Spellcasting

It's a pretty sure bet that humans have been casting spells for as long as humans have existed. It is just the comparatively recent religions, including modern science, that have chosen to take a dim view of it.

Working magic was regarded first as the impious use of evil powers, and later as a deluded resort to imaginary powers. In fact, it is neither. 

Magic stems from very real and morally neutral powers inherent in the human soul. We cast spells for the same reasons we use tools and language, create art and social institutions. 

We are a species peculiarly prone to symbolic thought, and we are driven to exert change on the the world around us, for good or for ill. Magic is just one of many ways that those traits manifest themselves.

Storm Moon

The Storm Moon falls in the month of Capricorn, in December or January.

Honor the powers of wind and sky.

It is the time of Thor's Rune:

 The storm that clears, the wound that heals, the pain of childbirth.

 

Spellcasting

What is a spell? Some Witches hasten to put people's minds at rest by assuring them that it's the same thing other people do when they pray. But it's not really the same, although sometimes Witches pray and call it a spell, and some people in other relations even cast spells and call it prayer.

A prayer is a petition for divine help and support. A Witch's spell uses the equipment of her own personality and will to make things go her way.

The difference is goes along with a different understanding of the nature of the Divine. If your God is somewhere above or outside of you, then of course there is no way to approach him except to petition him. If the Gods are within us, among other places, then of course you resort to the holy powers within.

The Earth Tide Ebbs

As the Earth Tide ebbs at the Solstice, the world softens and the Witch’s powers of influence increase.

The time is auspicious for spells of prosperity,  and for manifesting anything on the material plane. The most effective spells worked at this time will have some material bases--talismans, poppets, charged stones.

Winter Solstice

from the Pagan poet Gwion:

We are only concerned with light.
We have given up on warmth,
Have abandoned discernment
Of color and brightness and shape.
We are only concerned with light,
Because the sky, wide vessel
And disperser of radiance, is dark.

We tend our sparkles of fire
In the calendar's frosted eclipse.
We have come to the Season of Man.
This single night
The only light is our own
For all the lands and seas and skies.

The log must blaze!
And every quick branch bear candles,
Not to suffuse us with a cheery glow,
But to ensure that no gust of winter
Will snuff it out.

We are only concerned with company.
We have frozen standing quarrels,
Have abandoned distinctions
Of preference and propriety.
We are only concerned with company,
Because the sky, Great Hall
Of perpetual companions, is empty.

We gather our kind
From withered prairies and crusted shores,
We have come to the Season of Man.
This single night
Ours is the only company
For all lands and seas and skies.

We must be merry!
We must raise a common voice in any song.
We must pledge ourselves without reserve,
For no other rampart stands against extinction
But our bonds.

This single night, this Season of Man,
We are the only gods; the universe is ours.
Behold our magnificence!
If we are diligent
And sacrifice all lesser concerns,
We may keep the light from dying
And our hearts from growing still
Until dawn,
When the gods return
To take the year from our narrow shoulders
And hurl it toward a season bright and fertile.

Lucid Dreaming

Source of image: www.hyperluciddream.com

The Water Tide flowed at Lammas, and now has turned to ebb at the Fall Equinox.   

 

When a tide ebbs, a Witch's power grows. In a flowing tide, the powers of Nature are in the ascendant, and the work of magic is more a matter of divination than sorcery--of reading the course of things, and riding the waves. In an ebb tide the manifest world has less will of its own, and the Witch's will has more effect.

 

Dreams, the creatures of water, are now available not only to our understanding but to our influence, and can even be wielded to influence the course of events.

 

"Lucid dreaming" is a term used to describe dreaming which the dreamer consciously controls. It is, obviously, a powerful magical technique.

 

The most challenging first step for most people is learning to recognize that they are dreaming while the dream is still in progress. You are ready to start working on this when you have reached a point in the work of dream retrieval when you can generally recall at least one dream each time you awake, at least when you are able to wake naturally. (When you are wrenched out of sleep by artificial means, dream-catching is more difficult.)

 

Here are ways develop conscious awareness that you are dreaming;

 

Make a habit of asking yourself regularly, when you are awake, whether you are awake or dreaming. The habit of asking yourself this question can carry over into your dreams. 

 

Ask yourself "Am I dreaming?" in situations that resemble ones that commonly occur in your dreams. Go through your dream journal and not images or situations that appear repeatedly, and which can also occur in waking reality. For example, if you dream often of bodies of water, make a habit of testing your state each time you see a body of water, and each time you swim or bathe. 

 

Go through your dream journal and note recurring images and events that would be impossible in waking reality. Examples might be flying, or watching or experiencing magical shape-shifting. Give yourself the suggestion that the next time you dream about such a thing, you will know that you are dreaming.

 

Stop at some random moment during the day and ask yourself, "Am I dreaming?" Then continue to imagine what could happen next if you were dreaming.

 

Work to become more aware of the subjective nature of your waking perceptions. We construct our waking experience with our own minds, just as we construct our dreams. Form a habit of viewing events from more than one point of view. When you perceive and respond to something, work to imagine other interpretations which could be put on the same events. You do not have to hold and commit to such alternative perceptions if you do not wish to; you are just building mental flexibility, as you build physical flexibility with body exercises.

 

Create a vivid mental image to use while falling asleep, that you can carry between waking and dreaming. One such image in Buddhist tradition is the "flaming lotus," a delicate pink flower with a bright flame in the middle, which is located at your throat (Interestingly, if the Kabbalistic Tree of Life is mapped out on the human body the "hidden sephirah" Daath lies at the throat.)

Moon Festival

This past full moon was the Chinese Moon Festival. I had an in-class essay in which several  Chinese students spilled out their homesickness--it is, most of all, a time for family gatherings. The assignment was a response to an essay that only mentioned someone's homesickness in passing, but in honor of the occasion, I cut some slack for writing off-topic.

There are a number of different stories connected with the Moon Festival. Here is the one I like the best:

Long ago, there were ten suns in the sky. The earth was hot and parched, and no matter how hard people worked, they could not grow enough to eat. The king declared that he would marry his beautiful daughter to the man who could destroy nine of the suns, and leave them with only one that was needed for life.

A mighty warrior presented himself, and true to his word, fought with nine suns and destroyed them all, until at last only one good sun was left in the sky. The king was true to his word, and gave his daughter's hand to this mighty warrior.

The princess, however, was not happy in this marriage. The same ferocity that had given this warrior the power to destroy the nine suns also made him a jealous and violent husband. She soon came to understand that for the good of the land, her own hopes of happiness had been sacrificed forever.

So one night, she went to her jewel box, and chose from it one large, perfect pearl. She went out into the courtyard, and threw the pearl up, up, until it came to rest high in the sky. Then she took a running leap, and jumped high above the palace walls. She flew up to the moon, and there she lives joyfully and alone, giving comfort and encouragement to all unhappy souls below.