Oakthorne's Posts - RealPagan- Paganism for the Real World

Get Your Hands Dirty

2011-01-12T02:22:15.000Z

Get in there.

You know you've wanted to for a long time. You've been toying with it, talking about it, writing about it, thinking about it. Whatever it is you want to do, there is no reason not to, and every reason to do so.

At 8 pm, I could feel the Rolling Thunder of the Octavo Working pass overhead. In it, I could taste excitement, nervousness, elation and a sense of finally doing it. I wanted help in this not just for the power, but because magic is a way of making those good wishes you send out to people real. Palpable. I wanted help because I'm surrounded by amazing people, who would give so much of themselves to help me, if only they had an outlet.

Whether what you do is witchcraft, sorcery, devotional or whatever, do that thing. Not even for me, specifically. But there is no greater joy in the world to me than people getting their hands dirty doing what it is their spirits have called them to do forever, but they've never quite managed to get up the nerve, the know-how, the internal permission to just do it.

Throw care and concern to the wind. It's a binding that holds your wings too close to your body. Stretch out your wings, feel the pull of the updraft of your soul's desire, and make the leap into it. It doesn't matter if you "don't know how." You do. You'll refine your technique, you'll discover things that work for you and ones that don't. We all do, but not until we actually DO it.

This is a soul-deep vocation, one that defines us, that refines us, that utterly transforms us. It's the Houdini trick of the lifetime, only the vessel we have to escape from is built of Fear and filled with Doubt. The biggest act of magic you'll ever perform is slipping free of those bonds, and discovering the limitless wonder that awaits you in the rest of the world.

It will be one of the hardest things you ever to, to move from someone who thinks about doing magic, who maybe lights candles and incense now and again for prayer and meditation, to being someone who reaches out with every desire they have coiled in their souls, and reaches into the Heart of Creation itself, to take your proper place as one of the co-creators of All That Is.

Get in there. Get your hands dirty. It'll be the best gift you ever gave yourself.

Healing Help: A Candle Burning Octavo

2011-01-06T16:18:10.000Z

As many of you know, I've had some significant health issues recently. Specifically, both of my legs have had a decrease in general sensation from mid-thigh to feet, as well as a significant decrease in muscle strength. I find it difficult to walk sometimes, often stumbling and nearly falling, and certain things one takes for granted like rising from a seating position or climbing the stairs have proven somewhat difficult to do.

In one of the candle-burning books I have, it talks about an octavo, which is an eight-day candle burning ritual, intended to build up some good, strong mojo over time.

Lots of folks have offered to help, and I'd like to take you up on that offer. If you're at all inclined in this direction, please assist. If it feels a little too much like stuff you're not comfortable with, your prayer and good thoughts are still appreciated.

You don't have to be an experienced magician, witch or occultist to lend a hand in this, either. Every bit helps, and you all have my appreciation.

Process

So, I'd like to ask folks to do a candle burning for me. Make sure you have eight candles, of white or blue color. They can be whatever sort you like best, but tapers work really well for this. We're going to burn one candle per night, over eight nights. You'll also need some kind of anointing oil - a healing oil of your preference is excellent, but olive oil will work wonderfully if you don't keep that kind of thing around.

Each Night

This should begin on Januray 11th, and end on January 19th.
Each night of this, anoint a candle. Just pour a little of the oil in your left palm, and roll the candle through the oil.
Place the candle in an holder, and speak a prayer or incantation over it. I'm looking for healing for my legs, strength in the muscle, freedom of movement, freedom from pain.
As you do so, light the candle. The goal is that everyone should light the candle at 8pm your time, and allow the candle to burn for at least two full hours.

The Goal

The idea is that we'll be creating rolling waves of healing energy, building up over eight days, and culminating on the night of the full moon, using the waxing of the moon to boost the "increase in health" sort of vibe.

If you're interested in participating, please let me know.

A Rebuttal to "On Oathbinding: An Opinion"

2010-12-31T17:43:54.000Z

Full Disclosure: I am the individual that Ma'ateo interviewed for his article in the Pulse, Issue 01, entitled "On Oathbinding: An Opinion." If you haven't read that before reading this, you may want to do so - it will make no sense, otherwise.

I will admit to being somewhat disheartened to read this article. The four very relevant points I laid out for why we do what we do were at best summarized in a single sentence. At worse, they were glossed over and ignored.

Your assertions that the "restrictive flow of information" is detrimental is not conclusively proven in this examination, I'm afraid. You assert it, several times, but at no point do you prove it. The idea that limiting information somehow unbalances the universe is...forgive me, but plain silly. Your assertion that it unbalances any interaction between people and their environment seems random and given zero basis for the assertion.

At best, your premise that it unbalances interaction between people comes closest to having some kind of merit, although it should be noted that said unbalance exists only in regards to discussing the specific topic that is oathbound. Yes, I have the upper hand when discussing lore pertaining to the methods of casting the Circle among the Wica, or the Goddess and God of the Wica with someone who does not have that lore. That is also why those topics are oathbound - because I won't be discussing them with those who do not share in the oaths. The system self-balances.

Directly stemming from this problem is the fact
that because of the nature of any information
restriction and, more particularly, oathbinding, it
becomes difficult to derive the factuality,
legitimacy, and morality of information transferred
and practices taught.

If we were information-based, then yes. It would be difficult to do so. Be we are experience-based. Want to know if the material is factual and legitimate? The proof of the pudding is in the tasting. But perhaps you were talking about outsiders knowing if our techniques were "factual, legitimate and moral"? Information about them would not tell that to you. Only experience would.

As to your assertion about the possibility of corruption based on the restriction of information? Well, yes. Anything can be used as a means of corrupting: access to resources, access to sex, idealism, jingoism, codes of honor - anything. The things which can be used to corrupt someone are as variable as the number of people in the world who want something - a category so broad as to be utterly meaningless. I doubt you hold these things in similar suspicion.

As to your game of Telephone comparison, this does happen, but it isn't because of oathbinding - unless you're discussing the muddle that neopagan publishing has made of our inner court material (or at least, their ideas of it). If that's the topic, then you're correct. It does muddle and obfuscate. It's meant to.

But if your assertion is that oaths keep us within groups from sharing our lore with one another, that's absurd. Distance does a far better job of that, even in an age of immediate information transferal.

And yes, there are sometimes "pocket cults" that crop up - fools who take our lore and do what they will with it to build cults of personality, and pervert our lore. But the truth will always out. The Tradition - who have a right to know, because of the very oaths that you decry - discover this, and deal with it. We've done it before, we're doing it right now, and we'll do it again. By our oaths, our elders have taken on the duty of being guardians of the integrity of our Tradition, and they will step in.

This happened in the past, with a line of witches whose initiators basically went crazy, decided it was all Satanism, and wrote a big fat, best-selling book and made a bundle touring the nation, scaring talk show audiences and fundamentalist churches alike. Our Tradition does not practice reculement as some do, but steps were taken. Their downline were contacted by a variety of elders, and taken in to be retrained, to ensure the integrity of the Tradition. These people were also emotionally damaged by the actions of their elders (both in their absurd conversion, and in the years of bad training previous to it), damage which our eldership helped them find their way through. Again, because they took oaths to do so.

At the end of the day, this article is an excellent example of precisely why we keep our lore oathbound. Outsiders focus on the information. We focus on the experience. Too many people feel they are somehow entitled to know what we do, without the hard work it took to get there.

If you really, really want to know? It's available. All you have to do is work for it. It means bending your ego to work within the context of something larger than yourself - of becoming part of a family. It means doing hard work that you don't want to do, that you convince yourself is dumb, or menial.

But no one has a right to it. Not only are we not unbalancing things by keeping this lore, but we are keeping its balance. Things of magic cease to be intrinsically magic when they become open and available for all. Oh, they can still be used for magic, the magic of the human Will, but any magic integral to their nature is drained away by contemptuous people who devalue it, who think they are entitled to it for nothing. Visit Stonehenge if you want proof of that.

I'm saddened that this interview didn't amount to more. I was hoping this would be a forum for enlightening people as to exactly why we do what we do, even if you had some direct rebuttals to them. But to find you handwaving the big reasons why we do what we do, and head off and running into the realm of deep conjecture and flat-out absurdity coming up with reasons why oathkeeping is harmful?

Disappointing, to say the least.

The Temple Herb Cabinet

2010-12-30T05:00:00.000Z

So, having purchased a bunch of materials to make my Yuletide Tobys for friends, I found that a couple of things I purchased were unnecessary - I already had them in my temple stock. So, I decided to take stock and see what I have for just that purpose. Thought I'd drop it here, just for giggles, honestly.

Roots

Angelica Root
Mandrake Root

Powders

All Spice
Damiana
Eucalyptus
Mandrake
Sandalwood, Red

Flowers, Leaves & Roughage

All Heal
Arnica Flowers
Basil
Borage
Chamomile Flowers
Cinnamon, Bark Chips
Five-Finger Grass
Lavender Flowers
Lemon Grass
Mint
Mugwort, Dried
Mullein Leaf
Oregano
Osha Root
Red Clover
Rosemary
Rose Petals
Sage, Clary
Strawberry Leaf
Tobacco Leaf, Dried & Twisted

Resins & Minerals

Amber
Dragon’s Blood Resin
Myrrh
Pinon Pine Resin
Red Amber, Powder
Sea Salt
White Copal, Powder

Other Concerns

Graveyard Dirt, Unknown Soldier: "Bought" at local Civil War cemetery, grave is under a cedar tree; gathered during a Mars Retrograde.
Red Brick Dust

Formulated Works

Frankincense & Myrrh Incense
Healing Sachet Powder: Purchased from Lucky Mojo
House Blessing Incense: Purchased from Lucky Mojo
House Blessing Sachet Powder: Purchased from Lucky Mojo
Prosperity & Employment Incense: Created by Lugus
Sky Father Incense: Purchased from Phoenix & Dragon
Queen of Heaven Incense

Re: Request for Assistance - Tarot Reading

2010-12-29T20:50:09.000Z

This post is being written in response to Beorc's thread entitled Request for Assistance. It is a Tarot reading based on the question he asks there, using the Rider-Waite deck.

The Spread

For this reading, I'm using a standard Celtic Cross, though the meanings of each position is a bit different from what I've found in other books. I learned this spread from my grandmother, and it's the one I have the best success with.

As a Capricorn and head of household, I used the King of Pentacles as the significator, placed in the center.

This Covers You. This card indicates what the general atmosphere of the present it. This is what life looks like around this situation at the current juncture.
This Crosses You. This card (read as the right side being the top of the card) indicates what is presenting difficulties in your life at present, surrounding the topic in question.
This is Beneath You. This is the "foundation" of the topic in question, and the general atmosphere of the past.
This is Behind You. This is an event that caused the Beneath You card to transition into the Covering card. In other words, it is what happened that caused the situation of the past to shift into the situation of the present.
This is Before You. This is an event which will cause the transition from the current general atmosphere to the one in the future.
This Crowns You. This is the general atmosphere of the future, the one which will result after the events of the Before You card.
Your Hopes. This card represents what you hope will happen. Generally speaking, if the card in this place is negative, or otherwise seems like something you'd never hope for, it's likely because it is something that you expect to happen.
Your Surroundings. This is the opinion of those around you - friends and family - with regards to the situation being asked about.
Your Fears. This is the thing you are afraid will happen. If the card in this place is positive or otherwise seems like something you'd never fear, then you're likely anticipating its occurrence not because of that thing, but because of other events associated with it.
Final Outcome. This is the sort of "summary card" of the reading. Unlike the Crowns You card, this is a broad, sweeping generalization, and can often contain warnings or advice.

The Present Cards

These cards lay out what is going on in the present, specifically with regard to the situation at hand.

This Covers You. This card is the Seven of Pentacles. Starting this out right, this is the card of the one who has put his time in to get where he's at. Keywords for this card are Perseverance and Frustration.
This Crosses You. This card is the Ten of Cups, Inverse. Where the Ten of Cups is usually the culmination of domestic bliss, its Inverse indicates difficulty in established relationships, particularly in friendships and with spouse and children.

Of interest is the fact that the problems presented in the Present cards is Pentacles vs. Cups - financial stability versus emotional stability.

Take care to identify when your concerns are actually based in fiscal concern, rather than covering up the desire to not sever emotional ties with a veneer of "practicality." You do yourself and your relationships no favors that way.

The Past Cards

These cards lay out what went on in the past, specifically with regard to the situation at hand.

This is Beneath You. Representing what things have been like in this situation in the past, you have the Nine of Cups. It is an interesting card to come up in this situation, as it indicates a home life that has been emotionally fulfilling - indeed, actively happy. It doesn't touch on finances much, but doesn't indicate want, either. This is a card of the contentment that comes of having your needs met, and little else, but having the joy of your home life. Keywords are Happiness, Satisfaction and Contentment.
This is Behind You. This card is the Eight of Cups. This is the card of second-guessing, and discontentment. At its core, this card is about the desire to abandon one's current place in life, and seek one's fortune elsewhere. It speaks not just to a desire, but a need to let go of the past, and seek elsewhere. Keywords are Abandonment, Sacrifice and Seeking.

Here, we see the past of the situation - a home life that has been happy and content, if not overly prosperous. But now, a desire for something else, for something different has overtaken you, and causes your fortune to shift from the Contentment of your foundation card to the Frustration of your Covering card. In short, you've worked hard for your happiness where you're at, and a desire for something more is causing you to look further afield.

Make sure, though, that you are honest with yourself about your reasons why you are doing this. There is a LOT of Cups in this part of the spread, and that speaks to emotions, not finances. Are you discontent with the way some of your relationships are developing, and are now imagining this big transition to a brighter future as the means to fix them? Be careful.

The Future Cards

These cards lay out what lays ahead in the future, specifically with regard to the situation at hand.

This is Before You. Probably the biggest and most direct piece of fortunetelling to be found in this spread, you have The World, Inverse, before you. Where this card is normally about the satisfaction of seeing all the world laid around you, its inverse is about the frustration and disappointment of endeavors that don't ever quite seem to accomplish what you thought they would. This card doesn't usually indicate failure, however, so much as delay, or the destruction of unrealistic expectations by the frustrations of reality.
This Crowns You. The general atmosphere of the future is outlined by the Three of Wands, Inverse. Please be careful. This card is about failure, but it is failure rooted in arrogance, pride and unrealistic expectations.

Not a very optimistic future laid out here, I'm afraid. This future I would almost definitely call the one that results from pursuing this endeavor in California, honestly. The progression of the cards here - the story, if you will, from past to present to future, seems to show growing frustration, and then disillusionment that comes as a result of trying to escape that frustration, over and again.

I will say this. If you do go into this, do so with the absolute understanding of why you are doing it, and do not damn yourself with lofty expectations. It will be tempting to do so, but if you go into this assuming that you'll be living the sort of life that seems the offer might promise, I can almost guarantee you you'll be terribly disappointed.

But both of these cards speak of delay and realism; both are the illusion of failure when compared with unrealistic expectations, but hold the glimmer of success with realistic and moderate expectations.

Hopes and Opinions

These cards are less about "what will happen" and more about "why they will happen." They tell us about why you make the decisions you do, and why those around you react the way they do.

Hopes. The Knight of Swords, Inverse, in this position speaks of the source of your motivations here. Rashness, and a desire to sort of just jump in half-cocked and try to make it work are at play. This is the card of one who starts things but does not always finish them, particularly when they start to not look like what he expected them to look like. In all genuineness, this card is warning you to look at your motivations again. Don't go off half-cocked.
Opinions. Those around you see this as the Chariot. Its Keywords here are Aggression and Journey. This card is about forward momentum, and the journey forward. To those around you, this has the possibility of being part of your forward movement in life, your continued progression towards success, and the sort of thing that they expect from you.

Be very, very careful here. These two cards tell me that not only are you used to sort of leaping into things and finding some way to make them work, but those around you are used to your doing so as well.

Fears and Final Outcome

Like the two cards above, these are more about the "why" than the "what," although the Final Outcome does provide us some clues in that regard.

Fears. This card, the Five of Pentacles, is very revealing in this position. Its keywords are Anxiety, Ruin and Worry. On some level, it sounds to be like something of a fear that you're going to live life the way you live it now for the rest of your life. Judging by the other cards in this reading, I'd say you also expect that your current ways and means are something you consider to be only temporary. Are you jumping at this opportunity not because it's solid, but because it seems like a way out of this? Again, be cautious and discerning of your reasons for doing things.
Final Outcome. This card, the Four of Wands, is not just felicitous, but absolutely wonderful here. I literally clapped my hands when I turned it over. :) Now, the difference between your Crowning card and the Final Outcome card is usually one of ignorance - Crowning is what happens when you go into things without any awareness, and Final Outcome is usually what they look like when you take things into consideration (often meaning heeding the reading, but it has other connotations as well). This card is about holidays, a successful, joyful life, one of contentment and prosperity. This lies ahead of you, Bran, if you're careful to be very honest and observant about your reasons for doing things, and pruning expectations and out-of-control wishful thinking.

Patterns Noticed

This section is about some of the patterns I noticed while doing the reading.

OMG All the Cups. Okay. For a reading about financial stability and life choices, this reading had All The Cups. :) This tells me that this situation is fraught with emotional pitfalls, and is a warning to you to keep track of them. "If I accomplish this, we can be happy" is a happy story we tell ourselves, but if people are hurt, disappointed or otherwise alienated in the process, even great success can be hollow, indeed.
Major Arcana. Of the three Major Arcana drawn, two of them are Inverse. This is a cautionary note - the major influences in your life, with regards to this situation, are going to seem very dismal indeed. In point of fact, the only upright-facing Major Arcana has nothing to do with you - it's about how people see you, meaning that the misery and difficulty you may find yourself facing are all but invisible to others, leaving you to tend it alone. That always sucks.
Pentacles? Again, in a reading about financial stability and home life, the lack of Pentacles is very, very noteworthy. They appear only in your Covering card and your Fears card. This usually links those two together significantly - make sure that the concerns you have, that the focus you have on financial issues is warranted and is genuinely your motivation here.

Final Summation

Okay, my final summary on this reading.

Before you ever decide on whether or not you're even going to do this, make sure your emotional ducks are in order. Your relationships may not just be the ones to take the stress of this endeavor, but may even be behind some of the reasons for doing it. Make sure you're not substituting your home concerns - your wallet will not repair your heart.

Once that is done, if you do decide to go ahead, take a very jaundiced look at what you're getting into. Again, Cups (emotions and relationships) are a big question. Are you terribly far from support network outside of your immediate family? Figure out what you're hoping it will be, and then cut those expectations off at the ankles. Assume you're moving into a situation as good as the one you're leaving, and no better. Still want to make the move? Could you be as happy there as you are here at your current financial means (that is, how you eat, where you live, etc, not actual dollars in comparison).

Finally, once you've done all that, be aware that there is the probability of success, but it's not going to be handed to you. Indeed, it's going to look like failure before it looks like success, and that is hard to endure. If you continue to be the Knight of Swords, Inverse, leaping from one project, idea or plan to the next, you may never make it through the morass of perceived failure (again - only you see it as such; others see your working hard on the Chariot) to get to the promise of the Four of Wands, in the Final Outcome.

A Rebuttal on Traditional Witchcraft

2010-12-13T16:44:54.000Z

I will say this.

There are altogether too many people who want to sling about the term "Traditional" as though it were the same as "Old." In fact, generally what they really mean isn't just "old," but "older and thus more valid than yours."

At the risk of stating the obvious, that's not what the word Traditional means. It means "of a Tradition."

I see a lot of good folkloric occultism being used thusly. But I also see a bunch of nonsense used to fill in the gaps. It might be argued that's what Gardner did, in his day. But his Craft has stood the test of time. Close to eighty years later, his Craft is still going. Some of his High Priestesses still run covens - hells, one of them still runs the coven she's run since going her way from Gardner! There are Gardnerian covens all over the place, and their Tradition continues to grow.

Many of these things can be said of many of the true Traditions of witchcraft - Alexandrian, Feri, Lady Circe's initiates and downline, and on and on and on.

When your Craft has that sort of longevity, proven power, solidity of praxis and egregoric power behind it, then you can sneer down your nose at us. When your Craft has proven to have genuine power, such that it can call to people who've never heard of it, driving them to seek out a thing they don't even know it exists until they find themselves inexorably within the compass of an initiatory Circle, then you can call yourself "Traditional."

When you STOP describing yourself by saying what you are not ("those Wiccans" or "those Merry Meet/Blessed Be people"), and instead have a real answer for what you are? Then you'll begin to have figured out what the hell you're doing, and maybe even have the label of "Traditional" somewhere in sight down your road.

But until that day comes?

Witch, please.

Figure your own shit out before you talk smack about those who've been doing this longer than you've been alive. You gain no regard by smack-talking.

We, the Bridge

2010-11-30T03:22:18.000Z

There is something strange that comes over me in Circle. I can feel it,
magnetic in pull, a longing that isn't mine, but that is mine to
express.

The Land around me hungers, and looks ever skyward, toward Her.

And in return, the Heavens gaze down, and there is longing in that gaze.

To me, in my time in the Circle, this is what I have discovered. Our gods
are strange, in the accord of other IndoEuropean-descended gods, who are
usually gods of the sky, and goddesses of the land. Though I know that
Murray's work is discredited, and the specifics of our rites are not
ancient, the spirit that moves them is.

The power of the witch is in in-between places. This is not an accident, but indeed, our very
Destiny as the Wica - the role that we choose for ourselves, what we
give in honor to those Gods we call Our Own.

Let him kneel, to find the God beneath his feet and all around him, and raise Him up. Let
her raise her hands to the sky not in supplication, but in invitation,
to draw Her down.

Come, we seem to say, ever do the Earth and the Sky remain separate, save in the bounds of our Circle. Be one, we invite, and know the joy that is yours by right.

The joy we feel, and the potence of magic is there, then, and the role of the Wica fulfilled. Who can ask for more, than this?

The Buck Man: Buckhead, Atlanta, GA

2010-11-18T23:28:29.000Z

Recently, myself and some friends went to visit the Buckhead neighborhood, which is one of those neighborhoods that used to be very crime-ridden, and sorta still is, but is also in the midst of gentrification, meaning it's got plenty of bohemian, hipster and gay influence, too.

As we were leaving the theater where we saw the Dresden Dolls, I glanced across the street and saw the Horned God.

...

I'm sorry, what?

Upon closer inspection, we discovered a little park in the middle of the biggest crossroads in Buckhead. In the center of this park was a circle of short stones. In this circle were the statues of three turtles, three dogs and a rabbit, all looking at the northern part of this circle.

In the northern portion of this circle, is a large base carved to look like a fallen log, and upon this fallen log, He sat, resplendent in the autumn. The Buck Man, Buckhead's own Horned God figure:

He was holding a stang (a forked staff, a tool typically associated with non-New Forest Traditional British Witchcraft, placed in the northern portion of the ritual space to represent the presence of Auld Hornie in ritual), topped with two lanterns.

He's absolutely amazing, quite large (at least the size of a grown man, if not a bit bigger) and utterly impressive up close.

Also, if you look closely, you can see someone put a necklace around his neck, from which hangs a shot glass. There were several dimes in that shot glass, too. Just dimes, note. In hoodoo, dimes are traditionally used to "pay" for graveyard dirt, particularly if they are Mercury-head dimes (because Mercury or Hermes is a psychopomp figure).

So, Buckhead has it's own Horned Man. Simply, simply lovely.