Friday, January 26, 2007

Content Credentials

Mother of 3 adult children and grandmother of 7 grandchildren.

Raised Christian, I took up Torah in 1996 (formally through a Beit Din and mikveh immersion in 1997) studying Judaic Kabbalah and Jewish Law in Liberal to Hasidic environments, and turned to Witchcraft (the tradition of my Celtic ancestors) in 2006 - combining both Ancestral traditions into a spiritual path unique to me. In 2012, my ancestral pathworking, combined with both autosomal and mitochondrial ancestral genetic analyses (performed by 4 independent research labs on 2 continents) turned my ancestral pathworking toward the Scandinavian (more specifically) and pan-Teutonic peoples (more generally). My autosomal (genetic inheritance from both parents) deep ancestry locates to Sweden, and to Northern-Northwestern Celtic-Germanic lands generally. My mitochondrial ancestal motherline is U5b1b1 (specifically U5b1b1-T16192C!), the foundational haplogroup of Saami major motherline 1. I currently practice Northern Tradition Witchcraft.

A seasoned, experienced and active practitioner of the magical mystical arts for over two decades, born with magical awareness and memory of my preincarnate journey into physical existence, classically called and initiated mystically as a small child, I am an evolving Traditional Heathen Witch walking a crooked pagan path. With a focus on the pagan traditions of my Ancestors, I practice Ásatrú and Seidr (Northern Tradition Witchcraft) touched with Appalachian folk magic. My concept of the Divine is pantheistic, animistic, naturalistic, and as a woman, focuses on the Divine Feminine. My studies and practice focus on traditional herbalism, artisan craftwork, magical meditation upon sacred texts and folklore, and using mystical alphabets to channel creative consciousness.

Ancestor work is a large part of my personal spiritual practice as a Witch. My primary genetic ancestral roots are Northern & Northwestern European Teutonic (with my primary deep genetic ancestral root localizing to Sweden). By both DNA analysis and oral family tradition, my Teutonic ancestors hail primarily from England, Germany, Iceland, Ireland, Norway, Scotland, Sweden and Wales; with additional ancestral autosomal and mitochondrial genetic links to Australia (Caucasian Tasmania), Austria, Azores Archipelago, Belgic Dutch Netherlands, Caucasian New Zealand, Finland, France, Hungary, Italy, North Africa and Slovakia, noting ancient ancestral migrations through the Russian Steppe from ancient Anatolia.

Both my ancestral genetic motherline and fatherline are part of the ancient populations archeologist Marija Gimbutas called "Old Europe."

My ancestral genetic motherline U5 haplogroup subclade is U5b1b1 (U5b1b1-T16192C!), the foundational lineage of the Saami (the indigenous reindeer-herding population living in northern Scandinavia). Additionally, my U5 ancestral genetic motherline is the oldest European genetic motherline in the world - scientific research has shown that my ancestral motherline, namely U5, has been in Europe for around 50,000 years, arising in the Near East, entering the European continent and migrating deep into Europe not long following the successful migration and expansion of homo sapiens sapiens out of Africa.

My paternal ancestral I-M223 (formerly known as I2b1, I2a2a and I1c) genetic fatherline is also indigenous to Europe, the first European fatherline, and later in history, an Anglo-Germanic-Scandinavian Viking fatherline.

Both my maternal and paternal families have American roots deep in Kentucky - my paternal family hails specifically from the Cumberland Gap in the Appalachian mountains where Old World conjure still flourishes among the mountain folk.

By genetic analysis, I am 1.9% Neanderthal and 2.3% Denisovan (archaic human species coexisting with homo sapiens sapiens in ancient Europe and Asia for at least 10,000 years).

As a Witch, this ancestral knowledge provides me with a powerful conscious link to my Mighty Ancestors and the Sacred Powers of Ancestral Tradition.

7 comments:

Unknown said...

Sounds like chulent.

Unknown said...

You have similar ancestral groups to mine except for native american. I always found the Jewish ones to be slightly hard to please or integrate meaningfully, so it is good to see that you seem to have done that within yourself.


Wolf

Lori said...

Thank you. In my experience, my Native American ancestry has been recalcitrant to share in a public way. The Native American things I have expressed in my writings have been few. My Native American spirituality is very reserved when it comes to expression; the Celtic and Jewish aspects of my spirituality have been more outgoing in terms of expression. I can understand this though, because naturally, I am an extremely reserved personality in real life. I get this character trait from my Native American family members. Another reason is that land upon which I live sits on the 1838-1839 Trail of Tears, in which some of my ancestors participated - the ancestral memory of this is still rather fresh. I am patient, when it is time for these things to be expressed more fully, it will come.

PANDORA said...

Greetings... it is wonderful that you are seeking to combine many aspects of your heritage.
I love to find similarities and the "oneness" of ancient beliefs...

I see you use the quote "the best of women - is filled with witchcraft" as a strapline...

May I add that the full quote is in JT Kiddushin 4 (66c):
"R. Simeon bar Yohai learned: "The best of heathens - kill him; the best of snakes - smash its skull; the best of women - is filled with witchcraft; praised be he who fulfills the will of the Place" (i.e., of God, who is omnipresent, or in every place at the same time).

The term "best" refers more to the "majority" of women, not that they were THE BEST! At that time, 2000 years ago approx - suspicion of witchcraft was quite widespread among women for several reasons.

So, Shimeon bar Yochai was not neccesarily singing the praises of women in this context.
Do also note Exodus 22:17 "You shall not suffer a witch to live", and there are other parts of the tanach which are not happy with witches either.

May I direct you to an excellent article about women and witchcraft from a kabbalistic/hebrew point of view.
The first part tells where in the tanach witchcraft is mentioned, then goes on to discuss possible socio political reasons for women to be accused of witchcraft.

http://faculty.biu.ac.il/~barilm/witches.html

BLESSINGS, LUV & LIGHT
Pan D'Ora
FACE of the LIGHT

www.myspace.com/pandorasrockbox

Lori said...

Pandora - I appreciate your interpretations and have heard them all before. Clearly, I disagree with the interpretations you hold by.

Lori said...

Jump - The Ibbur and the Witch

Lori said...

The Utterly Bewitched Talmud

Dare to be true to yourself.