Spirituality and Sorcery

The Gift of Darkness It is at Samhain, perhaps more than any other time of the year, that we as a culture, confront darkness. Why is this? There are a multitude of answers; because the nights have grown longer, the veil between the worlds is thin, or maybe it is because this time of year has become a cultural metaphor for the darkness within ourselves. Samhain is a time of mystery, when the veil between the worlds is thin, yet also is the veil between our light self and dark self. It is here on this night, that culturally we confront our hidden selves and revel in them. Unabashedly and unashamed on this one night of the year we draw our masks from our spiritual selves and place them on physically, then rush head long into the dark and glorious night! Yet there is much more to confronting our dark selves than a costume and paint. Author Timothy Roderick writes of a time, in the not to distant past when the cowan called the craft of magick the “black arts”. Black sign...

By the Sun that burneth birght! O' Great One! We call thy name into the Light! O' Brilliant One thee we invoke by sun kissed shore By arid deserts and lightened moors. Thee we invoke where gather thine own In groves once sacred, forgotten, alone Come where your praises are whispered and sang! Your altars are dressed from stones to stang! By the sunlit meadows and the rounded green hills Where the crops are bursting and the gardens filled come to the charm of the chanted prayer As the sun warms the blustering air Evoke thy powers, that potent bide In glistening lakes and Ocean Tides From fiery flames of sunlite heat In the brilliant balefire, O'er which we leaped Come! O' come! The drum beats rung Come to us who gather below As the disk through the sky rides but slow As the willows sway and the birds sing sweet We dance they round, glistening in the heat. We speak they spell, chant thy prayer From Sabbet to Sabbet ! For...

Ēostre and  Ostara Fresh green grasses soft under our feet Downy yellow chickadee's chirp and peep Blooms spring forth from budding stems As sleep is shaken from those hibernating in dens White, pink, lavender, yellow and peach The colors of rainbows within our reach! A swath of your hand and wink from your eye The hard, dead winter waves it's last good bye. Awakening, and stretching the inhabitants of the glade Revel joyfully in your work, your plans well laid. Beautiful, gracious Eoster, Maiden of Spring We call to you lady, growth and fertility do you bring! Equal does time stand, as night gives it's way Thus the Sun rides high waxing to Solstice Day! Joyful ! Fulfilled, Spring plants and Vegetables sprout We thank you Lady for the bounty which will be wrought. Eoster, Gentle Maiden  of  Spring Sunshine, warmth  and rain do you bring Joy, love, life and sustenance to us Lovely maid...

(This is a continuing discussion line by line of the full Wiccan Rede.  See the first post in February for the full rede and beginning of the discussion.) Honor the Old Ones in deed and name, let Love and Trust be our guides again. Honor the Old Ones in deed and name While this seems like a very easy concept to understand or define, however I thought it might be interesting to look at the word Honor.  Since we as a culture toss it about quite a bit.  Back to Merriam - Webster Honor: 1  : good name or public esteem : reputation b : a showing of usually merited respect : recognition <pay honor to our founder> 2 : privilege <had the honor of joining the captain for dinner> 3: one whose worth brings respect or fame : credit <an honor to the profession> 4 : chastity , purity <fought fiercely for her honor and her life — Barton Black> 5 a : a keen sense of ethical conduct : integrity <a man ...

(This is a continuing discussion line by line of the full Wiccan Rede.  See the first post in February for the full rede and beginning of the discussion.) Bide the Ancient Laws ye must, in Perfect Love and Perfect Trust. Advice of the Ancients Bide the Ancient Laws ye must, Wait a minute, what the heck is an ancient law?  We are talking about a religion that has officially been around since 1950.  Even though we understand that the concepts and practices have been either handed down through time, reconstructed from information available,  drawn from the collective unconscious or "downloaded" from the Divine.   I haven't seen any scroll hanging out with ancient laws! Ancient laws are not the laws of man, but more specifically the laws of the universe or universal laws.  The Universe uses natural and moral laws combined with regulatory vibrations to maintain balance.  Just as with current, when you work within the flow of a current ...

Advice of the Ancients Bide the Ancient Laws ye must, in Perfect Love and Perfect Trust. Live ye well and let to live; fairly take and fairly give. Soft of eye and light of touch, Speak little: listen much. Heed ye flower, bush and tree. By the Lady, Blessed Be. Honor the Old Ones in deed and name, let Love and Trust be our guides again. Cast the Circle thrice about to keep unwelcome spirits out; To bind the spell well every time, let the spell be spake in rhyme. Deosil go by the waxing moon; sing and dance the Witches' Rune. Tuathal go, by waning moon; chanting out the baneful rune. When the Lady's moon is new, kiss the hand to her times two; When the Moon rides at her peak, then your heart's desire seek. Nine woods in the cauldron go; burn them fast and burn them slow. Birch in the fire goes to represent what the Lady knows. Oak in the forest towers with might; in the fire brings the God's insight. Rowan is a tree of power, causing magick and life to...

Come Oak, broom and meadowsweet, Come Oak, broom and meadowsweet, Come Oak, broom and meadowsweet, Come Bodeuwedd, come Wake! The legend of Blodeuwedd, the Welsh/ Celtic Goddess is told in the fourth branch of the Mabinogi,  it is from this legend, that I draw the name of my blog.  To understand the legend in all it's intricacies, it is best to start the story, before her birth! Arianrhod (also another Welsh/Celtic Goddess)  through the shame brought upon her through mayhem and misadventure on the birth of her two sons by of her brother Gwydion and her Uncle Math.  As retaliation of that shame, her son who later obtains the name Lleu Llaw Gyffes is placed under a tynged, that he may not have a name, or bear arms unless bestowed by Arianrhod herself.  Through magick, and deception Gwydion and Math, trick Arianrhod into bestowing a name upon her son, and giving him arms to bear.  In a rage, she places one last curse upon her son,  ...