Keep strong the wind horse especially in adversity

I was asked an interesting question by one of my guardians the other day and it made me do more thinking. The question was: at what point do the outside faiths make you focus on their beliefs more than you are paying attention to your own faith and experiences within it? In the most recent past, mostly due to silly season, there has been a great deal of attention given to those on the outside of my faith because of actions they have taken against the pagans in general. I further examined this and began to wonder if this is an intentional move on their part to put other faiths on the defensive to get them to pay more attention to them by distrating the practioner of those faiths from practicing or if it is just an accidental side effect of the attack? If it is intentional, it would indeed be a sly thing. Rattle enough cages and swords to weaken the faith of the others so that victory is easier to achieve. Like they say: all is fair in love and war. Mistake not, they ( fundamentalists) have declared spiritual warfare upon all that is not like them. The point my guardian was making was not to say that it isn't important to defend your human rights, but that we are not alone in this and to keep the link between yourself and spirit strong inspite of all the rattle. Yes, defend yourself and your rights to practice your faith. Yes they want you to feel isolated and alone in the matter and therefore don't matter. However, do not give in to that tactic. Know that you are not alone. It is not your sword alone that they will face should they come after you and yours. Every pagan should know this. They are not alone in this matter. Not only are other pagans answering the call, the spirits themselves will answer your call of personal distress and lend you their strength and courage. In order to do this you must cut out the rattle deliberately, cut out a peice of time to reaffirm your connection with them and, as the Asian Shamans say, keep your wind horse strong. A perfect example of this example would be when the Haitians over threw their oppressors it is said in their lore that the Orishas rode them into battle to victory. We may not be facing an actual blood spilling battle, but it is a battle none the less to keep the secular government we were entrusted with by our founders. Even as is it true that there are those who are right now attempting to make laws based upon their religious convictions (to which they are entitled to), and it is important to remind them that the Constitution prohibits the jamming of any religion down your throat religion from dictating law, it is even more important to keep your personal faith and connections to the divine nurtured and strong as we face these challenges together. I was prompted to talk about this because of not just a question my guardian asked me, but a question from a friend on line. She asked how many pagans study the bible so that they can make a strong argument against it. While I am not averted from studying other religions, in fact I am fascinated my many of their commonalities, I am not certain that studying it as though it were a weapon is what is needed. One of the things I have noticed about most fundamentalists is that they are SOOO sure that their understanding of the Bible is rock solid and infallible and to argue with them about it is just plain insanity and a waste of breath. They will never listen to you. Not one word, not one syllable not one point can be made to them. In their eyes, not matter what you say, you are wrong or making fun of them. For me this question can only be answered as such: while I will continue to stand with those who wish to preserve the secular nature of our nation, I will not study the sacred texts of other religious beliefs as though it is a weapon against them. What that means is that I will pick up the Bible, the Quaran, the Bagahvadgita, the Book of Mormon, the Torah etc. But I will be seeking enlightenment that can help me understand my own path and how it relates to those who are not on it with me. It helps me to understand and frame statements made by others from this paths. I think that Holy Texts should be treated with respect and read in peace. We have enough people out there who are of those respective beliefs wielding their books as weapons by taking what it says out of context to make it mean what they want it to mean. It is causing great harm. You want an example? Ok. Let's take the story of Sodom and Gommorah. There are those who are using that section of the Bible to point out that God hates the homosexuals and that's why the cities were destroyed. No, if you do some history and cultural homework while you are reading this part of the Bible you begin to understand that in the Jewish faith, hospitality is a mandate. To ignore this mandate is considered to be an insult to God and all the gifts he has bestowed upon you and yours. The cities of Sodom and Gommorah passed a mandate to provide no hospitality to any stranger out of fear of being robbed of their wealth. When Lott welcomed the strangers into his home and gave them hospitality, there came to the door an angry mob of people who wanted to cause his guests harm. He did not stand aside and as it turned out, his guests were angels in disguise. Sodom and Gommorah were not destroyed by God because He hates the homosexuals. In this context, Sodom and Gommorah was destroyed because the people of those cities renounced His mandate to provide hospitality. Anyone can misuse their own Sacred Text and bend it to their desires. I don't wish to participate in that sort of wicked game. Apparently, I have my own wicked game to pay attention to (insert dripping sarcasm here.) I do believe that it is important to have an awareness of other sacred texts and religious beliefs, but it is very important that while you are seeking understanding of these faiths that your own faith must continue to be nurtured and strengthened. It is easy to get wrapped up in someone else's beliefs, especially when you come under attack because of those beliefs. For me, the words of my guardian struck home: your strength is in the practice of your faith and together we can overcome the obstacles put before you.

The Key of the Element of Air and internal affairs

I realize that I have been rather silent this last week. Mercury seems to have been doing his thing with the backward dance and I have turned inward instead of allowing my communications to become muddled and unclear. Probably a good response.

My puter is still not right and I suspect that for the next year I will be limping around on what ever other options I have at my disposal. What ever it is that happened to my puter will not stop me form blogging and so forth, however I may be pictureless on this blog for a while seeing as how that putting a picture here with the iPad seems to not be an option.

This last week has been rather interesting craftwise. I have been working with  the Elemental Guardian of Air and I will be working more closely with all of them seeing as how I will be introducing a student to them. I am creating elemental viridarium vessels from things that come out of my own plot. I don't know where this road will lead me, but I do know that it has created a stronger bond between myself and my garden and land ( as small a plot it is it's still my plot.)

I still feel the strong pull of Mercury toward silence. I know he's not done with his backward dance but I just can't do the whole not blog about something right now. Everytime I think I know what I want to say I get shut down, so here I am talking about being repeatedly shut down.  I don't even really have any "curse you Mercury Retrograde" feelings about that I just feel compelled to turn inward and sort out internal issues. I am hoping that when things finally go back to it's normal motions, that the internal motion allows itself to be expressed in a manner that doesn't sound like pent up spew.

I have been quietly going through my notes and writing about my experiences with "key talking" and since Mercury has gone off and danced wildly backward I decided now would be a good time to work with that and when things go the other direction I will still have time to work the outer affairs position as well. Yes, I have pulled out the old school pen and notebook for this since my puter has revolted against me. I forgive it, it is old and cranky and for, almost 10 years, served me well.

I hope than when I put all my notes and experience into one place I can edit it, I can do as I was asked: share.

While working with the Key postion of the Internal sort in the Air section of the compass rose, I notice that I have been sorting through my thoughts as things come up around me. I am noticing things like dichotomies and paradoxes and even a bit of that old time favorite: hypocrisies. I think we all have a bit of that going on within ourselves, but I think we feel more comfortable ignoring that fact and march on with our silly selves. I can tell you that they are uncomfortable once found, but work of this sort is not supposed to be comfortable. It's about stretching and challenging yourself to be stronger and honest with yourself about who you are. How I will address these things that have been highlighted is still in question, but at least I am clear on what I think about these things and how I feel about them. Maybe some of those things that were brought up will never be expressed and I am okay with that, but I guarantee it will affect how I handle things in the world of outer affairs. Hopefully, in a positive manner.

A well deserved pox!

There is some serious wicked evil headed our way. It is named fundamentalism. In it's current form it is seeking to tell women that we must carry their children and/or die trying. Terry England senator from Georgia is just one of these men who think that women are just brood mares to their penis. He invokes the name of God on the floors of congress as though it should mean something in a place where personal belief is supposed to be put aside to perform the work of the people. The alarming part of this is that Terry England defends his position by quoting another religious fanatic then drags out a quote from the Bible to make it all ok. He did this in the Hall of Georgia Congress! This is not just a religious battle. This is literally a declaration of war on women! People of Georgia may: I suggest you fire this man from his job and any other person who neglect to mind the separation of church and state? It's fine to hold these beliefs and apply them to your own lives, but don't think for two seconds to ram them down the throats of everyone through laws. Religious fanatics everywhere who insist upon heaping harm upon insult to women: Congratulations! You have won a well deserved pox upon your flaccid penises beyond the help of Viagra and antibiotics!

For the Love of the Fallen Ones

IN the very beginnings of the Book of Enoch we are painted a picture of these beings who were supposed to be the corrupt and sinful of the angelic realm. They were cast down here to this plane and left to lead a barren life. Instead, they chose to take wives of the daughters of men and proceeded to teach them secret things which lead to great consternation according to the book. As I read this more closely I have to ask myself how is it that these being are to blame for the foilables of humanity??? We are as a whole vulnerable to our greeds and desires.

 I have to ask myself why is it that it was considered defiling themselves by taking wives and having sex with them? Sexuality is a sacred gift and trust. If it is done in consent, it can be nothing other than sacred. Period. There has been no crime/ sin here, period. I find it insulting actually, that it is written that " they defiled themselves" by falling in love with humanity and teaching us.

Later the book starts to talk about the great deluge and how it was supposed to eliminate the evils of this place caused by the Fallen Ones and their corrupt teachings. Uhm. . . no. No such cleansing has taken place and I think that if you look through history and the people who inhabit it you will find them just as corrupt as before, which means that it is we who are flawed with or without the teachings of the Fallen Ones. Need further proof? Ok, well, look around you today, forget history!

According to the The Book of Enoch, it is the Fallen Ones who taught us to create tools and weapons of metal, they taught us to read the heavens, speak with the plants, and tap into the magics of enchantment and sorcery. Put in the right hands these skills are invaluable tools of living on this plane and in the wrong hands they are tools of misery and destruction. So whose fault is it that when the Archangels looked down upon the earth and saw great blood shed and misery? It is certainly not the fault of the Fallen Ones that this happened. We make our own choices and sometimes they are not in our best interest or in the interest of those around us. Blaming the Fallen Ones for this seems silly to me. Are we not capable of holding ourselves accountable for our actions? To me that seems like fire is blamed for burning and air is blamed for blowing.

It seems to me that Enoch's understanding of the Fallen Ones is completely based upon the fearful judgements of a Monothiestic system and takes not into account anything that has happened prior to it's coming. What about the Shamans and clergy of ancient tribes that have never even heard the words Christ or Jehovah? Surely the Fallen Ones have spoken to them as well. I am also certain that the very idea of calling them Fallen Ones would raise some dander. Fallen? really? How have they fallen??? Is it possible that the idea of fallen is a misnomer for coming down from the heavens and not as in fallen from grace?

When you look at the idea that the Fallen Ones may have come down from the heavens, the idea that they may have been marooned here springs to the forefronts of my mind because that's just how my brain operates. So when you get marooned somewhere the whole idea of making a new life for yourself seems to be in order. If you are endowed with certain gifts and knowledge, you try to make yourself useful to the indigenous beings and better life conditions. You are also lonely. Of course you are going to try to belong and you are going to want to take on a partner.

It occurs to me that these beings came from a different place and somehow became trapped here. To expect them to live in isolation and loneliness just seems a cruel injustice and to blame them for our foilables even more so. As witches, sorcerers, shamans and healers, we know and work with these beings on a regular basis. We may call them by different names, but the profile seems to be unchanging. I do not accept that they are accursed ones acclaimed in a book of fear.

to be continued I'm sure . . . 

Guardian of Air says: dinoputer must die!

Ok my dinoputer died so I am blogging from my phone, which will probably look a whole lot like blooging but sober. Yes I know the first rule of blooging is about to be majorly violated. Auto correct is going to be interesting I suspect.

I have my Guardian of Air set up and I have already begun working so of course my main method of communication on the interwebs had to die.

I'm not even certain how this is going to look so bear with me as I figure out how to dance around new tech fixes.

The eight fold path

This is not something that I have seen discussed a whole lot so I am going to take a moment to do so. As a witch, I work at making sure that I am balanced in my path because in my youth I spent a good deal of time being spun out by the things that life threw at me. Granted, some of those things were really large and would spin any well balanced person out synch. These paths all woven together helped bring me back to center and to this day help me keep things on an even keel. I think that these things are all important in creating a well balanced witch life.

The paths are as follows: Meditation/ Trance, Rites, Opening the Gates, Dance, Control, Discipline, The Great Rite

Meditation/ Trance: this is the arte of listening to the Divine. This is where a direct connection between you and the Gods happens. It is important because not everything you ca learn about witchcraft comes from a book or even a teacher. Some of my most interesting and powerful experiences and lessons have come to me on this path.
Tool: the mind

Rites: These are not the rites of the cycle. These are the personal rites we work. Ie. . . spells, charms, workings, chants and other ritualistic practices including devotions. These are the personal magical endeavors of the witch. This could also be workings and work of your personal choosing, like graveyard work, animal work, viridarium work. . .
Tool: Book of Shadows

Opening the Gates: This is one of the most tricky of them because it requires a great amount of discipline. This is the place where inebriants can be brought into the picture. .. spirits, wines and hooch etc. Other techniques include controlled breathing patterns, Yoga, Mudras. . . anything that rouses the Kundalini.
Tool: The Key

Dance: This path does not necessarily have to be dancing unto itself. .. although it is the most common tool in this area. It is about ecstatic movement that creates the whirl wind of power around you. It is raising the power to lift you and your desires to the ears of the Gods. I know a couple of witches who use running as a tool for this.
Tool: The Cone of Power

Control: this is just what it talks about. This is the control of breath, physical form, blood and posture. All physical forms: Yoga, Tai Chi, Martial arts, Swordsmanship, even Horsemanship are used to refine and tune the Will. There are things that will fall into this category that are not listed and all of these physical art forms require the body to take on a specific and refined form.
Tool: The Cord

Discipline: This is different than control. This talks about your willingness to to exert control and endure the pain that comes with it to shape your body into the form you are asking it to take. My sister ( A Marine) would tell me that pain is weakness leaving. In some terms I think she is right.
Tool: Scourage

The Great Rite: This is the symbolism of the unity of polarities. Male & female polarity is the most common one used in the craft. But this can also be the polarity of black and white to create all the greys in the middle. There are many to experiment with and can be used to help settle the dichotomies that plague many of us. This is also where Sex magic enters the path.
Tool: Athame and Chalice

When I find myself wobbling, the first tools I bring out are the Iron and Pearl pentacles to figure out where I am heavy or too light. From there,  I consult the eight paths and use them to rebalance myself. I hope that you find this useful on your crooked path.

Whaaa. . . .?

I am sort of on a mission. . . Even after ordering the plant, the mission is not accomplished. I had an eyebrow raising moment the other night when I saw patchouli oil listed as being for protection. It just struck me as not quite right. I know, you can go into an aromatherapy book by a certain Mr C and find it in the listings for protection, but none of my experiences reflect that. I have been using patchouli for YEARS and taking notes along the way and I had never used it by itself as something for protection. I have added it as something to encourage grounding and clear thinking to protective oils as I can see how those things are necessary should you find yourself in a situation where protection is needed.

I have gone as far as to list the energetic effects by chakra! No protection to be found. So I am going to do some shamanic plant work and see what the plant has to say. I don't want to be disrespectful to the glorious Mr. C by saying out right that he's wrong, but I think either there is something I am not understanding or there has been an error somewhere.

Here are my chakra notes for patchouli:

1st: strengthens and grounds the individual; rehabilitates deficiencies in the root chakra

2nd: returns the spirituality to sexuality 

6th: soothes an overactive intellect by encouraging tension to leave and quieting the chatter

feet ( special): opens the chakras to reconnect the individual to their physicality and reconnects them to the earth

General: grounding and opening to creativity

And the Witchery will continue! I'll try to be sure to take more notes on what I find when I start working with Ms. Puzzle Thang!