Afternoon Tea with the Dead

Yesterday morning I took a blessed bath. It is something I am in the habit of doing at least once in a week. The day varies depending on any workings I am planning—magickal timing is magickal after all. For me it is a holy experience whereby I immerse myself, literally, in the waters of life. If you have never bathed in a tub full of blessed and consecrated water it is clear to me that perhaps you should give it a go.

This blog isn’t about that though, sorry to confuse anyone with the weird intro. See it is relevant because this is where I was and what I was doing when the actual topic of this blog came to mind.

It should be no secret that I work with my ancestors. Such is a key and central part to the Craft and magick in general. I even have two ancestor altars in the house. There is one in the Temple Room for the Mighty Dead and there is a shelf altar I use for making offerings to my blood kin. I’ve been considering setting up a more traditional one though for a more hearth and home based ancestral relationship type practice.

When I was bathing, my grandmother (here after called by her more proper name "Nana") presented herself repeatedly into my mind. In simple terms, every time I would start thinking about something she would pop into my head. As such it is clear to me that she is reaching out. I find this to be significant since it is the first time she has been active in my spiritual life since her passing. I just assume she had some otherworldly Nana stuff to do up until now. Sure I’ve included her in my offerings but this is different.

So I think I’m gonna brew a pot of tea, because Nana was British and kept afternoon tea throughout her life, and sit down and chat with her. I may even make some of her scones as an offering too.

Boidh Se!

-SM

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

Made and Ordained of Old

Under the Mother’s Blood Moon the incense wafts across the altar carrying upon its wind the prayers of offering. There is a flame lit, a dish for the meal, and a small glass of wine; all are gifts of spirit.

The heart is opened and the conversation with divine is begun. The tinge of presence washes into focus, thoughts flood the mind, and the skin shivers.

From the graves of the Well-fated the Ancestors sing, from the four corners of the World the Mighty Ones stand witness placing their hand upon the altar, from the center that is everywhere our Lady and our Lord ladle the mysteries of the Moon and Sun, and from the Witch the chant evoking creation arises unto the whole of the universe.

The ecstatic rides the blood and kisses the brow with the abode of the sacred names whispered from the stars, stones, and roots.

Boidh Se!

-SM

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

A Crucible of Now

Just be, just be here. Just immerse yourself into the wholeness of the moment so that time fades away and all boundaries slip from the edge of the circle into the center. In this singular awareness there is no distinction between one’s breath and the cyclic ebb and flow of the universe. The vision of the world as experienced melts into the sameness as in which the divine manifests. It is about complete and total presence to the point that everything except the eternal falls from awareness.

This is not to deny the host or the legion, for although the whole of the grove is comprised of wood each tree is still separate. It is about stepping outside time and space in an instant before returning with the divine knowledge pouring forth from the heart as the authority of creation.

Boidh se!

-SM

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

A Wolf in Lap-wing’s Clothing

A thought fluttered into the path of the Waking Road, before the eye of awareness. Beckoning. Feigning the illusion of truth and the tantalizing taste of a moment’s ambrosia it started into the Thicket of the inner landscape as if to begin a race. This train of thought was not a lap-wing leading from a nest full of hidden treasure though. To give into the desire of longing for what was once would be a hunt without a victor; the only prize would be the fatigue and aches accumulated during the chase.

Instead of running until the knees buckled and suffering overwhelmed the heart vessel, the notion was allowed to dissipate without having been weaved into the fabric of fate.

There will always be change and transience in life and if the Witch makes their cottage in the brush of what is lost the house will be painted in tears. There is a choice though and the Witch focused upon the brew currently simmering in the hearth will find they are surrounded by the wonders of their Craft and with a potion that will fill every hunger.

Boidh Se!

-SM

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

Satan and His Big Ole Box

So recently I read a blog post written by a Gardnerian High Priestess out of NC titled “I Worship Satan and You Do, Too.” Did your Witchy senses just knee jerk too? I know mine did when I first saw the title. After all, it is and has been a basic mantra of the Craft that “We don’t believe in Satan.” Then I went and read it and ground up what was said so I could apply some critical analysis flying oinkment under the pointy hat (smirk). Cause critical thinking is an important life and Craft skill, but y’all knew that. Now go read said blog before continuing on if you want relevance.

I have to say the perspective given is not one I am familiar with, just not my accustomed to paradigm and whatnot. The whole only two boxes thing is just alien. The part that I have been mulling over is the obvious ineffectiveness that our rhetoric has not only had but the reason for it. Simply put, it doesn’t work because those with who would argue with us decrying us as Satanists see the substance of the mantra as irrelevant to what they are saying.

I found this amusing.

I won't lie, I spent a few minutes trying to come up a good and effective point to make. But I don’t think I am going to bother trying further. If someone truly needs to be educated then I will engage but I am not going to get into a conversation where either party assumes the wrongness of the other or I need to disprove our supposed wrongness. It is against my understanding of the Craft, as I talked about here, to decry someone’s beliefs, but that does not mean I have to entertain them either. This is not an either or kinda situation. I think instead I’m just gonna wish them a blessed day and go about practicing Witchcraft, worshiping my Gods and Goddesses, and otherwise being awesome (after all, Witches are awesome) regardless of whether anyone thinks I am sitting in Satan’s big ole box of damn near everything.

Boidh Se!

-SM

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

City of Spirits

Part of the reality of my adult life is moving a lot. Every two or three years my entire household is packed up and moved off to some place (in another state) in which I have never lived, where I don’t know anyone, and everything is started over. It is just the way of it. I am not complaining, as this was by my own choice of occupation, just stating the reality of the situation to give relevance.

From a personal practice stand point I have noticed something. Each move there is kind of a focus or theme to that phase of my Crafting. This should not be surprising to anyone that is involved in a magickal lifestyle. Life changes and with it so does our practice.

With my recent move, less than a year ago, I made the conscious effort upon moving here to engage the local spirits and various spirts of place actively. The last couple of moves this wasn’t something that was really needed as I was already familiar with the areas. So it has been about a decade since my moving has required this form of work. As such, I made a plan. Make note, good magick is planned magick. It doesn’t necessarily follow the plan but if the Witch is always scrambling in the last minute their results will reflect.

The plan was/is a simple one. I needed to meet the dead or ancestors of the people, I needed to meet the prominent Genii Loci, I needed to find the local Craft/and or magickal community, and I needed to make contact with and pay respects to the Patrons/Matrons; a basic and sensible plan from which to begin if I do say so myself.

To date, I have pretty much done everything on that list and let me tell you, it has shaken my practice up. For lack of a better way to explain it, this city is the Crossroads of Spirit work. Sure I have worked with a whole host of various beings, deities, ancestors, spirits, etc, before coming here. I’ve even successfully partnered in an exorcism. The thing is, this place, unlike any I have been to before, is not only saturated with various hosts and legions of spirits but is equally as active therein.

I can’t say as whether or not such is or will be the theme of this cycle of my practice but I will say that when I next leave here that my metaphorical spirit work muscles will have gotten some deep fiber focused training. The Witch in me loves it too.

This is the City of Spirits. This is the Crossroads where the Dirt meets the Stars and things go bump in the Night.

Boidh Se!

-Spanish Moss

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

God is XYZ, pt.3: The Paradox

God is XYZ, pt.3: The Paradox

(Read the first and second parts here and here.)

For a long time now I have purposely withheld my personal opinion about the Nature of the Gods and any belief I may hold or not about them. My reason is a simple one. I have had a hard time putting just what I believe into articulate words I can intellectually grasp, let alone so that another can understand what I am babbling on about.

Part of the issue, and a minor part at that, is I largely don’t actively engage in a belief based paradigm. I practice. Sure that which I do, Contemporary Pagan Initiatory-based Witchcraft (feel free to toss Mystery-based, Orthopraxis, and Oath-bound in that description too), is a practice that interacts with the world with an Oligotheistic lens. As such, one would assume that my own practice begotten beliefs would fall into one of the forms of Polytheism common to such a practice.

Truth be told, it is a bit more complicated than that. Please understand, I am not in saying this in any way trying to say anyone else’s beliefs, to include those that solely subscribes to one of these –isms, is any less valid or complicated. I am just saying that my own take on the Nature of the Gods is complicated, or maybe I am making it that way.

The most common short list –isms that I encounter in the Craft are Monotheism, Monism (arguably a form of Polytheism or Monotheism depending on whom you ask), Polytheism whether “hard” or “soft” (to include Oligotheism, Duotheism, Henotheism), Agnostic, and Atheism. Yes, all of that under the same roof. Easily so too, because orthopraxis embraces that belief belongs to the individual not the group.

The problem that I have with explaining my beliefs about the Nature of the Gods is that there is an apparent paradox in that I wholeheartedly feel that each and every one of these is simultaneously wrong and correct all at the same time. How is that for not making any new friends or pissing off the ones you have?

Sure I invoke, pray to, ritual with, and a whole host of other interactions with a whole legion of spirits, beings, and Gods and Goddesses. I also assert they are all real too. It is just the nature of this realness exists in various contradictory forms all at once. From the logical arena of arguers this view is ridiculous and so full of rhetorical holes that a sunken ship is more likely to stay afloat. To that, I simply say “So? My Craft is a Mystery Religion.”

The thing is I believe that any Gods and Goddesses and the Self are of the same nature (that whole Natural Theology thing)... and the Self is paradoxical. The Self has no birth, no death, it is not coming from anywhere, it is not going anywhere, it is not the same as anything, it is not different than anything, there is no being, and there is no non-being. All of this is true about the Self and about the Divine (no matter how you chop it up, or not).

I think that the Nature of the Gods (and the Self) can best be described with the four following statements, of which all are equally true. The Craft is a mystery religion and when we sit in the place where the mind accepts them all then we truly open the door for the Gods to enter, or at least so I believe:

The Gods and/or Goddesses are not this.

The Gods and/or Goddesses are not that.

The Gods and/or Goddesses are not both.

The Gods and/or Goddesses are not neither.

So there you have it, my belief. I think I will dub it “Superpolyoligotheisticmonoagnodocious” or I guess we could just go with continuing to call it “Witchcraft” cause that already covers all of that. Anyway, at the end of the day I still hold to the whole idea that one’s practice is paramount and that the Nature of the Gods is irrelevant to such, so let’s not get too wrapped up in concrete definitions that deny very real aspects of the divine.

 Boidh Se!

-Spanish Moss

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