Sulum Factum Magus

One of the perennial disagreements that comes up from time to time in the Neopagan world is the question of what exactly is to be understood by the Deities. The Wiccan view that all Goddesses are One Goddess, and all Gods are One God, can be traced back through Dion Fortune. This view has lead many Wiccans to feel comfortable working with many different faces of the Goddess. More traditional pagans, on the other hand, sometimes see their Deities as individuals, and distinct from other Deities, having their own individual agendas and personalities. Indeed, sometimes such people get upset by the cavalier ‘use’ made of their Deities by others – without bothering to understand them in their own right, or without having any traditional cultural connection to the Deity.

My own view is that both viewpoints are correct. Just like humans, the Gods have both an individual nature, and a collective nature, a connection to the all. Emphasis on the one, does not mean the other does not exist. Both aspects should be taken into account by the magical practitioner, in my view, who wishes to work with a Deity form. However, when one calls upon a particular face of the Goddess or God to mediate the primordial feminine or masculine powers of creation, one must deal with the individuality associated with that Deity, as well as its ability to mediate the primordial powers. While some Deities are traditionally worked with in this way, others are not – and it is up to the practitioner to make sure that they appreciate and understand how to work with any Deity they decide to call into their orbit.

Part of this “due dilligence” before working with any Deity is to explore why you wish to call upon them, and whether you have what it takes to work with them safely. To many people, there is a question of ancestral connection that must be satisfied. Others go even further, and insist that the right to work with a Deity must be passed on from someone else, in a family or teaching lineage. Others refuse such restrictiveness, and insist upon their right to work with any Deity they feel drawn to.

Whatever you believe about the right to work with a Deity, it should always be well considered and well prepared, to avoid unplanned and possibly unpleasant consequences. Misunderstanding between a Deity and a practitioner can arise just as easily as misunderstandings between two people, and may have unfortunate consequences. So research well a Deity that seems to be calling to you, and consider well whether you want their energy in your life. To work with a Deity is not something that ought to be taken up and dropped on a casual basis, but something that should be approached with clarity and commitment. To become a priest or priestess working with a particular Deity is to bring the archetypal forces and energies of that Deity into one’s life. Do they suit your energy, personality and approach to life? If not, life could become very difficult and challenging.

One method that you may care to try is the following. If a particular Deity catches your attention, and you feel drawn to working with them, first do some extensive research into the Deity. Obtain traditional imagery, traditional icons, and traditional symbolism. Study any mythology associated with the Deity. Examine your connection to the Deity. Is it a traditional connection, are you re-establishing an ancestral connection, or is there some other connection? Many people, for example, consider themselves to have past lives in other cultures, and feel that this justifies them working with non-ancestral Deities. If so, you will know it. If you feel still that the Deity is for you, then, using the appropriate symbols or images, tune into the Deity, and discuss with them the possibility of working together. Find out if it is permitted, and/or advisable. One way to proceed is to make a limited commitment to the Deity, for a year and a day, say, after which one can consider whether one wants to make a deeper commitment. Others seem to know straight away that they are priests or priestesses of a particular Deity, and dedicate themselves on the basis of this. Whatever way you do things, be sure that you know your heart, and stand by the commitment you make.

Working with a Deity is a sacred trust. This is partly because it is through the inner work of the priest or priestess that the form of the Deity is enlivened and energised. A priest or priestess who is out of tune with the tradition and history of the Deity may well create inharmonious forms and energy currents within the body of the Deity, though the soul of the Deity is unaffected. This, I believe, is one reason why traditional pagans resent the indiscriminate use of their Deities.

So while all Goddesses may well manifest the universal feminine creative principle to some degree, there are many that represent quite different energies, whose shape and form harmonises with quite different belief systems, some of which place little or no emphasis on the union of Male and Female primordial essences to create all phenomena of existence. The same goes for Gods. To try and work with such Deities as mediators of the primordial male and female principles is, in my opinion, misguided.

People these days often have multiple lines of ancestry to many different cultures, and hence pantheons. For example, my ancestry is English and Irish. As well as connections to the Gaelic of Ireland and the Isle of Man, I have a Norman French line that is known to me. But like most people of English stock, there will likely be connections to British celtic and pre-celtic people; Vikings, Danes and Teutonic people; and possibly Roman colonists, or Romano-Brits who had taken up the Roman lifestyle, complete with Roman Gods. They may possibly also be connections via France to cults of Isis. Traditionally, the British are said to be descendants of Brutus, descended from the royal family of Troy, and hence descended from the Greek Gods. So that presents another possibility, even though that genealogy is generally regarded as mythical rather than factual. Now, I haven’t chosen to activate Deities from all, or even the majority, of these ancestral possibilities – but it serves to illustrate that most people have a wide choice of ancestral Deities that they can choose to activate if they wish. However it is considered by some that working within a single pantheon, or at least mostly within a single pantheon, is the best approach, and certainly not mixing pantheons within any particular working. So my point above is not that one could or should take Deities from a wide range of Pantheons, but that one has considerable choice, usually, in which pantheon one can choose from.

These thoughts are nothing more than guidelines which may help to keep you out of trouble of various sorts, not the least of which might be upsetting someone by “appropriating” Gods you have no legitimate right to, in their opinion. However, ultimately, it is something one has to decide in one’s own heart, between oneself and a Deity. And sometimes it turns out that a Deity picks you out to work with, not vice a versa. What should you do in such a cease? In the cases I have heard people talk about, it has always been a positive experience, which was instantly taken up, with a deep knowing of the rightness of it. But, if you’re not 100% sure, then follow the procedure above. Do your research, and make a commitment for a period of time, after which you can decide whether to pull back, or go deeper into commitment and service.

A final remark. I believe that the mark of a priest or priestess is a commitment to service, to and through one’s Deities, and hence to all of life. It is a commitment to be changed, to become greater, and to share in the life and consciousness of one’s Deities. It is a commitment to release oneself from the tyranny of small mindedness, and the challenge of giving expression to the greater mind. The ethic of Service helps to keep one’s feet on the ground, and one’s life in perspective.

Blessed Be,

Robyn :)

Some months ago, I started out putting together a few ideas for busy people to develop themselves along magical lines. Here is another installment  for those in this position. I was talking to a young woman who was interested in Wicca and Paganism over the weekend, very keen to learn, but who found it very difficult to get any time for herself. She was working a job, looking after two young children, and keeping a house, and the thought of finding half an hour each day to pursue some magical studies seemed quite out of the question.

Here is the suggestion that I gave her. There are three times in the day when most people can get five minutes to themselves, at least most of the time. These are the five minutes after you wake up in the morning, but before you get out of bed, the five minutes after you get into bed at night, but before you go to sleep, and the five minutes you get in the toilet doing your daily business. These fifteen minutes can provide a foundation of magical practice, which can take you quite a way in your magical development.

Firstly, lets look at those five minutes in the toilet. Put a book you want to work on in the toilet, and when you sit down to business, open it up and read a page or two. Think about during the day whenever you get the chance. With this you can begin to establish a foundation of knowledge, which every magical practice requires.

Secondly, lets look at the five minutes in the morning. This is sufficient to practice moving the attention to a particular energy centre – such as the brow or crown chakra. This is sufficient to visualize a Deity you want to work with, and ask for their blessing. This is sufficient to utter a quick spell or affirmation: “Let this day bring the blessings of the God and Goddess conjoined, May the Child of Promise be conceived and born, may the Great Work take shape and form. For the highest good of all, So Mote it Be.” Of course that’s my spell and intention – you are welcome to use it, or make up your own, depending on your needs, desires, and your understanding of your calling. This five minutes can be used to set the tone and intention for the day to come. If you are working on developing patience, for example, you might want to invoke the spirit of patience to be with you during the day. And so on. Use that five minutes to invoke into your day, the energy or presence which you think will be most beneficial. By doing this, you begin to work with intention and magical will to take charge of your day. Then forget it, and go about your day. The intention will be working in the background, supporting you, and bringing about positive change, and as you build up the regular use of this five minutes, you will begin to notice a difference in how your day goes.

Thirdly, lets take advantage of the five minutes before you go to bed. This time is the portal into the dream world. While most people’s waking life is full to the brim, the dream realm is yours to make of it what you will. You can make use of this time to learn lessons and have experiences that your waking life is too busy to allow! If you want to take advantage of the time you spend dreaming to develop your magical life, there are a couple of things you can do. One thing is to place an object under your pillow that you want to dream on. This could be a herb that you want to learn about, a crystal that you want to connect with, the statue or picture of a Deity you want to work with, a Tarot card that you want to deepen your appreciation of, a book that seems interesting but you just haven’t time to read right now, or just about anything. So place it under your pillow, and as you close your eyes to go to sleep, visualize the object under your pillow as clearly as you can, and say “Lord and Lady grant me a dream to further my knowledge and understanding of …., For the highest good of all, so mote it be.” Then place your attention on your brow chakra between the eyebrows, and allow yourself to drift off to sleep.

So now you are working with magical intention to gain knowledge and experience about things which interest you in the dream state. Don’t worry about remembering your dreams, though you may wake up with the memory of a vivid dream that seems a specific answer to your request. If you have a notebook and pen handy you can jot a few notes to remind you later. But whether you remember your dreams or not, you will be gaining knowledge and experience in a directed fashion, and this will start coming to you in various ways during the day, as it is needed. You may for example find yourself just knowing something you’ve “dream researched”, or you may find a dream memory coming to mind with the relevant information. However it works for you, you will be growing and developing in your magical life, and that is what counts.

So even the busiest person can begin to make headway on their magical path with these three daily practices, that each take less than five minutes. If you are one of those people who say I’d love to have a magical practice, but I just don’t have time, here is a practical method of beginning, which can take you quite a long way.

In Her Service,

Robyn.

One of the fundamental guiding principles of many Neopagan paths, and indeed the Western Hermetic tradition, is the characterisation of all phenomena into the system of the four elements, Air, Fire, Water and Earth. Many add a fifth element – Spirit, which combines, centres, and harmonizes the other four. In my own work, I use the four elements to characterise the energetic essence of all phenomena that interest me. Books and lists of elemental correspondences are an important step in learning the craft, learning to recognise the common energetic signatures of phenomena and entities from the different dimensions of existence. For example, an elemental association can be found for herbs, gems, metals, minerals and trees by consulting various sources of traditional lore.

However the division into just four energetic types is too gross a division to account for all the fine differentiations one finds in the world of nature. For example, there are thousands of different herbs in use, and their characters and properties are all unique. In order to begin characterising energies on a finer division, one system that can be employed is the sixteen fold division of energetic movement. This subdivides each element into four aspects, themselves corresponding to the four elements. Thus we have Air of Air, Fire of Air, Water of Air, and Earth of Air. Whereas Air as an element corresponds to beginnings, thoughts, communication, the mental realm, and changeability, Air of Air corresponds to the quintessence of Air, the beginnings of thought processes, the conceptions behind planning, the guiding principals, the rules of logic, the very beginning of any enterprise, etc.

Fire of Air is the next stage, corresponding to the action stage of mental endeavour, such as fleshing out a novel once the plot and characters have been defined, talking about plans with others, developing ideas with others, allowing a touch of inspiration into one’s plans. Water of Air is the next stage of the process. It may correspond to getting feedback about one’s plans, it may symbolise the beginnings of emotional attachment to one’s goals and plans, it may correspond to sharing, or the desire to share one’s plans with others, perhaps to gain their support, or admiration. It may symbolise the contribution that the unconscious impulses may make to beginnings and plans, or which may unsettle the mind and cause changeability, or lack of confidence. Earth of Air then corresponds to the process of bedding down, locking in, and making a commitment to the proposed course of action, which prepares us to move onto the element of Fire, which symbolises action.

First is Air of Fire, which symbolises the initial steps, the beginnings, the first testings of action. It may also symbolise actions which are achieved or take their form through mental processes, such as writing letters, creating works of literature, or other mental activities that are themselves acts which affect others. Fire of Fire is the essence of movement and action, enthusiasm and inspiration. Water of Fire represents responsive action, guided and directed by feedback from its environment, or the things upon which the action is directed. Earth of Fire represents habitual action, action that has been locked into place through habit and repetition, or action that is practical in nature, or actions that build over time and repetition to achieve their constructive purpose. Whereas Air of Fire is changeable, Earth of Fire is solid action, and almost impervious to influence.

After Fire in the sun cycle of manifestation, is the element of Water, generally taken to be associated with the harvest, the rewards of action. Also associated with compassion, intuition and the subconscious, and the womb of the great mother. So we might take Air of water to represent the beginnings of the harvest or the rewards, with more still to come. We might also take Air of Water to symbolise intellectual expressions of compassion, or intellectual descriptions of the psyche – such as various forms of psychology and psychotherapy. Indeed any intellectual description or categorisation of intuitive, unconscious, dream or other non-waking realities, could be described as Air of Water. Fire of Water moves us into the active phase of reaping our harvest, and the activity of compassion, intuition, and delving into the greater self in some way. Water of Water, brings to mind the quintessence of Water, of compassion, intuition, the inner life. It is the returning current, and it is the mystery of connection. Earth of Water brings to mind the practical expression of intuition, compassion, and inner development, inner connection with the Great Mother: the habit of openness, the habit of compassion.

The Earth element then takes us through a period of stasis, of breaking apart, of composting to form the substrate for the next cycle of manifestation, the time of digesting experience. So Air of Earth is the intellectual expression of deconstructing one’s experience in order to do something better next time, a conscious reflection on events. Fire of Earth brings to mind a cheerful reflection on how things went, bringing to bear humour on a situation. It is also the active step in decomposition, perhaps symbolised by a wriggling mass of worms turning vegetable scraps into compost. Water of Earth is the final return, the reward of one’s reflection, and the processing of one’s subconscious mind, and of the group mind, below the level of awareness. Earth of Earth, is the final stasis after deconstruction and reflection and intuitive insights have been digested, leading to a stable foundation for a new cycle of manifestation.

Further insight into this division of energy may be gained by considering the court cards of the tarot deck. For example, the Pages represent Air, the Knights Fire, the Queens water, the Kings Earth. So Page of Coins is Air of Earth, Queen of wands is Water of Fire, etc.

This illustration of the four fold division of each of the elements is just one means of further characterising energies, and refining correspondences. We may apply further dimensions of characterisation. For example, we may characterise people physically, emotionally, intellectually and according to personality, each according to the 16 elemental divisions described, which gives approximately 64,000 different characterisations of a person. While every individual is unique, the richness of such a characterisation is sufficient for most purposes!

If you want to play with this system of characterisation, starting with people is reasonable, as people are something everyone has experience with. You might also like to consider dog breeds, birds, flowers, herbs, trees, classical music or motor-cycles – whatever your area of interest is. Select one example a day. For your example, decide first which element to place it in. Then within that element, which division. Consider everything you know about the item. Consider also how you feel about it, what you sense about it, and your perception of its energy.

Be prepared to revise your assessments as you go!

I am sure you will find this a rewarding experience that deepens your relationship with the elemental energies.

In Her Service,

Robyn

I had the privilege and good fortune the other day of coordinating a public ritual for a local pagan organisation, where there were about 50 or 60 participants. As this was the first time I had been involved in facilitating and conducting a ritual for such a large group, it was both a challenge and a learning experience for me. One of the first things to keep in mind is that all the attendees come from different backgrounds and levels of experience with ritual and circles. There were some from experienced coven backgrounds, from a variety of traditions, many solitaries with various levels of experience with public rituals and inner work, and some to whom it was all very new.

From the outset, one of the chief aims was to ensure that everyone was involved in some way with the conduct of the ritual. I firmly believe that ritual works best when each person has an opportunity to put their energy into it. The traditional framework around this ritual was that attendees split up into four groups focussed on the elements Air, Fire, Water, and Earth. The groups then workshop their element to deepen their appreciation of and connection to the element, and then choreograph a way of calling the elemental energy into the circle, and dismissing it. With a good facilitator for each tribe, everyone can feel they have a part to play and an involvement in the calling of their elemental energy. In fact it goes further than feeling an involvement – it is a feeling of group connection and consciousness, where elemental groups work as a unit to bring in and call up their elemental energy. This experience by itself is very powerful.

There are a lot of people involved in making a ritual work properly. For example, as well as the elemental facilitators, we had four experienced pagans channelling four Deities, and wearing the Mantle of their respective Deities in the circle. A High Priestess was the joint focus of the circle choreography. A Gatekeeper challenged all those who wished to enter the circle. Two others worked with the children of attendees, with activities and play, culminating in an entourage of sprites and fairy folk that added an element of the unexpected, and a bit of chaos to the circle. And then there were the old hands, who had participated in previous such events, and knew the ropes and the possible pitfalls of the whole process.

The key to putting all this together in an effective and harmonious way was communication over a number of months – talking to people, and listening to what they had to say; bouncing ideas off people; trying to find the value in all perspectives, and weaving them into the tapestry. Now we are all magical folk, so much of that communication can take place in the magical realms – but not all of it – there is still a need to get together and talk with the key people. With magical communication taking place however, the external communications can work efficiently and productively, because the magical selves of the various facilitators and key figures are already attuned.

One way that I used to help the attunement and to focus the magical communication was to create an object of power for the ritual. An object of power is created through focussed intention over a period of about a month – the period from one full moon to the next is a suitable period. Once the intention has been decided, and expressed symbolically, each day the object is charged with the energies and intentions desired, and the symbols expressing the intent are impressed upon it. The impression of symbols is both physical and etheric. The symbol is first visualised then one visualises the symbol being impressed within the object. This may coincide with physically marking the symbol on the object, but may not. In fact the physical marking only occurs once, but the etheric impression is repeated many times, both before and after the physical impression.

As I am quite fond of working with trees and wood, I selected a piece of tree trunk which I rescued from our local waste transfer station. I sawed off a smooth face, then worked with various grades of sand paper, to end up with a smooth finish. Each morning, I did a little bit, ten or twenty minutes, as part of my morning practice, and while sanding, I linked the object to the energies it would embody.

After the object was completed and energised, I shared the symbols with the other people involved in preparing the ritual, and invited them to place the symbols on their alters, and work with the symbols in the preparation for the ritual. Through the connection of the energised symbols, we could all enter the same space, where our magical selves could communicate with each other. In fact, part of my practice was to regularly reach inwardly for all those involved  and to seek their input and communication on this magical level. It is a fine line to tread here, as one does not want to become oppressive or over bearing, but to create the opportunity for an inward meeting of minds to facilitate co-creation.

Having taken care of the inner business of preparation, one must also take care of the outer business. I eventually wrote a script, with the input of the “old hands”, and met several times with people before the appointed hour to run through the script. Each time we saw how something could work better, or identified a detail that had been overlooked. A chant had been written, and was taught to some strong singers well before the ritual. As the ritual was part of a weekend gathering, there was also time to teach the chant to people on the day before the ritual. One dimension of a public ritual like this is the theatrical – costumes, players who know how to project their voices, and people who can remember their lines and deliver them naturally and powerfully are important and cannot be over-looked. Even so, at one point in the ritual the energy in the centre of the circle became so strong that I completely went blank – fortunately the High Priestess was experienced and able enough to extemporise and lead us through the deep structure of the rite, even though the script went out the window!

All in all, the ritual went very well, in spite of the hiccup above, which nobody else seemed to notice. One lesson for me was that knowing one’s lines outside the circle is a different thing to knowing one’s lines inside the circle – where the focussed energy very easily shifts one out of the necessary state of mind! Next time I will make sure I know my lines much better! Another thing I will do next time is to memorise the structure of the ritual. That is, for example, (1) Casting Circle and Entry; (2) Call to Circle; (3) Calling the elements; (4) Calling the Deities; (5) Energy Raising; (6) Blessing and Conjunction; (7) Farewell to Deities; (8) Farewell to Elements; and (9) Lifting Circle. You wouldn’t think you would need to, as the structure of a ritual is so intuitive and natural. However amidst all that energy flying about, having the structure memorised and mentally checking off as we went along, could well have prevented little mishaps such as described above. On the positive side, when the mind goes blank, the Gods step in. And perhaps this is the real lesson – to trust.

In Her Service,

Robyn

I am very lucky in where I live. I have magnificent forests a short drive from my door, and I often go for walks there, to reconnect with myself, nature, and the essentials of life. Indeed, more than luck, because I chose to live where I do, because of my love of the forests – or the bush as we say in Australia. It is so easy to forget in the tumult of the Western World, the bustle of the city, and the intensity of the workplace, that humans are but one form of life on this planet. Western culture takes for granted that humans are superior to all other life forms, and that nature is ours to use, exploit, and to eradicate for condominiums. We can trace this back to Judao-Christian world views expressed in biblical terms as God giving Man dominion over the beasts of the field etc.

However this is not the pagan world view. While pagans believe all sorts of different things, a common thread running through the modern neo-pagan movement is respect for nature, and for other forms of life, based upon a view of humans as one of many life forms, each playing an important part in the bio-sphere of our mother the Earth. The mechanistic view of Western Culture sees nature as blind, and beasts as “dumb”, and humans as the pinnacle of evolution or creation, depending on whether you subscribe to the scientific mythology or the religious mythology.

My view is that the natural world is full of life and consciousness and intelligence, but that most people, imprisoned within their individualistic symbolically mediated communication methods, have lost the art of communicating with this intelligence and spiritual energy that manifests through nature.

Today, my walk took me through the rain forest. A light mist cloaked the trees, and the thick clouds let loose sporadic showers of gentle drops. I passed several glades of native violets, as I walked under the canopy, padding along on a thick bed of leaves. Bright red berries of native raspberries beckoned from the side of the path. On a wet week day, there aren’t too many people about, so there were plenty of birds to keep me company. Inquisitive little finch like birds came to check me out, as I stood still for a breather. Rufous fan tails fluttered up the path in front of me. The Wompoo pigeons were calling in the canopy arround me. Everywhere underfoot were the bright rainforest berries of summer. I stopped to talk to a bird that appeared on a branch in front of me. How are you, I asked it in my mind’s ear. How are the insects? Plentiful, it told me, before hopping along its journey. As I made my way along the ridge line, the canopy thinned out, to make way for magnificent white mahoganies. Gradually the path became thinner and more overgrown, the further I tracked away from the road and the car park. I caught sight of a medium sized black bird flying off in the under brush, and turned a corner in the path to see what looked like two handfulls of twigs, planted side by side in the ground – the bower of the Satin Bower bird, which he uses to attract a mate.

The path opened out onto a small clearing, with a large log along one end. I sat on the log, and called my Deities, and honoured the elements, and sat in quiet contemplation. I expanded my aura, reaching out to embrace the forest around me, eyes closed, listening to the sounds of the bush – the many varieties of birds, and the sound of drops of water falling around me onto the forest floor.

There is a music in the sounds of the bush, the twitters and clicks of the birds and insects, and the pat of the falling drops of water gathering on leaves before plopping onto the ground. To become attuned to this music, allow your attention to dwell on your heart as you breath out, and on your third eye as you breathe in, gently, lightly. Feel full of joy and a sense of connection with everything around you. When you feel that you have got the rhythm and pace of this music, allow yourself to join in with it, by making clicking noises with your tongue and popping your lips quietly and gently. Other gentle noises that you can use to join in with this music are the sounds you make by gently sucking air through your top teeth. Try to imitate the sounds around you, of birds, drops, insects, or whatever you can hear.

If you have made the correct preparations, you will find yourself being a part of this magical music. There will be no separation. The energy that moves the rain, the birds and the insects will also be moving you, and you will be part of the music.

There is no further description of this that I can give – except to encourage you to try this out for yourself. You won’t regret it, I am sure.

Blessed Be,

Robyn.