The Flame in the Cauldron: A Book of Old-Style Witchery - Foxwood Orion 2015
FOREWORD
BY RAVEN CRIMASSI
It is the triumph of the Elder Faiths that they are still the nourishing roots in the modern practice of witchcraft. Historical proof is unnecessary for those who feel the pulse of ancient blood flowing its memory across time. The spirit of the witch draws its light from above, below, and in between the known realms. It is deeply rooted and enduring.
In the lore of witchcraft and witches we encounter the theme of “witch-blood” as an inherent quality. Such tales tell us that this blood arises from past mating with Faeries or Elven beings. Other stories speak of a unique occult property in the lineage that is passed from generation to generation. Outside of this old and curious lore we find in modern times the concept of awakening the witch-blood within us. In this light we can think of “witch-blood” as a spiritual lineage to primal ancestor connections to the Spirit of the Land itself. Beyond that is what fell from the stars and seeded the hearts and minds of those who became the witch, the seer, and the mystic.
In this book by Orion Foxwood you'll taste the fruits of a bountiful harvest that rose up from the seeds of the past. This statement isn't meant to indicate an unbroken tradition or to argue for one. Instead it's meant to point to the witches' feast, the Sabbat banquet of gathered knowledge and wisdom laid out beneath the Full Moon. The mystical fruit of the moon transforms one into a knower of the Ways, and it's from within the depths of the knowing that Foxwood writes for us in this book.
Over the decades of my own practice of witchcraft I've met many people who self-identify as witches. I've heard many different as well as similar definitions of what that means, in other words how individuals see themselves as witches. Over time the words came to mean little to me, for there's a saying that we know our own. There is much said in this book about the concept of knowing, which isn't about the mind. It's about the sheer presence and the connective awareness of the witch. One can know many things and not be a knower as presented in the pages of this book.
I believe it's important to understand that witchcraft isn't stagnant; it's not something outmoded from the past. Witchcraft is a growing system that bears within it the footprints of the past. It also holds in its hands the sickle with which to clear the Path ahead for future generations. Occultist William Gray, author of Western Inner Workings, once wrote:
So what you are being given from the Inner Tradition is not the dead and mummified remains of previous superstitions, but a living, active, and authentic spiritual survival from our earliest existence on earth, which has been growing and changing through the centuries because it has been cared for and nourished by many generations of humans who realized the value of what they were entrusted with, and did their very best to ensure you receive it in a fit condition for furthering.
This speaks to the keepers of the Ways, those who, whether intentionally or not, passed on the old lore in which the secrets are veiled. This wasn't the learned class, nor the scholars, but was instead those who continued to live within awareness of the Spirit of the Land. They heard the Voice of the Wind, and knew the trees, rocks, rivers, and mountains as the ancient teachers and allies. What others called the wilderness, they called home.
Among the oldest literary tales about witches in Western culture we find references to beliefs that we can be reasonably certain are prehistoric in nature. One example is an invocation spoken by the witch known as Medea in Ovid's Metamorphoses Book VII:
О faithful Night, regard my mysteries! О golden-lighted Stars!
О softly-moving Moon—genial, your fire succeeds the heated day! О Hecate! grave three-faced queen of these charms of enchanters and enchanters, arts! О fruitful Earth, giver of potent herbs! О gentle Breezes and destructive Winds! You Mountains, Rivers, Lakes and sacred Groves, and every dreaded god of silent Night! Attend upon me!
In this call, we find references to beliefs that the land itself, and all it contains, is conscious and able to respond to the witch. We also find the witch calling upon Night and upon the stars, invocations that show up as far back as ancient Babylonian writings. This is the Old Magic, the ways known to our distant ancestors who lived and breathed the things that many modern witches try to reconstruct.
Foxwood brings up several key concepts and techniques that are rooted in the Old Magic. He speaks about Nature, and states: “The moon, earth, sun, and stars are the pillars of its temple. The four winds ofwitchery are its ministers. The tapestry of nature's creations is its choir and the space and starlight are its ancestral parents." This intimately connects with what Foxwood calls the “Mill of Magic.” Here he reaches for the stars and draws upon their forces through techniques that tap into not only magic but also into astrology and astronomy in the most mystical sense.
This book is a rarely found blend of true and deep esoteric teachings along with sound practical applications. It's not a fun skip through flowery meadows like many books on witchcraft are today. Instead, Foxwood takes the reader deep into the realms known to our ancestors, the places of Light and Shadow. This is the reality of the world and of Nature. Naturally it must be so with the ways of witchcraft as well. To our ancestors the Old Gods were as beautiful and gentle as a summer's day, but also as fearsome and intense as a powerful storm of thunder and lightning. It was, and is, the way of things. The Path is ahead, ever ancient and ever new, and there is no better guidebook than the one you now hold in your hand.
The Witch Lives
BY ORION FOXWOOD
What does the light say, to dark that carries it?
What does the dark say, to light that marries it?
What does the shadow say, to words that defy it?
What does the wing say, to air that flies it?
What does the seeker say, to that not found?
What does the truth say, to answers not bound?
What does the height say, when depth defies it?
What does the depth say, when eyes have spied it?
What does the beginning say, when ends are its birth?
What does loss say, when gain gives it mirth?
What does the center say, when edge is its center? What does the center say, when edge is its splinter?
What does history say, when now is its start?
What does time say, when magic makes it part?
The witch lives in the what?
Ask the questions that pierce the veil of unknowing . ..
-To me, the question mark (?) is the most sacred symbol of the witch. For we dare to ask the heretical questions.
INTRODUCTION
THE ORIGINS OF MY WITCHERY
I was influenced by traditional witches on both sides of the pond, meaning those in America and in England. However, I do not want to imply that all of my material is old or "traditional," though some of it is. It was highly influenced by family and folk practices, but also reflects contemporary work that I developed into what I believe is a cohesive and workable practice. Any sound and ethical old-style witches that I know would never claim all of their work to be entirely old or from ancient unbroken lineages. In fact, most of us feel that the power that is passed through us is old, and so is the philosophy, but each witch must have their own direct relationship with the spirit world and power of witchery. For this reason they should develop their own gri-moire (or as one my teachers called it, her notes). In witchery, no two witches have the same grimoire, even though they may have been trained and even initiated by the same person.
The path into the spirit world and the characteristics of each witch's power make each witch unique. I have found this aspect of witchery to be both daunting and exciting. It challenges the teacher to be more concerned about igniting the witch-flame (magic) in the student than in being right or orthodox. My formal step into this world was when I was about seventeen years old and working as a busboy in a restaurant in Winchester, Virginia, and I met an old couple from Brentwood, Essex, England. They had a son that lived in the area whom they visited often. Initially, our talks were only about things that I thought were cool, like coins, ancient places, and other stuff, until they disclosed that I was born with the veil and raised around some southern conjure and root-work practices. They said they sensed this and that they grew up similarly, but were raised around some old country witch practices that were simple and powerful.
They somewhat referred to themselves as witches, but were also members of the Church of England. Their marriage, as I recall, was predetermined by their parents, as both families had some “old blood" in them. They never inferred that these practices (witchcraft) were religious in any way. They were practical ways of working with the spirit world and the dragon fire in the land through workings that they called mills, which opened out potent power in the land and hidden roads that entered and exited our world. They never used words like “traditional" or “Wicca," though they were respectful of them when I used them. They never spoke of initiations or anything like that. They did speak of witch-blood and its awakening using quickening techniques.
The only way I knew these witches were genuine was that their techniques worked every time. The techniques and teachings were passed on orally with no material written down. Once the techniques were passed the final time, that person (me) could never be in touch with them again or this “disturbed the power and confused it as to who owned it." As I have grown in witchery and other magical practices, I have become convinced they were genuine. Later in my life, when I moved to Maryland, I learned from a witch who said he was initiated in Wales. Though his concepts did influence my magic, he was a brief chapter in my growth as a witch. In my journey through living witchery, I was also initiated into Alexandrian Wicca, a tradition of fine witches that is dear to my heart. But again, in the interest of vows of secrecy, I will not disclose specifics about where this happened or who was involved. Though I honor and cherish the teachings, initiations, and familial bonds I have and hold in these traditions and lineages, the bulk of my work in the craft has continued in the lineage I discuss below.
During my long life in Maryland, I have been privileged to learn from and be initiated by other witches who were more adamant about the secrecy of their identities. I will refer to the next witch and High Priestess who trained me as being from the Fox Clan (as she called it). Through her I met her initiating High Priestess, Lady Sintana of Ravenwood Church and Seminary of the Old Religion in Atlanta, Georgia (my spiritual grandmother), who in turn introduced me to Lady Circe of Toledo, Ohio, a fifthgeneration hereditary witch and my great-grandmother in the Foxwood lineage of witchcraft. Lady Circe became my final teacher in this line, and I am honored to be one of her mantle carriers for the witchcraft lineage that descends from her. Lady Circe's material was oral, for as she said, “What is spoken fades away, but what is written may hang you someday.” There were no specific books of shadows in her work, though there were core teachings. She was always concerned that her teachings (and in fact, none of the witchery teachings), become “too written down” and orthodox. She often said, “We are not people of the book; for people of the book know not what is in their book but are most righteous in their unknowing." Rather, “We are people of the heart.” In the 1970s, she incorporated elements of modern Wicca into her hereditary practices. For clarity, as you read this book you will note that I refer to all people who taught or deeply influenced me, except Lady Circe, on occasion, by initials such as LC (which may be for Lady Circe or people with those initials), LA, etc. to preserve their anonymity per tradition. I also use the prefixes of “Lady" and “Lord” before some of the names in the acknowledgments section because many traditions and covens in and out of my lineage use these forms of titles for their leaders, teachers, etc. All of the people in this section of the book, plus many unnamed, have contributed to my development since my formal training and initiations into witchery started in the early 1980s.
Some of the final products of the teachings, techniques, and lore of my teachers and my experiences form the foundations of what I am sharing in this book. Though this book is not a full compilation of my teachings or information specific to post-initiatory training of witches trained by me in my tradition and lineage, it is a solid introduction to some of my discoveries along the way. At the end of the book, I have provided information that will be useful to the reader specific to all three of the paths I walk. I feel that this is both useful and important because it reflects the path-specific insights I have gained and core insights inherent in all three of them. In this way, the later chapters of this book invite the reader into integrating their own paths into core understandings and self-development. It also honors the fact that all paths have insights to offer to the seeker that truly apply to their growth. But, there is one overarching insight that I know about the oldest forms of witchery. I have developed the language for this as follows:
Witchery is a chthonic paradigm and practice that leads to a revelation of truth, mediation of power (magic), and personal gnosis with the intelligent spiritual, mystical, and magical
forces of creation.
Since this insight undergirds all of the revelations of the information given in this book, I will also provide my working definitions for gnosis and chthonic, for they may be terms that are less understood or utilized by many readers. Wikipedia gives us the following definition:
Gnosis is the common Greek noun for knowledge. In the context of the English language, it refers to the word's meaning within spheres of Christian mysticism, mystery religions, and Gnosticism where it signifies spiritual knowledge in the sense of mystical enlightenment.
Chthonic is from the Greek chthoniosi, meaning “in or under the earth" and “subterranean." It typically refers to the interior of the soil rather than the living surface of the land.
So, in the context of this book, I mean that witchery, its wisdom and its power, can only truly be revealed by direct experience of the forces within creation itself. Though the information and practices I share in this book can begin to induce these two states, specific to witchery, the actual experiences and insights encountered are unique to the seeker. No two witches are alike, yet we share in a sacred union of spirit and magic that is beyond time, space, and any defining differences that we could create to separate us. Yet, when witches come together heart-to-heart in the spirit of witchery itself, then we are an ancient family that cannot ever be broken or destroyed. For we are connected by an ancient blood, and eternal fire, the first breath of creation and the directive of nature itself to keep humanity in balance with the world we live in and the world that lives through us. And, in my opinion, that connection reaches between and beyond all cultures.
One
A VIEW ON TRADITIONAL WITCHCRAFT AND ITS
PRACTICES
How do you destroy that which was never created?
— LC
This quote was shared with me when I was seventeen or eighteen years old and still living outside of Winchester, Virginia by a witch with whom I studied briefly, along with her husband who came to Virginia to visit their son who also lived there. Their practices were similar in feel to some of the spirit work I already knew from the conjuring, spirit-doctoring, and root-doctoring of Virginia and further south, and so it was easy for me to understand their philosophies and even some of their techniques. But at my young age, they were fascinating since they were the first people I'd ever met who said without any doubt or hesitation that they were witches. I found their clarity and genuine spirits to be just the inspiration and permission I needed to release the witch within. I had been drawn to the concept of a witch for years, and I had practiced forms of localized folk magic and the witchery I had gleaned from books, but this was the beginning of encountering something that felt old, connected, powerful, and lifealtering. They initiated my journey beyond the intellect and into my spirit through the heart and soul of witchery. For this I am eternally grateful.
Witchery
Throughout this book, I will be referring to traditional or old-style witchcraft as “witchery" as both an abbreviated term and to denote practices and types of witchcraft that are less about ceremonial practices, codified books of shadows, and complex systems. All of these concepts have great value. I have worked them and loved what I encountered. However, this book is about what findings I have gleaned through work with many forms of witchcraft, and determined to be the core power of what I know as witchery, a philosophy and practice that has survived into the modern world and thrives. I have compared my findings with other old-style witches and they concur with the premise of my findings. This sharing is not for proving or disproving history or the findings of other witches, but does provide some potent insights that I know are useful in the practice of contemporary witchcraft. One of my early teachers in witchcraft once told me, “Take the traditions and tools of the witch's craft and work them, use them, and understand them, then cast them away as the feeble crutches that they are.” This was very wise advice for me, as there is a power behind all of these things that is the true object and ultimate deity of the witch. For me, this power is witchery and its deity is the life force itself. It is the power that flows through everything and connects it in a visible and invisible web and thus it is the very tribe of life in all its aspects of creation, destruction, and regeneration, or as I say, “The seen, the unseen, and the thresholds in between."
Witchery is about going to that power through its attributes (instead of phonetic names and anthropomorphic images), techniques (skills), and spiritual powers (both within and without) to make change and leverage a state of change in ourselves and in our world. It is a practice that is best taught and mentored by an experienced witch, but is often encountered by the natural witch who may grow in it, albeit with risk, alone and through direct contact with the spirit world. Whether it is through mentorship, initiation into a lineated system of contacted witchery, or through direct encounter and engagement with the primal forces, today the ways of witchery have a prime directive, I believe. This directive can be elucidated in many ways. One of the best ways I have heard our directive stated was recently spoken in the pop culture HBO series True Blood by the witch character named Antonia: “We must restore the sacred power of creation to this wounded Earth." Wise teaching can be found in the strangest places.
Though I do not believe that the power of creation has left this very human-wounded Earth, I do believe it is quite damaged by our pollution and other toxic influences, all fueled by illusions of isolation and desire to control nature. I am concerned that our own relationship with the sacred power of creation is teetering on the edge of danger and that witchery is needed now more than ever to help save humanity from itself. For the old pagan witch, as opposed to other types, the power of creation is our Cod or Goddess (if we are to use these terms at all), and all of our beliefs and practices are focused on a conscious relationship with it. This power can be tapped and directed by the witch through his or her own nature and the spirit within all natural processes without any tool but themselves. The forces are not invoked; they are encountered. They are not created; they create. A relationship with them is not about coercion; it is about cocreation. Witchery practices go into and encounter the spirit world on its territory, without any tools but what is within, and what is made by nature's hand. Any tools other than one's spirit and the entry points into the rhythm and power of nature are to get us beyond the need for them and into direct contact and communion with the forces on the grey roads, which link the seen and unseen worlds.
Witchery includes some of the oldest and most chthonic forms of witchcraft, and it is focused on direct contact, mediation, and conscious creation with the deep abiding forces that are always present in nature and cannot be destroyed. These forces ultimately defy specific names and symbols and can only be encountered by sensitizing and synchronizing our awareness with their forces that are beyond forms and that dwell at the core and edge of creation. They are approached, encountered, and embodied through powerful and often disturbing techniques that require the witch to step inside these forces, be molded by them, and then the witch becomes a spirit in the human world, a creature of the threshold. This in turn releases from us powerful spiritual and magical forces that we can direct to help ourselves, humanity, and the rest of nature toward a better, more integrated, healed, and empowered life. For the sincere witch in any practice that is nature-based, I feel that they eventually come into the spirit of witchery through ritual, tools, imagery, and techniques to eventually step beyond all of these and develop the skills to encounter the Oldest of Cods (the powers of nature) directly.
The core of witchery is about tapping into a creative life-force that is ancient, non-human (though we are a part of it), intelligent, daunting, and disturbing at times, and has been the object of natural magic since the beginning of the human quest to understand and even manipulate these forces toward a safe, happy, and healthy life. The spirit beings of witchery show themselves in countless forms throughout the spiritual, mystical, and magical practices of every culture in the world in some form or another. In fact, it is because of this attribute that the witch, ultimately, can enter into any rite, temple, church, synagogue, or other tradition or physical place designed for encountering the forces of creation and basically be at home. There is no entry into the realms of spirit that is unknown or forbidden to the witch once they have encountered the spirits and powers of witchery. However, it is also because of this attribute that the witch is feared, because he or she cannot be bound to any specific religion while able to access knowledge and power from all of them. This attribute opens the shadowy road between the predictable and the unpredictable, the wild and the tamed, and the comforting and the disturbing for any non-witch that encounters us while they are still caught in the illusions of isolation and all of the dampers that result from it. The illusion of isolation is a concept that my spirit wife and I developed to understand the core wounds and challenges to the human spirit. These wounds are what we call “the dampers on the blue flame" of the soul.
I call these dampers because they dampen the vibrancy of the soul's aliveness, which in my practices is seen as a fountain of blue flame that rises from the center of our being. There are four dampers: i) the illusion of isolation and associated abandonment pain or shame; 2) the desire to possess and associated control issues fueled by fear; 3) the resentment of change and associated terror of the rhythms of life; and lastly, 4) the desire for absolutes or the desperate attempts to make life predictable and beholden to our fears of abandonment (the first damper). I have also discussed these dampers in my book, The Candle and the Crossroads: a Book of Appalachian Conjure and Southern Root Work (Weiser Books, 2012). In all of the spiritual, mystical, and magical work I do, these core wounds and paradoxes must be addressed and healed. They are the first thing that shows up and in many forms from the shadow realms within as we energized the currents of conjure or witchery within us. I will discuss more about these in chapter 5.
These attributes are a part of the power and practices of the edge-walking, natural witch who has been feared and revered for centuries and who is the type of witch that is the topic of this book. Witchery can never be truly bound to a doctrine, system, or set of absolute dictates; yet it can draw magical potency from them all. Its power is as wild and powerful as nature herself and is always treading the edge between human and “other." This is not to infer that we are not deeply ethical, because we most certainly are. Because we witches understand that we are bound together in a web of living spirit, we are even more scrutinizing of our ethics because we know that our work shakes the very web in which we dwell. The worker of witchery knows that the toucher is touched. This is an old saying in witchery warning that all that we touch touches us back, or to say it as my mother would: “If you lay down with dogs, you'll get fleas." (No offense to wonderful dogs.) Needless to say, this wisdom far from lacks moral muscle. In fact, it provides the witch with a lens through which to discern all actions and reactions within the very web of life that is the witch's Goddess. And the spirits and magic we conjure also conjure us.
The wild magic of the witch leaves him or her outside the approval of established religions and beyond the choking grasp of the hands of consensus reality. For this very reason, we have been sought after for help while being ostracized for our freedom of spirit and powerful presence in the spirit world. Witchery does not suffer fools well. It does not allow us to simply believe. It requires our wisdom and powerful skills to be grown out of direct encounters and direct experience; the kind that fosters powerful and earth-shattering wisdom. Witchery has a built-in selfcleaning mechanism that requires us to be honest and powerfully present in our lives as embodied and spiritual beings. There are witches who proclaim themselves as part of this spirit current but only find their illusive power in social status, specified doctrines, and social prowess. Those who do this eventually find that the old power of witchery suffers no fools and will not be mocked or abused.
In my travels, I encounter many people who self-identify as "traditional" or “old-line” witches. They appear to have elegant systems, traditions (mostly modern), and liturgy, but this is not necessarily the same as witchery. Again, the forms may point in the direction of witchery, but it is not witchery itself. In my opinion, there are too many self-proclaimed traditional witches who have lost, or never contacted, the old current of witchery—one that never relied on orthodoxy, lineated politics, specified deity forms, self-proclamation, or the doctrines of another witch to give them the power of witchery. Albeit, I have met some “witches” of this type who have some old power, and many who just have words and bitchery. This, dear readers, does not give the real power of witchery. The power of witchery comes when
we go deeply inside the very powers of witchery and are remade in the spirit of nature's own powers. Being "re-natured” in this way and encountering the “pre-conditioned" state of being is like inserting our spiritual, mental, and emotional fingers in a metaphorical electrical socket. We become either energetically electrocuted or spiritually and magically enlightened or empowered. Once this happens to the witch, he or she grows beyond the dampers on the blue flame. Then he or she gains a connection to and understanding of witchery that defies explanation, is ever-present, and has no need of defense, for its touch is obvious to all who encounter this type of witch. I know many fine elders in witchcraft, some living and many who have died, who distilled their wisdom and experience into the timeless potency of witchery often near the close of their lives. It is my intention to honor their work and my own in sharing the insights in this chapter with each of you.
I am aware that this approach to witchery may not always be popular, but I make no apologies. I only offer an invitation. I make no direct judgments, for that is the providence of the Cods. I only offer food for thought, which is a treasured commodity for those who walk the ways of witchery. Now, back to the quote referenced at the beginning of this chapter and how it speaks to the spirit and power of witchery. Let me tell you more about how LC came to share it with me.
Beyond the Forms
One day, after I had gotten off of work, LC and her husband invited me to sit in the lounge of the restaurant and have a drink (which was a Coca-Cola at that time) and talk about what I thought witchery was. I told them about the Virginia conjure-work practices and what the books told me defined a witch. Heretofore, my understanding of the witch entirely came from the limited books I read because I knew no seasoned pagan witches in the area where I lived. Rather, all the folk magic workers of my birth culture worked within a Christian framework. Though powerful, this still did not answer the call in my spirit. They smiled wisely, patiently, and somewhat supportively and said that none of the elements I was mentioning had the spirit of witchery in them except the folk magic (conjure) of my culture. Honestly, this put me off for a moment. How could the books be wrong?
I told them about what I had read, which included the specific ways of casting magical circles, use of specific tools and terms, ornately decorated robes, and liturgy, and they agreed that these were indeed aspects of witchcraft as it is practiced in its modern forms, and that these methods had power. However, they told me that someone wrote or developed these practices, and thus they could and would perish, unlike witchery, which was immortal. Witchery, to them, was not a way of life that could be written down and fully explained. It was alive, direct, and had to be experienced through what one might think of as a personal gnosis between the witch, nature, and its spirit world. This seemed vague and too nonspecific for my young mind and immature spirit. I was confused then and spent nearly another twenty years thereafter either dismissing their words as mere opinions or just not being mature enough in my spirit to understand what they meant. After years of reading, researching, experiencing, and learning from several teachers, I have circled back to all of LC's teachings and those of my other elders, such as Lady Circe, to understand the elegant simplicity of their wisdom. There is a saying in witchcraft, “For witches this is law; from where they enter, there they must withdraw." Perhaps my circling back to the simplicity I was first taught is reflective of the wisdom of this saying. Because now, through understanding and becoming the very spirit of witchery, I have left the intellectual quest as being the core of the path, and am now living in the direct experience of the life of witchery itself. What a gift it is to us all, and nature presents its teaching through the gospel of life every day. Nature is the ultimate grimoire for witchery. Nature is our original ancestor. The moon, Earth, sun, and stars are the pillars of its temple. The four winds of witchery are its ministers. The tapestry of nature’s creations is its choir and the space and starlight are its ancestral parents. Only when man can destroy all of these is witchery in peril, and thus it is immortal. This immortality is at the center of what LC wanted me to understand and access.
I asked LC if the past witches and their witchery had been destroyed in the many inquisitions, and if we were simply recreating the deities and practices of the witches. She looked at me and smiled patiently and said, “You cannot destroy that which was never created," and further “the forms pass but the witchery remains." Over twenty years later, one of my primary teachers in the Old Ways said something similar:
The Witch reveres the Gods who made the Gods who made
man.
As long as the face of humanity is on the face of the Gods (including Goddesses), you have not reached them yet.
This teacher was saying that the human like deity forms are powerful ways to tap into the raw, living power of nature. But ultimately, regardless of what or how you call it, the witch reaches to the force that these forms are inspired by. The power of old pagan (for lack of a better term) witchery was that it was focused on tapping the source, tuning in to the force behind all forms, and working with it in a conscious and co-creative way through its many streams of being, which many think of as life forms, life-forces, and spirit states of being. Because of this approach to life, all religions, all philosophies, and all forms of engagement of the spirit speak to the witch because the witch is the ultimate non-idolater. We do not have to make Gods or Goddesses in our image to reach the powers of creation. We can do this as an introduction, but eventually we should want to go deeper, more direct, and more personal. Eventually we must step out of what is comfortable, relative, and familiar into an encounter with forces that defy the intellect and confound our emotions because they are creation itself.
Though some witches have images and symbols to use to engage and encounter with their spirits, Gods, or Goddesses, no God or Goddess is silent, foreign, unapproachable, or unrecognizable to the witch. There is no symbol, form, or concept that comes into expression that is separate from that which inspired them, which is the Ancient One (the source). The witch does not get intoxicated by or addicted to the forms and imageries of spiritual and magical belief. Rather, they are inspired (as a Goddess once told me) to look at the face or image of the deity and then turn their face to what they serve. And, as my dear friend Lady Ceres very eloquently shared with me, “There is more to witchcraft than form and ritual. It is a craft, an art, and therefore will vary with the person practicing it.”
The primary difference between the witch and other spiritual people may be that we know that this core spirit can be contacted, engaged, and inspired to co-create with us because we are a part of it. We know that it is not separate from us. In fact, it is not separate from anything. It interpenetrates everything . . . for it is everything and everywhere. Bottom line, we pay reverence to it by being a working partner with it, and not just worshipping it. The way we work can be termed magic or witchery. It is mysterious, magical, spiritual, and sometimes even devotional, but it is anything but superstitious or blind in its faith. It is not really a religion, although it does re-link and connect us to the source of creation and its many streams and it can be powerfully uniting in spirit.
Though I hear witchery referred to as a religion by the modern movement, this is not how the traditional witches originally described it to me. They described it more as a philosophy, a way of life, and even a set of techniques to make visible changes through working invisible means and by direct encounter and exchange. Though they referred to the concept of “the old ways" or “the ways," they never really referred to witchcraft as a religion. This may only be semantics, but it is food for thought. They saw it more as a practice, a way of life, and a paradigm. For them, the concept of religion was weighted down with misconceptions and a loss of spiritual independence that did not allow one to actually discover their inner spirit, power, and creative gifts and a way to grow them into this world. LC felt it alienated the Ancient One (the creative life-force) and over-humanized it with the personality of a specific culture and political influence. They felt that perhaps religion had lost many of its original virtues and people would become more and more called to paths such as witchery because they sought a direct relationship with spirit that invited self-exploration and self-creation. In the wake of an evolving and expanding neo-pagan and magical movement since the 1950s and before, it seems they were right—there is a need for the witch and magic worker for the greater community, and this is partnered with a burgeoning call to people of all ages and persuasions to ways of the witch. In the following chapter, I will share with you insights and teachings that I have distilled from my teachers in the witchery I learned as traditional witchcraft. It is my hope that this material will provide insights, guideposts, and affirmations for both the witch and the seeker of these ways alike.
Witchery from One Witch's Perspective
The term “traditional witchcraft” means many things to many people. For some, it means a witch that follows a specific lineage-based tradition or system, and to some degree I agree with this. Indeed, all traditions and systems start out with someone, or in some cultural or family practice. But, just because material is passed down through generations does not mean it is relevant or powerful, though it may be cherished. For others like me, this term may include this concept, but it definitely also refers to certain ways that the magic worker operates as opposed to the way another one does. I will be discussing many of these ways in this book. One of the defining elements of the type of traditional witchcraft that I am referring to as “witchery” is that it is not a religion (though it can be religious). It is both a practice and a paradigm that finds its way in many forms throughout the indigenous tradition of the world; and it cannot be destroyed or reduced in any way because it can be “re-revealed” by direct encounters through the visible side of nature with its invisible and awesomely powerful invisible side. Even making these statements may be overgeneralizations of what the witchery (as I refer to it) or "old style" traditional witch (benevolent or malevolent) is, and has been through history.
Through the years, there are a few modes of practice that I have seen to be consistently present in the witchcraft and folk-loric magical practices in witchery, and sometimes even in those who do not hail from any lineage. I have found these elements to exist in lineages, systems, or individual practices that I feel are both important and indicate that the witch is tapping into the powers of witchery. They include the following:
· 1. A direct and constant relationship with the Gods or Ancestral Spirits as parents or “Original” ancestry. The deities and spirits are not seen as distant beings, but as a constant presence in our lives. They may have specific names, which vary from tradition to tradition based upon cultural roots, immigration patterns, and synchronized elements of Christian influence. Often the names are colloquial, slang, or a set of descriptive terms like “the Dark One,” “the Ancient One,” “the Master and the Mistress,” or “the Walker and Fate," to name a few.
· 2. Techniques and practices centered on the development of the ability to tap the power, which allows the witch to work magic. This power flows up from the center of the Earth, which we call the abyss, or down from the stars, or both, and it is summoned and directed toward the achievement of goals. This persuasion of witchery rarely speaks of raising the power out of our bodies other than to gift it to the Gods. Instead, we harness, focus, and charge the witchflame in nature when we want to do direct magic.
· 3. Simple spells, charms, and rites for healing, cursing, love, protection, etc., as well as herbal lore, incense and potion making, and tree and stone lore using the power of these objects to accomplish specific aims. The spells are seen as tapping into a stream that includes the voice of the witches who have worked its power in the past. The power in the stones, herbs, etc. is not seen as something we charge them with, but as something within them that we call forth and direct.
· 4. Techniques and lore for living in harmony with nature and its associated spirits, spiritual truths, and rhythms. This includes planetary, stellar, solar, and lunar lore, for these bodies and their rhythms are the very soul of our Cods.
· 5. Techniques for developing intuitive/psychic skills (the sight) as a tool for communicating with subtle forces such as the Faery, the deities, nature spirits, and the ancestors. These skills also allow the witch to understand and interpret the ways of our Lady of Fate and threshold spirits. They also allow the witch to travel the hidden roads of the spirit world inward to the invisible reals and back outward into the seen world.
· 6. Transmission of inner spirit contacts through apprenticeship, initiatory power, and specific rites of making. This is a hallmark of old line witchcraft, for it involves an introduction of the inner spirit contacts of the teaching witch to a student witch.
· 7. Ancestral reverence and magic using altar and hearth work to honor and work with the spirits of the dead to aid our magical work and guide us from the other side as intermediary sprit beings. For me, work with ancestral spirits is the very hallmark of any older forms of magical practice, especially the folk magic forms.
The original rites for induction into this witchery were simple and direct, because it was usually passed on from one family member to another. They involve such practices as taking the student to an area considered in between, such as a graveyard, a place where the woods and the clearing meet, the seashore, or other transition points, placing one foot in one area (such as the clearing) and one foot in the other area (such as the woods) and leaving the student there for a period of time from midnight on to be inducted into the spirit world. Other elements of the tradition include the use of mirrors for conjuring and a witch name, known by other witches, as well as a spirit name only known by the spirits. Many old style witches who now teach seeking witches from outside their familial blood have developed initiations and induction rites for the transmission of power, inner contacts, teachings, etc. In these ways, the gifts of the would-be witch are cultivated and the worker is woven into the living fabric of the spirit world. However, finding a teacher in the old style of witchery can be a challenge.
The Challenges of Finding Witchery
I must warn the seeker of these ways that finding a teacher and getting them to teach can be a challenge. One of the greatest challenges is that a folk or family witch may not even know that what they have is of great value. Yet, these witches are often the ones who have the most understanding of witchery. Below, I have listed a few more of the challenges. This list will help tune the seeking student in to some of the subtleties and sensitivities related to seeking, finding, and studying witchery. Considerations include, but are not limited to, the following:
· • The student is not entitled to the teachings. The sharing of teachings is an honor, and the seeking student must approach with respect and humility for both the teachings and the time of the teacher. In many cases, you may be asking the teaching witch to break a family promise not to teach outside his or her blood and though he or she may agree, this is a difficult decision to make.
· • There may be no detailed books or grimoires, and you may or may not be allowed to write down the teachings. They may be shared gradually with an expectation that you will memorize them and be able to recite them back when requested by the teacher. As one of my teachers often said, “What is spoken fades away, but what is written may hang you someday.” She felt that the witchery must be inside the witch for the true power and wisdom to pass forth.
· • The teachings may have no formal name beyond things like “the ways,” “the path,” “the hidden road," “the cunning art," or other informal attributions.
· • The teacher may not use the word “witch." This word or the use of the word “pagan" may be offensive. In fact, the teacher may describe the type of ways I reference in this book with names you have never heard of.
· • There may be specific ways that a student is to request teaching. This may not be known to the student, but it is a deciding factor for the teacher. Yes, this is unfair, but it is a cultural nuance. Do your best to approach with a gift as specific to the culture of the teacher as you are able.
· • The teacher may seemingly undervalue their material because it is simple compared to many other witchcraft practices currently available. They also may have embellished it with new, modern material. They also may embellish stories initially to test the student's commitment and ability to hear what is not said.
· • The teachings are more than practices: they involve a whole paradigm that requires the student to look beyond just “what you do” into how you think, feel, relate, and experience. They may also require you to stare right into the face of what limits you from being free in your spirit and challenge it with the true spirit of a heretic.
· • Many of the teachings will be hidden right in front of you. They will seem elegantly simple, while masking a richness of insight that can elude a seeker if they are being overly engaged in thinking and avoiding deep, chthonic forces and feelings.
. The teachings may be highly treasured as a remnant of the old ways, from the old country, and not available to just anyone who wants them. You may have to have a cultural or ethnic lineage to the origins of the practice to receive
instruction.
· • There may be specific prohibitions about how the information is given. For instance, maybe it can only be taught to the opposite sex. Or, maybe it can only be given once and, when it is given, it may be required that all contact with the teacher be broken.
· • In order to pass on the teachings, there may be a requirement of a type of adoption as a child of the teacher and/or his or her spirits.
This list is a distillation of some of my observations. Now, for clarity, I am only providing insights into the old style witchery I have encountered, learned, and taught. Though I am talking about witchery that involves initiations, adoptions, rites of induction, or other formalized ways of acceptance into the tradition or family of witches, I am not saying that there are not powerful witches I have known who have never taken this route of witchery. In fact, for family witches and their practices, there was a first witch in the family who started their lines. Even in the case of the natural witch who studies with no one but the spirits, I have found that many of the elements and modes I detail in this book find their way into the beliefs and practices too.
Just as I have noticed certain modes of practice across witchery lines, and broad challenges to finding teachers or practitioners of this approach to witchery, I have also found that there are certain core elements that tend to be prevalent. These core elements can be used as a broad checklist to guide the seeker of these ways in determining whether what he or she finds may be actual witchery. The checklist comprises my findings and is not based on any academic position or that of a specific tradition other than what I teach. I do, however, think the list will have resonance for the reader who has a background in any old form of magical practice, including witchery.
An Old Form Witchery Checklist
The following list provides core elements that tend to define older or folkloric witchery traditions from modern constructs. This is not to say that old style witchery is better than modern forms. It is to say that they tend to differ in some ways. I have noticed that many totally modern forms of witchcraft often lead to an experience of witchery, which, for me, lends credence to how witchery reveals itself through many entry points. This list can be used by students seeking older forms of witchcraft or to determine whether a particular line of teachings is based on folkloric or witchery practices. The more items that are present in the identified practice, the higher the chances are that the proposed line is old, or at least based on old concepts.
· 1. Is there a focus on ancestral reverence and collaboration with the dead through ongoing and active engagement practices such as altars, rites, techniques, etc.?
· 2. Do the teachings focus on magic as an intrinsic part of everyday life? This includes daily practices incorporated into food preparation, eating, gardening, bathing, employment, sex and love, morning prayers, etc.
· 3. Are magical tides, as guided by the moon, and seasonal and Earth changes focal in the practices? Large rituals with lots of tools are not a part of these practices. Instead, the work is direct, in nature (or in a graveyard), and often includes practices that are performed daily or frequently.
· 4. Is there a focus on the transmission of inner spirit contacts (also known as the “familiar spirit”) as a part of apprenticeship, especially as the teaching witch is dying?
· 5. Is there synchronization with mystical Christian elements?
If a tradition has no Christian elements in it, it is probably reconstructed and not old. It would be a challenge for lines to have survived in pure pagan style without incorporating such elements as a normal part of synergy and survival.
· 6. Do the practices include the use of rhyme and gibberish (also called the spirit tongue), which is a form of conjure that occurs when the human is taken by the spirit?
· 7. Does the teacher prefer mentorship rather than structured classes? This involves working directly with the witch to see how things are done and how they feel when working. Many traditional witches (me included) have moved to teaching in a structured class format initially, but prefer to move to a more traditional mentoring style.
· 8. Does the teacher understand and teach that the power comes from the spirit or spirits or is being loaned by a deity? The concept of personal power, or what I call privileged power, is modern.
· 9. Does the teacher use a type of binding oath to ensure fidelity and safety performed through oaths, simple rites of binding, and promises made to the spirit world?
· 10. Does the teacher, at some point, provide a formal introduction of the new witch to the world of the spirits? This introduces the individual as a student and member of the family of the spirit world.
· 11. Does the teacher provide instruction on both baneful and blessing magic? As we say in the southern conjuring tradition, “We works with both hands,” which means that the witch can help or harm with his or her power. Traditional folk magic teaches that a worker must be able to do both to be effective at either. My teachers said, “The witch that can't curse can't cure."
· 12. Does the teacher transmit his or her teachings orally in the forms of stories, songs, dances, magical practices, lore, etc., and usually in non-classroom, living situations such as informal discussions or doing the work?
· 13. Does the teacher use folk-based language to describe the work instead of intellectual, modern terms? For example, the spirits would never be called “energies” by a folk witch.
· 14. Does the teacher feel that the ability to perform magic is a genetic one that travels in families? It is not a trait that all people have, though all people can perform simple (but effective) forms of magic.
· 15. Does the teacher use folk names for Gods, Goddesses, or other powerful spirits that describe their function such as “the Maker," “the black bitch” (meaning a black hound), “the stranger," and “the weaver"? This is not always the case, but occurs in some forms of witchery as they moved from their root cultures or countries into the practices of families or small communities. In fact, the words “God or Goddess" are often never used. The powerful spirits are considered to be ancestors .. . only pre-human in origin.
· 16. Does the teacher use graphic initiatory rites instead of symbolic ones? The older rites are usually simple but potent, such as burial in the ground (a graveyard in the old days), being bound up in vines to become re-veined (to have new veins for new blood) into the green world, or standing at an in-between place such as a crossroads, island seashore, where the woods meet a clearing, etc. Both forms are good, but the folk forms tend to be simple but potent.
· 17. Does the teacher use a special name for the new witch that is given at initiation or induction and/or provided by the spirits when he or she is “made”?
A Witch Must Be a Witch
One day I was in a casual conversation with my teacher and friend, Lady Circe, about how and when we were called to this path and whether we truly had a choice to attend the calling. She told me of a wonderful story where two young ladies came into her store and told her that they "used to be witches." Lady Circe’s response was, "You were never witches or you still would be." I wholeheartedly agree with her. I have found that the calling to be a witch of the old ways is not a mere curiosity, or a hobby, or even mere interest. It is more like a call from the deepest places inside you that you must listen to for any satisfaction in life to be enduring. It is a call from somewhere inside of us that cannot be ignored.
Once the witch heeds the call, the teacher and the experience needed will present themselves out of the web of possibilities that forms the body of our Lady of Fate. You see, being a witch in the ways of witchery is really about embodying what we already know at the core of who we are. It is a path of seeking oneness with the spirit world through the great web and edge points (the places of transition) of nature. It is also a way path in which the witch can be one with the spiritual forces of their own inner nature, the planetary nature, and the spirit world. In this way, witchery can be embraced as both a way to understand and live within the world and a way to use the gifts that arise within us that allow us tap and navigate the powers of creation. The would-be witch finds that they are willing to risk anything, and often does, to heed the call of witchery. There are few paths in life that are burdened by social stigma and societal risk as witchery. Therefore, those who seek and find its ways are driven by a deep, unstoppable, and unexplainable force for something that they cannot see before their eyes but can feel rising from them. The bottom line is that the quest for witchery defies reason, for reason is not its ultimate source of directive. It is a call from our blood and spirit to something we are told is wicked, nonexistent, or forbidden. Our courage and divine discontent gives us the power to overcome all of this and find and grow our witchery.
The witch finds that he or she has unique qualities that have been present since childhood, such as an interest in the spirit world, magic, healing, plants (as both medicine and spirit beings), the graveyard, the subtle forces of the night, the spiritual presence in the elements, and a host of other attributes. They find that they have the gifts of the spirit such as empathy, telepathy, precognition, the ability to cast spells, or a host of other “gifts." The interest and the gifts form powerful drives to seek, learn, experience, and practice the ways of witchery. The final product of this experience is a unique individual of great value to his or her community. Their knowledge and gifts are much needed in a world where humanity appears to be drifting away from the love, wisdom, and power of nature toward potentially becoming the source of its own destruction. Thank the spirits of nature for ensuring that the voice in the blood of the witch will always surface when it is needed. This concept of the witch blood is a topic often debated, but it was a part of the teaching I received and therefore the subject of the next chapter of this book.
The Four Ways of Witchery
Over the many years of my study, research (direct and literary), and practice of witchery, I have encountered many systems and traditions in an array of geographic locations, across varied cultural roots, and based on a broad spectrum of approaches and influences. Each tradition, lineage, apprenticeship or coven, family or system has often had quite unique philosophical positions on what witchcraft is, where it comes from, and how it works, and this sets the direction, structure, and tone of the training and development of the witches who practice it. But, I have found that all of the witchery I have encountered tends to be anchored in one or more of four approaches to the focus and mechanics that make its magic work. I call these the four ways of witchery and offer them as food for thought, and guidance to the seeker and the worker of these ways. Each of these “ways" could be seen as one of four roads that may intersect and reveal the spiritual, mystical, and magical wisdom and power related to this work. It is important to know that, though I practice a form of magical craft that is also mystical and spiritual, not all witches work those paradigms. Below, I offer each one and a brief description of the specific way and practices and insights related to it.
Ecstasy Traditions and Practices: Ecstasy in witchery is broadly defined as a trancelike, altered state (in varying degrees of intensity and clarity) that expands the witch's spiritual, mental, emotional, and physical awareness beyond the normal waking state of consciousness.” In spirit-doctoring (conjure), I heard this called a “rapture”; in witchery it was called “flying beyond the hedge.” It involves a shifting of awareness within the witch to encounter, merge, and mingle with otherworldly forces including the witch flame (the power), the knowing (knowledge); and spirits such as the ancestral dead, deities, angels, Faeries, and a host of other beings. Transformational contact and information transmission may occur. It is inspired by an array of practices that may include dancing, minor movement, breath work, charms or chants, body posturing, ritual (simple or complex), sacred site work, and many other forms. Ecstatic practices can free up a state of awareness that may be initially disturbing: altering, transformational healing, and influenced non-human presences. Ecstatic approaches are often very liberating and exhilarating, but also radically shifting.
Fertility Traditions and Practices: Fertility in witchery is broadly defined as the physical state, energetic rhythm(s), and spiritual essence related to vitality (well-being), continuity of life and lifeforms (human and other), fecundity and reproduction. Accessing it involves rituals and other practices that sensitize and synchronize the witch with patterns that uphold life and lifeprocesses for humanity, the plant/tree world, animals, the weather, the relationship between earth, water, fire, and air (or sky), just to name a few of the focal relationships in fertility practices. In this approach, the witch is concerned about maintaining the balance of spiritual forces for such endeavors as crop and fruit growth, weather effects, lactation, romance and attraction, menstruation, virility, and this list goes on. It is also focused on health, healing, and help. Encounters with the fertile forces of witchery are very healing, invigorating, and very often devotional. Sorcery Traditions and Practices: Sorcery in witchery is broadly defined as "any ritual, symbol, rite, charm, prayer, or other technique or approach that employs the use of magic and spells to
employ invisible forces and relationships to produce visible changes. Some traditions only focus on this practice. But most that I encounter have one or more of the other ways involved in their witchcraft. For instance, ecstasy approaches may be used to enter the spirit world only to do magic. Magic may be done to enhance fertility. Sorcery may be focused on revealing hidden knowledge or understanding a mystery. Often, the sorcery way is about practical magic for improved life circumstances. However, none of the ways of witchery truly stands alone, as a witch encounters profound mystery and ecstasy when he or she works magic. I often say that witch are never closer to their source of joy than when they are working the current of magical power. Encounters with the sorcerous forces of witchery can be disturbing or empowering and liberating. But they must be balanced with discretion and respect for the potency.
Mystery Traditions and Practices: Mystery in witchery is broadly defined as “secret, elusive, mystical, integrative, or inspired knowledge." It is revealed through shared insights, rites and rituals for initiation, and ceremonies that support translation of the information received or revealed. This sharing may be from a human teacher or mentor, or by some otherworldly being (human or non-human).
Often a mystery practice, such as an initiatory rite or rite of passage, fully transmits and translates a type of gnosis that has occurred during one of the other ways of witchery. Encounters with the mystical forces of witchery can be life-altering, redirecting, clarifying, and igniting, and they usually involve witnessing from other people or witches.
Two
THE WITCH BLOOD AND THE WITCH KNOWING
/ touch you and your blood remembers.
--LC
In one late-night discussion with another one of my elders, which I will also refer to as LC (same initials), we discussed what it is that prompts someone to become a witch and why we might need another "awakened" (initiated) witch to help us grow into our own witchery. We also discussed the invisible yet intensely tangible force that seems to drive those called to seek this path to come to their witchery no matter the hindrance and how it nearly always involves interaction with another witch—one who is strong in his or her witchery. This person will have to be strong enough in his or her witchery to pull the seeking witch into their own. Thus, the concept exists of a witch with the blood awakened and who can bridge that initiatory spark to the spiritual fuse of the seeker witch. The drive for this spark (or touch, as we call it) is the mystical doorway into the world of witchery and the gnosis of the spirit through which the agency of what my teachers called the witch-blood awakens. It may take many interactions with many witches for the fullness of the witch-blood to awaken, or it may take the touch of one strong witch. This aspect of the journey is unique to each witch. But, if it is the witch-blood that is awakening, this force will attract what it needs to grow.
The interaction with another witch is what, in my tradition, we term as “the touch,” and it causes a reaction in the seeker that either awakens his or her blood (inner knowing) that they are of the blood, or affirms that this is not to be their path in life. The concept of “the touch" is used to describe many areas of the witch's growing experience.
It seemed both LC and I felt that there is an interaction between witches that happens that causes the drive (the witchblood) to become an “awakening." The craving for this awakening is instinctual, primal, and unceasing until it is appeased. The drive to seek is the first step in this awakening process. The awakening is the next step, and it happens through contact, communion, and some form of a quickening, induction, or initiation technique that involves being “touched" by a current older than humanity, transmitted through witchery, and in contact with what old-style witches call the witch-blood. Then, the witch is ready to encounter the ancient stream and inner contacts of witchery. Once touched, the witch-blood remembers, and the old power returns. My discussion with LC that night was very clarifying. I hope it gives you a deeper understanding of yourself as well. One thing I know: the awakening of a witch is its own unique and powerful process—as unique, wild, and untamed as witchery itself. But, what are the early signs of the witch-blood? And how does the drive for awakening manifest?
The Baby Steps
Most natural witches knew they were different from childhood. In fact, many of my students report symptomatic events, such as visitations from powerful spirits when they were children, or dreams of being from another place or another time with abilities and insights that would seem magical or occult to others, or an inner knowing about future events or magical and healing techniques. The concepts of magic and the spirit world are not alien, odd, or even supernatural to any of us of the blood, especially as young children, before we are convinced to turn away from this inward knowing. Rather, we always had paranormal experiences that seemed normal and more appropriate to us than the odd fear of the otherworld and of direct encounter with it shared by our peers while growing up. An aspect of this phenomenon is present in most children's lives. Children often report seeing the invisible world, and in most cases embrace or even play with it until the adult world tells them it is evil or imaginary, or at best, the children are placated. We are clear that sometimes these experiences were simply forces of the imagination, but not always. For the children of the witch-blood, these visitations and experiences will never cease; in fact, they will either return later in life or intensify until heeded and trained. For most children, adults will either sternly or even violently forbid this interaction or humor them as mere children with active imaginations of the unreal.
Of course, this humoring usually stops at some point when the children are told that they are too old to believe in such things, but instead must believe and worship the adult invisible friend called “Cod." Needless to say, this adult mandate leaves many children confused and with a lack of trust for their own ability to interpret the invisible, which, in addition to the spirit world, includes their subtle senses of emotion and intuition. They are told they must believe in this invisible God and take the word of the adults that he is real! This is a confusing message to youth, for they are being told that only the adult invisible God is real (though most adults report never seeing him) while the spirits perceived by the youth are either fictional (at best) or diabolical (at worst). Thus begins the age of doubt and conflict within the child that continues as an adult, until he or she can regain the ability to engage with the invisible forces either through blind faith or direct experiences. If we are lucky, the ability to engage with the miraculous powers of the invisible world will return to us later in life through some personal experience or through what I know as witchery. At least for those with witch-blood, this is almost assured, and the intensity of the awakening will likely be parallel to the intensity of the adult command to inner silence or conflict imposed in the developmental years of the would-be witch. A part of this intensity may be shaped by internalizing the very word “witch."
For some, the term “witch" frightens them into avoiding the call of their spiritual, magical blood. For others, the potent primal nature of the word makes it an intriguing and compelling term to describe what is awakening within them and what they are blossoming into. To quote LC, “I call myself a witch for lack of a better term." Yet, there is something different about the forceful drive that causes someone to seek the back roads, dark alleys, and hidden groves of witchery, which is outside the well-lit and convenient world consensus community life. It is an old force—one that does not feel quite like any other calling—and its voice echoes from the dark, natural, and in between places where light and dark play in a dance of shadow. For us, it was something from deep, deep within our very nature. It felt like something that included our spiritual and intuitive gifts, but was also likened to a call from within, and we knew we had to obey it.
It was like any other deep spiritual calling where God, or whatever you call the spirit, has called us to its service, but yet it is different. This call was to forces that need not be imagined because they are alive throughout nature and are available for encounter anytime in-between states occur, such as birth, death, dusk, dawn, seasonal changes, where natural elements meet (such as the seashore), at life-stage shifts, and even in trance or that liminal state between sleep and wakefulness. They are the very forces of nature around and within us; and, for the awakened witch, these spirits are as intimate as the presence of any family member or precious friend. We feel them in our blood, and this feeling is often coupled with an already deep understanding that defies reason. They are also often coupled with certain gifts to heal, predict, make magic, or something else that is present in the awakening witch, yet it was never taught to them. You see, the witch-blood is not made by another witch. It is awakened, and it is given training and further encouragement to grow and blossom, perhaps in a family (such as a coven, lineage, or tradition). Otherwise, the blood may awaken on its own through a near-death experience or some occurrence where the spirit world seizes the seeking witch and changes him or her somehow. In my experience, the latter is the least preferred and least healthy awakening process.
Both LC and I had, by the time we met, taught many people seeking the ways of witchery. Nearly all our most talented and “tuned in" students had experienced in their childhoods what we had also experienced, as well as many other symptoms of what we recognized as the “witch-blood” throughout their lives. All reported that they felt driven by an inner force, which felt like the memory of something they knew but could not quite reach, to find a way to understand and grow it into their lives. Many of the students have stated that they simply had no choice. It was who they were, even before they could find a name for it and before another person living it could instruct them. These kinds of reports indicate that they are being called by the blood. And for those of us of this blood, “when chance to meet, never fail to know each other." This recognition is a part of the bond shared by witches across cultures, ethnicities, and even time itself! It is a part of a great stream of spiritual presence that unites all the children of the witch-blood and, in my view, no religion, tradition, political agenda, philosophy, or other defining element in the human world can muddy the powerful waters of this stream when it is present.
The Witch-Blood: The Great Teacher Awakens
Whatever this force is, whether it arises from the deep memory of humanity or the compelling soul of nature, it has caused the witch to surface out of the ancestral blood of humanity over and over and in many forms. People of many cultures, ethnicities, socioeconomic groups, and religions have surfaced over centuries in the realms of witchery. Why were they called? We may never really know all the answers to this question, but one thing we know: witchery has been a part of the human experience for a long time, and its presence seems stronger at this time in history than ever before. This force is pooling (and pulling), and more people are being called by its deeper voice.
It seems that this force is something beyond mere curiosity and thrill seeking. No, when a witch is awakening it is something deeper, more driving than an intellectual pursuit or a fascination. It is something from a deeper place, and maybe this is why the elders called it the witch-blood, because its force is overwhelming and feels like a genetic predisposition when it is real. I phrase it this way (“real") because when it is the witch-blood calling, it never stops, and witchery never sleeps throughout the witch's life (and perhaps beyond to other lives). Its presence becomes the directing force for an entire way of life, not an intermittent influence. It seeks the touch of other witches, of the spirit world in nature, the graveyard, the in-between times, the night sky, the glow of the moon, the breath of the winds, and the glow of the spirit-touch in candlelight. This drive in the blood seeks to remember itself, and that is the great quest of witchery. But where there is one pool of the witch-blood, there tends to be more. In my experience, the propensity for witchery, or least its gifts, tends to run in a family bloodline. This is not an absolute truth, but the lore in many traditions speaks of it as one of the mysteries of witchery, and I believe it to be true.
In most cases, those driven to seek the ways of witchery also report that there are other persons in their family who either sought these ways or had some trait that would seem psychic or magical by other people's description. Their family members also reported, though often in a clandestine way, that they also felt the touch of the spirit world, felt “God's" call in the forces of nature and experienced the ability to shift the physical world through engaging with invisible forces. They felt that there was more to who they were and their relationship to the spirit world than what most ministers in mainstream faith traditions could help them understand. In discussions with family, the would-be witch has often said that some family members were either sympathetic or even supportive of them for their courage to heed the call, or they feared they may be a witch too and were running to the church to quiet the calling. Regardless of their reaction, they too often report some gift, trait, or propensity for the spirit world that seems to originate in a deeper place than their desires. Again, the lore of many of the witchery traditions supports the reports of our most talented students that this “certain something" shows up in the family bloodline of the would-be witch, and for some it simply cannot be quieted. It must be obeyed for us to have enduring joy and a sense of completeness, rightness, and meaning in our lives.
One of the most compelling aspects of the discussions with students is that it seems or feels like a witch needs another witch to become a witch, and that once this happens there is an almost predictable series of both revelations and experiences that the student witch will experience as the witchery grows in him or her. It is like there are some aspects of being a witch that lay dormant until we are touched by the spirit of another witch. The spirit within the seeker appears to need the affirmation, mentoring, guidance, support, and touch of another less social and more mystical, invisible, but recognizable force that flows from the teacher in order to blossom. This blossoming begins a mystical and magical experience for the student that only a witch who had already experienced this would be equipped to understand and guide. This touch would begin at the first introduction to the other witches, then to an appropriate teaching witch. It is often described as an overwhelming feeling of coming home, accompanied by intense feelings of joy, excitement, relief, and even waves of heat moving throughout the seeker's body, resulting in lightheadedness and tears. There is no doubt that something deep and visceral is occurring, like a power in and of itself. This experience will grow deeper as information is shared, the lifestyle is affirmed by the other witch, and an eventual induction (i.e. initiation or some other form) into a stream of inner power takes place—a ritual that may be as old as time itself. From this touch forward, the seeking witch will never be able to shut down what has been awakened, nor would they want to.
A DRIVE FROM WITHIN: THE BLOOD BOILS
This initial drive is so powerful that the seeker is often willing to face apparently insurmountable obstacles, social and familial admonishments, and many other challenges to heed the inner calling to be touched by another witch. For many of us, it feels like we have no choice but to follow this drive that is leading us
in the direction of what society forbids and what only our spirit knows—and nothing else will satisfy this drive but the touch of witchery. We are driven into what LC from England called "the known unknown,” meaning toward something we know in our spirit but is unknown to our intellect. This drive is filled with lifeforce and inspiration, like the very waters of our soul are being heated up by some power beyond our understanding, at least at that stage ofwitchery. The seeking witch may find that he or she is even awakened in the middle of the night with questions that drive him or her to buy an endless barrage of books in order to research with fervor to answer questions about witchery that are rising from within from some wellspring of enquiry that never seems to run dry.
This stage is known as the blood boiling, and it is a time in the seeker's life when opportunity, necessity, and resource have lined up like the tumblers in a combination lock, allowing the witch-blood to get what it needs to awaken. The boiling feels like intense inner discontent, overwhelming and all-consuming interest, preoccupation, and an inner push to find others who understand what the seeker is experiencing. The boiling, to others, seems compulsive and makes no logical sense. During the boiling stage, it will feel like witchcraft or magic is a constant preoccupation that, if not managed, can become a hindrance to the performance of daily survival needs, such as employment, paying bills, parenting, romantic needs, and other commitments and life-management needs. I always advise the seeker to attend to these in a consistent way, because the witch-blood does not require us to abandon the other areas of our lives. Just the opposite—the way of the witch is as a very grounded and responsible person, though the initial temptations can indicate otherwise.
For me, the blood boiling felt like my inner spirit had the address of my destination in it. I just had to listen to the directing force within to know where to go next, and then the next aspect of the guidance would emerge from within. Once the blood-driven witch finds the teacher, then somehow the invisible force that drove him or her is touched by the other witch and “the blood remembers." This is the most exciting part of the process—to become or return to being one of Mother Nature's most curious and alluring spiritual forces: the witch.
The tumblers in the inner lock is a metaphorical way of looking at why the witch-blood boils when it does. The blood is ancient and wise. It has brought many a witch to the blossoming of witchery, and its intelligence should not be second-guessed. The witch-blood tends to wait until three internal and environmental qualities line up: necessity, opportunity, and resource. There are many ways I could describe these pivotal ingredients that precipitate the boil, but I will offer these brief descriptions:
Opportunity: When the appropriate environment is available, the witch-blood will boil and seek the resources to feed it. Nature brings the witch-blood forward when it has the fertile environment for its growth.
Necessity: The witch-blood boils when it is summoned from the inner world by the outer world's needs. When nature needs witches, we will arrive.
Resource: The witch-blood is drawn forward when it knows that there is another witch available who can touch it. When there is another witch to mediate the touch of the ancient current, nature or fate will bring forth a seeking witch.
When these elements line up, the witch-blood begins to settle in the witch from boil to a simmer. An inner contentment begins to grow in the witch and his or her blood (power) begins to move from a spirit of desperation to one of expectation. The excited expectation of the blood is for the next level of the touch.
THE TOUCH
The touch happens many times and in many different ways for the seeking witch. The touch is a way that the old current of witchery begins to move from an outside source into the seeking witch's spiritual blood and awakens the living memory within. I have found that the touch moves through several stages as it unfolds the memory of witchery in the witch-blood.
The first stage of the touch is the awareness that there are others like you who have a draw to the spirit world through nature that resonates with the spirit that is moving through you. This stage often happens while reading a book, or observing an interview on the television, or some other non-intimate contact with the witch current. This experience for you tends to include an overall feeling of coming home and feeling like there are others like you in the world. Many of my students have described this stage as either happening when they read their first book on witchcraft, informally met another person identifying as a witch, or when they met their first teacher. They describe it in terms of, “Wow, there are others like me"; or, “there is a name for ’this’”; or, “I thought I was the only one"; or, “I am not crazy.” The first stage of the touch is affirming and somewhat comforting.
The second stage of the touch is feeling something awakening within you through contact with another witch. This stage is often short-lived and somewhat tumultuous. It involves meeting some other person who also is drawn to witchcraft in a more direct relationship. Most often this first person is only someone mildly interested, and the seeker with the witch-blood tends to get frustrated or feel that the other person is not really serious or does not understand that witchery is not just about hexing your boyfriend, enchanting your neighbor, or mandating employment from a new boss. It is something deeper and more profound for the seeker of witchery. However, this stage starts to call forth more discernment in you, even if you still don't know what the thing you are looking for really looks like. Deep inside, you know that you will know it when you see it because your witch-blood will recognize it. You find yourself back adrift, often with some melodrama to form the spiritual missile liftoff for the energetic push to find the next level of the touch.
The third stage of the touch is when you actually meet a teacher. My experience is that the witch-blood knows when the right teacher or teachers arrive. When you meet them, you may feel a rush of excitement, a flush of warmth, or an intense wave of hopefulness and gratitude. In most cases, however, the first teacher is not the final one. This teacher may only help you tune your awareness into how your witch-blood is to grow, he or she may even help you see what does not work for your inner spirit. There is a process of discovering what I call the gate of enchantment, which is how the spirit world speaks through and to the witch. These gates form what many might call your gifts. The first teacher can only consciously help you discover this if he or she has experienced this stage of growth too. I find that a teacher can only teach you or help you discover the avenues he or she personally has traveled in the witchery. This aspect of the touch is less about specific material and teachings. It is more about an energetic stream that flows between the seeking witch and the mentoring witch. It also includes knowledge on the teaching witch’s end of the more subtle aspects of what it takes to inspire an individual witch's blood to come forward and reveal his or her own unique way of working.
The final stage of the touch is some form of induction into the current of witchery. This most often involves initiation or some other form of induction into the current. It includes an introduction of the seeking witch to some of the spirit contacts of witchery by another witch. In my experience, the induction is most often formal or chthonic, but it can occur through other ways directly between the spirit world and the seeking witch. Other forms of the initiatory touch may include a visitation from a powerful spirit, a near-death experience, a fever-based illness, a bite from a poisonous creature, or some other form of accidental poisoning that causes changes in the witch-blood. These touches are powerful, but they can be disquieting and even dangerous without the guidance of a more experienced witch. If this stage of the touch occurs, there really is no turning back. You will be changed forever. No matter what forms of spirituality, mysticism, or magic you practice in the future, the heart and spirit of you will always be a witch. This is the time to remember and awaken the witch-blood, the force behind witchery.
Why Witches?
Of all the spirit beings associated with the more mysterious and magical face of nature it is the witch that consistently stirs awe, fear, intrigue, wonderment, fascination, and visions of power in the imagination and heart of humanity. This being, often portrayed as female (though definitely not limited to it), has gripped humanity by its own curiosity, and yes, its inner knowing, for countless centuries. Perhaps the female witch has stirred the most response from humanity because she is so like the Earth and sea in her mystical rhythms; her power calls us back to our original covenant with our First Mother: the earth. It seems that in fear or guilt over this broken covenant there have been many attempts to thwart and destroy her witch-blood, but she has endured and survived. Our sister witches have incurred much pain and suffering over the centuries, but their spirits could not be broken, neither in the women nor Mother Earth. Now men and women serve this force that could not be destroyed, and we will not go back into the mists of time and shadows of misplaced fear. Male and female witches are here to lead humanity back to the glory of our planet, our Goddess, and our Fate. In short, witches are here because we are necessary to the very balance of nature (human and planetary). Know this: Our Gods were old when the old Gods were young!
The witch seems to embody the same allure experienced in nature: unpredictable, powerful, beautiful and hideous, secretive, and ancient. Yet, for all of the fear that many people have for the witch, they are also drawn to the witch almost as if humanity is incomplete without our presence in the world. We, the witches, are often the last visages of hope when someone is experiencing problems or challenges in life that no one seems to understand. It is the witch who is sought when the rhythms and tides of life make no sense. We have the knowledge and skills to look within the fabric of the Fate-Weaver's threads and to alter it if needed. After all, nature, true nature, is the voice we witches most treasure, and this is the voice people need most when they are being swept onto the metaphorical rocks of doubt by the tides of change. At this time of challenge in the world of humanity and its place on this lovely planet, the wisdom and power of witchery is more needed than ever. As I was once told, "As long as there are witches in the world, there is hope for humanity.” Maybe this is because the witch is a response from the collective soul of humanity, a safety mechanism to prevent our species from wandering perilously far from the powerful forces of nature and the soul contract our species has within it. Whatever the reason that nature and humanity created this type of human that lives as a spirit that we call witch, we come out of the blood pool of humanity when we are needed.
Is Everyone of the Witch-Blood?
I am often asked if I think everyone can be a witch and if everyone has the witch-blood within them. Ultimately, I do not think there is a clear and definitive answer to this question, because there are many differing beliefs among old-style witches about where the witch-blood came from, and whether this concept is still true in the modern world. All of the traditions I know, and definitely the ones I teach, say that the witch-blood emerged in the human blood pool when there was a mating or mingling of humans with nonhuman spirit-beings. Some of the lore says that this was the mating of the sons of God (angels) with the daughters of men, while others say it was human and Faery blood that mixed at an early time in humanity's development. All of the teachings infer that an otherworldly trait entered into certain human families, and it is this trait that gives certain humans more of the knowing than others. This same concept also shows up as the caul or veil, a placental sheath over the eyes of the newborn that denotes otherworldly abilities and often reoccurs in families. In my opinion, there is some form of blood trait that increases the propensity for the following attributes to be present in an individual:
· • Increased sensitivity to subtle forms of presence such as spirits, changes in energetic patterns, and pools of spiritual power that may be present in persons, places, and things;
· • An inner knowing of things primarily unknown to others such as predictions of the future, or subtle changes in health;
· • Enhanced capabilities, such as the ability to heal, affect the weather, impact the health of plants and trees through
touch, and communicate with animals;
· • Enhanced ability to affect the visible world through invisible means such as consciously entering other people’s dreams, casting spells, removing harmful energetic patterns, and having the ability to contact and directly engage with beings that appear to be invisible but are powerful, such as deities, angels, Faery people, and ancestral spirits.
This list is by no means exhaustive, but it does list some of the general capacities that tend to be seen in those who have witch-blood and are often called natural witches. I suspect that many, if not most, of the people guided to read this book have already experienced many of the things I am discussing, indicating that this trait is in them and in their family. Again, just because witch-blood is in the family does not mean that family members are working with it or are comfortable with its presence. In fact, I have witnessed a phenomenon I call hyperreligiosity among many people at conflict with their witch blood. In these cases, a person becomes intensely religious and uses the religion as a way to bind or shut down his or her gifts. In other scenarios, a person may employ other coping strategies, such as alcohol or psychoactive drug abuse, to attempt to mute it, which can have dangerous and deleterious effects. This is one of the reasons that it is so important for the awakening witch to find awakened, ethical, and knowledgeable teachers to mentor and guide him or her.
As I teach students from many different cultures, socioeconomic groups, geographic regions, religions, political parties, and other strata, I am seeing more and more people come to me with the attributes of the witch-blood. Some of them are daunted
or afraid, others excited and hungry for guidance. It seems to me that the pool of the witch-blood is large, though it is sometimes more concentrated in some families or individuals. It also seems that there is some impulse from the spirit world, consciousness of the human species, or the planet itself that is causing the blood to awaken to these traits in more and more people. Though I still think there will be certain people who seem to have more of these traits in a concentration, and they are to help guide others or be of assistance to humans, animals, spirits, plants, etc. that need them, there are a whole lot of people with some of the witch-blood. Thus, the public wants more and more books, websites, workshops, covens, gatherings, and other venues where they can have the blood that is boiling in them awakened. For those persons of the awakened witchblood, this is the time we have all been waiting for, when we are needed to bring healing, wholeness, and help to our planet.
The Witch-Knowing
When I was growing up in Virginia, my mother (who also had the gift) would often have an inner knowing that something was going to happen, or she would just know that a particular plant was good for healing without being taught about it. When asked how she knew this, she would simply and frankly state that “the knowing" told her. She treated this ability as if it were something separate from her everyday life that would come into her awareness and she would simply know things. She was always adamant that it was a gift from God, which she considered a blessing sometimes and a curse other times. But she was firm that God must be acknowledged for the gift to be protected from wicked use and wicked spirits. Personally, I also think this was her way of keeping herself open to a spiritual force and an inner trait that was too subtle and impactful for the ego to healthfully grasp as its own without dangerous compromises occurring. She also said that she, my sister, and I had the same kinds of gifts, but she was not tutored in their use other than some guidance from her midwife, who we affectionately knew as Ms. Granny, and a few others she knew who had the knowing. Perhaps this was one of the reasons she only received tokens of death, because she did not have the ongoing support of others with the knowing who were also at peace with it.
I have trained hundreds of witches over the last twenty-five years. Most of them had some level of the witch-blood working within them, while others were clearly deeply gifted. I have distilled a few major areas that are fundamental to the well-being, power, and ongoing growth of a witch. These areas of understanding are only broad areas to develop that later branch into other areas more specific to the skills, temperament, visionary guidance, and life of the witch. I have also included techniques for you to develop a basis for these understandings.
Understanding your own inner tides: This entails an understanding of your own eating, sleeping, dreaming, and other inner patterns, such as high and low points of energy; favorite times of the day, year, month, or week; or favorite places for subtle contact, such as a graveyard, by a stream, in a grove of trees, etc. These patterns will reveal when you have more energy available to you and the nature of this energy specific to you. An aspect of this is the ability to determine the difference between anxiety and energetic motivation; and between depression and a true call within or a call to aloneness. This area is about understanding the voice of your own soul and its magic.
Techniques:
· • Journal in a diary.
· • Visit places that you have been drawn to throughout your life and note the effect they have on you mentally, spiritually, emotionally, and physically.
· • Note times of the day when you feel energized, powerful, motivated, or enthusiastic; and, conversely, lethargic, deflated, tired, or unmotivated.
· • Note the ways you shift emotional and energetic states and how the transitions feel and appear.
Understanding entrances through the edge: This entails discovering your specific ways of summoning, or being summoned to, the entry point into the otherworld of the unseen. This includes work with threshold states or threshold beings, often referred to as the Dark Man at the Crossroads or the Horned Guardian (the
Witch-Father).
Techniques:
· • Note in your diary how and when you may feel summoned to engage with the spirit world and do magic.
· • Research threshold Cods that live at crossroads: places where life and death meet, where elements meet, and that open or close doors, and embody the spiritual forces of transition and the human-divine touch.
· • Work with transition times such as dusk, dawn, equinoxes, and solstices when day and night, seasons, and life states shift. Sense, see, and feel the presence there.
Understanding communion with the web of fate: This entails activities and techniques for encountering and engaging the subtle relationships between persons, places, and things, often called Our Lady of Fate or the Web of Wyrd (the Witch-Mother).
Techniques:
· • Work with meditational practices that relax inner chatter and allow you to enter into the flux and flow of your breath. It is the breath that is the key to entering into the tides of life's space breath, which is the mother of all things.
· • Establish a notebook or diary for logging ways that life talks to you through signs in nature, songs on the radio, television commercials, informal discussions with people in the supermarket, or on the telephone, and many other more casual interactions. Her voice is in the relationships between everything and everyone.
· • Go into natural places such as the woods, the desert, the ocean shore, the swamps, and other locations that have a powerful unified underlying presence. Feel into that presence and wait for her to arrive in your spirit. Note if she gives you a name, symbol, or image, as this is Mother Nature speaking to you—and she is fate herself.
Understanding your gates of enchantment: This entails a discovery of your specific subtle sensory and magical gifts. Another way of looking at this is a discovery of how the spirit world reaches to you and how you reach to it. This may include where in your body you feel the presence of spiritual and magical power and presence. It also includes discovering how you feel in your body and other sensations when you are shifting into the realms of witchery.
Techniques:
· • Recall how you feel when you are in a place that is haunted or known as a sacred place or a place of power. Do you feel a tingle up your spine or a queasy feeling (often called butterflies in your stomach)? Note how your body communicates contact with the spirit world to you.
· • Note whether you tend to smell, taste, hear, see, or feel the presence of spirit. Often a witch will have one or more senses that is stronger than the others and, if attended to, will begin to teach this subtle capacity to other senses.
· • Give yourself the permission to explore your gifts and the way they speak to you in your own unique way. Nothing thwarts the development of the knowing and the other magical gifts like comparing it to another. It is unique to you in its subtle nuances, even if there are some commonalities with others of similar gift. No two witches are alike.
Understanding the natural tides and rhythms of the mill of magic: This entails learning how to enter, engage, and exit the circular and cyclic rhythms of the planet, sun, moon, and stars, and sensitizing and synchronizing to the natural inner and outer rhythms of nature as a way of entering into, accessing, and employing its power for the healthy benefit of humanity, the planet, ourselves, and other spirits we serve. It is a way that the witch enters into the turning or creative motions of the Earth and its relationship to the whirling manifesting powers of the Milky Way galaxy, of which all life as we know it is composed.
Techniques:
· • Rites, rituals, and techniques that focus on observing the turning of the tides, the solar changes, the phases of the moon, and other celestial and planetary events are ways of entering into a conversation going on between the manifest and the unmanifest. These are ways to hear the spell of the universe spoken into and through all things. Therefore, all witches should establish simple ways to observe and plug into these (as my elders called them) “turnings of the tides."
· • Research the ways that the seasonal changes affect where you live and the world around and within you. Mother Fate and the Lord of the Threshold speak different but comparable languages specific to ecosystems.
· • Work with the simple mill-opening technique as follows:
· 1. Using your right pointing and middle finger, draw a circle around you, envisioning blue flame streaming from your fingers cutting a trench (also known as a moat) in the land or floor around you.
· 2. Feel and sense the memory and spirit of the world rise and fill that trench. Call upon the power of the Ancient One (the source of all) to consecrate this place and banish all spirits of ill-will.
· 3. Spend time in that space speaking with this spiritual presence, known as the Mother Fate or the Witch Mother. This builds rapport between the witch and his or her magical mother.
· 4. When done, state, "What comes from the soul goes to the soul," and envision and feel the mother closing, the blue fire fading into the inner web of the earth.
· 5. When this recedes, see one spark of blue flame remain which is yours, and call it back into you. Always thank the Witch-Mother for allowing you to enter into her spirit.
Understanding your internal and magical landscape: This entails mapping out how, when, and where your knowing speaks to you in the subtle landscape of your inner world. The most constant guiding power in a witch's life is his or her own inner knowing, or as I call it, the witch-voice. This process includes the inner guidance of the spirit that has truth, insight, and power, as well as discerning the internal perceptions that are false, deceptive, and anchored in past pain, fear, and trauma.
Techniques:
· • Establish dream and magical journals that can be used as a form of field notes to document your journey into the tides of your witch-blood, specifically through the dialogue that reveals itself in your dreams. Each morning, when you awaken, you should reach to your dream journal, take it in your hands, and prepare to write in it. If you cannot recall any dreams, that is fine. This exercise builds a relationship between you and your dreaming self. After a while your dreaming self will see that your outer awareness is interested in what it has to say, and it will begin to speak to you in dreams that you remember.
. Establish the following labeled columns on each page of the dream journal: date (day and year of dream), person (any humans in the dream), place (specific locations in the dream), time (clock time, day, night, etc. in the dream), symbol, and action. Fill these columns out for each dream. Over time, your dreams will become more vivid and informative.
· • As you get more skilled in working with the inner voice of your dream state, you will be able to think about a question as you fall to sleep and take it into the dream world for answers and insights.
· • Establish a magical journal for logging all spells and magical work. Write in it all recipes and techniques you use and develop. In this way, record your journey through your magical landscape, especially until you have established a sound relationship with it. This book can also become the foundation for your own grimoire.
Understanding that witchery emerges from a stream of spiritual power and presence: This entails developing a conscious and consistent connection to the energetic ancestry of the witchblood. By doing so, each witch is connected to all of the witches before and behind him or her and can access guidance, support, insight, magical potency, and a number of other powers from
the broader stream of witchery.
Techniques:
· • The moon has long been connected to the forces of witchery. Whether seen as the face of our Lady of Fate, as the power that rules the invisible tides, or as the Goddess of the Witches (such as Diana, Luna, Selene), the moon has always been a source of power to witches. The technique I am sharing was inspired by a discussion with Raven Gri-massi, esteemed author and witch. We were looking at the moon together one night when he stated, "I cannot get over the fact that you and I are looking at and adoring the same moon that every witch that has ever lived has adored."
· • During a full moon, though this exercise can be done on any phase, go out quietly and alone and look at the moon. Feel the presence of her magical power flow to you and know that you are looking into the face of the same Lady of Fate that every witch who has ever lived has looked into. By doing this, you are entering into a timeless communion with the stream of witchery and its witches, including yourself. You may find yourself wondering whether looking at the moon summons the spiritual presence of witches in the past to you in the present, whether witches in another time (their present) are looking at the moon and contacting you in their future, or whether witches in another time are looking at the moon and reaching you in their past.
· • When you immerse in the timeless feelings of the witchblood through the window of the moon's soul, you enter into the greater soul of witchery. Once you feel this presence, you can bring magical power from it into any work you do. This power affects the inner tides and rhythms of the manifest earth.
This ends this chapter on the witch-blood and the witchknowing. By working with these concepts, you can enter into a place of much spiritual power. The blood and the knowing form the gateway for entering into the timeless mill of magic wherein the witch may trod the roads of witchery, working the serpent and well tides of power with the oldest of Gods and Goddesses in the in between realms of the witch-flame.
Three
TREADING THE MILL OF MAGIC
There are two great bears, one black and one white, that sit in the north turning a millstone that grinds the stars into all living things.
—A Traditional Witchcraft Legend from LC
The above quote was one of the first teachings I learned from my Brentwood, Essex, England teachers. It is a very old legend according to the oral tradition, and it forms the core wisdom teaching related to an old craft concept and set of techniques for accessing the creative power of the universe—mill magic. The legend speaks of a polarized spinning power originating in the heavens that takes primal movement coupled with primal light and grinds (or shifts) them into the multitudinous expressions of life. I was told that this wisdom story is the core guiding insight for works of witchery, even in its seeming simplicity. It has been my experience that simplicity and potency are telltale indicators of witchery practices. There are many more mysteries in this wisdom-leg-end.
There are several implications associated with this legend, and understanding or relating to them is pivotal to understanding the subject of this chapter. They are:
All life as we know it comes from a polarity that evolved and is still evolving out of the original space.
The polarity represented by the bears reflects a stage in creation that can be related to and engaged with, as indicated by a knowable image versus an unknowable pre-conditioned
universal state of being.
These polarity forces originate in the north, a place of great magic and mystery in many traditions, and relates to the magnetism of planet Earth, which is the creative vortex as well as the life-sustaining foundation of our lives.
The turning of the millstone directly refers to the turning nature of the Milky Way galaxy and how it is imprinted into the turning of the Earth, the revolution of the Earth around the sun, the revolution of the planets in our solar system around the sun, the revolution of the moon around the Earth, and even the orbital relationships at the cellular and subatomic levels of existence.
The turning alters or modifies primal light into the stars, planets, moons, and suns of the heavenly bodies, and then all of the life-forms (seen and unseen) in, on, and around these bodies.
The millstone image speaks of a circular motion and a tangible force that is the power of transformation into form and transmutation out of or into another form.
Since the transformation, called “the grinding," is into all living things, and witchery teaches that everything is alive, then this force is within all things and thus we witches have it in us and can relate to this power from that inner point of reference and familial connection.
If we, as witches, engage with the powers of this myth, we will be working with the forces of creation, destruction, and generation at their root, which we call “treading” or “working the mill of magic.”
Now let's look at the ways that witchery accesses the power
and wisdom of the universe through this core legend, as well as the responsibility of the witch for how and when he or she uses it.
The “Toucher" is Touched
If we were to use the word religion associated with witchery, it would be accurate to say that the religion of true witchery is in how it reveres and gives adoration to the source by being in a state of conscious alignment as conscious co-creators with it. We do not merely believe that we are a part of the source of ourselves—we know it. In fact, it is through direct experience of the mill and its power to create and regenerate that witchery leads us from blind faith (non-verified faith without experience and observation) to informed faith (verified faith based on knowing and direct experience of results).
We witches are also clear that this source wants us to do magic. It wants us to be awake, empowered, and responsible cocreators with it. It does not want us ignorantly subservient, nor does it want us arrogantly disconnected. After all, the universal source created humanity to be creative, and it endowed us with the ability to imagine aspects of life that have not been imagined before. However, I am confident that the way to do this in a manner that is healthy, balanced, and considerate of our planet and its life is to be creative within its natural rhythms and resonances in the spirit of co-creation, not domination. The domination approach is unhealthy and false, as our current ecological state is teaching us. We cannot dominate the force that creates us. We can, however, come into alignment with it and have it become our primary teacher through working with life-force, life-forms, life-cycles, and life-flow. This philosophical and magical approach is how we bring ourselves into a life that is attuned to it. The aligned, conscious creation-participation that we refer to as magic is the way we engage with the sacredness of infinity and is our ultimate religion.
We take this alignment very seriously because the power we wield by magic is the same one that is shared with us by the very powers that created us and are creating through us. Bottom line, we are inside of the forces of nature and they are inside of us; thus they are the forces of our creation, destruction, and regeneration. Imagine if all of our current technologies were guided by this same philosophical position. We would know that we do not have to kill our future in order to live in our present. Thus, for witches, to debase the power of creation is to debase the very force in which we are part and parcel. There is only one web of creation. If we shake it, we shake ourselves. In many ways, it is because of this philosophy that old style witches are some of the most genuine, ethical, honest, and dependable people you will ever meet. We are like this because we do not desire to disrespect our source by how we work it and we know we cannot escape the web because there is nowhere else to go. Witches deeply respect the source, which in my tradition is called the Ancient One.
The myriad patterns of life that flow from the Ancient One through the polarized forces of the mill of magic are always connected through primal motion (the Mother of Life) and primal light (the Father of Life); the family of creation that flows from their unity is likened to one universal web. This web connects all persons, places, and things everywhere, throughout time and timelessness. Another way to look at this is that you and I live in the same pool with the forces that you wield, the intent for its wielding, and the object of your magical wield; thus, in a way you are always working on yourself—either the personal you or the extended pool of you, because you are inside the source. Creation is not a spectator sport; we are all in it. Therefore, witches work their magic from inside the power and creative processes of the Ancient One. You could say we swim and surf in the lifespirit pool. Like the stereotypical image of the elder witch stirring the seething potions in her bubbling cauldron, the witch stirs the seething pool of the vortex of creation by working within the circular nature of the Ancient One's mill. There is, however, an important caveat when working the mill—you cannot work the forces of witchery and not be influenced and affected by the working. The witch is always touched by the web in which he or she works.
There is an old saying in witchery: “The toucher is touched.” This means that whatever we touch or affect, affects us. Thus, we must consider wisely how we want to touch or influence the world, especially the forces within creation, because we are creating our own path by the intention and action bricks we lay in our road. Yet another way to speak to this saying is, “Make sure that your deeds are worth your ass, because you are boiling in the same cauldron of creation that everyone else is," or, “If you urinate in the river upstream, do not wonder why the water you drink tastes bitter downstream." This being said, the Ancient One is not petty, abusive, or personally attacking. It is living power and inherent balance; therefore, it always auto-corrects by shifting into balanced and integrated patterns. One way it does this is a resonant relationship between the summoning and offering patterns of creation. This means that the place within nature that attracts a change in the mill of creation and its spiritweb will also be offering a relationship to itself to activate forces to embody it. In this way, there is always a relationship between energetic catalysts, invocatory intention, creative power, and creation-feed-back mechanisms within the turning of the mill and the threads of creation that surface, shift, express, and create. This concept should give you, the reader, potent contemplative material regarding witchery. Understanding of this gives sound guidance for respecting the Ancient One's power as you sensitize and synchronize with it.
Sensitizing and Synchronizing with the Mill
One of the ways I like to introduce the concept of sensitizing and synchronizing with the mill is by saying we are “entering the creative discussion of nature." Doing this allows the witch to be truly present within its powerful and creative inner workings. Another way of looking at this is how intimacy and clear understanding evolve within a relationship between two people when they actually are present to each other by turning down the internal brain chatter, valuing the spirit of a person, and entering into an exchange of communication back and forth that allows the subtle nuances of each person to reveal themselves. When this happens, deep friendship and even romantic love come forth from the interchange. It works the same way with the personhood and spirit behind the life-force, flow, and forms of nature that witchery calls the mill of magic. The only way to naturally, powerfully, and healthfully access this state is through entering into an intimate exchange with it during what we call “thinning times” and “thinning places,” which bring an interchange between its two primary parts, the visible and the invisible. Witches do this through being present and attuned to its rhythms (cyclic discussions) and resonance (vibrational feel), which we can feel in our inner being when we turn our attention, feeling, and action to it. Thus, we see abundant witch-lore about working with seasonal, lunar, stellar, and solar tides as well as intersecting points between elemental states (such as a seashore) and internal/external breathing places (such as a graveyard, a natural vortex, or other naturally energized and thinned locations in nature).
In witchery, we know that the primal pattern and intelligence of the Ancient One is the most powerful and wise force in the universe. We know that it is accessible and easily engaged through working with its universal language, which includes its creative intelligence, polarized parentage (the bears), and magical motions (the turning). This language and intelligence is expressed through observable and “feel-able" nature and its rhythms. Therefore, if we turn our attention to this rhythm and tune into it, we can access and apply its potency as well as integrate its states of wellbeing into our own human nature. For most people called to the awakening of the witch-blood, we felt this mystical stir to nature within us long ago. Even for those persons not called to this path, nature has a way of recalibrating them from stressful to relaxation states, and for this reason many people find themselves called to vacate the busy human world during vacations and seek the solace, calming, “re-nature-ing” effects of the seashore, wilderness, mountaintop, desert, and other places where nature stills the human mind and invites us into its centering presence. If we align with this, our own mind is linking in with the universal mind. As one of my spirits termed it in computer-speak, we are linking our mind to the universal mainframe. Within that mind, infinite levels of potentials and balanced states of action become available to us. Without it, our human mind is limited by human knowledge and considerations. So how do we sensitize and synchronize with it?
One of the best ways I have found to sensitize our lives to the nature around us is to be present to it as it presents its inner language to us. The first step to this is to understand that everything we are, everything we eat, drink, breathe, and need for life, comes to us from nature. Therefore, nature (the mill), its spiritual power (the Ancient One), and its life-creating engine (the Mother and Father Spirits as represented by the bears) are in everything including ourselves. These forces are the basis of all life, everywhere—there are no exceptions. They create everything. We humans create nothing, though we may manipulate forms of nature into other forms that we prefer. Its constituents still originate in nature. Once we are clear on this, the wisdom, love, and power of nature and its massive intelligence become absolutely obvious to us. Once we are clear that humanity did not create the intelligence we have within us and that nature did, then we are left to ponder on the further ranges of its brilliance.
This fascination lures us to want to know more. It leads us to know that nature is our original parent and we, as its children, can come to its wisdom like a child to an elder and learn how to live in a good way. There are many doors into this wisdom, and the following list includes some of the insights associated with these doors in the way I was trained.
Stellar wisdom: This includes such practices as astrology and astronomy to understand and engage with the elder intelligence of the stars and how they guide, guard, and influence our lives. The stars affect a broad area of human and planetary processes. The voice of the stars in the language of nature is intelligence, pattern, and universal knowledge spirituality. The stars move in the great mill in a ceaseless churning in the heavens; their power is from the first lights of life and delivers light that guides the destiny of our beloved planet. The student of witchery should study the ways of the stars.
Solar wisdom: This includes such practices as working with the forces of the solstices and equinoxes to understand the elder intelligence of the sun and how it guides, guards, and influences our lives. The sun affects how life force moves into and out of human and planetary processes. The voice of the sun in the language of nature is about life-force, power, healing, clarity, personal spirituality, and action. The sun is our planet's personal star; it moves in a ceaseless churning in the heavens and delivers the light of the stars to our beloved planet. The student of witchery should study the influences and follow the path of the sun.
Lunar wisdom: This includes such practices as working with the phases of the moon to understand the elder intelligence of the moon and how it guides, guards, and influences our lives. The voice of the moon in the language of nature is about inner tides and rhythms, magic, and interconnectedness. The moon gathers the forces of the stars, the sun, and other planets and delivers their power into the inner patterns and soul of our beloved planet. The student of witchery should study the influences and follow the path of the moon.
Planetary wisdom: This includes practices such as working with the local agrarian phases, understanding the local wildlife and planetary life, studying the ways of other planets (especially in how they relate to ours), and gardening (if possible) to understand the elder influences of the planet Earth and how it guards, guides, and influences our lives. The voice of the Earth is about embodiment, well-being of life, life cycles, and wealth. The planet upholds and presents all of the powers before her. The student of witchery should study the influences and follow the path of the planet.
When the witch opens the mill of magic as the meeting place between these gates of power, the turning of the mill, and the creation activities of the witch, then magic becomes made manifest. There are many ways that these forces fill the mill of the witch such as the well-known placement of the elements at the four directions of the modern witch's circle. This concept is an aspect of the witch's mill. For witches working with the elemental correspondences, the stellar wisdom relates to the elemental nature of movement and air; the solar wisdom relates to the elemental nature of illumination and life-force and fire; the lunar wisdom relates to the elemental nature of wisdom-tides and water; and the planetary wisdom relates to the elemental nature of embodiment, fruition, and earth. These four directional forces aligned to compass are also streams of four hold winds that turn the planetary mill. These dynamic forces flow from, through, and out of the mill of magic in its many forms, and form the great vortex of power that the witch uses to “cosmate" (or co-create the way the cosmos does) in his or her own relationship with the universe.
There is another very potent and reputedly ancient way of looking at the four directional winds or voices of the Ancient One and how they flow into and comprise the mill of magic:
· • The Cate of the Eastern Breath, Wind, or Tide: The tide of the stars, primal stirrings, universal harmony, and the lifebreath.
· • The Gate of the Southern Breath, Wind, or Tide: The tide of the sun, animation, and the life-force.
· • The Gate of the Western Breath, Wind, or Tide: The tide of the moon, wisdom, inner being, reflection, and life-flow.
· • The Gate of the Northern Breath, Wind, or Tide: The tide of the planet, power, expressed presence, and life-forms.
These forces form the rim of the mill that flows out from and back into the center carried in starlight of the first flame (the Father Spirit) by the first breath out of the void of space (the Mother Spirit). These two forces are also known as the serpent and the well, which is another way of discussing the two bears in the primary legend in witchery. Working with these forces is also called riding the spirit-tide.
The Serpent and the Well
The two bears discussed in the legend are also embodied in the witchery teachings about the serpent and the well. This image was described to me by my Brentwood teachers:
Far beyond the starlit sky and the reach of the human hand is a well that breathes the first sun, a serpent of white and golden flame that pours like a waterfall of light through all things.
I believe this space-well and the stellar-serpent are more primeval aspects of the two bears, and they are accessed through breath and sensation. These attributes will be discussed further in this book, but they are important for our initial understanding of entering into the mill. To enter into the universal powers of the mill, we must tune in to the first creation forces, which are: 1) original space, also known as the breathed void, which is the Mother Spirit, also known as the Utterer in my Faery Seership work, and envisioned as a well because it gives and receives the life-sustaining nourishment and movement of the universe; and 2) original radiance or starlight, which is the Father Spirit, also known as the Star Father in my Faery Seership work, and symbolized as a serpent because of its ever-watchful, undulating power. Now, let’s take what I have shared with you so far and enter into the mill.
A Technique for Entering the Mill
This is one of the most powerful and simple techniques for entering into and engaging the mill of magic. It involves breath work, visionary processes, summoning sensation, encounter/ exchange, and exit and anchoring stages. When your work is done within the mill, never share the exact nature of your work, for what is done between the worlds must stay within the worlds or you run the risk of summoning it to the outer world prematurely and undoing the success of your working.
Stage 1: Breath work, which focuses on tuning in to and calibrating your spirit-touch to the serpent and well.
Since we are opening the mill from the vantage point of being in form, we reach to the serpent in the sky, which is sensory, and the well in our world, which is embodied in the wisdom of the earth. The well within space is only knowable through our breath.
We do this initial work by doing a specific movement form coupled with breath and visionary process called the circulation breath:
· • Envision and sense a waterfall of white and golden light flowing from the heavens toward the top of your head.
· • Envision and sense an uprising fountain of blue and silver flame rising from the center of our world below toward the soles of your feet.
· • Now, as you breathe inward, envision and sense the blue flame rising upward from the center of the world through your back and rising to the top of your head and removing all tension, stress, and disconnection as it rises. Let it take your fears and feelings of lack and paradox with it as it rises
to the heavens.
· • When the blue flame has risen above your head, let fears flow right into the waterfall of light, which consumes and transmutes it. This whole circuit of sensation and visualization is occurring within only one breath inward.
· • Now, as you breathe outward, envision and sense the golden and white waterfall of light flowing down through your head, filling you with the first flame of creation and giving you power and healing force. This whole circuit of sensation and visualization is occurring within only one breath outward.
· • The entire drawing up of the blue flame and drawing down of the white flame is one linked inhalation and exhalation cycle. Doing this allows you to breathe with the heavens and the earth, it calibrates your presence into the primal natural forces, and it is very healing. I use this technique many times a day just to keep my focus within the center of creation.
· • Do this circulating breath, vision, and sensation technique three times or as many times as feels right to you. This technique also invites your own consciousness to move past mere forms to the pre-conditioned, pure, and natural states of being. These states of being are the undulating star serpent (waterfall of light) and the living and re-naturing wisdom space within the earth (the well).
Stage 2: Visionary processes, which are focused on opening up the gate, entering into the mill, and summoning planetary memory (Mother Fate).
· • With your right-hand pointer and middle fingers, draw a circle clockwise around yourself. Start by raising your fingers toward the sky, then descending them in a sickle shape while feeling the fire of the first sun (as the direct mediator of the first star of creation) descending down until you sense it touch the center of the earth. Then raise the power back to the earth while envisioning and sensing that you are digging a trench (or moat) into the earth that is filling with blue and silver light as you draw it.
· • Sense the blue flame as cool, liquid fire. This power is the memory of creation, also known as the planetary soul, and flows with the power of the Mother Spirit. We also call it the “wisdom-flame” or “witch-fire.”
· • Now, face the east, turn your imagination to the stars, and envision and sense the stars radiating power into the mill through the east.
· • Face the south, turn your imagination to the sun, and envision and sense the sun, radiating its heated power into the mill through the south.
· • Face the west, turn your imagination to the moon, and envision and sense the moon radiating its light and soulful rhythm into the mill through the west.
· • Face the north, turn your imagination to the planet Earth, and envision and sense the Earth's abundant presence and magnetism into the mill through the north.
· • Now sense these forces streaming in through the four gates riding on mystical winds of potency.
Stage 3: Summoning sensation, which focuses on drawing forth contact with the power(s) of creation as embodied in the serpent and well, though there will be other forms of the Mother
and Father spirits to be covered in the next chapter.
· • Now that the mill has been opened and the tides are present, it is time to reach for the powers of the well and the serpent.
· • While sitting in the center of the mill, sense the powers streaming in toward you like the pattern of the Milky Way galaxy into a vortex of balanced, natural power all around you.
· • Reach heavenward with your palms facing yourself (and your fingers pointing upward). As you slowly drop your hands, sense the waterfall of light again, but as you draw it into the mill, breathe in while saying “Ra” (this is the Father sound—not the name of the Egyptian deity). It may feel odd initially because you are breathing inward a sound as opposed to breathing it outward. As the waterfall descends into the mill it becomes a descending serpent of light.
· • Now, reach downward with your palms facing yourself (and fingers pointing downward) and breathe out saying “Ma" (this is the Mother sound). Sense the presence of the spirit within the earth, which is also space within form, rising to meet the descending serpent. As they meet, you can feel that you are within that place where creation happens.
· • Do this breath circuit with the sensations and visualizations a few times until you feel the Mother and Father spirits come forth within the mill and prepare for the encounter exchange stage of the work, if you have an intention to work on. If you do not, then meditate and communicate with the Mother and Father forces and the overall feeling of the power and spirit of the mill.
Stage 4: Encounter exchange, which focuses on direct engagement with the mill; its primal forces; and turning the mill, also known as the wheel of fortune, in the favor of the witch.
· • Reach into yourself and feel the intention of your mill rise within you. What do you want from it? You opened it or “rubbed the genie lamp"; now make your wish. For instance, if it is to improve your health, sense your joy of feeling healthy, bring that into your focus, and then release it into the mill.
· • Do not ask for something, because these forces will then respond to the feeling of lack that you are exuding. Feelings have a magnetic quality that sets the orbit for the body of your own being. This orbit is the force of attraction that you leave within the mill. Within the mill, it will grow as long as you leave it alone (silence) and do not negate or confuse the mill with feelings of desperation and concern.
Stage 5: Exit and anchoring, which focuses on tuning to the out-world and closing the gate.
· • This type of magical work does not work with concepts of invocation and dismissal. Though those are perfectly valid forms of magic, they have no place in this way or working.
· • When you are done, draw forth a feeling of gratitude in your being and the four tides, the serpent, and the well will receive this. They dwell within the very heart of creation and thus know the contents of our heart.
· • Simply step outside of the mill of magic, and sense it gather all its powers into the center and move inward toward the inner world. Basically sense it receding into the memory of the world, fading away from your sight and the
surface world.
· • When this feeling has been accomplished, simply draw a circle clockwise with your right-hand pointer and middle finger moving slowly inward in a spiral fashion until the mill has closed inward.
Note that the entire working is done with vision, sensation, movement, and breath, but uses no words. That is because it is being done in the inner world, and actual words can distract the forces summoned from working within the center of creation to working on its edges.
There are many other forms, which I cannot share in a book, that involve opening a mill of magic using more movement and dance forms using brooms, stones, deer antlers, and other items to shape the power of the mill. The mill is in many ways a tradition or practice within itself. These forms are very powerful and work with the seven great powers of above, below, the four directions, and the center. In the early stages of your work with witchery, it is useful to keep your techniques few and simple. More is not always better, or as one of my teachers once said, “It is better to dig one deep well and get an abundance of sweet water than to dig many shallow wells and get mud."
Four
TAPPING THE ESSENCE
Thrice I knock at the Dark One's door, all things are as they were before; by earth and water, wind and flame, bring magic in the old one's name.
--LC
This quoted charm came to me in two forms through two of my teachers. Though they never knew each other in this life, both forms of this charm were nearly alike. Either it is a part of an older practice or it originates in the inner stream of witchery that surfaces in the practices when the witch awakens his or her blood. Either way, it transmits great power when we work with it. Let's look closer at the charm and how its power works through its parts.
The part of the charm reading “thrice I knock at the Dark One's door" is referring to two powerful forces, the door to the secret powers behind manifest nature and the intelligence of the opener of the way, which is the guardian of the forces therein. The opener is the threshold God or Spirit. It is one and the same as the crossroads spirit or God. Note that the same process of knocking three times at the edge of physical form and energetic force, as embodied in the image of the door, shows up in this old witchcraft practice just as it does in the southern conjure I practice. I feel that this is a foundational and core concept for both practices, as the worker and the witch are instructed that they should present themselves to the spirit world by using the same etiquette as in the social world of humanity—before you enter someone's house, you knock. I have practiced this threefold knock for many years and can attest to its power. There is more going on here than mere symbolism. It is some form of alchemy of action and spirit. It actually opens out powerful forces and an entryway into the inner realms of the spirit world.
The part of the charm reading “all things are as they were before” is referring to going into a stage of creation wherein there is no differentiation or separation in things . .. “the fore time.” It is the preconditioned state of being, which is the source world of life-force and life-flow prior to life-forms. It is also an announcement to both the threshold guardian and the spirit world (Mother Fate) beyond him that you are entering into the realms of the unified spirit through what I call the luminous landscape, which is the Іп-scape or inner world within the landscape (the outer world) where our senses and attention are usually caged, shaped, and anchored. I am not saying the outer world is bad, for indeed it is sacred. But it is the force of the world, not the form of the world, that gives the life-spark of vitality and existence, which inspires and enlivens life-forms. You might think of the inner (force) and outer (form) worlds as the divine lovers whose lovemaking creates the world that radiates the sacred child of promise who expands the beingness of life. Entering into this “time-before-time” state invites the witch to play in the sandbox of the spirits as a conscious co-creator with them, mediating the witch-flame to the world.
The part of the charm reading “by earth and water, wind and flame” is a clear reference to the four magical elemental natures of earth (embodiment), water (ensoulment and rhythm), air (meditation and breath), and fire (vitality, radiance, and animation). These forces also show up in the mill work as the breaths
or tides of creation. This part of the charm is an announcement that the witch is working by the same authority as these forces. You see, when we are conscious co-creators with nature, we indeed have the same (not more) authority to create within the mill of magic that the rest of nature has. In fact, nature wants us to work directly with its forces, but in companionship, not coercion; that way we bring balance and planetary wisdom into our work. After all, no one knows how to do witchcraft better than the spiritual forces of this planet, because Earth was the first witch.
The part of the charm reading “bring magic in the old one's name” is to calling forth the powers of transformation and con-scious/delib-erate creation (magic) through the authority and providence of the Ancient One. The Ancient One, in this case referred to as the Old One, is both the oldest source and the underlying oneness within the many diverse expressions of life. The Ancient One is the divine providence that existed beyond all polarity and nature, and is the source and sum of all creation. Magic, in this part of the charm, means creation, destruction, or regeneration in a direct relationship with the vitality (will) of the witch. When we consciously summon the mill of magic, also known as the wheel of fortune, to turn in our favor, we are doing magic. For as I define it, magic is the art of conscious creation. Bringing magic in the Old One's name ensures that we are asking for power in the name of the source (the Ancient One) from the will (vitality) of the Ancient One's presence within us. Thus, we enter the mill, tap the essence, and will it to turn the tide and re-thread fate's web in our favor, but in the name of the source within us.
The Witch-Flame as the Essence
In the previous chapter, we worked with the mill of magic and how it shapes and calibrates the nothing-that-is-all (the void) through the forces of original space (the Mother Spirit) and primal starlight (the Father Spirit) into the rotational power of the spiritual and energetic rhythms of nature as we know it. In this chapter, we are working with tapping the life-force as it sparks through the energetic network of life. This is the force that flows through all things and it is the essence of life. We are working with tapping the essential life-force within nature, which sparks from turning of the mill of magic and sizzles through all intertwining forces of planetary nature. In witchery, we call this essence the witch-flame. This power is an animating force within all of the forms of nature. It is the fire of the first flame, also called the “central sun.” The fire of the central sun, which is the original light of creation, comes into our personal world through the fire of the sun within our solar system, the fire at the center of our planet (also known as the “midnight sun”), and the fire at the center of our human body as embodied in our heart. These three aspects of stellar spirit come together as the witch-flame or witch-fire, which is that invisible power that sparks within and between our world and the heavens and comes together as a pillar of fire, or what is known in my Faery Seership practices as the “threefold flame." It is a reachable, workable power that can be drawn, raised, shaped, and sent forth in its many forms to work the ways of witchery. There are three primary ways that the witch-flame is conjured: 1) raising it out from our body, 2) summoning it from somewhere other than our individualized self, and 3) raising and summoning together.
RAISING THE WITCH-FLAME
When it is raised, the flame comes out of our body to form what has been commonly referred to as the “cone of power." This cone is comprised of sound (through chanting, charming, or calling), motion (through dancing, turning, or other body movements), and emotion (desire, not desperation, that is felt for the object of the raising). This cone can be viewed as a missile of intent that is released or fired from within the circle or mill into the realms of the unseen and into that area between the Earth and the moon filled with unbound ether, which is a malleable form of energy in the etheric realms. The etheric realms are an aspect of energy that are just before the formation of form. They are magnetic in nature and easily influenced by the electrical fire of the witch's will or any emanation of creation that flows from the center of the planet. Once the cone is sent, gravity will pull it into form as long as the power is left to grow in the inner worlds. The way it is left to grow is through secrecy. Witch-flame that is raised from our bodies is also often given to the spirits, Gods, or Goddess of witchery to strengthen them. This form of witch-flame is resident power within our bodies, but there are also other ways to work it through conjuring or summoning it.
SUMMONING THE WITCH-FLAME
When it is summoned, the witch-flame is called using techniques that draw its attention and bring that into the attention and consciousness flow of the witch. At this point, the two states of being (human and other) merge and create a new state of being embodied by the focus of the spell-working. You may be tempted to say that it does not have attention for it is not conscious, but the witch knows that this power is not only conscious, it is pure consciousness itself. Summoning the witch-flame works by using visionary processes coupled with inner feeling to reach into the already existing stream of this stellar power of witchery. Some witches may do this by invocation to a deity or other spirit form or spirit being and request assistance with fulfilling the desire. This may involve prayers, charms, or supplications to attract the attention of this vast intelligence and an offering of foods, drinks, incense, and other items that resonate with, and are pleasing to, the deity. However, in my witchery and Faery Seership work, we have a very direct way of summoning forth the witch-flame that is easy and direct.
This technique is called the threefold flame, and it works off the principle that all fire partakes of the first flame that was lit on the altar of heaven as embodied in the principle of original fire, or the central sun. In my tradition, all light, fire, radiance, and life-force partakes of this first flame. Our teachings tell us that all of this comes from the first flame and that there has never been nor ever will be more of it. Therefore, all flame remembers the first flame of which it is composed. Through the threefold flame technique, a candle (or any flame) can be enchanted to awaken its memory of the first flame. Once this is done, the witch can work with the enchanted flame and the archway at its center for doing magical work. The technique summons forth contact with the central sun, the midnight sun, and the inner sun of the heart and brings them together, then mediates this into the candle flame and awakens its memory. Once this power of the threefold witch-flame is awakened, the witch can send wishes through the void-like archway of flame at its center. The full technique works as follows:
· 1. You will need the following supplies: two white candles (one taper for a working candle and one smaller candle to light the working taper), olive oil, matches, a candle snuffer, and a candle holder.
· 2. Settle yourself by drawing your attention to your breath. The breath brings you present to the eternal now.
· 3. Anoint your working-candle with the olive oil by stroking it with oil from the wick end down to the base nine times. Then place the working candle in the candle holder.
· 4. Light your smaller candle (not the working candle) with your matches. As you do, say “I honor you, Lord of Light."
· 5. While holding the lit taper in front you, sense and feel a waterfall of gold and white light that is falling from the heavens above your head. This vision draws the power of the central sun to you.
· 6. Now, sense an uprising fountain of blue and silver flame rising from the core of the Earth to just below your feet. This is the midnight sun, also known as the fire of Earth's memory.
· 7. Now, sense the warmth of your own heartbeat and blood. Sensing these three levels of the flame draws their power near as well as navigates your attention to these forces.
· 8. Hold your lit candle heavenward and sense a hand that falls from the heavens, touching its light to your candle flame. When you sense this, light the working candle to affix this heavenly contact to the fire flame and extinguish the lighting candle.
· 9. Envision and feel the waterfall of light as made of golden and white light descending down your body until it puddles below your feet and you are upheld by it. Hold that feeling.
· 10. Envision the uprising blue-silver fountain of flame ascending from the underworld through your body until you are crowned by it.
· 11. Now, bring the gold-white flame (which is below your feet) upward to your heart area and bring the blue-silver flame (which is above your head) down to your heart area.
· 12. Sense how the blue, white, and red-orange (of the heart) flames come together as one beautiful swirling ball of balanced light.
· 13. Build this feeling within you by humming like a bee, which is a simple hmm, then extend your right hand toward (but not into) the candle flame and sense the threefold flame (gold-white, blue-silver, and orange-red) flowing down your hand to the candle flame.
· 14. This mediates the threefold flame to the candle flame, which causes it to remember its enchanted and original pre-conditioned state. Note that the three colors envisioned are also the colors of the flame in the candle.
· 15. At the center of the orange, white, and blue flames, just around the wick, is an open area, or void. This is called the archway of flame. It is a type of door or void into the pre-conditioned state of being.
· 16. Now, simply send into that archway whatever you wish to be rid of and draw out of it that which you desire. This is done through feeling the presence of these states flow into and out of the archway.
· 17- When you are finished, simply sense the archway receding back into the living memory of the light and, while extinguishing the flame with the candle snuffer, state, “Though this flame goes away, the magic stays.”
This technique must never be underestimated for its power. It is quite simple, as all of the most potent magical forms in older practices tend to be. It can be used as a central magical practice much like the technique I shared for entering into the mill. There is another simple way of calling one of the forms of the witchflame called “seizing the serpent."
This technique works on the principle that there are streams of the original flame that descend from our sun to the Earth all throughout the day. It is strongest from noon until 3:00 p.m. These streams are called "sun serpents” in my practice of witchery. When a witch has an object, preferably metal, that they wish to enspirit with creative consciousness, it can be done with this technique:
· 1. Determine a particular ongoing need that you have. As an example, let's say it is for protection from intrusive or harmful energy.
· 2. Get an object made of a metal that is related to your working. Examples of this might be gold for health and money, silver for psychic and magical development, iron for protection, lead for blocking contact, or tin for money and communication. This list is by no means complete or definitive, but it gives you some directives. There are many fine books with information on metal magic that you can use for further insights. In this case, let's say you are using iron for protection.
· 3- First, cleanse your object. You might do this by doing the following process: a) get a bowl of water, some sea salt, an incense burner with charcoal, and some angelica root; b) place your hands over the water and say, “I cleanse and bless thee oh creature of water by the moon that rules thee for the entering in of good"; c) place your hands over the salt and say, “I bless thee oh creature of salt by the earth that rules thee for the entering in of good"; d) mix three pinches of salt into the water, stir it, lift it to the heavens and back to your mouth, and let your breath touch it while saying, “Be thou pure as the first wave."
· 4. Sprinkle some of the blessed water on the iron object while saying, “I purify thee with the waters of the first wave."
· 5. Put some of the angelica root on your lit charcoal until it smokes. This smoke will smell a little strong, so don't use too much. Run the iron object through the smoke while saying, “Be thou pure by the breath and fire of life.” Now the object is cleansed and ready to enspirit with a sun serpent.
· 6. Take your object outside into the sun. Hold it in your hand and tap it three times while saying, “Awaken unto life” and sense a door opening into the object. As you are doing this, tell the object to remember its power to protect.
· 7. Now reach your hands heavenward until you start to feel a tingling sensation like some unseen but living thing is undulating into and around your hand. When the feeling is strong, take hold of it as if grabbing the tip of a serpent's tail and move it quickly into the opened door of your iron object. You should seize this serpent and bring it down with what is sometimes called “the lightning path” or “the witch's Z," although it is actually not a Z shape. It is pulling the serpent from the heavens over to the left as you face it, then to the right and then back to the left and into the object. By doing this you are pulling the serpent power from spirit, to mind, to soul, and into form. As you seize and draw down the sun serpent, hold in your mind the thought and feeling of the intent of the iron object, which in this case is protection.
· 8. Once the serpent is within the object, knock on the object three times and sense the door closing with the serpent within it. Thank the serpent for entering the object and anoint the object with some olive oil. Carry the object when needed and always acknowledge the inner power of the object, since it now has increased levels of power and consciousness.
· 9. If ever you decide that the object is done with its work, take it outside, knock three times on it to open the door, and sense the serpent uncoiling and ascending to the sun. Personally, I almost never release my serpents, because I will likely need my object again at a later time. Just take the object from time to time and set it in a triangle of lit white candles to feed it flame. Simply care for the object as a living thing that has a spirit, for indeed it does, and thus, it is both magical and sacred.
The next technique I will share with you combines raising and summoning approaches to accessing the witch-flame.
COMBINED RAISING AND SUMMONING THE WITCH FLAME
When it is raised and summoned in a combined technique, the witch-flame is raised (or benevolently agitated) from the body while concurrently drawing it forth. One way of doing this is using a charm that is repeatedly recited to raise the power of enthusiasm from the body and get the attention of the witchflame at the same time. I have a charm for calling forth this power that reads as follows:
Ho/y flame, holy fire;
Grant to me my heart's desire.
Holy fire, holy flame;
Grant it in the Old One's name.
This charm can be recited when the witch is doing what is called a “burnable spell” or “charm of making." A charm of making, in this context, is one where the witch writes what he or she wishes to create or destroy on a piece of paper or unlined parchment. The paper is folded, rolling it toward the witch as if creating a scroll; if it is to draw something the witch wants. It is folded away from the witch if it is something he or she wants to be rid of. It is then burned in a candle flame, cauldron fire, or bonfire to consign it to the flame's power to create or destroy. Most witches who work with this simple but powerful technique use a combination of the power of the candle or other flame coupled with the recitation of the charm to build power to raise the intention or desire out of the body of the witch into the very atmosphere where the witch is working magic. The spell on the parchment is written with power words such as, “I will the holy fire to create (whatever you desire)." Another way to think of this way of working is that the flame is made out of essentially the same force as the power of the central sun and the power that flows through the web of fate. This power is also the same as the life-force that flows through a witch. When the two come together through this charm, the witch is willing a change through changing the flame within fate's threading.
There is one more technique that I will share with you for working within fate's threading or summoning the fate web. This technique is also useful for entering into what witches call the "luminous landscape” where contact with otherworldly beings such as angelic and Faery beings can occur, since they live in a state of unbound light. This technique is not about raising or summoning witch-flame. Rather, it is about entering into a realm of being where the light of the witch-flame moves through myriad relationships. This web is the very body of our Mother of Fate, and is one of the ways we enter into the place between the worlds where the light of creation, emanated from the breath of creation, begins to form pathways of light and filaments of fate. Everything that surfaces into the form world finds its place into this world through a fate road. This fate road is the strand of the web of life that feeds, integrates, and sustains us. I will spend more time on the fate road in the next chapter, since it is our personal road inward to our Lady of Fate. For now, I give you this technique for entering into the web itself.
ENTERING THE LUMINOUS LANDSCAPE: THE FATE WEB BETWEEN THE WORLDS
It is very important for a witch to tune in to and become familiar with the fate web. Like the mill of magic and the witch-flame, the web and its luminous landscape is yet another way for the witch to enter into the natural tides of creation as a conscious cocreator with it. When we become comfortable working within this web, sensing and navigating its life-light, and encountering its spirit citizens, we then become good neighbors living on the outer tide of the web while being intimate with its inner tides. This aspect of the development of a witch’s skill tunes us in to the true face of life and our place in it. It also enhances our ability to feel our own thread of the fate web and the forces that affect it. Then we have more sovereignty over our essence (spirit), what influences it, and how to unfold its creative power into the outer world for a better, healthier, and more fulfilling life. Here are the steps for tuning in to and entering the web:
Step 1: Draw your attention to your breath. Feel it moving in and out of your body, shaping space within you and tuning you to the flow of the eternal present. This feels very calming and freeing. Next, breathe inward and quickly blow the breath out of your lungs to clear your energetic channels of static. Repeat this twice more. This feels very cleansing and centering. Return your thoughts to your regular breathing, and allow its tide to calm you and bring you into the present.
Step 2: Place your hands in front of you with the back of the hands touching and thumbs pointing down, similar to the start of a swimming breaststroke. This forms the plow hands, which we will use to dig into the inner world like a plow tills the soil to prepare for planting. This is a folkloric technique passed by oral tradition from my English witch teachers.
Step 3: Breathe inward with a breathy он sound. As you do this, move your hands forward as if you are digging into the air. Once you feel your hands enter into the other side of the air, turn your hands to face each other, and breathe out with a haa sound.
Step 4: Repeat the process, starting with the он inward breath and your hands in the plow form, but with your hands slightly parted. Each time you repeat this process, you will move your hands apart slightly. As you turn your hands so that the palms are facing each other and do the haa outward breath, the trench will be widened. Repeat these breaths and hand gestures until you sense the trench is deep and wide enough that you feel yourself in the inner world.
Step 5: Now sense that you are within a web of light, pulsing with life and Faery and angelic starlight. You are part of this web because you are a being of light. Sense the breath of life that moves pulses of light through the web. The light is our first Father and the pulses are our first Mother. The entry point is the threshold Witch-Father and the web is the Lady of Fate.
Step 6: Send a blessing of gratitude into the web by taking one of the strands into your mouth and vibrating the words “I love you, I honor you, I thank you, I bless you," with your breath. Sense the beautiful response you get.
Step 7: You can also breathe a request in the web. For instance, to send a blessing of well-being to a loved one, breathe the words “(Name of person), I love you, I honor
you, and I pray well-being to you," and let them flow into the web. You will know if it was received by feeling a sense of gratitude come back through the web to you. This type of work has many applications, but do not breathe harm into the web, as it has a way of entangling you in your intent. The web is very sacred and should be used accordingly.
Step 8: When you have finished, breathe an inward haa breath and outward он breath until you feel the furrow close and settle. Bring your attention back to your breath to bring your attention back to the outer tide of life.
This concludes this chapter on tapping the essence. The techniques and mythos I have given are fertile fields for a lifetime of witchery work. Now let's move into a clearer understanding of the living Gods of the old art.
Five
THE LIVING GODS OF THE OLD ART
/и the name of the Ancient One, by the law of oar Lord and the love of oar Lady, and as the child of light, I summon forth the power of the old Cods.
—Orion Foxwood
In keeping with the teaching that you cannot destroy that which was never created, it is impossible to ever harm or destroy the living Gods of the old art. They are nature itself, and to destroy them the attacker must destroy all life, including his or her self. In addition to manifest life, the old Gods are the invisible side of life. The witch knows that it is through the weaving process of the fate thread illuminated by the witch-flame that life as we know it comes forth. Our Gods and Goddesses, when those concepts are used, are alive and not symbolic and, though they include us in their mystical ways, they are not human. In many traditions and witch-blood lines, they are not seen as Gods or Goddesses at all. They are seen as the intelligence behind the Gods and Goddesses. They are primal and wild and beyond the limits of humanity, though never beyond our touch. It is their wildness that is intriguing to the witch but often frightening to others. The old Gods are not pristine and clean. They are deep, guttural, ever-present, and personal though not human, and eternal as the stars and space. First, they are space as mother and starlight as father, but they are even closer to us than those vast concepts and powers. They are space-breath and fire-blood, and they are often leveraged into our direct contact through breath and fire.
The prayer of invocation that I provided above was one that I wrote many years ago as a very direct way to access the source (Ancient One) and the two bears of the mill forces (the Father/ Lord and Mother/Lady) to turn the wheel of magic by calling to them as one of their own children, the child of light. For this invocation to call forth power, the witch has to know within that he or she is a child of the very forces being called and thus can call forth this power as a type of inheritance that we all have as children of nature. Nature, as we are accustomed to thinking of it, is the manifestation of the Cods, and thus it is the dance floor of the old Gods of the oldest of all arts, the art of creation itself. I use this prayer to funnel down power from the outpouring of the void through the cycling powers of universal polarity into the child who seeks the power (the witch) and its magical sandbox. After all, creation always comes forth out of desire for what nature wants of itself through the fate threads of its summoning, which calls forth the primal fires of vision and flings it onto the elemental canvas of manifest nature.
Whenever I want to call the old power present to do an immediate working, I use this prayer. As an example, when I need to call forth more money to flow into my career, I may feel the desire and let it inspire the presence of the prosperity within me. Then, I will reach out to the seven directional forces by sensing the following: the depths of the world and the attraction powers of gravity (direction 1); the expansive nature of the sky, space, the sun, planets, and stars above me (direction 2); the four breaths of creation or directions of the world at my four sides (directions 3 through 6); and the present world to the realm of all possibilities within me (direction 7). When I sense that I am centered within these seven forces of creation, I will begin the prayer by doing the following:
In the Name of the Ancient One: Calling out to the Ancient One by sensing the source in all things. This is done by imagining the infinite calibration of the universe and the way it creates and regenerates myriad forms and relationships from a seemingly endless source of energy and inspiration.
By the Law of our Lord and the Love of our Lady: Calling to the twin bears of the mill that turn the cycles of the Milky Way by summoning the universal order (the law) of the Star-Father (the central sun and its ordering light-line of consciousness that flows through all) and universal harmony (the love) of She-Who-Utters-Forth (the breath of creation that extends space, creates the first light, and draws forth its harmonious nature to all).
And as the Child of Light: Calling these powers as a child of the primal light dips the power of the Ancient One through the creational powers of Law (stellar order) and Love (the breathing space) toward the summoning forces of the little aspect of the Ancient One, you the child of light.
Say what you want using a statement such as “I call forth” or “I summon forth" the end result of your desire. Here is an example of how to use this prayer to invoke the mill of magic to turn in your favor (aka, a spell). If I am doing a healing for someone who has called to me for help immediately, I may stop what I am doing, sense myself in the center of the seven directional forces covered above, and then do the prayer. At the end of the prayer when the power has started funneling toward me, I will use that last sentence to introduce the direction for the power to flow by saying something like, “And as the child of light, I summon forth the powers of health and healing to (the person's name) and thus it is written into the law."
This invocation is another one of those simple but direct ways to work with powers of witchery.
LC and I were once discussing the much represented concept of the God and Goddess of the witches and their role in witchery, and she shared a statement with me that I found very powerful and enlightening on the nature of the witch's relationship to the mother and father spirits of witchery. She said, “Ultimately, I do not worship (revere) the Lady nor the Lord, but the love-space in between."
This quote came out of a long discussion on whether we felt that the Gods are real or not. We determined that they are not real in the way many people think of real, meaning that they are some humanlike form that is at the basis of the creation processes of the world. No, they are more real than that form of real. They are constant and present and there is a power that is generated in their cyclic dance or constant chase of each other that generates everything. Perhaps this is related to the concept of the power of attraction or even gravity itself. Brigh, my spirit wife in my Faery practices, once told me that gravity is the way that the sky and the earth make love and produce life-forms on the Earth's surface. When we feel that we are caught in gravity, we are simply setting within the gravitational pulls of these two lovers. If we relate to the space between the turning powers of the two bears, we are aligning to the power that causes life-force, life-flow, and life-forms to issue forth from the great mill of magic. In short, and in alignment with LC's thoughts, perhaps sending our voice carrying our feeling and desire to the "love space in between" is yet another form of entering the place of all potential and the place of all manifestation between the worlds where magic occurs, inserting our desire into the gravity of magic's creative pull. Let's look further at the mother and father of witchery.
The Parents of Witchery
My elders are absolutely adamant that the old Gods symbolize nothing. They do not represent anything. Rather, they are the very functions implied in their names, for this is their nature. They are minimally humanized or anthropomorphized, which is a part of their wild nature. The ethics related to the witchery practices are more related to being able to embody the universal harmony of She-Who-Utters-Forth (the universal Witch-Mother) and the universal law of He-Who-Orders-Light-lnto-Being (the universal Witch-Father). By doing so, the witch comes into a state of inner attunement, alignment, and agreement with the source of all things and is in the flow of the force in a way that does not create entanglements and entrenchments in his or her own spiritual core. These can keep the witch in a contraindicated state of dissonance, discord, disharmony, and disease (physical and other). When the witch lives in accord with these forces, life flows in a way that is more congruent with the need of his or her body, soul, and spirit. Attainment of this level of harmony is a constant effort in the life of a witch. More than anything, we want to be one with the love, wisdom, and power of our parents of witchery. Let's look closer at the face and force of these parents. First, let's look at the deific intelligence that leverages the threshold of the seen and the unseen, known in my practices as the Master of the Threshold.
THE MASTER OF THE THRESHOLD: THE WITCHFATHER
The Witch-Father and Witch-Mother as encountered in the planetary natural world is the Master of the Threshold (also known as the Horned Guardian) and the Lady of Fate (also known as the Weaver or Mother Fate). Both of these beings are embodiments of the universal Space-Mother and Star-Father. I will first discuss the Horned Guardian because he is the being that opens and closes the way to the unseen and integrative powers of Mother Fate. He is the knight to the queen and the force that ensures structural integrity to the nature of the planet Earth. Though I use “he" and “she” to describe this being as it was presented in tradition, ultimately these forces are beyond those gender concepts. However, the Guardian tends to present itself to our nervous system as a masculine feeling force, and therefore this is how our imagination tends to garb him. Those of us who work with the Guardian often definitely experience him initially as an adversary or guardian to be faced, then as a guide or teacher to be followed into the mystical patterns of the otherworld.
The Guardian is the face of the Horned Father that the new witch always must face when he or she enters the realms of the Mother Fate. In this aspect of him, we must face the shadowy areas of the inner self that we experience as “fear.” During initial encounters with the Guardian, many new witches report that all of the issues within them that challenge their connection to the source (the Ancient One) come to the forefront of their consciousness. These are primarily connected to forms and fears related to the four dampers I presented in chapter two. Again, these are 1) the illusions of isolation (abandonment pain); 2) the desire to possess (irrational need for control); 3) the resentment of change (the desperate need for predictability); and 4) the desire for absolutes (the desperate need to be right, which gives birth to fundamentalism).
The Guardian requires us to face and work on these dampers when encountering him, for they erode at our ability to move into oneness with the web of Mother Fate knowing that she, the stabilizing powers of the Guardian, and the thread of our own fate will keep us connected and safe. The more we can heal these dampers, the more the witch-knowing will inform us from the center of our being, which is our fate threads' link in the great web. Once the Guardian is faced and the secret name of our fears is exposed to us, he often becomes a different kind of guardian—instead of challenging our entry into the otherworld, he protects us from those who would follow after us with harmful intent. He also guards the perimeter of the mill while we journey and work within it. This is the way he guards the underbelly of nature from human and other kinds of intrusion. It is also the way that he ensures that there is order and stability in all levels of planetary nature. Once we are aligned with that “law,” then he will show us how to re-nature ourselves in alignment with this inner order of nature.
There is another face to the Witch-Father, and that is the Guide. As we work with his power and heal the dampers, he becomes the very structural integrity of our own nature, which guides us in and out and through both the forces of the seen and the unseen. One of the ways he does that is to provide to the witch some form of spirit being such as a Faery being, ancestral spirit, or other form of “spirit guide” to assist in mentoring the witch as friend, fetch, and familiar to navigate the worlds and to regain inner knowing of the topology and powers of these realms. The Guide aspect of him informs the witch where the thinning places are where the inward draw and outer draw of the life-breath meet. Remember, the witch knows that all of life breathes light and the witch has the understanding of how, when, and where this happens by following the mill of the stars, sun, moon, and planet. It is the changing points in these tides where the thinning places happen easily and there is minimal guard and maximal guide in the power and personality of our threshold God. In addition to the major inflow and outflow aspects of the father, there are three other natures presented in symbolic imagery to give a visual feel to how he works.
These three aspects of him are connected to the Star-Father aspect I mentioned earlier. First, he is the serpentine nature of the ever-young sun that carries the life-giving healing and fertile powers of the sun down from the heavens into the very core of the Earth. This power undulates like a great snake of fire into our earth where it is modified and generated outward by the midnight sun (the second aspect) to the surface world as life-vitality. The aspect of his nature that lives at the center of the world is often called the Dark One or the Lord of Death and Resurrection, because he lives in the dark depths of a planetary core that feels foreboding. His vital force there rises changed by a deep wisdom that lives within the core of the world. It is felt in the decomposing compost filled with the decaying matter of death that feeds life in an endless cycle of regeneration. In between the down-flowing serpent of solar fire and the uprising regenerative planetary recomposing power of deep vitality is the third aspect, which is the fatherly threshold God that leverages the other two aspects in and out of the planet through natural law and order. To summarize, the three aspects are: i) solar serpent; 2) deep God of death and regeneration; and 3) the threshold opener of
The Guardian requires us to face and work on these dampers when encountering him, for they erode at our ability to move into oneness with the web of Mother Fate knowing that she, the stabilizing powers of the Guardian, and the thread of our own fate will keep us connected and safe. The more we can heal these dampers, the more the witch-knowing will inform us from the center of our being, which is our fate threads' link in the great web. Once the Guardian is faced and the secret name of our fears is exposed to us, he often becomes a different kind of guardian—instead of challenging our entry into the otherworld, he protects us from those who would follow after us with harmful intent. He also guards the perimeter of the mill while we journey and work within it. This is the way he guards the underbelly of nature from human and other kinds of intrusion. It is also the way that he ensures that there is order and stability in all levels of planetary nature. Once we are aligned with that “law,” then he will show us how to re-nature ourselves in alignment with this inner order of nature.
There is another face to the Witch-Father, and that is the Guide. As we work with his power and heal the dampers, he becomes the very structural integrity of our own nature, which guides us in and out and through both the forces of the seen and the unseen. One of the ways he does that is to provide to the witch some form of spirit being such as a Faery being, ancestral spirit, or other form of “spirit guide” to assist in mentoring the witch as friend, fetch, and familiar to navigate the worlds and to regain inner knowing of the topology and powers of these realms. The Guide aspect of him informs the witch where the thinning places are where the inward draw and outer draw of the life-breath meet. Remember, the witch knows that all of life breathes light and the witch has the understanding of how, when, and where this happens by following the mill of the stars, sun, moon, and planet. It is the changing points in these tides where the thinning places happen easily and there is minimal guard and maximal guide in the power and personality of our threshold God. In addition to the major inflow and outflow aspects of the father, there are three other natures presented in symbolic imagery to give a visual feel to how he works.
These three aspects of him are connected to the Star-Father aspect I mentioned earlier. First, he is the serpentine nature of the ever-young sun that carries the life-giving healing and fertile powers of the sun down from the heavens into the very core of the Earth. This power undulates like a great snake of fire into our earth where it is modified and generated outward by the midnight sun (the second aspect) to the surface world as life-vitality. The aspect of his nature that lives at the center of the world is often called the Dark One or the Lord of Death and Resurrection, because he lives in the dark depths of a planetary core that feels foreboding. His vital force there rises changed by a deep wisdom that lives within the core of the world. It is felt in the decomposing compost filled with the decaying matter of death that feeds life in an endless cycle of regeneration. In between the down-flowing serpent of solar fire and the uprising regenerative planetary recomposing power of deep vitality is the third aspect, which is the fatherly threshold God that leverages the other two aspects in and out of the planet through natural law and order. To summarize, the three aspects are: i) solar serpent; 2) deep God of death and regeneration; and 3) the threshold opener of his power that flows down to and out from the Fate Mother of the planet. His spirit presents itself in many places and in many forms. As I present some of these places and times, keep in mind that all three of his aspects are threshold states. Here is a solid list of these:
Graveyards: As the Lord of both death (the exit/out door of embodiment) and resurrection (the entrance/in door of embodiment), he stands at the gateway of life. In the graveyards, especially at 3:00 a.m., his presence can be felt at both the entryway and guarding the bodies in their elemental resting and decomposing states. When he is sensed in this state, he is deep, wise, solemn, and sometimes fatherly. His personality can have a coolness or coldness that causes you to feel goosebumps on your skin.
Solar times: As the solar serpent and underworld spirit, a witch can tune in to and follow the flow of the Dark One's power as he undulates from the heavens through the land and back into the heavens to the sun. This path of the serpent is followed through the seasons as he rises from the land at spring equinox (uncoils), sits upon his high throne in the heavens at summer solstice, begins to descend into the land again at autumn equinox (body half in and half out of the land), and lies re-coiled in the seed and land in the season of winter solstice (as a sleeping inner world stimulating life force). When he is sensed in this state, which includes the full movement of his serpentine force through the seasons, he is stimulating, warm, intense, and often erotic. His personality can cause a tingling of electricity on the skin and
even a slight feeling of anxiety or panic.
Where natural powers meet: At what I call an elemental crossroads where land and sea, forest and clearing, cliff and sky, and other forms meet, the witch can tune in to the varying elemental personalities that present themselves at these places. Many of the best witches I know prefer these places to meet with him. Included in this type of place are ancient trees (including dying or dead ones), large stones, and other types of center-posts where many natural forces grow into and out of a center. In these places there is a haunting quality to his personality. Often witches report to me feeling a queasy feeling in their stomach, like fluttering butterflies.
Halloween and All-Saint's Day: October 31-November 1 (All Hallow's Eve, Samhain, or Hallowmas) is a powerful time to experience the Dark One’s aspect. This holiday is celebrated in many cultures throughout the world as a time when the veil between the embodied and the disembodied is thin. In my tradition, he rides throughout the world of the living on a black horse with the pale spirits of the underworld, gathering the spirits of the dead that wander the earth in search of peace. In my experience, you can feel both the Dark One and the Lady of Fate in her presence as enchantress and witch during this time.
Dusk and Dawn: In witchery, these times are called betwixt and between, tweeny time, and twixt two lights, because both the sun and moon rule the sky. I have also heard this referred to as a time when the eye of day and the eye of night are open to the world and the spirits of the inner and outer world are present. Indeed, these are hinge times when the door between the worlds is swinging in (dusk) or out (dawn). I have found this to be a good time to ask the Guardian to take a wish to the Lady of Fate.
The Crossroads: There are many legends of witches meeting the devil at the crossroads, and there is good reason for these tales. However, it is not the Christians' devil that they were and are meeting at all. Instead it is the Horned Guardian, the Witch-Father. Ultimately, you can find him any place that is transitional and threshold in nature. However, there is one place that is particularly strong, and that is an area where two ley lines (energetic lines in the earth) meet. One way of finding these in the modern world is where two animal migratory paths cross. These are usually in wooded areas. Animals tend to follow their inner knowing when migrating. They follow the ley lines, also known as dragon leys or Faery trods. The older roads tend to have been built on many of the animal migration trails later used by native people as trading routes. These old roads can be hard to find in this busy world, but they are out there. Another place to find him is the middle part of a bridge that covers water (a river, creek, etc.), though it must be nature-made and not manmade. Rivers and streams follow spirit roads along the earth. Under all natural waterways is a spirit road.
This list gives you more than enough places to meet the Guardian and ways to sense his presence. I feel that, especially in the early training of witches, it is important to encounter the old Gods directly. As you can see, he can be felt in certain wild places, but he can also be felt at transitional times. Therefore, it does not matter where you live; if you are serious about wanting to meet him, you can do it. Now let's look at our Witch Mother.
THE MISTRESS OF FATE: THE WITCH-MOTHER
The Witch-Mother is both the Mistress of Fate, and the web within her weaving. She is the undergirding relationship between all the forces of planetary nature, including humanity. In witchery, she is seen as the circular nature of things and the interconnection between everything. Thus she is the weaver, the web, and the spaces in between. It is her design that passes through the elemental threshold of the Guardian who marshals the brute forces of nature into balance to embody her design. Though he may stimulate and leverage, it is she that creates and regenerates. To us witches, her power feels like a mother that carries and births life, but she also takes life-force into herself and regenerates it and, therefore, is a devourer too. She is the magical tides and rhythms inside of life and the tides that shape it, like a basket containing and molding it. Her power is immeasurably potent as she weaves the cord of destiny that flows out from the core of our world, carrying the power to give and take life, as well as the shape and the relationships that form will have. We must be in right relationship to her for our lives to feel aligned and supported by the forces of manifest life. She is the delicious maiden in her seduction of life to blossom and seed. She is the fecund mother who ripens with all potential and ges-tates it within her being until it is ready to emerge into this world. But, she is also the dark lady that is the spiritual force in the earth that detangles fate threads and reweaves them in accordance with a deep and abiding wisdom far more inclusive than any one mind can understand. Her threads are the very filaments of fate and the threads of muscle, fiber, neural dendrites, veins, rivers, creeks, and all the many pathways between seen and unseen, planetary and lunar, solar and stellar alignment, and energetic exchange. Her threads hold the planet in right relationship with the moon and the rest of the solar system. She is the universal mother of space within the inner nature of the planet. In my Faery Seership practices, she is the Weaver whose hands turn the tides of life and death, Earth and moon, season and orbit. We are alive inside her right now. The encounters a witch has with the Horned Guardian as the adversary is to prepare them for the true hidden nature behind and within manifest nature, the Mistress of Fate. Otherwise, we would be looking into the face of truth, unprepared and perhaps even immobilized like a mortal human peering into the face of the gorgon Medusa.
Like the Witch-Father, the Witch-Mother has three aspects to her. The way my witchery sees her is in the planet Earth and her cycles of surface and underworld growth; in the moon and her cycles of inner tides and fluidic rhythms; and in the winds of space that breathe between the moon, Earth, and sun, with specific focus on the etheric realm between moon and sun. In her planetary cycles, we see her as the new growth of spring; the full growth of summer fruits, vegetables, and other life; aging and barren to receive life to make life in the fall and winter. We also perceive her presence whenever we contemplate any of the patterns of the world. She is also the invisible but very tangible and sometimes delicate connection between all the forms of life that shape what we may think of as ecosystems. In her lunar cycles, she regulates the waters of life within all bodies and through all the waterways of life. Through her dark, new, waxing, full, and waning back to dark moon cycles, her inner threads send forth, gather, weave, unbind, and reweave the patterns of life in the fluid and etheric worlds. She also works with her sister aspect the planetary aspect, in the place between the moon and the Earth where magic can influence the weave of the weft of fate. The lesser-known aspect of her nature is in her elder aspect, where she reflects the nature of the first of all Witch-Mothers, space herself. In this aspect, she weaves the greater picture of Earth life influenced by a relationship between the planet and moon with the influences of all the other celestial bodies. You might think of this aspect as the elder space that is filled with the wisdom of the universe, which informs all of the other aspects of our world’s processes. This aspect is the ancient advisor of life on Earth and is the very web that holds our beautiful planet in the right orbital relationship within space herself. Using the more popular concepts of maiden, mother, and crone:
· • Maiden, or the power of the planet, moon, or celestial winds that buds and issues forth;
· • Mother, or the power of the planet, moon, or celestial winds, which gestates, births, and sustains;
· • Crone, or the power of the planet, moon, or celestial winds that holds, regenerates, and creates multigenerational or cyclic change based on the influences of previous cycles.
Her spirit presents itself in many places and in many forms. As I present some of these places and times, keep in mind that all three of her aspects form the webbing of fate, fortune, luck, and interconnectedness. Here is a solid list of these:
The pulse of the Earth: Of all the aspects of the Fate-Mother that are most reachable, her planetary aspect is the most present to our senses. For example, we can directly engage her stirrings in the buds and flowers during the spring and early summer. At this time her personality is sensual, young, and seductive as the door to the inner world opens and she rushes forth, weaving the world into flowery seduction to entice the Witch-Father to pollinate her. This attraction seduces humanity to come out into the fields, and through wonder and delight, fall into her spell of creation. We can follow this unfolding spell weaving the fate of the year through her flowering, fruiting, fading, and composting presence, and a pulse of life that is more ancient than humanity. It is this pulse that shapes, sustains, and eventually devours our bodies, and it is a dance of reciprocity that turns the wheel of fortune.
The light of the moon: The magical tides of the moon have pulled the attention of humanity for thousands of years. She is seductive, soft and subtle, mysterious and magical. There is no one object in our world more associated with witchery than the luminous eye that governs the night. As Moon Mistress, she governs the invisible tides of magic and the soul stream of fate’s weaving. The first days of the waxing gibbous moon pull life out of its invisible nature toward visible presence until she pours her presence into form the day after the full moon. This process continues as she pours new power into our world, calling that which resists it to detangle as she wanes it to make room for the new. The second quarter of the waxing gibbous is the most powerful to harness her creative power. The last quarter of the waning gibbous is the most powerful to harness her destructive power. Her dark moon pulls us into the web of fate to retrieve our inner pulse to pull forth as the moon grows.
The pulse of the soil: The mystical and magical presence of the soil is one of the most overlooked aspects of the Lady's power. Witches who work with this aspect of her usually focus on planting and harvesting, composting, and fertilizing the soil for growing plant-based foods. However, there are much deeper aspects than that. It is in the space between the particles of soil where her deep wisdom whisper in the unseen, but are felt, mouths of her spinning loom of Earth's mill. The old-style witches have always known this, and thus will send the voice of their spirit into the vast memory of the soil for guidance, advice, and power. An example of this is soil wishing, where the witch takes a handful of soil, honors it, calls to it to awaken unto life, speaks a wish or a request into it, and scatters it back to the earth. This way of working sets the intention of the witch into the planetary mill.
The patterns of your fate: Ultimately, the power of any witch is in living in congruence with his or her fate thread. The fate thread is the pathway out from the planetary web of fate that reveals itself into this world as you. When the witch observes the Lady's threading by tuning into her planetary, lunar, and other tides, he or she is causing his or her own fate thread to resonate and re-nature itself to its original song. This is why observation of what is commonly known as the wheel of the seasons is so important. When the witch (fate thread of the Elder Lady) observes the moon (the Enchantress Lady) and the Earth (the Mother Lady), then his or her life comes into alignment and magic simply happens. The invitation here is to step onto the dance floor of the tides of her soul as reflected in tides of life, which invokes your own life to become your greatest love.
The rhythm of the waterways: There is an ancient and profound discussion that is constantly occurring between the three aspects of the Witch-Mother. It happens when ocean and all waters (which are shaped by the Moon Lady), soil (which is shaped by the Mother Planet), and wind (which is shaped by the Space Elder who utters forth) meet. This is most apparent when we stand at the edge of the ocean and feel her tides reaching into the invisible recesses of our soul saying, “Let it go and let it in, make the mill of magic spin; cast your boon upon my (her) tides; within my (her) song creation rides.” The waters tell of her flow inward and out, casting forth and detangling life. When we stand by or in water, we feel the ancient memory of our own fate threads being played like a holy harp. I have worded this charm so you can either hear her voice speaking within you or you can immerse within her tides while casting forth in it a boon (a wish or desire).
The voice of the wind: Have you ever been outside as the fingers of the wind move upon your flesh, through your hair, or past your ear, and you felt like there were haunting whispers present? Well, I have good news . .. there were. The wind carries the voice of the Elder Mother throughout the world. It is through the winds that she commands the processes of life and this is the mystical hand that makes the mill of magic turn. This is why the use of breath and voice is the most powerful force we have to work the witch-flame, the mill of magic, and the threads of fate. A witch should heed the call of the winds to come out of doors or open the windows and listen. A witch should cast his or her voice upon the wind to become one with the breath of fate and the oneness of the world. At spring, she speaks of newness and the feast of life on the eastern wind. At summer, she speaks of passion and power on the southern wind. At autumn, she speaks of ancestral wisdom on the western wind. At winter, she speaks of contemplation, secret wisdom, and renewal on the northern wind.
In this chapter, I have given a deep introduction to the soulful presence of the living Gods of the old art. It is an introduction to a spiritual stream that is older than time. The most vital concept to get from this chapter is that these forces are real, alive, reachable, and workable. They do not require our belief. In fact, they do not need us at all, for they are present whether we reach to them or not. However, their conscious presence in our lives can enrich us beyond belief. Now, what about a controversial figure that often gets linked to witchery in inaccurate ways? I am referring, of course, to the Devil.
Is there a Devil in Witchery?
The topic of the Devil is a touchy one when discussing any form of magical practice, especially witchcraft. I say “touchy" because of the stereotyping mainstream press images of all witches and the faulty beliefs of many who link us with demonic or satanic worship and the reverence of evil. There is too often an assumption that the kind of Devil featured in Christian beliefs is also a part of our traditions and practices and that we do deals with it. This, however, is not true, in nearly all the witchery practices I know. I say “nearly” because the concept of one being a witch means many things in many cultures and traditions. This book is covering a specific kind of witch. And a specific line of teachings. However, there are people identified or who identify themselves as witches in America and other countries who are practicing within a Christian or other religious tradition that have a central evil figure in it which they refer to as “Devil." My witchery does not draw from these sources as its foundation. Therefore “the Devil” or a “Satan" figure is not a part of witchery as I know it and definitely not in practices that are more pagan or naturebased, like mine.
There is, however, the presence of a spiritual force at the intersection between the worlds of the seen and unseen, sometimes referred to as the devil-at-the-crossroads, which shows up in many traditions, including the one I learned from the Brentwood Essex witches. I did not see anything like this in the subsequent traditions I learned. And, witches do not worship nor fear it! They understand it and its role in nature and they address its tricky nature and how that manifests itself inside us. It forces us to face the lies and tricks within us if we are to secure the favor of Mother Fate. This spirit poses riddles of the soul to us and can lead us into murky magical waters if we do not know the content of our own hearts. But, it can also lead us to profound revelations if we know what is working within us, and our motivations for magical work. This threshold being is a part of the Guardian's guarding nature. It can guard the threshold to Mother Fate and her magic through trickery and deception, or it can show the face of the crossroads spirit that opens the ways of possibility and power. That all depends on the forces working within the witch.
The earliest teachings I learned maintained that witches must address the tricky and even adversarial forces within us if we are to claim our fate thread, which is the aspect of our spirit that is connected to the overall visionary power of our planet and our life upon it. All of us have these forces within us, and they are often anchored in primal fear and abandonment pain. The witch does not just expect the sacred forces they call and revere to manage the adversarial and even harmful forces within them. They reach to the ancestors and other spirits, which they hold as holy, for strength and sometimes for protection. But, ultimately, it is the witch who must face the trickster within themselves and the one that may present itself in magic with determination, discipline, and resolve to seize their own fate road and not surrender it to another force. In this way, facing the trickster spirit ensures that we look at our options with discernment for the ultimate trickster force is our fear, our deep-seated pain, and our fear of abandonment. If you are to become a healthy, powerful, and actualized witch in control of your magic (as opposed to being controlled by it), know this: You cannot sidestep your shadows.
When we come to the mill of magic, igniting the witch-flame and calling on the invisible forces of nature to manifest our desires, we bring to that crossroads whatever is inside us—helpful or harmful, curative and cursing, healthy or unhealthy, true or deceptive. Before I do any magic, I ask myself: "What is fueling this desire and what am I really asking for?" We can play tricks on ourselves, and before we know it, we are calling on spirits that fit the nature of our own spirit. If our inner spirit is conflicted, the spirits we call will often come that way. If our inner spirit wants healing and blessing, the spirits we call will come that way. If our inner spirit is filled with fury and anger, the spirits we call will come that way. I advise seekers of magic, including witchery, to assess what forces puppet you from within and from without and throw away the concept of “the Devil did not make you do it." Powerful witchery makes us seize the reigns of responsibility for our lives.
A dear friend of mine and fellow witch named Bruno shared the following poem with me. The first four lines were given to him from his grandmother Mary Todd while she was alive in a body. The rest of the poem came through him long after her death, from the River of Blood as her spirit touched his in a workshop I taught in California. It has great contemplative material and I close this discussion of the devil concept in witchery with it. Thank you Bruno and Mary Todd!
Cod made bees and bees made honey.
God made man and man made money.
Cod made the Devil and the Devil made sin.
Cod made hell and put the Devil in.
God made the dark and the Devil did rise.
The Devil brought light and opened man's eyes.
Man made the Goddess and the Goddess made love.
God loved the Goddess more than heaven above.
God fell from grace as he fell to earth.
God bowed to the Goddess and the Goddess gave birth.
Goddess birthed magic and the magic won't cease.
God, the Goddess, and the Devil made peace.
God, Man, Goddess, and the Devil makes four.
Arms of the Crossroads joined at the core.
All made from magic and the magic flows free.
As is our will now, so mote it be!
Six
THE CONJURATION OF THE WITCH FLAME
Balefire, boon-fire, bonefire; fiicker of the witch's-flame; Bring the ancient magic; summoned in the Old One's name.
—Orion Foxwood
Fire magic is one of the core practices in witchery. The primary philosophy behind it is that fire embodies and transmits power of the first flame (the central sun) and life-force (the power of animation), and that it is the one element most like the living light of spirit (the pulsing light of creation). As such, the witch can call forth the attention of his or her own life-force to meet with the one-light-that-permeates simply by lighting a flame with the intention of connecting with this sacred and powerful force.
The charm (above) that I wrote is used to set the internal presence of our awareness in alignment with what can only be termed as the power of the first star lit on the altar of heaven. It can be used to awaken the presence of the flame within the toolflames (balefire, boon-fire, bone-fire) as reflections or fractals of the original light of the Old One, who is also known as the Ancient One. Note that all of these are also viewed as flickers of the witch-flame. This relates back to the witch-blood. The witchblood is the beginning of what drives us to witchery, but then the witch-blood of the First Mother (space) was also what drove her to seek creation and expression. Perhaps, there is a little witch in all of us, even though it pools strongly in some families. All flames are flickers of the first witch-blood of the Elder Mother, and the flame that set it to boil and seethe in a brew of creation, destruction, and regeneration that fulfills an ancient curiosity and divine discontent that sits at the very core of what it means to be alive. Whether this flicker is the flame of fire (candlelight, etc.), the life-force within nature, or the passion that drives us and starlight itself.
The Light of the First Flame: The Legend of Beginnings
The light of the first star, which we also refer to as the central sun, is the power that stirred the passion of the original mother (space) to constantly reach into herself and draw forth inspiration and creation in an eternal epic of magic, generation, regeneration, transformation, and transmutation. It all began in her contemplation of what she could be if she reached within herself. Her inward look and potent desire drove her attention toward her own central beingness. The heat of her look and the passion in her pulse exploded into the delight of creation and the Star Father (the first star/central sun) was born. The flicker of his light in and out of the center of her desire in all things inspires creation to summon life from its center in a constant passing of light and breath, or center and circumference, of rotation and extension. Thus, all of the witchery of the old magic taps this epic and becomes a conscious co-creator with it and its spirits.
There is nothing that delights a witch more than doing magic with our Witch-Mother and Witch-Father. It is during these practices that we are sitting in the center of creation and, like our Witch-Mother, we reach into our core and summon forth our desire. Its delight sets the flame of the First Father within us into illuminative radiation. Then the mill of creation turns the mill inside us and from its churning the star of desire within is ground into the very life fabric of our lives and magic is made manifest.
The witch-blood is such a blessing to us all because it remembers the first stirring and it seeks out all the stirrings of life as its kindred. It is in this blood that the primal breath becomes the primal ocean and primal fire becomes the red blood of the witch embodied. It is where star and space, fire, and water meet. Use of the tool-flames is a profound way to continue this stirring and inspire the witch-blood, the witch-knowing, and the witch-flame to line up into a straight track from the power of creation, through the power of the witch, to the power of magic. With this in mind, let's look closer at the conjuration of the witch-flame through the tool-flames ofwitchery.
The Tool-Flames of Witchery
Though the charm I gave above mentions three tool-flames, I will be giving you four: the balefire, the boon-fire, the bone-fire, and the bonfire. Each of these flames offers a distinct way that the witch can work the power of the first stirring and do magic.
Balefire: In witchery, the bale-flame is the life-flame. It is used to call forth the life-force of the land, the life-force of the sun, and the life-force of expressed creation (animals, plants, and humans to come together and stir forth health, wealth, and fertility). In my tradition, it is used at Beltane (April 30-May 1) to summon forth life into the land and the tribe. In fact, two flames are created, one that is the ancestral fire containing ash from the fire of the previous Beltane, and another one that is lit from the first and embodies the blessings of the flame for the new cycle. Then people and animals run through the space between the two separate fires to bless them and cleanse them of all ill and bane. When the ancestral flame has burned out toward the end of the Beltane celebration when the balefire is small, it is customary for witches to jump the flame to quicken the procreative and life-giving power in the loins. Traditions vary on the wood to be used, but I recommend birch and oak. At the end of using this flame, the ashes have power to heal. Keep some of them in your home over the door, under your bed, and in the four corners of your home for the blessing of health and wealth and protection against baneful spiritual forces. These can be renewed each year with new ashes as you are able. If you cannot get new ashes, take the old ones and mix them with ashes of burnt vervain herb to renew them. This process can
only be used for three years before you must replace them.
Boon-fire: In witchery, the boon-fire is an outdoor fire or indoor cauldron fire that is used as a wish-flame. It is used to set aflame power into the wish or desire of the witch. Burnable spells can be used in this fire once it is awakened by the threefold flame exercise I have already given you. This flame embodies the core flame induced by the desire of the Mother Spirit and the delight of the Father Spirit covered in the Legend of Beginnings. This fire is worked to grant requests set forth by the witch for a better life. Candle flames on altars can also be viewed as a type of boon-fire, because they are present as a doorway for deities or spirits and as a source of food for these beings to use as a source of strength and a linkage to the magic of the witch. It is in the eternal stream of starlight and how it is transmitted through all the fire, heat, radiation, life-force, and blood that the witch can come into the aliveness of creation's spirit.
Bone-fire: In witchery, the bone-fire is an outdoor fire that is the ancestral flame linking the present state of being to the forces of ancestry (human and other) that sustain, shape, and inform us. It is composed of bones from animals we have eaten in previous years. Depending on the type of bones and the heat of the summer in your geographic area, these bones may take more than a year to dry and become white. They must be dry to burn. The white color is for the stars that are our original ancestors. This flame is most often only lit for the Hallowmas (Samhain, October 31-November 1) ceremony, but can be lit through the year if the witch needs to call upon the ancestors to defend and protect them or advise them on something of grave (pardon the pun) nature. Along with the bones of animals, ashes of our beloveds can be put into this flame. At the end of using the flame, the ashes are kept to put in spells to add extra power and wisdom. The power of this ash never runs low.
Bonfire: In witchery, the bonfire is an outdoor flame that is the meeting place of the spirits of witchery. It is a place where the witch can simply enter into communion with the spirits of light, darkness, and shadow. My elder, Lady Circe, told me, “Witches do not work in the circle of light, nor the circle of darkness, but in the shadow-place in between." This also fits with the saying that the witch that can't curse, can't cure. Both of these wise sayings relate to the in-between place where witches work, and their ability to tap the forces of creation and destruction as true need arises, and always guided by deep service to the oneness in all life. The bonfire is a flame that is cast forth using the threefold flame technique and opened for the witch to work at the three levels of the fire: 1) the bright area closest to the flame (not too close to get burned); 2) the shadow area; 3) the area farthest out where the light is thinnest and darkness creeps in. The areas of the fire are used as follows:
· 1. First go into the inner-most circle of light where the flame is brightest, feel the power of the first flame stirring on the edge of the void (embodied in the hole), and call to mind that power and the focus of your magic. This power is gathered as you circle the fire clockwise to summon power
and purpose into you.
· 2. Then move out to the darkest area, bringing the feeling of being full of the power of the central flame in you. In the darkest area, pull up all that limits or prevents you from achieving your desires. You should walk counterclockwise (also known as star-wise) to gather this up in the name of the old power of the first flame that resides within you.
· 3. Take the darkness of your restrictions back into the central flame and walk clockwise, casting those dark forces into the flame to be transmuted into your power.
· 4. As you circle the flame and as you feel these restrictions burn away, chant, “In the name of the holy mystery, I call my power back to me,” sensing the power that once animated those restrictive powers coming back into you. Walk the circles like this nine times, and on the tenth rotation, move to the midway circle around the fire where the fire and darkness meet in shadow. This area is the supple etheric area where magic takes root.
· 5. Move into that circle and take the power you called back along with the power of the central flame and animate your desires. As you walk this part of the circle clockwise as many times as feels right in your spirit, chant, “I wind, I bind, this spell be mine.” Feel the spell of your desire take root in your inner spirit. Let the excitement rise from within you for the new aspect of your life you have summoned. This particular technique is called the turning mill of flame.
For all of the outdoor flames, you must dig and prepare the hole for the flame. You are working with both the flame of the
heavens and the flame in the memory of the world. When you dig the hole, ask the mother of the Earth to please open her memory to you and allow the fire in her web to come forward in its blue and silver wisdom-flame. Sense reaching deep into the earth and summoning this forward into the fabric of the hole. Then, make an offering of honey in the hole to feed her. While you have this bonfire going, there are other ways to work with it if the witch-blood and the knowing within you are calling for this next level of work, called the fire of spiritual communion.
The Fire of Spiritual Communion
This technique works with the forces of the star, stone, and sea worlds of witchery and Faery magic. These three areas embody the concept of the three worlds of the old magic. My elders said that it was Celtic in origin and marks out the inner, outer, and transcendent topology of the universe as follows:
The Star World, which is the unbound radiant world of the unmanifest and considered the realm of the Lords and Ladies of Light, the sky deities, and the beings often referred to as angels. This is the realm of the universal.
The Stone World, which is the embodied elemental world of manifest nature and considered the realms of the entire planetary world of nature. In this realm, humanity and the trees are the custodial spirits that bridge all three realms for the good of all.
The Sea World, which is the inner subtle world of the fate threads, the ancestors, the deep planetary giants, and the People of Peace also known as the Faery.
This technique works by bringing all three of these realms together through the bridging powers of the human in the fire circle and the trees around the edge to create a timeless presence where all of the beings of the realms circle the central flame in a declaration of interdependence and co-creative communion. Obviously, the first thing you do is to establish a bonfire. Once this has been lit, announce to the spirit world that you are calling out to them to work with you to heal the realms through bringing forth the timeless quality of spiritual communion. This technique works in the following steps:
· 1. Circle the central area of the fire for a while, gathering your
own inner spirit, moving clockwise around the flame.
· 2. Sense the bonfire extending its reach into the earth and high into the heavens until it becomes a pillar of fire uniting all three of the realms of existence. This will also send out a call to the realms that you are bridging.
· 3. Move your awareness to the area beneath your feet. Sense the Faery beings beneath the surface of the land. They are made of luminous silver and blue light. Invite them to rise to come to the pillar of flame you have extended into their deep realms. Sense them walking the circle below the ground with you.
· 4. Move your awareness to the area above your head and feel that expand into the spaces. Sense the Lords and Ladies of Stellar Light (the angels) in the realm within the air. Invite them to descend to the pillar of flame you have extended to their lofty realms. Sense them walking around the circle above the air with you.
· 5. Ask them to come together with you and if you feel no resistance (usually there will be none) feel the Faery people ascend and the star (angelic) people descend to you until you sense that all three of you are turning in the orbit of this light in a great mill of magic.
· 6. After about twenty minutes, you will feel the alignment begin to fade. As it does, sense all three of the realms come together into one great ball of light, and release it into the central flame to go wherever it is needed.
· 7. Thank the beings who have come and let the feeling of oneness fill your innermost being. It is very healing.
· 8. Continue circling the fire a few times until you feel settled.
Then drink some cold water with electrolytes and eat some protein. You may want to go to bed and let the delightful presence flow into your inner life in dreams and sleep.
In closure of this chapter, I will leave you with this form of moving prayer to work with to tap into the witch-flame in its movement through the realms. This technique is very aligning and is used for clearing and settling your inner spirit when you feel stretched, depleted, or in need of motivation. It works like this:
· i. Sense the white flame that descends above your head in a waterfall of light.
· 2. Sense the blue flame that ascends beneath your feet as a fountain of flame.
· 3. Sense the fire within your blood and the life-force in your bones.
· 4. Reach your hands to the heavens with the palms facing toward you and your fingers toward the sky and draw down that waterfall of light into you while saying, “Fire in the heavens." Bring it all the way down into you until it flows into the earth.
· 5. Turn your hands so that the palms are facing you but the fingers are pointing down, and raise the blue fountain of flame into you while saying, “Fire in the stones." Bring it all the way up into you until it flows into the heavens.
· 6. Reach your hands toward heaven with the palms facing toward you and your fingers toward the sky, but reaching no higher than your eye level and drawing the forth the feeling of the fire in your blood, connecting with the continuous flow of the waterfall of light descending into you while saying, "Fire in the blood." Sense the power of heaven and the power of your blood merging throughout you and becoming one.
· 7. Now, lastly, reach your hands so that the palms are facing you again and the fingers are pointing down and feel the fire in your bones connecting with the continuous flow of the fountain of flame ascending into you while saying, “Fire in the bones." You can continue this exercise until you feel energized and centered and then stop, always ending with the final line of the fire in the bone.
· 8. This affirms the continuous flow of these flames in a balanced stream with each other. For clarity, the whole of this prayerful conjuration and movement technique reads as follows: Fire in the heavens; Fire in the stone; Fire in the blood; Fire in the bone.
This final witch-flame working is an excellent way to begin and end any of your work with the conjuration of the flame.
Seven
A MAGICAL MEETING PLACE OF WITCHERY, FAERY, AND CONJURE
Witches without fuss or bother, when chance to meet, never fail to know each other.
— LC
The above quote was another one of the wisdom sayings from one of my elders and is about recognition between witches. I have found it to be very true. I have found that, regardless of what system or practice the witch-blood grows through, people of magical inclination tend to know each other through a deep inner recognition. Ultimately, it does not seem to matter whether they call themselves a witch, conjurer, medicine person, or the many other cultural variants describing the magic and spirit worker; there is an immediate recognition of each other, or, as I say, “Blood knows blood." The only considerable difference I have seen is in the function, culture, and language of the practice. I believe that the diverse expressions and applications of this blood calling are of great importance. The needs of this world are many. The differences in our practices form a metaphorical magical menu from which those in need can order specific to their tastes and needs.
Therefore, I feel that it is high time that magic workers, who are called by this deep longing and who have special gifts, come together in a declaration of magical unity around one central purpose: To attend to the inner directive to grow our spiritual and magical gifts, and use them for the betterment of our lives— individually, communally, and globally—regardless of religion, culture, ethnicity, gender and gender expression, sexual orientation, tradition, and political affiliation.
This declaration of unity is the product of my journey assessing myself, my gifts, and my practices, and then enjoying communion with other magic workers across traditions who have had a similar journey. I love the path of magic and I love magic workers. We have so much to bring to the world. If you look at our presence within all the eras of the past, we have always been needed. Cultures, like ecosystems, always summon from themselves that which is of necessity. Clearly, we are necessary!
I am blessed that I have three lenses to look through into the magical world as a Faery Seer, an American Southern Conjure Worker, and a Traditional Witch. Because of this somewhat unique vantage point, I am able to see the defining attributes of these individual paths, how they come together, and the unique offerings of other magical approaches. When addressing these lenses, the metaphorical comparison I like to use is that of a medical doctor (MD), a physician's assistant (PA), and a licensed practical nurse (LPN). These are all medical practitioners, and they share that in common. Yet, all three of them bring their own unique skills and knowledge sets to the field. Likewise, the conjure worker aspect of me, the topic of my book The Candle and the Crossroads: A Book of Appalachian Conjure and Southern Root-Work (Weiser Books, 2012); the witch, the topic of this book; and the seer part of me, the topic of my books The Tree of Enchantment (Weiser Books, 2008) and The Faery Teachings (R.J. Stewart Books, 2007), all come together with unique individual insights with core agreements about magic and spirit.
If we take out the word “witch” from the saying at the beginning of this chapter, and insert “those of the magical blood,” then any magic worker who was summoned to this work from a deep, innate drive and a talent that seeks expression will have an affinity with others. I have met hundreds of magic workers from diverse practices, cultures, and ethnic groups, and found this to be very true. In this complex modern culture with rapidly changing pressures and needs, magic workers and spiritual advisors are more important than ever. There needs to be many types to meet the needs of those who seek. Here are some examples of general ways my three paths (seer, witch, and conjurer) are of use to those who seek my help:
Seer: When someone needs to look beyond how things appear to the internal forces that direct those outer patterns, which includes the dialogue between his or her source, center, and substance selves.
Witch: When someone needs to look at the relationship with his or her own life-force and the overall natural rhythms of life as well as to connect to the power of the inner flame to ignite magic and “the knowing."
Conjurer When someone needs to look at whether he or she is in a healthy and/or productive relationship with his or her own spirit, or with the spirits that influence his or her life.
These are extremely broad areas and there are many times when the differences in these paths blur. In fact, there are times when any one of these entry points into my work call upon all three of these functions in a beautiful alchemy of assistance. I
would even say that there are many times when they simply are not different at all. But these descriptions give generalized ways of viewing these individual practices and how they contribute. I have found that there are definite core beliefs across Southern Conjure, Faery Seership, and witchery practices. These core beliefs represent areas that they share in common. Looking at these areas provides some insight into concepts that may have universal truth and cross-cultural need.
Core Beliefs and Practices
As I have lived my life as a conjure-man, seer, and a witch, I have found areas where they definitely cross over into each other. I have found these consistent beliefs and practices to be very intriguing as well as informing to my spirit. I advise all mentors and students within these practices to consider making sure that these areas are covered in the work they do, because their constant presence across not only my traditions, but the many others I have encountered in my work, suggests that they represent a deep aspect of the needs we, as witches and spirit workers, address. Let's look at them:
Blood mysteries: Each of us descends through the rhythm of time from those before us. We may be described as surfacing from a stream of ancestry through the shaping forces of our blood. Bottom line, we are riding in boats of flesh on a river of blood. We emerge from the ancestral pool to which we return. Each return deepens, strengthens, and redeems it. The folk-loric image of this, first shared with me by R.J. Stewart, is the river of blood. It is a core concept in my seership work. This concept shows up in a different form in the waters of return that are a part of the conjure baptism. This folkloric image describes a flow of ancestral presence that moves into and through us. In witchery, we work with the witch-blood of the First Mother and the First Father and their relationship with their spirit-children. In conjure, we work with ancestral reverence and these spirits to help us achieve a good life, which they also enjoy through us. But, conjure, like witchery, recognizes that the propensity to do magical work runs in families, is connected to the blood, and that though everyone has
some of this trait, it pools more in some families than others.
Affecting visible change through invisible forces: Lore and techniques for contacting and directing flows of spiritual and magical energy and essence to a desired effect We call this conjuring, magic, or witchcraft, depending on the practice. All three practices partner with deities, spirits, and streams of power to affect the quality of our lives in this world. The stream of the power may be called the witch-flame by witches, the holy fire or Faery flame by the seers, or “the conjure" by a conjure worker. All of my practices engage change through invisible means by working with beings that dwell in the invisible world and engaging a stream of power tapped by witchcraft, seership, or conjuring techniques.
The void or intersect of seen and unseen forces (beginning place) as cauldron, flame, or crossroads: All three have visionary images or techniques for mind-touching human awareness to the essential source material manifestation and demanifestation point or intelligence where magic/creation begins and ends. This point or state is the meeting place between the human and universal threshold spirit that links the three, whether that is the point where star and void meet, human and crossroads spirit meet (the Dark Rider), or fire of enquiry with stellar being through the archway of flame at the center of all fire.
A source that can be engaged directly or through spirits: All three practices see that the source, whether that is God, Ancient One, Lady of Fate and Lord of Threshold, or the mill of magic is approachable, reachable, engaging, alive, conscious, and interested in the wellbeing of its creation. In magical work, the creator has endowed the magic worker with the gift to consciously create his or her life through the power of the source and the many beings that are involved in the inner application of that power.
Co-creation with the spirit world through force-form-flow techniques and spirit encounter and exchange processes: These practices contain lore and techniques for intra-terrestrial states of being and intelligences (spirits) that are intricately involved in human and planetary affairs and can be engaged and encountered to leverage invisible power into visible effects.
An animated worldview: They view a world that is animated with intelligent and influential spirit beings that can be benevolent or malevolent. The human spirit (embodied or disembodied) is also a part of that landscape. By living within this worldview, the witch, seer, or conjure worker can assist humanity in being conscious and sovereign over the spiritual forces with which he or she engages. As Ms. Cranny (my mother's midwife) said to my mother, “They is haints [haunts] around every comer,” and, “Ya neva know where the angels be.”
The value of power: One of the primary goals of any magical work is to put the magic worker or those he or she serves into a better relationship with his or her life condition by using the power of the source by whatever names you call him/her/it/them. This power is, in effect, the ability to effect change. Conjure, witchery, and seership practices hold that this source does not want us to suffer and wants us to have the good things that life has to offer. However, the practices are clear that the power does not belong to us. It is a shared force that must be treated with respect and honor.
Connection to the source is healing: The position of all three of my practices are clear that ongoing connection to the source is necessary for the health and well-being of all aspects of our lives. Whether that is through the prayer and daily activities of conjure or the nature-based sensitizing and synchronizing techniques ofwitchery, both agree that the part must be in relationship to the whole to be complete.
The existence of a crossroads or threshold spirit: In conjure we have the Dark Rider, Daddy Death (the graveyard guardian), and even Jesus. In witchery we have the Horned Guardian, and in Faery Seership we have the Guardian. These spirits are sacred and powerful beings that leverage the meeting of humanity with a greater pool of the source.
As I close this chapter, I leave you with a short poem I wrote to describe our relationship to the calling of our blood to do the work of magic:
There is an ancient longing...
There is a current call...
Hear the longing of your spirit to nature's dancing hall.
There is a voice within you...
It's been there all along...
It is the voice of the note you are within the earth's song.
A more Christian-based conjure worker could replace the words “nature” and “earth's" with “God" and it will still speak to the same deep calling of the spirit or the witch-blood.
Eight
THOUGHTS ON THE USEFULNESS OF THESE THREE PRACTICES
As long as there is magic in the world, there is hope.
—LC
One of my Brentwood teachers made this statement during an informal, but informative, conversation on the old ways and their relevance to the needs of the modern world. Her feeling was that magic is the practice of the spiritually mature human. I feel that magical practice offers an opportunity for humanity to move out of its exploitive or battle-centered position with the powers of life and into a conscious, connected, and co-creative relationship with them. When you practice magic as your core means of developing your spirit and shaping your world, you have entered into a personal relationship with the creator, its process, and its creation. You have moved from creation being a spectator sport to full personal involvement in it. When this paradigm grows within us, we tend to become more responsible, and present within our lives, as well as less frivolous with the use of our power because we are so directly responsible for the outcomes of our lives. It is this level of conscience, active awareness of, and participation in, the shaping of our lives that places us in the seat of responsibility for our lives and their impact on the world around us. I am clear that this perceptual shift is imperative for humanity to successfully bring itself back from the brink of ecological disaster and into a way of life that makes us worthy of caring for this Garden of Eden in which we live.
Within the practice of magic, you run out of scapegoats to blame for your creations. Rather, you embrace each achievement and failure as an invitation into understanding of the creative epic of your own life. Within magic is the inherent invitation to step into a place of responsibility that grows beyond your personal life to your life within a greater whole. As LC said, “If you are going to be a real witch, you must invite God off her illusive throne and into the center of your words, thoughts, feelings, and actions.” Who do you blame and hold responsible when you are the primary creator of your life? The answer is direct and simple—you blame no one. You get responsible, responsive, and conscious about the shape and effects of your life. In my observation, the world needs this approach to life more than ever before. The magic workers, by whatever name you call them (witch, conjurer, and seer for me), have been called from the shadows back into the spotlight of our human culture because they are needed. They are needed as forms of personal discipline, selfdiscovery, and anointed action. These practices help the seeker to find meaning in the madness; clarity in the confusion; and strategies for a better world when science, religion, and politics fail us. Magic has always raised its head in the human world to bring freedom and power when we most need them. Now it raises its head to give us freedom from the spiritual oppression of our fears and illusions of isolation. It is here to give us sovereignty over our spirit and the skills to shape ourselves into responsible, compassionate, loving, and empowered cocreators with the source, our beloved planet, and the directive behind the very creation of our species in the first place.
ReEngaging with Our Spirit and the Spirit World
It is time to demystify and re-sacredize the invisible side of our lives. In these realms dwell the thoughts, feelings, and spiritual forces that culminate into actions, relationships, and consequences. Over centuries, we have developed complex religions, philosophies, and practices to make sense and reengage with the invisible world and our lives within it, now and in the afterworld. This book was directed through my feelings, thoughts, and actions to be an intimate and soulful reintroduction to the following simple but direct concepts:
· • Engaging and interacting with our spirit and the creator of it is easy and achievable through simple and daily practices.
· • The spirit world is not a place alien to us. Rather, distance from it is both unnatural and unhealthy.
· • We can and must engage and manage the well-being and power of our spirits and the outer-world outcomes of our lives.
· • Each of us is both the outcome and the hope of our ancestry. We must embrace this concept and actively focus, as I stated in The Candle and the Crossroads, “On healing, revealing, growing, and knowing our inner-spirit.” A part of this is cleansing our paradoxes and growing our abilities.
· • Witchery gives us direct ways to synchronize ourselves with the holy rhythm of our planet.
· • In addition to conjure, seership, and witchery, there are many wisdom traditions available to us to guide us away from the mistakes of our ancestors and into their revealed wisdoms.
The Roles of the Witch in the Modern World
If we trust the guidance of the Ancient One, by whatever name or gender we identify with it, then we must know that it knew what it was doing when it inspired humanity to come back to the practices and roles of the witch. With this in mind, our roles are very much needed to address the needs of the modern human. My experiences in my work with students as well as people I guide have informed me that we (witches) have some clear and identified roles for those who seek us: 1) spiritual advisor, to assist our clients and loved ones in making sense out of the shifting tides (inner and outer) of their lives; 2) integrator, to assist folks in integrating the directive of the Ancient One and their inner spirit with the outcomes of their lives; 3) activator, to use the magical practices to stimulate and direct the life, death, love, and luck roads of their lives; 4) soul-coach, to guide folks into coming into a healthy, happy, consistent, and powerful relationship with the core of their inner being; 5) guardian, to support, guide, and even protect the energetic and spiritual integrity and process of those we love; and lastly, 6) soul-friend, as the one safe place for the love, compassion, empowerment, and unconditional love to the souls of those we love and serve. All of these roles apply to us first and then to those persons we love and serve. After all, you can only give what you've got.
Indeed, I agree with my elder that as long as there is magic, there is hope. Magic brings us back into the center of creation. A centered act of creation unfolds the source and its wisdom within us. As we move to the close of this book, however, there are a few recommendations I would like to give you as conscious creators of your lives in the ways of witchery.
Nine
RECOMMENDATIONS TO THE SEEKER
There are only two things every witch must know: Don't tangle up your lines or contaminate your flow!
—Orion Foxwood
It is my hope that the contents of this book have given you, the reader, insight into the culture, practices, and soul of witchery. There are many fine books in print that give historical, academic, and researched information on magic. I felt there were not enough books on the actual soul of it, however. I have also provided insights, information, and practices in forms of witchery that I have learned from my teachers and continued to refine. It is my hope that they will add to the wisdom and knowledge you have already gleaned in your work, or that they will introduce you to two doors into the beautiful realms of spirit and magic if you are new to them. Wherever you sit within the practice of magic, please be sure to move your practices from being merely intellectual in interest toward worth in your spirit and well-being in the landscape of your life.
Magic, from both my experience and the guidance of my teachers, is not supposed to be an escape from reality. Rather, it is a descent into reality in its many forms and potentials. Ultimately, what good is witchery (or any spiritual, mystical, or magical practice) if our lives are not happier, healthier, more fulfilling, and complete because of them? Practicing these paths has led me to some of the most beautiful experiences and people I could ever imagine. I pray it does the same for you.
Over my many years of walking the path of witchery, I have discovered a few tips that I would like to give to you as a seeker of the roads of magic. I call them “Orion's Tips for Sane Witchcraft” (see below) but they apply to both conjure and witchery— and to life itself, I think. But, before I leave you to your path, I offer you this blessing:
May you know, remember, and love the source that has centered its self within you. May you find your place in the sacred circle of life. May you walk the many roads of this world— seen and unseen—with love, wisdom, and power, for you are never alone or abandoned from the grace and blessing of spirit. You are a beautiful and unique expression of the divine and it is your right to have a happy, healthy, and fulfilling life. May all the good spirits support and bless you with the seeking of your soul.
Orion's Tips for Sane Witchcraft (Ponder and Apply to Living)
· • Know your boundaries.
· • Find time for stillness.
· • Lookwithinl
· • Do not confuse spirituality with egotism.
· • Don't abuse power or give it to those who would abuse you with it.
· • Live your life as an expression of conscious creation and divine revelation.
· • Seek counsel daily with your source, your center, and your ancestors.
· • Don't get lazy, crazy, or otherwise in your own way.
· • Remember grace! It brings wisdom and unlocks more vast knowledge.
· • Be sincere in all that you do. Never compromise (especially your integrity) or be compromised. If you lose yourself, you have nothing.
· • Choose what matters and feed it. (Starve the bane, feed the blessing.)
· • Get the lesson and get on with life. Too often life is what happens when you are busy doing something else.
· • Maintain an attitude of thanksgiving. For in doing so, you give gratitude to source and maintain inner fertile space to receive more.
· • Thank the source and its good spirits at the beginning and ending of each day.
· • If you wake up in the morning, your day has already started out good . . . build from that position. Don't wait for a reason to be happy when it is right in front of you. Claim the direction of your spirit!
· • Fall in love with being you. The seed of divinity is within you; live your truth.
· • Give no enduring interest to what is not spirit while seeking spiritual truth in everything.
· • Do not stray away from your faith in yourself and the source (for in truth they are one). You are guided by the source. Do not be bandied about by the waves of life or you will crash onto the rocks of doubt.
· • Daily, reaffirm your connection with spirit. Renew yourself on the new moment and release the fetters of yesterday to their rightful home .. . yesterday.
· • Weave your web to attract that which you desire . . . then seize it. A witch need not hunt when he or she can attract.
· • If you fall down . . . move what tripped you, get up, dust yourself off, and above all, don't give up walking.
· • In chaotic times, seek the eye of the storm, poise yourself there, and find the wisdom in the stillness.
· • Give thanks for all opportunities to grow. You are a project in process.
· • All form is a product of truth cast onto the canvas of the imagination. Look within the canvas for truth. You were born to paint the truth of your soul onto the canvas of form; not to be trapped in someone else's painting.
· • Living a spiritual life entails mental, emotional, physical, and etheric harmony. Feed and care for each of these as they are the vehicles of spirit.
· • The physical world is only real because you are in it.
· • Love your life .. . see life as your lover.
· • Magic is not something you do, it is something you are. It is (metaphorically) both a noun and a verb.
· • The past is for reference, not residence. Living in the past allows it to be a ravenous zombie that cannot eat enough of your present to be satisfied.
You cannot curse the roots and bless the fruits! Draw from deep wisdom, ancestral revelation, and current experience; then go be a witch!
Ten
CHARMS, SPELLS, ADDITIONAL TEACHINGS, AND OTHER WORKINGS
For those who understand, no explanation is necessary. For those who don't, none will suffice.
— LA
Throughout this book, I have shared many insights into the workings of witchery as I know it; many of which have never been in print to my knowledge. The power in these teachings is best revealed when the seeker of these ways contemplates them, and puts them into living action. Through this, they open out other insights regarding the blood, power, and flame of witchery. In short, there are many teachings hidden within the teachings in this book. And as the saying above suggests, for those who apply these insights and grow from them, no further explanation of the power and beauty of the ways of the witch will be needed or necessary. For those who do not gain the understanding that comes through practice, no explanation will suffice.
In this chapter, I share instructions for a few powerful workings from my personal grimoire. They are not your usual cast-a-spell-and-get-a-boyfriend types of workings. No, they are for deepening your relationship to the ways of witchery. Once that relationship is strong and deep, the magical potency of it will flow into your spells, charms, rituals, and incantations. Each one of these workings and recipes has the ability to deepen your witchery and enhance any other magical work you do. But, they do not replace the services of a mental health, medical, or other professional needed for specific conditions. No, they are to enhance your witchery and the insights you have gained in this book.
Seeking the Familiar Spirit
One of the core teachings in witchery is the concept of the "familiar spirit." This is a special and very intimate spirit in the life of the witch. Not all who seek this path find one, but those who do will attest to the power of the relationship between the familiar spirit and the witch. The familiar spirit is one that teaches, guides, and even empowers the witch. Traditionally, it was common for this spirit to come to the witch in some animal form, but it also comes as a plant, tree, or a variety of other beings. During the inquisition, the inquisitors of the arrested witch would exterminate the animal (usually a cat or dog) belonging to the supposed witch because they felt that the animal might be an imp, Faery, or demon in an animal shape, and that this spirit could be killed while in animal form. Needless to say, this caused the demise of many innocent animals. Hopefully the animal and the witch spirits had the chance to avenge themselves in this or the other world.
The familiar spirit may come in any of the following types:
· • Non-corporeal (meaning non-embodied), including many types of spirits such as Faeries or the ancestral dead (specifically a witch or one who practiced magic when he or she was alive in a body).
· • Corporeal, meaning embodied, such as a cat, dog, snake, toad, horse, rabbit, plant (such as a mandrake or other plant associated with magic), or tree.
There are many ways that a seeker may encounter and acquire such a spirit, including but not limited to the following:
· • Passed on from one witch to another through a formal rite, in dreams, or at death.
. Acquired in an accidental way during a near-death experience or an illness often involving fevers, weakness, infections, poisonous stings, or bites.
· • Transmitted through family lineages attached to an object, charm, invocation, or special name provided from one generation to another.
· • Acquired at a liminal time such as dusk or dawn, and usually at some "thinned" place such as a graveyard, shoreline, haunted woods, or other natural place reputed to be haunted by nature spirits.
. By asking the ancestral dead within one’s blood to send a guiding or familiar spirit which may have been one of theirs, the spirit of a deceased witch (or other magic worker).
. Seeking the help of the Lord of the Crossroads at 3:00 a.m. on a Wednesday night.
. Seeking out a Faery contact by making offerings such as honey, milk, ale, homemade bread, and other organic types (no flowers).
· • It may arrive by contacting you through a divination tool or spirit board.
Gathering Your Power and Centering Your Spirit
During the course of daily life, our spirit (and thus, our power) can leak from us. This happens through many means. When we get very angry or overly excited, a piece of our flame can be cast out by us. When we agonize over past events and they continue to play themselves out within us, as if they were current, a piece of our flame animates dead life within us. When we carry the past like a constant burden, it requires food, and that feeding comes from our spirit. When our inner selves are constantly occupied by someone or something else that is not feeding back into us in some way, it is eating our aliveness like a vampire. So, "witch-up” and call, even command, your spirit and your power, which is the ability to effect change, back to you as follows:
· • Sense and be aware of the down-flowing gold and white waterfall of light descending from above. This is the everarriving spiritual star-stream of life's beginnings.
· • Sense and be aware of the up-flowing blue and silver fountain of flame arising from the soul of the world below. This is the magical wisdom-flame of Earth life's soul.
· • Sense the fountain of flame rising through you into the heavens where it meets the falling light of heaven which falls into us down into the earth, where it meets the up-flowing fountain in a continuous circuit of above and below that comingles with the life within us . . . which is a child of this stream.
· • Standing within the flow of this ascending, descending, and embodying current of power brings you into the trunk of the "Original Tree," which is an ancient imprint upon our nature by the ancient forces of the plant and tree world.
When we do this work, we are doing what my Faery wife (and familiar spirit) calls “doing what the trees do." It is for this reason that the image of the tree shows up in ancient and wisdom traditions worldwide as the cosmogram, or symbol, for the order of the universe.
· • Now, bring to your mind all the times in your life where you've invested your life force, and it is draining and not feeding you. They could be recent events or past ones. If it involves people, you are focusing on whatever pattern you have between you that holds you captive and devours your power.
· • As you reach your hand forward into the air; envision that you are reaching to that person, place, thing, or scenario. You are reaching to the part of you that is trapped there.
· • Call that back to you as you reach to it and physically bring the essence, your spirit, your power back to you while chanting, “In the name of the holy mystery. I call my power back to me.” As it feels right and appropriate, you can replace the word “power" with “spirit.”
· • Continue to do this until you feel full and energized. Sense the stream of above and below flowing in a current comingling with this refreshed power and enjoy the feeling.
Another charm can be used for the purpose of gathering your power and centering your spirit. Wear a red pouch of comfrey root around your neck, near your heart, and speak the charm as follows:
"By all the powers of land and sea. By all the powers of wind and flame. Sprits of good fortune attend to me. I call thee in the Lady's (Mother Fate) name." When you feel the rush of energetic power and well-being solidly within you, speak this charm nine times: "I wind, I bind; this spell be mine.” Needless to say, this last part of the chant is also a binding chant, and can be used after any charm is cast. This practice can be done any time you are gathering yourself up to mobilize your power for workings of magic. You can also do it any time you feel you need it. It's your power and your spirit—own and command it. Call it home when it wanders!
Pulling the Witch-Flame
There are many ways to call upon the potency of witchery, several of which have already been given out in this book. The magical effectiveness of the witch is ultimately based on their relationship to the unseen, which includes how well he or she can open out the inner forces of creation, attract or pull magical power, direct or shape the power that arrives, and allow it to take root. Below, I am providing more insights on some of the traditional witchery practices and charms to assist you in accessing and mediating its potency.
USING CHARMS AND INCANTATIONS
A powerful teaching about the role of charms and incantations and the breath that transports them is, “Ever be ye mindful that breath is the horse that starlight rides.” What this means is that, on a more planetary and cosmic level, it is winds that transport the power of the stars. It is movement, or what can be called “the living word" that begins life, and light is born from that. In witchery, this is tapped through the use of spoken charms. These charms do not supplicate. They enchant, command, and, as one old saying instructs us, “If a person is a true charmer, not even Cod can resist,” for they call the attention of the forces of heaven above, the underworld, and the elements of creation. Or as another one of my teachers said of charms and incantations, “It gets God's attention to a purpose, meaning it guides creative power to a specific outcome. It pulls the power of creation in the direction of the witch's work."
There are many reasons why a charm works, such as: 1) it cyclones (or funnels) power from the vast creative power of the ocean of spirit; 2) if it is an old one that has been used many times, it links into the magical utterance of all witches who have worked this charm in this way, for this reason; 3) all rhymed charms that have a rhythm, and are memorized (preferably), take on a life of their own and link into a stream of use of magical power; 4) the use of such charms enchants the imagination of the witch and all who hear them because they embody the age-old image of the archetypal witch; 5) the breath of the charm pulls the witch with it into the realms of active creation where sound, motion, and emotion meet; and 6) the repeated charm transports the consciousness of the witch into a magical, light, trancelike state where the constrictions of daily life are suspended and the magical is made manifest.
The witchery I know uses the concept as a core practice in nearly all workings of magic. Specifically, it uses rhymes and patterns to pull, attract, stir, and direct the witch-flame to a result. Another way to look at using charms is that they cyclone or funnel the witch-flame to fire up or enliven a particular formation of existence. Charms may be passed down in oral tradition from witch to witch and, thus, link into the breath of all who worked the charm before them. Perhaps there is no one form of witchery that is more archetypically associated with witchcraft than the use of charms and incantations that are in rhyme. As the old saying states, “For the spell to work every time; best the spell be spake in rhyme!” And, in my opinion, there is no one form of witchery that accesses the witch-flame as fast. When a witch is working an old charm, he or she can feel the breath and power of every witch who has worked it before. Each one using it contributes to its witch-flame and the magical breath that carries it. For this reason, I provide stages for how rhymed charms transport
the witch into the mode of magic.
THE MODE OF MAGIC
There are many old style ways of entering into what I call “the mode of magic.” This mode is a state shifted from the everyday outward and form-focused state of consciousness into a timeless, placeless, boundless state that works within the essential realm of the spirits. Many students ask me if this is a trance and my answer is, “Possibly." The elders did not use those types of words. My spirit-doctoring elders called it a “rapture," or “the knowing," while my craft elders referred to it as “tweeny (between) time." It is a state wherein the charmer (the magic worker), the charming (the action of magical skill), and the charmed (the desired outcome) are one. Another way to look at it comes from my folk tradition: “The conjurer's mouth and God's mouth have got to be the same mouth." You can observe this occurring when the root-worker is “praying true" (pulling conjure through prayer), or the witch is enchanting his or her work through charms, especially rhymed ones.
To assist you in the development of this skill, I have identified the stages of charming and enchantment. These stages were never identified for me in my training. They were inherent, and I experienced them as I was learning witchery. They are a guide to the witch who uses rhymed or other forms ofcharms and incantations.
Stage 1: Purposing
At this stage, the witch allows need to inspire power. The witch does not work from desperation, because as one of my elders eloquently stated, "Doubt is the undoing of power,” and,
“Witch-power is now power." The witch sees a need or desire as an opportunity to effect change through magic, and we are never closer to the source (by whatever name you call it), than when we are doing magic, which is the act of conscious creations. The witch does not react.. . she acts! One of the statements I use is, “Open now, the channel wide; through it send the (then insert the purpose of the power) tide." For instance, if the charm is for healing, I would say, “Open now the channel wide, through it send the healing tide.”
Stage 2: Attending
Then the witch becomes possessed by the successful outcome of the charm. This means that you must "feel it to reveal it.” The witch must immerse himself in the feeling of success. If it is a money charm, then feel yourself joyous over all the money you have. Remember, using the metaphor of fishing, your thoughts are how you cast your line, but your feelings are how you reel the fish (your outcome) in. Be in attendance to your desire and nothing else when you are working witchery. If you are using a rhymed charm, then, as you repeat it, let it move you into the achievement of your goal. Ride it like a horse into the inner shift, the dance floor of sorcery.
Stage 3: Shifting-In and Summoning
Move into the mode of magic, where you are mediating the witch-fire. I often call this moving from a subject (the witch)/ object (the goal) relationship into a subject/subject relationship where the witch, the working, and the outcome are all within one potent stream of influence. When you are in this shifted state, it feels timeless, powerful, focused (yet not restrained), for the witch is a mediator or bridge through which the witch-flame's magic moves into and out of our world when he or she is working witchery. When you have entered the shift, the power is streaming through you mightily in the direction of success. You are dipping the web of fate to you.
Stage 4 : Binding/Anchoring
At this stage in the enchantment, you have released the summoning into the web of fate. It is called casting a spell for good reasons. The spell is the utterance of breath summoning a starlight (energetic and spirited) release into the mill of magic, which weaves it into its powerful magic, unless it is contrary to the mill in some way. When the summoning has been released and the spell cast, it is important for the witch to seal it as complete with a binding charm such as, “I wind, I bind, this spell is mine,” or, “One, two, three, so shall it be.” repeated three, six, or nine times.
Stage 5: Shifting-Out
This involves some form of movement of awareness out from the tide of force and flow back into the realm of form. I like to drink some cold water and eat some solid food that is protein-rich. If the working was particularly potent, you may need to drink something with electrolytes in it to replenish. It is also useful to place your hands on the ground and push to allow the excess witch-fire to pass into the earth. I also recommend touching and padding your body to remind it where it is in the physicalized form-world.
Composing Charms of Enchantment
Throughout this book, I have provided many charms that you can use for the illustrated purposes. However, you can also write your own when you are prompted by magical desire. Many years ago, one of my teachers and I discussed a simple formula for four-line charms that can be used in spells. Out of this discussion, I developed one that you can use. Always feel free to create your own, but I advise they be simple in construction, rhymed, and memorized.
A Charm-Crafting Formula:
Line 1: Address the Sprits you need.
Example: “Spirits (or Power) of fire, I call to thee!”
Line 2: Take this away.
Example: “Cleanse away all negativity."
Line 3: Bring this in its place.
Example: “Bring health, strength, and vitality."
Line 4: Seal the Spell.
Example: “And as my spell, so shall it be!”
A Magical Space
In contemporary craft, there are many ways for summoning sacred (meaning set-aside) space, such as circle casting. I work with this form too. Originally, my early elders called this “laying the track," “opening the mill," or "hallowing the land." They did not feel that witches were creating sacred space, which, of course, we can. Instead, they were summoning up the land-under-the-land. This means that the witch is calling up the soul of the land, an invisible force that is the origins of the physical world. It is composed of a type of liquid blue, silver flame and transmits the creative inner-starlight which is the soul of the world.
Upon entering any area that the witch seeks to “set aside" and work within, the first thing they do is hallow it, which thins (loosens the grip of form), and charms (charges the magical spirit-place with magical power, an action called “hallowing”). The witch may walk around the area to be awakened for magical working chanting: “Earth be hallowed, earth be sweet; earth be blessed by witch’s feet." This should be done either three, six, or nine times to call up the power of the land beneath the land. Once this inspirited land has arrived, the witch calls to her familiar spirits, deities, or ancestors to help her shape the witch-flame summoned. The witch raises her hands to the heavens stating, “In the heights," then lowers her hands toward the floor or land and says, "In the deep . . . watch and ward eternal keep."
Waters of Moon-Fire
This is a simple technique I learned from my first teachers in witchery, though the witch-blood wrote the charm through my hand. It is used to enchant a person (human or other), a place (the magical meeting place or mill), or a thing (an object to be enchanted for magical work such as a talisman, unlit candle, or charm bag) so that it attracts the fluidic fire of magic. Once the water is charmed as such, it can simply be sprinkled upon anything you want to call magic into or upon. Just envision blue flame as you sprinkle the condensed moonlight upon the object of enchantment.
This “liquid fire" is a version of the blue-silver flame of the under-realms, and it is a transmitter of this power where stone, water, breath, and moon-fire (light) meet. To create it, simply take a quartz crystal sphere (a ball is best, but not required) and place it in a black bowl made of ceramic or glass, but no metal, and filled with clean spring water. If you have a plain, silver wedding-style ring, then place the sphere on it in the water. Now set the bowl of water with the sphere in it where the rays of the full moon will fall upon it. Time this working so that it is the last hours of the growing (waxing) moon before it hits full and the power begins to wane down upon Earth. As you lift and present the bowl to the Moon-Mother of Magic, speak the following charm to her three times, and be sure your breath falls upon the water on the third recitation:
Silver fire and eye of night; I call upon thy gaze;
I pray you smile upon my rite, and set this stream ablaze.
Pour down your magic flame tonight and fill this fluid through;
And I will work my magic rite in praise and honor to you!
As witchfire streams down from your eye into this magic well; Naught can bane the magic set, nor cast away my spell. When night is cast and morning light comes flaming, riding high. This spell is strong; it’s magic true as dawn is drawing nigh; and Sure and sealed this fluid be, before thy magic eye! Sure and sealed this fluid be, before thy magic eye! Sure and sealed this fluid be, before thy magic eye!
To Conjure Power from the Witch's Pot (Cauldron)
One of the traditional practices in witchery is to maintain a candle always lit within a cauldron. This becomes a type of battery from which the witch can call power when they need it. However, it can also be used to summon witch-flame to ignite the achievement of a desire or spell. To do this, you should sit by the cauldron and begin tracing your finger along its rim, being aware of the candle flame burning in its center which embodies the fire of creation burning at the edge of the void. The power of the void is embodied in the cauldron. The void is the opening out of space (the mouth of the Uttering One) from which all of existence comes (as the first star uttered and embodied in the candle flame).
You should trace the rim chanting the following: “Mother of night, father of light, fill me with your awesome might." And, as the power grows, you will feel warm and/or tingling. As the feeling comes upon you, continue chanting while envisioning your desire and feeling it as though it has arrived. When it feels right, chant lower and lower into a whisper until you are silent, and be assured that your wish has entered into the web of fate. Conclude the working with this binding chant repeated three times: “One, two, three, so shall it be!”
Awakening the Children of the Earth
This charm is used to summon out the spirits in stones, herbs, metals, bones, and other items from the earth. It is chanted over the items before they are worked in a spell bag, as an altar tool, or in any magic. This charm is spoken directly to the inner spirit of the object nine times, or until you feel a shift in the feel of the item that suggests you have awakened it to magic: “From witch of blood to witch of earth, awaken magic, come to birth! Lend your power, I call to thee. And as my spell, so shall it be.”
A Call to the Witch-Blood, Witch-Knowing, and Witch-Flame
This working calls forth the witch-blood from within to awaken the inner knowing and power of the witch to flow. You will need a small table or altar with a mirror on the wall behind it. If possible, you should have a red cloth on the table and there should be a bowl of fresh water in a crystal bowl in front of the mirror in the middle of the table. You will need two candle holders (silver or silver plated preferably) and two taper candles (one black and one white, and they both should be solid in their colors). The two candles will not be dressed with oil, but with your spit. Speak out loud and ask the spirits of the witch-blood to speak to you. Do this in your own way with your own words until you feel like your desire to connect with the magic has been aroused; then, spit in your hands. Then take the spit and anoint your candles from the wick to the base. Though this may seem strange, it is very old and powerful.
Now, stand in front of the mirror, with the bowl of water already on the table. Then, with the two candles crossed in front of you (black in left hand and white in right), breathe in deeply, and as you exhale envision and sense cool, blue fire flowing out from you and circling the candles. As you begin to part the two candles, say “Open now the channel wide, through it send the magic tide,” and begin to open the crossed candles until you are holding them upright. Place the white candle in the candle holder on the right, and the black candle in the holder on the left.
Next, light a small taper with your matches or lighter, hold it high in the air above you, and envision a spark of light from the stars above descending down from the heavens and touching the flame on your taper. Then light the two candles. It does not matter what order. Sense a current of power that is beginning to flow from the gate opened by the two candles and see the faces that appear in the mirror, especially as you speak this charm nine times: “Ancient power, dwelling deep, I call you from your haunted sleep. Witch-blood, ivztch-blood, boil and turn. Witch-pot, witch-pot, boil and churn. Witch-flame, witch-flame, conjure and burn." You may continue to chant this, sometimes making sure your breath passes over the water, causing it to ripple, since water is the conduit for communication with the dead and the realms of the underworld just as flame calls to spirit and divinities. Take notes on what comes into your mind, into the mirror, or contacts you through dreams and inspirations.
Wisdom of the Watchers
The following poem written by me is about the four magical elements of earth, air, fire, and water. The lore of this teaching connects them with what is called the "four hallows,” which are the wand, cup, blade, and disc (plate, pentacle, or hearth stone). The four elements and their assignment to the specific hallows may differ from tradition to tradition, but the poem guides you into powerful insights. Each of the hallows are aligned with overarching magical intelligences, which we call “Watchers." In some traditions, these vast beings are connected to specific star constellations and directions. In this teaching, they are the overarching, guarding, and guiding forces of the four holy streams of power identified by the elemental states, the hallows, and their powers.
Watcher of the Wind
I am the wand in thy hand and the mediating light-line of spirit which extends between and beyond all things threading the pearls around the neck of the Uttering Queen.
I am the Mistress's maestro wand directing the notes of the universal choir to a harmony of song and my voice reaches and unites all the spirits of heaven, earth, and the under-realms. I am the tongue in thy mouth that speaks power ... profane or potent, sacred or sorrowful, and thus, I am the mouth of the first mouth settled upon your mouth and you direct the force of the breath of life.
On Earth I am the wind, and in heaven I am the threefold utterance of the celestials. I am the simplest of natures and yet the mediator of all breath . . . from the void to wind, from the cloud to the lung.
Speak my name and know thyself!
Watcher of the Flame
I am the blade in thy hand and the forged power of willing. I am the life-inspired passion of the supernal surgeon separating the true from the untrue and “l/eye" know the vision of the Ancient One!
I am the quickener, forged by the fire of the hearth of heaven and hell; and, sharpened to a keen point by devotion, discipline, and discernment. I am the bane and the blessing, the enticer and the revealer, and in the unity of the flame, I extend to the far reaches of heaven as the sword of the covenant.
I am the passion which draws things into becoming and the rejuvenating enthusiasm which moves things to the courage of being. I am the child of light which dares to be a star-child in the world of humanity.
On Earth, I am fire. In humanity, I am passion. In heaven, I am the flame of the Golden One burning from within infinity's cauldron. My illumination is the stars of the sky and the bright ones of the under-realms.
Free my flame and liberate thyself!
Watcher of the Wave
I am the grail of life and the container of all things. In thy hand, I am the chalice containing the ancestral blood of the Ancient One. In the mill, I am the fertile void of the witch's pot. My arms encircle the universe and call my children to unite in the Perfect Love of your Mistress, for all things are whole in me. For I am the nourisher, the renewer, the giver, and the taker and in my soul all are made perfect in the rhythmic dance of peace. I anoint the soil with the blessed oil.
I am the restlessness that awakens you in the sleepless night and seeks to unite the pearls in the Mistress's girth. Know me and know all meaning for all wisdom is mine. On Earth I am the waters. In humanity I am the soul. In heaven I am the silver luminary leading my children to the light on the waves of magical waters.
Enter my domain and embrace thyself!
Watcher of the Stone
I am the wheel of life and the holy disc bearing the fruits of life. In me bears the children of generations and truth made manifest in the firmament. I am the soul-purifying salt in thy hand and the sign of the wise around thy neck. I am the Stag of the Crossroads which offers its body as the robe of spirit, the steed ridden to the castle of the Fate's Queen.
My severe law enforces the vice which presses the coal of thy potential into the diamond of thy becoming. Know too that I am the cord which binds all things in measure. I am the spell's knot which binds the threefold utterance to the world of form and none can escape my measure. I am the faith of the journeyer which seeks the sacred treasures in the land of stone and bone.
I, too, am the guardian of the powers that precede me.
On Earth I am the body, bind, and bond of all things. In humanity, I am informed faith. And, in heaven, I am the mother of all Earth life.
Know my purpose and manifest thy destiny!
RECOMMENDED READING
There are many fine books that I would recommend for insight and information on similar witchcraft beliefs and practices to my own, including my Faery work. Though nearly all of the information I have provided in this book came from oral traditions shared with me by my teachers or through direct spirit sources with further development by me, I find the following books to be very useful. However, this list is partial and neither exhaustive nor complete.
Artisson, Robin. The Witching Way of the Hollow Hill. Sunland, CA: Pendraig Publishing, 2009.
Cummer, Veronica. Sorgitzak: Old Forrest Craft. Sunland, CA: Pendraig Publishing, 2008.
Day, Christian. The Witches' Book of the Dead. San Francisco, CA: Weiser Books, 2011.
Foxwood, Orion. The Faery Teachings. Arcata, CA: RJ. Stewart Books, 2007.
Foxwood, Orion. The Tree of Enchantment. San Francisco, CA: Weiser Books, 2008.
Frisvold, Nicholaj de Mattos. Craft of the Untamed. Oxford, UK: Mandrake of Oxford, 2011.
Grimassi, Raven. Old World Witchcraft. San Francisco, CA: Weiser Books, 2011.
Grimassi, Raven. The Book of the Holy Strega (second edition).
Springfield, MA: Old Ways Press, 2012.
Howard, Michael. Children of Cain: A Study of Modern Traditional Witches. Richmond Vista, CA: Three Hands Press, 2011.
Huson, Paul. Mastering Witchcraft. New York, NY: Berkley Publishing Corporation, 1970.
Jackson, Nigel and Michael Howard. The Pillars of Tubal-Cain. Chieveley, Berkshire, UK: Capall Bann Publishing, 2000.
Jackson, Nigel. Call of the Horned Piper. Chieveley, Berkshire, UK: Capall Bann Publishing, 1995.
John, Evan Jones, and Robert Cochrane. The Roebuck in the Thicket. Edited by Michael Howard. Chieveley, Berkshire, UK: Capall Bann Publishing, 2001.
Martello, Dr. Leo Louis. Witchcraft, The Old Religion. New York, NY: Carol Publishing Group, 1991.
Paddon, Peter. A Crimoire for Modern Cunningfolk. Sunland, CA: Pendraig Publishing, 2009.
Penczak, Christopher. The Three Rays of Witchcraft. Salem, NH: Copper Cauldron Publishing, 2010.
Radomir, Ristic. Balkan Traditional Witchcraft. Sunland, CA: Pendraig Publishing, 2009.
Slade, Paddy. Encyclopedia of White Magic. New York, NY: Mallard Press, 1990.
Scott, Reginald. The Discoverie of Witchcraft. Mineola, New York: Dover Publications, 1972 (originally published in 1584).
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Orion Foxwood is a conjurer in the American southern folk tradition, a traditional witch, and a Faery Seer. He is the founder of Fox-wood Temple of the Old Religion in Maryland and a cofounder of Conjure Crossroads and the annual Folk Magic Festival held in New Orleans and at Conjure-Con. He was born and raised in the Shenandoah Valley in Virginia and is the author of The Tree of Enchantment and The Candle and the Crossroads, both published by Weiser Books, www.orionfoxwood.com
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