called “MayDay.”  Many Pagans and Witches in the Northern Hemisphere also celebrate their rites of spring on May 1st, which we call Beltane. Beltane is honored as the mid-point of the season, and the highest point of the seasonal tide, which is why we call it a “Grand Sabbat.” It is grand because it is the most potent peak of outward flowing energies, and therefore an ideal time to work magick.

Beltane is a whole 6.5-week waxing season, and you can celebrate it any time you like up until its peak, but I do not agree that May 1st is it’s peak.  It typically falls later in the first week of May. To find the astrological date this year: https://www.archaeoastronomy.com/

To use a sexual metaphor (which is apt for Beltane), celebrating on May 1st and then packing it in, as though the moment is over, is like premature ejaculation and rolling over to fall asleep while your partner is still all hot and bothered. Don’t stop now! We are just getting to the good part! Let’s squeeze every delicious drop out of this most succulent season!

Allow me to make my case…

Lesser and Greater Sabbats Graphic by Heron Michelle
Lesser and Greater Sabbats Graphic by Heron Michelle

The Wheel of the Year

The modern system of solar festivals, known as Sabbats, developed slowly since the 1950’s, and since then has been adapted and adopted by many traditions of P-word and W-word (1) people. The “Wheel of the Year” cycle is a MODERN construct. [For more info, see Aiden Kelly’s post: here] We can just stop debating whether or not any one ancient civilization celebrated all eight equidistant solar holidays, because we know for a damn fact that wasn’t true.

Neo-paganism offers us a syncretic (2) combination of traditions from all over the world. With our 20/20 hind-site, on-going anthropological findings, an awakened awareness as humanity evolves, and the ease of the information age, we now recognize an over-arching pattern to the flow of power here on Earth, and the many consistent ways that humans have felt and utilized that flow over time. There is a power that is very real, and rather predictable, underlying all of these seemingly man-made systems.

Sabbats and The Question of Magickal Timing

Far be it from me to tell anyone else when they should get their witch on. Do as ye will, as they say. We know that nothing is standing still, we are all just riding the wave of cycles within cycles.  However, I do think that all witches owe it to themselves to seek their own internal consistency.

So here is the rub:

IF:

  1. Spells are done according to lunar and planetary magick using astrology
  2. Esbats of the moon are celebrated according to the astronomical timing of its phases
  3. the lesser sabbats of equinoxes and solstices are celebrated according the precise astrological moment we enter a cardinal zodiac sign – and even astronomy names the same moment for science

THEN:

Why, pray tell, would we celebrate the GRAND Sabbats – the witch’s most high holy days – when the Vatican arbitrarily assigned their Catholic holiday, on a man-made calendar, created and imposed on us by Pope Gregory the XIII back in 1582? Oh, and it was created so that their Easter would fall where they liked it better.

For me, the Gregorian calendar is more a reflection of the outrageous hubris of the church, than any energetic tide I’ve ever felt. Why would I muddle up my magickal practice on something so artificial? (Wikipedia)  I would also argue that saying “Because Gerald Gardner and Doreen Valiente did it that way” is also not an adequate reason. Gerald didn’t even celebrate all 8 sabbats, so the point is moot.

I submit to you, dear community, that using the Gregorian Calendar to assign dates for the Grand Sabbats is inconsistent, and less effective.

Yet, on this, and every other blessèd topic in pagandom, there are many points of view. Culture, history, tradition, weather, geography, biome? These are all “compass needles” that point in the direction of individual answers for how the Wheel should be implemented. I choose the compass needle of the occult sciences that describe the repeating patterns throughout existence that I spoke of in this post, Hail Mercury…in Retrograde.

WheelBeltane
Heron Michelle’s custom graphic to describe the Astrological Wheel of the Year – the petals are the wave form of seasonal cycles.

The Wheel of the Year: Calendar vs. Astrological System

Sabbat Celebration Calendar Date Astrological Date
Yule Winter Solstice 0° Capricorn 0° Capricorn
Imbolc High Winter Feb 1 or 2
 15° Aquarius
Ostara Spring Equinox 0° Aries 0°Aries
Beltane High Spring May 1
 15° Taurus
Litha Summer Solstice 0° Cancer 0° Cancer
Lammas High Summer August 1
 15° Leo
Mabon Autumnal Equinox 0° Libra 0° Libra
Samhain High Autumn Oct 31,

or Nov. 1

 15° Scorpio

My issues:

  • Note the inconsistent insertion of calendar dates in the Calendar column, despite the lesser sabbats being held on astrological dates.
  • Equinoxes and Solstices vary on the calendar by 2-3 days each year, but “February 1” is static, so this forces the sabbats to fall at irregular lengths apart. That bothers me.

A Case for Consistency

Among all the possible group-identifiers within pagandom, I consider myself first and foremost a Witch.  When I say “witch” I mean in the magus, occultist, European-inspired, modern-American job description. Witches like myself strive to perceive every moment in its flow of natural magick; every thought and action I take can either engage effectively with that flow, or fruitlessly against it.

The trick to witchcraft is in knowing which actions to take, and when they will be most effective–and then actually do the effective things, effectively.  Before you can fully engage in the power of that natural magick you have to both acknowledge the energetic system in which we live, then understand its inherent principles and mechanics, then put those mechanics to good use in your life.

Live by that pattern long enough and it ceases to be academic, it becomes a reflex as easy as breathing.  You FEEEEEL the power move through you, your life ebbs and flows in sync to the largest patterns of the cosmos. As an instinct, you begin to project and receive by these tides, just as surely as all the sailboats in the harbor rise with the water. The “Wheel of the Year” becomes the undeniable IS-ness; it just IS.

Witchcraft Relativity

Here is the secret; its all relative–relative to your perspective. I don’t know anything about the magick they’re doing on the planets orbiting other stars, but I’m a big fan of the mechanics of THIS planetary system, around THIS star, as THIS human species, on THIS Earth, at THIS time. Here, we call that discipline Astrology.

If you ignore the mechanics, you fall prey to empty religiosity. I have no time, and less tolerance, for the empty religiosity I see in the over-culture, and so I refuse to allow it into my witchcraft. I don’t do a damned thing just because “Gerald Gardner did it that way.” I choose to dive deep into the WHY of the things I do. I’ve been studying this stuff for 2 decades now, and I’ve torn it all down for myself, researched it, then built something new out of the parts that have an internal consistency–much like Gerald did for himself.  This system works for me, from the macrocosm down to the microcosm, above and below, within and without.

Astrological Wheel of the Year Graphic by Heron Michelle
Astrological Wheel of the Year Graphic by Heron Michelle

Grand Sabbat Consistency:

The seasons peak in their waxing power at the astrological midpoint of their season. Each season has 3 zodiac signs: Cardinal, Fixed and Mutable. Four season, 12 signs. Divide the 360 degree circle into 12 equal parts, and each sign is measured by 30 degrees each. So the peak of that power occurs at 15 degrees (midpoint) of the Fixed Sign in their Season–THAT is the apogee of the cycle.

That is the academic explanation, but it is just like the National Weather Service predicting the exact moments of dawn and dusk, or high and low tide. They are scientifically predictable, if you understand how the cycle works.

To use another Sailing analogy: If your boat is in a harbor, but the water is only deep enough to sail out near the highest tide, you better figure out when that happens and then make your move while the water is flowing WITH your intentions. Ignorantly rowing away while your rudder is jammed in a sandbank and cursing the water for not being deep enough, will only frustrate you. That is NOT EFFECTIVE witchcraft.

Or to go back to the sexual metaphor: Syncing your Witching practice to the astrological cycles of nature is like making love to your partner so intuitively, that you can just sense when they are about to climax, and that is so thrilling that you both climax at the same time, screaming out the same magickal goals. I promise you that there is no more effective Witchcraft (or love-making) than that!

Take that metaphor one step further: Attempting to work magick of a Grand Sabbat AFTER the peak of the season is past, after we are astrologically WANING to close the season, is kind of like missing it when your partner (nature) has already climaxed, you missed it, they are totally over it now, but you keep arrogantly grinding away until you are just chafed and frustrated. No bueno!

Rotunda CC0 Public Domain - Pixabay
Rotunda CC0 Public Domain – Pixabay

Build your Own “Temple”

If I were to describe my “temple” I now call “modern witchcraft,” its foundation stones are both the ancient occult sciences and modern sciences. Like a rotunda of ancient Greece, there are 8 structural columns I call the Sabbats that set the space. There are details carved into the plinths, friezes and shrines of folk witchery, new age metaphysics, burgeoning neo-paganism, and old-school British Wicca and any other flavor of Witchcraft that has something of value to share.

But the dome of my “roof” remains the starry heavens–the cosmos itself. In this temple of my own making there are no walls to limit me, nor to trap me into mindless fundamentalism. In this temple built of consistent, objective and mythological truths, all my subjective, squishy, relative, ineffable spiritual exploration and PMGs (Personal Moments of Gnosis) have all the room I need to spread out and ramble around.

Regardless of how you construct your temple, or when you choose to celebrate, I implore you to seek that internal consistency and understanding that transcends any empty religiosity. Do as ye will, my lovelies, and do it as beneficially and effectively as you can muster!

May your celebration of high spring, no matter when or how you celebrate it, be a joyous one!

~Heron

  1. I’ll credit “P-word” to Laura Tempest Zakroff over at her Modern Traditional Witch blog, for the coining of this term, which tries to encompass pagans and polytheists and other P-identifiers so they won’t get their precious knickers in a twist when folks like us try to be inclusive. I’ll add to the fray the “W-word” to try and include all the Wiccans and Witches. I realize I’m in dangerous territory here by trying to address the wholeness of this community, but witchcraft is inherently treacherous…
  2. Syncretism [sing-kri-tiz-uh m, sin-] noun. the attempted reconciliation or union of different or opposing principles, practices, or parties, as in philosophy or religion. Source
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