Higher Math

Mathematics and I have a complicated relationship.

It all started back in high school, when my mother promised this cute guy in my class that if I got an A in Trigonometry, she’d bake him the cake of his choice.  Suddenly he was at my house almost every afternoon. I got an A (by the skin of my teeth). He got a triple-decker peanut butter cake. And the two of us ended up dating for a very long time — twenty-seven years and counting.

So now this year in Witchcraft Four, I’ve been introduced to gematria, sacred geometry, all kinds of number-related spiritual practices. I realized this yesterday as I was cutting out octagons and crafting eight-pointed stars for my Qabalistic peyton. My altar — usually covered in candles and incense and crystals — was instead loaded with protractors, rulers, graph paper, and that most fascinating of potentially dangerous instruments, the compass.

I have discovered a beauty to numbers over the years. I became fascinated with set theory when I read the lovely and intricate memoir I Am A Strange Loop. The New York Times ran a smart and thought-provoking series on math a year or so ago — you can read the first article in that series, entitled “From Fish to Infinity” here. In it, author Steven Strogatz explains with lyrical simplicity the basic principles of math even as he explores how something so concrete can be so heady.  As Strogatz writes, “This dual aspect of numbers — as part-heaven, and part-earth — is perhaps the most paradoxical thing about them, and the feature that makes them so useful.”

So this is me, with visions of angles and angels simultaneously in my head, drawing lines that seem to partake of infinity. Wordless for once. And grateful for it.

WHAT MY DOG HAS TAUGHT ME ABOUT COMPASSION

1- compassion is a ball
2-the world is an overgrown field
3-I am a dog

Here`s how my dog tells me compassion is supposed to work.
I can carry compassion around in my mouth and never share it with anyone, even my closest friends. I can tear it apart and eat it. If I do this then it will be gone with very little evidence that it ever existed. On the other hand, if I put my compassion in play, share it and celebrate it`s existence then joy and happiness can come into more than just one life.
This requires a certain amount of trust and understanding on my part. I must be willing to release what I am holding, turn it over and trust someone else will know what to do and honor an unspoken agreement. I must have enough trust in a relationship to interrupt, make our presence known and then lay what I have before whatever I`m trying to interact with. I must be willing to be gentle yet insistent and accept the risk that I may be ignored.
I have to be aware of and understand the subtle nuances of my sphere of compassion. When it gets tossed into the weeds I must not give up until I find it and bring it back, even if that requires asking for help if I can`t reach it.If I give up then the process stops and we all stand to lose something.
Finally, I need to understand when an exchange is over and "no" means the end of things, at least for today. It does not mean I have to abandon my compassion, it just means I have to keep it to myself for a while and remember where I put it.
If I do all these things then I`ll be ready when something comes along that is willing to pick the ball up and play along.

In honor of our visit to Geburah here`s a bit of a different perspective on the life of the Warrior.

CUT MAN

Standing outside the ropes
waiting for the bell
For my work to begin
for my date with blood
and damaged flesh

Place the seat
ignore the crowd
and the corner man`s chatter
focus
and fix the machine

Stop the leaks
see to the dents
grease the pressure points
get it ready
to go back in

No matter how
badly damaged
how totally wrecked
as long as it is conscious
and draws breath
it continues to function
it will fight on

Fool the flesh
stop the bleeding
lie to it
tell it
it`s fine
make it believe
it still has a chance
to win

Then send it
back in.

RUNNING THROUGH THE MILL. We are now at the point when climbing the Tree of Life we get to the 5th sphere of Geburah and one of the things that is thrown into the mix by our teacher is the concept of "Grist to the mill" , how something may need to be transformed in order to become more useful to us. This particular saying refers to the raw grain or grist which is not really useful in the form it comes to us. we need to transform it into flour by passing it thru a process, like a mill, and grind it into a fine powder in order to make it far more useful to us. The correspondence to the magickal/spiritual side of our studies in the Mystery School is that many times things that are not apparently useful and may actually cause friction between us can, under the right circumstances and conditions when exposed to an appropriate process become just like that grain and be transformed into something that can nourish us and help us grow. When this topic was first brought up it brought to my mind two other concepts from the lower sephiroth of the TOL; The Machinery of the Universe and the two sided question of; "what is your will, to what end?". This is where I`d like to start the tour of the mill where my mind is presently working. In past class discussions we talked about how certain everyday tasks we have since handed off to machines once allowed us to slow down and process the problems of the day in a different manner. Back in the time when most things were done by hand the simple tasks required to harvest, thresh, winnow and then mill grain in order to make something simple yet sustaining like bread, which is considered the "staff of life", usually were tasks that allowed us to engage more with both the world around us and the Earth that nourished us both physically and spiritually. These simple tasks with their rhythms and repetitive motions kept our bodies and rational minds busy while freeing our subconscious to work on other problems while we entered a near trance state. As we delegated our labor to machines the cost to us was both an increased disconnect from our environment and the Spirit of the Earth along with trading that near trance "processing state" in exchange for less tiring and tedious yet more closely focused guidance of the machines we had developed to become more efficient and productive. What does this have to do with the mill you might ask. The answer to that would be found in the grain and even more specifically the thing that brought the grain into being, intent. Let me use a little backwards planning and look at what brought me here for a moment. I was chasing that "To what end " part of the question I mentioned earlier.Once I had distilled the "to what end" down a bit I began to see what might be the final product and could then ask other questions like "who`s will does this serve?" and the ever popular "How did I get here and why?". When the milling is all done you can see that in order to get what you truly need you have to feed the mill the appropriate material, in the proper quantity, at the proper consistency and rate. That material usually has to have preliminary work done to prepare it for the mill in order to produce acceptable results and not damage the mill itself. For grain (the grist in this case) this entails harvesting at the proper time and conditions, drying, threshing and winnowing the grain, as I mentioned before. All this preliminary work needs to be done before the grain can even be transported to where the milling will take place. Very little grain ever goes from stalk to stomach on the same patch of ground. We talked earlier about the nature and spirit of labor in regard to intent. We know that the energy and intent of everything that touches something that feeds and nourishes us, that contributes to our growth and evolution in this world, leaves an imprint, an imprint on the Earth and our environment as well as our physical and spiritual lives. That being said, lets look at the progression of intent from the individual worker on up through the "spirit in the Machine", Before we do that I`d like to ask a question first, something to keep in mind as we move from sticks and stones to gears, pulleys, hydraulics and microchips. That question is; "What is it that powers YOUR mill? In the beginning, when we took life much slower, milling grain involved just a few people, perhaps even a solitary individual beating grain into flour using wood and/or stone while their mind processed other things as they fell into that rhythmic, repetitive process. At the end of the day they hopefully had what they needed to feed their family plus at least a little more to either sell, trade, or store as a hedge against leaner times. Back then we were more in tune with the world around us and the Earth beneath our feet. After we learned how to domesticate and partner with the other animals and work stone with simple tools the first rotary stone mills came into being. Now we contributed less in physical labor but our animal allies worked more in our place. We also had to find ways to grow more as we had to not only feed just our families now but our new partners as well. We also spent less time traveling from place to place and more time running in circles while herding asses but I digress. somewhere along the line water power came into the picture. Now what an animal used to do could be done by coupling the stone wheels of the grain mill to a water wheel. Things still moved in a circular motion,they just did it on a much grander scale. The wheels became bigger and the mills became larger. At some point farmers stopped doing their own milling and began handing it off to someone with better equipment as they felt they could get better and more consistent results. Water power gave way to steam power, then internal combustion engines and finally electric power. Some areas used wind instead of water power to run their mills, the windmills of Holland are the classic example of this. Even in this day and age where we have microchips and hydraulic controls we still many times hang on to the simple, ancient process of stone on stone grinding of appropriate material into a useable final product. Only the methods of power and control have changed . So lets get back to that question of "what powers your mill"? Is it individual will and intent, An ass traveling in circles, or is your mill powered by Air (knowledge and intellect)or Water (emotion)? Perhaps your mill is powered by steam (high energy emotions)or the Fire (will and passion)of an internal combustion engine or boiler. Maybe your mill is more modern and is powered by electricity (Spirit). Let`s take a closer look at the action of those two stone wheels for a moment. All grain mills, regardless of power, rely on two surfaces grinding against each other to process grain into either meal or flour. The simplest mills consist of a pair of stone wheels, one stationary and it`s mate that rotates above the fixed wheel and presses down on it to do the grinding. Most wheels have grooves cut into their faces to help keep the grain, meal, or flour moving and grinding. The grain enters from above and pours into the center of the upper wheel. As it is ground it moves outward until it falls free of the stones and the grinding process is ended. So the process starts at center and moves outward till it ends with the final product.from there the end result is directed away from the stones to be put into bags or bins. Now that we have the basic process down lets talk a bit about control. The miller depends on training and experience to adjust the speed of the mill, the clearance between the wheels (factored by the pressure from the upper wheel and the rate of grain feed), and the grinding duration (time spent between the wheels). All these things working together effect the final outcome and whether the finished product is useable or not. In this day and age, chances are, the flour you get is not even made from the grain you harvested and dropped off. Grain is grain and, just another commodity, and you trust your friends and neighbors are just as trustworthy, conscientious and committed as you are. See yet another disconnect? Now if the miller doing this work for you lets his mind wander and not enough grain is fed into those stone mill wheels they begin to grind on each other instead of the grain. This creates stone dust which contaminates your flour making it unsuitable for your use. If that lapse in attention continues it could also wear the mill stones down, causing damage and shutting down the mill, Bad news if you`re the mill owner. Likewise if the miller feeds too much grain into the mill things won`t be ground finely enough and the fine flour you had hoped for will come out as course meal unsuitable for use unless you repeat the process and refine the consistency of the final product. So now ask yourself what really produces the end product that is supposed to sustain you and your family? Was it your individual will and intent, your guides and allies, or the skills and abilities of another that you handed the work off to? How much does Divine Will or outside influences and imprints play in what you intend to put to use? Lastly, is what your mill produced what your really need or did you settle for what was handed to you? Did you see this harvest all the way through yourself, from sowing the seeds to reaping and preparing the grain with no cut corners or did you hand off the bulk of the work and then accept a replacement you were assured was every bit as your own workings? Before you leave the mill you`ll want to open that sack and take a look at what`s really inside. You don`t want to get your oven all fired up and an entire kitchen`s worth of pans prepared only to find that what you thought was finely ground wheat flour is actually moldy corn meal now do you?

Flying with Penguins (The Emperor of Antarctica) A friend and classmate had a message from Penguin delivered to her door recently and asked for my opinion on the nature of that message. Now I have my own personal take on Penguin Medicine but this was her message and not mine so I decided to ask the Gods directly. Depending on which Gods you`re talking with becoming a penguin was either a blessing or a curse. I have been told that the Gods never lie, but I have also been told "As above,so below". I know down here in this world the best medicines come wrapped in a story or legend and the realm or legend lies somewhere between the truth and a lie. So let us begin unwrapping this gift while standing in this world and on that particular patch of ground. One thing the Gods can all agree on is that the spirit we know as Penguin has always been a member of the animal kingdom. As might be expected, opinions differ about these flightless birds. Some of the Gods think highly of them and some others have a less favorable view of them. I like to end a story on a harmonious note if at all possible so I`d like to start this story by taking the low ground and then follow a path that makes it`s way up into the light from there. According to some of the Gods Penguins were originally very large, fierce predator fish. They were powerful, fast and agile. Once they set their sights on something it was just a matter of a very short span of time before it became theirs. They were so adept at their craft that they began to look down their noses at their prey. By this point in time they considered everything that swam, crawled or fell into the oceans to be prey for them. They felt they were at the pinnacle of the food chain and their status as hunters set them above the rest of the Animal Kingdom. They even went so far as to become very casual in their interactions with the Gods. Soon their relationship with the Gods deteriorated to the point that they could not be in the presence of the Sea Gods without being disruptive. The rest of the Gods knew they had to call a council to decide how they were going to reign these rebellious fish in. It was decided that the God of Air and the Earth Goddess would form a partnership to resolve the problem and teach these unruly creatures the meaning of respect and humility. They decided to hold their meeting in one of the sheltering antarctic bays in hopes to keep tempers cool. When the huge fish showed up late and started their end of the exchange by being arrogant and disrespectful the Goddess shouted "Enough!". She looked at them with Fire in her eyes and said "You have forgotten your place in the order of things. You take advantage of your station in life and are incapable of taking anything seriously. You think your size and skills afford you privilege, you will learn differently!" She then plucked them from their home in the sea and threw them onto the ice. They gasped for mercy when exposed to the God`s cold subarctic air but the Goddess didn`t believe they had truly learned their lesson yet. She began to transform them, first she made them much smaller, then she replaced their scales with feathers and turned their fins into stunted wings. In order to keep them alive she gave them lungs to breath with instead of gills. She told them, "you want to be comical? I`ll give you webbed feet and make you waddle clumsily around on the land. You like to make a joke out of everything and ignore the rules that guide us all? I`ll dress you in black and white to remind you how clearly things can be defined". As a final punishment she took their large, sharp teeth and gave them small beaks instead. Then she banished them to the frozen wastelands. Later, after the Goddess had left, when they came back back to the sea in order to try to feed Neptune saw his once proud and beautiful creations floundering around in the water making futile attempts to catch their dinner and took pity on them. He restored some of their agility in the water so they might at least survive. He felt the Goddess had been a bit harsh in turning them into flightless birds. He reasoned that if they could not fly thru the air like other birds then there was no harm in allowing them to fly thru the water in order to catch what sustained them. Because they had angered the Gods, the once fearsome predators of the sea had been transformed into the comical, vulnerable and flightless birds we`ve come to know as penguins. If it hadn`t been for Neptune`s intervention they surely would have perished for their transgressions. I find that stories are shapeshifters and many, at the very least are like coins in that there are at least two faces or sides to them. Some stories, like coins, are worth more than others. Instead of wandering too far off track I`ll press on now and turn the other side of this coin/story into the light. Another group of Gods, having heard the first group telling their version of things, got my attention and told me a completely different tale of how Penguin came into being.This second group of Gods told me that Penguin had always been a bird spirit in this world. It was just the luck of the draw that this particular spirit has come to the attention of the Gods at the end of a rather long and trying period of creation and on a day when the Gods found themselves left with more spirits than attributes to give out. The Gods advised the remaining spirits to come back after the Gods had time to rest, restock and refill their coffers with attributes and worlds to practice those gifts and skills in. One lone spirit stepped forward and asked the Gods to please send it into the present world with whatever gifts or skills remained. It said it had important work to do in our world and was anxious to begin it`s journey here. "You`d have to be a relatively small bird, a flightless bird at that" the Gods told this spirit. "I can accept that", was the Spirit`s reply. " We`re all out of color, we`ve already given all the color to the rest of the spirits so you`d have to be happy with just black and white" , the Gods explained. "I can work with just black and white", the spirit assured them. One of the more outspoken Gods told this spirit, "Look, you really should wait,. Remember the Platypus? You don`t want to end up like that do you? Look where impatience got them. Besides, we`re fresh out of decent places to put you, there`s only the frozen continent of Antarctica left. No trees, nothing but ice and snow. That`s no place for a bird, especially a flightless bird". The spirit said, "I just can`t wait or go to another world. I feel I have important work in this world, work only I can do, and I feel I need to get to it today". So after a long and trying day the Gods placed the first Penguin on Earth. Some of the Gods were a bit upset about being pressed by this spirit and other Gods worried about sending such a hap-hazzard collection of attributes out to become medicine in the world so they kept a close eye on Penguin at first.What they found was that Penguin adapted well to the extremely harsh environment they had placed it in. Here`s the thing about some spirits, the best ones are strong, tenacious, and timeless. This type of spirit can take next to nothing, like the things that others would pass by or cast off, and turn those meager beginnings into enough to get started.Once these spirits get started there is no stopping them. Their tenacity will allow them to take whatever slim start they get and expand it into all they need to keep going and more. The best spirits become vessels and channels for things like Hope,Community,Joy, Selfless Service and Sacrifice while barring the door to discordant energies such as, doubt, envy and ego. It matters little to a determined spirit what shape it has to take or what environment it has to work in. Things like limitations don`t even cross this type of spirit`s field of vision. Spirits that operate at this level and vibration know all they need is a vessel and meaningful work to do. Everything else is transient and will either sort itself out or the spirit will be able to rise above it, release it and continue on leaving it behind without a second thought. So the spirit that was now Penguin set to work in this world. It turned it`s short, stunted feathers into a dense mat capable of insulating it against the bitter cold. There were no trees around so instead of a nest it carried it`s egg on it`s feet to keep it up off the ice. Both male and female penguins developed a brood pouch to surround the egg with warmth and protection. The two genders also formed a seamless bond between them focused on moving their species forward under the extreme conditions that they faced. Teamwork, selflessness and sacrifice were some of the watchwords they lived by and it helped their message and medicine grow and spread. After a female penguin became depleted through mating and then laying her single egg she carefully transferred that lone egg to her mate who began a period of fasting and the carefully focused care of that egg that lasted several months while his mate returned to the sea hunting and rebuilding her depleted body and storing reserves for the newborn chick soon to come into this world. Penguin learned that in order to live under the harsh conditions imposed on it that it had to keep moving. They huddled together when storms came and turned their backs to the winds that would divide them and blow them away. They looked to each other for protection, warmth and support. During the worst of times they circled into a dense cluster yet still kept moving at a slow shuffle. They all stayed together and they allowed nobody to fall behind or get lost.They focused on keeping their community together, in motion and alive. Those at the center also stayed in motion and eventually every bird took their turn along the leading edge as positions within the community shifted allowing all involved to alternately shield the group from the outer edges then move inward and benefit from the warmth, protection and security the center of the group provided. The Gods saw all this evolving from a distance as they went on dealing with the day to day problems in the other Kingdoms and realms. Things like a Stone Spirit angry about how long it took to get anything done in it`s kingdom, a Plant Spirit complaining about having to remain rooted to one spot it`s entire life, or an Animal Spirit grousing about it`s place in the food chain. During their dealings with all this discordance the Gods never heard so much as a peep out of the penguins. They just kept their heads down, backs to the wind and got on with the business of adapting and overcoming in one of the harshest environments this world has to offer. It didn`t take long for the Gods doubts about the penguins to turn into respect. During yet another trying period of dealing with the whiners, complainers, malcontents and prima-donnas of this world the Gods decided to gather all the complaining spirits and take them on a short trip to see the penguins on the astral plane. They showed the Plant Spirits that there were worse things than having to spend all your days rooted in warm fertile soil. They saw penguins living on nothing but perpetually frozen ice and having to stay in constant motion because if the penguins stopped moving, even for a short time, they froze and died. The Gods showed the Stone Spirits that even at their slow and steady pace, if they were patient, their lives allowed them the opportunity to experience seeing both the heart of the Goddess and to then become part of the top of the world as a mountain range as they slowly shifted across the face of the Earth. The penguins had only the flat blue horizon of the sea and the white frozen drifts as vistas to took forward to all their lives. The Gods also showed the animal spirits who complained about having to defend prime territory and traveling to find food how the male penguins had to exist on territory nobody else wanted and how after fasting and caring for their eggs for months male penguins were still willing to give up what little reserves they had left in them if their mates were late in returning from the sea and the eggs hatched then the hungry chicks needed to be fed before their mothers arrived with food. Those same seriously weakened fathers traveled long distances in that seriously depleted state before they could return to the sea and find food for themselves. The Gods didn`t say much as the other spirits took in what the penguins had accomplished alone and entirely on their own. The Gods didn`t have to, what the spirits saw said it all. Before they sent the other spirits back to their respective places in this world the Gods called the Deva of Penguins to join them. They told this Penguin spirit they were very pleased with how much the penguins had accomplished after being given so little. They asked the Penguin spirit why it had never come to them and asked for their help. Penguin told them " I was the one who asked you to give me a chance in this world. I felt that it was up to me to make the most of that gift before I asked for another". The Gods were so impressed by the Penguin`s humility that they made Penguin an offer, they asked Penguin if it could make a change for itself what would it be? The spirit of penguin asked only for a bit more skill in hunting and a slower metabolism so it could better catch and store what it needed to provide more for the next generation. When given the opportunity for personal gain Penguin thought only of others. The Gods all decided then and there that they would reward Penguin. They took it`s useless wings and turned them into efficient flippers so the flightless bird could now fly swiftly through the water. They granted Penguin increased control over the organs within it`s body so it could dive deeper, stay down longer and then store more food both for itself and it`s young as it had requested. Lastly the Gods showed their respect to Penguin, and reinforced the lessons to the other attending spirits, by decreeing that from that day forward Penguin would be the "Emperor of Antarctica". At the end of that long day the Gods took some of the brilliant color from the frozen sunset and laid it over the drab black and white the penguins had worn up till then. These colors became a mantle and crest, they even put some color into Penguin`s beak so it could speak more regally, into it`s feet so it could bless the white wastelands with color at every step and into and around it`s eyes so it would always be able to see the beauty that surround it. Along with a title the Gods gave Penguin the keys to and mastery over two realms, the Sea and the frozen Earth. That day the Gods showed the other spirits that a true ruler holds the definition of sovereignty in it`s heart. A ruler does so by looking to those around them first before they look for any personal gain, they make the most of whatever situation they find themselves in rather than always looking towards getting more or comparing what they have to what others have. They also showed the spirits that in order to evolve and progress you have to be able to thrive and prosper wherever you find yourself, even under extreme conditions and tough circumstances. These are the attributes the Gods are most likely to reward. The moral of this particular side of the story is; If you learn to till the field you are given then you are far more likely to reap the benefits of an abundant crop now and in the future. Now I can`t say for certain which one of these stories is the true story of Penguin Medicine. In the end neither story needs to be the true one because my friend and classmate discovered that what was originally thought to be a message from Penguin was actually a message from Dragon in disguise. But that is a story for another day.

Holding and releasing

I know I have mentioned parts of this technique/ spell to others but this is really the first time I have been able to feel it`s in it`s completed form. It came to me while dreaming of the Tides. Holding and releasing (Water) If I have one of those stories that keeps playing like a looped tape in my head and I can`t shake it or a problem I had thought I resolved keeps resurfacing this is what I do to release it with the help of Water. I go to the nearest source of flowing water and tell it why I`m there. I ask Water for it`s help. I speak to the Earth beneath me. I thank it for supporting me and ask it`s blessings. Then I walk where the Water and Earth meet looking for a stone that fits my hand and my heart. One just large enough to contain what`s troubling me. Once this stone has stepped forward for me I hold it between both my hands and thank it for accepting my burden. I hold it out before me and pour my story into it, my words like water filling the stone vessel. When I have told the stone my entire story, holding nothing back I breath into the stone three times, with my last breath I say "This is the last bit of my energy I will give to this story". I again thank the stone, then I kiss both the stone and the story goodby. Now I throw the stone containing the story into the water and thank Water for accepting and transforming my story. I thank Water for holding my story so I can release it. I thank Water for surrounding my words and carrying them to a place where they can be used by others to tell their stories as well. I close my eyes and envision the body of water before me connecting with the river Lethe, the "River of forgetfulness" that runs through the Lower World. Then I turn and walk away. I find this an effective way to release something when other techniques fail.

Lady Datura

My Datura's first bloom! Nurtured from seed, it's one of five growing now, others just beginning to blossom. It smells like honey and lemon, and glows even on a cloudy day (like the day I took this photo).

Gift from the Tricksie God

So there I am in Sacramento, wandering around in vintage clothing and burlesque accessory store (don't ask), and there's this pretty in the display case. Which I had to have immediately, this month being all about Hod.

And to think, there I was putting together my Hod altar a couple of weeks ago, realizing that while I have many Snake fetishes and totem representations, I didn't have a double-headed Snake anywhere in the collection.

But you know how it goes. Ask and you shall receive. Even if you have to search amongst tasseled pasties and the most complete collection of breakaway clothing I have ever seen.

Here it is back at home on my Hod altar, a much more serene location than where I found it.

Snake Charmer

He stands and beckons from the heat`s waves
Come out of the shadows, forget the shade
Step into the Sun, son where history`s made
get up off your seat
and into the heat
where all the good head games are played

Now we have teeth but we don`t bite, much
do most our chewing on words and such
take your time
read `tween the lines
try writing,you may have the touch

His serpents smile and twist found his staff
he`s giving me chills each time he laughs
something`s not right
something just out of sight
round the next bend in the path

I stare at his sandals, they appear to have wings
he chuckles and says, oh these old things
a gift from a God
and welcome to Hod
you`ll be amazed at the lessons it brings

You can see this is the mental realm
words are our sea,Truth stands at the helm
We keep falsehood at bay
the stars guide our way
try not to become overwhelmed

I am messenger, trickster and mage
Scribe, illusionist and sage
all this and more
as we step through the door
to your world`s coming of age

The pen is mighty and so is the sword
a kingdom`s survival depends on it`s words
fear is the deceiver
your mind is the lever
that pries till your truth can be heard

Orchids and lavender thrive in this heat
Opals and Sapphires under your feet
Peyote for visions
Agate`s balanced decisions
Hod`s a place where many worlds meet

Try to keep up now,it`s all in the mind
focus,discern what you`re hoping to find
it`s all in the learning
the twisting and turning
move quickly or be left behind

I am the Quicksilver, metal that flows
there`s really no telling which way I`ll go
so take a deep breath
there`s no time to rest
rest when you think clearly and know

Mandrake and the Cabbyrinth

 Hey witches,

I've been working on screenprinting recently, and wanted to share these two pieces, especially the mandrake because the inspiration for that came from our W3 class.

The other one came about when I noticed how much the inside of a purple cabbage reminded me of the classic labyrinth pattern. :)

- Laura

Coins of the Realm

A friend of mine, who likes to be called Bean, has been having a tough time of it lately due to being overly concerned with what some people in the rather large group she travels in have to say about her. She talked a bit about what she calls "the original wound". I assume she means one of those pivotal events that most of us would consider our "baggage".
A shaman would call this type of thing shadow work. Shamans like to travel light and shadows don`t weight much if you maintain them and pack them properly.They can take up an incredible amount of space in our lives if we try to just stuff them though.
Here`s the advise I offered to my friend.

You are suffering from the curse of the human experience and especially from that part of the curse that comes from living with your eyes (and ears) open, Bean. This is a two sided curse and is like a coin in that you can flip it over and many times the curse will become a blessing.
While one side will try to suck us into darkness and discordancy the other side can teach us that sometimes with just a little effort things can become shiny and bright again. In order to fully appreciate the smooth and brilliant things in our lives we need to know the dark,scarred and ugly side as well. One of the things that the human experience is meant to teach us is how to balance and flip our coins, Bean.
Some of us only see the dark or scarred face of a coin laying in front of us. It`s the face of a coin we don`t want to pick up or risk carrying around with us. If we see any value in it and decide to take ownership of it we will always be reminded of how scarred and ugly it is whenever we dump things out in front of us in an effort to make change.
Sooner or later it gets to the point where we can`t stand the idea of carrying it any longer and have to be rid of it. Many of us attempt to hand it off to someone else in an attempt to exchange it for something that person has that we want.
When one of these dark,damaged coins is pulled from someone`s pocket and is cast in front of you as payment you can either flip it in an attempt to see if the other side is smooth and bright or you can simply slide it back toward the person offering it and say something like, "I`m sorry I can`t accept this" or "Here,keep this, you need it more than I do".
Remember to smile and be kind when you say it. That smile can serve as a balance point as well.

Much love,
Daedalus

One simple word

A friend suggested that instead of a resolution to mark the secular New Year we each choose a word to work with for a year. This sounded like both and excellent idea and a challenge. Being a sucker for challenges I took her up on it and discovered "authenticity" wanted to be carried around in my pocket for a while. At least that`s where it started. I wrote the word down on a small sheet of paper,folded it and stuck it in my wallet. Being a practitioner of magick I should have known better.
That slip of paper kept showing up everywhere and every time I turned around I was unfolding it and staring at my word for the year. In no time at all it had traveled from my pocket to my head and was rolling around up there like a billiard ball smashing into the other balls on my table and chasing them into pockets till it was one of the few balls left in play. Next game up authenticity has shifted from a numbered ball to being the cue ball. Now my head is really in the game. Even as I am sitting quietly on the sidelines I have my cue in one hand and am chalking up for our next shot. I`ll study the table and try to envision what angles and lines will appear for me next. I am aware that the game has drawn a few spectators and even a few side bets are being placed on my ability to remain standing and in command of the table. The eyes are focused on the table but the thoughts,assessments and doubts are focused on the players.
I have to keep reminding myself that this is meant to be a year long tournament and that I`m bound to lose a game here and there. I need to keep focused, practiced and in the game yet not let what I`m playing for move from my head and hands toward becoming a monkey on my back.
We each circle the table when it comes our turn to shoot. We may view the lineup a bit differently than our own team mates even when we`re aiming toward the same end results. In the end we stand alone and take our shot. Even if we don`t sink it then we need to at least not leave the opposition an opening to run the table and send us out into the street wishing we had played things differently that evening.
So now I find that authenticity is actually a very accomplished shapeshifter and,at least for a while, has morphed from being the cue ball into the cue I have taken possession of and will be playing with for the foreseeable future. I have already defeated others using things such as discernment, frustration, chaos and distraction against me. They played a good game and who knows, I may play against them again as the year progresses. In the end we`ll see if authenticity and I have what it takes to make the money shot and win this tournament.

Malkuth

I wake up in the dark
and stand on this madly spinning ball

I move to a room and flush all I took in yesterday
Then begin refilling with the same things as yesterday

I resist efforts to fill my head with noise and images
in order to sit quietly and contemplate a sphere

Then I lay down, turn myself off
and dream of standing on a wildly spinning sphere

Gearhead Magick

Warning! The following takes a highly mechanical point of view.

It appears to me that in W4/ToHW we will be turned loose to become the hotrodders of the Universe. We`re being invited to pull our personal magickal vehicles into the ceremonial equivalent of "Monster Garage". What rolls out the door at the end of the show is entirely up to us and limited only by our skills,imagination and the laws of the Universe.

Some of us are going to go for looks,all chrome and flashy paint job. Some will want to work on handling and modifications that will allow you to whip your magick into the turns and accelerate thru the switchbacks and hairpins like they were empty eight lane highways.Others will be all about horsepower and want to streak down that drag strip getting across the finish line with the lowest elapsed time. There may even be a fringe element present who what to wring every bit of mileage they can from each and every drop of energy they pump into their vehicle. All valid and useful approaches in their own highly focused way.
As the year winds down many of us will be glad we went to the show, saw all the cool stuff and were amazed by what others can do. We may even be slightly disappointed as we turn the key and fire up our Volkswagen and head home. Sure,it`s not a custom chopper or a Ferrari but it gets us to the mall and back and doesn`t cost an arm and a leg to feed or maintain.

I will warn you that I am a wicked gearhead ( NE talk for a deeply committed hotrodder). I want to understand how the heart of things work. I`ll tear something completely apart down to the last nut and bolt and then look for things to eliminate. I feel lighter is faster, I`m the chopper guy. Why travel on 4 wheels when the sun is shining and 2 will do? I will be asking if something is absolutely necessary and why. I will be distilling things down to their essence and then looking for ways to combine things. I`ll question every aspect and detail. If it doesn`t make it go faster, handle better, stop quicker it`ll get pitched in the scrap pile and be fair game for someone else`s use.
There will be a lot of cutting welding and grinding in my corner. There will be loud pipes,burning rubber and late nite test runs. In the end what I ride will probably not please everyone but I`ll be proud of it because it`s unique, mine, and the craftsmanship will be at least as good or better than most.
One thing it won`t be is flashy. Detailed,stripped down, tight and efficient is how I prefer things.It`ll be the kind of raw,primal, slightly sinister machine you`d expect a shaman to ride. I don`t want to spend a lot of time waxing and polishing, I want to get on it and go. It`ll also be a kick start machine,no big battery,extra wiring or electric starter here.
I`ll still be using my rusty, dented old pickup truck to travel back and forth to buy parts and material during the build. I also know that being a perpetual tinkerer somewhere down the road I`ll probably become bored with what I`ve built and trade it for something better or tear it down so I can start again.
I`ve found that if you want to do this sort of thing it`s best to have access to a reliable truck so you can chase parts, can still travel to town in bad weather and most importantly,if your flashy creation breaks down and leaves you on the side of the road one of your buddies can always find the keys under the seat,come get you and help load your broke down machine so you can drag it home and fix it.

The Feathered Drum Majors in my Backyard

I am watching the woodpeckers  today. A nice tossy wind came through last night, finally clearing away the last of the leaves off the oaks, which now stretch clean and bare into blue-gray sky. I am always amazed to see their branches in full unclothed glory, the dark inky lines as intricate as capillaries, and — I know — as nutritive and powerful. It’s almost overwhelming to take in, even through a window, even with my feet up in my chair and a cup of coffee in hand.

And so even though the woodpeckers have been there all year, I am only now able to see them work. My field guide tells me all about them, but I have known their names my whole life: downy woodpeckers, red-headed woodpeckers, even the occasion pileated woodpecker, as startling in its jet black enormity as any predator.

Ted Andrew’s Animal Speak summarizes their central energy as “the power of rhythm and discrimination.” In European folk traditions, they were considered weather prophets and thunderbirds; in Greek traditions, it occupied the throne of Zeus, that most thunderous of gods. And as typical of the Greeks, there is also a story of an unfortunate human being transformed into one, as always the result of some ill-fated romantic situation gone wrong. The Native American tradition connected the woodpecker to the heartbeat of the Earth itself.

But it is their “digging in” that connects them to the oxpeckers who are their spiritual kin, not the drumming. It is their discrimination, their pecking in exactly the right way, that makes them a significant totem. Their skillful use of their heads reflect increasing analysis. Some questions to ask: Are you looking at the aspects of your life rationally? Are other around you not discriminating in their activities? Are you? Are you or others jumping into situations with little or no thought?

I watch the woodpeckers and the trees, and something else occurs to me — their relationship is symbiotic. Like the oxpeckers that accompany the rhinos, woodpeckers serve the trees by eating parasites that could damage them. Of course they can damage trees as well, if the environmental balance has shifted in an unsustainable way. That’s usually the human’s fault. We are such non-symbiotic creatures. Our parasitical behavior spreads around us in ripples. But a healthy forest will have both healthy trees and healthy woodpeckers.

How does the tree know? I wonder. To something so rooted and ancient, these darting spirits of beak and feather must feel so temporary. And yet ever-present, I imagine, and so eternal in that way. There’s always something in your hair when you’re a tree. They are as patient and abiding an entity as I can imagine.

I am less so. So much in my day feels like swooping, dashing, clutching, hammering woodpeckers, drilling yet another hole in me. And yet their Air energy is beneficial. It roots out the tiny harmful habits and grudges and buggy self-absorbed nonsense that is under my bark, concealed beneath my self-made armor where I can’t get to it all by myself. And so I should welcome the woodpeckers, their drumming and rhythm. I should let them do their honest natural work.

Making connections

I was asked to bring some of my wands to a psychic fair at one of the local shops and spent the day talking about magick and the Tree teachers with a wide variety of people from many walks of life. As the day wound down a father and son came over to talk to me about connections and the energy in objects. The father was in his early forties and didn`t initially introduce himself. His son Emmit (printed in black marker on the front of his middle school athletic shirt) had a small stone in his hand which he had bought from one of the other vendors. Emmit had taken in more than his share of the energy that was swirling through the shop and was close to being overloaded.He was bouncing around and distracted by the stone. He tossed it from hand to hand and rolled it between his palms as his father and I talked about magick and shamanism. His father told me "Emmit can feel the energy in certain things and I have been looking for a way to understand what he does".
I explained that some people,myself included, believe all things have an energy and spirit contained in them and we are all connected to the rest of the Universe thru the subtle energy threads that make up the Web of the Universe. He told me he had recently been working with a shaman and that experience had opened his mind to his son`s abilities as well as ways to support his son`s gift. Emmit had wandered off to look at some of the other things in the shop,I sensed he was a bit uncomfortable by his father discussing his capabilities with a stranger.
I told the father about my own connections with the trees and stones and gave him a brief history of my injury and how I lost some abilities yet gained others. He told me many of the things I was talking about were the same things that the shaman he worked with had shared with him. Then he came out and asked "Are you also a shaman?". I told him, "I am a witch first, a shamanic witch, but at the heart of things I`m a witch". He looked shocked for a second but then asked me to explain what being a witch first meant to me. We talked a bit about what it means to be a witch and a shaman and the practice of magick or witchcraft until Emmit came back and stood closer to the wands I had for sale. He had put the stone in his pocket and was picking up and handling one wand after another. His father was about to caution him when I told him it was fine and I encouraged people to handle the wands. "Your father tells me you can feel things thru stones Emmit,do you feel anything from the Trees?" I asked him. Emmit replied "They`re not at all like the stones,the stones feel different". I asked him if he`d like to try an experiment. When he said he`d like to experiment I asked him to show me the stone he had in his pocket. He had asked his dad to buy him a piece of tumbled Hematite and I thought he may have been trying to ground some of his excess energy thru that stone. I handed him a piece of Smokey Quartz from one of the displays which made him smile and then asked for it back and handed him a piece of black Tourmaline and his focus began to return. I asked him to describe some of the favorite stones he had at home as he held the Tourmaline. He talked about their color, weight and texture and how they made him feel. In a few minutes he was calm and happy instead of buzzing and overloaded. I asked for the tourmaline back, then handed him an Oak wand and asked him to think about it the way he had just thought about the stones to seek that same type of connection and he said now he could feel the tree. It was different than his stones he said but he felt it thru his hands "in a different direction" and he could feel something like sun and the water (that wand came from a old Oak that used to grow near the tidal cove we live on). Emmit was now calm and happy and thanked me for talking with him, he said the experiment had given him something to think about and explore further. I told his father the names of the stones I had handed Emmit and how I had used his connections to his own stones at home to help ground him. I told him Emmit can feel the stones most strongly but he has the ability to feel the energy in the things that surround him including the people in the shop and suggested a few ways he might help guide Emmit and help him better understand his gifts when interacting in environments like this psychic fair. I wrote down the titles of a few books and websites that may be of use for him and his son.
Emmit excused himself and told his father he was going to wait for him in the car.
As Emmit walked toward the door, his father said, "Emmit has been a real game changer for his mother and I. He`s made us refocus what is important to us and how we look at the world". I told him Emmit was very lucky to have parents like him who support his gifts and go out of their way to understand his connection to the Universe. I told the father "People who feel these gifts can either shove them aside or deny them and then keep disconnecting from things till they get to the point the only thing they aren`t disconnected from is themselves. When these gifts are supported people like your son have the potential to use their gifts to make things better for us all and to make the world a better place for us all to live. Thank you for seeing that and supporting it and thank your wife for me too".
Before he turned to leave he extended his hand and said,"My name is Steve and I`m really glad we got to talk. I met my first witch today and it was nothing like I thought the experience would be". I told him "Glad to meet you Steve, My name is Bob ( I was wearing a name tag). I`m also really glad we got to talk." Steve asked me for one of my fliers on the Tree Magick class I`ll be presenting in February before he left to rejoin his son.