Gate of the Castles

The Lords of Outer Space, the Silent Masters, the Hidden Orders! They are the Silent Guardians at the Moat between time and space. These spirits are the Keepers of the gates to the provinces and rulers of the winds there upon. Every Tradition born grows about it an attraction, an attraction to spirits of the like. As the collective mind grows it finds in the outer reaching spaces its allies in work. Thus Guardians are tied, familiar spirits born, and Watchers are given names and shape a face.

Boidh se!
-Spanish Moss

"Lost in a thicket bare-footed upon a thorned path."

Samhain

Take a moment and rest, it has been a long year. The time has come and
the veil has grown thin. The mist between the worlds permeates the air.

Perhaps you will find yourself sitting beneath a fairy tree drifting
into sleep with dreams of times past, slipping through to the twilight
realms. With the moon shrouded and cloaked in clouds above will you
notice the stag of white? More importantly, will you give chase? Hunt
the deep woods and crooked trail across this land, your inner
spiritual landscape.

When you have found yourself led to a door before a hollowed hill will
you knock? Or continue not realizing the hunt has been won? With the
creek of rusty hinges enter the company of the pale folk, the inner
halls, and the hill of the Sidhe. Here is the isle of the fated past,
the underworld road.

Ride upon the waves of an inner sea as you voyage to lands unseen.
What encounters does your adventure bring? Through storm and turmoil
journey and remember the eye of the storm is the calmest, at least
until the trial has passed for now.

Perchance you may awake from the storm with a maiden beckoning from
ashore. With an approach she may back away into the tangled thicket
showing the way, one way that is. In a clearing you find a cauldron
stewing and bubbling with a brew. All your hopes, dreams, faults, and
actions past simmer here. It is time to stop and knee before the altar
of truth, gaze therein and see what elixir you have made. Thus you may
sip of the knowledge of truth.

Blessed Samhain!

Boidh se!
-Spanish Moss

"Lost in a thicket bare-footed upon a thorned path."

Mabon II

Deep into the underworld we go, there are seven jewel stars that await us as gateways further into the tomb. Cloaked and ignorant with shadow we begin. With each door we are stripped of more of our mantle until we arrive baring all before the Rose Queen. Thus is how you kneel at the altar of truth in preparation of sacrifice, sacrifice of the shadowed one.

Boidh se!
-Spanish Moss

"Lost in a thicket bare-footed upon a thorned path."

Twinkle

Crown Jewel
By: ME

Briar- Rose Queen
Dark mistress
Cauldron of Birth
Tomb of death
Sign at the gate
Grind the mill
With a thorn and oath
Brand the Witch Blood
All go round

Mabon

Mabon is fast approaching and with it comes to mind the time of the harvest. It should be noted though that it is the time of the Second Harvest, with first being at Lughnasadh and third at Samhain. The harvest begins at one, through the next, and ending at the last. If you sit and contemplate the food harvested at each point and compare it to the Witches’ Wheel and the Sabbats much will be revealed about the nature of the spiritual self.

Lughnasadh marks the point of harvesting grain for which to make bread (hence the name Loafmas, Loaf-mass, in some traditions), from there we move to things like grapes at Mabon, and finally to the apples harvest at Samhain (and the pig slaughter).

Lets focus on Mabon though. Think about grapes and the point on the Wheel. We have on one hand a food associated with the dead, elder hood, and the underworld along with it’s derivative of wine, and we have on the other hand the giving of thanks as well as the Sun Lords descent into the underworld. I’m not going to delve into what this could mean spiritually to us on our path around the circle but instead leave off here.

Boidh se!
-Spanish Moss

"Lost in a thicket bare-footed upon a thorned path."

Sign Post

Wake from the Crossroads of the mind and still facing the Dreaming Road with one foot in the Twilyte Realms, a place that is not a place and a time that is not a time, and the other upon the sovereign soil of here.

If you look up and read the sign post there, what will you learn? What do you see written? Perhaps the whispering winds from a hidden province will speak of silent truths.

Why is it when offered a taste of the knowledge, from the tree of life, do we only desire the fruit? What if life offers the secrets from a bite of bark? Do we recognize it for what it is and sample a nibble or are we too focused upon the sweet and juicy prizes in the boughs above?

These are the questions I face for when I woke from my night time travels I found stuck there in my mind a lapwing calling from the maze, "I will show you the way."

Old lessons tell me not to the heed call but to turn and see the truth the other way.

So I continue to muse and reflect upon what I saw on that post when I woke, "No one wants to take a bite of the tree behind you."

Boidh se!
-Spanish Moss

"Lost in a thicket bare-footed upon a thorned path."

Initiation

(The following is an excerpt from my Path of the Garter materials... its not oath bound and I thought I would share.-SM)

Initiation is several things; it is the beginning upon the path into the beyond, it is the act of formally becoming apart of a group, and it is the inner process of understanding the mysteries.

As you read this you have started yourself upon a journey, one that will take you from the point where you are at now into the unknowable. This is a turning point, an initiation of sorts. Sometimes we make the choice for change and sometimes we find ourselves at the doorstep of a new beginning without ever seeking it. Initiation in this manner takes many forms, moving to a new place shifts our lives in a new direction, starting a new school or career, becoming a mother or father, all of these are examples of initiatory beginnings. You have taken the first step along the path.

“The longest journey begins with the first step.” - Traditional proverb

Formally becoming a member of a group or organization in some form is another form of initiation. Some groups or traditions mark this point with a formal ceremony or ritual. This is an integral part of Witchcraft and the Western Mystery tradition as a whole. Initiation traditionally is made after and only with the completion of a year and a day’s time and when the seeker (non-initiate seeking full membership) has a full foundational understanding of the tradition as a whole (requirements for initiation vary from group to group and tradition to tradition). It must be said that initiation is not for everyone and choosing not to undergo this rite does not make your craft any less.

The third form of initiation is that of inner initiation. This is the process of understanding, of personal enlightenment of the mysteries. This is not an initiation that can be given; it can not be planned or timed. This is the “ah ha” moments of life. Sometimes they can be small or life shaking and altering, there can be many or just a few. Initiation into the mysteries is what is said to take place when we understand them on an inner instinctual level, it just happens.

Boidh se!
-Spanish Moss

"Lost in a thicket bare-footed upon a thorned path."

Nature of a Witch

One is not a Witch only when it is convenient. The branded blood is not something that can be turned on and off. Once the mark has been ignited the cunning fire does not subdue.

Too often I have heard talk of the Craft as if it were a hobby or a way to escape the norms of life.

Witchcraft is a way of life. Every breathe a Witch takes, even if it is at the mall or while paying the bills, is the breathe of a Witch. This may confuse some people who only think of Witchcraft as the practice of magick. Well, they are correct and woefully wrong at the same time. Witchcraft is more than magick; it is so much more. It should not be forgotten that every moment is shaded with the potential and that all it takes is intent. Once one has sipped from the well of fates then the past can not be undone. The moment a Witch is stirred is the same moment the weave has patterned them into itself.

The path of the Witch may lead them down many roads, some far from where they stand. But once Old Fate Herself has recognized her own then there is no removing the memory. All that she has ever been is now. Once a Witch made, a Witch remains.

Boidh se!
-Spanish Moss

"Lost in a thicket bare-footed upon a thorned path."

Mill

The red thread weaves, flows forth, and shapes our connection. It is when we seize the crown of sovereignty that our relation changes. We image the sacred King and marry the land, we become shapers of the flow. From us the the thread thickens and pulses with nwyfre. This is the churn and grind of serpent's breath upon our lives.

Boidh se!
-Spanish Moss

"Lost in a thicket bare-footed upon a thorned path."

Airts

For many paths of the Craft the elements are the core or center of focus for the directional provinces. This in my opinion is unfortunate since these provinces are more then the wind that blows but the entire landscape. The elements are important but so are the rest of the directional associations. If we are to truly learn this language of symbols then we must learn to speak with more then one word. When we have been immersed in the river of tongues then our art permeates with the points of the realms and provinces.

Boidh se!
-Spanish Moss

"Lost in a thicket bare-footed upon a thorned path."

Fate

The coldest depth of severity burns hottest. But it is from death that life is born anew. There is here an intimate relationship between the two. It is the Goddess that births the Morning Star and when the Lord of the Mound delivers the dead to her tomb it is she who stands at twilight winnowing the harvest. It is from these fated seeds that she as the Mother is impregnated with the threads of the past and the present is weaved and born.

Boidh se!
-Spanish Moss

"Lost in a thicket bare-footed upon a thorned path."

I enjoyed this video.

Boidh se!
-Spanish Moss

"Lost in a thicket bare-footed upon a thorned path."

Lineage

Lineage to me matters only in certain cases. That is when your claim as membership to a certain group, that is oath-bound and initiatory based, needs to be verified. Of course lineage is only one way to do this. But that is as far as I think it should go. It doesn't make you better or more legit, it just shows you are a member of said group or at least you were at some point. The threads of tradition flow through many avenues, many of which are not 'lineaged' sources.

Don't get me wrong though. I place a great deal of weigh on training and tradition. Its just far too often that lineage is thrown around outside of the circles it matter in. Just as membership is not external to the group neither should be one's lineage.

Boidh se!
-Spanish Moss

"Lost in a thicket bare-footed upon a thorned path."

Threads

Three threads; red, green, and purple; have been weaved and a young mind invoked. The book has been linked. Thus is how new keys are made.

Boidh se!
-Spanish Moss

"Lost in a thicket bare-footed upon a thorned path."

Witches' Sabbath

The goal of the Witch is to journey to the Witches' Sabbath. To the grand celebration and communion with the Gods of the Witches. We must only learn to look through the eyes of a Witch to see the grand festival of the Horned Androgyne all around us and as us, within.

The Lord shows us the path and the Lady greets us with grail in hand. How do you chase the moon through our inner night? Ask the sun for he illuminates the path. When you have knelt at the altar of truth and learned the mystery of the Lady and offered yourself (the ego), as a sacrifce, as did the Lord, to yourself (for thou art God) then you transcend division from existance and become married to the weave of mandred. The Sabbath is here and now, it is the center, it is us.

Boidh se!
-Spanish Moss

"Lost in a thicket bare-footed upon a thorned path."

Blog

So I will be using this blog as a place to put my thoughts and views on Witchcraft. My Craft begins and ends here. Here is where ever I am.

Boidh se!
-Spanish Moss

"Lost in a thicket bare-footed upon a thorned path."