Rip the Veil from Your Eyes

There is a stirring. I can feel it. It moves, slithers, writhes, twisting and turning. It’s making me restless. There beyond the end of my awareness, the subtle pulse of it throbs as if it were a drum in the depth of my soul. Something calls. Not as a spirit does though. This is different.

The depths of the woods, the dark of the night, they sing. This song is wild and permeates the edges between. It is the musk in the damp earth, crisp of the air, silver of the moon, the bellowing of the stag into the night, the screech of the owl… 

It is the hum of the point where these come together.

All about me this song claws itself into my flesh, pouring itself into my blood, demanding that my bones rattle to the tune. Dance they say. Dance as the serpent dances. Hiss and seethe. Sway and shake.

Go and drink your fill of me ye who longs. Rip the veil from your eyes and gaze upon the face of the eternal sun. Burn away the flesh with its searing heat and step out into the night. Answer the call. Come.

 

Boidh Sé,

-SM

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

 

Book Review- The Clovenstone Workings: A Manual of Early Modern Witchcraft

 The last time I reviewed a book, I simply cracked open the first chapter and cranked out my thoughts as I went. It’s not exactly a conventional approach, but it helped me think through my thoughts on the book. Plus, it was fun. If the truth were told, I quit reading a few chapters later as the material just didn’t hold my attention. The past several years I’ve been more interested in practicing the Craft over reading yet another rehash of material I’m already familiar with. I still think that it has a lot to offer some folks but it just didn’t have much for me to take away from it. 

I did not have that problem with “The Clovenstone Workings: A Manual of Early Modern Witchcraft.” Here is the difference, whereas I am familiar with the primary focus of the book, it is not often written about in modern witchcraft books. For clarity, I’m talking about the use of pacts. Now, anyone that has been around the spirit-work block for two minutes will be familiar with pacts. With that said, I can’t recall the last time I read a collection of practices that advocated pacts as the method of achieving the witching power from the Lord and Lady of the Underworld. Referred to in this work as the Devil and Queen of Elphame, as derived from folklore and sources throughout the last couple of centuries.

This book was touted as being a fresh look, even controversial, to the modern witch’s craft. If I think about it for a moment… I suppose. You see, I’ve read a lot of the same source material, actively practice traditions that have likewise been influenced by it, and so it’s less shocking to me. If though, I consider that the average contemporary Neo-Pagan Witch was likely Christian at some point, is not at all knowledgeable of said sources, and probably runs at the thought of Pacts with the Devil, then yes, I suppose it can be. 

I don’t work with the Devil… err, the Christian Devil. There is a lot that can be argued many different directions in regards to the folk lore Devil of the Witch and how it can be interpreted/worked with. I will say that I know the entity as described in the book but have never called him by that name, nor do I plan to. I have my ties with the Lord of the Mound and initiatory names by which I address/speak of him and I’ll keep those. Same goes for the Lady of the Isle of Annwyn. 

With that said, I love this book. I love it for the synthesis of the practices as they are presented therein. I will add to this, I don’t feel the need in the least bit to undergo seeking a pact with either entity as written in this book. I don’t need to. My initiation binds me into a working relationship with my Lord and my Lady and said Traditions have our own ways of gaining the sight, the power, and becoming Witched as this book calls it. I do think that the praxis of this book can be successful and achieve the goals it lays out. Outside of that, there are still things that spark inspiration in regards to my own arte. 

Beyond pact making there are practices that this book touches on, mostly in the context of said focus, but that can easily be used in a variety of other ways. I’m not going to list all of them but a few follow so that you can get an idea of what’s in this book.

Words: There are a lot of barbarous and channeled words throughout the practices of this work. Many of them are snippets taken from the Greek Magical Papyri. A part of me feels they are a bit out place with the rest of the work. YET. Yet, at the same time I like the feel that the words give in relation to the rest of the techniques. I myself make use of barbarous words from various sources, so I like this practice. There are also a handful of channeled words of power that are included in the book.  

Breaching Talisman: There are instructions for making a talisman that helps one’s influence cross to the more subtle realms. I understand that it is also mentioned in other works by the author but as I haven’t bought any of them since the Witching Way first came out on lulu, therefore this is my first encounter of it in this context. In some ways it reminds me of lamens used in grimoire work, in other ways it doesn’t. The sigil on it has lots of potential for use in other ways, as does the interchange of what sigils is used based on the goal. 

Green Oyl: All I am going to say is that I have other methods given to me. This method and uses are interesting. Similar sources beget similar things sometimes and I think this is one of the cases here.

Riding Poles: My favorite part of this section is the walking of a riding pole around to get it used to traveling with you. As someone that regularly touches upon the memory of things and place in my approach to the Craft, I like this. I’m actually currently at the beginning stages of seeking out a new stang for use at a new ritual site I’ve been courting and this section has given me some ideas to include.

Dreams: There is a whole lot of witchcraft in this book involving witch dreams and confirmation of pacts, etc, via them. 

There you have it, a brief overview of what this book is about. In short, I recommend it. Read it— do witchcraft with it. If nothing else, use it to challenge your own craft. Buy it here.

Boidh Sé,

-SM

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

Sow Seeds This Autumn Equinox

This Autumn Equinox, I planted seeds. I know that according to our lore, this is a time of harvest and not planting. However, there is a place that is not a place and a time that is not a time. Yes, this saying applies to our Holy Days too, and not just to the Temple between the Worlds. 

You see, there are some crops that the summer heat causes to wither and die. This is why I planted seeds. Literally. I planted a fall and winter garden. This also got me to thinking about this Sabbat and the planting of seeds. My first thought was that placing seeds in the ground was akin to sowing them in the Isle of the Underworld. 

Holy shit! My brain exploded from there. This is the Holy Day when our Lord is said to descend into the Underworld. He is also the Lord of the Harvest and of the Greenwood. His harvest is a seed; our harvest is a seed. Just as some crops prefer the cold, so too some harvests that we sow must enter the darkness of the Underworld, and the cold, in order to bear fruit. 

Today isn’t just about harvesting, certainly it is and you should enjoy such, but it is also about planting. It is about planting the seeds that thrive and require the dark of the year in order to grow. So harvest but also sow your seeds this day. 

Boidh Se, 

 -SM 

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

Pause for a Moment

It does not take much to pause and connect with the spiritual world.  It only takes a moment of practice, a doing that quickens the sight with the unseen.  Simply put, do something that you think of as extra and related to religious practice and it will draw you in and connect you.

All you need is a moment of this extraordinary to plug-in.  Light a stick of incense and give it as an offering, utter a prayer, sing unto the winds… it doesn’t matter.  Your action, no matter how small, is your call into the Other World.  The dialogue between you, The Caller, and the whole of existence, begins with the tiniest of steps.  

So, take a pause and let your practice unite you in the presence of the subtle.  Keep it simple, just do it.

Boidh Se,

-SM

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

3 Things You Can Do to Make Your Fall Equinox More Meaningful

In the Agricultural Cycle of the Wheel of the Year, we hit mid-Harvest, also called Second Harvest, in the wee hours of this approaching Monday.  That is if we are calculating this Holy Day in conjunction with the timing of the Autumn Equinox.  Personally, I don’t think many are going to get upset if you decide to celebrate on Sunday if the day is more convenient.  Afterall, if you have been tending your harvest, you know it is a season and determining the point exactly in the middle is more about the weather and growth of your crops and less about a predetermined point in time.

In popular lore, Contemporary Pagans, in the US anyway, like to describe this Sabbat as a kind of Pagan Thanksgiving.  In many ways, this is spot on.  Thanksgiving as a holiday was adopted because when the powers that be were looking for a singular harvest holiday to add to the national calendar it was one of many various harvest days observed across the US and it fell at a time that was the most convenient for the most folks, so both are all about the harvest and the celebration of such.  Sadly though, too many like to stop their understanding of our Sabbat there.

With all of that said, I was thinking about a few practices, and the associated lore, of this holiday and thought I would share them as a short list of things that could potentially make your Second Harvest a more meaningful one.

One – Winnowing

Winnowing is the process of separating the chaff, and other unwanted parts, from the grain once it has been harvested but before it is milled or otherwise stored for later use.  Typically, the harvesting of wheat begins in early August and is wrapping up in mid-September, which is right about now.  This means that by this point in the harvest, there sure has been a lot of winnowing going on. 

Back at First Harvest, at the beginning of August, the first grains of the yield were being made into fresh bread as we sacrificed stalk upon stalk of wheat.  In the crossroads of the Sacred King Cycle and Agricultural Cycle, these stalks are the symbolic sacrifice of Our Lord for the good of the tribe.  It’s that whole “the King is dead, long live the King thing.”

Well, He is dead now and the grain harvest is in.  Time to separate our chaff from the fruit of our labor before we being our journey to the Underworld.  You see, He is our example in the turning of the Wheel and the symbology of the Harvest is really talking all about us, which means that now that Second Harvest is upon us it is time to get to work winnowing.   

What Harvest have you been working on in life?  What do you need to separate from your grain?  How will you winnow such?

Two – Shrouding

We are all going to die.  One day it will be our bodies that are the harvest of the universe.  This is just the way of the turning of the Wheel of Life and Death, which is really all the Wheel of the Year is telling a story about, the Cycle of Death and Rebirth or Living and Dying, they are the same story from different points.  At this point, death has already arrived and we are shrouded in the mysteries of that Final Initiation.  This is what the lore tells us anyway.

There is a practice here also, the practice of shrouding.  When you light the candles upon your altar this Feast Day, snuff His and wrap Him in a shroud.  He is still there, just like we are all still there even in death.  For you see, that’s you sitting upon the altar wearing your burial clothes.  It, however, is only symbolic of our worldly death, the death of our body, and the death of only one of our Selves.  It is not the Self that travels to dwell in the hearth of the ancestors or the Self that reincarnates and is the thread throughout all of our lives.

This Holy Day is also about the embracing of our own morality and wearing that truth as our burial clothes turned divine mantle. 

When was the last time you thought about the harvest that your own death would yield?  The time is upon us, and remember it is never too late/early to begin preparing the fields for the future.

Three – Descending

Another tendency that is common amongst Contemporary Pagans is to allocate all things related to the Underworld to Samhain, also called Third Harvest.  The lore of the thinning veil and communing with one’s ancestors certainly makes this an easy association.  Samhain, however, is all about things that have already made it to the Underworld.  Now is the time of things descending across that threshold unto the Underworld.  If you have been thinking about doing an Underworld journey, now is the time to do that.

Even in this Descent there is a Harvest, as we know from Her later descent at Samhain to join Him, there are gates that one must pass—Seven gates.  I like to think of them like passing the gates of the Wandering Stars to the point where the two conjoin—the flame betwixt the horns.  Take that as you will.  The point is that if you are to strip away and cut free to reveal that which is eternal, you are going to have to give a few things up.  Sacrifices are needing to be made as a toll on the road to the next phase.

Second Harvest is an excellent time for this kind of Witchcraft.  What sacrifices are you going to make so that you may feast at the table?

Boidh Se,

-SM

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