Day: June 6, 2011

Flying On A Broom

Author: Beweaver
Now mind you, I’ve been asked to do magic for folks over the years. But none have ever followed through. They think it sounds good but for one reason or the other they bail. Don’t know if it’s because they become afraid or can’t get their act together enough or what. So it’s never happened. I’ve always been nervous at the thought. Those days are gone. And it came to me as naturally as snapping my fingers.

Some of you might remember the difficult wounding of a tender, fairly new friendship back in December. It kind of blew up and kind of healed. But we have not met outside of a meeting nor talked on the phone nor walked around the lake since that day. I have missed her terribly. Missed her and her daughter. But I did make a pact with myself, because of all the challenges I was having regarding all friendships, that I would seek out those who seek me. That it was time I stopped pursuing people who, when left to their own devices, did not pursue me.

I wanted her to have the time she needed, I didn’t want to push myself on her. I had told her I loved her and that I wanted her in my life. I hoped that something might happen, not holding my breath, detachment has been mine, and last week it happened.

She contacted me to ask if paying her psychic $500 to cleanse her house was a reasonable thing given what I know about magic. That the psychic said someone was trying to take her house away, that they were watching her house. Now I don’t know if this was truth or if the person was trying to scare her into spending a bundle on “magical” remedies. I told her my truth. That no witch I know would charge anyone $500 for any magic of any kind. That I would be very happy to come and do some work on her house for her but I would prefer it if she helped. For no charge, that witches in my tradition don’t charge for their services although they were allowed to accept gifts of thanks.

I suggested that her 13-year-old daughter would be very welcome but only if my friend, as her mother, approved. I felt that she needed this cleansing as much as her mother did. And to spend $500 on a new front door if she felt she needed to spend it. Tongue in cheek of course.

She said, oh yes please. I wrote up a ritual, sent her a shopping list, worked out the best day, and called my High Priestess for direction. Like my friend my high priestess is Jewish. She suggested that instead of pentagrams we use the Mogen David. The Shield of David. Yes, that six-pointed star, like our pentagram, is a shield. A shield used by God to protect his people. Perfect. I am not a squeamish witch; I embrace all the good, spiritual tools available to me. To be able to help them with symbols and a language that spoke to them was such an honor.

My friend said that she barely got it all out when her daughter excitedly said, “YES! I want to do this with you.” Awesome.

I actually got a little lost on my way there. When I got my new phone and they transferred the sim card info, I lost all addresses but hadn’t realized until I got lost that I needed theirs. When I finally found it I realized that I had driven right past it twice. I didn’t recognize the place. My friend had already begun to renew her home and her life. The lights from the windows, the colors of the walls radiating out, was so welcoming, quite beautiful. The inside had changed even more. She was half way there instinctively, intuitively. Moving furniture out, moving it about, changing the flow of energy, those are powerful tools. New locks on doors and windows.

So three women and a dog talked about what we would be doing, toured the house, and explained grounding and some of the tools we would be using. I gently suggested that she remove her ex-husband’s things from the house as soon as she could. That is was time. He is still around but he is severely disabled due to an allergic reaction to a medication and has no interest or use for what is left. That she buys herself and her daughter new sheets and physically cleanses their rooms to remove the sadness and depression that they had experienced in their beds for the past 3 years. That the house had always felt sad to me and that it wasn’t just their sadness, that it felt older to me. She said the neighbors had told her that a woman like Throw Mama From A Train had lived there with her children. Neglect, pain, sadness. I was so glad she was doing this.

I explained grounding and we began. We tried to start from a standing position, forming a triangle with our bodies to represent the female half of the Mogen David but the dog thought we wanted to dance and kept jumping up and licking faces. We had to sit. I walked them through a guided meditation for grounding and I felt them both ground. When the daughter opened her eyes we could both tell that something had really happened for her. She is thirteen but her ability to articulate what that felt like and what she experienced was truly beautiful. I wish we could all keep a part of that wise girl who’s just become a woman, who’s still experiencing the world and it’s wonders with a state of grace, inside us.

She was so excited to do this. Her energy was so bouncy, so pure, so joyful. Her bat mitzvah was only a few weeks ago and she was so excited to learn about the Kabbalistic Cross and to seal her doors and windows with something magical that was from her own faith.

We swept that house; we asperged that house; we cleansed that house. We sealed the doors and windows with Mogen David’s; we chanted the heck out of that house and sent the negative energy and spirits packing. We charged some stones to ward the perimeter of the property and necklaces for them to wear. We laughed, we hugged, we marveled, we sighed. It was so good, so wonderful.

She and her daughter honored and blessed me with their need and their request. And their gratitude. While I was packing up to leave they went down to the basement to turn off lights and lock up. What they came back with was something that I had seen in the basement. A black leather motorcycle jacket with studs on the collar, belt, and shoulders. It had belonged to her ex-husband, the father of her daughter.

I had said that if she was selling it in the yard sale they were planning that I would definitely be interested. She told me that this coat had seen the punk music scene in New York. That it knew Lou Reed, The Ramones, poets, playwrights, was even in a photo shoot for a Japanese magazine. That it had a real history, the man who wore it had lived the life with those I had admired back in the day. I was in awe of that jacket. And they gave it to me in gratitude for coming over to bless their house.

We laughed and talked and hugged some more. I drove home high as a kite, floating on air. It was hours before I was able to fall asleep. I had hung the coat up but kept it out of my closet. While that coat, one just like it, has been on my wish list for my entire adult life, I’ve never wanted to spend the money or didn’t find one I liked or that fit, I felt uneasy. I had planted my wish in her mind and I felt that in a way I had asked for payment. I wasn’t sure what to do.

When I woke the next morning I thought I should call her, see how she’s doing. “No, she’s out buying new sheets, ” sounded in my head. I set about cleaning my own room. 90% of what I brought with me to my parents house is in one room with me. 11 x 11. I’m certain I’m being generous to the size. Clutter builds up very quickly. I’ve got The Razor’s Edge on the laptop playing and I’m clearing and sorting out my underwear drawer (I believe MOST of magic is about making mundane acts magical) when the phone rang.

It was my friend. She was so excited, words bubbling out of her so fast, she’s so emotionally charged. She starts telling me that knowing that I have that coat has done so much good. That the man who was her daughter’s father was a man she had loved, who had been a very good man, that she had really loved him and knowing that the coat went to someone who really wanted it and who knew him and her and their story, someone who would honor it and give it a new loving life made her heart overflow.

Tears? Falling like a fountain, we’re both just sobbing. She tells me she’s been crying all morning but it’s been bittersweet, a cleansing. And she was putting the new purple sheets on her daughter’s bed as we talked. And that after I left, her daughter, with eyes as big as saucers, said, “She’s the real thing Mom. She’s a REAL witch.” Now that is a compliment indeed and I’m humbled and all kinds of grateful.

So much healing was done Saturday night. The night of Saturn, waning moon in Sagittarius. A banishing protective night. But this is the best part of magic. Things happen that you don’t expect and hardly dare to hope. Things happen that are counter intuitive. Good things, things like healings and blessings and love happen when it isn’t a full moon. New things begin; joy is embraced. All in black our bond was cast. The three of us, three women. And a dog. Three women who will always have Saturday, February 6th, in their hearts for the rest of their lives and beyond. Wealth beyond compare.

Be careful what you witch for. You just might get it. *wink*

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The Magick is in the Witch…Not the Bitch

Author: Phoenix Forestsong

I recently placed myself in a position where I had to “explain myself” to a non-magickal person. Surprisingly, this situation planted a very interesting seed into the fertile soil of my mind. Ultimately that seed has culminated in this essay, minus the offensive title. Without getting into irrelevant details, the conversation essentially boiled down to “I don’t care what you say, Magick doesn’t work because I refuse to believe in it.”

Yup. That statement is one hundred percent factually true. Magick only works if you open yourself to it first, even if you don’t believe but still accept the possibility, then Magick can move in your life. A non-magickal person or, to upset those witches that take themselves way too seriously, a Muggle who “does not believe”, but “refuses to believe” will not be knowingly influenced by Magick. The key here is in the word knowingly. Magick is life and Magick is energy, thus all that lives is filled with the energy of Life; whether it knows, believes, or denies the possibility of Magick, the human spirit is still affected by Magick.

The problem that most non-magickal people have with Magick, aside from centuries of brainwashing by Christianity, is the concept of a binary world. The concept of a binary world is anathema to traditional stratified religions where there is Earth, Heaven, Hell, and only The Creator and The Destroyer can manipulate “Magick” to make things happen. Even then, it is only good and “Holy” when that power comes from God or Jesus, and “evil”, “unnatural”, or “Satanic” when it comes from any other source, for as we all know, that which is not exclusively from the domain of God, comes from the Devil’s own hand.

To Wiccans and pagans there are two worlds that make up our lives. There is the physical and material world that simultaneously and conterminously coexists with the spiritual world, which is the world of energy, the world of magick. When we see the forest, we see the physical world with trees, rocks, leaves, streams, and forest creatures; however, we also see the energies that these seemingly simple physical things are made of. It is natural to see this world and to live in this world; in fact, from the moment of birth we are completely opened up to the True World. As we gradually learn more about the “Real World”, the exclusive world of the physical, we do so ignorant of the natural abilities that we were born with. Thus, the situation creates a disconnect within us where “something” is missing, but we’re not quite sure what.

The Witch

The Witch, The Wise, A Wise One, or whatever name we are known by, changes neither the responsibilities nor dedication that it takes to become a Witch. When you first began to follow your path, there was a tremendous amount of information that had to be learned, a lot of books to read, and a ton of thinking, meditating, and writing that needed to be completed before you really had even the slightest clue of just what you were doing. However, setting aside your confusion you pressed on, slowly coming to master the basic talents required by the Craft. You can now raise power, know your correspondences for candles, herbs, and gemstones. More than likely you have delved into divination with the Tarot, a pendulum, or Runes.

In any event, you are a Witch and it took a lot of thought and effort to, not only learn and master your skills, but to acquire the right philosophy and spirit to actually put them to use. It is the same as a computer technician who spends long hours in class working for a Bachelor’s degree. Though some of what will be learned may seem pointless at the time, overall it has taken at least four years to learn enough of the basics of Computer Science to be proficient at your chosen field. While you may not be an expert in every area of computer technology, you are pretty damn good when it comes to identifying, troubleshooting, and repairing a computer whenever it fails…it’s all fundamentals to you now.

For the IT Professional, the medium that is best used to faithfully execute their duties is the Internet. Obviously I use this profession for the example because, well, write what you know. I have the B.S. Degree, I’ve had several technical positions, including a management position and a consulting business, and so I have witnessed and experienced the IT field from several different angles. I would regularly run into computer programs that I’ve never even heard about prior to accepting the client. So I would research.

I would hit the Internet, learn more about this new technology, and I would test it out prior to taking any drastic action. I taught myself how to operate that computer program, usually better than the employees who had to use it on a daily basis. The point is that I didn’t know it before, I recognized the fact, did the research, got the hands on experience, and incorporated new, albeit somewhat situational, knowledge into my life. I had to make an effort to grow, to learn, to develop something within myself in order to learn this new skill.

How does this have any relationship to Wicca? Imagine that your sister is in a relationship with one real bad dude. When you do see her, which rarely ever happens, she always wears clothing and makeup that conceal the abuse. When you say something about it she gets worried, not angry, and begs you to stay out of her life. Just this past Thanksgiving she missed the traditional family meal, so you decided to stop by her house and check everything out. She answers the door in tears, blood streaming from her broken nose. She tells you, panic blazing from her eyes that she broke her nose falling down the stairs and that everything is all right. Don’t worry; just go home she’ll be fine.

Sure. What do you do? Right off the top of your head the best solution is to call the police. If they can’t (or won’t) do anything, then call the YWCA, even a local church with a women’s outreach group, someone who is trained to handle domestic violence. So, once you’ve called the cops, and no one presses charges, and the beatings continue, and you see your sister less and less often, in greater agony at each and every meeting. What do you do?

You are a Witch, you know the basics inside and out, you have the Rede, and you have a very desperate need. Using the Rede as your guide, you begin to peruse the Internet and your own Magickal library to research how to safely and permanently get rid of this guy. You find the best way is through a spell of binding placed on him (‘An it harm none…’An he IS harming someone) so that he will be unable to harm your sister in any way followed by a spell of protection placed on your sister. The research completed, you hit up your local craft shop or Wally World and get what you need for the ritual. You create the necessary components required for your ritual, prepare the ritual, work the ritual, raise power, empower the spell with your most desperate need, and fire it off into the Aether, knowing with all certainty that it has already worked.

When a computer guy fixes a computer, he or she knows that it is fixed because there is a very noticeable and measurable change in the machine. Mainly, that change is that the computer now works, however, in more complicated computers, such as Internet Servers, the change may not be drastically noticeable as the computer is not running just one or two applications like your PC, it is executing thousands at a time. An adjustment here and a tweak there will create noticeable results; however, it takes patience and experience to notice those changes.

When a Witch fixes a situation, he or she knows that it is fixed because there is a very noticeable, yet subtle change in the situation. As our “Fundamentals” are not well-documented scientific skills but rather are naturally-born abilities that, once trained, unlock greater levels of perception in the Witch, we notice the change in energy before the event actually moves in that direction. Two very important rules to remember are: “Magick always follows the path of least resistance” and “Energy always occurs before motion.”

Energy occurs before motion is an accepted scientific law. Simply look to the famous Sir Isaac Newton and his three marvelous and Magickal laws of motion. The First Law of Motion, which is the only one we’re interested in, states that an object in motion will stay in constant uniform motion and an object at rest will remain at rest unless acted upon by some external force, with force being kinetic energy.

To simplify even further, things tend to do what they were already doing unless some outside force influences it. Thus, the ball just sits there and does nothing until you kick it, which is the application of kinetic energy. Thus the bastard will remain abusive (an A-hole in motion) until some outside force (emotion, Magick, POLICE) pushes him (and his energy) onto another constant, uniform course, which hopefully leads straight to a jail cell and a karmic reward.

Now, I know all you eggheads out there are just drooling about the big flaw in my argument. I can hear it right now, it goes something like this…Dude, that only applies to an object with constant mass, not to something that can grow or shrink, thus changing its mass and, potentially, its momentum and direction! That is what is so cool about the flaw; the first law only ALWAYS works on things, static things, things that don’t change and people their situations are dynamic.

In the world of spirit, we’re not simply bundles of energy floating around without thought, without direction. Hell no! People are driven, motivated, self-directed, and above all else, highly intelligent and sentient individuals. We steer ourselves through life; our Spirit hops into the driver’s seat, takes the wheel, puts the pedal to the metal, slams on the break, grinds the transmission, and tries to go where it wants to go. Magick, like a sudden gust of wind upon the interstate or two tons of rolling steel smacking fatally into you, still affects your motion. The difference between a gust of wind pushing your car and the horror of a traffic fatality is force, which is energy.

In Magick, it is a disciplined and focused Will that sets the direction of the spell, and it emotion and desire that give our spells force, “kinetic energy”, the kick. Correspondences naturally add additional power to the magick, thus increasing the force of the spell. The energy is raised, the desire for change churns at the heart of the spell, waiting to be let loose, the spell is directed, it’s energy changing to comply with the Will of the Witch, transforming into what it needs to become to do its job. The spell is let loose, it’s aim is true and the force behind the spell is mind-shatteringly intense. You ground, center, thank your Deities, and close out your circle, cleaning up along the way. You listen for the phone.

An hour passes, you near nothing. Two hours pass, still nothing. After four hours you have to sleep, the ritual was too much of a draining process to keep sleep over the horizon for much longer. One day goes by, nothing, two, three, five, still nothing. You stop by her house but she won’t open the door, she keeps the chain latched and hides her face in the safety of shadows. You know. You’re not upset; you’re pissed. “’An it harm none…” as your first thought is to personally explain Newton’s Laws of Motion using the example of his face as the object with your fist as the application of kinetic energy, which would technically violate that whole “harm none” thing. As Plan A won’t really work out, you fall back to Plan B and call the Police who rush out to arrest the guy who, surprisingly, actually gets charged, convicted, and sees the inside of the Pokey for a while.

The Bitch

Oh! I see. You spent all that time worrying and worshiping the Devil, and all you had to do was call the Cops. See! Magick doesn’t work! Tee-hee! Tee-hee! Sure, the Police were called and it was the Police who dragged the human filth out of the house and into a cruiser, but they had already been called before without any result. Now, there is a noticeable result. Notice that the spell took time to work; it could have taken months even! Why?

The Jerk is self-motivated, self-directed, and self-centered, thus instead of a ball of rock floating idly in space, he is a jerk behind the wheel of car and he’s going wherever he wants to God Dammed go! Your Sister, for her own reasons, was attracted to him which drew her closer to him, the distance between them lessened and he began to influence her. The proximity of their paths and the momentum of his desire and his will to be abusive does not simply stop and cease to be because one wishes for it too. It stops because some outside force, some outside energy, slammed full-force into him and pushed him in another direction. The spell of protection cast upon your sister, it too slammed into her life, pushing her away from his abuse.

Now, neither the Jerk nor your Sister were ever aware of your spell, so to their knowledge nothing abnormal ever occurred. However, Magick always follows the path of least resistance. The Jerk, being a physical guy, liked his drink and he liked women, but when he got drunk he would get violent. It was his nature and he followed his nature. Your sister, after having a half-remembered dream about watching some show on TV last week about fidelity and abuse, was growing more resentful and angry the more she thought about things. It took a few days but when you stopped by the house the tension that had been mounting over the past few days, the stress fractures of two lives being pushed away from each other, were the trigger.

Directly, did you Physically do anything to anyone in that scenario? No. What did you do? You gave a situation, two lives, a necessary push and nature took care of the rest, because Magick follows the path of least resistance. This is a completely fictional story, but one designed to show the mechanics of Magick. While situations for your spells will be different, never doubt its power. Even science has proven that Energy comes before Motion, therefore the mechanics of Magick, the First Law of Magical Motion, is a logical and “provable” concept.

In Land of the Blind…

I walk down the street at noon, a gentle breeze ruffles my hair, trees shimmy and shake their leaves, making a cacophony of sound like hundreds of sheets of paper being torn to shreds. The bright golden sun assaults my eyes as it glares angrily from dingy storefront windows and the hot windshields of boiling parked cars. A sea of people flows around me, or I flow amongst them, I don’t really know and It doesn’t really matter, I’m a part of something.

I come abruptly upon the strangest sight, a plaza full of men, women, and children with blindfolds painfully tight upon their heads, dirty thick padding covers their ears, a cloth gag obstructs their mouths, while filthy rags consist of their clothing. Each and every soul in the plaza sits in silence, suffering etched deep into their faces while one lone man cries loudly above the noise of the city. You strain to hear him over the sounds of construction, but eventually his message is heard.

“Fear! Fear my God! For he has declared this world to be an illusion and all upon to be evil and ill. Repent of your sins, surrender your body, mind, and soul unto me, blind yourself unto the evil illusion of this world and you will be rewarded in your next life.”

Out of a morbid sense of curiosity I wandered into the plaza; I had to know what was going on. Ignoring the absolute stench of the place, I located the preaching man and moved swiftly to him. His blind eyes passed me over, seeing nothing. Questions flooded my mind, yet I remained in control and simply spoke to the man. “What are you doing Sir?” I ask him, “What are all of you doing here?” His answer surprised me, shocking me into an absolute funk.

“My God, My God, My most powerful and omnipotent Lord. He has told me that this world is nothing more than a great illusion, a false reality, and the evil of this place is too great and My God demands judgment. Fire and Death shall rein down from the heavens, the earth will crack and the seas shall heave. The blood of the unsaved shall run like a river of crimson Justice! Join me and blind your eyes, deafen your ears, silence your tongue, and feel the full suffering of the flesh. For only through suffering can we purify our souls in order to gain Paradise! Give your Illusionary life to me and My God, and you will receive wealth and wisdom beyond measure after death.”

It just sounded too good to be true! Blind my eyes, block my ears, silence my tongue, suffer in the flesh, but at least I wouldn’t be dead from fire, death, cracking, or heaving. I was confused.

“Sir, how do you know this to be true? Have you any proof?” His grimy hands rummaged through a tattered burlap sack, quickly withdrawing a badly damaged cassette tape player. “God himself recorded his message for me on this holy artifact. Unfortunately even the most enlightened individuals cannot bear to hear the true voice of God without its perfection causing immediate and violent death. For the mysteries of God are Deadly to the wicked and can only be revealed through suffering in darkness and silence. Join Me! Else you will be punished for your lack of faith for all eternity, for my God is a wrathful God!”

…The One-Eyed Man Will Be King

After that exciting excursion into the world of Sir Isaac Newton and his wonderful First Law of Motion, and a quick escapade to an obviously allegorical plaza filled with walk-ons left over from the filming of Tommy, what was the whole point? There is a morbidly humorous saying: In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man will be king. When we are born, all of us, are born with two eyes, we see both worlds, the world of the physical and the world of energy.

As our world really is a binary world, we are literally being asked to blind one eye in order to become a part of society. Our society is one that is based upon science and Judeo-Christian values. Magick, and any other current scientifically improvable concept, is not “real” because it cannot be measured and it goes against those long-standing values that are so important to our national identity. Although, just because something is not scientifically proven beyond a shadow of a doubt does not mean that it is wrong.

I work magick, you work magick, and millions of people the world over work some kind of Magick. We believe in it because we can feel it, it may not be quantifiable, yet it exists. We believe in Magick because it works, and it works every time we try it. The situation may not be completely resolved, but it will begin to move, slowly at first, but soon it will be defused in no time at all because you gave it a little nudge to knock it out of the way.

The sun still shines its light of love and heat of hope upon the Earth oblivious to the fact that Jim in Accounting absolutely refuses to believe in the Sun’s existence. It still doesn’t change the fact that the Sun is a star and that Jim in Accounting probably could use a long vacation somewhere with sun, sand, and surf. Of course Jim won’t burn on his vacation because he doesn’t believe in the Sun.

When Jim finally returns from his long vacation, he is as red as a steamed lobster. He begins to explain to you how he contracted this strange skin disease at the beach and how it was strange to be at the beach without the Sun. As a Witch, and since Jim is nuttier than a fruitcake by now, you promise to work some magick on his…rare condition. Jim doesn’t believe in Magick and is violently opposed to it. You decide to work a spell on him to alleviate the pain from his sunburn without telling him. He feels better the next day after discovering an exotic cure for his illness…aloe.

Show Me Da Magick!

This essay has been a bit juvenile in its examples, yet the point was not to provide the very best example of a situation, it was to provide the best example of the mechanics of Magick. If you begin to study your own spellcraft, watch where the energy that you send out ends up by feeling for it. You will begin to learn and eventually understand just how Magick, and Life, flows and brings change where it’s needed most. The one fatal mistake that any Witch can make is to give away their power in the face of a challenge. The idea that “I can’t help with that! It’s too tough!” Well, you’re right; you can’t do anything because you have decided that you do not have the power to…so now you don’t.

But, just like the blind man who ignored the visible world, and the overzealous Christian who demands suffering and pain as a sign of submission, their refusal to accept the real world around them doesn’t change the nature of the world around them. It only changes their reactions to that outside stimulus that they detest. A closed-minded individual who refuses to believe in magick can still be swayed by magick, just as the boy who believes himself to invincible can be knocked over by powerful wave. Their refusal to accept does not change the fact that Magick exists, has always existed, and will always exist. The blindness in their eyes does not change the fact that there are Two Worlds, not one, two. Just because a person refuses to see a painting does not mean that it was never painted, it exists in all its intricate beauty, that person simply refuses to appreciate it.

As Witches we walk the world with all our senses developed and alert, this allows us a greater depth of understanding and perception concerning people and situations. We do not walk our Path with our eyes blinded, nor do we walk our Path with one eye closed. We walk our paths with both eyes open; both worlds, the physical and the spiritual are real and readily available to us, each just as real as the other. We have to remember that WE hold the power to create change in the world, it is not something that can ever be delegated to another, it is our power, our will, and our destiny to develop into the individual who we want to be.

Magick, a natural part of life, will always be an influence even on skeptics, for just as matter moves, so does energy. Regardless of denials, misunderstandings, and flat-out lies, one can no more banish Magick than one could Banish the oceans, it is a natural part Life, just like the rising and setting of the sun and the migration of birds in the Winter. It’s natural, it exists, and nothing and no one can ever change that.

Blessed Be,
-Phoenix Forestsong

The Rise of Wicca and Neo–Paganism in the United States


Author: Govannon Thunderwolf

Wicca is becoming the fastest growing religion in the United States. This statement was something I was hearing and reading more and more. Being a member of the Pagan community, I didn’t really notice any of this growth happening. The more books and articles on the Internet that I read, the more I kept seeing this statement. The research into this declaration became my focus of interest. What fascinated me the most about this account was the fact that Wiccans and neo – Pagans do not go around with the specific intent of finding converts. In the teachings and ideas of Wicca and Paganism, the idea of looking for converts is not encouraged and is looked down upon. Anyone seeking converts into Wicca or Paganism is breaking a cardinal rule.

Even though Wicca is generally a female dominated religion, there are men involved as well. Wicca is a religion that recognizes women and men as equals, but it does put a slight emphasis on women and the Goddess. Female witches out number males two to one in the United States, according to the Covenant of the Goddess’s estimates. Covenant of the Goddess is one of the oldest and largest Wiccan groups in the United States. They also state that much of the recent growth in Wicca and neo – Paganism has been among women. (Sanders xiv)

Where would someone look to find followers of Wicca and Pagans? They can be found anywhere and everywhere. The actual number of Wiccan and Pagan followers in the United States changes constantly, but in 1999 Helen Berger, a sociologist who spent ten years as a member of the neo – Pagan community, estimated that there are between 150, 000 and 200, 000 Pagans in the United States. It is suspected that there are many more among the ranks of Pagans today. Berger’s census also found that California has the highest amount of Pagans living within its boundaries at 15.7 percent, followed by Massachusetts at 7.6 percent, and New York at 7.3 percent. (Sanders xiv)

While there were many contributors to the construct of Wicca since the 1890’s, there was one man, who in 1954 wrote and published Witchcraft Today, and that man was Gerald Gardner (1884 – 1964) . Even though Druidism, Witchcraft, and other forms of Paganism were originally oral traditions, their revival is attributed to written text. (Clifton 14 – 15)

Very little is known about Gerald Gardner except for what is public record. He was a civil servant for the United Kingdom, and spent most of his career in Britain’s Asian colonies before he retired and settled in southern England. Gardner was one of the many who thought it more prestigious to have learned the “craft”, a term used for Witchcraft, an elder of one’s own family. Gardner didn’t claim to have learned Wicca from an elder of his own family, but did claim to have learned it from elders with family ties that went way back many generations. For most people in the Pagan community, it was well know that Gardner was considered a bit of a pervert due to his tendency toward bondage and ritualized punishment. It came through in his writings and ideas of practice, but the resurgence of “the craft” is mainly attributed to him. The people of Britain have always made changes to religions to try and make them their own, but Wicca is the only religion that originated in the United Kingdom. (Clifton 14 – 15)

Wicca is generally a solitary religion and seventy percent of its followers are solitary, taking personal responsibility for their own religious practice, rather than following an authority figure. Without a strict set of beliefs, “each practitioner can add or subtract beliefs at will, ” this is a part of what makes Wicca so popular. (Sanders 5)

Now I will continue this paper on three main reasons that I found the most compelling reasons for people of all walks of life to be drawn to Wicca and Paganism, beginning with a concern for the Earth.

The fear of Global Warming and preserving what we now have for future generations is a major common concern among contemporary Pagans. Most of modern society has lost an important connection with nature. In some cases there is even a fear of nature. To be fearful of the natural world, in which we as human beings came from, just as all life has, is quite a cause for alarm. When the system of Wicca was originally developed, its focus was on fertility, just as the ancients were focused on fertility. As history has shown, fertility was a main concern for all people in ancient times.

Life was hard for our ancient ancestors and fertility of the land, animals, people, etc. was the only way for them to continue life and surviving. With human fertility becoming less of a concern in modern times because of improvements in science, the focus has now shifted to nature. This change is another way in which Wicca and Paganism can remain a positive religion. It is a religion that recognizes change and changes with it. If something can’t change with the times, it will get left behind and become history.

The American mainstream religions have done very little to foster concern for nature. Never, have I heard of any sermons given on how people should be encouraged to care for the environment, be good caretakers of nature, and preservation of natural resources. This again, leads many to view Paganism and Wicca more approvingly. (Sanders 22)

Paganism also acknowledges nature by following the cycles of the seasons and life. Pagans and Wiccans are encouraged to live their lives by looking to nature as their guide. They live in the here and now as opposed to living and planning for the end of life. Through this view of nature, Wiccans and Pagans acknowledge their connection to all life and the greater cosmos. Many mainstream religious writers believe that honoring nature is not enough for religion or life because it contains violence and brutality. (Harvey 187) This worldview on life and nature is the basis for Wiccans and Pagans to believe in no absolute good or evil. All things in nature are good and evil at the same time and therefore it applies to life as well.

The second reason for the attraction to Paganism and Wicca is empowerment for women. The Christian church has treated women like “second – class citizens” for much of its history. This treatment of women is also prevalent in much of the Western world as well. (Sanders 22) Many women have become quite discontent with the Christian church. When women have expressed an interest in becoming more involved in the church, they are usually directed to make coffee and teach Sunday school. With the concerns of equal rights coming more and more to the forefront in our society, how do the patriarchal religions expect women to remain subservient? (Sanders 22)

For the last several thousand years of patriarchal religions domination of the Western world, large numbers of women have been searching for a spiritual existence free from the patriarchal dogma. With Wicca’s emphasis on Goddess worship, it attracts those women who want to find a spiritual side to their feminism. (Adler 207 – 24)

The feminist views of women have been the main driving force pushing Wicca to be accepted as a religion. Not all Wiccan groups are feminist though. Most Pagans and Wiccans have a more moderate view of the feministic ideas. Feminist Wiccan groups have dropped a lot of common beliefs in the Pagan community in favor of an all female belief system. By doing such things as only recognizing the female deities and eliminating the male deities, they are alienating themselves from the rest of the Pagan and Wiccan community. (Adler 180 – 81)

Many women have become quite discontent with the Christian church. When women have expressed an interest in becoming more involved in the church, they are usually directed to make coffee and teach Sunday school. With the concerns of equal rights coming more and more to the forefront in our society, how do the patriarchal religions expect women to remain subservient? (Sanders 22)

One doesn’t need to look very hard to see the atrocities that have been committed against women in history by patriarchal societies. One common saying in modern Pagan communities that can be found imprinted on t – shirts and bumper stickers is, “Don’t forget the burning times.” This refers to the days of the infamous witch-hunts. Malleus Maleficarum (The Hammer of Evildoers) published in 1486/87 by Jacob Spenger and Heinrich Krämer was the authoritative witch hunter’s manual. One key phrase from this manual that modern Pagan writers like to quote is: “All witchcraft comes from carnal lust, which in women is insatiable.” (Clifton 100) This “authoritative” work also stated that women were created from the bent rib of Adam, therefore women are “imperfect animals” if they are even animals at all. (Pearson 302)

In the Malleus Maleficarum, inquisitors, the ones who were authorized to verify involvement in witchcraft, were informed that guilty women would make sexual pacts with Satan. Therefore, after this pact was made, any event in the local community that disrupted the well being of the people was most certainly caused by a witch in their ranks. (Pearson 302 – 3)

When the inquisitors were in search of a “witch”, one could be found quite readily. More often than not, the accused was just a woman that someone had a grudge against. Many also speculated that these “witches” might have been highly learned women, such as early scientists. Because of the ridiculous information contained in the Malleus Maleficarum on how to proceed with the “trials” of the accused, there generally was “no mistake” of finding them guilty. Guilty women and a few men as well, were relatively few in the colonies of America. On the other hand, in Europe the numbers of the accused were astronomical. Imagine the amount of people that lost their lives due to the feelings of resentment of some sort or other, such as the amount of land they owned or a person’s general success. Many Wiccans and Pagans feel that the amount of people who were actually true witches during these “trials” was closer to none. (Gibson 112 – 18)

The final main reason that I would like to point out for the attraction of Wicca and Paganism is the attraction of the supernatural. While Pagans and Wiccans accept the belief in an unseen world, forces, and entities, many, if not all, Christian churches, in these modern times, ignore this belief. In many cases, a person could stir up quite a bit of trouble for themselves by stating a belief in an unseen world in the Christian church. (Sanders 23 – 26)

Reading ones future by using tarot cards and runes are very popular forms of divination among Pagans and Wiccans. There are many other popular forms of divination and occult sciences such as the use of crystals. Even though many of these beliefs forms were allowed by Christianity in their early years of development, now these systems have no place in Christianity. Many people have speculated when and why this shift occurred. Modern science has been trying to validate these occult sciences for quite some time now, but with limited success. The simple fact that the occult sciences are being tested gives valid support in their existence. (Handbook of Contemporary 425)

There are still many things in the world that can’t be explained by modern science. In the acknowledgement of this fact is where modern Pagans revel. It still gives room for belief in the ideas of fairies, mythical beings, and other such beliefs.

Discussions of the supernatural will quickly conjure up visions and ideas in relation to recent popular movies such as Harry Potter, The Seeker, Lord of the Rings, and many, many other movies. While these movies and books quickly catch the imagination, their similarities to actual supernatural occurrences are very, very limited. For the most part, these movies and books are purely fantasy. Even so, there have been some Christian based groups that are in opposition of these forms of entertainment. They believe that it sways people, especially children, to take an interest in Wicca and Paganism. (Handbook of New 459 – 60)

As Catherine Edwards Sanders, a Christian journalist, points out, “most Wiccans [and Pagans] have thought more seriously about spirituality and some of life’s big questions than many in the secular and even Christian cultures. They have not been content to skate through life seeking the gods of fashion, peer pressure, or materialism, reserving religion for weekends and special holidays.” (30)

Most Pagans and Wiccans actually view their lives as being interconnected with the rest of the world as a whole. They realize that there are, in fact, fewer events in their lives through this interconnection with the rest of the world.

With the impending end of the Mayan calendar in 2012, there have been many theories in reference to the end of the world. In fact, recently the “dooms day” movies have been coming out more and more frequently. One can only speculate that as 2012 draws nearer, the apocalyptic world movies and theories will by coming out at a frantic pace.

In the Wiccan and Pagan groups though, ideas of the world coming to an end are not so prevalent. Many think that the date of 12 December 2012 will be a beginning of a ‘New World Age.’ Many experts believe that this will be an age of peace and interconnection with the rest of the world and beyond for the next 5, 200 years. The experts are also saying that the ‘veil’ that separates our world from the spirit world will be lifted. The descendents of the Ancient Mayan’s say that we are already in the twenty – five year timeline of this change. (Rennison np.)

This information of the coming change according to the Mayan calendar is something that modern Pagans and Wiccans are looking forward to.

In conclusion, is there a rise in the Wicca and Pagan belief system? Given the research, the answer would definitely be a resounding yes. The movement is very broad and difficult to pin down, but it has been noticed. Many authors and professionals are calling on others to try and do research on the subject. With others taking an interest in the movement, maybe someone or maybe a group of individuals will come forward with some new views or theories on this movement. With these new views and theories we can only hope to find a definite reason for this shift.

Until then, there will be many I’m sure who will take on this daunting task. There are hundreds of theories already studied or in the process of being studied. I’m sure that there are many other ideas out there that have not yet been discussed or found in the public forum. With the case of the ancient Mayans, their descendants have said that there is plenty more information that they are in possession of, but have yet to let the rest of the world know about it. Whether there is more information yet to come remains to be seen.

I’m sure that there other ancient civilizations out there that have possessed knowledge or information, now lost. Unfortunately, just as these civilizations have disappeared, so has their immediate knowledge of this information. They did leave behind recordings of information that are in the processes of being deciphered and theories investigated. The only problem is that many individuals in the modern world have a very difficult time believing what the ancients were saying. This in turn leads to very different ideas in what is being told, many times the information is right there, but many misinterpret the information only because the obvious is just too difficult to comprehend.


Footnotes:
Works Cited:

Adler, Margot. Drawing Down the Moon Witches, Druids, Goddess-Worshippers, and Other Pagans in America. New York: Penguin (Non-Classics) , 2006. Print.
Berger, Helen A., Evan A. Leach, and Leigh S. Shaffer. Voices from the Pagan Census A National Survey of Witches and Neo-Pagans in the United States (Studies in Comparative Religion) . New York: University of South Carolina, 2003. Print.
Clifton, Chas S. Her Hidden Children: the Rise of Wicca and Paganism in America. Lanham: AltaMira, 2006. Print.
Gibson, Marion H. Witchcraft Myths in American Culture. New York: Routledge, 2007. Print.
Handbook of New Age (Brill Handbooks on Contemporary Religion) . New York: Brill Academic, 2007. Print.
Handbook of Contemporary Paganism (Brill Handbooks on Contemporary Religion) . New York: Brill Academic, 2009. Print.
Harvey, Graham. Contemporary Paganism Listening People, Speaking Earth. New York: NYU, 2000. Print.
Pearson, Joanne. Belief Beyond Boundaries Wicca, Celtic Spirituality and the New Age (Religion Today-Tradition, Modernity and Change) . Grand Rapids: Ashgate, 2002. Print.
Sanders, Catherine. Wicca’s Charm Understanding the Spiritual Hunger Behind the Rise of Modern Witchcraft and Pagan Spirituality. Wheaton: Shaw, 2005. Print.
“Susan Rennison’s Website.” Susan Joy Rennison’s Website. Web. 18 Dec. 2009. .

You, Your God, and Your Future

Author: Frost
I have been with the Pagan community for nearly a decade, notably unguided. I have been fortunate to find friends who are Pagan or open to pagan thought. In that time, I have become a mentor to many of them.

Our Coven recently went through an ideological split during a time when we were trying to restructure. This split made some things better and some things worse.

Throughout the split and in the time since, many of the members have been struggling with their faith. I had been doing the best I could to regain some manner of order, to prevent the crisis of faith that would allow such a split to happen; but I ultimately failed. As such, I was stuck with many practitioners looking for something to do and a declining faith to do it with.

As a result, I sent out the following, and after realizing that others in the community may need to hear these words, I have chosen to also post it here:

I feel compelled to say something as many have made it known they are feeling low. There is but one thing that has remained true for me these past nine years, the nine years which I have followed my path. That one thing is this: my life, however meaningless, mundane, boring, and painful it is now, will come to mean something in the end.

What I mean to say is this: You have been placed upon this earth for a reason. That reason is known to someone but will be kept from you until the time of your death. I believe that at this point, you will reflect upon that life and come to the same understanding that so many before have. That understanding will be unique to you and your own experience, but will go something like this:

I made a difference. I changed a life, and so, I changed the world.

How have you changed someone today? Have you yet or will it be later in the day? Did you teach them a skill, or help them with a task? Did you learn something that will later save lives?

When it all seems so pointless to you, think about the bigger picture.

I once found myself asking my God for just one thing: There are very few things that we do in life that we set out to do. In the end, it’s the little things that gain us the profound legacy that we all yearn for. The one thing that we all manage is the one that we may never see. That achievement is the difference that we make in another human being.

If in your life, you make a difference in one person’s life, then you may die with a legacy. If we teach a skill we leave a larger legacy. If we listen to a problem, we have created a solution. It’s the little difference that we make that lend a hand to large means.

If there were one thing that I could ask my lord for, one thing above all else, it would be to make a difference, if only one person at a time. I would die having been fulfilled in life. The difference is my wish, my dream, and my will.

In a bit more specific request, I will leave you with this: I was born and baptized Lutheran, and still hold some beliefs of that faith. Jehovah and I still chat about my problems, but Odin has taken me in and taught me.

The relationship you have with your god is personal, on which is never to be questioned by another. But we are complex individuals, and just as we have a handful of doctors for each special problem, we too have a hand full of gods waiting to grant us powers. So long as we believe in them then the depth of the relationship is irrelevant. The links exist.

Faith, and in turn religion, exist in a part of us that is neither logical nor understandable. Our Gods make it logical and understandable. They help to fill the void we feel, the feeling of security, feelings of safety. Next time you are alone and afraid, feel the presence of your God all around you and experience a new feeling of safety.

It is safety and security that we all yearn for. The millionaire behind the multi million dollar security system has the same security that I have with my God. Odin has my back, so to speak. That’s not to say that he will never let me get hurt, never let me feel sorrow. He will not save me from the grasp of all things evil. He will keep me safe though, when it counts.

That narrow miss by the car on the road, running five minutes late and avoiding a wreck. He will keep me safe when it counts.

One thing we must all remember is that the love that our hearts have for our Gods must not be perfect, but it must be forgiving. Our Gods have Their purpose for us and They will get us there however best They can. We just need to have faith in the end and the means will fall in to place.

For those of you clutching at straws, examine what you have done, and what you can be doing.

For those of you clutching at faith, keep with it and it will keep with you.

From one troubled person to another, blessed be on this night.

This message was just what my practitioners need to pick up the pieces and get back together. I felt it was important to share this with the rest of you and maybe I can help some one else.

Our future lies with in our Gods and us.

My legacy is still to be writ as is all of ours. Let us then be together in our community of faith. I hope this allows someone to make the decision they had been putting off.

‘Till I find deem it necessary to write again,

Blessed Be

Frost
The Covenant
Order of the Gual
Temple of Odin

Taking It To the Pentagram

Author: Kestryl Angell

When learning to break the cycle of pervasive human pessimism without becoming what others will consider a “hopeless optimist” in the process, one simply has to remember two very important things. Balance is what is being sought, overall. And also remember, ALL things are connected.

This means if you know you have a tendency toward fatalistic thinking (i.e. if you stub your toe and the entire world begins to fall apart around you with you being at the center of all blame for all horrific things on earth… you are a fatalistic thinker. This is only one example.), then you are one that has, for whatever reason, learned to expect the worst from the world’s possible outcomes on matters of probability.

We must, before breaking the cycle we have, learn to understand the roots of the cycle we have in place when we begin. If that thinking tends toward the somber, depressive or “shadow” world and when your intentions seem ignored by the world when things go wrong, that is the first time to start thinking about what it is you’re supposed to be learning from the process.

When taking patterns apart, you can learn to understand them better if you learn to associate proper correspondences between the thought patterns that take you there to their impulses within your mind and emotions they trigger. So, being pagans, one of the best ways to both take things apart and learn to put them back together again in a more organized fashion can be done with an exercise called “taking it to the Pentagram.”

We all learn in the beginning of pagan studies that the points of the Pentagram are associated with the elements of life. Air, Fire, Water, Earth and Ether or Spirit are these elements in their more common and base natures.

Thought and Breathing are the impulses and activities that associate to Air. Likewise, Willpower associates to Fire, Emotional well-being and impulses and personal “flow” associate to Water, Manifestation and Physicality associate to Earth and our dreams, inspirations and Divine Guidance comes from the Ether or Spiritual connection within us.

When fatalistic or pessimistic thinking is so common, even habitual for us, we have to come to understand how our own personal elements became “muddied” and how to clear them again. Each bears out its own natural cleansing process and when we are trying to break ANY negative pattern, even including addictions, we must first break down how the issue at hand affects each part of us in its turn. In this way, we begin to see how the cascade effect within us takes its downhill tumble and eventually learn to stop that tumble before it happens.

When an issue comes up that upsets your balance deeply, the first step in stopping the process is to do just that. Stop. Don’t run, don’t back peddle or make excuses, just Stop.

Stop what you are doing and first and foremost, breathe!

When we are knocked off balance and especially when we are frightened, the first thing we do is start breathing more shallowly, which can eventually lead to hyperventilation and anxiety attacks. Further, if you are a smoker, the stress impulse is to smoke more heavily, further depriving your brain and blood of precious oxygen than can help to lower blood pressure and lessen the sense of anxiety involved with high stress moments. What the brain needs to function best and to help return balance is oxygen. Air.

So, first… remember Air. Breathe! Make yourself count to at least 11. No, that isn’t a typo. 11 is a number of mastery and if you are trying to master your own emotional response, then it is important to break a learned cycle with something designed to do just that little bit more that makes that “wish” into a “reality.” So, rather than stopping at the “count to 10” rule to just calm down… go that little extra number toward mastery of yourself. Breathe to 11 and then THINK about what is happening to your self on every level both as individual responses and as a collective overall action or inaction. Meditate on grounding your excess energy brought on by fear responses and clear your thoughts. Use your reason to begin restoring balance.

The next element to take our issue past is Fire, the element of Will. Fire can help or hinder a situation, depending on how the issue at hand is affecting us. If it is something that drives us to passion of a negative nature, our nature may be to flame a person or situation and thus, make things worse. Burning our bridges isn’t always a useful skill. Sometimes it can be self-defeating. Other times, a cleansing by fire may be exactly what is called for. But the Will MUST be tempered by Air (Clear Thinking) and Water (Clear Emotional output and flow).

So before we let the Will take over and flame a situation, we must temper ourselves by moving on past the immediate response of “But I wanted THAT!” and take ourselves to the next step. Harness that Willpower toward yourself, first. Bend that Willpower to seeing through clarity and flow to where it will best need to be applied later in the process of manifestation. Recognize the perceived “affront” to your immediate Will’s wish and prepare it for focused use further down the road.

Water, the element of emotion and flow is next. For some, especially for water signs, emoting may actually be the first response. In human beings, our feelings are so very strong that we often are carried away by their tides before we even realize we’ve been carried there. Females, as well, being the more mercurial of the sexes of the species, have more of a tendency to emote first and think and clarify themselves second—which is why men, who think first and emote second usually find they simply “don’t understand the female process.” It is because we are on opposing sides of the process at any given moment that breaks down our communications between genders most commonly in high stress situations.

There is nothing wrong with this watery response as long as all elements are responded to in their turn and applied with balanced perspective to the situation. Recognizing the power of our emotions to fuel our dreams and manifestations in life is a very important self-awareness step. But learning to guide those forces is an even more arduous and rewarding exercise.

Water is a very powerful element, as it not only assists to temper others, but often shows us the way past or through difficult circumstances that appear, at first glance, to be impossible to traverse. But when we realize that water can permeate even stone (the bones of Mother Earth Herself) , even the most difficult blocks in our lives seem less daunting if we can only figure out how to create that flow again. So if we have applied clarity of thought (air), clarity of will (fire) and then clarity of emotion (water) by recognizing our own fear, anger and need for a positive outcome, we can then move on to the next step…manifestation.

Earth, the element of physicality and manifestation, is not the last step on the Pentagram Path, but is the one at which most stop their own personal process of growing and understanding. We humans think that once we have a “reality” in the palm of our hands, the journey is over. Our requirement is fulfilled. This is an incorrect assumption. It is merely a step that holds great satisfaction for we body bound human beingsWhen we see a dream or inspiration manifest into a physical reality, we have a strong tendency to see our work as finished. Yet, more often than not, manifestation is only where a journey’s first layer ends and the next begins. It IS an important thing to celebrate, but should never be seen as the “be all and end all” of any growing process or human life. It is simply a celebrated step on the path to growing more into our personal selves and returning balance through a greater understanding of our own process and our own ability to assist ourselves with that process.

Sometimes this can include things like the act of going to the doctor for medical assistance if you find that there is a valid bio-chemical component to your repeated negative issues, whether it is temporary by case or a genetic imbalance you were born with or which may have manifested as you got older. But manifestation isn’t all there is to the cycle of growth, nor should it be a place you stop for overly long. To do so is to get stuck and in time, this can bring its own set of problems.

The completion of any cycle ends where it began, but one hopes, on a level of greater understanding and totality than the previous cycle began. It is the next step up on the spiral, if you will. Thus, as with any journey of this sort, whether positively or negatively perceived, is in the Ethers, the realm of Spirit. Dreams and inspiration begin here and often, so do our imbalances.

When we are dis-eased with ourselves at our deepest levels, it often manifests in illness or injury so that we are forced to “hold still and LOOK at this situation/pattern/addiction/issue!” It is usually a very uncomfortable and unwelcome place for us, which is why this sort of internal and deep dis-ease is what often spurs people to go through life-changing spiritual journeys and experiences, even what some call epiphanies.

The Universe forces us to the lessons we need, not always the lessons we want. But if we learn to be grateful for all lessons and learn that negatives and pain are a perception that can be changed for the better simply by applying different patterns of understanding to the experience, we can see our way to the next level and thus, move forward with more clarity into the next cycle of manifestation.

It seems a very simple concept in print, but it can be one of the most difficult to truly manifest within ourselves that exists. The reason is the fact that as human beings, we often have a tendency to perpetuate our own misery rather than seeing our way clear of it. It becomes so familiar to us that it is the “known evil” we comfort ourselves with rather than facing our fears of failure. We always expect perfection from ourselves, as though we should “Know!” how to live life without chaos and imbalance…or for some, the opposite is true.

Yet in either direction, without some chaos there is no movement in the Universe and without order, the Universe would fall apart. The two will remain in balance, whether we “lowly humans” understand it all or not. But the search for balance within ourselves is personal and we CAN do something about that set of perceptions that keeps us locked in cycles of our own misery.

So, when you return to the Ether, look at what went before you and see the lesson. What did you learn? What should you have learned sooner? How much more could have been accomplished if you had truly looked at ALL the viewpoints involved instead of just your own? If you are truly connected to everything in the Universe and those around you…how did your ripples affect others?

Do you wish to affect them the same way in the future? If yes, how do you continue the positives? If no, how do you break the cycle the next time around? If you know you have a tendency to see things in life through filters of negativity—whether by habit or experience—what is the reason you perpetuate that view rather than allowing for newer, clearer, healthier, broader ones that function more efficiently for you? All these answers start and come back to the Ethers in our lives.

Once you have made your way at least once around the Pentagram with your issue, also look at this idea. If you find yourself stuck or lacking or sluggish in any of the elements, your helpers and hindrances are right there staring at you. If you are, stuck in say the element of Water and feel backed up in a negative or self-destructive flow, look to the elements on either side for helps and stability factors to help restore balance.

For Water, the elemental helpers are Fire and Earth. Fire helps dissipate too much water and the Earth soaks it up and grows with it. So should you. Get your Will aligned to help move you to a healthier mind-set (Fire) and then ground off the excess energy into the Earth to be absorbed and used as fertilizer for new growth (Earth) . This idea can be moved to any of the elemental points and used the same way. The balances are there if you only stop to look at them.

When these questions have been answered, then through thought and breathing, aligning your will, getting healthy flow and manifesting a healthier reality, you can take direction again. The Will fires the heart of the matter and an intense desire for changes swells the seed of growth within and the cycle of learning begins again.

Remember the Pentagram and when things aren’t clear or negatives are all you can see, then remember that each element has a balancing polarity within its own elemental life which you can influence for positive change within yourself and when properly blended, they can create magnificent realities that only you can dream up and make real.

Magickal Intentions – Lust

Herbs have been used for centuries to create a sexual desire in those near them. Not surprisingly, they are commonly used to arouse another person’s lust, perhaps against their will.

However they are also used as love herbs are to attract others who desire sexual contacts, and this a certainly less manipulatory than the former use.