LESSONS IN MAGICK: INITIATIONS & WITCH BLOOD

September 10, 2019

“We take spiritual initiation when we become conscious of the Divine within us, and thereby contact the Divine without us.”

Dion Fortune

This topic has been on my mind for a super long time, but I was taking a hiatus from writing and I wasn’t sure how to appropriately discuss this.

Here goes nothing.

I do not want to come off pretentious, elitist, or as a gatekeeper; I want to smash those ideologies, in fact.

I DO want to speak some personal truths and share observations in hopes that we as a community can grow, discussions can start, and we can change some of our negative patterns (both action and thought).

So, I might say things in here that are going to offend you, or annoy you, and make you roll your eyes, depending on your journey and path—I implore you to please read my points, and this piece in its entirety before forming an opinion.

There’s this large group within the greater Witch community who wants to see the Craft become accepted, mainstream (as far as not being considered completely taboo and Satanic) and open.

Then there is another group who wants the Craft to stay underground, to remain Occult (hidden) and let the muggles think what they want about us.

There is a final group forming of people who fall somewhere in between.

I have always been the latter.

The fear a lot of folks have with the Craft becoming mainstream is that it will lose its Mysticism, it will lose its Saredness, it will lose all that it means to be a Witch; to walk among the unseen and exist in Liminal Spaces.

What these folks fail to realize is that no matter how mainstream we become, there WILL ALWAYS be secrets to the Craft, there will always be things that can only be understood if they are truly experienced.

The Witch must experience their Craft subjectively and, on their terms, in their time.

The Craft is a consciousness of its own, dare I say Spirit—far beyond an Egregore at this point.

The Craft will weed out those who are not worthy of all it has to teach, if they prove their Will is not true.

That is not for any person to judge; that is for the Craft, the Spirits, and the Ancestors to judge.

We are not gatekeepers, and I appreciate some of the sentiment behind this; the Craft is Sacred to me, too.

But it is not our job to be Keepers of this Gate.

The Craft keeps and tends to its own Gate.

We each hold keys that we earned to access the Spirit World; my experience will be vastly different from yours, as will all the newer Witches coming up. We must make space for them, and allow them to earn their keys, too.

With all of this said, I want to discuss two specific aspects of gatekeeping that have become huge pet peeves of mine.

Myth: You must be initiated to be a Witch.

Fact: No, the fuck you do not.

The other day I was reading a thread of comments and it was kinda heated, and as I read one person was being ganged up on, so of course I clicked to read more and see what all the fuss was about.

The topic doesn’t matter, but what really bothered me was that people (more than 10) were hounding this person:

“Are you initiated? What titles do you hold? What Coven do you belong to? None? That’s what I thought.”

“You are not a real Witch if you have not been initiated, therefore your opinion doesn’t matter.”

And so on, and so on.

I was dumbfounded.

When did this become who we are?

I am not initiated by any group or person: THE GODS INITIATED ME.

Covens, Temples, Sects and Organizations have their place and for so many people they are a cornerstone of their practice.

But, for a lot of Witches, Solitary Practice is the only way, and, of course, there are a plethora of reasons as to why this might be.

Maybe they can’t practice in the open; maybe they live in a highly religious area; maybe they don’t play well with others; maybe they just prefer to Practice alone.

I think we should all read the works of those who came before us, listen when our Elders speak (that DOES NOT MEAN blindly follow, it just means listen as a form of respect) and accept Mentors if they cross our path or the opportunity presents itself and feels right.

However, I do not think initiation is the end goal, or at least, it doesn’t have to be.

Personally, your titles don’t mean shit to me or my Gods; we only care if your heart and your Will are true, and that you are living your authentic truth.

I am proud of every single friend of mine who has been initiated and holds titles, and props to building some amazing communities but please for the love of all that is holy and unholy, stop telling people that they must be initiated to be a Witch.

It simply isn’t true.

Myth: Witch Blood makes you more powerful.

Fact: No. Just no.

When titles and initiations don’t make someone feel special enough, they must pull the Witch Blood card, and it makes me fucking cringe.

C R I N G E

If you don’t know what Witch Blood is, it means just what you think: a Hereditary Witch, or someone who was born and raised in the Craft or a specific Tradition.

I come from a line of Witches, Eastern Stars & Masons, and was raised by a Pagan Mother and Aunts in the Granny Tradition. My other Grandparents taught me Slavic Traditions.

None of that makes me any better than anyone else.

None of it.

We all have access to the same Power Source.

Read that again, let it burn, let it sink in, let it burn some more and accept it.

Your titles, secret books, pacts and oral traditions do not divide off a part of the Universal Source of Magick.

WE ALL HAVE ACCESS BECAUSE WE ARE ALL THE SOURCE.

After all, we are what we come from.

I certainly believe that some folks are predisposed to excel in certain areas of the Craft, and there are *soooo* many factors that play a role in that.

I equally believe that we are all Magickal beings trying to remember who we are in a world that is forcing us into cages and prisons of definitions and divisions.

The Witch and Pagan communities are supposed to be the one place where the weirdos, the outcasts, the shunned, the misfits are welcome and are free to be whomever they want to be.

Let’s not take that from them because the Egos of a few have poisoned minds.

Be the cure.

Be the balm that combats the poison.

Be the voice that raises other voices.

Blessed Are The Witches.

LESSONS IN MAGICK: The Plutonian Healer

November 15, 2018

“Each of us has his own way of emerging from the underworld, mine is by writing. That’s why the only way I can keep going, if at all, is by writing, not through rest and sleep. I am far more likely to achieve peace of mind through writing than the capacity to write through peace.”

Franz Kafka

Spirituality is a commodity sought high and low by people of all socioeconomic statuses, gender and sexual identities, race and so on.

And, it has been this way since the beginning of time.

Many people still cling to monotheistic religions, billions in fact, but there has been a wave, an uprising of non-traditional (they were once traditional) philosophies and practices being adopted by people all over the world.

Just like people feel let down by their Government and desire to break the two-party pretend democracy we have been living in, hence the rise in Socialists, Communists and Anarchists; people feel let down by their religions of youth and/or culture, so they are turning to Witchcraft, Nihilism, Atheism, Paganism, Wicca, ATR (African Traditional Religions) and every other path that is not the “big three”.

The psychological breakdown is that people want to be shatter the status quo in the most extreme ways possible. Which is, sadly, why there has also been an uprising of hate groups, and far right extremists pushing nationalism.

When people break free, or as I say, wake up, they are often wounded by their past and carry deep trauma from having to suppress certain aspects of themselves to fit into the box society, and in this context, religion put them in.

A Spiritual Awakening is a process of dying and coming back to life over and over again, it’s grueling work and not for the faint of heart.

As with all other areas of Spirituality, there are those who wish to romanticize the process, make it all love and light, unicorns and butterflies, and I can’t speak for all 7+ billion people on this planet, but I know I speak for a good chunk when I say, for many of us, it’s everything BUT love and light.

There are gurus galore who want to take you on a retreat to Bali, Costa Rica, Joshua Tree or India for an extraordinary amount of money, and through Tantric, Shamanic journeys, or whatever, they connect with the Source of love, Divine light and *poof* you are healed.

You will feel lighter.

Your trauma will melt away.

Your vision will become clearer.

You will become Spiritually Enlightened and Awakened.

While I am sure these retreats and this process may help some people, and/or perhaps may even be part of the overall journey, there are a great many folx who don’t need love and light, they need darkness.

They need the comfort and discomfort of the Womb.

They need a journey to the Underworld.

They must dive into their psyche and collective conscious (and unconscious); dangerous places for someone in recovery from religion and indoctrination.

Enter the Plutonian Healer.

Pluto is the God of the Underworld in Roman mythology.

In Astrology Pluto is death and rebirth (renewal), it’s the journey of going beneath the surface—it’s transformation, change, and the key to our inner most secrets; some secrets that we may have locked away from ourselves without even knowing.

Pluto, like Saturn, is a brutal but necessary teacher.

And, often it’s an energy that many people cannot, or don’t want to tackle alone and that’s valid.

It’s okay to need or want help.

It doesn’t lessen your personal power—you’re still doing the work, you still must face those Shadows and Demons, and traumas, no matter if someone walks with you, they can’t do the deep Plutonian work for you.

“You can lead a horse to water but can’t make them drink” comes to mind.

We can show you the way, but we can’t do the work for you.

The choice is always, always yours.

The power is always yours.

I have a love/hate relationship with the word “healer”.

What does it even mean?

Does it mean this person is superior?

*ego talking here*

“No one rules over me! Ahhh!”

*raises fists*

But, seriously, sarcasm aside, what does it mean to be a healer?

For me, as I have grown on my path, grown as a person, as a practitioner and shed my skin only to truly enter my skin, I have realized I am a healer, and superior to no one.

My experiences allow me to be a buffer for people to bounce ideas off; they can look to me, and others like myself, and say, “they made it through the darkness, they immerse themselves in Shadow Work, and I can, too.”

Maybe someone needs me to hold their hand while we navigate the dark together, maybe they need my torch to help them find their way, or maybe they need me to help them ignite their own torch by reminding them of their inherent personal power.

The Plutonian Healer is the dark mirror embodied: we reflect deep abysmal truths.

Just like some healers (and people) find comfort in the blissful energy of light and love, I find comfort in the depths of darkness, mysteries and shadows.

I don’t “heal” in any kind of traditional manner.

I take people on a journey to the Underworld.

I exist in the shadows, inside liminal spaces so that I may understand them better and pass the lessons along. Again, not doing the work for anyone, but being a guide, a map, a path, a light in the dark.

A torchbearer.

And in these times of unrest, unknowns and uncertainties, it’s more important than ever for people to understand not only their own darkness, but the darkness of the collective.

With so many focusing on love and light, things have become unbalanced and it’s time to reign the darkness back in by understanding it better; thus, mastering it.

And, the only way to understand it is to journey through it.

Remember, you are the light, it is the darkness that you seek.

Lux in Tenebris

The Collective Conscious vs. The Collective Unconscious

November 23, 2015

Image: Edmond Yang

“Our hearts resonate at the same frequency as the earth and the universe. Therefore, we are all valuable instruments in the orchestration of the world and its harmony. We must always be aware of the vibrations we emit individually and collectively. Always be in command of your music. Only you can control and shape its tone. If life throws you a few bad notes or vibrations, don’t let them interrupt or alter your song.”

Suzy Kassem

Since I have started writing I have had the honor of meeting and crossing paths with many beautiful souls. I have also been blessed with some priceless career and life advice from some amazing people.

The first piece of advice was given to me via an email conversation with Peter and Alkistis of Scarlet Imprint. I had reached out to them with some questions about writing, and publishing, as I very much respect their knowledge, and professionalism in regards to their Craft. They told me to stay passionate, stay hungry, and to take over the online world; they also told me to take my time because they see too many talented writers want to be published too soon. Finishing off the e-mail with, “it seems your heart is in the right place for this.”

To get that email a little over a year ago, while just beginning my true path was profound and surreal.

The second piece of advice was given to me by a few fellow writers on a fb page I follow, they told me to write 2,000 words per day, even if they are a jumbled mess of nothing; force yourself to write, they insisted. So, I do. Every day. I force myself to bleed.

The third piece of advice was given to me by a mentor, someone I look up to very much, he told me to write about things I am not comfortable with. He told me to step outside of my box, never to be stuck in one genre or rhythm; he said that if I end up getting stuck and finding my rhythm the artist will die, the muse will lose authenticity. His words haunt me when I notice any sense of repetitiveness in my writing, which is often, I mean, I do have my own style.

I hope not to get stuck, I hope to be able to take my style, my sass and apply it to whatever topic it is I am discussing. Some days I am better at this than others, let’s hope today is one of the good days.

I get requests all the time for blogs, and I keep a list in my notebook; it’s my go to when I want to challenge my skill, my mind, my thought process, and my ability to explain things in a manner that is articulate but simple and with depth and soul. I want people to feel my passion when they read my words.

One of the main topics that is requested is the collective conscious, and unconscious. I am a huge fan of Jung, and to even attempt to explain this makes me nervous.

The collective unconscious is defined as follows:

“In Jungian psychology, a part of the unconscious mind, shared by a society, a people, or all humankind, that is the product of ancestral experience.”

One could then draw the conclusion that Jung was referring to what most of us know as the Akashic Records. It seems his theory is based on both the individual and collective, focusing primarily on the individual though; whereas the Akashic Records is a library for the collective, and much harder to access levels of individual information.

If you have ever been to the Akashic Records via Astral Travel or guided meditation, then you will understand what I am talking about; to those who have not experienced this, I will perhaps write a future post about accessing them, and what they are.

The collective conscious is defined as:

“Collective conscious or collective conscience (French conscience collective) is the set of shared beliefs, ideas and moral attitudes which operate as a unifying force within society. The term was introduced by the French sociologist Émile Durkheim in his Division of Labour in Society in 1893.”

“The French word conscience can be translated into English as “conscious” or “conscience” (conscience morale), or even “perception” or “awareness”, and commentators and translators of Durkheim disagree on which is most appropriate, or whether the translation should depend on the context. Some prefer to treat the word ‘conscience’ as an untranslatable foreign word or technical term, without its normal English meaning. In general, it does not refer to the specifically moral conscience, but to a shared understanding of social norms.”

“As for “collective”, Durkheim makes clear that he is not reifying or hypostasizing this concept; for him, it is “collective” simply in the sense that it is common to many individuals; social fact.”

Collective consciousness in Durkheimian social theory

“Durkheim used the term in his books The Division of Labour in Society (1893), Rules of the Sociological Method (1895), Suicide (1897), and The Elementary Forms of Religious Life (1912). In The Division of Labour, Durkheim argued that in traditional/primitive societies (those based around clan, family or tribal relationships) totemic religion played an important role in uniting members through the creation of a common consciousness (conscience collective in the original French). In societies of this type, the contents of an individual’s consciousness are largely shared in common with all other members of their society, creating a mechanical solidarity through mutual likeness.”

“The totality of beliefs and sentiments common to the average members of a society forms a determinate system with a life of its own. It can be termed the collective or creative consciousness.”

—Emile Durkheim

“In Suicide, Durkheim developed the concept of anomie to refer to the social rather than individual causes of suicide. This relates to the concept of collective consciousness as if there is a lack of integration or solidarity in society then suicide rates will be higher.”

To put this in simpler terms, the collective unconscious refers to each individual, and the knowledge we inherently carry with us via our ancestral bonds; basically every memory, every thought, every feeling, every, everything that has ever occurred exists in this “database” and we can tap into it.

I guess I could even go further and say that some of our instinct, or intuition could very well be coming from the collective unconscious, and perhaps it is not us entirely who are making those decisions based on “our gut” but rather, the unconscious becoming conscious. Or is that what instinct really is, and I am just now figuring it out?

The collective conscious can be compared to herd mentality, and how the thoughts of united groups of people create, effect, and change ‘reality’. One could also compare the collective conscious with organized religion because dealing with the collective conscious, the individual is lost and the social structure (hierarchy) or herd is formed.

Tapping into the collective unconscious is something that many people wish to do, but the more I study the whole idea, the more I have to wonder if we are not already tapped into this energy source, just calling it by other names, every name, any name, when it really has no name.

We are everything, and nothing, remember? Therefore, our levels of consciousness are, too.

We are limitless, boundless, infinite.

I am going to link you to some resources, some were used as reference points in this piece, and some can be for further exploration.

http://www.carl-jung.net/collective_unconscious.html

http://encyclopedia.thefreedictionary.com/Collective+consciousness

http://www.thefreedictionary.com/collective+unconscious

I am mad that Wikipedia actually got this right, because usually I dismiss everything on there:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collective_unconscious

Brace yourselves for this one, it gets a little crazy towards the end:

http://thegreaterpicture.com/collective-consciousness.html

People Want to Know: What is Luciferianism?

October 4, 2015

Image: Juliette Bates

“They used to call the devil the father of lies. But for someone whose sin is meant to be pride, you’d think that lying would leave something of a sour taste. So my theory is that when the devil wants to get something out of you, he doesn’t lie at all. He tells you the exact, literal truth. And he lets you find your own way to hell.”

Mike Carey

This topic keeps coming up over, and over, and no matter how much explaining is done, or how many references sourced there is still much confusion.

“What is Luciferianism?” is the number one question I get asked, and I refer them to the usual books and sites (my top choice, Lords of the Left Hand Path by Dr. Stephen Flowers).

It seems that after reading the written works of fellow Occultists and Luciferians more questions arise, or people notice the similarities between Luciferianism and Satanism and become even more confused than when they initially started.

To put it simply, Luciferianism falls under the esoteric Philosophy known as the Left Hand Path, and the most important aspect of Luciferianism is the individual–we do not look outside of ourselves for anything.

It means that we do not worship, some of us may do ritual to certain deities; some may not do anything ritualistic at all. We do not look to the Gods to help us, we go within, find our strength, listen to our intuition and make our decision accordingly. There are some of us, like myself who identify as a Witch, and we will incorporate Magick.

There ARE major similarities between Luciferianism and Satanism, and I am going to try and break it down for you the way I break it down for myself.

Satanists can be either Atheistic (LaVeyan Satanism) or can be Theistic, or what is known as Spiritual Satanism; which is the belief in a supreme power/being(s) but much like most theistic Luciferians they do not worship, merely acknowledge, occasionally paying their respects to their deities in casting or ritual. So, where do we differ?

Satanism is based upon the force of Satan: The Adversary.

Whereas Luciferianism is based upon Lucifer: The Light bringer.

There are some Luciferians who also view Lucifer as an Adversary, but he is the Light Bringer before he is an opponent of God; at least in my opinion.

I discuss Luciferianism openly and often because I like to get people to think, I even enjoy the look of fear on people’s faces when I tell them that I am a Luciferian because immediately they think I am a Devil worshiping, child sacrificing, animal abusing, psychopath. I am sure my Sisters and Brothers over in the Satanist world get much of the same reaction.

As I mentioned before some of us (Luciferians) believe in Lucifer an actual being, whereas others believe in the metaphor of a rebellious Angel who fell from the Kingdom of God BUT it seems the majority don’t pay any attention to the Christian story and view Lucifer as a figure of true, and pure enlightenment; his name literally translates to “bringing light”, derived from Latin lux “light” and ferre “to bring”. In Latin this name originally referred to the morning star, Venus, but later became associated with the chief angel who rebelled against God’s rule in heaven. Even later being associated with Satan, which is up for much debate; as with most figures who “defied God”, Lucifer has been demonized.

The path itself leaves much room for interpretation which I think is where a lot of the confusion comes from, people need clear definition. I personally think that the beauty of this path is how personal, and individualistic it is, that’s what brought me to this side.

I view Lucifer as many things; I do believe in an actual being, I believe He represents rebellion, freedom, going against the status quo, breaking free of the confines religion and society have put us in, and he is a figure of illumination and a bringer of knowledge.

He is an advocate for the individual and for truth along with being the Black Dragon, the Black Serpent, and the Black Flame.

This path gives us the freedom to practice, and believe how we want. That is what I believe Lucifer, as a being or metaphor would want us to do; live on our own terms.

For further research on the topic I have to shamelessly self promote the book I contributed to; if you are interested in purchasing it click here.

For what it’s worth…

January 15, 2015

“The ability to observe without evaluating is the highest form of intelligence.”

Jiddu Krishnamurti

I am not known for being an overly friendly person, I blame it on my gift of sight. Once the façade is gone, people aren’t as exciting to interact with. The reality though is that the past has taught me a lot about the things that can happen when I allow people to get too close, or too comfortable. For a long time I thought that this was a defense mechanism, but I know now it is to keep me sane. I already walk a very fine line, a line that has complete Madness on one side, and Enlightenment on the other. I don’t keep many in my circle but I love this community like family. We can relate so easily to each other because we face the same hurdles. I believe that a lot of us look “crazy” because there are many who really don’t know the truth, who refuse to see the truth, who would never believe the truth even if it slapped them in the face. The masses are threatened by anything different, but especially something as taboo as the Occult. This goes equally for Right Hand Path, Left Hand Path, Satanist’s, Atheist’s, Witches, Pagan’s, Wiccan’s and every belief system that is not “the big three”; Christianity, Judaism, and Islam.

We are judged, and ridiculed by society, and for these reasons those of us who choose to walk ‘alternative’ paths should stick together. We need to remember that at one point we knew nothing, and we also could have been viewed as naïve when it came to our personal Philosophy. Shall we not forget how fucking terrifying it is to break away from a thought process that everything in your ‘reality’ has told you to follow. I look around and see cliques of people claiming to be “this” or “that” and trying to start wars with other groups. I see people cracking jokes about where on the spectrum others fall. I see people not only using, but teaching violent rituals to serve Lucifer, Set, Baphomet, Baal, and others, thinking that this brutality is how you get the attention of a Fallen, Daemon, God, etc. They require us to be true to Self, the rest is based upon the individual. We do not need to add more stereotypes by teaching rituals that require blood sacrifice to appease these Fallen. Firstly, because blood, semen, vaginal secretions and urine should be used by an experienced practitioner only. Secondly, not everyone will be comfortable using bodily fluids, and some will not be comfortable performing a ritual at all. That IS ok, it is ok to not practice as another does. We must follow our own path, and for the record, blood, etc. does not make them more or less willing to work with you; Bodily fluids just add potency.

We have strayed from our path, and before we can begin to fight the outside world, we must fix the problems within our own.

I think everyone needs to first and foremost have respect for their fellow human being, and we cannot go around lashing out “just because” or because they do not agree with us. Newsflash, a lot of people don’t agree with us, but we must always give respect. I could be getting screamed at by a Christian, Atheist, or even a fellow Witch but I will always maintain a level of composure because I will never give my enemy what they want; a reaction from me. The minute we stoop to the level of our opponent, or someone who is trying to engage in a debate, is the moment we hand the win over to that team. We cannot continue to react in the way that “they” think we will. Mind your manners.

Another issue I want to discuss is this whole “bursting someone’s bubble” thing. I understand that because we are on the path to Enlightenment that we sometimes feel the need, or impulse to spread truth. Why do you think I do what I do? However, we cannot go around destroying another’s illusions/delusions. That is not fair, and often it is unwarranted. We do not need to “prove” ourselves to anyone except ourselves. We must focus on the ones who are new to the path, and those who have an itch, or yearn to come over to our side. We must be willing to accept others, and help them thrive. We cannot take away free will, and like I have said before, we cannot force our beliefs on another. That makes us no better than Christians preaching to us about “Hell” and “eternally burning in fire”. We must allow people to naturally evolve and by choice come to this side.

Lastly, we need to stop judging those within our community. There are many who practice their Magick in a way that I never would, but if it works for them, more power to them. We are all individuals, and we have to be more accepting to those who do not walk the Left Hand Path. We also need to stop being so judgemental to those on a similar path to us. I think that comparing ourselves to another will surely be our own destruction. We each have a role to play, and they are all equally important. We cannot afford egos when we are facing a massive change, paradigm shift on the horizon.

I don’t know what made me write this, I started off wanting to write about something else entirely. There is a reason for everything, I suppose, so there is a reason for this, too. I don’t want to come off as trying to give others rules to live by, and I do not want to sound “preachy”. But, being who I am, I cannot help but notice the fatal flaws within our own community. I know that weaknesses in time of war can be used against us, and I do not want our inability to stand with those who are different than us be the reason we fail.

We are seekers of Truth, practitioners of the Old Ways and keepers of Knowledge. I do not care what title you wear, or whom you do or not worship. I only care that when the battle starts our soldiers are ready.

The Nephilim Rising

Posts tagged with Occult