Category: witchery

Notes from the Stillroom: 03/07/11

On By PaxIn Creativity, everyday, Modern Pagan, Notes from the Stillroom, witchery1 Comment

 

Dear Friends,

Sadly, of course, I don’t actually have a Still Room of my very own.  In any case I suspect that when I do have an apartment of my very own that it will blend together with the Kitchen, which really blends my Craft and my Culinary interests together nicely and I think serves well for a 21st Century Witch.

Anyhow, I’ve made mention of a recent surge of practical Witchery on my part recently, and figured I’d post an update.

Crown of Success

  1. Bay Leaves
  2. Frankincense
  3. Vetiver
  4. Olive and Jojoba Oils

I transferred the Crown of Success Oil to a new jar, removed the old Bay Leafs and tried to keep the ground Frankincense.   I put the glass jar and oil into the Microwave and hit the 30 second button a couple of times to heat the oil.   I cut some new, dried Bay leaves, into fine pieces and added them to the heated oil.  I ground more Frankincense, and some Vetivert, and stuffed them into the jar and the hot oil, I added a little more Olive Oil.

The jar is quite literally stuffed to the gills with herbs.   I added more Olive Oil in part to replenish what I had used in making some CoS for the Fabulous Jonathan, and in part because the mossy mass of herbs and resin was above the level of the oil… and since I am trying to scent the oil and not oil the herbs it seemed apropos to bring the oil level up a little.

Finally, after reflection, I transferred the whole oily-mossy mess to a jar twice as large as the first, and added a little more oil… so that the consistency was more of a sauce and less of a paste.

I’ve shaken the jars, contemplating their green-gold depths and observing the Brownian dance of the suspension and settling of the herbs and resins.  Now comes the hard part, the waiting.  Shaking the jar daily, sitting it in a window-sill to warm in the Sun… or perhaps 30 seconds in the microwave on some days…. contemplating successes and praying over the oil.

Crown of Success, like a lot of the conditioning oils from American folk magic and Hood00, is a scented oil product used as a perfume, an additive to baths, to sachet-like mojo-bags, and to dress candles for burning in spells.  From my research it seems like a lot of these oils will have very different blends of ingredients depending on the maker; but there are usually some standard items in each formula.  For Crown of Success these seem to be Frankincense and Bay, so those are the predominant ingredients.

In doing the quick, essential oils, version I wrote about in the previous post I discovered the scent of Vetivert.  I rather like its smokey scent and so added some dried Vetivert to the mix as well.

Pax’s Prosperity Powder

  1. ‘A popular Chamomile Tea blend’
  2. Mint
  3. Essential Oil of Vetivert
  4. Essential Oil of Texas Cedar-wood
  5. White Rice, ground to powder

I was feeling the need for a non-scented oil prosperity spell stuff, and decided to throw something together last week.  I had a box of a popular Chamomile tea and remembered that Chamomile was widely regarded as a good luck and prosperity herb… and as I read the other ingredients in the tea blend I discovered to my delight that several of them had associations with prosperity and luck and other useful associations!   I added a little Mint to the mix, and then using the coffee-grinder (aka 21st Century Mortar and Pestle) I grown down some White Rice.  This resulted in a nice little powder to which I have added a few drops of essential oil of Vetivert and some essential oil of Texas Cedarwood.

The Instructive Power of Looking at the Ingredients

This has led me to think and look at the ingredients in a number of the herb and spice mixes I have in my small portion of the Kitchen.  (the joys of living with a room-mate!)

I have been comparing notes between the magickal and medicinal associations for some things and learning a lot and finding I have a lot more tools at my disposal than I realized.  I am also finding the strange confluences and coincidences of meaning and symbolism, how certain herb blends or teas have combinations of ingredients that have one set of herbalism associations and another of herb magic associations and where the twain meet.

I held off of actually practicing spell-craft or herbalism for a long time because for a long time I did not have an apartment with a Kitchen… Unfortunately I also was holding off from practicing things like decent nutrition… so I am now working on a lot of things at once and juggling them in the air and growing and learning and having a lot of fun.

All of this may seem silly or superstitious or surreal to those unfamiliar with the embodied spirituality of Paganism, or the study of the spiritual practice of magick.

If so, look at it this way….

I will meditate on Success daily, I will put my energy and thoughts towards efforts to bring more stability and security in my life both financial and personal.  I can alternate the sessions of worrying the jar with sessions of working on my resume, meditating on where I have room for improvement at work, adding to my LinkedIn profile, researching suppliers for scented oil bottles, and business liscense requirements.

When I use the oil, or when my friends whom I gift portions of it too use it, we will remember the good wishes and thought that went into it.  We will think about our own definitions of success and our goals and methods for getting there.  We will fortify ourselves with knowledge of reaching our goals, and with the knowledge that a little change in our attitude or behavior can make all the difference.

We will remember that the Sacred is all around us, and within us.

The physical is sacred and as infused with the Holy as anything else.

Peace,

Pax

Freewriting and Notes on the Journey 3/02/11

On By PaxIn Blame Sannion, Bouncing off the Gods, Brigid, Imbolc, Notes on the Journey, The Fabulous Jonathan, witcheryLeave a comment
Image found here thanks to Google Images search...

Dear Friends,

So there have been a LOT of little nudges from the Cosmos, Kledon’s found in random discussions and comments from friends, and outright urgings from friends and acquaintances.  Keep Writing.  You should write a book.  Look at how successful online writers/E-book authors are…  So the Altar’s lit with the various candles and Brighid’s Candle from Imbolc is lit atop my Computer tower as I sit here writing freely and from the heart.

I feel like a fraud sometimes.  I write here about my practices and journey and yet my Practice is a sometimes fragile thing in the face of rapid changes in schedule or routine… yet still I try to keep my log book of Practices, and at least Ground and Center each day… the prayers and Chakra exercises and Meditation ebb and flow… but at least I ground and Center each day.

I sometimes wonder if one of the most difficult things we can do on our journeys of Spirit on our many Religious paths isn’t just going back to them each day?  Letting go of the distractions and the doubts and just trusting in the journey….

Today I stayed home from work, overwhelmed by allergies and a sky-high pollen count in Orlan0do in the wake of this Winter’s freezes; overwhelmed too by Benadryl… which always hits me like a trippy tidal wave when I first take it each year.  I slept for several hours this afternoon and have been up for a few hours this evening and am getting ready to pass out as my modern day flying ointment (aka benedryl) takes affect.

Sometimes you just have to slow down and let things happen in their own time… been getting that message too lately.  From the Spirits and from my own magickal work..

As I may have mentioned here I have been doing some prosperity related work lately.  Made myself a money candle and used some oils and herbs and added them to a 7day candle and used some silver and gold metalic craft ink to write things on the outside of the glass.  Been burning that a bit each day… had to re-make it once when the first ink I chose rubbed off quickly…

Made myself a money powder with a popular chamomile tea blend, which happened to have a lot of lucky and prosperity herbs in it for flavor balance – handy that, and some rice and ground them together in the coffee grinder.  (I lack a mortar and pestle as the mortar was re-purposed to an incense burning bowl a couple of years ago whilst the pestle was misplaced, and lets be honest, for a lot of uses a grinder makes more sense you can charge the herbs without inducing early onset carpel tunnel)  Sometimes though, it would be nice to have that mortar and pestle, to grind the herbs as best I could by hand and feel them breaking down, to smell their scents, to feel the energy of my action and will flowing into them as I break them down… sometimes.  Sometimes its nice to simply have some things on hand that I can say a quick prayer over and toss a pinch of powder into my pocket as I get ready to leave the house.

I Also started in on some Crown of Success oil.  Found all SORTS of recipes, but I started out by using the one in Judika Isles 500,000 Spells book.  Started by steeping fresh and dried bay leaves in Olive and Jojoba oil.  Blended that with some Sandalwood essential oil in Jojoba (because I need more success until I can afford retail Sandalwood essential oil), some Frankincense (because I was in a hurry and didn’t realize that the Frankincense was nearly twice the cost of the other until I got home and read the reciept) and Vetivert essential oils, and gifted the results to The Fabulous Jonathan.

That was the quick Crown of Success Oil, now I’m working on the slow long-term success so all that left-over Bay leaves and Olive/Jojoba Oil will come in handy!  I bought some Frankincense tears and ground them up and added them to the oil and leaves that remained, gonna try an old school home-made batch of Crown of Success.   May not have the “pow” of an essential oil batch, at least not for a long time and multiple herbal additions and steeping cycles, but I think a longer term steeping might be instructive and useful…. at lest thats the urgings/leadings/impression I’ve been getting.  Slow down, relax, do what you need to do but don’t be afraid to let things develop naturally you don’t have to be doing it all to have everything you need to have happen, happen.

So I will trust in the Gods and the Spirits and the Ancestors and light Brighids Candle and write something somewhere each day, and breathe, and Center, and do what I need to do.

What will you do?  What do you need to do?

Peace, and Curiosity, always the Curiosity,

Pax

PS- Technically speaking I shouldn’t be surprised at the changes and upheavals and jumping around going on in my life since I ASKED for it….  I need to remember to bless and remember that fact when the universe forces me to think and breathe and dance between the lines of the spiritual tides on the shores of my life.

The Lady

On By PaxIn Blame Sannion, Bouncing off the Gods, My life with (some of) The Holy Powers and The Spirits, remembering, The Goddess, witchery3 Comments

I Call upon and Invoke Thee

Oh Triple Goddess of the Witches

Mighty Mother Celestial

Black Robed and Silver Clad Queen of the Mysteries

Lady of Spirit and Inspiration and Magick

Ever-changing Goddess of the moon

Lady of the Groves and Gardens

Bride of the Sun

You who is at once, The Maiden of Creativity,

The Mother of Possibilities, and The Secret Wielding Crone,

I Invoke Thee by Perfect Love and Perfect Trust

Please be present in this rite in Thy Honor and Praise

Share with me Your Love and Lore and Law

That Thy Servant and Friend may be Fulfilled

Hail & Well Met

~Invocation, (c) 2010 Pax/Geoffrey Stewart

Dear Friends,

This, which I was determined would be the first entry in this little series, has been a tough post to write for all its brevity.  It is strange to note that I don’t have many dramatic or deep encounters with The Witches Goddess, the Three-fold Lady who is Maiden and Mother and Crone… a couple stand out… but Her presence in my life is a largely subtle one compared to some of my other encounters with Divinities.

The Charge

The Charge, or rather, Valiente’s Charge of The Goddess is the first time I can specifically remember encountering Her.  After all these years I can’t recall which version in which book or where I was when I first read it…. I want to say it was in the back of either Complete Art of White Witchcraft or Diary of A Witch, both by Sybil Leek.

I remember it was an older book.   Anchorage is blessed with some world class used bookstores because it can be ridiculously expensive to move to and from Alaska thus a lot of folks jettison stuff on their way out, I remember the worn pages of a paperback in my hand,the sensation of that light almost feathery quality of the page edges that old paperback books have.  I remember the old paperback/used book scent overlaying that slightest hint of Metaphysical/Occult bookstore.  I remember the slightly old fashioned type against the sepia kissed creme of the page.

I remember the words, as I read them, seeming to flow off the page, up my arms deep into my head and heart.  I remember how filled to bursting I was with Spirit and Love and Hope and Power as I first experienced a sense of Her deep and abiding love.

I remember the sense of the rest of the world receding and the sense of the words speaking directly to the deepest part of my soul.  Drinking down the words of the Charge, I can remember feeling changed.  Touched and Transformed by Her words, sent through Doreen, so many years before I was born.  She was there, and although Her presence in my life has been an often subtle one, She has been with me ever since.

A Voice in The Rec Room

This was one of the few, dramatic, moments in my experiences of the Triple Goddess.  An acquaintance of mine who was claiming to suffer from Multiple Personalities (Dissociative Identity Disorder) had had, or decided to have (which I say looking back on the episode with the perspective of many years experience of the ways people seek to suck up attention and specialness in dysfunctional ways) an episode.

I wasn’t entirely sold on the MPD, had some inkling it might just be attention seeking, but also felt that it was possible that there WAS some mental illness going on or at least some emotional troubles… so I did what any self-respecting Witch would do; I decided to turn it over to the Gods… or in this case The Witches Goddess.  This was early enough in my journey and practice as a Solitary Witch that She was in the spotlight of my practice at the time.

I had decided to try something different, and instead of putting the tools on an altar table or cloth, I arrayed them and the various notions and lotions and potions that inhabited my early altars around me in a circle, and Cast Circle through and upon them.  I did the usual Cirlce rites and then after The Rite, in symbol, I began praying to Her.  I asked Her what I could do for my friend and lay the situation out before here as I understood it at the time and prayed for Her guidance.

“Love him.” She said.

I.  Heard.  The.  Words. Aloud.  Not in the conversation-in-my-head-but-not-my-words style, which is the usual way I get impressions from The Holy Powers, but aloud.  Out, friggin’, Loud!

I spun around, startled, and knocked over the lit Candle for Fire… which luckily went out and did NOT ignite the synthetic orange shag of  daylight basement rec-room.  After a moment of processing this, one of my earliest this-shit-is-real experiences, I uprighted and relit the Candle for Fire and continued to pray for a time.  She, of course, was maddeningly silent after this, but I tried to remain content knowing She was and is there and will put a hand or word in if needed.

Reflection

Mostly I am aware of her on Full Moon nights, or nearly full nights.  The familiar embracing Presence.  The sense of settling in as I begin Invoking Her in Circle, the passionate thread that runs through me as the Blade and Chalice meet.  While I haven’t had a lot of woo-woo experiences involving Her, I have almost never really doubted She is there.

I’d love to be able to say that I have NEVER doubted Them or The Craft, but I am as human as anyone else and sometimes I wrestle with fear and doubt and confusion.  Always though, I return.  I return to Them and to Her.

Lately my relationship with Her has taken a bit of a turn as I encountered the Feri Trad way of addressing Her as “Holy Mother in Whom we live move and have our being”… this has resonated strongly for me and for my practice and I have incorporated that phrase into some of my own Craft.

Peace,

Pax

…

Intro

Libertas (whilst written before this series was conceived of, it fits a little too perfectly into the theme to be ignored…)

The Witches Goddess (this post)

The WitchFather

The Morrigan

Hecate

Dionysus

The Honored and Beloved Dead

Spirits of the World Around Us

Invocations, Old Words, and Creativity

On By PaxIn Creativity, everyday, Food for Thought, magick, Modern Pagan, Public Ritual, witchery4 Comments

Dear Friends,

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…

Peace, and creativity,

Pax

Holy Libertas, Holy Justitia, and All You Holy Powers of Healing…

On By PaxIn everyday, Highest Ideals, Honoring the Heroes, Modern Pagan, Prayer, Religio-Americana, witchery1 Comment

Dear Friends,

In the face of recent events Pagan community journalists are looking at the shooting of Representative Gabrielle Giffords, a Democratic member of the U.S. Congress who was shot at in an apparent assassination attempt, and adding their prayers.  Pagan Elders and Teachers are encouraging us to pray and send energy, and to not only not despair but too find ways to Bend that oh-so -famous Moral Arc of the Universe more towards justice from the strange and tangled place our Nation finds itself in these day.  Pagan Authors and Elders are writing essays inquiring into the moral responsibility for the vitriolic climate that pollutes our fair Nations politics.

I am neither an Elder nor an Author, and only a sometimes hap-hazard Journalist.  I will find ways to act and work and do whatever it is I can do to bring positive change into the world and into my Nation, but for now, I also pray….

Holy Libertas, Holy Justitia, and All You Holy Powers of Healing

Hear Me, oh, Holy Powers.

Lady Liberty,

Goddess of Democracy, You who raises your Torch to light the way to Freedom and holds close to your heart the Laws and History and Ideas and Ideals that should be guiding us.  Inspire your children and friends and praise-singers and drum-beaters to action, let us stand in numbers too great to ignore and say

“No.  Not here, and not ever here!”

To the rule of violence and to the fear-mongering and rabble-rousing that has helped lead to this.

Swift Winged Justice,

Lady of the Scales and the Sword, who although blindfolded sees all.  I know that You cannot be everywhere at once, but please be in Arizona now.  Cleave through the lies and accusations and counter accusations and help the forces of Law to work Your wonders and to find the truths at the  heart of this matter.

All You Holy Powers of Healing,

Be with, sustain, and nurture those injured on that tragic day.  Be with, sustain, and nurture the families of the fallen, and the wounded, as they go forward from this terrible cross-roads.  Be with, sustain, and nurture all those touched personally by this horrible event and help them to to heal, to grieve, to find the comfort they need, and to continue.

Honored and Beloved and Mighty Dead,

Welcome the Fallen from this tragic day amongst your numbers, may they find peace amongst your numbers and reunion with their beloved families.  May your presences and inspiration be there for your families and for your spiritual descendants who have need of you in this trying time.

Blessed Be and So Mote It Be.

So Mote It Be,
Pax / Geoffrey

On Breathing

On By PaxIn Chrysalis, Creativity, Grimoire, spiritual practice, witchery5 Comments

Dear Friends,

So this is the first official entry on the blog with writings from my personal Grimoire, which I am working on.  It will probably be obvious to some that T. Thorn Coyle’s writings have had a strong influence on me in this section…

Inspire means both to breathe in and to fill with Spirit.  Air connects us with one another and with all of life around us, it fuels our bodies; awareness and control of breath can work wonders in ourselves and through us in the world around us.  Breathing in, taking in oxygen and life energy, air fuels our fire.  With breath we can raise power, call Spirit, connect with The Gods, and embrace the Numinous All That Is.  Our lives, our actions, all of our works of Spirit, all of our acts of Will, and all Magick begins with a breath.

In Through the Nose,

Out Through the Mouth,

Breathe Inspiration,

Let Go of your Doubt.

I prefer in through the nose and out through the mouth, but the key is a relaxed and even and steady and conscious rhythm.

On the inhale your throat should be relaxed and you should be as aware of the air flowing down your throat as you are of drinking down cold water.  The air is drawn down your throat and into the deepest part of your lungs, towards the pit of your stomach.  As you breathe in the air should first push out your belly, and then your rib cage and chest, raising your shoulders as your lungs fill to the brimming.

When you feel the breath pooling or tickling at the base of your throat, you can begin your exhale; breathing out slowly and steadily.  Breathing out through your mouth, your throat relaxed and the tip of your tongue touching the roof of your mouth.  Letting your shoulders slowly drop, your chest and rib cage and belly relaxing and contracting in turn.

So from here I am going to discuss Centering and then Meditation…. and I am still playing with the orders of the other items on my list.

I am coming to realize how central and important breath is in the work of Magick and Spirit and of health.

Which is  why I am trying to mostly quit smoking.  “Mostly”, because I will allow myself the very occasional cigar, but I want to be the one in control… not the nicotine!   It is also “mostly” because in similar situations in the past if I have said to myself I am cutting back, it means that if I break down and have a smoke early in the quitting/cutting-way-the-heck-back process I won’t fall over myself with recrimination but will simply return to the abstaining.

I had already quit due to time and money issues once before, then the Break Up happened and I feel … no I dove off that Wagon in an emotional fee-fall.   Even though I was able to pull myself out of a tailspin by twisting and curving and aiming my dive into the waters of spirituality and Witchcraft and Faith, rather than those of sensuality and self-destruction, I have been smoking way too much.

Peace,

Pax

Notes on the Journey and poems…

On By PaxIn Creativity, Notes on the Journey, Poetry, remembering, Unitarian Universalism, witcheryLeave a comment

(Plus, Pax plays with the new linking set up and labeling system for WordPress…)

Dear Friends,

In addition to discovering Veles’ little gem, I have had a both lazy and eventful Friday… working the 11pm-7am shift Friday and Saturday nights means that I sometimes get a nice long Friday to relax a bit it… especially as the week-ends can be chock-full of things..

I awoke to this depressing news on NPR of the recent effort by the Republicans and Teabagger’s to cut NPR funding, probably because they prefer to maintain the conservative media dominance that they have worked so hard to establish.  So this put me in a bit of a mood today.

In order to try and lift my mood I listened to one of Rev. Kathy’s Sermons from the 1U New Membership Service “What we Freely Choose….“, a very inspiring sermon on the power of choices we make and how we have power to change the moral arc of the Universe…

After that I ended up chatting with Veles on Facebook for a bit, always a delight… and finally HAD to sign off there in order to get some writing and copying done as I poked through my archives for old articles and such.

Then since I was in further need of inspiration, and given that the WitchFather as I am coming to call Him (influenced no doubt by some young rascal or another)  is also the Bringer of Wisdom and Inspiration, I re-listened to episode 4 of the Druidcast podcast… the segment where Ronald Hutton gives a talk about the Wiccan/Neo-Pagan Horned God and his modern history… which always brings a smile to my lips and helps inspire me… and I was also looking for a little extra information and inspiration as I want to contribute to that Horned God Devotional, which of course took me over to of Oak and Ivy… where I found a reference to this poem….

Invictus

Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the Pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.

In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.

Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds, and shall find, me unafraid.

It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll.
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.

~William Ernest Henley

Which poem I very much like and find inspiring and in keeping with the themes of Power and Choice and True Will for today…

I also found, as I poked around the archives that I have surprisingly little written down… at least in the computer about the Horned God, so I shall poke around in the old BoS’s and see what I might see to share, and I will hope that some time presents itself in the wee-hours at work where I can work on some poetry and journaling… although this could be a busy week-end with the Thanksgiving Holiday coming up here in the U.S.

although I did find an old piece of mine I had forgotten about and will be including in the new BoS and Grimmoire I am working on for myself….

Let the Circle Be Cast

In this night and in this hour,

I weave once more, Magicks power,

Between the worlds this Circle stands,
A Sphere of light, a ring of clasping hands,
Here incense sweet and bitter brine,
Shall bless each atom, each cell, and empower, and re-awaken the Divine

Remember, Remember oh blessed space,

That you are of, and beyond, all time and place.

Watchtowers and Powers of Earth and Sky, of Sun and Sea,

Please join in this Circle, and Guide, and Guard,

And celebrate with me.

Mother Celestial and Father Divine,

I call on Thee, as I am Thine.

I cry out welcome to thee,

Welcome to the Powers and Principalities!

With the Fruits of the Earth I welcome Thee,

With sweet scented incense in the Air I welcome Thee,

With the warmth and light of the Fires within my Hearth and Heart I welcome Thee,

With cool and refreshing and holy Water I welcome Thee!

Hail and Well Met and Blessed Be!

~ Pax 2007~

~ed. 2010~

And so now I am off to Dinner and to contemplate poetry and spirituality and how best to work and Work and how to engage in Service in order to help to bend that famous and much talked about moral arc of the Universe towards justice..

Peace,

Pax / Geoffrey

 

Crafting through my Acrostic Eye

On By PaxIn everyday, magick, Unitarian Universalist, witchery2 Comments

Hello Dear Friends,

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.

(image found online here)

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?

This little light of mine…

On By PaxIn Blame Sannion, Community Building, everyday, Gay Pride, remembering, Samhain, Unitarian Universalism, witchery3 Comments

Dear Friends,

So in the last couple of weeks I had seen multiple announcements for the LGBT Youth Candlelight Vigils here in Orlando on the 20th and 21st… for LGBT Teen Suicide Awareness Day on the 20th.   I committed to going to the Lake Eola vigil.  There was also one the next night at UCF…

As a part of these vigils, and apparently as a general part of the LGBT Youth Suicide Awareness day on the 20th folks were encouraged to wear Purple.  Now a lot of times when something like this happens you hear all sorts of encouragement to wear a color and show your support… and folks will change the color of their blog or post a new profile pic… but you don’t hear as much about getting off your butt and marching or sending in your money… and as an aging queer and Witch… well, I can get a bit ornry…

No, I am not going to wear purple, nor am I going to put purple on my facebook profile, what I am doing is going to a candle-lit vigil for glbt youth suicide awareness and I am going to re-commit to voting against homophobia…

~ Pax’s rather ornry Facebook profile from a few days ago…

I was there as a Gay man who had been bullied in High School over his orientation, or rather perceived orientation since I was only partially out to even myself at that point.  I was also there as a Witch, who has finally set aside some of his why-not-to-do-stuff for his why-the-hell-not, and is working on his will and Will.  I was also there to support my friends from the 1st Unitarian Church Orlando, including my friend Sister Ambrosia Discordia of the Orlando Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence (Ambrosia happens to be a member of the 1st U, the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence have no formal relationship with the U.U.A) and our new settled Minister Reverend Kathy Schmitz.

There was a long time where people were simply mingling and talking.   Reverend Kathy spent some time networking with some of the other religious leaders in attendance.  I was kind of odd man out for a while, although my bright pink “Tough Guys Wear Pink” T-shirt did bring some nice compliments!

What!?  I had to wear something.  If for no other reason, because most folks would NOT appreciate me in my altogether/ Bear-on-the-half-shell glory.  Besides you don’t have to wave a rainbow flag to, well, wave the rainbow flag!

As darkness fell and the crowd began to grow as people found parking near Lake Eola Park, or got to the park from wherever they had found parking, some folks began lighting candles they had brought with them and some of the Come Out Orlando vollunteer’s (the group that had put the event together) distributed their candles for the vigil.  It was at this point that it was a pleasant surprise to see members of the Downtown Orlando Circle of the Sublime Elm, and the Orlando G.L.B.T. Pagan’s and Witcbes Meet-up groups in attendance.  I said hello and introduced them to some of the folks from 1st U and to the Sister’s.

Then there was an all too quiet speech, must look for an microphone/bull-horn for the kids at Come Out Orlando… then a lovely and very interfaith prayer from a young lady wearing a clerical color against a lovely lavender shirt.  Then we marched…

Oddly enough, it was the first time I marched in something other than a Pride parade.  Gay Pride, we Pagans don’t have our own parades yet… at least not public ones that I am aware of.  ANYHOW, I had been in protests before but I don’t think I have ever marched before… and since this was a candle-lit vigil it had more of a spiritual/processional feel to it.

It was quite lovely, and a good renewal of my inner activist and my will and possibly my Will.

Peace,

Pax / Geoffrey

Do you believe in Magick?

On By PaxIn Blame Sannion, everyday, magick, spiritual practice, The Numinous Divine, witchery2 Comments

Dear Friends,

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.

~ As I’ve mentioned once before...

TO KEEP SILENT

“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.

Then the real Work begins…

Peace,

Pax

Returning to and Reclaiming Myself

On By PaxIn Blame Sannion, everyday, magick, Notes on the Journey, spiritual practice, witchery1 Comment

Hello friends,

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.”

Then I wrote this, and now I shall sleep.

Peace,
Pax

Survey Says…..

On By PaxIn Blame Sannion, Cross-roads, Notes on the Journey, witcheryLeave a comment

So,

Working the overnight shifts this week I have had a fair amount of time on my hands at work.  The lull after the Memorial Day madness and before July.

I had listened to one of the early episodes of New World Witchery and was feeling especially Witchtacular so I grabbed my Tarot cards and in the early A.M. of the 17th did my first spontaneous reading in months.

(The one before that was in February of Last year and full of omens that I could have read to avoid a LOT of heartache and loss and grief had I paid attention to them rather than sweeping them nervously under my psyche… then again the disasters of that year have led to the successes and happiness of the present… so who’s to say I was meant to listen to them then anyways?)

Any how I emptied my mind breathed into my centers and Center and shuffled and mixed the cards, which had been separated into their Suits and The Arcana for some re-learning/studying earlier this year, and drew three cards.  I didn’t label them…. I mean it wasn’t like one was Past one was Present and one was Future, nor did I have a specific question.  I simply opened myself up to intuition and inspiration and let ‘er rip in the spirit of “What do I need to know?”**

The three cards I drew were, from left to right, the King of Swords, The Chariot, and the 9 of Swords.

Duh, dum, DOOM!  (that’s the musical riff that I heard inside my fertile imagination as I first looked at this little spread, familiar to anyone who’s watched any of the action/adventure type shows of the late 70’s early 80’s…)

I looked at the cards and their relationship and relaxed as the themes of Balance and Will seemed to percolate to the surface and was confirmed in my consultation of my trusted Paperback Tarot Book.  (I used to be able to read with out it… but then I set down the Cards, and a lot of my Craft, for years as I wandered emotionally and mentally in my early to mid 30’s.)

~~~

‘In the late PM of that same evening and the early AM of today I consulted the I-Ching for clarification/cross-referential purposes; a practice I first heard of from my dear dear friend The Incubus.  ( a nickname rather than an entity)

The coins were thrown and the Book of Changes consulted and I got

#32 Thunder above Wind – Long Lasting

moving towards

#35 Fire above Earth – Proceeding Forward

with special emphasis on the 3rd line, which would lead to #40 Relief…had it been the only changing line, which it wasn’t, but I felt that intuitional sort of nudge to go ahead and read up on #40 as well anyway, so I did!  After all what’s the point of Divining unless you truly give yourself up and over to the process?!

~~~

Over all, signs seem to indicate that continued Will development and working and Working on the proper ballance of Spiritual Work and my Stable Planes is in order.  The Suit of Swords, and the many moving lines from the Book of Changes, both suggest a lot of outside forces at work.  Yet the core message is one of True Will and seeking a ballance.  The coins of the Book of Changes counsel me not to rush anything.  Doing the Work of Spirit and Magick and nurturing Will and seeking Ballance; these will leak to Forward movement, Relief of hardship, and success.

So that’s what I am trying to do.

**I should note that, for no particular reason I can identify other than it felt right in the moment, I shuffled and mixed the cards in such a way as to NOT reverse any of the cards.