Posted in Uncategorized on November 26, 2013| Leave a Comment »
Excited to announce that I have an article in the current Yule Issue of Circle Magazine entitled – “Inner Journeys:The Family of Trees”. You can purchase on-line or at your local bookstore. Enjoy!
If you would like to read similar writings, check out my book- The Enchanted Gate
Posted in Uncategorized on November 25, 2013| Leave a Comment »
There is a quiet place that burns brightly with the hearth fires. Family and friends gather round and love flows through each stone and tile. Food is prepared with loving hand and warmth flows like liquid honey sweetening the time spent together. There is no one location, for this space resides wherever there is heart enough to hold its flame of contentment and acceptance. The days are feeling shorter and the nights longer and I am ready to burrow in and tend to my need fires. In response to this turning within I have been thinking alot lately about the relationships and people in my life. About what nurtures and feeds my soul and which interactions could use a bit more tending to keep those fires of connection burning. And, the energy of gratitude has been called front and center as I am reminded of how truly fortunate and blessed I am. Read More at my Sage Woman Blog: Womb of Light
Posted in Pagan Blog Project, Uncategorized, tagged Aphrodite, Aztec, Brighid, esoteric practice, Goddess, Hathor, Maiden, pagan blog project, spiritual development, spiritual path, Xochiquetzal, Xocipilli on November 22, 2013| 2 Comments »
The post for this week prompted me to look beyond the pantheons that I normally work with and brought me to a Deity of the Aztecs. Xochiquetzal is a Goddess of love, beauty, sex, fertility and protector of women and mothers, pregnancy and the crafts of women such as weaving. Unlike many ofthe Aztec Goddesses who are assigned to the agricultural responsibilities only, she embodies life itself and all of the pleasures, excesses and enjoyment of physical expression. Her archetypal energy is echoed in the more familiar goddesses of Hathor, Brighid, Aphrodite and Parvati.
Xochiquetzal’s name itself is a composite of two words – xochitl (flower) and quetzalli (feather or precious feather) and when combined means precious flower feather or maiden. She is closely tied to vegetation and butterflies and flowers follow her in honor. A festival that was held every eight years in honor of Xochiquetzal was highlighted by the maidens wearing animal and flower masks.
She is depicted as a youthful and attractive woman, fully aware of her power of seduction and the potential of that power to be prone to excess. It is for this reason that unlike many of the deities she is depicted wearing fine garments and adorned with luxurious regalia as symbol of the sexual power of youth.
Her twin brother is the flower prince, Xochipilli. Similarly his kingdom was one of painting, dance and music and the beauty of the natural world. Together, they are the masculine and feminine energies that flowed through the Aztec people embracing their human qualities fully and aligning them with the beauty of their natural world devoid of the worries and concerns normally befalling an ancient society. These Deities and celebrations of them offered respite from the hard work that typified their existence.
I always find it interesting to learn more about another Deity from a lesser known pantheon. The treasure hunt continues on making the connections to those deities and pantheons I do know and comparing the cultural and societal differences that arise. In meditating on Xochiquetzal’s energies the raw experience of that energy and the strong currents of the feminine polarity and gender were quite profound in their simplicity.
The raw power was that of dipping deeply into that well spring of first aroused sexuality; the first experience that seems to validate your place in this cycle of living creative power and the opening of youthful eyes to the beauty and fertility of life that surrounds you at every turn. You see every thing from a different perspective and experience the pleasures of day to day living with heightened awareness and sensitivity.
I would imagine that this is the same flow of energetic current that sustained and upheld the hard work ad at times harsh conditions of the ancient peoples. This spring of youthful pleasure and the affirmation of their place in a greater cycle of continuum that was life itself. Every so often its good to take a side trip down a road you’ve not been and open to the experience of another pantheon or another way of experiencing the Gods and Goddesses. What you may find is a reawakening to the vibrancy you once felt when coming upon what currently sustains your practice.
Pictures:
Xochiquetzal: From the Codex Borgia
Xochipilli. Statue from the Lombards Museum
Resources:
The Encyclopedia Britannica
Encyclopedia Mythica
Posted in Uncategorized on November 2, 2013| Leave a Comment »
New Moon in Scorpio
7:49 a.m. EST
Hybrid Solar Eclipse
New York City, NY
Sunrise: 6:29 a.m. EST
Partial eclipse ends: 7:11 a.m. EST
The Moon is New tomorrow, November 3rd and a rare Hybrid Solar Eclipse occurs sometime between the sunrise and sunset hours of the day depending on geographical location. This combination offers the potential for some very powerful and deep spiritual work.
Read More here: Temple of the Cosmic Spheres
Posted in Esoteric Writings, Pagan Blog Project, Uncategorized, tagged consciousness, esoteric practice, excellence, Higher SELF, magickal practice, pagan blog project, point of balance, spiritual development, spiritual path on October 11, 2013| Leave a Comment »
In most instances, if you are on a spiritual path that works with personal alchemy and the natural laws that govern its work and resultant product, you will come across seven basic principles. These seven are identified by many names, depending on the philosophy they are defining and have been reworded to adapt accordingly. Their fundamental properties outline the basic concepts that align with science with metaphysics and everything being driven by the natural order (or chaos) of our Universe.
I first came across these principles in a book called The Kybalion, whose authorship is simply stated as The Three Initiates. Who these initiates were has been the subject of much speculation and the publication of the material in 1912 by the Yogi Publication Society Masonic Temple has posed even further queries. Nonetheless, these seven tools are at the core of Western Hermetics and form the Universal Laws governing all magickal and alchemical working.
The Kybalion is subtitled a Study of the Hermetic Philosophy of Ancient Egypt and Greece, and is dedicated to Hermes Trimegistus and his teachings that were offered and upheld as staples in the training of initiates of hermetic studies.
“To Hermes Trismegistus
Known by the Ancient Egyptians as
“The Great Great” and “Master Of Masters”
This little volume of hermetic teaching is reverently dedicated”
The time honored concept that when the student is ready the teacher shall appear and the doors shall be opened is affirmed in Chapter One:
“Where fall the footsteps of the Master, the ears of those
ready for his Teaching open wide”
and
“When the ears of the student are ready to hear, then cometh
the lips to fill them with Wisdom.”
So, in that spirit and assuming all are ready to broaden their perspectives or deepen what is already known, I’d like to share these principles with you, offer my understanding of them and hopefully whet your appetite to read more of this fascinating and essential book.
The Seven Principles of Hermeticism which form the Universal (Cosmic) Laws are:
The Principle of Mentalism
THE ALL is MIND; The Universe is Mental.
If we think in terms of consciousness and creation, the primal formless state of the Limitless All (or creator) is that of AM (existence). When observation and awareness is directed towards that AM, the I comes into being which stimulates the creation of something more than itself. This creative process begins with informed awareness, the mental aspect being the primary building block. Pure thought forms the concept which then can be acted upon by emotion and will. It is from this principle that the subsequent six emanate.
The Principle of Correspondence
As above, so below; as below, so above.
And in recent times the addition of “as within, so without”. The quintessential axiom that gives definition to the macrocosm and the microcosm being connected by similarities of dynamic and basic nature. It is this principle that inspires us to connect with our higher nature because of the reflection we see of it in the lower and physical realms. It is this principle that gives us pause to reflect on the impact we have at a larger scale based upon the inner workings of our own systems. To correspond is to affirm the “sameness” of a thing that will call to itself that of a similar nature.
The Principle of Vibration
Nothing rests; everything moves; everything vibrates.
This principle states that all of form is in a constant state of movement. Inertia is the non-movement vibration that is vibration of a sort, nonetheless. Resonating with similar patterns of vibration attunes us to the subtleties held in each increment of dynamic. Vibration produces sound. Sound permeates our worlds. And it is the vibration of a sound that we respond to physically, energetically and etherically. Our breath and the subtlest of our movements disrupts the waves of vibration surrounding us and sets into motion its own pattern of vibration.
The Principle of Polarity
Everything is Dual; everything has poles; everything has its pair of opposites like and unlike are the same; opposites are identical in nature, but different in degree; extremes meet; all truths are but half-truths; all paradoxes may be reconciled.
The Law of Polarity is the Universe filling what would be the void. It is the recognition of one state of being because of the acknowledgement of its polarized or opposite state of being. Each of these states being one in the same except for minute and un-observable differences which become more overt as the scale between each widens. Emptiness is the absence of fullness just as fullness is the absence of emptiness. They are both lacking in what the other has abundance of. Similar to the Principle of Correspondence (or resonance) like attracts un-like that is alike defined by the degree of its difference.
The Principle of Rhythm
Everything flows, out and in; everything has its tides; all things rise and fall; the pendulum-swing manifests in everything; the measure of the swing to the right is the measure of the swing to the left; rhythm compensates.
I see this as the companion to vibration and to some degree a subset of the Principle of Correspondence. Rhythm provides the container or boundaries (or the lacking there of) and vibration provides the quantifier or needed disruption to produce the resultant cyclical rhythm. Expansion requires a state of contraction (as the necessary point of tension) to enable it to expand anew. Either state if held too long, would result in over compensation of the other, causing a new cycle of rhythm to be established. Stillness or inertness is simply an illusion; which relates back to the connection to the Principle of Vibration once again. The illusion is that of non-movement, which although it may appear unable to be measured is a lower and longer wave of motion or rhythm that may not be perceptible unless we are in resonance with its rate of vibration.
The Principle of Cause and Effect
Every Cause has its Effect; every Effect has its Cause; everything happens according to Law; Chance is but a name for Law not recognized; there are many planes of causation, but nothing escapes the Law.
For every action there is a reaction. This is a basic principle that we drill into our children so they will be responsible adults. There is no discrimination between good or bad, just simply response which becomes the cause that has an effect which becomes the cause, ad infinitum. This is the principle that causes us to hesitate, pause and think before we react so that we can respond instead. This is the premise that we are not insignificant in the larger scale of the Universe, be-cause if we did not exist the overall result of what we consider to be the Universe would not be the same definition we have of it because we are part of it. This is the principle that keeps us up at night trying to problem solve the best resolution to the difficult choice we must make. Each action creating a different chain of reactions in response to what issued forth catalyzing the cause.
The Principle of Gender
Gender is in everything; everything has its Masculine and Feminine Principles; Gender manifests on all planes.
Gender and polarity are often points of confusion. Although gender is an aspect of polarity it is a dynamic point of differentiation in its own right. Gender spans more than the physical dissimilarities that separate a man from a woman. It’s energetic principle is one of expansion and contraction moving in a rhythmic force of release and receipt.
On the Qabalistic Tree of Life the Pillar that provides Form is the Feminine Gender. This is the gender of receipt, contraction and boundary. The Pillar that provides Force is that of the Masculine. This is the gender of release, expansion and expulsion of formlessness. Both working rhythmically are the necessary actions for the eventual manifestation in Malkuth, the physical world. It is the container of the feminine egg that receives the insemination of the masculine sperm; the two quickening into the first stirrings of human life.
We don’t have to look too far to see these concepts running through every level of our existence. Recognizing them is just the first step. As we explore their deeper meanings, formulate our own definitions and begin to apply the dynamics of their energies, the magick and mysteries of our place in the mind of the All will begin to reveal itself affirming that we are co-creators in the Great Work.
Resource:
The Sacred Texts (on-Line)
The Kybalion
By The Three Initiates
The Yogi Publication Society Masonic Temple
Chicago, Illinois. 1912
Posted in Uncategorized on September 22, 2013| Leave a Comment »
Posted in Uncategorized on August 1, 2013| Leave a Comment »
Another turn of the Great Wheel and the first harvest is upon us. This Sabbat is known as Lammas or Lughnassadh depending on where and how it is celebrated. Lammas is derived from the words “loaf mass” and refers to the harvesting of the grains. Read More and check out the accompanying poem in WitchVox Poetry section here….
Posted in Uncategorized on July 26, 2013| Leave a Comment »
The Priestess
I work in an office setting and over the years I have tried to be creative in the ways I could enhance my learning, practice my craft and offer devotion while at work. Since setting up an overtly Wiccan altar on my desk is not an option, I‘ve devised discreet ways in which I could have the important components of my belief system visible yet indiscernible to any who are not on the same wave length.
I spend most of my day on the computer and at one point for many years my boss and I shared the same office space. She did not particularly care for music of any kind and I have music running through my veins. Additionally, there would often be (distracting) meetings and phone calls that I had no choice in listening to. My solution was a set of headphones and an arsenal of CD’s. Now these weren’t just any CD’s, but rather were a variety of pagan music artists, active meditations and pathworkings or instructional audio. Having had five children under five, I consider myself an adept at the art of multitasking and selective listening. This fulfilled my wanting to experience sound (vibration) that would be spiritually supportive and believe it or not, also is great practice for partitioned focus- something good magickal practice often requires.
My eldest daughter is an artist of spiritual and mystical paintings. So whenever I was able I had either a small picture or photo of her work on my desk. Notecards and greeting cards from a new age and wiccan store filled in at creating small pockets of visual focus on my desk. She gave a me a painting of an Egyptian Priestess (she had a vision that it had been me in a previous lifetime) for my birthday and it graces my wall as reminder of the pantheon I frequently work with.
A small book of Rumi’s poems is my daily morning read before I start work. It is small in size, large in inspiration and fits nicely in my desk drawer. Some years I have purchased “quote bank” desk calendars or something similar that I used as a quick meditation tool each morning to start my day and keep track of appointments and meetings.
I weave a bit of color magick into my day in the selection of the color of the clothes I am wearing or in the colors of the highlighters, pens or folders I use in my work. In honor of the elements, I have elemental related items placed on my desk or window in their appropriate corners. A feather (found on a lunchtime walk) sits in the East- a small Lava Lamp sits in the South- a Desk Fountain sits in the West and a small pine cone (another lunch walk find) sits in the North.
To celebrate the seasons and the Sabbats, a small vase of flowers, pine cones picked up from a walk, seashells or dollar store snowmen sit on my desk tucked into the corner, but in eyesight. I use oils as my perfume of choice and the small roll on vials of Egyptian Musk, Dragon’s Blood, Frankincense, Nag Champa or Tunisian Myrrh fit in my desk drawer and offer brief excursions into the feelings of this ritual or that working as needed, in addition to their calming, purifying and balancing attributes.
Lunchtime offers opportunity to walk and get outdoors to commune with the Sun and nature. A 15 min. walk can rejuvenate and cleanse the buildup from closed off indoor spaces nicely and can become a meditation to center your breathing and your connection to earth and sky. I also find souvenirs along the way to bring back into my office space; remember the pine cones and feather on my desk! I usually use my lunch time to write, read or prep for workshops or ritual and doing so outside when weather permits enhancing the creative flow.
I work in an office setting and over the years I have tried to be creative in the ways I could enhance my learning, practice my craft and offer devotion while at work. Since setting up an overtly Wiccan altar on my desk is not an option, I ‘ve devised discreet ways in which I could have the important components of my belief system visible yet indiscernible to any who are not on the same wave length.
I spend most of my day on the computer and at one point for many years my boss and I shared the same office space. She did not particularly care for music of any kind and I have music running through my veins. Additionally, there would often be (distracting) meetings and phone calls that I had no choice in listening to. My solution was a set of headphones and an arsenal of CD’s. Now these weren’t just any CD’s, but rather were a variety of pagan music artists, active meditations and pathworkings or instructional audio. Having had five children under five, I consider myself an adept at the art of multitasking and selective listening. This fulfilled my wanting to experience sound (vibration) that would be spiritually supportive and believe it or not, also is great practice for partitioned focus- something good magickal practice often requires.
My eldest daughter is an artist of spiritual and mystical paintings. So whenever I was able I had either a small picture or photo of her work on my desk. Notecards and greeting cards from a new age and wiccan store filled in at creating small pockets of visual focus on my desk. She gave a me a painting of an Egyptian Priestess (she had a vision that it had been me in a previous lifetime) for my birthday and it graces my wall as reminder of the pantheon I frequently work with.
A small book of Rumi’s poems is my daily morning read before I start work. It is small in size, large in inspiration and fits nicely in my desk drawer. Some years I have purchased “quote bank” desk calendars or something similar that I used as a quick meditation tool each morning to start my day and keep track of appointments and meetings.
I weave a bit of color magick into my day in the selection of the color of the clothes I am wearing or in the colors of the highlighters, pens or folders I use in my work. In honor of the elements, I have elemental related items placed on my desk or window in their appropriate corners. A feather (found on a lunchtime walk) sits in the East- a small Lava Lamp sits in the South- a Sea Shell sits in the West and a small pinecone (another lunch walk find) sits in the North.
To celebrate the seasons and the Sabbats, a small vase of flowers, pinecones picked up from a walk, seashells or dollar store snowmen sit on my desk tucked into the corner, but in eyesight. I use oils as my perfume of choice and the small roll on vials of Egyptian Musk, Dragon’s Blood, Frankincense, Nag Champa or Tunisian Myrrh fit in my desk drawer and offer brief excursions into the feelings of this ritual or that working as needed, in addition to their calming, purifying and balancing attributes.
Lunchtime offers opportunity to walk and get outdoors to commune with the Sun and nature. A 15 min. walk can rejuvenate and cleanse the buildup from closed off indoor spaces nicely and can become a meditation to center your breathing and your connection to earth and sky. I also find souvenirs along the way to bring back into my office space; remember the pinecones and feather on my desk! I usually use my lunch time to write, read or prep for workshops or ritual and doing so outside when weather permits enhancing the creative flow.
For several years, I was fortunate enough to offer a weekly lunchtime meditation for some co-workers and myself. Everyone looked forward to it and I enjoyed the feeling of service, connection and the creative aspects of setting up visually beautiful settings to begin each meditation. You would be surprised at how many people might be on board with setting some time aside for this practice.
There have been special occasions when I was doing a specific working and I would bring in a small crystal to anchor the energy or a sigil drawn on a small index card discreetly placed under folders or my keyboard. These largely went unnoticed or simply received the comment of “how beautiful”.
I think part of what makes our path so rich in diversity and style is the freedom to be creative. The sensibilities and responsiveness to be able to problem solve and work magick that is effective but can still remain within the confines of where you are able to perform it and what you have to work with. The beauty is held in the ability to empower ordinary objects with the vision and responsiveness of the finest magickal tool. I think these are some of the things that make the pagan path flexible, sustainable and something that can truly be as interwoven into the 24/7 365 days mantra.
Here’s to the creativity of the God and Goddess that courses through all of us!
“The Priestess”
Artist: Caitlin Fennelly
Posted in Uncategorized on July 15, 2013| Leave a Comment »
Out shooting (camera pics) with my husband tonight and we stopped to catch the sunset. I wanted to post this picture of the First Quarter Moon as a side note to the postings on Temple of the Moon. Going out and seeing the moon perfectly poised and balanced in the midst of a darkening blue sky was the icing on the cake for Day Eight’s posting about balance and refining.
Milky crescent waxing bright
Creamy brilliance in darkening night
Heralding evening and rest to unfold
Mysteries deep and future’s stories untold
Sunset was beautiful too!!
Sky Opens
Clouds Shift
The Artist sweeps brush wide and long
Color blends, fuses and merges
Deepened hue drains
Into darkness’ hungry mouth
Posted in Esoteric Writings, Uncategorized on July 12, 2013| Leave a Comment »
The Earth shook and a
Thunderous bellow shattered
The foundations of its making.
Magick streamed from shattered stone
Rising upwards
Carrying fragments of
Star matter and life
Into the Other realm.
The Lion roared and fires
Rose from tendrils of sharp breath
Animal and Man quivered from
The low rumbling of quickening.
Magick etched its spark of light
In cave and den, in home and dwelling
It coursed through sending shivers
Through spine and awakened mind.
Eagle soared and serpent coiled
Under piercing gaze as wings
Beat heavily scattering all that
Had been writ in stone and hand.
Magick swelled untamed and tempered
By guard of emotional wall and words
Of terrifying and great power
The vaults of wisdom cracked open
And what lay hidden was brought to
Light once more.
The Great winds came
And turned to star dust
All that had been falsely claimed.
And, man rose from the
Center of gale storm’s core
Free of what had bound his will
Great magick now released
Held in flesh and bone.
We are all witnesses to a point of great transition within the magickal and spiritual communities. The streams of magickal outpouring are evolving and changing just as the definition of what magick is and is not has evolved. No longer are the mysteries of the practice held in reserve for the select few. No longer is access to groups, groves, lodges and the pagan community at large hidden in the shadows, down the dark alleys and kept only for a select few.
We are seeing a new wave of seekers on a path that is ripe with the legacy that has carried it to this pivotal point and we are standing at the brink of what will either carry us into a new way of expression or the proverbial multiple steps backwards. It all depends on what we are willing to co-create and the steps taken to unify what is abundant, but still scattered in focus and intent.
We hear a lot about religious tolerance and the coming together of different ways of thinking in search of common ground. I’ve never cared much for the word “tolerance”. It always had the feel of someone who made a choice because they were coerced or pressured into it. Historically, we have seen tolerance in action and know of the often deeper divide that has occurred from the force of that pressure. I prefer the word “acceptance’ because it embraces a spirit of completely opening to the possibilities of joining forces and doing so willfully.
I believe we are at the crossroads ready to step into the next form that magickal practice will take based upon the acceptance of what great potential lay in that action. There is implied courage needed to move ahead and time is escalating for the changes that are needed to take effect. Divisiveness and elitist ideology are giving way to varied streams of magick and spiritual practice meeting on common ground in celebration of their shared resources, combined strengths and acknowledgement of their individual weaknesses. Now, the caution here is that there is a delicate balance between holding firmly to what has worked before and over diluting it with incompatible or less viable energies in the effort to expand. Expansion requires a slow and steady process of gradually adding something more to the mix, allowing it to settle and form its own natural paths of connection to what exists and then increasing once again or standing newly refined where you are.
I use the word nascent here as a calling to what the future may hold and what the new legacy will be that is left by our children and their children’s children as the generations of magick workers moves ahead. How will the world and life as we know it become re-enchanted with the core essence of a deeper magick that permeates every action, word and thought that is issued. And, what impact will this have on the multiple layers of life and beings that inhabit our world as we reach beyond and connect with those other worlds that coexist in the greater cosmos.
I have intentionally left this brief writing open-ended and vague. I believe there are no clear answers, paths or directives that should be followed. Structure is only as viable as the flexibility and longevity of the means and matter with which it was constructed. I believe it will take a unique blend of body, soul and spirit that is both flexible and strong to birth this new magick. One of the definitions of the word “Nascent” in chemistry as applied to hydrogen is:
(Hydrogen that is) Freshly generated in a reactive form.
I like this definition and the image it brings to mind of the individual re-acting to its natural state of being and becoming something more.
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