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