Sulum Factum Magus

There is a difference between who we really are and who we think we are. It’s something I have written about in my book “The Great Work”, where I talk about the difference between the rationo-centric self, and the true self. Basically the story is that our locus of self identity becomes fixated in the rationo-centric mind. I use this term because it is a little more than the rational mind, which most people understand as the ability to reason and approach life logically by thinking things through. However the rationo-centric mind describes something a bit further than this. It describes how our self concept develops through discriminating between self and other, and adopting various rules and concepts about our self as though true. It is the part of you that says “I am this” and “I am that” and “I Like this” and “I don’t like that”. Now these sorts of statements often start as an understanding of ourselves, in response to a particular situation. But the trouble is, we change, and the situation changes, but these self concepts become part of our identity, and we hold on to them as if they were our most prized possession, long after they have passed their use-by date.

It is an example of the way we build up a mental construct of who we are, and then allow it to imprison us, by cutting us off from new experience. The relevant Tarot trump is the Tower – showing how when this happens, the divine thunderbolt arrives to knock down the tower of mental constructions, giving us the gift of a fresh start to rebuild something more suitable for our stage of life and the times we face.

An example of this process occurred to me just the other day. When I first became interested in the pagan pathway, I was very drawn to my Celtic ancestry. I identified strongly with the Deities, traditions, mythology and legends from the Celtic current. I cultivated Celtic Deities, and worked within that current quite happily. In fact, it became part of my sense of self. I was a “Celtic Wiccan”, or a “Celtic Pagan”. However what we think we are, is not ever who we really are, and in spite of our mental constructions to the contrary, our true self and true identity will manage to insert themselves into our lives, sometimes in spite of our best efforts to keep them at bay.

Often it becomes clear only on looking back, how the unseen hand has been at work, in spite of our efforts to limit our experience to a particular realm due to a mental construction of “I am this” and “I am not that”. For example, readers of these pages will have heard about my trip to Denmark, in which I visited the Troll Church, and had an experience of the Dragon Power, and my subsequent explorations and experiences with this energy through Dragon Walking. In one such experience, I encountered the astral form of a fellow wearing a brown hooded robe. At the time it came to me that he was one of the hooded ones, which I assumed to be an order of initiates working with the Dragon energy. Since then, I have had an inclination to do a little exploration with the Runes, something that I had previously avoided, being outside the “Celtic Universe”. And of course, my chosen name, Robyn Wood, resonates with the mythical figure Robin Hood, who Steve Wilson informs me is none other than the figure of Odin, transported to English shores and merged with Celtic mythic motifs. It appears that he often appears wearing a hood. Hmmmmm.

So the picture is starting to become a little clearer…and the lesson is that we are more than our self concept at any particular time. When the gifts arrive from the Gods, be ready for them, however they come. They may well come in an unfamiliar disguise! After all, most of us these days have many lines of ancestry – and perhaps it is time for me to explore some other lines, as well as the Celtic.

Blessed Be,

Robyn

In the olden days, there was something they called the water cure, which consisted of bathing, washing, or being sprayed with cold water. It had a great following in the USA, apparently in the 1800s. It was the brainchild of a German fellow called Sebastian Kniepp, and is given in detail in the book “A Healer’s Herbal,” by Brother Aloysius, first published as “Comfort to the sick”, in Holland in 1901. In my ignorance, when I first encountered the water cure, I believed that any benefits were due to hygiene – due to an impression that people in those days didn’t bathe – at least not nearly so much as they do now a days.

However I have since come to realise that there are some very sound principles behind the water-cure, and that it can work very well today, as well as it did in yester-year. It is unlikely, however, for most people these days have become soft and conditioned to their comforts, such as hot running water.

Now what is wrong with having a nice hot shower, I hear you asking? Well, I have come to the conclusion, that it is all about the circulation. Many diseases, ranging from depression, allergies, asthma, and doubtless many others, are either caused or exacerbated by poor circulation. Now that isn’t a medical opinion, it is a personal observation, and one that I expect will be dismissed out of hand by most. But if you are one of the small number of people who are open to such ideas, you might like to improve your health and safeguard against disease with the water cure.

When you have a hot shower or bath, you open all the pores, and the blood moves to the surface. There is a feeling of relaxation and lethargy. The blood moves away from the internal organs. When you get out of the bath, the open pores and the superficial circulation continues. There is a loss of body heat and internal energy. One becomes vulnerable to chills. When you have a cold shower or bath, the pores close, and the superficial blood vessels constrict, sending the blood deeper into the internal organs. There is a feeling of vigour and energisation. There is an increase in internal energy, and a generation of internal heat.

That is the simple crux of the matter. Starting the day with a hot shower, de-energises the body, and makes one vulnerable to colds and flus, through the open pores and the superficial blood circulation. Starting the day with a cold immersion does the opposite. It energises the internal organs, helps to cleanse and renew them, and closes the pores against cold and flus.

Now it can be quite shocking to have a cold shower. A better way of getting the benefits is as follows. Fill up a bucket with cold water. It doesn’t have to be freezing cold. Fifteen to twenty degrees Celsius is fine. Then wet a washer, and wash your face and back of the neck. Then re-wet the washer and thouroughly wash your left foot. Re-wet the washer, and thouroughly wash down your left leg from ankle to knee. Re-wet the washer, and do your left leg from knee to buttock. Follow on doing each segment of the body, moving from extremity towards the heart. Right foot, right lower leg, right upper leg, left hand, left fore arm, left upper arm, right hand, right forearm, right upper arm etc. Re-wet the washer for each new section of the body. Finish off by doing the lower back, the stomach , the upper back, and chest – always moving towards the heart. Start each cold washer on the outer side of the limb, or the back of the trunk, then move to the inner side of the limb, or the front of the trunk. This is because the back and outer sides of the limbs are less sensitive to the cold, and this will be less of a shock to the system. Finally do the groin and rectal areas, which should be done last for reasons of hygiene.

This procedure is much less shocking to the body than a cold shower. It is also more beneficial, as it gradually concentrates the circulation within the torso and the internal organs.

A lot of men shave with hot water. Shaving should always be followed by splashing cold water on the face to close the pores, or the application of cold wet washers. Indeed, this was the original idea behind aftershave. The evaporating alcohol produced coolness to close the pores – the scent which seems to be the reason for it these days was secondary. However I believe that alcohol may cause damage to the skin over the long term, and it is much better to simply use cold water or cold wet washers on the face after shaving.

There is another very good reason for getting into the habit of the cold water bath. And that is that it exercises one’s mental toughness and exercise of will. The magician should not be at the command of his or her bodily weaknesses, but should be able to over-come minor discomforts in order to harness the rewards of greater health.

The benefits of the application of cold water will gradually manifest themselves over time, as this becomes part of your daily habit. Along with proper diet and good exercise, it is something that can contribute to long lasting health and vigour to an advanced age.

Blessed Be,

Robyn :)

As the name Robyn Wood may indicate, I derive a deal of inspiration from the figure of Robin Hood, who has, in my mind at least, always been associated with the pagan mysteries. Thus it was with great delight that I recently came across the volume “Robin Hood. The Spirit of the Forest” by Steve Wilson. Steve Wilson is no stranger to the esoteric side of things, being associated with the Fellowship of Isis and the Druid Clan of Dana, and known for his work as a Chaos magician. Steve surmises that the stories of Robin Hood have a common source with the Hindu Ramayana, which source also led to the Arthurian Legends and the stories of Finn McCumhail from Irish legend. However this stream was married to the lore of the people of the forest, the fairy archers, whom he contends may have been the remnants of forest dwelling neolithic people. Such forest dwellers, often of small stature, are found today still in the forests of Africa, Indonesia, and South America, often making use of arrows and darts.

With the advent of agriculture, and forest clearing, accelerated by the need for large amounts of wood to fuel the blast furnaces of the iron age, the forest dwellers were brought into conflict with the forest clearers. Through out Brittain, flint arrow heads are still often found, called by the common people fairy darts. While academia assumes these to date from the late stone age, Mr Wilson points out that this is just an assumption, and that there is every chance that forest dwelling people could have survived into historical times, before being wiped out or integrated into the wider population. Such flint arrow heads could therefore be much more recent than supposed.

Mr Wilson then traces the development of the Robin Hood mythology through historical times, looking at historical records of May Day celebrations and the Morris Dance, whose characters were often Robin and his associates. Throughout, there is the theme of the good king pitted against the bad king, in common with Egyptian mythology (Osiris and Set), the Arthurian legends (Arthur and Mordred) and a prevalent theme through much of European paganism and modern neo-paganism and Wicca.

In particular, Mr Wilson finds a resonance with the Welsh stories in which Gwynn Ap Nudd, the lord of the underworld, fights with Gwyrthur Ap Greidayl, a solar hero, for the love of Creurilad, the flower maiden of spring. He contends that this mythic sequence attached itself to the figure of Odin, imported with the Saxons, himself associated with wood and trees, and whom Mr Wilson finds etymologically to be the source of both “Robin” and “Hood”.

Thus in the figure of Robin Hood we have a composite of Saxon deities and Celtic mythological motifs – themselves not so unrelated as commonly supposed, as both have a common Indo-European origin. Rather than the common picture of Celts and Saxons at war, Mr Wilson paints a picture of integration and cross fertilization, as exemplified in the English language itself, where we find a predominance of Celtic words and Germanic grammatical structures.

The book carries on to consider the development of the Robin Hood myth in the current age, considering TV and movie renditions, and the part it has played in the neo-pagan revival, especially Gardnerian Wicca. It concludes with recognition that the spirit of Robin Hood is today more in need than ever, with the way that forest clearing is proceeding relentlessly throughout the world, threatening not only the lives and livelihoods of forest dwellers, but the very existence of humanity. For the great forests are the lungs of the world. These sentiments I heartily endorse.

It is fascinating reading for anyone interested in the esoteric significance of the Robin Hood mythology. The Book is published by Neptune Press, 49a Museum Street, London, WC1A 1LY.

Blessed Be,

Robyn :)