Samhain Dreampower Divination - Part 1, The Stone Realm

The Choir

I attended my first pagan group ritual with the ADF (Druid) in a nearby town. The Samhain ritual we did to honor and give offerings to our ancestors was led by a woman who is also involved with Northern Tradition practices (and Seidr), as our ritual very closely resembled a blot to the ancestors (which I really loved).

My offering to my Ancestors, land spirits, Frigga, Freyja and Hela included:

a whole bottle of honey wine
a length of handspun wool yarn
amber gemstone
black jet gemstone
crystal quartz
9 sacred herbs of Northern Tradition shamanism (with a small pentacle in it)
high john root
3 British sixpence coins
Soul Retrieval ritual oil
9 rosebuds
a bed of moss

Following the giving each of our offerings, the leader of the ritual did a tarot reading using the Dreampower deck by R. J. Stewart (which I liked so much, I just purchased one myself). Here are cards and positions in the reading (my own interpretations follow):

The Stone Realm - The Choir
The Pearl Realm - The Teller
The Whirlpool Realm - The Tangler

The Stone Realm

In my mind, the Stone Realm pertains to the deep place of prophetic utterance, of the Ancestral Voices, and to a state of consciousness where the Voices of the Ancestors can be perceived as the Voices of the Many, the Voices of the Few, or the Voice of One which R. J. Stewart distinguishes as conditions of being. The card drawn for this realm therefore, speaks to which state of consciousness is operational to each "hearer" in the reading.

First Card Drawn - The Choir / The Cacophony

The Choir is a group of assorted animals singing loudly. We see a donkey, cow, sheep, pig, goose, cockerel and duck. There is a cat playing the bagpipe. Within this cluster of animals, all leaning onto one another, extending their necks and singing loudly in harmony, we also see some small creatures: a mouse listening raptly, a spider within her web spun between the horns of the cow and in one corner a small baby sleeping peacefully in a wooden cradle. This Trump works on several levels and we may use our overall idea of the Three Realms resonating through each card (with each Trump at home in one particular Realm) to examine the levels. 

On the surface, this card brings up the Voices of the Many. However, in the description of this card, I was caught by the phrase "a mouse listening raptly." To me personally, this is the Voice of One "when the Ancestors speak within the first condition, the Voice of One, they are the land."  This card to me, seemingly uttering a cacophony of Voices, is asking the question, "hey you, what do you hear?" and "hey you, what do you see?" The challenge of this card is hear the Voice of One, to hear the Ancestral stream as it is uttered from within "the first condition of Being" amidst the cacophony of Voices. Despite the cacophony, I hear, I see the mouse, my fylgja, listening raptly. Here is my poem, written decades ago which pertains very exactly to this card in this realm:

SUDDENLY

hey you, what are you looking at
the mouse seemed to say silently, to me one day
hidden in the closet, coming close to see
where land meets sea, isolating some field of awareness
distracting the mind toward some special duty
hey you, what did you say
you talkin' to me?

hey you, what do you hear
the mouse seemed to say silently, to me one day
hidden in the closet, coming close to hear
wandering around this anomaly of conversation, suddenly plucked up
toward the task at hand, wiping off all others
hey you, do you hear what I hear
who goes there, talkin' to me

Samhain Evolution of Consciousness

כ״א באב תשע"א
Lughnasadh 23

Very interesting educational video on evolutionary consciousness ... explains the Mayan calendar and suggests that we may enter a radically new reality by October 28, 2011 as opposed to December 2012. Indeed, where may we be as conscious beings this Samhain, the ancient Celtic New Year?

Samhain Giveaway-Promotion

כ״א בתשרי תשע"א
Blodlessing 22

WITCHCRAFTS by Liorah Lleucu is being promoted in a Samhain Giveaway at Love of the Goddess. I've donated one of my DARK HARVEST Samhain Ritual Oils. Check out the link and read Tara's interview of me as the owner of WITCHCRAFTS for the Samhain giveaway-promotion.

The Demon Dance

י"ג ברמחשון תש"ע
Phasma Priscus 14

A perfect Samhain Torah commentary for Lech Lecha from Garden of the Dark Moon Jubilee - The Demon Dance.

The Wyrd Numbers Of Urcanaan

ז' ברמחשון תש"ע
Phasma Priscus 8

Yesterday, early shabbat afternoon, I wrote my Torah commentary on parashat Noach, The Mystery of Urcanaan. Immediately following that, I wrote Samhain Mitzvah Runes, designating runes for this mystery through which the darkness of a curse is transformed into the light of illumination. Bear with me for the rest of the story.

Just last weekend, my brother and his wife turned me on to a television series I had never seen before called Lost. Last weekend and this past week, I started watching episodes of the past five seasons to learn the story and prepare for transmission of the final and sixth season beginning May 2010. After the first episode, I was hooked. This series is an amazing mystical mythology. I love it. The mystical connections in it are real.

Thursday night, I dreamt of an ancient ever-changing mystical mechanical structure hidden in the ground from which I emerged through a normally impenetrable door in the ground penetrable through a secret code only known by a few. The next day, I didn't make the connection of this dream to the hatch found in Lost, but after Shabbat's precognizant blog postings and the episodes I watched Saturday evening right after making the postings, I saw the connection.

Motzei shabbat I watched the episode called Numbers - the numbers (4 8 15 16 23 42) in the episode are believed to be cursed, just like Canaan was believed to be cursed (in the Torah portion of my commentary) until I transformed that 'irrevocable' curse into a manifest blessing through the stones of transformation (וַיֹּאמֶר, אָר וּרכְּנָעַן) in my first precognizant blog post, The Mystery of Urcanaan. The 'cursed numbers' are revealed in Numbers to be written on the side of the mechanical structure hidden in the ground (like in my dream Thursday night), excavated by a few of the lost survivors.

Motzei shabbat, after watching the episode Numbers, I watched the episode Deus Ex Machina. This episode ended with "Locke disappearing into the jungle to return to the hatch. Pounding on the door and screaming in anguish atop the hatch, Locke laments what has happened. Suddenly the hatch window is illuminated, sending a shaft of light into the sky," - just like the uruz rune was illuminated, sending a shaft of light into the world in my second precognizant blog post, Samhain Mitzvah Runes!

Totally wyrd. The dream of the hidden mechanical structure and the blog postings occurred before I watched Numbers and Deus Ex Machina.

I emerged from 'the hatch' in my dream. I haven't yet seen the Lost episode where the hatch is opened, but in researching it, I see that through the hatch is found The Swan. In Celtic tradition, swans possess the healing powers of the sun and water. Swan also represents radiant divinity and feminine royalty.

Samhain Mitzvah Runes

ו' ברמחשון תש"ע
Phasma Priscus 7

The mitzvah runes to be inscribed (facing the letters left to right) on my Samhain ritual candle spell out the transformative words of the phrase shine Urcanaan (אר ורכנען).

Spirit Night In The Land Of The Living

כ' באלול תשס״ט
Belz 21

Last night I dreamt.

For one night, the way was open for the dead to come up from the cavern of the dead to walk among the living.

I saw as some of the dead came up from a deep cavern through the surface opening which led into the land of the living. Not all of the dead could come up. Only the dead who had the strength and will to climb up to the cavern's opening could make it up. Not only human dead could take advantage of this night, but the dead of all living creatures could if they had the will and strength to do it. In fact, I saw some spiders and small bugs who did take advantage of the opportunity to return to the land of the living for this brief period of time.

One small spunky girl bug who came up reminded me of both a praying mantis and a giraffe - she was skinny like a praying mantis but she had a longer neck like a giraffe. The small girl bug was climbing up the cavern wall, struggling to reach the opening, pulling her mate bug up with her who didn't have the strength to climb anymore. The girl bug had strength enough for both of them. She was determined to make it to the opening and she was going to bring her mate bug with her. She did too. I smiled when she made it to the top, male bug in tow.

One teen girl who specifically came up was my responsibility. I had called her up apparently. I cupped her face in my hands, hoping she was not mad at me for calling her up. She wasn't mad. On the contrary, she thanked me for the blessing of enabling her to walk one more night among the living. She went on her way.

Even in the dream, I was cognizant that last night was neither Samhain nor Yom Kippur, even though I felt the night embodied the spirit of both. As I was considering this, a rabbi appeared also in the room into which the cavern opened, also from the land of the living like me. He too, was greeting one of the dead, who then went on his way as the teen girl had.

After the teen girl, I thought my responsibility was over. But it wasn't - the rabbi said to me, "come, we have to go greet the dead." As the dead came up into the land of the living, we greeted them. Many came. We greeted them all, welcoming each one into the land of the living.

I woke up.

Fire By Night, The Divine Torch

ט' חשון תשס"ת
Phasma Priscus 11

Today marks astological Samhain, and last night I dreamt a dream of fire preceded by the idea of a "monopoly" game. Monopoly is a word which brings unity and multiplicity together into a singular word.

As the idea of a "monopoly" game ran with wings through my sleeping mind last night, the dream emerged.

I was traveling west toward town with my mother and other family members in a vehicle down the road which runs in front of the house. A few miles from the house, as we neared the bend in the road which swerves off toward the north, and exactly the moment before we entered the curve toward the north, the ground beneath the vehicle began rumbling mightily - indeed a major earthquake was in the making. The road buckled and upheaved like a wave, sending the vehicle in the opposite direction - sliding east back toward the house front first (and always I was primarily seeing through the vehicle's windshield - in other words, the vehicle was always facing the direction it was traveling).

As the vehicle slid down the road toward the east front first, the road began to glow red hot as if the core of the molten earth was coming to the surface. It glowed so brightly fire red that I wondered how the wheels and the bottom of the vehicle were remaining intact and not melting away. Surely, the road was turning into pure molten fire.

Yet, the vehicle remained intact somehow and I felt no heat at all sitting inside it, though I realized that the power of the fire was fully capable of dissolving all material substance into pure energy. The road was melting into firehot energy, and though I could clearly see it through the windshield, I felt no heat.

Then, as we arrived in front of the house, the upheaving wave of the earth shifted toward the opposite direction, sending the vehicle back again toward the west. The road glowed hotter and hotter and I felt we were surely going to be swallowed up by the molten earth, be dissolved as material beings, and die. I have never before in a dream felt the real possibility of actually dying, but last night, I did. Yet, even as I feared that I might actually die, I had no feelings of panic. My feelings and thinking were that I was facing some sort of finality, contained some wondering of what lay beyond death (would I dissolve or go on in some manner), and peace that I would die free of the heaviness of guilt, having lived an honorable life to the best of my ability. I was thinking - this is it, this is the end.

As we again neared the curve north, in front of me through the windshield I saw it - a wall of pure molten fire loomed up and we were going to plunge into it. I shut my eyes and prepared to die. As we plunged into the wall of molten fire, I woke up.

It was still night. I wrote a note of the dream down to remember and went back to sleep.

"Only the Torch is found by itself ..." Klach Pischey Chochmah 55

Related entries - Days Of Awe; Otherworld Mystery Of The Generations

Otherworld Mystery Of The Generations

witch alder in autumn

ג' חשון תשס"ת
Phasma Priscus 5

Be careful that you choose for yourselves proper individuals, and they should be members of the society who have been screened. When you come and stand before the door of the Sixth Chamber, show three seals to the guardians of the door. Show two seals to Katzpiel ... [from the text of Heikhalot Rabbati ]

Missing

Three dreams I dreamt of events concerning my purse, which in dreamspeak oftentimes symbolizes one's "identity" and material blessings. I just woke up from the third dream.

Two nights ago I dreamt - among the complexity of moving everbody's office locations around, my purse became missing. I feared it might have been stolen, because I couldn't find it. I and everyone else with me looked for it. Was there a thief among us? The question remained unanswered in the dream.

Last night I had two dreams, waking for a short time between them.

Kaphtziel, Maat's Feather, Found

First of the two, I dreamt I was going to visit another world. I packed my luggage for the trip as did a friend of mine. We went together with a group. Before we went to the station of departure to the Otherworld, we were lodged overnight in hotels. I never saw the hotel(s) where others in the group stayed. I stayed apart from the group in a separate hotel. The hotel I stayed in was exquisite and elegant. The pool area was an elegant garden, like one might find a palace garden to be. The water in the pool was sparkling clear. After resting, I rejoined the group and we continued on our way.

The trip could be fatally dangerous for one not of proper energetic alignment. It was an entirely safe trip if one's energetic structure was made of a nature aligned with that of the World to which we were going. Those of us making the trip were a small select group of people chosen because of our likelihood to survive the trip safely. We had been prepared to make it.

We went up into the skies to get to the Otherworld. We were instructed by the Navigator on how to make the jump. The jump and drop down was a most dangerous time. We were above a boundary over the Otherworld. We had to each drop as individuals through the boundary. It could shatter and tear an unprepared soul apart. Looking down from the station in the sky from which we would "drop" into the Otherworld, I saw a blanket of dense clouds. Suddenly, a path through the clouds for each of us parted and we each jumped out the door of Samhain Sabbat Shabbat.

I dropped, picking up speed and falling very fast in the greater mid portion of my descent after an initial slow fall. As I came nearer to the ground of the Otherworld, my descent steadily slowed, until I landed very gently like a feather upon the receiving station in the Otherworld.

The group gathered there and we were each met by an Otherworldy being who would escort us from the receiving station into the New World. We each gathered our luggage which had also arrived and prepared ourselves to continue on into the New World. I looked around for my purse - I hoped I hadn't lost it. Before continuing on, I searched my luggage for the presence of my purse. Opening one of my large suitcases, there was my purse safely tucked away among my clothes in my suitcase. "Thank God! Thank Goddess!" I said very quietly upon finding my purse, embracing the witch in me. I found it! One among the group of travelers and Otherworldly beings said quietly "sorry Father" after hearing me add "thank Goddess", as if apologizing for me, as if my saying "thank Goddess" had offended the Divine. He meant well, but the apology was unnecessary. The Divine has no problem at all with "thank Goddess." We came together as a group, and turned as one to step into the New World. I woke up.

The second of the two dreams last night had many connected scenes, the last two I remember.

Katzpiel, Attempted Theft

First remembered scene - my magic rug (carpet) was accepted into the game. The players on the playing field took it from me as I held it out to them through the fence behind which the spectators watched the game. They ran with it around the field holding it up like a banner. They ran the entire space of the field with it, as if my magic carpet-banner was casting a spell for our team's victory. After completing the covering run, the players brought my magic carpet-banner back to me, handing it over to me through the fence as it had been given.

Second remembered scene - as a nurse (I don't work as a staff nurse any longer at this point in my real life), I was being sent over from my home unit to help out on another unit. A male doctor observed me walk over to the other unit with my purse. When I arrived at the other unit, a female doctor was sitting at the nurse's station while the regular nurses of the unit were preparing to work their shift. I asked where I could lock up my purse while I helped them out. The nurses pointed to the rows of lockers along the concrete wall. One of the nurses said to me, "you can put your purse in one of the lockers." There were many open and available lockers, but none of them had a lock. The nurses and the female doctor wanted me to put my purse into an unlockable locker and go out onto the floor and work. I wasn't going to do it. "I need somewhere where I can lock up my purse while I work,", I said. I was told there were no locks here for me to use with which to secure my purse. They were "pushy", trying to make me leave my purse unsecured. They rolled their eyes and became agitated with me, trying to make me think I was being paranoid as opposed to being responsible for wanting to secure my purse in unfamiliar and unsecured public surroundings. When I refused to put my purse in an unsecured location, they became subtly but clearly hateful toward me. They were angry that I would not leave my purse where it could be stolen. I knew then that someone there wanted to steal my purse and as a group, were trying to make me feel to be the unreasonable one for expecting to be able to lock up my purse. They also tried to make me feel to be a failure as nurse because of my reluctance to go to work (and help them and the patients out) without first securing my purse while in the public place. I told them I was going back to my home unit to get the lock off my own personal locker because I wasn't going to work there with my purse unsecured as I worked. I turned and walked away with my purse in hand.

I woke up.

Last evening before going to bed on Samhain night, I performed a divination using the Hidden Path. The Triformis card was drawn. Symbolism of this card includes:

The number 3 - corresponding to the three purse dreams, containing for me the trifold message of lost, found and attempted theft of my purse (symbolizing identity of soul and material blessings).

One key in the card hangs from the Goddess's left arm, symbolizing the Core Principle from which all mysteries originate, and the role of the Divine Feminine as gatekeeper to and revealer of the mysteries. The key of the card confirms that the attempted theft of my "identity" was foiled. I have the key and my purse is secure.

The lunar crown of the Goddess, worn upon her forehead in the card, symbolizes the Unified Nature of the Triangle of Manifestation. As such, the crown of the Goddess corresponds to the Worlds of Emanated Manifestation (Atzilut, Beriyah and Yetzirah - including the origin of the Keter/Da'at-Malchut of Assiyah in Ateret Hayesod) and the World of Unified Nature (Kadmon) united in completeness (Unity throughout Multiplicity). Kadmon contains "three general levels of Divine Essence in life." Within the physical vessel of the witch herself rests the Malchut of Malchut, and through her the Malchuyot of all Worlds are United.

I wore one of my crowns and went as the witch that I am to work yesterday for Samhain. It was great fun!

The three purse dreams are the three seals. The two dreams occurring on Samhain, where the second dream of Samhain during the Torah portion of Noah, consists of two remembered scenes (two by two) are the two seals.

Paradoxical Holiness

י"ג תשרי התשס"ט
Blodlessing 14

In follow-up to earlier entries on the rescue at Gibraltar and the gates of the seasons, in regard to the paradoxical nature of holiness, paraphrased from the lyrics of Samhain by Inkubus Sukkubus -

comes old Death a-riding on the storm,
with hungry eyes for funeral fires
to burn at the morrow's dawn
but the fire of life still burns
and the wheel of life still turns
and those marked for death
go back home for Samhain
and in the night sky
on the lunar light they fly
as witches await the feast
the Dark Mother takes us in

Have a blessed Samhain! So mote it be, אמן!

Gates Of The Great Rite

י"ג תשרי התשס"ט
Blodlessing 14

In follow-up to my previous two entries (Sanctuary Of Delight and Consummate Life To Enliven), where it is brought forth that even as the Gates of Prayer are closing and the Gates of the Temple are opening, I further note that connected to these Yom Kippur Gates of "closing" and "opening" are two Gates of the Celtic New Year, Beltane (now closing) and Samhain (now opening).

The Gate of the Celtic New Year is opening (as are the Gates of the Temple), becoming fully open at Samhain. Samhain is the Gate to the dark half of the year (corresponding to Essential consciousness). Beltane, the Gate to light half of the year (corresponding to emanated awareness), is closing (as are the Gates of Prayer).

The two Gates of the Year, represent a time of consummate interinclusion among the worlds (of both witchcraft and kabbalah) where worlds unite - symbolized by the Great Rite ritual (the originally "hidden" divination card) - to bring forth that which is greater than anything in the worlds alone - an experience of Essential Being.

Death Passed Over

כ'ו בחשון תשס"ח

After my grandmother's passing this past Halloween morning October 31, the date Samhain is typically observed, the festival of death and renewal (of death only in the eyes of some, whereas others consider Samhain to be a festival of scholars) continued to seek out souls to remove from the physical world. While my grandmother's passing was not so unexpected at 92 years of age with failing health (it was an obvious blessing toward renewal of life for my grandmother even as it was a loss for my family), a woman's husband at work died unexpectedly the very next day, Thursday evening November 1 (may she be comforted by the kindness extended to her by our coworkers). Both she and her husband work(ed) at the facility where I work.

I went back to work on Monday, but after additional work was piled onto me, along with work associated with the end of the month close (which was completed Monday morning before it was due Wednesday), with the recent passing of my grandmother, my body developed an allergic cold/flu yesterday, Tuesday morning at work. I sneezed continuously the entire day, despite a second dose of newfangled Actifed, becoming lightheaded, feverish and physically weak. So, Tuesday afternoon, I went home early, loaded up on Robitussin nighttime multisymptom cold medicine and went to bed, where I dreamt.

I dreamt of dark lethal storm clouds passing over my locations, from east to west they were moving even as they filled the sky. At one point there was a small break in the cloud cover, but it was only for a short time, while we took care of business.

I wanted to wait out the storm on the main floor of my house (which was a house trailer at times) - for some reason I wasn't worried that it couldn't weather the storm. Nevertheless, the man with us (somehow a relative, but I'm not sure who exactly this was) convinced me that it was safer to wait underground in the basement while the dark lethal storm clouds passed over. So, we all went down and waited in the basement as the dark lethal storm clouds passed over.

I woke up - to the news of a lethal school shooting in Finland.

From CNN: YouTube Linked To Deadly School Shootings

HELSINKI, Finland (CNN) -- A video posted earlier Wednesday, by "Sturmgeist89", was titled "Jokela High School Massacre - 11/7/2007." "Sturmgeist89" identified himself as Auvinen, and said he chose the name "Sturmgeist" because it means "storm spirit" in German.

At least eight people were killed when an 18-year-old gunman opened fire at a school in Finland Wednesday, according to Finnish police. The shooting appeared to have been planned out in graphic videos posted on Internet file-sharing site YouTube.

At a press conference this afternoon, police confirmed the dead numbered two girls, five boys and the school's headmistress at Jokela High in Tuusula, a quiet town around 50 kilometers (30 miles) north of Helsinki.

The shooter, who police named as Pekka Eric Auvinen, is in a critical condition at Toolo Hospital, Dr. Eeero Hirvensalo told CNN.

Auvinen published a manifesto online demanding war on the "weak-minded masses" and pledged to die for his cause.

YouTube appeared to have removed 89 videos linked to his account, many of them featuring Nazi imagery, shortly after the incident.

Finnish media reported someone posted a message two weeks ago on the Web site, warning of a bloodbath at the school.

The site indicated that the youth appeared to be fascinated with killing. Throughout all of this, the single word "DIE" constantly flashed across the screen. Other video clips included Nazi-war-criminal footage.

In the rambling text posted on the site, Auvinen said that he is "a cynical existentialist, anti-human humanist, anti-social social-Darwinist, realistic idealist and god-like atheist.

"I am prepared to fight and die for my cause," he wrote. "I, as a natural selector, will eliminate all who I see unfit, disgraces of human race and failures of natural selection."

Read the entire news article at link above.

Thank Goddess! for the cold I developed through this 11/7/2007 day, astronomical Samhain.

Mystes, Epoptes, Hierophantes, Avukah

י'ט בחשון תשס"ח

Quotes from Ancient Mysteries & Secret Societies:

The Nine Days Of Initiation The Initiation - Candle In The Womb and A Mystery of Consciousness

Just as the Lesser Mysteries discussed the prenatal epoch of man when the consciousness in its nine days (embryologically, months) was descending into the realm of illusion and assuming the veil of unreality, so the Greater Mysteries discussed the principles of spiritual regeneration and revealed to initiates not only the simplest but also the most direct and complete method of liberating their higher natures from the bondage of material ignorance. Like Prometheus chained to the top of Mount Caucasus, man's higher nature is chained to his inadequate personality. The nine days of initiation were also symbolic of the nine spheres through which the human soul descends during the process of assuming a terrestrial form. The secret exercises for spiritual unfoldment given to disciples of the higher degrees are unknown, but there is every reason to believe that they were similar to the Brahmanic Mysteries, since it is known that the Eleusinian ceremonies were closed with the Sanskrit words "Konx Om Pax."

The Mystes The Initiate - Dark Torah

The mystics of Eleusis also laid stress upon the evil of suicide, explaining that there was a profound mystery concerning this crime of which they could not speak, but warning their disciples that a great sorrow comes to all who take their own lives. This, in substance, constitutes the esoteric doctrine given to the initiates of the Lesser Mysteries. As the degree dealt largely with the miseries of those who failed to make the best use of their philosophic opportunities, the chambers of initiation were subterranean and the horrors of Hades were vividly depicted in a complicated ritualistic drama. After passing successfully through the tortuous passageways, with their trials and dangers, the candidate received the honorary title of Mystes. This meant one who saw through a veil or had a clouded vision. It also signified that the candidate had been brought up to the veil, which would be torn away in the higher degree. The modern word mystic, as referring to a seeker after truth according to the dictates of the heart along the path of faith, is probably derived from this ancient word, for faith is belief in the reality of things unseen or veiled.

The Epoptes The Seer - HaTorah Emet

In contrast to the idea of Hades as a state of darkness below, the gods were said to inhabit the tops of mountains, a well-known example being Mount Olympus, where the twelve deities of the Greek pantheon were said to dwell together. In his initiatory wanderings the neophyte therefore entered chambers of ever-increasing brilliancy to portray the ascent of the spirit from the lower worlds into the realms of bliss. As the climax to such wanderings he entered a great vaulted room, in the center of which stood a brilliantly illumined statue of the goddess Ceres. Here, in the presence of the hierophant and surrounded by priests in magnificent robes, he was instructed in the highest of the secret mysteries of the Eleusis. At the conclusion of this ceremony he was hailed as an Epoptes, which means one who has beheld or seen directly. For this reason also initiation was termed autopsy. The Epoptes was then given certain sacred books, probably written in cipher, together with tablets of stone on which secret instructions were engraved.

The Hierophantes The Communicator-Torchbearer - Maggidah Of Raz

In The Obelisk in Freemasonry, John A. Weisse describes the officiating personages of the Eleusinian Mysteries as consisting of a male and a female hierophant who directed the initiations; a male and a female torchbearer; a male herald; and a male and a female altar attendant. There were also numerous minor officials. He states that, according to Porphyry, the hierophant represents Plato's Demiurgus, or Creator of the world; the torch bearer, the Sun; the altar man, the Moon; the herald, Hermes, or Mercury; and the other officials, minor stars. From the records available, a number of strange and apparently supernatural phenomena accompanied the rituals. Many initiates claim to have actually seen the living gods themselves. Whether this was the result of religious ecstasy or the actual cooperation of invisible powers with the visible priests must remain a mystery.

The Torch Avukah - Mysteries Of The Flame
"Only the Torch is found by itself ..." Klach Pischey Chochmah 55
From my musical website .. The Torch

when facts tell lies and confusion reigns
when knowledge and ignorance with futility dance
when hope is dying and faith is failing
truth remains

when pain is endless and pleasure empty
when will lies heavy like stone and clarity is obscured
when wisdom reeks and reason flees
truth remains

when the heart staggers broken
with shattered strength and love drowns lost in the abyss
truth remains

when darkness reverberates blindly
and eternity is filled with hell
truth remains

when life is crushing and all is torn, when hiding cannot conceal
and wretching waters burn the naked dust
truth remains

when the pause is pregnant like a rock of hate against us
truth remains

Mesorah Of The River Mnemosyne

י'ט בחשון תשס"ח

My maternal grandmother, Gladys Collins-Faulkner, granddaughter of Sue Turner-Grunwald and Will Grunwald, daughter of Elizabeth Grunwald-Faulkner and George Samuel Faulkner, mother of Cheryl Collins-Taylor and grandmother to Liorah Lleucu HaMasovevet, passed over early this morning of Samhain, Ram Cheshvan 19, האלון full of years at the age of 92.

Mnemosyne was also the name for a river in Hades, counterpart to the river Lethe, according to a series of 4th century BC Greek funerary inscriptions in dactylic hexameter. Dead souls drank from Lethe so they would not remember their past lives when reincarnated. Initiates were encouraged to drink from the river Mnemosyne when they died, instead of Lethe. These inscriptions may have been connected with a private mystery religion, or with Orphic poetry. (Wiki on Mnemosyne, Titan Goddess of Memory and Inventor of Words, One of three or four Elder Muses and Mother of nine Younger Muses.)

As a Mother of Eternal Life and a Mother of Muses, in the pure family tradition and mesorah of natural witches, may my grandmother, as I did preincarnately (described here and here), drink from Achdut, the River of Eternal Memory, the River Mnemosyne, and remember. Remember!

We are One.

I love you Grandma. May our memory be a blessing and carry us through it, to it, the brightening and the brilliance.

A witch is born, and by a witch a witch is made.

ברוך דיין האמת

Ruach Acheret

י'ו בחשון תשס"ח

A poem against the consensus from my musical website in honor of Lurianic Samhain, Ruach Acheret ...

wicked, wicked
yet every impulse, every inmost thought
is for you, only you, dog juan
so I rest my case, seeking justice straight, well almost straight
maybe just a little bit crooked, to the nonlinear end
finding you favor, giving you acid indigestion
and sharing shining observations
collapsing crazy equations absolutely looney tunes
with honeyed words iterating from the khoo-khoo rock of many colors
and for our land, one who hears, through a loco-mutt's ears
like a meandering stream of streams with a wandering headache
the song of songs peregrinating through it

The Kabbalah Of Samhain

י'ו בחשון תשס"ח

From the Witchvox article Samhain All Hallows Eve by Solaris BlueRaven:

With Samhain just around the corner the time is right for those of you wishing to conduct a Sacred Ceremony or ritual dedicated to beings who have transferred and those who may be trapped in form or consciousness.

After a serious discussion on this matter with Clergy we found there are many beings needing assistance in ascending beyond the veils of entrapment. Most Pagan communities create a ritual in resonance with those departed this time of year.

read entire article at link above

Sounds like raising-sparks Lurianic kabbalah to me.

Related, see my new spark-raising craftworking quill here - Klipat Nogah Quill Pen.

Also related, Samhain is the first night my crystal ball becomes ready for ritual use. Tonight is the seventh night of the 8-night active ritual consecration. Monday night is the eighth night. Tuesday night is the Night of Rest. Wednesday night is Samhain and the tenth night of the consecration, when my crystal ball is ritually complete.

Hate Crime

(Pictured) The Halloween display in question.

ב' בחשון תשס"ח

Jason of The Wild Hunt Blog asks the question about a case in Massachusetts, home to the infamous Salem witch trials:

Hate Crime?

Is displaying a gallows-hung witch in Massachusetts a religious hate crime? That is the accusation by Kelly Lynch towards a home-owner in Chicopee. According to Lynch, the display is a personal offense to religious Witchcraft and not an innocent Halloween display.

The Chicopee witch explains:

To many, it's an innocent Halloween decoration, but for Kelly Lynch it's offensive.

That's why when she saw the life-like witch hanging in someones front yard she went straight to the home owner's door.

"He told me to lighten up, it was a Halloween decoration, I know it's his constitutional right, but I want it down. To make that your only decoration...it's kind of odd, " stresses Lynch.

But the owner will do no such thing. His neighbor says he has every intention of keeping it up.

It's offensive to me as well. More importantly, the homeowner is engaging in a hate crime.

Leaving the witch hanging, now that it has been directly and unequivocably brought to the homeowner's attention that it is hateful and intimidating to witches, brings to light the maliciousness hidden in the original intent.

I think the homeowner would like to string you up Kelly, in the place of his Halloween decoration.

Sod Ha-Ibbur

ט"ז באייר תשס"ז

The Celtic (Coligny) calendar, like the Jewish calendar, though primarily lunar-based, intercalates both lunar and solar time into its calculations. Unlike the civil calendar which is a solar-based calendar and has 12 months, the two calendars which calculate time by both the lunar and solar cycles each have 13 months. The Celtic model adds an intercalary month every 2.5-3 years. The Hebrew model adds an intercalary month 7 times every 19 years, which calculates out to every 2.9 years.

In other words, both the Celtic and Jewish calendars operate on a 19-year cycle; both intercalate solar time into the basically lunar calendar. Both of these lunar-solar calendars are ancient.

The New Year of the world, also unlike the civil calendar, is another feature shared between the Celtic and Jewish methods of timekeeping. Samhain, the Celtic New Year, and Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, both occur in autumn as opposed to in winter. The civil dates of both (astronomical) Samhain and Rosh Hashanah vary year to year.

The new day begins at sundown in both Keltoi and Jewish timekeeping.

Consequently, the data suggest that there is advanced knowledge (sod ha-ibbur) embedded within these two particularly congruous ancient methods of timekeeping. This knowledge was characteristic of both the ancient Celts and the ancient Hebrews.

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Cosmic Rendezvous

Part of my dream this morning:

I was with my bashert. I can't recall seeing his face, but I knew that he was my bashert.

We were in a side storage area off the "main place" where the other people were located in the dream. The storage place was also like an alternative reality [1].

The area was somewhat "secret" in that it wasn't in a public area. It was more private, separated from, yet adjacent to, the main area. The main area wasn't our private home. It was more like a community home, making the storage area something of a karmelis [1].

My bashert and I were sneaking some time together there, away from people. But, there was a huge white spider עכביש the color of death [1] in the place. I couldn't relax, even though the spider was not seemingly "after me". But, I wasn't convinced that it wasn't after me. I kept thinking - if I let it out of my sight, it will jump on me. The thought made me nervous, very nervous. I couldn't concentrate with it lurking around.

Ok. My bashert grabbed the huge deathly-white spider and tried to flush it down a toilet. But, the spider kept escaping the bowl and jumping out. I just couldn't deal with a huge deathly-white spider roaming about. I couldn't concentrate on having a rendezvous with it around.

Ok. My bashert grabbed the spider for the last time and ripped it in half with his bare hands. Then he flushed it down the toilet and out of my world.

Now, I could concentrate on our rendezvous together. Ok, now.

Footnotes:

[1] Samhain (sundown October 31 - November 1) marks the time when the veil between worlds is the thinnest. Thus, this dream notes the "adjacent reality" (the karmelis) separated from "primary reality" by a thin wall.

[2] Interestingly, spiders eat each other when grown in the same environment. For this reason, spiders are not "farmed" for mass manufacturing of silk even though a fiber of spider silk can remarkably be stretched 4-6 times its length without breaking. (see link above)

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Rectified Binah & My Sephardic Connection

I dreamt.

I was in a cafeteria line (seder) gathering up a meal (shulchan oruch). There was a cauldron [1] of beef [2] and noodles [3]. I tried to dip with the cauldron's ladle [4] to get a portion of mostly noodles for myself. I tried to get mostly noodles (since I like noodles) and just a little bit of meat (since I'm not a big meat-eater).

Everytime I attempted to do it, nearly all of the noodles would fall off the ladle spoon and alot of meat would somehow manage to work itself up onto the ladle spoon. I would dump the spoon and retry again. This would happen each time I tried, so that I each time I ended up with mostly meat and very few or no noodles on the ladle spoon. That meat had kavanah! by golly!

The people behind me in the line were getting impatient. Ok, fine! I dumped the next ladle full of meat onto my thin paper [5] plate. It looks like I'm going to have to eat meat.

Next, I came to the soda fountain. I filled my large styrofoam cup up with ice, then with cola. As I started to put my cup of sodapop onto my cafeteria tray, all of the cola in my cup disappeared. The ice [6] remained. Only the cola vanished. I filled my cup up again with sodapop. Again, the cola disappeared. Ok, fine! I'll drink water.

I filled up my cup with water. The water didn't disappear. I moved on down the line and found a seat at a table in the cafeteria.

I woke up.

Footnotes:

[1] The cauldron symbolizes the Divine Feminine principle, the power of transformation and the "place" where Divine Knowledge and Inspiration (Hashra'ah) are brewed. See Samhain as the Scholars' Festival for women.

[2] Ashkenazi custom (Vilna Gaon) prohibits roasted meat at a seder, but Sephardi custom does not necessarily prohibit it. This detail of my dream suggests that I may also have some Sephardic ancestry (through my paternal Native American ancestry perhaps, or even through my maternal Jewish-British family line, the Grunwalds, since I've only assumed the entire Grunwald clan to be Ashkenazi because they came from England). It could also mean that my bashert has some Sephardic ancestry as well.

[3] Noodles are usually found in kugel dishes over pesach and shabbat. Also, lokshen (noodles) is a Yiddish term, where Yiddish is an Ashkenazic phenomenon. Consequently, given the "pot roasting meat" over "noodles", the dream is deliberately pointing out a Sephardic connection to me (see fn. 2).

[4] A ladle is likened to a Torah scholar. Sanhedrin 52b, perek dalet mitot. (see fn. 1 above)

[5] Samhain (sundown October 31 - November 1) marks the time when the veil between worlds is the thinnest.

[6] See Zohar #301. "If water is poured on them (the ice, like in my dream), the ice absorbs it. By the waters turning into ice, they have become a vessel to receive additional waters." In my dream, the ice remained as a vessel upon which water was accepted, but the sodapop was rejected and disappeared. Consequently, this detail of the dream speaks to the purity of my "ice vessel" to accept only pure water (of Atzilutic Torah and shefa) and to discern correctly (as ice "originates" from Binah). In other words, the dream is confirming that the Binah acting within my dreams is rectified Binah.

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