Darkness & Light

I believe that we must not hide our "darker" selves. We must be as open to it as we are to the "light" else the darkness will manifest in often negative and harmful ways. Since this is something I've been working on with myself, I felt creative and made this image of my own eyes. They are often said to be my best features and I've always felt one's eyes are the windows to their souls. You can see a lot in a person's eyes. So here you see, both the light and the dark sides of MY soul.

Meeting My Spirit Guide

I have been aware of my Spirit Guide for about 3 years now. I particpated in a guided meditation online once in which the purpose was to meet our "Guardian Angel". The leader of the meditation guided us along quite an intricate path but it was easy to follow. We came to a door and then crossed through it. On the other side of this door was to be our "Angel".

When I walked through the door, I was in a "room". In this room there was a stone floor, rather like flagstone. The ceiling was sort of low but I couldn't determine what it was made of. I didn't see any walls at all. They were somewhere in the darkness beyond. It was cool there. I almost felt like I was in a cave but for the flat, laid stone floors. However, in front and to the side stood a large torch in the floor. It lit a small area. Beside it stood a man. He was quite magnificent with black hair that fell just below his shoulders and shimmering blue eyes. There were no halos and no wings here! My first thought was "Wow! He doesn't LOOK like an angel!" Suddenly he chuckled as if he heard what I thought. In hind sight, I know he did. But I walked forward and he said, "My name is..... and I will NEVER leave you!" I was too awed to speak for a moment but then I started sputtering with dozens of questions. Of course it was that moment the leader started calling us back. He smiled and said, "Go! I'm always with you." Then the leader guided us back out of the meditation.

For at least a month after this, I would call his name regularly just to be sure he was there. :) Now, I know he is with me always for I always feel his presence and his guidance has been invaluable to me. He walks with me when I go on guided meditations, when I've done past life regression sessions he is always at my side. When I travel astrally, he is my companion.

I must say I was somewhat surprised that he didn't look or act "angelic" until recently I learned that Angels were not always the Christian conception of angels. Now, rather than considering him an angel, I consider him my spirit guide. He also takes on the form of my totem animal at times. My heart races everytime I see a magnificent Hawk flying near me. (smile)

The Changing Face of Paganism

The simplest definition of Paganims is "country dweller" but in today's world most people who label themselves pagan fall under one of two categories. They are either Pagan or Neo Pagan. Isaac Bonewit (http://www.neopagan.net) further divides Paganism into Paleo- paganism, Meso-paganism and Neo-paganism on his website and has well written definitions for each type here http://www.neopagan.net/PaganDefs.html .

Speaking in the strictest sense, can we even worship or practice the "old ways"? Thanks to archaeology, anthropology and many dedicated non-professionals, we are able to recreate quite a bit of the old ways but we have a much different view of the world than our ancestors did. We have information they did not and vice versa. Our culture, society and planet are much different than they were in days gone by. We can incorporate many of the ways of our ancestors that we have learned over time but in the truest sense, current society and culture makes it impossible to practice as our ancestors did. On the other hand Neo-pagans tend to embrace all the newest ways of following this path.

But rather than dividing the Pagan community into either one or the other, why not blend the two? Why not follow Mother Nature's example? As times goes on and circumstances change, Mother Nature changes with it. Mountains form and erode, rivers change course, the climate alters, plants and animals adapt. All around, change is taking place. Habitats and ecosystems rise, fall and change into something new. So called "stagnant water" is undergoing change as algae grows and dies using up the resources in the water. Mother Nature never stands still. She is constantly in a state of fluctuation. Cities and towns are also in a constant state of change. Paganism is this way. As Nature, culture, society and technology changes, we are influenced by the changes. We grow and change and like Mother Nature, we keep what works from the old ways and try new things, adopting what works and adapting what doesn't. What is this state of growth, change and adaptation called? EVOLUTION!!!!

From this day forward, I am an "Evolving Pagan".

Dreamweaver

The Wiccan Rede

"Do what ye will, an harm ye none" This is the short form of the longer, more formal Wiccan Rede. Many see this as a law and other see it as a guideline. For me, it is a part of my way of life. It is an integral and inseparable part of the path I am on.
The first part of the short form Rede is "Do what ye will". This means to me that I can do whatever my heart desires. I am not restrained from following whatever road my journey leads me to. I am free to choose to do or not do anything set before me. It is also an encouragement to actually act (Do) upon what my will is. It tells me not to be lazy or fear the things I desire to do. If I wish to learn about a particular subject, such as astrology, I should make the effort to learn it. If I wish to create a shrine or sanctuary, I should do as my heart leads me without fear or shying away from the effort and responsibility.
The second part of the Rede says "an harm ye none". The simplest interpretation is to not hurt anyone or anything. I feel it is also about respect. I must respect people's right to make their own choices in life. If I interfere, I am harming them. Harm also comes in the form of harsh words, theft, violence and a myriad of other possibilities. Similar to the Christian "Golden Rule" I would not want another to bring harm to me therefore I should not bring harm to them.
Sometimes I may be faced with the decision to choose between allowing someone to harm another or to harm that person by doing what is necessary to protect the one they are trying to harm. This is cause for great debate in the Wiccan and Pagan community. Some feel that the "Harm ye none" portion of the Rede forbids us from taking any action at all that may be harmful to another. Others feel it necessary to step in to prevent, or stop, a bigger harm from being done. In either case, the choice one makes should include consideration of the responsibilities and repercussions of any action, or lack of action we choose.
I feel that I am obligated to aid those in need so I choose not to sit on the side and watch one person deliberately harm another. However, if given time, I would think carefully on what action I might take in order to abate the harm as much as possible for everyone. If an emergency, I go into the situation accepting responsibility for my actions and full knowledge there may be repercussions against me personally. Another thing to bear in mind is that I don't have license to be the "Magickal Police". It is not my place to judge the actions of others. Nor do I have the right to aid one against their wishes.
Simply put, I have the right and responsibility to do what I choose in this life but I do not have the right to deliberately harm another person with malicious intent. Further more, I am obligated to aid those in need of assistance when another is harming them so long as I have their permission to aid them. In extreme cases, I may act without permission but with full knowledge and acceptance of the consequences.

Divination

I have experimented with several versions of divination. I have a set of Native American Tarot cards that I have had some success with but feel I lack the gift of picking up on the more subtle aspects of tarot reading. I've worked with Numerology and Palm reading to a small degree and find them to be fairly straightforward. Natal Astrology is another form I've learned a bit about. Recently I made a set of runes that have been a slightly successful endeavor and the Correllian Alphabet has been interesting. However, the form of Divination I seem to have the most success with is a pendulum. I have a small, clear quartz point hanging from a silver chain and I typically wear it all the time. I'm not sure why this method seems to be so successful for me but I've tested it on things I would get answers to in the short term. I've had a 90% success rate in the short term (few hours to a few days) and I'm about 75% accurate in the long term (few days to a week or so). I do not know how I would do over the very long term because I've only been practicing with the pendulum for a short time. However, since the future is not written and open to change, very long term answers would only be 50% at best.

I had no reason for trying the pendulum other than sheer curiosity to try another form of divination. I can say that I was fairly surprised when I noticed how well it immediately worked for me and how very accurate it was. Perhaps it has something to do with the fact that I have been wearing this crystal necklace for over a year. By now the crystal and my body are well in tune with one another.

To share an interesting experience with my pendulum, I decided to use it to divine my true "Spirit Name". We all have a legal name and many of us have a Craft name that we use publicly but I feel we have a Spirit Name as well. It is the name of our soul and is unchanging through time. It is a name I don't feel we should share with anyone. However, I decided I wanted to learn my true Spirit Name. So on a piece of paper, I wrote the alphabet and made a little yes/no section. I asked first for aid in learning my true name and was told yes. Then I asked if my spirit name had a first name? Yes. Does my spirit name have a second name.?Yes. Does my spirit name have a middle name? No. Then I asked for each name if it had 1, 2, 3, 4, etc letters. Once I had that answer, I went to the alphabet section I had made and asked over each letter, "Is this the first letter?" I kept going through all the letters until I had the entire name. When it was complete and I read the whole thing, I was stunned to recall that I had heard this name in a guided meditation I had participated in once. At the time I didn't realize that is what it was or that it was even me being spoken to or that the words were a name. So, now I know my true name.

I can say that the pendulum has been hugely successful for me so far and I plan to keep working with it. However, I also intend to continue trying various methods of divination including more dreamwork and scrying. Scrying has been something I've wanted to try since I first heard of it but have yet felt the leading to actually do it. I generally try to follow those leadings as they are fairly good about having the proper timing which can and does have a tremendous impact on the success of an endeavor.

Magickal Herb Garden

I have chosen to base this herb garden on the four elements of Air, Earth, Fire and Water. The center of the garden will contain a statue of a man and woman embracing. These are symbolic of the God & Goddess. At the base of the statue, there will be white and purple flowers to represent spirit. At each of the four colored points in the walkways, there will be a special tile in the ground to represent that element. The walkways and surrounding circle will consist of stepping stones or cobblestones.

At this point, I would like to say that I am more comfortable with placing air to the north (winds of winter) and earth to the east (the earth comes alive in the spring). I also feel it gives a more consistent feel when one considers the circle. Water is west and is a feminine symbol therefore I place a feminine symbol (earth) opposite of water. Fire in the south would then be opposite of air and both are masculine symbols. So, when completing the circle, this causes an alternating of feminine, masculine, feminine, masculine as you walk around the circle.

Bed A represents the element of Air and will contain clover, oregano, parsley, sweetgrass, palm, lavender, dandelion, mint, borage and bluebells. I would also place a pole from which hangs windchimes.

Bed B represents the element of Earth and will contain ferns, honeysuckle, jasmine, pennyroyal, blueberry, sage, and verbena. I would also include a large rock.

Bed C represents the element of Fire and will contain basil, bay, coriander, dill, garlic, rosemary, marigolds, sunflowers and parsley. I would also include a sundial.

Bed D represents the element of Water and will contain aloe, catnip, camomile, gardenia, lemon, lemon balm, rose, thyme, cucumber, lily, chives, pansy and strawberry. In this bed, I would include a birdbath.