Into the Mound

The Court of Brigid - Journal, Pt 2

2012-01-30T10:41:00.000-08:00

The basic Shrine of the working.
Fire, Well & Tree, offering bowl,
the image of Brigid,and an excellent
paving stone from Midnight Moon.

Journal 1/27–29, 2012

I write this on Sunday morning, having completed the first two rites of the sequence. So far we have been blessed, and have been learning a great deal about how to apply these methods. L. and I will work the final rite, convoking the Courtier spirits together, this evening.

I: The Audience of Brigid

The Audience rite seemed to go very well on Friday evening. We made the decision to invite some of the Grove elders and friends, and had a total of eight people present (I suppose the Honored Guest makes nine…). The performance of the ritual went smoothly, including the fairly complex nine offerings to Brigid and the extra-magicy blessings. Actually I thought the Blessing was very juicy indeed, with extra time taken to consecrate the purification by water, and the live flame of the blessing fire passing around. That is always a good dramatic element, and good Indian incense-cones will burn with a live flame for three to four minutes before producing plenty of lovely perfumed blessing smoke. The guests were full of energy and inspiration as we finished, and we continued to converse on into the evening.

My own impressions during the vision portion were that I was welcomed and thanked by the Goddess for assembling the occasion of worship. I think the gods of old times are still unused to hearing their names praised, unused to receiving our offerings. My relationship with Brigid is the closest of my bonds with the Gods, and her presence was easy and natural as well as intense and illuminating. When we had completed the blessing spells, and the water and fire were sitting before Her shrine, folks came to them for further purification and empowerment – just to bathe in Her blessing. It was a moment of wordless delight.

This kind of rite is something I have done many times. Structurally it went without a hitch and needs no edits. I cannot say the same for the second two rites.

II: Structural Concerns

The effort to develop a ritual spirit arte that applies the general principles of Euro-Grimoiric methods using the Druidic Order of Ritual and inside a pre-Neoplatonic, Indo-European mythic cosmos is ongoing. The Court of Brigid is my most formal and sharable working yet, but it is still in alpha testing, if I must evaluate it in that way. Part of the problem lies in how it was created and what I’ve tried to do with it next.

I began the work as a festival ritual attended my many skilled Druids. In that context it was a Big Damn Deal done all at once – an hour-and-a-half working that included a devotional offering to the Goddess, attunement to the mysteriously nouveau Three Powers, and then group trance in which we wrote down the names of some sixteen spirits discerned by the members of the company. In general the structure and progressive entrancement and conjuring built into that rite worked well.

I want to do more work with the spirits we met in that rite, and would like to make the work available to others as well. It seems to me that expecting a solitary mage to assemble and work the full temple-ritual group-rite is less effective than to split the work up into a series of workings for personal performance. Also, the initial rite was a ‘prospecting’ rite. It involves opening the way, summoning a host of spirits, then sorting those for a few who will work with the mage through alliance. However we now have the basic list of initial spirits. I have been forced to ask myself whether to present the work to others as a method contacting those spirits or as a method of doing further prospecting. I have received requests to do the original rite again as a festival event – again I wonder whether and how much Brigid’s Court, vast as it must be, varies from Ohio to California.

However, what I wanted for myself was to deepen my own contact with the spirits who had responded at that first rite. The fact is that since I was one of the primary conjurors in that group rite (along with L) I just didn’t speak with a spirit myself, or add to the list. The list is interesting, and further work by a few folks has been encouraging, so I wanted a direct deal. Therefore I chose to construct the three rites as primarily a method of contacting the Courtiers that had already presented themselves and made an oath to us.

In the end I divided the work into three rites:

1: The Audience: A preparatory blessing in which the mage offers to the patron god of the rite and receives her purifcation and empowerment.

2: The Three Queens: The ‘shaktis’ of the goddess – personified and individual daemons who very directly express the deity’s core nature – the ‘archangels’ if you like – were called to the Fire to be met and allied with as individual spirits.

3: Convoking the Court: calling the individual Courtiers to make pacts. I wrote the new script to allow for a complete summoning of all sixteen spirits. More on that below.

Is it artistic laziness to recycle ones own words in the context of ritual writing? I tend to think it isn’t. Repetition has more value in spirituality than novelty (as little as certain modernists like the fact), and when one is willing to work from written text, as we continue to be, familiarity is very valuable. However, my effort to edit the texts away from their group-rite, one-shot origins into personal rites was only so successful by the time we got to the actual performance.

III: Calling the Three Queens

Look, when the spirits lead the mind in their direction, sometimes we must just follow. Did I ‘make up’ the ‘idea’ of the Three Powers – three great persons of the Goddess who act as agents of the divine power of Brigid? Yeah, maybe, sort-of. It evolved by reading about Shakta tantra, about the local persons of cosmic goddesses who are the direct objects of worship and magic in that very polytheist system. Of course it is no stretch to find the Three Powers of Brigid – Poetry, Smithcraft and Healing – in lore, and not much more of a stretch to name these three great daemons, or Queens of the Sidhe. The Harp, the Hammer and the Cup were the names that seemed obvious to me. I rendered them into Irish, and called them by those names, and they appeared.

In the original festival rite the Three Queens, or Three Powers, were called as intermediaries between the Goddess and the Courtiers, and as authorities by which the latter were called. Really, it was only our long devotion to the Goddess that kept us out of trouble, I think. Now that I have made direct conversation with those three I’m sure it would have been better had we done so in the first place. Fortunately, the benign and homely nature of Brigid (even in the austere nature of the Harp-Queen, or the lessons of the Hammer-Queen) protected us.

The Three Powers appeared to me in forms proper to their nature. The Clairseach Brid – the Harp of Brigid – came as an austere Druidess in white, with her harp and voice, and a sharp, telling gaze. She has a special place in my personal work both as mage, Druid and artist. I was reminded that ‘poet’ meant something very different to the old ways.

The Cuach Brid – the Cup of Brigid – came as the Red Queen, but not with the raving, Morrigan-y energy. Rather she was the red warmth of hearth-fire and good meat. Appearing as an earth-momma in noble garb and a scarlet cloak she brings the mother’s love, and compassion for all beings. I’ve never been heavily into the healing vibe. She reminded me of the value of that work, and the compassion it both creates and requires.

The Casur Brid – the Hammer of Brigid – appeared as a smith-woman, in a skirt and jerkin of thick leather and a thick black cloak of wool. She came more as black iron than as white silver, but both are hers. Strong and skilled, she both inspires artists and works the shaping of fate. I expect to ask for her aid in practical matters. All three of the Queens have interest in financial security and prosperity, whether the bard’s or physician’s fee, the smith’s pay or the wealth of the family farm.

This sounds like fairly standard ‘aspects of the Goddess’ stuff, but they came to our Fire as persons; shining, giant, mighty persons, but still persons. I had prepared their sigils in a new book, but there was no discussion of ‘swearing on’ them. I was told that my devotion to the Goddess earned me the aid of the Queens, and that while offerings were proper and welcome (we had neglected milk for them, though we gave it for Brigid, which they requested) we weren’t making a ‘pact’ with the Three Queen of the Court of Brigid. OK…

L received personal names separate from the titles for the spirits. We looked those up in the Old Irish resources with some interesting results. For now I’ll reserve those names. Myself, I was led to refer to them by their titles.

I had not included a ‘binding’ spell in this rite. In the calling of the Courtiers There is a specific binding and oath, part of the pact. While this was not included in the Three Queens rite, there was some residual pact-y language that I’ll probably remove or modify.

Generally the rite was powerful and fulfilling. There was no practical goal for that rite, in the sense of ‘charging’ the Queens with some task. Rather it was more Theurgy, bringing the active power of the Goddess closer to our shrine through these spirits.

IV: Convoking the Courtiers - 1/30/2012

It's Monday morning now, and we've completed the third rite. This is the money shot of the working, the calling of the more ground-level members of Brigid’s Court. Throughout our discussions about how to manage this the central issue was whether to attempt to convoke all sixteen spirits in one big crowd, take their oaths and then plan further work, or do something else. We both felt that while there would be plenty of juice in the all-or-none approach it might also reduce the practical result through taxing out skills and strength.

Then L had a great idea. We used the pendulum, and asked which of the spirits from the original list wanted to come directly that evening and enter into pact with us. After some experimentation, I ended up holding the pendulum. L held the book that I had prepared (thanks, lulu…) and indicated one spirit’s sigil at a time with her wand. I wasn’t told which spirit she was asking about, nor in what order she chose them, so we had pretty good double-blind on that. My experience doing the pendulum was fairly intense, with the presence of the three Queens very strong. My intuitions about which of the Courts would be predominant was correct, although I had no clues as to which spirit I was asking about. While I intend to keep the names of the spirits to myself, I’ll say that they are four from the Court of the Harp and two from the Court of the Hammer, though two of the Harp Courtiers might cross over into the Cup’s Court.

So, with the number of spirits that we would call limited reasonably we felt ready to go ahead. We had left the Shrine in place in our living room, at our hearth, since Friday evening. The juice was palpable. Just sitting down at it to do the pendulum divination brought the presence of The Goddess, and the Three Queens were there as well. Each morning we policed the previous night’s incense ash and herb bits, making the Shrine ready for the next work.

After considerable fiddling with the sequence, we settled on an outline. We would call to all the spirits with the primary conjuration as written. I had written the third rite as though all the Courtiers would be called, and had arranged the offerings so that they could all be done at once. We removed that section and instead made the proper offering (as was taught by the spirits at the original rite) as each of the six spirits was called in turn. Each spirit was called, given their proper offering, and their name intoned as we drew their sigil in the smoke of the offerings.

The assembled spirits were then bound and charged using the model I’ve developed. Truly, in this case it all felt like a formality. When we did this the first time we called a host of indeterminate spirits, so when we called for only those who work with us in proper ways to remain, bidding other depart, it counted. In this case the spirits stood their ground. After all, they had already heard those oaths when I recited them the first time.

Nevertheless I intended to build a more direct pact with these spirits. I had prepared a liber spirituum, with blanks ready to receive the sigils and names of the spirits and notes about their work. Once we had determined which spirits would be called I entered their names and a light line-in of their sigil. Once the spirits were welcomed we allowed an extended period for interaction with them. During that period I called each of the spirits to me in turn, asking them to place their hand on the sigil and affirm the oath and our alliance. In turn I placed my own hand on the same sign, and affirmed my part as well. This went very well for me, with the spirits anywhere from willing to actively pleased to swear in this way. Most were dignified, some were joyful. This gave me an opportunity to interact with each, see them more clearly, and get further hints as to their natures.

Let me say a word about the means by which the spirits appeared. I have been working in a model that uses vision-trance as the primary mode of seeing spirits. Our ritual model uses the symbol of a Gate, and in my training when I open my Inner Eyes I see the Gate open in our Sacred Space, with the spirits appearing in/through/by means of it. I have done ‘shamanic’ style work for years, and for me these visions aren’t ‘guided meditations’. While I use scripted guidance as a launching-pad at times, in these trances I am simply opening or moving my awareness and reacting to what happens. So, when the spirits appear they come as they will. I *did* have a general notion of how each would appear, based on their first appearance, but had several surprises and clearly external impressions. I did find that asking the spirits to interact directly with a material object (put their hand on a book) produced the most immediate and solid presence of the spirit. Since the rite I have done the sigils with proper line quality, and handwritten their basics.

Starter pages in the liber spirituum
for one of the Three Queens.

I considered making a triangle of manifestation and using disks of wood with the sigils. I may still, but I’m pushing my own buttons – some of my oldest – by making the liber spirituum, and that’s always good. I am convinced that drawing the spirits firmly into local reality is a valuable technique. I remain unconvinced that ‘visible’ appearance – i.e. a pseudo-sensory event indistinguishable from optical sight, or a psychokinetic vapor or dustcloud – would have produced any more valuable result. I do think that I will prepare a distinct locus spiritus for the next time.

I admit that I had no clear practical-magic objectives going into this. The spirits of Brigid the Goddess of Skills are especially useful to artists and creative folks, and I expect to be working with them quite a bit. However getting through the work as given, especially in three sequential nights, took most of the juice I had available. It seemed fine with the spirits to finish the introductory work and be willing to take up further efforts the next time.

That’s the next step – to begin calling these allies individually and assigning them to tasks. I have several ideas based on their nature. I’m pleased to say that all are sweet and strong beings, ready to improve human life through joy and beauty; the kind of magic that makes the day more pleasant, as well as more occult. I mean to ask them to teach spells, in the old way – patterns of natural things, symbols and words that allow the spirits to accomplish specific things in the manifest world. That will bring us full-circle around to how the Grimoire mages dealt with the spirits, and where their magic originated.

Court of Brigid Working – the plan so far.

2012-01-27T04:48:00.000-08:00

OK, a few other Druid mages have expressed an interest and received the materials for this work. L. and I are definitely doing the three rites between now and full moon on Feb 7th. Here’s a few notes on how I think it should go, including things that occurred to me after finishing the text, or as support.

The Audience With Brigid: We’ll be working this rite tonight, Friday, at our own hearth, with a small group of Grove members. This rite is much like a simple High Day, with complex offerings. We’ll arrange a big shrine for the goddess in front of our hearth, including a staff-sized World-Tree pillar with the Fire & Well. Our hearth isn’t used for full fires, so we’ll probably use something else for the ritual fire – I hope to do better than the ring-of-candles-and-censer approach. The rite calls for a hefty nine offerings, and they must all be disposed of properly. So a fire of some sort has to be ready for the incense, and herbs, etc. At very least I'll use camphor and nag champa cones for the Blessing fire, which burn with an open flame for minutes if you don't blow them out. Food offerings will be set before the eidolon of Brigid and taken outside later.

My goal in this rite is to bring the company into a close vision of Brigid. I have continued to be attracted to the Hindu term ‘darshan’. It literally means ‘seeing’ but the connotation is of having an ‘audience’ (which, of course, means a ‘hearing’) with the object. The term is applied to meetings with deities, gurus, kings and any sort of person for whom special access is required. So, our goal is to come into the presence of the Goddess to see and be seen.

The formal blessing phase of the Audience will serve both as preliminary work for the spirit-arte of the next two rites, and a good blessing for all present. I’ve adapted a Fire-and Water module that I’ve used before to provide purification and potentially healing through the water, and empowerment and energization through the fire. The rite should be very intimate and immediate. As usual, success will have a lot to do with my ability to entrance the company and induce the vision.

Calling the Three Queens: We will be working this rite on the Saturday immediately following the Audience. We’ll leave the Shrine in place (though safely cat-proofed) and simply return to it the following evening (L. and I) for the next rite. This is actually the most experimental of the three rites. In the first big rite we did the full audience invocation (though not the separate blessing) and we did a direct summoning of the ‘lesser’ daemons of the Court, seeking their names and conversation. We did not specifically call these three greater daemons of the Goddess for conversation, but only invoked their presence and blessing to allow us to speak with the Courtiers. In this round we will attempt to speak directly with the Three Powers as personal beings.

I find myself unable to avoid playing with Neoplatonic and later occult hierarchy models to this matter. I keep getting the term ‘archangels’ bouncing around in my head concerning the relative status and meaning of these three presences of the Goddess’ might. (Pagans unused to Christian magic may not realize just how god-like an archangel is.) However I also find myself reflecting on Hindu and Tantric models of spiritology, where a Goddess may appear in many persons, with diverse symbols. Those persons are not exactly ‘aspects’ of the single goddess, in the way many of us might have suggested back in the day. Rather they are, well, persons of the deity. Persons with their own names and signs, who may be called into human awareness for human goals, just as we hope to do with the Hammer, the Harp and the Cuaich. In a Hellenic vocabulary it would be proper to call them great daemons of Brigid. In a Gaelic one we say Tri Cuachtai (Three Powers) or Tri Banriona (Three Queens). The ritual as written includes a formal oath and alliance, as with the lesser courtiers. I remain open to the opinion of the Queens themselves on this matter.

The method here is traditional to western magic. A form is imagined for the spirit, and the spirit is called with offerings and invocation to inhabit the form. However the rite uses a pretty intense charm to allow the ‘sight’ using herbs and stones to make a potion for anointing. I look forward to working this. This time I don’t have to be the ritual chief, supporting the visions of others, and can look for myself.

Convoking the Court: L. and I will be working this right sometime during the next week, before the public Imbolc gathering. The rite is written, at present to include the convoking of the Three Powers along with the sixteen Courtiers who presented themselves at the original working. We’ll see how that goes. I have no preconception, really, about whether all those spirits would be available to every mage who might call them. Perhaps it being us two, who first lit the fire for them, will make it more likely. It will be fairly strenuous work, I suspect. Once again I am pleased to have begun with a calm and benevolent power. Love that Brigid!

I do intend to set several of the Courtiers to specific practical magical tasks as well. One of the big questions at this stage is how potent these friends are for such things. While they may seem like a fairly pleasant gang of artists and creative types, I have impressions about several that I want to confirm or deny.

Incidentally, I’m making a new Table of Practice with the oak, rowan and hazel Triangle and the sigils of the Queens. The spirit sigils I’m putting on wooden disks, and so I should end the work with a set of talismans. Pics to follow, if allowed.

The Invocation of Brigid

2012-01-26T04:40:00.000-08:00

Nine invokers come to center, sacrificer stands ready, and as the invocation is given the nine lights of the Brigid’s Bed are lit in turn. As each candle is lit the folk sing the chorus.

• Behold the lightener of the stars
Brigid of the mantels
She comes on the crest of waves
Arising in splendor in every blessed hearth
Chorus: Bríd thuas linn, Bríd thíos linn,
Bríd maidir linn; Bríd inár gcroí
(breej hooas lin, breej heeos lin breej mawjur lin breej inor cree)
• Come to us as the Cup of Healing
Draw for us blessing from her holy well (chorus)
• Come to us as the Foster Mother
Hearth of comforts, with bounty and plenty (chorus)
• Come to us as the Woman of Skill
Herb-craft and leech-craft, for the folk’s good (chorus)

• Come to us as the Hammer of the Forge

Power of shaping, by Fire and by Water(chorus)

• Come to us as the good Black Iron

Blade of the warrior, the sickle and plowshare. (chorus)

• Come to us as the Silver Bright
Light of the artisan, making of beauty. (chorus)
• Come to us as the Harp of the Poets
Fire in the head, wisdom and cheer. (chorus)

• Come to us as the Bard’s bright song

Joy in the hall and memory clear. (chorus)

• Come to us as the Druid’s spell

Power and mystery, the song of the year. (chorus)
O Brigid the skillful; O Brigid of the triple spirit
O Brigid who comes in light and shadow
Thrice blessed be your flaming path.

Brigid accept our sacrifice

Banishing Rites & the Druid’s Gate

2012-01-18T07:39:00.000-08:00

Being an Obscure but Short Consideration of an Obscure Point of Magical Art in Druidic Rites.

Ceremonial magic includes rituals of ‘banishing and purification’, intended to render a space claimed and made ready for holy work. These rites are often conceived of as methods of ‘driving away ill spirits’. This can be especially so at the end of rites, when tradition teaches that various larvae and shades may have accumulated to seek the work’s light. Ceremonial magicians are concerned to avoid intrusions by ill-spirits, and often live in a mythic cosmos populated by ‘demons’ who might choose to attach themselves and do ill to a magician or his environs.

When ceremonial magicians have looked at ADF rites there has occasionally been a concern that we do not banish at the end of the rites. (see the full script of a simple rite here and here) There is no call to ‘depart now to your own place’, a custom that lingers even in Wiccan ritual. There is no ‘banishing sign’ used to shoo away the crowd of spirits. This has dismayed some magicians.

Why do we feel that we are safe and the work is well-done using the methods we do? I think it comes from several basic differences in emphasis between traditional ceremonial magic (maybe as far back as proto-hermetic times) and a tribal, spiritist perspective.

1: The Worship Pact: The entire thrust of our rites (at least our religious rites, rather than magical rites with specific goal-effects) is to welcome all beings to receive their due offering with honor.
2: The Protections of *ghosti: (Can I capitalize that asterisk?) Since we do not divide the spirit world into Our side and Theirs, good spirits against evil ones, we expect all arrivals to abide by the peace of the holy place. Even ill-doers think twice before breaking guest-custom, and all the spirits that come are guests at our fires.

On a more technical level, I think that the Gate Opening & Closing is our equivalent of CM ‘banishing’ rites. However, it operates using a different metaphor. Rather than thinking of the Otherworld as identical with our perceived space, and ‘clearing out’ spirits from a perceived area of space, the Gate Opening opens a Way between two conterminous realms. When that Gate is closed contact is not easy. When that Gate is opened the way is clear, and the spirits and mortals are visible to one another. We can quibble about whether and in what way the Gate spell is required in order for one to speak with the Gods and Spirits. However, in a technical ritual sense, the opening and closing is our equivalent of “Now we are open to communication” and “Now we intend communication to end”. By closing the Gate we say to the spirits “you no longer have my permission to influence me”. In other words, they have returned to their realms, full of our offerings and with our thanks.

If there is an advantage to the Gate form, it might be that we are less likely to insult or offend spirits of place. To come into a place filled with spirits who precede the magician there and demand in the names of your God that all spirits depart, perhaps with implications of uncleanliness or other insult, is a good way to end up needing banishing rituals all the time after that. While we do some basic cleansing rites, and ask spirits specifically unfriendly to stand aside, we are mainly simply ‘turning on a light’ so that we may speak with the spirits. When we leave the place, we turn out the light and all the local wights are left in peace, with offerings to remember us by.

So that’s why I don’t worry when I don’t end even a serious conjuring rite with a banishing. I am an ally of the spirits, protected by my own familiars and by my own authority. That’s not to say that knowing a few charms for sending away spirits isn’t a useful thing, but I don’t think our Order of Ritual is lacking in good methods of keeping us safe

The Book of Visions - A Manual of Pagan Meditation & Trance

2012-01-16T06:30:00.000-08:00

Done at last! This is the meditation and trance material from the Nine Moons training system arranged in a simple order for general work. (Buy it here.) Please heed my warning: if you bought the Book of Nine Moons, you have all (90+%) of this material. Soonish that book will be withdrawn from general distribution to be made available to ADF Dedicants. However nearly all the material and more is available in this book along with the Book of Summoning.

This completes my long writing project of developing a system of Pagan magical training. The experiments in implementing the system are ongoing, and the Nine Moons may be due for a redesign. But completing this will free me up for the next wave including the The Novel.

Here's the back matter from the Book of Visions:

The Druid’s Peace & the Sorcerer’s Eye

The practice of magical arts requires a mind trained in the ability to produce altered states of awareness at will. Whether we refer to devotional ecstasies, silent meditation, shamanic vision or the second sight, the skills of trance and meditation are central to spiritual practice and practical magic. Magical work is supported by the ability to calm the heart and mind, to work with the energies of the Inner World, and to see and journey among the spirits.

The Book of Visions provides clear lessons in the skills of meditation and vision. It is focused on methods that directly support ritual magic and religion, avoiding theoretical discussion in favor of direct instruction. The methods are presented in a series that can serve as progressive lessons, but the many exercises and scripts can also stand alone. Presented within a Pagan Druidic framework, the methods presented are easily adaptable to other Pagan systems.

The lessons include:

• Meditation – Finding Your Peace; simple instruction in basic meditation.

• The Two Powers; Working magic with the powers of Underworld and Heavens

• The Threshold Realm, & the Vision Journey; opening the Inner Eye, and traveling toward the Otherworld.

• The Inner Grove; creating a personal place of power.

• The Nineteen Working: full instruction in a spiritual practiced based firmly on Gaelic lore.

Ian Corrigan has been learning and teaching in the Pagan community for over 30 years. He is an Archdruid Emeritus and a Senior Priest of Ar nDraiocht Fein (ADF) and worked with Isaac Bonewits in the creation of that Pagan Druidic system. He is the author of Sacred Fire, Holy Well; A Druid’s Grimoire as well as The Book of Summoning, and is currently developing the Nine Moons system of Pagan magical training.

Calling the Court of Brigid – the Next Step.

2012-01-11T05:17:00.000-08:00

In August of 2011 I composed and led a ritual working intended to begin contact between ADF magicians and spirits identified as servants or ‘courtiers’ of the Goddess Brigid. (initial ritual scripts and journal here) While L. and I worked the ritual proper a much larger group assembled at the festival ‘workshop’ were invited to participate as seers, or simply as witnesses. We had what I consider a notable success with a number of seers naming, in the end, sixteen courtier spirits. Together with three superior ministers of Brigid – the Three Powers, or Three Queens – the working produced nineteen spirits that have now made at least a preliminary oath to work with magicians in our way. As a next step I am recruiting a group of magicians willing to undertake further work with these spirits, and to work a series of initial rites in order to begin.

The original rite was One Big Thing, with only a preliminary meditation. In a festival environment that’s the best I had available. In re-working the method for work by a solitary mage or small group I have divided it into three smaller rites and a follow-up spell. The rites are:

1: An Audience of Brigid – fairly standard offering and blessing rite, though done in detail, with the Blessing used for special purification and empowerment. This could easily be done as a group rite, even as a public rite at a festival or gathering. The blessing would be useful for all, and would serve as a preliminary rite for those intending to go further. The further rites could be done by a small group of people with an appropriate skill-level, but might be more easily done alone or with a partner.

2: Convoking the Three Queens – under the power of Brigid, three rulers of her Court are called. The Harp, the Hammer, and the Cup are conceived as queenly spirits of poetry, craft, and healing. These Powers themselves convey great blessings, and can be approached directly for magical work.

3: Convoking the Court – using shortened calls to the Goddess and Her Queens, the 16 spirits are named, their oaths given, offerings made, and then treated with. The individual magician perhaps finds specific alliances among them, and perhaps new spirits appear. If calling the whole company seems too long, this work could be divided to do the court of one Queen at a time.

I have scripted each of these in detail. A fourth rite is a simple, post-pact method of evoking one spirit at a time.

L. and I intend to do this work over the waxing moon of Jan 24 through Feb 7, along with a small group of other Druids and mages. The intention is to use to either renew one’s connection with the spirits (for those who were present at the initial rite) or to work the three rites and thus establish their connection with Brigid and her Courtiers. I will be blogging the parts that make sense to talk about.

The Lorekeeper's Course

2011-12-30T05:12:00.000-08:00

I just want to post this link in case it has been missed by those readers interested in Celtic polytheism and Paganism. Alexei Kondratiev (1949 - 2010, of hallowed memory) was one of the most important scholars and early leaders of the Celtic Reconstructionist scene His deep understanding of archeological, folkloric and linguistic aspects of Celtic cultures helped us articulate such things as the Triple Cosmos.
Alexei left behind a number of resources (His book on Celtic ritual needs a reprint.) and one very useful item is the Lorekeeper's Course, kept at Celtic-Nation.org. There probably isn't a better hundred-page summary of what we can safely claim to know about ancient Celtic religion. When you do your own reading in the sources recommended, you might reach a different conclusion here and there, but this is solid, pre-digested and summarized stuff.

The Rhythm of a Pagan Year

2011-12-25T06:36:00.000-08:00

It is Christmas morning as I write, and I am pausing before getting up to help cook for the family dinner later in the day. This dinner is the last vestige of Christmas customs in my life, pretty much, except for whatever amount of participation we do in the gifting customs, though that’s as Pagan as any part of the season. The last couple of years have seen the passing away of the older generation of my family, and this year it will be my brother and I with our wives and kids. Fortunately there are several new babies – I find that kids provide more excuse for the seasonal goofiness. Excuses for goofiness are welcome.

I find the great to-do around the winter holidays annoying, really. I’ve lived in the Pagan calendar for the past 30 years, keeping the High Days (we used to call them ‘Sabbats’) with what has been an ever-growing community of Pagan and Pagan-friendly folk. At this point, for me, Lughnassadh is a much more important holy day than Yuletide, and actually requires at least as much effort when we hold our big Games and Rite. Bealtaine usually involves two or three parties, rites or sets of customs and of course we’ve just finished Samhain, often the biggest social holiday season of my Pagan year. I’m entirely aware that the Neopagan eightfold year is a modern construct, but I find it wholesome and holy, and it is too much a part of my custom to let mere scholasticism turn me from it at this late date.

So I turn through each year with a holy feast every six or seven weeks. I find the long observance of the Wheel to be one of the most effective bits of Theurgy available through Neopagan symbolism. Each time one works the full year one accomplishes a ‘magical retreat’ of eight rites spread across a year. The cycle brings a round of offerings to the Gods and to the other spirits, and to return with intention to Samhain and then to Yule each year is to complete a major magical work. Through it I feel blessed by all the Powers, standing firm in the wheel of sacred time.

Forgive my poetic turn… I know Yuletide’s important, and has hugely cross-cultural appeal. I do wish the Christians would reduce their insistence on doctrinal unity around the ‘Christ’ in the season, but that seems like too much to expect. Fortunately the natural power of the season shines through, and even the Christian symbol of the incarnate divine manifest in the humble circumstances of flesh speaks to the fresh spark of light and long growth of the Yuletide sun. So I try never to get too annoyed at the religious content of the cross-cultural season.

It just seems unbalanced to me, so much cultural weight given to one holy season out of eight. I suppose that when one is devout in a religion (Pagan Druidry, in my case) one finds reasons to prefer it. Still, I am pretty glad that Christmas is passing, and we can get on to the much more Pagan secular celebration of the Calends of the Year; then on to Imbolc, the feast of the Goddess of our house. See, there’s always a new blessing coming.

Still, to all Northern hemisphere dwellers, may the blessing of the newborn Light shine on us and grow in us, from spark to flame, from seed in the dark to shoot and bud and summer’s flower.

The Coolest Thing(s) I've Seen This Week - Movie Edition

2011-12-22T12:41:00.000-08:00

Nobody knows better than my marvelous wife what a Lovecraft fanboy I am, but long-time readers here will have noticed. One of my favorite sources for Mythos material is the HP Lovecraft Historical Society. They seem to have began as a LARPing crew, but a few years ago they graduated to real movie making with their silent film feature of the Call of Cthulhu, which has gotten wide distribution, right up to Netflix. They must have made a couple of bucks on it, bless 'em, because they've just made available their first talkie, a full-length feature making of The Whisperer in Darkness. In Call of Cthulhu they attempted to make a movie from 1927, the year the story was published. Whispere hit the pages of Weird Tales in 1931, and so we reach the sound era.

Fellow kids, this is the best depiction of a mythos story yet to be filmed. The team understands the feel of Lovecraft's work, the paranoia and claustrophobia, the combination of wonder and danger and fear that HPL's best work produces. Set in a rainy autumn in Vermont, a skeptical folklorist becomes drawn into strange doings in a backwoods cult, in a tale that moves from intimations of demons to interstellar conspiracy.

The original story is told nicely, with just enough expansion to make it more cinematic. These guys can build some props, and the spooky devices and manuscripts of questionable lore are excellent. None of this is exactly high-budget, but, like CoC, the film is in black-and-white, which forgives many sins. In general the film looks great. It also features the single best depiction of a Cthulhu Mythos ritual to date. Just buy it.

Making a movie is on my bucket list. If I made a movie, it would surely have to be some occult adventure or vignette, with ritual and FX. However, my old friend Taliesin Govannon aspires to be Kevin Smith, not Dennis Wheatley. Taliesin has succeeded in making a full-length feature film called Dark of Moon. (See trailers and lots more here) This is a Pagan movie but... it's a romantic comedy. It tells the story of a post-college Coven as the reality of adulthood meets the expectations of youth. The cast goes on a little tour of the alternative community, from Witches to Druids to ghost-hunters, providing some great material for Taliesin's observant wit. So, it's a realistic depiction of modern Paganism - no amped-up magic, no FX, just real people doing what we really do.

Incidentally, I'm in it, for a limited number of seconds, along with many others from our local Grove. We did a shoot in our little festival space, Tredara, and our barn and Nemeton look pretty good. Utterly worth a look!

Toward a Druidic Mysticism Part 4 final

2011-12-05T04:31:00.000-08:00

The rest... I should probably redo the bibliography, but it still isn't bad. Thanks for reading...

Hints Toward Druidic Mysticism
So we have taken a quick look at some of the patterns of mysticism in the Indo-European world. Most of these were originally systems functioning inside a fully developed Pagan world-view, but by examining the scraps of IE Paleopagan lore we can hope to find some paths and markers for our journey.
A: Expanded Awareness – One place that we can begin is with a modern, definition of ‘expanded awareness’ or ‘mind expansion’, based on personal and psychological models. This leads us to start in a place that addresses a core problem of mysticism. We must address what the ‘common mind’ the ‘ego’ or the mask-self might be, and how we can address it in our efforts.
Common awareness, day to day mind, is limited by the habits and requirements of social existence. Our upbringing and inborn inclinations assemble a sort of random persona, which we deal with as we find it. We experience ourselves as ‘me’, a drifting point-of-perception which moves between states of mind, occasionally getting stuck in favorite or unavoidable ones. The processes of our minds and bodies often go unobserved, and we often dwell in a bubble of memory and imagination, with a less than clear awareness of our own perceptions.

One goal of mystical work could be seen as freeing this apparent ‘me’ from its unconscious rut. When we say we ‘center’ ourselves, we might mean that we take our seat in our own center, from which we can look out in all directions. We begin applying conscious will to our persona/ego, teaching it to do as we will in the way one teaches the body to dance or fight.

So when we say we ‘expand our awareness’, we might mean, at the simplest level, that we bring more of the content of our own mind and will into our conscious awareness, to become aware of the ‘higher’ and even lower portions of ourselves. We seek to know more about ourselves, and seek to manage it all more skillfully and from a better vantage point. There are many traditional and basic means by which to begin this process, including formal introspection, journaling, meditation and relaxation.

Many world systems that focus on this sort of self-awareness and self-control understand the psychological forces that are encountered to be spirits. This contains the possibility of various fun ‘angels’ of wisdom and insight and ‘demons’ of obstacles and ignorance, with which we might make mythic engagement, if we like that sort of thing…

B: Transpersonal Awareness – As we gain skill in the expansion of awareness, tradition suggests that at the outside edges of our own minds and spirits we may find an interface with that which isn’t exactly, ‘us’. Mystical and occult training has often involved the creation of and work with complex imagined inner landscapes and temples. A great deal of valuable work can be done within such a self-created structure alone. More interesting, perhaps is the notion at at the edges, across the boundaries of such landscapes may lie the greater, transpersonal mind of nature itself. Within that transpersonal mind are the individual fires of humans and spirits and gods and all, but all might be thought to subsist within this impersonal ‘soul of nature’.

Conversely, we may consider that our own minds are in fact mirrors – or holograms – of the whole spiritual cosmos. When we construct our inner systems, or even merely examine the contents of our own minds, our own spirits can become become mirrors, containing all the cosmos in ourselves. So we can, at least, approach the reflections of the Gods and spirits in ourselves, and perhaps invoke those beings to be consciously present in our inward reflections.

A universal characteristic of ‘enlightenment’ is the identification of the personal awareness with some greater or higher spiritual reality. This may be as simple as the greater awareness that we talked about, but is more commonly the awareness of some spiritual being or continuum. The dhyana (meditative union) of Raja Yoga is often applied to a deity – one can ‘make dhyana upon’ a deity, so that the subject-object distinction between you and the God dissolves. In this way the local and apparent self is left behind within the greater self of a deity.

We can observe the ‘bhakti’ practices of Hindu polytheism for examples of how that process might work, and those can be applied easily to European deities and spirits. However tradition also presents the idea that mystical union might be made not with a specific divine mind, but with the impersonal divine mind of the cosmos. Hinduism calls this the Brahman and classically it was called the anima mundi – the soul of the world. The Northern European languages don’t have much vocabulary for ‘cosmos’, or even for ‘nature’ as an abstract concept. Modern Gaelic reconstructions have sometimes used the term An Bith – That Which Is. One might conceive of making dhyana, or Samadhi, upon An Bith.

C: Power and Wisdom, Peril and Madness – These great trances, contacts with Higher Awareness, and trances are expected to produce understanding of real methods and means of real accomplishments. Most traditions make it clear that they also carry certain risks. Knowledge is power, and power offers opportunity and danger, and wisdom is the check upon power.

These experiences are often powerful, mind-changing events. They shine in the mind like a sun, draw attention and make more common experiences pale in comparison. This has led various sects to develop various doctrines based on the mystical experiences of their initiates. A mystic or group of mystics has a powerful inner realization, and decides that he must ‘proclaim the truth’. This is a natural process, but has lead to various conflicts inside of the monotheistic mysticisms. Perhaps a polytheistic mysticism can allow various seers to express their mystery without the rancor that comes from desiring a single comprehensive ‘Truth’. I hope we can avoid the tendency to cast experience into doctrine in favor of open experimentation for some years to come. We cannot, I think, settle questions of whether the Atman is real, or whether it can truly be equivalent to the Brahman, by discussing them, but only by years of practice, if at all.

Those who had undergone mystical initiation might be expected to have ‘magical’ ability, depending on the type of sect. Some of those might have served in towns and temples, but others became stranger than that. Often those who sought unusual status as mystics traded their normal lives for their status. They might become hermits, or attach themselves to a temple, or take to the road as beggar-teacher-priests. There is an authentic strain of world-denial and renunciation in Indo-European lore, and the most ‘powerful’ magicians are often well outside of the common social order. Plainly this is not a denial of the natural or material world, but of the human social world, in which the common persona must dwell. The implication in the lore is that the very nature of the spiritual states may drive an individual away from those who dwell in more ordinary awareness.

The insular Celts, especially, remember a poetic madness of inspiration which seems, perhaps, more a symptom than a goal. They saw some inspired poets being transformed by deep, powerful emotional experiences, leading to a transpersonal awareness that demolished their social personas. The experiences of terrible battles great loves, human tragedies or contact with the Otherworld was described as making people ‘mad’ in relation to the common patterns of culture. These victims of the poet’s muse sometimes returned to the company of humans, to live as ‘wizards’ or ‘seers’, never quite fitting the social patterns of common people.

D: The Holy Goal – In a polytheistic system we are faced with vast numbers of choices in symbols and powers of enlightenment. In ADF’s usual habit, we might look for a deity or type of symbol that occurs in multiple IE systems. Specific cultures offer specific mythic complexes that can be initiatory mysteries – Demeter and Persephone, for instance. However there don’t seem, to me, to be deity-complexes that reach across cultures. IE lore does offer several models of quests, adventures and exploits that may provide hints of Pagan mystical patterns. It might be valuable to seek mythic symbols of the soul’s interaction with the divine which are not, themselves, deities, but which express a goal of a core divine power and presence.

The Holy Grail and its Gaelic antecedents in the Magic Cauldron, the later Hermetic symbol of the Philosopher’s Stone, the archaic Hellenic Golden Fleece and the related symbol of the Apple Garden, the Vedic Soma; many Indo-European cultures offer us non-anthropomorphic, even non-biological symbols of a form of the divine that can be within the grasp of mortals if we are strong and wise. The tales surrounding these symbols are of quests, visions and journeys and seem to resonate with models of mystical growth when viewed in an allegorical way.

Your Humble Author’s favorite such symbol, for broad Indo-European purposes, is the Triple Cauldron. The Cauldron of Feasting in the Hall, the Cauldron of Inspiration in the Temple, the Cauldron of Rebirth that holds our ashes in the Mound – the symbol is so wrapped with mythic context that it is like the never-empty source for us to discover. The Cauldron can be seen as bearing the Mead of Inspiration in a Celto-Germanic context, the Soma of the Vedas, the Ambrosia of the Olympians – all symbols of the power and wisdom of the divine that can be shared by Gods and mortals alike.

Indo-European lore offers other hero-quest tales that might be employed as models. The Rhinegold, the Golden Fleece, and other hero tales might catch the imagination of some mystics. Still, the image of the Sacred Drink Which Brings Inspiration/Enlightenment seems reliably pan-Indo-European.

Gaelic lore offers us another vision of a Pagan mystical experience. The Taliesin material, and other ‘I Am’ poems of Gaelic tradition offer a window into a transpersonal awareness among Irish poets, mythically induced by drinking from the Cauldron of the Gods. The speaker transcends their common history to be a part of all the world.

VI: Conclusion – Most fully-grown religions contain multiple schools of practice seeking the sort of mystical goals that we have discussed. ADF has reached a stage in our development at which we can begin to create them, and choices we make now will influence the coherence and direction of our systems for the future. I hope we will approach the matter with curiosity and experimentation, and do our best to avoid the development of doctrine for as long as we can.

There are some obvious places for first steps. We could begin by thinking about the mystery and illuminative content of the High Days. Each seasonal rite allows us a moment in which the folk ‘drunk the waters of life’ in which we might seek to induce experience of the divine in the deities and symbols of the rite. The turning of the year presents a spectrum of flavors of experience that we might clarify and focus as part of our blessings.

From there we can think about creating special, non-seasonal rites, for festivals and intimate gatherings, in which we expose ourselves to powerful symbol sets in a condition of high focus and deep entrancement. The classic model for this are the rites at Eleusis, in which a long series of rites and actions build up entrancement and expectation for the final mysterious moment. Such rites could be run by a small group for an individual or group, or could perhaps be mutually performed.

We can also begin immediately to consider how we can find the mystical content in our basic ceremonies. What does it mean to our souls to approach the Center of the Worlds, to work the Open Gate? How can we use the presence of the Three Kindreds to expand the mind and exalt the spirit?

As we enter our next 25 years, we have new and exciting depths and heights before us…

Druidic Mysticism Bibliography
Defining Mysticism and Enlightenment
• The Ancient Mysteries: A Sourcebook of Sacred Texts by Marvin W. Meyer (Editor)
• Mysticism (Paperback) by Evelyn Underhill
• The Way of Mystery by Nema
A Digression into the Modern
• The Doors of Perception and Heaven and Hell by Aldous Huxley
• Prometheus Rising by Robert Anton Wilson
• Liber O Vel Manus et Sagittae sub figur VI – Aleister Crowley
Western Models
• Paganism in the Roman Empire – Ramsay MacMullen
• Greek Religion – Walter Burkert
• Hidden Wisdom: A Guide to the Western Inner Traditions by Richard Smoley and Jay Kinney.
• Theurgy and the Soul: The Neoplatonism of Iamblichus by Gregory Shaw
• The Enneads: Abridged Edition (Penguin Classics) by Plotinus , John Dillon (Editor, Introduction), Stephen MacKenna (Translator)
• The Book of Abramelin: A New Translation by Abraham Von Worms, Lon Milo Duquette, Georg Dehn, and Steven Guth
• Liber VIII – Aleister Crowley
• Secrets of the Magical Grimoires – Aaron Leitch
•Self-Initiation Into the Golden Dawn Tradition: A Complete Curriculum of Study for Both the Solitary Magician and the Working Magical Group - by Chic Cicero, Sandra Tabatha Cicero
Eastern Models
• The Four Yogas : a guide to the spiritual paths of action, devotion, meditation and knowledge / Swami Adiswarananda.
• Integral Yoga-The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali by Sri Swami Satchidananda
• The Yoga of Spiritual Devotion: a modern translation of the Narada bhakti sutras / Prem Prakash.
• Yoga of Truth; Jnana : The Ancient Path of Silent Knowledge by Peter Marchand,
A Druidic Evaluation of Some Classical Models
• Teutonic Magic by Kveldulf Gundarsson
• Hermetic Magic by Stephen Flowers
• The Secret Commonwealth of Elves, Fauns, and Fairies / Robert Kirk; introduction by Marina Warner.
• The Artful Universe: an introduction to the Vedic religious imagination / William K. Mahony.
Hints toward a Druidic Mysticism
• Magical Use of Thought Forms: A Proven System of Mental & Spiritual Empowerment by Dolores Ashcroft-Nowicki and J. H. Brennan
• Advanced Magical Arts by R.J. Stewart
• Taliesin: The Last Celtic Shaman by John Matthews, Caitlín Matthews, and Caitlin Matthews
• Neopagan Rites: A Guide to Creating Public Rituals that Work by Isaac Bonewits
• Ploughing the Clouds : the search for Irish Soma / Peter Lamborn Wilson.

Toward A Druidic Mysticism Part 3

2011-12-02T09:46:00.000-08:00

Looks like this will come quickly, instead of over a week or two. It will also help me get to forty-eight posts for the year : ). I hope my non-ADF readers will forgive the in-house slant of this paper. I think there are enough general observations to make it worthwhile for anyone interested in polytheistic mysticism.

A Druidic Pagan Evaluation of Some Classical Models
A: Progressive Advancement – I begin here because I think it would be hard to implement any such thing in our contexts. ADF has, so far resisted implementing any sort of ‘degree system’ that is thought of as ‘religious’ in nature, or as indicatory of spiritual growth, much less mystical attainment. It may be that the Initiate’s Work will be a small step in that direction, but even there the degree will be given only as recognition of specific demonstrated levels of skill and practice.
We find little indication of a ladder model of religious or magical evolution in Celto-Germanic lore. Northern Pagans lived at the center of their map, not at the bottom. Midgard, or the middle isle, could be the base for journeys in several directions. Those who like categorizing might find some use in wheel-shaped systems – three-fold, fourfold, eightfold, or whatever. Hellenic systems may be more comfortable with a classical ladder such as a seven planets progress. In any case, the real work of devising such a system will be in determining just what sorts of spiritual states are to be sought in each step or spoke. Myth and tradition, of course provides some direction. From there we must devise ways to seek to approach the Powers involved and then we will see what we see.
Several ancient systems bring us the motif of spirits trapped in matter and the effort to rise away from the common world. I find that notion to be rather contrary to the things I value in Neopagan thought, though I recognize that it exists in the old ways. Explicitly, northern models don’t seem to value the ‘higher’ spiritual functions over the life and strength of the living self.

The ‘ladder’ or ‘wheel-journey’ model fits well with the ‘quest’ theme, but we might wish to avoid a simple ‘climbing out of the darkness’ model. To me it feels Druidical to avoid a ladder-like approach in favor of a more spiraling path, an exploration of the world more than a departure from it.

B: Beatific Vision – The technique of opening the personal awareness to a vision of the whole span of cosmic existence seems easy to adapt in an Indo-European mythic setting. It would be an easy matter to create a series of trance and/or ritual attunements for the various segments of our mythic cosmos, the whole then coming together in a grand vision. These could become a sort of ‘novena’, or nine-day working, combining purifications and attunements, to be crowned in the Big Vision.

(Incidentally, I have formalized a detailed visualization and meditation working based on this model, which I call the Nineteen Working. It is available in my forthcoming Book of Visions and other places. Some of that is also available on the blog under the Druidic Meditation heading.)
Primary results of such methods include increased understanding of and connection to the mythic system in which it’s set, and the practice of techniques of multiple awareness and expansion of personal boundaries. The final goal, at a first level, is to experience awareness outside common boundaries of the personal, and perhaps to glimpse the experience of the unity of self and cosmos. We could mention an ancillary idea of uniting (or at least attuning) the personal will with the ongoing threads of wyrd and the patterns of the world.

C: Knowledge and Conversation of the Holy Guardian Angel – The idea of a higher spiritual being that is attached to or even a part of the human individual presents very clear Indo-European parallels. The Greeks bring us the idea of the personal ‘daimon’, the being who is your intermediary between your personal mind and the divine world. Contact with the personal daimon is a documentable goal of Hellenic mysticism. Rev. Kirk in the 18th century describes the Gaelic coimimeadh - the ‘co-walker’, a ‘fairy’ being who shares life with a seer, and European folk-magic is full of helpful and messenger spirits used by magicians. Norse lore contains the fylgja – an animal or contra-gendered spirit who bears much of the personal luck and power. It would be a simple matter to construct rites to seek the knowledge of and conversation with the Fylgja or co-walker.
In modern western mysticism the Holy Guardian Angel is sometimes thought of as the ‘Higher Self’. This brings us immediately to those issues of ‘ladders’ of attainment, and of ‘higher = better’. I think we can look for a Pagan ‘Spirit-self’ – that may be more directly aware of the Otherworld, more of an actor among the spirits than our common-world self can be. One could certainly consider the Fylgja or the Daimon as a ‘greater’ portion of the self, in the sense of the portion of a multi-part soul model which is closer to the Gods and Spirits. In such a model, the Fylgja or Daimon would be the portion of the self that is, itself, divine, or has ‘access’ to the divine.
When we consider that each of us may become recognized as an honored ancestor, we see that each of us must have in us a seed of that which is worthy of worship. We can see this as the active presence of the divine in ourselves. In Irish we might call this An Da Fein – My Very Own God. Is this the same as the Holy Guardian Angel? Perhaps close enough to consider adapting some western forms of seeking the Angel to our own work.

D: Eastern Systems – In addressing eastern ideas we will find ourselves dealing head-on with the issue of doctrinaire monism. Modern Hindu mysticism is quite soaked in the notion that ‘maya’ means ‘illusion’, and that escape from the rounds of rebirth is key to enlightenment. In a more ancient Vedic context Maya means ‘power of making’ and is the very thing we worship in the Gods.
Raja Yoga is a core spiritual system that can be applied in almost any mythic system. It’s clear and relatively undoctrinal descriptions of mental states make a good vocabulary for discussion. We can benefit, in my opinion, from every borrowing we care to make from this classical approach.
Bhakti Yoga is, in many ways, the core of common tribal Paganism. Sacrifices and hymns, images and rites of welcome are all basics of bhakti whether in the village or at the hearth. There are a few basic instructions in the method that would benefit our understanding, and the trappings of common religion can also be turned into a more focused program of uniting the personal spirit with the divine through love and aspiration.

Jnana Yoga – Your Humble Author doesn’t care much for extreme non-dualism, nor for the rejection of external deity, ritual relationship, etc. yet such ideas grew out of traditional IE cultures…

E: Mystery and Symbol – The use of symbolism, altered states and invocation to create group opportunities for mystical trance provides perhaps our most direct way to begin in experimental ADF mysticism. We are fairly used to developing big ritual – I think we could handily turn our skills aware from an exclusive focus on reciprocal offering and blessing to more dramatic or more internal work focused on producing individual trance results in the attendees.
I think we can find complexes of cultural symbols that we could choose to render into effective ritual and trance experiences that could be worked for or by large, medium, small groups, and even individuals. Our ethnic inspirations would be the places to begin – what symbols in our Hearth Cultures express the personal soul and the exaltation or divinizing of the personal spirit?
Bakhti practices could be easily applied to specific deities. Can we build initiatory/illuminatory moments of contact –offer an illumination of Brigid, or of Apollo. Such deity-specific ‘mysteries’ should be relatively simple to put together.
While a great deal of ancient mystical work was done alone or in small groups there is also a tradition of large-group mysteries, such as at Eleusis. Neopagans have the opportunity to use the many festivals and gatherings as stging grounds for experiments in such things. Can we build specific ritual/trance experiences meant to transmit an experience in a festival context?

An Outline Toward Druidic Mysticism, Part 2

2011-12-01T12:38:00.000-08:00

Part 2: Historic World Mystical Models
I: Western Models.
While we have some traces of Pagan-era descriptions of states of illumination, we have much clearer depictions of method and result in the quasi-Christian mysticism of the Middle Ages and renaissance. I welcome efforts (including my own) to more clearly investigate classical Pagan sources like Iamblichus, classical neoplatonism, Pythagorus etc.
A: Mystery and Devotional Vision
In its Greek context ‘mystery’ is the experience of viewing the secret symbols and rituals of the tradition in which one is working. The word mystery is derives from the Greek mystes, meaning ‘initiate’. A mystery is in this sense something which is revealed only to initiates.
These ancient mystery rituals combined long preparation, effort, song, drama, wine and excitement to induce illumination experiences focused on the cult objects of the rite. The most famous of these experiences was at Eleusis, where thousands of mystoi were lead through days of pilgrimages, sacrifices, dances, and ritual drama to conclude in a final revelation that was said to guarantee the initiate meaning in this life and entry into a happy afterlife. Different initiatory sects offered different types of symbols, most of them unknown to us since their initiates have successfully concealed their nature to this day. We can imagine that the mystery symbols of the various sects might be a single deity represented in its traditional idol or physical symbol, a constellation of deities perhaps expressing some specific mythic narrative, or might include non-deity divine objects – ears of corn, cauldrons, etc.
Some of this is reflected on a personal level in cults of devotion - to the Gods and Spirits in ancient times, and well-preserved in the Christian cult of saints. These practices can lead to a kind of ‘mystery vision’ of the deity so sought. Medieval ‘mystery plays’ and the various church spectacles of the bigger systems, seem to preserve the feel of Pagan processions, displays of mystical symbols, etc. Even in public worship of the Gods we seek, perhaps, the Mystery of the Vision of each High Day, the constellation of symbols that expresses the season and the Gods of the feast.
B: The Knowledge and Conversation of the Holy Guardian Angel.
Much of medieval spiritual magic was an effort to gain the counsel and aid of a spiritual being which would transmit the divine power or lead in practice to higher illuminations. The classical Greeks sometimes described a personal ‘daimon’ or intermediary spirit between the individual and the gods. Some later magical systems draw on Christian versions of that image to seek contact with the angel set over each of us by ‘God’ in that system. In any case the work of seeking contact with the ‘Holy Guardian Angel’ intends to contact the magician’s personal messenger of the divine.
The most famous system of contacting the Holy Guardian Angel is the Sacred Magic of Abramelin the Mage. This renaissance magician prescribed months-long retreats, involving ‘purifying’ and ‘exalting’ the soul through study, fasting and prayer. It reaches a yogic level of self-control. This purity and power of soul allows contact with the Guardian Angel who then reveals the secrets of contact with the divine, and of control of lesser spirits. One side-benefit of the process was the ability to command ‘demons’ – lesser spirits who could serve one’s will.
In its original form this method seems to have nearly shamanic implications – the Angel serving as a kind of ally or spirit guide. In later interpretations the Angel becomes more a symbol of the divine in the individual, of the ‘Higher Self’.

C: Progressive Advancement
Many systems propose a series of ‘levels’ or ‘layers’ through which the soul advances. One popular way of explaining the order of the worlds was to map a series of ‘emanations’ from the first cause, or layers in a ladder of progressive spiritual experiences. The model is visible from ancient mysteries all the way into modern fraternal organizations and occult orders with ‘degree work’ systems.
We might speculate on an origin in Egyptian or Mesopotamian afterlife or cosmological concepts. The Book of Coming Forth by Day describes a series of gates and guardians that must be passed on the way to the afterlife goal. The Babylonian seven-tired planetary heaven influenced later Neoplatonic image of levels, each with their own ‘guardian’, who must be passed by knowledge of the right rituals and passwords. These systems fed into the later Qabalistic systems that underlie many of the more modern occult ‘Lodge’ degrees. One major influence on later ‘initiatory’ mysticism is the structure of Mithraic Initiation. It was built in seven levels, considered by some to have corresponded to the planets. The notion of a ladder of planetary lights was widespread in the late Classical world Planetary Levels.

D: The Beatific Vision

In medieval mysticism, the Beatific Vision was the state in which the blessed souls of the dead were said to dwell. It was described as a vision of wonder containing all the Cosmos, the veritable presence of ‘God and his angels’ of all the worlds of the system’s mythology. As a mystical method one sought to achieve this vision while living, and perhaps to benefit from it in common life. This approached is not concerned with gaining a teaching spirit, or so much with possibly ‘magical’ goals, rather it is about subsuming the personal soul in the grandeur and wonder of the divine.

There was a distinct devotional component to this method. The Illumination it means to bring is based on exaltation resulting from nearness to deity. It works well in a polytheistic system, in which case it might resemble the mystery vision described above, coupled with the presence of a specific deity. It also employs the principle of microcosm and macrocosm – as the mystic perceives the divine worlds, she also perceives their reflection in herself.

II: Historical Models part 2 – Eastern or Indian Models
The word ‘yoga’ is from the Sanskrit and means ‘yoking’. The image used in all discussions of yoga is of the human body and mind as a team of animals that must be brought into unity of will and direction so that the human being can accomplish her will in the worlds.
A: Raja Yoga – The “royal yoga” is a system (or many systems) of disciplined training of the mind and body, leading to a progression of deeper experiences, intending to lead to the transpersonal. Most of the various sorts of Yoga we know in the west are variants or subsets of Raja Yoga. Raja Yoga leads the mind through a series of disciplines, seeking fairly specific results:
1. Asana – physical exercise and the ‘postures’ that are the most well-known image of Yoga. The “Yoga of the Body” – Hatha Yoga – is an entire system that is often seen as the foundation of Raja Yoga. The practice of asana builds strength and discipline in the body, brings poise and relaxation and the ability to remain still for meditation and ritual.
2. Pranayama and Pratyahara – control of the breath, and withdrawing from sense-awareness. These basic techniques bring awareness of and a degree of control over the autonomic physical systems, and free the mind from the body’s distractions.
3. Dharana – concentration, limiting awareness to a single object. This is the basic level of what Raja Yoga refers to as ‘meditation’. The student focuses on a single object, such as the breath, or a mantra, or a visual object. The thoughts and flows of the mind are ignored in favor of that concentration, and eventually the chatter of the mind slows and even ceases.
4. Dhyana – dissolution of subject/object distinction. Yogis teach that success in concentration, when the chatter ceases and the student is alone with the object of the concentration, the mind may lose the perception of a distinction between the observer and that which is observed. This a basic level of what the Yogis call ‘illumination’ – the realization that the self is not confined to the body/name complex. As an exercise such states are sometimes focused on a simple thing such as a flame or a tree, but in practice mystics often seek to make this state with a deity.
5. Samadhi – the personal soul dissolves in the all-mind – Atman makes dhyana on Brahman. The final goal of the Raja Yoga system is to realize the identity of the personal soul with the all-web of cosmic existence. Hindu philosophy speaks of the atman – the personal eternal divine spark – and holds that in Samadhi the atman realizes its identity with the brahman – the impersonal all-mind of the cosmos. In practice, Samadhi is also a term for the tomb of an enlightened man, but once again we find the idea of perhaps coming to know what the Blessed Dead know while still alive.
Through the whole Yogic system, there is a core doctrine of the identity of the personal soul with the all-soul of the cosmos. This all-soul isn’t conceived of as ‘God’ in any sense, it has no temples and no cult, but it is the goal of much mystical seeking.

B: Bhakti Yoga - Bhakti means devotion, and Bakhti Yoga is the Yoga of Devotion. The student focuses awareness on the form and deeds of a specific deity or group of deities, through worship, contemplation and loving aspiration. Then goal is for the personal soul to approach the divine through love.
Some sects hold that the personal soul can become identical with the object of devotion, dissolving into the divine being. Others hold only with exaltation and ‘bliss’ for the personal soul by the close approach to the divine. Much of eastern ‘religion’ is the public expression of this sort of devotionalism.

C: Jnana Yoga – This system seeks mystical experience brought on by the understanding of truth – Jnana means ‘knowing’, from the same root as the Greek gnosis - and this is the yoga of ‘knowledge’.
Jnana Yoga arose in connection with the Advaita Vedanta sect of Hinduism in about 800 C.E.. The Smarta sects are advaitins, but they retain ritual worship of the pantheon of Gods and Spirits. Later Vedanta systems rejected much ritual and myth in favor of philosophical interpretation of the ancient symbols.
Jnana Yoga is usually based on the ‘non-dual’ (a-dvaita) concept – which holds that enlightenment lies in knowing that manifestation is not separate from unity. It focuses on the unified all-mind called the brahman, that is said to underlie all specific manifestation. It often contains a corollary idea that the manifest world is ‘untrue’ or ‘illusory’, making a doctrinal priority out of the experience of Samadhi.

Advaita and Jnana yoga arose out of the matrix of an IE Paganism. However it’s radical monism – which has often been exploited by monotheistic apologists, may make it less than fitting for our neopagan purposes. We shall see whether years of mystical experiment produce these ideas in our own systems.

D: The Problem of Monism. The idea that at the deepest level all things are united in a single thing/process/existence – is a recurring presence in what we know of ancient spiritual philosophy. The Vedic Brahman, the Hellenic Anima Mundi, Norse Wyrd and Orlog all point to the idea of a ‘soul of all’ or ‘mind-material of all’ or ‘underlying unity’ that is within, and shared by, all things. If nature is One Nature, then in the same way the divine might be One Divine (though not One Person…). Monism is more prominent in the eastern systems, but occurs in various forms in western Pagan experience as well. With the rise of monotheism, monism was sometimes offered as evidence of ‘evolved’ thought by eastern thinkers. Monism has, in a few sects, sometimes rejected more folkloric polytheism, and many Pagans are skeptical of its value in our contexts, but it remains a menu-item in the list of IE models of mystical experience.

An Outline Toward Druidic Mysticism

2011-12-01T12:03:00.000-08:00

In discussions on the in-house ADF lists the topic has turned to Druidic Mystcism, and the problem of the transcendant in Indo-European myth and religion. I ended up promising to post this essay. It has been available as the back third of my "Toward A Pagan Mysticism" monograph. However the rest of that material has ended up moved to another publication, and I'm more-or-less withdrawing it.
I'll be posting this in three or four parts over the next couple of weeks. Comments welcome, here, or, for members, on the ADF-discuss list.

I: Defining Mysticism and Enlightenment –
The terms mysticism, enlightenment, and illumination are widely used in discussions of religion and spirituality, but are frequently only vaguely understood. ADF (and Paganism at large) might wish to build some discourse about what we mean from the vantage point of our spiritual understanding. We have spent our first 25 years developing our mythic and ritual structures, and we have drawn on some very old and very deep symbols to empower them. It is Your Humble Author’s opinion that we are ready to begin asking ourselves how our work can bring the personal soul into direct experience and awareness of divine and spiritual things.

Let us begin by reciting some dictionary definitions:
For ‘Mysticism’, we find:
“a doctrine of an immediate spiritual intuition of truths believed to transcend ordinary understanding, or of a direct, intimate union of the soul with God through contemplation or ecstasy.”
For Enlightenment, the dictionary presents mainly doctrinal ideas from the east:
the beatitude that transcends the cycle of reincarnation; characterized by the extinction of desire and suffering and individual consciousness; pure and unqualified knowledge. Illumination, likewise, finds:knowledge, revelation, insight, wisdom; intellectual or spiritual enlightenment and understanding; a condition of spiritual awareness; divine illumination;

These stock definitions only lead us into more difficulty, as we ask ourselves what we mean by ‘spiritual’ or ‘ordinary understanding’. One thing we notice is that all the definitions refer to events that happen to individuals. They refer to states that affect the individual soul even if connected to group practice by doctrine or ritual. They all point toward a component of spiritual awareness, not based only on faith, but on experience.

In order to begin the discussion, I’ll propose a more technical, perhaps modern, definition of the terms ‘enlightenment’ or ‘illumination’. Let us say that these terms refer to specialized states or events of awareness that connect the personal mind with transpersonal awareness/experience. We’ll spend some time on the idea of transpersonal awareness as we go. More plainly, the terms refer to states of spiritual awareness, of deep connection with the divine and peace and wisdom in the self.

We will use ‘mysticism’ to refer to specific efforts made to reach these states. A ‘mystical’ system is a system that intends to induce illuminations, and ‘mysticism’ is the practice of those methods. The word derives from the Greek, of course, from ‘mystes’ – an initiate. A ‘mystery’ religion involved initiation – a formal moment in which the student was immersed in the spiritual symbols of the system. Just as these were systematic events, planned an executed for initiates, so we may use ‘mysticism’ broadly to mean the systematic pursuit of illuminative experience.

Every religion, every spiritual system makes choices as to which types of specialized state conform to the system’s models – that is, which become accepted and traditional. Within the large religious categories – such as ‘Hindu’ – we may find dozens of specific mystical programs, each run by a teacher or group, each serving those that are drawn to it. Even the monotheisms present multiple models of the personal search for contact with the divine.

Building Mystical Practice in ADF
To date, ADF has largely focused on public Paganism and what we might think of ‘village’ religion. We have organized groups to begin to restore our local relationships to the deities, a path of sacrifice and blessing, in which we seek the simple goods of health, wealth and wisdom for ourselves and our land and folk. In ancient Paganism I think even the mystics of the folk would have kept their connection with the sacred rites of their tribe and land – assuming they weren’t leading them! I think it could be time for Our Druidry to begin to develop personal and, possibly, group practices meant to build the individual’s relationship with the divine, to exalt and expand the mind, heart and soul. I think some of the symbols and meanings that we can use will be found in our existing ritual order and ides, but I think there are new directions available as well.

History and lore present us with a menu of cultural and technical methods of seeking illuminations. In order to decide which practices will become ADF practices, we must decide, to some degree, what we intend to mean by these traditional terms, and what sort of mental and spiritual states we wish to induce under the banner of Druidic mysticism. Indo-European Pagan models (especially northern European) have not left us any distinct understanding of what sorts of states were sought by ‘mystics’ among the Celts or Germans. We have hints and models, but very little context. We have some accounts and method remaining from the Hellenic and late Classical ages, but even there the soul of the work isn’t clear. We have far less context than we could use.

In order to begin a discussion on mystical strains and practices in ADF, we begin by making a few bald assertions of what Your Humble Author thinks might make a system or practice Druidic. It is worth our while, when we have the time, to discuss theology, and feel around for the edges of our systems. I also want to discuss what I feel are some useful ideas from postmodern thinkers, occultists and mystics. Some of this is by way of full disclosure, since those ideas have influenced my own, and those of other ADF members. (Long-time readers of el bloggo will have seen some of this before...) In our next section we will examine several traditional models of Indo-European and later European and Indian mysticism, and then compare them to our ethos and goals in ADF. That will be the first goal of this effort. From there we may proceed to some simple suggestions for methods drawing on models we like.

II: A Digression into the Modern
Postmodernists and Illuminists - Many of us in ADF have been influenced by the ideas of some modern and postmodern thinkers, both ‘occult’ and philosophical. The core lesson of writers such as Wilson, Bey, Leary, etc is that our perceived reality is largely socially and psychologically constructed. Daily life for humans usually consists of a body of habitual programs and models that shape our common thought, decision and action. These habits are shaped by our history and reactions to events, by the pressures of our immediate physical and social environment and, occasionally, by our deliberate personal choices.

Humans have the ability to notice our own programs and habits and, to some degree, to step outside of them and manage them - even to reshape them. Our ability to watch our own thought, and apparent ability it actually initiate changes in our thought at least on some levels, offers us the ability to adapt and thrive. It also offers us the potential to expand our mind into states and events outside normal sensory life. In this sort of neurological mysticism, judgment tends to be reserved as to the ‘objective’ merit of some spiritual experiences, but there is little question that they can have value.

In this secular sense one of the basic ‘enlightenments’ or ‘illuminations’ is the experience of noticing that “you” are separate from your construct persona and have some degree of control over it. This understanding seems to occur naturally in a number of folks, less so in others, but it’s proposed that anyone can get better at noticing and managing the programs and habits of the common self, and even to learn to step outside of it into more unusual states.

Many Neopagans have begun with this rather rationalist approach to spirituality, to move toward traditional religion, magic, yoga, etc. These systems are ancient and long-practiced attempts to use the self-management ability to produce transpersonal spiritual events in the self. Modern Pagan religion, mysticism and occultism, can offer individuals a level of sovereignty over the self that has not always been present in most recent religions, with a depth of practice comparable to any world system – at least in time.

Occultists and Mystics - Another set of modern influences on my own thought, and on that of many Pagans are the various modern schools of occultism and occult mysticism. The more mystical modern occult thinkers – Crowley, etc - have proposed that there is a spiritual reality that underlies the psychological mechanisms of the layers of the personality. While much of this sort of thought accepts the basic psychological models of modern mind science, it also accepts the idea of paranormal events and the value for growth and health of unusual spiritual states. Postmodern mystics might say that the objective reality of spiritual phenomena isn’t really an issue in effective use of magic or religion. Other modern mystics find reason to accept the objective existence of the spiritual worlds.

The Veil and the Path – I’m not entirely sure where to file this idea, so I’ll discuss it here… Both in this modernist perspective and in ancient ways, mystical illumination is often depicted as the discovery that common awareness, or reality itself, is a ‘veil of illusion’, that Things Are Not (only) As They Seem. The work of the mystic reveals the invisible sides of the worlds, reducing the common to just a section of existence.

Thus we find the Quest motif, the Great Work, the Fools Journey that inhabits much of the folklore tales of personal growth and mastery. From the Proto-Arthurian tales of the medieval Welsh to the symbolic forms of alchemy to the tales of great mystics such as Buddha or Merlin, the call to ‘come away’ is in many ways the core impulse of mysticism. We leave behind out metaphoric hearth and the Lands We Know to grow past our origins, to become more than we are.

This is an unusual position for our ADF ethos – we have worked to solidify our spirits in hearth and nemeton, to grow roots and networks where we are. From such a beginning the mystical quest might once again have meaning. To set forth on the Path, leaving behind the fields we know, is a powerful symbol that can’t be ignored.

III: What Makes It Druidic? – In which I stick my neck out to suggest what the boundaries of our modern Druidic spirituality might be. Please, Dear Reader, understand that I only mean to present my part in our discourse, and never to suggest any of this as fixed doctrine or creed for Our Way. I hope that this paper and these ideas will provoke discussion and adaptation of these ideas.

Druidic Spiritual Metavalues
1. Nature Centered – I feel I am safe in proposing that a Druidic spirituality is one that takes nature as a divine revelation, perhaps as the very presence of the divine. We view nature as a true and good image of spiritual reality – it is unfallen and holy as we find it. This includes the rejection of the idea that nature or spirit is divided into ‘good and ‘evil’ – we are not moral dualists, imagining that nature or spirit chooses sides between the light and the dark.
2. Life Affirming – Just as we value the material world as holy, so physical life is also holy and good, and death is a natural and holy part of life. We know that sorrow and suffering will probably be unavoidable, but we have confidence in our own virtue and strength to reduce and mitigate it.
3. Human Affirming – Just as physical nature is holy and good, so human personal and social nature is a true and holy part of nature. We are as much an expression of the divine as an oak or an eagle.
4. Polyvalent – We observe that in nature every kind of thing exists in multiple examples, similar but each unique. To us this demonstrates that the divine must also manifest as many beings, and that there must be multiple paths and methods to accomplish almost any goal. Thus, we are polytheistic, and understand the divine will to exist in and as many individual wills.

ADF Customs and Models – these will tend to have immediate influence on which models we choose.
1. Ritualistic – We are not, generally, quietists, seeking to simply be still and know whatever. We favor expression of ideas in formal speech and symbolism, and use ritual to solidify spiritual powers into the manifest world. We are slowly developing a body of meditation practice that supports and reflects our ritual ideas, but we have not very far developed our own Druidic meditation models for seeking mystical states.
2. Reciprocal – Our work joins our personal spiritual reality with that of the greater divine and spiritual world. We intend to build relationships between the divine and the personal, the core idea of our practice is, in many ways, reciprocity. We can ask ourselves how that will apply to a more immediate union between the divine and the personal.
3. Mythic – ADF has tended to reject an ‘archetypal’ or purely psychosocial understanding of the Gods and Spirits in favor of a more directly mythic description. We enjoy working in the mythic models of the ancients – how will we use those tales in efforts to induce spiritual experiences, and in what directions will they send us?
4. Social and Tribal – Our Druidry has been focused on the social group, from the Hearth to the fully developed Grove. Mysticism is commonly done alone or in small focused groups – how will we adapt our direction for that?

Beginning with these basic ideas, we’ll go on, in the next part of our series, to examine various models of mystical practice in IE and post-IE Europe and India. In the final part I will discuss my thoughts on where we might begin in developing specific mystical practices inside our existing systems.

A Thanksgiving Invocation

2011-11-24T04:32:00.000-08:00

A simple prayer, to be accompanied by simple offerings – a candle or incense-stick lit would be sufficient. I believe I owe thanks to Jason Miller for the phrase in the above devotional art.

• On winter’s doorstep, I send my call to the Holy Ones.
As the land sinks into sleep, I give thanks for all that I have gained in the harvest.
For all the good of me and mine,of my kin and my friends, of my wealth and my store, of my heart and my mind I give thanks.
• To the Shining Gods and Goddesses I give thanks. You who uphold all the world, I am grateful for your many lights, that show me the ways of the wise. By your inspirations I seek wisdom, love and power, and for your inspiration, and your wonder and your challenges I give you my thanks with this gift.
• To the Noble Tribes I give thanks. You who indwell the world, spirits of beasts and birds, all who crawl or swim or walk or fly, I am grateful to share the world with you. You who serve the gods, daemons and courtiers, your grace allows my life. For your sharing and giving, for your beauty and strength I give you my thanks with this gift
• To the Beloved Dead I give thanks. You whose blood and flesh create my blood and flesh, you whose wisdom teaches my wisdom, I am grateful to you for all that you give. Kin of my blood and Kin of my heart, you are with me still in memory, so be with me in life. I give you my thanks, with this gift.
• I am a child of the earth, and the inheritor of the stars. By the Fire in me, and the Well in me, and the World Tree that grows in me, I give thanks to all beings for every blessing.
So be it, for so it is!

Cranking Up a New Year

2011-11-22T05:32:00.001-08:00

I live a life of conflicting calendrical systems. Of course I work and deal with most other folks by the good ol' American Gregorian calendar, which makes this the start of the Holiday Season, approaching the end of the common year. I actually like the Calends of January holiday, though it's a secular event for my Gaeloid self.

On the other hand I have kept a neo-Celtic calendrical cycle for some 30 years, in which Samhain is the end and beginning of the year. Of course that makes the year start with the quiet and death-current of Samhain, leading to the slow wax of the light at Yuletide. (Rev. Earrach has a good deal to say about all that...) So, this is a weird time, very neither-nor, as we make our way through toward Imbolc, however far-off through the Ohio winter that seems from here.

For me, though, the season of early winter following Samhain is always a good time for creative work, as I get the shovels and tarps put away and turn my attention to my brain. Above is a bit of art I did as a warm-up, I've written a new song and unearthed a couple of old, unheard originals. I *am* writing the novel, slowly.

The best news is that I'm almost done preparing the Book of Visions for sale. That book will contain the trance and meditation work from the Nine Moons training system along with new material. Along with the Book of Summoning this will complete the reworking of the Nine Moons material into general-purpose Druidic Pagan how-to-books, without a nine-lesson format. All of that happened in the last year incidentally - it's been a productive phase...

There's also occult work to do this winter. I have two large spirit-workings from this past season to integrate into my own work. I am preparing a publication based on the Court of Brigid workings, incidentally, but it may have to wait until more work is done. L and I completely missed one major intention this past summer - maybe winter will be better despite the difficulties of working outdoors.

So, on we go! Thanks for reading, as always, and welcome to the several new readers. Do mention what you'd like to see here. This actually marks the end of my third year of blogging! Whoda thunkit?

Why Don't the Gods Ask for Turds?

2011-11-16T09:40:00.000-08:00

I continue to hang around the Catholic Answers Forum occasionally, mainly to help field discussion such as this one, and because it lets me indulge in theology. In this round, someone was asserting that if the Gods were 'real' they might occasionally ask for repugnant things, rather than just things that mortals like. Here's a shot at an answer:

Originally Posted by PRmerger
Actually, the point that is being made is that one knows they are NOT true deities because they only want things that aren't repugnant for the worshipper to offer. It reminds me of the Chesterton saying, "That Jones shall worship the god within ultimately means that Jones shall worship Jones."The question I'm posing is meant to cause pagans to pause and think, 'Hmmm....am I really worshipping a deity, or just a projection of myself?"

Sticking my schnoz back into this thread...There are a bunch of assumptions about the nature of man, the divine and religion that would need addressing to get anywhere with this.Let's start with religion. Pagan religions aren't 'revealed'. The Gods or their heralds don't generally descend and explain to mortals how to worship them, what offerings are proper, etc. Rather, Pagan religion is devised. Wise and inspired humans (called Rishis - Seers, in Hinduism, for example, and probably called 'prophets' in early biblical phases... i.e. "Saul is with the Prophets"...) discover the methods of communicating with the Gods, and aply them. Those that catch on with the people become tradition, and tradition defines the basics for future generations. At any time a new Seer or Wise One might appear, to offer new approaches, which may or may not become part of tradition. Each or any of these may produce 'scripture', or poetry or ritual text, and some of those writings may become hallowed by tradition.

This is possible because humans are understood to posses an indwelling spark of the divine. We are not different in kind from the Gods and Spirits, only in degree. Someone asked whether a human spirit could be greater than some gods. I'd say yes. There are some very small gods, and some very large heroes. In any case, our very human minds are reflections of the divine mind, and when we focus and clarify ourselves we can be inspired in many ways. Pagans don't see this so much as hearing the voice of a god, as realizing truth by our own divine discernment.

Of course it can happen in the more common way, in which a god or spirit sends a dream or vision. That's how a lot of temples and Shrines get built.

In Neopaganism, this process is just being restored. Our 50 or 60 years of invocation and seeking of the Gods is beginning to be answered in dreams, visions and inspirations. Very few of these have reached the level of tradition yet. When we get a few generations under us we'll see more of that.

In any case, this is not self-worship. Rather it is an active reaching out to the divine other. In an animistic polytheism, the divine is never restricted to one place, person, condition or name. The divine inheres in me, and in you; in trees and stones and art and music and turds and the flow of stars across the sky. To know the divine in fullness we must be open to the divine wherever it presents itself, and seek it where we might not otherwise seek. That's the mystic's work, but many people just want enough religion to get by. We see no problem in that, and the simple business of making an offering to a god and getting a blessing in return is enough for a lot of Pagans. No one is required to seek mystical understanding in order to get some good of religion.

Now as to why the gods don't ask for nasty stuff...First, understand that the practice of making offerings is based on the setting of a feast for a noble guest. A 'Sacrifice' (latin for sacred work, but RCs should know that...) is a banquet arranged for a god - incense to sweeten the air, wine poured in libation, cakes burned or buried, and a nice lamb or goat roasted, butchered and either shared between the god and the folk or given whole to the god.

Smaller offerings are essentially a scale-down of that approach. You give what you would give a friend. The gods don't so much demand or prescribe what's given, rather they graciously appreciate the small welcome most folks can give, and respond with noble gifts in turn. Of course different friends like different things, and you don't lay in reisling for your stout-drinking friend. That brings us back to inspiration, experiment and tradition, by which these customs arise.

For a spirit to ask a repugnant thing would be a strange deal. It isn't their custom to ask us to 'prove ourselves' to them (except a few folks who may have some sort of 'destiny' or something), or to require us to jump through hoops for them. Especially in these early stages of our revival, the gods are pleased to be receiving offerings again.

On yet another level, remember that the divine is infinitely multiple in form, and no one person can be in religious relationship with all of those forms. The beings that come to be part of human religion are beings that like humans, and may even be like humans, including our ancestors, and spirits of the lands we live in). They are beings that respond when we make offerings of wine and bread. Beings who want offerings of turds (divine as they may be) can mostly look somewhere besides my house for worshippers.

Can I sum up...? It's unusual to have a god ask for anything in particular. Rather, offerings are devised through inspiration, experiment and tradition. The goal is to please the deity with our gifts. Therefore, no turds.

Incidentally, that would be entirely different from asking a god or spirit to bless a turd for, say garden fertility...

Pagan Spirit Arte in Outline

2011-11-04T11:01:00.000-07:00

I have been working to develop ritual methods of spirit-contact in a Gaelic or northern mythic system, using both lore from northern folkways and the outlines passed from classical Greece and Rome in the grimoires. The result, so far, is The Book of Summoning. I’m sure that it isn’t Gaelic enough for hard reconstructionists, but it is probably too Gaelic to be workable by folks focused on other mythic systems without changes. I’ve had a couple of requests for notes on how the system might be reworked for other cultural models, so here we go with some. I dunno how focused this will be, though it is getting more than one draft.

1: The Pagan magical approach centers on the interaction between humans and spirits. While ‘energy work’ models appear in some Pagan systems, it is much more common for magicians to accomplish our work by making alliances and arrangements with specific spirit beings.
A: Animism: The magician often works with very down-to-earth spirits, those indwelling plants and stones, streams and hills and trees.
B: The Dead: The spirits of the Ancestors and, more broadly, of the human Dead are central to classical (and probably Indo-European) magical methods.
C: The Gods: Classical magic is often (even usually) performed under the patronage or presidency of one or more spirits of the class called ‘deities’. These are conceived to be cosmic spirits of high power and wisdom, and specifically those who have been the friends and allies of mortals over the centuries. Some systems tend to put all magical work under a ‘God of Magic’, but special works under specific other gods are also common.

One of the primary tasks in approaching the spirit magic of a culture is to determine their categories of spirits, and understand the local and culturally unique ideas surrounding them. While those working an IE system can probably deal with the Druidic Three Kindreds of Gods, Dead and Wights I don’t know how well that transposes to a Semitic or Central Asian model. Also, the category of ‘Wights’ opens out into a vast mythological scape, from little plant dudes to mighty daemons of the stars.

In practice it can be quite difficult to discern the Landwights from the Dead. For much practical magic these categories become conflated as ‘the Spirits’. Again, specific cultures will parse this in different ways, and knowing those specifics will allow the mage to customize the poetry and words of calling.

2: Several basic principles underlie all spirit-arte:
A: Reciprocity: The relationship between mortals and the spirits is one of give-and-take. The magician makes offerings and gains the aid of spirits, spirits aid mortals and gain the benefit of offerings. This applies from the smallest herb-imp to the gods themselves.
Here folkloric methods are very valuable. Approaching the Spirits in the ways of their ancestors will only make them more likely to answer.
B: Hierarchy: The spirits are arranged by type, and are each and all part of a moving, flowing pattern in which the greater drives the lesser and the lesser executes the will of the greater. Therefore the magician makes alliances with mighty powers, such as the gods, and by the gods meets the kings and queens of spirits, and by the sovereigns meets the knights and laborers of the Courts of Spirits.
C: Authority: The magician is able to deal safely with the Spirits by developing a degree of personal strength, and thus of personal authority. This is of two kinds – personal power, derived from the talents deeds and skills of the magician, and borrowed power, gained by alliance with mighty beings.

It is also true to say that some types of spirit-magic work with humility. The householder who needs to work a trick may be more likely to pray humbly, or cajole with gifts, than to command by authority. The system I've written, however is written for the Druid, a high-status priest with authority among the spirits. Your juju may vary.

3: There are several basic practices that seem nearly universal in Pagan spirit-arte:
A: Sacrifice: The mystery of sacrifice is the giving of honor and offering to the spirits, and the receiving of aid and blessing in return. Every culture will have traditional methods of accomplishing this work. The magician must carefully create a model of personal sacrifice that she is fully competent at. It is proper to say that the spirit-arte mage must be able to function as a priest of his chosen system.
B: Entrancement: Whether deliberate or unstated, when the spirits speak, consciousness is, and has been, altered. It is good for the magician to be able to alter awareness at will, the better to allow the voice and form of the spirits to appear.
C: Alliance: The magician makes primary alliances with a short list of specific spirits, often beginning with a god, but including a variety of spirits. Cultural models will indicate what kinds of spirits commonly ally with magicians.

4: Several basic preparations precede formal work:
A: The Magician’s Shrine: A temple, glade, room, corner, dresser-top etc. is set aside, according to the magician’s resources, to be used as the site of magical work. This is equipped with all the symbols and vessels needed to work a full sacrifice in its tradition.

Incidentally, please note that I’m describing a ‘high magic’ paradigm here. I’m aware that some folkloric spirit-arte manages without the trappings of temple and tools – mostly. However, folkloric systems usually rely on being able to snag bits from existing religious systems – holy water, candles, talismans, sneaking objects into saint’s-day masses, etc. As Pagans we have no such luck, and so, where the old instructions say ‘attend mass’ or ‘have a Mass of the Holy Ghost said’, we must be prepared to work our own sacrifice, and get our own blessing. Thus, we need a temple and the skills of a ritual priest.
B: Personal Tools of Power. In many European cultures these are especially a wand or scepter or, more recently, a sword or dagger. The notion here is a tool that represents the personal power – or indwelling divinity, if you like – of the mage. The form of these will be determined by the culture at hand.

C: Consecration and Activation Rites: All these things are properly blessed. Of course devising proper blessing and purification rites per culture-of-choice is an important preliminary work.

5: The magician develops personal power through preliminary rites.
A: Purifications and Empowerments: A round of preliminary rites, including work to cleanse the magician of ill, and improve peace and luck.
B: Regular worship of the Gods & Spirits: a steady round of offerings, seeking basic blessing and empowerment. A round of seasonal or calendrical rites, attuning the magician to the land, (or stars, or saints, or whatever external cosmic power) is also worthwhile.
C: Creation of a Talisman of Protection: The most immediate of the direct protections.
D: Initial Convocation and Attunement Rites: In the system I'm writing for the spirits are called in general as the Dead and the Landwights. Various ethnicities will have various categories. In any case specific ‘Audience’ rites should be devised, to introduce the mage to the spirits en masse. These will take the form of a formal sacrifice to the category (i.e. the Dead or the Sidhe, or whatever cultural terms make sense), with the intention of inducing the vision and voice of the convoked collective of those spirits. The mage seeks an Audience, in which the spirits see him and he sees the spirits.

6: The Magician makes alliances with specific ally spirits. Here the choices should be closely matched to the system in which the mage works. For Northerners alliances with the Dead and the Landwights seem completely proper. However, those broad categories have so many subsets and specific types that I found myself spending a chapter parsing them in my book. Research into cultural specifics is mandatory here. The goal is to find spirits that are partial to human alliance, while being powerful enough to be of help.
A: Outline of a Conjuring Rite
• Establishment of Space; including preliminary purifications and protections
• Engagement with the Otherworld – or with personal power and authority as the system conceives it.
• Sacrifice to the God Proper to the Work. In initial alliance rites it is advisable to place the work under the presidency of a deity. In most cultures a God of Magicians will be the proper choice, or a psychopomp or perhaps the traditional ‘King’ of a class of spirits, such as Freyr for the Alfar.
• Calling to the Host of Spirits. The Spirits are convoked as in the Audience rites, and the mage proclaims willingness to make alliance. The Book of Summoning gives a method for ‘thinning the crowd’, asking those unwilling to depart. Offerings given, but also promised.
• Calling the Ally. The mage converses with the spirits (by rising in vision, in the book’s system) and an ally becomes available. If all goes well, the magician learns a name, a proper offering and a bit about the Ally’s nature.

• Binding and Charging the Ally. The binding is by oath, binding upon both the mage and the spirit. The charge details the conditions under which the mage will call the spirit and how the spirit will respond.

7: Working With the Spirits. With the alliance(s) made the mage takes up maintenance work, devising a regular offering that keeps him in conversation with the allies, and allows the development of further alliances, and one-shot spirit workings as well.

To summarize:
1: Know your system – the Gods and categories of Spirits, the nature of magical power and the ways of acquiring it, the forms of ritual worship and magic.
2: Gather your power – Purify the body and mind, focus your intention and gain the general blessing and goodwill of the Gods and Spirits.
3: Call the Spirits – make a place for them, offer them gifts and benefit, and deal with them in honor and trust.

I hope that is of some use to those who want to rework my Pagan Spirit Arte models for non-Celtic systems. May you be blessed in the work.

Ten Magical Books Worth Remembering

2011-11-02T04:36:00.000-07:00

From the Twentieth Century

Okay, thirteen books… plus… but…

I'm sure I'll have left out something obvious - feel free to comment. Also, this list applies to classical 'western magic', including Witchcraft and Wiccan forms, but doesn't apply to afro-carribean magic in the new world or other non-Euro cultural stuff. There may have been remarkable publishing going on there about which I know nothing...

First, three books from the beginning of the century, when post-Masonic, still-pretty-monotheist systems were still influential. While the ritual system understood by these writers has waned, the symbolic constructs have been quite persistent. These books contain the flower of esoteric Tarot as well.
1: Magick (Book IV) - Aleister Crowley (1912): the big one.
2: The Golden Dawn – Israel Regardie (1936)
3: The Mystical Qabalah – Dion Fortune (1935): reliable one-volume summary of post-Golden Dawn Hermetic Qabalah.

Four books from the middle of the century that reflect the swing away from the ‘lodge-work’ model of ritual and toward the circle-work’ model.
4: The Gardnerian Book of Shadows (c.1952) (by extension, I’d recommend the Farrar’s Eight Sabbats for Witches and The Witches Way as the best expansion of the original.)
5: Initiation Into Hermetics – Franz Bardon (1962): the most influential book on occult mental training and ‘energy work’ in the 20th century (I leave New Thought out of ‘occult’ here).
6: Magical Ritual Methods - William Gray (1969): Excellent mid-20th c. restatement of magical art, down-to-earth and unburdened by specific traditions.
7: Mastering Witchcraft – Paul Huson (1970): perhaps the best single grimoire of ‘operative witchcraft’ ever written.

The end of Masonic-style work and the rise of new systems are seen in the last three books, which represent three distinct schools of late twentieth century magic. Grant inherits from Crowley, but abandons western ritual style in favor of Indic forms. Starhawk cuts the circle-work style completely free of the Masonic tradition and redefines it on its own terms. Carroll goes back to first principles, while enjoying the mystique of ‘sorcery’ and ‘black magic’.
8: Aleister Crowley & the Hidden God – Kenneth Grant (1973): really the whole original Typhonian Trilogy, but it was this one that RAW quoted…
9: The Spiral Dance – Starhawk (1979): like her theology or not, SD taught a generation of witches how to raise power, invoke deity, and use the Wiccan spell-casting model.
10: Liber Null & Psychonaut – Peter J. Carroll (1987): Still core to the Chaos Magic models.

Limiting this list to ten is not really doable, of course. I just threw that number out as rhetoric. As runners-up, I’d mention:
11: Way of the Shaman – Michael Harner (1980) the book that taught magicians to do shamanic-style trance. Representing the Shamanic Magic movement.
12: Futhark; A Handbook of Rune Magic – Edred Thorsson (1984) The book that began introducing the Elder Futhark to western magic. Representing the Northern Reconstructionist movements.
13: The Underworld Initiation - R.J. Stewart (1990) British and Euro-folk symbolism applied with western magical technique. Representing the evolution of the Western Mysteries movement.

And just because I can’t stop, I’d runnerup-up the small list of practical grimoires published by ‘self-help’ publishers that have survived the century – such things as New Avatar Power and the Mystic Grimoire and Helping Yourself With White Witchcraft.

For a sense of history, Yronwode is 2002, Leitch on grimoires is 2005, Stratton-Kent is 2009. There’s been a whole lot o’ shakin’ in magic-land since the turn of the century…

Mastering Witchcraft Bandwagon

2011-10-28T07:33:00.000-07:00

I just can't resist chiming in on the ongoing discussion, begun at The Used Key Is Always Bright on the classic manual of practical Pagan magic, Mastering Witchcraft.

MW became available in my hometown in 1971, in its hardback original release. I was sixteen years old, and the discussion with my parents about my growing interest in occultism occasionally reached high volumes. I used birthday money, bought the book, and quickly scrawled my name across the front leaf so that it couldn't be returned. Despite more loud discussion, I retained the book, and from it I began to learn ritual magic.

Huson claimed to reveal the true names of the witches' Goddess and God, a tidbit that seems hackneyed now, but was rather monumental in those days. Gardner, Valiente and all the first-wave public witches made rather a show of concealing what are now openly worshipped names. He taught a simple, elemental ritual system using the tools based on the grimoiric tool-set, plus other minor tools. All this was presented in classical magical style, everything properly consecrated and devoted to the art. No Kitchen-witchy, using your turnip-knife for spells for our Paul. I had already found "The Black Arts", and was pleased to find ritual witchcraft that conformed to the description of magic in the souces I was reading.

MW doesn't exactly teach 'worship' of the gods, but it does teach effective techniques for invocation. While Huson pays a little lip-service to duotheism his actual system is based on the aid of a specific group of deities, arranged in roughly elemental style. Thus Habondia for Water, the chalice and love-spells; Hermes-Mercury for Air, the wand and divination; Cernunnos for Fire, the dagger (he says athame) and cursing; And Nocticula-Saturnus for Earth and bindings. Protective magic is given to the Elemental Spirits, arranged in the usual way in the four-quartered circle. A thread that runs throughout his witchcraft mythology is that of the "Watchers" - the Nephelim, ancient spiritual beaings that are said to have taught mortals sorcery. It's far from clear whether the gods that are actually invoked are to be thought of as Watchers, or what. The fact is, folk myth doesn't care, and neither does Huson.

One of Huson's great skills is the ability to take snippets of medieval lore and reframe them in working rituals. Every so-often I run across another piece of stuff quoted as a fragment or remnant that i recognize from Huson's work. His approach to crafting spells is still a major guide for me. He's also had a huge influence on the Pagan and quasi-Pagan magical scene. I doubt there are many performances of the Dumb Supper that don't rely on MW for their basic form, and the conjuration of Vassago is one of the earliest modern rethinkings of grimoiric ritual. The set of magical goals is thoroughly urban and personal. There are no 'fertility' spells, nor workings to recognize or support seasonal changes.

The chapter on 'The Coven and How to Form One' has been one of the most influential pieces in Neopagan history. Huson skips theology, for the most part, to give solid advice on how to organize a small magical group. He does recommend keeping the eight 'Sabbats', but gives no seasonal scripts. The little checklist of organization items (coven name, symbols, etc) have remained a basic guide, and were vital to the way new covens formed in the 70s and 80s. Rather than outline a hierarchy huson provides a pile of lore and ideas, encouraging readers to make of them what they will. By the time that the festival movement brought together the North American covens and working groups of the 70s it was very difficult to find a bootstrap coven or tradition that had not either been organized directly from that chapter or been directly influenced by MW. Sometimes I refer to MW as the "'Spiral Dance' of the seventies" because it both synthesized the magical feel of the moment, and provided practical support that allowed new groups to grow.

There's some dispute as to whether Huson had a connection with non-Gardnerian 'Traditional Craft' in Britain. Huson claims that his occult training came from post Golden Dawn sources, along with a personal curiosity about folklore and historic witchcraft. I did ask him a specific question in a personal correspondence, and he again said that he had no connection with craft lineage. At this moment I'm inclined to believe him.

That makes him rather a genius. He created a synthesis of traditional medieval magic with practical energy-work and visualization, reinvented the material tools and taught a generation how to cast spells and summon the Old Gods. Oh, also, he can draw rather nicely. The book is illustrated by the author, and his images of Cernunnos and Aradia have remained in circulation in the Pagan community ever since.

If there are ten books on magic that should be remembered from the 20th century, this should be one of them.

To Mention the Dead

2011-10-23T07:17:00.000-07:00

'Tis the seaon, here at Tredara.

This past week my father passed out of mortal life. I was blessed to be able to attend his bedside, a first in my boomer life. His passing was comfortable and quiet, with his family around him.

A conventional, quietly Christian man, my dad was also open-hearted enough to accept my Pagan ways (after twenty years made it clear that it wasn't a phase...), and he leaves several families the better for his presence.

We also honored the spirit of one of our old coven-mates, scattering some of her ash here on the land where she so often worshipped. Another first for me... hands in corpse-ash...

As we approach this season of the Dead, I'll preach just a little, and remind us all to hold fast to memory, to give honor to your own forebearers, whether of blood or of heart. Heroes or Saints, we give honor to you all.

This year I'll quote a colleague, Rev. Michael Dangler. I love this piece:

When you were born,

The earth became your body,

The stone became your bone,

The sea became your blood,

The sun became your eye,

The moon became your mind,

The wind became your breath.

When you passed to the Otherworld,

Your breath became the wind,

Your mind became the moon,

Your eye became the sun,

Your blood became the sea,

Your bone became the stone,

Your body became the earth.

When we were born, you did the same for us:

You called forth the earth and rocks;

The sea arose and the sun descended;

The moon shone down and the winds sang.

For those who come after, we shall do as you did for us

When we are gone, we shall do as you did before.

Ancestors, we honour you.

Three Books for the Dead

2011-10-21T06:52:00.000-07:00

Recent Books Reviewed

Here in this Season of the Veil, the good news is that the Pagan and magical movement is beginning to pay some attention to the spirits of the Ancestors and the Dead. A combination of European lore with African diaspora and indigenous North American lore is seeping into both the actual practices of self-described Witches and Pagans. Our Druidry has been at the forefront of this gradual change. We began including the honoring of the Ancestors in every major rite some 20 years ago. However it is fair to say that more detailed work with the Dead is much more recent and we too are being influenced by current trends in ritual and devotion.

Here are three books that both reflect and contribute to the growing interest in spiritual work with the Dead. One is very Neopagan, though it is this year’s Neopaganism. One is of a more reconstructionist bent, though still quite eclectic in its way. The third is a more in-depth study of a living animist and polytheist tradition.

The Witch’s Book of the Dead
Christian Day
Weiser Books, 2011
If you’re a modern Neopagan who has never approached the idea of a cult of the Dead, or of directly honoring your ancestors, or if you teach folks like that, this book could be the place to start. It presents a simple background and introductory set of techniques that could help anyone begin their practice. However those good bits are rather smothered in a lot of additional text.

I’ll admit to not caring a great deal for autobiographical material in occult writing. I prefer an emphasis on ideas, not anecdote, and don’t feel a need to know that an author is impressive in order to be impressed by their magical work. So the Witch’s Book of the Dead had a lot of dead pages for me, as the author tells tales. Christian Day is a well-known entrepreneur and showman from Salem, Mass. He’s the fellow who ‘cursed’ Charlie Sheen over his ‘warlock’ comments, but only a little of that comes through here. He has plenty of tales to tell, about organizing and about practical sorcery, as well as a whole chapter on ‘ghost-hunting’ and paranormal work. Some of this was engaging, but there was rather a lot of it, compared to actual instruction.

The actual material on the Dead in Pagan ways and how to begin a practice is well-presented and concise. Day does a pretty good job of summarizing material from scholastic sources on the Dead in classical Witchcraft, usually presenting lore in snippets mixed in with the practical instructions. The book includes basics for establishing a shrine or altar for the Dead and assembling a set of tools. Proper attention is given to cleansings and dealing with difficult spirits, and classic methods of speaking with spirits, such as the pendulum and a chapter on mediumship. These amount to good, basic introductions.

Being a user of trance and spirit-vision myself, I was pleased to see attention given to the formal process of inducing trance for spirit work. I thought the methods given for inducing an oracular state were a trifle sketchy. More attention could have been paid to learning the basics of altering consciousness. (I *do* know the problem of deciding how much space to give to those methods in a book that isn’t primarily about trance.) However the actual rites and techniques that he provides are well-written and interesting examples of classical tropes like mirror vision and the skull-ally. Hopefully students will have some additional trance training to make them work.

I can recommend this book for those learning or teaching the basics of working with the Ancestors and the Dead, and who don’t mind a bit of bluster with their instruction. It is almost completely free of cultural or traditional baggage, drawing on African and western methods free of specific mythic content. While that may rob it of a bit of depth it also makes it easy to apply to whatever Pagan system one is working.

Weaving Memory
Laura Patsouris
Asphodel Press, 2010

This small book is an excellent introduction to building an ancestral practice. The author is a Northern Heathen, interested in Scandinavian and Germanic heritage, and has family connections with Afro-Cuban tradition as well. This provides a perspective that seems quite useful to those of us rebuilding a northern European Paganism.

Weaving Memory is heavily focused on family lineage, and the spirits of the generations immediately before our own. The first section addresses the lines of the mother and father in individual chapters, gives the basics of setting up an ancestral altar and beginning simple devotional practice. There is a good chapter on ‘Toxic Ancestors’, a topic frequently discussed in Druidry as we begin to work with family spirits. Later the author teaches a method of aiding and ‘rectifying’ a toxic ancestor, a thing I had never seen before.

The second section deals with the details of work with the Dead, including building the sacrificial relationship and learning the strengths of the specific allies made. There are chapters on working with the Dead for spellcraft or intentions, and some speculation on what Ancestral cults may mean about the ‘afterlife’ and reincarnation. Nice chapters on accessing ancient knowledge and the notion of community dead round it out.

Throughout, the author focuses on knowing the real spirits of individual ancestors and dealing with them through love and devotion. Few ritual forms are given, most of the work being framed as advice, leaving students to construct their own practices. The entire book is a modest 105 pages, so most chapters are short essays conveying pithy ideas in both warm and direct ways.

The final section offers guest essays, including a good piece on transgender and intersex Ancestors by Raven Kaldera. The entire book is focused on a message that the west has forgotten the Dead, and one thing that Paganism can do to restore the balance of the world is to restore our relationship with our Ancestors. I recommend Weaving Memory as a fine introduction to the work of building the ways of the dead in our Paganism today.

Palo Mayombe – The Garden of Blood & Bones
Nicholaj de Mattos Frisvold
Scarlet Imprint, 2010

In Palo Mayombe, we have the first authoritative survey of a system of Afro-Caribbean sorcery and spiritism that has been the object of fear and fascination for over 100 years. While there have been shorter works and pamphlets on Palo no other source offers the level of understanding that is available to readers in this book. The author (I’ll refer to him as NdMF) is both an initiate of a Palo system, and brings a scholastic perspective that combine to provide an excellent perspective on the subject.

Palo Mayombe is an initiatory sect built on principles brought to the New World by slaves of Bantu and Kongo ethnicity. In Cuba, and later throughout Latin America, it has remained underground and inwardly-focused but also has provided working magic-users for the Afro-diaspora. Palo sorcerers are respected and feared among those who live in a culture that accepts magical arts. The author often, in fact, refers to Palo as a ‘sorcerer’s sect’ in that to be a working Palero is to have pacts with the spirits, and various magical skills.

Palo traditions are bound by oaths, and so no book can be a how-to of the authentic tradition. The author makes clear that any specific expression of the path – each ‘House’ or initiatory lineage – is unique, and its members work with specific spirits unique to that lineage. However there are cultural universals and vocabulary that allow us to understand the background principles of the system. These principles are presented here in such a way as to be very suggestive indeed to those with some training in Theurgy or western magical arts.

In the first section of Palo Mayombe there is certainly vocabulary to be learned, and a background in Yoruba symbols will be of little help. The Kongo and other African concepts are presented clearly, but the author gives us one or two shots at remembering what an mpungo is before continuing to use the term technically. The first section of the book is quite a serious download of information for those new to the terminology.

Along with a thorough introduction of the Palo order of spirits and beings there is also a fine review of the historical origins of central-African syncretism. I was surprised to be shown (despite knowing all the factoids) that Christian proselytization had begun in Africa, with Roman Catholic symbolism and theologies influencing Kongo culture well before the beginning of the slave trade. Through this intercourse with Mediterranean Europe NdMF suggests that some European magical concepts may have become mixed with African ways, again long before the current New World synthesis.

The second part of the book concerns the reputation and reality of Palo as a cult of necromancy. This reputation rests primarily on the central magical talisman of the system, a cauldron or vessel filled with soil, sticks (‘palos’ in Spanish), symbols and, most notably, a human skull and bones. This is called the Nganga, or the Fundamento. NdMF dives directly into Greek and Roman sources on necromancy, skull-magic and the sacred head to wrap again into the Palo system:
“In the vocabulary of the Kongo, it could be about the relationship between bakulu (ancestor/spirit/ghost), mvumbi (cadaver) and nkisi (spirit) in relation to the idea of ndoki (power, usually with a nightside flavor)”

The creation and maintenance of the Nganga are covered in as much detail as the author’s oaths allow. Every specific Palo lineage is different, but there are also many similarities, and we learn of the meaning of the vessel itself, of the materials that fill it – sacred woods and worked iron. Each Fundamento is made under a specific spirit-power (NdMF seems to avoid the term ‘gods’ in favor of the Kongo term nkisi) and twelve of these are discussed in detail, giving their distinctive sigils and songs (if only we could hear the melodies) and various details and stories. Each of these includes specific methods of dealing with the bones of the dead, incorporating a specific living spirit into the vessel, while connecting it with a specific divine power. Again while oath-bound detail is withheld the magician will find this all quite instructive.

“The Palero is not only one of the walking dead he is also a spiritual warrior” writes NdMF in the third section, in which he describes the ongoing work of the system, initiation, and the concept of the sacred temple, or ‘house’. This section includes a chapter on divination which reveals similarities to other Afro-Caribbean practices.

Finally the book provides an herbarium of Palo lore, including the various woods used in the Nganga and many other herbs and items. At various places throughout are smaller spells, customs and ritual works that attend the greater mysteries of the system.

I should take a few lines to mention the wonderful editions from Scarlet Imprint. SI is one of the leading small occult presses of the decade, and all of their hardback editions are collectible volumes that are simply a delight to hold and read for book-geeks like me. For those who can’t manage the price of those editions SI also offers their works, including this one, in reasonably-priced paperback editions.

In the work of rebuilding polytheism, we Neopagans should make every effort to learn from existing magical and spiritist systems. The African Diaspora offers us a very clear window, when someone like NdMF takes pains to wipe it clean for us. In Palo we don’t see the plain village religion of New World, post-Yoruba practices, but a more esoteric lineage of necromantic sorcery, in which practitioners become empowered by their relationship with the gods, the dead and the spirits of the forest. There’s a great deal to be learned…

A Dance of Silver

2011-10-14T06:49:00.001-07:00

A Spirit Contact Rite

In early October I had a chance to once again apply the basic spirit-arte methods I’ve been developing. Our ADF Clergy met in retreat, with about 21 of our 27 or so ordained folks able to make the event. On Saturday evening of the retreat we worked a rite intended to begin to establish an alliance between our Clergy Order and the beings who we sometimes call the Third Kindred, or the Nature Spirits.

When we began our round of Clergy Retreats, some six years ago, we begin building an inner locale from which we could work. In doing so we arrived at a relationship with two deities – the Earth Mother and the Keeper of Gates – who we have come to identify as the patrons of our Druidic order’s work, since they are who we invoke in every liturgy. A little later we established a contact with a category of spirit we call the Ancient Wise – ancestral or former-mortal spirits who in life were Pagan priests, poets, mages etc. From those we have sought instruction about our Druidic work in modern times.

That has left us without a formal alliance with the Third Kindred. This category of spirits is always somewhat difficult for us. It becomes a catch-all for ‘everybody else’ who isn’t the human Dead or one of the great Shining Ones. This has made it more difficult to build a model by which our multi-regional gang of clergy can make alliances that are both powerful and applicable in any ecosystem. The moist green land of the temple where we hold our retreats won’t produce the same spirits that our priests in the desert or the western mountains might meet in their land. Even winds and clouds vary widely in their local natures. As we thought it through, it seemed to us that spirits of the Sky, especially of the Great Lights, might be a proper target.

In looking at the Sun, Moon and Stars, we began by setting aside the highest and strangest first. The multiple stars offer too many kinds of power, too many flavors of spirit, to be our first wave of allies. We discussed sun-spirits a lot, but even the sun has many feels and faces around the globe. Also there’s a basic distinction in Indo-European symbolism in which the sun refers to exoteric, warrior-based power, while the moon is associated with mind, mystery and magic – i.e. the priesthood or magical class. For us white-robed, sickle-bearing Druids it eventually seemed entirely proper to begin our ‘nature spirits’ work by evoking lunar spirits.

We spent a good bit of time discussing just what we meant by lunar spirits. I wanted to point us toward the most terrestrial possible kind of being, with the sense of seeking the spirits who might appear in or as the rays of the moon’s light touching and affecting the land itself. In a hierarchical sense, I sought to contact ‘sublunar’ spirits of the ‘Court of the Moon’. At this level I expected to find beings sufficiently manifest and connected to organic life to be able to treat sensibly with mortals.

Incidentally, our intent in making this alliance was dual. First we meant to find spirits that could be always available to us as ‘heralds’ that could help our priests make further contacts with the Others wherever they might be. Second we were looking for ‘familiars’ – spirits who would actively work as agents for us. It might be that the second goal wasn’t as well served as the first in the type of spirits we chose to call, but only time will tell.

The working was done on a Saturday night, under the eleventh night of the waxing moon, in perfect, still, warm conditions. Actually, it was the very best ritual night weather we’ve had in six years of early October retreats. The combination of moonlight on the meadows of the land and still, warm air was ideal. We didn’t do much in the way of preparatory ritual, though we had done a full liturgy of general offering the evening before. However, between the ritualists present we probably had aggregated some 300 years of consistently making offerings to the spirits. In my opinion we were well-prepared, and well-bestowed with the authority to call the spirits for the intent we had in mind.

One of the delights of working with this crew is that we never need scripts. The ordinary of the rite was accomplished smoothly, the hallowings and purifications done nicely, with some extra protective bits added for the sake of the special work at hand. I’ve gotten to where I dislike doing complex rituals for a group entirely by myself, or even just with L, and having the various parts done by the many skilled ritualists present was a blessing. Since I’m still the one developing the tech we’re using it fell to me to do the actual calling of the spirits.

I used impromptu invocations with forms based on the work from Book of Summoning. Having just used a fully scripted version for the Court of Brigid I felt pretty fresh, and the incantations seemed to flow well. I think we could have been more specific and correspondent with the offerings, but I also think that the years of offerings to the Noble Ones, asking nothing more than general blessing and good will, stood this group in good stead. Once the actual callings were done I used the three-fold “Stay if you will abide by these terms” form of oath and/or binding (See the Court of Brigid rite for an example). After a welcome and final offering, I sat to the vision, along with the rest of the crew.

For me the vision came swift and immediate. Opening the Inner Eye, I saw a dance of silver beings on the green in the rays of moonlight, and a small crowd of them approached when I called to them. From these I received only one name and set of abilities. I must say that I simply hadn’t been thinking about gossamer moon-maidens when I had contemplated this work, but that’s who I got.

The visions were remarkably coherent among the crew. The Silver Dance, the female-ish nature of the set of beings, their tenuous connection to form and manifest reality. We Despite the focus of the work being on the Third Kindred we had avoided discussing this as connection with ‘the Sidhe’, focusing instead on the specific ‘nature spirit’ contact with the lower spirits of the Court of the Moon. Nevertheless we received very traditional Sidhe images – the Shining Folk dancing on the meadow, with their dark partners, birds and rays of the moon.

Several other names and powers were received – these I intend to keep for the Clergy Order, unlike the published names from the CoB. In this way we mean to make compacts and alliances unique to our Priestly Order, just as we have done with specific members of the Ancient Wise. The general message from the spirits was that they offered us methods of seership, distant viewing and speech, and prophecy, as well as serving as heralds to the rest of the Noble Courts.

One week later, we have before us the task of integrating these new contacts into our work. We agreed that this contact was entirely more strange and inhuman than the fairly warm contact with the Dead. We’ll go slowly and individually, and compare notes. However we are surely one step closer to have a Book of Spirits unique to our work.

Realism Check

2011-10-14T06:29:00.000-07:00

OK, so, at one point I said I'd be finishing a novel this year. You'll note, it's October. I'm about 20K words in, writing each scene as it occurs to me, still framing and reframing the order of events and plot elements. Just as I've expected, it's creating an engaging and reasonable sequence of events that is slowing me down.

Yet, I persist and I am moving forward. When I make the next plot decision I believe it will allow me to roll ahead for another 10K or 15K words. Of course, since I don't know what comes between there and the final scenes...

Any road, it ain't be gonna be done this year. Next year a draft, for sure! Watch for another excerpt as soon as something cool happens ;) Also watch for The Book of Visions this winter, with a developed system of trancework and energy-sorcery.

Countermagic 2 - The Movie

2011-09-30T11:48:00.001-07:00

A Charm for Religious Liberty

Celtic Thelema – You Don’t Have To Be Egyptian

2011-09-12T04:35:00.000-07:00

I’ve always been enchanted by the images and ideas of the Book of the Law. As alleged spirit-transmissions go, I find it the most inspiring and poetic item that actually relates to the kind of ideas I want in my Paganism. Those who may not know the story of the ‘reception’ of this three-chapter prose poem by Aleister Crowley can read the orthodox account here.

1: Bare Bones Thelemic myth
Crowley’s imagination was trained in the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, and the fashion of that organization followed its times, favoring the newly discovered (or newly translated, anyway) deities of ancient Egypt. Initiation rites were performed using the aid of the Egyptian deity powers and the entire magical system depended heavily on the Graeco-Egyptian complex of spiritual powers. As a result much of Crowley’s magic, and the magic surrounding Thelema has become filled with images from Khem.

However, the basic god-forms and symbols of the Book of the Law have little in particular to do with ancient Egypt. There are five primary figures in Liber AL (the esoteric name for the BotL):

Nuit: (the name is the French word for ‘night) is the goddess of Infinite Space and Infinite Stars, the cosmic body of all, in which all live and move and have their being.

Hadit: (the name of several Canaanite king-deities) The infinitesimal Point in the Center, the ever-present cosmic throne that allows the individual to appear out of Nuit’s starry sky.

Thus, Nuit is the Body of Space, and Hadit the Central Star. Liber AL says “Every man and every woman is a star.”

The primary triad of Thelemic deity is completed by the form most usually called “Ra-Hoor-Khuit” This the most directly Egyptian of the basic forms, derived from Crowley’s vision of the Stele of Revealing. Ra-Hoor-Khuit is a form of the Egyptian god Horus (Heru, Har or Hoor more accurately in Khemetic). The name means something like “Horus-Ra of the Horizon”, identifying the warrior-god Horus with the sunrise moment. The Book also describes Ra-Hoor-Khuit as the ‘Minister of Hoor-par-kraat’ and that latter form is the child-horus, also an important figure, sometimes called the God of Silence. Together these forms are called the Crowned and Conquering Child.

The Crowned and Conquering Child is a central image in Thelema, seen as the power of Initiation and wisdom for the New Aeon that it heralds. It is this symbol which takes Ra-Hoor-Khuit out of the realm of Egyptian polytheology into a wider potential for cultural expression. It will be a key to our location of Thelema in a Gaelic mythic context.

In addition to this primary triad there are two secondary god-forms, derived fairly directly from the Apocalypse of St John, at the end of the Christian New Testament.
Babalon: is the Scarlet Woman, who rides the back of the Great Beast, bearing in her hand the cup from which she is drunken on the blood of the saints. The spelling, incidentally, is from the Enochian-language material.
The Beast: is the male counterpart to Babalon – the Great Dragon, the beast of seven heads. He is the vehicle of the Goddess, her balance and counterpart.

These two figures are often described as the priestess and priest of Thelemic rites, or as the operative daemons that express the earthly will of Nuit and Hadit.

2: Gaelic Thelemic Forms
If we look for the kind of primal figures that we find in Nuit and Hadit among Indo-European sources, and especially among Celtic cultures, we run into the difficulty that no Celtic creation myth has been preserved. The Thelemic primal powers contain an unspoken creation model in which the pre-existing cosmic material is activated by the central kindled point, and manifestation thus occurs. Thelema is nothing if not phallo-kteic, and this should be interpreted sexually to get what they mean by it.

If we look for this sort of primal God and Goddess in Celtic lore we must begin on scholastically shaky ground (we’ll get to firmer territory by and by).
The primal mother goddess in Irish lore is named something like Ana, or Dana, or Danu, or Don. (It’s hard to render Irish words into English sentences because their spelling changes depending on grammar). This is most famously remembered in the name of the ‘tribe of gods’ from the Irish Book of Invasion, the Tuatha De Danann, which means ‘Nation of the Goddess Danu’.

Danu is the Mother of the Gods in the Irish tale. She is never depicted, has no tales or deeds. However the linguistic evidence is interesting. The word ‘dan’ survives in Irish as a complex term that can mean ‘art’ or ‘gift’ or ‘song’ or ‘fate’. I’ve personally been at this so long that I can’t remember whether there’s a good reason for me associating Danu with the Starry-Sky-As-Ocean, but I find her an acceptable parallel to the Thelemic Nuit.

The equally sketchily-drawn primal father in Celtic lore has names that include ‘Bel’. Sometimes that sound refers to warfare (cognate to the Latin bellus) and sometimes it means ‘beautiful’ (cognate to the Latin bella) Especially in the latter cases the male deity referred to seems to be related either to the sun or to fire. In either case we see the image of the light at the center, the point within the circle. This will do for our Gaelic Hadit.

To find the Beast in Gaelic lore we need look no further than the Bull, the Stallion and the Stag. Each of these are specific deities in British or Gaelic lore. The Stallion, especially, is the Mount of the Queen, and is present in the god called In Dagda. That title means “The Good God” in the sense of good at everything. He is multi-skilled, a Druid, a Warrior and a Man of the Plow, his phallus legendary and his harp magical. One of the Dagda’s ‘real’ names is Eochaid (roughly ‘yo-khee’) meaning ‘stallion’, and he has a famous meeting with the Red Goddess as described below. He is also called the Red Lord of Secret Wisdom (Ruadh Rofessa) and is a sorcerer and trickster.

The stag leads us toward the much-misunderstood figure of Cernunnos, the Antlered God. While his most famous depiction, on the Gundestrup Cauldron, might make him appear to be a ‘god of animals’, most of his depictions in Gaulish lands show him with symbols of wealth – bags of coins, fruits of the earth. Personally I am inclined to equate the Antlered God with the Underworld Father (Dis Pater) who is sometimes called the father of the tribes. Also, despite modern witchy inclinations, Cernunnos is never depicted naked or ithyphallic, though he bears that suggestive ram-headed serpent…

While bulls play an important role in Gaelic story and Gaulish imagery, the Bull-god is a little harder to find. In Britain bull-horned gods are gods of war and of the hunt, many with names based on that ‘bel’ particle. There is little sign of the Dionysus/Shiva bull-complex, many of the kingship and phallic functions perhaps transferred to the stallion.

The Thelemic Beast is, I think, best depicted in the Gaelic stallion-god. That is certainly the ‘beast whereon she rideth’. Some mileage might be gotten from composing some sort of chimera, some bull-horned horse or multi-headed mount, of course.

Gaelic lore plainly shows us powerful images of the Thelemic earthly feminine power, called Babalon. On the divine plane she is called Morrigan, the Red Woman. Morrigan means “Queen of Spirits” and she is a goddess of war, sexual power and sorcery. She is called a war-witch, associated with the choosing of the slain and the fate of heroes. In another tale the Red Woman arises from the Underworld bearing the Cauldron of Rebirth, in which the bones of heroes are boiled to restore them to life. It is quite fitting to say that her Cauldron is overflowing with the Blood of the Heroes.

One famous story takes place during the war between the Gods and the ‘Titans’ (Fomoire) of Gaelic lore. Dagda keeps an appointment to meet with the Morrigan, and the two couple, with the Goddess’ feet on either bank of the land. From their coupling a river was born. By making that alliance, Dagda secures the help of Morrigan and her army of sorcerers for the battle. Despite the inclination to the missionary in common imagination, we can surely envision this as the Red Goddess riding the Stallion.

On a more human plane, Irish tales show us the figure of Medb the mighty, queen of Connaught, who stands as the enemy of Ulster in the famous Cattle Raid of Cooley. She is described as a warrior queen and inspirer of men in battle. It was said of her that she never had a man without another waiting in his shadow. Medb’s name means ‘mead’ or more broadly ‘intoxication’. She is a memory of the place of the Celtic queen as binder of the war-band. The ancient custom was for the local Queen to bear a cup of mead to each man of the band, offering it in exchange for fealty to her and the leader. Celtic mythographers refer to this figure as ‘sovereignty’ and she is often a goddess unto herself. Medb, though distorted through a monkish lens, stands as a figure of Sovereignty, the Lady of the Cup of Intoxication.

Finally we come to the Crowned and Conquering Child. In classical Thelemic iconography we find the hawk-headed warrior Horus in this role. However in Gaelic lore we can see a powerful expression of it in the so-called Wonder Child. This figure has a number of specific expressions in Celtic story.

The Wonder Child is the Coming King, who rises from obscurity, through trials to sit enthroned. The most notable expression of that formula is in the Irish god called Lugh. Lugh is the child of a Titan mother and a father of the Gods, and is marked from the first to be the destroyer of the chaos-monster of the tales. He performs his first deeds when still a youth, and is called things like “Long-arm’ and ‘master of all skills’. Lugh bears a spear connected with the lightning-bolt, and becomes King of the Gods by the end of the tale.

The Wonder Child appears in other tales as well. Always born a bastard, always raised by a sorcerer, initiated by the Red Woman and crowned by her Sovereignty, his story repeats across Celtic cultures. Cuchullain partakes of his nature, doing his mighty feats before ever he has his first whiskers. Aengus Og is another inheritor of the Dagda’s house. Later, The Arthur tales and the tale of Taliesin continue the fame of the Wonder Child.

It would not be a complicated matter to assemble the Thelemic Cult in a Gaelic context. Primal Night and Sun are Danu and Bel. Their children, the Dagda and the Morrigan are Babalon and the Beast. Shining Lugh, the Conquering Child, completes the pentagram. Looking at the Thelemic powers through a new cultural lens provides many new opportunities for mysteries and understandings.

3: A Few Random Mysteries
• The Zelator Formula.
In the mystery rites of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, from which Thelema draws a great deal of ideological DNA, the very first initiatory rite admits the student to the degree of ‘Neophyte’. This rite is based on the admission rites of Masonic lodges, and has all the elements of later initiatory inventions such as those of Traditional British Wicca. At one key moment the candidate for initiation, who has been ‘hoodwinked’ (blindfolded) has the blindfold removed and hears the words “Child of Earth, long have you dwelt in darkness – quit now the darkness and seek the day.” The panoply of the temple is revealed, and the goal is to create a moment of imprinting for the initiate.

This formula becomes a central method of practical magic inside the GD system, as learned by Crowley prior to the creation of Thelema. In the consecration of talismans the material basis is wrapped in dark cloth and revealed at the moment of consecration, with the same words. Even in the evocation of spirits the Z formula, as it is called brings the spirit into manifestation.

There is a nearly direct parallel with a Gaelic poetic method of incubation. In that formula the poet undertakes to craft a poem, perhaps with an oracular intent. She chooses a dark place – a windowless hut, or a cave or even a mound, and makes her bed within. She places a heavy stone upon her chest which would both help prevent sleep and mandate regulation of the breath – great trance-induction device. The poet then spends the night in the darkness. When the time comes, the poet comes to the door of the hut at dawn, and beholds the sun through the traditionally eastern-facing door. In those first rays the poem is pronounced, fully-formed and magically potent.

It is surely possible that Scottish Freemasons knew this lore directly, and that it entered Masonic, and thus GD, ritual by an ordinary route. I do find the parallel interesting though. I have used the formula of Gaelic incubation as a basis for several types of practical magic working myself, including the Cauldron Rites included in my books.

• The Grail Hallows
It’s no secret that the Golden Dawn’s formulation of the Four Elemental Weapons, which became an immediate part of Crowley’s Thelemic symbolism and ritual, was related in part to the Gaelic tale of the Four Treasures of the Tuatha De Danann.

The Four Treasures are the Spear of Striking, which never misses its target and returns to its owner’s hand; the Sword of Victory, which can never be defeated; the Cauldron of Rebirth, which brings slain warriors back to life to fight again; and the Stone of Destiny, which determines who is fit to be King. These have no particular elemental correspondence in Gaelic lore. In the Celtic Twilight of Yeats and Mathers they became corresponded to the Four Tools of the GD brand of hermetic ritual.

Mathers began with the various sets of symbols applied to the four suits of playing cards in renaissance Europe, and formalized them as the set popularized by the generation of occultists just before him. However he ‘occult-ized’ them further by making them correspond to his ritual weapons. Thus the ‘Money’ suit became ritualized as ‘Pentacles’, ‘Staves’ or ‘Clubs’ became ‘Wands’, etc. However the final wave of influence on Thelema was in Crowley’s choice to use the Grail Hallows in his Gnostic Mass.

The stories of the Holy Grail begin in Celtic Wales, and seem to be directly descended from previous generations of tales concerning the Cauldron of Wonders, which the Hero-King must rescue from the Underworld. In later Grail romance tales, the holy vessel is accompanied by a bloody spear, a head on a platter (or just the platter), and the sword that severed the head. These were interpreted through a Christian lens in medieval tales, but Nineteenth-century scholars were already discussing them in relation to the Gaelic Treasures.

To look back at out Gaelic cultus of Thelema, to arm the Priest with the Spear is to make him stand for Lugh – the Crowned and Conquering Child. To arm the priestess with the Chalice is to make her stand for Morrigan, the Red Goddess. Cuchullain and Medb, Arthur and Morgana, the formula is as Celtic as can be. One might even have the priest performing incubation in his dark tomb before appearing to work the rite.

So, I don’t mean to propose anything very serious here. I haven’t the time, myself, to take up a cult of Celtic Thelema. Still, it wouldn’t be hard to do. Mix in a trifle of Wild Hunt or Fairy Rade, and the Witch’s Sabbath, and you might be getting somewhere…

The Coolest Thing I've Seen This Week

2011-09-08T04:39:00.000-07:00

Omega Artworks is a sculpture and toolmaking crew doing some wonderful stuff. The truth is, as a Druidic occultist I have never had a great use for an edged magical tool. The only thing I can think of as a purpose for a magical knife in Pagan ritual would be for sacrificing, and us Reformed Druids don't do that any more. Of course one could still lay a sacred knife or sickle on the non-live-animal things we do offer - bread, ale etc.

If I had a sickle like this, I'd find an excuse to use it.

For grimoire mages, they stand ready to make any of the Solomonic tools, and lots of good examples are shown on their site. My only small complaint is that they've gone all Harry Potter with the shape of the Solomonic Wand shown here. Did wands ever have 'hilts' before HP? I don't think so...

Beautiful work... just beautiful.

Recap

2011-09-04T11:58:00.001-07:00

I note round of new folks signing on as subscribers to the old bloggo. Welcome all! I’m especially flattered to have kind words from a couple of folks, including M.C., but I’m pleased to have you all around.

I’ve been blogging for nearly three years now, during which I’ve completed writing a nine-month training system and launching it, as well as publishing my work on Pagan spirit-arte. I still enjoy writing for the blog, and posting bits of my work as I go. There are several general articles in development as well, for coming weeks.

Those who found me through the byways of the occult internet may be slightly confused about just what’s going on here. To summarize:
• I do ritual work in the style of Ar n Draiocht Fein, a large Neo-Druidic Pagan organizations working to build modern religious work based on the ways of ancient Indo-European Paganisms. Our rites are presently being worked regularly by several dozen local congregations.

• You can find the basics of ADF ritual here and here and here. See the side links for access to my own book-length material on the system and its adaptations.

• In contrast to post-Renaissance western magic, Druidic ritual is based on a more archaic Indo-European cosmology and practice. We view the world as the Three Realms of Land, Sea and Sky, with the Fire of the Gods in the center. That Fire is lit at every major rite, and accompanied by the Waters of the Holy Well, used for purification and blessing, and often centered at a ritual Pillar or World Tree, expressing the connection of earth and sky and the Middle World. When all these things are brought together, we say that we can open the Gates, between the mortal realms and the Underworld, Middleworld and Heavens.

Into the Sacred Grove created by the Three Hallows and the Gate, we invite the Three Kindreds of Spirits – the Gods, the Dead and the Landwights. That third Kindred can include both ‘nature spirits’ of the local sort and the various strange beings of lore – satyrs, Troll or Sidhe-folk. We make offerings to them, of food and precious things and song, etc, and we receive in turn a blessing. That general outline: Opening, Offering, Blessing, Closing, is easily transferable to various kinds of magical work.

• I was one of the developers of this outline, some 25 years ago, and my own work has always included the adaptation of an outline written to support large-group worship rituals to private, personal rites of theurgy and thaumaturgy, i.e. magic. This blog is mainly an account of those efforts, along with Whatever Else I Damned Well Please : ).

There is a quite a bit of ritual material, including seasonal charms and blessings as well as spells. There’s also a series on Druidic meditation, various Lovecraftian trivialities and my unique opinions on magical history and Pagan theology. I hope folks enjoy.

To Conjure the Court of Brigid

2011-09-02T12:01:00.000-07:00

Here's a simplified rite of calling for the spirits of the Court of Brigid. I'm rendering the sigils even now, but it will still take some time to get them nicely ready. When they are ready I'll be making a small grimoire of the whole working available, probably free for the first minutes, so watch this space. In the meantime anyone can render sigils from Fionn's Widow if you know the system or make reduction sigils of the spirit's name if you wish.

Step one would be to conjure each one in turn (or whichever one of them is interested in) and ask them for some specific charms or methods by which their power can be used.
Once you have performed the Court of Brigid sacrifice, and gained the Blessing of the Goddess and the Three Powers, you can contact one of the Courtiers through this rite. Those with a relationship with the Goddess Brigid might be able to use this rite alone, but working the full sacrifice is recommended.
Prepare the sigil of the Courtier, perhaps written on clean paper, perhaps carved in wood or clay, if you wish a more permanent fetish. Set this amidst your hallows where it will be visible, in a way that you can set offerings before it.
The Rite: • Find your basic trance, and attune to the Two Powers
• Offer to the Fire, Well & Tree, saying:
Mother of All, Let this Well be blessed.
First Father, kindle magic in this Fire.
Let this Tree be the Crossroads of All Worlds,
That the Sacred Grove may be established.
• Sprinkle all from the Well, and cense from the Fire, saying:
By the might of the Waters
And the Light of the Fire,
This Grove is made whole and holy.
• Make an offering into the Fire, and say:
Keeper of Gates, aid me to open the Ways.
• With your work hand (or wand) make a welcoming spiral over the Fire, saying:
By Land, Sky and Sea;
By Gods, Dead & Sidhe;
By Fire, Well & Tree;
Let the Gate be open!
• Turn once deasil, saying:
So the Way is opened and this place is claimed. Let no ill or harm come to me and mine, and Wisdom, Love and Power flow to me through this gate. So be it!
Pause and open the Inner Eye.
• A short invocation to the Kindreds, with a simple offering, can be done if this is being done formally at the shrine:
Gods and Dead and Mighty Sidhe
Powers of Land and Sky and Sea
A gift I give, from me to thee
Come and lend your aid to me. • Prepare an offering and invoke Brigid, saying:
Brigid of the mantles, Brigid of the hearth fire,
Brigid, friend of mortals, Brigid, fire of magic
Brigid the foster mother, Brigid woman of wisdom.
Brigid the daughter of Danu, Brigid the triple flame.
Kindle your flame in my head, heart and loins,
Send me your cup, your harp, your forge,
That I may speak with the spirits of your Court,
All in your honor, Brigid font of blessing.
So I call you, Brigid an Ardhaon, High one.
Receive this offering! Offering is given Brigid above me, Brigid below me,
Brigid at every airt about me.
Brigid in my truest heart
Bríd thuas linn, Bríd thíos linn, Bríd maidir linn;
Bríd inár gcroí • Prepare an offering to the Tri Cumhachtai, saying:
In the power of Brigid na Ardhaon
I call to the Servants of Brigid.
I call to the Clairseach Bríd - the Harp of Brigid.
teacht, cumhacht, teacht, de réir ainm Bríd
I call to the Cupán Bríd - the Cup of Brigid.
teacht, cumhacht, teacht, de réir ainm Bríd
I call to the Casúr Bríd - the Hammer of Brigid.
teacht, cumhacht, teacht, de réir ainm Bríd
Oh great Servants of the High One, answer this calling.
To you, O Noble Ones, I make this offering.
Fáilte a chur roimh, trí Cumhachtaí Bríd.
Come to my call, and accept my sacrifice!
Final offering is given, with meditation on the presence of Brigid. An omen could be taken to determine whether the goddess is favorably disposed to the work.
Now I call out to the Courtier of Brigid named (spirit’s name).
I call in the name of Brigid an Ardhaon, by the nine given gifts and the threefold blessing. By the Harp and Hammer and by the Cup I call you, to come to my Grove.
O spirit (spirit’s name) O Noble One
I call to you by Well and Fire and Tree
Draw near, and come in peace, I bid you now,
Take you this gift, O (spirit) come to me! (Make the offering) When the spirit has arrived, greet it saying perhaps:
Welcome (spirit), to my fire in peace. Welcome without harm or deceit and in the name of Brigid.
I would ask a boon.
I would work my will,
Whether you are sent or you can send another spirit.
To: (state intention clearly and specifically)
Do this for me and I will give to you due offering. This can be repeated, often three times. After each repetition, open your Inner Eye to the Courtier, and seek a response, conversing as is useful. Can the Courtier accomplis the work? Can she find an agent who can? What are your specific needs? – include a time-based deadline if you need to. If you like, use a simple divination to see whether your visions are true or just to communicate with the Courtier. After three repetitions, you may spend some time communing with the Courtier. When you feel sure that the work will be done, thank the Familiar, saying something like:
Depart now, my friend, O (spirit’s name), and remember your oath, complete the charge I have given you, with harm to none, and come again at the proper time, or whenever I might call you, and I will make to you due offering.
• A Short Closing
• Let bound be bound and wound be wound;
Thus all is done, and done, and well done,
And thus I end what was begun.
Make a banishing spiral over the Fire, saying:
• The sacred center has held well,
Now, by Tree and Fire and Well,
Let this gate be closed!
• To the Three Holy Kindreds I give my thanks.
To the Keeper of Gates I give my thanks.
To the Mother of All I give my thanks.
Let wisdom, love and power
kindle in all beings
And the Ancient Wisdom be renewed.
The rite is ended, so be it!

The Court of Brigid - journal

2011-08-23T05:25:00.001-07:00

On Friday of the Summerland Festival 2011 L. and I worked the Court of Brigid working for a group of about 35. This was the first public working of the rite, and the first time that I had applied some of the spirit-arte principles in a public group rite intended to allow contact with specific spirits. In the past I have often offered spirit-contact workshops intended to allow alliances with personal ‘familiars’ from the Land-wights and the Dead. This is the first time I’ve done a general group ‘prospecting’ rite, intending to compile a list of spirits.

This, I was a bit nervous on approach. Like any piece of performance, there’s a certain risk of personal dignity involved – I’m laying out both my ideas and my skill as an enchanter for public examination. So a certain amount of flop-sweat comes with the territory. On another level, I intended to open roads for a group of festival guests with very little attention to the purification and preparation of the individuals involved. I felt a degree of concern about all that, as well.

I attempted to assuage both levels of concern. We had held a preliminary workshop and simple prep meditation the evening before, so at least some guests had a clue. The group that showed up did include a number of the skilled, experienced folks that I had hoped would be there, and I’m sure that the success we had depended largely on that fact.

I got to the rite early and was well set-up before guests arrived. I was a little worried about the excellent weather making the sacrifice ground rather too sunny, but fortunately the shade was over most of the space by the time the rite began. There’s little more counterproductive than hot bright sun on the face when you’re working into trance.

The crew arrived promptly, and we began on time. Rather than processing into the pace we simply did an intonation, followed by a chime and proclamation of the rite. L. and I worked through the ordinary portions of the Order of Ritual (this was done in the ADF style) which flowed quickly. I felt as if the additional banishing and securing (compared to our usual worship liturgy) was being effective, and certainly felt the presence of MacLir and his sword of protection over the Grove.

The ability of the group to communicate with the spirits would depend on their ability to enter trance and perceive what I refer to these days as the Threshold Realm. This is the visualized inner environment, usually at least partially conscious construct but also partaking in the spontaneity of dreams, in which magical vision begins. Since we weren’t ‘journeying’ anywhere I didn’t expect the extra-deep trance of efforts to move into the deeper places to be needed.

I think my trance-guidance worked ok. I tried a couple of newish tricks, including mixing short segments of guiding speech in-between the verses of the Charm of the Threshold. Students working with the Nine Moons will eventually become somewhat conditioned to enter trance by reciting the charm, but I can’t expect that of a festival crowd. The entrancement process began before the rite, with suggestions leading toward confidence and resourcefulness, then was given the first formal induction in the Two-Powers centering during the opening. Following the Gates the Threshold Charm was the first formal call for the Inner Eyes to open. This was followed by a short, pro-forma preliminary offering to the Three Kindreds then straight into the invocation of the Goddess.

If I were to rewrite this I might choose to make a bigger deal out of the distinction between the Wights and the Dead in the Court of Brigid. It has been made clear to me that both human Dead and the various landwights may be present in the Sidhe-host. Of the spirits who answered the rite’s calling some seem clearly to be the Dead, while others are less determinate. There could be a case made for making the presence of the two distinct types in a god’s court more clear.

The calling to the Three Powers of Brigid went well, in my experience. I chose to invoke these three beings as a kind of ‘archangel’ to be intermediary between the Goddess herself and the host of spirits. The response I felt during the rite was very positive, and I intend further work with those powers. In this version of the rite the Three Powers were offered to during Key Offerings. So, once all that had been done it was time to take the omen.

So, I had discovered that my set of ogham lots was one short. Damn, blessed little cats – but my fault for leaving it laying on the shrine… L had hers but she thinks its tattered (it is, in fact) and I was hoping to get a new one, perhaps, at festival. Fortunately, Jean Drum had sets made from lightning-struck oak! A little annotating and a new bag later, and I was back in the omen business.

In the flop-sweat dept., taking the omen at a big rite is always a little scary. The funny thing is that I have come to trust the spirits and the system. If the rite is well-done the omens will be good. These were our three lots:
Dair: The Oak – Strength, law, rightness. Always a good omen for Druids.
Onn: Foundation/Wheel – Gorse, Movement, means of advancement
Nion: Letters/Support – Ash, Connection, weaving together.
With Oak leading the way, I interpreted the other signs to say that we were ready to weave our connection with the spirits of the Court of Brigid.

My adaptation of the ADF Order of Ritual for this work used the ‘blessing’ as a spell both to call the minor spirits of the Court and to enchant the eyes of the group. It’s common in Gaelic lore to use a potion or anointing to grant vision of the Sidhe, so we first convoked the general-purpose Host of Her Court, and then hallowed the Blessing Bowl. To distribute the blessing we directly anointed the hands of each, and they then put their hands to their eyes to place the blessing on their sight. Each individual got a direct anointing, but we were able to speed along pretty well, and I don’t think anyone waited too long. I also think that the trance guidance did in fact crescendo to this point, with the sensory cue of the cool water of the Blessing the final goad to send folks deeper into Threshold vision.

Following the blessing, there was then the period of first sight of the host of spirits, and the Oath. In an individual calling of spirits the Drui would extract an oath of peace and cooperation directly from the specific spirit that was called. In these group rites, and in general if ‘prospecting’ for a crowd of spirits, I have developed the method in the script, of reciting the oath and requiring that all who do not abide by it depart. Thus far it seems to produce a cooperative body of spirits from which to draw alliances. The participants reported a departure of spirits that made sense to them during the Oath.

We all recited the Welcome to the Spirits together, which contains elements of both a traditional welcome and charge. I then led a final round of focusing guidance, and after some silence asked whether someone present had met a spirit who would speak with us.

The instructions had been that once the vision was established, those who felt able were to seek to meet a specific spirit. We were looking for spirits who would be willing to aid ‘the magicians of Ar nDraiocht Fein’, and certainly the folk gathered there. Seers were to seek first a name to which the spirit would answer, what abilities the spirit had, or in what works it could aid, and what offering it would ask in return for its work. Of course all these spirits called were of the Court of Brigid and we rather expected them to serve that goddess’ goals.

I might have sought more detail from each spirit. I should, I think have been more explicit about seeking a description of appearance, though gender and general appearance was plain for each. I might also have asked what sort of spirit they were, whether of the Dead, or of one of the Other kins. We got snippets of all that anyway.

My own trance state was focused on the big picture in the rite. I was still directing, calling “who else has a spirit?” I made it my business to hold the big model of the work in vision – especially the goddess in her central enthronement, and secondarily the Three Powers. I myself ended up seeing the spirits only in a shadowy way, though they would become more visible by reflection as they were described.

The Archdruid was the first to respond, with a clear and simple description of a Cupbearer of the Cupan’s court. That opened the way, and there was a steady slow flow of vision. L. served as the scribe, writing the data down, once spirit per page, in a blank book of rough brown paper. It would have been sensible to have more than one scribe, though by working one at a time most of the spirits were described audibly to the whole group. As it was I limited the collection of names to nine spirits during the actual rite, and encouraged those with more to come up afterward. Another seven were given in that way, for a total of sixteen names recorded.

The closing of the rite seemed to go well. I did not add any huge ‘banishings’ to our usual Order, simply giving the license to depart along with the other round of thank-yous done to all categories of spirits.

After the rite folks were buzzing with the juice. Fortunately it was off directly to dinner and a drink for the event, so grounding was encouraged. A couple of folks displayed intense emotional reactions, though only one reported a vaguely negative vision, characterized by featureless dark and a sense of threat. By morning no one reported any difficulties.

One of the concepts current in spirit work is that the spirits who present themselves to magicians have, as one of their desires, to grow in fame. BY aiding mortals they gain renown for their name, receive more offerings and become more present in the world. Now, one might suppose that not all spirits care about that – no matter, it’s the ones who do that are willing to help us. So, after some consideration I publish here the names and basic notes of each.

Spirits of the Court of Brigid: These are the spirits that answered the calling and revealed themselves to our seers:
• Heal-fetch (Cneasaigh Beir): Young woman/teenage girl, member of the court of the Cupan Brigid. Cup-bearer of healing liquid. Asks for an offering of milk
• Fionna: appeared as a beautiful young maiden; Brings the gift of joy, asks only for the expression of joy as her offering.
• Sirona: Female figure bearing a cup and quill; brings the healing power of music; offering is to be a verse of thanks, burnt to her with sweet-smelling herbs.
• Corum: Gentle male figure; Helps bring dreams and inspirations into manifestation.
• Mendahlyn: Female; brings healing of financial illness/wounds, provides sufficiency moreso than wealth; gift of silver coins for offering.
• Tabar of the Forge; male wearing helmet, standing at the point of the anvil; helps us forge our gifts and wishes; asks fire as an offering
• Ehnnie; female gathering flowers; comforts with flowers those who are about to pass into death; offer her flowers.
• Mikel; male; bears messages and enchantments; aids in fine metalwork; offer components of metalwork.
• Gredda; female; gives the gift of smithcraft, especially of silver and fine craft; offer silver.
• Old Man (Fear Sean); Giver of gifts; wants song for an offering.
• Enach; older woman; brings wisdom, offer crystal
• Keimh; male, childlike yet like an old farmer; brings vitality to the forge and heart; offer charcoal
• Theala; plump woman; gives peace, vitality and joy to the hearth – full stomach and good times; offer bread and ale.
• Hanish; male with odd hands and clear eyes; gives the strength to see truth and speak it without fear; offer aromatic smoke
• Temper; young woman; brings precision, proper application of energies for making magical tools; offer iron.

• Cionnacht (or Ceannacht) ;male spirit wearing white feathers. Tends the Eastern Bellows, can increase energy for work ("more bellows"); offering of iron or white feathers.

The next step will be to create a sigil for each, using Fionn’s Window. It will then be up to individual mages to call on these powers and test their strength and ability. Each spirit should be able to reveal spells and methods to channel their power into the world, and work one’s will. Since we began with the Court of one of the kindliest and most arts-centered of the Gaelic gods we don’t have a lot of flashy intents on this list. Still, I think there’s enough practical stuff to be able to put them to work. I’ll post more on that process as we go, including models for simple conjurings to call these spirits in order to find out more, or put them to work. May we all be blessed by it.

The Court of Brigid - ritual text

2011-08-22T05:58:00.000-07:00

I'm back from the Summerland Gathering, and the Court of Brigid working was a good success. We had contacts with several spirits, and began a list of those who were willing to work with us. I'll be compiling and posting that later, with a more complete journal of the work. First I want to put up the full text of the rite posted mainly for archival purposes and because some of the participants wanted to have it.

The Court of Brigid - A Druidic Spirit Working
The Nemeton is arranged with the usual hallows. At the foot of the Bile the image of Brigid is set, with sufficient room to receive the abumdant offerings. Offerings are prepared as in the text, for both Brigid and the Cumhachtai, and a general offering bowl of oil or incense is also present. The presiding Druids sit at the Hallows, and all sit ranged around them in a horseshoe, allowing all to see the forst of the shrine.
Props List
Hallows; Brigid Image; Harp, Hammer, Cup; Book of Spirits; ogham set
Offerings:
Earth Mother: corn.grain
Outdwellers: ale
Hallows: Trove, Oil, incense & sprinkling bowl
Kindreds: oil for all
Brigid Offerings: Milk, Bread, Ale, Silver, Bronze, iron, ogham wand, herbs, incense
Tri Cucmachtai: crystal, incense, whiskey
Blessing Bowl: Vervain, Crystal, Silver
Binding: Oak, Rowan, Hazel

1: Opening the Grove
a: Earth Mother
b: Inspiration
c: Outdwellers
d:Statement of Purpose
We have come to do as the wise ancients did, to make offering to the powers and to seek an alliance with the spirits. We come to make offering to Brigid an Ardhaon, the High One, Lady of Skills, hearth-woman of Water and Fire. We come especially to seek allies among her noble court, three queens, three Powers of the Court of Brigid, and those noble ones who will work with us in our wise arts. Hear us, Noble Ones, and behold us, for we seek to make pact with you. This we do that we may grow in health, and wealth and wisdom, in wisdom, love and power, in service to the spirits, to the folk and to my own being. To those ends, let us hallow this Sacred Grove.

e: Honor the Three Hallows
Offer silver into the cauldron, saying:
In the deeps flow the waters of wisdom. Sacred Well, flow in our Grove and in our hearts. O Eye of the Deep, be as a Spring of welcome to the spirits, a source of peace and comfort.
Make an offering to the Fire, saying:
I feed the sacred fire in wisdom, love and power. Sacred Fire, burn in our Grove and in our hearts. By this Fire I claim this place for our own magic, and invite the spirits to this fire.
Sprinkle and cense the world-tree, wand or self, saying:
From the deeps to the heights spans the world-tree. Sacred Tree, grow within me. Be you the Pillar of the World, the peg that holds fast the Ways Between.

f: Purification Cleanse all with Water and Fire, saying:
By the might of the Water and the light of the Fire,
This Grove is made whole and holy
Spread your hands and face the east, and encompass the whole shrine in your awareness, saying:
Let the sea not rise, and all ill turn away.
Let the sky not fall and all ill turn away.
Let the land hold firm and all ill turn away.
Before us bounty, behind us wisdom
On the right hand magic, on the left hand strength
Thus is the Sacred Grove Claimed and Hallowed!

2: Opening the Gate
• In every place where Triads meet, there is the Center of the Worlds. Let this sacred center be the boundary of all worlds, that our voices be carried and our vision see.
• O Manannan Mac Lir, Grey God of the Mists, Lord of the Isle of Apples, Teacher of the Wise, we make this offering to you (make offering of Offering Oil). Attend us in this work, Son of the Boundless, as you attended the Tuatha De in their magics. Watch and ward the Ways between as we call the Cumhachtai Brigid. Hold open the gates; stretch your sword, Retaliator, over this Fire that no ill may come to us for as long as this gate is open.
Make a deosil triskel or spiral over the Fire, saying:
• Let this Fire open as a gate,
and let no harm come from the Sky;
Let this Well open as a gate,
and let no harm come from the Deep;
Let this Tree be the Crossroads of all worlds,
and let no harm come upon the Land.
• Open as an eye of seeing
Open as a mouth of speaking
Open as an oaken door,
between this Sacred Center and the Otherworlds.
• Now, by the Gatekeeper’s might and by my magic,
By Fire, Well, and Tree,
by Land, Sky, and Sea,
by Gods, Dead, and Sidhe –
Let the Gate be Open!

With the Gates open, we turn our minds to Magic... renew your center... Earth below and Sky above... feel the currents of light and dark... flowing in our flesh, and in the Grove... as we recite the Charm of the Threshold, to open the Inner Eye:
Between Fire and Water, we find our balance
We feel the Waters beneath, the Fire Above... they meet and flow within us... and from their merging rises the Mist of the Between...
From the Union of Fire and Water the Mist rises
Rising to surround and encompass... as the common world fades... and the Sacred center becomes bright...
Let the Mist carry me, and my Eye of Vision open
as our Fire becomes the Great Fire... our Well the Great Well... our simple pillar the bole of the World-Tree... and we behold the shining Gates of the Otherworld...
Let the Eye lead me, and my vision be clear and true
Let my Vision enchant me, with the sorcerer’s sight
Eye of Vision, eye of flesh, let me see clearly
See the Mist draw back... surrounding on every side... and be present in the Threshold Vision... on the Edge of the Land of Spirits... whether your eyes are closed or open... the Threshold is before you...
That the Work of the Wise be done.

3: Honoring the Kindreds
Now to my Sacred Fire I call the Threefold Kindreds, spirits all
All our allies among the Dead, Mighty and Beloved Ones,
stand strong with me in my work,
And receive this offering. (make the offering)
All our allies among the Sidhe, Red blood, green sap or Spirit Folk, join us in our rite,
And receive this offering. (make the offering)
All my allies among the Gods, Wisest and Mightiest Ones,
I pray that your power burn and flow in me
So, receive this offering. (make the offering)
Hear us, kin, allies and elders, I pray, and make your wisdom open to us, your love flow with ours, your power strong in us, that we may do the work of the Wise.
In the Mother’s Love be welcome.
In the Joys of Life be welcome.
In this Sacred Grove be welcome.
And accept our offerings!

4: Invocation of Brigid

a: Trance Eidolon
Now let the Gate be as a window to our vision... opening to reveal the Otherworld... and let us behold the blessed and mighty one, Brigid an Ardhaon... she is seated in beauty and wonder, in a nimbus of nineteen colors... shining and arrayed around her... flowing and changing, emerging from a white-gold brightness at their center... at that Center the High One is seated... clothed in the colors of the sky... day-blue flows with night-star-black... with the colors of the earth curling up the hem of her garment... ornaments of mirror-silver and bright gold adorn her, reflecting the flow of colors... and at the center is the face of the goddess...
See the eyes of the goddess Brigid... gaze into them, whether or not they see you yet... see her features, her gentle smile... her body is thick and strong... in her lap she holds a silver cauldron, filled with a healing brew, that bubbles with the heat of Her Fire... in her right hand she holds a great smith’s hammer of black iron, and in her left hand she bears a small harp of nine strings, that fills the air around her with a simple music...
You approach the goddess... and she towers above you on her seat... let your vision rest in her... as we make our invocation...

b: Invocation
• Brigid of the mantles, Brigid of the hearth fire,
Brigid of the twining hair, Brigid of the auguries
Brigid of the fair face, Brigid of the calmness
Brigid of the strong hands, Brigid of the kine
• Brigid, friend of women, Brigid, fire of magic
Brigid the foster mother, Brigid woman of wisdom.
Brigid the daughter of Danu, Brigid the triple flame.
Each day and each night I call the descent of Brigid.
• That the power of healing be within us,
That the power of poetry be within us,
That the power of shaping be within us,
In earth, sea and sky and among all kindreds.
• Kindle your flame in our heads, hearts and loins,
Make us your cup, your harp, your forge,
That we may heal, inspire and transform,
All in your honor, Brigid font of blessing.
• So we call you, Brigid na Ardhaon, High one, to be present in this image as you are present in our Grove.
See through these eyes, hear with these ears
Speak in our hearts, and receive these offerings
Chorus: Gaeilge charm recited after each offering:
Brigid above us, Brigid below us,
Brigid at every airt about us.
Brigid in our truest heart
Bríd thuas linn, Bríd thíos linn, Bríd maidir linn;
Bríd inár gcroí
• Milk I give, because you succor those in need.
• Bread I give, because you bring strength in bounty
• Ale I bring; because you bring inspiration and delight
• Silver I give, because you bring beauty,
• Bronze I give because you bring skill,
• Iron I give; because you bring magic, and strength
• I offer this Ogham Wand,
because you bring the knowledge of poets.
• I offer these herb-flowers,
because you bring knowledge of the green,
• I offer this incense, because you drive away all ill.

d: Audience-charm
The Vision is strengthened, saying:
So, behold the High one, seated here in the mortal world in this simple image... her rainbow garment all around her... and see her eyes turn toward you... her smile become wider... perhaps she extends a hand... as we say:

The worlds are in me, and I am in the worlds
The spirit in me is the spirit in the worlds
Holy One I set my eyes upon you – set your eyes upon me.
Holy One I behold your face – behold you my face
Holy One I behold your heart – behold you my heart
Holy One I behold your hands – behold you my hands
I am your worshipper,
Shining Brigid, High One,
Hear me, and accept our sacrifice!

5: Calling the Tri Cucmachtai Brid:
Hold the Wand as a scepter beside or before you, as you conjure:
In the power of Brigid na Ardhaon
I call to the Servants of Brigid.
Shining Lady of Skills, send to us your heralds, your ministers, your powers, that we may make alliance.
Come with the Wind and Cloud I call, from the Court of Brigid, you Three Powers, you who dwell in Isles of Wonder.
Come in the Moon and Sun I call, and in the shimmering light of Stars, in the warm and the cool, and the rays of the heavens that bless the worlds.
• We call to the Clairseach Bríd - the Harp of Brigid. Oh you who bear the inspirations of the Poet, the true tongue and the Magic Aires, reveal yourself. Let your face and form appear, arrayed in wonder beside your Queen.

Come, power come, by Brigid’s name:
teacht, cumhacht, teacht, de réir ainm Bríd
• We call to the Cupán Bríd - the Cup of Brigid. Oh you who bear the draughts of the Healer, for woman and of man and of children all, reveal yourself. Let your face and form appear, arrayed in wonder beside your Queen.
Come, power come, by Brigid’s name:
teacht, cumhacht, teacht, de réir ainm Bríd
• We call to the Casúr Bríd - the Hammer of Brigid. Oh you who bear the strength and sorcery of the Smith, who shapes by Fire and Water, reveal yourself. Let your face and form appear, arrayed in wonder beside your Queen.
Come, power come, by Brigid’s name:
teacht, cumhacht, teacht, de réir ainm Bríd

• Final Sacrifice
I call with the voice of the Cauldron of Wonder, I call with the voice of the Hearth of Welcoming. Oh Brigid, Oh great Servants of the High One, answer this calling.
To you, O Noble Ones, I make these offerings:
Crystal, of the Wealth of the Earth
Sweet smoke, of the Beauty of the Earth
Whiskey, of the Delight of the Earth.
And by these gifts I offer you welcome.
Come to my fire, Oh Three Powers of Brigid.
Fáilte a chur roimh, trí Cumhachtaí Bríd.
Come to my call, and accept my sacrifice!
Final offering is given, with meditation on the presence of Brigid.
Omen is taken and interpreted.

6: Conjuring the Court
a: Group agreement
Hear me now, Children of Earth. We are come together here in the light of the Blessing of Brigid, to seek alliance with her servants. Is it your will that we gain these alliances?
Let those who seek to gain those alliances for themselves speak - is it your will?
Is it the will of all that these alliances be made in blessing, and for the good of all being?
Then let us call the spirits.
Vision of the Three Powers strengthened.
• So, Oh, Servants of the High One, we come before you to do the work of the wise, to re-weave the old patterns, to make pact between mortals, and the Court of Brigid, in her name.
So we ask that those gathered here receive your blessing, and let the hosts of your tribes be visible to our vision.
• Let this Blessing Bowl bear the power of the Powers, the holy might of the Tri Cumhachtai Brid.
• By Vervain be blessed by the Cupan Brid, that the spirits of healing see and know us.
• By Crystal be blessed by the Clairseach Brid, that the spirits of the Poet’s way see and know us.
• By Silver be blessed by the Casur Brid, that the spirits of the smith’s magic see and know us.
• Now by this blessing we conjure the spirits of the Court of Brigid. By word and heart and hand we call to those who serve the servants, you spirits who will come to our fire and treat with mortals.
• Come from the Soil and Stone I call, all you who serve the High One, and from the Green crown of the Land, from holds beneath hills, from green halls and the pools and wells.
• Come with the Wind and Cloud I call, and from the deep Sea, all you who troop and fly and sing, you whisperers and cloud-kin, you who dwell in Isles of Wonder.
• Come in the Moon and Sun I call, and in the shimmering light of Stars, in the warm and the cool, and the rays of the heavens that bless the worlds.
• Come without malice, come in a fair form, come in peace and without any harm to me or to mine, neither in body or mind or spirit, neither in health or wealth or wisdom.
• By Four Winds and Nine Waves
By the World Tree’s root and branch
By the Four Treasures and the Crown of Don
By Fire’s Light and Well’s Might
• Where this blessing falls, let the spirits who will work with us reveal themselves.
• Where this blessing falls, let the eyes of vision be made open and clear.
• Where this blessing falls, let all be protected by the Cloak of the High One.
• Oh spirits, reveal yourselves with this blessing!
The blessing is distributed, with all reciting the phrase
“Let my eyes be open and the spirits appear”

7: The Binding
When all are blessed, there is a period for the spirits to gather, then the binding and oath are given:
Nine times round be nine times bound
The Poet’s binding;
The Seer’s binding;
The Sorcerer’s binding;
The Oak binding;
The Rowan binding;
The Hazel binding.
The binding of the Gods Above;
The binding of the Gods Below;
The binding of the Gods of This Green World.
Now give me your oath, I ask.
By my will I would make pact with you. Let no harm be worked against me or mine, whether in mind, body or spirit, in my health or my wealth or my wisdom; by day nor by night, in winter nor in summer, on land or in the sea or in the sky, or in places between. Stand with me by these words, or turn now away, and go! (Wait a moment, see if the spirit departs) So be it! I take your presence for an Oath, which you swear to all I have said. If you do not swear, depart! (Wait again, then make an oil offering, saying:) Nine blessings upon you with this offering!
Pause for a time as the spirits gather...

8: Treating With the Spirits
Again seek confirmation in conversation or by divination that the spirit is present, and give the Welcome to the Spirit:
Slainte agus failte, a sprideana nemed! Hail and welcome, to you who have come at our call. We are the Druids of Ar nDraiocht Fein - Fire Keepers, Singers and Shapers, and you have come to our fire at our will and word. Therefore know us as allies, and as Noble Ones among you. Give to us the Druid’s Rights, to come and go freely among the Spirits. We give you this offering, so that we may work together. Now speak with us, we ask, before this sacred Fire...

Sharpen your vision eye... empowered by the Blessing of the Three Powers of Brigid... and behold the gathered crowd of spirits... the courtiers of the Court of Brigid... called by our offerings, under the authority of the Goddess and her Powers... speak with them in your heart... ask, perhaps, what elements are of their nature... what kind of boons they can grant, and what works aid in... asking for a name and sign... who will stand forth to speak with you...

If you wish, you may speak with one of these spirits... one who will answer you... in peace and kinship... To learn its name... to ask it what powers it can bring... what works are in its power to perform...

If there are those to whom the spirits are revealing themselves, speak if you will, for our scribes to write down the names of the Spirits...

9: The Closing
as usual but with great gratitude and care.
• Once all is complete, recite the License to depart
• The License to Depart
Depart now, friends, O, Courtiers all, O Cumhachtai Brigid, and remember your oath. Come when we call you, or send your servants in peace with harm to none, and we will make to you due offering.
Cumhachtai Brid - we thank you!
• Thanking & Ending

The Court of Brigid - phase two.

2011-08-15T11:04:00.000-07:00

OK, I’m always likely to get in trouble announcing my ideas in a flurry of enthusiasm. Having actually written the rite for this working, I find that I must scale back my expectations. I won’t really have a captive audience of occult monks, and I’ll be constrained somewhat by the festival conditions. Thus, I’ve scaled back the level of detail. Good thing too, because the final rite is still detailed enough.

I’ve reduced the number of Powers of Brigid that will be called to three. Here are the short invocations used in the rite:

Trí Chumhachtaí Bríd • We call to the Clairseach Bríd - the Harp of Brigid. Oh you who bear the inspirations of the Poet, the true tongue and the Magic Aires, reveal yourself. Let your face and form appear, arrayed in wonder beside your Queen.
Come, power come, by Brigid’s name:
teacht, cumhacht, teacht, de réir ainm Bríd • We call to the Cupán Bríd - the Cup of Brigid. Oh you who bear the draughts of the Healer, for woman and of man and of children all, reveal yourself. Let your face and form appear, arrayed in wonder beside your Queen.
Come, power come, by Brigid’s name:
teacht, cumhacht, teacht, de réir ainm Bríd • We call to the Casúr Bríd - the Hammer of Brigid. Oh you who bear the strength and sorcery of the Smith, who shapes by Fire and Water, reveal yourself. Let your face and form appear, arrayed in wonder beside your Queen.
Come, power come, by Brigid’s name:
teacht, cumhacht, teacht, de réir ainm Bríd
Once these major daemons (or Nobles of the Daoine Sidhe, as you like) are invoked and offered to, the Blessing Bowl will be hallowed, asking that the crowd have their vision-eyes opened to the Host of the Court of Brigid. The lesser spirits will be conjured, only those willing to work in safety being welcomed, and there will be time for the folk to see them, speak with them and perhaps to call out what they see and who they meet. I hope to have scribes to write down at least some of the names of spirits. In this way I hope to begin acquiring a ‘catalog of spirits’, of the families and lineages willing to work with our Druidic magicians.

So, I think I have this carved into a manageable rite. It remains a big experiment, but I hope we can generate some powerful and valuable experiences.

The Court of Brigid – a Druidic Spirit-Working

2011-08-05T07:17:00.000-07:00

Having fairly recently completed a round of preliminary magical work, I have been feeling my juju oats. I have been looking around for (or waiting for inspiration about) ways to apply the insights I have gained in community and festival ritual. I have come to a plan, and am preparing to work it for the first time at the upcoming Summerland Gathering.

I have worked with festival ritual circles many times over the years. Even before my involvement in ADF I was attempting rites at Starwood that I called “Celtic Theurgy”. These were attempts to bring real, traditional magic arts to a festival audience, using ritual baths and preliminary visualizations, focused trance-work and theurgic invocation. Later, in ADF festival rites, I have done a number of workings intended to allow participants to make alliances with spirits of the Landwights and the Dead. These have often resulted in powerful experiences, and I know that a number of folks who did those rites work with allies from them to this day.

Traditional magicians may be concerned at the notion of working high-end (even middle-end) rites with a chance-chosen group of festival Pagans. I remain concerned myself, and take every measure to approach the work with care and piety. However, working inside a relatively focused mythic and ritual system such as ADF’s, at a gathering almost exclusively composed of members, helps a lot. Also good is that the magical skill-level of our membership has been generally increasing, thanks to more work by members on our basic and intermediate training programs. Those don’t let you get by without some skill at ritual, trance and vision. So in the case of the forthcoming working, I expect (hope) to have interested parties with some skill to help center the work. My experience is that if there is sufficient real magic occurring, even casual attendees can find themselves carried with the current toward good, valuable experiences.

The new working is called the Court of Brigid. It is a theurgic invocation of the Gaelic goddess Bríd an Ard-hAon, Brigid the High One, leading to a calling of nine daemons of that goddess. In those nine we seek spirits who will work with us as Druid magicians, helping us to accomplish our various works, all under the authority of the Goddess of Arts and Hearth. These active spiritual agents of the Goddess are not to be conceived of merely as ‘aspects’ of her, but rather we will seek to make alliance with specific living spiritual beings who aid the goddess, and are willing to aid us in her name.

I continue to cast about for the proper Irish term for a lordly messenger and independent agent of one of the Gods. I conceive such beings as noble members of the Court of the Sidhe, in the service of Brigid. As such they are indistinguishable, at base, from a Hellenic Daemon. I love the phrase ‘daemon of Brigid’ but my long aversion to mixing cultural elements so freely makes that unworkable. Presently I’m tending toward the term ‘Power’ as in ‘a Power of Brigid’. I find the term culturally neutral-to-positive, gender-neutral, with implications of magical might. I also like the direct transference from the tantric term ‘shakti’, meaning ‘power’ or ‘active ability’. Thus, I think I will refer to these spirits under the title Cumhachtaí Bríd – Powers of Brigid. An individual Power might be Cumhacht Casúr, the Power of the Hammer.

I mean to work this in a group ritual environment, using multiple seers in a group-vision. I will function as ‘Druid In Charge’, and also as the chief enchanter, assisted by L. Group participation will be high, focused on building the requisite vision, with simple litany recitation to focus attention and aspiration. Since this is a holy working, seeking only the blessed agents of one of our most beloved goddesses, we will not be using a circle, nor separating ourselves from the presence of the Nine Powers of Brigid. Care will be taken in the framing rites to place extra safeguards on the sacrifice ground and participants, with good purifications. The Gatekeeper in especially important to that effort and special invocation will be made to keep the Gates well-warded.

The rite will be open to all participants at the event, but I will be asking for those who wish to actively see and speak as seers to be sure to do the preparatory work. The preparatory discussion and preliminary vision will be held a day before the working, to let the ideas percolate prior to the rite.

I’ll post more here as I clarify the actual wording and detail of the rite. I am excited about this, and am feeling the inspiration of the goddess and my inner teachers moving me. As always, it remains my goal to bring the Old Ways into our time, by the work of magic arte. It is my privilege to have a group of skilled ritualists, such as we have in Our Druidry, to ask for help.

Countermagic

2011-07-27T06:36:00.000-07:00

So, this pisses me off.
If folks need to have the why of that explained to them I can. Rather than bothering, I'm working on composing a small countercharm to help disperse the coercive spells of this gang of christian sorcerers. This is a fast draft from inspiration - I know it lacks rhythm, but maybe as a call-and response, with single voices doing the lines and all reciting the repetition it could be cool in performance. Anyway, It conveys my sentiment.

A Charm for Religious Liberty

This is a voice of the people, the people of the United States of America.

In the United States, let no god be master, and let all be free.

Let this be the voice of the Wise, for wisdom is my prayer.

In the United States, let no god be master, and let all be free.

Let the wisdom of the founders bring freedom.

In the United States, let no god be master, and let all be free.

Let the freedom in our spirits be the foundation of the law.

In the United States, let no god be master, and let all be free.

Let our law proclaim that we have no ‘lords’.

In the United States, let no god be master, and let all be free.

May our Ancestors witness our commitment to freedom and justice.

In the United States, let no god be master, and let all be free.

May the Other Kins of North America know our commitment to their well-being.

In the United States, let no god be master, and let all be free.

May the Gods and Goddesses of all peoples know welcome in our nation.

In the United States, let no god be master, and let all be free.

By Sky and by Grain, by Mountain and by Plain, by Liberty and by Justice

In the United States, let no god be master, and let all be free.

From sea to sea, so be it!

.

Hello, hello... is this thing on...

2011-07-18T07:29:00.001-07:00

Sorry about the long silence here. but once again it's July, and thus festival and travel time for me.

Just got back from Starwood, the fest I helped to found and have helped to organize for the past 31 bleedin' years. I still love it. Like love it, wanna marry it... hell I practically have married it, and we have kids now... Another great year, the second at Wisteria. We're growing in the new site, and all is copacetic.

I have been writing, some, and I have been at the altar, some. But I'm also on the way to a family vacation, returning to hit the ground running for our Grove Lughnassadh gathering here at Tredara. So, I'll get some content up here when I can...

Enjoy your summer...

Oh, and as evidence of some continuing activity, I'll take a big chance and post a tiny bit of the opening of The Novel.

The Novel... first peek

2011-07-18T07:18:00.000-07:00

These are the opening paragraphs of what I'm tentatively calling "Lady of the House" a tale of modern Pagan sorcery.

Part 1a: Otherworld
The hills were old around the basins of the great rivers. Scoured low and round by time, they still showed boulder cliffs and steep rills of falling water among the green coat worn by the stones. The spirit of that place was old as well, peaceful now, as a rule, content to dwell in vertical spaces where mortal life had little reach. Mortals might tend the forests and hunt the beasts, might cut through mountains to make their roads, but within the forms of the soil and the green, in the winds that the sun drove between the mountains, in the dew of the bright moon there lived the spirits. Wild essences of the world, sometimes interested in mortals, often indifferent, they went their way while mortal folks went theirs. In past times mortals and the spirits had spoken, the wise among them, and the brave, finding ways to get the attention of the un-material intelligences. Then mortals had worked together with the spirits, and each kept their place in the Dance of Worlds.

In more recent times this commerce had largely ended. Mortals had turned their eyes and hearts from the inner essences of things. In truth the spirits cared little, though those who had kept the Old Ways before became confused, or dismayed, and some even became angry. In a country filled with mines and boats and the work of hammers it is never wise to anger the spirits. The spirits toyed with mortals or ignored them, and mortals praised their ‘God’ for good luck or complained of bad.

But in places of power, where the voice of the spirits might be stronger, and in certain families, or in ways taught from teacher to student, the commerce with the spirits continued. There in the hills by the big river there were a few places where humans came together, and by their skill made themselves seen and heard by the spirits. Most especially there was the Fortress of the Seer. It was the only mortal place in the region that had a name among the spirits, and there the mortals had the longest history of traffic with them since the Old People disappeared.

Now an idea was spreading among the spirits, as it does, that new mortals were returning to the Seer’s Rath. The bloodline of the Seer was known to the spirits, and even far at the edge of their places they watched that lineage. Even far away they had been present at the sacrifices, made offerings even as young children, and so they were known to the spirits. Now those children were returning to the Vale and the Fortress, and the spirits were interested.

A wild, strong spirit of air and night chose to find them and follow them as they came near the river. His eyes would be the eyes of the clan, and the Queen would know what he knew. As he drew near to the children in their car, he took on a more material form, wings and sharp eye as he swept around and before them as they went.

Before them lay the darkness upon Dun Faithe.

My Work with the Spirits

2011-06-25T06:26:00.000-07:00

It's not my habit to brag about my magical work, or really to expose much of my personal practice here on el bloggo. However, I felt an urge to do a 'journal entry' and maybe a bit of self-introduction and history. If there's a lesson, it's that 35 years of intermittent effort can produce a result every bit as good as ten years of focused training...

I’ve been a working magician, in various ways, for some 35 years, not counting stupid teen experiments. In that time I’ve worked as a priest and invocator, as a designer and leader of group theurgic rituals, as a diviner (more so early, less so more recently), and as a spellbinder. Most of my spellwork over the years has concerned financial need and general protection and blessing, occasional uncrossings, and of course the general year-blessings of the round of Pagan holidays. Most of my theurgic, or spiritual development, work has focused on relating to the presence of the divine in the persons of the many gods, and on visionary and symbolic work intended to organize and empower my own souls. Again, much of that work has been organized by the eightfold Neopagan calendar.

I have always understood magic to involve the alliance with spirits, whatever other sort of work I might have been doing. I have worked with ‘impersonal energies’ regularly throughout my life, and still consider the ability to stand wrapped in the Fire and Water important to magic. However my work has slowly but surely led me to the understanding that traditional magic in the west has always been about alliance with other beings - about pacts with the spirits. In recent months I’ve begun to teach simple summary workshops on the topic at festivals, based on my own Pagan Druidic perspective informed by other recent research and development, such as Jake Stratton-Kent’s approach.

So I thought that I would write about my work over the years. This is for my own sake as much as yours, because memory gets long, and I may as well get used to keeping it as I get older.

Working With Gods
Early Pagan Witchcraft was very focused on the Gods, however they might understand them. I began doing ritual out of Mastering Witchcraft, with its focus on the gods as powerful spirits whose power can be called on with the right calls. In the fashion of the time (for those who had no feel for Christianity) I became more religiously Witchy over the years. I was never really a Lady-and-Lord dualist, though. The traditional system in which I eventually worked had a specific constellation of deities, and I always viewed that as our particular ‘witch-cult’, not the sum total of the Gods.

Working with the gods meant learning invocation, and I learned from classical magic and theurgy. My mentors led me through both elemental and planetary self-empowerment rites, but at the same time we were working with the mythic forms of Gaelic lore. While I learned method from the former it was the latter that really captured my attention.

I have been applying theurgic and ceremonial methods to the invocation of the Gaelic gods and spirits for many years. To those who see a confusion is that, I assert that Grimoire magic holds a lineage of magical *practice forms* that are traceable Pagan in origin. While we may need to replace nearly all the mythic content of the grimoires, we can be confident that the ritual and invocatory skills taught in them are not very different from those practiced by a temple priest in Pagan Greece.

Using those skills I became the worshipper of several powerful deities of the Gaelic cultural complex. Lady Brighid remains the patron of our house, who once saved us from fire, and has inspired my work and weal these many years. Dagda Mor, especially as the Ruadh Rofessa (red lord of secret knowledge) and Manannan Mac Lir aid me as well. Being a fairly literal polytheist, I treat these as some among many. Our local year-cult honors a regular round of the deities, so that folks aren’t left honoring only the powers closest to them, but work in balance with the cycles.

While I don’t really petition the gods for specific works or favors much anymore, I do continue their worship. I feel that the blessing gained from this sort of regular attunement to the divine is a primary source of my authority (or whatever) among the spirits. With a goddess at my back I am armed in my armor and armed, as they say.

I experienced a major switch in my path at one point, completely discarding a previous ritual system for a new one. The good news for me is that I didn’t have to change my deities at all. The scholastic level of the old coven meshed nicely with the new form. So, I’ve been working with my central contacts for a long while.

1980s Shamanism
I had experimented with ‘rising in spirit vision’ and ‘pathworking’ in the Golden Dawn style early in my experiments. When Michael Harner published “Way of the Shaman” (the beginning of practical shamanism among western mages) in 1980 it looked like familiar stuff (pun unintended, but kept for the sake of not skippin’ ‘em). At the time I was working in a rigorous Witchcraft system looking for ways to move from ceremonial magic tropes to equally-powerful folkloric tropes. Shamanism was a great angle, and I used it in connection with deliberate summoning rites to make alliances with allies that I still work with today.

My alliances are with a Familiar/guide among what seem to be the Landwights, and a Teaching spirit from among the Dead. They have remained consistent, though unfolding, through all my work. Of course my own level of devotion, piety and/or diligence has varied widely in that time. Fortunately my commitment to the regular work of Pagan season mysteries means that I’m never too long between ritual occasions.

It was those early experiments that led to public alliance-rites done at a dozen or so festivals over several years. Those efforts have developed into a set of formal summoning-and-alliance rites. The results have convinced me that shamanic-style, vision-based evocation can have powerful and lasting results. While special-effects are always welcome in magic I find the ability to rise in vision and speak with the spirits to be entirely effective.

Gods, Dead & Sidhe
My big change of system was to move from a Western Magic/Witchcraft cosmos and ritual form into a new system of ‘Druidry’ based on research into ancient Euro-Pagan ritual forms (ADF, specifically). This meant abandoning the ‘four elements’ for a “Land/Sea/Sky & central Fire” cosmos. The designers of that system, of which I was eventually one, may have gone too far, early on, in tracking the baby and bathwater in what was kept and what discarded. There turn out to be fine Hellenic reasons for drawing a circle around a sacrifice ground, for instance. However the results have been very effective, with rites that resemble Indic yajna and puja rather than Masonry or the Mass. Those forms have been in use for the past 25 years in local congregations around N America.

The change made a huge difference, in time, to my work with the spirits in a Pagan Magic context. Our Druidic ritual is based on welcoming the Gods and Spirits in three classes – the Gods, the Dead and the Landwights, or Sidhe. We know these are permeable categories, but we use them as a simple way to be thorough in our offerings and honorings. What it meant for me is that I began to regularly make offerings, and lead offering rites, to the spirits. I’m here to tell you that if you do that sincerely, the spirits will answer.

For me that answering was mediated by my allies; first by the Goddess Brighid, whose inspiration is a fire unquenched. I also have been instructed, I think, by my Teacher among the Dead. What I’ve asked is how to work magical ritual for moderns using Druidic models and notions, and while the material I’ve produced has been somewhat idiosyncratic I think it could have a wider application for Pagans. The results are available in my newest book “The Book of Summoning”.

In the last couple of years, as I have felt this sense of inward tuition reach a fairly high mark, I have been working a formal set of empowerment and attunement rites that have bumped up my practice. In the course of formal rites to and with the Dead and the Landwights I have made two specific new alliances that are working well for me, while maintaining my long original pacts.

My Work Now
As I have become more intimate with my Familiars, I find myself less likely to ‘pray’ to the gods for an outcome, and more likely to ask an ally to aid me with it. I have developed a formula for asking the Familiar to find a spirit who can aid in a specific works. Thus far my results with this have been pretty good, including weather effects, household management and protection. My relationship with the Ancestral Teacher has progressed – where before the figure was shadowy and concealed, I now know name and form, and am in more direct conversation. Through the Teacher I am also developing contacts with what I see as spirits of those who served as priests and magicians in old times – druids, if you will. All of that continues to feed my stream of inspiration, one of my core goals.

Assuming that I get what I ask for, look to see more song-writing from me in coming times.

My work with the Gods continues. Led by my inspiration I am looking at what it would mean to work with daemones of the Gaelic gods. In an ongoing effort to work in the spirit model, it seems to me that ‘rays’ of ‘force’ from the god/desses can profitably be replaced by ‘legions’ of spirits.

This summer is busy. Do I say that every summer? Yes. Nevertheless, we mean to begin work on deepening our connection with local wights here on the land we keep. This should involve several formal evocations using the system I’ve worked. Expect news here as that occurs.

From a personal standpoint I have greatly enjoyed moving my magic practice from energy work toward spirit arte. Paganism teaches relationship, between people, between humans and the land, between humans and the spirits. Impersonal energies cannot respond to relationship. In the common world we have changed from depending on one another for our daily support to depending on machines. Rather than keep relationship with a servant or employer, rather than knowing the teller at the bank-window, we rely on impersonal devices to do our will at will. It seems to me that we might want to avoid making that happen in our spiritual and magical work as well.

This Grim Stead – a Festival in Prison.

2011-06-14T13:07:00.000-07:00

This past weekend L and I flew out to eastern Washington to participate in what may well be a unique event in modern Pagan history. Archdruid Rev Kirk Thomas arranged a mini-festival for the Pagan inmates of the Coyote Ridge Corrections Center, a 2000-inmate joint on the edge of the desert. The event was a full day of workshops, rituals and music, that included Pagan inmates from Asatru, Wiccan and Druidic traditions. L and I travelled from Northeastern Ohio to represent ADF, Patty Lafayllve from Connecticut represented the Troth (she’s the former Steerswoman and author of their Lore program) and Ashleen O’Gaea, from Tucson, AZ, represented the Wiccan path. Of course Kirk was there, along with the Wiccan priestess who has been a long-time volunteer for the prison. Also present were the de facto director of religious program for the state Dept. of Corrections (de facto because titles and responsibilities seem to be influx…), the chaplain for Coyote Ridge, and some four Christian other chaplains from the Washington DOC.

This was a one day event, so that meant lightning travel. We left Cleveland on Friday morning, took three flights to get to Pasco, Washington, and then left Washington again on Sunday AM for a full day of travel back to Ohio. Not even enough time to adapt to the western time-zone. Along with a day of program that lasted from 8am until 9 pm, the event left me as work-out as many longer fests.

We arrived Friday night for a dinner and drinks with several of the chaplains and the other teachers. Patti is the author of “Freya, Lady, Vanadis”. I’ve met Patti before, I think, at Starwood and other fests, but this was the first time we have had a real chance to chat. I know Troth folks pretty well, so we had some common ground. This was my first chance to meet Ashleen, author of “The Family Wicca Book” and, more recently, “Enchantment Encumbered” a book based on the prison ministry that she has been involved in for some years. Of the four teachers at the event, only Ashleen had previous experience with prisoners, though only as a correspondent. She, like the rest of the traveling guests, had never been ‘inside’.

Going inside was fairly scary to me, from a distance. Like many alternative-culture Americans, I have no great faith in or affection for the criminal justice system and its institutions. My exchanges with Chaplain Erik Askren of Coyote Ridge by emails, and Kirks’ hardy support of him convinced me that we had a friend in the system, and that was a plus. Meeting some of the other chaplains and their approximate manager the night before had also put me at ease. If I’m skeptical of some elements of the system, I’m also confident that in the USA an alternate religion wouldn’t be hassled too hard, once we had gotten as far as the day of an event.
In fact the existence of the event is, itself, evidence of the strong commitment to religious plurality and equality built into the system from the constitution on down. The existence of an actual population of Pagan prisoners mandates that those prisoners be served. When Kirk’s energetic organizing produced a chance for an event like this, and the local chaplain was on board, it happened. I was also clued in that the existence of a new manager at the top of the state chaplaincy had also been invaluable. So while I hope that this event can help to spur further organized outreach to the incarcerated, I do think that access and conditions are likely to vary widely from state to state. For this event we had the right confluence to allow it to happen.

The prison itself is huge, new and clean as a whistle. Five large buildings sit on 86 acres. It was high-desert cool in the morning, and the sun glinted brightly on the concertina wire and clean new 15-foot fences. The grounds were covered in wide fresh concrete walkways with yards of gravel between them – nothing to mow or clip in sight. Kirk was out guide through the first ‘rooms’ of fencing. He’s been coming to Coyote Ridge every six weeks for High Days for the last couple of years, and knows the way. The officer at the front desk knew him as well, and the process of checking a few personal items, examining my guitar and bag of ritual wear, etc was painless. We were met by another of the chaplains, who helped us through the next series of security rooms to the building where the events would take place.

The classes, group sessions and concert were held in an educational wing of the building, which looked pretty much like any community college corridor, stripped of the usual flyers and cultural clutter. We convened at 8am for a plenary session with all the guests and the men from the Druid, Asatru and Wiccan contingents. The men gathered looked, I must say, rather like guys you might see at a Pagan fest, though perhaps with more shaved heads than usual among the long hair, beards and braids. After taking a few questions through the chaplain we adjourned to the first rounds of sessions.

The day was split between workshops and rituals. Each of the traditions had its own chance for ritual in the outdoor worship space provided by the prison. Our Druidic session began with L and me presenting her Indo-European Goddesses workshop and slide show, which was well-received. We then headed for the outdoor Nemeton for ritual.

The outdoor ritual spaces for Pagans were a good walk across the barren yard. I was quite pleased at what the men of Frogstone Circle had accomplished. There was a nice lined and edged pit for the Fire, a standing pedestal-basin Well and a post cemented in as the Bile. All quite stark and spare, but as complete and formal as one could hope for in the circumstances. I understand that the gravel yard is due to receive ‘beautification’ in the form of grass in the near future. In any case, the feel of the place was actually pretty juicy, despite the grim setting, and the rite went off well, with a version of the ADF unity rite done by Kirk, L and the leader of Frogstone Circle, Thomas Brown.

I should say a word about Thomas. In many ways that inmate is the reason that this event happened. He began his interest in Druidry with OBOD, and holds their Druid grade, the highest level of their study program. He has completed the ADF Dedicant Path work, and is enrolled in our Initiate Path, doing my Nine Moons work as his practicum at this time. His dedication to the path has helped him gather a circle of other Druid students in Coyote Ridge, and it was his correspondence that got Kirk involved in the first place. Kudos to Thomas for his diligence, courage and wisdom.

We ate lunch with the Druid guys, sharing their pre-packaged pb&j kit and lemonade. Complaints about the food were ubiquitous. We noted that no-one goes either to prison or the UK for the food…

For the afternoon workshop session I taught a meditation class, which went pretty well. Those things are not the most exciting topic, but I could tell that a handful of students ‘got it’, and that’s as good as I expect in any such festival teaching. I had prepped a class on magic as well, but that material got somewhat deferred until later.

Before dinner, we performed a set of music. Good sound system, incidentally. I’ve worked a lot of audiences over the years, and I could tell that some of the guys were prepared to be unimpressed. This one-guitar show just might not be cool enough for them. I’m pleased to say that by a few songs in most of them were bopping along to Pagan hits like “Hoof and Horn”. I consider the concert a real success, and I’m very pleased to have added what must be a serious splash of color to the inmate’s fairly drab sensory existence.

We had dinner with the system chaplains and the other pagan teachers. The local chaplain had arranged a nice spread of fruit, veggies, cheese and meat (and chocolate, for which L was grateful) – as pleasant as could be expected in the circumstances. We’d been warned that some of the chaplains might be less than welcoming, but in the end everyone was polite and pleasant, at least. Kirk donated copies of the ADF Dedicant book to each of them, and Ashleen had copies of her prison-ministry title as well, so they left with at least the opportunity to be much better informed than before. To be fair, several of them attended workshops as well, and they were all at the concert.

After dinner we held a syncretic all-groups ritual. These are always a laugh riot to coordinate, and a hit-or-miss proposition, but we had enough skilled ritualists to pull it off nicely. We did a Wiccan Circle-casting, followed by Opening the Gates, and Kindred offerings in the Druidic fashion, and for the blessing did a simple one-round symbel in Norse style. This was done indoors, and while it wasn’t the very most powerful rite I’ve ever been in, it went just fine.

The final event of the evening was a panel discussion, with the initial topic of the place of magic in Paganism. I started things out using some of my usual definitions and categories notes, and we moved into discussion and then questions from the men. It was a lively and interesting discussion, and the questions led us into some places we hadn’t gone.

In retrospect, my experience with this minimum-to-midlevel security environment wasn’t scary. As always for me, it was a pleasure to meet other pagans, and the fact that they were inmates made only a little difference. It’s customary for chaplains to simply not ask about things like offenses and sentences, so those topics didn’t come up. We talked about their special challenges and needs, and I hope provided some resources (all the guest teachers donated books to the library). The institution was no problem, even the officers (don’t call them the guards…) were generally pleasant, even chatty when I took a minute.

Will I take up prison ministry? I’m pretty busy. I will say that the notion is now in our minds, and that we’re greatly encouraged to consider the possibility. Certainly if the chance arose, it wouldn’t be fear that prevented us.

If I had ever gone to prison I flatter myself to think that I might have spent the one great resource it provides – time – on spiritual matters. I’m certainly willing to help those who are actually doing that, and I’m very pleased to have had the chance.

Why I'm Not A Gnostic

2011-06-01T13:42:00.000-07:00

As always with these theology posts, this is my opinion. Opinion is essentially the same idea as doctrine, so it's fair to say that this is my doctrine, concerning gnostic ideas. YDMV

I don’t believe in God. Not that unusual a statement, these days, but I suppose I mean it differently from many people who say it.

I *do* believe that there is a continuum of existence that is subtly interconnected with material existence, yet is usually imperceptible by material sensation or instruments. I’m willing to condense that to terms like Otherworld, or Spirit World(s), for both brevity and to make better sense of traditional mythic models. Within that continuum a variety of beings exist.

I also commonly refer to this entire continuum as ‘the divine’. I use ‘divine’ and ‘of the spirit world’ pretty much interchangeably. I’ll probably talk more about the rejection of dualism but, as a start, I reject good and evil as spiritual principles and consider ‘the divine’ to be as morally neutral as ‘nature’. In the mythic model I use, the divine is not in conflict with itself (or with anything else) and there are not two opposing sides.

As a modern Pagan, I take nature as my primary revelation from the divine, and assume that the divine resembles nature, and nature resembles the divine. By observing nature, I find that the divine must consist of a multitude of individual entities, all existing in a variety of relationships and ecologies. That variety may end up as One Great Process, though science has yet to really decide on that. I remain agnostic on a mythic level about it as well.

In the great system of the divine there are an uncountable number of beings. Many of those beings seem to dwell with or near the dwellings of mortal humans. Many of those beings have become the regular allies of human tribes and clans. The greatest (i.e. most effective) of these we have come to call ‘gods’ (from a german root meaning “that to which we sacrifice”). Over the ages humans have worked out various methods by which to communicate with the gods and other spirits, and using them we have established pacts and mutual obligations, making some of these spirits functionally members of our societies. These are the ‘patrons’ of our various human endeavors, and out methods of relationship are what is called ‘religion’. We offer to them, and they bless us in turn.

The thing is, I see no model in nature for an omnipotent managing intelligence. I see no sign of it in nature’s processes. Those each proceed by their own strength, come what may. A sea-shore does not need a King Gull to keep the tides turning and the crabs breeding.

Thus, I find myself rejecting several core Gnostic ideas. First I reject the notion that material life is some sort of error. Since Pagan lore doesn’t contain the notion of ‘fallen’ nature, I take nature to be whole and holy exactly as we find it. Even the cosmic model of Neoplatonism seems far too pessimistic to me. In the archaic Indo-European cosmos the material world is not at the bottom of a ladder, rather it is in the center of a wheel. Here in the great world of story and beauty even the Great Gods come to the Fire, and make their will done. There are many Otherworld places to explore, but there is nothing to escape from here, and nowhere else that is our true home.

I’m somewhat sympathetic to the psychologizing and politicizing influence that makes the Gnostic myth of evil matter into a socio-political allegory. There are certainly strains of mysticism that effectively use rejection of human social programming to enhance wisdom. The lesson that childhood messages of ‘right and wrong’, and adult programs imposed by commercial greed, are not so much ‘true’ as they are products of cultural hypnosis can be a powerful agent for personal growth.

However, I observe the Gnostic impulse (or what seems like it to me) producing a kind of paranoia. When one’s mythic landscape includes ol’ Yaldabaoth and his evil Archons, one naturally looks for their equivalent in the political sphere of the material world. After years as a left-wing observer of world politics, my own conclusion is that there is no cabal of rulers who determine the world’s course (at least not successfully… there are probably some who have tried). Just like on the veldt, there are lionesses and lions and jackals and elephants and every sort of beast, but nobody is in charge, and the system isn’t screwed up (and nobody's to blame) when some lovely antelope becomes dinner.

So I take the same attitude to society as I do to nature. There it is – and we have to deal with it. I have an optimistic view of human nature and the societies we make. My opinion is that the trend toward more money, freedom, education and health for all is proceeding nicely. Certainly there are plenty of rough spots, but how else could it be?

From a historical position, I view Neoplatonism and Gnosticism as very late products of Hellenism, with strong influence not only from the growing Christian movement, but from the huge number of Jewish philosophers throughout the Roman Empire. (One source asserts that before Christ as much as 10% of Romans were Jewish or were synagogue-attending sympathizers.) However I don’t mean to propose that the sort of One Final God at the Top that we find in Neoplatonism was totally a foreign import. Indo-European myth had been trending toward a pantheistic or monistic theology for a while, often with the archaic ‘law king’ type (Zeus, Ahura Mazda, Vishnu) as the ‘supreme personality of godhead’ (as the ISKON folks say).

Since my interest is in archaic Paganism, I tend to ignore those trends of the late classical era. I prefer a world-view in which the world is just as it is meant to be, and we are properly at home within it. As individuals we have a variety of paths open to us – there is no One Great Mission that is the Only Thing That Matters in the End. We can choose to be householders, living by code and custom, getting all the good of land and family, receiving the blessings of the gods through temple rites and hearth religion. We can choose to be various kinds of spiritual specialist or professional (in some cultures) whether as a musician, a diviner, an oral performer (i.e. a ritualist). In some cultures we have the option to discard social code almost entirely, to live as a hermit, wandering holy-person or madman. The warriors, the farmer, the merchant, the priest, the sorcerer, all are true and good parts of the Holy Cosmos.

In my opinion there is no Secret God who can take us out of the cosmos, and nowhere to go if there were. In terms of the afterlife, it may be that certain mystery initiations can allow a god to grant us a pleasant sort of specific afterlife. It may be that without proper preparation we only live as twittering ghosts or shambling sluagh, hungry for sacrifices. That notion is archaic enough. I don’t think there is a Tyrant God who keeps us in thrall, and I don’t think there is a mystery, or gnosis, that can free us.

Black Bunnies...

2011-05-20T05:19:00.000-07:00

So, I’ve been debating… is ‘Black Bunny’ funnier than something like ‘Scaly Snakies’ or 'Bat Fanciers’? So far I think it is.

If you hang around internet occultism and the rush of self-published magic books, you’ll know who I mean. The “Bitterness and Dark” crowd. The types who seem to revel in half-baked mythologies that owe more to Milton than to any actual mythic material. Folks who think that authors like Ford or Grant have something serious to say about the Old Ways. Some of them are messianic, like “The Cosmic Man will enslave ya, and only us Smart, Strong, Scary people can make it…”. They’re likely to run around in black get-ups with some variation of heavy-metal or punk accessories, or else they do the Dangerous Lawyer look, in suit and tie, which makes even lawyers look like they have a wand up their colons.

You know, Black Bunnies…

The Coolest Thing I've Seen This Week

2011-05-17T11:10:00.001-07:00

Been a while since I did one of these, but this struck me as cool.
At the House of Vines, a cat named Sannion is pursuing his work as a hellenic polytheist. In general it's a cool blog and related site (or vice versa) but I especially struck by Sannion's work as a public oracle in Eugene Oregon.

I've known folks who busked tarot before, but none who offered Greek-letter sortilege, or direct oracular speech from Dionysus, either! I'd think that even up there in Ecotopia that has to be an unusual thing. A street-corner oracle who sets up his own shrine to the gods of his work is cool enough for me...

He also uses the 'Homeric' oracle, but he seems to use modern six-sided dice. I like my ceramic astragals...

The Busy Season

2011-05-13T09:46:00.000-07:00

Well, we’ve had a cold, wet spring here on the southern shores of Lake Erie, though things are warming up at last. April was mainly a wash – literally - in terms of getting anything done here at the old homestead. For readers who don’t know me as well, my wife and I keep a small stead in what I call the exurbs. People *do* commute an hour so that they can live in the ‘country’ and have a city income, but we’re still rural enough that cries of ‘accept our sacrifices’ and sounds of gunfire (from the target-shooters down the road) are unremarkable.

However, Beltaine hit the old schedule like a train. First, we had a marvelous work-weekend with the help of that wild-ass gang of Lemurians, the Space Rangers. This is a new aggregated neo-tribe that seems to have arisen (or arrived in their ships) at last year’s Starwood, and has already made great strides. It was astounding to have them come out and lay brick, dig holes, clean stuff, and then rock out!

That same weekend was our public Beltaine rite. Yes, it’s the start of the busy season.

That meant we were quite ready for our annual May Party the weekend after Beltaine. The May Party is our oldest event, L. having begun hosting it long before she and I were a couple, for the nascent local Pagan scene in the early 80s. This year we had a memorial for one of my closest friends, who passed in the spring, and that brought a lot of folks. The Space Rangers returned with their lights and sounds, and it was bonfire meets tiny rave, in the woods…

Now I’m prepping for the Wellspring Gathering at the end of the month. Wellspring is Stone Creed Grove’s annual festival, which has hosted the ADF national meeting for many years. It isn’t a giant event, but then we don’t have a giant staff for it either, and we have folks coming from all over, even from Down Under. Lots to do…

Giant event-wise, I’m an organizer for Starwood and that hits 4 weeks after Wellspring. In the meantime we’ll have Summer Solstice here at Tredara.

The upshot is, I’m still gonna try to post!

Writing Projects
Having completed the Book of Summoning (remember, don’t buy this if you’ve already bought the Book of Nine Moons, unless you’re some wacky Corrigan completist ; ) ) I’m poking around at my next writing projects. Here’s the list in my head, roughly by priority:
• The Novel: This will happen, probably this year. Occult adventure/horror with a little Mythos action. What else would you expect…
• Book of Visions: The trance and meditation material from BoNM arranged for more popular appeal. This will probably happen, maybe even for the summer, same caveats as the Book of Summoning.
• Basic Non-Wiccan Paganism book. This is an idea for an heretical-reconstructionist popularization. Take basic Indo-European religion, reduce focus on specific ethnicity and old-world cultural material, and apply the framework and techniques to making alliances and relationship with the spirits in your place, and the gods of your inclination. American tradityional paganism?? Speculative, but in development…

Occult Projects
Having completed a round of the Nine Moons work, L. and I are feeling charged and focused. This summer (in our copious free time…) we mean to deepen and focus our ritual relationship with the specific guardians of the land on which we have lived for so long. From there I expect us to find a number of new directions and options.

I have always been interested in rites of group theurgy. For many years I used more standard Neopagan magical models to write rituals intended to induce psycho-spiritual experiences in festival and ad hoc groups. As I have become more committed to a spirit-model of magic, I’m interested in how to use that model for the same intentions. That amounts to looking for ways to make ‘mystery’ rites, usable in a post-modern context.

Watch This Space.
So I hope this stuff will keep me stocked with material for the blog. Thanks for reading, and, of course, I welcome your comments.

Incidentally, the photos are of Tredara, our little place, our barn and Nemeton.

Balthazar writes...

2011-05-06T11:42:00.000-07:00

I was pleased to notice that DHr Balthazar, who writes the excellent Gnostic Conjure blog, had signed on as a reader of this blog. He probably did that when he posted this reply to my long screed on Traditional Witchcraft and Paganism. I finally noticed that post... duh.
My reply is too long for the comments section, so I'm going to post it here. 'Witchcraft' and its meanings remains one of the murkiest semantic corners of our occult times, in my opinion...

Balthazar writes: This is an interesting dissection Ian. But to play, er, the Devil's advocate for a moment:

Hey, thanks for writing, Balthazar! I enjoy your blog a lot! I’m gonna snip this for brevity…

I think the distinction between pagan and christian witchcraft is somewhat arbitrary in your argument.

To be real clear, I’d never really use the term ‘Christian witchcraft’ because I generally reserve the term ‘witchcraft’ for magic outside of Christian rules.
There has always been ‘Christian magic’ and ‘Christian sorcery’ – neither of those terms have the religious connotation of ‘witchcraft’. But to use ‘witchcraft’ as a synonym for either one adds to confusion, imo.

For instance, at first glance hoodoo is a form of Protestant folk-magic, but when studied more closely you find an african heart at it's core - alive and beating very strongly. Much of the apparently christian trappings in hoodoo are expressions of deeply african, specifically kongo derived, religious/magical ideas and techniques. They simply found a new host form.

Yep. Now, in England of, say 800 ce, I’d wager we might have found something quite similar. The oppressed and illegal previous religious system reworks itself in barely-permissible clothes. ATR in North America is, after all, no more than 200 or 300 years from its African Roots (less in the Caribbean).

But to consider what an early modern practitioner inherited, we’re talking 1500 more years of deliberate suppression of both pre-Christian religious practices and magic in general. While early modern grimoires *do* retain ritual elements and occasional snippets of mythic content, misremembered deities in the demon-lists, etc, that’s all pretty slim. Nowhere near what Palo remembers of its Congo mythic structure, for instance.

Just because Jesus and the saints are getting air time doesn't mean it isn't pagan! Look at Haiti, Cuba, Brazil...

Yes. Polytheist cultures can adopt Jesus and other Christian mythic figures as some of their spirits. Perhaps I’m too concerned with theology, but to me that doesn’t make them in any way Christian. In the same way a Christian can use PGM ritual forms to summon and converse with Christian-mythic spirit forms. I don’t think that makes what the Christian does Pagan.

However, by the witch-hunt period we don’t seem to be looking at blended-troth (as the Heathens say) at all. The indigenous mythic content has been almost entirely washed away in favor of the new regime’s system. That’s why I’m not a believer in pre-Christian survival witchcraft in later western Europe – I just don’t see enough evidence for it.

Witchcraft throughout history and culture seems to co-opt the dominant religious expression of the time and subvert it for its own ends. And here lies its true genius as a transcultural magical impulse.

I think the term ‘witchcraft’ is best reserved for western-European contra-christian magical practices. Such things certainly existed in the early Christian periods, as Pagans resisted the political advancement of the church. (As to whether or not ‘Satanic’ witchcraft really existed in, say, 1500, I’m undecided.) Other cultures have their own terms, and I think we’d do best not to translate ‘strega’ or ‘seidrkona’, but rather to describe them inside their own cultures.

*Magic* is transcultural. Methods, techniques etc pass from age to age and culture to culture and get reframed as needed for practical use.

I’d no more use ‘witchcraft’ to refer to a shaman than I’d use the term shaman to refer to a Catholic priest. I might use the term ‘magic’ to refer to the practices of either. A clean vocabulary is a happy vocabulary, and I prefer clarity to ambiguity every time. Nothing is more ambiguous in modern occult usage than ‘witchcraft’, and if we narrow it a bit we’ll do our understanding good, I think.

I think you are right to distinguish cunning-folk from the main thrust of neo-pagan witchcraft, and so-called 'traditional witchcraft' - which in my opinion seems exorbitantly atavistic in it's attempts to reconstruct something which at this point seems to owe more to a dark literary notion of witchcraft than anything historical.

I rather dig atavism as a method, and so I respond to so-called Trad Craft’s night-and-fire, bones and blood approach. My own primary spiritual work tends toward daytime community ceremony and blessing, and so a bit of night-and-fire naked dancing is a good thing.

I find no personal use for ‘Luciferian’ or gnostic spirituality. I do respond to an older vibe, of survival Pagans meeting by night to light the old fires and sing the old songs. Such things must surely have actually happened, way back in the first millennium…

In the end, aren’t we all making esthetic choices about in what cultural paradigm we enjoy doing magic?

This might well prove to be a valid and powerful expression of magical creativity, nonetheless - to call it 'traditional' seems a bit a disingenuous.

All a part of the ongoing “We’re real because we’re old” thing in western magic…

Trance and Evocation

2011-05-02T05:12:00.000-07:00

One more teaser for the Book of Summonings.
The topic of trance and imaginal vision is much debated in modern grimoire-magic circles. I understand the position of those who assert that a combination of the rhythm and focus of the rites themselves with the direct power of the spirits can provide all the vision or presence of the spirits that might be needed. However, I am mainly on the side that asserts that modern people can benefit from deliberate trance induction and imaginal leading in making contact with the Others.
Here's an excerpt from the single article on trancework and mental exercise in the Book of Summonings. (I actually think the article is my best job yet of constructing a concise set of practices to build skill in the kind of trance vision that supports spirit contacts.)

The Sorcerer’s Eye – Trancework for Spirit Arte

In the work of spirit art the question of how the spirits will or won’t appear to the magician is often discussed. Books of magic often make it their business to describe the appearance of their beings, and sometimes to discuss the mechanisms by which the spirits appear. As these old writings have been interpreted by modern mages several types of spirit appearance are commonly described:
• Material manifestation. In the most traditional descriptions, the spirits are said to gather bodies of the subtle elements of the air, of mist or smoke, and thus be visible to the material eye. While some schools place a great deal of emphasis on this kind of manifestation, we will treat it as a bonus, which indicates an especially strong connection with a spirit. It is good to follow tradition and let your Fire of Sacrifice generate a good sweet smoke, but material manifestation isn’t required for a successful conjuring.
• Manifestation in vision. This is probably the most common method used world-wide by shamans, priests and mages. In this manifestation the spirit makes itself present through the imaginative faculty of the mage, as a spontaneous or willed envisionment. In many variants this includes sleeping dream-states, but it also includes a variety of waking dreams and visions. In some traditions the rites, herbs and work of the invocation are expected to spontaneously generate the required trance-states, but in others the imaginative faculties are deliberately cultivated. This system is written with the latter approach in mind.
• Manifestation by effect. This is also an extremely common method of dealing with the spirits. When the invocations are well-worked the mage may perceive the presence of the spirit by a feeling. This can vary widely - a sense of peace or fear or comfort or alarm that comes to mean that the spirit is present. Often the sorcerer simply proceeds with the spell, confident that the spirits are hearing her, and their presence is then judged by the outcome. Divination is a direct means of seeking to commune with the spirits by effect. The spirit is perceived as present when the divination tool says so, and when communication happens.
In this system we will use a combination of deliberate waking-dream trancework with observation of effects and divination. If and when a material manifestation occurs, these will have made you ready.
The work of learning to focus and manage the impulses of the mind is a topic for a different instruction. In fact here in this grimoire we can give only the simplest set of exercises. These can, if practiced, lead to sufficient skill to enhance the effect of the rites. The alliance rites, especially, depend on the ability to enter a Threshold Vision and see and speak with images of the spirits.

The Threshold Realm
One of the primary spiritual powers of Druidry is the Power of Seeing. In the later folklore of the Gaels we hear of an da sheiliagh – the double-sight or second sight. That sort of seeing is commonly used to discern events at a distance, but there are also tales of the ability to see the Other Folk, their halls and lands and works. In this spirit arte, we will seek to draw the spirits close enough to our common world to be seen with this Inner eye.
In many kinds of trance and vision exercises the seer enters an imagined series of landscapes and environments. However we will use vision is a somewhat different way – we will establish an Inner vision, as part of the ritual space in which we work, and the events of the rite will then play out in both the material and the vision eyes of the magician. We will consider this half-constructed, half-discovered imaginal world to be a Threshold, a place Between the common world and the independent reality of the Other Places. This avoids the risk of taking our own imagined visions too seriously, yet reminds us that the spirits can arrive in that place as surely as we can. The forms we see (and make) in the Threshold may or may not be the ‘true’ forms of the spirits but that need not prevent us from speaking to them through those forms. The Threshold is a medium for reflection both of our common world and of the Other realms beyond.
While we may consciously shape and influence it, the Threshold realm exists without our conscious making. Just as the landscapes of dream occur as if subjectively real so the places of Threshold are often waiting for us when we arrive. Just as in a lucid dream we can shape events and places, but the life of the Threshold realm goes on, even around our conscious constructions.
It is this state of strange awareness, where the magician exists as a symbol of himself, and the symbols of the rite may move and speak as beings, which allows the spirits easy access to our awareness. The mage learns to stand strong in the Threshold, and to deal directly with the spirits, even while remaining physically active in the rite, making offerings, singing and speaking aloud. In the simplest form of the Threshold Double Sight there is no distinction between the ‘vision body’ of the mage and the material body – it is simply that the eyes of vision are open and the hands of vision are working.

Why Do We Need Trance?
It is worthwhile to ask ourselves how these techniques relate to traditional patterns of magic. Pre-modern writing about magic seems to assume that visions will simply occur when the conditions are right. There is very little discussion of states of mind or of methods to induce proper states of mind, beyond theological notions of ‘righteousness’ or ‘holiness’.
I believe that the distinction lies in the kind of world in which the ancient mage lived, and the kind in which we live today. For the ancients mental access to imaginative states and spontaneous visions seems much more a part of common life. The low levels of mental stimulation, lack of artificial light and constant presence of fire and smoke, along with a strongly oral culture and many other aspects of pre-technical living, would have inclined to a strong and well-developed imagination. This imagination would have come into play as the magician immersed himself in the symbols and ideas of his system, producing envisioned events of dreamlike power.
In contrast, modern minds have been taught a strong separation between imaginal content and ‘real’ or significant events. We are taught to disregard our dreams, to dismiss our imaginary playmates, and to distinguish plainly between self-generated ‘fiction’ and accepted fact. We live by an industrial clock rather than by the rise and set of the sun, and sleep in prescribed doses. For such as us, it simply makes sense to use specific techniques to induce trance states that can replicate the more naturally-occurring trances of traditional peoples. Thus, I hold with the importing of techniques of mental discipline and vision into the traditions of ritual spirit arte.

On Archetypes

2011-04-11T05:43:00.000-07:00

Modern magic (and Pagan religion) has on an going in-house discussion about the nature of the Gods and Spirits, and of spiritual existence itself. Some folks assert that the mythic description of the spirits is essentially correct. There is a paralel world - the Astral Plane, or the Otherworld - in which spirits exist as independent personal beings. Others assert that spiritual phenomena - gods, spirits, 'energies' etc - are purely mental constructs in the individual, connected through cultural linguistic contact pur existing only as 'complexes' in the mind. The Jungians go their further step with old Carl's "collective unconscious", itself pretty similar to the astral plane.

In working with a public pagan group that deals with the spirits on a straight-up mythic basis this discussion comes up often enough that I've developed a little model for how the two positions can be reconciled while doing damage to neither. I systematized that nicely in a post to a list today, so I thought I'd post it here as well.

1: The Cosmos is holographic - the whole is repeated within the parts. Especially, the human microcosm reflects the macrocosm.

2: The Gods exist in the macrocosm.

3: Therefor, their reflections exist in each individual human microcosm. These reflections are what Jung perceived as the 'archetypes'.

4: Thus, when we invoke the Gods, and they draw near to us, their reflection draws near to our conscious awareness. Often it is only these internal daemons of the Gods that we actually perceive in our invocations, and that can be sufficient. The Gods act as and in those reflections just as they do as and through an idol of gold. Sometimes we are able to expand our awareness outside of our microcosmic bubble, and perceive the God more directly... Those are the big events...

So, while I dislike psychological reductionism in magic and religion, preferring a directly mythic approach, my model has a nice organized place for Jung's archetypes. Remember, it's only a model...

Nine Moons Major Update

2011-04-07T05:03:00.000-07:00

OK, things are under way. I’d like to thank folks who bought the early edition of the Book of Nine Moons. Little Ian won’t go to bed without occult books tonight…
I have a small group of students working their way through the program, though it is early days yet. Even so, an examination by students has shown me many ways that the material could be improved. Not just the inevitable typos, but actual structural problems as well.

So, what I’m going to do is to withdraw the public offer of the Book of Nine Moons, as of May 1st. The students working the program will continue, and anyone who bought the book and wants to work the system can join the Yahoo group for support by writing me and asking. ADF members who have completed the DP will also be able to purchase the book and do the work. Once more students have worked the system, I’ll probably reissue it as a public offering, though there’s a chance that it will remain an in-house publication of the ‘hedge school’ of people working the system.

Also by Beltaine I’ll be issuing at least one new publication based on the Nine Moons material. Readers here may recall that I have promised a system of Pagan spirit art. Well, that material got subsumed in the Nine Moons stuff. So I have re-edited it and added additional support material, and will be publishing it as “The Book of Summonings – A Grimoire of Pagan Spirit Arte”. Those who have already purchased the Nine Moons book have 90% of the material in the Summonings book, though there is some unique new stuff.

So this is a promise and a warning. I will be publishing the Book of Summonings and withdrawing the Book of Nine Moons, probably for a year or two. If you bought the Nine Moons, you should think thrice about paying for the Book of Summonings – too much duplication. However if you didn’t think a months-long program was for you, you may be interested in the more direct (though still not ‘easy’) work of Summonings.

As a teaser, here’s the introduction to the Book of Summonings:

Book of Summonings, Introduction

2011-04-07T04:58:00.000-07:00

The history of our neopagan revival has been the story of modern people using the best scholarship available to them in their own time to create new systems intended to resemble the Old Ways. This was true of MacGregor Mathers, who drew on newly discovered greco-egyptian sources and the artifats of early-modern occultism, which have only become obsolete as better translation were completed. It was true of Gerald Gardner,who relied on the ideas of Murray and Michelet, both entirely respectable in the time when he was designing his work. The rise of ‘shamanistic’ magic in the late 20th century resulted from new work by academics, and the various ethnic ‘reconstructions’ of Paganism all seek to keep up with the most current notions of just what ancient Paganisms looked like.

In Our Druidry (ADF, the Neopagan Druidic order in which I work) we have sought the same - to build modern ritual systems based on the ancient ways of Indo-European cultures. In this we have drawn primarily from the limited material available through history and archeology. However we have also found it neccessary to draw upon living examples of polytheism and polytheistic ritual from non-Indo-European cultures. Both African and Asian ritual have influenced us, though of course much of Indian practice is as Indo-European as the Vikings. In the same way, West African ways have strong Indo-European content - we refer to a cultural stream, not to any ‘race’.

Modern Paganism has often involved a view of magic as the use of ‘occult energies’ that are channeled and directed by the will and body of the magician. While this kind of work is common in Asian magical systems, it is much less easy to demonstrate that it was present in European mysteries and magic. It seems much more common for both ancient European Pagans and modern tribal polytheists to view magic as the art of contacting and dealing with spirits - of their Gods, of the spirits of nature and, always, of the dead. In an effort to find out what the ancients knew and did, modern mages are returning to an active approach to the spiritual as groups of beings – spirits – with whom we make alliances and relationship.

One neglected path of research for Druids has been the native magical traditions of Europe as expressed in literate magic of the medieval and later periods. We have been very willing to examine ‘folklore’ from those periods, but much less willing to consider that the grimoires of spirit-arte might have something to teach about Pagan magic. Modern research is pointing to a fairly direct train of transmission from the late classical magic of the Greco-Egyptian Papyri and neoplatonism, through the Byzantine and Muslim worlds, to the ritual magicians of Western Europe in the 15th century and later.

Within the literature of ritual and spiritual practices preserved from ancient days is a stream of magical practice that has been largely ignored by reconstructionists – the grimoiric tradition of spirit-arte. The grimoires known to modern magicians – the Key of Solomon, the Lemegeton, the Grimoirium Verum, Abramelin and their imitators represent efforts by 17th, 18th and 19th century magicians to systematize and teach their understanding of the basics of dealing with the spirits. A ‘grimoire’ is a ‘basic book for students’.

Methods, ritual forms and even spirit-names in the grimoires can often be traced back to models in the Papyri and other late Classical sources, suggesting a chain of inheritance of material from Pagan times, preserved under the heretical Christian veneer of post-renaissance occultism. This should make this tradition of magic of real interest to those who would like to work both Pagan religion and Pagan magic. However several things have conspired to reduce Pagan interest in these systems.

The work presented in the grimoires is done under the presidency of the Judeo-Christian deities and angelic hierarchy. This makes the whole business feel ‘unpagan’. The Angel/Devil moral dualism renders the methods of dealing with the spirits coercive and oppositional. Pagans have long felt that grimoire methods insult the spirits.The goals of much of the work are pretty worldly – love and money, wisdom and success.

This works intends to be an answer to those objections. In it I will present a model of spirit arte informed by the grimoiric process, but applied in a polytheistic, animistic context. The work at hand is done under the rulership of the Gaelic Gods and Goddesses,worshipped in our Druidic way with sacrifice and praise. The approach to the spirits is animistic and relational. Drawing lessons from modern polytheistic systems we base our work on offering and blessing, on do ut des (I give, so that you may give), as the Romans said it. Instead of the grimoiric oppositional relationship with the Spirits, we enter into a relational one. We make offerings and ask boons in turn, based on honor and truth. While some classes of powerful and dangerous spirits may require ‘bindings’ and protections, the core of this work is about partnership.

On the other hand, no apologies are needed for a focus on practical magic. This subject is mainly about practical magic – the ability of the spiritual operator to Get Things Done. Work done for theurgy is related, in that theurgic success brings power for thaumaturgic success, but this kind of spirit-arte is about results. The work in this grimoire is, in many ways, perparation for more practical applications. It will allow the students to make the initial contacts and empowerments needed for successful spellwork.

In this guide I will present a simple yet complete method of entering into first a worship relationship with the spirits, and then a working relationship. This work is Pagan in nature - built on a mutual bond of sacrifice and blessings between mortals and the spirits. Those who have spent some years in basic pagan worship, keeping the seasons, honoring the deities, perhaps working with the Landwights and the dead, will be best prepared for this system. Pagans who have not made formal offerings to the spirits will find a great store of power to be had in the practice. The simple rites in the first section are sufficient to begin, though it would be best if they were given for some time before undertaking more formal approaches to the spirits.

I hope this system helps to move Pagan magic forward toward a more active engagement with the spirits, and I hope it allows individuals to gain a stronger personal power, that the Work of the Wise may be increased, for the good of all beings.

Concerning A Few Assumptions

It might be useful to list a few of the author’s theological and cosmological assumptions. I’ll do that here, because I intend to spend very little spce on them in the rest of the book, which is primarily a manual of practice with just enough theory to ground the student.

• Polytheism: The divine manifests in the worlds as an uncountable number of individuals. The mightiest of those, and those who enter into blessing relationships with mortals, are often called ‘the gods’. “The Gods are many.”

• Animism: That material existence is interfaced with a kind of informational alternate existence, in which specific objects exist as specific beings. “All things have spirits”

• Humanism: That the human spirit is a spark of the divine, and that individual humans can have individual spiritual authority and power. “The Power is there to be had.”

• Cosmicism: This is an archaic approach, in which the concept of antagonism between dark and light, chaos and order is simply not a part of the world of mortals or spirits. In the archaic understanding, the war between primal Chaos and powers that establish the Order of the Worlds was concluded at the dawn of time. The Old Giants, Titans, Fohmoire,etc are a part of the World Order now, sometime allies, sometime lovers, sometimes opponents of the Gods, but all within the Cosmos. “The World is Good”

Thus, in the mythic setting of this system of magic, there are no Archons. We do not live in a prison of matter and form, but rather in the true and holy garden of the worlds, taking our place in the Great Dance as the wheels turn. While conflict is a natural part of living in a system with no Supreme Being, those with strength and wit can make the manifest world their delight and their academy.

If I were to define any ‘mystical’ goal connected with this work, it might be to expand mortal awareness to comprehend and indwell the Cosmos itself. From such a position the Magician is empowered to deal with any spirit.

This set of axioms produces a spirit-arte that is characterized by several things:
1:Personal Authority: The magician has power in the work because of both her intrinsic divine nature as a spirit in flesh, and because of the magical efforts made in training and preparation. We stand before the spirits not just as agents of a higher power, and not as mere supplicants, but as beings with authority, who can deal with the spirits directly.

2: Hierarchical Authority: The magician also equips himself with alliances among the spirits, including and especially an alliance with one or more of the Gods. The work in this book is placed under the names of the Mother of All and the Keeper of Gates, as we call them. If you bring your own alliances, you should include them in the rites given here. By keeping our roads of offering and blessing open we are able to act among the spirits with the protection and power of the god.

3: Reciprocity: Despite this emphasis on authority, the system is not based on ‘commanding’ the spirts, so much as on negotiation, and on mutuality. When we work with a spirit we make offering to it. This may be as simple as incense, or bread and oil on the fire, or hatever simple thing the spirit asks for the partnership. The choiceto accept the mutual pact is on both parties - the magician need acept no terms he cannot meet. Once made, simple observance keeps the spirit near and ready to aid the mage.

In this way we intend to offer a system that is aligned with modern ethics and with Pagan spirituality. We remove the remnants of dualism, step back past the mythographic wreckage of the early modern period, and reject the enslavement models of some Grimoire systems. We replace them with a human-friendly cosmos, many Gods to choose from, and an approach to the spirits based on respect and prudent alliance.

A Blessing of Seed

2011-03-20T06:20:00.000-07:00

Just a short charm for seed-blessing. The main poem is Paganized from the Carmina Gadelica, but it's pretty thoroughly mutated. It's set in a group context, but would be easy to adapt for solitary work. A blessed spring equinox to all - may the rising light bring strength and hope to all who have special need of it this season...

A Seed-Blessing Charm

The folk come forward and place their seeds and eggs and intentions into the vessels. The speakers come forward, and the Druid takes a small handful of seed and holds it high. The speakers recite:

• I will go out to sow the seed
In the names of Those who give it growth
I’ll turn my face into the wind
And throw a proper handful high
• The grain that falls on stone shall find
No goodly soil in which to grow
But all that falls on Mother Earth,
The dew will make it to be full.
• The Holy Feast the Day Auspicious
The gentle dew will softly welcome
Every seed that has lain sleeping
Since the frost of winter’s coming
• Every seed takes root in Spring-earth
The King of Summer shines, desiring
That green may come forth with the dew
And draw its breath from soft spring winds.
• I will come round with my step
Rightwise round as turns the sun
In the name of the Queen of the Nobles all
In the name of the Lord of Growth and Beauty
• Lord and Lady, Noble beings
Give you growth and swelling substance
To every seed, in heart or furrow
As the Season of Gladness waxes warm.

All join hands, drums start and all sing, dancing if they will:

Lord and Lady hear your people
Bless this seed by earth and sun
Grant it growth and bring us blessing
Keep it til the reaping’s done

Sing until a stop, then the Druid recites:
Long have we slept in winter’s dark. Now let the light rise in our lives as it rises in the world. Let the waters flow and the seeds grow, and the blessing of sun and earth bring us life, love and laughter.
So be it!

Upcoming Class...

2011-03-07T07:06:00.000-08:00

The Way of the Magician
Beyond Spellcasting, to Living a Magical Life
Friday March 25th – 6:30 – 9:30pm - $25
Aradia’s Garden
34510 Lakeshore Blvd.
Eastlake, Ohio 44095
440-975-1911

The topic of the practice of magical arts – spiritual skills used for personal goals – covers a huge variety of ideas and methods. From psychic powers and divination to the hidden uses of natural things such as stones and herbs; from working with the spirits to channeling the energies of the cosmos, from tarot cards to gris-gris bags, magic encompasses much of humankind’s spiritual heritage. It can be easy to get a little lost in the maze of techniques and theories available to students.

In this intensive workshop, Ian Corrigan presents core concepts and practices that can help to tie your spiritual work together. The old cliché says “(whatever) isn’t a hobby, it’s a way of life” and it can surely be true to say this about magical arts, especially in our new Pagan ways. In this discussion we’ll combine lecture with exercises and examples to show how Pagan Magic can be a path to growth in wisdom, love, and power.

Topics include:
- Magic, Religion & Spirituality – three faces of the work.
- Magus, Witch & Sorcerer – a short discussion about style
- Magic & Virtue – freedom & obligation
- Your Own Temple, Your Own Priest
- Building Personal Power
- The Two Powers & the Three Cauldrons – Energy-work patterns drawn from ancient Irish symbolisms, used by modern Druids.
- Honoring the Spirits – a simple charm to draw the Gods and Spirits toward you in love and respect.

Ian Corrigan has been learning and teaching in the Pagan community for over 30 years. He is an Archdruid Emeritus and a Senior Priest of Ar nDraiocht Fein (ADF), who worked with Isaac Bonewits in the creation of that Pagan Druidic system, and is a primary author of ADF’s basic Pagan training. He is the author of Sacred Fire, Holy Well – A Druid’s Grimoire and has just released a full basic training program in Pagan occult arts called The Book of Nine Moons. Ian holds a 3rd Degree in traditional Wicca, and has spent a lifetime studying and practicing both Pagan religion and magical arts. His workshops combine sharp insight with practiced teaching skill, experienced commentary and reasonably-successful attempts at humor.

Nine Moons Study Group – Second Call

2011-02-19T06:01:00.000-08:00

The initial group of students for the Nine Moons Pagan Magical Training system will be beginning the work on New Moon of March (approx 3/4/2011).

Qualified students have completed ADF’s Dedicant Path training, and are interested in a focused intensive training in magical arts based in the symbols and ritual patterns of Pagan Druidry. Interested parties who have not completed the Dedicant’s work should write me directly with a short description of background.

The Book of Nine Moons is the primary text for the course, available at:
http://www.lulu.com/product/paperback/book-of-nine-moons/14595026?productTrackingContext=author_spotlight_223978_

Members of the list are expected to have purchased the text. It will also be very useful for students to have my previous books, especially Sacred Fire, Holy Well: (http://www.amazon.com/Sacred-Fire-Holy-Well-Grimoire/dp/0976568128/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1251725405&sr=1-1 )

This is a second call for students who would like support and mentoring in this system to join the discussion group. The Yahoo group will include support files, additional notes and of course the chance for direct Q&A both with the designer of the system, and with other students.
Eligible students (ADF Dedicants who have purchased the text) can write me at any time to be added to the list. We won’t do this in “classes” – join when you please, and hopefully the list will have students in front of and behind you to chat with.

Put your email in comments, or find me on Facebook (Ian Corrigan) or email me and I’ll send an invite to the private group.

Two weeks until the fire is lit, and the work begins.
Blessings
Ian.

Witchcraft, Paganism and Folk Magic

2011-02-16T04:52:00.000-08:00

Despite my 20 years of self-identification as a Druid, I spent my early years seeking to be a Witch. This was back in the 1960s and 70s when there was no such thing (mostly) as self-initiation, and no non-initiated popular 'Wicca'. In the occult fashions of the period, Witchcraft was understood as a religion, one that taught the practice of magic, and that's what I looked for, and found. You can read some of my stuff on all that, and on the history of the idea of the witch in a back post here.

This post is an effort to compose my mind around the relationship between the terms and concepts 'witchcraft', 'Paganism' and 'folk-magic', sparked by discussions on a Traditional Craft list I've been reading. If any of those readers find this controversial, I can only express my respect for the feel and content of the work being done under the Traditional Witchcraft tag, and plead a hardened and skeptical mind...

I’m confused. Or rather I can’t tell whether I’m confused – and that’s really confused.
For the past several years I’ve been reading various books and articles and blogs discussing what is now being called ‘Traditional Witchcraft’ or ‘the traditional Craft’. These books present a form of magical practice, and sometimes of Pagan religion, that claims to represent forms of practice and belief older and more authentically structured than those of the Gardnerian and Alexandrian Crafts, and their popular imitators. Because of my general understanding of the ‘occult’ scene – i.e. that it is traditional to back-date materials and claim lineage and history that one does not have – I have tended to discount the claims of greater age. Because of some obvious-to-me failures of folklore and scholasticism, and because not a single secret document or old artifact has been revealed by any of these systems, I have tended to discount claims that it represents survival Paganism any more than does post-Gardnerian Wicca. So, in this little discussion I mean to set out my thinking on the topics of the survival of Pagan ways into the early modern period (1.e. 1600-ish and later), and how that relates to the practice of magic and other ‘occult’ traditions along the way.

Pagan Survival
First, I still consider it entirely unlikely that worship of European Pagan deities consciously continued into modern times from the late Pagan and medieval periods. There are a couple of possible exceptions, such as the Baltic cultures and possibly a trickle of direct survival among Scandinavians. Baltic Paganism was firmly living in 1250 ce, and some Baltic folk customs have certainly continued unbroken. But even they have trouble showing continuity through the late medieval, and many of the ways were ‘revived’ in the folkish rediscovery times of the late 18th and 19th centuries.

In Western Europe the case is much weaker. Folklore collections of the early modern period do find traces of memory of Pagan images and vocabulary, and literate magical tradition, largely unbroken since the fall of Rome, would flower in the creation of what we call the grimoires in the 1700s and 1800s. In those magical basic-training manuals you can find a few garbled remnants of the ancient Gods, and a great deal of ritual action that is authentically old. However, the possibility of deliberate worship of the classical Gods apart from the seven planets of astrology seems to be undocumented in any way. There are no folkloric or personal records of rites of Pagan worship from early modern times, and those could not have been any more illicit than the manuals of demon-summoning that were extensively copied and distributed. If there were a tradition of Pagan magical and ritual practice that lasted into literate times I’d expect it to have left some remnants.

If we want to measure whether or not some bit of folk culture is “Pagan’ or not, we might use several different standards. Most obviously, we can ask whether the material involves the active worship of Gods or spirits identifiable in pre-Christian sources. In almost every case, this brings us a negative answer – early modern magical and folkloric material has very little of that. We can find a few examples in Gaelic and Scandinavian countries, such as the offering to Manannan in Scotland, or other offerings to the sidhe or troll folk. There also might be a little something in the ‘fairy evocation’ workings of early modern magicians – if we think that King Oberion is some sort of survival. What resemblance later ‘fairy faith’ customs might have to pre-Christian customs is unknowable at this time, but we might give the benefit of that doubt if we like. However, the literate magical tradition, which was so important in transmitting technique and content over the centuries, seems to preserve nearly nothing of this sort. That does not, of course, prove absence but it does make presence less likely.

What seems clear is that traffic with spirits, uses of ‘sympathetic’ magic, herbal charms, other natural charms with bones, skins, woods, etc and many other magical and occult practices did persist into modern times. Is this material ‘Pagan’? If measured by whether or not such things call upon Pagan deities, then the answer would be no. Barring a very few examples from Scandinavia, we see none of that. If close resemblance to practices and customs that Pagans would have used is our measure, there’s some chance for that to be the case. Each of the practices mentioned is clearly described in pre-Christian literate magical sources. On a spiritual level, calling upon land-wights and the dead may be as Pagan in 1890 as in 890, even if all the names have changed. Still, without a conscious intention on the part of the practitioner to call upon spiritual powers other than the Christian pantheon, (including its demons) I’m hesitant to refer to the rites used by 18th and 19th century charmers and cunning folk as Pagan. So, if we don’t classify traditional folk-magic as Pagan, shall we classify it as ‘witchcraft’?

Witchcraft
The word wicce is first plainly used in context of Pagan religion. Of course we have no Germanic mythic or ritual material written down by Pagans (nor any Celtic). Some of the first references to wicce or wicca we find are from Roman church laws and proclamations. I found:
"If any wicca (witch), wiglaer (wizard), false swearer, morthwyrtha (worshipper of the dead) or any foul contaminated, manifest horcwenan(whore), be anywhere in the land, man shall drive them out."
And:
The word wicca is associated with animistic healing rites in Halitgar's Latin Penitential (c.890 ce) where it is stated that:
"Some men are so blind that they bring their offering to earth-fast stone and also to trees and to wellsprings, as the witches teach, and are unwilling to understand how stupidly they do or how that dead stone or that dumb tree might help them or give forth health when they themselves are never able to stir from their place."

These plainly refer to ‘wiccan’(pl) as religious, as well as magical practitioners – there’s little functional difference between religion and magic in many traditional cultures.

It does seem likely that a wicce in Anglo-Saxon Britain would have occupied the place later approximated by the cunning man or woman. Cures, uncrossings, finding lost things, far-seeing and fortelling, dealing with problems with local wights and ghosts would have been standard stock in trade. Because of the screen of the monkish authors, we cannot see whether these same people helped householders to make proper sacrifices, or tended forest shrines and temples, or lived as functional ‘priests’ or ‘clergy’ in villages. I suspect they did. “As the witches teach” seems to me to suggest a central place in religion as well as magic.

Other Christian descriptions of ‘witches’ and ‘witchcraft’ retain this Pagan religious atmosphere. One of the late references to Pagan deity is found in the famous Canon Episcopi (c.875 ce):
"Have you believed or have you shared a superstition to which some wicked women claim to have given themselves, instruments of Satan, fooled by diabolical phantasms? During the night, with Diana, the pagan goddess, in the company of a crowd of other women, they ride the backs of animals, traversing great distances during the silence of the deep night, obeying Diana's orders as their mistress and putting themselves at her service during certain specified nights. ... Thus they leave the true faith and fall into pagan error in believing that a god or goddess can exist besides the only God."

So from about the same period as the previous clerical reference we have Church authorities plainly identifying Pagan deity as the source of opposition. Certainly we can hold out for ‘witchcraft’ of that period to have been Pagan survival, infused with Pagan religion. This leads me to want to define witchcraft as part of Pagan religious phenomena.

So for their first 500 years or so, the church slowly ate away at the Pagan memory, outlawing the practices, destroying the shrines, and teaching the next generations. The next wave of rinsing-away of Pagan content from European folk tradition seems to have been the propagation of the ‘satanic witch’ by the church. The Pagan gods and spirits, as their ways were forgotten became replaced, in literate narratives and in folk-magic charms, by mythic figures from Christianity. Conjuring that might once have been done under the blessing of the Dead was perhaps transferred to the saints, Gods with the Trinity, etc. Wells and caves were baptised in the new religion. But whatever the church couldn’t fit into it’s ways – the wild revels, the sacrifices, the dealings with strange wights, divinations,etc, became ‘sorcery’ and witchcraft, and eventually heresy.

When the witch ‘craze’ begins, around 1400 the church produces a description of witchcraft that is once again plainly religious. Diana and the nature spirits have been forgotten, and replaced with ‘the Devil’ and his imps. The delightful Pagan revels of folk memory (and likely ongoing practice, whether with or without Pagan religious content) became the outre Witches Sabbath, reviving classical fears of cannibalism, infanticide and debauch.

The greatest blow to folk memory of Pagan ways in Europe seems to have been the Protestant reform. The destruction of the Roman church’s structures and the prohibition of their folk customs was a harsh break in continuity in much of western Europe. The Protestant leaders taught that Catholic rites were little better than witchcraft, and the image of the black-robed wizard and his book and staff owes a great deal to the Protestant memory of the Roman Catholic bishop or priest. In the end folkways often reasserted themselves, but had to be reconstructed, if only from a generation or two of lapse.

Cunning Craft
So, it gets to be 1650 or so, and Europe is blinking and waking up from the stress of the renaissance and reformation, and the birth of science, and the end of church hegemony. We see the birth of the modern wave of occultism, in the Masons and other fraternal orders, the rise of democracy and personal choice in religion, and the synthesis of ritual magic that comes through the grimoires. By this time literacy is more wide-spread; literate magic and folk-magic become closely entwined.

I think that it’s in this period that we see begin to see magical practice divorced from the popular religion of its culture. By the late 1700s both religion and rationalism argued against magic, while the popular demand for the arts remained steady. Religion was no longer monolithic or implicit, and citizens began to view themselves as having a choice as to what and whether they worshipped. The cunning man of that time might have his choice of ideas available in folkways and literature.

Here’s the thing – I don’t see why these secular-ish cunning folk of early modern times are ‘witches’. Witch in parlance by that time almost always meant malefice – the cunning folk mastered witches – that is, they defeated them. A witch-master turned aside the malefice of the witches still imagined by the rural people (or actual evil magic, on occasion, I suppose…). Of course the church’s definition made witchcraft and magic identical – all ‘magic’ (as opposed to orthodox spiritual practice, which was ‘religion’ whether or not it precisely resembled magical techniques) was powered by Satan and his demons, and all magicians had made at least a tacit pact with Satan. So when popular parlance referred to cunningfolk as ‘witches’ they didn’t mean ‘wise ones’ or ‘charmers’, they meant ‘evil magic-users’.

Looking from the perspective of practitioners I have trouble finding much of pre-Christian survival in the cunningman’s bag. Of course some of the basics of magic don’t change, but the content of the material has often been thoroughly Christianized. What has never been discovered is a cunningman’s work in which the devil is worshipped in a religious fashion, or which calls on Pagan gods or spirits (apart from the very Christianized spirits of the planets…). Just at this moment I cannot recall instruction for any cult of the dead practices, or genius-locus practice, though those could be hidden under works about ‘terrestrial demons’, etc. Of course both such spirits are employed implicitly in using natural objects, proper waters, woods, etc, but this is pretty heavily disguised or forgotten in early-modern instructions. To the extent that the cunning worker made a ‘pact’ with some local wight, I suppose that’s a Pagan element in survival.

Now, I do think it’s fair to say that revival Witchcraft has drawn on the cunningman’s sources, while adding a broader list of folklore and mythic sources as a spiritual or religious overlay. Gardner’s quartered circle, tool set, and style of circle-casting owes a good deal to the same grimoire sources that cunningfolk would have known. Methods of divination, of spirit arte and of making charms and talismans have migrated into non-Gardnerian forms of revival. However, as far as I can see, this is a case of modern revivals imitating literary sources. I have yet to encounter any evidence for direct inheritance of Pagan content. In cunning craft we find invocations of God and the Saints, the angels and archangels, demons of the sort found in the grimoires occasionally even of the early-modern notion of ‘fairies’. Most of these have little or no apparent relation to the ways of a wicce, or of a dreeman, much less of a truly pre-Christian, western European magic-user.

All of this inclines me to make a sharp distinction between the cunning man’s art and witchcraft. We have solid vocabulary words that help make sense out of magical practice – folk magic, astrology, conjury, charming, all plainly describe cunning art, while applying the strange term ‘witchcraft’ to it only seems to imply that cunning arts involved the worship of illicit (whether Pagan or demonological) spirits. While some cunning folk did describe their relation with a familiar, all is presented in a thoroughly Christian mythic setting.

Neopagan Witchcraft
I define all known modern examples of conscious Paganism, including Pagan Witchcraft, as Neopagan. I remain unconvinced that active worship of the Old Gods, or unbroken pre-Christian initiatory lineages, continued in secret circles anywhere in Europe – and least likely in western Europe. Therefore all modern people who consciously worship (i.e. enter into magico-religious relationship with) spirits not from the Christian pantheon are drawing on recent (whether 70 years old or 170 years old, oldest…) reconstructions. Thus, we are Neopagans.

I disapprove of using ‘neopagan’ to refer to or exclude any specific style of modern Paganism. Hellenic or Saxon reconstructionists are as neopagan as tie-dyed eclectics with hoola-hoops. Neopagan refers to the family of magico-religious movements that first arose in the 20th century (maybe the late 19th…) in which I would include Asatru, Wicca, Traditional Witchcraft (not traditional folk-magic), Thelema, the various ethnic reconstructionisms and no doubt a long list of smaller systems. There’s some chance that Baltic religion retains some unbroken lines of practice, but even that is uncertain.

In the same way, I rather think that using ‘witchcraft’ to refer to folk-magic practices divorced from religious context is needlessly confusing, and mixes very different ideas. Witchcraft has almost always referred to systems connected with religion (apart from anthropological usage, which I haven’t dealt with here), and at least the term should be modified by whatever religious system it’s worked in. In this sense one can be a ‘Christian Witch’, even if being a Christian Wiccan is a contradiction in terms (as it would have been in the Old English usage). However, traditional magic-users in cultural intact settings simply don’t use the term ‘witch’ or ‘witchcraft’ for what they do. When you find someone using that term, it almost always indicates conscious reinvention.

Conclusion (-lessness)
So, there’s no real conclusion to this screed…
Those who are attracted to the idea of witchcraft will continue to devise methods to express their self-identification. One of the things I like best about the Trad Craft trend is its interest in using authentic sources to reconstruct what a Pagan cunning practice might be like. For me, as a fairly liberal reconstructionist Pagan, I just don’t have an interest in reconstructing the world or worldview of 17th century Europe – it’s too latter-period, already too stripped of myth and mystery, with only scraps and tag-ends of the pre-Christian material that pushes my buttons. I don’t assume that 17th century folkways retain much of pre-Christian lore, and find archeology and observation of surviving tribal and polytheistc ways to be at least as instructive about what Pagan magic might have looked like as what remained in the last few centuries.

Did this walk through a confused topic make me feel less confused… maybe a little…

100th Reader!

2011-02-06T07:42:00.000-08:00

Hey, thanks all, for reading! Hope I continue to entertain, inform and maybe even inspire.

I have news coming about projects and publishing. Having finished my big book project of the last two years, I'm now kind of flailing about, making notes for three or four things.

Magical work at home is proceeding, and soon I hope to head off into some unexplored territory. I also intend to compose some new group rites for festival work this summer. I think this blog will tend to have a more journally feel this year.

I'll try to keep short essays coming as well, and certainly book reviews. I'm working my way through The Visions of Isobel Gowdie right now, with Geosophia next up on my Yuletide Giant Things to Read list, followed by Kali Kaula by Jan Fries.

Blessings of the Lady of the Hearth on us all, and thanks again for reading!

A Little Book

2011-02-04T07:50:00.000-08:00

We all know what the Stones say, but sometimes you can get what you want!

One of the kinds of geek I am is the sort who digs, small books. I don't know whence it comes, perhaps from John Bellairs' "The Face in the Frost", or perhaps from "The Mephisto Waltz" (the novel, not the movie...) but the image of the small, hide-able book of spells and magicks is at least as juicy for me as the Gigantic Tome of Eldritch Whatever - which I dig too, but which is harder to carry around.

It was portability I was after when I did my first pocket grimoire, using a small common sketchbook. I started that book in the mid-80s, and was finishing the filling of it in the early 90s, as I moved into the Druidic ritual forms. It got a lot of real use, and wear. Note that it's been cunningly rebound in black duct-tape...

My days of filling blank books with handwritten script are probably over. The capacity to create attractive, readable, editable pages on a computer, and then use on-demand publishing to produce hardbound custom spellbooks is just too cool not to use. That's what I've been doing - creating individual compilations of ritual-only material that can serve as direct resources in ritual. Not a book about magic, as Jonathan Strange might say, but a book of magic.

But I've been unable to find a place to do a one-off in the real pocket-size I like. Even paperback novel size is rather too large. I want a book I can tuck in my waist-bag with my totems and divining stuff, or into a breast-pocket where it can stop a bullet for me. ; )

That all changed around Yuletide when my incessant web-searches paid off in a joint that will do one-off hardbound books in any size at all, for a manageable, if not comfortable price. So, I now have pretty nearly just what I wanted. That doesn't happen every day, ya know... You can ask the wife just how geeky-squealey I was to get it in the mail.

Next comes its formal consecration, now that the moon has turned. Then it will be, as it was designed to be, truly a 'talismanic book'.

I'll ask you all to forgive the lack of a new Imbolc post. (See here.) Blessings of Brigid of the Hearth on us all, and increase in our Wisdom, Love and Power in the coming seasons. And to Other-Enders, a blessed Lughnassadh : )

Stuff I'm up to...

2011-01-28T04:30:00.000-08:00

I've been working on a set of what I'm calling 'Druid Telesmata' - symbolic figures meant to be proper vehicles for the spiritual forces or processes they represent. Here's one:

The Mother of All, wrapped in life and bearing the fruits of the land, with the gate of the Mound behind her. The sigils in the bosses are for strength, abundance and sovereignty. I'm sorry I only saved this in b/w, though several of the elements were b/w already.

Imbolc post next...

Nine Moons study group

2011-01-21T06:07:00.000-08:00

First I want to thank everyone who responded to the Very First edition of the Book of Nine Moons. The response was good, and I hope that readers can get a lot from the material, whether or not it is worked systematically. At very least it's a thick book of magic.

The Yahoo group for students of the Nine Moons program is up, and I've invited both the folks who wrote me and the local students to join. As you get your copies, if you decide that you'd like to work the program with support I hope you'll write me and join the group. For these early stages of the program, I will keep personal control of the list and membership, so that it can stay entirely relevant to the work.

I might suggest a possible start date of New Moon in March (approx 3/5 or 6 - I'll use 'New Moon' to refer to the first visible crescent...). That would take students through Full Moon of November for those who work the work straight through. It seems a good idea to be finishing the big rites of the work at Samhain season...

Soon back to material of general interest here on el bloggo...

Working Magic

2011-01-18T05:01:00.000-08:00

Any magician will tell ya, it feels great to get back to doing magic! After some months of inaction over the past summer, L and I have been back at it full steam, working our way through the works of the Nine Moons. I mean, I’ve done all the works of that system over the years, some of them many times, and have been working with spirit allies since my days as a witch. Still, working through these new rites, and doing it in an intensive ‘retreat’-type format, is jazzing me up.

My trance-vision skills are sharpening right up. I’ve done a lot of visionary work over the years, some ‘guided’ but lots just free-form. I’ve been busily recording the scripts I’ve written for the system, and have been working them through. Those are almost all ‘launch-and-free-journey’ works, with plenty of time for free-form vision, though since they’re training exercises the free-form time is a little limited. It just points me at what I’d like to be doing once I have re-established myself at the end of the system.

The ritual magic system fits like a glove. No surprise – it’s firmly based on ADF’s Order of Ritual, which I’ve been working with for some 20 years. However, that has been almost exclusively religious work, using the skills to give to the Powers and get a good blessing in turn - all pretty safe, noon-tide sort of stuff, though really very fulfilling. The Nine Moons work, on the other hand, has been old-fashioned night-time magic, with a nicely occult feel to it. Pushes buttons I like having pushed…

The new shrine is working well. Here are pics – on the right of the set-up for the Two Powers healing rite. There are sets of the proper stones for both L and I, but only one blessing fire, which we both used to charge our wands for the Sky Power portion. On the left is the set-up for the Ancestral Ally rite – lotsa offerings! The firelit pic is the Shrine of the Dead with the offerings of apples, pork and ale before it.

The work has me growing much closer to my spirit allies – my Familiar and my Teacher. I’ve met a couple of additional spirits of the lesser, helper sort, who will now begin receiving direct offerings instead of just being part of the crowd at Kindred offerings. When I have finished this sequence, in two to three more months, itwill be spring and time to get some of this work out-of-doors to the backyard nemeton, rather than being limited to the home shrine. Can’t wait!

The Book of Nine Moons

2011-01-14T12:46:00.000-08:00

Lessons in Celtic Sorcery

I’m pleased to make the first copies of the Book of Nine Moons available to members of ADF and to readers of this blog.

The Book is made up of nine monthly lessons in trance, divination, ritual engagement with the spirits and practical magical work. Each lesson consists of works for the First Crescent, Sixth Night and Full of the Moons, with the waning crescent for rest. These lessons are arranged progressively, to teach practical spiritual arts in a Druidic context; that is, Pagan magic. The publication of the book is accompanied by the first disk of audio support, covering the simple trance and meditation exercises of the first three Moons. Audio support for following Moons will be available soon.

While the work of the Nine Moons will be valuable to any intermediate practitioner, it is written for those working the Pagan Druidic ritual system of triadic symbolism and fire-sacrifice. The system is especially intended to provide a formal structure for those who are working ADF’s Initiate’s Path. The lessons will provide somewhere in the neighborhood of 70 – 80% of the required practicum, while providing a solid and organized basis in magic for further work.

The ethnic focus of the work is Gaelic, drawing on authentic Gaelic folk and literary material, though it could easily be adapted to other ethnicities. The work is focused on direct results for modern students, done within a symbol system that I hope might have been recognizable to the ancients.

If worked at the suggested pace, the Nine Moons are an intensive engagement with spiritual arts, that will combine vision, ritual and worship to allow the student to move forward in the work. Articles on ritual work, trance, spirit work, divination and spellbinding provide the theoretical background for a program focused on practice. Even outside of the formal order of the lessons, the book offers many new ritual scripts for spirit-arte and practical magic, set in the Pagan Druidic tradition.

The goals of the program include:
• The experience of the Sacred Cosmos, as a source of spiritual wisdom and strength.
• The creation and consecration of a Shrine and personal tools, beyond common household worship.
• The development of basic skill with a divinatory symbol system.
• Skill in trance-vision, and the development of an Inner Grove from which journeying and other Inner Work are done.
• A progressive approach to the Dead and the Landspirits, leading to effective personal alliance with the spirits.
• Practical magic experience, with the goal of increasing health wealth and wisdom for the student.

I may decide to offer formal instruction in this system within the coming year. Watch this space for any such announcement. In the meantime I will be creating a Yahoo group for those who have purchased the book and might wish to undertake the program in a mutual-support environment – that should be up this week. Just send me your Lulu order # if you like and I'll invite you to that list. Also possibly forthcoming is a publication of this material in a more topical arrangement, without the nine lessons, for a more general Pagan public. However this edition presents the material as it has been written, and as I hope will be valuable to anyone interested in a serious approach to Pagan spiritual arts.

This weekend Lulu.com has a nice sale on, as well – offering 20% off of any order, with the code ‘treasure’ at the bottom of the very last checkout window.

Woohoo! Here it really is!
Ian

Done!

2011-01-07T05:50:00.001-08:00

After some two years of development and writing, the Book of Nine Moons is complete, at least in a first edition kind of way! I’ve very pleased with how it has come out, and think that it can truly do the job of helping students become competent and empowered Druidic magicians. For those new to el bloggo, I’ve been writing a system that amounts to a nine month long ‘retreat’ in which daily simple work and weekly exercises and ritual intend to empower and illuminate the student. See here for the goals and more…

So, I’ve finished! Eyes crossed and tees dotted. Typeset and ready to offer. Now… how to offer it?

I’m still all confused about how to offer this material. My interim answer is simply to offer it in a lump, as a new book, called the Book of Nine Moons. I should be announcing availability as soon as I work over a proof, probably a couple of weeks. I’m very pleased with how it has come out, and a small group of students is working through the material with good results.

There’s every possibility that I’m going to offer access to mentored work in the system as well. I have supplemental files, notes and support, which I am considering administering through a private e-list. I still see some conflict between offering the book publically and creating a workable product as a ‘course’ that students take over nine months.

The other stumbling block is the focus of the system on the Pagan Druidic ritual system, with its fairly unique triadic symbolism. When one moves a system entirely out of Neoplatonism, Renaissance Hermetics and the four-quartered circle one limits the ability of many Pagans to relate. While I have no aversion to seeing where I can make a couple of bucks on this, I wrote it as a system that I actually use, based in the symbolism I have come to understand over the past twenty years of Druidic work. So as it stands it is built within a pre-hermetic, Indo-European cosmology, with a ritual system that looks more like an eastern fire-sacrifice than like renaissance magic. Probably anyone from a reconstructionist Pagan system could make sense of it, but it could be fairly opaque to newer students who come out of more standard ‘western tradition’ training.

It’s also plainly intermediate work. There’s no extra fifty pages up front to explain the cosmology and core ritual work. In many ways the Nine Moons is a sequel to my book Sacred Fire, Holy Well, where that whole system is explained. Of course the very best preparation for this new system is the ADF Dedicant’s Path (that article is a bit old), where the symbolism and practice is taught in some detail. However I’d sure like to offer this stuff outside the realm of the couple of hundred Dedicant Druids…

Ah well, blog readers and ADF members will get the first chance to buy the version I’ve just finished. Will it take me another year to figure out what else to do with it? No, sez I!