Divine Unknowing

ב' טבת תשס"ט
Grael 3

The thirty-sixth shaman stone in my Temple Collection corresponds to the spirit of Unknowing - the power to reach into and create from one's core nothingness, unknowability, unrootedness, and experience of meaninglessness. Without a folklore of its own, I have designated the unwritten stone quantum quattro to correspond to the spirit of Unknowing. The colorful four mineral combination of royal blue shattuckite, robin's egg blue chrysocolla, forest green malachite and forest green dioptase (in a smoky quartz crystal base) found in quantum quattro corresponds to the mystical four-letter essential Divine Name. With this stone, from nothing, all is written.

So mote it be, amen.

Mystery Of Manifestation

ב' טבת תשס"ט
Grael 3

The thirty-fifth shaman stone in my Temple Collection corresponds to the spirit of The Key, symbolic of the vital power to unlock inner secrets, open doorways to the mysteries, reveal portals of magic, animate manifestation, and unleash the power to spiritual evolution. The Key imparts life force, vitality, breath, soul, energy and vigorous drive into shamanic work, bringing objectives to fruition.

As the shaman stone to signify The Key, I hereby designate a natural honey citrine cluster. A Stone of Manifestation, honey citrine adds vitality, evolves creative ability, enhances mental abilities, expands awareness, and brings success to any endeavor.

Artful Discipline, Sacred Sight

א' טבת תשס"ט
Grael 2

In follow-up to an entry from last month (A Witch's Familiar), the thirty-fourth shaman stone in my Temple Collection corresponds to the Feline spirit. As written in A Witch's Familiar, Felines epitomize "the archetypal qualities of grace, elegance, charm, deep insight and intuition, agility, speed, strength, ferocity, deadly claws, patience, affection, motherly protection, birth, bounty, luxuriant simple pleasure, playfulness, music and the dance of joy."

In Celtic shamanism, whether big or small, cats exemplify the lunar qualities of stillness, quiet watchfulness, waiting, patience, biding one's time, being in the right place at the right time, making one's move at the right time, and not being thrown by anxiety such that one makes the wrong move. The Feline spirit imparts the ability to practice patient self-discipline.

Cat is a guardian creature, especially in out of the way places, near stone circles, in ancient forests, on lonely country roads, along ley lines, in valleys, and in other zones of mystical power.

The Feline eye enables the witch to see through the darkness into the light. Wise, powerful and artful clairvoyance is a gift from Cat. This ability naturally flows from Cat's inclination not to rush, but rather to stalk, circle and wait in the shadows, allowing even deeper insights to rise to the surface over those immediately apparent. True wisdom develops with the power to willfully withhold.

As the shaman stone for the spirit of Feline, I designate a rare natural chrysoberyl cat's eye from Sri Lanka. In the gem trade, the term cat's eye alone always refers to chrysoberyl cat's eye. Chrysoberyl is highly esteemed for it's tendency to display a sharp cat's eye which can be seen in any kind of light. The thin bright band of light characteristic of cat's eye will open and close as the stone is rotated - this phenomenon is called chatoyancy.

Qualities associated with chrysoberyl include: discipline and self-control, the ability to focus and concentrate, clear thinking and foresight, and protection. Because chrysoberyl also transforms negative energy into positive energy, it promotes healthy tolerance, harmony and true peace.

Playful Survivor

א' טבת תשס"ט
Grael 2

Thank Goddess for friends through whom She communicates! My friend Makay has brought into my awareness the identity of the thirty-third spirit in my Temple Collection of shaman stones.

It is the spirit of Squirrel.

For about a year and a half now I have been steadily employed full time after a very long stretch of years of unemployment (sprinkled with a few months here and there of significant underemployment). Given my current experience of steady full time employment I have been on a minor spending binge to obtain ritual tools - like a squirrel stocking up should winter come again.

On Squirrel as a power animal, it is written (Beyond the Rainbow):

Like most people who have bird feeders, I have had battles with squirrels, most of which the squirrels have won. Despite my frustration, I have learned to feel a deep respect for this animal.

The idea of insurmountable obstacles is not part of Squirrel's viewpoint; nor is giving up. I once saw a film about an obstacle course designed to prevent squirrels from getting to bird seed. It included slides, revolving doors, and at least a dozen other obstacles. It took the squirrels less than a month to figure out what had taken scientists over a year to create.

Squirrel is a survivor of relentless determination!

As the shaman stone for Squirrel, I am designating chrysoprase. An apple-green chalcedony, chrysoprase is a magical amulet of protection which helps make conscious the unconscious, strengthens workings of the higher consciousness and brings fresh insight. Other shamanic qualities include: bringing success, joy, happiness, friendship and material abundance. It aids in bringing clarity to issues so that a solution may emerge.

Squirrel also likes to have fun and play!

And the winner of the game is ultimately Squirrel!

Into The Moment

ל' כסלו תשס"ט
Grael 1

In follow-up to my previous entry I hereby designate heliotrope (also known as bloodstone) as the thirty-second shaman stone in my Temple Collection and correspond it to the spirit of The Magic Word. Heliotrope is a dark green or green-blue form of chalcedony dotted with red jasper blood-like inclusions.

Associated with the sefirah Malchut and the base chakra, heliotrope brings magic 'into the moment' of the 'here and now'. The power to bring magic into the moment embodies the seal of spellcraft (so mote it be) and the seal of ritual prayer (amen).

Other correspondences associated with heliotrope include: abundance, wisdom, magic power, alignment, courage, detoxification and stabilization, stimulation of immunity, organization, promotion of smooth energy flow, and restoration of boundaries. The word heliotrope means "turning". The stone signifies fertile time.

Heliotrope specimen with a river of fire in it.

The Magic Word

ל' כסלו תשס"ט
Grael 1

As I was waking up this shabbat morning, a mysterious magic word came into my conscious awareness. The word I saw was 'pesenesach' (pronounced in my mind as pay-seh-neh-sock). The magic word, which means nothing to my normative awareness, brought with it the immediate meaning of worthiness.

In the magical Hebrew alphabet, pesenesach could be spelled פסנסח.

Drilling down into the word to find more meaning, the 'p' sound corresponds to the Hebrew letter pei (פ, pronounced 'pay') and pertains to communication and to the transmission of esoteric knowledge.

The next letter samech (ס) corresponds to the ideas of circle, sphere and encircling.

The next two letters (נס) spell nes which means miraculous event.

The final letter chet (ח) corresponds to both the lifeforce and to the gateway to the mysteries.

The last three letters (נסח) in combination form the shoresh (root) nasach meaning to 'pluck up'. In Jewish meditation, nasach pertains to clearing the mind of all distraction. In my own experience, nasach is intimately related to my epiphany of 1967, where I was 'plucked up' into the mystical experience of a lifetime.

Taken together, the magic word pesenesach contains the code:

worthiness -> active communication -> circlecasting - > miraculous event -> pluck up

Higher Ground

ל' כסלו תשס"ט
Grael 1

In response to one of my dreams last night, the thirty-first shaman stone in my Temple Collection corresponds to the spirit of The Kindred. The Kindred are spiritual allies and coworkers, guides to the inner mysteries, teachers of ancient ways, ancestors of both blood and soul, and guardians of the way. Kindred beings aid the witch in shamanic work, to help maintain balance between the spiritual and the physical, and act as supports toward spiritual evolution.

Designated as the shaman stone for The Kindred is the Stone of Truth, a rich royal blue marbled, deeply veined natural specimen of sodalite, a gemstone formed in the heart of the earth. Nearly as old as the earth itself, sodalite is associated with fellowship, secrets of the ancestors, truth and wisdom, communication, balance between rational and intuitive modes of thinking, objectivity and detachment, peace and harmony, the planet Mercury, endurance, and healing. Sodalite also enhances creativity and self-expression, calms emotion, eliminates confusion to create clarity, and facilitates spiritual progression.

The white calcite veins which run through sodalite enhances the ability to meditatively center. The quality of double refraction found in calcite 'doubles the power' of any rite, ritual or spell. Kabbalistically, the white calcite vein corresponds to 'double portions' and to the rectified mystical power of the gid hanasheh.

The Kindred divination card of Witchcraft depicts the forms of four faerie beings (two by two) who come as spirit guides. Following connections, the ancient text of Ireland Annals of the Four Masters is linked through the Elder tree [see Elder Staff, Faerie Door and Gate 9 3/4] with the ogham letter tinne whose celestial current pertains to the concept of Mastery.

Dark Moon Magic

ל' כסלו תשס"ט
Grael 1

inside shattered dreams, insight licks the mind
a beautiful mysterious height, the deep deep night

[From my poem originally posted here.]

Radiant Being

ל' כסלו תשס"ט
Grael 1

In follow-up to an earlier post (No Ordinary Gargoyle, My Gargoyle) in which Gargoyle was further transformed into Radiant Being, I hereby designate my thirtieth shaman stone (shown below in magnificent glory) to be this exquisite specimen of absolutely stunning rust, exotic, rare, orange, reddish, radially transparent to translucent Creedite crystals on sky blue to dark aqua blue-green Fluorite crystals from Rodeo Durango, Mexico.

Appropriate for the spirit of Radiant Being, creedite [1] is connected to the Crown, flows with a high spiritual vibration, attunes to the Universal Wisdom embodied in ancient texts, imparts energy to spiritual evolution, improves and guides the ability to move between different states of consciousness, and harmonizes the physical with the changing spiritual vibration. Fluorite [1] grounds and integrates evolving energies, reorganizes and orders disordered energy, heightens intuitive powers, promotes quick thinking and delivers impartiality (justice in decision-making).

Totally awesome!



Footnote:

[1] The Crystal Bible, Judy Hall

No Ordinary Gargoyle, My Gargoyle

ל' כסלו תשס"ט
Grael 1

In follow-up to previous posts (Transformation of a Demon Creature and A Safe Home For Gargoyle), I had another odd vision regarding my gargoyle before I went to sleep last night. Many other "demons" were coming en masse to attack my gargoyle, to remove him from being under my protection (odd that my protector is under my protection, but nevertheless he is). They were jealous of him and wanted to tear him apart.

I reinforced his position as being within my circle of protection, added energy to him, and cast the condition such that when any others approach him, he transforms into an awesome radiant being of great power, brilliance and majesty. Others become humbly awestruck by the brightness of his countenance when they encounter him. He's surely no ordinary gargoyle, my gargoyle! I'm taking care of him!

I whispered 'good night' to him, my friend, before I went to sleep.

Hoopeston Witch School Documentary

כ"ט כסלו תשס"ט
Shamash 30

The entire 4-part documentary on Witch School's experience in Hoopeston, Illinois can be viewed here.

Elder Staff

כ"ט כסלו תשס"ט
Shamash 30

The twenty-nineth shaman stone in my Temple Collection represents the spirit of Elder Staff, the card I drew last evening in a Hidden Path divination. On Elder Staff it is written [1]:

In ancient times, among some tribes it was believed that trees were the dwelling place of a god or goddess. This is one reason why sacred groves were established. A branch was taken from the tree and carried by the priestess or priest as a sign of her or his connection to the diety of the grove.

This is particularly interesting to me given that this divination occurred in the evening of the morning that I had my waking vision encounter with a tree and it's faerie door. Thus, for me, Elder Staff represents both my own inner Druid Priestess and my link to other Elder Druids throughout all time.

On Elder Staff it is also written [1]:

The Elder Staff informs us that the path we walk takes us through worlds not known by the average person in life. The message of this card is to live and walk the chosen path with lasting devotion and represents the inner mystery that light is at home in the darkness, and that enlightenment is found by passing through the night.

The appearance of Elder Staff officially marks my rite of passage from the dark night of the soul into a period of enlightenment.

As the shaman stone for Elder Staff I have designated an exquisite specimen of agatized coral. The fossilized skeletal remains of a sea creature, coral contains the "life essence of the Mother Goddess who dwelled in the ocean in a tree of coral." [2] Coral's powers include healing, peace, wisdom, regulating menstration, agriculture, and protection (against the evil eye, demons, furies, succubi, incubi, phantasma and all manner of ills, accidents, violence, theft, poison, possession, shipwreck and sterility).

Footnotes:

[1] The Seeker's Guide to the Hidden Path, Raven Grimassi and Stephanie Taylor

[2] Crystal, Gem and Metal Magic, Scott Cunningham

Related entry - Transformation of a Demon Creature

Entrance To The Mysteries

כ"ח כסלו תשס"ט
Shamash 29

Torah commentary on Miketz from Garden Of The Dark Moon Jubilee - Entrance To The Mysteries.

A Safe Home For Gargoyle

כ"ח כסלו תשס"ט
Shamash 29

The twenty-eighth shaman stone in my Temple Collection represents the spirit of Gargoyle (Golem). Once a demon creature magically sent to destroy, yet compassionately transformed and given a safe home instead, Gargoyle is an ever-faithful and loyal guardian.

A traditional witch's familiar derived from occultism in general, the stone designated for Gargoyle is carnelian. Of projective energy and elemental fire, carnelian promotes peace and harmony, dispels depression and negativity, prevents skin and blood diseases, prevents insanity and mental instability, stills anger and envy, confers eloquence and patience, bolsters confidence and courage, strengthens the voice and astral vision, and guards against malicious enchantments and storms.

Transformation Of A Demon Creature

כ"ח כסלו תשס"ט
Shamash 29

Last night I dreamt.

A demon-like creature with wings landed on the roof over the closet to my bedroom. I heard the thump of its landing. Someone had sent it to invade through the closet and destroy me. From outside on the front porch at the opposite the end of the house where the closet and the creature were, I looked and saw very unusual dark stormclouds in the skies. This storm had been magically created to carry the demon creature here. The storm carried firestones in it - there were no fires in my yard, but I saw one in the yard across the road. Nevertheless, I wasn't afraid of either the storm or the creature. Neither could penetrate (דקר) the sanctity of my space.

I woke up and considered what to do about the demon creature on the roof. At first I thought I might create an expanding energy shield to send the creature off into space. But I decided against that, and decided to keep him. To do that, I simply redirected his face, turning his gaze from toward the closet to toward the space off the roof. I made him into a protective gargoyle and loyal guardian.

Sent to destroy me, the once demon creature turned gargoyle now protects me with steadfast fidelity.

Related entries -
Entrance To The Mysteries
Elder Staff

For My Friends Who Observe Christmas ...

Faerie Door

כ"ז כסלו תשס"ט
Shamash 28

The twenty-seventh shaman stone in my Temple Collection corresponds to the living spirit of Faerie Door (in follow-up to my previous post, Gate 9 3/4) and green moss agate. As the gardener's stone, green moss agate connects to the spirit of plantlife in general and provides a point of access into the magical realm of the fae and to the mysteries.

Gate 9 3/4

כ"ז כסלו תשס"ט
Shamash 28

This morning I had a waking vision of walking with someone. We were going somewhere. To get there, we walked toward a southwest direction, where a lone tree was standing near a road. We approached and walked around to the side of the tree, and then, I could no longer see us - we had disappeared into thin air in my vision. Immediately, Gate 9 3/4 (like in the Harry Potter stories) came to mind. We had gone through Gate 9 3/4, the magical door visible only to students of the School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Unlike Hogwarts students (who went through a wall at Gate 9 3/4), we went through a tree.

In my vision, Gate 9 3/4 is like a faerie door.

Greater Than Dark Or Light Alone

כ"ז כסלו תשס"ט
Shamash 28

The twenty-sixth shaman stone in my Temple Collection is dedicated to the medicine of steadfast remembrance (corresponding to my preincarnate memories), represented by the spirit of Penguin, whose wisdom includes life altering mystery, intrigue and transformation. Penguin waddles and cares for its single egg (or baby penguin) with steadfast determination and focus. With fluid grace Penguin swims, and with complete connection to it's inner rhythm Penguin toboggans on it's stomach with joy and agility at speeds up to 25mph. In the manner of royalty and perfect derekh eretz, penguins often bow to one another in acknowledged respect of the other.

The black and white colors of Penguin represent the unification of dark and light into a single state of actualized being, one greater than either dark or light alone.

As the shaman stone for Penguin, carrying the energies of overall wellbeing and living knowledge of the perfection of the Universe, I've designated tourmalated quartz, a white crystal with well-defined black tourmaline inclusions.

The Crystal Cave Of Hitbodedut

כ"ז כסלו תשס"ט
Shamash 28

When I was a child my parents frequently tried to coax me out of my bedroom where I was engaged in solitary play, reading, working with my microscope set or frequently, just thinking and being alone. They called my self-initiated retreat into my own space hibernation. I still hibernate to this day, whether at home or at the office. The drive to hibernate is integral to who I am, to my purpose in life and to my destiny. Importantly, I have naturally hibernated in my crystal cave of solitude (whether literally or thoughtfully) from my earliest memories of existence.

In light of this tendency toward cave-dwelling hibernation, linked from the dark depths to the Great Bear constellation and stars, the twenty-fifth shaman stone in my Temple collection corresponds to the spirit of Arth (the Welsh word for Bear), whose primal powers include hibernation, deep introspection, meditation (hitbodedut, self-seclusion), healthy vitality, reclaiming truth through unconventionality, attaining altered states of consciousness, astral travel and dreamworking. Arth is also associated with the winter solstice (the sabbat of Yule), bringing light from darkness (Chanukah), the North Star, the ancient stellar goddess, the throne of the queen of heaven, the realm of the crystal castle, the realm beyond time and the realm of causes. All of these associations link together through the idea that the great spirit of Arth is the great Crystal Cave spirit of crystal caves (which extend the field of apprehension), like in my poem The Magic Ladder.

As the shaman stone for Arth I've designated a natural peridot crystal specimen, a visionary stone whose shamanic qualities include protection, health, wealth, sleep, inner balance, peace and connection to destiny.

Active Disenchantment

כ"ז כסלו תשס"ט
Shamash 28

The twenty-fourth shaman stone in my Temple Collection is a recently acquired three-specimen set of aqua aura crystals which represent, with the force of three-fold Law, the spirit of Mermaid (tachash and dugong). The wisdom myths of Mermaid (tachash and dugong) communicate the ability to overcome and break free of harmful enchantment, to connect mind with heart, and to recognize truth. This shaman stone is connected to my previous entries, Pathwalker and Ketonet Pasim.

Myths Of Active Disenchantment

The little mermaid, who gives up her tail for enchanted love only to find herself trapped in lovelessness, returns to the deep in an act of active disenchantment and becomes a spirit of the air.

The enchanting mysterious tachash is skinned (representing an act of active disenchantment) and its skin is used in constructing the tabernacle.

The dugong is a rather homely sea creature who represents the ability to withstand the enchantment of the sea sirens' song.

Legends Of The Rise

כ"ז כסלו תשס"ט
Shamash 28

The twenty-third shaman stone in my Temple Collection represents the spirit of Mouse, the creature who shared the extraordinary and stellar experience of traveling consciousness with me in the epiphany of 1967. Today I received a surprise gift with one of my supply orders - a moonstone, the traveler's stone - and my twenty-third shaman stone.

Raven Grimassi (The Witch's Familiar) writes of Mouse:

In old legends witches were believed to be able to transform into mice. Some tales include the belief that the soul of a witch appears as a mouse.

How very interesting to me, as a witch.

As a power animal, Mouse's wisdom includes "scrutiny, order, examining life's lessons, shyness, quietness, understanding details, seeing double meanings, stealth, guidance in signing contracts, discovery and the ability to be unseen." This last characteristic - the ability to be unseen - may account for Mouse's scrutiny of me and surprise that I could truly see it followed by Mouse's question to me in 1967 "what are you looking at?" Indeed, what was I looking at with such stealth, examination, scrutiny and interest to discover that I was propelled into the experience of a lifetime?

Pathwalker

כ"ד כסלו תשס"ט
Shamash 25

The twenty-second shaman stone in my Temple Collection represents the spirit of Pathwalker, one who is engaged in the Great Work of unification. As a tool for attracting spiritual partners in this work, I've designated a witch's finger (of quartz crystal with actinolite, mica, and rutile inclusions) to the spirit of Pathwalker.

Ketonet Pasim

כ"ד כסלו תשס"ט
Shamash 25

Last night I dreamt. I was The Observer.

They were soul mates, yet there was some issue between them which held him back. He would not walk beside her any further down the narrow private path she was walking through the woods in the afternoon light.

Facing one another, they spoke words I could not hear, but nevertheless it was clear that she was going to go forward and he was going to go back. This path of hers had been forbidden to him by the culture from which he came. He had to make a choice, to walk beside her and continue on through the woods to the protected village or to leave her and go back. He stood still as she turned and began to continue her walk down the path toward the village.

He painfully watched her beautiful form walk away, quickly calling out to her to come back. Yet he refused to go forward toward her. She stopped, turned and tore open her blouse to him in a painful gesture of goodbye. Then, she turned and continued walking down the narrow path through the woods to the village.

The scene changed, he was back in a dark place, regretting his decision to return there. On a dark rainy night, a car stopped on the road to pick him up as he walked to find his way back to the path he had left her on. As the driver of the vehicle opened the car door for him, the driver had a gun and was going to kill him, but the man wrestled the gun from the homicidal driver and killed him. Then an officer pulled up with a shotgun and also attempted to kill the man, but the man pulled the driver's revolver from between the car's seat cushions and shot the homicidal officer through the side of his head, killing him. As the homicidal officer was dying, he said the most hurtful thing he could think of to the man - "this night as we speak someone is going to take the body of your wife", (meaning that someone was going to rape and kill her). Of course, I knew the officer was lying (the murderer had not been able to find her as arranged) and was saying that just to hurt the man with his last dying breath, but the man believed the officer and was anguished.

The scene changed - the two were now together in the village. Apparently, the man had found a way to shorten his travel down the path she had been walking, he had shortened it, walked it and made his way to the protected village where she was.

They were now walking a public road lined with houses together. The feeling of mortality was thick in the air. Time was short in this life and they had not yet been together. If not now, there may never come another time. They both entered one of the houses at the side of the road to lay together. A woman who had been staying in the house ran out.

I woke up.

Shaman Stones Summary Page

כ"ד כסלו תשס"ט
Shamash 25

Shaman stones summary:

01. Wolf - moqui stone
02. Raven - first yard stone [lilac bush / bedroom window as a child]
03. Deer - deer creek fire agate
04. Blodeuwedd (flower) - jet (witch's amber, black amber)
05. Blodeuwedd (owl) - second yard stone [twin 1, closet wall]
06. Butterfly - third yard stone [twin 2, closet wall]
07. Evening Star - emerald
08. Well of Knowledge - tektite
09. Toad - river stone from woods
10. Fire - garnet
11. Star Woman - blue sapphire
12. Unicorn - infinite (serpentine)
13. Faerie Cow - whole uncut geode
14. Snake - moldavite
15. Child - hagstone
16. Hare - amber
17. Gryphon (Kruvim) - herkimer diamond
18. Weasel - black obsidian
19. Dog - carrollite in clear dolomite
20. Dragon - labradorite
21. Swan - salrose in cobaltian calcite cluster
22. Pathwalker - witch's finger
23. Mouse - moonstone
24. Mermaid (Tachash, Dugong) - aqua aura quartz, set of 3
25. Arth (Bear) - peridot crystal
26. Penguin - tourmalated white quartz
27. Faerie Door - green moss agate
28. Gargoyle (Golem) - carnelian
29. Elder Staff - agatized coral
30. Radiant Being - creedite on fluorite
31. The Kindred - royal blue sodalite with calcite veins
32. The Magic Word (Fertile Time) - heliotrope (bloodstone)
33. Squirrel - chrysoprase
34. Feline - chrysoberyl cat's eye
35. The Key - natural honey citrine cluster
36. Unknowing - quantum quattro

Link to this page in sidebar Featured Topics.

Yule & Chanukah Blessings!

כ"ד כסלו תשס"ט
Shamash 25

Yule started at sundown tonight, with the winter solstice event occurring at 0604 in the morning tomorrow in my time zone. Tomorrow evening, the first candle of Chanukah is lit. To all my friends, have a blessed Yule and a blessed Chanukah!

Swansong

כ"ג כסלו תשס"ט
Shamash 24

The twenty-first shaman stone in my Temple Collection represents the gentle spirit of Swan, a creature who mates for life with eternal fidelity. Faithful swan's lifespan can be as long as a human lifespan. During courtship, swans dance on the water with their necks and heads forming the heart shape traditionally associated with love and romance. The song a swan sings to its mate cannot be heard through ordinary hearing, for the swansong is a song of spirit. In Celtic tradition, Swan teaches that "everyone carries the potential for a radiant and everlasting beauty of mind and spirit." [1] For gentle Swan I have designated this rare salrose and cobaltian calcite natural cluster specimen from the Congo. Baroness pink in color, the stone's crystals overlap and embrace one another. It's simply and enchantingly magical.

Footnote:

[1] The Book Of Celtic Symbols, Joules Taylor

Sacred Fire

כ"ג כסלו תשס"ט
Shamash 24

The twentieth shaman stone in my Temple Collection represents the spirit of Dragon. Protector of hidden treasures, Dragon is a traditional witch's familiar and fearlessly carries within her the magical fires of the earth. She is a Dark Priestess from ancient, ancient times able to unleash powers of the imagination and overcome limitations. For Dragon, I have lovingly designated this exquisite Labradorite specimen from Madagascar. Gracing this collector's quality gemstone are "lustrous metallic reflections in gold, amber, electric blue, lime green and more as the piece catches the light." Every color in the rainbow is dancing in the spirit of this Dark Priestess.

Earthlight

כ"ג כסלו תשס"ט
Shamash 24

Last night I dreamt.

My children (as they were when they were little) and I were at home preparing. We had a frolicking happy puppy dog inside (initially) and big guard dog outside (additionally as the dream progressed).

There were sweet cakes in the dream, brought out from a bottom corner cupboard-like door-like drawer of the mirrored dresser in the bedroom. This drawer had once been dark and avoidably spooky, but now it had been cleaned out and cakes placed in it. I took some of the cake out and ate a bite. It was a little bit dry from sitting uncovered for a period of time in the cupboard drawer but without deathly poison, so I took some cake out for my children as well.

Going back into the living room, the front door was wide open on a sunny early summer morning, letting in the bright sunshine, as we were awaiting the arrival of someone. The sweet smell of the earth like after a rain was in my nostrils, carried to me on the light of the morning as it struck the land in my front yard. There was no danger as the door stood open to the smell of the Earthlight - the big dog outside kept predators away from the safe neighborhood in which we lived.

I went to find the two dogs some food to feed them too.

I woke up and designated my nineteenth shaman stone.

Essence Of Connection

כ"ג כסלו תשס"ט
Shamash 24

The nineteenth shaman stone in my Temple Collection represents the spirit of Dog, an ever alert noble guardian who exhibits unconditional love and guards against all forms of attack. A beautiful steel gray Carrollite with a large octahedral point in clear Dolomite speckled by Chalcopyrite cluster from the Kambove Mine, Katanga, Zaire is the natural specimen I've chosen for Dog.

Dogstone also corresponds to the essence of connection, in follow-up to my seventeenth shaman stone (Between The Kruvim).

Crimson Thread By The Light Of The Moon

כ"ג כסלו תשס"ט
Shamash 24

Commentary on this week's Torah portion Vayeshev - Crimson Thread By The Light Of The Moon.

Witch Weasel

כ"ג כסלו תשס"ט
Shamash 24

The eighteenth shaman stone in my Temple Collection is black obsidian. A naturally occurring volcanic glass of super quick-cooled lava, this stone represents the stealth spirit of Weasel. With ferocious single-minded focus Weasel is able to bide time, know, will, dare and be silent. Weasel imparts the ability to perceive beneath the surface of things. For these reasons, nocturnal Weasel is a spirit able to withstand, avoid, and if necessary, counter malicious magic. A loner, graceful, solitary and silent, of fierce courage, Weasel is very intelligent and often underestimated. Bold and confident, weasels have been known to take animals larger than themselves, and to kill hawks who were trying to kill them. Weasel does nothing half-measure - the whole being of Weasel is invested in whatever Weasel is doing.

University Advanced Mathematics Class Dream

כ"ב כסלו תשס"ט
Shamash 23

Last night I dreamt.

I was in a university classroom on the first day of class in an advanced mathematics class. I was there as a prodigy in math and had not been part of this particular group of students through the years. The professor filled the blackboards with equations and began lecturing and asking questions about them. There was a variable among the equations which I had not seen before. It was a capital 'D'. I raised my hand to ask the professor to define the capital 'D', asking my question among the students' discussions and questions going on about the math.

Then, I heard a group of girls behind me talking badly about me amongst themselves and to the other students in the class. They didn't want me there. They were angry that I was there. They belonged there. They already knew the definition of the capital D. See, they said to the other students, she wasn't so smart, she didn't even know the definition of the captial D.

The ringleader of the group of girls (who was sitting in the desk behind me) reached over and grabbed my books and class learning materials from off my desk. She and her group of girl-bullies began advocating for me to be kicked out of class. No one came to my defense or made the girl give me back my books peacefully. So, I stood up from my desk and grabbed my books and class learning materials back from her. I had learned all my advanced math up to this point on my own and without them, and my knowledge and self-taught skill had gained me placement in the university's advanced math class. I didn't need either them or the professor to learn what was going to be taught in this class. I was quite capable of learning it on my own without them - I had my own books and learning materials for the class and I would learn it without them. I walked out of the classroom.

I woke up.

Between The Kruvim

כ"ב כסלו תשס"ט
Shamash 23

The seventeenth shaman stone in my Temple Collection is a two-pointed crystal herkimer diamond, represents the unified spirit of the Kruvim (cherubim), and is linked with the mythical creature, the Gryphon. Like in my dream last night with a diamond in the sky between us,

from here I have met with you, and I speak with you from above the ark-cover, from between the two cherubim ... [Shemot 25:22]

... which we are.

Diamond In The Sky

כ"ב כסלו תשס"ט
Shamash 23

Last night I dreamt.

An enemy had done me harm. I didn't know who he was, but he knew who I was. Like in the movie Ghost, on account of this enemy's treachery, I had been murdered and had crossed over into the sky. My soul mate was left bereft.

Then, I saw my enemy find his karmic "reward" - he was involved in a high impact collision. His legs were smashed like an accordion clear up into his belly such that his shoes were laying on his stomach. He would surely die from this injury, but he would survive long enough to experience the extent of his body's mangling and to realize this had come to him because of that which he had done to me. Suddenly, a snake came out of his body and devoured him still alive, swallowed with a look of sheer terror on his face.

Then, I saw my soul mate below trying to communicate with me who was "in heaven". In the sky between us I caused a crystal diamond to appear. He could see the crystal even as he could not see me. Like the penny used to communicate the man's spiritual presence to his still living soul mate in Ghost, the diamond in the sky was to us. We both touched the crystal and connected through it.

I woke up.

Dare To Dance Your Own Dance

כ"א כסלו תשס"ט
Shamash 22

The sixteenth shaman stone in my Temple Collection represents the spirit of Hare. Strongly associated with witches as a traditional familiar, Hare shapeshifts into a powerful ancestral wise witch of one's female line who knows all the secrets of the Earth, of cunning craft and of mysterious synchronicities.

Hare dances with eccentric joy and leaps with abundant happiness under the sweet moonlight. She teaches us to dare, to run across fields, to dance on the hilltop, to feel the wind in our faces, to hear what we never hear, to see what we never see, to be aware. Hare sniffs the air and knows with clear mindedness.

Often occultly associated with physical birthmarks (for example, hare lip or other 'witch marks'), Hare's gifts are oddity, eccentricity and the potential for rare creative, spiritual or prophetic greatness.

The stone I've chosen for Hare is actually the fossilized resin of coniferous trees from the Oligocene epoch known as amber. Once a living substance, amber corresponds to the 'fifth element' which unites and binds together earth, air, water and fire. Rubbing amber against silk or wool produces an electric charge and consequently, corresponds to the sweetening of reality through the kabbalistic concept of chashmal.

Codes From Wonderland & The Staff Of Moses

כ' כסלו תשס"ט
Shamash 21

I had a most odd dream last night. The tone and nature of the dream was nonsensical, with creatures and fantastical scenes in it which reminded me after I woke up of Alice's Adventures In Wonderland. Right now, I'll leave it at that and consider that perhaps there were codes and mathematics hidden in this dream which are eluding my normative consciousness at the moment.

I also think it's very interesting that I had this Wonderland-like dream (found to be linked to Moses' staff in a google search of dream symbolism for this post) after this dream which I had previously also linked to Moses' staff.

A Witch's Foundation Stands

י"ח כסלו תשס"ט
Shamash 19

In follow-up to my entries of Thursday and Friday this past week (Accidents In The Air and Mississippi And The Staff Of Moses), I just found an interesting angle to the Madoff scandal which broke Thursday with Bernard Madoff's arrest by federal law enforcement officials on charges of securities fraud. The Jewish Journal reports:

The first known charity victim, according to JTA, is the The Robert I. Lappin Foundation in Salem, Mass. which gave away about $1.5 million to Jewish causes.

My surname is Lappin and Salem, Mass. is well-known historically for its witchcraft trials of 1692 and currently has a large community of witches, the city having been reclaimed from history as a spiritual center for American witches in this century.

Uncanny, the synchronicity. Thank Goddess my personal foundation as a witch wasn't caught up in that huge roll out of judgment.

Perfect Love And Perfect Trust

י"ז כסלו תשס"ט
Shamash 18

The fifteenth shaman stone in my Temple Collection represents the magical spirit of Child who lives naturally, simply, purely, truthfully, with spontaneity, joy and wonder, in perfect love and perfect trust. Designated as the shaman stone for the sacred spirit of Child is the natural amulet, a hag stone. In witchcraft, the hag stone is associated with faeries, is a key to the doorway into the mystical Otherworld and dispels the evil eye.

Karl Lembke explains perfect love and perfect trust as a Law of the Craft:

Perfect love and perfect trust are not blind devotion and obedience, to people, to institutions or to the laws of the Witches. We trust that the laws that have developed over the years are crafted with the best interests of the Craft and its followers in mind. We also trust that the people who crafted the laws had the time to test them, and see that they dealt with the problems they were intended to address.

But sometimes a law turns out to be a bad law. Sometimes a law yields a result contrary to its intent, or requires that people adhere to standards they are incapable of meeting. When a law fails in these ways, it is incumbent on Witches to resist it, and to do everything in their power to change it. And this we are required to do by our love of those whom the law is supposed to benefit. If a bad law is allowed to stand, it damages the faith of the people in the law, and makes the law as a whole untrustworthy. We need to be able to trust that the law will not guide us to a bad result, or demand of us things we're unable to give.

Read the entire article at link above.

Little Bottles And The Magic Mitzvah

ט"ז כסלו תשס"ט
Shamash 17

Commentary on Vayishlach from Garden of the Dark Moon Jubilee - Little Bottles And The Magic Mitzvah.

The Exquisite Fallen One

ט"ז כסלו תשס"ט
Shamash 17

The fourteenth shaman stone in my Temple Collection represents the spirit of Snake, guardian of the "deep jewelled palaces", who brings the power of profound healing to life. The rare tektite moldavite, fallen from the sky only once about 14.8 million years ago as a gift from the Universe, is the stone I've lovingly chosen for Snake.

Mississippi And The Staff Of Moses

ט"ז כסלו תשס"ט
Shamash 17

In follow-up to my previous post (Accidents In The Air and its enigma Mississippi), last night I dreamt.

Little bits first - I was gathering up my kabbalah books. There was a group at my house. It was raining lightly. I was aware of the old bomb shelter nearby. Then I with my boyfriend, and then we and our little group, were in a bicycle-balloon-like ancient flying machine. My boyfriend and I were co-navigators of the flying machine. I had the feeling we were rebellious children in a way - LOL. Nevertheless, we were correct in what we were doing, in whatever it was we were rebelling against.

We were flying toward a highly fortressed castle, in some sort of indirect challenge - as if getting to the castle was a well-known, longstanding and indisputed impossibility. Of course, rebellious children that we were, we were set upon successfully doing the impossible.

As we flew toward the front of the castle, the guardians readied to shoot us down, with bows and arrows and such. Suddenly, our flying machine veered from its straight-on approach, swerved around and landed on the older, more ancient "hidden dangerous side" of the castle, where the guardians refused to go. The guardians and everyone else in the castle (even the "royalty" who lived there) refused to go to that side because a giant primordial mystical snake inhabited that part of the castle. No one ever dared go there. In ancient times past, the few who had tried had not survived. Of course, against the eons of darelessness, we dared. We landed there at the summit of the castle's snake-side tower, avoiding the arrows which would not now be shot - for the guardians would not even go to the snake's side of the castle, and neither did they think we'd survive the snake.

We landed at a cafe-like landing, got out of our flying machine, and refreshed ourselves with some soda or coffee or something. We sensed the snake coming up from deep inside the place as we drank our refreshing drinks.

The snake was after me. We all knew it. The ancient giant snake appeared shortly after we finished our drinks. It was going to eat me and eat me it did! LOL. I went in its mouth feet first, but then, after it had swallowed me whole, I shrunk its size down to manageability from inside its insides. Then, I emerged, as whole as I had been when I had entered it, from another opening at its other end. The snake was visibly shaken. I think the snake was seriously perplexxed about the entire experience because it hurried off to reorient itself after I stood up following my reemergence. I rejoined my companions, who were also a bit stupified, and then, we prepared to go snake hunting (to capture it sort of, not kill it - I felt a bit of affection for it now, actually).

We prepared trucks full of ice for the snake-hunt. The feeling was that we were somehow protected by the ice as if the snake couldn't smell us with ice filling the sefari-like trucks we now had. We were going to take this castle, I knew it.

I woke up.

Laying in bed after I woke up, the dream reminded me of the story where Moses got swallowed up by a snake. My story is not quite the same though. LOL. Still, both Moses and I emerged whole from our swallowed by a snake encounters.

Accidents In The Air

ט"ו כסלו תשס"ט
Shamash 16

Vehicle-related accidents are in the air. After reading a post over at Mystical Paths, I realized I had not yet posted regarding my own experience with vehicle-related accidents recently.

First, a week ago (last Thursday), my daughter slipped on the ice and sprained her ankle. It could've been worse, but thank Goddess it wasn't. She had been dropping her two smallest children off at her sister-in-law's home while she attended class at the junior college. The toddler was on the porch when she slipped on the way to get the baby out of the car. She could've been holding the baby when she fell. The toddler could've run out into the street while she was incapacitated on the ground with what was thought to be a broken ankle. My daughter could've had a broken ankle, but she didn't. I took her to the ER, and thank Goddess, my employer was very understanding that I had to attend to my daughter. All ended well.

This past saturday, my eldest son's truck slid on the ice on the interstate and rolled over a few times. It could've been worse, but thank Goddess it wasn't. He could've been hurt. He could've been seriously hurt, in fact. As it was, the only scratch he sustained from the whole event was in the ER from the hospital bedrail. I met him at the ER, and thank Goddess I arrived safely despite the slippery conditions on the road. All ended well.

Last night, I had a dream. I had "missed" also having a car accident earlier the day before (preceding the dream). I recalled after the dream that, the evening before, one car approaching mine from down the road whizzed by me very fast in the dark on my way home from work yesterday. It had come very close to my car, over near or into my lane, such that it caused a weird sound to be created in the air current between our cars as it whizzed by mine in the dark. My "just missed" accident is linked (in a good way) somehow to the word Mississippi. Dunno why or how yet, but the word came out in the end of the dream as I was waking up and is connected to "missing" an accident that may have been fated for me as well.

Accidents are in the air, yet despite that, all is well for my family and I. Thank Goddess.

I Held The Moon

י"א כסלו תשס"ט
Shamash 12

Exquisite and pagan-friendly, this darkwave neo-classical piece from the rare CD Zal (which I now own) by sToa is hauntingly beautiful.

Joyous Hollow Heart Of Sekhel Tahor

י' כסלו תשס"ט
Shamash 11

Mystery - joyous, even as my heart is hollow within me ... David HaMelech

The thirteenth shaman stone is my Temple Collection is a geode, whole and uncut. Geodes are earthlike spherical hollow rocks (with the power of clarity into and throughout Assiyah, the physical world of action) whose hollow insides are lined with crystals (joy), like diamonds in chaos.

Each geode is unique. With the spirit of Faerie Cow, this shaman stone symbolizes a return to nature, and more specifically, a return to one's own unique nature. Whole and uncut, geode corresponds to sekhel tahor (pure consciousness).

Related entries -

The Magic Ladder
The Magic Mandrake

An Incomplete Lamed

י' כסלו תשס"ט
Shamash 11

DovBear comments on Vayetzei:

The word "well" appears seven times in the story of Jacob and Rachel's meeting ...

Interestingly, the word "well" appears 4 times (Bereshit 29:2,3,8,10) in the first 10 verses of chapter 29 (which is not chapter 30, symbolizng a complete lamed). The first use of the word "well" in 29:2 is spelled באר. The other 3 uses following this first use are spelled הבאר. Taken together, the 3 latter "wells" are different from the first "well" in that the prefixes which distinguish the 3 wells from the 1 well come together to form the shoresh ההה (meaning to "express pain"). Thus, this shoresh, brought down by the "3 wells" of verses 3, 8 and 10 are the source of Jacob's Tears of Anguish in verse 11 (where 11, we know from kabbalah, symbolizes the universe of Tohu). The first "well" represents that able to elucidate Torah. Therefore, Jacob's tears of anguish may be related to the idea that the ability to elucidate Torah was lost to Rachel.

Unlike a joyous witch whose altar is home to the most pleasing of aromatic candles, incenses and other witchy tools, Rachel was separated from her own inner joy.

Uncle Ben & Cheshbon HaNefesh

י' כסלו תשס"ט
Shamash 11

An interesting post is on RabbiSedley's blog about my 6th greatuncle, American founding father Benjamin Franklin and the sefer Cheshbon HaNefesh.

The Magic Mandrake

טי כסלו תשס"ט
Shamash 10

Being a witch makes joy in me. Truly. There is no separation between joy and I. Joyful am I. Neither do I have cause to pray as one separated from herself.

Rachel said to Leah: 'Give me, I pray thee, of thy son's mandrakes.' Bereshit 30:14

In follow-up to my earlier commentary from Garden Of The Dark Moon Jubilee on Vayetzei discussing The Magic Ladder, the question exists for many reading this Torah portion - was Jacob's vision in the night really a dream?

I can't answer that, but I can answer that my own experience, as described in The Magic Ladder and correlated to Jacob's ladder, was no dream. The experience I described was one I had before I was born, before "I" was incarnate or connected to a physical body or bound up with any psycho-spiritual form or structure of any kind. Thus, the words of my poetic discourse on my particular magic ladder do not create a "picture", but rather, they elicit an apprehensional perception of pure Acting Awareness. Without structure, form or physicality, my experience was one of pure consciousness, known in Sefer Yetzirah as sekhel tahor. In practical kabbalah, sekhel tahor corresponds to the magical botanical called mandrake.

Sekhel tahor ... "purifies the Sefirot. It tests the decree of the their structure and the inner essence of their unity, making it glow. They are then unified without any cuttoff or separation." [Sefer Yetzirah, The Thirty-Two Paths Of Wisdom]

The Magic Ladder

טי כסלו תשס"ט
Shamash 10

Commentary on Vayetzei from Garden of the Dark Moon Jubilee - diVisions of the Night.

Wisdom, Understanding And Knowledge

ז' כסלו תשס"ט
Shamash 8

This evening's divinatory reading was simply complex, performed with the waxing crescent moon 32% full, during the planetary day of Mercury, and during the planetary hour of Mercury.

First, I ritually drew a card from my Hidden Path deck. The card was mortar and pestle. It's signficance in a reading pertains to refined integration, incorporation and merging.

Second, I ritually drew three Hebrew letter cards. They were tav-yud-hei (תיה). A permutation of these letters is tav-hei-yud (תהי), meaning "let there be" (as in "let there be light"). In light of this understanding, I interpret my permutation to mean "there is" (as in "so mote it be", "and there was light" and "amen").

Third, I ritually drew an ogham stave from my newest set (this reading is my first use of them). I drew the fid coll. Coll corresponds to Mercury, wisdom and knowledge, and is the fid of attaining second-sight, wisdom, prophecy, true judgment, discernment and understanding.

Each system's elements supported the others' elements in this reading, integrating them into one perfectly coherent message, to actively bring forth wisdom, understanding and knowledge.