Integrating Iron and Pearl: Music for the Points

The Iron and Pearl Pentacles are core tools in Feri, and with my current students (I'm co-teaching a distance Feri and Reclaiming course) we are working through the Iron and Pearl at the beginning of their training, which should take roughly eighteen months. 

The reason why we begin with Iron and Pearl is mainly because we want our students to have a strong ethical foundation in the Craft before we introduce them to the Guardians and begin Divine Twins work. 

Given the importance of these two Pentacles to Feri Witches, I'm always looking for ways to further integrate their potent energies into my life. I will discuss other ways of running Iron and Pearl in other posts, but I'd like to give you some ideas for using different types of music to bring the Points to bear. Please feel free to experiment with types of music that evoke these Points for you. 

Sex - 60's guitar music, think Jimi Hendrix or Carlos Santana

Self - Any type of wind instrument, or violins. Classical music is great for Self. 

Passion - Flamenco or "gypsy" music 

Pride - Gospel music (Heather Small's "Proud" is an obvious choice!)

Power - anything with a heavy bass, dubstep works quite well. 

Love - love songs!! I'm a fan of Stevie Nicks for this Point

Knowledge - Gregorian chants 

Wisdom - new age/nature music

Law - jazz fits well here

Power - Choir music, or big band/orchestras 

A fun project might be to create playlists on iTunes or spotify for each Point so that you can add songs as they come to you. 

Let me know how you get on!

Seven-fold Feri Practice - An update

Refining one's philosophy and attitude toward spirituality is an ongoing practice. I have written before on how I structure both my daily practice and my wider practice as a Feri Witch. 

The Guardians of our Tradition are the true teachers and initiators. All that we know comes from these great beings, who preside over the realms of the elements of life. For example, the Guardian of the East guards all that belongs to that direction, which is not solely limited to the classical element of Air. 

With this in mind, here is how I currently structure my daily practice and wider practice, what I term the "inner" and "outer" paths.  

Inner Paths (daily practice)

Centre - Connection to God Her(self)

East - Prayer and intention for the day

South - Run the Points for that day

West - Soul alignment and purification

North - Sitting practice 

Above - Divination practice 

Below - Inspirational reading 

Circumference - Gratitude and blessings 

Outer Paths (wider practice)

Centre - Path of Devotion

East - Path of Spellwork 

South - Path of the Pentacles

West - Path of the Soul

North - Path of the Body

Above - Path of Gnosis

Below - Path of Art

Each of the paths, and the inner and outer expression of each, is a space that can contain various specific practices. As long as I am attempting to walk along each of these paths in some way, I feel I am living an integrated practice. It is useful for me to see which path I am neglecting, and those I find easy. I imagine this structure and mapping will evolve as my practice evolves, but hopefully you will find this contribution useful. 

Lenormand in Spellwork

The Lenormand cards are a wonderfully objective and straight-forward divination tool, full of practical hands-on wisdom. 

Here is a working list of how the cards could be used in planning various spells/rootwork. This is a working list and definitely adaptable! 

1. Rider - attraction magic 

2. Clover - good luck magic

3. Ship - bath/wash 

4. House - home as focus of deployment

5. Tree - ancestor work/healing

6. Clouds - confusion work

7. Snake - sneaky deployment 

8. Coffin - burying/coffin spell

9. Bouquet - involve flowers 

10. Scythe - cut and clear 

11. Whip - tie the tongue/stop gossip

12. Birds - chanting/singing 

13. Child - poppet magic

14. Fox - communication work

15. Bear - power/mastery 

16. Stars - astrology 

17. Stork - wish bird/elementals 

18. Dog - faithfulness magic 

19. Tower - bring in guides/spirits

20. Garden - strong herbal focus 

21. Mountain - stones/crystals 

22. Crossroad - crossroads/road opener

23. Mice - banishing magic 

24. Heart - root the magic in love

25. Ring - binding spells 

26. Book - using psalms/prayer

27. Letter - petition magic 

28. Man - figure candle/fluids

29. Woman - figure candle/fluids

30. Lily - sex magic

31. Sun - success magic

32. Moon - glamour magic 

33. Key - unblocking/key magic

34. Fish - offerings 

35. Anchor - talismans/mojo hands

36. Cross - crossing/uncrossing

Let me know your thoughts! 

Do Not Give Your Power Away

A well-known Feri maxim goes something like, "Do not give your power away to anyone or anything." While the interpretation of what "power" means in this context will be left to another blogpost, I would like to briefly talk about something that I have been unconsciously, insidiously giving my power away to. 

My iphone. 

Yes, the small bit of plastic and glass I am using to write this very post on, has been chipping away at my personal power and life energy for years now. If I'm ever bored, I whip out the phone and scroll through Facebook for ten minutes. I'll check out the latest lists on buzzfeed. I'll open grindr to see if there are any hot guys around. 

There's nothing inherently wrong with any of these, but when it starts to distract you from the things that matter (conversation, connection, intimacy, just sitting there watching the world go by!) then it has become a problem. 

My iphone has even affected my daily practice, or rather, has become part of it. The first thing I do when I wake up is not mediation or prayer. It is not connection to my divinity or to the Gods. No...it is opening the apps on my phone, offering the sacrifice of time and attention to the spirits of the iphone (and man, those spirits are greedy). 

So, I have decided to get rid of all the social media apps on my phone for one week. One week with no Facebook, Twitter, buzzfeed, grindr, or internet. Of course, I can still access all of these on my laptop, but the effort that takes makes it much less likely. 

Wish me luck! 

The Simplicity of Practice

Daily spiritual practice does not have to be hard. It is not some grandiose thing we perform to impress the Gods. Daily devotional work does not have to take an hour of our morning (unless we want it to!). 

It is so easy to think that "more equals better" when it comes to our spiritual practice. More prayer, longer meditation, more candles, more chanting. We often imagine "true" spiritual practitioners to spend hours in meditation each morning, their chakras blindingly bright, burning dozens of incense sticks as they commune with the Gods. 

For most of us, this is just not possible. What I'm starting to embrace is the simplicity of practice. 

There are certain key features of my practice that I will always do (prayer, soul alignment, the Kala rite, sitting practice) but how I do that can be very complex with lots of prayers, actions and movement, or it can be gently distilled into an essence. Do I really need three prayers, four mudras and a sage smudge before my sitting practice? Or do I simply acknowledge the presence of my Godsoul, welcome her as an old friend, send him a kiss and sit in silence?

As time goes on, I believe I'm becoming more Buddhist in my Feri - I don't believe the outer forms of the practice matter as much as the inner alchemy. Of course, the physical actions do help get us into the right frame to do our devotion well, and there are certain liturgical items that really get the Feri juice flowing.  

But once that connection is made, once you have opened to the flow of practice, just keep it simple. 

Elements of Practice - A Revision

Back in June I wrote a post entitled "Elements of Practice" in which I mapped out how I structure my daily practice according to the five elements. A lot of people said they enjoyed this post and gained something from it.

In the past few months of working with this model, I kept coming up with resistance regarding Water and Earth. Years of ritual have ingrained in my brain that we work from East to North via South and West, yet it felt more natural to me to do divination (which I placed in Water) after sitting practice, which I consider an Earth activity. 

This slight annoyance was only small, yet it affected the flow of my practice to such an extent that I wasn't gaining as much satisfaction and joy out of my daily devotions as I used to. 

So I decided to re-map. I actually think this is healthy - restructuring how we do things can keep us from falling into a dogma (even if I am dogmatic about moving from East clockwise!!). In my latest structure, the basic format is the same, but I have focused on three aspects of Spirit: above, below, and centre. I have also moved Kala and Ha prayer from the South into the West, where I believe drinking a cup of water sits more naturally. 

Anyway, below you will find a re-structured elemental practice. Please feel free to comment/critique as you are moved to do so! 

Blessings!

Centre - Connection to God HerSelf. This is the start of practice, where we actually are. I ground, centre, and circumference myself, pray to my Gods, and place on my initiation cord. I also make my daily offerings of flame, water, and incense here. 

Air - Prayerful intention. This is prayer that sets up what my practice is about. My daily prayer usually goes something like this: "Holy Mother, I sit before your shrine at the dawn of my day. May the work done here flow forth through my day and throughout my life. May I be a strong vessel for this current and may I be the best Witch and Feri priest possible. May I see You in all beings."

Fire - Pentacle work. Here I work with the fiery Iron Pentacle and watery Pearl. Sometimes I work with the Elemental Pentacle here too, as well as my Golden Pentacle, but not always. 

Water - Kala and Alignment. This was a bit of a "duh" moment for me. Of course Kala rests in water - we drink water as part of the rite! Also, the mana we use for soul alignment has a watery feel to it. 

North - Sitting Practice. This has remained the same. Sitting practice for me brings all the previous work together and holds it within and around the body as we sit with all of our parts. Although the Godsoul unites our parts in this practice, all of our selves are present here. 

Above - Divination. This is where I place my daily card pulling. I usually use the Rider Waite deck, but sometimes I mix it up with a rune or a card from Brian Froud's Faery oracle. 

Below - Desire and Drive. This is where I connect with my inner cauldron, which is the tool of Below in my line. I hold my cauldron against my belly and pray to know and follow my Desire. I wish to know what motivates me, and what I am heading towards. 

Centre - Connection to God HerSelf. Here I return to centre, which is God HerSelf. She is also circumference, if that speaks to you. I offer thanks for Her manifold blessings and ask my Gods and spirits to walk with me on my path. 

The Divine Twins in the Tarot - The Fool

The Fool is essentially a paradox: it is the first card, yet it is unnumbered. This Zero is the ground of being, the womb of God Herself. Indeed, Lon Milo DuQuette has stated that the Fool is the only real card; all other cards exist within the Fool. The Divine Twins are as yet undifferentiated and unborn. They are still in utero, being perfected into God with Their birth. The Twins are on the cusp of being born and manifest in the world. 

Again, paradoxically, the Fool is both part of the world but not of it. He stands upon the edge of a cliff about to begin his journey, neither on the ground nor in the air. The Divine Twins are often seen as the writhing serpent (Earth) and the bright bird (Heavens) who come together to form the radiant Peacock Lord, Melek Ta'us. The Fool is a symbol of this alchemical union, and indeed his clothing calls to mind both wings and a feathered crown. 

The Fool here is also the human being beginning the spiritual journey. The Great Work, the Knowledge and Conversation with the Holy Guardian Angel, is the ultimate spiritual goal of each practitioner. In my line, the Godsoul is a fractal of the Divine Twins - we are each a reflection of Their birth, division, courtship, and union. The Godsoul rests above the Crown and is allied with the Sun, which can be seen in this card slightly above the Fool's crown. 

The Divine Twins ask, "What is your potential?"