You are currently browsing the monthly archive for July, 2009.
Cooler day, long drive and soon we arrived in the Lakes region. Sitting on the dock with only the sound of the water and the seagulls or ducks, then off to the pier for lunch. By then the rain came in. I bought an umbrella but poor Peter had a hard time keeping time with the short legs of Naufragio. (And lets face it, neither of us are twigs and the umbrella had it’s work cut out for it.) Soaking wet, we drove around after lunch, did some shopping and headed home. Funny how a relaxing recharging the batteries day leaves you so drained. But it’s a GOOD kind of drained. One from rain and fresh air.
I am learning the in’s and out’s of the tree of life. Here I have the beginning of my QBListic altar for Malkuth. I didn’t have enough of the right color candles (yet) but there are ten of them. I have granite stones, rock crystal and salt for the earthy qualities. I have Dittany of Crete and the 10’s and Pages of the 4 suits of the tarot. The tarot cards for the paths are set up in their places. I have yet to color the papers on the backboard which is full of phrases, terms and images corresponding to Malkuth.
Although I have not completed it as I would like to date, I know of others who are looking at possibly doing something similar. I sought out ideas and pictures online but found NO QBL altars so I wanted to post my beginning to help inspire and drive those interested to do the same.
It’s a work in progress. meanwhile I focus my study on these and only these aspects of the tarot and the tree. I plan on at least a month of reflection for each sphere. In the end, I should know them all. As I fix it up I will try and update the pictures. I apologize for the quality, I had to use my grainy web cam.
Someone once told me that to begin on a magickal path is to begin on a path of solitude. No one will understand you anymore, no one will “get it” and no one will stick around long enough to share your joys and pains. Your experiences will separate you from the mundane world around you and the people in it. Eventually those you know fall away as the bite of the off hand comment cuts you to the quick. They think they are being cute or funny, but they are making fun of something they don’t understand and something that has come to mean a whole heck of a lot to you.
It’s hard to take lightly the inner search and exploration one works so hard on when they begin a magickal life. Not that we should loose our sense of humor, that would be a death in itself, just look at all the conflicts going on at internet sites between Pagans and magickal practitioners who have lost the ability to relax and laugh at themselves and others. It’s funny how those who seem to want unity and camaraderie of others who might understand them and their journey tend to isolate themselves and fraction off from others on such a regular basis.
In the end, the journey is a solitary one. Even with a close friend, lover, or family who might also share that view, every path is a lonely one, for each and every person to walk alone. Not one of us is completely like another and the stones we stumble upon may be easily passed over by someone else, even if they walk in your footsteps. (Ever try and walk in deep snow right behind someone else, stepping in their footprints?)
As far as the rest of the world, I don’t mind the isolation, I’ve never really fit in or blended well with others. I suppose it was a preparation. I’m not missing much and so it doesn’t matter. I have very few people in my life and I know what I go through will be individual to me. Life is good.
Mixed up a bit of flavor this morning. I went out to water the tomatoes, basil and chives in the garden and ended up plucking a few leaves of basil. After rinsing them, I grabbed my trusty mortal and pestle, bashing the heck out of them along with some kosher salt, parmesan cheese, and some garlic. A little olive oil and BAM! I have a little bit of pesto, minus the nuts. (I simply didn’t have any nuts but the fresh flavor beats the pants off anything!)
OMG I can’t wait until the tomatoes are ready! Home grown tomato sauce with fresh herbs and spices! I hope there will be enough to preserve some for quite a while, especially since I’m not the one making it. (Have I mentioned I live with an awesome cook?)
http://www.wookey.co.uk/news.htm has provided me with the best entertainment for the day. They are looking for a witch and willing to pay handsomely for it. The 50K salary mentioned is in British pounds which equals over 80,ooo USD! I think I should learn how to cackle!
There are a lot of disgruntled witches living around the country. Wearing pointy black hats and black hessian drapes they’re reduced to casting spells whilst sitting on a sofa in front of a 38” flat-screen TV in a suburban semi, using own-brand potion ingredients sourced from the local Sainsburys. Not the des res, executive, no mod-cons, wind-swept blasted heath of their dreams. For one lucky witch though, these ancient yearnings could soon be fulfilled. There’s a unique job on offer at Wookey Hole in Somerset. It’s a job which comes with witch-perfect live-in accommodation in a spacious cave, and a 50K salary. £50,000. Enough to buy designer-label rags, frogs from Fortnum and Mason’s and a Le Creuset cooking pot.
Wookey Hole wants the appointee to go about her everyday business as a hag, so that people passing through the caves can get a sense of what the place was like in the Dark Ages. This was when an old woman lived in the caves with some goats and a dog, causing a variety of social ills including crop failures and disease. She also turned the local milk rancid.
Eventually, an Abbot called Father Bernard was summoned from Glastonbury. Armed with a bible and a candle, he entered the cave, spotted the witch and tried to reason with her. She started screaming and casting curses, and ran off into the depths of the cavern. His efforts at conflict resolution through dialogue exhausted, Father Bernard scooped up some water from the cave, blessed it, and then threw it at the witch who turned to stone. And there she stands to this day.
So the job is straightforward: live in the cave, be a witch, and do the things witches do. Wookey Hole is advertising nationally and hopes to attract a strong field of candidates, with the £50K salary serving as a major incentive. Interviews for the post, which will involve on-site assessment incorporating a range or standard tasks, will take place on Tuesday 28th July at 11am. Given the nature of the role, Wookey Hole has decided to run the process on an “open audition” basis. Ambitious witches, looking for a key career move, should turn up dressed for work and bring any essential witch accoutrements. A limited range of potion ingredients will be available.
Reluctantly, Wookey Hole is allowing BOTH men and women to apply. A common misconception is that male witches are “warlocks”. Wrong. Male witches are witches. According to specialists in magic lore “warlock” is just an insult. Wookey Hole HR has accordingly been advised that under sexual discrimination law, unless it can provide documentary proof that the original witch was female (which would allow them to advertise for women only according to the exclusion to Employment and Training Law No.1661 (2003), pt.II, para 7, clause (a) – no, honestly), it can’t issue a gender-specific JD. Since Wookey Hole can’t furnish the required, legally binding proof, it has had to accept that the post might eventually be awarded to a man.
The authorities hope that Wookey Hole will employ a trans-gender witch, preferably recruited via a youth training initiative.
For further information please phone Wookey Hole
As the usual routine, coffee came with religious conversation this morning.
How do you view Archetypes?
I tend to be a Pantheist, believing that God and the Universe are one. So I would look at archetypes and simply a focused point of that universal energy. A symbol or character representing the energies one wishes to tap into, but still part of the whole.
But could they exist on their own after being “fed” by millions of people over thousands of years?
I still see them as just an aspect of the Universe, not as anthropomorphic individual entities.
But what about entities that you create in magick that take on individual thought and actions separate from yourself such as servitors? They act independent of you? Are they not “stand alone” entities? Or the Goetic entities that you summon and have conversation with?
Servitors, I see as thought, will and desire that one sends out. The energies can still be in force and motion, yet not necessarily “thinking” creatures. Maybe that is my folly.
I suppose my views come from my experiences. I have never really had my servitor talk to me, nor have I summoned anything as great as a Goetic entity. I was every early on in my magickal education in my servitor creation.
Skepticism and doubt still haunt my work and I’m sure it affects it. However, I have to keep reminding myself that I am but a babe in this world. A babe amongst teens and ancients as far as magick in concerned.
The majority of those I encounter have practiced since adolescence and I haven’t even hit the 5 year mark. I’m still opening up (or learning to open up) to aspects of my humanity and divinity that have been hibernating for a very long time, and I don’t always practice as I know I should.
How I view mixing pantheons
