Sexual Health for Beltane 2016

"For behold, all acts of love and pleasure are my rituals..." - Charge of the Goddess, Doreen Valiente 

As Pagans we view sex as intrinsically holy; it is the impulse that gives us life and pleasure. A Reclaiming witch once told me that when you orgasm, you are possessed by the Star Goddess. Whether we engage in sexual acts with others or have self-sex as our main erotic expression, our work is to honour this part of our lives to the fullest. 

Beltane (for those who follow the Wiccan/Neopagan Wheel of the Year) is the festival most associated with sex and/or fertility, depending on your viewpoint. Here in the UK the blossoms on the trees are starting to bloom, the weather is (finally!) getting warmer and animals, humans included, are starting to feel the heat in more ways than one.  

Yet, sexuality is dangerous. In modern times, we are acutely aware of sexually transmitted infections and the responsibility we need to take to stay sexually healthy. However, that doesn't necessarily mean that we are all as careful with our sexual health as we could be. Therefore, as part of your Beltane celebrations, I have a challenge for the wider Pagan communities. 

In honour of Beltane and sex I would encourage you and your co-religionists to see a doctor or healthcare provider for a sexual health check up, if it is not already part of your normal healthcare routines. 

If you are sexually active then this is an act of maturity and power. If you are enjoying your sexuality, it is your responsibility to yourself and partners to reduce the risk of infection. Yet, far from being a sterile act, it is infused with worship of the body as sacred. 

Your check up can be ritualised beforehand with simple prayers and offerings to your Gods, and you can ritualise the results, either as comfort or celebration. Most pantheons have a deity associated with sexuality, so be creative. 

While you are at the clinic, take an attitude of reverence and prayer. It takes courage to undergo a sexual health screening, and the rapid HIV test doesn't always feel very rapid. It is better to go with somebody that you trust should you need support. 

So, go and get tested. Own your sexuality along with the responsibility that goes along with it. And please share this post!

Please note:

There is not space to list all of the sexual health charities out there. In the UK I would recommend you go to your local GUM clinic (Dean Street in London is fantastic) and in the US I would recommend Planned Parenthood. 

Just Showing Up

I'm currently re-reading the excellent book "Cranky, Beautiful Faith" by badass Lutheran minister (or pastrix as she likes to be known) Nadia Bolz-Weber. While I can get behind a lot of what she says - indeed, Jesus Christ is becoming increasingly important in my spiritual practice, but that's another blog post - not everything resonates. 

However, there was one passage where she says that the best spiritual practice, ignoring chanting and candles and prayers, is simply showing up. 

This hit me square in the chest. For the past two months I just haven't been showing up. I have barely sat at my altar, rarely made offerings, hardly cast a spell. By not showing up I haven't prioritised myself. I haven't acted like I'm important. 

In Feri, we say, "God is Self and Self is God and God is a person like myself", which is a very Luciferian way of saying that you are holy and are indeed a God (if only in potential). My aumakua/ori/Godself is my personal God, the part of me that encompasses all other parts with the sacred. By showing up, I am honouring myself and my life. 

I suppose that's the point of spiritual practice. It can be about connections to the Gods or nature, but by showing up in affirming that I am important. 

And by doing this every day, I'm more likely to remember this when life isn't going as I'd like it to. 

Starting Again

"New year, new me!"

This is the popular hashtag floating around on the Internet, and while I understand the sentiment completely - who hasn't had the desire before to press the reset button on their life?! - it's completely unattainable. 

At the very best, all you can hope for is a "slightly changed in some way me". We bring over so much from the previous year, such as relationships, jobs, habits, living situations, health, spiritual practice (or lack thereof!), that it is hard to completely begin again. 

I was tempted to start a brand new blog for 2016 and let this blog remain fallow for posterity, but I realised that some of what I've written still holds true and has some value. So, why am I starting again? 

My spiritual practice over the past two years since my previous post has changed considerably. I formally joined a Lucumí/Santería ilé by receiving my necklaces. I have re-engaged with the Strategic Sorcery course that I signed up for. I've deepened my Buddhist meditation practice. I have deepened my commitment to Feri. I have begun to reclaim the Christianity of my childhood (this last one being a huge surprise!). I let go of the Unitarian church I had been attending, although I wish to revisit this in the coming year. 

This blog will attempt to weave together these seemingly disparate strands into a cohesive narrative, the various threads hopefully coming together into something of substance and authenticity. 

I eagerly await the conversation. 

Sit Down and Be Still

The title of this post is a light-hearted nod to my profession as a secondary school teacher. Helping teenagers to navigate their way through the hormone-drenched adolescent years is a tough job, and a piece of advice I often give to my students is, 'Sit down and be still'. While on the surface this is a simple behaviour management technique, I am also communicating a deeper truth to these young people. Simply sitting down and being still allows us to be our most authentic of selves, limiting the unwanted effects of the constant influx of varying emotion and external stimuli. 

As a Feri Witch, sitting practice is fundamental to my formal morning practice. In fact, I would say that it is the most essential practice that I engage in on a regular basis. While it is often more interesting to do complicated kala rites or an energetic Ha prayer, without the grounding and foundation of sitting practice, these more exciting techniques often come to nothing. Indeed, sitting practice is the rock upon which all other practice is built. In my Sevenfold Feri Praxis, I place sitting practice in the North, given its grounding and stabilising nature. 

What do I mean when I say 'sitting practice'? There are countless forms of meditation, from the most abstract contemplation of the nothingness of the void, to the most prosaic of chanting while counting mala beads. While these all have spiritual value depending on your goals, sitting practice is a lot simpler and manageable for those of us not living full time in an ashram. What follows is my interpretation of sitting practice as it relates to Feri. 

For me, sitting practice is a combination of three things: stillness, openness and focus. These all combine into the umbrella term of 'mindfulness' as I understand it. By stillness, I consciously rest in the physicality of my body, kneeling on a meditation bench (after three years of pins and needles from incorrect sitting posture, I finally caved and bought a wooden bench.) I attempt to focus solely on my breath, the soft sensations of the indrawn breath and the satisfied exhale of the outgoing breath. I will say to myself mentally, "In...out...rest...in...out...rest..." to keep my mind focused on this task. This then leads to a natural and unforced openness. This openness is the key for grace to descend. By grace, and I am paraphrasing Thorn Coyle here, I mean the expectation that the Universe will meet me half way, often in an unexpected manner. It also invites the decsent of the Godsoul. 

It is no secret that the goal of Feri is self-possession. When you have wooed your own divinity like a lover, called to it in the night, prayed for its descent into your body, and felt it's presence shimmer through your being like an electric wave of honey, you have tasted self-possession. Full self-possession occurs after a long period of openness, of clearing the way for the Ori or Godsoul to descend of its own accord. Sitting practice provides the periods of quiet solitude necessary for this most holy of goals. 

A less well-known Victorism is "Work for the Self, and soon you will see the Self everywhere." I believe he is pointing to the truth that our Ori is the point of light through which all other light can pass through. By consciously working on the descent of your own divinity, you open yourself (eventually!) to the numinous that exists outside of the self, as well as inside. By simply resting each morning, sitting still and focusing on the breath, untold gifts are bestowed upon you. 

I have not discussed the difficulties associated with this practice - I will leave that for another post. Needless today, just because something is simple, does not mean it is necessarily easy!

Happy sitting!

The Magic of Clothes

One of the distinguishing features of the human species is that we fashion (if you'll excuse the pun) clothes for ourselves out of materials found in nature. Our clothes project a statement about ourselves to the world; we can garner information about a person's wealth, interests, ethnicity, religion, and much more from the clothes they choose to wear. 

Now, as a Witch, I am always on the lookout for ways to imbue more magic into my life and to live with more magical intention. There are already countless historical examples of magically-charged items used in ritual - robes, veils, crowns, and jewelry come to mind. This post is not the place to discuss these more obviously magical items. Rather, I wish to discuss how we can use our ordinary clothes in a magical way. 

So, how can we magically charge clothes to aid in spellwork? Here are some examples that I have come up with:

- When washing clothes, charge the washing powder and conditioner to wash away all that does not belong in your life.  

- When ironing your clothes, visualise yourself having a smooth and easy life. Literally, iron out the wrinkles in your life. 

- Place spell-papers or petitions inside your shoes, so that you walk your spell. 

- Charge a scarf for protection, and seal the spell when you knot it around your neck. 

- Choose clothes of colours that relate to your goal. Hold the item of clothing before you put it on, and charge it with your desire, sealing the spell when you put it on. 

- A hat can be charged as a devotional item to your Godsoul. Charm the hat to bring your Godsoul closer to you. 

- Sew mojo bags into the seams or hem of your skirt or trousers so that you consciously work your spell as you walk. This is particularly good for spells involving movement. 

- One spell that was given to me in a dream by an old hoodoo woman (who I believe to be one of my spirit guides) involves making mojo bags out of work underwear. A euphemism for underwear is "intimates" - given that underwear is in contact with a person's most private and intimate part of their body, cutting a square out of their used underwear is a fantastic way to influence them via a mojo bag (with their permission of course...wink wink). 

Is there anything you are wearing right now that you can charge for a magical goal? 

Simple Spells for Daily Life

Part of my Seven-fold Feri practice is the path of spellwork, which I associate with the East, given the necessity of clarity, focus, vision, and intention in spellwork. 

Nevertheless, I find it very easy to relegate spellwork to big rituals or special occasions, when it should be fully integrated into daily life. We can take inspiration from other traditions to see how they incorporate spells into daily life. 

One of the best spells to do on a daily basis is to cast a shower spell for purification: 

Using whatever method you choose, create your own magically charged soap containing herbs and oils such as hyssop, lavender, and peppermint. Charge this with mana before showering with the intention to purify yourself in all your parts. 

Lather yourself with the soap, then say the following, visualising yourself as being underneath a waterfall:

Spirits of water, now appear, 

Cascade and fall, I draw thee near, 

To cleanse me and leave me pure and clear. 

Visualise all negativity going down the drain. 

Other every day spells include;

- lighting incense and candles to draw specific influences

- locking the front door with the intention of protecting the home from intruders 

- charging food with mana for prosperity 

- spraying your clothes with charged water to work a glamour for a specific purpose 

- carrying a charged stone or crystal for a particular intention 

Enjoy bringing more magic into your every day life! 

The Gods in Ritual

Okay...so this post may descend into a bit of a rant, but please indulge me just this once. 

I have participated in many Neo-Pagan rituals, both as part of a group and as a solitary practitioner. I have participated in an Alexandrian ritual, Reclaiming celebrations, initiates-only Feri circles, and many more. From all of these, I have reached the conclusion that the way we treat the Gods is often horribly, hideously wrong. 

Semantics aside, we worship the Gods because they are worthy of our respect, honour, and love. They are the awe-inspiring manifestations of the Unknowable Divine that our human brains can begin to grasp. Whether or not you are hard-poly or of the "All Goddesses are one Goddess" camp, for all intents and purposes you treat the Gods as real beings in a ritual. And the way we treat these real beings often falls short. 

So...how does this happen? 

In Feri, we say that the Gods are real (albeit incorporeal) Beings, not merely aspects of the Goddess (although, paradoxically, that is also true!). When we invite them to participate in a ritual, they should be treated as honoured guests visiting the home. 

Consider this scenario: your best friend comes to visit your home for the evening. You greet her at the door, invite her to come in with a hug and ask how she is. You tell her how great her new haircut is and ask her where she bought that fabulous coat. You make her something to drink, probably a cup of tea (or something stronger!) and ask her if she'd like something to eat. So, you start cooking her some food, all the while engaged in conversation over a glass of wine, and then you finally settle on the couch and watch a film together. During the film, you're still chatting and having a giggle, until it's time for her to go home. You give her a hug and a kiss as she leaves, thank her for coming, and maybe give her a bit of food to take home. 

This would be considered being a great host. 

Now contrast this with what we do with the Gods in ritual:

We generally prepare the space for them, with an altar and perhaps a magic circle of some kind. We will then invoke the Gods, usually with some kind of spoken invocation or maybe an action. This will last a couple of minutes. 

And then that's it.

They aren't mentioned again, or talked to, or interacted with until it's time to "thank them" and asking then to leave. What's wrong with this picture? 

I firmly believe that we should treat the Gods as we would a beloved friend. Here are my suggestions as to how we could do this (some of this was influenced by Deborah Lipp's excellent book "Elements of Ritual):

1. Invite them to your ritual ahead of time. This could be a written invitation that is burned, a spoken invitation to Their image, or something similar. 

2. Do your research! Don't just invoke any God you think sounds cool. Chances are they won't actually come if there's no prior relationship. 

3. When in ritual, treat them as if they are the most important person in the room. Direct every action towards them, mention them in every spoken prayer, ask for their aid in spellwork. 

Basic courtesy goes a long way...you do not need to pick and choose different Gods to work with as if you were making an iTunes playlist. Get to know a God in a deep and meaningful way, treat them right and have faith that they will reciprocate. 

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?"

The Divine Twins in the Tarot - A Series Introduction

The manifest reality of the Divine Twins, those two great forces whose erotic friction enlivens and ensouls the Universe, is paramount in Feri. The Goddess is said to have taken two bright spirits and perfected Them into God with Her birth; They are both Her lover and other half. The Twins can be any gender or none (although my inclination is to see Them as male...) and Their multiplicity of relationships is a source of great mystery.

We find the Divine Twins in several mythologies but personally the spirits I am most attracted to (apart from Melek Ta'us!) are the Marassa Jumeaux from Haitain Vodou, above, and the Ibeji of Lucumi, right. Both of these Traditions have influenced the Feri Tradition and I find it interesting that the Twins in both Vodou and Lucumi are called very early on in ceremonies. Victor said that in Vodou, the Twins were "the first issue of the outer dark", which is a gorgeous poetic description of the Twins.

The purpose of this series is to explore the expression of the Divine Twins through the Major Arcana of the Tarot. The Majors are twenty two cards (a very Twin-like number) representing the totality of archetypal human experience, with the Minors being the individual specifics. Because the Twins are so huge, yet ultimately intimate and dwelling within each of us, I have chosen to explore Their narrative through the Majors. The Tarot is a huge source of wisdom and the full scope of meanings, symbolism, and lore is beyond the scope of this series.

The narrative of the Divine Twins is not linear or sequential; rather, I have focused on the particular energetic flavour of each card as it relates to the Twins and expresses a unique relationship. I am tempted to say that almost all of these relationships have an element of the erotic about them, but that is perhaps a different treatise. Please let me know if this is helpful for you, or indeed (even better!) if you disagree with me. Who knows...our disagreement might provide the erotic friction of the Twins toward greater understanding. So cut your majors in two and shuffle them together in an imitation of the erotic play of the Twins...

"Kala"

Here is a painting called "Kala". The rite of Kala is one of the most vital of the practices we do in Feri and I was inspired to paint this recently, finally completing it tonight. 

An Honourable Spiritual Practice

I am currently re-reading the outstanding book After the Ecstasy, The Laundry by Jack Kornfield. This book examines what a spiritual life is like once you have glimpsed ultimate reality or reached enlightenment. What, for example, happens when the enlightened Buddhist needs to buy food from the supermarket? What about the Witch who, ecstatic from celebrating Beltane, needs to change his daughter's diaper? Sometimes after a blissful spiritual experience, we are brought back down again. How do we deal with that?

Part of my Feri practice is the cultivation and courting of the ecstatic. That gorgeous, sublime union with the sacred, when I feel the Goddess' breath flow through mine, and the very air on the breeze caresses my skin as if to entice me into an erotic encounter. I'm sure we have all had experiences of this kind. Yet they are fleeting and impossible to sustain indefinitely. As joyful and important as they are, they are merely the inspiration and impetus that keep us at our practice. 

I don't believe these ecstatic states are the "end goal", if indeed there is such thing. I liken the ecstatic to having sex within a loving relationship: sex affirms a bond between people and makes a relationship more secure, but sex is not the relationship. A relationship founded on sex alone is doomed to fail. There has to be a greater desire to be with that person through the arguments and fights, as well as the sex and moments of connection. Sex is part of the fuel that keeps the relationship vital. Just so with ecstasy.

So...what does this have to do with an "honourable practice"? To practice with honour is to practice when it doesn't feel good. To practice when you actively don't want to sit at the altar. To recognise that there is a larger arc of your life, fed by the daily grind of meditation, prayer, and energy work. To practice with honour is to commit to a spiritual path knowing that sometimes you are going to feel like shit because you bump up against a part of yourself you thought died when you were thirteen. Walking a spiritual path is not supposed to be easy, although Goddess knows sometimes I wish it were. Instead, a spiritual path allows you the opportunity to walk with integrity, awareness, and yes, sometimes feeling amazing. 

And to practice with honour is to recognise how challenged you may feel, and you still CARRY ON ANYWAY. 

Preliminary drawing of "Kala"

Here's a preliminary drawing of a painting I'm working on called "Kala". This will form a series of paintings detailing key aspects of the Feri Tradition. 

A Seven-Fold Feri Praxis

Sometimes I feel like I am not "spiritual" enough, or committed enough, or courting enough depth of personal practice. Sure, my daily practice is (mainly!) secure, and I often participate in seasonal rites of the moon and sun. Yet, the rest of what it means to be a Witch is kind of ad hoc. My spell work is not regular, nor my divination practice. I don't engage in trance any where near enough, nor do I perform elaborate devotions to my allies. 

In an effort to map the various aspects of my Feri praxis (which is not to be confused with daily practice) so that I might have a better understanding of areas I am neglecting, I was inspired by the seven directional Guardians, each of whom governs a particular path: 

1. Eastern Path - Magical Vision. This includes using magic to create change in the world, "low magic", folk magic, the practical side of Witchcraft. 
   
2. 
   
3. Southern Path - Energy Work. This is the running of Pentacles, invocations and evocations, possession and aspecting work.
   
4. 
   
5. Western Path - Trance. Pretty self explanatory, this is trance and astral projection. I also include dream work in this path. 
   
6. 
   
7. Northern Path - Devotional Arts. This is any rite or action that serves as devotion to our many allies, whatever form it takes.
8.  
   
9. Path of Above - Gnosis. Divination and self-knowledge, enlightenment and the seeking of higher/deeper purpose. 
   
10. 
    
11. Path of Below - Dark Arts. Anything to do with birth, sex and death!!
    
12. 
    
13. Path of Centre - Core Practices. Ha prayer, kala, sitting practice, our daily spiritual practice. 

This Seven-Fold Feri Praxis is a guide, an inspiration. It's shouldn't engender feelings of not being good enough. It is a tool to help us understand what parts of our practice we are really hot on and which parts perhaps need more attention. 

Which paths do you feel you could work on? 

New Reiki Website!

I am pleased to announce my new venture, Reiki for Wholeness. 

I've been a Reiki master for ten years, and it is only now that I feel the desire to really teach and pass on what I know. 

Check it out:

reikiforwholeness.weebly.com