Bloodlines

My bloodlines are important to me, to my spiritual path.  They are where I come from and where I am going and who I am.  Perhaps not the entirely of the picture, but certainly the essential palette without which there would be no picture.

I think of my bloodlines as the paint, the pigments, the colors of which I am made and the composition as my specific path in this life, the choices I make are the brushstrokes.

I think that metaphor is useful but, I will not belabor it further.  This is about the colors of my bloodlines.  In this digital age we can view an identical image in multiple palettes without altering any other factor and in each instance the image will be uniquely different.

Knowing yourself is the first goal of the witch, for how can we pursue evolution if we do not understand ourselves?  I am a person, with specificity and individuality.  I am unique.  I will never again be this person.  This is the life I have in this incarnation.  And my bloodlines are the source material  of this life, of my body, heart, mind, and soul. 

I have specific talents and abilities, and processes that are necessary to the work that I am here to accomplish.  I cannot function the way another person does.  I must work within the framework and with the pigments of the palette that is me.

My bloodlines are metaphorical as well as genetic.  I am the descendant of my ancestors both familial and spiritual.  All are the stuff of the stars that made me.

I am descended from coal-miners who emigrated from South Wales to North-East Pennsylvania and German craftsmen who immigrated to Baltimore.  I am descended from musicians and stubborn, strong-willed, secret-keepers.  I hear the voices of trees and stones and running water.  I do not see, but rather feel the music of the Fae.  I am not the Phoenix but the Owl, not the Hero but the Storyteller, not the Singer but the Songwriter.

My bloodlines inform the nature of my work in this life as well as the way in which I will accomplish it.  The more intimately I understand those bloodlines and myself, the better I can accomplish that work.

Blood Magick

Blood is a Magickal substance.  It sustains life, in ways no other part of us can. It delivers oxygen and nutrients to all the cells of the body.  It can be given to others to sustain life, without damaging the giver.  It carries our DNA, our genetic code, the pattern that connects us to our ancestors and our descendants.

Blood marks the thresh hold between childhood and coming of age.  It is the place that the beginning of life is formed.  It flows at miscarriage and birth.  And it stops flowing at the time of change, when we are no longer capable of creating life.

It flows when we are injured, whether from a skinned knee in childhood or from some traumatic event, whether accidental or combative, or at the moment of initiation into the mystery of sexual awakening.

Without it flowing freely through us, we die. It is the essence of life. It carries our life force.  It is that part of us that is most quintessentially ourselves.

I sacrifice a drop of my blood every morning to test my sugar to maintain the health of my body.  I also sacrifice a drop or two to my Magick on occasion.

It is a part of me that I can give to my Magick, to my Gods, to my Ancestors, to my Allies, without causing permanent damage to my body.  It is the most direct way to connect to those spells that are of utmost importance to my life.  My Magick is at least as important to me as my health.  My Magick is as personal to me as my body.  My blood is an essential part of me, and it is mine to give as I see fit.

If you are healthy enough to donate blood to the Red Cross, consider the Magick that you are giving to your community.  Consider the Magick that saves the life of a stranger.  That is a spell worthy of a Great Witch.

Annwfn

Annwfn is the Underworld in Welsh mythology.  It is the home of my Ancestors and of my Patron.  It is the place our souls go after.  It is a place of shadow and of beauty.  It is a place of warmth and rest and pleasure.

Our Spirits are connected to the entire cosmos and as such they have a destiny that is one with the Greater Earth.  Our Spirits are eternal.  They reincarnate over and over.  They move forward and evolve from incarnation to incarnation.  At death, they pass from the individual into the Summerland and, after a time, they move on to the next incarnation. 

But each life is a new experience, a new person, a new body and mind and heart and soul.  I will never again be this person.  I will never again have this unique life.  This body, this soul is a gift that will never be duplicated.

When my body returns to the Earth, my soul will not die, but will return to its source in Annwfn and become one of the Ancestors of my clan, of my tribe.  Annwfn is not only our soul’s destination after incarnation but, also the source of our soul and of our genetic pattern, that gives form to the body; that gives structure to the mind and heart unique to the individual as well as the family group.  Annwfn is the womb of life as well as the afterlife. 

Spirit is eternal, but without the body and soul of the individual, Spirit would have no way to evolve.  Our souls are a part of the process of evolution.  Our bloodlines are as well.  Annwfn is the home of those souls and those bloodlines.  We are all in this together.  

Air

Air is the beginning of everything. 

When we first emerge from our mother’s womb we take a breath. That breath is what defines us as alive, rather than still-born.  The last breath we take is, by definition, the last thing we do as a living incarnate being. 

The Circle (at least in my Tradition) begins in the East with the Powers of Air. 

Magick too begins with Air. 

It begins with an idea, with a thought, with analysis and developing a plan.

Air is inspiration and intellect. 

It is clarity of thought and focus. 

It is language and communication.

It is the circle of blue sky above us. 

It is the breeze and the whirlwind.

Ritual Magick begins with Air.  It begins with grounding and centering which is most effectively achieved through breath.  Breathing in the energy we wish to fill ourselves with and breathing out to release that which does not serve in the moment, breathing until we find our center of balance.

Air is the scent of incense that cues our selves that we are about to do something sacred.  It is the smoke that opens us to Magick.  Air is the blade that wields the force of intent. 

My daily practice is based on breathing.  As I breathe, I fill the cauldrons inside myself and connect to my Gods and Allies and Ancestors. 

Air as breath, and Air as thought, can affect our body’s nervous system and adjust our physical and emotional states and our energetic condition.

Air is the medium through which sound occurs.  Sound waves travel through Air.  Sound is energy.  When we chant, make music, sing; we create sound waves, we make Magick in, and of, and through Air.

Air is where it begins.

Dark Moon Ritual December 31st, 2013

The Voice of Clarity tells me;

*keep writing.

*keep engaging.

*keep tearing at the walls to discover who I am supposed to be.

*keep moving forward to complete the work I have begun.

The Voice of Truth tells me;

*the things I become anxious about are not as big as I make them.

*let go of those things that are not mine.

*remember the lessons about living in faith.

*the connections I have are real, and not illusions. 

The Voice of Intuition tells me;

*opportunities to have the life I desire are near, be ready for them.

*love can come, and might, be open to it.

The voice of Wisdom tells me;

*take better care of my body, eat better food, get better exercise and reduce toxins.

*spend time outdoors weekly, even in the cold weather.

*renew my daily practice.

*this year will be full of challenges, but also fun, do not let the former prevent me from engaging with the latter, fun has as much to teach me as challenges.

The Voice of Spirit tells me;

*I am not alone.  I am a part of Community.

*I am not alone, my Gods, Ancestors and Allies will help me to accomplish what they require.

*I have work to do, and I am equipped to complete that work.

Blessings be upon you all.  Thank you for walking with me on this path.

Love and Light to each of you.

Awenydd

Ritual and Magick

Magick happens in Ritual. In good Ritual, it follows you home.  In powerful Ritual, it tears you open and pulls down the walls, it leaves them in piles of rubble, and lets loose all that was hiding within them, within you.  It takes time, I think, to become accustomed to the affects of that kind of Magick.  And not every Ritual is designed to do that.  Some are for celebration, some for empowerment, but each person who participates will be affected according to their need, preparation and will.

I have been stuck for a while.  I have been afraid and frustrated and lonely.  I have been holding onto things as if they somehow keep me alive.  When I reach that place, I need help tearing down the walls.  I am not always capable of tearing them down, truth be told, I am not always capable of seeing them, and it is difficult to pull down that which you cannot see surrounds you.  I have vowed that I will not let them stand but, sometimes I need the catalyst of powerful Ritual, and the Magick that happens there, and the Magick that follows, to begin again. 

The Raven of the Void provided that catalyst, and the Magick has indeed followed me home.  I have been tearing at the walls every day and exploring what has been hiding behind them.  I have been writing every day and discovering things that are very uncomfortable, but that are necessary if I am to serve my Community and my Gods in the way that They would have me serve.  Happiness is also one of the purposes of this Magick and, I want to be a happier person. The Magick begins in Ritual but, the work has only begun.

the Raven of the Void

This past weekend I attended the annual Yule ritual conducted by my Tradition.  I have only attended this ritual once before, seven years ago, before I knew any of these amazing people, before I was a part of this Tradition, this community.  I should not have let so many years pass between.  It took place after the sun had set in a circle surrounded by woods.  The night was unusually warm and the wind blew with an energy that reminded me of summer.  The stars of Winter’s first night were unmistakable in the clear dark sky above.  The path to the circle was lit by candles as was the circle itself and in the center of the circle a fire burned bright and warm and was tended by two members of my Tradition as an act of service.

The ritual is beautiful and moving.  The White Lady of Winter speaks to those in attendance as does the Sun Lord.  But in between, the Raven of the Void comes into the Circle and exhorts us to release those griefs, sorrows, fears and wounds that we have been holding onto as if they would somehow keep us alive.  As it happens, I was holding onto much more than I thought.

 

After the Raven speaks, he invites us to keen, to release our pain by screaming, shouting, wailing and howling.  The sound is not only unearthly and seemingly inhuman but it is impossible to remain unmoved when bearing witness to it.  Before you are aware of it, you are weeping and keening and the Raven takes all of that sorrow and pain and through the fire, transforms it into something else.

I remember some of his words deep in my soul; they were not for remembering so much as for experiencing in that moment.  They are not available to me as memory of language but as memory of magick.  I know that when the ritual was over, I felt less heavy, less tight, less cold, less afraid.  I felt cleaner. 

I have spent most of the past year actively learning to let go, to allow life to happen, but I have so much more to learn about myself, about life, about how the Gods expect me to serve them and my community.  I thought that I had done what I needed to do but, there is always more.  

Sometimes you have to welcome the Raven of the Void.