Spirited (16 page)

The metaphysics of visualisation are centred on the individual's ability to construct a blueprint that is eventually given physicality. To ensure the attainment of the desired outcome, one must create a visualisation of it
in specific detail
and strengthen it through willpower so that a channel of power is created, running through the planes, which will aid in its manifestation.

Visualisation as a skill is composed of various methods. For example, it is recommended you visualise only the outcome of your spell, as concentrating on the process of manifestation negates the spell itself. If I were to cast a spell to improve my love life, I would visualise my relationship as whole and peaceful, perhaps seeing my partner and myself getting on well and being genuinely happy together. I would also draw on my own experience of how it feels to be in a loving relationship to empower my visualisation.

Visualisation is not fully effective on its own. It needs the conditioning of a spell or ritual to fully exercise its power. Within a spell, visualisation becomes the means of creating a vehicle for the power raised to travel toward manifestation.

Visualisation is more than something books suggest, it is an enjoyable method. Think of this structured perception as a more refined expression of your daydreaming episodes. You are capable of it; it's in your childhood experience. Find it and foster it.

Magick:
The Essence of Life

Magick is the science and art of causing change
to occur in conformity with will.

—Aleister Crowley

In the last chapter, I used the quote “Magick is neither black nor white …”—this quote from the cult classic
The Craft
beautifully sums up the truth of Magick.

Magick is the child of Nature. The cyclic rhythms of the natural world are bound only by the law of action and reaction. The tragedy and disaster that is wrought by Mother Nature against humanity is void of intent. Nature has no bias; what's done is done, and life goes on. Today, many Pagans see the earth as a living, conscious entity.

Magick is the life force of the natural world, and thus Magick is raw and neutral. Neutrality does not imply a void of action but honours the complete spectrum of existence. Good and evil as definitive categories have no place in Nature, as Nature is devoid of morality.

Both Dion Fortune and Aleister Crowley (and many magicians after them) defined Magick in terms of its active process and not in relation to the substance of its force. Within this book, I have defined Magick as “the universal flow of underlying energy” and “the quintessential radiance of life.” What I mean by this is that Magick is a force comprised of the natural and raw energies in the universe.

In his or her simplest form, a Witch is an individual who forms a bond with Magick and celebrates the relationship. Magick is not a convenient concept or luxury; it is a power and spiritual vibration that forms the foundation of conscious manifestation—the form and face of life itself.

Spellcraft utilises the relationship between the Witch and Magick as the source of power from which it draws. To improve your spellcraft, you must make an effort to form a bond with Magick and to enhance this link. See Magick as your spiritual partner; treat Magick as you would a close friend. I believe this so implicitly that I refuse to say that I
do
Magick or
use
Magick; rather, I
work with
Magick.

Be wise in your dealings and safeguard your sacred connection with Magick. Never harass or demand anything of Magick. Know that there is a great responsibility that comes from working with Magick. Have your head amongst the stars, but keep your feet firmly on the ground; your body is the presence and your spirit, the force.

Everyday Magick:
The Charms of Life

There are many today who regard Magick as a pure and direct path to the spiritual ascendancy of the soul and who would frown upon the “folly” of charms and the little magicks that abide within the hearts of Witches everywhere. The stuff that was known in older days to have actual practical uses is now snidely cast aside. Disregarding this cynical perspective on Magick, I can say with absolute integrity that this “stuff” still has practical uses, and that it still works.

Spellcraft is something that needs to be practised on a regular basis. Does it not make sense, then, that if one wishes to sharpen this skill, it should be harnessed whenever and wherever possible?

At work, at home, or out at night with my friends, I work with Magick, casting spells and setting charms. I can't help it. It's not an addiction; it is in my nature, for I never started and never stopped. This may be hard to fathom, but getting every green traffic light in a row from the coast into the city, cooling down the temperature of hot drinks, finding parking spaces and lost objects, speeding up time, and finding an obscure book on a library shelf is completely possible. In fact, every example I listed I have accomplished with little effort and little time. I simply centre my awareness, channel the current, and go! It is obvious, then, that no tools are needed—simply the Magick and the Witch.

I don't feel that it is necessary to provide you with a heavy arsenal of charms and spells to aid you in your day-to-day life; however, I urge all Witches who are serious about their Craft and who live it to write down their charms and spells. Many of the ones I use regularly have been learnt from others and found in books and on websites. Others I have written myself as need called for them.

Charms and spells are not isolated instances that simply make use of Magick but are successive points along the continuing cycle that strengthen and enhance one's relationship with the energy. This is essential in becoming a good Witch.

First, see the Magick in life: a Witch sees Magick everywhere. It infuses all things and is the pulse that keeps the cycles beating on. It is the vitality that rises and falls with the seasons and creates mysteries and secrets as it does so. These mysteries are shown forth through symbols because of their nature, and thus we Witches must learn this symbolism.

When I shower, I see the water as a purifying agent that cleanses my body and centres me for the day. When I light incense or a candle, I do so knowing that on some level I have just given light to some hidden-away aspect of myself. When I look out of the window to the suburban street, I see the majesty of green that spasmodically bursts through the tar and sidewalks in joyful defiance. All things strive to continue, keeping their grounding. This is the knowledge and understanding that comes with studying the ways and mysteries of Magick that a good Witch then applies to his/her everyday life. For what I have learnt from the trees and the flowers is that I must stand straight and tall to truly begin my journey along the World Tree that resides within and encompasses all. The sun has taught me that to bring forth a desire into manifestation, I should acknowledge its passage of expanding light, so that just as the rising sun is a certainty the next morning, so too will my spell become fixed. There are many things that occur around us all the time that are, in fact, key secrets alerting us to ways that will help create and transform. Everyday Magick is not a fantasy; it is entirely accessible. There is no need for elaborate circles or copious amounts of frankincense to secure our goals, for this is the greater folly. Simplicity is a virtue. A Witch is not one for pomp and priss and knows that charms and spells cast every day will not lose their power or sanctity from overuse; rather, they become like old friends who hover at the sidelines, simply waiting to be called into action.

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Ritual is an important aspect of Pagan spirituality. It empowers us and allows for spiritual communion with our deities. Ritual provides the bridge between the spiritual realms and the psyche. It opens doors and reinforces primal connections with the hidden facets of humanity.

Ritual allows the individual to enhance the connection between the universe and the self. It is a practice that aids in spiralling progress and deepening understanding through the spheres of life to the core of oneness.

Ritual is self-prescribed; you choose how complex it is. Paganism embraces creative inspiration and encourages us to experiment with the various techniques and blueprints of ritual that are globally available, ultimately creating an individual experience. Rather than blindly accept what others have done before you, be open to new and different approaches, and cultivate the beauty of diversity.

When defining Paganism, the word
orthopraxy
comes up. Orthopraxy refers to the consistency of practice within a specific spiritual group. Orthodoxy, implying consistency of belief, does not apply to Pagans as it does to the organised religions.

Our celebration of the natural cycles is a fundamental trait of Paganism, as is the tendency to ritualise what appears a minor event but is, in truth, a spiritual revelation, e.g., watching the sun set.

Paganism is a
doing
spirituality. It asks that you take a look at the world and at yourself, and take action. Experience the world through the profound beauty of ritual. You are the catalyst; you have the power.

Reasons for Ritual

Pagans today, of any tradition, perform rituals for many reasons. Some do so in order to connect and commune with the divine powers, and others do so to enrich and empower themselves and to pay homage to deities, the spirits of place, the elements, and countless other beings.

It has been said that the dreamscape, the realm of symbolism, offers us the inspiration to respond ritually to signals begun deep within the primordial waters of the soul. The unconscious reality speaks to us, and we speak back by consciously using ritual. It is a sacred interchange of energies that joins all of life.

Ritual, which is believed to derive from the Sanskrit word
rtu
(meaning “menses”), celebrates the ongoing cycles that comprise the divine dance. Many Pagans today celebrate the sabbats because they are naturally derived festivals that mark significant points of transition within the seasonal year.

We perform these rituals to mark the passage of life, because without them, we lack the primal patterns that orient our deep selves toward our divine origins.

In ritual, we become a conduit between the above and the below, reconciling the illusional duality that surrounds us with the unity underlying all that exists.

To Connect and Commune

When I kneel before my altar and invoke my gods of breath, of spirit, I call upon the love and the light. As I breathe deeply, retaining my centre and expanding my consciousness, I focus on the piece of rose quartz in my left hand and the piece of amethyst in my right hand, as Aphrodite is to my left (the feminine pillar of darkness/contraction/reception) and Hermes is to my right (the masculine pillar of light/expansion/projection). Aphrodite is the temple in which lovers lie together as the night drifts across the indigo, star-swept skies. Hermes is the boundary between farmed land and the vast wilderness—the spirit of fertility sown into all that submits to the whims of desire, which Aphrodite inspires. As their essences intertwine about me, I feel myself drifting into their temple—that of the cataclysmic union of love and light, that which receives the spear and nurtures, and that which spills the seed. From love and light comes life; life is the source of all. All the gods are of the life-flow; they are nothing without it, as are we.

When I make this initial connection and am supported by the two pillars, I take my first step into the halls of communion. It is then that I make the invocation to my gods of breath. They come forth and surround me, adding their power to my workings, but more importantly, their presence reminds me of an essential fact: as a priest, communion with my gods is the very reason behind my spirituality. It is not simply the high they give me but something deeper that swims in my veins and sings in my soul. I feel that this is my purpose: to connect and commune, to offer forth the sacred oaths, and to anoint myself in oils so that I may be a consecrated child before them.

Wherever I am and whomever I am with, this connection remains. Speaking with the gods and sharing my feelings is not restricted to the circles I have at home or with my coven. The gods are truths that go beyond the superficial realities we feel safely contain our needs and desires. They are the powers and forces that make and change, form and flow, inspire and instigate all that is seen and unseen. From one realm to the other, they weave and whisper and partake in the wellsprings of life that fuel and flood the continuum.

What is it we connect to and commune with when we call upon the gods to be with us and add their power to ours? I say it is life itself. In love and in light, they come. Not like parents who fuss and hover, but like brothers and sisters, friends and lovers. They are forces so incomprehensible and yet wholly integral to our experience on this plane and on all the others that we become immersed in the legacy of their brilliance and power.

To those who offer up their livelihoods, they extend patronage and protection, and to those who celebrate their mysteries, joy. When I kneel before my altar and focus on the divine energies, I am, in fact, focussing on all that is life and am therefore becoming anew.

To Enrich and Empower

As a Witch, I perform feats of transformation that are brought into effect through my relationship with Magick. This is what Starhawk calls “power-with,” and it is the heart of magickal reality. If I am not spiritually prepared to contribute my energy to such workings, then I am incapable of creating change. For instance, if I did not ground and centre, calling on the light of the heavens and that of the earth to marry within before a working, I would ultimately burn myself out, because it would be difficult and dangerous for one person to bear the brunt of anything beyond making a flame waver or sending a message telepathically. Small things can be achieved through sheer effort and willpower; however, spiritual tasks that relate to anything “greater” would require a dependence, and that is to be avoided.

Energy is universal and flows through all things. To those who are predisposed and who work to consciously receive such vitality, the energy is enhanced and one becomes enriched and empowered. There should be no unbalanced dependence, as all things need to be in sync and interdependent.

We depend on a variety of sources for our oxygen; however, what gives out oxygen also requires that we exhale carbon dioxide for its survival. We have an integral system of energy interchange in our universe; thus, it would be foolish to suggest that one could go on casting spells and working rituals without taking in energy from sources other than one's own. Ritual, therefore, is important for not only Witches who consciously work with energy but to all Pagans who revere the life force, because as children of the earth, we are intimately aware of where our life is sourced. With this knowledge comes the basic understanding of interchange and how to manifest realities. This is not greed, this is wisdom. Take too much and give too little, and you will overload your system and pay the price. Take too little and give too much, and you may end up an anxious mess. Balance your input and output with the equilibrium instilled by ritual, and ensure your health.

Witchcraft comprises many customs and practices that speak of the relationship between all living beings. As Pagans who work to attune to the natural rhythms and cycles of life, we begin to invoke a flow of energy that is then imbued with our own desires and needs and transformed into reality. However, it is not spellcraft that enriches and empowers the spirit but the journey through life made in concordance with the rhythms and cycles of energy.

As we discover our life source, we feel the urge to create various rituals so that we may celebrate our relationship with energy in reverence, paying homage to the raw entities that are the various aspects of the substance of immortality.

To Pay Homage and Revere

Beyond all else, I believe, ritual aims at revering and paying homage to the great forces of Nature, to the balance of cosmos and chaos, the immortals, the gods, the ancestors, the elements, and the Fey. Strip clean tradition and dogma and you have pure, raw Being that has come forth from undifferentiated potential and has become beauty, joy, laughter, music, desire, freedom, power, death, beginnings, and endings; they have many names. We too are a part of this great unfolding, and in our own humility we often forget the true sanctity that dwells within all that share in the life force. We are each unique expressions of the divine.

When we hear of Zeus and Hera, of Brighid and the Dagda, there is always a familiar spark that tickles at the edge of our consciousness, straining to illumine the shadow-swept chambers of the deeply stowed-away Pagan soul. Our myths are, in fact, closer to home than some would care to believe. The stories and legends never die, because they are undying and cannot cease to be, unless life would do the same. They are eternal, and we can relate because the myths are not unlike our own stories. The gods reside within us in such a way that separating the two would prove impossible. Carl Jung and others have explained this phenomenon with words like
archetype
and
collective unconscious
, and though we Pagans feel our experiences are somewhat validated by this stream of psychology, there was never truly any need for it.

Regardless of the textbooks and university courses, and the rising numbers that join us in our ways, there is always one thing we do that will never disappear: this is the laying down of flowers and the kneeling of the supplicant, the fires built for high summer, and the spiral dances. We are a people who continue to revere the sacred and who refuse to acknowledge any separation between what is here and what is there. We not only seek the wisdom of the sky realm but also look to the Earth Mother and her oceans and rivers, never forgetting that we are a part of the Magick.

When we ritualise—when we mark the passages with ceremony—we lay down all pretences in order to present what simply is. Perhaps this is the true origin behind the skyclad nature of the British Traditional Wiccan (BTW) groups and perhaps even the Jains of India. When we revere and honour the deities and spirits that are in this world and universe, we come before them (though they are always there) not as priests and priestesses of garment and gold but as ourselves, glorious and beautiful in the eyes of the gods. We come forth as truth.

Reverence and honour cannot be given when one has no understanding of the relationship between the recipient of the gift and the one who offers it. In a true and meaningful exchange, neither one does exclusively the giving or receiving—both mutually participate in the sacred moment. Balance is maintained.

When I am celebrating with my coven or on my own, I present my blessed offerings to my gods not to placate but as a symbol of the memory and truth that we share secretly together. This secret I am willing to share. T
hroughout history, t
he gods have often told us that they do not need the offerings and sacrifices we insist on making. However, I do so because in a world such as this one, there is a need for both my gods and me to acknowledge that we haven't forgotten each other.

Personal Preparation:
Harnessing Self-Awareness

The more we are awake and conscious, the more life takes on
a richness we may never have imagined possible.
We may feel more connected to our bodies.
The world may seem brighter, more vivid, more real.
We will feel emotions more fully, or truly appreciate life.

—Diana Winston,
Wide Awake: A Buddhist Guide for Teens

Part of performing a successful ritual lies in how well you prepare yourself. Personal preparation is by nature a process of consciously reaffirming your physical presence and reinforcing your self-awareness. You can achieve this by tapping into your sensual faculties and involving yourself fully in the movement of your body as you wash. Allow yourself to soak in the water around you, and actively focus on the pleasure of water. Gradually you will come to the centre.

Visualisation is also a powerful method of focusing the mind. For instance, when I want to cleanse myself of the day's residual energy, I take a shower, visualising the water as a waterfall breaking across my body that sweeps away negativity.