Photo by COPPERTIST WU via pexels.com

by Christopher Penczak, edited by Tina Whittle

In the heart of the mysteries, we discover that we are both the lover and the beloved. We are the hunter and the hunted. We are the seeker and that which is sought, realizing Tat Tvam Asi, the Hindu aphorism often translated as “Thou Art That,” a concept made more famous in the West due to the work of Joseph Campbell. Different traditions use different stories and symbols, but it is in the union of paradox we find that mystery.

Life feeds life in the Wheel of the Year. Death is about another form of life, the power to regenerate and renew and return. A central mystery symbol in many traditions, Witches and Christians alike, is the sacrament, consuming something sacred and integrating it. You are what you eat. And when you eat something that has gone through its own alchemical process, like bread dying to rise again with yeast or wine where grapes are buried in a casket and give rise to a spirit, you integrate a level of alchemical wisdom. This is a key to alchemical or magickal medicines. You consume the magickal process as well as the substance.

In the Egyptian Pyramid texts, which are divided into sections referred to as “utterances,” the Cannibal Hymn utterance is a fascinating portion of the magick of the journey of death and initiation. In it, the king on this journey of transformation eats the gods themselves, their hearts, bones, marrow, lungs, magick, and spirit. Many have interpreted this as an ancient cannibalism of predynastic Egypt, enshrined in this vision, though most today believe it to be allegorical. He eats of the red and the green, which can be the flesh and vegetation, or the two kingdoms of Egypt, unifying upper and lower Egypt. To all of us, it is also the unification of the material and spiritual realms. The magick of consumption, ritually or in vision, has always been a part of magick.

Today we consume much more. We are in a consumer culture, devouring ceaselessly, but not always food. Our diet also includes art, music, poetry. We feast with our eyes, ears, noses, and hands as well as our tongues. We describe non-organic systems interfacing with organic beings, such as social media and the internet, as media ecosystems and environments. We consume content generated by others. We often feel compelled to create our own content for others to consume, with a wide range of motives, both conscious and unconscious. There is a certain reciprocity. Much of the content (though monetized by some in the form of commercials) is seemingly offered for free, but the most popular is often a regurgitation of others’ ideas, and while mildly entertaining, is most often simple distraction. Content that purports wisdom is available, but muddled with a lot of misinformation and misunderstanding, as it often reaches us not directly from the source of the wisdom, but instead third, fourth, and fifth hand, cut up into attractive bite-sized pieces without context. If we are what we eat, what are we becoming?

In this cycle, we become the devourer, mindlessly scrolling, yet taking in all manner of information. While gems in the rough exist, we sometimes mistake the consumption for some manner of accomplishment. When we produce content, often with very little expertise or context and from un-lived experience, we become the devoured, and feel good when we are wanted by others, acknowledged and appreciated, but feeling the pressure to always do more and more, as the appreciation—and satisfaction—is fleeting. If we can rise above it, we can find we are in a pattern that is ultimately feeding large parasitical corporations that are not really making much of value to the world, but have somehow convinced us to make commercials of our lives, fodder of our lives, for them to use to sell us things. And this has grown in a dominant pattern of our culture. If you don’t participate, you are disconnected from family, friends, peers and the culture around, out of the loops of language and cultural context.

What does this mean to the occultist, the Witch, the magician? Our challenge is, as ever, to return to the sacred. Those seeking will dabble and play with magick, with mixed results due to this mixed quality of information. Some will parse out what works and what doesn’t, then find better sources. They’ll consume more, but will perhaps move from online posts to books with a fuller context, and then older books with a proven history, and then mentors, courses, and groups. They might even find in-person community. Some then take a little knowledge and success and build their own brand, developing a sense of self through the eyes of others, and use their experience to help others. Some for good reasons, others with less pure, and often unconscious, motivation. Some may make actual contact with higher, deeper, wiser forces, and become consumed themselves, not by the masses for likes and shares of a post, but consumed by other powers.

Some of those powers are harmful. On a higher level, occult traditions talk about predatory and adversarial spirits. Gurdjieff was famous for warning people that we are “food for the Moon” and need to break our conditioning to no longer be consumed by the Moon. Yet when we are continually participating in cycles online of creation and consumption, we forget that we are feeding larger corporations who ultimately benefit from the commercials we make of our lives. These corporations provide the space, but do not really add to the creativity, the actual content, or the advancement of ideas and arts. They are parasitical upon us all, yet somewhat invisible in our day-to-day use. When we boast about being more conscious or having our values in alignment with our actions in the world, we often forget these invisibles forces. Beyond the corporations, there are naturally parasitical entities that feed upon fear, anger, jealousy. They are not evil, but they are as detrimental as parasites in the home or physical body.

Many face this by becoming something the world cannot consume. They refuse to be content. In the media world, they disengage. On a spiritual level, they might become insular. Often this is the archetype of the Witch. How many say (ironically on social media) that they wish nothing more than a Witch’s hut in the woods and to remove themselves from all civilization. Few do, however. Though I applaud the initial impulse, isolation from all can result in closing down to healthy inner world contacts. Or it might be the exact thing necessary to open the door and invite them in, the proverbial forty days in the desert. At some point, though, the wandering prophet must return from the wild and engage with their people.

Some of those powers are helpful. They are emissaries of a higher plane, and ultimately aid you in the integration of the ego, as you embody more of the higher self. The work becomes transpersonal, the online presence a helpful tool at times, but not an identity. A process that is infinite is revealed, and you enter into the greater mysteries of initiation.

Visio Smaragdina in his X (Twitter) post on Sep 23, 2024 wrote:

“You start to dabble in ancient magic, casting spells for your personal benefit. You start to get some results…and have many failures (but you don’t talk about those). You begin to think you know what you’re doing. You voraciously consume the content of courses, books, online ‘communities’. You posture and pontificate, reveling in your new-found knowledge, lording it over the newbies. You could repeat this process unto death.
                                                                       
“However, if you are one of the lucky ones, you receive an esoteric transmission, a spiritual wake up call. In an instant you receive a ‘download’, and you know for the rest of your life, that you’ll be absorbing, decoding and unfolding what that means. You stop being a Consumer because you’ve become the Consumed; an integral part of something bigger, more expansive and infinitely mysterious. Everything you now do is an act of spiritual service, because the real spiritual work is not about us at all.” — @SmaragdinaVisio

Often these forces are frightening at first. Dragons, whales, and serpents in the deep, devouring you. Psychologically described as the unconscious. Magickally described as the forces of the Underworld, of hell. The monster is often revealed to be the Ourobouros, the serpent devouring its own tail. Is this the ultimate symbol of the eternal mystery, or the sign of the vicious unending circle that leaves you trapped?

Philosophical entertainer Alan Watts said in The Wisdom of Insecurity:

“We shall then have a war between consciousness and nature, between the desire for permanence and the fact of flux. The war must be utterly futile and frustrating—a vicious circle—because it is a conflict between two parts of the same thing. It must lead thought and action into circles which go nowhere faster and faster. For when we fail to see that life is change, we set ourselves against ourselves and become like Ourobouros, the misguided snake, who tries to eat his own tail.”

Like all things, it depends on your perspective, your consciousness, when you approach it. In the Egyptian traditions, we see the Mehen Serpent in the 12th Hour of the Duat, before dawn, cycling regeneration of the Sun and restoration of fertility and creativity. The Ourobouros can be found in the tomb of King Tut, among others. It became part of the alchemical tradition, starting with Zosimos of Panopolis, and from there developed a complex system of symbols, sometimes involving a winged and non-winged dragon chasing each other. We see the twin serpents in the staff of Hermes, the Caduceus, another alchemical symbol of polarity and union. A serpent was used as a rope to turn the cosmic axis and churn the oceans of milk that yield treasures, poisons, and the goddess Lakshmi in Hindu myth. Dragons are seen in the lines of force of the Earth, but also in places of disaster and earthquake. Serpents are both symbols of wisdom, and later symbols of evil and deception, as in the more conservative interpretations of the Serpent in the Garden of Eden.

When you pick a side, head or tail, you enter into a vicious circle than one cannot win. When you realize it’s one thing—hunter and hunted, lover and beloved, seeker and sought—you integrate its wisdom.

In this seemingly vicious cycle of consumption, can we become more conscious? The initiate uses whatever tools are available and works in whatever environment is present. The key is to not be controlled by the tools, the external, and to instead connect with the internal and inner world contacts of spirit. The artificial cycle of media might be framed as electric, the hallmark of an Aquarian Age. While not the exchange of breath between the animal and plant world, carbon dioxide and oxygen, there is exchange. When I look at the rapid changes of the world, I think of a wisdom teaching shared with me by a past teacher: “Everything serves the Goddess.” My teachers often added, “Everything serves the Goddess, whether it knows it or not.”

There are no spare parts in the universe. Everything has a function in the greater whole. Some function better than others, but everything is part of a greater unfolding pattern. For Qabalists, this is sometimes described as the vision of Yesod, the Vision of the Machinery of the Universe. How do these current changes serve the vision, and how can we use them in the most conscious expression as magicians? Time will tell. For now, be as conscious as you can when devouring, and as careful as you can when you allow yourself to be devoured. Live and integrate it. Use each in the quest of the mysteries.

Note: Special thanks to the inspiration from Visio Smaragdina and various posts by others involving Alan Watts and Joseph Campbell tidbits on the dragon/whale for inspiring this article. Social media can be helpful, thoughtful, and inspiring!

Photo by Kindel Media via Pexels.com

by Christopher Penczak, edited by Tina Whittle

“All times are the same time. The initiation of a Sorcerer reveals this. That is why they say a True Initiation never ends. How can it end when it takes place outside of Time? The Moment of your initiation is a ripple in the bubble of time. You’ll see well enough. You have already seen. The Mystery will open up to you and you must reach out of time, grasp its heart and make your bargain with it.”

This is one of my favorite quotes by the esteemed comic writer and chaos magician Grant Morrison, from his series The Invisibles. Both the author and the series have been a tremendous influence upon me, as have other chaos magicians such as Peter Carrol, Phil Hine, and Antero Alli as well, even though I identify as a Witch and not a chaos magician. Despite many popular misunderstandings about it, Chaos Magick has helped me as a modern practitioner understand paradigm and avoid getting trapped in dogma, even when I decide to follow old traditions or create new ones. When I do, I do so with conscious awareness. We have so much philosophy, myth, symbol, and technique and can’t get trapped in thinking that only one is valid, but we need a way to hold all these ideas in a greater meta-paradigm. The Invisibles comic did that for me. The cast of characters is international, each with their own magickal paradigms and traditions, old and new, working together in common cause.

I love the idea that initiation, like consciousness, is eternal, never ending. We might have a moment of ritual or life experience we consider a catalytic entry point—a paradigm shift of awareness or entry into a new group—but when we understand initiation as a process occurring within our consciousness, we can realize we are continually being initiated in one lifelong (and beyond) ritual. In fact, we are being initiated even before our initiation, before the so-called probationary periods of a seeker or really any formal inquiry. Once formally or informally initiated, we might see the process really started at birth and before. Our whole life is one long ritual process to our true will, heart, and mind. Nothing is mundane. All of life is a magickal teacher, from deities and spirits to the server waiting on us in the restaurant. Of course parents, spouses, and co-workers are teachers. Every moment is an opportunity to deepen your initiatory gnosis.

Recently I was asked about someone who left our magickal community on bad terms. I hadn’t thought of them in a long time. Poor communication and failed opportunities to take responsibility on their part led to separation, at least from my perspective. They’d done nothing so egregious that they were considered dangerous and banned from the community, but they were dissatisfied in not getting the attention or status they wanted and uncomfortable having errors that affected others, as well as themselves, pointed out. They made a slow and quiet unvoiced withdrawal while then voicing their disgruntlement to others quite loudly. It is not an uncommon pattern in larger group dynamics.

I was asked about how I felt about it. Whenever there is conflict and ending, particularly between teacher and student, initiator and initiate, we do a big dive reflecting on the arc of the entire relationship and parse out the failings on each side and what could have been done better. In this case I had several heartfelt face-to-face sessions that revealed a schism between what was said and what was done. This ended with a mutual agreement to talk later in the week to try to resolve the last issue with clarity and compassion, but no follow-up was made until almost a year later and the follow-up ignored all the direct communication from before. The lack of acknowledgement of their failure to connect dumbfounded me, as I was approached with a “we haven’t talked in a long time” instead of taking responsibility. This indicated to me that the initiate could not go on in their studies as there was no responsibility on their part. For many months I gave it a lot of thought, as I do most conflicts. I’m sentimental and sensitive and can dwell on my mistakes, even when nothing could really be done.

My feelings only really matter to me, but when I look at many similar situations—because when you teach magick and healing for almost thirty years you will naturally have a few; ask any coven or lodge leader—what does matter is recognizing this too is a part of the initiatory process that never ends, for the student and for you.

People stopping a magickal practice and entering fully into “ordinary” life is initiatory. People quitting their career to devote themselves to magick full time is initiatory. People falling away from their magickal practice due to life crisis, illness, family, and relationships is initiatory. People seeking social media fame via Witchcraft is initiatory. People renouncing magick and returning to Christianity or moving towards Buddhism, Islam, or Baha’i is initiatory. People anonymously reaching illumination in their basement temple is initiatory. When you are the enemy, villain, hero, savior, or background character in someone’s story, it’s their story, but it’s also their initiatory myth. It has little to do with you, but it’s part of their process.

So it’s easy to take it personally when someone leaves for whatever reason, but it could be part of their journey to the Underworld, their death and rebirth. A huge lesson of deeper initiation is to separate from your teacher, school, tradition, or community in the quest for your own gnosis and identity. An even deeper step is when attachment to any identity, group, or individual is released. Labels become functional when needed, but not core identity.

Ideally one leaves to return again in spiritual adulthood as a peer. Some people find themselves in the context of community and support of past mentors. They transition to the next stage gently. Others find distance from their teacher and get support from other teachers and peers in the community. Others need a solid break and separation and can do it with maturity and clear communication, avoiding any miscommunication or hurt feelings on anyone’s part. Some need a big drama to make that separation; otherwise they will never take that step. The drama gives them courage, or an excuse to perceive themselves to be courageous in that moment of their story. And some people in the moment might convince themselves it is mythic heroism by taking a dramatic stand when they are instead justifying bad behavior. But even bad behavior and its consequences are part of the initiation process and will ultimately serve. Often the bad behavior comes when the ego is bruised rather than transmuted, and the desire to separate and find one’s uniqueness occurs just before a big breakthrough in consciousness, not after. Part of the self is sabotaging the breakthrough by playing to the ego. Change is hard. There are lessons in that too, but it’s a longer route to deeper gnosis. A mystery wisdom is that everything serves the Goddess, eventually. We may take the short way or the long way, have a skillful or unskillful, pleasant or unpleasant route to service, but everything serves the greater design in its manifestation.

It is important to distinguish initiations of life from specific initiations conferring membership or recognition of levels of progress within an order. I’m not saying that simply by living life you are an initiate of anything you desire to join. I am talking about the inner mystery of initiation that should certainly be a part of formal outer forms of initiation if they are to be successful. I am talking about the initiation of the traditions behind all traditions, not any one terrestrial human group.

When the process is successful, one will return: to the specific community group/tradition, to the greater spiritual community/denomination, or to the greater global community with something new to share—a new insight, gnosis, or teaching that revivifies the whole by adding to the body of tradition. It works in the same context but furthers the ideas, philosophies, and techniques as the tradition and community grows. In some cases the new gnosis declares a new branch or separate tradition. Some don’t get to the return stage in this lifetime, and that too is part of initiation, for the saga continues onward in non-linear ways through time and space.

When the process is not successful—or rather, not yet successful, as I always hold hope that there can be reconciliation and reunion with all things for I believe wholeheartedly in an interdependent and interconnected worldview on all levels—it is not only okay but necessary to draw boundaries and not repeat unhealthy patterns or enable bad, or even worse, harmful behaviors. To be successful there must be transformation. While we might not always be able to determine someone’s level of transformation or growth (for it is always possible they are lying to us and often also to themselves) if we keep an open heart and mind, we will hopefully know the growth when we see it. Sometimes those we think of as charlatans or pretenders—who were perhaps not being actively deceptive, but self-deceptive—become the very thing they pretended to be, as if invoking it repeatedly made it their reality. It can be both hard to witness but also helpful to know there is hope for change, even if the change is unacknowledged.

This is why it can be rare, at least for me, to remove one from the group consciousness of a tradition or sever the initiatory current ritually. The process is ongoing and might be working on a timetable that you can’t perceive or agree with, but it’s working nonetheless. Some would say rituals to do so are meaningless. You can’t remove initiation any more than you can re-virgin someone after sex. Once it’s done, it’s done. It’s an experience, not a possession you can take back. While you can rescind membership and personal connection, publicly disavowing, if something was catalyzed, then it’s in process. The process might continue, change, or end, but you can’t control it for yourself or another. We often think of initiation as planting a seed in a neophyte, as the word “neophyte” refers to the “newly planted.” Some seeds need tending, or they will wither. Some seeds are dormant and sprout years or lifetimes later. Some seeds need fire to burst forth, the fire of passion or the fire of drama. And some seeds grow regardless of what you do or do not do. They survive.

The process of return to community after separation mirrors the greater process of return to source. It is the dissolution and coagulation of the alchemists that occurs internally and in the greater body of humanity and then with the cosmos. The basic occult concept or emanation into manifestation is that all that has formed eventually returns. All forms upon the Earth will eventually decay back into the Earth. Even as the Sun is the source of life upon the planet, with its eventual expansion, our planet will return to the stars. In our modern astrophysical models, one theory says the expanding universe will eventually stop and begin to contract, a Big Crunch leading to a new Big Bang. This model is a clear one of return, though other scientific theories end the physical universe in a big freeze or eternal expansion. Personally, we humans see it in a desire for union, for source, for the divine. It is the yearning for something out of reach, the divine in us seeking the divine in each other, in nature, and beyond. And this desire, this eventual return to union, is also part of initiation, for as long as we experience some dimension or space and time, we experience initiation.

Initiation never ends, for it is our connection to the part of us that is outside of space and time. You “must reach out of time, grasp its heart and make your bargain with it.”

Through the Eyes of a Broom Closet Witch: Imbolc

Blessed Imbolc, and Welcome Back! Claire de Lune here, a High Priestess in the Temple of Witchcraft tradition, with the 23rd article in our “For Broom Closet Witches” series.

So, what’s new? This is the question that comes to mind when I think of Imbolc. Well, actually, both Imbolc and Ostara, to be quite honest. As a matter of fact, I used to have trouble separating the two Sabbats with respect to the energies that surround them. What I mean by that is, at Imbolc, while it isn’t quite yet Spring, there is that hint of new life stirring, new growth emerging from its snowy blanket, the return of the Sun, newborn lambs and all the promises of the beginnings of what will later in the year be the Harvest season. And Ostara has similar themes, only further along the same continuum – or so it seemed to me.

So, what helps me to keep them straight is to know that the word “Imbolc” (or Imbolg) comes from Gaelic and is one of the Celtic contributions to the Wheel of the Year, with Imbolc being a traditional festival in Ireland, Scotland and the Isle of Man marking the beginning of Spring. The word “Ostara” has Germanic and Scandinavian origins and marks the beginning of Spring in those parts, showcasing the Spring Equinox. It is one of the Northern European contributions to the Wheel of the Year.

What also really helps is to take a daily stroll around my neighborhood to observe the changes that take place throughout the year in the lives of the various residents from the Plant Kingdom and make notes documenting the seasonal transitions they go through.

In addition to strolling around my neighborhood, sometimes it is helpful for me to do what is often referred to as a “Walking Meditation”. This type of meditation is only advisable if your neighborhood is a safe place to do such a thing. And it probably goes without saying but I will say it anyway – Please be sure to dress appropriately for the weather.

In a walking meditation, I slow down my pace, turn inward, access a meditative state of mind, and try to sense the energy around me through sight, sound, smell and touch. My preferred method for getting into this state is to slow my breathing and my walking pace down to the count of three as I inhale and the count of three as I exhale, matching my breath counts with my steps. So, it would be a very slow “In, two, three. Out, two, three. In, two, three. Out, two, three.”

At certain times when I feel the need or desire to really focus inward, I even stop and stand still to really be able to “pick up on” the energies around me. As I said before, if you think this is something you might like to try, be sure the area you choose to do this kind of walk in is safe. If someone was to really pay close attention to my walking meditation, they would most likely conclude that I am on drugs. Oh well. But what would really be nice is to just sit on a bench in some park, close my eyes and “tune in” to the energies of the place and the time of year. It is my hope that someday I will have access to a safe place where I can do so.

I hope this article has been helpful, and until next time –

Merry Meet, Merry Part, and Merry Meet again!

Imbolc Blessings,
Claire de Lune

Perhaps it’s not in the resolution.
Perhaps rather, it is a quiet undoing.
Undoing in a two fold sense: the literal making something come undone and then secondly the other definition of “un” which is “not”… so “not doing”.

For me, right now in the season in which this witch finds herself, it is I myself which is becoming “undone”. Laughing ruefully. I am my own undoing. Willingly. In class, we are taught that things get turned upside down as we progress through the course. That is very true. What is even more true; however, even more profound:  is this simple fact of how the Universe works in the micro. As in, if you are even just a modicum of intentional about moving your life forward… not great profound leaps… but small little changes day by day or week by week… the topsy turvy, inside out, shaking out of your life, your patterns, your beliefs… what you think is YOU… that movement towards self awareness, self discovery, self interest irresolutely gains momentum. Till you “suddenly” find yourself where I am today, sitting with all these varied aspects of yourself and examining each piece that comprises your whole identity and saying,m with earnest contemplation, “is this really me or is this something I “put on” or adapted to in order to survive my life at that moment in time or that particular situation?”

If you grew up in a highly toxic, physically abusive home, you may find you “escaped” into a different realm, full of deception and emotional abuse. When you finally have the courage to leave that situation perhaps you run straight into an even darker form of mental abuse. Somehow, your fierce, stubborn soul refuses to accept this version of reality and be tamed. Very slowly you start to come into your true self. First in this one area and then in that one. Maybe over here gets some work, and well now, perhaps that over there can be examined or confessedly acknowledged. There are vast stretches within ourselves, either known or unknown that simply aren’t noticed or bothered with for vast stretches of time.

Everything can’t be tackled at once. Thank goodness! So we can use this dark time of the year for reflective undoing. For sifting compassionately and openly, sifting for truths about ourselves. Who am I right now? Not the past versions of me, but the me as I am in this moment? What parts of the “me” that I have created or become are no longer serving my best self interest? That sacred sovereignty that is mine and mine alone? How do I undo the knots with which I am bound? Either by myself or by others? Willingly or unwillingly? What minuscule thing can I do, here in the darkness, here, without striving, that will make my small personal cosmos of today better, even if it appears to be just a pebble or a rock, when I wish to move mountains?

Sit in the dark, Beloved. Allow yourself that grace. The grace to burrow down in the quiet. Do nothing. Nothing but take a breath and think slowly with great empathy and kindness towards yourself, like some giant leviathan floating on the ocean…effortless… suspended …and then another gentle nothing breathe… and a knot loosens… a cord comes undone… a truth comes softly shining and you reach for it and kiss it gently, fondly, and wonder quietly to yourself, “Do I eat it or put it in my pocket? How do I savor this truth best?”

My suggestion is that is the sort of intimate question between you and that particular truth alone to know the answer.

Erica Sittler is a Witch practicing her craft in Mississippi where she is an active member of the Temple of Witchcraft. Her magick is in the mundane and in bringing honor and attention to those small things that build a sustainable and adventurous life. She is a Temple Mystery School student under the instruction of High Priestess Sellena Dear.

Photo by Kaboompics.com via pexels.com

by Christopher Penczak, edited by Tina Whittle

As a Witch, I know my voice—and the thoughts behind my words—are some of the most powerful tools I have. While there is great power in the silent gesture, the withering stare, and the energetic sheer force of will as part of our repertoire, there is immense power in the clarity of word, the precision of well thought intention, and vibration of sound resonating within our chest cavity, and within a space. Words echoing in the woods or a strong and steady but almost inaudible whisper into a potion lend a deeper layer of vibration to our magick. And I also know how the offhand comment, the misspoken word, and the foolish thought can manifest unintentionally.

One of the earliest lessons from Laurie Cabot was the neutralization of unwanted and unhealthy thoughts, words, and visions. As we empower ourselves, we find that all our words become empowered magickal words, so we must be careful in what we think and speak. Through this, we start to understand that the division between the ritual and the ordinary, the magickal and the mundane, is artificial, and everything you do in life has been one big spell, and always has been.

So what do we do in a society where there is so much thought and spoken, but not as much conveyed, where stillness and silence are rarely considered virtues, but traits that can further ostracize you? What do we do with the typed and texted words and thoughts?

I learned the three gates of speech, attributed in popular culture to both Buddhism and Islam, but beloved by occultists of all stripes: before speaking, ask yourself, “Is it true? Is it kind? Is it necessary?” At face value, it seems really simple, but it opens us to all sorts of deeper thoughts about the nature of truth, kindness, and necessity. All are considered forms of archetypal virtue. We learn to not confuse niceness with kindness, as nice is not a virtue. Another teacher of mine used to quote the Arabic proverb, “Open your mouth only if what you are going to say is more beautiful than silence.” There is also virtue in silence, rather than adding to the cacophony of the world, shifting the signal-to-noise ratio of the world towards peace and clarity.

This is not to say that when you do wish to express yourself, to share a thought or an opinion, you shouldn’t. But as a magician, I think you should have consciousness around where that thought arises from, and the intentions about sharing it. Otherwise you do yourself and others a disservice and can get mired in the growing noise of the world. If everything is making sound, no one is truly listening. And without silence, no one is truly resting and regenerating.

On social media, our online comments sections serve as a measure of “engagement” with others, and when we post, have a metric of how “popular” we are, culturally conditioning us to form strong opinions based on limited knowledge and experience of a subject. We are conditioned to say something, anything, affirming, denying, or adding to, for the sake of doing so, without looking at previous comments to see if it’s necessary. On some platforms, you are not even able to easily see all the previous comments. What is the intention behind that? What is the consequence in our consciousness, ego, and self-esteem?

We should beware unconscious motivations of wanting to “hold the floor,” meaning that once we have attention and eyes upon “us,” even electronically, not wanting to give that up. Those of us who have facilitated group discussions when there is a “talking stick” or speaker’s staff—a custom frequently found in Northwestern coast native tribes as well as African and Maori tribes that has made its way into other group settings—find that there will be one person who will not relinquish the talking stick in an effort to remain the center of attention. For those who feel unheard, the temptation to do so in many different settings is great. While some attention can help, it can also become a problem for the individual, and the group.

While we live in a world of interdependence and interconnection, a constant stream of information about those who we know, have met in passing, work with, are related to, have drifted from (and in some cases, purposely separated from) causes problems, as does our own broadcasting of our own status, mood, events, and inner dialogue. The attempt to process the information is draining. Even when we don’t consciously engage, it invites the psychic cords from others that pull and drain us. Privacy and closure become more difficult. When we clearly set a boundary, it comes across as overly confrontational or violent as the natural mechanisms to let relationships rest, renew, and fade as needed are circumvented in this constant stream. The language of “friends,” “followers,” and “likes” have muddled relationships and the dynamics of intimate connection. What those words mean in a social media context is not always the same amongst us, and can lead to misunderstandings and hurt feelings. On one level such media do facilitate a deeper connection at a distance, but overall they disperse the limited capacity we have for it. When you are close and connected to all, you are often close to none and make less effort outside of the techno-sphere. This both drains our attention, awareness, and ability to focus and hinders the natural regeneration that occurs with true intimacy.

Esoterically, I think about how many teachings have warnings about our unconscious attention, and how other entities can “feed” off of our unconscious attention, self-absorption, and lack of mindfulness. The controversial G.I. Gurdjieff taught we were “food for the moon” in which we serve as sustenance for a parasitical lunar entity. While as a Witch I dislike this imagery, finding conscious empowerment in the Moon, I do realize the moon cycles are often the stimulus of unconscious emotional reaction for most of humanity. Gurdjieff’s Fourth Way teachings were all about awakening us from a complacent robotic automaton existence and learning not to identify with the ego. Another deeply controversial teacher, Carlos Castaneda, spoke of similar parasitic entities, installing their mind into humanity, dissipating our resolve by encouraging our fears and vanities to devour our awareness. If we were able to amass enough energy rather than wasting it, we would open to a new dimension of consciousness. While not an exemplar of his own teachings, the concepts of stopping the inner dialogue, reclaiming energy from past memories and traumas, and cultivating beneficial spiritual allies are found not just in his work, but in various pieces through many traditions, including Witchcraft. He just had a particularly colorful way of expressing it through his biographical fiction. Christian mystic William Blake taught about this false self as “the Selfhood” and saw it as distinct from the soul. Again, I shy away from his Christian apocalyptic imagery, but we see a common theme of loss of energy and inflation of a false self, a situation leading away from genuine growth, awareness, health, and happiness.

While I love the information, interconnectivity, and community that online resources can build, I have to wonder if our current online experience is aiding the lack of awareness, and feeding parts of ourselves, our culture, or even parasitical and scavenging astral entities to our detriment. I think magicians have benefited from some “mindless” activities after times of deep focus and contemplation. I know many who I feel are adepts on the path who enjoy binding television shows or social media, to give their deeper contemplation a rest. Some are shocked at such ideas, but it’s true. Spacing out and doing nothing is a necessary part of the human experience, and some online experiences facilitate this, while others, disguised as mindless entertainment, are perhaps more harmful than we think. I think about how I feel after time online. If it’s restful or enjoyable, do I walk away feeling better, or do I feel more exhausted. Do I feel more agitated? Do I feel worse and not realize it unless I ask myself how I feel?

I often go back to Marcus Aurelius, the Roman Emperor also remembered for his Stoic philosophy, who wrote, “You always own the option of having no opinion. There is never any need to get worked up or to trouble your soul about things you can’t control. These things are not asking to be judged by you. Leave them alone.”

So do I need to have an opinion on this? Do I need to comment? Do I need to click? Why? Am I simply following a conditioned response? Is that conditioned response giving me more freedom or less? Could my responses and my desire for those to respond to me indicate a growing spiritual pathology? What is at the root of my actions? Can I trace it back and understand?

Of course, I often ignore the advice of Marcus, specifically getting worked up about things I can’t directly control. I get worked up about the state of our nation; when dangerous weather imperils me, loved ones, or people in general; global crisis and war; and the health of those around me. While I can’t control it, I am affected and must process such things, even if the process is to realize what I can and cannot control. Often supporting those going through a crisis is what I can do to contribute to a better space, if not the final outcome, in such situations.

And despite my advocating for keeping silent if what you have to say is not more beautiful than the silence, I tend to be verbose. I use a lot of words when I speak. I use a lot of words when I write. I once wrote more simply, but now, when I get more involved in a topic, I believe I need more words. I might be right. I might be wrong. But I am always thinking about and questioning where the words—and the need to speak or write them—come from, what my intention is and what my process is, trying to make the process as mindful and meditative, rather than mindless and reactionary, as possible.

In today’s world of short hot takes with the hope to go viral with popularity, I think back to a quote from an older political drama, The West Wing, in the episode titled “Game On.” In it, a lifelong Republican working “spin” with the Democrats on foreign policy says, “It’s not simple. It’s incredibly complicated. I’ve been at the State Department for 30 years and there is no right answer to these questions and diplomacy needs all the words it can get its hands on…” I use a lot of words, and think about those words a lot, because I know life isn’t that simple, and we need all our words, all our nuance, all our skills of communication, speaking, and listening, to progress forward. The diplomacy between us all, all our factions and divisions, needs all the words it can get.

I think of my friend and author Aliza Einhorn tweeting about the commodification of our lives via social media, and I often think, while that is not always the clear intention of the commenter, it certainly is the intention of the corporate owners of these platforms we use to communicate. I think about how all the “best” options of platforms in terms of connection with others never seem to get traction, and like the past domination of three or four main television networks, we are dominated by a small group of media platforms where one corporation might own several of our options. I wonder why those who embrace art, the essence of sound and light, can’t take better control of the paradigms and narrative. Why can’t a better story catch on?

Isn’t that the nature of magicians, to create a more enticing story, a more fascinating art, and shift the cultural consciousness? But to do so means we cannot get trapped in another’s story. Let us examine what each post we choose to read brings up in us, and the choice of how much or how little to read. Let us contemplate how much to respond to it internally, and when to respond externally. Let us reflect on when our posts are a process of unconscious projection, to see our thoughts out there, and how we can make the process more conscious.

It is the time of year for societal introspection. A calling forth of resolutions and good intentions. And whether you are reading this in relevant context or perhaps some time hence, I wanted to close the year with this bonus 13th post. Consider it a little gift from me and a friend to you.

The story below is a recounting of a morning walk along the shoreline along on the salty, windswept Eastern Seaboard in late Spring. Looking back, it remains a high moment of joy by my being utterly immersed in the moment. The invigorating sense of wonder: how it sparks and feeds my mind and soul. It reminds me of how much I need, and probably we all need, times when we can truly meander: for nothing else but the simple pleasure of it.

The snippet you are about to read was sent to a darling friend as I chirped out my adventure in a very long, run on text message. It was a private little gift. Yesterday, I asked if sharing the story was a possibility, so that you too might find a nip of joy or a chuckling smile as your mind imagines the scenes and wanders the shoreline with me that lovely May morning.

Here’s to each of us. Here’s to friendships, big and small. Here’s to wonder. Here’s to always and ever finding the magick in the mundane.

Back to my walk this morning… I didn’t include any words, just the pictures earlier, but here’s the story bit..

It was wonderful walking along the shore, letting the cold water swirl around my calves and ankles and the wind tossle my hair… there were very few people out after the heavy rain this morning…a few surfers (one was more attuned to the waves and was able to catch three times the rides as the other two). They three drifted and joked with each other and reminded me of teenage dolphins… especially the two who were just a bit haphazard…but having a blast …

I found a group of three tourists gathered around a pile of shells scattered in a radius of about 10 yards… hungrily snatching them off the sand… they were all the basic small clam type shell: absolutely nothing exotic about them, but these three were just raking them into their outstretched shirts, now impromptu pouches, as fast as they could. I watched them for a few moments and then sauntered over in a singsong manner and asked if I could join them. One woman opened her shirt, like an apron, to show off her horde of simple shells and reached down and pulled out a handful that she dumped into one of the shoes I was carrying… “so many shells!” She squawked… in my minds eye she was already growing a beak and little beady eyes like a seagull. I thanked her for her kindness and picked up a few shells as well.

Later, on my walk back, I saw another couple searching for shells. I approached them with my right arm outstretched and the biggest shell I had in my collection extended from it, “Here you go!” I chirped doing a silent double take at the sound of my voice, “there was a patch of shells over there (pointing) that may still have a few good ones… shells are hard to come by on this beach.” They smile and nod, bobbing their heads in agreement… are we all going to turn into some form of bird out here on this stretch of tar-tinged sand? …carrion crows are eating dead seabirds… I watch them curiously… we forget they used to eat us on the battlefields long, long ago. I pick up a few pieces of litter and put them in their respective trash or recycle cans…joining the crows for a brief moment in their cleaning the beach.

…fishermen on the long pier. No one speaks to me. I neither speak nor smile to them. One man hoists up a small bonnet head shark and tosses it back into the ocean bragging about the six foot one he brought in yesterday. I ignore them all and instead watch the sun brave its way through the heavy parting clouds.

… if I was 10 years old, I should like very much to play pirate under the pier. I’m here now. Its tidal pools smell lightly of dead fish…the waves make pretty racing patterns as they break against the barnacle clad pilings. The world sounds muffled and muted under here. I squat down low and examine it with the studious eyes of my younger self… “I bet there is buried treasure down here somewhere” I quietly mutter… scheming. … everyone hopes to find a gold coin or a gold ring. As I wandered on, I was gifted an eggshell. Turtle? Gull? Pigeon? It’s almost a perfect oval and slightly soft… I suspect turtle, but am no expert on eggs.

And so I wander, up and down, much like a bird myself: curious, partly wet, windblown…letting my mind clear and sort and prioritize… rearranging the patterns in both my mind and beliefs into a new shape: my here and now ideal life.

Erica Sittler is a Witch practicing her craft in Mississippi where she is an active member of the Temple of Witchcraft. Her magick is in the mundane and in bringing honor and attention to those small things that build a sustainable and adventurous life. She is a Temple Mystery School student under the instruction of High Priestess Sellena Dear.

Through the Eyes of a Broom Closet Witch: A Yuletide Journey

Blessed Yule, and Welcome Back! Claire de Lune here, a High Priestess in the Temple of Witchcraft tradition, with the 22nd article in our “For Broom Closet Witches” series.

This article is quite different from the previous ones in that it has taken the shape of a poem – though not your ordinary one, as it may also function as the outline of a journey, which will become apparent as the lines unfold. I hope you enjoy it!

⛤

A Yuletide Journey

Colors, Lights
Shining Night
Hail the “Season to be Jolly”!

***

Mind’s Eye
Conjures Bright –
Wise Ones Know
A Second Sight.

***

Inward Go,
Through the Snow.
Down the Lane,
Midnight Train.

***

Climb Aboard,
Away we Go!
Where it Stops,
Nobody Knows!

***

Moon Ashine,
Smell the Pine.
Snowflakes Swirl,
All’s Awhirl!

***

Fjords and Mountains,
Wells and Fountains.
Nisse and Gnome
Guard the Home.

***

Deck the Walls!
Yuletide Calls!
Poinsettia, Holly.
Oh, By Golly!

***

Cakes and Ale –
A Viking Tale!

***

Comrades All,
Fill the Hall.
Fire Blazes,
Smokey Hazes

***

Raise a Toast!
Dare a Boast!
Voices Merry –
But be Wary!
And Do Not,
Do Not,
Do Not Tarry!

***

No Witch’s Game!
No Witch’s Folly!
Farewell the Hall!
Farewell the Holly!

***

Ride the Train,
Ride the Train,
Ride the Train,
Back Again!

***

Come Back, Come Back,
Do Not Falter!
Hands on the Ground,
Or on the Altar.

***

A Bit of Cake,
A Bit of Chocolate,
A Bit of Ale,
Or Milk or Water.

***

A Viking Tale,
Of Days of Yore,
And Yuletides Past
Are Now Once More.

***

Hail, and Farewell.
Blessed Be.

⛤

I hope this article has been helpful, and until next time –

Merry Meet, Merry Part, and Merry Meet again!

Yule Blessings,
Claire de Lune

It’s the holidays.Bah.

Don’t get me wrong, I usually love the holidays, but let’s be honest: this season is hard for some of us… and this year, I’m firmly entrenched in camp “some of us”.

No, I am not depressed.

No, I am not in despair.

I know what I am: grieving. And grief, especially when you had to tuck it away for awhile and not let it do its full course… well, Beloved, grief is patient, but when it comes, you don’t get to put it back in the box.

It’s like one of those mattresses you order online and it comes all contained and tidy. There is this small warning label about expansion and then the usual suffocation warnings with the packaging. Grief, I have found, is like that. This dense package that you can let sit over there in the corner for a year or two or five, but at some point the external wrapper you’ve had it stored in, maybe hung a few coats on and tried to pretend that it was part of the furniture… you know, that, “Yeah, I see you over there, but you are going to stay over there under that pile of coats or fancy hats or self-help meditation books and affirmations… just stay over there and let me get through this very, very real situation called life. And sometimes that life is a living hell you have to navigate through. You forget about grief because you are trying to survive. Maybe there are kids and a spouse in the mix and the “survive” becomes infinitely more complicated. Throw in pets and yeah… grief… I ain’t got time for you today, tomorrow, or anytime soon.

Wounds need tending. We have to deal with them. They sometimes feel like grief. Wounds may naturally have elements of deep grief woven into their fibers. You may feel that as your trauma heals over the years and as you get on track with this new version of your life, that you’ve dealt with grief. And you have indeed with a certain level of grief, but the grief I am talking about is the kind that once the container you’d kept it in disintegrates, that dense grief expands into an ocean so breathtakingly deep and wide it engulfs you completely and you are unmoored. Adrift in a sea of tears, anguish, and heartbreak.

Therapy. Trusted friends. Journaling. Long walks in nature. Breathing. Boundaries. Sovereignty. Music. Drawing. Painting. More breathing. More nature. Community work. Service work. Mothering self care. Grounding. Prayers. Baths. Rituals. Gratitudes.

Yes. Do all of the things. I’ve done all those things and then some. Ended up in the top 10% of Taylor Swift listeners… there are songs and playlists on repeat that if it had been a vinyl record, I surely would have worn the groove out. Same for Jeremy Soule’s work. Walked hundreds of miles. Journaled books worth of pages. Spent ample time in talk therapy… enough to know I am sane and “doing all the right things”.

And so, for 15 months I have been here. Decades of trauma before that. Other pockets of deep grief before, but nothing, nothing to compare to this vastness.

There are times when it feels like I will drown, but I won’t. I realize that now. There are islands in this sea… sometimes just enough to catch your footing for a few moments. Days. Weeks even. Fulfilling work. An interlude of tenderness. A walk down at the ocean’s edge to play in the surf like a young teen again. The hugs from those you love or deeply care about. Last week, it was a squirrel, who dashed up to my second floor gable window, straight at me as I chose my outfit for the day. We stared at each other and his little perfect paws scratched against the pane, like he wanted to come inside for a cup of tea… or that handful of acorns I had gathered from the library. I laughed and the spunky creature didn’t run away. I stared at him with his dazzling tail and chipper beady eyes… and whispered to him, “good morning”.

Last night, I emailed a most trusted friend my angst about, “this was not the life I signed up for: a simple life, a pleasant life… a life filled with love, laughter, and song. I didn’t want to be the patron saint of tears.” I was pissed… and so frickin tired of grief. Overtired period. This morning I woke and though none of my circumstances had changed, my perspective had.

I do actually have a life that is filled with love. With laughter. With song. Perhaps not in the way I had imagined it. Or always wanted it. Or expected it. But it was there. Well and truly there. There in the wry smile glimpsed on the face of one who matters to me. There in the blue jay’s screech as he points out his empty dish. There in the gawky, goofy gait of a son who has not quite grown into his feet yet. There in the pansy’s cheery bloom. Here it is now in the feel of velvet and feather and satin…in this merry outfit I’ve chosen to greet the day with. The sunlight touching the treetops this morning as it rose all golden and red… the trees were singing this morning… deep and sonorous… harmonic even… with the light that played and glistened on their glowing leaves.

So I joined in the song… saying the words to weave me into the patternwork of my place within the sphere of the here and now. Joy is not happiness. Happiness is ephemeral, like the dew. Lovely and short lived, returning each day in breaths and light breezes. I welcome it always. Joy; however, is able to coexist with the deepest grief. Joy is not giddy. She can be still and even, at times, quite solemn. She can be a fiery column, taking grief and transmuting it into something bearable. Joy can likewise be the soft ember that you can trust to warm you and light your path in the darkest night.

Joy is the wisest and truest of mothers. Able to hold and cradle us… like the ocean itself if we will but relax into her embrace and trust that even if plunged beneath the waves, the slip of joy, like a mother’s hand, or a fond memory within the mind’s eye, will pull us up again to the surface. Perhaps, the deepest joy is the counterweight to the most wretched of griefs… and only able to be found there. Joy is not grief. But true joy perhaps is its foil. How odd that joy can seemingly be sparked by something as ordinary as a fallen leaf or a drunken bee or a fingertip ever so gently tracing skin.

We are held. Embraced. Cherished in her tender arms. Joy is the tendrils woven through all of nature, Joy is. Everywhere present. Filling all things. Sometimes as small as a dust mote sparkling through the windowpane. Noticed or not. You and I are never truly alone.

For today, Friends, I shall be as the otter upon the waves…

Erica Sittler is a Witch practicing her craft in Mississippi where she is an active member of the Temple of Witchcraft. Her magick is in the mundane and in bringing honor and attention to those small things that build a sustainable and adventurous life. She is a Temple Mystery School student under the instruction of High Priestess Sellena Dear.

photo by cottonbro studio from pexels

by Christopher Penczak, edited by Tina Whittle

As a teacher, I find myself saying the same thing in multiple ways because you can never be sure what language, which symbol, and what moment will help someone understand a subtle teaching. Magick is taught in a twilight language of poetry, ritual, and symbol along with metaphysics, philosophy, and mythology. Teaching is often stirring up the right atmosphere and circumstances to transmit an idea that is not easily put into language.

As someone who embraces the perennial wisdom perspective, I find approaching a truth from multiple perspectives quite helpful. As l was raised Catholic, it helps me see a metaphysical truth as universal, the true meaning of catholic with a little “c” and not the dogma and control as found in Catholicism with a big “C.”

In a class on the psychology of initiation, co-taught with a psychology professor, I used Joseph Campbell’s Hero’s Journey as an example. While there are many pros and cons to Campbell’s approach, including some sexist assumptions, he distills some core ideas into an easily digestible formula less esoteric than alchemy, astrology, and folklore. As the basic pattern found in Star Wars, we can use that common knowledge rather than the less familiar Epic of Gilgamesh. Specifically when I spoke of the ending of the cycle—after the initiation process and into the return process with the stages known as Master of the Two Worlds and the Freedom to Live—someone later expressed upset with me and the teaching.

After the trials of initiation, one must integrate and return to the world. The master of two worlds can hold the dichotomy of the seemingly spiritual and non-spiritual worlds, the mythic and the mundane, and function in both. During the quest one can often be dysfunctional in the everyday world, so immersed in the mythic. A successful initiation leaves you living between, but far more functional than before your initiation, as you are privy to the secrets of life, and death. This gets you to the Freedom to Live stage, as with those secrets as integrated experiences, you live more fully in the moment, knowing you are supported by the invisible powers and that things unfold as they should. This isn’t always what your ego wants, but you are not your ego, so that’s okay. Regardless of outer circumstances, one is free.

I used the example in my own life of finding a way to do what I wanted regardless of the circumstances. Specifically, I wanted to get married in a society that didn’t recognize gay marriage. Steve Kenson and I called forth a community of loved ones that would recognize it spiritually, if not legally, and just did it. We did the outside paperwork for the legal rights that our non-legal marriage did not grant. Despite the outer challenges, after my initiation periods that changed my worldview, I did as I felt called to do to live in a genuine and authentic way regardless of how easy or hard it was in society. I wasn’t bound. When something wasn’t seemingly possible, I made it possible in my sphere of influence, even if my sphere of influence for that issue was my own heart and mind. I live my life on my own terms and navigate the consequences of that in the world.

The complaint was that I was giving really bad advice and that not everyone has my resources and privilege. And yes, I have more of both than some and less than others. The levels of both have fluctuated as well at different stages of my life, but I came into magickal priesthood in my early adulthood and proceeded in this fashion regardless, often making sacrifices for my intention while others were less thoughtful about their choices.

The problem with the complaint was that I wasn’t giving advice to others. I was explaining the circumstance of consciousness one lives in after a true initiation into the Timeless Tradition, regardless of religion. I was describing a psychological state. One who goes through the twelve to seventeen steps outlined in the journey, or the seven to twelve alchemical operations, or the ten grades of the Tree of Life, or the three stages of some Craft, becomes this. It’s not a choice. If you haven’t been to the Underworld and back, I’m not recommending it at all. Resources and privilege can make it outwardly easier or harder, but not inwardly. An initiate, if moving forward under the guidance of their inner wisdom, will receive the resources and opportunities needed to fulfill their True Will, no more and no less. Living life on our own terms is not the terms of the ego, but the terms of the soul. With it, there is a strange acceptance of what is in the outer circumstance. Life unfolds. We are a part of that unfolding. In that paradox of the higher will of the soul and the acceptance of what is, we find the living mystery.

I experienced gay marriage before it was legal. One could argue that it wasn’t real, as it wasn’t marriage, but that gets to the fundamental key of this teaching—living on your own terms. Those who would make that argument probably aren’t quite understanding what I am saying, and most likely haven’t been to the Underworld and back, through an initiation cycle. Most people haven’t. They might have experienced it vicariously through movies, television, and books—and there is certainly benefit to that over not experiencing it at all—but it doesn’t provide the integration. In that paradoxical balance, my acceptance of my own marriage did not mean I wasn’t also leading groups to do magick to make LGBTQIA marriage legal, and supporting political work with real-world actions for that same end. And while I continue to fight to protect it as the right is threatened in today’s political climate, it also isn’t the high-water benchmark it was for me twenty years ago. If we lose that right I am still married, because ironically after all that effort, we met a third partner, Adam Sartwell, and did not want to invoke a ritually unbalanced dynamic with the act of a legal marriage between two out of the three of us, so we did not get legally married. That does not define our relationship either, and I fight for those who want that legal right even if I never take it, just as I fight for the legal right to abortion, even though I would never personally have one due to my biology.

We constantly make agreements, as Witches and as people. What can we agree to for the greater goal and what can’t we? We all make agreements in society. This is collectively acceptable, and this isn’t. Witches are known to make agreements, pacts with spirits. What will you do for me and what will I do for you? And we can argue that we make agreements about reality. Metaphysicians often call the “objective” world consensus reality. These are levels of terms, accepted or rejected, in stages of initiation. As Witches we have to decide what are our terms and what are our consequences, and then live them under the greater guidance of our Witch soul.