Samhain and the Bones of Death

We are the bones of death. Right now, in this very instance, we are the walking dead. The acceptance of this fact and the empowerment of this knowledge is one of the few things that the Craft makes claim to offering. As Witches, we are those whom dwell at the edges of society and interact directly with the unseen forces of the Spirit-world. This role gives the Witch a particular role that both benefits them and the greater community at large.  

It has been a long time since I have written anything about Samhain. If the truth were told, and it will be, I’m just not interested in rehashing the same ole beginner lesson about this time of year. Nor do I claim that this blog is anything but the same ole beginner lesson. There is nothing new, only the new again. For you see, the meat and potatoes of this feast lay in the silent undertaking of the work and not in the talking about it. To say that when we die we go to live amongst the ancestors is a starkly different perspective then to sit in the knowing that under our flesh lay the bones that could become the ancestor relics of our own descendants. We are the bones of death; we are the walking dead.

There are lots of ways for the Witch to engage with death and this time of year is a dark brew saturated with the work of the dead. Will you be sipping of it?

It does not matter whether it is via dressing up in costumes or something more “witchy” such as stirring the roots to enliven the dead by which we may redden them to life again. It does not matter to the Witch. It does not matter because there is a knowledge here that comes only from having experienced it. It is this that the Witch does for the community.

By becoming immersed in the litanies of the dead, the Witch comes to an understanding that transforms them into the keeper of a great a mystery—the mystery of death. We hold that mystery and translate its familiarity for those less keen to welcome the departed to their table. We stand in the crowds, alone, yet with the sacred truth that the ancestors are not themselves relics of the past. The past is not a place where the dead dwell, the ancestors are now. They, all of them, are right this moment. This we know.

The Witch knows this as true because we do not call the ancestors up from a time that is no more, nope, we actively work with them right now, in this moment, and they answer that call. Likewise, when we die and cast off the flesh that clothes these bones, we do not go to live in the past but instead transform in the now.

We are the bones of death; we are the walking dead.

Boidh Se,

-SM

“Lost in a thicket, bare-foot upon a thorn path.”

If the Contemporary Pagan Community Wants Nice Things

Different languages allow us to see the world through different lenses. The perspective through which English and say Gaeilge, or Cantonese or Spanish, etc, present the whole of existence to us are not the same. They present human experiences tented, flavored, with colors and/or seasonings that are not the same. I know, I know, I’m being redundant. The point though is that the core sets of symbols through which we interact with the world directly influence how the world is viewed. Language is one such core set of symbols, religion is another.

The Craft of the Wica is a purposeful construction of such symbols to pass through to present a specific mystery for the initiate to participate in via our rites. Though not all of the Wica also identify as members of the Contemporary Pagan community, many do. I used to think of this as an interesting conundrum in the context of the major early influence that one has had upon the later development of the other. I, however, get it, especially having seen it. Not every initiate’s expression of the Craft intersects between the two.

On the metaphorical vinn diagram though, I sit in that spot where both circles overlap. As such, I have been thinking about the core symbol set that the religious worldview that the Contemporary Pagan community presents, and I worry about it.

I worry about it because every elder from my childhood left to go seeking somewhere else, and even now into adulthood so many of the Priesthood that I have known and whom influenced me have also gone. Many of them because their own spiritual needs lead them after the white stag through the forest to other lands. However, for many it was from exasperation with the community faults that our community exhibits.

One of the central appeals to Contemporary Paganism, and New Religious Movements in general, is the intense focus upon the spiritual development of the individual. For many, it is what brought them seeking at our door in the first place. At the same time, this makes for a community that is not cohesive and often times selfish in that we consume and want the things in which community brings but we do not commit to communally supporting the growth and development of the same. It is a common topic of those whom have been in or around leadership to speak of “burning out,” and to warn others to be careful before they too burn out.

I don’t have a readily available answer either for how to fix this in mass. For us to move from where we are now to have long standing institutions, such as functioning temples and seminaries (assuming such is for our future and not another expression of our religious paradigm), then it will take each of us to make purposeful effort to do more than just consume, we must contribute. We must contribute our time and our money, and we must learn to do so when it is not us that reaps the immediate and individualistic benefit.

I hope that we are up to it. I believe that we are but sometimes I worry.

Boidh Se,

-SM

“Lost in a thicket, bare-foot upon a thorn path.”

By Well, By Tree, By the Four Directions About: What Do You Cast?

In the Traditions of the Witch in which I practice, it is an integral part of the lore that at the center of everything is a singular point which is the same as the circumference. This is one of the lessons of the circle and why the Witch stands as creator in the center of the circle casting existence about them.

At the center of the Witch though, is a vessel. It is akin to the Cauldron of Annwyn, the deep well of time-past, from which all arose. This is the same well that sits at the center of everything occupying the same space, if not the same time, as the World Tree that is the pillar in the center of the circle. It is from this vessel, this cup, that the Witch pours forth the essence from which the fabric of their circle is cast. On one hand I am speaking of metaphysics and the mechanics of circle casting, and on the other hand I am speaking of the metaphorical.

The vessel is four chambered. For it is a center that holds within it the whole of four directions; the center reflects the circumference. This vessel, this center, this cup holds the whole of everything, and pours forth the outer edge of the Witch’s world to match.

You see, this vessel is the heart, and the heart is both the point and the fringe that lay upon the liminal between the world of mortals and of the eternal.

What then are you pouring forth from your heart-vessel as the whole of the world in which you dwell?

Boidh Se,

-SM

“Lost in a thicket, bare-foot upon a thorn path.”