Old and New teacups with a dash of Crossed Keys

The sun is still clinging to the hemline of the horizon and it stretches thinner as if to taunt me by saying: not yet. .  . The wind has died down from its furious pacing across the yard and if all holds the way it is now, I may be able to set up out doors in the back to be under the moon light for Her Sacred Fires Rite tonight.

I have been reading the Crossed Keys by Michael Cecchetelli. I find it interesting in  he manner that he shares some of his personal experiences with the Black Dragon Grimoire. As I was reading the evocations, I began to wonder several things about the original author of that grimoire including if the person was a priest to begin with and, if not, was this person disguising the dialogue within a Christian frame in hopes of not appearing to be a heretic. I also began to wonder about the origin of these 'demons'. As it turns out the 'demons' may not be what we think they are. Even in King Solomon's day that which we know as angels were called demons. I suspect some of them are probably divinities from cultures long passed and have been labeled as demons for the simple reason of not bowing to Christian-dom. The more I read and re read what was presented to me, the more I began to think upon my own native divinities within Feri and why would I want to add to a roster of beings (as though they were something to collect) when I have perfectly good connections of my own to call upon. I don't. As much as respect the work and praxis of the magicians presented here in this book, I don't think it's my cup of tea. . . (where's my old cup anyway?)

I have started to delve into parts of my tradition I have not thought to sink into before and I have The Crossed Keys to thank for that. I already have a connection to Gods and Goddesses and have only chanted their names with little thought of really connecting to them and creating a working relationship with them. I have always been the one to remember to say please and thank you and even yes sir/ ma'am, but these particular divinities always seemed distant to me upon evocation for ritual. While reading the Crossed Keys, I felt pulled, hard toward them even as I was fascinated with the praxis in hand. So with that in mind, for the next twelve weeks I will be working with each one in turn to begin individual introductions and personal dialogue. I have a wealth of connections and I should be cultivating and nurturing those instead of creating new ones as working with the Black Dragon Grimoire would demand I do.

I begin with Ashtaroth. She is a Phoenician Goddess also associated with Inanna and Ishtar as being one and the same on just about every different site I visit. I also see many Christian sites who call her  a demon, but that wouldn't be any new thing from them. She is a love and war goddess. However, there is more to her than love and war. She is a teacher of the liberal sciences, she also seems to have an affinity for groves, trees, the woods. She has been called a stellar Goddess and a bringer of visions and prophetic dreams. I come from a tradition that values personal experiences so reading was not enough for me. I went and built an altar for her in the West, put out my gazing mirror and made offerings of perfumed oil, sourdough bread, and a liquor. I wrote her an evocation and called upon her in the afternoon after meditating upon her in the morning. I shouldn't have been shocked by actually making contact with her, but there was something in me that was. Maybe it's just the recent stresses of my mundane life speaking. My PTSD makes me believe all sorts of crazy things like: maybe I have been abandoned by my gods. It was a good beginning this rite. Is she Inanna and Astarte and Ishtar??? I don't know, maybe. What I do know, is that I did dream something that was not the usual of late and it didn't make me afraid.    

While I am looking for employment, I keep my little etsy shop going and keep busy with other things on top of trying to decipher legal speak. . . the law really should be something that is readily accessible AND easily understood by lay people, but it's not. So needless to say, I am turned upside down and twisted into pretzel knots trying to read it while trying to keep the panic attacks to a minimum which means more breaks than I really want. Still I over do it and some times end up in full blown anxiety attack mode. It's getting better though. With the acupuncture treatments counseling and some of the coping skills I have been acquiring, I am really seeing improvement from a few months ago. I still need to be reminded to take my homeopathic remedies because there are times when I don't catch the precursors myself.

I will be okay, eventually.

Well the wind is up again. I can hear it whip by my window. . . so the rite is indoors tonight. 

" I am going to go find the goddamn faeries!"

I finished Signe Pike's Faery Tale  while I was waiting for delivery and phone people. I had seen it on the shelves in book stores but never really had the opportunity to pick it up. I really got the bug to pick it up after I listened to her interviews with Fire Lyte on Inciting A Riot podcast. I just knew, I had to get my hands on this book! In proper Mrs. Oddly fashion, I devoured it! From faery stamped cover to green and twisted vine cover! She felt like someone who had similar experiences to mine, but had to go through so much more trial than I did to just believe. I don't think she believes any more. I think she took that experiential leap that takes you from thinking something is so to knowing it to be truth. She went a step further and shared her journey with a large audience. Brave, brave thing to do and I thank her for that courage. There are many of us out there who know about that hidden world. Many more are out there who believe in it and just haven't had the experience to know. I am hoping that this book leads to the believers leaping in to knowing. I am hoping that this book creates more believers. This world and humanity needs a little magic desperately.

The day after I had finished reading this book was the day we actually started spending evenings in the house. I had been getting up early to water all the landscaping with a hose because I had believed that when I had the plumber out to fix the broken water valve that lets water into the house, I had messed up the irrigation system. The kindly neighbor came out and told me that I had everything on a drip system. I told him what had happened and he pursed his lips and decided to take a look for himself. He tilted his head upon looking at it and pronounced that all was well with the system and then proceeded to tell me how to use it. HUZZAH!!!! Promptly afterward, I had taken a spill and scraped up and bruised my knees pretty good; my favorite jeans are headed toward being cutoffs for the summer. I saw in my mind's eye a being slowly slide his hand horizontally to the earth across his chest. It reminded me of Grandfather in Thunder Heart. Fair trade.

Danica S. Benson

 I guess since I am new here, there is a period of let's get to know each other before we declare friendship. I sat down to ponder this on the stoop of my front door and to see how much damage I had done to my hide when I looked over to see a white preying mantis looking at me. I leaned in to get a closer look and the darndest thing was that it leaned in to look at me closer as well. So I decided to speak to it and express my thanks for returning an hour and a half of my time a day by sending me someone who could show me that I hadn't screwed up the system after all. More Huzzah! It sat there tilting and nodding it's head as though it were really listening. Yes, I do think that this white preying mantis was not as it appeared. The Celts often told stories of white faery creatures, so it is not too far off to think that this white preying mantis was indeed from that realm.

I have seen the 'footprints' of faeries all over this house. When I asked the Star Goddess to help me find the perfect home for me and my family to live in, I guess she figured that it had better be acceptable to faeries or already have them living here. I suspect that they have been here for quite a long time. The landscaping here is a bit on the wild side with things growing into each other. I have also learned that before trimming something I had better make some sort of declaration that I am not cutting the whole plant down and just doing healthy maintenance. I trimmed the dead vines off the jasmine plant in the back and I was received by hordes of flying things bombarding my face until I told them I was just cutting off the dead parts. The angry horde of buzzing immediately went away. Yup, I think there is a whole clan of trooping faeries in and around my house and I do feel as though I am being carefully observed.

So everyone, in the name of magic, faeries, knowing and believing, raise your left hand and repeat after me. . . aloud please. . . " I am going to go find the goddamn faeries!"

Now get up and search for enchantment in your modern world. I promise, it is all around you, waiting for you to become sharper.