Shadow Magick for New Beginnings

It's official, after nine years I will be leaving the Grey School.  I've been everything from a student to a Board member at the school and it's time for me to do something different.  I've loved being a part of such an interesting organization, but it's time for me to spend more time on my personal work.  It's a huge change and it's also the perfect time for a bit of shadow work. 

Whenever we make big changes in our lives we create the opportunity for altering our own energy patterns.  Any change in our regular activities creates a bit of momentary chaos in our energy flows before things settle into new patterns.  We can take advantage of that confusion and chaos to deliberately forge new and better patterns, rather than letting the chips fall as they may.  Here is a little spell designed to help shift your energies into more advantageous flows when you make a big change.

Shadow Magick for New Beginnings
To be done at the time of any large changes in your life (e.g. moving, getting a new job, at the end or beginning of a new relationship, etc.), if it can be done during the new moon - all the better

Ingredients

• 1 white tea light
• 1 black tea light (I tend to stock up on these during Samhain season)
• prosperity incense (try something with cinnamon or bergamot)

Set the stage for the working in your usual manner.  For me this means casting a circle, calling the quarters, and calling on my Deities.

Incantation
*light the black tea light to honor the past* 
I come this day to end one chapter of my life and begin a new one.
I have spent countless hours and untold amounts of energy forging my path through this world.  Today I change directions.
I honor the work I have done and the energy I have spent.  I honor the lessons I have learns and the gifts I have received.  I honor the challenges I have been offered and overcame.  

 My past has created the person I am today and I am thankful for it, but now it is time for change.


*light the white candle in honor of the future*
Today I begin anew.  I start new endeavors; I choose a new path, a new direction.  
I have learned from my past and have moved on.  
I welcome new lessons and new challenges, fitting for the new person I have become. 

*light the prosperity incense*

Today I usher in new prosperity for myself.
Today I start afresh.
I have grown from who I was and deserve new and better things.
I know I will make new mistakes and face new obstacles and I embrace the challenges they will bring.
I honor my past, as it has shaped me.  I honor my present as it is who I am.  I honor my future, for it is who I shall be - let it be better.

As I do will so mote it be.
 
  
 

Change Is Good

One of the key aspects of Shadow Work is letting go of the things that no longer serve you.  Of course, that is usually easier said than done.  I never said Shadow Work was easy now did I?  In fact I think it's more worthwhile because it is difficult - but I'm a bit of a masochist.

As you may have noticed, I haven't been particularly active of late.  I haven't written anything substantial in a while.  I've been suffering from ennui of the most emo kind, to the point where I'm a little bit disgusted with myself.  This state of things cannot stand, therefore it's time for me to suck it up and look at the things that are creating all this damnable inertia and act like the shadow worker I am.

I had to take a good long look at how I've been spending my time and determine which of those things are actually feeding my soul and which ones aren't.  I came to the realization that some of the things I've dedicate a good portion of my adult life to just aren't serving me anymore and it's time to move on.  It's kind of like when you've been watching a television series for years and one day you realize that it's actually sucked for a while now and it's time to stop watching (if you're a completist like me that's actually really, really hard).  You still kind of love it, but it's just not where your energies need to go.

Death in the Shadowscapes Tarot

What were my big clues that it was time for a drastic shift?  First off, I stopped looking forward to spending my time on things.  Then I started avoiding them.  Then I just sort of stopped doing the things I was supposed to do and didn't even want to talk about them.  Then one day I realized that I don't actually care about fixing the problems I was presented with.  That was the kicker for me.  I'm a puzzle person.  There is nothing I like better than being presented with a challenge and then twisting my brain until I can come up with a solution.  I love problem solving.  It makes me all tingly.  When I don't want to solve a puzzle, then I am well and truly gone.

The Tower in the Shadowscapes Tarot

And so I now have to face the rather frightening prospect of saying goodbye to something that has become part of my identity.  There's a reason that big changes in life are indicated by the Death and Tower cards in tarot.  On the one hand this is going to create a void in my life - which is very scary, and on the other this is going to create a void in my life which can be filled with something significantly more awesome - which is very exciting.  I'm going to do my best to be a glass half full person just this once so I don't start hyperventilating into a paper bag.  I'm going to choose to be excited by the prospect of doing something better for myself and allow myself to be proud of making a hard decision.

Now that the decision is made I actually have a lot more energy for interesting things, like shadow magick (all magick actually), so expect to see more of me again.

**Update 11-19-2013 It's official now, so I can say what the change is.  As of December 1st I am leaving the Grey School after nine years.  It's incredibly liberating :) **

Pagan Pride 2013 Opening Ritual

At the beginning of October I had the privilege of leading the opening ritual for our local Pagan Pride Day celebration.  Despite being rather frantically stressed at the time I think we managed to pull off a pretty decent ritual for building the local community.  Though the actual words we spoke on the day were a little different than what I originally wrote, you'll get the gist from the transcription below.

Feel free to use this ritual however you please, but if you're going to use it wholesale in public please do give me credit.

Pagan Pride Day 2013 - Opening Ritual

Opening remarks:  

We’ve come together today to celebrate Pagan Pride Day.  In this ritual we celebrate coming together and supporting one another and we will pledge to continue to create and strengthen our local community.  We will not be casting a circle because our work today needs none.  Our working is about the magickal and the mundane coming together without barriers.

Have everyone stand in a rough circle.

Call elements (earth, air, fire, water, spirit)

Invite deity:  

We stand together as people of many individual faiths.  We are witches, druids, magicians, seekers, curious onlookers, supportive family and friends, and many other variations.  I invite you all to silently call on your deity to stand witness to this rite.  If you know your deity doesn’t play well with others use your judgment on whether to call them or not.  If you don’t work with deity call on whatever it is you cherish.  This ritual is for all of us.  

(take a moment for everyone to do so)

Statement of Purpose:  

Today we celebrate coming together.  This morning we all took the heroic action of actually getting out the front door and coming to a public gathering.  In this age of twitter and tumblr it’s actually a big deal.  We’ve all taken the risk of leaving the safety and comfort of our homes to interact with people we don’t know.  People we hope we have something in common with.  And we do.  Just by being here we’ve made a statement.  We are proud of who we are and we support each other.  

With all of our differences and all our variety we have come together.  We are not alone.  There are many of us, across the county and across the world.  We believe that there is still magick and mystery in this world and we want to know it.  We may each come to that mystery in a different way, but we all want to know it, to delve into the depths and find our joy.  That we can see past our differences to the heart of the matter shows great spirit.  

We all have our own reasons for coming here today.  Perhaps some of us will share our hopes for this day.

(popcorn people saying something the want to get out of the event)

(Thank everyone that said something)

Working:

We are all stronger for having this amazing community available to us.  We are all better off when we know there are people near us that we can go to for advice and aid in times of need.  Let us all pledge to build and strengthen this community.  A little effort can go a long way.  It can be coming to local workshops and rituals, supporting our local merchants, or even as little as trying to be a little kinder to those who take a different approach than you do.  

What will you do to support our community?

(popcorn and have people say what they individually will do - make it clear that no one has to say anything if they don’t want to)

And so we are pledged before that which we each hold dear.  We will be brave.  We will be patient and we will be kind to each other.  We will do our best to create the community we want to have and we shall.  So mote it be.

Dismiss deity:

Let us each take a moment to thank what we cherish for witnessing our pledge.

(take a moment)

Dismiss elements

Closing:

Take the energy we have raised with you throughout this day and make it a little brighter.  Blessed be.

Samhain 2013 - Stuck in a Rut

Yes folks, I'm still alive.  Between work and GSW politics I've pretty much had zero energy to do my usual witchy Samhain madness.  Yes, I am stuck in a rut; a rut made of apathy, exhaustion, and frustration.  It's all I can do to just light a little incense and give thanks every day, let alone plan an execute an elaborate sabbat ritual. 

During better times I usually feel a tremendous pull towards doing magick and celebrating the season of spookiness - the one time of the year where people don't look at you like a mad person for running around a cemetery with a big grin on your face.  This year I've got nothing.  No pull.  Zip.  Zilch.  Nada.  I am a big pile of mushy ennui.  I think my mundane stress is deadening my ability to feel anything else, let alone perform a major working.  So this year I'm not going to.

Among other things, Samhain is about renewal.  It's the Celtic new year, what better time to get rid of horrible crap that makes you nuts and reach towards something better.  Yeah, in a perfect world I'd do the whole ritual bath, major working, oaths, and whatnot for accomplishing my goals.  But it isn't a perfect world.  My shadow is currently eating my brain and a combination of pessimism and apathy (hooray precursors of horrible depression) and I just don't have the will for it.  So instead I'll just take a nice bath, light my Santisima Muerte candle and burn a little dragon's blood while reading a good book and trying to actually take care of myself tonight.  It might not be a Samhain of legend, but it's what I actually need right now.  I'm no good to the gods if I go insane.

Pagan Pride Day is almost here!

This Saturday, October 5th, is the Central Puget Sound Pagan Pride Day celebration!

This year the Grey School (represented by me and Rae du Soleil) will be running the opening ritual at 11:30am. Come on down and join us in celebrating all things magickal!





Saturday, October 5th, 2013 - From 11am - 6pm
Freighthouse Square 2501 E. D St. Tacoma, WA 98406
www.cpsppd.org

Schedule:

11:00 – 11:30 - Bellydance By April Dickenson
11:30 - 12:00 - Opening Ritual- Grey School
12:00 – 1:00 - Workshop: Elemental Meditation
1:00 – 2:00 - Workshop: History of Herb Use
1:30 – 2:00 - Bellydance by Jewel
2:00 - 2:30 - Midday Ritual - COBM Church
2:30 – 3:00 - Workshop: Pagans in the Military
3:00 - 3:30 - Workshop: Elements
3:30 – 4:00 - Workshop: Primal Paganism
4:00 – 5:00 - Drum Circle - BT Rhythm- bring your drum & join in the fun!
4:30 – 5:00 - Workshop: Shadow Magic
5:00 - 5:30 - Closing Ritual - Hawk's Hearth Kindred

Bindings

Sometimes life is a grand panoply of joy and all the world is your friend.  Sometimes life kicks you in the face.  Ah well.  Into every life a little rain must fall and into the lives of witches so must the need to bind. 

Binding, of course, is the magickal act of restraining someone or something against a particular kind of behavior.  It can be used to good effect to bind oneself against bad habits.  However, most of the time binding is used to restrain someone (an enemy) or something (usually a harmful spirit) from messing with you or your loved ones. 

Binding is one of those ethical grey areas that people often fight about.  Some say it's unethical to bind anything against exercising its own free will in any way.  Others blithely cast bindings any time someone annoys them.  I take the middle course.  My guideline is to never bind someone or something in a way in which I would not be willing to be bound.  For example, I have no problem binding someone against maliciously telling lies because I wouldn't mind having that ability taken from me.  Once I've cast a binding I always try to act as if I am also bound, because it gives me a good idea what I've done to the other person.  If it's awful I can remove the binding and my own pain/discomfort would be the price I paid for my error in judgment.  It's not a perfect system, but it's worked for me so far.

When I do a binding I like to physically bind a poppet that represents whatever I'm binding.  If it's a person I like to put a picture of that person in the poppet if I have one, or just load it with representations of that person if I don't have a picture.  Then I'll put in herbs appropriate to the sentiment of the spell.  I typically make the poppet out of felt squares (they're easy to come by in any craft store and are inexpensive). 

I'll usually bind the poppet with yarn, but recently I've discovered marine rope.  Yarn is relatively weak and has a fair amount of give in it, making for a rather flexible binding.  It's great for restraining yourself from bad habits or for when you want the binding to sit lightly.  However, sometimes the situation you're dealing with is particularly heinous and you need a stronger, less flexible binding.  Enter marine rope.  Marine rope (available in any boating/fishing supply store) is incredibly strong and has varying amounts of stretch to it.  I recently found Dyneema STS 12 Single Braid Line. 
This is now my super-binding cord of choice.  It's stronger than steel, thin as para-cord, and has absolutely no give whatsoever.  When you need to binding something and give it no chance of wriggling out of that binding, this is the way to go.  Overkill? For most things yes, but sometimes you just need to go whole hog. 

A Reading for the Weekend

Tomorrow afternoon I leave for my annual pilgrimage to the Oregon Shakespeare Festival.  It's a joy that I look forward to all year and I am delighted to have found the best possible conspirator for my cultural adventures, Rae du Soleil. 

This year we're going to see Cymbeline and an adaptation of Robin Hood.  I've not seen either, so it's very exciting.  I figured it's a big enough undertaking to warrant a reading.  I pulled out my favorite deck and this is what I got:

It wasn't quite what I was expecting.  There’s the ace of wands and the six of wands, anchored by the ten of cups reversed.  The ace of wands generally represents the spark of creativity and new intellectual adventures.  The six of wands generally means triumph and success after conflict.  The ten of wands reversed is fundamental unhappiness.  So I’m going to start something important, triumph, and be a sad bastard about it.  Lovely.