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Tag: oracular work

Kemetic Bright Moon 3/31

Bright Moon Omen

This is the omen I received from Bast and Sekhmet, Eyes of Ra, on the occasion of the full moon of 3/31:

“The time has come to stand up and show the world what you wish to manifest: you need to lead the fight if you wish to see your hopes and dreams fulfilled. Do not cower if you are opposed, but stand firm, for you will be protected by your righteousness. Let the searing light of Truth and Justice cleanse your world by reflecting the power of the Sun. Humans and gods are working together in concert, the actions of each helping the other. Human prayers give strength to the gods, and the power of the gods is lent back to the followers so that isfet can be conquered. Go forth to banish lies and injustice, and know that the Seven Arrows of the Eyes of Ra are with you.”

That’s applicable to a lot of our lives, on a number of scales, starting at the personal level on the small end. In order to manifest what you wish to achieve in your own life, you need to cleanse yourself, too, and not give up so easily. The gods have your back. Good luck, everyone!

The next full moon will be 4/29.

Kemetic Bright Moon 3/1

This is nearly a week late now, but here is the message I received from Bast and Sekhmet when I did my oracular ritual on the full moon:

Turn your face to the sun. Do not forget to keep yourself warm as you fight onward. Keep going, but pace yourself. An army that arrives tired and hungry is not an army ready to fight. Take care of yourself along the way and you will find the strength to overcome your obstacles, to defeat your enemies, and to rise up and strike down isfet.

As with some of the previous messages, it contains general advice for the month – this time with the theme of pacing ourselves, lest we burn out.

Happy Full Moon, everyone!  And as a reminder, I answer a limited number of oracular questions for Bast and/or Sekhmet each full moon, and do a small number of magical workings, called heka, on their behalf.  If you would like to request something, send an email some time before the next full moon (March 31st) when I again do the work, on a first-come first-served basis.

Kemetic Bright Moon 1/31

I do my Kemetic Bright Moon rituals at some point during a 3 day window around the full moon, and this time I started with the omen today (and I will likely get to the requests tomorrow).  The message I received from Bast and Sekhmet this time was:

You cannot achieve the mundane success you seek alone. Isolation will keep you lean and hungry, aggressively going after mere scraps. You need to build what you dream with the help of a community. Turn your abstract goals into concrete steps. It’s only after you share your gifts with your community that you will find that your efforts bear fruit.

That’s good advice for my own Serendipities business ventures, I suppose, but it’s also good advice for anyone who has a Project they’ve yet to be able to turn into something real.  Whether that community is your local neighborhood, your local faith community, or like-minded individuals on the internet, there’s a community out there that has resources and advice that can help you.

If you look back at our first message for this year, which said to wait until the proper time to take action, it now sounds like planning has shifted into high gear, and it’s come time to take our first steps.  We need to build a scaffold for our future goals, and letting other people look at what we’re dreaming is a great way to test those scaffolds before we get too far along to change them easily.  Also, it’s hard to know if there’s a market for your product or support for your idea if you keep it to yourself!  So go ahead, put yourself out there.  Find your community.  Find your niche.

Kemetic Bright Moon and Sailing Holiday

As I have been doing since the Kemetic New Year in August (Wep Ronpet), I did oracular work for the community on the occasion of the full moon.  This past full moon just so happened to also be the first day of 2018!  I have been sharing the messages I receive on tumblr, and I have decided to start sharing them here as well.    Here is the message I received from Bast and Sekhmet at the beginning of this month:

Now is the time for waiting, gathering your resources, and planning. As the coiled snake waits for the proper time to strike, so must you wait for the proper moment to take action. As the year spins on, you will find your perfect opportunity and if you take action then, you will reap abundant rewards.

This message, unlike previous ones, has implications beyond this moon cycle, into the rest of the year, and it’s hopeful – so take heart.

The other thing that happened earlier this month was my celebration of the Sailing Holiday, where I make Bast and Sekhmet an origami boat and send them “away down the river”, packing up my shrine for a time.  This year I had the privilege of sharing my Sailing Holiday celebration with new friends in a pagan/polytheist/earth religions study group at my local Unitarian Universalist church!  I gave a brief presentation on Kemetic religion, both ancient and modern, and then I opened my traveling shrine, to introduce Bast and Sekhmet to the group.  We then offered them food and drink, and ate it, reverting their blessing to ourselves.  It’s always a good feeling to share your practice with friends!

Wep Ronpet 2017

This year for Wep Ronpet I was (once again) out of town – this time, at my brother’s wedding.  Same as last year, I blogged pictures of offerings (votive offerings for the modern age) for the Birthday Kids during the Epagomenal days, and offered them a shot glass of cool water in front of my travel shrine.  On Wep Ronpet, I did a red paper execration (no throwing a pot this year, drat), took my ritual meditative bath, dedicated my new statues of Bast and Sekhmet, and came away with the following pledges as my oath for the new year:

  • I will light my shrine candle(s) weekly, attempting to do so each Sunday.
  • I will answer one of the new prompts in my list of 45 Kemetic Prompts every Sunday, though I may skip some weeks and catch up on others as long as I am finished before next year’s Epagomenal Days.
  • I will make a larger offering on the Bright Moon, because as the moon is a reflection of the light of the sun, so too am I a reflection of their power.  I have a three-day window, and if I am sick or there are extenuating circumstances it may be as small as a single stick of incense.
  • I will channel an oracular message (for myself but also the wider world) on the Bright Moon (again with a three-day window), and it can be tarot-assisted but I should pull the cards after, not before.
  • I will answer at least two oracular requests, if I have received any, again on the three-day Bright Moon, unless I am sick or otherwise out of spoons.
  • I will perform at least two heka requests, if I have received any, again on the three-day Bright Moon, unless I am sick or otherwise out of spoons.
  • I will complete one major research project a year, to include such projects as: read and review a book on Ancient Egyptian religion, do in-depth research on one topic, etc.
  • I will celebrate both Wep Ronpet and the Sailing Holiday.
  • On Wep Ronpet, I will purchase one shrine upgrade or magical tool and dedicate it, and I will renew my oath for the new year.

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My new statues are from ShadowOfTheSphinx on Etsy!

Sacred Space, Day 3

After my late night with Bast on Friday, I did not make it to the morning session I had planned to attend, “Dark Goddess Tarot” by Ellen Lorenzi-Prince.  I heard it was great, though, and I did look through her tarot deck of the same name.

 

Braucherei (and Hexerei) in the Urglaawe Context, by Robert Schreiwer

The “Urglaawe context” refers to the Heathenry revival within the Deitsch (Pennsylvania Dutch) community, and braucherei and hexerei are both Deitsch words for witchcraft, though the exact meaning of the terms varies according to local custom.  In general, where the two words refer to different things (in some places, one of the words refers to everything under the witchcraft umbrella), “braucherei” refers to things like energy healing, herbalism, fertility charms, and protective magic, whereas “hexerei” refers to less savory things, like hexes and curses.

Robert started off with a brief history of braucherei, and of the Deitsch people in general, including their immigration to the US.  Braucherei post-dates the conversion to Christianity, and the Deitsch came to the US after the 30 years war, so much of the practice has Christian and Gnostic influences, though Robert has managed to trace a lot of the roots back to pre-Christian traditions.  (For instance, Frigga and the Gnostic Sophia seem to be heavily conflated in Deitsch traditions).  After they came to the US, the Deitsch had a lot of contact with the Lenape, and they shared a lot of knowledge back and forth.  One of the things the Deitsch learned from them was the medicinal use of local plants, many of which are very different from the plants in Central Europe.

Robert is a Braucher, and currently has several students.  A lot of the practice is Verbots, or forbidden/taboo to discuss with those outside the practice, but as an insider Robert is in an excellent position to discuss braucherei with other practitioners.  He has been travelling to visit older practitioners, and hear their stories, and discuss the practice, so that he can record as much as possible, to help with the revival.  He’s trying to find practices in common across various geographic regions in the US, and follow threads of Heathenry back to their origins.  He’s found some use of runes, and the names of Germanic gods, and he and others are hard at work reconstructing more following the threads they’ve uncovered.

It was a fascinating presentation, and his handout listed a lot of places to follow his work and find more resources:

 

Sisters in Shadow and Light: A Ritual for Nephthys and Isis, by Helena Domenic

I was hoping for a Kemetic ritual, but this was more a Wiccan ritual to Kemetic gods with a little local flavour, if that makes sense.  Still, I enjoyed it and I was glad I attended.  The premise of the ritual was that each participant would choose from whom they wished to receive healing: Isis, with healing light, or Nephthys, with healing darkness.  Each participant then annointed themselves, and went to speak with the priestess channeling the goddess they had chosen, to ask for what they wished to heal, and to receive a message.  I chose Nephthys because I wished to be rid of something, and I received a message in turn that was so powerful and personal that I have no doubt the channel was truly possessed by the goddess she represented.  I will not, however, recount that message here.  I hope you understand.

Once each participant had finished their moment with the channel they had chosen, the attendees chanted to raise Osiris, as the sisters do in the myths, and his rebirth, as performed by another channel, became our transmutation.  It was a powerful rite, and it left many in tears.

 

Hellenic Oracles, by Gwendolyn Reece

The first part of Gwendolyn’s presentation was on the history and locations of various oracles in the ancient Hellenic world.  This is information that was not new to me, and I did not take very many notes – it’s important background information, to be sure, but fairly accessible thanks to the many written records left behind.  (She quoted Plutarch more than a few times.)  Her basic definition of oracle (mantike in Greek), is a cult, located in a particular place, in which a god (usually Apollon) possesses a vehicle (usually human).  Gwendolyn herself has been preparing to be that vehicle (a mantis in Greek) for Apollon for a temple she is founding in DC.  The temple is called Theophania, named after the festival that welcomed Apollon back to the Oracle at Delphi at its reopening in the spring.  I knew about the temple, but I had not known about her oracular work, and I have to say I was equal parts astounded and elated.  Bast and I have been working towards an oracular-possessory relationship, and while I attended Diana Paxson’s workshop last year on Oracular Seidh and bought her book, a traveling Norse seeress is not exactly the same sort of thing as a priestess at a grand state temple in Egypt.  A Hellenic mantis would be much, much closer.  Needless to say, I listened to the rest of the presentation on the edge of my seat, took pages of notes, and had a question for afterwards on the tip of my tongue.

Gwendolyn explained that she is a hard polytheist, and that this means that she believes the gods are individual persons with agendas, and so she thought it was worth explaining to us what she thought Apollon’s agenda was.  As she understands it, he is a law giver, he is very fond of humanity, and he wants to give us advice.  She explained a bit more about how he is kind, and a deity of civilization, and I summed this up as an alignment: Lawful Good.  Giving oracular counsel is an extension of his Light and Healer aspects, illumination of the Truth and using the Truth to set us on our right course.  He is trying to help us avoid our hamartia, a tragic mistake that can define us in negative ways.  Apollon wants us to find the clearest path through our fate, and mitigate as much damage as possible.  As Gwendolyn said, not everything can be mitigated completely, but nothing is entirely predestined.  A choice must always be made, somewhere.

Gwendolyn understands oracular revelations as part of a spectrum of divine responses to human attempts at conversation.  Prayer, sacrifices, and offerings are all ways to speak to the gods; omens, divination, dream/trance theophany, oracles, and full theophany are all ways of hearing what they say back.  The spectrum goes from omens, which require the least energy and are the most frequently misunderstood, to full theophany (where the gods appear in the flesh), which requires the most energy and has the least chance of being misunderstood.  She mentioned that a lot of people in ancient times asked oracles about personal matters, even if the best-remembered stories are all about city-states asking political questions.  In her opinion, it is a good idea to consult an oracle in the following cases: 1) when you have a choice to make and reason is insufficient; 2) if the choice means a major change or upheaval; 3) at any indication of miasma negatively affecting your life; 4) any question about your relationship with the gods; or 5) anything that weighs very heavily on your heart.  In her personal work she said she tries to focus on teh big picture stuff, but she’s had people come and ask personal questions, too.  Sometimes Apollon answers the question the querent should have asked instead of the one they did.  One of the big picture messages that she has recently received from him and is trying to spread knowledge of, is that in order to help with climate change and prevent calamity, we need to focus our efforts on healing the world’s oceans.  He says we have about 20 years to get things moving in the right direction, or it will be too late.

One evening in which Gwendolyn was sitting down to talk to Apollon (as she tries to do daily as part of her mantis training) she found herself complaining about her day and then caught herself and apologized, and he gave her a very important lesson that resonated with me, and I think it will resonate with some of you.  When she apologized for wasting his time with her complaining, he said “I’m not that small.”  At first she didn’t understand, but then he helped her to see that he had no problem being there in intimate friendship with her, hearing about her day, and also doing his cosmic duties.  He could be there, that close, paying attention to each of his followers all at the same time and never be distracted.  He’s not that small.  None of the gods are.  And I think we, as devotees, need to be reminded of that now and again.  The gods do not have to suffer, but they chose to do so by entering into relationships with us – they choose to feel our pain, and to see the world through us as much as we see the world through them.

 

Only one more day to go!  And I must say, re-reading my notes and typing them up for you has really helped me process the events of the conference.  Hopefully you got something out of it, too!

~Réaltán~

 

[Day 1 Here]

[Day 2 Here]

[Day 4 Here]

Sacred Space, Day 2

Gwdihŵ has sort of declined to write up his incomplete notes, so you’ll really just be getting my experience of the conference except where we attended an event together, I’m afraid.  But here was my Day 2!

Experiential Tree Ogham, by Raven Edgewalker

I thoroughly enjoyed this workshop.  I think this one, along with her second workshop on the last day, made up my favorite part of the entire weekend.  And also I now have ogham on the brain, so expect a little bit of that to filter through here eventually.  (Yes, I still have new tarot decks to learn, and yes, I’m beginning to learn runes, but really, a witch can never have too many forms of divination, can she?)

Raven started out with a little background and history of the ogham: it’s an alphabet, trees aren’t the only things associated with the letters (and some of those trees are vines or shrubs), it probably post-dates Christian contact, etc.  She emphasized that she likes that it’s newer, and likes that it seems to have been not fully developed by the time it was no longer used heavily, because that means there’s a lot of work that still could have been done, and that plus the fact that we don’t have complete sources means that it’s easier to create our own version, and to customize it to ourselves and our own practice.  She talked a bit about how she couldn’t get into ogham at first, couldn’t learn the symbols, not until she started actually working with plants and trees, and then from that work she ended up back at ogham.

Then she had us do a short meditation, where we were instructed to go find a tree and talk to it for a moment.  Many people found a tree from their childhood, or a tree that they interact with often now.  I ended up meeting the Black Spruce spirit I had been working with all winter.  One of the things Raven emphasized when we shared about our experiences was a thing I learned from Black Spruce previously – trees are not in a hurry.  They have time; they do not rush.  And neither should we, learning ogham.  She said we should start with getting to know the trees.  If you can identify 20 trees, learn their other properties, and then learn 20 more.  If you can only identify 2 trees, learn their properties and learn two more.  Double your knowledge.  Move slowly.  Feel your way through the trees and then the ogham as a system of divination will grow naturally in you.  A lot of the meanings she gets when she reads ogham hinge on her personal associations and personal relationships with the trees themselves.

There are 20 trees in the original ogham, but she said her personal set has grown to include about 70 plants, and she’s continued on the pattern of symbols and made her own staves, each out of the wood of the plant, and she encourages all of us to do the same – make our own version of the ogham.

Raven closed with another meditative exercise: this time we were supposed to become a tree, to start as a seedling and grow, trying to really feel and imagine branches and roots and the wind, and the other trees around us, a whole forest in the room.  That was a deeply grounding and beautiful exercise.

 

Tarot and Talking with the Dead, by Ellen Lorenzi-Prince

Ellen started the class by setting up a small altar piece: what appeared to be a Halloween decoration graveyard with little stones and a little doll representing Maman Brigitte.  As she set up, Ellen talked a bit about Maman Brigitte, her relationship to the goddess and saint Brigid, and her role in Vodou as the wife of Baron Samedi and the Queen of the Graveyard.  Then we did a small ground-center-focus meditation, and said an invocation of Maman Brigitte together.

The first tarot spread was a four-card spread in which we were supposed to talk to a specific ancestor or other dead person or spirit, with each card asking one of the following questions:

  1. What is the primary energy or power of this spirit?
  2. How can you participate in the manifestation of that power?
  3. What particular message does this spirit have for you?
  4. What do you have to offer this spirit in return?

I used my LOTR deck, and ended up talking to my great-grandfather, who died while I was in college.

The second spread was asking the dead in general for their advice and insight, and it was a three-card spread using the following questions:

  1. What is important for me to know about what is coming in my personal world?
  2. What is important for me to know about what is coming in my community?
  3. What is important for me to know about what is coming in the larger world?

Many of us got answers about a time of change and upheaval in the last two questions.

We ended with a short journey meditation, to go and talk to the dead directly.  I went to see my great-grandfather and also saw my great-grandmother, his wife, and their son, my great-uncle whom I never met.  I helped them some with healing, and it was a very powerful but very personal moment.

I thoroughly enjoyed Ellen’s workshop, and it is to my dismay that I did not make it to her other tarot workshop: Tarot with the Dark Goddess.  She also presented “Inside Out Magic” and “Writing Ancient Lives”, both of which Gwdihŵ attended and enjoyed.

 

 

The New Orleans Conjure Dance, presented by Caroline Kenner and Gryphon’s Grove School of Shamanism, with music by Firesong

As it says in the Sacred Space programme, the Conjure Dance is a “ritual dance of spirit possession and manifestation.  It is inspired by the dances performed by Marie Laveau on Sundays in Congo Square, New Orleans, before the Civil War.”  Many deities from many different pantheons are invoked through song, and many more are given representation on altars set up along the walls of the room.

As I did last year, I began by walking around the room to look at all the altars first.  My first sweep with Gwdihŵ was just to greet everyone, and to see who was represented.  On our second pass, we left offerings.  We had brought a few special offerings, a bag of multicolor jelly beans, and a bag of gold foil wrapped chocolate eggs.  We gave each table a chocolate egg, and the jelly beans we passed out to our particular friends in each pantheon, using color symbolism.  Gwdihŵ also brought a few origami cranes and shells to give to some of his gods, and I had brought a large dark chocolate bunny also wrapped in gold foil for Bast.  There was alcohol provided by Caroline Kenner & co, and we gave a little of that as well, before settling in to enjoy the music some and to listen for invocation songs of those we know.

After a little while I went back to the Egyptian altar and sat for a moment, to ask Bast if she might join me for the night.  I had thought that it would take a lot of preparation work to be able to tune out the noise and find my center in order to open and let her in, but the opposite was true – I needed no more than ask, and she was there.  Then the juggling act of having a headmate began.  Walking was difficult only for the first few steps – then we made our way over to the alcohol to have a shot of something.  She wanted something sweet, like chocolate liqueur or kahlua or frangelico, but we had to settle for a sweet dark rum, which we both enjoyed.  Speaking was a little difficult at times – Gwdihŵ asked me about the alcohol and to be careful (because alcohol frequently doesn’t agree with my chronic illness) but I (we?) assured him that we would not have much – just a taste.  Bast seemed to enjoy watching the spectacle, and she was proud of how many statues she had on the Egyptian altar (although she was tied with Anpu, whom she ribbed gently).  We also tried a violet liqueur, and she didn’t like it, or I didn’t like it – I’m still not exactly sure.  Either way, we decided not to drink the whole shot, and so a shot and a half was our total alcohol consumption for the night.  We did try the peeps, though – I like them, and she enjoyed biting off their heads, as they were intended as stand-ins for sacrificial chickens.  Mostly we just watched and moved and tried to keep our balance, with her enjoying embodiment, but staying politely in the passenger’s seat of the car, so to speak.

I did need a little bit of help from a friend to find the stickers we were supposed to use if we didn’t want to be touched or had allergies or something, because that was early on and I was having trouble looking for them and I wasn’t sure how well I was going to be able to have a real conversation, starting with “Hello, Are you one of the helpers?  I have a request…”etc.  So instead I (we) walked up to my friend and sort of blurted out, “Do you know where the stickers are?  I need one.”  She saw that I was possessed and if I’m not mistaken also had a pretty good idea who my headmate was, and she helped me find the stickers and checked in with me and I assured her that I was fine, but having a little bit of difficulty with words.  Once I had the stickers on, Bast and I danced around some, and had a few interactions with friends, though some of those are less clear than others.  Between the alcohol and the late night and the headmate, my memory is not as crisp as it could have been, but it’s not truly patchy, either, just a little out of focus.

There was one point where I noticed a friend in distress and Bast pulled back quite a bit more so that I could speak a bit more fluently and not have to be balancing her presence while I tried to find assistance.  Once I had found someone to help and had communicated the problem to both them and Gwdihŵ (who had no headmates), I felt comfortable relaxing again and she came back, unperturbed by the interruption.  I am not sure, but I think she even pulled back without me asking her to in the first place – I find she is very respectful of boundaries, provided she knows them already or can predict them.  She even reminded me to go get my water bottle at one point, because I’d had nothing to drink but the two shots of alcohol.

I didn’t expect her to give me any messages for anyone, as we were really just having a good time at a party for the most part, but there was a particular friend of mine there who also works with Bast, and every time he passed by, she sort of sighed in my head and said, “Isn’t he great?”  or “I really like him.” or something like that, so after probably a half hour of that or more, I did go and tell him that she appreciated him, etc, knowing that he likely already knew that, but it’s always nice to hear it again.

The other interaction of any note, is that while I was outside talking with Gwdihŵ and another attendee, someone else who was possessed came out with a helper in tow, and Bast (who had been mostly in the background so that I could talk), came forward and perked up her ears and said “Loki?”.  I just barely did not allow that to come out of my mouth, afraid that I/she was wrong, but it turns out that she was right, and I’m a bit sorry now that I didn’t say it and allow that interaction to play out.  Oh well.  He’s since told me that he knew I/we recognized him then, but that it’s possible his possessory host did not, intent as she was (they were) on having a cigarette.

The acquisition of Bast as a headmate seems to have been much easier than her departure.  She was still quite present, although no longer quite in the passenger’s seat, by the time I fell asleep.  She hadn’t really left.  But then again, she’s frequently very close by even when we’re not attempting something possessory, and I think the line between being able to hear her, and her being a headmate is a bit blurrier than I had originally thought.  In any case, she was gone in the morning.

I think it was a good exercise in boundaries and balancing.  I have known for some time that I was once her Oracle and she would like me to fill that role again, and I think we’ll need more practice before we get there, but the ease of our night together at the Conjure Dance bodes well.  Dua Bast!

 

~Réaltán~

[Day 1 Here]

[Day 3 Here]

[Day 4 Here]

 

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