Same Shit, Different Pagan Year.

 Blessings, Darlings!

There might be lots of typos tonight - new computer, not yet the best ergonomic set up, new keyboard.  Anyway - 

I'm in the midst of a very busy week of Samhain work here.  Starting with ritual Samhain Eve, starting daily work with the Planetary Powers on their appropriate days and during the appropriate Planetary Hours, done one major Tarot reading for the coming year and have 4 more to do, doing Jason Miller's Hallows of Hekate ritual (got that done today), etc, all leading to the closing on November 7.

Busy, busy witch.

Oh, the tarot readings?  One card pulled for every month.  The first round was for 'general'.
Next round will be 'personal'.  Then "Local'.  Then a round for National.  Then a round for World.  

I'd also like to re-start doing daily offerings a la Jason Miller but I put that down somewhere and can't find it, and my husband and I need to go over our living wills/end of life directives at this very appropriate time, but he's sick so isn't really available . . . he's also been supposed to decide on a date for us to go over and re-assign the household chores, but he's been ducking out on that over and over and over and over and over and over again - rather like he does on actually DOING the chores, eh?

He has a pass while he's sick.  And while he was tested for Covid earlier, I'm making him test again tomorrow.  Because I'm tired of this shit.

How are things with all y'all?

Frondly, Fern

Tea Time

Blessings Darlings!

I'm at my desk with a hot cup of tea, preparing to do a bit of divination by reading tea leaves.  This is NOT something I'm good at, instead, it's a skill I'm still learning.

And I bumped up against a limitation of this as a form of divination.

See, I'm checking out the not-visible results of doing a bit of a hex.  Normally, using Tarot cards, I could pull a card each for effectiveness, how doing it would effect me, how doing it would effect those around my target.  Mix, pull, interpret.  Pretty straight forward.

That's not how it works with tea leaves, at least for the readings I'm practicing now.  I'm just doing, for this divination, a 'how will this work out over the next month' reading, not a 'let's look at every house of the zodiac' reading.  (I DO plan to learn that later, but I really don't speak astrology).  So I would have to have one cup of tea for each and every one of those questions. 

That's a lot of tea to have, especially on a hot day.  My bladder just looked up at me and said "Really?  REALLY?"

So ... I'm just asking how it would effect ME. Because I'm that way today.

Now, what the heck does that elephant mean?

Frondly, Fern

Face Palm

Blessings Darlings!

Today I saw a question in a FB group.  Here's a summary of the question, with more defining details added:

* long time witch (>10 years)
* not Wiccan, but practices in the 'Wiccan way'
* Totally no idea what to study next
* And she's studied everything in every book
* there was no internet OR books when writer started
* writer is 39 and has Wiccan husband

So, I gave her a list of ideas - Has she invoked all the Goetic spirits? How adept are you at astral projection? At OOBEs? At various types of possession/mediumship? Curing cancer or AIDS? Can you identify and use every plant in an empty lot near you, or a forested area near you? Is your area crime free because of your efforts?

Further, I asked: Have you spoken to your God/dess/es about what to study next? Used guided meditations to find out? Divination? What answers did you get from these type of searches?

Oh, I also pointed out when Cunningham alone started being published, and that I've been on the internet since she was 20.  

Why is she saying I'm not being helpful? I'm confused!

Look, if you've been a Witch for over 10 years, shouldn't you have ways to see what you should study next without asking strangers in FB rooms? Shouldn't you be mature enough to not get upset when people ask questions like mine?  And ..... really? You can't find a book with anything you aren't an expert in already?  I can find tons of books I can learn from, and I've been around this block rather more times than you have.

Sheesh. 

Frondly, Fern 

Ornithomancy

Blessings Darlings!

The Mighty Suzanne Thackston has a new Pagan Examiner article out! 

I would SO love to know more about birds and ornithomancy. Of course, the basic bird knowledge would have to come first.  At this point I don't recognize enough of them to do any divination via them. 

Just another thing on my to-do list.  And it's a heck of a LONG to-do list!

Frondly, Fern

Today's Oracle

Blessings, Darlings!

As I added cream to my coffee today, it took the shape of a whale.  Could be that there will be a Twitter problem today ("Fail Whale").

Or not.

Frondly, Fern

Necromancy

Blessings, Darlings!

NeoWiccan (who frequently comments on this blog) and I were hanging out together the other day, shopping, having nails done, and discussing, among other things, necromancy.  A pretty typical Crones Day Out.

NW was wondering what the big deal is - why so many folks get their knickers in a knot over this type of divination.  Not that they (in this case, a comment from a Roman Catholic) are happy with ANY type of divination, but that necromancy is clearly more upsetting to them than, say, the attention lavished on the groundhog on groundhog's day, or even tarot readings.  Heck, even in Jim Butcher's The Dresden Files series necromancy is one the things banned by the White Counsel (the Good Wizard's Union).  And the series has the good guys calling up demons to work with without blinking an eye!

So we discussed the ancestors and the Ancestors (family vs. Big Name/religious), we touched on the real and perceived role of spiritual entities involvement, etc.  And I figured I'd do more research and blog about it.

For those desperately googling, Necromancy is divination that relies on contacting the dead for the info. Clearly, to be able to do this means you have to believe that the soul or spirit hangs out after death, and that it can communicate with living beings if the living do the right thing, and that the dead have insight/knowledge that they didn't have before.  In other words - even if they were morons before death, they are now morons with access to a better library now that they are dead!  Okay, to put it more ... gently ... they are 'closer to the sources of real knowledge'.

So, what's to fear?

Well... First there is the fear of the dead and ghosts and undead and vampires and zombies.  What DO they want from the living? Apparently, in the gut-level view of a lot of people, all the dead want to do is live again, at any cost to the actual living.  They will eat our brains, they will drink our blood, they will possess our bodies.  I dunno if the afterlife is supposed to be that boring, or at least it's not seen by most people as the dead REALLY being 'in a better place'?

Second, some see an impenetrable barrier between the dead and the living.  Whether the dead are 'unconscious' until resurrection, or live is live and disembodied are disembodied and never the twain shall meet.  People with this view tend to see any purported necromancy as demons pretending to be the dead.  And that demons have access to all knowledge, too, the better to imitate the dead (and, I suppose, promote science the better to use scientific advances to take people away from religion).  I CAN sort of see how people would get this idea from contacts with their departed friends and family - they would have a different perspective after death, being now spirit not primarily soul and flesh.  The answers/responses are going to show a different focus.

It's probably pretty clear I don't hold to these views.  OTOH...

So, what's to give even ME pause?

Okay, at Samhain I invite the Honored Dead to come by, have a meal, say hi.  No promise, no demands that they show up.  An open invitation. Once a year - it's not my 'standard' form of divination. 

I've seen some people who have been unwilling to let go of the dead, mucking up their own lives with this.  There's a nice scene of Edith Piaf doing this in the movie "Le Vie En Rose".  It's not always emotionally healthy for the living person - not because of the dead's focus, but because of his/her own.  It can practically be a form of necrophilia!


And I DO wonder how healthy it is for the dead to keep being called back to this plane.  They have moved to be more spirit than soul, in my belief system they have new things to do/work on rather than still work the family issues they shed with their bodies. Let them move on with their afterlife.

Frondly, Fern

Using Ouija Boards

Blessings, Fronds!

Most forms of divination fall into one of two broad categories:

1. attempting to visually see future events (crystal balls, scrying, etc.) , or
2. interpreting symbols pertaining to the future (tarot, tea leaves, runes, etc).

In these forms of divination contact with the “Beyond” is mediated and indirect. With cards, bibliomancy, ogham staves, rune stones, etc. the contact is mediated by having to come thru’ your Higher Self/guide/whathaveyou and then guiding you to pull whatever card, land on whatever page with your hand, and further mediated by your interpretation. Inspiration to pull the card, not moving your hand and picking the card for you, and inspiration to help you interpret what you see or the symbols you pull, not spelling things out for you.

Ouija boards, on the other hand, are a different category – it’s far more direct contact with Some Thing Out There. Some thing that has enough access to you to communicate in the language you read and write in. Some thing that you are inviting into your room and allowing to move things around. But, seriously, moving things around is less a problem than it getting into your head enough to pick up the English language.

When using a ouija board, you use the board/planchette as a communication gateway to ‘Beyond’. Whether whatever you contact is moving the planchette or moving your hands on it, the being is there with you in the space. And at the very least it listens to your questions … or, if you expect it to answer unstated questions, the being has to access your mind. You throw open a gate, and invite Whatever Is Out There in to chat with you.

While ALL spiritual and magical activity increases your visibility on The Other Side, opening a gate and loudly announcing that you ready for visitors is similar to using Craig’s List to announce you are throwing a party Saturday night and including your address for everyone in the area to come. In short – it’s not the best approach to using this tool.

Some folks I’ve talked to have said “oh, I’ll be fine, I’m doing this in a magical circle”. Consecrated circles are great for many things – this is not one of them. They CAN keep things out – but they are using this WITHIN the circle, inviting Whoever INTO the circle. An open gate in a circle, you inviting What Ever in, makes the circle useless.

Some I’ve talked to have said “If your intent is pure, you need fear nothing”. I will note that those folks still avoid certain parts of town especially after dark, still lock their doors, and still have life/health/homeowners/car insurance. As above so below, folks. INTENDING to pay a bill is not the same as PAYING one. Magic, all types, is dangerous stuff, the stuff of change and transformation. Magic is about responsibility. This is not a time to slack on that.

Some have said to keep a talisman with you. They did not say a talisman aimed at what. Protection from something you’ve invited? Nor did they give any ideas on how to make one. “Just an idea”.

So, what am I saying? Not to use a ouija board? No, not really. I’m saying that you should treat it like the gateway that it is. Respect what you are doing.

Ward it.

Call upon some gatekeeping deity that you already work with (remember my “Intimacy with the Gods” blog post?) and ask that God/dess to guard the gate, letting only beings who will help you and tell you the truth through. Since you’re working with a Divinity that you know well, after you make the request you should be able to tell the change in energy when S/He arrives to ward. Then go ahead and use the board.

Now, not only do you have protection actually in place, you have some hope of getting the truth told to you. For, just asking some Being off the street for answers, how would you know if they were telling you the truth or messing with you? You wouldn’t even know it’s name, let alone be in a position to compel the truth. Even in this case you probably won’t get the full truth. You might get only part of the truth because of some agenda the spirit you’re talking to has, or because the gatekeeper has a reason to keep some things from you, or for other reasons.

By the way, there is some kicking information on divination at www.cantrap.net. You might want to check out the site, for many great things.