Seeking A Familiar: A Festival Summoning Rite, 8/2018

This August, at the 20^th annual Summerland Gathering in SE Ohio I led an operation to allow the

participants to make a personal spirit alliance. I framed this alliance as seeking “a familiar” – that key individual ally that magicians work with to gain wider entrée among the spirits, and direct aid in practical magic. It was an interesting and, I think, productive effort overall, and I’ve made some choices of direction as a result, for further workings of the rite.

Summerland is primarily a gathering of Druidic Pagans working in ADF and is held in a 4H camp with good facilities. With chancy weather on the day of the rite we chose to use the small hearth in the large, covered pavilion for the rite. This may have reduced the romantic-setting factor, compared to an outdoor firepit, but the mechanics of making rather a lot of offerings were probably improved.

The rite itself is a fairly complex thing, as modern rites go. It is based on my understanding of the patterns of grimoire spirit-arte, adapted for group work. It relies on entrancement and vision to provide the ‘appearance’ of the spirits, but treats them as real and specific entities, whose alliance we intend to make. Let me give a summary outline, in lieu of the full script:
• Preliminary entrancement and centering
• Blessing of the ritual space
• Establishment of ‘the Gate’, and invocation of a gatekeeper God to ward the Gate and the work.

• Preliminary offering to All Spirits, as the Three Kindreds of Gods, Dead, and Landspirits.
• Invocation of the God of the Rite – In this case Dagda Mor, as God of Magic, and especially his person of Ruad Rofessa
• Receiving the Blessing of the Gods – in this case as an anointing of the eyes with blessed water, to induce spirit-sight.
• Convoking the ‘Court of the Willing’ – all those spirits who are inclined to gather at our Fire

• Oath and Binding of the Convoked spirits: Very gently done.

• Individual calling: a litany during which each participant called to an individual spirit, if one would come
• Treating with the spirit: time of silence for individuals to speak or experience the result.

• The License to Depart, and closings as usual.
Once participant described the rite as having ‘quite a few moving parts’, but it took about an hour including the periods of silence and vision.

The work went smoothly, from my side of the fire, with L and I doing a pretty tight job with the multi-stage ritual. Though we worked in a large ‘hangar’ of a room with merchants etc, the ambient noise was both quieted and nicely vanished behind the trance-work, I thought. There’s nothing like live fire and regular oil-offerings to help concentrate attention.

The new and chancy portion of the outline is the transition from the presence of the Host of those who arrive, and accept the Oath (see my other articles onthis method) to the individual alliances, done personally, by each committed participant. I devised a repetitious litany of calling to lead into the trance silence, and recited a quiet charm about alliance while they worked. There was the common wait for the last members to open their eyes and make contact to signal that they had finished, but no specific rescues were needed.

The ideal model for a festival-working like this would be to have briefings both before and following the ritual itself. It can be an imposition in an event’s busy schedule to take that much space, and so I had no de-briefing round-robin of responses from the company. I did have conversations with a number of them, and responses ranged from “I saw the crowd of spirits’ among those less experienced to what seem significant personal alliances. In a festival setting I am always pleased if even a core number of folks really get their button pushed by the work. I will call this a reasonable win on points.

First Steps with a New Ally
In Lieu of a chance for instructions and further work I’ll include some notes here.

• Your memories and impressions of the contact may vary in the hours and days following. Your final impressions should be balanced against your first impressions, as you get to know the spirit.

• Represent the spirit at your home shrine. You may have a sense of the form, or proper image – cards from oracle decks, nature-images, etc may provide options. Relatedly:
• Consider deriving a sigil, if you have not been shown one. Sigils are derived by various occult methods from the letters of the spirit’s name. The sigil can be combined with an image to good effect as a real-world anchor for the spirit.

• Develop a simple yes/no/maybe divination tool, and begin using it to converse with and confirm messages with the spirit. I have used plain and fancy two-sided coins, sets of three dice, short packs of red and black playing cards. Get used to actually abiding by the omens of such conversations, even while you open yourself to direct conversation.

• Instruct the Familiar. Bring them to your shoulder explain to them important things in your life. Do not assume a spirit understands material life the same way you do. This can also be done, together, in vision.

• Assign your familiar simple tasks after explaining the elements and target clearly. Consider using divination to see whether the task is doable.

• A Simple Charm To call the New Ally to You

• Arrange the spirit’s sigil, or contact-item, and have the proper offering, according to the pact.

• Hallow the space with a simple blessing unless a more formal offering is required.

• Speak the Spirit’s name and call it to you in simple words, then recite the central part of the Charm of the Pact. I provide the whole text, as in the rite:

• The Charm of the Pact

So this we swear, we two, and make our pact,

Between my mortal spirit and your own

By my eyes’ light and blood within in my veins,

By flesh and breath, and by ancestor’s bone.

Our troth we give, together, you and I

You by your power, me with offerings true

Come when I call, and aid me as I will

And all due honor I will give to you

If ever I should fail to keep the pact,

Or you should fail to come when I do call

Then null shall be our bargain, done and done

      And each depart, with harm to none at all.

• Greet the spirit and make the offering. Converse as you may.

• Charge the spirit as you will.

• End the session with a polite send-off.

I just posted a longer rite that employs the Familiar for a specific practicalmagic goals by sending it as a herald. That can be a next-step, and a way to work with your ally for more distant goals.

Genuine Starwood!

Starwood 36; 2016

So, not a ‘review’ or even a puff-piece so much as my personal impressions and musings. Moral of the story: come to Starwood.

Bam!
My joke at the end of the event this year was that the five-hour drive from our organizing center to the site requires us to bring the event in what amounts to a pop-up can. We arrive, pull the tab and the event inflates. If only…

This year’s Starwood Festival, the 36th annual, saw a new stage of growth and maturity in the on-site management. Our ‘maturation’ has been anything but a straight-line process, with various side-steps along the way, and presently we’re growing out of our move from a site of twenty years to a new location. That has meant redesigning our program spaces and materials use, usually on an as-arrived, ad-hoc basis. After all nobody pays us to do this stuff. This year we got it right. Our new wave of volunteers has solidified, our understanding of the required logistics is clear… why, it’s almost like we knew what we were doing!

Hot weather punctuated by short but exciting thunderstorms kept the clothing to a minimum, with clothing-optional temperatures from dawn ‘til dawn. Wisteria has made a major improvement in roads and paths, and the rain produced far less slippery mud than previously; kudos to the camp for ongoing improvements – better showers, improving electrical, etc. I believe this was Wisteria’s 20th anniversary as a self-invented intentional community and business, and that feat alone is worthy of applause.

Kids and grownups together
at Creation Station.

But enough in-house musing – it was a great Starwood! Efforts at budgetary control meant that we spent a bit less on our main stage, but there was no shortage of music, both there and at two smaller stages. Most days say lunch and dinner concerts at the kitchen and tavern venues, and a main concert in the evening along with scheduled side-jams. Yes that’s right – the Green Man Tavern is restored to us, this year with a selection of craft-brews from Athens’ brewers. Happy hour was consistently happy.

Overnight temps in the high 60s meant all-night clothing-optional living, and the Drum-Fire in Wisteria’s Paw-Paw patch rocked all night, every night. Located down in the dell the drums aren’t deafening for most camps, but it’s so nice to sleep to the rocking roll of the rhythm… ah yes… This year saw the return of some classic drum-fire personal, making it a particularly good year for that end of the festival.

Our workshop list continues to offer everything from sorcery to sustainability, to art & music, from this year’s progressivism to high-concept speculation on the future. I was very pleased to be included on a panel with David J Brown, Oberon Zell, Phil Farber and Harvey Wasserman discussing the future of consciousness-arts following the legalization of cannabis. One of my goals for the next years is to bring equally high-level occult and Pagan programming back to full-measure. At our thirty-sixth year we have suffered some attrition, with kinsfolk like Isaac Bonewits and Margot Adler traveling on. We have spaces to fill, and a platform to offer to new voices.

The ritual menu was also reasonably full, though the Druid sacrifice was rained out (yeah, well…)

One of the ritual sites

and we couldn’t wangle a Gnostic Mass (OTOites, we wanna help). The Alchemical Fire, as designed by Magnus McBride, is becoming a fixture of the event, and the Labyrinth provides an unstructured yet powerful contemplative opportunity. Workshop-based meditations, healings, gongings and other para-spiritual activities rounded out the offerings.

I was pleased with my own activity this year. Having extricated myself from much of the physical labor I was able to concentrate on my program elements, and things went well. I did my two-parts on Pagan spirit-arte which were somewhat more raggedy in the woods, without visual support, and in 75-minute slots, but seemed well-received. L. and I performed twice, once in the café and once in the tavern. I was able to take some control of my schedule this year; I appreciate when the team views me as top-o-the-bill and puts me all on Saturday, but these days I get rather worn by the end of my 9-day woods fun.

 

The Pawpaw Patch
drum-circle, morning...

The Starwood Bonfire has been the trademark of the event since year one. It is simply true, if immodest, to say that Starwood helped to invent and develop fire-and-drum-circle culture, inspired heavily by that first big fire on Saturday night. Over the years, as Starwood has grown and receded with economic tides, what began as a hot fire-party for 200 turned into a wild carnival for 1,000, with a stack of wood as big as a house. As we have settled in at Wisteria we have been looking for the right combination of size and activity to hold on to that wild spirit as the years pass along.

This year we did pretty well. The fire was scaled back in diameter, but I noted that the central stack of the three-tiered fire was quite tall. The fire-tribe has worked for years to develop fire-models that fall safely inward and downward, and that makes a 25’ center-stack possible even in a smaller fire. This year’s fire blew up real good, as usual, and then produced a footprint that allowed the crowd to approach and dance without being roasted. We’re still developing an entertainment model that allows some ‘performances’ that don’t interfere with the general dance, but we had a good night, ending with the miraculous pancakes of dawn.

And under a Full Moon, too...

Starwood is more than just an event created by a committee, it is, or contains, a culture that has grown by its own life inside the event. Fire-tribe, Palace, Druids, people bring their own seeds and grow them in our soil by the light of our fire. One of the most central of these magics is the work of making the Torches that are used to light the Fire. This set of customs, and the crew that support it, grew from the attempts of early years to craft effective and safe carry-able torches. Many experiments were made, and many a torch-head dripped flaming oil, or went out in 7 minutes, or burned through and fell off like a match-head. Finally the current formula of paraffin-soaked terry-wraps was devised, and it produces some of the steadiest and most reliable torches I have seen outside of the movies. The custom has become to name each of the eight-plus-one torches by a certain virtue or power of desirable thing, and this provides a unique flavor to each year’s enchantment. This year’s torches were named Healing, Integration, Love, Perseverance, Flow, Transcendence, Wisdom/"Adulting", Slack and the Master Torch, from which the others were lit, was Grace. By that spell we bless these good things into us all.

 

Grace is a funny word, one with accumulated layers of meaning in our English tongue. In Christian theology it is used to describe ‘unmerited favor’, such as the gift of salvation, given whether we ‘deserve’ it or not. I prefer an older meaning. Grace refers to the natural and undeniable presence of beauty, true form, and balance, and to our experience of those things. The two definitions are not unrelated. We do not need to ‘deserve’ the beauty of a sunset or our delight in it – they are given to us freely, regardless of our ‘moral’ condition. The Three Graces of Hellenic Paganism were named Aglaea ("Splendor"), Euphrosyne ("Mirth"), and Thalia ("Good Cheer"). Splendor, Mirth and Delight – what three things can better describe the lighting of the Starwood Bonfire, and the all-night revel that it illumines?

So we emerge from this year well-recharged and energized for coming organizing. On we go, my kin! Thanks to all, and remember: We All Do It Together.

Starwood 34

Starwood comes, and Starwood goes. The most wonderful event of my summer, every summer, has ticked by thirty-four times marking my life through my thirties, forties and fifties. Pardon me – I don’t mean to pick up that earlier post’s themes, but Starwood is a real part of my own process of living and aging.

This is our fifth Starwood at our new home, Wisteria Campground in SE Ohio, and things felt well re-rooted from the move. The staff (i.e. us) knows how to approach the grounds, our plans are arranged, our execution adequate for a gang of volunteers that really only goes to work once yearly. I must make a special mention of the Wisteria staff. The hippy-hearted combine that has kept that scene running for nearly 20 years now has had plenty of its own interpersonal drama, but when showtime comes they smile and roll it out. They have been a pleasure to work with in every way.

One bit of good news for me this year is representative of a larger trend of good news for the event. After most of a decade of managing either set-up, take-down or (shudder…) both I was officially off duty for those physically taxing jobs. Both were handled by younger folks, part of our new wave of volunteers and organizing associates.

In the past several years our central crew has recruited as many as 20 new folks, and many of those have stepped right up. Set-up, take-down, on-site registration and a couple of new departments were handled by newer organizers. I don’t mean to be technical, but organizers reading this know how much work is in those three departments alone.

The event was plainly filled with younger faces this year. At opening circle I asked how many folks present were younger than Starwood’s 34 years, and over half the folks raised hands. This is a trend that we’re so very happy to see – it will be young folks who keep the fire burning into this century.

Nellie, Gnorm, Liafal, me, Vickie, Oberon

Having relieved myself of some manual labor, this year I did considerably more program. A high point for me was the Pete Seeger Singalong. Several people came prepared, including our beloved Uncle Gnorm with lyric-sheets, and we spent an hour in music-nostalgia-land. More than that, there were a lot of kids at the show, and passing along such classics as “Where Have All The Flowers Gone” seems part of a bard’s duty. I surely learned that song at Camp Christian, where I spent a week for most of my childhood summers. This decade, dozens of kids, maybe hundreds across the country have their ‘Summer camp’ experience at places like Starwood or Pagan Spirit Gathering. My by-word on the topic: “Church camp is different for some kids…”

L. and I did a set as well, accompanied by AJ Gooch on didge and drum, and by his son Madoc on drum. Madoc will turn 18 next year, and has become one of the crew, as well as a competent drummer - more multi-generation fun. My voice was crushed early this year – my allergies combined with party-roaring and outdoor living, but I can usually sell a song in whatever condition I find myself, and the set was good, especially with help.

For some reason I committed myself to a lot of teaching this year. I planned to teach the Nineteen Working, and knew I’d be managing the ADF ritual. Doing the latter meant that we ought to do an ADF info workshop and pre-ritual briefing, so I signed myself up to do that. That meant I had program duties three days out of four, on top of singing and organizing. So, a busy year, even though I ditched the physical labor. Next year I must get ADF to send a team to do the org program…

My teaching was moderately attended, and my voice was badly wracked at the outset, but it generated some deep responses in some attendees, and produced good comments. I think I’ll be doing that work more often as a public teaching. The ADF ritual went well, thanks almost entirely to the reliable skill of our ritualists. Druids from three or five Groves came together and produced a strong rite of blessing for the land and the folk. What we can manage when we don’t even know what we’re doing is pretty cool – next year, a plan!

Personally I loved this year’s music. Starwood delivers one of the most unique and diverse line-ups on any Pagan festival stage, and this year was a wonderful combination of psychedelic world-music with modern rock. One of the big surprises to many was the metal set performed by Deadiron a Viking Metal band fronted by Starwood kid-village alumnus Alex Van Ness (who happens to be an active Troth member). The machine-tight riffs, vocal range and positive message of Deadiron’s music made them a hit among the tie-die-and-sorcery crowd. Telesma are another band that began their life through Starwood, and their blend of world-music and electronica turned the house at right angles to itself… or was that just me? We were very pleased to welcome Tuatha Dea to their first Starwood. They are a travelling family of musicians, and they brought a merchant booth and several workshops. A lot of bands are tightly scheduled – they arrive, play their set and depart. Tuatha Dea made themselves a part of the festival, (just as Telesma has always done) and this we like.

It was my personal pleasure to have Jeff “Magnus” MacBride back at Starwood after a decade’s absence. Magnus is one of the world’s great stage magicians, from his home-base in Las Vegas to the White House, China and various world capitals. He’s also been a Pagan festival attendee since the early 80s, when I met him at a Rites of Spring in New England. Magnus brings occult and magical concepts to his stage act, and the skills of a stage performer to his ritual work. His love for the drum-and-fire circle has led him to devise the Alchemical Fire, an all-night rhythm and trance experience that has been transformative for many folks. My organizer duties sent me to bed early the night he held his Fire at Starwood, but I’m told it was beautiful and powerful.

In general the atmosphere at this year’s event was sweet and cool, a rainbow ice-cream despite some summery heat. Artistic expression, naked frolicking and focused ritual all were up this year. On the latter I’ll mention the sweat-lodge prep and work, the Labyrinth Walk, the full Druidic sacrifice and blessing, and the O.T.O.’s Gnostic Mass. A full card of women’s spirituality program and ritual was also presented at the Red Tent. Next year we’re hoping to actually get traditional Wicca back in the mix somewhere.

I came out of this year’s event refreshed and optimistic. Starwood abides. Make your plans for next summer now! If you haven’t been yet, or haven’t been in a while, this is a great time to get on the bus.

http://www.rosencomet.com/starwood/

Invocation Teaching in Sept.

A Voice From The Shrine

Practical Methods of Invocation of the Gods

Sept 28 , 2pm

Aradia’s Garden 

Eastlake Ohio

In the Old Ways the gods and spirits lived among the folk, present in the shrines and sacred spaces inherited from tradition, or in new ones made by worshipers. In our efforts to restore the Old Ways for modern times, we must rely on ourselves and our own skills to open the ways to communion with the divine in the persons of the Old Gods.

In this instruction and workshop, Ian will discuss the methods known to ancient and traditional ritualists, and how they can be adapted for modern use. Beginning with just a small dose of history and theory, we will approach invocation for solitary work, for family and small-group rites and for Pagan group worship.   We will discuss the use of images and talismans, how to make an effective shrine, developing personal devotions, and the place of trance and vision in invocation. The program will conclude with a small exercise or ceremony, demonstrating some of the day’s principles.

$25; Pre-registration is preferred, phone registrations are welcome at Aradia’s Garden.

Pagan Fire 2013

I’ve just returned from Columbus, OH, and the weekend at the second Pagan Fire Seminar, hosted by Three Cranes Grove, ADF. The folks at TCG are friends, and L and I had a very nice time hanging and chatting, all questions of actual content aside : ). Thanks, Cranes!

 

Pagan Fire is a one-day intensive (so far). It was held in a metropark facility with a nice kitchen, gas fireplace and carpeted floor. Quite comfortable, though it will get pretty full as the attendance grows. I know the organizers have other irons in on that. The event price included three meals if one counts the plentiful continental breakfast, and everything was handled quite nicely by the Grove staffers. While the target audience was certainly local, folks actually came from Michigan and even Mass!



Lovely rustic setting...



The event is arranged as a seminar, with good AV support, and a nice 30-page book of notes and follow-alongs that covered each of the programs presented. Later this spring a proceedings book will be available, with the copious stuff I provided as well as further notes and articles from the presenters. You can see last years book, on moving from private spiritual practice to leading public ritual, here. Last year’s event featured our Archdruid, Kirk Thomas, who brought his theater training to bear on the work of public ritual. I’ve found that small book useful, and I’m sure the next will be as well.

 

The topic of the day was magic, and the development of a magical practice inside of a Pagan Druidic system. Our Druidry was developed primarily to serve community gatherings as religious ritual, and it has been a gradual process to develop practical magic workings inside of our format. We’re really getting there now, and various results were displayed on this program. I  was one of four presenters at the event. The other workshops included  Ethical Sorcery,  Applying Magical tech to Druidic Liturgy, and an exposition of a traditional Hellenic house-warding charm. I learned something new at each one. 

 

I did two sections of teaching – the first on general magic leading to techniques of consecration and a practicum on using our Two Powers model of energy-working for magical work. The second was on classifying the spirits, leading into a discussion of summoning and intending a practicum on Threshold Vision and perceiving the spirits. I am only so satisfied with either.

 

The last several years have been a time of active ferment in my brain. Stuff that had been slowly soaking for a while has been sprouting and blooming. However I am as yet not very able to arrange it all in hour-and-a-half units. Since the event I have had several “I coulda done this…” moments. Nevertheless the practicums were well-received, and I sold a nice pile of books, which usually indicates that folks were interested. I just have to get a tighter grip on dividing the material into useful and focused chunks. More this summer…

 

Finally, I just want to shout out to Michael and Seamus at The Magical Druid. This time it’s for turning my little drawing into a beautiful fire-ring altar-piece made of granite! For years we have been using a ring of candles surrounding a censer as an indoor Fire of Sacrifice. We’ve had items and versions of various levels of quality, including our classic one made from a craft-store clock-face. Now this lovely and handy indoor fire-implement will be available to all, in an affordable wooden version from MD. 

 

 

Trancework Teaching at Aradia’s Garden

Coming up next month (April 11^th) I’ll be giving a one-shot talk at Aradia’s Garden in Eastlake. It will be called ‘Celtic Trancework – Seeking Vision’ and will be a general introduction to trance in a Pagan context, intended especially for those who have been struggling with printed instruction. I’ll have more on that soon.

Winter Speaking

DDtRH and Pagan Fire

I’ll be speaking and teaching in two very different venues over the next weeks. 

 

Next Tues, 1/29 I’ll be appearing on Deeper Down the RabbitHole with Andrieh Vitimus and Jason Colwell. If you haven’t been listening to this excellent interview and discussion program on modern magic, try to find some time to catch up on past episodes that interest you.

 

I was on DDtRH last year, and I recall that it turned into a walk down Pagan-history lane, with only some discussion of actual magic. This time I hope to focus on my Pagan Spirit Arte material, and do some more detailed theory-and-practice discussion.

 

Then on March 2^nd I will be down in the Columbus area, teaching at the Pagan Fire Seminar.

 

 This is the second year for a regional Grove event, and they are trying to build a strong, tight program in a one-day intensive. I’ll be doing two presentations, the first on Sacred Fire & Water & The Shrine of Magic, with a practicum on the use of the Two Powers energy-model. The second will discuss working with the Spirits inside a Pagan system, including classification of the spirits and how to work with allies once you’ve got ‘em. The practicum will teach the Threshold Vision entrancement, intended to open the inner vision to the spirits.

 

That evening I'll be facilitating a larger group exercise/ritual/working that will apply some of the day's skills and ideas.

 

I’ll post a spring/summer schedule soon. I’m still kind-of waiting for the next wave of inspiration, as to both writing and Magical work. There is a publishing surprise in the works, though, so watch this space ; ).

An Audience with the Dagda

Earth Warriors Festival 2012
On the last weekend of September L and I travelled to SW Ohio for the Earth Warriors festival, an event in its fifth year, held at a 4-H campground. We were present as guest presenters doing an informational workshop and ritual focused on the Dagda, a Gaelic god of wisdom, fertility and strength. All in all it was an excellent weekend.

This was our first Earth Warriors, but we expected to know lots of people. We expected a number of Druid friends, as well as some Starwood buddies. The ADF Warriors’ Guild has been involved from the first, running a version of our usual Warrior Games. In fact L and I, being experienced refs at such things, were drafted to help manage them and so spent Friday afternoon helping with archery, rock-chucking, stick-wrestling etc. It was fun, and a good way to get to know some of the folks we hadn’t previously met.

The event was well-organized, with a diligent support staff. Things happened on-time and as predicted, barring a couple of no-shows on the presenter list. The food was managed by a crew of pirates who produced it well and plentifully. I do enjoy events where the food just appears on a plate – my tolerance for camp-cooking hasn’t gotten greater as I’ve gotten older. All in all the logistics at EWF were exemplary. I’d recommend the event to anyone in the area.

They scheduled our program in the ‘vesper circle’ that 4H camps usually have – a nice firepit surrounded by a small amphitheater of benches. This might have been difficult for a standing-in-a-circle-holding-hands sort of ritual, but it fit nicely in ADF’s format. We brought a kit focused on the rite at hand (rather than the two-tub full kit) and as a result forgot this and that. Always nice to be at a Pagan event where things like a few worked-iron nails and extra incense are readily available.

Trying to fit all the background for a rite like this into one workshop slot is basically undoable. Since there were lots of non-ADF people there I felt I had to begin with a little basic Celtic cosmology, tying that into the ritual forms early (i.e. why we won’t be calling elements at the Quarters). The center of the talk was a pretty quick review of the stories and idea surrounding the Dagda, followed by an introduction to the ritual for the next day. The talk was well-attended and seemed well-received.

The rite itself was somewhat less attended, perhaps no surprise for a ritual opportunity on a lovely Saturday afternoon with other choices to hand. Still we had some twenty present. The rite is based in the same outline I used for the Audience with Brigid that is now the first of the three-rite suite. It combines a reasonably detailed material shrine with a focused inner vision-idol, a detailed verbal invocation combined with nine specific offerings to the god. Once again I composed a short Irish charm to be sung as each offering was given. The trope of the company singing the charm as each offering is carried around the fire and offered to the idol is strong moment in the rite.

If there’s one thing I regret about festival rites it is doing them broad daylight. There’s just no doubt about it – fire rites look better in the dark. I know that it’s bad Indo-Europeanism – rites associated with goodness and blessing are done in daylight. Too bad – fire rites look cooler after dark. One big advantage to after-dark rites is that trance induction is easier. These Audience rites depend on inducing at least a moderate level of trance, and I think that many of our participants got there, despite the lovely shining sun.

The offerings went smoothly, and the omen was quite proper:

Fearn – support – alder – strength and protection (warriors if you like)

Eamhancholl – twinned hazels – illness and healing (third function, for healing)

Eabad – salmon – woodbine – wisdom and poetic power (first function)

So a nice transfunctional omen that indicated, to me, that the Dagda was present and ready to bless us.

For the Blessing I used my three-flames-around-a-cauldron trope. Into the cauldron, along with water, were placed an equal number of black, red and white glass tokens. These, it was explained, would represent the blessing of one of the three Indo-European functions as expressed by In Dagda – the black for bounty and fertility, the red for strength and courage, and the white for wisdom and inspiration. Once the cauldron was blessed it was borne around the Grove. Each participant was sprinkled, and reached into the cauldron to randomly draw a token, getting one of the flavors of blessing. Interestingly there were only a few black blessings drawn, and a few more than that of red, and maybe double-digits of the white blessing – a definite weight for the Ruadh Rofhessa, and the wisdom-power of this complex figure. Two people told me later that they received the kind of blessing they specifically asked for. Otherwise I haven’t gotten feedback, though the general ‘buzz’ following the rite seemed good.

I probably should have done an informational post on the Dagda here. He is one of the most important of the Gaelic divine persons, one who is easy to stereotype and difficult to fully comprehend. I have been invoking him for many years, including some significant trance and invocvatory events back when L and I were doing early experiments together. I still can’t say I have grown close to him in the way I have with Brigid or the MacLir. I hope that by this working, which will surely be repeated over the next seasons, I can bring his power more brightly into both my own shrine and into our community.

Earth Warriors Festival

And A Fall Update

Yes, things have slowed down just a trifle this month. It won’t last. We’re coming into a month-long run of weekend blitz. Fortunately much of it includes some good Pagan or esoteric work. We’ll be keeping Equinox with the Grove here at Tredara, getting my occasional shot of Norse blessing as we keep our Vanir cult. In October we will host the ADF Clergy Retreat here, always one of my favorite occasions of the year, often including some juicy magical work. At the end of the month we’re off to Earth Warriors. Earth Warriors fest is organized by an old friend from SW Ohio. We’re pleased to be making the time to get there this year.

Earth Warriors Festival is “an earth centered multi-path pagan festival, honoring the many paths of pagan warriors and guardians, coming together to celebrate our similarities and learn from our differences.” I’m very pleased to be joining the line-up with Alaric Albertsson, M.R. Sellers, Kellianna and many other local and regional speakers. The music looks great, they have singing pirates (I am, on occasion, a singing pirate) and I’m going to do something new.

L and I will be doing a two-part workshop and ritual honoring the Dagda, the Excellent God of Bounty, Victory and Wisdom. The rite will be an ‘audience’ rite of the sort I have been developing, with effective trance, powerful symbolism and a solid blessing. I look forward to bring the deep and powerful energies of this male deity into the public Pagan scene. Dagda is a fascinating interface of the warrior function with powers of wisdom and the farmer’s fertility, so there’s plenty to work with. My hour-and-a-half lecture will include discussions of the model of a real Celtic pantheon and some discussion of our econstruction of Druidic sacrifice rites. I have nicely organized notes, and there’ll be no danger of not filling the time. I’m prepping some nice tools and images for the rite the next day, and hope to make it a real darshan of the Red Lord.

The Court of Brigid Grimoire is browning nicely, and will be done soon. It will still roll out sometime around Fall Equinox, and I have a surprise coming for those who like surprises.

Next Steps With the Courtiers of Brigid

This year's Summerland gathering looks to be a veritable Druid magic-palooza. Uberrod will be doing a Court of Sif working, intending to begin prospecting for ally spirits from that worthy Goddess' house. Here’s what L and I will be doing at this year’s event, one year after the original Court of Brigid working:

Druid Sorcery – Practical Magic with the Court of Brigid

In an experiment of Pagan magical art, participants in this working will create a small shrine-talisman with a personal targeting of one of three intentions – Prosperity, Healing, or Inspiration. We will work with spirits from the Court of Brigid – beings who have sworn to aid us in our work, especially with the Three Powers – the Cup, the Harp and the Hammer, but also with the Courtiers themselves.

The working will involve the creation of a triptych shrine-talisman made of card. The first half will be devoted to the careful devising of the personalized intention and the creation of the talisman involving simple handicraft methods. The second part will be a simple ritual working intended to set the spirits working for the magicians.

Participants need not have taken part in previous Court of Brigid rites to join in this work. All are invited to make the talisman and receive the ritual script and briefing. We hope that some will choose to work the actual summoning rite at the festival. To preserve the integrity of all participants those working the rite for practical goals will be asked to state their goal aloud, and to take the spiritual cost of the work upon themselves.

This will involve some fun handicrafts as well as the magical work. We’ll be testing materials for the triptychs, and I’ll try to post pics and notes as we go.

New Temples 3 - Starwood Edition

It has been Nemeton summer. As of Starwood I have been directly involved with the renovation or creation of three worship spaces, one of them brand new. As I described in the New Thrones article our local Grove found ourselves with an embarrassment of idols in the early summer. Two different artisans had produced Earth Mother and Gatekeeper images, one in wood, one in cast cement. The cement images ended up in the temple that has the harder weather, and the wooden images were used to begin a new worship space at the Wisteria Campground in south-eastern Ohio.



The new Earth Mother and Gatekeeper idols in the Wisteria Nemeton



This was our third Starwood at Wisteria, and, as a Starwood organizer, I’d say that we’re rolling in a groove. The initial welcoming vibe has continued, and attendance continues to creep back up after the transplant. ADF has been pretty well ensconced at Brushwood after 20 years there, and it has taken a little while for a Druidic presence to redevelop at Starwood. This was a year of communities, with ADF and CAW both bringing a renewed presence to the event. I feel confident that Starwood will go from strength to strength in the new site.

The site chosen for the Wisteria Nemeton was a tifle challenging, being at the bottom of a fairly steep switch-back trail. The whole site is in the hills of southern Ohio, and flat spaces are at a premium, but the glade at the bottom of this trail had been sanded and used for ritual before, including by us two years previously. The Wisteria folks graciously allowed us to transform the glade, and provided, sand, stone and tools for the job. They also provided a freshly cut alder post from a section of woods that was already being cleared, to make a Bile some twenty-five feet tall!

We arranged the Three Hallows in the style that I prefer, with the Fire altar in the direct center, the Worls Tree slightly north of it and the Well slightly North of that. As we have done at both Brushwood and Tredara we dug a small shaft as the permanent part of the Well, setting the usual iron bowl for the ritual water. Wisteria had a nice supply of chopped limestone, and we made sure the fire altar had a thick sand top, to keep fire away from the limestone sides. We lined the Bile and shaft in the same white stone, and used it to decorate the bas of the two idols, making a nice unified look.

The Fire Altar, Offering shaft (capped, bottom
right) and the Bile pillar between them.
Note Bile ascending out of frame...

We placed the Earth Mother in the East, which in Gaelic lore is the direction of prosperity and bounty, and the Gatekeeper idol in the West, the direction of wisdom and poetry. The whole thing, this year, is just a first wave. The place needs benches, a work-table and eventually additional shrines. However it had a nice feel on completion, the tall trees creating a shady canopy some thirty feet overhead.

I’ve helped to consecrate or reconsecrate three sets of Earth Mother and Gatekeeper images this year, so doing the third set felt fairly easy. We had an A-1 team of ADF elders, along with skilled and willing newer folks, and we made good sacrifice, using no scripts. The blessing was first sprinkled on the assembled crowd (mostly ADF folks, but with about a dozen festival guests) and then poured at the four sides of the Fire Altar, invoking the blessings of the four ‘provinces’ of Gaelic lore. All in all I was pleased with how the Blessing turned out, ex tempore as it was. In general the rite was powerful and, I think effective. We will see how the new installation comes to fit into the Wisteria ‘temple district’ and spiritual culture.

Starwood Notes

Starwood had a good year this year, as we regrow in our new location. Attendance was up some 15% or so, with nearly six-hundred on site. Our management machine can easily handle those sorts of numbers, and systems ran smoothly.

ADF’s presence at Starwood is being reaffirmed. ADF has a long history with the festival, the annual meeting having been held there for the first few years. This year the consecration of a new Nemeton put a new seal on that history.

Other long-time Starwood communities are coming back together as well. We had a substantial CAW camp, and renewed GLTB organizing as well. One of the things that has always made Starwood special is the variety of groups and communities it welcomes.

In the same way the event is not strictly focused on Pagan or magical spirituality. This year saw plenty of content on science and scholarship; alternative energy, permaculture, byways of American history, and NLP were all well represented. Of course the Pagan and magical scene were well-represented.

I always say that Starwood is a menu-driven event. If you want a spiritual retreat you can follow tracks of Pagan, or new-age-para-hindu-meditation, ATR or whatever mix of other topics one chooses. If you want an arts and music event you can listen to, practice and learn a variety of styles and instruments. If you want an alternative science and politics event, then that’s readily available. All these communities get to meet, greet (and for that matter, excrete) in the same woodsy circumstances.

Frater Barrarbas has been writing concerning his doubts about the long-term viability and sustainability of outdoor, camping-style Pagan events. I think he’s right about many things, especially that festivals no longer play the almost exclusive role in community building that they did at their beginning. I still attend probably three to five camping-style events yearly, though some smaller events have cabin-style accommodations as well. Barrabas is right, I think – the regional festival may well become more of the norm. I know that in the ongoing development of ADF work regional festivals serve as both social events and occasions for spiritual development.

While I agree that fests no longer drive or direct the course of the Pagan and magical movement I think they provide an invaluable service that cannot be easily replaced. As I always say – this is fun that you can’t get in town, at any price. The experience – the social, educational, immersive experience – of Starwood (or PSG, or Heartland – any fest with several hundred people) is unavailable except when someone makes it happen. For that reason I doubt that fests will be vanishing any time soon.

One distinct pleasure is that the next generation is arriving at Starwood in numbers. The place was full of twenty-somethings, with lots of tots and even a half-dozen babies. Starwood’s solid child-care and kid’s programming crew keeps everyone feeling safe. This year the roads were full of grey-beards, aging boomers, gen-x types and twenty-somethings. A refreshing mix, and a commonality of culture across generations.

This year I described Starwood as a “giant machine carefully designed to produce peak experience”. A week of immersion in ideas and music, of a spirit of erotic liberty, of exposure to remarkable sights and sounds all culminates in a bonfire revel that brings a modern person closer to “the sabbat” or to a Dionysian or Eleusinian event than can be had anywhere else. This produces moments that bring ‘em back over and over, and attracts new folks as well.

Genuine Starwood – accept no substitutes.

The Court of Brigid In California

On Saturday, June 30, L and I worked the Court of Brigid festival rite at the Eight Winds Gathering, an ADF festival held in the hills north of Lake Tahoe in California. This was the second time the rite had been worked in a public festival setting. In general it was a success, with a number of new spirits contacted. (See the script for the working here and the journal of the first performance here.)

Eight Winds was the conclusion (and crown) of a two-week holiday in California. Beginning at L's family, we traveled through LA, up the coast through Santa Cruz and on to a friend's house in Reno. Along the way we stopped at The Green Man in Hollywood, and at The Serpent's Kiss in Santa Cruz. Between them we were able to obtain the various crystal, silver and other offerings, including forged iron nails. The 'grocery' offerings, bread, ale etc. were easy to obtain at camp.

The setting could hardly have been more different from the first performance. The first rite was worked in central Ohio, on a hot day in the moist green woods. The ritual area there was a large campground fire circle, with the first rows of benches some yards away from the fire. This time we were in high pine forest, on soil made of dessicated pine needles and dust, but with a lovely body of water visible behind. Still an arid setting that felt high in the air. We debated whether to leave the reference to ‘cloud’ in the script…

Just as pretty as they say...



We were able to travel to that first event by car, and to bring large props of our own, especially items for a substantial shrine to Brigid as the center of the work. This time we had flown in, bringing minimal gear. Of course the Groves that were running the event had a full ritual kit so fire-pit, offering bowls etc were no problem. The rite was held near my own camp, in a shadier and more quiet section than the public fire area, and my camp-mates had just the perfect setting for the rite's Well. The Brigid shrine was much simpler than previously. One of the attendees had a personal Brigid devotional image, made in a box that opened to reveal a collage of Brigid images. We elevated that on a log, and hung one of The Magical Druid's devotional plaques above it. Simple but, as things turned out, effective. The ritual area was small, so the group was seated shoulder to shoulder, creating an intimate atmosphere that made sense with the smaller shrine. The day was mountain-air cool, but the sun was mountain-high strong.



Thanks to Bert the Druid for this shot of the Hallows
of the rite. I utterly failed to take any pics.



The day previous to the rite I attended a talk on Ritual Theory given by Ceisiwr Serith. Among many good points, he mentioned the merit of not losing one's sense of fear when approaching ritual performance. I was right where that advice suggested that I should be. In Ohio I had done my workshops on Pagan spirit-arte over the previous years, so many folks had heard the theory in some detail. In Cali that was not the case. On a sillier level (but still real enough) I was pleased and scared to be working the rite with one of the founders of the Celtic Reconstructionist movement present. Erynn Rowan Laurie is one of our most learned Celtic Pagans. While she is in fact a part of what one might call the more 'liberal' end of CR, still here I was trotting out my obscuro grimoires-meet-Druidism routine for her. Fortunately Erynn is both gracious and skilled in trance-work, so I needn't have worried. I still did.

We completed the set-up and waited for people to arrive. The working was well attended, the glade filling to capacity. One little advantage of ADF ritual style is that we didn't need to stand in a single circle holding hands. Instead we hunkered together like primates. I think that actually added to the sense of community. It certainly made it easier to distribute the blessing and to hear and record the results.

I don't know whether I could make this work for festival crowds that weren’t trained in ADF ritual before-hand. The ease with which the group responded to the ordinary opening moved us quickly into the work. I was able to rely on the level of training present to simply instruct folks to enter their basic state of ritual awareness (trance) without a minutes-long 'induction'. The rite includes several steps of progressive trance-deepening, with the primary transition to Threshold awareness after the Gate Opening.

The rite uses a spoken charm, recited by the whole group, as a key to entering trance. In the first working I interpolated spoken entrancement guidance between the lines of the charm, which I found to be clumsy, though it was effective. This time we had the group recite the entire charm, then hear the guidance. I found it less clumsy in performance, and it seemed equally effective. Unfortunately there was only one attendee who had been present at the first working, but I am interested in any feedback on the use of that technique.

I think the patterned repetition of the offerings in the invocation of Brigid is a solid support for trance without relying on spoken induction. As each offering is made, the company sings the devotional charm to Brigid in Irish. The offering is born around the area or, in this case, displayed to the four directions as the charm is sung. Throughout the visualized image of the Goddess is maintained. Together I think that amounts to a reliable trance-inducer.

As always, the taking of the omen to determine whether the spirits are pleased and what sort of blessing is offered is a trepidacious moment. L drew three fews of the ogham. They were:

Fearn – the Alder, meaning protection and support

Idad – the Yew, meaning memory of ancient wisdom, and the Dead

Idho – honey, gooseberry, meaning sweetness and delight.

This could hardly have been better.

When I lead a group ritual like this I must say that I am not, myself, in a deep trance of seership. Of course I held the vision of the Goddess, and of the Three Powers, but the need to track the sequence of the work and fiddle with the various physical items means that I don’t seek deep trance. However, when the time came to hallow the Blessing Bowl I raised it above my head while L conjured. In that moment I felt and saw the spirits arrive, seeming to flock around the bowl. This perception was entirely unplanned and quite different from perceptions in the first rite. It certainly made me feel secure that the rite was working.

The blessing was given by distributing the waters into the hands of each person using a small ladle. Each person then applied the waters directly to their own eyes, with the intention of enabling and intensifying the vision of the spirits. The touch of the cool water is the final cue for trance deepening.

The big scary part of the rite, as the writer and operator, is that success depends on the attendees actually seeing and reporting their experience of the spirits. There's always the fear that the time will come and the group of willing subjects will just sit there silently. Thank the Goddess and the imbas that was not the case. We recited the binding and the oath, and after a time of silence and communion we called for the reports of the spirits. As previously we were looking for a name, a general sense of appearance or nature, a description of the powers, abilities or kinds of work proper to the spirit, and its proper offering.

The reports began slowly. When first called, perhaps three or four hands were raised. Once the reports began, it seemed that more people were heartened, and in the end we were told of twelve new spirits who had answered our call. As in the first working many of those who saw were ADF leaders or experienced members, but not all. In addition to the full reports of name, form, power and offering there were several partial or fragmentary reports of visions, giving only a glimpse of form or a taste of a personality. In the roll at the end I have included only full reports of spirits who came as part of the Court of Brigid. If further data comes to anyone about any of the work, do let me know.

I was pleased with the feedback following the rite. It was plain that the attendees were lit up – the general effect was a combination of bemusement and chatter, with a number of questions and comments. Several reported a lasting 'buzz', which makes me think I might have spent even more time on recentering, grounding and firmly ending the trance. However in a festival setting like that a little buzz is not a bad thing and none of the comments amounted to complaints.

The following day good comments continued to come in. Particularly gratifying was a comment from someone who described themselves as skeptical of the basic idea of working with spirits in this way, but whose experience was strong and true. They said that rather than finding themselves analyzing and critiquing the ritual script and performance they had been fully immersed in the work and the trance. In the end they became one of the seers. Another pleasant report after the rite was simply “Gods Dayum!”

So I feel I can chalk this up as a win. I'm pretty willing to move this work into the 'proven' column, at least in its ability to produce visions of the spirits. The next step will be to receive actual spells or methods from the spirits of accomplishing goals based on their powers. I can report that my own work with two of the spirits from the first working has begun to bear fruit, both in personal inspiration and in certain matters of emotional health and strength. Of course the Court of Brigid is heavily concerned with artistic inspiration and the work of poets, so the practical goals of these spirits may not include as much about ever-filled purses or world domination as some results-mages might like. Soon I must begin doing this sort of work with another deity or two, and see what kind of beings respond.

The Roll of Spirits

Eight Winds, 2012

• Willis – man with long auburn hair, mustache, green tunic. Master of the written word. Offerings of the written word.

• Mowd – good-looking man in a kilt of many colors, with red-blonde hair. Bears a silver harp. He is an inspirer of arts. Offering of music.

• Neomis – appears as a black bird with orange and yellow eyes. Delivers messages. Offerings of Feathers, Seeds & Dance.

• Ashan – small blond child, gives the gift of innocence, offering of play

• Jerith – male, tall, dark-haired, wearing a leather apron. Creates common things & clothing. Offering of hand-made things or things of leather.

• Sewul – appears as a knotwork heart – protector of messages as they travel; encoding & decoding – offer knotwork or woven words, given to the flame.

• Heal-Fetch – additional data – small girl with dark hair; wants cream rather than milk. She says first invoke Brigid, then this spirit will bear the cup to the patient.

• Shalae – feminine, formless. She is the space before sound, the pause before speaking. Gives blessing in good song, awareness of the space between notes. Offer something written but never spoken, offered only to her.

• Sira – female, bears a golden harp. ‘creator of the desire to create’. Offer new music.

• Tabados – appears as a warrior on a big black horse, long, flowing hair. Gives protection. Offering of Iron

• Aed Ruadh – appears as a living Red Flame, purification, offer wood to the fire.

• Mapanos - Youth – young, naked man, long blonde hair & green eyes, with ‘angelic’ bird’s wings; relieves loneliness and brings companionship. Offer flowers and tokens of beauty.

• Rown – male child with short, curly blonde hair and a bright, hot smile. Grants happiness and delight, brings the light of inspiration. Offer light and heat.