Sulum Factum Magus

Everyone can benefit from having the Wisdom of past generations made available to them. After all, there is a wealth of lived experience in the hundreds of thousands of years of human history. In a previous post, I have described an exercise for contacting the ancestoral consciousness. The material for this essay comes out of experience with that exercise, in which I made contact with my maternal grandfather, who was a mason before joining the catholic church in order to marry my grandmother.

To cut a long story short, I began my encounter with movement of the attention in turn to the soles of my feet and the palms of my hands, then to my naval centre, as described previously. I followed the red cord back to my mother, and feeling myself merge with her, followed the white cord from her naval centre back to my grandfather.

Immediately, I began to receive impressions, firstly of my grandfather as a youngish man, younger than I had ever known him, standing straight and tall. The words “Always take pride in yourself” came to me. And indeed, this is something that I remember my mother saying as well. Another thing my grandfather used to say is “If a job’s worth doing, it’s worth doing well.” These sayings of his flowed through to me via the link established with the exercise. Strange to say, it was not exactly the words that came through, but an energy, a kind of mental clarity. The words I remembered or came up with later, to clothe this strange kind of energetic knowingness. Other sayings that came through were “Learn to see the good in everything,” “Always give people the benefit of the doubt,” and “Learn something from everyone you meet.” Some of these sayings I remember him saying, but others, I had no recollection of prior to the exercise.

To help myself remember and call upon this wisdom, I have put together the following “nine saws”, looslely based, in style, on the old Welsh triads.

Three Virtues: Honesty, Integrity and Generosity

Three Supports: To take pride in yourself and your work

To learn from everyone you meet

To keep your self and your space clean and tidy

Three Guides: Give people the benefit of the doubt

Learn from your mistakes

Look for the good in everything

Of course, you are welcome to follow the nine saws – but you may want to come up with an expression of your own ancestral wisdom. Contacting the ancestral consciousness in the way I have described is one way you could do it.

The subject of Good and Evil has been on my mind lately. I have been thinking about how much the idea that the world is a battleground between the forces of Good and Evil seems to colour people’s opinions and actions. If you have been a regular reader of these pages, then it will come as no surprise to you that I think that the idea of Good verses Evil is a flawed way of viewing the world, society, and its processes. As my Grandfather used to say, there’s Good and Bad in everyone, and indeed everything. But even this statement does not go far enough in my opinion, because it still assumes that the self, others, and the phenomena of life are made up of Good and Evil in various quantities.

Why do I get excited about this? I believe that language structures and shapes our experience of the world. The fundamental metaphysical constructs behind language profoundly shape our response to, and understanding of, the people and events around us.

As a pagan, I am very interested in the fundamental metaphysical constructs that one adopts, and through which one interprets the world. I believe they are the key determining influence on what we create around us. I am interested in how they can be changed and developed, both personally and collectively, in order to create a more fulfilling life.

The western mystical tradition, in common with many spiritual traditions throughout the world, teaches that manifestation proceeds from the realm of thought and spirit, to the physical and material world. According to this teaching, we create in the world around us conditions and circumstances which are in accord with our beliefs. This occurs both on a personal level, and on a cultural and societal level. If the fundamental belief structure of Western Society includes that the world is a battleground of Good and Evil, then hey presto, we get a battleground of “Good” and “Evil”. If it includes that the personification and embodiment of Evil exists in the form of Satan, then hey presto, such a thought form is created and takes shape.

This can be confusing for those who insist on adopting a different deep metaphysical structure to the standard for their society. Such people, among whom I will presume to count myself, have typically worked long and hard to see things differently, or to maintain their own viewpoint against the onslaught of TV, kindergarten, school, and all the other people seeing things and interpreting things around them in terms of Good and Evil.

I watched some cartoons the other day with my daughter who is about to turn five. I was struck by the fact that each cartoon scenario always involved goodies fighting baddies. In the cartoons, the Goodies seem to always win the battle, but never the war, and Evil lives on for another confrontation the next day.

This is one way that kids are taught that life is a battleground of Good and Evil. Then there are the games they play with other kids, often, again, goodies and baddies. As a parent, I try to foster more imaginative play, with characters that are good and bad in different situations, to try and break down this Good/Evil absolutism that seems to emanate from all the organs of Western Society. I tell my daughter that whether a lion is Good or Bad depends on whether you’re another lion or a deer. She seems to embrace this concept very easily, as of course it is so blindingly obvious.

However, I digress. As I was saying, it is part of the magical life, in my opinion, to take charge of one’s deep beliefs, and to re-create them in a form which enhances one’s own life, and the lives of those around one. The first step is to actually acknowledge that you have them, and that they are currently working to create the life you currently have. Your beliefs can be deduced by looking at the events and circumstances of your own life. Upon them, you will see, if you choose to allow yourself, the imprint of the way you believe the world works. Surprisingly, this imprint differs from what you may think you believe.

One way to find out what you really believe is as follows. Write down all the significant events of your life, including your aspirations and desires, and how they have been met or failed to be met. Include all major disappointments, major achievements and the general tone and tenor of your current circumstances, and how you feel about them. Then, pretending all this has happened to someone else, whom you have never met, pretend to be Sherlock Holmes and deduce what their fundamental beliefs are, from only the information written on the page. You may be surprised!

There will typically be a discrepancy between what you consciously believe, and what you unconsciously believe. This discrepancy represents a loss of energy, and often means that the conscious intention and the unconscious intention are working at cross purposes. The unconscious is a great source of energy. It is creating our lives and circumstances based on the pattern of beliefs adopted haphazardly through our early years, from parents, family members, peers, school, television and so on, including early traumatic or positive experiences. Conscious intentions out of harmony, or out of sync with the unconscious intention will be simply swept aside by this current of manifestation.

The task before the student who wishes to take control of this process is threefold. Firstly, to become aware of the unconscious beliefs which shape the unconscious manifestation of one’s life; secondly, to remove unhelpful unconscious beliefs; and thirdly, to develop and adopt new and more helpful unconscious beliefs.

The ultimate aim is to work in harmony with the three levels of being, the conscious level, the subconscious level, and the super conscious level. The conscious level is the everyday rational sense of self. Here we make plans, imagine and visualize, remember, construct an identity, and attach ourselves to various ideas and concepts. The subconscious level is the power house of creativity and manifestation, from which passions, feelings and emotions emerge, and the source of convictions and hunches. The subconscious creates a template for your life and experience, which, in our society, is seldom more than a hodge-podge put together by accidental transmission from significant others and the organs of society, and in response to the various traumas, both necessary and unnecessary, that we may have suffered. The superconscious level is the place of connection with the higher self, the inspiration from the Divine connection, and contact with various angelic and other beings of light and love. The task of the magician is to allow these three aspects to work in harmony, indeed to create within oneself the means and opportunity for this harmonious working together. For then there is nothing that can not be accomplished in this world.

Within this framework, one may begin to see the theme of the sacred marriage emerging. The subconscious self is like a women with a fertile womb. She brings to manifestation whatever seed is sown within her. The super conscious self is like a man bearing within him the seed that may take shape and grow. However by himself he is barren and impotent and can make no impact on the world. Via the sacred marriage the super conscious seed unites with the sub conscious generative matrix, and from the union a new conscious self is brought into manifestation.

At first, with no magical or spiritual training, people are like orphans. No-one has explained to them the facts of life. But then as we get to know our mother and father, we become transformed. We start to create consciously and effectively. This is the great and supreme magic, in my opinion. I have attempted to provide a process for achieving this in my Book, “The Great Work”, based on my own experiences. We become more than the little self. We become, as it were, an organ of creation, embodying the generative matrix of the subconscious and the enlivening seed of the super conscious. And through these awakened potentials, we become connected to the collective super conscious, and the collective sub conscious, and begin to co-create the great awakening.

So this is my way of viewing the world, as the dance and interplay of generative and enlivening principles. I see wisdom as the balance between selfishness and generosity, competition and cooperation, sleep and wakefulness, constructiveness and destructiveness. I see foolishness as excessive focus on one or the other of such opposites, leading to imbalance and hardships, and damage to self and others. The prime directive of one who adopts such a world view is to achieve balance through moderation. This is markedly different from the prime directive of one who adopts a battleground of Good or Evil world view. It is either, join the Goodies, and deny anything in oneself that is Evil, and fight with the other Goodies against Evil, or go the way of the Devil – become self indulgent, greedy, destructive and inconsiderate. Many bounce helplessly from one side to the other, racked by guilt, and driven by an impossible ideal.

The path of magical growth and awareness leads, in my opinion, to the transcendence of the conscious self. When we are not so frightened by life that we have to amass material objects and resources to protect our requirements for food shelter and status, then there is the opportunity to be part of something marvellous, and magical: the conscious co-creation of a beautiful world. However first we must come to grips with what we really believe, and then allow the Great Mother to re-conceive us from the Divine Seed, and bring us to a new birth, as the three in one, the child of promise, who knows her mother and father, and walks through life with their support and love. Everything of worth becomes so much easier.

I thought I would pass on this recipe to you, which is one of my creations in the witchin’ kitchen. First of all, though, I need to explain a little bit of background. You may be aware that I am a member of that unfortunate crowd of people who have developed food intolerances and reactions to various common food stuffs. I have many theories on this, but that’s another story! But to set the scene for the pan bread, imagine what you would eat for breakfast if you (a) can’t eat any wheat, oats, barley or rye ( because they contain gluten) (b) can’t have any milk or dairy product, (c) fruit or fruit juice unless separated by 4 hours from any other food. Believe me, it can be quite a challenge! Fortunately, I am in a much better position than some, as I can still eat eggs and soy milk in moderation.

Well that pretty much rules out the cereal, muesli thing. True, I can have rice bubbles, millet puffs, and corn flakes, but these taste most unappetizing with water. I can’t have Soy milk more than once or twice a week, Almond milk is way too expensive for everyday, and rice milk is very acidifying on an everyday basis. So here is part of the solution to the problem of breakfast – Wizard’s pan bread.

OK, here’s the list of ingredients:

(1) Two tablespoons brown rice flour

(2) Two tablespoons millet meal or flour

(3) Two tablespoons of besan (chickpea) flour

(4) 1 teaspoon ground tumeric

(5) 1 teaspoon ground coriander

(6) 1 teaspoon ground cumin

(7) Salt and pepper per taste

(8) 1 onion, sliced

(9) 1 tomato sliced

(10) A couple cloves of garlic, crushed and sliced fine

(11) A handful of olives, seeded and sliced

(12) Tablespoon of Apple cider vinegar

(13) Splash of Olive Oil

(14) Optional: Herbs and spices as the fancy takes you. Fresh Rosemary is particularly yummy

(15) 1 cup of vegetable stock, water will do at a pinch!

(16) Optional: Egg. Not necessary, but will help hold things together.

Method:

Mix together dry ingredients till even colour. Add chopped vegetables and combine. Add vinegar, oil, egg (if using) and mix. Add stock or water a bit at a time till the mixture is thou roughly moistened, but not runny. Not much is needed. Consistency should be like a thick cake mix. Heat a heavy pan over a medium heat, with a thin layer of Olive Oil over the bottom. When the Oil just begins to look as if it might smoke, spread the mixture evenly over the pan, so it is about 1 inch or so thick. Put a lid on the pan, and after a couple of minutes, turn down to a low heat. After ten or fifteen minutes, remove the lid, and let the top dry off, before turning. Turn the heat back up to medium for three to five minutes, then remove and eat! Very yummy dipped in Olive Oil and Balsamic vinegar, or with soup, or with a few fresh salad makings.

 As I mentioned in my post on Dragon Power, I have been traveling in Denmark, and while there took the opportunity to visit Gundestrup, where the famous cauldron was discovered. The Gundestrup cauldron was discovered in 1891 in a peat bog near the village of Gundestrup in northern Denmark, a few kilometres from the town of Aars. It is thought to depict Deities and mythological scenes from the Celtic people of several centuries before the Christian era., and is most well known in modern pagan circles for the image of the Horned Lord which is embossed on one of its silver plates.

The original cauldron is now in the museum in Copenhagen, but the local museum has a very good replica, made in silver, which is on display. The museum was only open in the afternoon, and arriving about midday, I had time to have a leisurely lunch before making my way to the museum. The replica of the cauldron appears to my untrained eye to be a painstakingly reproduced facsimile, in silver, with the same details of workmanship as the original. It certainly has a presence about it, and conveys much more than a set of photographs ever could. I spent a good hour in the company of the facsimile, examining it from every angle, and studying the images represented on the various surfaces.

The cauldron is made from a hemispherical silver dish, whose bottom is embossed with an image in bas relief. Attached to this dish, is a cylinder composed of separate curved plates. There are five large plates forming the inner surface of the cylinder, and seven plates forming the outer surface of the cylinder. It appeared to me that there ought to be eight of these outer plates, but there appeared to be one missing, or at least a space where another could be placed. On each plate is a scene, sculptured from the silver in bas relief, depicting what appear to be Deities and mythological motifs.

I will set up a separate page at some stage, showing each of the scenes, and what I know about them, but for now, have a look at the Wikipedia entry, for an idea of the cauldron and its imagery.

Very little is known for sure about the meaning of the imagery on the cauldron, however, it entertained me to make the following speculations. It struck me that the design of the cauldron was purposeful in every respect. That is, the cylinder of 13 panels (12 extant, one “missing”) was constructed the way it was because this construction accorded with its purpose. Thus I concluded that the panels were designed to be easily removed or re-arranged. Could the number of these panels be significant? Could it indicate the 13 lunar months? Could the eight outer panels, each depicting what appears to be stylized Deities, correspond to eight solar divisions of the year? What is the significance of their being five inner panels?

As I looked at the cauldron, I imagined that it could be customized for various ritual purposes, at different times of the year, and depicting various deities, according to the particular magical purpose required. Calendrical factors could be adjusted by changing the relationship of the eight outer plates to the five inner plates. The vibrations of particular Deities or mythological scenarios could be intensified or combined by appropriately adding or deleting various plates to the cauldron.

Of course it is all speculation, and as far as I know, no extra plates that could fit have ever been discovered. But it is intriguing! I will keep you posted!

 I recently had the good fortune to be traveling in Denmark. During my travels, I spent some time in the city of Aalborg, which is in the north of Denmark. As regular readers of these pages will know, I am very fond of browsing through second hand bookshops, especially those specializing in esoteric topics, and I managed to discover a charming example called Zenobia Books. The proprietor, like many people in Denmark, has a very good command of English, and is very friendly, so I had no trouble having a very nice chat about all sorts of arcane subjects. During the course of this chat, two subjects came up which I found very interesting, the first was the existence a short way from Aalborg of a Viking burial site called by the locals the Trollekirken, or Troll Church. The second was the information that the Gundestrup Cauldron, a piece of Celtic silver work famous in pagan circles for its depiction of the Horned One, was found in a village a short drive away, and that a very good replica of the cauldron was in the local museum (The original is in Copenhagen). After thanking the proprietor very much for these interesting pieces of local esoterica, and buying a book on the Gundestrup Cauldron (in Danish!), I departed. I shall leave the story of the Gundestrup cauldron to a later post, but for now, I will relate to you my visit to the Troll Church.

The day was gray and wet, as it often is in Denmark in December. I turned into the small cart track from the main road, driving along at a few miles an hour, dodging the puddles, ruts and pot holes. On either side fields lay fallow after the harvest, the furrows of the plough still visible underneath a thin cloak of browning weeds. After a few hundred yards, I saw the troll church atop a rise to my left. It was the highest point in the local surroundings. Parking the car, I followed a thin track worn by visitors feet, past a small sign explaining the archeology (in Danish, so incomprehensible to me!), towards the top of the rise, which was crowned by large stone, laid like a roof over a nmber of smaller stones, forming a small cave. Climbing up to these stones, one passes through an oval of smaller stones, defining a perimeter. The impression is one of being in a stone boat, with a large pointed stone marking the prow, which points out towards the water of the fjord, which is visible in the distance.

As I arrived at the standing stones, two white tailed dear bounded away across the fields, from where they had been sheltering in the lee of the hill. The wind was cold and biting, and I had no trouble imagining the trolls freezing to stone anyone who dared out stay their welcome!

As I surveyed the surroundings, and began to attune myself to the location, I noticed that there was here and there some yarrow growing around the stones. After several circumambulations of the stones forming the boat’s “cabin”, I stood with my back leaning against one of the central standing stones, in the lee of the wind, and allowed my attention to sink through my feet into the earth, and I invited contact with the energies and custodians of the place, if that be for the highest good. After a few minutes, it seemed to me that I could feel a great heat, as if a fire had been kindled in the little cave formed by the stones, and was radiating through the stones and into my back. To be honest, this was not at all what I was expecting, and came as quite a surprise. I basked in this radiating warmth for quite some time, until it gradually began to dissipate, or my awareness of it faded.

I lingered there for another time, contemplating this experience, again circumambulating the site inside the outer oval of stones, until the wind became too cold, and I headed back to the car, leaving my thanks. On the way back, I noticed that the ploughed fields surrounding the hillock were covered with black glassy stones, which I believe were pieces of flint.

It came to me later that this energy was the dragon energy that is spoken of in connection with the ley lines and old straight tracks of England and the continent. As with most of the old lore, it seems there is a very good reason its called dragon energy!

In the modern western society, particularly the English speaking world, we have focussed on the individual as being the primary and sacred unit of consciousness. The consequence of this, in my view, excessive individualistic focus, is that many people end up feeling isolated, alone, forlorn and forgotten, and suffer depression and various forms of maladjustment, and sometimes to such a degree that they cannot bare to go on living and so take their own lives.

Of course this is not entirely due to neglect of one’s ancestors. There are many factors involved in the misery of imprisonment within an unassailable individuality, including the inability to communicate with close friends, and a deficient experience of family and community.

Part of the reason is that as one grows up and goes through the teenage years, one is driven to realise and construct one’s sense of self in opposition to and reaction against one’s parents. This process is one that, by and large, is not effectively recognised or channelled constructively in our society. Parents, by and large, find it threatening when their offspring begin actively differentiating themselves – by rebelling, opposing parental values, and acting out the process through often dangerous and foolhardy activities such as getting blind drunk, engaging in excessive or dangerous sexual activities, taking drugs and involving themselves in various forms of illegal or anti-social behaviour, often in the company of a highly influential peer group.

Or perhaps it manifests through arguments and tantrums whenever a parental request is made, no matter how simple or easily complied with. Many volumes have been written on adolescent psychology, and I don’t pretend to be any kind of expert – but I believe there is an important esoteric contribution that can be made to the understanding of this process, that all of us went through, are going through, or will go through!

That understanding is that we are consolidating a sense of individuality by reacting with and against our parents. Part of this process is to sever the ties of dependence with one’s parents, and take responsibility for our own life choices, and our own shelter and sustenance. However, we have created a society in which the psychological need for and formation of independence does not correspond to the actual material and societal mechanisms for independence. That is, it happens when we are still at school, or just leaving school, long before we have the skills necessary in our society to get and hold a job that will provide a decent income and good prospects. This exacerbates the situation, and of course, parents usually have no idea what is going on, or how to handle things, they just complain to their friends about teenagers and their tantrums or other problems.

For now, I assume that I am talking to an adult, who has gone through this process, and finds themselves with severely strained and damaged relationships with their parents. Many people are able to start picking up the pieces, especially when they get married and begin having their own children. However, my experience has been that a distance remains, that cannot be so easily overcome. There is a wound associated with this violent coming of age, which, in my opinion, leaves one feeling damaged. It is the overcoming of this wound that may be addressed in working with the ancestors.

When I say working with one’s ancestors, it would be very easy to interpret this to mean that I, as an individual, call on my various ancestors, and perhaps question them about certain matters, and gain some benefit from this contact. Indeed, this is one way of looking at it, and perhaps the natural way from a Western, anglo, individualistic perspective. However I mean to go further than this, to take a step towards a profound healing in the collective consciousness. In my view, the boundaries of individualistic identity that we so painfully and vigorously constructed around us during adolescence, must be broken down and re-constructed in a more conscious and constructive way, so that we may escape from the prison we have built around us.

In the tarot cards, this wisdom is to me expressed in one layer of meaning around the trump of the tower, which collapses hit by a bolt of Divine lightning.

This prison has been built so effectively for most of us that we are hardly aware that our individuality which seems so incontrovertible, which seems to divide us so unassailably from other people, is but a construct of our own minds. And then we mistakenly believe that this illusory individuality is actually our being and existence, our very self. Thus we jealously guard our prison from any intrusion that might release us from our suffering in isolation, believing that such release will destroy our very existence.

This is a form of unfortunate madness, that passes for the norm in the society that we have created. Of course we can be released from the prison of individuality, and simultaneously live happily and sensibly, in complete balance and full possession of our faculties.

So this is a fundamental premise that we are not so much isolated individuals, separated by an impassable void from others, but concentrations in a sea of consciousness, able to touch and feel the fabric of consciousness that underpins our existence, indeed, expressions of that very sea of consciousness, touching and feeling itself, in the form of ourselves, and others with whom our consciousness intersects and intermixes.

Temporarily, during adolescence and early adulthood, we tightly constrain and differentiate the flow of consciousness into a separate identity, and forget that we are in fact connected expressions of the one. This illusion persists, for most, through the rest of their life. Certain individuals retain their awareness of the flux of consciousness, we refer to them as psychics, prophets, fortune tellers, or madmen. Artists, poets, musicians and mystics also retain that sence. But it is touch and go in our society. We all have this mystic sense as a birthright. It is just that we have forgotten the process of stepping through the individualisation of adolescence, into the reconnection of adulthood.

A powerful form of consciousness that transcends the individual, is the ancestral consciousness. First and foremost, it is connection with one’s mother. But this is not the only connection, for there is a connection also with one’s father, less all embracing, but no less strong for all that. And through these, there are connections to grandparents, and in turn their parents and grand-parents.

Beyond our sense of conscious individuality, there is an expression and tide of the great sea of life essence that has its movement and locus of concentration in a line of parents and offspring. From mother to daughter to grand daughter, from father to son to grand son, from mother to son, from father to daughter, and through the generations, something is transmitted, or perhaps more truthfullly, something transcends individuals of each generation, and takes its continuity of expression in each succeeding generation.

Thus my aim is not so much to contact with the individuality of ancestors, as one individual to another, but to experience the continuity of ancestral consciousness, which expressed itself as one’s mother, grandmother and great grandmother, and which expresses itself also as you, or as a part of you. Indeed, a part of you which is underneath what you may think of as your self, a part of you which at first may seem frightening and threatening because it may seem like a foreign being seeking to possess or over-take you. However it is not foreign. It is something within you, and always has been, something you have been taught to squash by the mandates of education and upbringing. It is something which can be embraced, and which then enhances the sense of self and life. During our adolescent consolidation of identity, it was relegated to a dark corner of our psyche, placed in a tightly locked box, and we metaphorically closed the door of the attic. Ever since, we have never been back up there. It is no longer our self, but outside our self. But only because we have shrunk down the boundaries of who we are to embrace only the living room, the kitchen, the bedroom and the bathroom. We are like a child, that hears a knocking in the ceiling, and becomes frightened, fearing that a monster will eat us. It is the box we left there ourselves, so many years ago, and then forgot. It is our attic. It is our box. Inside the box, is no less a part of ourselves. But it is a part that we share with others. With mother, father, sisters, brothers. Thus many of us cannot accept it, and do not want it. But nevertheless the tightly locked box remains, challenging our sense of individualistic identity.

It is not easy to live life in the modern world with a sense of connection with one’s ancestors and our common ancestral essence. For one thing, we just don’t have time for such things, requiring quietness, solitude, time for reflection and inner work. For another, it is outside of the common view of what is possible or acceptable, and so people are likely to think you are a little mad, and treat you with the associated suspicion that this entails in our society.

Nevertheless, I believe it is a positive step, and a healing one, both personally and collectively. Here then is how I have been working with the ancestral essence, and how you may begin to do it as well. You will probably find it beneficial to have some experience or practice with inner work before doing the exercises I suggest below.

Lie on your back in a warm darkened room, on a comfortable mat or bed. If you attempt this exercise at night when you are tired or at bed time, you will most likely find that you just go to sleep. While this is not bad in itself, you might find it frustrating. So best to do this exercise at another time of the day when you are usually awake, such as first thing in the morning, before you get out of bed.

Begin by asking the blessing and help of whatever Deities, guides or beneficial influences that you are accustomed to working with. Breathe slowly and evenly, taking breaths that fill the entire abdomen. After a few breaths, place your attention on the sole of your right foot. Try to concentrate your attention to become aware of only the middle of the sole of your foot, as if a pin was pricking it in the very centre. Yet at the same time be relaxed with this concentrated attention. After some breaths, you will begin to feel sensations in the sole of your right foot. When this occurs, continue your breathing and focus for several breaths, then relax your attention, and after breathing in and out, place your attention now on the sole of your left foot, at the exact centre. Repeat the process here. You might find it more difficult, because you may continue to feel sensations in your right foot. Do your best to ignore these sensations, and concentrate only on the sole of the left foot. After a while, you will begin to feel sensations in the sole of your left foot.

Continue concentrating your attention in a relaxed way on the sole of your left foot for several breaths, then relax your attention, and just breathe in and out for a breath, perhaps two. Now place your attention on the middle of the palm of your right hand, and continue to breathe slowly and deeply. As before, ignore sensations that you may still be feeling in your right and left feet, and focus only on your right palm. As before, it should be a concentrated easy focus that is without any effort or tension. After a while, you will begin to feel sensations in your right palm. Continue to breathe slowly and deeply, and after several breaths, relax your attention, and after another breath or two, place your focus on the palm of the left hand.

When you begin to feel the sensations in your left palm, continue to breathe slowly and deeply. After several breaths, relax your focus, and continue to breathe slowly and deeply. After another breath or two, place your attention on your navel. Continue to breathe slowly and deeply, until you begin to feel sensations at or underneath your navel. At this point, begin the following visualization.

Emerging from your naval are two intertwined cords. One is white with a red core, the other is red with a white core. Of course you may not be able to see the cores, but they are there nevertheless. After a while, these intertwined cords go off in different directions. Follow the red cord back to your mother. Feel nourishment coming through that red cord from her into you. It is not just physical nourishment, but nourishment for the soul, nourishment for the emotions. Feel that nourishment. Allow yourself to merge with the source of that nourishment, and again find two cords leading back. Select one of them to follow, red or white. Follow it back to your mother’s father or mother as the case may be. Feel nourishment and energy coming through that cord, connecting you with your mother’s mother or father. Allow yourself to merge with them. Find now two more cords. Select one to follow, the one which is right for you in this moment. Follow it back till you find your ancestor, and feel the energies and nourishment coming through that cord to your merged self. Feel into the consciousness of that ancestor; feel that there is a part which is different, and a part which is the same. Allow yourself to merge with that ancestor, and find again two cords. And so on until sufficient exploration has been accomplished.

When it is time to return to normal self, bring to mind all the ancestors you have contacted and merged with. Thank each one individually for helping you, and being part of you. Promise not to forget them, and to call on them again if it feels right to do so. Then place your attention on your navel again, and breathe deeply and slowly for several breaths, then relax your attention, and become aware of your surroundings, the noises in the room, the other people breathing and so on. Then open your eyes, and look around the room. Sit up, and compose your thoughts, going over the things you’d like to remember in your mind. Then jot some notes in a journal before talking to anybody, or moving to a different spot.

When I began to work with this exercise, I found that I began to have very vivid dream experiences with my mother, who passed over fifteen years ago or more. I did the prototype of this exercise in the morning one morning, and then the next morning I woke up after having had a vivid dream involving my mother and her father, my grandfather. We were by a river. To recall it now, I feel the emotions within me swirling and catching at my throat. I was looking across the river, at a little landing stage with a small pebbly beach. The river was wide, and the other side was shrouded in fog and mist. I have a sence of my grandfather, my mothers father being there, but can’t quite remember the exact details. I heard my mother calling me, calling out my full name, as she used to when she wanted my attention – usually when I was in trouble. However, I didn’t answer her call, but began to go to where she was calling from. She must have thought I wasn’t coming, as there she was with my young brother, who in the dream was 12 or 13, and my younger sisters, launching a small dinghy into the water. This is what she had wanted my help with, but because I hadn’t called out I was coming, she had done it herself. The boat was floating down the river already, with her and my brother and two of my sisters. Fortunately, there was an inflatable tire inner tube on the little landing stage, which I put in the water, and jumped on with my younger sister to follow them down the river.

When I woke up, this dream left me very moved and emotional. And I didn’t feel like getting up. I was away from home, in a far away hotel room, so I lay in bed, thinking about my mother, and drifted off to sleep again. I had another dream, in which I was at a house, and saw my mother sitting on a chair. I began to talk to her, asking her how it is now that she is dead. She told me that now she is a free agent, which I understood to mean that she had been awarded some privilege in the spirit world to come and go as she pleased, and to help as she saw fit with the affairs of the living, particularly her family. In the dream, I was aware that other people could not see her, and thought I was talking to noone. I lay my head on her shoulder, and allowed her to embrace me, and felt her love surround me, and as it did so, I felt my throat unlocking and tears long uncried begin to well. However as this began to happen, it was like I sank into a blackness, and found myself lying on my bed again.

To some, this may be just a dream. To others, it may be a healing dream. To some, a manifestation of some Freudian complex. To me, it was contact with my mother, and a reminder of her love, and a merging that overcame, at least temporarily, that sense of individualistic isolation. I hope that your work with this exercise may also be helpful.

One of the most fundamental of the magical arts, in my opinion, is the ability to concentrate, focus and shift one’s attention. The accomplished practitioner may, by means of moving their attention, to somebody, some place, or some thing, receive impressions, influence the flow of energy, effect changes, concentrate energy to charge an object, create a magical link between themselves and something or someone else, and otherwise influence the course of events and accomplish various magical objectives.

It is a talent that all people possess, at least in a rudimentary form, but which can be developed by means of practice and exercise to a much greater level than ordinary. One may begin by practicing moving and focusing the attention on different places within the body. In my book, “The Great Work”, I give the following exercise for practicing moving the attention within the body. First of all, lie down in a comfortable position, flat on your back, with palms up. Breathe deeply and evenly, and begin the exercise by asking your guides or Deities to bless the practice for the highest good of all. With the next in-breath, place your attention on the centre of the sole of your right foot. Focus your attention there for several breathing cycles, until you start to feel sensations in the sole of your foot. If no sensations begin after half a dozen or so breaths, simply move on to the next step. Next, focus your attention on the centre of the sole of your left foot. Once again, keep your attention there until you begin to feel sensations in the sole of your left foot, but not for more than about half a dozen breaths. If you were feeling sensations in your right foot, it could be quite a challenge to focus your attention on the left sole, but exert all your concentration. In the same way, progress to focusing your attention on the palm of your left hand, and then the palm of your right hand. At this stage, you may then choose to focus your attention on one of the body’s energy centres, or chakras, at the perineum, just below the naval, the solar plexus, heart, throat, the third eye just between and above the eyebrows, or the crown chakra at the centre of the top of the head.

After some weeks of this practice, once you can focus on a part of your body, and immediately begin to feel sensations, you may like to try moving your attention outside your body. One does it in just the same way. You may care to place an object in front of you, such as a stone, crystal, piece of wood, or family heirloom, and place your attention in it. It may help to go through the routine above, with deep breathing, which will help to put you in a receptive state. If you do things right, then once you place your attention in the object, you will begin to receive impressions. These impressions may be energetic imprints impressed upon the object by a human owner, or other field of consciousness, or they may flow through the object from the field of consciousness with which the object is linked. This may be a mineral or crystal consciousness, for example, if working with a stone or crystal, a tree consciousness if working with a piece of wood, or the consciousness of a departed relative if working with a family heirloom.

Likewise, one may also develop the ability of moving one’s attention to a location in space, and receive impressions from that location. These impressions may be visual, auditory, olfactory, or pure perception manifesting as direct knowingness. This, in time, may be extended to locations in the ethereal planes, and places in the past or future. Well, at least that’s what I believe! I’m still working on it, of course, but enough has come of it for me to feel that what I have said above is essentially correct! No doubt there will be some who consider me to be deluding myself with my own imagination…but never the less, you might like to give it a try. Of this I am certain – if followed diligently, the practice I describe above will result in personal experiences which, to me, can best be explained as I have attemtped to above. What you make of them after that, is up to you!

Firstly let it be known that whosoever wishes to practice the healing arts through the old wisdom of the elder days must acknowledge the reality of the hidden realm, wherein lies the cause of many diseases, and wherein can be found their cure. One must first develop the skill to apprehend the phenomena, energies and influences of the hidden realm, before one may effectively seek a cure. First of these phenomena to be apprehended is the reality of the energetic current which some say is the universal source of all life and which emanates from the source of all creation. Whether this is true or not, this energy current can be accessed and channeled, and its presence within the body and auric field of any being produces life enhancing impulses which counteract disease and illness. The second of these phenomena is the presence of certain etherial entities whose role in creation is to dispense and administer the just desserts of all who live and walk upon the earth. Because of their typically fearsome appearance and frightening presence, these beings may be recognized as demons, though they should not be seen as evil. They do not inflict disease and misfortune on the individual out of malice, or take pleasure in it. Rather they perform their fearsome duties in a manner of detachment, based on the causes set in motion by each individual themselves. The third of these phenomena that must be recognized is the human ability to identify across the barriers of time and space with another, or for the conscious awareness of one individual to enter the energy field of another, and to sense its configuration, and by means of this identification, bring changes into another’s energy field by consciously changing the configuration of one’s own energy field.

Before attempting to effect a healing, the following skills must be mastered. (1) The ability to perceive and communicate with discarnate entities; (2) The ability to bring the universal healing current into one’s energy field, and direct it to another; (3) The ability to send one’s conscious awareness into the field of another and to identify with that person in order to feel and manipulate their energy field.

Prior to any healing work, especially that which has not been specifically requested in person, one must begin by contacting the guides and higher consciousness of the intended recipient for permission to do the healing work. Sometimes this permission will not be forthcoming, and this must always be respected. As this is an advanced skill, it is recommended to always ask in person for permission to do some healing, so that there is no question. It is permissible to refer to your healing work metaphorically, as in, “Would you like me to burn a candle for you?”, as this conveys the idea that some inner work will accompany the burning of the candle. People of a Christian background may be asked if they would like you to say a prayer for them. In any case, you then have permission to invoke the spiritual dimension for healing and support. In certain cases, specifically asking like this will not be possible. It may be permissible with family members and close friends that you know personally and with whom there is a close bond of love, to proceed without such personal permission on specific occasions. In this case, one must be meticulous in contacting one’s own guides and the guides and higher consciousness of the recipient for permission before any healing work is commenced, and one should confer in person at the earliest practical opportunity. “I have been burning a candle for you…I hope that’s all right”. Sometimes, however, it may be best to say nothing, so as to avoid any sense of obligation or indebtedness on the behalf of the recipient. This can only be judged through a strong connection with the spiritual intuitive faculty.

Healing work is a complex work, with many pitfalls for the unwary. Therefore it is best to begin slowly, doing only small amounts at a time, and monitoring oneself carefully for any ill effects. When done correctly, there should be no ill effects from any healing work. Indeed, one should feel uplifted and buoyed, and filled with energy and enthusiasm. That is not to say that healing work does not also present its challenges. There are times when one become afraid that one hasn’t the skills to deal with the situation that has developed. For example, one may begin to feel the energies, blockages and pains of another so severely that one becomes afraid that they will lodge in one’s own body and cause one to become sick. One may fear that one may in this manner absorb the illness of another. However it is not so hard to prevent this from happening, the key is to be well grounded, and to be well connected oneself to the spiritual sun that burns away all such accretions. To be well grounded requires one to develop the skill of grounding and working with the flow of earth energies over a number of years, through, for example, regularly visualizing ones roots descending into the earth, through the soles of one’s feet, or from the base of the coccyx or from the centre of the perineum. This is accompanied in my practice by visualizing rivulets of dark brown red earth energy flowing up through my roots, and filling my auric field with a positive pressure of Earth energy. Any negative energies can then flow down one’s roots and into the earth. At the same time, one’s auric field should be filled with bright yellow or white light through visualizing a connection with the spiritual sun through a laser beam of light that enters the top of the head through the crown chakra and fills the auric field with white or yellow light. These two measures together will assist any negative energies to quickly move through your energy field and into the earth, and to be dissolved by the light before lodging anywhere in your own auric field. The other important thing to do to avoid picking up illnesses is to pay attention to the demons responsible for a particular illness, as these demons are ultimately responsible for dissolving it, or if they so choose for transferring it to someone else, such as you. Thus it is important to conduct your work in harmony with these entities, as with the guides and guardians of yourself and the recipient of the healing. It is, in my view, unwise to seek to compel these entities to dissolve an illness or disease. I have had success by drawing to their attention the good will and love that surrounds the recipient, and allowing them to get on with their business. This underlies the principle, in my opinion, that a healing must be earned, and these demons of disease will respond to virtue on the part of the recipient, and love on the part of their friends and family.

And this goes to the heart of what it is to be healed, and the very nature of disease. Someone cannot be healed from a serious illness or condition without changing something within themselves. The provision of loving support through channeling of healing energy, even the positive intervention of the disease demons in dissolving a karmic cause in recognition of love and virtue, merely provides a breathing space for the recipient to change whatever it was within themselves that led to the development of that condition. If nothing changes, then in spite of an apparently effective healing, the same condition will recur, or sometimes another condition will arise in its place, after the passage of time. This is something that no healer can do for another. All they can do is provide the space in which a person has the opportunity to change within themselves. That change is the true healing, and it is something that a person must do for themselves. The healer can do no more than create the space, buy the time, and facilitate the change in viewpoint, energy or consciousness that is required. I cannot stress this enough. Without this inner change in the recipient, the healing, no matter how outwardly successful, is but a temporary reprieve.

One will never cease to be astonished in this line of work about how arrogant people can be after an apparent healing. They rationalize their improvement away saying they were getting better anyway. They put it down to this treatment or that treatment. And they fail to make any significant or lasting change within their viewpoint or energetic body. And months or years later, they fall ill again with the same symptoms, or something worse. So it is incumbent upon the healer to make every effort to ensue that the opportunity provided through a healing is not wasted, and that the recipient is encouraged to make deep seated and lasting changes, and if possible, helped to make those changes. Part of the healer’s job and method is to discern, through perception of the energetic configuration of the recipient, and communication with their guides and higher self, the changes that are required, and the best way that the recipient can be helped to make them.

This is another reason why it is bet to ask permission, and be in communication with the recipient. Without this, there is no physical channel for passing on the required information that the recipient needs to know in order to effect the inner changes required to make the healing permanent. If the recipient is highly sensitive and attuned to their higher self, then this is perhaps not as important, as they will be seeking this information, and it can be conveyed effectively through their spiritual awareness with the help of their guides.

The healing method that I use is highly individual, and develops according to its own integrity for each different recipient. After contacting guides and highest self of self and other, I will usually establish connection with the universal healing energy current, invoke the presence of my healing Deity, which is the Lady Brighid, then direct attention to the person who has requested the healing, by holding their image and presence firmly in focus. There will be a point at which the imagination gives way to felt and perceived connection. After this point, the healing energy will begin to flow, and the trick is to allow the flow to continue without further getting in the way. Also one must have the intention clearly in mind that universal healing energy from the infinite source will provide the energy required for the healing, not personal energy. In this way, the exchange of energy does not deplete one’s personal reserves, but instead invigorates and energizes self as well as recipient. I use the repetition of charged prayers or mantras dedicated to my healing Deity to maintain focus and connection, while keeping my mind occupied and out of the way so to speak. It is my experience that the mind easily falls pray to negative imagery and associations, and these can be minimized by the use of various meditative practices such as clearing the mind and maintaining clarity, or using it to repeat charged prayers, invocations or mantras. Needless to say, regular meditative practice over a number of years is required before these skills are advanced to a level whereby healing should be attempted. Such prayers or mantras used in a daily basis in work with one’s healing Deity over a period of years will build up a charge and power which instantly draws the healing Deity into your field of consciousness, and the Deity may then direct the course of the healing. One’s attention then is focused on one’s Deity, with a light awareness of the flow of healing energies, and a focal point of attention on the recipient of the healing.

As the healing energy moves, one will become aware, at a certain stage, that sufficient energy has moved on that occasion, and one then may thank the Deities and Guides involved, and gently break the energetic connection that has been established, taking one’s leave of the recipient. At other times, one’s consciousness may be carried strongly into the energetic field of the recipient, and one may feel within one’s own body the blockages, pains, and disease conditions of the recipient. In this case one may direct healing energies to those locations in one’s own body, united as it is now, with the recipient’s. This is a deeply personal level of contact – again underlying the need to ask permission before performing a healing, as some people may be quite freaked by this if not expecting it, or experience it as a personal violation of privacy. This is a challenging way to work, and one must have a strong trust and reliance in one’s intuition, and in one’s connection to grounding and solar healing energies, and a strong connection to one’s Deities or other helpful entities. In this process, images and feelings may come into one’s mind as they are cleared from the recipient’s energetic field. One must not attempt to grasp onto these, or show a prurient interest, but acknowledge them and let them go, as this will help the recipient to do the same.

Finally, it is vital to respect the law of silence about any healing. That is, the details of the experience should not be discussed with anyone else, except the recipient, and then only if they broach the subject themselves, and seek some details. Of course information that they require to act upon should be passed to them as a part of the healing. But after this, the healing is placed in the past, and is never discussed with anyone else, except in a general way that does not identify an individual, or the specifics of the healing, and only after sufficient time has passed. And this only if there is a very good reason – such as instructing another in healing methods, and that other is also bound by the law of silence. If something goes wrong, or the healer is uncertain about something, then an appropriate mentor may be approached, and any necessary details required to understand the problem and correct it may be divulged.

I mentioned before that the most important thing required to prevent things going wrong in a healing is to have a good grounding, a strong connection to the healing solar light, an intimate and strong connection to your healing Deity, and an ability to communicate with the disease demons whose role is the doling out of health problems. All of these skills must be developed over a number of years of practice in working with Deities, energies, and ethereal entities, and establishing one’s ability to perceive and work on the non-material planes.

Some specific things that might go wrong, and their cure are now discussed.

1. Failure to properly ground, before, during, and after healing work, or indeed any magical work where energy is raised. Much magical work proceeds by raising magical energy, then directing it towards a specific goal. It is actually reasonably straight forward to raise energy, and contain it. But it is much harder to direct it in a focused fashion towards a specific objective. If the directing and release of the energy raised is not adequately accomplished, the resulting energy has no where to go, and nothing to do. It remains circulating in the practitioner’s auric and energetic field, and may produce various unpleasant side effects. These side effects may be feelings of nausea, headaches, feeling light-headed, or feeling off the planet, unsettling or disturbing the body’s weaknesses – for example, flaring up of an old injury, or sudden worsening of a chronic condition, or temper outbursts, or spontaneous up-welling of emotion, or sudden openings into the non-material planes at random and inopportune moments, for example while driving or at work. The cure for this condition is very simple, all that is required is for the energy to be grounded. This can be achieved by visualizing one’s roots emerging from the soles of ones feet, and sinking into the Earth, and visualizing being buried in earth up to one’s neck, and the excess energy dissipating into the Earth. If one’s grounding skills are not adequately developed, the assistance of someone more experienced usually can do the trick, who can ground themselves, and drain the energy away into the Earth through establishing a touch connection with the appropriate place in the somato-energetic field. The lesson here is to learn to direct the energy to its intended destination. To do this in a healing context, one must visualize clearly the recipient receiving that energy, and being supported and nourished by it for their healing. The visualization by itself is not enough, however, for it is only the means for establishing the energetic connection. One must learn how to use visualization to establish the energetic connection, and to recognize when the connection is actually made. As mentioned above, after making this connection, the energy will flow of its own accord. After the healing, time should be taken to ground so that any excess energy can be dissipated to avoid causing any of the before mentioned problems.

2. Taking on the recipient’s problems can also occur if one becomes fearful, and does not practice good energetic hygiene. Always fill your aura with Solar light, always connect to the earth energies, and always invoke the presence of a healing Deity, and act under the mantle of the Deity. One should have a detached expectation of the healing, in that one does not insist upon it, nor does one doubt it. One place’s aside one’s personal expectation and involvement, one’s reputation and/or need for recognition, and leaves the outcome in the hands of the Deity and the various entities concerned. That is not to say one does not will the healing to take place. One should harness one’s personal will to the Will of the Deity, and in harmony use that combined force of will to establish the healing intention. Yet curiously, this must be married with a lack of personal involvement and expectation of any particular outcome, that is an attitude of surrender to the Greatest Good. In this way, one’s will is most effectively utilized, the recipient is best helped, and the healer avoids incurring any energetic residue or transferring any karmic debt. A personal stake in the outcome of the healing creates a need within the healer, and this need is like a magnet that draws illness to itself. Much better to transcend this need within oneself, while doing one’s healing work. During the healing work, the recipient is seen no longer as a friend, lover, or family member, but as a member of the vast human tribe, and regarded with an impersonal compassion. This impersonal view aids one in being a servant of one’s healing Deity, as it more closely aligns one’s consciousness with the Deity Consciousness. After the healing work is done, of course, one may resume one’s more personal feelings!

3. Failure to communicate effectively with the Disease Demons can also result in ill effects for the healer, as the Demons may decide to cure the healer’s impertinence by lumbering them with the recipient’s karma. Avoidance is the best cure. Be on the lookout for these ethereal entities, and at all times maintain contact with Deities and guides. Do not try to dissolve karmic situations yourself, but leave this to the disease demons who in my experience are actually quite responsive to such requests when sincerity is demonstrated and love is in evidence. And also never undertake a healing lightly, but do your homework on the person requesting a healing. Do you think they deserve to be healed? Do you think they will take advantage of their healing to change for the better, or will they continue on in negative patterns which are not helpful to themselves or others? What is your personal stake in the healing – are you being selfish in wanting them to be cured for your own benefit? Only after satisfactorily answering these questions should a healing be conducted.

Well, I hope you find my thoughts on healing interesting and instructive! And of course, I look forward to your comments, ellaborations, and even refutations!