Article

by Christopher Penczak, edited by Tina Whittle

Magick, philosophy, religion, spirituality, and science all intersect on some level today, just as they did in times past. Our desire to unite them again stems from a desire to perceive—and operate from—the living, unified interconnection and independence that our modern society does not emphasize. We realize something is missing from our worldview, and even our cutting-edge occultists are looking to bring things together on a magickal level (at least at first).

As we search for interconnectivity, one of the challenges with many of our current practices in magick is merging magickal art, culture, and religion with our understanding of metaphysics. Along with a hunger for shared understanding, we hunger for deepened culture and art in the context of our spiritual ideas. We look to the old, and some feel it is their job to preserve old ways and reconstruct ancient practices. Others, like myself, feel that though we draw upon the old, we live in a new world, and our challenge is to weave something that speaks to us here and today. Both approaches are needed. Some need to weave and care for the individual threads and specific sections. Some are looking at the pattern of the larger tapestry. The problem when looking at recreating past religious practices is that once you establish and grow something on the best available information and understanding, and then five, ten, twenty, or a hundred years later, new information contradicts that understanding, how do you acknowledge the academics while working in your paradigm? Do you dismantle and recreate again? That’s a fine solution for an individual, but what of a community built around those traditions? Can you continue as is, doing what you were doing? Yes, though that is where much of the critique from the current generation is centered. Many are focused upon the art, culture, and religion, and are not interested in the occult philosophy, particularly if that occult philosophy seems to contradict their current understanding of their ancient art and religion.

While Witchcraft is my religion, I use that word in the deepest sense, as a linking force. To me it is akin to yoga, a yoking practice and philosophy, a wide body of systems existing in a cultural context, but also surviving and being put to use outside of that context. The linking and yoking together is the union with the divine, but it is also that which brings together the like-minded in community. It is important to link my practices to the momentum of tradition through both the ancient Pagan temples and the rural folk traditions, back to our tribal past. It is important to not relinquish a word to prophetic monotheistic religions, particularly in a world where those religions get protections, status, and benefits that our people are often lacking.

Though Witchcraft is my religion, I was taught it is also an occult science and an esoteric art, with all three aspects being equally important. Different practitioners, however, will personally emphasize one aspect over another. I am unapologetic about the occult foundation to my Craft, which provides the bedrock for the religious ideas and cultural expressions. I think of yoga as much the same, a series of philosophical ideas and techniques one can explore that gives rise to deepening religious paradigms and rich art and music.

So for me, exploring the mysteries always involves looking beneath to the patterns supporting the experience. What is the universal, interconnected pattern that goes beyond a region, a language, and a people? In the world of the occultist, we look to the force, form, and function.

The varieties of deities, spirits, and powers are the specific forms we encounter. We build relationships. We have personal interactions. We experience emotions and exchange. For many, the world of forms and images is fulfilling and that is all that is desired.

For some of us, we seek the power behind the power, and this is where we often lose the religionist. In the view of the interlinking and interdependence of all things, we want to find out the force behind the form we experience. Where does it come from? How and why does it function? Is there something larger, and sometimes less personal, supporting the structure of the form?

To many, such ideas are blasphemous, but the occult Witch is always heretical, seeking to explore even Pagan blasphemy in the desire to know and learn. Yes, we do acknowledge the gods are real and individual, as individual as any of us. Yet they are also not, as they don’t operate in the same individual space as us, and at heart, we know there are really many forces that support our individual form. There are cultural group minds and group souls; there is the archetype of the Human supported by a collective un/consciousness. We evolved out of particular strains of DNA linked back through time to the primordial soup of the Earth. As our magick transcends space and time, we interact with all of those forces and know likewise these spirits are a collective of forces gathered to form. In our quest to know, we want to know the larger forces behind the forms.

Despite people’s claims otherwise, certainly the ancient Pagan philosophers had similar ideas, seeing similarity and a certain level of union between gods of other cultures. The Romans wrote of the Celts worshipping Mercury. They certainly weren’t worshiping the Roman Mercury, but a Celtic god with similar attributes and functions. The Egyptians and Greeks compared their gods, such as Neith and Athena, as both weavers. The Romans fused an expression of the Roman Minerva who was already matched with the Greek Athena to the water goddess Sulis in Bath England. Even our days of the week go back to the planetary gods, their expression in many different languages forming a type of universal planetary folk magick practiced widely by Witches and magicians today.

In the Temple of Witchcraft, while we have shared culture and values, we are ideally a tradition of technique, and our techniques lend us shared experiences that focus upon the function of our individual allies, rather than their form, their identity. We don’t require belief or worship of any particular deity to join us in the mystery cult. We do require particular practices to be explored and experienced. Different entities, in our different relationships, will fulfill their functions for us. For example, we perform a working with the Master of the Forge. The Master is an entity of force that is expressed in many forms. For some who perform the work, it is Brid. Others get Vulcan or Tubal Cain. Even the potter god Ptah works with some of the same principles. Some students get a nondescript Master of the Forge. You work with who shows up, as the gods have their own agency, and will often choose you as much as you choose them. Sometimes the ones you choose say no and don’t show up, and if you are not aware, you’ll miss who actually wants to work with you. Often the one who shows up will be unexpected and challenging, forcing you out of your chosen comfort zones and into new growth and learning.

Any gods are acceptable to do the work if they are willing to work in the technique and system with you. That way, we create a culture of common experience and technique, of function, without getting dogmatic to the form of specific religious icons and cultures. We can create a society of Witches who share and support, but weave webs of their own unique magickal relationships and worldview, without having to divorce from community and magickal order.

There is a lot of Leo energy from the stars right now. Mercury (communication) Venus (relationships, magick, value), the Sun (self), Juno (partnership), and Mars (will). It’s like the whole sky is roaring like a Lion. But what is it saying? And how do you live with a Lion?

Leo is the second of the fire signs. Here the instinctual and direct energy of fire is maturing, but it is not there yet, reaching full maturity in the last fiery sign of Sagittarius. Fire is demanding, direct, confrontational, and sometimes difficult to meet up with, but it is not manipulating or holding on to things a long time. Yes, it can be blunt and childish and sometimes we can get burned by fire, but there is no ill intent. That is one of the reasons that it is easy to forgive a Leo.

Leo at its best can teach us how to roar, be courageous, dare to stand in the light, and play with our gifts. At its worst, we demand all the light to shine on us and truly believe that “there can only be One” and of course that one is Me!

When we are fully diving into our creative space, the rest of the world disappears. We lose time, forget to eat, we get high on the creative energy, and all we want to do is to stay there and give birth to what we are working on. It’s like living in your own universe, close to the Sun and with all the brilliant colors shining on you. In many ways it’s like being in love, but you are having a love affair with the creative powers of the Universe.

It’s a wonderful feeling, but we must also be aware not to get lost. Around our bubble there is another life going on, and if we are not careful then suddenly the world around us has moved on without us noticing. This is a balancing act for all creative people. How to be in our creative universe, giving birth to great things, and at the same time being present in our relationships and the life around us.

In the Tarot card Lust we can see a woman with a Lion. She can hold the creative and passionate energy of Leo and help to make that power usable. In the same way we can work with energy of earthly Virgo to ground the powers of creativity. Take a break to eat, go out in the forest and ground yourself, play with your kids, have a Swedish “fika” with your friends. Afterwards you will return to your creative project with fresh eyes and a heart filled with human love and a feeling of centeredness.

With all of these planets in Leo we can get a lot of creative work done, but the Sun and Venus conjunction can also create a romantic bubble, so we’ll do best to keep an eye open on what is going on in the world around us.

Watch out for stubbornness and violence

The asteroid Vesta is in the sign of Taurus. Vesta is holding a flame of dedication and in Taurus she can be very dedicated and holding on hard to what she wants to protect. Being dedicated and protective can be a good thing, but it is also the same thing that can motivate someone abusive and violent. Right now Vesta is getting fuel from a square to Juno (relationships) and Mars (will, drive) in Leo. Both Taurus and Leo are fixed signs and do not easily change opinion or direction.

This influence is increasing and around the 15th of August. Then the Sun and Venus in Leo (with Juno and Mars close by) is in exact conjunction to Vesta in Taurus. It cools down a bit with Mars entering Virgo on August 18th and around the 26th the stellium in Leo has moved into the sign of Virgo.

This transit creates is a very tense situation with a lot of fire and I do hope that it will not manifest in forest fires or other harmful situations!

The need to have a strategic plan

What we can do during this fiery transit is call upon higher will and make a higher perspective available. Like many times lately we can get assistance from Pallas Athena positioned in the sign of Libra. She makes a sextile to Venus, Sun, Juno, and Mars in Leo. She also reminds us to have a strategic plan. If we want changes to last we need a plan and we need to follow up with more than actions in the moment (Leo). It is easy to get lost in emotions and the passion of the moment, but with the help of Pallas Athena we can take that energy and direct it towards long-lasting goals with laws and regulations (Libra) for the good of all and the generations to come.

A magickal snow globe & the power to cool things down

If you live in a place with too much heat and too many conflicts you can work with cooling stones in your crystal grid. Light blue stones like blue calcite, larimar, and blue aragonite have a cooling and calming effect. Just like there is a spectrum of fire between warmth and burning, there is a spectrum between cooling winds and ice, so there is a magickal span before putting something or someone in the freezer and freezing the situation. Symbolically speaking that span of magick would be snow.

If you want to you can get a snow globe (“snö glob” as we say in Swedish) and magickally charge it to cool things down. Surround it with cooling and calming stones and herbs when you are not using it. (You can also decorate the snow globe with the runes Hagalaz and Isa, but then be careful not to use it too much as the hail rune can be very transformative and ice freezes things solid, and you just want to cool them down.)

When things get overheated, shake the globe. Of course there may be more and deeper work to do to resolve the issue or conflict, but it may surprise you what a bit of snow magick can do to create a higher and more balanced perspective, especially when the world of Lions are on fire.

Blessings!

Karin Ugander 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

by Christopher Penczak, edited by Tina Whittle

In today’s media age of memes and rage posts, I have seen a theme of people considering what is or isn’t “spiritual.” Some will encourage you to let go, be peaceful, find a tribe with your vibes, or otherwise conjure the image of your “best life.” Others—outraged by the conditions of the world—will respond that spiritual people can be angry, ridicule those who have crossed a line, curse when they desire, throw shade, drink “tea,” and behave in a manner that is contrary to most stereotypes we have of being spiritual. Those who are Christian will be at the extremes of “turn the other cheek” and “whip the money lenders in the Temple” as an answer to WWJD (What Would Jesus Do?). Both are right, and both are wrong. Witches don’t quite have the same phrases, so perhaps we are somewhere between Glinda and Elphaba—the good and the wicked, the “harm none” camp and those happy to curse to cure—without really understanding the deeper significance to each polarity.

Appropriate spiritual behaviors are not static; they occur contextually within culture and, more importantly, universally with consciousness evolution. What is right action at one time is wrong action at a different stage of development. While we seek comfort and familiarity, we often cling to behaviors, stereotypes, and the behaviors of those around us rather than venture into new and uncharted territory of consciousness because surrounding ourselves with what we know is easier.

So in one stage of our life, it can be appropriate, healthy, and helpful to be really angry and express it. But as we change, to be stuck in anger as a default reaction harms and stunts our evolution. We usually progress naturally on a path, but we can be stubborn, and despite a desire to be a mountain-climbing individualistic goat, we tend to align ourselves according to the reactions of our family, friends, and fellows around us. The image of the disruptor as spiritual is appropriate in one context, just as the guru alone on the mountain is appropriate in another context. In the wrong context, it is escapism and delusion no matter what paradigm we have bought into.

Various models and maps outline stages of consciousness. While often described as linear, a practitioner knows they are anything but. You can use the Qabalistic Tree of Life, chakras, astrology, alchemical operations, or Gates to the Underworld as a pattern. I had two students in Sweden studying Hermetic Qabalah with me. They are channelers and “received” their own system of “ramps” describing consciousness. Without prior conscious knowledge of the Qabalah, we continually found parallels and insights reflecting and comparing their unique system to Qabalah, and with the language difference, I could tell the Qabalistic concepts were new to them, but the essence transmitted was the same. To me this shows a certain universal nature to human experiences of consciousness.

Qabalah expresses it as ten visions, each level a virtue embodied when you “get” it and a vice demonstrated when you are lacking that level of consciousness. Each level has an obligation, a focus, to bring you to embodiment.

A more linear Western understanding of the chakra system of India in New Age healing practices shows stages of life akin to the hierarchy of needs by Abraham Maslow, adopted and adapted from the Blackfoot Confederacy. When people fixate on “destroying” the ego, most likely a misunderstanding for transcending, and do not yet have a healthy, fully formed sense of ego self, they self-destruct trying to live up to a spiritual ideal. One must energize the solar plexus to open the gate of the heart. Part of building a healthy ego, particularly if you had an unhealthy growing-up environment where healthy self-esteem was not fostered, is exploring identity. Part of being spiritual at that stage can be becoming very egotistical. It’s like the cocoon of the caterpillar, not pretty but necessary. When we look at such person and think they are not being spiritual, we are wrong, for that is appropriate for the spiritual work before them. If they get stuck, there is a problem, and many people get stuck as many cocoon but never hatch. Hopefully most are just late bloomers, in this life or the next.

Along with ego, we can find expressions of anger, sexuality, voice, silence, empathy, leadership, service, and withdrawal, all with appropriate expressions and even explorations into imbalance as appropriate for a time. When entered into at the wrong time, they are toxic and illusionary. When remaining in them too long, when our soul wants to move to the next step and our personality resists, we create a trap, often with the illusion of previous attainments equaling full illumination or enlightenment. Those in a different stage can look “lower” than us but might actually be “higher” as there really is no comparison between people. Lower and higher can be illusions too. The goal is to be in the right spiritual “place” at the right “time” doing the right “thing” for your own soul, no one else’s. As my Eastern philosophy teacher said, “Far better to do your own dharma imperfectly then someone else’s dharma perfectly.” That won’t do you or the world any good.

So the answer is that everything is spiritual. Everything can serve. One consciously on the “path” seeks to be as conscious as possible about the circumstances, actions, and responses taken, moving towards a personal level of enlightenment. I find myself using the Thelemic technique of asking “What is thy Will? And to what end?” and then following each answer with the second question until I exhaust myself and have hopefully become clearer of my motives or decided to change course to align my actions with my deeper purpose. Your method of introspection will be different, but question everything, most importantly your own decisions, actions, motivations, and responses, and you will find what is spiritual for you at this current point of your own evolution.

We at the Temple of Witchcraft have been looking for ways to do outreach so our distant members can feel connected to the greater work of the Temple. The Pisces ministry presents a full moon circle here at the Temple’s home in Salem, New Hampshire, every month. This year our focus for those moon circles is spell work. We were inspired to produce some spells that will be used at the Temple full moons and make them available to all our initiates and friends to join us. Each spell has the intention of creating a better world for us all. You may feel free to join us as is appropriate for your own circumstances. You might join us for all of them or just a few. We hope you will take us up on the opportunity to join in on the Great Work.

Since we are doing spells, each one may require you to get supplies ready to cast the spell with us. All the supplies for the next month are listed in the postscript of the month before to give you time to acquire any necessary supplies. We have attempted to make them as simple, but still effective, as possible to make these available to the most people.

We will also be working with the thirteen goals of the witch in person and also in our journals throughout the lunar month. We will provide some journal prompts for you if you want to join in.

Goal of the witch: Honor the Goddess and God

• How is your relationship to the Gods? What could you do to make it better?
• What is your offering to the gods and the world?
• Do you see the God/ Goddess within your fellow humans?
• Are you giving yourself the quiet contemplation so you can listen for messages from the Gods?
• What are your obstacles to working with the gods?

Aquarius Full Moon: Incantation for Cooperation

Now more than ever it is important for the world to see that we must work together to solve the worlds issues. So for this full moon’s spell we are doing an incantation. Write out the incantation below or one of your own on a piece of paper. Get out your cauldron or safe burning pot. Cast your circle and say the incantation three times and release it by burning the slip of paper with the incantation.

Let us erase the sides
And find our emancipation
Crossing the great divide
Through emphatic cooperation
Working hand in hand 
In better service to our land. 
Free will to all, harming none
So we say this spell is done.

Postscript: Next month we are going to share a guided meditation, so all you need is you and a comfortable place to listen and do the meditation.

The sun has entered the fiery sign of Leo and has just been joined by Venus in the same sign. This may feel like a relief after many intense transitions this summer. Perhaps you now feel like you have some energy and speed re-entering your system again.

Recharging with Fiery Ceres

The asteroid Ceres (nurturing) has just left her retrograde period in Sagittarius and is moving forward int the same sign again. When she is in retrograde it is hard to find nourishment from others and from the environment as well. What we all can learn from this is to nurture ourselves, but that is hard when Ceres is in retrograde. When Ceres is retrograde in Sagittarius she can also be a bit immature, looking out for her own needs first.

It’s like someone saying “I´m hungry!” and the answer is, “Well, I’m hungry too!” or “ I could really need a hug right now,” getting the reply “Sorry about that but I’m cold, hungry, and alone!”

You get the picture. It’s fun if you can see the humor in it. But if you are a mom, a dad, or a leader of a coven you can be really drained right now after this period of everyone needing energy and nurturing from you and there just has not been enough going around.

Well, here is the good news: Ceres is back moving forward and in the sign of Sagittarius she comes with lots of inspiration, motivation and drive! Everyone will be better able to nurture themselves and be more self-going. If you or someone else close to you has been struggling with addiction of any kind lately this can be a relief of anxiety and pressure. Ceres in direct motion in Sagittarius is also giving motivation for therapy and change as Sagittarius gives a higher perspective, knowledge, and potential wisdom.

The hunger for knowledge and learning may also return if it has been a bit low lately. You can expect the funds for buying books, tarot decks, and oracle cards to increase. Those of us who are book and deck collectors have some missed shopping to make up for! A good energy returning for anyone having a esoteric shop or bookstore, or if you are doing readings for others. The Sagittarius nurturing energy is back and there is now more than enough energy going round for everyone.

Rune Fire Ceremony and New Moon in Leo

The Sun and Venus in Leo are making a grand trine to Ceres in Sagittarius and Chiron in Aries. This creates a grand trine of fire speeding up (Sun) healing (Chiron) and creating the power to “finally” moving forward. This energy gets amplified with the new moon in Leo on August 1st (depending on where you live) This is a perfect timing for a fire ceremony releasing the old and embracing the new.

A ceremony we do with our family usually at the solstices but can be done at any time is a rune fire ceremony. You can choose any time frame, but around six months is a good time span for the energy and healing to manifest in beauty. You will need:

• A bag of runes
• A knife to carve with or a pen
• 3 sticks of wood
• A burning fire or a big light

Shake the bag of runes and draw a rune for what needs to be released right now. What you need to let go of during the time from Lammas to Imbolc. Draw or carve the rune on the wood stick and give and release it to the fire.

Shake the bag again and this time ask what you need to fill up with. Draw the rune on the wood stick and ask for it to come to you as you give it to the fire.

Shake the bag for a third time and this time ask for healing for the people in your circle, it can be your family, your coven, or the larger family of the world. Draw the rune and send it into the fire.

With every rune, ask the healing to be done for the highest good, harming none. Also give a pinch of herbs to the fire with every release into the fire.

Ground and centre yourself afterwards.

Blessings!

Karin Ugander 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

by Christopher Penczak, edited by Tina Whittle 

Some days I fear the signal-to-noise ratio of our society is too much for me personally. My academic degree is in music, and my earlier musical ambition was to be a sound recording engineer but then I got a degree in music business, with a little respite between in music composition. The balance between the intentional, purposeful piece versus the distracting background noise in any recording is an important consideration for your music. You want to record the right levels in the right environment. It can’t be too hot, or you’ll distort the sound, and you can’t be too open, or you’ll pick up every little noise and distraction. I think about these same principles in consciousness, communication, and magick.

In an era of constantly generated texts, audio, video, and photographs broadcasting every stray thought and every experience, where is the silence? Sometimes it is as much about what you don’t say as it is what you say. The silence between notes and words punctuates, reflects, and illuminates a composition in ways that constant sound cannot. Our need to create and consume content in an unending media cycle has made silence and reflection into endangered species. How many of us, myself included, look at social media while doing one or two other things, rather than giving any one thing our full attention? Our default state becomes having multiple “balls” of attention in the air, not focusing on any one thing for much time at all. We fear we will miss something. Our attention—and therefore energy—becomes divided.

For those of us who have a public side to our business, social media has replaced advertising budgets. There can be a perception that we are required to continuously create content, often from our personal lives and experiences, a constant broadcast of whatever thought or half-thought is on our mind. Things are blurted out to the masses for consumption instead of being thoughtfully worked out, reflected, discussed in small knowledgeable groups, and then tested before being sent out to the public at large. It can be fun at first to share, until that dreaded moment when you think your sharing was harmless and fun, but someone takes it a different way, rightly or wrongly, and your day becomes continually responding to this one post that was supposed to be fun or thoughtful or helpful, but wasn’t.

There is the desire to be “authentic,” warts and all, with our messy process, doubts, and mistakes, but because even the most devout “follower” will only see parts of the process, and not necessarily what came before or what comes after, there can be great misunderstanding as much of social media becomes influenced by its very terms, a cult of personality. And with all such cults, there is the unconscious desire to build up and tear down. Sometimes our desire to “keep it real” creates the exact opposite as we find ourselves acting and sharing, critiquing and lamenting, in ways we never would face-to-face. I have several friends who I have difficulty following online; I have to see them face to face to remember again why we are friends. Their desire to be forthright online actually created a clear division between who I (and others) perceive them to be “in real life” and their public online persona. And they would probably be mad at the thought of an online persona. Their desire to keep it real has created an unreality.

Recently on social media I saw a post from astrologer Rhyan Butler referencing the difficulties in social media with the old occult axiom of “those who speak do not know. Those who know do not speak.” And yet some who are great at the PR angle are perceived as “those who know” because they will repeatedly tell you how much they know, how great they are, and how powerful they are. Some are obviously charlatans and con artists, but some are sincere, and some are sincerely conning themselves first, before their audience. If the proof is in the pudding, there is no real way to taste it online. They tell you it’s good, so you must either believe it or seek them out in some other manner. You might have an eye for figuring out what works for you, but it’s all a product of light-up screens, so there is always a measure of illusion in whatever we are looking at in that medium.

Some start out knowing, but the need to generate new content puts them outside of the area of known experience quickly. It’s easy to collect knowledge, especially today, but far harder to digest it, integrate it, and make it a part of your life and worldview. Anyone and everyone can appear as an instant expert, yet experience is valued less. Soon the Voice of Knowledge outstrips the Voice of Wisdom, and even when the facts are correct, the signal-to-noise ratio goes up. One is simply “talking” in order to avoid yielding the “floor” or attention of people, posting for posting’s sake rather than having something to share. In such situations, the platform is generated for what you might say in the future instead of having a cohesive message or mission and building a platform around it.

Even when we do have a message and mission, we fear to go “fallow” as people will forget us. Yet I remember the days when musicians would put out an album, tour, and then disappear for a bit—to live life, get inspired, write, and record. We would eagerly await the new music. We didn’t need to know what they were doing every day. Big-name authors did the same thing. Sports teams had their season and then went away for a while. The “stars” might pop up here and there with a bit of gossip, but not often. The time-out, the silence, grants rest, regeneration, and perspective where we are not getting constant feedback, which often tampers with our process through too-quick praise or critique. Both distort our true work and can do a number on our internal sense of self and self-worth. Absence can make the heart grow fonder, and rest and regeneration of the land and self, the seasons and stars, is inherently Pagan and magickal, putting us in alignment with nature’s power. To produce constantly is an unnatural state. Everything unfolds in its proper time.

So what does one do in such an age? How do we boost the signal and diminish the noise? Well, we can only control our own signal-to-noise ratio, though we can encourage the signal and discourage the noise overall through our participation.

I often go back to what I learned as a Sufi teaching (though it has parallels in many traditions) called the Three Gates of Speech. It asks that before we speak, we ask ourselves three questions: Is it true? Is it kind? Is it necessary? It’s the question of necessity, both in life and online, that is often my sticking point. Am I talking just to talk? Does this serve? Even if the service is to my own self-expression, is it necessary self-expression in the moment? If the answer is yes, then speak (or post). If not, reconsider. Also realize that statements on social media, even those that claim otherwise, will be preserved. Because even if it’s deleted later, someone will save it somewhere. Just as you can’t really stop words once they are spoken, you can’t stop the misplaced tweet.

Remember your signal might be someone else’s noise, and vice versa. When I was younger, my dad didn’t like my heavy metal music. I, of course, loved it! Yet today, I don’t listen to that much heavy metal. Tastes can change. Encourage the things you think are meaningful, but don’t actively attack things that others are enjoying. You never know when your tastes, and your needs, will change.

Don’t get addicted to the likes and clicks. Don’t get addicted to the attention, even under the guise of looking for your business to trend. If you do something, do it because you are moved to do it, not necessarily because you are courting the widest margins of people to respond favorably. Don’t consciously or unconsciously try to “hook” people’s attention for your own ego gratification. If you are doing marketing work, you certainly have to grab people’s attention for a product or event to be successful, but if your self-esteem starts to be based upon it, you are developing other problems. It is easy to become energetically parasitical or emotionally co-dependent upon your online following. Beware of being a “player” on the social media scene; like its equivalent in a romantic and/or sexual sense, it overly emphasizes your own gratification and needs. Work to build mutually supportive relationships whenever possible.

Journal as you wish, but realize that journaling is not blogging. Journaling is inwardly driven while blogging is always observed (or should be). Journaling is private, not public. Journaling helps the esotericist build the vessel. One of the esoteric difficulties of public social media is the disruption of the secret vessel of our life and practice that builds “steam” and pressure to induce magickal change. Even when we don’t reveal “secrets,” we lose something when we do not hone our ability to keep silent, for the silence generates the stillness to change our perception.

Learn the difference between reaction and response, and how to pause any non-life-or-death reaction to allow for an appropriate response. Training yourself to do this is easier if you have a meditation practice and journaling practice, as you will be more capable of observing your own thought process in a detached way, which allows you to pause long enough to decide on your response.

You don’t need to have a strong opinion on everything, particularly if you have no real knowledge of the topic or situation. And likewise, you don’t need to voice every opinion on everything, particularly if you have no real knowledge of the topic or situation. It is okay to say, “I don’t know” or “I am not sure” when you don’t and aren’t.

Understand who, if anyone, is your audience. If you are in the public sphere, every tweet and post is like a mini-press release. We have PR experts to help public figures navigate that realm, and many of us, occultists included, are often not aware of such subtleties, of how our communications can be misinterpreted in such limited formats. Does the post have a real-world equivalent action? If so, would that action be appropriate in a mixed group of friends and strangers? If you would post it, but not say it to someone’s face, you might want to rethink your post. Things understood by those intimate with you are often misunderstood by “fans.” While you might be okay with that, you can do unnecessary harm to people who care about your work or art while simply trying to be funny or clever.

Don’t mistake writing or complaining about something online, or sharing someone else’s work doing something you are passionate about, for doing the actual thing or making clear substantive changes. And yes, I would include this article too.

While I have a real love-hate relationship with Carlos Castaneda and his work, from an occult perspective, he was onto something when describing how much energy we waste on self-importance and defending the ego. This teaching can be found in many traditions, but it is particularly clear and pointed in his work. That lost energy could be put to better use in your own Great Work. And the wasted energy has only be magnified with our social media use. Every time you are defending the little “I” through arguments of opinions where you are not raising the discourse, but attempting to raise the sense of self-importance and how people perceive you, you are losing vital life force and tricking yourself into thinking you are doing something important. The big “I” and the true Dharma don’t need any defense from you.

Avoid tribalism. It’s easy to slip into an us-versus-them mindset when conflict arises, yet so many of us are proponents at heart of the “we” and “all of us” mindset. We have to remember that includes people we disagree with and don’t like. I once read a piece about the difference between “calling out” and “calling in” online. While it is popular to call out behavior we don’t like, and at times it can be necessary, when you do it publicly with those you are friends and acquaintances with, I’ve rarely seen it go well. I’ve personally had better results checking in privately and asking what’s going on first, as sometimes questionable behavior can actually be rooted in personal challenges and troubles. In such cases, the behavior is being used a distraction. Recognition of the situation while also explaining, in a thoughtful way, that the behavior is not acceptable often yields actual changes in behavior, where public callouts often result in doubling down on the unhealthy behavior. In my observation, when you do a public callout, you should observe your own motivations for doing so, making sure that your true desire is to create beneficial change.

Take breaks from posting. Take breaks from viewing. Rest. Don’t be on social media 24/7. Don’t be afraid of being “fallow”; you can always return to a new active “season.”

Create from a place of experience, a place of genuine fun and good-heartedness. Seek out and encourage the same. Balance the thoughtful and the spontaneous. You can still do whatever you wish, but my suggestion is to be more conscious about everything you do, including social media. Then it can be a tool for your own work, not a cog in someone else’s machine.

The planet Venus (love, magick) is right now located at 14 degrees Cancer. This is very exiting because this is the location of the fixed star of Sirius.

Sirius is the brightest star in the sky, also called the dog star or the star of Isis, the Egyptian goddess. It takes Venus 225 days to move around the Zodiac and through the signs, so this is not a rare occasion, but there are some other interesting things going on.

This time the energy of joint Venus and Sirius is anchored by the north node (our dharma, where we “should be” going) at 17 degrees Cancer, and the south node at 17 degrees Capricorn (the past, karma) This means that we can heal old karmic wounds from Sirius connections, and possibly Egyptian as well, and get help to move forward and do what we came here to do (the north node) especially regarding our relationships and our larger bigger family of light workers (Cancer) or incarnation wave. If you have a connection to the Goddess Isis or Goddess work in general this is a possibility to deepen that work and to move further into her mysteries.

Sirius energy is very high frequency energy and has the possibility to tune up the whole nervous system. Many healers can feel that their healing energy gets upgraded from time to time, and this can be such an event.

Another anchoring planet is Saturn, also in Capricorn, right now at 16 degrees. Saturn is a wonderful planet to work with for embodiment. Many times we can feel that Saturn is working against us, manifesting things we believe that we don’t want, like karmic issues we are not finished with, or limitations we need to let go. But Saturn has another side to it, and one of these things is the power to anchor energy and make it physical, tangible.

So right now we all have the power to manifest more healing power in our bodies, to upgrade our healing abilities, and embody more of the Divine Feminine, both in our bodies and on this planet. Perhaps it is not a coincidence that this is happening right now when the need for healing seems to be so great.

Decoding with Pallas

We also get help from the asteroid of Pallas Athena at 16 degrees Libra, making a T-square to Venus, Sirius and the north node in Cancer and Saturn and the south node in Capricorn. There she can help us to translate and decode what is going on and make it understandable for not just ourselves but also others. So if you are a channeler of some kind, a creative artist, singer, dancer, magician, witch or healer to name a few, making new or ancient knowledge and information available for others, then this is a certainly an exciting event.

Challenging Download

Upgrades in your energy system can sometimes be challenging and uncomfortable with headache, nausea, pain in the body, and a flu-like feeling. If you experience this, what may help is a lot of water, meditation, and sleep. If we think about it smart phones also need to be restarted after an upgrade. It can be very helpful to talk to your body and work with the new healing energy entering the system instead of working against it. And of course also to talk to your spirit guides and ancestors for healing and support. If possible carry a high quality quartz crystal around your neck in the heart area both day and night during this transit. This can assist both the download and integration of the healing energy.

This transit is until the 19th of July. Many Blessings and good luck!

Karin Ugander 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

by Christopher Penczak, edited by Tina Whittle

I’ve been thinking a lot about the spirit of Art—of poetry, graphics, books, and in particular, songs. As an animist at heart, I think even non-tangible things have spirit. While art does not have personhood, does it have spirit-hood? Does that spirit transcend its creator? Does it transcend the creator’s intention and original inspiration?

I remember the debate from poetry class—if a reader got a meaning from a poem separate from the original intention of the author, was that interpretation valid? At the time I was both an aspiring poet and chemistry guy, and I was fighting the math-science guy, who believed that the original author’s interpretation is the only interpretation. He argued that you could have your own idea about a poem’s meaning, but it would be wrong if it were different from the author’s (he was a very binary kinda guy). I remember similar questions in music appreciation class while in college for my music degree (I took a turn from chemistry to voice). Context is important, but songs will often outlive their context, particularly if the theme is ambiguous enough to be open for interpretation. Sometimes the author will unconsciously invoke themes in both the composition and recording style without always intending it. Yet those unfamiliar with such references will not know either. Someone can certainly influence your relationship with a piece of art or music by giving you greater context, but does it fundamentally change your relationship with the art?

I think about the interpretation of songs by different artists and different styles. Once, a friend and I were working on a project, but my friend felt we must be as true to the composer’s intentions as possible by doing only what was on the paper score and nothing more. I tend to have a more fluid approach and find that music, particularly in the context of ritual, will morph with the consciousness of the people performing it, and the more you try to control it, the worse the performance will be.

I think about how creativity lends itself to expanding a piano piece to a full orchestral score. I think about derivative works like parody, sampling, and movie adaptations. Artists copy the greats to learn and then make variations upon a theme. So do musicians. We all learned to take apart songs and then switch major chords to minor to hear the difference.

I think about the realm of folk music traditions, and how basic points stay, but rhythms, melodies, and even lyrics will morph over time with the people who play it. Is the spirit of the piece best served with these new artists, or is it being violated? When Tori Amos talks about her songs as “girls” or that “Cooling” told her to fuck off and that it doesn’t want to be on an album but played live, I get it. I’ve had books be very specific about their release or delay. Once released into the world, will art have its own journey and relationships with people separate from its creator, or will it always tie back to the original artist? The influence of art obviously moves forward in time, but can its effects, like magick, move backward in time to its creator? Can art redeem a flawed creator? Can someone’s interpretation, correct or not, damn an artist retroactively? This can certainly be true socially, but does art influence the artist’s “soul(s)” just as rituals of veneration can elevate the dead in the afterlife?

I think of people who “introduce” new spiritual entities to the world. Most soon lose control of any official voice if the entity is popular, as the entity has its own relationships as it grows more well known. Effective practices and interpretations get passed on, while ineffective ones don’t, at least on a folk level. We could make another argument with institutional religion, but even in those cases, folk practices remain the undercurrent, outside of the institution’s official sanctions.

A witchy science friend shared her idea that the spirit of technology is in the same boat as the spirit of art—teachings move beyond the inventor and have ramifications that could vilify a good inventor with unforeseen uses or possibly increase the good credited to an inventor with a problematic history. Do you junk a technology when the inventor uses questionable or even downright reprehensible methods to get to prove the theory? Or once a technology is out into consciousness, can it be used ethically despite its origins? Should it? Scientists probably have less of a potentially anthropomorphized relationship with their work, but maybe not. I’m imagining Tori Amos as a chemist now….

As my Witchcraft is an art as well as a science and religion, I reflect on the magick in all art, and the level of animated spirit in all art. I think the world is not nearly as simple as we’d want it to be, and I’m all for art breaking away from its creator and finding its own way through time and space, perhaps even surviving the artist’s lifetime.

We at the Temple of Witchcraft have been looking for ways to do outreach so that our more distant members can feel connected to the greater work of the Temple. The Pisces ministry presents a full moon circle here at the Temple’s home in Salem, New Hampshire, every month. This year our focus for those moon circles is spell work. We were inspired to produce some spells that will be used at the Temple full moons and to make them available to all our initiates and friends to join us. Each of spell has the intention of creating a better world for us all. Feel free to join us in this work as is appropriate for your own circumstances. You might join us for all of them or just a few. We hope you will take us up on the opportunity to join in on the Great Work.

Since we are doing spells, each one may require you to get supplies ready to cast the spell with us. All the supplies for the next month are listed in the postscript of the month before to give you time to acquire any necessary supplies. We have attempted to make them as simple, but still effective, as possible to make these available to the most people.

We will also be working with the thirteen goals of the witch in person and also in our journals throughout the lunar month. We will provide some journal prompts for you if you want to join in.

• Goal of the witch: Apply knowledge with wisdom
  Are you thinking like a witch when it comes to what you are dealing with?
• Do you back your actions up with spell work and meditation?
• What comes to your mind when you think about wisdom?
• Who do you think is wise? What have they taught you? Do you implement this wisdom? Do you embody this wisdom?
• Do you seek wisdom before you act?
• What is one step you can take to embody and employ wisdom in your life right now?

Capricorn Full Moon: Crystal Grid for Healing Nature

A crystal grid is a form and placement of crystals using number, crystal quality, energy connection, and intuition to reach a certain intention. Sometimes this arrangement looks a great deal like a crystal mandala. This month our goal is for healing nature around us for our spell for a better world. Since the healing the earth needs in different areas may differ this crystal grid has some parts that are all the same and some that will be up to you intuitively. We will be using the diagram called the Flower of Life, this sacred geometry is a visual representation of the interconnectedness of life and is the seed blueprint of life.

Here is a printable PDF of the Flower of life diagram

In my last post I told you you would need seven quartz crystals. Crystal points work best because you can see which way they project energy but with your intuition you can see the “point” of any quartz crystal. Just use your intuition of what way the crystal flows. One of these quartz crystals goes in the center and may be pointed up. If you have a small crystal ball to place in this spot that will work as well. This is the “key stone” of your grid. The others go at the points of the flower of life diagram pointing out. They point outward to effect the area around you you wish to heal, not all grids do this. The six points are the Framework of this grid. Six points placed in the shape of a Star of David or hexagram is one of the most simple grids for healing.

Once you have all these in place you can choose to just activate it as is or add to it, listening to what the earth needs and adding crystals in places around the flower of life. If you’re going for the latter, bring out your crystals and allow yourself to be open to what is needed and arrange them in response to your intuition. If you don’t like the feeling of the grid, feel free to change it until it feels right to you.

When you feel it is ready, it is time to activate it. Place your hands over the grid and call on the divine to activate this grid with you for healing the earth and nature for the highest good of all concerned harming none. Imagine light flowing down into the grid and through it to the earth, the crystals radiating out the healing to the earth and all of nature. Leave the grid up until you feel its work is done.

Postscript: For next month you will need a piece of paper, a pen, and a place to burn said paper.