Love Never Lost

Flidhais, Spirit Of The Deer

א' תשרי התשס"ט
Blodlessing 2
Rosh Hashanah 1

In perfect follow-up to my previous two entries, Dance Of The Divine Feminine (describing the concept of birefringence as it pertains to the second of my shaman stones) and Witch's Shofar (which rests between the two entries describing my first and second shaman stones, and tells of my encounter with a deer Erev Rosh Hashanah) comes my entry regarding my third shaman stone. It is a Deer Creek fire agate (example shown below).

Usually the eleventh shaman stone in Celtic magic, according to my experience, in the system unique to my particularity, the spirit of Deer (Flidhais) numbers third. A such, my Deer spirit fire agate corresponds to Da'at (Knowledge), the external manifestation of Keter (Crown).

Catrin James writes (Doorways To The Otherworld) of the Spirit of Deer in Celtic magic:

She is associated with Gwenhwyfar, whom in ancient Celtic is described as sacred love. "Gwenhwyfar of the deer glance" [see my entry Witch's Shofar]. In Native American tradition, she comes forth to tell you that you are loved. To remember that when life presses hard upon you and you feel no love, that somewhere in time you have been loved before. And so too you shall be loved again, someone shall look upon you with eyes of total and enduring devotion, union of soul and spirit, Divine love yes, but human love too [here's the birefringence concept again] in its highest form.

The Deer spirit and her contact with you is that you may know of this sacred love, a love from which you may feel you have been exiled, and she comes to tell you that love endures forever, that which you have known somewhere, in some other time, in some other realm, so surely you shall find again.

The Deer spirit stone also represents an Ancestor or Ancestress who loves you completely, and comes to let you know that he or she is with you.

I am not alone.

My Deer Creek fire agate will be marked in Hebrew letters with the word ahavah (אהבה), which is love associated with the unity of Echad. Echad will be marked in Bardic Runes. The Malchut (of Echad) will be marked in Ogham letters.


Deer Creek Fire Agate

Dance Of The Divine Feminine

Raven Dance
Extraordinary Ordinary Light Of Dark

א' תשרי התשס"ט
Blodlessing 2
Rosh Hashanah 1

The second of thirty-six shaman stones I am gathering in the manner of my Celtic ancestors was collected on Sunday afternoon, from beneath the lilac bush which grows right outside the bedroom window of the room I occupied as a child. It was from the closet connected to this room of my childhood that I experienced the epiphany. The rock is a whitish limestone with metamorphic calcite crystals. In the crevices remain streaks of earth and chlorophyll-containing vegetation material.

The second shaman stone in Celtic magic corresponds to the spirit of Raven, the spirit of the Dark Moon, to Crone consciousness, and represents contact with the Ancestral spirit of transformation. Flowing from the hidden depths of the Dark Goddess, Raven symbolizes the Divine Feminine, Ancestral Wisdom, Silence, Stillness, Creativity, Link between Heaven and Earth, Connection to one's Source, Prophecy, Renewal and Manifestation.

Limestone is a rock of biogenic origin (בנן). One of the most important building (בנה) materials used by humankind for construction over the course of history (including temples and pathways), limestone also gives us the caves and caverns (בין) within which much has been revealed about the origins of humanity and its vision quest for Divinity.

Calcite is a stable polymorph of calcium carbonate whose single crystals "display an optical property called birefringence" which is "double refraction or the decomposition of a ray of light into two rays (the ordinary ray and the extraordinary ray) when it passes through certain types of material, such as calcite crystals."

Given the historical uses of limestone and the optical property distinguishing its calcite crystals, representing the spirit of Raven and the Dark Divine Feminine, my second shaman stone flows from Ancestral Wisdom and also corresponds to the "second conscious power of the intellect in Creation", that is Binah. Binah is the emanant "power to grasp, develop and integrate an idea."

The soil of the earth and green chlorophyll-containing material dwelling within the stone's crevices represent manifest living life, and thereby, represent the soul powers of devekut and actualization of Creative force (stone-ohr-light, earth-chayut-lifeforce and life-koach-energy).

My second shaman stone will be marked with the three Hebrew shorashim (roots) as written above, as well as with the Welsh prefix aber (denoting the mouth of a river) and the Gaelic word tuig (meaning to understand) in Ogham letters. The Welsh word dawnsio (pronounced "down-see-oh", a verb meaning "to dance") will be written in Bardic Runes.

Witch's Shofar

א' תשרי התשס"ט
Blodlessing 2
Erev Rosh Hashanah

After work earlier today, right before Rosh Hashanah, as I was driving home, nearing my house outside of town, a deer lept out of the woods along the road and almost into the street, right into my car's path. Only, it stopped and turned back just moments in time to avoid being struck.

The deer that I didn't hit seemed to look sideways through the windshield at me as it was turning. Right into my eyes. See me, it seemed to say. Our souls connected for that brief instant. Then, the deer sped away back into the woods.

Such was my magical encounter with the deer of Rosh Hashanah. What does a deer have to do with Rosh Hashanah?

Dave at Balashon writes on the etymology of shofar:

"Shofar... Judaism: A trumpet made of a ram's horn, blown by the ancient Hebrews during religious ceremonies and as a signal in battle, now sounded in synagogue during Rosh Hashanah and at the end of Yom Kippur. Etymology: Hebrew shofar, ram's horn; akin to Akkadian sapparu, sappar, fallow deer... from Sumerian segbar, fallow deer." (The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition.)

Akkadian and Sumerian are two long-extinct languages once spoken, in the millennia before the Common Era, in what is now called Iraq and historically known as Mesopotamia or Babylonia. Akkadian belonged to the Semitic family. Until recently, Sumerian was considered one of those rare tongues, like Basque, for which linguists were unable to find relatives at all. Since the 1970s, however, an impressive body of evidence has accumulated, linking it to the Dravidian languages of southern India, such as Tamil. We are told, then, that our shofar derives its name from the Sumerian word for a fallow deer. This may not seem like much of a problem to you, but having looked into it, I can assure you that it is.

Interesting "coincidence," I think.

I understand the problem. You see, if the etymology of shofar is linked through Sumerian to the Dravidian language, and thereby to the Dravidian religion, then this is indeed a problem for traditional Judaic thinkers. Why? Because the Dravidian religion of the Indus Valley is the source of the Old Religion called Witchcraft. This would make the shofar (a major instrument through which the Jewish people were brought into being) a tool whose origin is sourced in the Old Religion of Witchcraft.

So, while the result of Dave's investigation into the etymology of the word shofar may not seem like much of a problem to you, I assure you, it is. LOL.

Shana Tova!

Hat-tip to lishablog.

Stones From The Temple Of Joy

Wolf Spirit Moqui Shaman Stone

כ"ז אלול התשס"ח
Belz 29

Dating from around 3200 BCE, the Temple of Newgrange is an earth mound measuring 44 feet high. The megalithic boulders which surround the Temple each measure up to 8 feet high. In Celtic magic, in the mysticism of bringing light from darkness, there are 36 shaman stones of hidden mystery.

Dating during the second century BCE, the second Temple of Jerusalem was rededicated, marked in the current age with the 44 total lights (36 menorah plus the 8 shamash candles) of Chanukah. In Jewish kabbalah, in the mysticism of bringing light from darkness, there are 36 lamedvavniks of hidden mystery.

We can see then that in both Celtic and Jewish mysticism the numbers 44, 36 and 8 are directly connected to the hidden mysteries of the Temple and to bringing light from darkness.

Like my Celtic ancestors, to bring light from darkness, I am collecting a set of 36 sacred shaman stones from the earth, to be dedicated over 8 nights during the month of Shamash according to the Celtic witch's calendar.

Like my Jewish ancestors, to bring light from darkness, I will light 44 candles over the course of 8 nights, ritually dedicating each of the 36 shaman stones in the light of its corresponding candle (36 over 8 nights plus 8 shamash candles, one for each night) according to pattern of Chanukah.

This year, the first day of Chanukah is also the sabbat of Yule (the Celtic festival of light and the astrological winter solstice). Chanukah/Yule falls during the month of Shamash in the Celtic witch's calendar.

Like my Native American ancestors and in honor of the Land upon which I live, the first shaman stone dedicated to my Temple Collection of shaman stones is a moqui stone.

In Celtic magic, the first shaman stone corresponds to the wolf spirit. My wolf spirit stone will be marked in Ogham letters with the word gliondar meaning joy, with the Hebrew letters chet-gimel-sin-sin (the first letter of each of the four words for joy in Hebrew - chedvah, gilah, simchah, sason - where the letters taken as a phrase together - חג שש - mean "the circle of rejoicing"), and in English letters with the Welsh word gorfoleddu meaning rejoice, to be joyful.

Welcome to the world, my joyous circle of stones.

Wolf Spirit, Simply A Song Of Joy

Town Claims Tolerance

כ"ה אלול התשס"ח
Belz 27

While Republicans work to get a supporter of witch-hunting elected into the Office of Vice President (see here and here), a Jewish member of the Temple of Dotham, Alabama is paying up to $50,000 per family for Jewish families to relocate to their "religiously tolerant" community (see Jewish Families Offered $50,000 To Move To Alabama).

"There's ignorance everywhere. There's ignorance in Dothan," (Dotham) Mayor Pat Thomas said. "But ... you have a great community here, and you have a community that's open to all faiths. And I think that's a great strength."

Riggggggggggggght.

What about witches?

Says the Prosecuting Attorney to the Divine, "there's a community down there in Dotham, Alabama that greatly claims to be religiously tolerant."

Witch Hunter Anoints Sarah Palin

Witch hunter anoints Sarah Palin (Palin appears in the video below after about 7:30).

Max Blumenthal writes:

On September 20 and 21, I attended services at the church Sarah Palin belonged to since she was an adolescent, the Wasilla Assembly of God. Though Palin officially left the church in 2002, she is listed on its website as "a friend," and spoke there as recently as June 8 of this year.

I went specifically to see a pastor visiting from Kiambu, Kenya named Thomas Muthee. Muthee gained fame within Pentecostal circles by claiming that he defeated a local witch, Mama Jane, in a great spiritual battle, thus liberating his town from sin and opening its people to the spirit of Jesus.

Muthee's mounting stardom took him to Wasilla Assembly of God in May, 2005, where he prayed over Palin and called upon Jesus to propel her into the governor's mansion -- and beyond. Muthee also implored Jesus to protect Palin from "the spirit of witchcraft." The video archive of that startling sermon was scrubbed from Wasilla Assembly of God's website, but now it has reappeared.

Related entry: Sarah Palin & The Witch Hunter

UPDATE: The Malefic Magic of Sarah Palin's Coreligionists

Sarah Palin & The Witch Hunter

Sarah Palin praises pastor who runs witch out of town, crediting his powerful prayer for her rise to political power.



UPDATE: The Malefic Magic of Sarah Palin's Coreligionists

Well-Being For The Witch

כ"א אלול התשס"ח
Belz 23

Mabon Blessings!

The future rides the wind with the witch on Mabon. A divination, performed with the waning gibbous moon 54% full, during the planetary hour of Pluto, drew up the fid nGétal, a healing energy, banishing negativity and obstacles to well-being. So mote it be, אמן.

nGétal is the Ogham of Samhain.

Paul Rhys Mountfort (Ogam: The Celtic Oracles Of Trees) writes of nGétal:

nGétal (broom) is a tree letter of well-being and healing. It counsels you to tend to the health of your mind, body and spirit, and reminds you of the need to foster your vitality through rites of cleansing and renewal.

Erynn Rowan Laurie (Ogam: Weaving Word Wisdom) writes of nGétal:

When nGétal appears in a divination, it suggests that health is or should be a priority now. Magically, this fid is excellent for all types of healing work, and is useful for healers to call upon (when doing healing work).

Interestingly, after years of no health care, I recently made a medical appointment with a female physician for an overall health exam. Given I am now into menopause, I decided it was time to get my thyroid function checked out, my allergies and blood pressure under control, and start exercising again. The appointment is scheduled for shortly before Samhain, and the fid of health and healing, called out by the Universe on my behalf, is already working for my well-being specifically, and for all witches universally.

Rare Passion, Precision, Clarity

Rare Passion, Precision, Clarity

כ"א אלול התשס"ח
Belz 23

In follow-up to my post Mabon - Tam Z'Man, A Perfect Time, note the two Hebrew letters which embrace the Ogham letter muin in the graphic which favors the witch's expression - tav (associated with Mabon) and chet (associated with the Divine Feminine power of the witch through the run and return of the Lifeforce) - have a combined gematria of 408.

This prophecy (זאת) of the Divine Feminine is wholy united (חִשֵּׁק) with pure passion (חשק), in triple portion ...

... of which, there is no question.
R. Shneur Zalman of Liadi

Note: Each of the three Hebrew words above has a gematria of 408. The Hebrew word in the middle (חִשֵּׁק) is a rare word, just as my Noble Name Myfanwy is a rare Welsh name meaning "rare, fine one". The name Myfanwy is One Unified Name expressing three explicit interwoven aspects of the Divine Feminine with rare passion, perfect precision and pure clarity.

Mabon - Tam Z'man, A Perfect Time

Mabon - Tam Z'Man, A Perfect Time

כ' אלול התשס"ח
Belz 22

In my previous two entries (Mystical Mabon, Selicha Of Witches and Mabon & The World Of Rectified Order), it was brought out that Mabon is distinguished by two sounds - those of the Hebrew letter tav (as the seal marking preparations for the New Year day of Samhain/Rosh Hashanah) and of the Ogham letter muin (designating the time as one of speckled perfection).

The Sephardic pronunciation of the letter tav has the sound "t".

The Celtic pronunciation of the the letter muin has the sound "m".

Together, they form the sound "tam". The Hebrew word tam means "perfect" and to "connect together" flawlessly.

Mabon is a perfect time, a tam z'man.

Mabon & The World Of Rectified Order

Speckled Mabon Muin

כ' אלול התשס"ח
Belz 22

In follow-up to my previous post (Mystical Mabon, Selicha Of Witches), the witches' sabbat of Mabon marks (ת) the autumn equinox, in preparation for the New Year (Samhain/Rosh Hashanah). In modern Celtic witchcraft, the sabbat of Mabon falls within the month of the Celtic tree calendar distinguished by the Ogham letter muin.

Erynn Rowan Laurie (Ogam: Weaving Word Wisdom) writes on the letter muin:

Mbracht, the color associated with this fid (letter), is usually defined as variegated or multi-colored, though brecht means 'speckled' in Old Irish.

In kabbalah (the mystical tradition of Judaism), the "third and final stage of development of the world of Atzilut" is called berudim which means 'speckled'. Atzilut is the world of tikkun (the world of rectified order), is the state of perfection, and represents complete remedy to the effects of committing wrong action.

Thus, the witches' sabbat of Mabon is directly linked, not only to the concept of seeking Divine forgiveness (as discussed in Mystical Mabon, Selicha Of Witches), but is also directly linked to the act of receiving it (through the attribute of 'speckled' called brecht/berudim of the fid, muin).

Mystical Mabon, Selicha Of Witches

Luminary Of The Autumn Night Sky

כ' אלול התשס"ח
Belz 22

Mabon is the time of the year when day and night are equal, the forces of masculine expansion and feminine restriction are in balance, and the god and the goddess dance in harmonic hishtavut.

My friend Eluned Bridhe writes of Mabon from the Norse tradition of witchcraft:

Mabon was a time when the old Norse people believed one's fate for the coming year was sealed. The Norse often spent the day and night before Mabon fasting and praying for forgiveness for transgressions. Divinations and vision quests were done to ascertain whether one's life in the last year had been pleasing to the deities.

This aspect of Mabon has correspondence to the period of Selichot in Judaism:

Selichot (Hebrew: סליחות) are Jewish penitential poems and prayers, especially those said in the period leading up to the High Holidays. Selicha (סליחה) is Hebrew for "forgiveness." Selicha is the category of selichot which comprises the vast majority of the Selichot service of the High Holy Days.

This year (2008/5768), Mabon falls on Monday September 22nd, a day which in the Celtic calendar begins Sunday at sundown, September 21st of the civil calendar.

This year (2008/5768), "Selichot (according to Ashkenazi custom) will begin after midnight of Sunday morning, September 21st."

In both traditions, the time of forgiveness begins in the dark of the day (one early Sunday morning and the other late Sunday night - at both ends of the day, together embracing one day), with the Divine Feminine power. She is the gatekeeper to forgiveness.

Mabon marks a day when the Divine Name is One ... when it shall come to pass, that at evening time there shall be light.

So mote it be, אמן.

Noble Name

ט"ו אלול התשס"ח
Belz 17

Feeling very odd, as if my story is about to go through some very dramatic changes, twists and turns. It isn't rational, but it is good. Crazy, too. Yes, I may be insane.

I want to laugh at the wonderful folly of it all.

I am going to take another name!

My Hebrew name is Liorah.

My Craft name is Lleucu.

My Crone name is Moshee.

And my Noble name is Myfanwy. Myfanwy is a Welsh name meaning 'fine, rare one'. Composed of the prefix my (denoting affection) and the word manwy (meaning 'fine, rare'), the name can be pronounced either muh-van-oy or muh-van-wee. Within this name are my others.

What does this mean? I really have no idea.

But, clues are here and here. It's started!

Torah Unlike Any Other

י"ג אלול התשס"ח
Belz 15

Witchcraft on the edge. As the working draft of my soon to be published for posterity book, introducing my new blog -

Garden Of The Dark Moon Jubilee

Fearless

ו' אלול התשס"ח
Belz 8

If you watched the video linked in my previous entry, one idea David Icke brought out in it is the idea that the things we fear are attracted into our lives by virtue of our fear of them. Likewise, Reb Newman of Mystical Paths expresses the same idea in his post today (now Sunday in Israel), writing, "there is anecdotal evidence and books written about the phenomenon of attracting things we are afraid of into our lives."

Given that I have come upon one idea from two seemingly very different and opposite sources - one a New Age spiritual teacher and the other an Ultra-Orthodox religious teacher - I ask myself what major fears I have had during my life:

1. That I would end up stuck working in a nursing home. I greatly feared this in nursing school, and this fear indeed materialized in my life. I've worked on and off in nursing homes for as long as I've been a nurse, even working in one part time for extra money while employed full time as a research biochemist for a pharmaceutical company. Interestingly, I no longer fear working in a nursing home and actually enjoy my current job working with data - in a nursing home. In fact, I recently declined a research position and accepted the job I currently hold, in a nursing home.

2. That I would live my life without the true love of a husband. I like being alone at this point in my life. More importantly perhaps, my soul would not have developed as it has had it been tied to someone else. Being alone has provided the freedom to grow to experientially realize the true potential of my own uniqueness.

3. That I would be homeless. I've been homeless now for over a decade. Needless to say, I no longer fear it.

4. That I would be a failure or be seen as a failure. No problem here. Been there, done that many times over. I am a success at being a failure!

5. That I fit nowhere, in no community. I am a shamanic Jewitch in a coven of one. Sigh. For my friends online, who accept me as I am, I give loving thanks.

6. That I have not been a good mother. The chaos of my life has not only affected me, it has been paid for by my children and family as well. I have feared failing them more than I have feared failing the world. Today, I look at my children, my grandchildren, and my family and I see that in being a bad mother (as the world may judge me), that I have been a good mother and have taught my children the most important lesson of life - to dare to be true to themselves. This is a spiritual legacy I bequeath to my descendents.

So, these have been the big fears of my life, none of which I fear any longer. I suppose this realization fits with the "fearless" dream I had last shabbat ... The Magic Chair Of Machar Chodesh.

Turning Tides, Transforming Consciousness

ו' אלול התשס"ח
Belz 8

What I expected and what I found were surprisingly different. I'm not sure from where came the association of David Icke's name with antisemitic, antigovernment conspiracy theorists, but the association existed in my mind nevertheless - before I watched the video. I expected it to be subversive, antisemitic or to advocate violence and hatred against those who have political power - and I didn't see that at all. I really liked the message as expressed in this video. His basic message is one I too advocate - namely, dare to be true to yourself.

(Hat-tip to l'l tike oon for link to the video.)

Video here.

A Woman Named Moshee

א' אלול התשס"ח
Belz 3

In follow-up to my previous entries (Garden Of The Dark Moon Jubilee and Sidhe Moon Of Black Fire Atop White Fire ), a few things I've decided ...

The new Crone Name I've chosen for myself is משי (Moshee), a form of Moshe (משה, Moses). Typically a masculine name, I've nevertheless chosen the name Moshee for myself for two reasons.

First, Sidhe is pronounced "shee". The prefix letter mem ('m') of mo-shee, means "from". This ties to the second entry linked above and to bringing to awareness the Torah Nistar (hidden Torah) discussed in that entry.

Second, the Hebrew name Moshe (Moses) is actually a feminine name. Moshe (pronounced with a short "eh" sound at the end), the greatest prophet of Jewish tradition and he who first received the Torah at Sinai, was a man with a feminine name. It fits then that to receive the magical-mystical Torah I am to share, as a woman, I will take a masculine form of the name.

My Crone Name is hereby Moshee. As Moshee, I'm going to write a book, a magical-mystical commentary on the Torah from the unique perspective of a shamanic Jewitch. The Crone's book of magical Torah commentary I will write is hereby given the title -

Garden Of The Dark Moon Jubilee

It will be Torah commentary unlike any other! It will be pure magic!

I'm going to begin with parashat Vezot Haberakhah.