ritual – Serendipities

Ritual for the Way Opening – My Experience

This past week, I did one of the rituals from Morgan Daimler's fairy faith Pleiades Cycle - and I did the whole thing outside for the first time. It wasn't intense (though some other people have had intense experiences with this same ritual), but it felt right in a way that's a little hard to explain.

In preparation, I baked two loaves of spiced honey apple bread (which is basically a gf muffin mix with honey and buttermilk in it, and then previously prepared-and-frozen apple slices dredged in those same spices and honey put on top to bake; simple, but tasty); one for offering and one for my family. I made silvered water for my compass casting, and picked up a candle a friend made that has been sitting unused on a shelf, poured the last of my homemade violet liqueur into a smaller bottle, and got out my last stick of poppy-scented incense.

I set up my ritual space at my fire pit, including such mundane necessities as a chair, a lighter, and a bucket of water (fire safety, y'all!). I used a round log slice as my altar for the first part of the ritual, and then burned it during the second. The first part pretty much followed what is in Daimler's book, though I used the song I wrote last year instead of those prayers as written:

Anti-sunwise compass casting, beginning and ending in the East (where the Pleiades were to rise)
Lighting the candle and inviting the Gentry to join me (singing the first two stanzas of the song)
Singing the next three stanzas, which narrate the mythology of the holiday
Uncovering/pouring offerings and lighting the incense, moving these to the eastern side of the fire pit
Singing the last two stanzas, which invite the Fairy Rade to take refreshment and bless us in return

And then I lit the log and meditated on the flame and smoke as dusk became full dark. I did not stay until I saw the Pleiades, because between the clouds, the close treeline, and the light pollution in that direction it would have needed to be close to midnight before I would have seen them. But I did pull a card from my personal oracle deck to ask if the ritual had accomplished what it needed to, a little after the Pleiades could have been seen over a clear horizon, and got "The Sun", which is a resounding "yes", so at that point I took my omen for the night, then undid my circle and went inside.

Like I said at the beginning, it wasn't an intense experience, though at one point when the smoke blew an anticlockwise spiral in my face and parted around me I could briefly feel the reverberation of thundering hoofbeats going by at a fast pace. (I'm not a horse girl so I don't know canter or gallop or what, just fast.) Mostly it just felt... right. I sat out there, in my suburban backyard, and watched the light fade, heard the birdsong die out, the songs of the crickets and katydids rise and then settle. I watched the flames turn into strange striped flags of red and orange and blue, I watched the smoke continually spiral anticlockwise, and I leaned back and looked up at the few stars I could see. And it was peaceful. And I felt aligned in both myself and my spirituality. And I'm definitely going to do the next one outside, too.

I do have a couple of thoughts for next time, though - I think I'll start a little later than I did, which was only a few minutes after sunset, when there was still a lot of traffic and human noise. I also think I'll write a compass casting and uncasting charm also to the tune of the ballad of Thomas the Rhymer, to match. And I think I may want a set water-silvering prayer, and not do it extemporaneously like I did. But mostly I just want to do it again in November!

Song for the Returning

June 23, 2023
by Alexandra

Last fall, I shared two poems/songs/prayers I called “Song for the Way Opening” and “Song for the Winter Rade” after getting a message from some of my allies that I should be celebrating the movements of the Pleiades more intentionally. Last month, I shared one more, the “Song for the Darkening”. And now, like the others, I’ve reworked Morgan Daimler’s prayer for the Returning of the Queens into a song to the tune of the ballad of Thomas the Rhymer.

The first two stanzas of the song are the same, and the last two stanzas are as well, except for the two seasonal words in the last line, and the end of the third line changed to rhyme properly.

Song for the Returning

I call to all you goodly wights,
My kin and friends whoe’er shall be.
All you who’d be my allies true,
And come and walk this path with me.

I call to all the Queens and Kings,
Monarchs and Sov’reigns, all gentry near —
If you would celebrate with me
’Tis time to come and join me here.

Today the Queens have their return,
Their constellation back in the sky,
As their stars move from day to night,
We look above us with raptured eye

The Seven Queens they rise up first,
And then behind them the Hunter’s light —
For he is their great Guardian,
And he’ll defend them with his might.

The bright blue fire of Seven Queens,
A blazing beacon ere morning dawn,
It shows us they are with us still,
And thus the cycle goes on and on.

As they ride past, may we be blessed,
With token or with smile or nod,
And may they take our offerings,
As their refreshment while they’re abroad.

A good word to the Fairy Rade,
And may you never do us harm!
Ride out along the fairy roads,
Bringing with you Summer’s warmth.

I’ve also pulled another omen to share: one rune and one ogham fid, to symbolize the two groups of fairy folk with whom I work most closely. I pulled Jera, and Quert. Jera is a rune of time and cycles, and sometimes a year completed. A fitting omen, I think, for the last song in the cycle; a reminder that the cycle goes on and ever on. Quert is an ogham fid traditionally associated with the apple tree, and my kenning for it is “Queer Wit”. This is the fid I most associate with the phrase “dead, mad, or a poet” — a calling to go deeper with our own practices in this next cycle, or perhaps a prediction that we will end up in deeper, whether we will it or no.

Song for the Darkening

May 14, 2023
by Alexandra

Last fall, I shared two poems/songs/prayers I called “Song for the Way Opening” and “Song for the Winter Rade” after getting a message from some of my allies that I should be celebrating the movements of the Pleiades more intentionally. So one thing led to another and the prayer Daimler gave for the Way Opening sort of spontaneously transposed itself into a ballad to the tune of Thomas the Rhymer, and then I reworked the prayer for the Winter Rade more intentionally, and now here’s the Song for the Darkening, which I’ll be celebrating during the day tomorrow.

The first two stanzas of the song are the same, and the last two stanzas are as well, except for the two seasonal words in the last line, and the end of the third line changed to rhyme properly.

Song for the Darkening

I call to all you goodly wights,
My kin and friends whoe’er shall be.
All you who’d be my allies true,
And come and walk this path with me.

I call to all the Queens and Kings,
Monarchs and Sov’reigns, all gentry near —
If you would celebrate with me
Tis time to come and join me here.

Today the Queens leave the night sky,
To trade the dark for the light of day;
Now Seven Queens their own paths tread
As each will travel her own way.

Their powers burn as bright as fire —
So bright together as apart —
But in our world, the sun’s hot rays
Outshine their stars and they depart.

The Queens ride out for weal and woe;
The gates are open, holding wide.
Each Queen has errands to complete
Before the stars again are spied.

As they ride past, may we be blessed,
With token or with smile or nod,
And may they take our offerings,
As their refreshment while they’re abroad.

A good word to the Fairy Rade,
And may you never do us harm!
Ride out along the fairy roads,
Bringing with you Summer’s warmth.

I’ve also pulled another omen to share: one rune and one ogham fid, to symbolize the two groups of fairy folk with whom I work most closely. I pulled Algiz, which is a rune of protection and defensive actions, and Straif, associated with the Blackthorn, and for which my kenning is “Strengthening Changes”. I also associate Straif with magical workings of an active defense type, such as banishing, cord cutting, and return-to-sender workings. Taken together, it’s a warning to be careful, and to stay vigilant – don’t hesitate to protect yourselves! It seems like we might be seeing an upswing in activity that continues rising, instead of ebbing as we round the corner on this Bealtaine season.

Sacred Space & Between the Worlds 2023: A Long-Awaited Conference

As I told several people over the course of the weekend, I’m pretty sure we’d bought these tickets in 2019. The last time we attended was in 2017, I believe – and I was pregnant at the time. When I heard that a Between the Worlds was planned, I felt an inexplicable but undeniable draw to be there, despite the difficulties of parenting a small child and dealing with worsening chronic illness symptoms. We decided we’d find a way, and we made plans to be in Hunt Valley in early 2020.

And then, well. The coronavirus had other ideas.

The conference was postponed, new dates were publicized… and then it was postponed again. And again.

And last weekend, when it finally happened, we were there. Not without issues: we had to bring one of our rabbits with to do twice-a-day nebulizer treatments, and on Thursday there was only one room with working air conditioning. Luckily more of the conference rooms did for the rest of the weekend, but our guest room did not, so we were happy the weather cooled down enough to allow for open windows to cool the room a bit. Other guests had issues too: we heard about water leaks, 5am fire alarms, rooms that hadn’t been cleaned properly. Diana Paxson had to cancel at the last minute due to a family emergency. Orion Foxwood was late to his first workshop, and Dr. Beverly Smith missed her first one, probably due to airport and traffic issues. And those are just the issues I know about!

But despite all of that, the repeated chorus of the weekend was that we were all so happy to be back, to be in community again, to be learning and growing and doing important ritual work. I saw many people I haven’t seen in a long while, and met a few new folks, too.

I came home with several pages of notes, a couple of new books, and memories of three important rituals, all important for different personal reasons. The first one was Gwendolyn Reece’s Ritual for “Dissipating the Glamour that Mistakes Outrage for Action”, which began with a short talk and discussion defining this illusion and how it functions to keep us from taking action against that which outrages us, so as to better identify our target. It was a successor to another ritual she led at a previous conference, on dispelling the glamour of cynicism as a trait of intelligent people, which is another illusion that prevents people from taking action and using what power they do have, however limited that may be. Gwendolyn also spoke again of her views on what she terms humanity’s initiatory challenge, which informs my own thinking about “Tower Time” / “The Storm” / the current “Great War” (which as Seo Helrune has pointed out is perhaps not the best term, but I don’t think anyone’s coined anything better for that particular aspect).

The second ritual was the Between the Worlds main ritual. Every main ritual at a Between the Worlds conference builds upon and continues the work of the previous rituals, and I believe it was this ritual that was tugging at me back in 2019. It is difficult to explain to people who haven’t experienced one, what it’s like to take part in an elaborate ritual organized by powerful magic workers, but the energy was palpable, and I got a little bit of personal insight in addition to flowing my own energies into the working itself. The ritual purpose, as explained by the organizers, was: “Together we travel to the crossroads and the center of all things. There we seek guidance and empowerment as we seek to mend the worlds within and without.”

The third ritual, and last chronologically, was the Universal Temple of Spirits ecstatic rite on Saturday evening, concurrent with the Gala which we opted to skip, in favor of the UToS rite. As I first heard the calling to serve Na Morrigna at a previous UToS rite, I wasn’t about to skip it! I had a heartfelt moment with Lugh when one of the attendees was possessed by him, and I supported two friends through their own possessory experiences, but the only other personal thing I got from the ritual was a sense that I should perhaps pursue training as support staff for this and similar rituals. UToS calls them Guardians, and they take care of those who are possessed, both during the experience (making sure they land gently when they fall, making sure the entities possessing them remember dietary restrictions and the like), and afterwards, providing much needed aftercare in the form of snacks and help processing the experience. One of the primary skills for this work is simply noticing when an attendee begins the transition of being possessed, and that’s a sense I have already somewhat developed, in my oracular seidr work and in other ecstatic contexts. What I don’t have is the physical strength to support their physical bodies, but I wonder if that lack is a true obstacle, in a group setting. As long as there are other people with that strength, I imagine teamwork can get the job done. There were several other clear possessions, including a time when Odin showed up in duplicate and then later, not to be outdone, Loki showed up multiply as well, and spent some time having a conversation with themselves, seemingly from several different points in mythic time. Odin and Fenris also conversed at one point, and the room stood still to listen as the Wolf asked for acknowledgement, and the Old Man agreed that he’d done an unkindness, and both seemed to speak of Ragnarok from a place outside it… but then, we were both within and without mythic time in that place. It was theologically complicated, but these situations echoed some of what Loki said at Mystic South last year, and made me wonder about how the gods evolve and change, and what new myths we might have as they continue to show up in our modern world.

I attended several non-ritual workshops, and of those I think my favorite was Ann Gróa’s talk on snakes, serpents, and dragons in historical Nordic thought. I have a snake name-spirit in my indigenous spiritual tradition, and I always like to learn more about the understanding of snakes in all the cultures connected to my personal practices. It’s a very personal thing for me, but at home, a lot of my practice becomes syncretic, as I celebrate things like the equinoxes in a variety of traditions. The autumn equinox in particular is sometimes a week of celebrations: an Álfar blót, the Pleiades cycle Way-Opening, an Ojibwe name-feast, and Rosh Hashanah with my in-laws. It’s a balancing act, to be sure. But the workshop was very enlightening, and I came away with a ream of notes – and a handout that came with a bibliography!

It was slightly surreal being back in that hotel. There was a time that I knew the layout well, knew the names of the rooms, but this year I kept forgetting and had to keep checking the map on the back of the program. Last time I was there, I was pregnant – and this week I’m planning a sixth birthday party. I’m not sure that going back will fit in my budget for next year, but I hope it will. And if not, I will surely be there at the next Between the Worlds joint conference, whenever that will be.

Song for the Winter Rade

In September, I shared a poem/song/prayer I called “Song for the Way Opening” after getting a message from some of my allies that I should be celebrating the movements of the Pleiades more intentionally. I’d followed the outline Morgan Daimler gave in their book Living Fairy, and made Daimler’s fairy cakes, and then the prayer in the book turned into a sung prayer to the tune of Thomas the Rhymer in my head, and, well. That was the subject of the blog.

This time, I intentionally worked out the poem/song/prayer, and I made an offering of nuts and whiskey, and I’ll be giving a little bit of the secular feast tomorrow as well, so I didn’t make fairy cakes this time.

The first two stanzas of the song are the same, and the last two stanzas are as well, except for the last line.

Song for the Winter Rade

I call to all you goodly wights,
My kin and friends whoe’er shall be.
All you who’d be my allies true,
And come and walk this path with me.

I call to all the Queens and Kings,
Monarchs and Sov’reigns, all gentry near —
If you would celebrate with me
Tis time to come and join me here.

Tonight the Queens will reach their height —
At mid-night they’ll be standing still,
Poised in the center of the sky
And shining down on all they will.

Their fair blue light, it brightly burns:
A torchlight for an open gate.
The Fairy Rade will then emerge
As seven Queen-Stars culminate.

Through the gate, and between worlds,
The Queens will ride across our land —
For our two worlds are intertwined,
Like fingers lacing hand in hand.

As they ride past, may we be blessed,
With token or with smile or nod,
And may they take our offerings,
As their refreshment while they’re abroad.

A good word to the Fairy Rade,
And may you never do us ill!
Ride out along the fairy roads,
Bringing with you Winter’s chill.

This time I’ve also pulled an omen to share: one rune and one ogham, to symbolize the two groups of fairy folk with whom I work most closely. I pulled Wunjo and Onn. Wunjo is a rune of joy and satisfaction, and my personal poem for it is “Joy in wealth is found when it is shared; joy in life is found in the happiness of those around you.” Onn is an ogham associated with the ash tree and gorse, and my personal kenning for it is “Onward Momentum”. So, as we move into the coming days, try to find joy, and reasons to keep going forward! I know this is a hard time of year for many people, as the light wanes (and complex family difficulties are exacerbated by the winter holidays), but there are still good things to be found and enjoyed.

I do have a Crow Calls post to make soon, too, but I wanted to do it separately, so that will probably be here in a couple days!

Healing the Morrigan’s Crows: A Recorded Ritual

October 12, 2022
by Alexandra

So, the other day, I did a healing ritual the Morrigna had me develop originally for the Morrigan’s Call Retreat 2020, which was going to be my first year heading up there… until Covid happened and it ended up being online instead. Still, nervous as I was, the ritual did work in an online format, and now I’ve done it twice more since then. I was asked by someone who couldn’t make this last one if I would record it, and while I opted not to record the entire Zoom session, I did do a stand alone recording of just the ritual and journey, and have now edited that and uploaded it as an unlisted Youtube video, which I’ve embedded below. The lighting isn’t great, and the quality isn’t great, and the titles are very basic, but it EXISTS, and if this works out well for folks, I’ll be doing more like it in the future.

This workshop has two main parts. In the first part, I normally discuss a few examples of battlefield healing from Irish mythology (including the use of the Well of Sláine in the Cath Maige Tuired, and the exchange of healing between Cuchulainn and the Morrigan in the Ulster Cycle), and talk about how that informs my own spiritual healing practice, as a healer called to serve the Morrigan and her community of Crows. I did not record that part; that information (as well as the entire ritual and journey script) is available in a shared PDF document I’ll put a download button for, below. In the video, I refer to this as the “packet”.

In the second part, which I did record. I lead a short healing ritual focused on cleansing away all wounds that prevent the Crows from doing their sacred work, so that we can return to the battlefield, renewed and ready. This includes invocations of deities of healing, a chant to help create focus, self-anointing or -asperging with blessed water, and then a journey to travel to the Well of Slaine. To follow along at home, you’ll need a few things on hand before you start:

Vessel to be the Well, full of water
Small dish to hold the salt
Small dish to hold the 9 pre-mixed healing herbs
Bottle to pour out offerings from
Vessel to pour offerings into
Stirring implement

For the herbs, I generally use nine that I have on hand and most of which I have grown myself, selected intuitively for the need I sense at the time, but the idea is mostly that whichever nine you pick will align themselves with the 365 that Dian Cecht and his children strew in the water, and allow for a resonance. Choose based on what your specific healing concern is, or based on whether you want to drink the water after rather than just anointing, or based on what you’ve got in your spice cabinet. It should work just fine!

Get the Packet

Song for the Way Opening

For a few years now, Morgan Daimler has been celebrating a liturgical cycle based on the movements of the Pleiades, and sharing their ritual formats (which are also collected in their book Living Fairy). I’ve sort of marked the dates casually, giving offerings but that’s about it, until this year. This year, one of my local allies, who I call the Autumn King, indicated that he would like it if I’d celebrate the entire cycle more intentionally, and so after the strong energy that came through last night (during which I perceived his Rade), I decided I really needed to do something tonight for the acronychal rising, or what Daimler calls The Way Opening.

So, this afternoon I made some fairy cakes (original recipe also by Daimler and available here), but I altered the recipe slightly, doing a full cup of oat flour, and half a cup each of applesauce and honey. (Don’t use steel utensils, though — I unthinkingly picked up a stainless steel measuring cup that I used twice in the previous 24 hours without incident, and this afternoon it cut me nearly bad enough to draw blood. Message heard, whoops!) I then used an unsalted butter to grease a glass dish, and baked a single round cake (approx 40 mins at 350F).

I offered this with a glass of beer, and sat down to read out the prayers from the book, altering them slightly to fit my practice a little better.

And then… and then.

For some reason, one of the prayers reminded me of a stanza from the ballad of True Thomas/Thomas the Rhymer, the one that describes the road to Fairy:

And see not ye that bonny road,
Which winds about the fernie brae?
That is the road to fair Elfland,
Whe[re] you and I this night maun gae.
(Traditional Scots)

And then I started hearing the music in my head, and I went to find the song and listen to it, and about ten minutes later, I had a full ritual hymn with seven stanzas, adapted from Daimler’s own prayers but with some of my own flourish… and probably Their own inspiration.

Song for the Way Opening

I call to all you goodly wights,
My kin and friends whoe’er shall be.
All you who’d be my allies true,
And come and walk this path with me.

I call to all the Queens and Kings,
Monarchs and Sov’reigns, all gentry near —
If you would celebrate with me
Tis time to come and join me here.

Tonight the Queens rise in the East —
The Seven Sister-Queens so bright.
They’ll cross above the horizon
As daylight’s falling into night.

Their Eldritch light, it brightly glows:
A signal fire, burning blue.
The Queens will dance at twilight’s edge
As their sky gates open anew.

Between worlds, and between time,
The gates will open fully wide,
And then upon that fair broad road,
The Queens and noble hosts will ride.

As they ride past, may we be blessed,
With token or with smile or nod,
And may they take our offerings,
As their refreshment while they’re abroad.

A good word to the Fairy Rade,
And may you never do us ill!
Ride out along the fairy roads,
Bringing with you Autumn’s chill.

I do have a small thing to share from Freyja as well, from my equinox celebration, but that’s going to have to wait another day or two for me to get it worked out and typed up!

Upcoming Online Ritual: Healing the Morrigan’s Crows

**Online Ritual:**

**Healing**

**the Morrigan’s Crows**

**February 5th, 2022 at 3:00pm EST**

**On Zoom:** **Tickets available here!**

I’d like to explain the ritual a bit, but to do that, let’s start at the beginning, before I ran this ritual the first time…

Two years ago, I sent an application to present a workshop and short ritual at what I then thought was going to be a multi-day retreat in Orange, Connecticut. My application was accepted… and then, well. The Pandemic Happened. After some back and forth, it was decided to proceed with the event, but online, and I was asked if I could adapt my ritual to be used online. I wasn’t sure, but I was willing to try, and I’m happy to say that it went really well! People had great experiences, and it was actually easier than I thought it would be to reach them, even through a screen. Now, two years later, with probably a dozen more online rituals in my rear view mirror, I think it’s time to bring this one back, on my own.

Part of my work for Na Morrigna is to offer healing to other followers and devotees (the “Crows”), and leaving it up to that follower or devotee if they’d like to reimburse me directly for my time, or if they’d prefer to get Na Morrigna involved in the exchange as well, with the Crow giving offerings to Them, and Them gifting me with the sort of assistance we previously agreed upon. A combination of the two is also fine, and really it’s up to each person’s individual situation, so this ritual has two ticket options: free, or pay-what-you-want. I’m not particular which you choose, so just choose what’s best for you! My agreement with Na Morrigna is a good gig, and I’m happy however it plays out.

However there is one requrement: in order to attend this ritual you should already have a relationship with the Morrigan, or with one of the other goddesses sometimes referred to as one of Na Morrigna, the plural (ie, Macha, Anu, Badb, Nemain). You do not need to be an oathed devotee, and you don’t need much experience, but the ritual format presupposes an existing relationship. This is not a good ritual for a first meeting with the Morrigan. Besides that, as long as you’re somewhat familiar with guided meditations and with basic spiritual hygiene for before and after rituals and other workings (grounding, centering, shielding yourself, warding a space, cleansing yourself/a space), you should be good!

At the beginning of the event, I’ll briefly discuss a few examples of battlefield healing from Irish mythology (including the use of the Well of Sláine in the Cath Maige Tuired, and the exchange of healing between Cuchulainn and the Morrigan in the Ulster Cycle), and talk about how that informs my own spiritual healing practice, as a healer called to serve the Morrigan and her community of Crows. This will give us a little time to settle in, and let stragglers show up a few minutes late. Don’t be too late, though — once I’ve given the instructions for the second part and everyone is ready with their supplies at hand, I won’t be letting anyone else in, because I’ll be starting the ritual.

The healing ritual is focused on cleansing away all wounds that prevent the Crows from doing the sacred work of Na Morrigna, so that they can return to their battlefields, renewed and ready. This includes invocations of four deities of healing (Dian Cecht and his children Miach, Airmed, and Ochtriullach), a parallel working with water and herbs which concludes with self-asperging or anointing with the blessed water, and a short guided meditation to see Na Morrigna at the Well of Sláine.

The confirmation email from the ticket page has these instructions as well, but you’ll need a few supplies on hand for the ritual:

A vessel to be the Well, at least half full of water (Filtered water or spring water is best, but basically any drinkable water will do.)
A small amount of salt, in its own container (I use Irish sea salt when I can find it, but again, basically any salt will do.*)
A small dish to hold the pre-mixed herbs (I’ll be using the following nine healing herbs: mugwort, lemon balm, rosemary, feverfew, yarrow, lavender, bay, hawthorn, and clary sage. If you have access to these or to any nine healing herbs you know well, wonderful! If not, any three kitchen herbs will do, as we’ll be using sympathetic magic to tie your bowls to mine and then to the Well of Slaine.)
A beverage of your choice to be offerings, in a container easy to pour out of
A vessel to pour offerings into
A stirring implement

* Note to US residents: Most of the sea salt labeled “Celtic” in stores is from France. Most of the direct salt companies in Ireland have prohibitively expensive shipping, but I ordered some from Salts of the 7 Seas. We’ll see if it shows up fast enough! If anyone has a better lead on Irish sea salt, please let me know!

Image above is of two hands and wrists in greenish water strewn with leaves, provided by Squarespace via unsplash.

I hope you’ll join me! Click here for Tickets!

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]

Kemetic Execration Ritual Outline

In the interest of keeping most of my more formal workings here on this blog, especially if they serve the folk, which is the end goal of Serendipities, I have decided to copy here a ritual outline I originally posted to my pagan tumblr.

About a month ago, I led a Kemetic revivalist styled (flavored?) public rite using the sanctuary of the ADF Grove where I a member. It was done as a “moon rite” because Kemetic rituals aren’t ADF-kosher for the 8 yearly High Rites, and honestly, that suited me just fine – it was a more intimate rite and I got to use my own outline, instead of the ADF Core Order of Ritual. I started with Per Sebek’s outline here, and then altered it to fit a group, and to more closely resemble the sort of ritual my attendees were used to (ie, ADF-style), and as we were holding this rite outside, after sunset, in October, I tried to make sure it would be short, too.

My general intention for the ritual was to help us let go of things that no longer served us, in preparation for Samhain (I led the rite the week before) and the introspection of winter months.

So here is the ritual outline, complete with prayers written by me:

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Healing

the Morrigan’s Crows

February 5th, 2022 at 3:00pm EST

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