Now that my school finals are done for the semester, I have a little free time to do things like take out the trash, call my friends, and post to my blogs. YAY!!!! These are all things that desperately need to be done. And, truth be told, I had intended to do these things on Thursday... What happened to Thursday? Well... My time was taken over by a series of important and hilarious learning experiences. Which now comprise the basis for this post. Isn't it great how interconnected everything is?
On Thursday, I set out with the goal of stopping on the East Strip (aka Hawthorne Street) to pick up some more obsidian beads. I ended up getting a short reiki-like calming/grounding session through the use of my palm chakras in a Samurai Sword and Cutlery shop. I went in thinking I'd find a nice kitchen boutique (the storefront doesn't really advertise the Samurai part of the deal). The young man behind the counter had a martial arts hair style where all but the crown of his head was shaved bald. At the crown, he had a very long ponytail of hair. He was showing the other store occupant how to play a bamboo flute, which he made himself.
Just looking into this man's eyes, you could see that he is a fire personality. That he uses martial arts to channel and control that fire. It's been a long time since I met a guy my age with that level of self-awareness. I must be running in the wrong circles... Anyway, we got to talking, and I learned that he's survived a car fire in which he was both injured and burned quite badly. The fire is definitely a part of him now. And the big chunk that is missing from his arm is a testament to his strength of character. The fact that he uses that hand as he does his uninjured one is an attribute to his healing abilities.
Since I've also been through my share of traumas, the conversation was personal, and for me became unsettling. To help me re-ground, the young man performed a calming/grounding for me through my hand chakras. This is something similar to other energy work that has been done for me in the past-- but always it was the energy of water that was used to calm, to sooth, to heal. This man used his fire. It was amazing to me that fire could be grounding, could sooth. But it did. We changed the topic after this, and I find that I've made a friend where I least expected it. And I have a new and growing perspective on the Southern Elemental-- on Fire.
I did also make it to the bead store, where they had some rainbow obsidian, and a lot of onxy, and only one black obsidian option. I found-- yet again-- that when I stop to tune in to my intuition, I know the rainbow and the onyx were not what I'd come for. I was looking for a stone to help me stay grounded and connected. To open my throat chakra and help me connect mind, heart, and voice. I have a piece of black obsidian that does this for me in my sacred circles, and had just made a pendant for the same purpose out of sodalite, clear quartz, and a small snowflake obsidian bead from my stores. This combination of awarenesses prompted me to do a little research when I got home.
In my books, I found that obsidian is a VERY strong stone for grounding/opening and awareness-building. What's more, it is a truth stone, connected to both fire and water. Since obsidian is stone heated to molten glass in the center of the earth, which runs in rivers out of volcanoes and then re-hardens into rock again.... (this is my interpretation, please use a reliable scholarly resource for any specific definitions of how obsidian is formed!)... so it is both a liquid and a solid. It is born of fire.
Two lessons in one day-- Thursday-- focusing on the calming and grounding/centering properties of fire. I think I'll devote a meditation to this some time soon. There is always more to learn. And, before I post this, I'm going to look up the lunar aspects of Thursdays. Just for fun.
What books was I using for my informal research? Well, a strange variety, really:
A Handbook of Chakra Healing by Kalashatra Govinda (English Translation) ISBN: 1-56852-472-2
The Crystal Bible by Judy Hall ISBN: 1-58297-240-0
Green Witchcraft III, the manual by Ann Moura ISBN: 1-56718-688-2
Anything by Ellen Dugan (I enjoy her writing style, and she often includes useful associations of color, lunar phase, etc-- but she's definitely a "personal taste" author, and you take what you think you can use --from her personal experiences and suggestions-- into your own practice.)
This is a personal journey, describing the books I've read, how I find them, what resonates for me, my directions, what I've realized. Good stories, good people, good energy. Great Goddess, what is it NOT?
Energy
Coming here recharges me. Where do you go to heal? As long as you know, I don't need to. Go there. Set aside time for YOUR HEALTH.
Likely Links
Corrections:
...And by the way, if you are a practicing Pagan or Wiccan, and I got something terribly wrong, or you want to share another version or another vision of something I wrote-- PLEASE let me know which it is, and give me the info in a comment on the related blog entry! I'll post it as quickly as possible. After all-- until I gain a free-flowing connection with Universal Knowledge, I have only my own to draw from.
Witch Word Was It?
- Yuletide/Winter Solstice: Dec 20-23; Holy night of rebirth and turning toward the light-- the longest night of the year is when we may first welcome the return of the light. Very much a Christmas Celebration.
- Widdershins: Counterclockwise. Also means "to go backwards." Used to disconnect, banish, reverse, etc.
- Wiccan: of or pertaining to the practice of Wicca-- the modern inerpretation of Witchcraft (which also exists as a seperate practice); The Good Witches
- Tripple Goddess: Most Wiccans/Witches view the Goddess as the Moon, and celebrate her three aspects: Full Moon (Mother), Waxing-- getting bigger--Moon (Maiden), Waning-- getting smaller and the darkness of no moon-- Moon (Crone).
- Tools: Well, with Christian religions, many people wear a cross on a necklace, or hang a likeness of Jesus on the cross on their wall. They might finger rosary beads or light a candle to add power to a prayer or blessing. Well, in Wicca, we have tools and symbols, too. Ours are just anywhere from 2,000 to 8,000 years older than theirs. We have our altars to help us focus on the Great One they represent, and our sacred stones to finger while we meditate or conteplate the Goddess. We light candles to add power to our spells or blessings. We hang brooms and dried herbs on our walls to signify our connection with the Earth or to help us meditate on our own personal version of Abundant Living. We have sacred cups to drink holy water from, and we ritually cleanse and consecrate our sacred tools, too. But it is a totally different energy and purpose we invoke. It is not about some far off GOD, it is about ourselves and our Will and our Goddess.
- Spring Equinox/Eostara: March 20-23; Time of balance, when the light and dark visit in equal measure and the Earth swells with new life. Symbols (prior to the invention of easter) are Egg and Hare-- fertility and new life-- as the world is reborn.
- Skyclad: Means Naked. Some of the more "traditional" forms of Pagan worship require you to go naked. But only some.
- Sacred Circle: it is the temple in which a wiccan worships-- but it is a temple of Energy and Spirit, and we create it and dismantle it each time we go to worship or meditate. It is to help us focus our energy and our magick, and to provide a safe space in which to be and do.
- Sabbat: Wiccan/Pagan holyday, of which there are eight each year.
- Ritual: any activity you plan in advance, or do in a Sacred Circle, to aid connection with Spirit. In Pagan and Wiccan belief systems, this usually includes dancing, singing, lighting candles, and calling on the four or five elements. No sacrificing a cat at midnight. We hold life to be sacred-- as a part of the inevitable cycle of birth, growth, death, decay, and regeneration.
- Pentacle: the five-point star, point-up, inside a circle. This is the traditional witch's symbol, a symbol of power and protection, and representative of the five elements and the sacred circle (and sometimes the Moon).
- Pagan: Usually an Earth-Centered Religion, the word once refered to people living on the outskirts of villages-- people who lived on the land, so to speak.
- Night of the Witches/Beltane: May 1; as is the Mayday tradition, this is a festival of passion, complete with winding round the maypole, frolicking in fields and forest... the night of the Great Rite, and one of the most important Wiccan Holydays.
- NeoPagan: The modern interpretation and recreation of ancient Pagan religions; the label we often use to encompass Wicca, Witchcraft, Fairie, COG, Native American Spiritualities, Native Alaskan, Native etc, Shamanic, Druidic, etc
- Midsummer/Summer Solstice/Litha: June 20-23; the longest day of the year, and thus the day the year begins to wane (to grow shorter and darker). A festival of growth, high magick, and change.
- Lammastide/Lughnasadh: August 1st; First of the three harvest festivals. This marks the end of summer and the first harvest of the grain. We give thanks for the bounty of the harvest, and begin preparations for winter.
- Esbat: monthly coven meetings.
- Elements: Earth, Air, Fire, Water, and Spirit. These have many representations, and I've seen three different versions of which direction is which element. Because the books I most respect to date all agree, I work with North as Earth, East as Air, South as Fire, and West as Water.
- Deosil: Clockwise-- often used to describe the direction of walking to cast a Circle, calling on the Elements (N-E-S-W-N), or stirring a concoction. It is the direction of connection and embodyment, of manifesting that which you are meditating upon.
- Coven: a group of Witches or Wiccans who practice their Spiritual Celebrations and rituals together. A group of really close friends who share their spiritual journey.
- Candlemass/Imbolic: Feb 2; Feast of Lights. This marks the return of Spring. It is a time of cleansing, purification, and preparation for the abundance to come in the new year.
- Autumnal Equinox/Mabon/Harvest Home: Sept. 20-23; Night and day are again equally balanced. Rest, feast, rejoice and give thanks for the second harvest festival of the year.
- Aspects: While most of us believe there is only one Goddess, we use her many names to describe an aspect of the Goddess that we most want to connect with or draw energy from. One aspect might be Hestia-- the Greek Goddess of Hearth and Home. One might be Kali, the forceful protectrice from India. One might be Brigid-- the tripple Goddess from Irish Celtic lore. And so on.
- All Hallow's Eve/Samain: October 31; The third harvest festival, and the last day of the Witche's year. A time to honor departed ones and play host to Spirits. In this aspect of the year, the Goddess is the Crone, and the veil between worlds is thin. It is our oldest and most sacred Sabbat, as it honors death and life, the present and the past. Restore your soul and await rebirth at Yule.
No comments:
Post a Comment