Monthly Archives: April 2012

All Hallow’s Eve Eve

Posted on by
Reply

Down in the southern hemisphere today is Samhain. However, since I am the only one that does not work mondays, my witchgroup came around yesterday for a bit of All Hallows’s Eve Eve madness!

Altar to the spirits; to the dead; to the season.

We made up our altar and covered it with pumpkins, kumaras, apples, and candles. We  wrote a circle casting that we will use as a group in the future to try and get a bit more structure into our workings, and did a small ritual for the sabbat.

We spent most of the day cackling away at all sorts of rather idiotic things!
One of the highlights being when I had no symbol of earth with which to cast the circle. Therefore, not wanting to disrupt the flow of the ritual too much, our circle was cast by wand, blade, cup, and kumara. You know… as did the witches of old…

Offerings to the spirits.

I left offerings to my gods, and to the spirits.

It was quite the feast day. We had pumpkin muffins, and feijoa and raspberry pikelets. We ate pumpkin and kumara soup, drank cider, pomegranate juice, and grape juice.

And THEN it was time to carve the lanterns!

Jack o lanterns- Pumpkins, Kumaras, Apples.

It all started quite innocently with carving a few pumpkins for a remembrance-of-the-dead Halloween gathering.
It soon spiraled into the inspired madness of apple and kumara jack o lanterns.

We then headed out to where the gathering with candles and jack o lanterns was being held.

It was rather pretty with all the twinkling candles, and our “creative” creations were well accepted!

The atmosphere was a little sad, but also a little joyful and light. It was lovely to see all the candles shinning in memory of the beloved dead.

 

 

 

 

 

In which the silly sorcerers say silly sentences-
Quote A:
Liv- Is that vodka and pomegranate juice in those offering cups?
Me- Yes…
Liv- You’re making cocktails for the gods?
Me- Yes, They also have a little chocolate. I’m trying to seduce them.

 

Quote B (while carving various vegetables and fruit:
Me- I am so jealous of us right now! How are we so cool? It just isn’t fair on other people!

 

 

The city is holy too!

Posted on by
2

As I was walking from my bus stop to work today, I happened to walk through the park. I tried to focus on being fully in my body and so have a small spiritual experience.
But as I left the park and entered the busy streets of the city that surround it, I noticed my spiritual awareness shifting back to “everyday mode”.

This annoyed me somewhat as I do not see the city as a place where the sacred cannot live. I have realised that this is because many sects of paganism have a strong “nature good, city bad” mind set.

This is a mistake.

Nature is amazing and huge, and awe inspiring. But so are cities.
A beavers dam is a created thing, yet we still call it natural. So why does the thing created by man become unnatural?
Just look at the many wonders that surround us in this modern world! How can these giant things, that we have found a way to create, be anything but awe inspiring?

Any pagan will be the first to tell you that the gods are both kind and cruel. That nature will as easily kill you as care for you.
What they never seem to realise is that the same can be said of the modern world and technology! Or they realise it in their minds, but ever seem to carry an emotional repulsion of the “evil modern world”.
Sure with all our scientific advances we seem to be doing an amazing job of screwing up the planet. But, for instance, no one sane is going to complain about the medical miracles that used to be unthought of.

It seems foolish to me to complain of the negative areas of technology, while exulting our gods for being both always kind and always cruel.

The gods have not been banished to the dewy meadows and pretty glades- though they can be found there.

They live also in the crush of the crowd, the dazzling lights, and the concrete labyrinths of our cities.

Black spirits and white, red spirits and gray- Talking With The Spirits

Posted on by
Reply

The other night during a much needed uncrossing ritual my mind strayed to a spirit that I used to work with, and in a flash the three main ones I have worked with all were back around me.

A little sad and annoyed at my ignoring them since my agnostic thinking started, but happy enough to work with me again it seemed.

And so I have been talking with my familiar spirits again the past few days. Am I talking to other worldly beings, deep parts of my psyche, or do I just have an “over active imagination”?

I am generally only aware of them when I think about them. They do not bother me unexpectedly as many other spirit workers claim. And they are nearly always there when I think of or call them.

This leads me to three likely possibilities:
1) They are always around me, but being not too sensitive, I need to think of and focus on them to “tune in”.
2) Thinking about them acts as a gentle summons, which they are happy to answer.
3) That I am making them up, and being imaginary don’t talk or interact with me when I am not thinking about them.

 

 

View of spirits as a Pagan Humanist
By Pagan Humanism I mean the view that spirits, gods, and magic are not literal, objectively real things, but concepts, archetypes, psychological phenomenon, and living poetry.

At first I was a bit unsure how the spirits, and working with them could fit into an agnostic humanist worldview. But with a few spirits coming back, and talking with them- I had to start thinking.

And I hit upon the thought that personal spirits are something akin to small gods; If gods can have a place in paganistic humanism, then why not small gods too?

I imagine there are a goodly number of reasons a humanist might find talking with spirits, that they view as likely not real, to be a useful practice.
The main few that I can think of are:
1) The things they say to you might give some insight to the inner workings of your own mind.
2) It may provide a useful way of communicating with the subconscious.
3) When lonely “imaginary” friends may be of comfort.
4) The inner voices might be able to help in making decisions when you feel stuck.
5) It can be a lot of fun if you let it.

 

 

View of spirits as a Pagan literalist
By Pagan Literalism I mean the view that spirits, gods, and magic are literal people and things that can have an objective effect on the outer universe.

After the uncrossing ritual I have been talking with my spirits a little and it doesn’t feel like just my own voice.

I also feel my tarot readings are more accurate now that I am asking one of my spirits to guide the cards (though I gave them a little uncrossing juju in the ritual so that probably helped also!)

I don’t feel the need to say much about the reasons having spirit friends would be useful from a literalist view as they are probably quite obvious and I would just be re-saying what many have said before me.

Suffice to say that having a friend that knows the spirit world better than you and can interact with it more easily and effectively can only be good! 

 

 

Of course it is happening inside your head, Harry, but why on earth should that mean that it is not real?
The above Harry Potter quote raises another interesting point. Namely, something may not need to be objectively real to be real to you and your view of the universe.

The inner world of the mind can be just as real as an outer reality. It is simply more subtle, changeable, and is only your own.

 

I have no clue if spirits are objectively real, and if they are then I don’t know if what I think I’m talking to are actually spirits, but I am having a fantastically interesting time interacting with these things, be they spirits or imaginary friends.

Small strange happenings in my life keep me curious I must say.