Article

Magickal Recapitulation of Childhood

by Gemini Lead Minister on July 6, 2020

by Christopher Penczak

Magickal training can do some wonderful, wacky things to us. Experiences with the unseen help open us up, build confidence and self-esteem, and empower and heal. But there are side effects to the process that are not often talked about. In the three-soul model of consciousness, the lower soul is the bridge between the middle conscious personality and the higher soul, and it is often described as a child soul, animal soul, or vegetable soul. The truth those names point to is that the lower soul is primal and instinctive.

In the Temple of Witchcraft we call it the Shaper, for it takes what it is given and plays and shapes it like clay. Often the key to deepening magickal experiences is to get in touch with our inner Child of Promise through play. Children instinctively know the reality of magick, and many magickal exercises ask us to revisit the magick of our childhood—our favorite tree or place in nature, our imaginary friends, our first fears, and family folklore and legends. These things rekindle a magick within us. I often quote the wisdom of the beautiful High Priestess Lady Circe, whom I had never met in life before she passed, but whose work I know through her students. She was famous for saying, “If you would walk the witch’s way, observe with care the child at play.” There is deep magick in that poetic statement.

Practitioners of Witchcraft often create a parent-child relationship with the divine. We look at the primal goddess and god as mother and father; some enter into specific matron and patron relationships with specific deities. The deities of a coven or tradition might have a parental role. I think the essence of our childhood mystery and innocence can be found in the Orphic plate reading, “For I am a child of the Earth and Starry Heaven.” It is a guiding statement to the Greek afterlife, for we, as initiates of the mysteries, then recognize that our “race is of Heaven alone.” It is less about parentage than origin of consciousness, but it speaks to so many of us as children of the Earth Mother and Sky Father. Divine parentage can give us an opportunity to heal issues with our own genetic or adopted parents, to find the ideal that was lacking in all of our lives. No matter how great our parents were, they were not the gods. Yet that healing opportunity can bring about a lot of issues that are unforeseen and unexpected for your teacher of magick. I know I was unprepared for it and didn’t recognize the mechanics until an elder pointed it out to me.

The Teacher-Student Dynamic

All this childhood rekindling brings forth both the wonders and joy of magick and imagination, and the difficult wound and unresolved complexes of childhood, even with the best of childhoods. We often find ourselves unconsciously playing out roles we thought were resolved, but perhaps were not fully resolved. We find ourselves reverting to childish behaviors while living an adult life. In Eastern traditions, they understand this. A statement I heard from a Buddhist practitioner sums it up quite nicely. “The relationship one has with one’s guru is the most complex and difficult relationship in your lifetime.” There is recognition of both the personal and totally impersonal nature with a teacher, a guru. While it is always a struggle, Western practitioners of just about anything generally have a conscious or unconscious story about separation and blame. When we seek out magickal training, we are often looking for healing on a personal level, reassurance from a spiritual mentor or teacher. We lack the perspective of the impersonal nature. Ultimately it’s about the teachings—and the practice any individual puts into them—not the teacher. The teacher, while still being very human with their own feelings and story, is a place holder to transmit these teachings and hold space for these experiences. While personal relationships can and do form, that is a side effect, not the main point, of the process. That feels cold to the Westerner who in their spiritual quest confuses personal love with unconditional love, seeking to dissolve boundaries that are there for a good reason.

Invariably somewhere in the process, the student will enter into a period of projection, projecting ideals or blame upon the teacher, fellow students, and other members of the group. For those in a traditional coven setting, the High Priestess and High Priest can form a surrogate parental unit. In some covens, this is conscious and used as a part of the training. In many, it is not, and the less conscious of the mechanic the HPS and HP are, the more messy it can become. When it is held clearly, the coven is like the family, with people replaying (and hopefully working out) their bad childhood behaviors for the good, becoming elevated into spiritual adulthood with both the HPS and HP and ultimately with the gods themselves. Our adult parental relationships should be different than our childhood ones. Some stay forever in an infantile relationship with the divine, expecting the gods to fix everything instead of advising and working with them. Neither the Goddess nor your High Priestess is here to wipe your ass. You have to stand on your own at some point, just like with your parents and coming into adulthood.

I Wish That I Could Be Like the Cool Kids

In magickal schools—like the mystery schools that can be found in person or online, with long-term non-coven classes—rather than the family dynamic being replayed, it is the grammar-school-to-high-school dynamic that is recreated. We find roles of competition, issues with the popular and unpopular “kids,” fights, gossip, back-stabbing, and attention-seeking from the class, teacher, and community. It can be quite disconcerting to see people in their 30s, 40s, 50s and even 60s displaying adolescent behavior, but it happens more often than not. And they are often unconscious about it. It’s up to the teacher and the more-aware initiates to both hold a boundary and point out issues whenever possible.

When this process is done well, with the student recognizing the pattern and engaging consciously, it’s an opportunity to heal school traumas and reprogram awareness. When not, students simply recreate their past issues all over again and reinforce the story of their original wounding. People get stuck and become blame-oriented. Teachers can take it personally too, and I often ask teachers in a mystery tradition a question: does the high school teacher take the freshman’s anger personally? For a moment, sure, but in the big scheme of things, you realize the anger is not about you. During your career, you will have many freshman classes. Some you will have a great personal fondness for, others less so. Many won’t stick in your memory, but you strive to teach them all to the best of your ability and not remain personally attached to their own outcome. That is for them to decide and act upon, not you. It’s hard to do when that person is chronologically your peer or elder, but someone in the process of training is recapitulating childhood stuff. Treat everyone with respect, but keep that in mind. There are points of stabilization in the process, but active students are always going through stuff from the past as they heal.

When something happens that doesn’t cross a line of malice, harm, or deep ethical transgression, I have to choose to be amused by it as I would with a little kid vying for my attention or trying to outdo another student. If you’ve worked with kids at all, you’ll see this play out quite easily. My partner and fellow co-founder of the Temple Adam Sartwell points out the parts I miss, as he has a background in both psychology and working with children. Many child psychology strategies can be employed by a good magickal teacher. Extinguish bad behavior by giving it no energy or attention.

If someone confidentially shares something about another person with me in my role as their teacher or mentor, I ask them what their intention was in sharing that with me. Some want to vent. While I understand, a teacher is not the person you vent to about a peer. I don’t vent to my students; I vent my stuff to my family, friends, and perhaps fellow teachers. If they are asking me to do something about it, I need them to give me permission to discuss it, and for them to stand by what they say. Are they asking for mediation? Are they asking for resolution? Are they looking for me to take a side? Are they looking for magickal techniques to resolve the inner conflict? I need clarity, and my request for greater clarity stops most of these conversations. I encourage their peers who have difficulty with some sharing to do the same thing.

While we like to hold an egalitarian ideal that no one is higher or lower than another, that training is just a point of education, not anything of personal merit, we still have to hold appropriate boundaries. When you pay for a class, you get a class, not instant friendships. Those you have to work out on your own. Though many look down upon charging for education in esoteric study, I especially appreciate receiving my training that way when I observe my peers who did not.

Establishing Boundaries

My relationship with my teachers was clearly defined. I had no illusions about joining a family or tribe. The parameters of each experience were distinct and set. There were no blurry lines of unquestioning loyalty, no assumption of the conflicts of my new “family” externally or internally. Not everyone in a magickal order will personally love, personally like, or even get along with everyone else. But everyone active in a mystical order has to be able to put aside differences if we want to work together on a specific area.

Some students strangely believe that taking a class is an instant friendship ticket with the teacher of the class. It can be difficult to establish the boundary and say things like “we are not friends.” Even more complex in this day and age, you can have someone you had a prior relationship with as a student. They find themselves in your class, and you must determine which “hat” you are wearing “when” with them. I often announce it: “As your friend, I would say X, but as your teacher, I have to say Y.” People can have difficulty with the distinction. Many former students who graduate and go onward in community do become peers and eventually friends. It can be hard for a first-year student to see the difference between themselves and a fifth-degree graduate; it’s harder still to get into a situation where you have to point out the difference.

If you have an emotionally mature student who is struggling with their fellow classmates, you can share this metaphor of returning to grammar/high school and the recapitulation of childhood issues. Sometimes it helps them understand why adults are acting insane, but they will often fail to see how they are also participating in such behavior in their own, albeit different, way. I will see nods of agreement followed by an exhibition of sibling jealousy. I always try to throw in my own reflection process, especially the fact that we all can slip into immature behavior at times and must take responsibility for it.

Many will mistake their psychic and intuitive information as fact, and be totally wrong. Yes, Witches and empaths are often quite wrong while reading people they have a personal conflict with or who are in the midst of this unfolding childhood recapitulation with them. The responses are often like the raging of teenage hormones, but on a psychic level. I’ve had many students infer things they have “picked up on” from me that bore no reality to my inner thoughts or outer worlds. People have assumed that I have implied their status, good or bad, in the Temple and it was their hope or fear they were reading, nothing I was expressing.

When someone crosses a boundary, you often have to point it out and reset them. It can be done subtly or bluntly, depending on the person, but something usually needs to be said. Sometimes I err on the side of waiting until the person seeks to cross to the next area, as I’ve found people are not always ready to hear critical feedback in the moment, so I take it on a case-by-case basis. Some teachers assume being totally silent on an issue will help bring about conscious change, that the student will eventually ask, “What has changed? Why are things different?” While it can happen, it’s not super likely. Most students unconsciously working out issues will take silence as the mistaken assumption of approval and agreement. When something involves several people, I will sometimes make a general statement to them all, or to the entire class, to reiterate my point of view. People will still hear what they want to hear, good and bad, but such a statement sets a baseline to go back to if there is further disagreement or conflict.

Four Ways to Act for Teachers and Students

In the end, teachers and students can only strive to be their best. I look to the Four Treasures of the Witch, four points of agreement or contract with the elemental powers, to guide me in my work in community and in my life.

Fire—Follow Your Passion: Follow your passion as it will lead you to your true purpose. Never work against your nature, as it will lead to your destruction. Be open to change, as change is the nature of fire. If I have to ask myself if a situation is distracting me from following my passion, I should let it drop.
Air —Be Truthful: Be truthful in your thoughts, words, and deeds, for they are magick. Never give your word lightly, for there is magick in the witch’s word, and it will bind you to it. Breathe with intention, for where the breath goes, the mind goes. Am I expending too much mental energy on this or trying too hard to capture what was said to others? Then I should let it go.
Water—Always Choose Love: Always choose love, as it will heal you, others, and the world. Never close your heart, for it will harden you to the joys of life as well as the sorrows. Flow with the currents of life whenever possible. And realize that unconditional love does not mean unconditional relationships. The cup is the boundary, and we need to maintain our cups and be discerning in how and when we pour forth for our good and the good of others.
Earth—Be Responsible for Yourself: Be responsible for yourself, for only you can take charge of your own life. Never blame others for your circumstances, for that gives away your sovereignty. Be secure in yourself first and all other securities will manifest in your life. Am I taking too much or too little responsibility? Is it appropriate responsibility, or not really mine to take on? If so, I need to let it go.

We can only control how we react and respond to a situation and change our own behaviors and hopefully motivations. Community, coven, and school create a cauldron that holds the process to dissolve and reform, and we can hold those boundaries and offer those teachings with the highest consideration and ethics, but in the end, it is up to the individual what is done with those teachings. Much of the process, even of my students, is none of my business. Relationships between students is none of my business. I need to check in on the process, but I don’t need to micromanage or take responsibility for those relationships. Part of coming into spiritual adulthood is learning to manage your own relationships, conflicts, and problem solving without a lot of intervention from an authority figure. We each have our own journey and our lessons. We can continue to walk side by side, and we can continue to be reflections that ask us to stop and check ourselves and our own behaviors in the context of community, but we must put the teachings into action as we find our own way to spiritual adulthood.

Temple Astrolog: Gods at the Breakfast Table

by Gemini Lead Minister on June 29, 2020

It’s almost the beginning of July and the Sun has just moved into the sign of Cancer. The sign of Cancer relates a lot to home, family, feelings of security and safety. When a person born in that sign—or with a lot of planets there—feels safe, they are very loving and kind. When you are around them, it feels like you are swimming in tropical water, warm and absolutely lovely. But when they feel threatened, it can feel like you have received a bucket of coldwater over your head.

If you still don’t get the message and come even closer, they can and will pinch you with their claws, hard! They demand that you respect their private space and feelings. And after all they are the opposite sign of Capricorn, another sign known for knowing how to set boundaries. (In the beginning not all Capricorns or Cancers knows how to set healthy boundaries but throughout life they are put in situations where they have to learn how to do that.)

This ability also makes them good at working with protection. When the Sun enters the sign of Capricorn at Midwinter/Yule and Christmas it’s a great time to work on protection for the home. The same is true now around Midsummer and Litha when the Sun enters to the sign of Cancer.

Getting to the Bottom of Things

Now the Sun is not travelling alone in the world of watery Cancer. In its company we have Mercury (communication) and the asteroid Vesta (dedication, protection, shelter). As you have probably heard, Mercury is in its retrograde motion until the 12th of July. When Mercury is in retrograde things related to communication—deliveries, electronics, telephones—have a way of their own. Everything from computer crashes to packages delivered wrong can happen. But, when a planet goes retrograde it also has some advantages.

The planet’s energy is turned inward instead of outward and that can help us a lot with our own processes in life. With Mercury it’s a great opportunity to re-think, re -write and re-learn. Go deeper in research and get to the bottom of things.

In the sign of Cancer, that is related to our relationships as well. Have you missed something in a relationship? What was the wisdom or gift in that relationship? What did you learn or experience? How has that prepared you for being a better person, partner, or friend in your future relationships?

In this process Mercury is making a challenging square to both Juno in Libra and Chiron in Aries. That makes deep wounds related to communication and relationships surface. You can read more about that in my previous article “We Need to Talk”. This aspect with Mercury/Juno/Chiron lasts until the end of July but is intensified with the Mercury retrograde.

Meeting the Gods at Your Breakfast Table

Right now we have five planets in retrograde: Pluto (transformation, change), Jupiter (expansion, higher knowledge), Saturn (manifestation, limitation), Neptune (soul, spirituality, illusions), and Mercury (communication) They are all moving the energy inwards, making things personal. And they are also giving us a golden opportunity to go deep, dig for the truth and learn a lot about ourselves and the meaning of our lives and incarnation.

Energies that are usually too far away from us, unreachable if you would like, are now so close to us that we can almost touch them. Like having the Gods over for breakfast. The outer planets are usually too big to embody and a name for them is the “non-personal” or “trans-personal” planets. Working with magick, this special event with them so close, might give you some magically creative ideas. Energies that for some may seem daunting, can be an opportunity looking from another perspective and with your magickal glasses on. Retrograde energies are slowing things down, so this is a good time for making magickal oils, incense or the like for slowing things down.

My Home, My Temple

Everyone should feel safe and protected in their own home. It’s a basic right, but I know that’s not the reality for many people. As witches, healers, and magickal people, one of the greatest things to learn is making your body, your personal space, and your home feel protected and safe. Right now with so many things going on it may feel like the world is spinning out of control and even the sturdiest of homes can be a bit shaken.

Now with the Sun (protection, strength), Mercury, and the asteroid Vesta (protection, home, service) together in the sign of Cancer (home, family, protection) we have a great opportunity to shield and strengthen our homes. A person who feels protected and safe and has the possibility to recharge at home, has a way better chance to make good decisions in life, more so than a person constantly on-guard and feeling unsafe.

Mercury and Practical Magick

Many don’t consider Mercury a doer. But he is, really. Mercury rules the sign of Gemini and the 3rd house of communication, friendships, and learning. He also rules Virgo and the 6th house of service. Everyone who knows a Virgo knows they are most competent and efficient at doing things. If they think it’s worth it, of course! Practical, down-to-earth magick is one of their gifts.

Now is the time to shield that house or apartment of yours and make it the Temple of love, harmony, and magick it has the potential to be. And if you are thinking “Well, it already is!” then good for you, you have a good starting point and a solid foundation to build from. The thing is that magick, wards, and protection are like all other natural, living things, affected by time and whatever they are exposed to. In stormy times like we have now, protection wears down faster, and we have a lot to gain by being diligent in keeping our homes magickally strong and safe.

Fun Practical Magick for Your Home

There are lots of fun things you can do to give a magickal twist to the things that you are doing anyway. Here are some ideas:

When cleaning the windows you can use a magickal spray for protection, you can also draw protective sigils with blessed water on windows and doors.
When planting flowers for the house, balcony or the window sill, do some research on flowers and their magickal properties. Choose one or two flowers for protection, and some flowers for other things that you want as well. Common flowers good for protection are: Geranium, Petunias, Chamomile and Tagetes.
When planting the flowers you can draw protective sigils on either the outside or inside of the flower pot before putting the flowers in. You can also write affirmations and put inside the pot. “This home is safe and protected from all kinds of harm” or “This house is a temple and all who dwell inside are protected and safe.” Personally I love writing “Protected by Witchcraft!”
Many herbs used for cooking are great magickal helpers. Put them on your porch, balcony, or in the window and ask them protect your home. They will do it anyway, but if you ask them nice they, like all other living things, will do it with extra power and enthusiasm. Basil, rosemary, and thyme are great for protection and wonderful to use when cooking.
If you are repainting the house or parts of it, imagine scraping away the old as you remove the old paint. Bless the new paint and paint your house with love and protection.
Use your broom. Sweep out stagnant or unwanted energies from your home. I love our broom and it stands outside of the front door. It’s painted and decorated with charms. It gives good protection and sends a signal that there is magick in this household and “you better behave in a good way entering into this house!”

Energy Waves and Dates to Watch

There are many things happening in the sky right now, and it will continue to come in waves for some time ahead. Dates to look out for are the 5th of July when we have a Full Moon in Capricorn and a lunar Eclipse. On the 6th the Sun and the asteroid Vesta join Sirius at 14 degrees in Cancer. At the same time the asteroid Atlantis is opposite Saturn in Capricorn. (You can read more about that in the previous article “We Need to Talk”) Strong waves of energy will move over and through us all. I would be very surprised if someone claimed not feeling anything at all.

We can not do anything about this. The energy will come whether we like it or not. What we can do is to shield and secure our homes so that we feel safe. We can use our magickal training and ability to stay grounded and clear-headed, alert and focused so that we do not get carried away in the collective energies.

Right now Pluto and Jupiter are joined together in Capricorn. On the 6th of July they will be exactly on 23 degrees in Capricorn. Next to them we have Saturn at 29 degrees (and opposite the asteroid Atlantis) and they are all in retrograde motion. Old structures being removed, creating turbulence and a hard time to distinguish right from wrong, truth from false, and real from unreal (Neptune retrograde as well).

But, do you know who’s also there, in the middle of everything? Pallas Athena! The goddess of wisdom is right there in the middle of the male gods of Zeus (Jupiter), Kronos (Saturn), and Hades (Pluto) At 23 degrees in Capricorn she is an energy we can call upon when we feel like there is a need for more wisdom, knowledge, deep thought, and revealing of the truth.

Blessings!
— Karin Spirit Talker Turtle Red

Karin Ugander (Spirit Talker Turtle Red) is a spiritual channeler living in the south of Sweden. In Scandinavia she is known for the AstroNumerology and psychic readings she’s been doing for over 20 years. Together with her husband Niklas, she runs KaniSkolan, a school of astrology, numerology, tarot, StarCode Healing, and natural medicine. They are also the founders of Alven Inner Ring tradition, a Scandinavian mystery school with roots in shamanism and magick. Karin loves to create magickal oils, flower essences and sigils she combines in her “Karin Victoria” sigil candles and flower sprays. In her spare time she likes to travel, walk in the forest with her dog, and spend time by the ocean. Karin is a high priestess and graduate of the Temple of Witchcraft’s seminary program.

You can find Karin Ugander at Instagram @flowerpowerwitch and @karinuganderofficial

Reiki Blog: Recognizing and Healing Our Generational Shadow

by Gemini Lead Minister on June 23, 2020

I posted this on my Facebook page last weekend:

“Absolutely nothing exists in a vacuum. Think about this…

Every decision that you ever made in your life was because of circumstances that you were in at that time. Which might have been due to circumstances that your parents were in, which educated you on your decision. Your parents decision was based on what they were educated in by their parents and so on and so on…

You don’t exist in a vacuum…You base your decisions off of circumstances that you were in at the time.”

This same principle applies to everyone living their daily lives. This same principle applies to governments and their laws.

Some refer to this as a “Trauma Legacy” or “Ancestral Trauma” or “Transgenerational effects of trauma” (like the article from 2019 linked below). This is a relatively new field of study and it was first documented in 1966 among Holocaust survivors. The body and the mind take on the deep hurt and loss of community, of family and there is a painful longing of what used to be – and this can be passed down through the generations. In Twenty-One Days of Reiki Adam Sartwell talks of this in the chapter titled “Healing Inheritance Patterns”. He says “We are intrinsically linked to (our family) through both our blood and our education and through our family karma…the karma of our ancestors. All of these patterns passed to us can be changed and improved.” I would also say that the karma of our ancestors is not just our family but that of our community and our nation.

As healers, we are not in charge of saving the world. We can’t heal something like this in one fell swoop. If we could it would already be done. We can only heal ourselves and sometimes that is only a little at a time. By healing ourselves, we can not only heal the present self but we can heal the past self. We can dig deep and meditate for when there was a time in our past that needed healing and send Reiki there through time through the Reiki symbols or creating a symbol of that healing and sending it there. We can also help facilitate the healing of others by asking their higher self to engage, help us to heal what is needed, then follow up with real world action. For example, I know people who experienced abuse as children. Some of them decided to never have children and have broken that generation cycle. Others have had children and have made sure that they do not perpetuate what happened to them to their own children – which also breaks the cycle and brings healing to the ancestral line.

I ask you today, what do you need to heal on that ancestral level to bring healing to the world right now? And I know that is an uncomfortable question. I am a white, cis-gendered, straight woman. I have benefitted from privilege my whole life and my country has made sure that not all their sins were part of my education. I had to find these things out by listening to my Queer friends, by listening to Black voices. Now that I know where to look, I have had my eyes opened and I am learning things I didn’t know before. This knowledge can shock you and make you angry and sad. Sometimes when this happens you listen and walk away knowing it will not affect you in the long run. Sometimes when this happens you realize you can’t be quiet anymore and you have to take some kind of stand. Sometimes when this happens you need to sit and digest it and find a new way forward. All of this is a part of the healing that is needed so we can move forward together as a nation.

Life is not a sprint. It is a marathon. We seek little victories and try to push forward towards equality and compassion for all. We do what we can with what we have in our homes, our towns, and this translates to forward action in our countries and the world.

How can we change the “it’s always been this way” mindset? The “change is scary” mindset? It isn’t easy. There must be acceptance and acknowledgement and then there must be active work to heal, to change and to grow. Reiki works with us and can guide us in this healing.

May we all heal, change and grow so we can make a better tomorrow for every generation to come.

Blessed Be

Dawn Marie Costorf is a Mystery School student and a Pisces Deputy Minister. She co-leads the Virgo Ministry Reiki Share at the Temple of Witchcraft once a month. The Reiki share has moved online! If you would like to be a part of the Reiki Share, please send an email to register at [email protected].

For more information on Trauma Legacy

I’ll Know It When I See It

by Gemini Lead Minister on June 22, 2020

by Christopher Penczak, edited by Tina Whittle

“What exactly are you expecting?” a friend and colleague asked me. We were discussing my discomfort with a student going forward in our Witchcraft training program. Sadly, my response went back to the less-than-helpful-wisdom of “I’ll know it when I see it.”

Magickal training is such a unique process. You can provide similar information and experiences, and no two people will process it the same. And even in the range of honest-to-goodness real examples of doing the personal and interpersonal work of a mystery tradition, there will always be those who are consciously or unconsciously not doing the work, faking it on some level. One of the hardest problems—and one of the biggest reasons not to do this kind of esoteric work via mail correspondence back in the old days or online today—is that distance makes faking it much easier. You have to reply on self-reporting. I struggle with it still. You want to accept people at face value, but when words and actions don’t match, there is a problem.

Some people are self-delusional. They cannot self-assess easily. While difficult, I prefer the self-delusional because more often than not, there is always the hope of the breakthrough. I’ve seen it many times. While we assume self-delusion comes from grandeur, it can just as often result from doubt. I’ve witnessed many a pessimistic student do amazingly well and yet be unable see their own progress when self-assessing.

The flip side is those students who are not doing so great, but who think they are amazing, natural prodigies ahead of everyone else in their class. Perhaps they are, and I’m not spiritually evolved enough to see it, but I don’t think so. The people who are far along the path don’t have to spend a lot of time convincing others how great they are. Their demeanor and presence express that progress, and that is the essence of “I’ll know it when I see it.” People who continually express their greatness usually draw strong and unflattering responses from their peer group, mentors, and community.

Then there are those who are consciously aware they are not doing the work. They either think it’s beneath them, that they have already done it, or they know they can’t do it. And they consciously tell you what you want to hear, but it doesn’t ring true. Eventually you catch onto the deception, usually through their behavior and not their words. The lessons they report doing haven’t integrated. Perhaps they did do them on a surface level, as a way of avoiding the cognitive dissonance of lying. They believe they are being truthful, as they technically “did” the work, but they are not putting the lessons into action in any meaningful way. While learning can take time to integrate, there are always indicators, struggles and conversations that show good faith in the process. When those are absent or seem contrived, there is a problem.

And there are those who are out-and-out lying to get what they want, and they know it. But they think they have you fooled. These are the folks I have a much harder time with, and I have to admit, that while distance makes such deception easier, I’ve been fooled at times in person. Such challenges can be alleviated when the teachers are also deeply introspective and consistently ask self-interrogatory questions: “What am I not seeing?”; “How can I teach this person in a better way?”; and “Is this student triggering my personal stuff? Am I projecting?”

Sometimes undiagnosed mental illness can thicken the mix, making it even harder to understand what is occurring. I’ve mistaken undiagnosed personality disorder for obsessive-compulsive tendencies before, and only when it was pointed out to me by a mental health professional did the arc of the experience make more sense to me. Often, however, deception has no major psychological component and is simply selfishness and greed; there is little help in those situations.

So what am I expecting? I expect, over the course of time, to see an embodiment of the principles of the work. That is the mark of doing the work, not just the words. I expect changes in behavior and communication that indicate an evolution in awareness, a sincerity and heart that shines forward and illuminates their actions.

It’s not always a progressively upward curve. There are behavioral peaks and valleys in the initiatory process. Teachers can recognize the ego zones of students who feel they have grown too good, and either they have a humbling experience with you, a humbling experience without you, or leave for the brighter fields of ego delusion. In a successful process, there is a natural dissolution of hard boundaries between teacher and student for the softer boundaries of peers, and many students in those valleys of difficulty seek to dissolve those far before they reach that point, becoming too familiar too quickly.

When a student is doing the work, these are fairly short lived phases. If they remain stuck in one of these egotistical or destructive phases for too long, there is a problem. It usually indicates one who is not doing the work, who cannot navigate these hard places by integrating the lessons. Sometimes the student will go away, explore something else, and have a family or career shift, all of which can provide a needed sabbatical. And sometimes they return changed and integrated and ready for the next thing. But other times, the time away is only a distraction, conscious or unconscious, and the return is an effort to wipe away the past and return with a seemingly clean slate without having integrated anything at all.

Each lesson can trigger a deeper phase, and no one can do the personal work for you. Teachers can mentor. We can offer technique. We can share lore. But in the end, each student responds differently. Sometimes difficult lessons for you will be easy for peers, and then vice versa. Simply checking off the boxes as “complete” doesn’t do it. Even in an online school, where checking off the boxes provides a measure for completion, it also serves as a means for triggering processes and having conversations. We can then more easily go back to a problem, point to a previous lesson, and say, “Have you tried drawing upon that to help you?” Anyone can forget, as there is a lot of esoteric technique, but the one who has done the work will quickly pick up the tip, while the one who hasn’t will A) be bewildered and unfamiliar with the suggestion; B) give you lip service that they already tried that, but offer no details; or C) try to redirect the conversation away from their problem.

We most often have the rule of “firsthand accounts only” when having a problem in our community—no anonymous hearsay. If there is a complaint, the person with the complaint must bring it forward. And often those not doing the work will be the loudest in community, placing themselves at the center of swirling controversies in order to get attention or feel important. Even with our firsthand-accounts policy, if a number of people normally not involved in any drama bring us secondhand accounts of concern, all about the same person, it’s often time to ask some direct questions if we can, or at the very least, be mindful and observant. Community can be the container to work through issues and problems. I don’t think a problem or conflict is something to be avoided at all costs. Drama, yes, but conflict, no. We learn through conflict, even when it’s unpleasant, as long as we have guidelines for resolution and restoration. Conflict can be a part of the initiation formula, and we together hold the container of community for each other to have a place in which to experience those lessons in a magickal setting. I’m not a big believer in the idea of universal tests to pass, but I think an important aspect of life—and therefore magickal initiation—is struggle and confrontation, and how one handles such things is part of the magick.

Borrowing from a psychological model, I think esoteric magick, training, and initiation work in a fashion similar to modern models of psychological change. When we learn, we have peak experiences that draw us out of the ordinary. As we consistently practice and do the work, we start to move our baseline closer to those peaks and learn the life skills to navigate those new levels of consciousness. We create a plateau. With enough testing, challenge, and practice at the plateau, our consciousness stabilizes into a permanent new change. We are mutated in our consciousness, yet we have simply created a new base line for a new peak. We are never, ever done. Permanent is not permanent, but ever evolving. While I might not always favor the higher-equals-better metaphor, it shows the ease with which one can suddenly and violently fall from a peak or plateau. Our movement must be measured, guided, and reasoned if we seek to avoid a fall. Some small tumbles can be quite educational, with the group, tradition, and training preventing you from falling too far when you do slip, but we have to avoid those people who take down everyone else with them. Like mountaineers tethered together, a group can either save one member from great harm, or that one person can be the weight that takes them all down. It all depends on how you handle yourself and how they anchor themselves.

Everyone expresses this process differently, and beautifully. I do know it when I see it. I know it when I feel it. I know it when we talk together and share. I know it when it shines through in the actions of a student, peer, and friend. And you will too. Living it is the only way to embody it, and when you live it, there is no question, even among those who might disagree with your methods, personal choices, or aesthetics. Initiates of all traditions recognize each other (assuming they honestly assess) as it’s not about the specific ritual. Adepts of all traditions know one another, for in truth, they belong to the same meta-order. Masters of all stripes accept one another, even while on different paths. So look for your fellows. See the wisdom. Know it when you see it.

Temple Astrolog: Don’t Have a Party on Your Birthday

by Gemini Lead Minister on June 15, 2020

Don’t get me wrong, I love birthday parties. I love everything from the presents and the cake to the decorations and gathering of family and friends. But I do know that from the perspective of the one having the birthday, that particular day is often a strange one. We have four children and, as a family of six, we have experienced the chaos of birthdays many times. Everything should be great: party with your best friends, specially-made cake and gifts. What’s not to love? And still, a feeling of melancholy usually moves in. If the children are small that uneasy feeling can come out as crying, discomfort, tantrums, and not being at all in the right mood for party. Then the doorbell rings, the guests arrive, and everybody pretends to be happy and that all is well.

So, what’s going on? What energies are at work at your birthday?

The number is about what you have become

Many forget that the time up until your first birthday you do not “own” or carry the power of being one yet. If you have dedicated parents (usually parents with their first child) they celebrate you becoming 1 week, then 1 month, 6 months and then finally…tada! You are one year old. That means you have lived for one full year. To be direct, you have survived long enough to celebrate that first year. Now, as the years continue, people (me included) tend to forget that. We say: Happy 25th birthday, how does it feel to be twenty-five? And we think about them as starting their 25th year. But the truth is that, on that day, you begin your 26th trip around with the sun. Your 25th birthday is a marker that you have already made twenty-five rounds, and this is an important key to understanding the energies at play at your birthday. You are closing one circle or frequencies of energy to open up another. At your birthday you are literally in a place between the gates, between what has been, what is, and what shall be. This becomes extra important at big birthdays like becoming 30, 40, or 50, and so on. At your 30th birthday you are putting a sigil on your 30th trip around the sun. These ages are commonly celebrated a lot, but in the world of Numerology ages like 9, 18, 27, 36, and 54 (following the number 9) always indicate a big change. Birthdays are sacred and deserve attention and quite a bit of introspection as well, no matter what age we are becoming.

The Sun and the Hero

The sun is in one way the easiest planet to understand in the astrological chart, and in another way the most mysterious. When we say “I’m a Gemini” what we really mean is that the sun was in that sign when we were born. It says nothing about all the other planets, signs, and cool stuff in the chart. So why is that the one that we talk about the most?

It is said that the sun is telling what kind of Hero you are here to become. So, if you are born in the sign of Aries, you are here to be a brave, courageous, and direct Hero. You cannot and should not try to become something else. If you are born a Virgo you have come here to analyze, make things more effective, and use your sharp mind. What you can do, as an Aries, is to make use of your empathy, and as a Virgo make sure you are connected to your heart as well as your mind. But to say to a Virgo to stop thinking, a Leo to stop shining, and a Taurus to stop working for abundance, that’s just a waste of time and you are hindering them from becoming the Hero they are here to be.

When Things Hit Your Sun

When something “hits” your sun, when you have some other planets affecting the sun in your birth chart, it feels personal—and it is. When Saturn (limitations, structure) makes a challenging aspect to your Sun, you feel small, unworthy and like the world is on your shoulders. “Nobody loves me!” When Jupiter (expansion, luck) makes a nice aspect to your Sun you can take on the whole world, and you shine very bright. “Bring it on baby!” (Yes, you can be overconfident with this aspect). All aspects to your Sun affect how you see yourself, your self-worth, and your ability to shine in the world.

Around your birthday, the sun returns to the same place as when you were born, that’s called a solar return. (This can happen the day before your birthday, on your birthday, and the day after.) When this happens, your inner sun in the birth chart, is aligned to the cosmic sun. We can call that a double hit of solar energy. It’s a strong energy wave with a mix of personal (your inner Sun) and transpersonal energies (the cosmic Sun) beaming right into your heart. (The Sun rules the sign of Leo, which rules the heart in the body.) No wonder we may feel everything from overloaded to feeling strange and a bit sad as well.

Why Moms Are a Bit Strange at Birthdays

Most moms are a bit strange at their children’s birthdays. Even if we try not to show it and would not admit to it, we are different on that day. When you were born, your mother literally stood at the gate between the worlds and held a space for your incarnation. Anything can happen at birth. Giving birth and being born is a chance at its best and a trauma at its worst. It’s one of the most intense experiences that will happen during your life, both for mother and the child. That changes you, whether the birth is considered a normal delivery or a dramatic one. You are not the same afterwards. You have been touched by forces of another nature standing at the gates of life.

As the sun returns to the same place as when the baby was born, an echo or energy wave from that moment in time activates and resonates with the mother. It’s strong stuff and that’s one of the reasons why mothers keep on talking about the birth and everything that happened. They need to be allowed to do that. So the next time you see a mother with tears in her eyes at her child’s birthday party, remember that it may not all be the joy or sadness of the child getting older, there may be other forces at work as well. If you are adopted, a similar gate would have opened up the day that your parents “got you,” when you became their child. When one part of your life and theirs changed into something else. The day that you got each other is an important marker in time.

If giving birth to your child was difficult in some way a birthday is a good opportunity to work with healing that experience, no matter how much time that has passed. Since the gates between the worlds are so open at giving birth, it also affects how you perceive and what you experience during rituals and other times when the gates are wide open. If you had a difficult birth yourself, healing that is equally important for the same reasons, and others as well. What happens during our birth colors every new start or “birth” in our lives.

Back to the Birthday Part

Here we are, back at the birthday party. The child having his or her solar return, beamed right into the heart by solar powers, activating, creating, and stirring things around. One numerological cycle ends and another one is opening up. We also have the parents, remembering the time of the birth and re-living whatever happened then. We have the mother getting an echo from the worlds between the worlds. And in the midst of it all we are supposed to be happy, socialize, and be outgoing with others.

So what can you do?

You can still have a party, but what if you set aside the day before your birthday, the actual day, and the day after as sacred days? (If you want to be sure you could take two days before and 2 days after.) Days for you to contemplate, think, or just be? Making a good ending of the year that has been and giving yourself time to open up for the new year. If you have children, I can almost promise you they will be happier and at more peace with themselves after the days around their birthday. You can try this strategy for the big party if you like. Or not. But if you don’t, please remember that it’s okay to not be super-happy at your birthday, in fact it’s more than okay. And if your parents are crying, that’s probably not just about you.

Ceremonies for Your Birthday

Here are some suggestions for ceremonies at or on your birthday. You can make them as small or grand as you like and adopt them to your tradition. You can also do them with your children. Before you start, prepare the space by cleaning it and all the things you will use, in a way that feels right to you. End the ceremony with giving thanks to the spirits that have been present, depending on your tradition or belief system. Make sure that you clean up after you.

Water: Take a glass of water and tell it what you are ready to release. It can be about the year that has passed. It can also be something deeper. Release the water in the glass in running water or by the sea, river, stream, or the like. See how all the heavy energies leave your life and moves away with the water.

Fill another glass with something tasty and good. For this I like something with strawberry for love and luck. Tell it your wishes for a good year, make a toast, and drink it up. Imagine all the good tings coming into life and how you light up from the inside and out.

Fill the glass a second time and make a wish for the planet/the world, pour it out and say your thanks.

Air: Take some flour in your hand. Talk to it about the things that you want to let go of. When you are ready blow it out of your hand and see the heavy energies flying away.

Take some new flour, mix it with either some glitter or natural dye. Think about all the good things you want in your life, then sprinkle it around you, on you and in your hair. Se how you become shining and beautiful, attracting all good things and see how they manifest out of thin air, in your life.

Take some sparkling flour a second time. Make a prayer for the world, sprinkle it around and release the good winds to the world. Say your thanks.

Earth: Take a small stone or crystal in your hand. Tell it about what you are ready to let go of, then bury the stone, knowing deep inside that it will help you with that.

Take another stone or crystal, ask it to help you bring in good things in your life. See how the stone starts glowing with love, luck, and good things. Carry the stone in your pocket or put it beside your bed.

Take a second stone. Make a prayer for the world, bury it and see how it’s seeded in the world, say your thanks.

Fire: Take a small piece of paper and write down no more than three words about what you are ready to release. Then burn it up in a fireproof dish and see how the heavy energies transforms. Take another paper and write three words about what you want for the coming year. Burn that as well and see how it becomes an arrow of light, brining you good things.

Center: Put charcoal in a cauldron and an appropriate incense. Say out loud what you want to release and then jump over the cauldron, leaving the heavy energies behind.

Put on some new incense, say out loud what you want in your life instead and then jump over the cauldron and right into your bright future!

The third time you put incense in the cauldron, say a prayer for the world and give your thanks.

With this, I guess there’s just one more thing for me to say:

Happy Birthday!
— Karin Spirit Talker Turtle Red

You can find Karin Ugander at Instagram @flowerpowerwitch and @karinuganderofficial

Gemini Volunteer Spotlight: Simon Hewett

by Gemini Lead Minister on June 10, 2020

While there is most certainly a “technical” side to Witchcraft, there’s an even more technical side to maintaining a modern Witchcraft temple, and that’s where Gemini Ministry, and volunteers like Simon Hewett, come in.

Simon is the much-beloved and relied-upon “tech witch” of the Temple, regularly assisting the Mystery School in navigating the arcane secrets of Google Classroom and Google Groups. More recently, Simon also assisted the Gemini Ministry in an organization-wide upgrade to our email server to help ensure better and more reliable communication throughout the Temple and between us and the outside world. If you want to talk feats of magic, look no further than the dark secrets of DNS and MX wizards and domain names! What’s more, Simon fielded questions and provided assistance to all with good humor, professionalism, and skill.

Simon also serves on our TempleFest committee, particularly for children’s events, and as a Deputy in Cancer Ministry, overseeing the Temple’s children’s ministry. He’s a valued, and much appreciated, volunteer and member of our community. Blessings and many thanks, Simon!

A Crafting Litha

by Gemini Lead Minister on June 8, 2020

Adapt this ritual to suit your situation and ability. We are using the natron, the simple Litha incense, and the magickal wash, made in our previous videos, all viewable online, bringing them together for this work. In this ritual the “work” is three parts: cleansing and reconsecrating our tools, rededicating ourselves to the Craft, and creation of a piece of art to represent the solar god until Lammas. Gather and craft all that you need before the ritual.

Begin your ritual with cleansing yourself by either taking a bath or bathing in holy water made by mixing your natron salt with the water and a teaspoon of the magickal wash.

Cleanse the space for your ritual with holy water made from the mixture of natron and water. Fumigate the space with the simple litha incense burning on a charcoal in a heat safe container.

Cast your circle with the words below or your own:

“I cast this circle to protect from all harm on any level, I charge it to draw in those energies perfect and profound for this ritual and banish those that are not, I consecrate this circle as a space beyond space and a time beyond time where the truest Love Will and Wisdom can be served. So mote it be.”

Call your quarters using these quarter calls or ones of your own:

“To the north, I call to the power of Earth and its guiding presence the Great stag, Bring your strength and stability to this circle as you guide and Guard it. Hail and Welcome.”

“To the east, I call to the power of Fire and its guiding presence the Great Horse, Bring your passion and motion into this circle as you guide and Guard it. Hail and welcome!”

“To the south, I call the the power of Air and it’s guiding presence The Great Crow, Bring your wisdom and cunning into this circle as you guide and guard it. Hail and welcome.”

“To the West I call to the power of Water and it’s guiding presence the Great Snake. Bring your ease of transformation and calm into this circle as you guide and guard it. Hail and welcome.”

Call to the Goddess, God and Great spirit in your own words. Let spirit guide you as you name the work and express your own thoughts about Litha and the height of the power of the sun.

Begin cleansing each of your tools using the magickal wash and passing them through the simple litha incense thinking about cleansing the energy it represents within you and the universe. When you finish with a tool, reconsecrate it to the energy it represents. Use your own words or ones you have found to bless and reconsecrate them. As you Cleanse and reconsecrate them you are cleaning and reconnecting to these parts of your self.

In your own words, if you want, to rededicate yourself to the Craft and its work.

Lastly, in your own words call to the lord of the sun at his peak of power. In a meditative way create a small piece of art that will represent the energies of the sun to you. A poem, a painting, a drawing, or some idea of your own making are all great possibilities. My plan is to create a small watercolor of the idea that rings true for me in representing the sun. A sun rise, a sunflower, a tall oak tree, a sun, or whatever comes to mind. Mix a little of the magical wash and the natron in the water you use for your paints. Take joy in its creation, for it will represent the sun only until Lammas on your altar or in a space where you will see it. Make it knowing you will burn it at Lammas to represent the sacrifice of the Solar King to become the Lord of the Grain. Keep this in mind when you think about the size of your art. With your art and your own words charge this art to represent the solar energies and beings.

In your own words Thank the Goddess, God and Great spirit.

Release your quarters with these quarter releases or some of your own making:

“To the North, I thank and release the power of earth and the guiding presence of the Great Stag. Hail and farewell.”

“To the West, I thank and release the power of Earth and the Guiding presence of the Great snake. Hail and farewell.”

“To the South, I thank and release the power of Air and the Guiding presence of the Great Crow. Hail and Farewell”

“To The East, I thank and Release the power of Fire and the Guiding presence of the Great Horse. Hail and farewell.”

Release your circle with these or words of your own making.

“This circle is undone but not broken, It flows outward throughout time and space to touch the circles of my sisters and brothers as a gentle blessing. So mote it be!”

Keep your artwork handy on your altar or a place you will see it until Lammas.

Adam Sartwell is a founder and high priest of the Temple of Witchcraft. He is lead minister of Virgo, involved in the crafting work of the Temple, along with healing and service to the community through the Temple Store. Adam is the author of two books, Twenty-one Days of Reiki and The Blessing Cord, and maintains a website and practice at adamsartwell.com.

Wrong Motivation

by Gemini Lead Minister on June 8, 2020

by Christopher Penczak, edited by Tina Whittle

“I did start out in witchcraft to get boys, to tell you the truth.”
“Think I don’t know that?”
“What did you start out to get, Esme?”
Granny stopped, and looked up at the frosty sky and then down at the ground.
“Dunno,” she said at last. “Even, I suppose.”
― Terry Pratchett, A Blink of the Screen: Collected Shorter Fiction

We all come to the Craft for different reasons. I’d like to say all of them are noble and good—spiritual evolution, service to the world, and devotion to the divine. But I’d be lying. Most of us first flirt with magick for the perception of power or control that we feel are lacking in our day-to-day life. While not my initial motivation, it certainly played a part. Once you have an understanding of how much your intention and energy influence things and the ritual technology to set things in motion, it’s easy to get a little drunk on that power and enter into illusions of superiority or invincibility. I know my first motives were skepticism. I got into it to prove a friend was acting crazy and had joined a cult, little realizing that someday later I’d be considered a cult leader myself. But of course I then used it for success at school and work, romance and sex, and generally getting what I wanted when I wanted it, sometimes to great success, other times to almost comical failure.

The spiritual evolution, the service and the devotion, were natural outgrowths of the world. Thankfully I learned from those who instilled in me both a strong sense of magickal technique and theory and a sense of belonging to something greater, a timeless esoteric order of which all Witches were a part and an understanding that we were a link in that greater chain. That order included the ancient temple priest/esses, as well as the village wise women, the mystical Christian ‘saints,’ the court magicians, the tribal shamans, the mountain top ascetics, and the hidden healers. Amid the love and money spells, we were also bearers of a secret lineage, bearers of a light. Ultimately our job was to alleviate suffering, our own and others, and bring awareness of the hidden to those who seek. I think in the modern so-called “de-bunking” of Wicca as an ancient religion and the accompanying renunciation of the Wiccan Rede, the spiritual transmission of this concept is lost. Perhaps because many older Witches poorly demonstrated it, the underlying ethos was not valued by those coming into it. Many new seekers pursue the power and the spells, but get neither the sense of mytho-historic connection to the past nor a responsibility to the present and future. The natural evolution to service and devotion is not entirely gone, but it is much less likely on the path of many new Witches today.

With only a linear interpretation of a crooked magickal path, we rob ourselves of mythopoetic truths. The heart of the mysteries is paradox. The Tibetan Buddhists can hold a mythic truth that Avalokiteśvara was here at the start of creation and the founding of Tibet as a nation while the academic Buddhist scholar can trace the influx of Buddhism from India and the first appearances of Avalokiteśvara. It is only in the Christian mythopoeia that story is held as absolute truth for the world, with current followers confusing the Bible with a history and science book. Not wishing to emulate that Christian model, Witches rob themselves of the magick of the two truths and the mystery of paradox. Witchcraft has an ancient lineage you are connected to, and Wicca is just one expression of that. All oak trees are connected, but they are not directly connected in a straight line. Acorns scatter and sprout when they are ready, often years later. New soils and environments bring new varieties and eventually new species. But they are all oaks.

A year ago, I wrote a piece called Right Motive and Mystic Will, where I argued that one cannot truly judge another’s motivation. Often poor initial motivations lead to great results or trigger a transformation in the individual. It is magick! And while I still agree, I still struggle. I am constantly challenged by those with seemingly wrong motivation, and I await, but cannot force, any transformation. People want power, prestige, and endorsement by those they feel have power and prestige. There have been times in the past where criminals (who later went to jail) used a photo opportunity with me to imply endorsement. I recently found out that another devious “leader” signed my name to a document of “elders” banishing someone from their tradition, someone I knew in passing for a cup of coffee or a meal, but not on any council together. Another former student dismissed from our organization continues to coyly imply my endorsement to her new students who are later stunned to find out she is not connected. While these are extreme examples for me over the years, smaller examples, known and unknown, happen to those of us doing the work on a daily basis.

I think back to some of the Eastern training in yoga. The idea of a corrupt intent leading to a bad result was far more emphasized, which might be why I didn’t fully commit to being a yogi and instead went with Witchcraft. But there is truth to the idea. We see it today in the legal sentencing of crimes—intent, while not everything, matters.

As magicians we know that how things start, the astrological moment chosen to initiate a project, influences the whole project. Western magick talks less about corrupt intent, though occult mythologies of the early 1900s persistently mention “dark lodges” seeking to sow evil. Read any Nazi occultism book and you’ll find the concept pretty easily, leading to the conspiracy theories of today.

In Witchcraft we talk about it less. The ideas of oath breakers and corruptions and betrayers of the coven are often personal and subjective, leading to Witch Wars that eventually spin out into ridiculous scenarios. They have all the drama of any other community dispute plus the extra fuel that comes from a grand sense of magickal power and purpose. In the beloved work of Terry Pratchett (quoted above), the Witches of Discworld speak of Witches who have “gone cackling” or in essence, gone “wrong.” From the novel Wintersmith:

“It wasn’t wise to try to learn witching all by yourself, especially if you had a natural talent. If you got it wrong you could go from ignorant to cackling in a week….To a witch, ‘cackling’ didn’t just mean nasty laughter. It meant your mind drifting away from its anchor. It meant you losing your grip. It meant loneliness and hard work and responsibility and other people’s problems driving you crazy a little bit at a time, each bit so small that you’d hardly notice it, until you thought that it was normal to stop washing and wear a kettle on your head. It meant you thinking that the fact you knew more than anyone else in your village made you better than them. It meant thinking that right and wrong were negotiable.”

The check for cackling was visiting with each other, sharing tea and news. Perhaps for not the same reasons yet with the same result, Witches do this today in our world outside of the storybook fantasy. It is far easier to go wrong when you start with wrong motivation. Wrong motivation can be fixed, but it takes a sense of history, community, and responsibility to the whole. Support and connection help foster that, but if you have the wrong motivation, you have to reach out as much or more than you expect others to reach to you, if you truly hope to change.

So I struggle about where to draw the line with wrong motivation. I’ve made mistakes and misjudgments. I’ve had strange things happen behind my back, not to be revealed until years later. Yet I don’t lose hope that the wrong can be transformed. We simply have to find out for ourselves where that line is when helping others.

Temple Astrolog: We Need to Talk…

by Gemini Lead Minister on June 1, 2020

There are some serious things going on right now in people’s hearts and minds, things that have been brewing for a long time and that need to be talked about. Things buried so deep inside that we might not even realize they are there, until it is time…and now it’s time.

Mercury (communication, friends, neighbors, siblings) is in the sign of Cancer (family, things close to the heart). Mercury in the sign of Cancer wants to talk about the things that are close to us, and we need to talk about them.

Losing your words and balancing the scales

Everyone has something that is hard for them to talk about. It does not matter who you are, if you are a journalist, writer, or a teacher or have any other sort of communication job: when it comes into the core of who we are, there are some things that are hard to put into words. Things that hurt us and need healing deep within.

In fact, if you talk a lot about something difficult, it may even be a clue that you are not close enough to the core. That you are verbally dancing around the “hot-spot” to avoid the center where the flame is strongest. This center also has the power to heal you the most.

Right now Mercury (communication) is in a hard aspect to Chiron (deep healing) in the sign of Aries (fire, bluntness, abruptness). Together they work on healing those times when the hurt has been so bad you have lost your words, the times when you could not stand up for yourself because perhaps you were too afraid, too young, or perhaps did not realize you were, in fact, being hurt.

They get assistance from the asteroid Juno, bringing in some tough love through the sign of Libra (relationships, law, justice, balance) also forcing us to realize we need to balance the scales to be able to continue forward. Juno often signals the starting and the ending of everything from projects to relationships or phases in life.

Mercury: Turning things around

Mercury is a master communicator, but also a master of illusions. Part of the shadow-side of mercury is when we fool others or even ourselves. So in this combination with Juno and Chiron, we may be in a position where we realize that things, events, people, and situations were not, and are not what we believe them to be.

This can come as a shock, lightening striking from above, or as a hunch that has gown so big we must recognize it is, in fact, the truth. Even if we don’t like it. Especially if we don’t like it.

Whatever side of the table we are on, we all need to sit down, listen and figure out what is going on right now. What am I healing at this moment? What are my closest companions saying to me? Who wants my attention and why? Because if we don’t listen, it can lead to a place later on where we’d rather not be.

If someone is saying “can you please sit down, we need to talk,” do it. Don’t wait. It might be one of the most important conversations of your life. It can be your child telling you about having depression and you have not seen the signs. It can be your partner telling you your relationship is heading in the wrong direction. It might even be your higher self, or your body, pulling the hand-brake and saying: “Stop. Listen. I need your attention and your heart connection.”

Chiron: Demanding shamanic healer

Chiron is demanding, disturbing, confrontational, and often a real pain. But he is also a shaman, initiator, wise guide, and mentor. He is always making a transit somewhere in the natal birth chart, making aspects and making us continuously grow and develop. When he makes his return to the same position as when we were born, after around 52 years, he starts over again until we’re 104. So if you are ever in doubt whether the healing journey is finished, just check out your Chiron movement and he will confirm that yes, you are still on a healing journey. Chiron develops with you: If you have mastered one aspect or layer, he opens up the next, and the next and so on….

This Chiron/Mercury/Juno transit will be until the end of July. It can be helpful to work with ceremonies for releasing and cutting cords. Flower essences for healing and doing shadow-work like Black-Eyed Susan can be very helpful. It’s great in combination together with the stone Apache’s Tear. Working with Lavender for healing, loving communication and peace, is a great combination with the stone Amethyst.

Atlantis-Sirius Connection and Crystals

Right now the asteroid Atlantis is at 15 degrees in Cancer, right next to the fixed star Sirius at 14 degrees in the same sign. Both Atlantis and Sirius are known for their connection to advanced healing and work with crystals. This energy is like “crystal thunder” that has the power to break through limitations, heavy and dense energies, and old paradigms.

Don’t be surprised if you feel called to obtain more crystals and meditate more with them. Perhaps you are drawn to explore earth healing with crystal grids or other methods? You may also learn new healing skills during meditation or in your dream-time. We are now in the middle of this transit that ends around the 11th of June when the asteroid Atlantis moves forward, so don’t miss out on this! Go and meditate and work with your crystals! You won’t regret it.

A good combination of stones for this energy is Apophyllite (sky, transformation, and high frequency ) and Aquamarine (ocean, healing, Atlantis) This could be a strong combination right now so you might want to start working with it in a small dosage and then increase.

Atlantean Karma and Star Connections

I feel that it’s not a coincidence we get a chance to work on healing communication in relationships (Mercury, Chiron, and Juno) at the same time as this Atlantis-Sirius connection is active. On a global level, each country has to decide how they want to watch over their citizens with the modern technologies available for us now, technology that only a few years ago seemed like science fiction.

On a personal level we have the opportunity to go back or forward in time and connect to whatever star or Atlantean connection we have related to healing and communication, if we have incarnations in these places. Sirius is also an important star in many old cultures around the world, Egypt being one of them. The Egyptians called the star Sirius “the shining one” or “Sirius Isis.”

Visions, Missions and Healing

The two different themes (Mercury-Chiron-Juno and Atlantis-Sirius) will culminate and join together around the 6th of July, when both the Sun and the asteroid Vesta join Sirius at 14 degrees in Cancer. A date to remember. At that time, the asteroid Atlantis has moved further in the sign of Cancer and is located at 29 degrees (a challenging degree) and is in direct opposition to Saturn at 29 degrees in Capricorn. Saturn can help anchor the energies from Atlantis and strong healing powers, especially in the sign of Capricorn. Because Saturn is connected to working with karma, we do well to look out for karma from Atlantis being played out. This is on a personal level, but also on a larger, more collective scale.

If I have read the stars correctly, we will have a lot of intense healing work ahead of us. If you have connections to crystals, healing, or Atlantis, your higher self may already have signed up for intensive healing work this summer.

Blessings!
— Karin Spirit Talker Turtle Red

Our Coven is the World

by Gemini Lead Minister on May 25, 2020

by Christopher Penczak, edited by Tina Whittle

Recently I had a conversation with a friend who is re-evaluating his relationship to the word—and to the identity of—Witch. Actually, I tend to have that conversation a lot with friends, all for different reasons. Some are the old-guard traditionalists who have never quite adjusted to the world created by Raymond Buckland and Scott Cunningham. Others are folkloric intuitive Witches, at the edge of the community and setting up their own shops, literally and figuratively. Some are old-world occultists or folklorists who are steeped in magic and their own unique blend of it. Some are healers, artists, advocates, or servants of the greater good in some capacity. Yet they—and we—all go through a phase where the Witch makes us uncomfortable, even amid other Witches.

Some of this discomfort is due to the rise in popularity of Witchcraft. There was a time when the quest was a part of the learning and experience of it all. You couldn’t do everything from your bedroom alone. You had to either go out and meet other practitioners or go out into the woods. Today, however, from the Insta-Witches on social media to a new wave of popular books, it seems that everyone is a Witch. And maybe they are. And maybe they are not. YouTube, podcasts, and infographics make claiming this identity so much easier. But that’s nothing new. That’s always been happening. We could argue that it started with the first interviews and documentaries of Gardner and Sanders, with someone seeing those and then getting naked in their basement with a sword and drawing chalk circles on the floor. Yet I’m sure it happened before that, down to the first Witch gossiped about or slandered, and someone, often a rebellious kid, hearing about what they did and thinking, “I can do that too” and giving it a try to the best of their ability.

People will often pretend to be what they are not, casting a spell upon themselves to become it eventually. I auditioned as a “rock singer” for bands before I was ever in a band, presenting myself as someone who could do it, without any real understanding of what that would entail. And after I got my first gig, I was what I wanted to be. Likewise as a little kid, I read my Time-Life Wizards and Witches book, thinking, “I can do that” and gathering little flowers and roots and stones and mixing them together in what was half pretend but all seriousness. In every generation there is a rise-up of interest, and those who successfully cast the spell upon themselves will go onward, and those who don’t will lose interest. Many in my first circles no longer identify as Witches and have moved on with their lives in other directions.

Some witches raise their hackles at this generality, as “Witch” is a specific thing, but even though we don’t all agree on what that thing is, generally those of us who are open-hearted and open-minded know it when we see it. Are Witches clergy? Teachers? Healers? Shamans? Mystics? I think of us as Keepers of the Mysteries. But we each have a different sense of the mysteries.

A friend would say anyone can be Pagan, but not everyone can be a Witch. Can we have Witch families? Yes and no. I’ve known a few, but in most, the children grow up to self-identify with something other than being a Witch. But does that experience still inform them? Can we even have Witchcraft communities? Some would blame this massive influx on the rise of educational systems, classes, and schools outside the coven structure, particularly those online, such as our own Temple of Witchcraft, building a bridge between deeper magickal training and community service. Should those things be linked together? One of our continual internal conflicts is how much we offer—or don’t offer—to families on the path together. We get many requests, few bites, and yet I think it is an important part of what we do, just not the focus. I don’t care if kids grow up to be Witches, but I love that we might provide a magickal experience or worldview they take into adulthood.

That level of subversiveness is part and parcel of Witchcraft for me. At heart, my intention in creating the Temple as a religious organization was to provide a repository for occult technique and training in a world of growing Pagan and Heathen fundamentalism. Traditional covens hold it one way, and this is another. Can a deeper community form out of it? Possibly, depending on how you define community. I envision the village of Witches, the island retreat where the old and new ways are kept. This vision is obviously an ideal, and the reality will be far messier, but it is an ideal I hold nonetheless. I’d like to see a village of Witches based in the celebration, not the historic persecution, of Witches. Could it be the Witchcraft equivalent of the Spiritualist’s Lilydale or Cassadaga? Of the eco-village Caer Mabon? Of Findhorn? Of Damanhur in Italy?

I often compare Witchcraft to an orientation to life, like being queer. You can use Witchcraft, meaning spell work or meditation, and never make it your identity or life, just as you can have same-gender sexual encounters or explorations of gender and never make that change in your life or sense of self. Others have the same experience, and like an initiation, they are utterly changed. Yet I also think about this analogy in the age where the lines of orientation, gender, sex, and social roles are blending, blurring, and breaking down into something else. What does that mean for the Witch? Does it matter?

Self-identification is important, at least when you start. The identity and separation of “what is” from “what is not” is a huge part of the path of discovery. You can’t do everything at once. As time progresses, you can hold principles dear, but attachment to identity grows less so. As you get older, you realize you’ve already been many people. You’ve changed so much, and there will be more change. Certain words, ideas, and actions become guiding stars. “Witch” is a guiding star for me, and the word is helpful in pointing out that star and then being able to share what being a Witch and practicing Witchcraft is to me. It starts a conversation and opens a door.

I don’t care so much how other people use the word. Things will change and rise to meet the needs of community. There was a time when my views of Witchcraft were unpopular, then became popular, and then unpopular once again. I hold to what it means to me, and how it’s changed for me over time. Just as words, identities, and communities around the LGBTQIA concept changes—adding letters, shifting from social groups and night club community to something new—I still identify as gay as that term serves me. If people want to get into further conversation about being a polyamorous queer with two husbands, we can have that conversation. The same holds true for me being a Witch.

My best vision forward is a world of magick, a land of enchantment, and for that, we need magick and mystery. I don’t think everyone wants to be a Witch, but I see many acting as sorcerers, magicians, and healers, even if some will not know it. That is the beauty of magick. Some will be poets, musicians, shop keepers, baristas, accountants, and nurses. I dream of a world where the inspired traditions of all faiths and cultures are expressed in the mystery of life, in the magick that is a part of being in this world. I think that is the key to being a Witch, and that little slice of witchiness crosses all people, even if you don’t call it Witchcraft. Quoting the controversial author of The Witch’s Dream, Florinda Donner, I take to heart her sentiment, “All of us have a bit of witch in us.” Like the Buddhist teaching that we all have an inner buddha nature, whether we are Buddhist or not, I think we all have a witch nature within us, whether we’d call it that or not. It is the part of us that sees the awe and mystery in all things and acts from a place of magick. We each have a little bit of Witch within us, and our coven is bigger than we think. Our coven transcends any small group of three to thirteen practitioners. Our coven is beyond traditions, temples, and lodges. Our coven is truly our kinship with all creatures. That is our true union in magick. Our coven is the world.

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