Maypole dancing is SOP, standard operating procedure, for any Beltane rite that is worth attending. This form of ecstatic energy-raising has a long history in Europe and Great Britain. Ironically, this is a folk practice that appears to be an acceptable spring-time activity among the genteel society outside of paganism, too.
The first time I ever danced the Maypole was on “Mayday” in 1979. There in our PE class in Kindergarten at a public elementary school in Manchester, Tennessee, a gymnasium full of 5 year old, presumably christian children danced in an old pagan ritual–and they had no idea. I think that is hilarious.
Our 2014 Maypole Dance – with suspended wreath, just before the dance begins.
Martha Stewart even gives instructions for how to make a maypole for your kids. However, I have a very pointy opinion against allowing children to participate in this magick; it is wildly inappropriate at least, and potentially harmful to the children at worst. This form of sympathetic magick is essentially symbolic group sex. The dancers become conduits for sexual, kundalini energy, and if their bodies are not yet sexually mature they cannot safely channel that power. In my article last year, Beltane: Once You Go Witch, You’ll Never Switch, I wrote:
Beltane has an Exotic Pole Dance
This dance symbolizes the act of coupling to fertilize and create life on the largest metaphorical scale. Just like within the actual Great Rite, the phallus goes into the yoni, and the Symbolic Great Rite wherein the knife goes in the cup, when we erect the Maypole, the pole goes in the hole. <boom chica wow wow>
All of these magickal acts are in sympathy to how the feminine and masculine forms of biology throughout nature get it on for the purpose of creating new life… [At] Beltane, we will crown the pole with a wreath of flowers flowing with ribbons of red and white – an eternal circle of creation that feeds two primary threads of polarity…
No matter who you are, when you hold onto that ribbon, for just a little while you choose to embrace and embody the creative potential of every end of that one side of polarity. It doesn’t matter which end, because you inherently have both within you! Some of us choose to pull up the power of the earth as Mother Goddess, and some of us pull down the heavens as Father Sky…”
Tools and Materials needed to make a Rainbow Maypole Ribbon Topper and Wreath ~ Heron Michelle
Crafting a Maypole for a Large Coven
For many years now, I’ve been in charge of facilitating the Maypole dance at the local Beltane festival, where we needed to include at least 30 dancers. This year, I’m making one for just our coven of 20. This sex magick ain’t cheap, nor easy…but no quality sex worth having would be. One does not simply walk into Beltane. Before your coven can start dancing, you’ve got a lot of figuring, procuring and constructing to do.
There are three main components to prepare:
The pole itself, blessed and set into the earth.
The Ribbon Topper Apparatus to attach to the top of the pole.
The Wreath – or as I call it, the sacred cock-ring – that will slide down the pole during the dance.
Tools to gather:
Scissors
25 foot tape measure (at least)
Hammer
1 long nail–at least 3-4″ long
Staple Gun and Staples
Hot Glue Gun and Glue Sticks
Drill to make a hole in center of the plywood circle.
Rubber Bands
Craft materials to gather for the topper:
Plywood Circle Blank: I am using 12″ dia. X 1/4″ thick wood “clock face” blank that I found at AC Moore, Nicole’s Basic Crafts Corner brand, that already had a drilled hole in the center…very handy. Depending on the number of dancers you have, you can use a smaller diameter wooden circle; it just needs to be thick enough to hold the staples. Here is a link for plywood round blanks in various sizes.
Styrofoam wreath blank at least 18″ diameter (or a straw one if you can find one big enough) but the important detail is that the clear inside “hole” dimension is bigger than the Wooden Circle by several inches.
Silk flowers, ivy, etc. I get mine at Dollar General for a buck. You can also use live flowers if you have the luxury of crafting this topper immediately prior to the dance. We intend to leave our pole wrapped, decorated and in place until Samhain, so I like using materials that will withstand the weather for a while.
Rolls of Florist Ribbon: 1 7/16″ wide X 100 Yard (300 foot) Rolls. I like Berwick brand, Flora-Satin, 100% Waterproof Polypropylene florist ribbon, made in the USA. I get mine on-line from Nashville Wraps for $3.90/roll and they have 12 color options.What ribbon colors to choose? Traditional colors for this magick are equal ribbons of red and white. Red for the women, symbolizing menstrual blood, and white for the men symbolizing semen. This year, I am planning a slightly different angle for our magick, and we are using rainbow colors, for all 7 chakras and layers of consciousness. If you are concerned about the seemingly hetero-normative, dual-gender focus of red/white, then going rainbow is a great alternative. How many rolls of ribbon you will need, depends on how many colors you are using, and how many dancers you have.
Calculations, with a little help from Pythagoras
Math is not my strongest subject…nay…I suck at math. My high school algebra teacher would roll her eyes into another dimension over the irony over what I’m about to write: In my job as Witch, Priestess and Shopkeeper, I use the math she taught me all.the.time. Which brings us back to Pythagoras.
Pythagoras of Samos was a seriously cool fellow. He lived in Greece from 570-495 BC and is considered a father of mathematics and science, of philosophy, metaphysics and numerology. Like most folks, I first heard his name in 7th grade geometry class thanks to his “Pythagorean Theorem.”
Pythagorean Theorem
How long is your phallus – I mean, pole?
Size does matter…
Ideally, the group would go out into the woods and fell a young tree–perhaps a nice, straight pine tree, whose diameter is at least 4″ diameter at the smallest point, at least 15 feet above the ground, and 6″ diameter at ground level. Remove the limbs and bark and smooth it out, more or less.
I suggest making this a separate group project well in advance, perhaps as part of a “men’s mysteries bonding event.” The pole can be carved or painted in runes or sigils of male/god virility, charged and anointed magickally, but that is the subject of a different blog. Just be creative! This is the phallus of the Great God, after all! Make it an impressive one!
Before your rites begin, your 15′ prepared pole will need to have a big nail hammered into the top, sticking up a few inches, so that the topper can eventually be slipped over the nail. Then the pole should be sturdily set into a hole in the ground, buried at least 3 feet deep. This way it’s top-most point is at least twice the height of the average dancer. For a group of 20-30 people who are +/- 6′ tall, I’ve found that 12 foot tall pole is ideal. Too tall a pole is a problem, because that takes ridiculous amounts of ribbon, its impossible to reach the top with your tallest ladder, and if the dance takes too long to wrap the ribbons to within a few feet of the ground, then you loose too many folks to exhaustion before its done.
Use the Pythagorean Theorem to calculate your ribbon length
The Pythagorean Theorem calculates the length of the hypotenuse of a 90 degree triangle. In other words, if you know the length of the two sides of the right angle, then you can figure the length of the slanty side that connects them..
A = Pole height of 12 feet
B = Distance the dancer is standing away from the pole–or the radius of the circle you will be dancing. This is the same as the pole height of 12 feet. We want a 24 foot diameter dancing circle; I prefer my circles to always be multiples of 3. (Three-fold power, y’all!)
C = Hypotenuse, or length of the individual ribbons
Maypole Ribbon Planning with Pythagorean Theorem ~ Drawing by Heron Michelle
A² + B² = C²
12² + 12² = C²
(“squared” is 12 times itself, or 12 x 12)
144 + 144 = C²
√288 = C (square root of 288 finds what number multiplied by itself would equal 288, just use a scientific calculator)
16.97 = C
Round that up to 17 feet of Ribbon per dancer.
BOOM! You just did math, Witch!
Measuring out our Maypole Ribbons ~Heron Michelle
Now, I add 1 more foot (making it 18 feet) so that as I’m crafting the topper, there is a bit of spare ribbon at the end, and its an even number and multiple of three. This way a 100 yard roll of ribbon can yield up to 16 ribbons, with around 6′ of spare for making the Wreath.
Now, that you’ve engaged with the Spirit of the Mighty Dead, the Father of Numerology, by utilizing his most magickal theorem, I’ll fill you in on a Witch-hack: just take the pole height of 12′ and multiply times 1.5 = 18′
So, if I want to have 7 different colored ribbons as options for my celebrants, but I have to have an even number of dancers, I cut 3 of each color (3 x 7 = 21) and one will just have to be left-over.
I lay out two heavy handled tools, like broom handles or rakes, 18 feet apart on the ground, and roll out the ribbons, wrapping around the handles so they’ll stay flat. Then I cut them, roll and rubber-band them to keep them tidy.
Cut, rolled, and rubber-banded ribbons, ready to be charged and added to the topper.
Making the topper apparatus:
In my rainbow ribbon ritual, each celebrant chooses a global or societal concern for which they’d like to manifest change and weave into the fabric of nature via their ribbon–this isn’t a personal intention, but a HUGE, OVERARCHING intention for all of life on Earth.
Like, PEACE in SYRIA, CLEAN WATER FOR ALL, RENEWABLE ENERGY, SAVE THE BEES, LGBT LIBERTY, or how about RATIONAL GOVERNMENT. Note that I’m not naming the problem, I’m naming the solution. Have each celebrant write their intention with a sharpie on the end of their ribbon. Charge the individual ribbons in a creative way.
Ribbons and silk flowers stapled to wood blank, with ribbons hanging over the edge – Heron Michelle
Leaving the ribbon rolled up in the rubber band, pull out the inside end of the ribbon and staple them evenly around the edge of the wooden circle blank–add a dab of hot glue over the staple so that the florist ribbon won’t split and tear off during the dance. Then, hot glue or staple silk flowers or other decorative greenery over the tops of the ribbons, and hanging over the edge a little, so it can be seen from the ground. Make sure to leave that hole in the center of the wood blank clear and ready to be slipped over that nail on top of your pole.
The Wreath, or Sacred Cock Ring:
Wrapping the wreath in the spare ribbon.
Possibly the most important component, is the wreath that will slip down the pole as the ribbons are woven during the dance. This element draws the powers of the above, down to the earth to touch the below. I call this the sacred cock-ring. During your ritual, after the ribbon topper is slipped over the nail, and each ribbon is uncoiled and handed down to each celebrant, who then spread out in the circle and stand 12 feet away, pulling their ribbon taught, the wreath is then slipped over the top, to be suspended on the taught ribbons.
The dance isn’t over until the wreath touches the ground. Traditionally, this was to be a woven wreath of fresh
Finished Satin Wreath.
flowers, which is really romantic and lovely, except that if there are any dangly or snaggy bits hanging off, it will inevitably catch in the ribbons as they are woven and get hung up…which is really disruptive to the flow of the dance, kind of like the coitus interuptus of a condom malfunction. No bueno.
So I make a smooth and slippery satin wreath, hubba hubba. Everyone knows that slippery is better! This gives plenty of clearance to go over the top, and slide easily down the pole, with nothing to snag. I glue the end of the ribbon to the 18″ styrofoam wreath blank, then wrap that around at an angle, gluing the other end to itself. Then turn and go the other way with the next one, until all the blank Styrofoam is covered.
The Dance of the Maypole:
The celebrants divide into two groups, standing every other person: those that will pull down the Father God energy – they stand facing clockwise, and those who will pull up the Mother Goddess energy – they stand facing counterclockwise. The drums or music begins, all begin chanting a simple and spritely ditty, and the “God” people circle first to the outside of the “Goddess” person beside them, then weave under the next person they encounter, and outside the next one, and so on.
Dance of the Maypole by The Sojo Circle Coven Beltane 2017 – photo used by permission
In, Beltane: Once You Go Witch, You’ll Never Switch, I wrote: “We dance, interweaving in and out, steps syncopating to the pulse of the drum, breath syncopating as we chant… The ribbons slowly enclose the pole like a Chinese finger trap, as God/dess merges…That wreath, the sacred cock-ring, slips down that phallus as the vitality emerges within the wildness of nature and touches the earth – just like with actual sex, if you are doing it right, the cosmic orgasm explodes.
We spin out, sweaty and exhausted now, collapsing in laughter as within each of us the kundalini power rises from the base of our spines, coiling around our own axis mundi, our internal “maypole,” …tingling as our anima and animus merge in unified delight within us. Regardless of our bodies, gender identity, or sexual orientation, this is the bliss of The Two Who Move As One, and we are all their faces.”
Goofing off and modeling the Maypole Topper and wreath before the Rites begin 2014…This fellow happens to be our upcoming Mayking…I think he has the right idea!
Notes on Tangle-age:
If you attempt to top the pole before it is set in the ground, or in advance of the dance, trust me, there will be epic ribbon tangle-age, no matter how hard you try to avoid it. I have years of failure in this department. Untangling a mess is far more disruptive to the flow of ritual, than just carefully handing them out when the time to dance is nigh.
Just have your ladder already there at the pole. Send your Mayking, or representative of the God for the day, up
Woven Maypole 2015
the ladder with the topper. He slips it over the nail, then calls out each intention as it is written on the ribbon tail. That Celebrant steps forward, he undoes the ribbon, they take it and step the circle edge and wait. Each time the intention is called out by the King, have all celebrants chant it aloud three times each, to begin weaving that intention with power.
Last thing, slip the “cock-ring” wreath over the top so it rests on the ribbons. Quickly remove the ladder, arrange everyone, with last minute dance instructions, then start the music or drumming.
Here is a catchy chant I just came up with:
Draw up the Earth!
Draw down the Sun!
Beltane is Here!
Magick be Done!
Meanwhile, the children are safely and appropriately skipping around the outside, singing, blowing bubbles, waving sticks with ribbons attached at the end, and laughing at the adults, because its pretty funny to watch.
An altar is a reminder of the sacred cosmos it represents. By making space in your home, you make space in your life to be a witch. Just by acknowledging its presence, collecting, arranging and lighting it, you’ve renewed your dedication to walk with Spirit. More important than WHAT is on a witch’s altar is HOW you activate it’s powers and then utilize them. With a consecration ritual, the Witch becomes the catalyst that transmutes a table full of arcane tchotchke into a microcosm of empowerment.
What is the Altar’s Purpose?
To me, an altar is an adaptable workplace, a miniature theater of props and players that is flexible enough to host all manner of productions and the witch is the director of those plays. Magick is then the cosmic poetry enacted upon that stage, and that becomes an art form. The key component is the creativity that ignites the senses and imagination to be in alignment with inherent divinity. Every choice after that is yours to make; there are no other universal requirements.
Heron’s Personal Altar, dressed for Ostara, with current spell workings in progress, on a wooden side-board cabinet.
Of What is an Altar Made?
Please….please, hear this most important message from your friendly magickal shop-keeper: an altar can be made of anything and be put anywhere. Every blessèd atom in the Universe IS Divine…even a crappy, plastic folding table you found at Walmart that easily fits in your car. YOU ARE THE MAGICK that will catalyze these assembled items into a sacred space.
An “altar table” does not have to be a specialty item purchased brand-new at a magickal shop–and the same goes for everything on the altar, too. There are many fine manufacturers of specially made tables that an artist prepared to be a Witch’s altar–and they are lovely, should you choose to invest in one–but I wouldn’t worry about that too much, because the table itself isn’t the point, no more so than the floor of a theater’s stage is important.
That being said, I consider the altar to be one of the grand-tools of Earth. So for my permanent altar in my home, I would aim toward something functional made of wood, stone or metal that actually grew up out of the Earth.
The altar can be an antique, one shelf of a larger bookcase, or a storage cabinet, the mantlepiece, the top of a dresser, or a cheap folding tray table. Trunks are nice so that you can transport your tools to a ritual site, then use the top as the altar. Mine (pictured above) is actually a buffet side-board cabinet that was part of a dining room set. It has storage in which I store my extra altar tools, cloths, incense, candles, etc.
Witchcraft is messy, when thoroughly done, so I’m more interested in the altar cloths, than decorated tables. Altar cloths can be anything, but natural fibers, easily washable and of a substantial weave are a good idea as they will catch spilled wax, herbs, oils and ash, and you’ll need them to lie flat even when there is a breeze.
Altar Layouts: Personal versus Group
One kind of altar is set for a single, temporary rite, others are long-term fixtures for general use; some layouts better serve the personal needs of one witch, and other layouts are more appropriate for coven work with many witches.
My current classroom altar laid out by Gender (Feminine on the left, Masculine on the Right), with consecration elements, and altar tools. This one includes dedicated candles to each element, for when we are working with only one, specifically. Heron Michelle
Personal Altar
The personal altar is a Witch’s magickal work-place and so it will reflect the style and practice of the individual. Typically, it will hold the elemental altar tools, water, salt, candles, incense, stones, etc. It also holds the symbols of that represent Deity to you, and the Spirits that guide you.
Altar Placement: Feng Shui
Most witchcraft books will suggest that altars be positioned facing either North or East, depending on the direction from which you feel beginnings flow. Honestly, where the furniture sits, or how it faces, matters not to me. Remember that the importance and assignment of cardinal points is rather arbitrary across traditions and depending on your geographical location–the only thing that matters to me is internal consistency.
I’d be more inclined to position my home altar based on the chinese principles of feng shui, than cardinal directions. Feng Shui (pronounced like fung schway) is “the art of placement” of objects and rooms so that the chi (ki) energy flows through a physical space most effectively. As it happens, my permanent altar is on the south wall of my temple room and has always served me well there. Chi energies flow in through a doorway on the eastern wall (where beginnings lie in my paradigm) and flows deosil in the room, so it’s first pass is my South Wall. I’m happy with that.
Personal Altar Layout by Gender ~ Original Graphic by Heron Michelle
Group Altars
As for altars prepared for rites within a coven setting, I actually prefer the altar set in the center of the circle so that it is visible and accessible from all sides, by multiple witches. I have a standard-sized square “card table” that I arrange with the corners pointing to the elemental gates…so it is a diamond aligned with the axis of the elemental crossroads at point o,o,o. I call this layout the “Diamond at the Crossroads.”
Circle and Altar Layout for a full coven – Original Graphic by Heron Michelle
What is the difference between an altar and a table of tchotchke?
Intention. Spirit. Power. If the Altar is a stage, and all the items are the players, and you are the director of this production, then you will need to awaken the Spirit within each item, imbue it with your intention by giving them their part in the script and then weave them all together as your cast. The powers of above, below, and between will be channeled through you and held by them. These items are both the spiritual anchors of the elemental energies in your magickal space, and the conduits to keep everything open, flowing and fed while there.
For me, ritual is far more powerful when the whole group is allowed to participate in the ceremonial awakening of the altar, rather than my doing it in advance before they enter the temple. When I lead group rituals, I begin by leading us all in a “tree-breathing” power-flow visualization, and then we all take the postures together. Then I will awaken the masculine elements, while our High Priest awakens the feminine ones. In this way, we reinforce that all energetic gender expression is held in unique balance within each of us, regardless of our biology.
Heron in “Goddess Position”, drawing down the powers of Fire, Air and Sky Father–there is a mystery of polarity in there, for those with the eyes to see.
Face the altar, stand in Goddess position with hands raised up to the sky, remember that you are like a tree who’s branches reach up through the atmosphere, touching air and the fires of the sun, and tap into Father Sky and the heavens above.
Draw down that power, crossing your arms over your chest in Osiris God position, feeling how that power flows through you reaching all the way through the soles of your feet.
Remember that like the tree, your roots reach deep below into the earth and water, to Mother Earth and all the underworld below.
Kneel, touch the ground. Draw up the earth energy to cross arms over your chest again in Osiris God position.
Feel the flows from above and below meeting and anchoring at your heart chakra–you are a vessel of The Two Who Move as One in Divine Love, an open channel of their creation flows through you.
Stand, power flowing through your heart and down through your hands.
Hold the incense, saying, “I charge this incense as a being of air.” See yourself drawing yellow light from the atmosphere to imbue the incense, awakening it to its purpose.
Light the incense from the spirit candle, if it is a stick. Light the charcoal tab, and then when ready sprinkle your loose incense on the tab. (Instructions for creating loose incense here.) While drawing an invoking pentagram over the altar with the incense, then encircling the altar, say, “Powers of air, blow free any impurity from this sacred space.” Visualize a yellow energy glowing around the altar.
Hold the red candle, saying, “I charge this candle as a being of fire.” See yourself drawing red light from the fires of the sun and stars to imbue the candle, awakening it to its purpose.
Light the fire candle from the Spirit Candle. While drawing an invoking pentagram over the altar with the candle, encircling the space, say, “Powers of fire, burn free any impurity from this sacred space.” Visualize a red energy glowing around the altar.
Hold the bowl of water. “I charge this water as a being of water, and cast out all impurity.” See yourself drawing blue light up from the water table to imbue the water, awakening it to its purpose.With fingers or athame, add three pinches of salt. Stir by drawing the invoking pentacle in the water, say, “Powers of water, wash free any impurity from this sacred space.” Sprinkle the water over the altar three times. Visualize a blue energy glowing around the altar.
Hold the bowl of salt. See yourself drawing green light from the earth itself to imbue the salt, awakening it to its purpose. Say, “I charge this salt as a being of earth.” Draw the invoking pentacle in the salt, saying, “Powers of Earth, ground free any impurity from this sacred space.” Sprinkle the salt over the altar three times. Visualize a green energy glowing around the altar.
With your hands or wand, stir the air around the altar by drawing the invoking pentagram 5 times, saying, “As above, so below; As below, so above; macrocosm to microcosm. Spirit, you who are ever-present, indwell within this altar, you are honored in this sacred temple between the worlds. Blessed be.” Visualize a white light containing all colors now glowing around the altar.
Chime the bell three times. Commence with the creation of your temple.
This Ostara Sabbat, consider preparing your own herbal incense blend. Magickal herbalism can be very rewarding to the Modern Witch. It isn’t for the feint of wallet and does take the extra time of tracking down, or growing, the ingredients. Yet, there is nothing witchier than drying, storing, and labeling all the little jars neatly in a row on your shelf. Once you’ve committed this much energy and cash to the practice of magickal herbalism, you wouldn’t want to just chuck these precious plant allies into a bowl and hope for the best; that is sloppy and ineffective.
Be the uber-witch: ritualistic, creative and empowered! Why not dig in and truly engage in everything you do? Seize the day with both hands, both sides of your brain and all 7 chakras and know you’ve affected change in the world. Magick is only as potent as what you mentally and spiritually invest into it and the frame of mind with which you use your herbal creations.
Here are a few ideas for preparation with intention. I will use the example of an Ostara Incense blend I’ve been working on this season.
Mortar and Pestle – CC0 Public Domain – Pixabay
Magickal Herbalism Like you Really Mean it
Creating your own Incense Recipes:
I like to experiment in creating my own recipes with ingredients whose magickal correspondences are appropriate to the season or goal. I pay attention to the elemental, planetary and gender correspondences, and choose according to what I think will smell nice together, but also those that evoke the season/purpose to me, where I live. For example, when I think of spring, I think of flowers, fresh purifying rains and bright sunbeams, so I go for the lighter, more floral, more sunny choices.
There are many great reference books out there for the correspondences, but my favorite is Scott Cunningham’s Complete book of Incense, Oils and Brews. This on-line resource, Herbal Riot, is great! I also try to be mindful of the sustainable sources of my ingredients. Some materials are being over-harvested, like sandalwood, so I’m using it less these days.
My preferred ratio: 1:1:1
1 Part Wood Powders, like Cinnamon Bark, Sandalwood, Oak, Pine, Cedar, Birch, Willow.
1 Part Resin Powders, like Benzoin, Copal, Dragons Blood, Frankincense, Myrrh
1 Part herbs and other dried botanicals, like flowers, leaves, roots, berries, peels, etc.
If I have them, I’ll add a few drops each of essential oils.
I like to add some stone chips to my incense blends to continuously amplify and charge them. They don’t burn, but they don’t impede burning, either. Stones from the quartz family are especially good for this.
A few teaspoons of vegetable glycerine – enough to dampen and bind the blend, while not becoming too wet. Add slowly and stir well.
Copal Resin and Pestle – CC0 Public Domain – Pixabay
Caution:
Many herbs used for magick are poisonous if inhaled, consumed or sometimes even touched with the bare hands. Understand the properties of an ingredient before you begin your work. Even something as tasty and innocuous as nutmeg, can cause respiratory difficulties and asthma attacks if too much is inhaled. Do your research.
It is also a good idea to use equipment and tools dedicated to magickal work that are never used for food preparation. A cautious kitchen witch lives to see their work manifested.
I have a dedicated coffee bean grinder for grinding tough ingredients like roots, barks and peals, but I just purchase them pre-powdered if I can.
Ostara Incense
1 T. Powdered White Oak Bark: Jupiter/Mars, Water, God (Oak King) Protection, Health, Money, Potency, Fertility, Luck
1 T. Copal Resin: Sun, Fire, God, Love, Purification
1 t. dried, finely ground Rose petals: Venus, Water, Maiden Goddess, love
1 t. dried, finely ground Jasmine blossoms: Moon, Water, Goddess, Love, Money, Sensuality, Sexuality, Spring Equinox
3 drops each of Sweet Orange and Jasmine Essential Oil, if you have them.
Rose Essential Oil is prohibitively expensive, and arguably wasteful, considering how many blossoms it takes to produce a single drop of EO, but should you happen to have the real thing, a single drop would be transcendent.
1 tsp. Vegetable glycerine stirred in well and fluffed with a fork.
**Never use synthetic fragrance oils in magickal herbalism–they are a chemical cocktail of lies, and will not elicit the aid of the plant spirit as your magick intends.**
Store your blend in small glass jar that seals tightly, and preferably of a darker color, shielding the blend from sunlight. A jar opening larger than a small spoon is helpful, so you can easily scoop it out, and clean it later. I like 4 oz mason jars.
Dried Rose Petals – CC0 Public Domain – Pixabay
Preparation:
Set the stage for your work. Dedicate a stretch of counter-space or a table top. Nothing fancy is required, just some functional place near your herb cabinet that is orderly, clean and gives you a sense of purpose.
Consider using only natural materials such as wood, metal, glass or earthenware to prepare and store your herbal blends. This need not be your altar, but a candle sets the mood and opens the space for spiritual business. White is almost always appropriate, or use color correspondence to deepen the symbolism. For Ostara Work, I like to utilize the colors orange and yellow, for candle, table cloth or storage jar. Orange and yellow are corresponding colors to fertility, the Will, the maiden goddess and youth/solar god aspects.
If you choose to utilize color in your work, make sure you select one that means “Ostara” to you. Regardless of what a table of correspondences says, if it does not trigger your sub-conscious mind, you’ve wasted your time.
Statement of Intent:
Ground and center yourself. Begin with a simple prayer for aid or a statement of intent:
“Great Ones! Guide my work for the highest good of all, harming none. So mote it be!”
Or perhaps, something more poetic inspires you:
“By wind and rain and spark and wood, guide me toward my highest good, harming none. So mote it be!”
Grinding and Blending:
Into your mortar and pestle, add each ingredient by name, starting first with large or chunkier ones that need the most grinding. Do so with reverence and a touch of drama. State out loud the name and attribute, such as: “Pine wood for Healing! Dragon’s Blood for protection!” Know WHY you are including each ingredient.
Focus on its intent as you grind in a circular movement. Remember, in the Northern Hemisphere, deosil (clockwise) builds and creates while widdershins (counter clockwise) tears down and banishes.
I tend to add ingredients in this order: Resins, woods/roots/tough botanicals, then the leafy and soft dried botanicals.
Lastly, add the drops of essential oils and vegetable glycerine, stirring well and fluffing with a fork.
a few Stone chips–thanks to the law of contagion, it doesn’t take many.
Blending with Power:
Perhaps a silver spoon or a long quartz crystal can be a dedicated tool for this purpose. While stirring, put your numerology and symbolism knowledge to work. Take a stroke each for the maiden, mother and crone, or thirteen strokes for the thirteen moons in the year. Carve pentacles or runes into the ingredients. Any symbol is game if it means something appropriate to you: Happy faces or dollar signs, four-leaf clovers or runes. You can be chanting your spell as you mix, rhyming adds to the power and witchyness exponentially.
When finished, tap the spoon on the edge of the bowl with authority and state, “It is done!” Transfer the blend into the storage container, which can also be inscribed with runes or symbols. However, leave the lid off so that the mixture can settle and dry for up to 6 hours before you burn over coals or close for long-term storage.
Dried Jasmine Blossoms – CC0 Public Domain – Pixabay
Charging the blend:
Breath deeply and hold the jar between your hands, shifting your consciousness into the herbs. Visualize them aligning, resonating as one like notes in a chord whose note is “rebirth.” For our example of the Ostara blend, see yourself glowing with orange/yellow light and full of vitality and budding potential–the seed germinating in the fires of Aries. There should be a wild, teenager-y impetuous and fearless vibe, where all things are possible.
Build your energy from your feet up to the crown of your head and then release it from the palms of your hands into the herbs. See the light transferring to the jar. Feel your emotions and intentions soaking the herbs. State aloud what you intend, “By Lord and Lady, earth and sky, I charge you to…” Elaborate in whatever poetic or specific way you’d like. End with “So mote it be” and accept that the work is complete and good. Shake your hands to stop the flow of energy. Relax, snuff your candle and clean up.
Burning your Incense:
In a charcoal incense burner, or in a heat-dafe dish on a thick layer of sand, light a charcoal tab (the kind usually sold for hooka pipes), and carefully set it on the sand. After the sparks have completely passed over the tab, spoon your loose incense blend onto the coal in 1/2 teaspoon increments. With spoon, you can kick the ash off and add more incense as you desire. How does it smell? Allow the smoke to waft over you, and around the room and pay close attention to the shifts in energies in the space. From there, adjust as you see fit.
Once or twice a semester, I’m invited to present on Modern Witchcraft in the World Religion classes at local colleges. Considering I’ve been teaching this subject openly for nearly a decade now, and I own the very public witchy store, I’ve developed a reputation of being accessible and respectable enough to hold my own along side the other clergy. I’ve become the “go-to” Public Witch and Priestess for everything from interfaith services, to academic panel discussions, to private interviews for college research papers.
Not everyone can be a public witch, not everyone should be, as this really is a very private and subtle path not suited to many. They don’t call these “mystery teachings” for nothing! However, the Gods asked this of me as part of my vows of service in the Priestesshood. Eventually I ran out of excuses, and got to work.
There are many things that I just love about this public witchery gig. For one, it is a rare day that a Witch is invited to discuss her theology at length, in a lecture hall full of non-pagans. I get to be the catalyst, sparking wild new thoughts, holding up the mirror, and naming the elephants in the room. Because I am the scary witch, I can say the brutally honest, helpful and unexpected things that people most need to hear.
Of course, there are drawbacks to being this far outside of the broom closet, but I’m not dwelling on that this Valentine’s Day–I’m stopping to smell my Lady’s Roses. Yes, despite the thorny path, there are still blossoms aplenty.
Pixabay ~ CC0 Public Domain
9 Roses along the Thorny Path of the Public Witch
1. Sacred Permission to Question Everything
I love giving sacred permission to question everything, engage their minds, decide what is correct for themselves. Just by existing happily in the world as a Witch who escaped her Southern Baptist upbringing, I imply that they, too, may discard what does not serve their highest good, no matter how old, nor how revered, nor EVEN what their parents think. Go back far enough and I promise you have pagan ancestors. What did they think? How did THEY live? EVERYONE has pagan ancestors–even Jesus, even Siddhartha Gautama, no exceptions. They would be proud of you for having the courage to dig up those bones, and discover what they found to be sacred. You do them honor when you cease to be a mindless sheep.
2. Acceptance of their complete and perfect self
I love seeing the release of joy when I affirm that within a pagan cosmos they are sovereign beings worthy of dignity and respect. I honor them as fellow incarnate God/desses, no matter what their outer self looks like, nor who their inner self wants to be. I remind them that they are Perfect, whole and complete. I especially enjoy giving my LGBTQ listeners sacred permission to be their most true selves. My Lady welcomes them to love whom they love, without hindrance.
3. Divine Minds Create Reality
I love watching their brains sorta melt, meld, and blow open wide, as I over-lay modern sciences like quantum physics and Jungian psychology, with ancient mystery school teachings. Consciousness creates this reality; we are both the dreamer and the dream. You can actually *hear* the pop, whirr and sigh as the connections sync up in their thinking. The collective WOAH! creates cosmic eddies that tingle my spine. Yes, your thoughts create the world. Let’s think up a better one!
4. Sexy Shenanigans at “church.”
I love the giggles when I equate the Big Bang Theory of creation with the first cosmic orgasm between God/dess. Then I quote “all acts of love and pleasure are my rituals” from the Charge of the Goddess, and “Drink the good wine to the old Gods, and dance and make love all as praise…” from the Wiccan Crede by Doreen Valiente. I make my joke about the perks of serving Aphrodite, such that when I stay in bed and make love on a Sunday morning, I’ve technically gone to “church.”
At it’s heart, Witchcraft is a fertility religion, rooted in the sacredness of Nature. I firmly believe that the entire purpose of existence here in the middle world is to learn all the lessons by enjoying yourself, trying all the delicious things, glorying in the body, and feasting on the 5 senses. That is why I choose to practice an Ecstatic Religion. Yes, we affirm the sacredness of sex, and not just for procreation. Sex is a divine expression of that ecstasy of Spirit within the flesh! So, please, go forth and get some, but for God/dess’ sake, be good at it! (and safe, and responsible, harming none.)
Johann Georg Platzer [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons
5. Meeting a God/dess will Rock Your World
I especially love it when a college student who needs to attend a ceremony for a class project, sits in on one of my meditative journeys. The best experiences start with claims by the student that they are an atheist. Yet, they attend like an anthropologist on a field study, just to get the grade. So very often, these folks with the LEAST expectations are the ones who, no shit, travel directly to the heavens, in full visionary color and detail, and straight out of the gate meet an ARCHANGEL, or a GOD–and I do mean a specific God or Goddess who rocks their world.
They discover that divinity is not just the “old, white dude with long, white beard and pointy finger of judgment in the sky” archetype they’ve previously thought was their only option. Very definite, very profoundly REAL things happen for these students. The symbols and imagery they see are in alignment with occult wisdom of which they knew nothing–they blow my mind, which at this point is saying a lot. Lives are changed.
I love it when the lid of black/white thinking is blown off.
6. Honeymoon Paradigm
I love introducing our “Honeymoon paradigm” of Goddess loving God, how Their Love manifests as everything and everyone in the cosmos. (Rather than good vs. evil.) We explore how the polar opposite of Their Love is the Void, from which emerges fear—fear of a lack of Their love.
They ask me “what is the point of Witchcraft?” I say, “to purify us of our fears so that we can become LOVE, on all levels, and enjoy life.”
I ask, “What are you afraid of?” and you can see them taking inventory in their minds of all the ways their current religion and our society makes them feel unloved, and what assholes they’ve been because of those wounds.
Then a deep, mournful, resonant A-HA spreads across their faces in the most painful of ways. I see their wounds spelled out like thought bubbles over their heads; I feel their pain. Then into those fetid places I whisper of interconnection, of acceptance, of unconditional Divine Love from which we can never be separated, and the tension releases.
We ARE love. We have everything we need at our fingertips. We are blessed in our natures. There is nothing inherently wrong with them. I might be the first person who has ever said these loving things to them.
7. The IS-ness gets real
I love when they *feel* their own power for the first time. When they connect to the flow of the cosmos, and the unseen becomes tangible. The need for “belief” or “faith” evaporates because the toe-curling wonder is right before them to see, touch, feel, smell, and KNOW. I love when this ceases to be a debate about religion and becomes the IS-ness. It just IS. It becomes the thing that cannot be denied or ignored.
8. Courage in Claiming your truth
I love standing up in a crowded room full of muggles and saying out loud, “I am a witch and a priestess” and I love that those words no longer make my voice shake, nor tears to flow. I’ve now been able to say them so many times that I can have that courage where others might not. Perhaps they can someday find their own courage because I opened the way.
So far, no stones have been thrown, no pitchforks raised, no blazing inferno ensues. I love it that room upon room of eastern North Carolina people have now had an experience where a reasonable person defied the stereotypes, and turned out to be a decent neighbor of theirs. I claimed loud and proud to be something they previously thought was malignant and terrifying, and instead I made them feel good about themselves. I hope they all went out and told a few friends that witches aren’t so scary after-all, and that changed the world just a little bit for the better.
9. Singing the Song of our People
I love it when, after one of these public speaking engagements, someone seeks me out at the shop, and starts a question with “This might sound crazy, but….” and the thing they’ve been most terrified to say out loud, and are finally confiding in me, is as normal as peanut butter and jelly to folks like us. They just might be a witch, too. The witchflame in me sparks the witchflame in you.
YES, there is a “normal” for exceptional people like us witches, and that is what I most enjoy nurturing in others. I can honestly say that no questions are crazy, or stupid or weird to me anymore. Hell, they are just singing the song of our people.
Its nice to find out you have “people.” I do so enjoy making those introductions.
My daughter and I marched on Washington, DC in the Women’s Unity March on January 21, 2017 with half a million of this nation’s finest human beings. For 24 glorious hours, the world felt right again. Starting on a bus leaving Greenville, North Carolina, we were accepted like two drops of water into a river of sanity that was temperate and clear, deep and strong.
Eastern NC Marchers upon arrival at Pentagon City in Arlington, VA. January 21, 2017. ~ Photo Credit: Elizabeth Cayton Photography, used with permission
Like all the other buses, trains, and planes that converged from all over this nation, we flowed through the tributaries of roadways and metro lines, until we merged into an ocean of reasonable, compassionate people who were there for a multitude of reasons. With a tidal wave of purpose, we flowed into L’Enfant Station and rose into the sunny streets at Independence Avenue SW and 3rd, just as the voice of Gloria Steinem could be heard over the cheers of the crowd. The feeling was buoyant and surreal.
Bargaining: High Cost versus Questionable Benefits
They say it was historic, that this is the Civil Rights March of our generation. We were in the heart of the largest nationwide–nay, WORLDwide–protest in our history among 3.5 million worldwide. I learned a lot, met interesting people, and gained some insight into the personal power achieved through unified struggle. It is the worst of cliches, but truly my “faith in humanity” was temporarily restored.
The march was a bucket-list level experience and I’m glad I went, but I fervently hope that this service will never again be required of me. MLK, Jr., Susan B. Anthony, even Bernie Sanders, and all the rest of these amazing leaders that we laud for their repeatedly marching into harms way, are even bigger heroes to me now. It was a hard day with many real challenges, both physical and spiritual, from which it has taken me this whole week to recover.
I also learned that when joining the swarm of locusts that descend in greater numbers than any city can possibly accommodate, wear adult diapers, and bring way more food with you than just protein bars. Some may have been there in uterine solidarity, but what truly united us were the universal needs of stomach and bladder. I shit you not…no really, shitting was off the agenda…not without a 2 hour wait for one of the vastly under-supplied toilets. But I digress…
Every one of these people is wrapped around in a peaceful line for the same food court restroom that was many blocks away from the March location. Our hero was an officer that stepped in as a toilet traffic cop and helped us all share the stalls in the men’s room. Everyone was really patient and helpful. Photo by Heron
Isolation: I don’t want to talk about it
If I was a successful blogger, I would have posted about this a week ago. Yet, I’ve just not been ready to talk about it to the outer world, especially once it was clear what a divisive social media shit-storm of #alternativefacts and cat-fighting it would become.
What happened at the March on DC can only be grokked by those who were there. If you, like several of the North Carolina politicians on twitter, watched the news and all you noted was the fashion-fail of pink hats, or said that we were “fat” or called us “crazies…if brains were lard you couldn’t grease a small skillet,” then the irony of self-fulfilling ignorance from which you are suffering is so meta, so terminal, there isn’t anything I can say to help you.
“Keep Abortion Legal” held by a young girl on her father’s shoulders ~ Washington DC ~ Photo by Heron
Depression: Post-March Love Syndrome
What can I even say about last Saturday, that has not already been beautifully articulated? Here is my favorite inspirational article about it, by Caroline Myss. Yet, I am a writer, this is my confessional, and frankly, there are things I need to work through. I’m forcing myself to stand in my truth and be honest about it.
I am not okay; this is not normal.
Maybe after the shock of expanding so intensely into an awesome sea of logical civility among the most colorful of my human family, that what I am now suffering is a post-march depression. While integrating what I’ve experienced, I find it difficult to live in this Trump Era under these new “marching orders.”
They say that a soldier can never fully return from war. I feel like a Divine Love Warrior who went to battle against an evil oppressor, and despite our vastly out-numbering them, and all our righteous indignation, and the constitution on our side, it didn’t make a lick of practical difference in these first 7 days. A narcissist looking out the white-house window only sees himself.
PTSD, Post-Traumatic Stress Syndrome, is a real thing. Could this malaise and despondency I’m feeling since my return be some kind of “Post-March Love Syndrome? PMLS? Each new executive order feels like salt poured into the wound of my broken-heart.
“This is not normal” Protest Sign in Washington DC, Photo by Heron
Denial: I didn’t Want to Go
The day after the election, I went into shock. (I wrote about that, here.) Since then I have been processing through the stages of grief: denial, isolation, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. While I was hiding in a twilight zone of “denial”, others went straight to anger and it activated them into action. The invitations to join this march poured in from all my best feminist friends; I was proud of them.
But, mobilizing into a protest march are things that people in history books do, not me…I make art, or write a poem, or organize a fundraiser. Remember my rainbow protest against the HB2 bathroom bill? That’s more my style. While I was still in denial that the inauguration would actually happen, I can’t tell you how many times I removed myself from their planning groups, or declined a facebook event.
I couldn’t fight this fight–I’ve never felt so vulnerable. To borrow a phrase from A Few Good Men: I know a truth about what is coming, and I couldn’t handle it.
I made excuses that I was too broke to travel. I didn’t want to give up the custody time with my kids. I can’t afford any lost income. I panic in large crowds, having a past-life phobia of being crushed during a battle. I am intimidated by that many emotions running that fiercely all at once. The anxiety I felt over the prospect of this march was so intense I just shut down.
You say, Why so anxious, Heron? You may be over-reacting a smidgen for a privileged white girl. Isn’t this just a “peaceful protest” that is a guaranteed right of the American system?
Marchers on DC outside the National Museums–Photo by Heron
Anger: Or, the Mission, as I heard it
Let’s crochet pink pussy hats to wear for a stroll through the capitol, the day after the take-over of the new authoritarian, fuck-the-constitution, Christofascist regime, whose diabolical agenda is to roll back time a few hundred years, and order by insidious executive order, lock me and the people I serve back into their antiquated/racist/misogynistic/hetero/conservative boxes…
We’ll wait until just after the malignant narcissist with sociopathic tendancies and his “alt-right” cronies are given the keys to the white house and the majority power in all three branches of government. We’ll give him just enough time to unlock the back door so that his despicable posse of billionaire despots can just let themselves in… and then we’ll go for a visit.
Because dear POTUS will just love that. You remember his self-styled golden majesty, El Cheeto? The Donald of reality TV fame? The “You’re Fired!” guy? …that guy with no tolerance for dissent or confrontation who offered to pay the legal fees of anyone who “knocked the crap” out of his election rally protestors? Whose inauguration protesters were pepper-sprayed, over 200 arrested and charged with felonies? The guy who was accused of raping a 13 year old girl, hiring prostitutes to piss the presidential suite bed and 4000+/- other suits involving him and his associates for everything from fraud to sexual assault?
Photo by Elizabeth Cayton Photography, Used with permission
This guy was almost certainly elected thanks to significant interference by Russia–who are most definitely not a friend of the USA, but are clearly in a bromance of business entanglement with Trump–and yet despite all of this being widely known BEFORE the inauguration, it made absolutely no difference to STOP it from happening, because we are now living in a dystopian reality where nothing makes any sense anymore, unless you are George Orwell.
The day after that guy is given command of the US military, the nuclear launch codes, and a helluva lot of shiny weaponry, on that day, lets go confront him on his new front lawn. Oh, and we’ll take our kids with us.
Much like poking a dragon, lets go remind the most powerful human being on earth of how little we like him by waving a bunch of insulting signs in his face, and hope to all that is holy that he notices. THAT day, let’s assemble a veritable army of every type of person his administration hates and have vowed to repress or deport, along with our infants in slings, toddlers in strollers, disabled in their wheelchairs and the elderly with their walkers, and let’s attempt to peacefully march through the streets of the capitol, into this new era of unknown dangers, and see if we can change his mind.
What could possibly go wrong?
Civil disobedience against Donald Trump’s regime is scary for real reasons.
This action was absolutely justified and necessary, but it required more courage than I thought I had. My desire to just go hide under my covers was a projection of my own fears. As long as no one questioned me about it, I could pretend they weren’t there.
Heron and Willow at the Women’s Unity March on Washington, DC ~ January 21, 2017 ~ sitting at the base of the Washington Monument
Acceptance: I’d fight Dragons for my Children
I almost got away with my cowardice, but then, on the Eve of Martin Luther King Junior’s birthday, one of the local coordinators approached me in a restaurant…there are seats on the bus now available because someone can’t go at the last minute.
My 14 year old daughter hears this and begs to go. She is brave and strong and has had to sit powerlessly on the sidelines while the safety of her future as a non-christian, female, aspiring-scientist was voted away by others–including her own bigoted extended family. She wanted to make a difference, to do something important to help–not just herself, but her gay, pagan and immigrant friends.
It is for my children that I’d tackle any dragon. Their whole lives I’ve protected them by keeping us out of harms way, but those idealistic days are now over. The only way to protect their rights for the long-haul is to teach them the responsibility of purposefully entering the fray. My precious baby girl is now a young woman, and she insisted that we march together into what could potentially become a war zone.
Ok, sweetheart…we’ll see.
Aphrodite? Hermes? Is this your idea of a sacred mission?
We can’t afford the bus fare: Your seats have been sponsored.
What about the custody arrangements? Daddy says I can go.
What about my lost income? My sister, Heather Anne, sends me money saying “you march for me, too, and here are some emergency funds, just in case.”
It’s too late to get a Metro pass in the mail. Here, have my metro cards that already have credit on them.
Every single excuse I tried to throw in our way just disintegrated.
Photo by Heron at the March on Washington DC
Preparing for the Women’s March
For five days I researched everything from protest laws, to how to recover from pepper spray, to the phone numbers for legal defense. I made us signs, crocheted hats, and made emergency plans A, B, and C. I barely slept, I could hardly breathe, my jaw stayed clenched and I teetered on the edge of panic attack, but with the support of my feminist boyfriend, and the techniques of my witching praxis, managed to keep it together so that I could “be present to win” and become “the strong link” for my daughter.
At 3:30 am Saturday morning we set off for DC with 155 other brave women, men and children who were all colors, ages, sexual preferences, gender expressions. We have diverse religions, professions, education levels and national origins. Whatever reasons motivated us to show up, on that bus, there was not one coward, “snowflake,” hater, ignoramus, or “victim-consciousness” marcher among us. All our signs were correctly spelled, and by gods, they rocked those “pussy” hats!
We did the hard work, even if some folks didn’t understand why it was necessary, even if it didn’t immediately change the politics of the moment. I think that the spirit of resistance to tyranny has been revitalized and will continue, regardless of the personal cost, because it is the moral and responsible thing to do.
Crystal Grid over a map of the nation in my “Love trumps Hate” Meditation and spell working for compassion, balance and clear communication. Photo by Heron
MLK Jr. said, “The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends towards justice.”
In his tradition, I will do everything in my power as a citizen, as a business owner, as a person with white, hetero-privilege, and as a mother, to aid this moral justice. Most importantly, as a witch, whose very job title implies the “wisdom of bending and shaping reality,” you can trust that no matter how risky it becomes, I will keep working through the powers of Divine Love to keep bending that arc, to defend and empower us all.
At our metaphysical shop, we have a saying: There are no “stupid” questions here. We mean that! Please feel free to ask our staff about any of our admittedly unusual and fring-ey merchandise, or the topics you see on the covers of these books. I promise that even the most awkwardly-worded inquiry about whether of not we are “real witches” is a fair enough question and we’d like the chance to clear up any misconceptions.
I give our customers sacred permission to question everything, starting with us.
Education is the most important part of our business mission. Each of our three staff have been working here for YEARS, so we’ve seen a thing or two. Plus, we’ve worked hard to become well-educated, well-trained practitioners who take our Craft seriously, and are happy to help folks along their own journeys. We’ve heard just about everything, and at this point, it takes something really spectacular to shock us…
…and yet, there are those special moments that grow into legend behind these battered, glass display counters.
I asked my staff to write up a few of their most memorable customer interactions so we can share the love, along with some answers, and a few informative links.
This first installment is brought to you today by Liz Merritt, Sojo Lady since 2013, Hedgewitch extraordinaire, and Maiden of The Sojo Circle Coven.
By Thompkins H. Matteson, painter – Collection of the Peabody Essex Museum, Public Domain
Witches’ Mark?
Customer: Hey, I was wondering if you could tell me about witches’ marks? Me: Absolutely! Are you referring to the supposed marks found on the bodies of the victims of the Salem Witch trials that was used as damning evidence of their deals with the Devil? Those were generally moles on their bodies, where Satan supposedly drank milk/blood/life force from them. In reality, it was circumstantial evidence that made it easier to convict those poor people and steal their property after killing them horribly. Customer: No, that’s not what I am asking about. I mean when a witch curses you and leaves a mark on your body? Me: ….? Customer: I think my ex-girlfriend cursed me and I have this mark on my side. Can I just show you? Me: <with trepidation> Sure…. Customer: <lifts shirt to expose a circular patch of lighter skin, with a couple smaller circles around it> It looks like a skull and I have been freaking out, and I don’t know what to do about it. <if you tilt your head and squint it could look like a skull> Me: Well, the good news is that is not a curse-mark. That looks like a fungal infection. I suggest going to the doctor so they can prescribe a topical treatment to get rid of it. Customer: I’m pretty certain its a curse. What do I do about the curse? Me: If you are worried about it, why don’t you start with a sea-salt bath, then a cleansing of your home. This sage and copal blend can really clear the energetic slate. We have some reversing candles, but please, go to the doctor.
Moral of the story:
Not everything has a mystical or witchy source. It’s best to start with the most rational, scientific explanation and work from there. Your health can be harmed if you ignore something like this out of fear. Doctors are there to help you, and it’s possible to find some who are open to more alternative healing methods if that is your preference.
Links: WebMD, or Wikipedia
Witch-hunters often had their suspects stripped and publicly examined for signs of an unsightly blemish that witches were said to receive upon making their pact with Satan. This “Devil’s Mark” could supposedly change shape and color, and was believed to be numb and insensitive to pain. Prosecutors might also search for the “witches’ teat,” an extra nipple allegedly used to suckle the witch’s helper animals…Moles, scars, birthmarks, sores, supernumerary nipples and tattoos could all qualify, so examiners rarely came up empty-handed. Link to source.
By the American Poultry Association [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons
In Search of Black Rooster Blood
Customer: I am looking for an ingredient for a spell, can you help me? Me: Certainly, what are you looking for? Customer: I need black rooster blood. Me: We don’t sell animal blood, as I can’t imagine the regulations on that. If I am not mistaken, any spell for which this ingredient is needed, would require you to kill and drain the rooster yourself. Customer: <with frustration> Do you know where I can get a black rooster? Me: So much Nope!
Moral of The Story: Magick will often require sacrifice. If you aren’t willing to get your hands dirty and do the hard work yourself, why should you reap the reward? Spells done by sidestepping those sacrifices won’t work as expected. Besides, if you don’t already understand all this, then you shouldn’t be meddling in this sort of magick. Links:http://hoodooyoudoo.blogspot.com Black Rooster Blood in HooDoo War Waters
By Philip De Vere [CC BY-SA 3.0 ], via Wikimedia Commons
Thor Me Not
Customer: I’d like to look at this Thor* Statue, please. Me: Sure, but this is the God Tyr, he has an axe.** Thor is usually shown with his hammer, Mjolnir. Customer: <Completely talking over me> As a Christian, I shouldn’t really be getting this Thor*, but he’s really pretty, and I can’t stop looking at him and I think it’ll be okay if I just place him in my house as art, right? Me: I don’t think it works like that. Yahweh is explicit on how he feels about ‘idols’ and ‘graven images’. It is one of the 10 Commandments, actually. This is Tyr. He is a God of Justice, who would probably disapprove of you flouting the rules of your religion. Customer: It’s just art! And I know that I can’t leave this Thor* statue here. I loved that movie.
Moral of The Story: Tyr and Thor aren’t the same deity at all, firstly.
Secondly, willfully ignoring the tenants of your religion is generally not a great choice to make. If you feel called to consider other religious and spiritual options, there are ways to do it respectfully for all involved.
Lastly, we behind the counter generally know about these things from first hand experience, and when we tell you what something is or isn’t, we aren’t just guessing. Links: Here is some handy information about the Norse Gods Thor and Tyr.
How Yahweh feels about graven images of other Gods. “The reference to graven images may be found in several locations throughout the Old and New Testaments. The main prohibition to graven images is found in the Ten Commandments as located in Exodus 20:4,5 and also Deuteronomy 5:8.”
What would you like to know more about? You may post a question in the comments, and we will do our best to answer.
Until next time,
~Heron
**Originally we wrote that he was “accompanied by a boar.” This two year old memory may have been fuzzy…more likely that it was a wolf? It was a four legged creature of some sort, but now we can’t find a picture of the actual axe-wielding Tyr statue of years past.
The Hermetic Principle of Mentalism states: “The All is mind; the Universe is Mental.” The entire universe functions like a big mind, and everything within it is a thought–a dream within that Mind. The mind of whom, you might ask? Good question.
Magickal folks also tend to believe that the entire Universe is sacred; the whole kit and kaboodle is a Divine entity. Naming that biggest idea of divinity is tricky: THE ALL, Great Spirit, Original Source, Prime Vibration, God/dess, Ohm?
Panentheism, describes this concept. Panentheism =immanent + transcendent Divinity. Meaning, Divinity is immanent within every particle of matter and every wave of energy and every being (its body) AND Divinity also has as an overarching, transcendent consciousness (its mind.) There is a synergistic effect wherein the sum is greater than the whole of its parts.
So, we can refer to the transcendent consciousness of The ALL, as “The Divine Mind.”
The Divine Mind thinks itself into being: dreams of galaxies, black holes, stars, solar systems, and ecosystems; dreams of bees seeking nectar, and the way that roots hold the soil, and flowers lean into sunbeams; dreams of electrons spinning, of molecules bonding; dreams of Gods, Goddesses and heroes, of villains and monsters. Dreams of beauty and nightmares of destruction are all held within the infinite possibility that is Divine Mind. They are thoughts, affected by thought, the effects of thoughts–your thoughts; “The Universe is Mental.”
That makes us human beings manifest Gods, by the way…We are a Divine Thought, too…and we are thinking with our own Divine Mind. The special thing about us humans is that we also have an overarching consciousness. “I think, therefore: I am.” (1)
We are aware of our own existence, through our thoughts (mental), feelings (emotional), and sensations (physical,) and we have the sentience to integrate all this information (Spirit) and respond with purpose and power (Will), because we KNOW who we are in the grander scheme of things. We know we are both the dreamer and the dream. From Macrocosm to microcosm, the Universe is a mental construct within Divine Mind; we think within the Divine Mind; our thoughts create reality.
As Lon Milo Duquette said in the title of his book, Low Magick, “It’s all in your head. You just have no idea how big your head is.”
CC0 Public Domain ` Pixabay
Point 2. Element of Air – Mental Wellness
Air is primarily considered to express masculine attributes and is associated with the mental body. The projective power of air is To Know. This is the active quality of gathering information, and drawing a conclusion, so that you have a concise objective on which to act.
When we refer to the Pyramid of Power as a system of magick, folks usually begin in the corner of air: to know. I often joke that “the first step in any 12-step program” is TO KNOW what your problem is–and so it is with the magick of personal transformation. People who get stuck on whatever it is they think they know, and are too rigid and fearful to even consider an alternate possibility, fall prey to orthodoxy and fundamentalism that is anathema to everything a witch represents.
The true power of Air comes from it’s receptive power: To Wonder.In our yin/yang analogy mentioned previously, this spot of the other side of the polarity is the key-hole to unlocking true mental power and balance. Wonderment is where ingenuity and invention begin, the spark of curiosity that precedes a scientific inquiry, the necessary inspiration that is the heart of magick.
Wonderment is an “open mind,” the passive quality of releasing all preconceived ideas, and of asking “What could be different if…?” It is thinking creatively, outside “the box” that imprisons fundamentalists. In our society, those people who were tapped into Wonderment are the heroes we laud today, but many of whom were arrested and/or murdered as heretics by fear-bound fundamentalists: Galileo Galilei, Nicolas Copernicus, Joan of Arc, Susan B. Anthony, Martin Luther King, Jr. Mahatma Gandhi, Jesus… Each of them looked beyond common perception, and wondered how the world might be better, if…. Their power of wonderment made them TERRIFYING to the regimes of their time and they suffered for their “heresy,” just as witches have.
The Great Work, Air Mysteries, Original Graphic by Heron Michelle
The Questions:
As I celebrate the Wheel of the Year, from Imbolc to Ostara, I start compiling information to discover what I know about my dedication topic. I study, research, and investigate. Then from Ostara until Beltane, I tap into the wonderment side of air, asking the question of what I need to think about differently? What could be different? I release what is commonly understood, and work magick to seek a new understanding.
The questions I must ask in regards to balancing my mental body, begin with what thoughts and mental “programs” I’m using to create my reality. Our perceptions about our world, our perspectives about our place here and what is possible, and our ideas about who we are and what we deserve, form a belief system. “Belief” is our most limiting factor. Orthodoxy (right belief) is a dirty word in witchcraft; Witchcraft is an Orthopraxy (right action.)
A computer analogy: Belief is like an operating system, and is created from birth by our culture and programmed by our parents, teachers, religious and political leaders, advertising…every message we internalize becomes part of that programming. Everything else we do in life runs from that operating system. Even if you eventually reject parts of your culture of origin, that program still insidiously lurks in the background.
If you were raised within an Abrahamic culture, like Christianity, and taught that you are inherently flawed, sinful, fallen from grace, and in need of salvation, then you may still be operating from the root programing of broken consciousness–convinced you are shameful, feeble, subordinate, and separate from “god. This dominant, patriarchal paradigm installs an “external locus of control” where everything that happens to us is someone else’s fault and “the devil made you do it.”
If you are running a poverty consciousness program, no matter how much you money runs through your bank account, you will remain “poor” of spirit, greedy and dissatisfied.
If you are running a victim consciousness program, no matter how many battles you fight and win, you will remain defeated, fearful, and powerless, a bully.
If you are running a wounded consciousness program, no matter how much medicine and therapy you take, you will remain weak, paranoid and in dis-ease.
I’ve heard it said that the easiest thing to change is your mind…I beg to differ. It took me a decade to throw off the bonds of the “fear and admonition of the Lord” that enslaved me as a child in the Southern Baptist church.
Witchcraft is a Magickal Operating System of wholeness, abundance, sovereignty, and empowerment. Our praxis is the technical manual to help you purge the old OS and install the system that supports your new spiritual goals and gets all your systems (physical, mental, will, emotional, and Spiritual) working harmoniously together so that eventually, anything is possibly with a simple change of mind.
Attempting to do spellwork before you’ve addressed these fundamental questions of belief is as pointless as trying to run a Mac program on a Window’s operating system; you will waste a lot of time and energy hacking it, and the outcomes will be glitchy and problematic at best.
SO– The question to ask is this: What do I believe to be possible? Which programs are hindering my balance–are not for my highest good, and must be reprogrammed?
Click “Continue” for exercises to help bring over-all balance through the mental body.
Utilizing the witches’ elemental lessons of Earth, I’ve found ways to improve my overall balance, not just my physical wellness, because the layered aspects of myself are interwoven. As above, so below; As within, so without.
A holistic approach to wellness is based upon the interconnection between consciousness and the body. A magickal approach to wellness works for a harmonic balance between many subtle layers of the self. The mental, emotional, will and spiritual bodies form a lens through which you experience your physical body, and vice versa…This concept is symbolized by the Pentacle, an encircled five-pointed star, and is a symbol of modern witchcraft.
The Mechanics of Magick
The Hermetic Principles of Polarity informs us that everything in the universe has an inherent balance throughout the range of it’s spectrum. This idea is symbolized by the Yin-Yang. While there may be a dominant attribute, there must also be that spot of it’s flip-side, and vice versa. That is the occult mystery–it’s hidden wisdom–and that “spot” that some might view as a weakness, is actually the key-hole to unlock its power.
The Hermetic Principle of Gender takes this idea of polarity one step further, and states that everything in the universe also has masculine and feminine attributes. This speaks only in small part to biology. Masculine attributes include projective qualities and are actualized through air and fire. Feminine attributes include receptive qualities and are actualized through earth and water.
Just like polarity, gender cannot be an either/or situation, but an infinite rainbow range of possibility. They are a cosmic dance–each side held in that tension that I like to call the Divine Love of the Two Who Move as One–they just can’t exist without each other; light and dark, outer and inner, projective and receptive, god and goddess.
That lesson of gender is true for the elemental forces, too. Though earth, air, fire and water may express a dominant gender, the key to their true power comes from the occult wisdom that they also express their flip-side. THIS is the key lesson that will keep us in balance so that we don’t fall into madness and self-destruction. Not many books on witchcraft mention this, which is why I intend to write one, starting here.
Point 1. Element of Earth – Physical Wellness
So, Earth is primarily feminine. The projective lesson of Earth is To be Silent, or as I like to phrase it, to hold the space. This is the active part of doing nothing…the active form of non-striving. In our go-go-go society, this may be the hardest lesson of all. Yet, from the funeral at Samhain to the re-birth of Yule, we are asked to rest, just like a stop in the underworld, while we reflect on what we’ve accomplished over the previous year.
After nine months of the Great Work of Magick, I stop, shut up and pay attention to what effects are coming into being as a result of my actions. The Hermetic Principle of Cause and Effect informs me that everything in my life is the effect of a cause that I can affect, even if that source isn’t obvious down here on the physical plane. If things suck, I ask “why?”
In other words, I create my reality. So, if this reality is not one that I’d like to continue, how might I change my actions to manifest a new one? Remember what Einstein said, “The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.”
On the flip-side, the receptive lesson of earth is to Resonate. Here in-lies the paradox: to resonate is like playing midwife to the void of potential–that space you’ve been holding–then from the rebirth at Yule to the re-dedication to the Great Work at Imbolc, you come up with a new plan of action. You state exactly what new reality you intend to manifest, then do whatever it takes to get every layer of yourself resonating in harmonic balance with that intention–physical, mental, emotional, will and Spirit bodies must all be engaged. Its like twisting the gears on a channel lock–they all have to be in alignment, open and creating a “birth canal” between your personal Will and the source of power through your Highest Divine Will.
The Hermetic Principle of Vibration is employed, and you vibrate like a magnet to attract that new thing you seek to be born down that channel and into your life, because like vibrations attract like vibrations. Like a midwife, you can then passively attend the void and simply receive it as your new reality emerges. Just open your arms and catch the baby.
See now why balance on all levels is of dire importance to maintaining your wellness, and as the first step to becoming an effective magickian?
Wheel of the Year, Lessons of Earth and physical manifestation, Original Graphic by Heron Michelle
The Questions:
In regards to the balancing of my physical body, I must understand that all the layers of myself are mirrors of each other, and because they are interwoven, the “cause” of my physical dis-ease may not have a physical cause at all–it may originate in my thoughts or emotions, etc. What is the “cause” of this “effect?” From what aspect of my self does this cause originate? My fears, ideas, emotions, actions?
However, the physical realm that I can touch is one of the easiest realms to manipulate because we are raised to it–here, cause and effect are easy to see–I push it, it falls down, etc. Magickians use “sympathetic magick” – symbolic acts that manipulate the physical realm, so that we can mirror changes up through the non-physical realms.
So, what physical things down here in the world of matter can I do to improve my balance on all levels of self? The creative possibilities are endless. Here are a few practical ideas I’ve employed in my own life.
“Before enlightenment, chop wood, carry water. After enlightenment, chop wood, carry water.”
By now, this Zen Buddhist saying may seem cliche, but it’s good advice. When times are hard, like you’re loosing your existential footing, pull-back, and go focus on mundane survival tasks. There is more than just enlightenment to be found through our day-to-day labors. Don’t just survive, thrive through each moment. This is often referred to as mindfulness.
Here are some ideas for ways to elevate survival to a magickal art form.
Exercise: Operation “Gourmet”
You have to eat, this we know, but that opens up to many choices. Good health will only be as “good” as the quality of food you feed yourself. Junkity self-worth –> junkity food –> junkity experience of life.
Go find a delicious new recipe–something fancier than you normally attempt to cook. Watch a YouTube video on how to prepare it, if necessary (mental). Go to the market on a special mission for the ingredients (Will). Energetically awaken each thing and set it to it’s spiritual Work, just like any other Spell. “Spirit of Carrot, awaken now to your powers of sustenance and enrich this working for my highest good…etc.” (Spiritual)
Prepare that nourishing food and plate it up like you are royalty (physical.) Now, set a beautiful table fit for Martha Stewart, with just as much attention and ceremonial importance as you would lay out your altar for a Grand Sabbat. Light the good candles, and then enjoy the hell out of every bite (emotional.) Savor it, breathe deeply, chew slowly. Each bite is an offering of Self to the Spirit within. You are a God/dess, may you never hunger!
For this exercise, going to a restaurant won’t cut it. If YOU figure it out, do the work, and conquer all the obstacles to create not only what you need, but what is beautiful, then you are magickally creating the necessary changes on every level of yourself, not just your tummy.
Click Continue for more practical and magickal exercises…
When your mom dies, there is a previously imperceptible quality to the world that suddenly pales. You step into the gap she leaves, because you owe her that much; even when you thought she was ridiculous, and she embarrassed you, and you loathed everything she stood for. Even then, you feel lost without her. Our story began with Passing Away, Coming to Terms, Psychic Agent, and Visitation. We continue with the day of her “proper Christian burial.”
Memorial Breakfast
The morning of my mother’s funeral I awoke early, dressed quickly and slipped out of the kitchen door before dawn. I meant to find breakfast and a writing session in solitude. At IHOP, they gave me a booth in the back and I faced the misty, grey morning out the window, turning my back on the room.
Ordering was a ritual of remembrance; I had to have fried eggs over buttered toast like Mom always made. Then the cup of Lipton-brand, orange pekoe tea, served steaming hot with whole milk and sugar–that’s how Mom taught me to drink it one September night when I was five. We’d come in from a late summer harvest in my parent’s garden, chilled by the wet night. She served us from a tray in the living room. It was my first caffeine and I loved it; an initiation into a big-girlhood that I am reminded of with every cup. To this day, my children call this treat, “Grandma Sondra tea.”
My parents raised me among the garden rows, 1979
I was crying over my eggs and eventually my waitress Cheryl came over to check on me. I confided that I was there to write my mother’s eulogy and she let me tell her the whole story. Other people in the restaurant were talking about it, too. Her name pricked my ears from the low rumble of the conversation behind me, “Sondra Shearouse…so suddenly…aneurysm…tragedy…” I tried to ignore them, spreading out all my notes and working for three hours to cobble together an outline that would trigger the stories and platitudes in the right order.
It rained some, and was predicted all that afternoon. We’d decided to conduct the graveside service outside under the cedar tree that guards the family plot, rain or shine; I’m no fair-weather witch. Still, I prayed in my witching way, cloud-busting, calling on the old gods, calling her god, just for good measure, that we be granted some sunlight over her grave, for just that hour. I felt so spiritually alone…only my husband and sister knew I was newly-initiated, and everyone else must have assumed I was just a prodigal Christian.
I called my friend Thalia in Ohio. She’s a priestess who’d taught me much, and we were raised in similar churches. She’d lost her mother too young and could talk me through this dark moment. When the call ended, I looked up to see that the clouds had parted, and sunshine poured in from a blue morning sky.
With that affirmation, I tipped Cheryl lavishly and left to get ready for the day.
L-R: Step-Dad Skip, Heron, my sister Heather Anne, our Dad Solomon at the graveside service of our Mother, 2007.
Funeral Service
Wednesday, March 14th, 2007, at high noon, The Concord Christian Center opened their doors for my mother’s funeral service. Everything had been moved to the church sanctuary and it was just as lovely as the night before.
Her church has a wide, semi-circular stage in the contemporary style with a pulpit in the middle, directly behind her open casket. Abundant flowers surrounded the stage and floor below. Most of the family came for this visitation as well, but I slipped away to Mom’s Sunday-school classroom so that I could transfer my outline to note cards and gather my nerves. It was nice to be surrounded by her handwriting, videos, and pictures.
I sat at her moon-shaped teacher’s table in a tiny chair and wrote quickly. I was in a cold sweat and ringing with stage fright. Amazingly, I had exactly the number of note cards with me that I needed. I’d even thought of an opening bit of humor that *hopefully* would keep me from blubbering.
At 2:00, the funeral director gave us a final moment to say goodbye, then he discretely removed her jewelry, tucked the satin liner around her and closed the lid, sealing it with a hand crank.
The sanctuary chairs were divided into sections. The pallbearers processed together to one of the front rows. Frances and my mom’s side of the family sat with me on the front row of the next section and Skip and his family in another. For the first time I noticed the divide across the aisle and it occurred to me that we were no longer bound by their marriage–with death they did part.
My Grandmother’s Lutheran Pastor opened the service. His church was founded by my German ancestors a hundred years ago, and Mom was raised there, so he was invited to co-officiate. He’d looked back through the archives to discover the verse she chose to recite at her confirmation. It was very fitting. Then we all sang “Amazing Grace” and “What a Friend we Have in Jesus,” because she preferred the old hymns.
Witch Risks Lightning Strike
Then it was my turn. I assure you that this irony was not lost on me…of my being a Witch, and delivering a message from a Christian pulpit, at my loudly fundamentalist mother’s church. I knew full well that if the majority of the people in that room knew who was about to address them, they would have run me out on a rail. But *I* know that to Spirit we are all sacred beings, and what they didn’t know about me, wouldn’t hurt them. But my sister knows, so she joked about lightning striking me dead when I stepped over the church threshold. I’m fairly certain that I’m in the good graces of lightning-wielding Gods like Zeus and Thor, so I decided to risk it. 🙂
Joking aside, by that point I could have run onto the stage. Everything I’d been prodded to accomplish since I’d connected with my mother’s spirit had been in preparation of that moment and I was anxious to be done with it. However, when I arrived at that clear, acrylic pulpit I choked up as I expected I would. Though I barely croaked out my name, it got far easier with the flow of the cards. I extemporized just as the voice in my head had spoken them to me over the previous four days. I got laughs in the right places and weighted silence in the right places, too. I made my points and even garnered a few “Amens.” (1)
Next, her brother-in-law recounted the story of the 49 crocuses that I told in Coming to Terms, and friends in the church came up to speak of her kindness to their children. Mom’s friend sang the Lord’s Prayer, and another dramatically returned to Skip two enormous Tupperware containers in which she’d brought soup to his sick dad recently. He showed us all the lovely crocheted hat and scarf she’d made for his mom. Then he told a tale of a time Mom and Skip locked their keys in the car while boating at Kentucky Lake. The tow-truck driver got lost and they sat there for hours, so Mom spent that time picking up the litter from the banks of the lake and then befriending a lonely soul, eventually leading him through a prayer of Christian salvation.
Pall Bearers carry her to her grave. Photo by Heron
That was how mom lived; she walked her talk without fear. She fed people generously, clothed them with her own hands, helped anyone who needed help, and was a good steward of her patch of the World, just like Jesus. My fanatical, opinionated, over-bearing mother was consistently a shining example of her ideals, no matter the consequences.
Despite the fact that she and I differed vastly on every single point of politics, religion, and social ideology, for the first time in my adult life, I could see that she was teaching a lesson about the importance of “letting your little light shine” so that all could see it…of living outside of “the closet,” OUT-LOUD and PROUD. It took 33 years, but in that church I was finally proud to be her daughter.
Her Pastor preached the gospel in full-fervor, just the way she liked it, all the way to inviting the congregation to pray their own prayer of salvation. He was right that Mom would have wanted that at her funeral. She’d preached it every day of her life, so why stop with her death? This was her moment! We left the church singing “I’ll Fly Away” and clapping. I could feel her with us and she was pleased.
l’ll fly away, oh glory
I’ll fly away in the morning
When I die, Hallelujah, by and by, I’ll fly away!
When I die, Hallelujah, by and by, I’ll fly away! (3)
A “Proper Christian Burial”
I felt giddy…I appreciated the familiar cadence of the Christian service, because I’d suffered through thousands of them as a child right there next to her. We’d sang these songs together countless times. My third-eye headache was completely gone, and the ball of anxiety in my guts finally spent.
I rode with my little family in the long procession of cars through town, and felt relief when we got to the cemetery. I grabbed my camera, and just as Mom would have, snapped pictures of the casket being carried from the hearse by all the young men of our family. Both ministers spoke briefly again: a passage of scripture, a prayer, and we all sang the chorus of “Will the Circle be unbroken” a few times through.
Will the circle be unbroken
By and by, lord, by and by
There’s a better home a-waiting
In the sky, lord, in the sky. (2)
My 2.5 year old son sitting on a gravestone in the cemetery during his grandmother’s funeral. Photo by Heron
As it has been in all the protestant funerals I’ve attended, it fizzled out without any sense of ritual closure. So, we all milled around, privately chatting, children playing among the headstones, while the workman on the digging equipment stayed a respectful distance away…waiting. Though I’d said I would stay to pitch my handful of dirt into the grave, I eventually succumbed to the pressure to leave with the family. There was a potluck to be enjoyed and I was hungry for the first time in days.
My duty was discharged, having seen to it that she was given the “proper Christian Burial” that was so important to her. As we pulled out of the cemetery, I could see through the fence to where a mechanical wench was lowering her concrete sarcophagus into the ground.
And with that, it was over.
Amazing grace, How sweet the sound
That saved a wretch like me.
I once was lost, but now I am found,
Was blind, but now I see. (4)
Because of the fundamentalist, radically conservative, disapproving ways of my mother toward all other faiths and lifestyles, I was lost to her. When she died, I felt wretched, but through the Divine Love of Spirit she found me again. Because of her death, we were both finally able to understand the all-inclusive grace of that Spirit, and I came to appreciate the power and fulfillment we gain through living our convictions honestly and openly. We were blind, but now we see.
I Love you, Mama.
Peace in the interim,
~Heron Michelle
1.) There is no recording, or transcript of that Eulogy as far as I know. When I got home and originally wrote out these stories, I didn’t have the heart to recount it–much like a spell one releases to the fires, then never speak of again.
Samhain tides are darkening into the eve of this Wheel of the Year’s turning. Can you feel it? Soon we arrive on death’s doorstep, and reminders of our mortality show up in the form of fake skeletons, ghoulish Styrofoam cemetery props, old hags, and Dia De Los Muertos decorations in every shop…including mine.
My “Beetlejuice” meets “Nightmare before Christmas” themed entrance to The Sojourner
Halloween is coming and every where you look there is a glorification of horrible accidents, death and dismemberment, coffins and headstones; the truth of our inevitable decline into old age, demise, decay, and crossing into Spirit, gets right up in our faces and demands to be considered. Samhain is the sabbat where the witchcraft set before us includes accepting grim realities, like someday I will be evicted from this meat-suit, whether I’m ready or not. Part of living as a beneficial Witch includes taking responsibility for our lives by preparing for that moment, on all levels.
At some point, sooner rather than later, our Great Work should take the form of writing our Last Will and Testament, and End of Life Medical Directives, buying life-insurance policies and expressing our organ donor status, and funerary preferences.
For example: “Don’t you dare give me the “christian burial” where they pump me full of chemicals, lock me in a box more expensive than any furniture I’ve ever owned, sealed inside a cement sarcophagus that ensures my unholy, noxious funk will be eternally separated from Mother Earth! Give me a pagan ceremony…lay me out on a bed of roses in my priestess robes with my wand, and cremate me on an open bier made from the 9 woods of witchcraft, set alight by a 21-archer, flaming-arrow salute.” (That last bit isn’t actually legal in the US, but we can dream…)
But Heron, you say, surely buying life-insurance isn’t witchcraft!
Au contraire! It can be if you serve Hermes, psychopomp trickster god of thieves and merchants alike, and have a Virgo Moon, as I do, where we need our emotional things to be tidy and well-organized. I believe this earthy kind of Work is good magick, and it is an effective “spell” to ensure that after we depart this material plane, our intended changes will be made in accordance with our will….get it? Will? <cackle>
Skull Selection at my local Walgreens, Greenville, NC
Getting Your Affairs in Order
Right on cue, an opportunity to further “get my affairs in order” by way of some additional disability, accident and life-insurance benefits, comes knocking on our shop’s door. To be fair, our AFLAC rep has been patiently knocking on our door all summer long, but until Mabon clicked us over into autumn, I couldn’t seem to turn my attention to these matters. Then the shadows of the long, dark night ahead came creeping in, and I suddenly managed to find the time to sign the papers so that The Sojourner corporation could provide benefits for my staff. POOF, suddenly we got it all together by October 1st. I’m breathing a sigh of existential relief to know that we are all now a little better prepared to face whatever “winters” may lie ahead, and that I could play a role in making that easier.
“No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main…any man’s death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind, and therefore never send to know for whom the bells tolls; it tolls for thee.” John Donne, —Devotions Upon Emergent Occasions, “Meditation XVII”
If tragedy were to strike, would you be prepared? My mother dropped dead of a cerebral hemorrhage. An unknown aneurysm ruptured and delivered a vibrant, healthy, 59 year old women to her grave with less than 3 minutes warning. Thankfully, she also had all her legal ducks neatly tucked into their rows, paid for, notarized, and filed where we could easily find them. Her organ donor status was well-known, and her nearly perfect remains helped 49 people.
When she died, I was 33 and had no clue how the “death business” works, but she did, and she left us well-prepared. I am eternally grateful to her for that. Now that I know, I will share with you this very pointy opinion: If you are an adult out on your own, especially with dependents, loans, and property, and you do not yet have your legal and financial “end of life” affairs in order, then you are a walking case of pending assholery, just waiting to happen. Don’t be that guy.
Styrofoam headstones at my local Michael’s Craft Store, Greenville, NC.
The type of radical personal sovereignty that witchcraft demands will also require you to consider questions like:
How will my kids and pets be taken care of if I die?
Who will carry out my final wishes and receive my material legacy?
How will it all be paid for?
Nothing salts a wound more painfully for a family who’s lost a loved one unexpectedly, than having to put up a Go-Fund-Me charity plea, so they can cover your likely EXORBITANT final medical and funerary debts without going bankrupt. If you haven’t made the proper arrangements, its like taking the family out for a huge meal then sneaking out of the restaurant without paying your bill and stiffing the waitress. What’s worse is that they are going to make your poor grieving spouse and kids stay behind and wash dishes–for years.
You might be thinking, “I’m still young and fit; I have plenty of time. It can wait, right?” No. It can’t wait.
You have no idea when your personal Samhain will strike. Those bells *will* toll for you, and wise witches who’ve attended to their Samhain business a little bit each year, will arrive at their deaths already so prepared, so comfortable, absolutely fearless, that we’ll slip peacefully through that veil into the embrace of the next big thing, however you envision that. That is, if we are lucky and we’ve done the necessary Work.
To that end, I’m going to share with you my most personal, intimate and terrifying story. This is an older writing, and many people who love me were mortified when I published it originally, along with the bloodbath pictures. But I shared it because in my darkest moment, what pulled me through was how much I love them. I love you all enough to try and spare you a similar fearful, death-defying moment. Just go ahead and hear this simple message from me, right now, while you are whole and hail; Prepare thyself!
Click “Continue” for the story about a very dark night when I thought I might die all alone in a pool of my own blood, just a few weeks shy of my 40th birthday.
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