So, I've been pondering the idea of doing a re-dedication. I've been floundering for a while, trying to find my Path again. Trying to reconnect. Trying to get back to my Place of Belonging & feel my Power again. I've had moments, some longer than others, where I did feel that. But I always end up searching again.
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I have a friend who has asked me to guide her through an Element Walk. Since she lives in Florida, we're doing this via email & Facebook messages. She's the third person, other than myself, that I've guided through an Element Walk & I keep thinking I'd like to have a central location to record my thoughts & notes on the Elements as I go through it each time. Because I am essentially going through the Walk again myself every time too. So, I'm going to start entering those notes here. :)
X & I have spent more money on seeking out & contributing to artists over the last year than I have my entire Life up to this point. Music, movies, photography, paintings, mixed media, you name it. It has become centrally important to us. As X tweeted a couple of months ago, we contribute to Kickstarters like some people tithe.
Recently, one drunken night on the internet, I followed the breadcrumb trail to a girl named Malissa. Let me preface this by saying that we do not like going to traditional doctors. We have huge issues with Western medicine & don't trust it's practitioners. However, if we can't fix something ourselves, we WILL go. The biggest stumbling block for us in that regard right now is the lack of health insurance & an equally lacking bank account.
This is a quandry I've had for a bit. When I go to the table for a Working, I have a need. It's usually a pretty big need that I need some (fairly) immediate results on. As a result, I tend to want to throw fucking everything but the kitchen sink at it. Ladies & Gentlemen, the amazing Amanda Fucking Palmer. In my mind When I was a young kid, probably 6 or 7 years old, my parents (and thus my sisters & I) started attending an Assemblies of God church. Coming from a large extended family that was predominantly Baptist, the services in the church were starkly different from what I had ever known before. They had loud, upbeat music. The people in attendance played tambourines & clapped along, smiling & singing loudly. Some would dance & run in the aisles. People shouted & waved their arms in the air. They cried & laid hands on each other in prayer. It was a world away from the hushed services I was used to. Not even ‘Have a Little Talk with Jesus’ could compete with the new church’s praise & worship songs. They even had a drummer. I loved it. During my very first Element Walk, which was about 13 years ago now, I was taught that each Element also had a Lesson to teach us in Magic (or Magick, if you would prefer). The Lesson of Air is ‘To Know’. The Lesson of Fire is ‘To Dare’. The Lesson of Water is ‘To Will’. The Lesson of Earth is ‘To Keep Silent’. In the beginning, the application of those Lessons seemed simple & quite literal, but throughout my practice, and the subsequent Element Walks I have gone through, each of those Lessons have taken on deeper levels of meaning. To Know became more than a textbook knowledge of stones, herbs, oils & chants. It has evolved to the understanding that I must know myself and understand my own Divine nature. That I must know & understand the energies with which all things resonate, the very pulse of Magic. To Dare became more than just having the chutzpah to walk the Path & do the Work. It has become the understanding that I must dare to face down my own fears & insecurities. To do the Work within. Often that is the hardest. To Will became more than just desire. It has become one with focus & intent, determination & stamina. To Be Silent became more than shutting your mouth. It has been an ongoing work to cultivate silence within, learning to listen not only with my physical ears, but with my Spirit. These have been important Lessons for me and, although I parted ways with my Teacher & my Grove years ago, I have carried them with me. They have served as cornerstones for my Practice. I’ve been reading a lot lately. Blogs mostly, and little known self-published e-books gleaned from the dusty recesses of the internet. What I’ve read about Chaos magic has titillated me more than anything has in a long time. That and I still harbor a long held fascination with voodoo and pow-wow, but I digress. In all the reading & following of the proverbial bread crumbs through tweets & blogs & links, today I stumbled across a term I’d never heard before, The Powers of the Spinx. Funny enough, it is the name for the very Lessons I have carried with me all these years. Funny, huh? I love coming full circle…. Anyway, a clever blogger wrote his understanding of the levels of these Lessons here if you would like to read his take on it. Also, here is an essay on Eliphas Levi’s writings on them that is quite interesting. He attributed the Elements a little differently that I have been, but it is still the same information. Give it a name, right? I just wrote a post over at our blog about New Year’s Eve. You should read it, it’s great. But, if you’re feeling lazy & don’t wanna, let’s recap & the concept here.
To approach the event horizon of a new year/month/state/county/notebook is to look into the face of Infinite Potential. In that moment we believe in the Clean Slate. We believe that the troubles & heartache of the Past can not hold sway on the beauty & excitement of the Future that is before us. We believe we can do better. We believe the World can be better. We see Hope. We anticipate Good Things. Infinite Potential. |
CootieHi y’all, my name is Cootie. I like to paint plaster skulls. I also make jewelry & sew. I’m really crafty in general. Categories
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