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garden_pixie) wrote2010-10-18 04:09 pm
garden_pixie) wrote2010-10-18 04:09 pm
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The Ancient Call or The Use of Barbarous Words
The Ancient Call or The Use of Barbarous Words
by L. Sophia Kyraphia with deep gratitude to L. Fattah Kyraphia
Working with the Book of Shadows within a tradition's structure has been one of the mainstays of British Traditional Wicca since its inception. Similar to several of the Abrahamic faiths, we are not without our own controversies as to who wrote the BOS, how it was assembled, how authentic the writings are and methods to measure this. Our tradition has always been a blend of ceremonial magic, traditional hedgewitchery and cunning craft. Our specific blend was created by our spiritual ancestor, Gerald Gardner and his work has left a benevolent legacy of magic and myth that has served as a trusted and knowledgeable device to explore the mysteries of our purpose of embodiment in this life.
Our Book of Shadows was never designed to be a definitive text of authority or dogma. Instead, the more deep-seated purpose is to introduce us to our traditions method of putting us into the dialogue of nature and to the inner realms. The traditions Book of Shadows does this by teaching us through invocations, rituals, chants, holy names and titles. It teaches us that we can trust the Goddess, and how our God is the Consoler of Souls. It gives guidance on how to respectfully treat others and what harmony within our mundane lives could be like. Divinity does not always make its mysteries immediately apparent, it is like a shy bride. In this way, our Book of Shadows is like a close friend who can introduce us to Divinity. Some of the important accomplishments that our Book of Shadows has brought to the world through its imprint on its witches include a practice of religious pluralism, social justice, positive body image, equality of rights for men, women and hermaphrodites and lessened classism and exploitation.
The BOS is a mirror for nature and by extension for our soul and the true state of our being. What we see in this mirror will be our own reflection, and as such, this mirror also includes seeing our own Shadow. It is fairly common for an early adopter of Wicca or someone outside of the initiates circle to read a rite or ritual and see darkness, death or fear elevated. The very powerful and yet veiled rune "Queen of Heaven, Queen of Hell, Horned Hunter of the Night" can bring on fearful projections and undesired associations with abuse or deception. I have seen versions of this sacred rune with this particular line taken out without understanding of its true essence.
Nature is both light and darkness, death and life, and as such, the spectrum of this will be refracted out the Book of Shadows. By extension, we will see this refraction as the face of the Gods. On some level this is a true representation of the nature of Reality. As witches, we strive (although imperfectly) to not suppress one and elevate the other. The walking of the mill of magic intrinsically takes seemingly disparate parts and blends them into the whole. The work of the craft is to unify opposites and find the deeper underlying Truth: or said another way, the resolving of paradox. The nature of revelation is Truth, and being Truth it does not have the luxury to be sentimental.
The Book of Shadows exhorts us to look for truth in every rock and cranny, hill and meadow, mountain and temple. It asks us to take our ideals and break them on the rock of truth. This is not a pretty process, nor is it brief. Often this is lifetimes worth of work. My high priestess likes to remind me when I get impatient that it takes 3 lifetimes to make an initiate. Our BOS tells us through its rich pages about the nature of the Gods relationship to and support of us while we are in this transition. We can be assured that they have our back. Our lady does not demand more out of us than we can give and will "calm the sea," and our Lord will "raise up his shining spear of light and protect us." This is not to minimize their hard aspects, but instead to give us the hand up that we need to step forward out of fear and those cages that bind us. We can then step into the polishing process and allow our hearts mirror to be cleared so we may "stand upon [their] hill of vision and show us the Lovely Realms of the Gods." It is important to note that protecting us or caring for us is not the same as coddling, or never allowing anything bad to happen to us. Similarly, we are not being punished if things do not go the way we planned or desired. Initiation is where the Tower card and the Temperance card come together. Initiation challenges us to learn from our past experiences and at the same time opens us to a vast world that was undreamed of from our current spiritual disposition.
Our relationship to the Book of Shadows then, should be one of respect, open-heartedness and trust. This is not to imply that this process of initiation or magical practice to do this is easy, only that it is necessary. If we do this, our Book of Shadows will challenge us to become fully human and conscious of the presence of holiness in all parts of life. It asks a great deal out of us, putting spirituality as the center of our daily life and consciousness. It asks us to take the aspergillus, stand by the cauldron and allow ourselves to be purified and rebirthed into a potent priesthood of integrity that upholds our souls, our tradition, our gods and all life. It is asking us to recognize the order and beneficence of the seen and the unseen realms.
Nature of Words in Craft
Wicca is not a religion of the Book, as some other traditions function. As we have discussed before, our Book of Shadows is our guiding light and a trusty friend on the arduous path of spiritual process. It is not a book of revelation without error or contradiction. We will find mistakes because it is a human creation and human beings are not perfect. Our need to criticize beliefs, teachings, objects or people who are not perfect is merely an outpouring of our own Shadow realm and gris for the mill of initiation. Our sacred text is a working book, put together by our witch kin, High Priests and Priestesses for instruction and practices that have helped witches prosper through this process. Yet, our tradition does recognize the intrinsic power in names, words, rites, rituals and customs and upholds these highly and without apology.
All the myriad words, images, descriptions and actions help our minds and bodies to sync and consequently delve deeper into the natural rhythms which are necessary to undergo life's struggles with dignity and grace. Each of the words and phrases offers us a new perspectives and perceptions that bring a deeper experience of the larger Reality. The outer meaning of the words touch our hearts and our minds, asking our spirits to bend and change in ways that heal us. The meaning behind the words is worthy of delving into as part of any mature spiritual process. (See the article: Arte of Meditative Spelle and Rune Work)
The ability of our sacred texts to bring power and break energetic calcifications resides in its tonal presence as much as it does in its intellectual meaning. The act of reciting and toning our sacred chants, holy names and runes carries the power into the interior of the soul and drops it into the well of our being. These words take root and begin to grow as our own sacred tree. Some of our chants have meanings are unknown to us and bypass our thinking minds entirely. Hekaus (a spell word or phrase; where our word hex comes from) offer power through resonance and become agents of change without our need to know why to be activated. This is one of our most holy acts and a sacred trust and therefore should be carefully regarded. This is also the inner teaching around care over what you say, cussing through curses in day to day life and the need for our spirit to be well disciplined. The magical concept of the bitter root is one that is often at the core of many of our psychological problems that we deal with. When someone says to the universal Reality, "I will never do this" or some phrase along those lines, often the seed that they plant was not the one that they meant to plant. They are surprised that the gods listened to them! Instead they find themselves in actions that are not in congruence with their soul and fighting their life direction, compulsively performing actions that are not wanted. An brief example of this might be "I don't want to be fixated on beauty" and then the person might find themselves actively harming their body, not engaging in healthy practices, or pushing away true reactions to their beauty as false.
The idea of sacred language is foreign to our social current. Most traditions focus on a spiritual teacher for their understanding of the mysteries, to be the conduit of inner knowledge and to connect their spirit to the larger realm. We have this dynamic too: through our beloved Gods, choosing to submit to initiation and through sacred rites. The language itself in the rites and rituals have a power in and of themselves, and the Divine Spirit through which we live, move and have our being, permeates the words and names dressing itself into our spirit. The chants and rituals steadily through practice, openness and internalization opens our spirit more and provides spiritual nurturing causing our spiritual anemia to fade! The words (like our High Priests and Priestesses) remind our inner self who we are and what we are becoming! After we are in the woods all night conjuring, we find summer coming into our spirit and we begin to bloom! Our tradition challenges us to fully live in this life and thrive by deeply acknowledging the larger Reality in all realms of existence and then live in harmony with it!
The words themselves have an energetic reality present within them. Anyone who has practiced Craft for long knows that the words themselves are not just ink on a page. The words are alive, dwelling within a realm of power not unlike our own. Thus, words have a consciousness, a will and a purpose just like we do. Authors know that they are caretakers of word, as members of craft, our relationship is much more intimate, for the words carry the very magics that we are trying to manifest and embody. The power of the word is so strong that in situations such as oaths taken in initiations or our promise given to another person, should never be broken. The words assist and bring with them their own intrinsic power to the altar within the magic circle as any other member might. Names in spiritual circles are actually the object itself, not just the symbol of it. Wiccan tradition often does not say its magical names or even write them because of the potency associated with the Divine Names. Magical names fall in two categories: descriptive and essence. A descriptive example of a name might be the god name Herne, which means horn. A name of essence might be like YHVH, which is in Jewish tradition is an all encompassing name that embodies the totality of existence for them. Wicca has both types of names. We also as a honoring practice and a strong nod to the power of the name do not write our sacred names in books or recite them outside of prayer or ritual.
In closing, when we spin the wheel of destiny, we take with us into the circle the power of our initiation, the oaths that we spoke in the presence of the Mighty Ones and our fellow initiates, and become the guardians of the very words we speak. Stand for your inner mystery and that of the divine presence in all things. Speak it with love, courage and confident authority. Be willing to allow your rites and rituals to change you! Embody what our Book of Shadows is asking us to become with honor, humility, respect!
by L. Sophia Kyraphia with deep gratitude to L. Fattah Kyraphia
Working with the Book of Shadows within a tradition's structure has been one of the mainstays of British Traditional Wicca since its inception. Similar to several of the Abrahamic faiths, we are not without our own controversies as to who wrote the BOS, how it was assembled, how authentic the writings are and methods to measure this. Our tradition has always been a blend of ceremonial magic, traditional hedgewitchery and cunning craft. Our specific blend was created by our spiritual ancestor, Gerald Gardner and his work has left a benevolent legacy of magic and myth that has served as a trusted and knowledgeable device to explore the mysteries of our purpose of embodiment in this life.
Our Book of Shadows was never designed to be a definitive text of authority or dogma. Instead, the more deep-seated purpose is to introduce us to our traditions method of putting us into the dialogue of nature and to the inner realms. The traditions Book of Shadows does this by teaching us through invocations, rituals, chants, holy names and titles. It teaches us that we can trust the Goddess, and how our God is the Consoler of Souls. It gives guidance on how to respectfully treat others and what harmony within our mundane lives could be like. Divinity does not always make its mysteries immediately apparent, it is like a shy bride. In this way, our Book of Shadows is like a close friend who can introduce us to Divinity. Some of the important accomplishments that our Book of Shadows has brought to the world through its imprint on its witches include a practice of religious pluralism, social justice, positive body image, equality of rights for men, women and hermaphrodites and lessened classism and exploitation.
The BOS is a mirror for nature and by extension for our soul and the true state of our being. What we see in this mirror will be our own reflection, and as such, this mirror also includes seeing our own Shadow. It is fairly common for an early adopter of Wicca or someone outside of the initiates circle to read a rite or ritual and see darkness, death or fear elevated. The very powerful and yet veiled rune "Queen of Heaven, Queen of Hell, Horned Hunter of the Night" can bring on fearful projections and undesired associations with abuse or deception. I have seen versions of this sacred rune with this particular line taken out without understanding of its true essence.
Nature is both light and darkness, death and life, and as such, the spectrum of this will be refracted out the Book of Shadows. By extension, we will see this refraction as the face of the Gods. On some level this is a true representation of the nature of Reality. As witches, we strive (although imperfectly) to not suppress one and elevate the other. The walking of the mill of magic intrinsically takes seemingly disparate parts and blends them into the whole. The work of the craft is to unify opposites and find the deeper underlying Truth: or said another way, the resolving of paradox. The nature of revelation is Truth, and being Truth it does not have the luxury to be sentimental.
The Book of Shadows exhorts us to look for truth in every rock and cranny, hill and meadow, mountain and temple. It asks us to take our ideals and break them on the rock of truth. This is not a pretty process, nor is it brief. Often this is lifetimes worth of work. My high priestess likes to remind me when I get impatient that it takes 3 lifetimes to make an initiate. Our BOS tells us through its rich pages about the nature of the Gods relationship to and support of us while we are in this transition. We can be assured that they have our back. Our lady does not demand more out of us than we can give and will "calm the sea," and our Lord will "raise up his shining spear of light and protect us." This is not to minimize their hard aspects, but instead to give us the hand up that we need to step forward out of fear and those cages that bind us. We can then step into the polishing process and allow our hearts mirror to be cleared so we may "stand upon [their] hill of vision and show us the Lovely Realms of the Gods." It is important to note that protecting us or caring for us is not the same as coddling, or never allowing anything bad to happen to us. Similarly, we are not being punished if things do not go the way we planned or desired. Initiation is where the Tower card and the Temperance card come together. Initiation challenges us to learn from our past experiences and at the same time opens us to a vast world that was undreamed of from our current spiritual disposition.
Our relationship to the Book of Shadows then, should be one of respect, open-heartedness and trust. This is not to imply that this process of initiation or magical practice to do this is easy, only that it is necessary. If we do this, our Book of Shadows will challenge us to become fully human and conscious of the presence of holiness in all parts of life. It asks a great deal out of us, putting spirituality as the center of our daily life and consciousness. It asks us to take the aspergillus, stand by the cauldron and allow ourselves to be purified and rebirthed into a potent priesthood of integrity that upholds our souls, our tradition, our gods and all life. It is asking us to recognize the order and beneficence of the seen and the unseen realms.
Nature of Words in Craft
Wicca is not a religion of the Book, as some other traditions function. As we have discussed before, our Book of Shadows is our guiding light and a trusty friend on the arduous path of spiritual process. It is not a book of revelation without error or contradiction. We will find mistakes because it is a human creation and human beings are not perfect. Our need to criticize beliefs, teachings, objects or people who are not perfect is merely an outpouring of our own Shadow realm and gris for the mill of initiation. Our sacred text is a working book, put together by our witch kin, High Priests and Priestesses for instruction and practices that have helped witches prosper through this process. Yet, our tradition does recognize the intrinsic power in names, words, rites, rituals and customs and upholds these highly and without apology.
All the myriad words, images, descriptions and actions help our minds and bodies to sync and consequently delve deeper into the natural rhythms which are necessary to undergo life's struggles with dignity and grace. Each of the words and phrases offers us a new perspectives and perceptions that bring a deeper experience of the larger Reality. The outer meaning of the words touch our hearts and our minds, asking our spirits to bend and change in ways that heal us. The meaning behind the words is worthy of delving into as part of any mature spiritual process. (See the article: Arte of Meditative Spelle and Rune Work)
The ability of our sacred texts to bring power and break energetic calcifications resides in its tonal presence as much as it does in its intellectual meaning. The act of reciting and toning our sacred chants, holy names and runes carries the power into the interior of the soul and drops it into the well of our being. These words take root and begin to grow as our own sacred tree. Some of our chants have meanings are unknown to us and bypass our thinking minds entirely. Hekaus (a spell word or phrase; where our word hex comes from) offer power through resonance and become agents of change without our need to know why to be activated. This is one of our most holy acts and a sacred trust and therefore should be carefully regarded. This is also the inner teaching around care over what you say, cussing through curses in day to day life and the need for our spirit to be well disciplined. The magical concept of the bitter root is one that is often at the core of many of our psychological problems that we deal with. When someone says to the universal Reality, "I will never do this" or some phrase along those lines, often the seed that they plant was not the one that they meant to plant. They are surprised that the gods listened to them! Instead they find themselves in actions that are not in congruence with their soul and fighting their life direction, compulsively performing actions that are not wanted. An brief example of this might be "I don't want to be fixated on beauty" and then the person might find themselves actively harming their body, not engaging in healthy practices, or pushing away true reactions to their beauty as false.
The idea of sacred language is foreign to our social current. Most traditions focus on a spiritual teacher for their understanding of the mysteries, to be the conduit of inner knowledge and to connect their spirit to the larger realm. We have this dynamic too: through our beloved Gods, choosing to submit to initiation and through sacred rites. The language itself in the rites and rituals have a power in and of themselves, and the Divine Spirit through which we live, move and have our being, permeates the words and names dressing itself into our spirit. The chants and rituals steadily through practice, openness and internalization opens our spirit more and provides spiritual nurturing causing our spiritual anemia to fade! The words (like our High Priests and Priestesses) remind our inner self who we are and what we are becoming! After we are in the woods all night conjuring, we find summer coming into our spirit and we begin to bloom! Our tradition challenges us to fully live in this life and thrive by deeply acknowledging the larger Reality in all realms of existence and then live in harmony with it!
The words themselves have an energetic reality present within them. Anyone who has practiced Craft for long knows that the words themselves are not just ink on a page. The words are alive, dwelling within a realm of power not unlike our own. Thus, words have a consciousness, a will and a purpose just like we do. Authors know that they are caretakers of word, as members of craft, our relationship is much more intimate, for the words carry the very magics that we are trying to manifest and embody. The power of the word is so strong that in situations such as oaths taken in initiations or our promise given to another person, should never be broken. The words assist and bring with them their own intrinsic power to the altar within the magic circle as any other member might. Names in spiritual circles are actually the object itself, not just the symbol of it. Wiccan tradition often does not say its magical names or even write them because of the potency associated with the Divine Names. Magical names fall in two categories: descriptive and essence. A descriptive example of a name might be the god name Herne, which means horn. A name of essence might be like YHVH, which is in Jewish tradition is an all encompassing name that embodies the totality of existence for them. Wicca has both types of names. We also as a honoring practice and a strong nod to the power of the name do not write our sacred names in books or recite them outside of prayer or ritual.
In closing, when we spin the wheel of destiny, we take with us into the circle the power of our initiation, the oaths that we spoke in the presence of the Mighty Ones and our fellow initiates, and become the guardians of the very words we speak. Stand for your inner mystery and that of the divine presence in all things. Speak it with love, courage and confident authority. Be willing to allow your rites and rituals to change you! Embody what our Book of Shadows is asking us to become with honor, humility, respect!