Blessings Sisters in Goddess!

We are pleased to announce our Goddess Festival Special for the the month of August 2010.

In the month of August only!
We are offering women who register for the Goddess Festival a FREE one year membership into the Susan B. Anthony Coven #1 … the world’s most famous coven!

Membership into the Susan B. Anthony Coven #1 is $50. So you’re getting a savings of $50! Plus, once a member of the SBA, you will find savings on classes worth more than the cost of your membership!

It’s a WIN-WIN!!! You get to come to the Goddess Festival and become a Susan B. Anthony Coven #1 Sister in Goddess … and you help raise funds for the Women’s Spirituality Forum.

The Women’s Spirituality Forum is an IRS 501(c)3 non-profit. Your registration fees and your membership are tax deductible.

* SBA Special pricing ends Sept. 1, 2010

Books reviewed by Z Budapest

“Make Merry in Step and Songs” by Bronwen Forbes (Llewellyn )

Spring is warm enough to take a book out and read it while you inhale the fresh new air with flower scents. Reading about pagan rituals and enhancing your vocabulary in songs and folk dances, for circle leaders what a gift.

This is a great book! I love old England and loved learning about these many dances. The music is written down, and one can actually learn it. The dances are explained with meticulous precision, and the gentle prodding towards more practice makes the book a delight.

The author is a great lover of folk art, it shows in every selection, but those who think this is all about sugar and a little spice don’t know the English. Some of the heritage is gruesome, the character of the players murderous and unpredictable.

Yes there are the well behaved May Dance participants, wooing the fair Elinor, but there is also a story of a mother who hexed the young wife of her son with infertility. She can never have a child, until the son learns what she has done to hex her and undo the spell.

Then there is the humor. In the John Barleycorn Play, Old Woman questions Doctor Brown .

“What diseases canst you cure?” Doctor Brown: “The hips –pipsy, the palsy, the gout, a man having twenty-two senses in his head. I can cast twenty one out. Why I cured a snag tail last week nearly twenty-five feet long! Surely I can cure thy son who is not quite gone.” And then proceeds to raise her dead son from the dead. Not your everyday pabulum culture here.

I find it exciting that so much has remained still in practice, which the rebirth of the pagan traditions I am sure will contribute with more longevity.

This kind of culture requires costumes and props, a bit of pageantry peasant style. I think this is the kind of book you can consult at each turn of the seasons plus to make more merry at pagan parties. The information in here creates community, cohesiveness and entertainments. Well done Bronwen!

“Echoes of the Goddess” by Simon Brighton and Terry Welbourn (Ian Allan Publishing)

This is a book that should be made mandatory for all Women’s Studies students, and of the Craft and Goddess studies. Beautifully laid out with splendid color photographs just the object of the book itself is classy.

The English do not usually come out with this “in your face we got the Goddess all over our country” narrative. I recall when I was in England looking for the pagan heritage, the locals didn’t brag a lot about it. The London National Museum put the goddesses in room 22, a side show. It was all well known near the temples and stone, yet hush, hush at the same time. With this book, England at last owns her pagan heritage.

I have never seen goddess book this thorough, a well produced overview of the Goddess Culture. Starting with the Lost Goddess, prehistory goddesses, subterranean goddesses, holy wells, freshwater sirens, saltwater sirens, the Celtic and dark goddesses, the rude goddess, the Christianized goddess, the goddess in myths, legends, and in the labyrinth.

Rich chapters lead you through the countryside of England showing you what even tourist guides cannot see. And the Goddess is here bold and beautiful. Indeed, this book has a Holy book quality to it in content and presentation.

It’s hard to pick a favorite, but I am partial to stones. Looking at the breathtaking spiral paths, on a slab from Malta boggles the mind. Four to six thousand years old, these were people who knew about the spirals in the sky, understood the world to be part of the great whole. Another favorite of mine is the image on the Picardy Stone Aberdeen shire, from the 6/7^th century AD; it was a tombstone once on an ancient grave. It has a curvy snake, a symbol of reincarnation; several images which could be maps of the stars said that it had a relationship to the hill of Dunnideer. Mysterious, yet riveting.

When you absorb all this good information take it easy, do a chapter at a time. Its like a rich meal for your mind you want to savor. The book takes you through history and accurately documents where the goddess was worshiped, by whom, for example the Pictish people, who gave women equal rights even back then. Then the great goddess was taken down with misinformation, destruction of her legacy and values. The Synod of Whitby in 664 AD finally crushed the Goddess Culture; all her physical representations were destroyed.

But not the She na gig, the vagina Goddess, she survived decorating the Christian churches, inside and outside. Good luck was her value and sexuality. The same folk also had many Green Man images to keep her company.

Make this book a success. Give them to friends for high occasions. Share it with your book clubs, keep it where you can see it and reach for it.

RavenCrone

So, been thinking about how to present this thought. I can’t come to something reasonable so let’s out with it.  This has been rolling around in my mind as something that should be talked about especially if we are truly to act in the role of Priestesses – how we define death and how we deal with it

Death. What if ….

As it is, really, I don’t know that anyone knows if there is life after death. There’s a lot to be argued one way and the other. I died, went down the tunnel, met someone, came back, cried because I had to come back. My mom cried, after I was 6 days in a coma, when she saw me come back. I saw my brother get killed while gazing into a crystal and his spirit saying goodbye as I stood on a beach 1,000 miles away. So, it would appear that I could argue for “life after death”.

But…

What if when we die we die? What if this is the only time and place? What if there’s only today? What if we “made up” the Goddess?

Scary? Yes? Why?

This is a case of “you might as well give in.” There’s absolutely nothing that you or anyone else can do about death. As it is, we’re born to die. So, what about the journey in between?

Do we have fun (become enlightened – “lighten up”) and do we make up stories to make ourselves feel better? Personally, I don’t mind the feeling better part and look forward to it and the stories. Why not?

So, what if you knew you could not fail, what if you really “knew” you had only today – right now? What would you do? Would you suddenly look up and see the stunning beauty of this planet, of the people (0, 2, 4, 6 and 8 legged people) and their constructs. Consider the imagination involved. Consider that you and I are less important in the scheme of things than grass (which is third, IMHO, on the list behind air and water – everything else is 4th).  No gold medals there.

Hmmm, do you become crazy and try and do it all in one day? Do you sit in front of the TV (or other device) and become a numbed mind? Or, somewhere in between? Or do you start following your bliss? Your art? Your love? Why wait? There may not be a tomorrow; no way to know either if there will be a tomorrow for you or me.

Where do we fit in? Where/what is it that we are just as happy as can be when involved with/in/among/learning/doing?

And do we make up stories? Call them plays. Call them fables. Call them holy. But, the point is, we do call them. And, as long as it’s fun, I can’t see any reason not to call them. After all, I think I’m an enlightening loving individual.

And, you might as well do it in “beauty and strength”. Be the best, learn as much as you can, pass it on to your kids and their friends. It’s been proven that there is only 6 degrees of separation between any of us. 6 people between you and your goal, between you and me.

Can you imagine a world of enlightened people? Everyone being the best they can be at what it is they’re good at and really love doing? Ok, probably impossible because what you love I may hate, but what if? What if when we live, we live? I think we were born to live and part of the living is dieing. Such is life.

All I can say about it is Become Enlightened!! Have Fun. Don’t wait for tomorrow.

And decide how you wish to council others once you’ve clarified your view of death and what to believe or not believe about it.  And, don’t forget, everything changes.  You don’t have to get stuck in anything, even an idea.  In my eyes, stagnation is a sin – the only sin.

And, Her name is Fun.

The following article is excerpted with the author’s permission from Chapter One of Summoning the Fates, A Woman’s Guide to Destiny, © copyright 1998 by Zsuzsanna E. Budapest. All rights reserved.

“What rules our lives? Is it chance, or choice, or something else? Is it the stars, or that strange force people call Lady Lucky, or Fortuna? Since the beginning of time, people have tried to figure out what determines their destiny. In Hungary, we have a saying, ‘Ember tervez, Isten vegez‘ — ‘humans plan, god finishes.’

But the Fates are beyond even goddesses and gods. They are raw forces of nature. They are rhythms of the ebb and flow of energy, matter, and meaning – the three basic components of the universe. They were here first; they will stay to the last. Everyone’s story is in the Fates’ web. They are one; they are three; they are nine, three times three. Their mystery cannot be totally understood, or can it? All the other goddesses and gods became their emanations through time. It was the fate of Zeus to destroy his own father. The Norse gods cannot avoid Ragnarok. When the gods must obey the Fates, you know who is in charge.

This archetype of destiny is embedded deep in the Indo-European psyche. From India across the European continent all the way to the North Sea and the British Isles, cultures big and small have stories, symbols, and ceremonies for the forces who make destiny. Some of these overlap, some diverge, but they agree on the fundamental concept. There are three sisters who rule our lives.

The three Weird sisters are working women. They are spinners, weavers, cutters of the thread; they are writers of the Book of Life. They are blessers, birthers, deathers, dressed in white and red and black. They are fortune-tellers. They are casters of the lots. They are gamblers and luck-givers. They are living springs of water. They are mornings, noons, and nights. What they rule must be.

Since the dawn of consciousness, people have found it psychologically useful to give names and faces to the Fates. The Greeks called them the Parcae; the Romans, Fata; in Northern Europe they were the Norns, who governed men’s ‘wyrd,’ or fate, and for Anglo-Saxons, the ‘Weird’ were those who could foretell the future.

I am especially fond of the word wyrd, because we use it today when something happens that we don’t understand, cannot control, or fear. The word comes from a form of the old Germanic verb ‘to become.’ When we feel something is weird, we activate our fate receptors, the soul that knows the Fates already. Only the soul can understand something weird – the action itself, the presence of the Fates, and their effect on our lives. Often we resist their promptings only to appreciate them later on.

I had to grow up and discover the Fates for myself. The discovery, however, did not come from a book, rather it was a living process. I had to become aware. You don’t really understand what the Fates can do to you unless you have had a visceral experience of them.

During the Hungarian revolution in October of 1956, I was on my way to a demonstration. When you are 16, being part of a collective uprising is very exciting. I lived on the Buda side of the Duna River, and to reach the site of the demonstration, I had to cross the bridge over to the Pest side. I was running toward the bridge when suddenly something weird happened. My feet slowed as if they were weighted down with lead. Frustrated, I redoubled my efforts, but try as I might, I could only shuffle along, furious that I was going to be late.

When I finally crossed the bridge, I heard shots. That wasn’t too unusual. It was a revolution, and people had been shooting off guns in celebration for days. But when I turned the corner to the plaza, everything was silent. Too silent. Instead of a crowd of cheering, shouting people, the plaza was covered with bodies. All those who had made it to the plaza on time had been shot down. The blood was still dripping onto the stones. I stood stop-still, realizing that I had indeed arrived too late – too late for the massacre.

In Hungarian the Fates are Sors Istennok, the destiny goddesses. But their Latin name, the Parcae, means ‘those who spare,’ and indeed my life was spared by them that day. We all have stories about incidents during which that weird feeling, usually accompanied by fear or frustration, has come over us, and it turned out to save us in some way.

The English name for the Fates comes from the Latin word fata. In the singular, the word was fatum, meaning ‘a divine utterance,’ the will of a god. When a child was a week old, the fata scribundus were invoked to ‘write’ a good destiny for the newborn babe. The fata, with the birth goddess Eileithyia, both established and predicted the child’s destiny. The word fate, fatum, comes from the same root as the words fairy and fay. So we learn the Fates are of fairy origin.

In Greek they were called the Moirae, those who allot us our fate; there was Clotho (the Spinner), who spins the thread of life, Lachesis (Disposer of Lots), who measures it out, and Atropos (the Inevitable), who cuts it off. Clotho is usually portrayed with a spindle, Lachesis with a scroll or a globe, and Atropos with scissors, a pair of scales, or a bowl for drawing lots.

In Northern Europe we also find three maidens in a deep cavern. These are the Norns from the Germanic traditions, best known today from their appearance in Wagner’s opera Gotterdammerung. They are named in Old Norse: Urdh, Verdandi, and Skuld. Their names come from the words for being itself, and so I will use these names for the Fates in this book.

Urdh (the same word as wyrd and weird) is all that went before. She is the past. She owns the Well of Life and the Tree of Life, which is fed by the well. Everything that has ever been belongs to the past. From this fertile background life emerges anew.

Verdandi, whose name means ‘that which is becoming,’ rules what is going on right now. She is flux. She is the flower of our energies. She is the mother time, the ripe time, the sexual time. She is harvest time. Her symbol is the full loom.

Skuld (whose name is related to ’shall’) is the one who governs that which must be. She is the necessary outcome of the past and that which is becoming. Skuld is the inflexible one, but in some later legends she likes to ride with humans and mingle with men. She is the one who may request a kiss from a handsome man and change into a beautiful young woman if he has enough gumption to kiss her old face. Strangely, the most personable of the Fates turns out to be the death goddess. Her symbol is the crescent knife, the ghostly scythe of the Grim Reaper. The Grim Reaper is a girl.

This original model of the three sisters is the source for all the other triple goddesses, such as Hecate, who stands at the triple crossroads, her faces looking in three directions – the past, present, and future – and Triple Brigid, who appears as a healer, a goldsmith, and a lady of inspiration. It is the pattern for the trinities of maiden, mother, and crone and all the other goddesses who have three aspects. Each of the many components of our human existence required the Goddess to show a separate face and attributes. Eventually the original trinity became ten thousand aspects, each with her own name, each still harking back to the beginning, the middle, or the end of the life cycle, which the three Fates ruled.

When we summon the Fates we call them out from their deep hiding place in the unconscious. We draw them slowly into the conscious mind, illuminated by goodwill and understanding. This eternal magic can transform the powers that rule us from the misunderstood three Hags into the wonderful three Graces. Or at least we hope so. There are no guaranties with this force. But there are certain practices, a kind of etiquette of interaction with the Fates, that have worked for people before. We call it the technology of the sacred.

The evening was like most other working the evening dispatch shift for the county Sheriff.   It was almost 2:30 in the morning and call volume had slowed and I took a rare break from the radios and took a call taker’s position at the front desk.   The phone rang and the voice on the other end was soft and sincere.   A lady asked how long the county Coroner’s office kept records of bodies found.   An unusual question,   I resisted the urge to ask the lady if she had lost a body.   The sarcastic sense of humor is very much a coping skill developed by those of us in law enforcement to deal with the dark side of life we often experience.   I have never been more grateful for remaining the professional demeanor that was required of me.   I told my caller I had never worked for the Coroner so I wasn’t familiar with the amount of time records were kept but told her how to contact them during the start of the business day to get the information.

There was such a sincereness and sadness in the lady’s voice that made me ask her “Why do you ask?”.   The story began to unfold.    “I have cancer and I don’t have long maybe another month but no more and I just wanted to know so I can leave this world in peace” was the way her story began.   A little more conversation with questions and answers and she knew I was sincerely trying to help her and an emotional flood gate opened.   It was a long time ago, the early 1950’s, the caller was in her mid teens.    She said it was so long ago but it was still fresh in her memory like everything occurred yesterday and she had always wondered.     The caller was pregnant and scared, she kept her condition from her family and friends until her expanding tummy made it impossible to conceal any further.   A nightmare began.

“I didn’t mean to get pregnant, I didn’t really know what I was doing, I sure didn’t know how to prevent it” came the words spoken so softly by the voice that trembled.   “My Dad was so mad” said the caller as the soft tears began to flow my heart broke with a lady who very much just needed somebody to listen.   She began to tell of how times were different and how to avoid the disgrace and shame of having a child born out of wedlock her Dad had taken her to some woman’s house that lived a few towns over near one of the major highways.   She told of the physical pain and horror and fear of having an unwanted abortion performed by someone she didn’t even know.   She told of the physical complications that followed.   There was no follow up medical care, ever.   The result was an inability to carry a child to term  later in life.

Life continued for the lady she married and adopted a child.   She lived in a respectable house and had a comfortable life in the material sense but she said she always wondered.   She knew she had to be far enough along that it was possible her child could have survived.   The older she got and the wanted pregnancies that eventually occurred and failed she learned about fetal development and birth control was introduced to her since she had continued to have miscarriages.   She just wanted to know if anybody had ever found the aborted fetus, was it given a proper burial, did it survive and if so was it alright.     She was looking for information knowing that what had happened could not have been undone but she needed to know.

We spoke for a little more than twenty minutes which is an extraordinary amount of time to keep a caller on the lines.    When the lady had finished telling her life story she asked if she would ever know if a body was found.   I spoke the truth, I told her I felt that since records were not kept like they are now and that anyone who was performing unlawful abortions would not have left evidence to be found in the area which is still rural and undeveloped she would probably not be able to get an “official” report of what had transpired that day so many years ago.     She softly sighed and said she knew it but that she had just needed somebody to talk to and she asked for my name which I gave her.   She thanked me and said that she would pray for me because just being able to talk to me helped her so much and she felt so much better.

I felt bad for her but told her that was what we were there for and she said she was tired and wanted to get some sleep.  I told her if we could help further to be sure to call back.   I didn’t really do anything to help, I was not able to give her information which she was looking for in fact I told her she probably was not going to get the information she was looking for but still I know she found peace I could hear it in her soft voice that was no longer trembling.   I wish I could tell you more of the story of the lady who inspired this article from a conversation now eight or nine years old but I Don’t Know Her Name. I present this story to you for consideration to help young girls today, the Maidens.   We have become somewhat comfortable and apathy has set in concerning Women’s Rights and Women’s Bodies.   Education is fundamental, girls must be taught early on how their bodies work, what they can do to take care of themselves and help that is available to them, they are precious and must know that their Mothers, Aunts, Grandmothers love them and can be trusted enough to be asked about contraception and the older generations must be strong enough to have frank discussions and give clear information.   It is a slippery slope and a very dangerous one at that, if our right to CHOOSE is lost our daughters will once again know the unspeakable horrors of procedures performed without medical care.   They will know the complications of their own bodies maimed because medical care is not available.   They will know of friends who die because they did not get proper medical care.

We have to remember if we don’t have the freedom to choose we are forced to accept what is decided for us be it a forced unwanted abortion or a forced unwanted pregnancy.    Either has horrible ramifications that are inhumane and we must prevent a return to the dark days.   Z Budapest encourages women to organize, agitate, and educate and we must take active measures to preserve the freedoms gained only in the last thirty to forty years.   The Holy Book of Women’s Mysteries by Zsuzsanna Budapest gives an excellent Herstorical perspective of how things slipped and the importance of women reclaiming their worth and ways to do it.   I encourage you to gift a young girl, a Maiden, with a copy of this and be open to discussion after all it is her future that is at stake.   A sister who has probably crossed the veil by now is speaking to you with the retelling of  Herstory.  Take heed sisters do not let her story once again become our story.   I wish I could tell you more of story of the lady who inspired this article but I Don’t Know Her Name….

I am going to my altar now to light a candle for this unknown lady a Goddess whose name we can’t call may she know peace and may she continue to inspire others to preserve rights she did not have herself.

Blessed Be

The typical day ends something like this: come in from work, use a crow bar to get the uniform off, get a shower to wash the yucks away, prepare food to nourish the family, wash the dishes, and then finally collapse into the recliner and drift off into sleep.   Then your eyes pop open, oh no, its the night of the Full Moon!  There are candles to be lit, petitions to make, thanks to be offered!   Then your eyes slowly start to close again when the voice calls out “There is work to be done” and you know the Goddess has given you this beautiful night lit by her Sacred Moon to get your work for her done.   You drag your body up from the recliner and stumble over to the candle box.   As you take your candles and oils in hand your energy builds.   Your body starts to come back to life.   Your hands start to tingle.   The energy is flowing.    You make your way over to the altar and begin your Sacred Duties.  Then you disrobe and step out to dance in the moonlight.   You are a Priestess of the Goddess!

Another work day and you are on your lunch break when you learn that your beloved elderly Grandmother is at her home but only for a moment.   You know that you need to get back to work they have called already unable to locate important documents.   You take your lunch and sit at the table of you Grandmother.   She enjoys your company and you cherish her every breath and word.    After eating you hurry back to the duties that call yet you took time for the Sacred Crone.   You are a Priestess of the Goddess!

You hostess a lovely gathering at your Sacred Temple and many cherished ones are there with you.   Your sister in law arrives with the Goddess Discord upon her.   You consider pulling your sword but you chose not to let the Sacred Gathering be ruined by Discord.   You smile sweetly offer her cake.   Your Warrior Goddess will fight another day on a battle worthy of fighting.   You preserve the Harmony.   You are a Priestess of the Goddess!

The young girls have gathered at your Temple.   They giggle and share stories of their day.   They discuss plans for the coming week.  Hair is braided and finger nails are painted by the Maidens in their late teens and early twenties.   Clothes are compared and boys pondered and music is danced to all of which inspires hunger.   You feed the Maidens.   They ask for a reading and you provide the reading.   You are a Priestess of the Goddess.

The Temple kitties that are Sacred to Bast need grooming.   You feed them, you brush them, you hug them.   You clean the litter boxes.   You play with them by tossing their small stuffed mice across the rug.   You Love them.  You vacuum the rugs to keep them tidy for places for the little ones to play.   You are a Priestess of the Goddess.

The evening altars need tending.   There is the Family altar where you honor your Ancestresses and Ancestors.   There is the working altar where most of your healing work requests are made.   There is the Full Moon altar that still flickers from the evening past.   The Warrior altar needs replenishing.   It stands for those in the military and law enforcement.   It will soon be time to add another candle for another Warrior soon to join the battle.   You tend the altars because you are dedicated to others.   You Love and care for them .   Those you light candles for always hold a very special place in your heart.  You are a Priestess of the Goddess!

You are a Priestess of the Goddess!   You tend to the needs of others.   You smile when others smile.   You take comfort by providing comfort to others.   By feeding others a meal you feed your own soul.   The Maiden new to the craft gives you pride as she begins her journey.   The Body of the Priestess is your Sacred Temple like that of the Temple you dwell in.   You go to the spa to replenish your Temple.   You give hugs to show your affection and appreciation.   You sit by the water while it dances on your toes.   You are a very busy Woman! You are a Priestess of the Goddess!!!!   Long May You Serve!!!!

My friend Sue came to visit me at the end of August.  I’ve known her for many years, since 1996 to be exact, when we were living in the same city.  We’ve both moved several times since then.  Sue is one of the women in my life whom I immediately recognized (from pasts lives) when we first met, and it was a mutual recognition. There have been a few women whom I’ve met and instantly knew, and this has been happening even more these last few years. My S.B.A.#1 Sister Ro is one of them, as is my friend and Sister, Tinne.

Sue traveled far, from the Prairie Provinces in Canada to visit her mother in southwestern Ontario, and then added an additional 7 hours of driving each way just to come see me.  I was thrilled!  Sue arrived with her sweetheart, who is truly a Kouretes* in the Goddess tradition, the second one I’ve met lately and immediately recognized.  We had a wonderful visit, too brief, considering we hadn’t seen each other in three years!

It was the night of the Full Moon.  Sue & I went to the beach, near the Aylmer Marina, accompanied by our very own Kouretes, Darren, as well as Sue & Darren’s adorable Teddy, a fierce & loving little schnauzer. We brought with us sage for smudging, a lighter, a lantern with a candle in it, a Native drum and drumstick, and a Shaman rattle which I had made earlier this summer during a drum camp for womyn and which I gave to Sue.

We walked on the beach until we found an unoccupied space.  Darren spontaneously decided to take Teddy for a walk and throughout our ritual, Sue & I felt his presence on the periphery, even though he wasn’t always close – we knew he was a protection to ensure our privacy.

We removed our shoes and let our toes revel in the cool beach sand.  The water was lapping the shore quite close.  We found a seagull feather, a gift of the Goddess, to help with our smudging.  And so, by the light of the Full Moon, reflected on the mirror surface of the lake, we cast our circle, circling it while drumming.  We invoked the Goddesses, guardians and spirits of West, North, East, South, and Centre.  We did the Mystai “salute to the Moon” (kissing the backs of our hand and sending it to the Moon, while gazing at Her); we stated our intentions for the ritual.  We walked around the circle, drumming and chanting; we talked of our plans and projects for the future; we raised energy and sent our intentions to the Universe, to shower back upon us.  Finally, we thanked the Goddesses, guardians and spirits of West, North, East, South and Centre, and we opened the circle.  Darren shortly reappeared with Teddy.

Although Sue & I had participated in many rituals together with others, it was the first time we had done a ritual, just the two of us, and it felt very very special.  We both felt elated afterwards.  This was when I realized that Darren is truly a Kouretes, and when I told him this, said he felt that this fit him perfectly and described his intentions. He further added that he felt his role keenly while Sue & I were doing our ritual.  Magical!

I’m including a photo taken earlier in the day of the August Full Moon.  Sue & I, at Lac DesChênes (Lake of the Oaks), which is an extension of the Ottawa River

Many blessings,
Eclecta

* Kouretes:  In Z Budapest’s Holy Book of Women’s Mysteries, the Kouretes are described as sons of the Goddess, members of the Goddess-serving priesthood. They were the males who performed service for the Priestesses, who stood around the periphery to ensure privacy for the Priestesses in ritual; they were the sons and lovers of the Priestesses, as well as many of the gay men of the community.

The Cosmick fireworks resulting from this past month’s Saturn-Uranus opposition, coupled with the force of Mercury Retrograde, initiated a GREAT Epiphany within myself that I can best call “The Alchemy of The Soul” Engaged in full force. The Realms of deep, subconscious personal perspectives in relation to old behaviour, came up against the wall of my current self- causing clashes within my immediate environment, and the beings within it whom I hold as significant. The Celestial Trickster’s energy floated in and out of my daily sphere of routines- sparking great levels of resistance at first, followed by self-reflection, re-examination and lastly, Transformation from Within. I had a chance to put into motion, on a primal level, the old adage, “Know Thyself”!

Mercury led me back upon the path to where Great Saturn and Great Uranus were digging up the goods on my personal challenges and issues in life on a vocational level, and my claws came out like a wild cat! The intensity of reaction on my part ignited a Divine moment of Self Awareness, and beckoned me to touch the heart of an old wound despite my fears. My Great Belov-ed Ones came to the fore to be the voices of Wisdom I sought out as I dared to reach to those that I hold close with Deep Respect… and you know who you are! *WINK*

This Mercurial/Saturnian/Uranusian Motion of the Heavens has been a Great Gift of Self Refining thus-far that I hold with Deep Gratitude.

Be Certain to note that following the end of a Mercury Retrograde cycle, things are still subject to the Mercury Retrograde reverberations for a few days… One must choose to lay low and to breath it out for a a little while longer!

Mercury Retrogrades are Great Cosmick gifts to us all in a Strange kind of way….

This energy is a Great Teacher on many levels…

The Celestial Trickster Motion of Mercury reminds us all that there is an Eloquence to the Timing governing the Universe, and our personal lives. It initiates us into moving with the Biorhythms, the Spirals of the months as they unfold.

By Knowing when Macrocosmic cycles are about to unfold through fine-tuning our Transpersonal Awareness, we become more present… more mindful of how we conduct our daily rituals on a “Wholistic” level. We feel the Greater Web of Power of which we are a part- Our Divine Galaxy moves within and Without us- inspiring greater education and time-management within. It most definitely gets a Witch thinking about improving one’s understanding of basic celestial knowledge, and following the motions of the Heavens more lucidly. It enchants one to move into deeper awareness of one’s Natal chart, and having it cast forthwith!

One can see these Mercury Retrograde forces as Spiritual Zen exercises helping us to fine-tune our relationship with the Greater Cosmick Scheme of things as we synchronize our daily activities with the Bigger Sacred Picture.

This is Our individual Selves tuning into Waves of Nature’s Intelligence, and adjusting our Microcosmick “psychic Rabbit Ears” in order to pick up the right Cosmick Stations at the Right time in our Lives.

Like anything, however, one can only approach the lesson with the grace of moderation. One cannot really “plan” for this kind of thing as it is like trying to plan the motion of a Hurricane; however, Mercury Retrograde teaches us the grace of embracing Monthly repose in order to reflect upon past actions, to review and to reorganize something already in motion, to contemplate the details of our methods, and to cultivating a balanced comfort level with the punctuated stillness of our personal Lives Courtesy of the Universe!

May you Move with The Grace of the Celestial Heavens- A Divine Embodiment of Balance in Tandem with the Perfect Infrastructure of the Web of the Multiverse!

BB
)O(
Lady RO!

Womyn may wonder at times whether one can really commune with Goddess, or if it is merely a convention of self examination and connection to a deeper part of ourselves. I have had experiences which tell me that the Goddess is very much alive and makes Herself known personally and definitively. Such an experience I had two nights ago on the Dark of the Moon.

As I am a Daughter of Hekate, a journey I began almost a year ago now, and I do believe I will be on the rest of my life, I sought to honor Her on one of Her ancient feast days, the 13th of August. (Her next is the 16th of November.) I prepared a Supper for Her – the traditional offering to be placed at a crossroads, ideally where three roads converge. Hekate’s Supper traditionally consists of meat (often lamb), cheese, loaf of bread, an onion, and 3 eggs. I had hollowed out the center of the small round loaf of bread and filled it with honey – for sweetness. I blessed the offering, placed it all in a small basket, and set out for where I had left this offering for Hekate before. It is a place down in the woods near a river, which also happens to be a city park. I took my dog, as dogs are sacred to Hekate and I wanted his protection as well. It was well after dark, around 10:30. When I reached the turn off to trek back into the woods, there was a park patrol car sitting right at the turn off. I drove on past it and kept driving a while, turned around and came back, only to find the patrol car still sitting there. The park closes at 11:00, and it was getting close, additionally, I didn’t think the patrolman would let me past him – there seemed to be a purpose for him being right there. So I took my offering back home and put it in the refrigerator.

I was disappointed, but I determined that just a few days later, the 19th was the Dark of the Moon. Since I know that time is also sacred to Hekate, I planned to take the offering back then.

I enlisted the company of one of my Circle Sisters and we set off for the site again about 10:00 p.m. It had started to rain. There was a total cloud cover. I realized that the other two times I had left Hekate’s Supper it was raining! Hekate is the Mother of Storms!

We parked the car, opened the doors to get out and were immediately greeted by the sounds of millions of summer insects singing away at the top of their lungs! Frogs, too. I got my dog out, and we set off in the darkness with my flashlight to keep us from falling into any holes or tripping. Along with the offering, this time I brought 3 votive candles and some incense to place on the ground around the offering. We made it back to the crossroads over a small stone bridge and the very rocky path. There was a clearing in the tree cover right over the spot where I set down the basket and the cloud covered sky was a bit more visible. We heard the river gurgling to the south. I arranged the votives and stuck the stick of incense in the ground, lighting them all in succession. It made the offering look even more beautiful and special. Then my Sister and I stepped back and raised our arms in worship. I prayed aloud to Hekate, “Great Hekate, we hail You and we bless You! We leave this offering for You and ask Your blessing on us. I am your Daughter, Hekate. Thank you for calling me and teaching me. May I continue to learn through the years all that You wish me to know.  Thank you for all your blessings of abundance! I love You!”

I had extinguished the flashlight when I lit the candles. We were standing there drinking in the beauty – the offering in the middle of the crossroads surround by the glow of candles, the bright chorus of the insects and amphibians, the rain had reduced to a sprinkle. Then, my friend said to me, “Do you notice it’s lighter?” I looked around. It had been very dark. Now, indeed, it was lighter. I felt goosebumps form all over me. I remembered the phrase carved above the door to Hekate’s Temple: “EN EREBOS PHOS” – “IN DARKNESS, LIGHT”.   The Goddess had answered me by bringing more light – the Great Hekate, Queeen of Earth, Sky and Sea, had heard me and was communicating with us!  It was an incredibly magickal moment for my Sister and I to stand there and realize what had just happened.   I felt so blessed and so enlivened.  We turned and walked back toward my car, without the need of the flashlight,  just once glancing back to see the candles still glowing in the night.   The Goddess is Alive and Magick is Afoot!  Blessed Be.

“Magick and Wisdom are the gifts of the Goddess. To uncover “truth” one must continue to uncover, discover and search for the hidden, the forgotten, the lost and the unknown to become known. Leave no stone unturned, no question unasked, leave no book unresearched or unwritten.  Always challenge earthly authority on matters they claim to hold answers to of the unknown. Diligently search and study and you will find truths that you seek. Understand that  when you find answers that satisfy you that other people will not always be willing to listen or accept them because it’s simply just too much for them to comprehend.  This is why it is hidden and only revealed to those worthy enough to seek it out, who search with all their hearts to discover this mystery.”  Thus began the words of the High Priestess to me, in the place where time doesn’t exist, in the world of dreams.

It’s said that when the High Priestess shows up in a reading, that it’s best to pay close attention to your dreams and intuition. What about when She shows up in your dreams?

Last night, for hours I worked with the Tarot, shuffling them, admiring them, laying out various spreads trying to see which one would call out to me.  I put them away after I became a little frustrated that nothing jumped out or tried to speak to me.  At least not while I was awake anyway.

On my nightly sojourn into the land of infinite possibilities, another dimension where time doesn’t exist, in the dream-consciousness realm of spiritual existence is where I received the message that I craved. Not  as something cryptic or having to decipher but rather face to face and personal with the High Priestess herself. She called for my audience and I had no choice but to oblige.  I was receiving my message but not in the way that I had originally expected. My desire to have a card jump out at me like a flash of lightening or to be able to feel it like the thunder that rolls across the sky was  not to happen. The High Priestess refused to get louder than the external and internal noise I allowed myself to be immersed in. She had something for me but for what she was about to say, she needed all of my attention. When I fell into deep sleep and entered into my dreamscape,  I ended up right in the place I was meant to be … before the High Priestess.

In utter awe I stood before Her, amazed at where I was. I was in the Sacred Temple and She was seated before me, in between the darkness and the light, between the pillars of Boaz and Jachim, the pillars of mercy and severity.  She sat patiently watching me staring at the veil of Persephone, of great mystery behind Her, knowing that deep down inside, I yearned to know what was beyond it although I knew those whom She found worthy could pass beyond it. I gazed upon the crown of Isis and I am spellbound.  I saw the moon of Artemis under her feet and although I could feel it’s magnetic power drawing me near, I didn’t dare reach out and touch it. Her white flowing robes were so white they appeared to be instead blue.  My eyes met Her gaze and in that moment all of my senses were filled with an indescribable knowing.  The High Priestess, in the flesh is beyond all earthly ideas of beauty, power and infinite wisdom.  Just simply standing in Her presence where Her aura encapsulated the temple space, I know I have been touched and will never be the same again. The words of wisdom she imparted upon me there solidified that realization indefinitely. I will grow, change, evolve and transform yes, and therefore I will never be the same again.

I gave the High Priestess my full attention as she went on. “Realize this, that for all of your hard work and your tireless efforts to uncover such truths, the one truth you will find is that in the end, you will have learned a little more than nothing. This is because my truth is eternal and never ending.  My truth is everywhere and yet it is in no one place. It never has been.”

I felt her words and I thought I understood.  For everything we think we know in this world we are hardly even scratching the surface of all that there is to know and all that there is to know is not necessarily for us to know in this lifetime.  But she was not finished and she went on.

“All of your learning has come to you in many forms, through pleasures of the flesh, of the mind and of the soul and equally in your trials, tribulations, losses and sufferings. You must remember as you are going through this life that these things are merely experiences and in the darkest and painful of times as well the most blissful and happiest of all experiences. Those too will pass.  However, what remains with you, the lessons you have learned  you will take with you from this world into the beyond this veil. This veil is the realm of the unconscious, of the spirit, the source. You will pass through this veil when you are initiated into the final earthly mystery but not before. ”

At that moment I realized that the veil behind her was the veil, of transformation and regeneration. Only through Her, as She was the  middle pillar of the Tree of Life,  could we be birthed beyond the veil, into the final initiation; to know the deepest of all secrets stored away into the unconscious, the Goddess mind; to know, understand and experience death in it’s highest form.  The only way to experience death is through birth and experiencing life. Our physical birth through the loins of a female is purely symbolic of the greater mystery that lies beyond.  I think for second I began to understand the obsession the Ancient Egyptians had with life beyond and therefore lived whole lives concerned with what was after. In those same moments, old ideas, beliefs and ideas of what I thought I knew, and understood were slain. They began to shatter before me, crumble and fall into complete ruin that was only swept way with new understanding.  As this new understanding washed over me, I began to hear her speaking again.

“The book that sits upon my lap, the Tora is a book of the laws of the Universe, the laws of creation, the laws of nature and of spirit. Within these pages is everything that ever was, is now and anything that will ever be is here. Although your name is in it, as your mother before you and her mother before her this book is not for you or any other mortal being to hold in your hands. Nor is it one that is passed down or inherited but rather it is one that is felt, intuited, acknowledged and recognized because this book is within. As a divine and sacred child of the Universe, your job is to live, experience all things and through that to learn as much as you can while you are here.”

I realized that I was in fact dreaming lucidly.  I looked around and I thought Ok, so any moment now I’m going to hear Mustaffa (mu-fasa) from the “Lion King” say to Simba from the heavens in that unmistakable voice that is only James Earl Jones, “Simbaaaah, Remember who you are…..Rememberrrrr” but alas, nothing. I looked around the temple space thinking the High Priestess would not be there now that I was in a lucid dreaming state but she was still there too. I turned away and I thought to myself “This is only a dream and she’s saying just want I think she would say or perhaps what I want her to say” and then as though she were reading my thoughts she said “You can not will the Gods to tell you anything that isn’t meant for you to know, Nor can you can not stop the Gods from doing anything they wish to do. It is  only vanity of the human condition would think otherwise.”

I turned around, almost afraid to look at her but when I did she was softly smiling. I began to hear the sound of rain coming down as she began to speak once more. She said “Never stop seeking, never stop searching and never stop asking questions. It’s been written “Seek and Ye shall find”, it is no less truer right now in your own life time. Remember that when you think you have found the answer you are looking for it is in that moment that you must go back and question again and dig deeper because I assure you there is more to be found. The lessons are not in the answers found but in the experience of finding them.”

Then I could hear nothing but only the sound of the pouring rain. I opened my eyes and turned to look out the window and watched the rain come down going over what I just experienced. I grabbed a journal to write it all down and then I decided to complete the ritual process of change–because I know this experience has undoubtedly begun my metamorphosis, my spiritual evolution–to go and stand outside in the rain. In my pj’s and all, I went out into my back yard, stood by the rose bush and just let the rain wash over and cleanse my being 3 fold, mentally, spiritually and physically.

What exactly this change and transformation means for me specifically, I do not know but I know I can not turn back now.