I have had the words, well mostly one of the choruses, of the old British folk and busking/begging song Tom O’ Bedlam stuck in my head for a couple of days now.
Still I sing Boys, Bonny Mad Boys
Bedlam Boys are Bonny
For they all go bare and they live by the air,
and They want no drink nor money
I blame Veles, who was apparently similarly afflicted and posted to his Facebook…
Oh Tom o’Bedlam, get out of my head!
Some discussion ensued and, realizing I had only heard snippets over the years in my wanderings through sci-fi/fantasy and Renfair geek-dom, I researched the piece, and looked up all the lyrics and listened to several versions online…. Enjoying the flexibility of the song and how many different directions you can take these old words…
Ever since Veles (because, again it is his fault) got me stuck on this song I have been thinking how by adjusting the verses and some of the various choruses (and possibly adding one or two relevant verses) you could take this song and transform it into a very powerful Mummers interlude during a Yuletide potluck feast, or a Mummers Parade around Samhain, or an Invocation of The Horned God and the Wild Hunt at either of the above Sabbats are all interesting possibilities.
Some of the inspiration for this comes from reading a LOT of Traditional Witchcraft material in the last month, Huson and Paddon and Cochrane and Jones oh my! Some of this inspiration has probably been stirred up by Dver’s diverse posts over on A Forrest Door on mumming and masking (here, here and here) that she shared near the turning of the Calendar Year…
One of the elements that can make a ritual powerful, one of the things that can make it Ritual and empower true Magick, is repetition or age. This is why old and oft repeated rituals have a certain power, they’ve had time to inscribe themselves into the warp and weft of things…. rituals, like the Catholic Mass, or the Lesser Banishing Ritual of the Pentagram, or the casting of Circles or the invocation of Watchtowers; this is also part of what empowers some of the ancient stories and songs such as the works of Shakespear, and passages from the Norse Saga’s, or the Homeric Hymns, have had time to work themselves into the warp and the weft of things and reach what I tend to think of as the Graphic User Interface stage of magick and ritual.
So by bringing in Poetry and Song and Language and rituals with some age to it, or simply by figuring out what works best for you and going with it, you can end up drawing on the power of meanings built up over time; with yourself and your group as the lenses through which that deep magick is focused…
As an example of the flexibility of the piece, and the many different moods one could take one written source (either ancient, or modern, or one that blends the two…) We have…
A late 1960’s folk-rock rendition…
A 1980’s sounding version with overtones of Synth and New Age Music…
A gloriously over the top spoken word version….
And a Japanese Math Rock band which, while some of the pronunciations are a bit surreal has captured a delightful mood…
or for invoking Dionysus perhaps fabulous almost rockabilly version…
In her writings Starhawk, and I suspect others, have discussed the idea of the Acrostic Eye…. how a Witches explorations in the worlds of magick and symbolism can change how we look at things. This has happened to me recently as I have decided to start using a U.U. Flaming Chalice as my Tool of Center upon my Altar.
Now there are many, many ways in which Pagans deal with sacred space and with Fire and with sacred fire. However, Unitarian Universalist’s have all at least once dealt with sacred fire in the Lighting of the Chalice ceremony, which is also both a very poetic and magickally powerful declaration of Sacred space and time.
As some of you already know, the U.U. Chalice is a symbol inherited by Unitarian Universalists from the Unitarian Service Committee, a charity founded in the 1940’s by a Unitarian Minister who sought to help refugee’s flee Nazi occupied Europe. The agencies symbol was designed by an artist who had been helped out of Nazi Europe by the USC. He was inspired by both the ideals and compassion of the agency and by the oil lamps that sat upon the altars of Ancient Greece (which part of the story, I love) and came up with the first of the many stylized images that have become known as the Flaming Chalice.
As a Pagan and Witch joining the 1st U, family, this caused me a little consternation. The Chalice as any Witchlet could tell you, is a tool of Water. If it’s based on an oil-lamp, why not call it the U.U. Lamp…or Lantern? Well, I have adjusted, and I like to think that instead of being merely inspired to use the word “Chalice” by the looks of some of the stylized designs being particularly, well, chalice-ey; that some of those Unitarian and Universalist forebears of ours knew a thing or two about the Western Mystical and Magical Traditions and Symbolism.
Let’s look at it magickally and symbolically for a moment.
The Chalice is a tool of water, and relates to things like spiritual and psychological healing and nurturance and transformation and intuition and the emotions, especially love and compassion.
Fire is associated with vitality and passion and will and True Will and creative inspiration.
You can’t of course have fire without air the fire naturally draws in the qualities of intellect and communication and spiritual inspiration.
And to have a chalice, you have to craft the container from some form of earth… either wood or clay or metal or glass; Earth thus bringing it’s strength and stability and balance and nurturance to the mix.
So in lighting the U.U. Chalice we can, if we choose, call upon some of the fundamental Holy Powers of Creation to create a sacred space and sacred time. Things get even more magically interesting, for those of us who are really into Magick and Theurgy, and who like me use the alchemical or Aristotelian triangles for the elemental symbols.
We bring together the triangles of Fire, and Water and this creates the Hexagram or the Six-Rayed Star of Ceremonial Magick. Visually and symbolically the interlacing of the two triangles also references the horizontally bisected triangles of Earth and Air, signifying the union of the primal elements of creation. The Hexagram also symbolizes the union of Spirit and Matter and both the invitation of the Divine into the Material. The upward pointing blue triangle representing the desire of the magician to reach up towards the Divine, downward pointing red triangle represents Divine power and presence flowing down into the world, which meet at the moment of magick.
The six-pointed star, or hexagram, is the Qabalistic symbol of initiation and spiritual illumination. The upward-pointing triangle represents the aspiration of the magician to the Gods, and the downward-pointing triangle represents the divine power, flowing down to the world. These meet at the moment of magick and the interlaced triangles forming the hexagram symbolize the power of this meeting.
This is especially interesting when you consider that in most of the Traditions of Witchcraft that use the Rite of the Chalice and the Blade to symbolize the union of the Divine Masculine and Feminine resulting in all of Creation and Magick, many of them associate Blades and the Athame with the element of Fire. So once again the union of Fire and Water brings together all the Holy Powers of Creation.
So, when we light the U.U. Chalice we are able to not only call upon all of the elemental powers we are reaching up to the Divine and opening ourselves and our gathering to the Holy Powers.
So I will be working with that.
As for a Cauldron, I did bless and consecrate my Cast Iron Dutch Oven recently and will be using it where a Cauldron belongs… in the Kitchen for some hearth and health magick…
Peace,
Pax
…
Interestingly enough I find the above ideas about combining elements of ritual acts and symbols seems to have resonance when applied to acts like burning incense (fire + air = Hexagram), or the burning of food offerings (earth + fire + air = Hexagram) … I feel like I could be onto something here but am not sure where to take it or how to use this, any ideas out there?
So as I dive into my Solitary ‘bootstrap’ Witchcraft, guided by years of experience and practice and study and some direct teaching and a whole lot of indirect teaching… I find myself thinking about Magick, trying to define it for myself and the whole how it works and what it really does. I was thinking about this recently as I contemplated the idea of explaining Magick to other folks….. including the secular humanists and the atheists out there, like some of the fine folks at my U.U. Church…
“So you believe that if you rub this oil into this green candle somehow money is just going to come your way?!”
“Well, no… and yes… and well, just how much time do you have right now cause it’s really kind of complicated?!”
~one of the many scenarios that plays out in my fertile imagination….
Before we get too deep here I should point out that this post has been languishing until I was re-reminded of the this clip from the movie Ink, posted by Sannion who was posting a brief post about Magic over at The House of Vines… but I prefer this version…
… for reasons that may become clear soon.
One of the things I am going to try and avoid is the whole science hasn’t figured everything out/trying to justify it discussion. I think that aspect of trying to define it is in the end a side-track.
I am also, for this discussion, set aside the whole changes in consciousness, changing the universe around us according to our will, set of discussions… those of you who have looked into magick are familiar with them (or should be!) and for my purpose tonight (as I write this) it is another sidetrack. I don’t merely believe in magick, I experience it and practice it. The word practice is a key component in understanding what is going on with magick.
Magick is a Spiritual Practice, more ornate and complicated than either seated meditation or visualization/meditation upon the Chakra’s, perhaps, but not as shocking or superstitious as some like to paint it. I would also at this juncture like to point out that there seem to me to be two ways of approaching this practice.
The Non-theistic or Atheistic approach, where in practicing magick you are accessing the hidden powers of the mind and dealing with powerful psychological archetypes underlying all of human understanding.
The Theistic approach, where you are accessing the hidden powers of the mind and soul to attune and communicate and work with the Holy Powers of Creation.
Both approaches work, and both are right. (Of course I say that last as a wildly Theistic, heck I AM Polythesitic, Witch.)
Magick as a spiritual practice works on many levels and accomplishes many things. To better explore this practice, I am going to divine it into 4 parts, based upon the 4 Powers of the Sphinx… also known as the Witches Pyramid… To Know, To Dare, To Will, and To Be Silent
TO KNOW
First we start to learn and absorb the ideas and theories and philosophies of Magick. Learning about the techniques of meditation and visualization and ritual and divination/discernment. We learn about the symbols and their meanings and associations. Ideally we are learning or reexamining things like History and Psychology and Environmental Science and Literature and well all of learning.
We begin placing/associating everything in our lives with the structure and relationships provided by the particular cosmological filing cabinet of our particular magickal/religious framework. We start a journey where we more deeply explore our inner world and its connection to the outer world. Starhawk writes of the Acrostic Eye, the way of looking at the world through the lens of magickal practice and Witchcraft. Seeing alternative and often hidden meanings and connections in the world around us.
This is where we begin to grow in our self knowledge as we begin to learn how we relate not only to these symbols but the the qualities and ideas and aspects of the world around us that relate to the particular symbols.
TO DARE
This is where we actually begin practicing. We perform our rituals and engage in meditation and divination. Some of us on the Neo-Aquarian frontier cast spells… sometimes this is as far as folks get… this is a tricky and seductive stage in our development as magickal practioners.
If we are really paying attention to both our studies and the alternative ways of knowing and understanding the world that the Acrostic Eye can provide, we also dare to do something else. We begin to act in accord with our spells. If you are doing a spell for prosperity and money, then you act in accord by polishing up your resume and putting in extra hours at work and watching what your spending. You dare to believe in magick and give it as many avenues in your life to work itself out as you can.
Like the old joke about how if you want to win the lottery, you have to buy a ticket? It’s true whether you are talking about prayer or magick. TO WILL
With the increased understanding of ourselves, our motivations, and desires, and strengths, and weaknesses, there also comes an increase in our personal effectiveness in getting what we want. At the same time we are also getting better at understanding what we REALLY want versus what we think we’d like or what others have told us we want. We become more centered and effective human beings. Our personal will power grows as we decide what we really want and begin to work magickally and mundanely to accomplish this.
While we are doing this, we are also opening ourselves up to a deeper relationship with the world around us; with other people and, for the wildly theistic amongst us, with all the Holy Powers of the world. Alongside the increased and altered understandings of ourselves and the world around us, and the increase in personal effectiveness and the development of our personal will ~ if we are serious about our practice and diligent and maybe a little lucky~ we begin to perceive and align ourselves to our True Will.
Will, with a capital “W”, as being an ongoing effort to live from moment to moment a path of action in perfect harmony with Nature or the Universe; to seek ones ultimate Destiny.
“You mustn’t speak of magick, for secrecy increases power!”
~usually said in that serious and breathless mock spiritual tone meant to imply that the speaker is just simply seething with occult power and has access to vast spiritual wisdom, and on very, very, very rare occasions they actually are and do.
… a lot of times though they may as well have Makita stamped across their foreheads.
And, well, yes it sometimes can but it can also sometimes really complicate things… life is like that.
This is not only where I am going to possibly lose those atheists and secular humanists, but also where things get a little complicated and messy. This is the point that a lot of definitions or explanations of magick get hung up on…up to this point everything has had some reasonable or rational or psychological or positive visualization or well an every day explanation. Then something happens.
Some piece of magick you do, some momentary perception, something goes beyond your ability to cite coincidence, you can’t rationalize it and the whatever it is sinks deep into your psyche and self and world view and the universe cracks open a little, this is where magick really begins to work.
Something happens and you experience something that you can try to explain and struggle to find the words for but you can’t, because religious and spiritual mysteries have to be experienced they can’t be explained. I know, I’ve tried, and failed.
That’s why the fourth power is To Be Silent, not because secrecy builds power (see above) but because there are things in life and in Spiritual Practices that you can only experience but never really explain. The only ones who can really understand are those who’ve shared your experience or similar ones.
The other mystery here, other than the whatever it is that brings you to this point, is that both the theistic and the atheistic practitioner reaches this point… we just have very different lenses through which we view it.
Today was spent at home, cleaning my room as a part of my recent works with what T. Thorn Coyle calls the Planes of Stability, and which I am tending to think of as things of Earth. Stability, strength, my body, my home, my income. I have been renewing my commitment to healthy eating the last week by focusing my diet mostly on fruit and vegetables. I have cleaned my room and contemplated the things I need to do to turn my rented room into more of a true home for my body and spirit. I have been thinking about my income and my financial needs as well as some of my material ones; and how, ultimately, to balance them with my spiritual needs.
I had a great time watching T.V. and talking with The Fabulous Jonathan about us, and our future, and of various things between he and I. There was also much kissing and hugging and laughter and more conversation.
I cleaned my altar. I rededicated it, replaced the cloth and spreading grains of salt and dry barley and scented oil upon the altar cloth before placing my various tools and symbols and oh-so-sacred-tsotchke’s back on in in order from Air to Fire to Water to Earth to Center. I contemplated again the things of Earth and how long it has been since I had a Pentacle upon my altar, and how I have never actually owned a proper Pentacle. My necklaces have always managed to disappear and that flat round smooth rock with the star and circle drawn upon it that sat upon my altars for years is still in storage back in Ak with friends… although I now see it was never really a proper Pentacle but a workable substitute. So among other things I invoked the powers of Earth and asked the Universe to send me either a proper Pentacle or the resources and materials to craft one.
I also thought today about how much of myself I let get battered and hammered down my disappointment and insecurity in the last couple of years. The troubles with income, the gaining and almost immediate loss of my writing gig with the magazine, the difficulties I had finding a full-time job, the falling apart and eventual break up of my relationship with The Big Guy. I let go of hopes and dreams and ideas and inspiration and I lost confidence and trust in my writing and my words somewhere. I stopped writing here, and elsewhere of anything important to me because I had given up on me and on truly wanting to invest myself in things because there didn’t seem to be a point.
I am working on that.
Thorn’s books were a part of my recovery, as were my readings into Hellenic Polytheism, and my getting involved at 1st Unitarian Church Orlando. Committing to myself to reach out to my local and far-flung friends and acquaintances. I am still on my journey, it hasn’t ended and I needn’t give up in the face of disappointments or heartbreak. Broken hearts do heal.
I clapped my hands three times, to get the attention of the Universe and of the part of me that is at once the same stuff as the stars and is the touch of the Divine. I breathed into my Center and Grounded and once again showed up for some of my Work. I breathed into each of my Chakras in turn.
Into my Base Chakra that swirling ball of red located roughly between the base of my spine and my taint and thought about those things within me needing strength and balance and stability and grounding.
Into my Sacral Chakra the wheel of yellow between my pubes and my navel and contemplated things within my life and soul that needed feeling and emotions and sensuality and sexuality.
Into my Third Chakra glowing orange in my Solar Plexus and contemplated what within me needed willpower and what needed aligning with my Will.
Into my Heart Chakra as I thought about this spinning green globe of energy and everything about and within myself needing the caress of compassion.
Into my Throat Chakra and within that blue ball I sought out what in me and my life needs creativity and expression.
Into my Brow Chakra and my third eye indigo and inscrutable I tried to scry what inside of me needs more perception and understanding.
Into my Crown Chakra, that thousand-fold lotus of purple I at once reached out to the Holy Powers and opened those parts of my soul needing Their touch as best I could.
“Holy Powers help me in my work”
Then I took all of those things withing me I had tried to touch or find and poured them into the blessed water within my Chalice (the magical tool not the U.U. one) and drank deep cleansing and renewing the my spiritual energies.
“Who is this flower above me? What is the Work of This God? I would know myself in all my parts. Blessed Be and So Mote It Be.”
How are you spending the day after Halloween/Samhain my dear Pagani?
Here’s some of how I spent mine…
I light the Ocean Breeze Spa Candle that sits on the bathroom counter. (Why yes, as a cavalier, why do you ask?!)
I light the candle, I turn out the lights and run as-hot-as-I-can-take-it water into the bathtub. I position myself into the typical modern apartment shoe-box of a bath tub as it fills. I add some soap, and I do my best to soak. The steam caresses my lungs with each breath as much as the heat relaxes my flesh. I begin to really breath, deep conscious breaths.
In through the nose and out through the mouth. In and out, deep conscious breaths trying to be as present in the moment and paying attention to the sound and sensations of this life drinking and energy raising breathing. After a few moments I begin to breath the energy and air into my center, somewhere below my stomach and above my pelvis it sits, long neglected. This new way of finding it combined with the deep breathing, long familiar to me for raising energy and getting in touch with my own energies, triggers an energetic sense memory…
After a while I find myself moving my breaths and energies destination to my Root Chakra. Even though I have begun working with grounding exorcises and with my Chakra’s again, I am still very rusty. I take a good long time breathing into my Root Chakra, resisting the temptation to move up through my chakra’s quickly… unlike so many times before I am not doing this as part of some other work, or for grounding centering and shielding… I am breathing life and energy and air into my Center and my energy centers to relax my spirit as I have relaxed my body.
In through the nose and out through the mouth, with great “Shhh-ing exhales” as I breath the energy into my Root Chakra, after a few moments I find myself not only drawing energy through my breath; but I find myself calling to the Earth energy and to the Creative Firey and Feri currents from the Earths Core, drawing them up into the red wheel/lotus at my perineum. Slowly, I feel like I have properly opened and relaxed this Chakra and I move up to the Sacral Chakra… I find myself wondering about the relationship between the Center point and this Chakra, seeming from my own sensations and from what I have learned so far to be so close together. Are they the same or simply very close? Very close I think/feel. I breathe, once more resisting the temptation to simply run up this string of Spinning Lights within me, I take my time.
I take my time with each of them. I empty the tub and go to my computer to listen to the Samhain podcasts, read the posts, and to think about how it is that I find some pieces of my soul blossoming. Samhain has, for me, always marked an inward turning time, coupled with the blossoming cooling to temperate temperatures of a Florida Autumn as we move toward the many fruit harvests of Winter here in the Sunshine State, I suppose it’s only natural that one who seeks to align with Natures rhythms would start to bloom once more this time of year.
While this may not help make my rantings any clearer at the very least it provides the careful reader with something resembling context.
It works like this, at least for me it does…
“If you harm none, do what you Will.”
Note the capital ‘W’, it’s important. It relates to the concept of True Will, which while not intimately or commonly associated with Witchcraft, is one worth looking at. Especially since whoever introduced The Rede ™ into modern Witchcraft probably had seen some mention of it in Crowley’s works or had read up on Thelema…
“It is defined at times as a person’s grand destiny in life and at other times as a moment to moment path of action that operates in perfect harmony with Nature. This Will does not spring from conscious intent, but from the interplay between the deepest Self and the entire Universe.” ~ from the Wikipedia entry on True Will (accessed 10:17pm 12/30/3008)
As a modern Witch, whatever your Tradition, you have to deal with The Rede, either as a requirement of your practice, or as an outside Not-so-bad-idea but nowhere near the core of your practice ~ that is automatically associated by others with what you do. The thing is that this idea of True Will becomes important when your Circles and prayers and invocations start to align you with the Universe.
Not that this is to be seen as a process that ends. We, like the Universe, are in a state of change, growth, evolution. Unfolding like a thousand-fold lotus of enlightenment on the waters of intuition.
So we chase after this True Will, this Higher Self. We practice and study magic, or magick…
“What is a Magical Operation? It may be defined as any event in nature which is brought to pass by Will. We must not exclude potato-growing or banking from our definition.” ~ A.C. or” Evil Uncle Al” in Magic in Theory and Practice
So anything we do, from the most ornate and moving of rituals, to the simplest of every day tasks are magick… if we let them be so, magick and holy.
Holy, because just as we and the Universe are constantly growing and changing, so to are the Gods. Mercury is the God of Bike Messengers, Fax Machines, and Cell Phones. Freya and Aphrodite are rocking the house in clubs across this planet!
Holy because the divine is everywhere and the Gods are a part of every atom and cell of creation. Some Deities are more…fully present?…accurately reflected?… not quite sure how to say this but by an example.
Aphrodite, for example, is present in all the world. But where there is love, and passion, and beauty She is more fully present or more accurately reflected there. That part of Her which is a part of all Creation is more …there in those moments and things which reflect Her essential nature.
Every atom, every cell, all of Creation is holy and sacred and of the Gods, if we let it be so!
… I’m ranting. again… as I reread this I think this is one of those spiritual things that makes perfect sense to me at this stage of my growth, but is, just out of reach of explainability unless you’re right there with the person you are trying to explain it too.
I remember when my dear friend PK (the ceremonial Magickian, Chef, and Great Geek Bear of the Moutain) had tried, as part of my request to help me learn the more ceremonial / formal Magickal side of things, to explain some of the above to me…
PK~”Any act is a magickal act, picking up a glass of water and moving from one table to the next, is a magickal act…”
Pax~(blink, blink) “uhm, ok, but that doesn’t sound very magickal?!? So what was that book of essays by Regardie again, and is his writing any easier to slog through than Fortunes???”
I’m either growing, or falling off my rocker, at least life isn’t dull!
I am a Patriot, an Idealist, and a Witch. I find myself overflowing with hope in the promise of America. Optimism that through the efforts of committed hardworking people the world can be changed. Barrack Obama’s election proves that. There were volunteers in all 50 states canvassing and calling and working day in and day out to reach out to their fellow Americans in support of their cause. It worked. Yes, as a matter of fact, they could!
Even as I experience the wrestling match of emotions between elation at the results of the election, and grievous disappointment at the results of the anti-GLBT ballot innitiatives, I know that I can either sit sullenly and complain or I can do something about it.
As a Witch my Goddess has been giving me my marching orders for years now…
“Keep pure your highest ideal; strive ever towards it;
let nothing stop you or turn you aside.” ~From The Charge of the Goddess by Doreen Valliente
I just didn’t have the compass until now. While I am not a rich man, I am , on occassion, an eloquent and sometimes even persuasive one. I am impelled to use my words and my Will in the cause of justice and equality.
I have seen how the grass roots efforts of the Democratic Party and Obama’s vollunteers has changed the world; we in the GLBT community can do nothing less. I should do nothing less.
I am still working out some of my thoughts and feelings… and trying to figure out where to start my research… I think I shall have to track down the writings of Dr. King. I also need to reach out to like minded souls.
Thus I have created a companion Yahoogroup to go along with the blog. Here is the group description…
This group is founded upon the belief that Marriage, and all other GLBT Rights are Civil Rights issues.
This is a place for discussion, planning, sharing, and mobilization.Let us form a grass roots movement towards the end that we will see Gay Marriage (or something like it) in all 50 States in our lifetimes.
While national organizations like the HRC and GLAAD have helped GLBT people make great strides over the last 30 years or so, the elections of 2008 have shown us that we need to do more.The victory of President Elect Obama is instructive.He took his message to every corner of our great Nation and mobilized thousands of people in support of his cause.We the GLBT people can do now less in our efforts to reach out to our fellow Americans, calmly quietly and consistently speaking our truth so that, in the end, it is We The People who stand up for GLBT Civil Rights!
If this sounds like something you’d like to be involved in bookmark the other blog and join the Yahoogroup.
It has been one week since the New Moon, and I celebrated my first New Moon with Hecate. I feel different, this post is about trying to pinpoint how.
I have tried to do some of my grounding and centering excercises, and I do get grounded and centered, but it’s like I don’t quite have to think about the steps to get there.
I also feel… insulated from the world around me… not a lot… but noticeably so.
I also feel, somehow more witchy, or more like I have in the past when I have focused on doing ritual to honor the Gods, or when getting ready to do magick, or when noticing some significant sign. It isn’t a constant thing, but its like I will feel it at the drop of a hat, and it’s much easier to get into that frame of mind.
Anyone with thoughts or advice feel free to advise or theorise!
~~~~~
I am trying to wait until the First Quarter to pray to and pour libations to Dionysus… but its like every time I hear music I feel the urge to dance, and celebrate…
Sometimes there is the Opening of the Chakras, and sometimes the Quabalistic Cross… but these are the bones…
It all begins with a breath…
“In through the Nose, Out through the Mouth, Breathe Inspiration, Exhale Doubt” ~ Pax
Then I start by sending my energy down into the earth like the roots of a tree… I am sitting at the base of the tree with my back leaned up against it…as my roots intertwine with those of the tree I feel the energy flowing up into me and through me…interwoven through me as a connect to the tree…up through me and out of me into the world around me like the branches I am intertwined with…I see myself intertwined with the branches as leaves sprout from me and a stags horns sprout from my head, I am the Greenman, I am Herne, I am Me and I am Grounded and Centered… I open my eyes and I am in the everyday once more…
“Mother Celestial and Father Divine, Let me walk in Strength and Beauty, Let me exercise both Power and Compassion, With both Honor and Humility, Let me always remember Mirth, as well as Reverence, That I may be worthy of Thy Perfect Love and Perfect Trust, And that of those in whose hearts you dwell, Blessed Be, So Mote It Be.” ~ Pax
Sometimes you can have a conversation, or an exchange of letters, or e-mails and it changes things. Sometimes change happens and even a simple interaction can bring you to a cross-roads.
I wrote some things, he wrote some things, and now I no longer want to be involved in the church I was so hopeful and enthused about a little over 24 hours before. Now I stand within the cross-roads.
The cross-roads are a place of power and potential. You can continue forward, you can change direction, or you can go backward and cover the same ground again. Hecate Trivia, Hecate of the Three Roads is one of the Goddesses of witches. It is said that in Her rites the Thessalayan witches drew down the moon from the starry sky…
“Goddess of the Limnal Points, Lady of the Wilderness, Queen of Ghosts, Thosand faced Night, Mistress of Sorcery, mighty Hecate may your lanterns light shine forth in the darkness and guide my head and my voice, guide my heart, my hands, and my feet as I tread these cross-roads paths.”
I have chosen a change of direction, I have my own goals and dreams and I will continue to move towards them on a different path than I had planned. I would not have chosen this change. Sometimes change just happens and you find yourself at a cross-roads.
Thrice Great Hecate, I call to you,
Chrysalis 