Ancestor Mysteries & The Tree Of Transformation

כ"ו אדר א' תשס"ט
Keolwulf 27

A reader emailed to me an inquiry regarding ancester mysteries. His question may be answered in the dream(s) I had last night.

Up Through Time, The Snake Tree

For some reason it wasn't such a good thing to be a head of this family. The reason was not so much because of the family, but because of the position of being the heads. The heads were in the most dangerous unprotected position in the family and more vulnerable to attack.

Adam and Eve were the heads of this family tree, literally. The entire family line was joined together like a single organism in the form a tree. Adam and Eve were the head trunk-limbs. The head trunk-limbs were in the form of two snakes branching up straight and high through time together from the main trunk of the snake tree. Their heads were at the summit of the tree, their faces like two pieces of white fruit among the uppermost leaves. Like fruit, the heads of Adam and Eve were always in danger of being eaten by the ancient animals of the primeval forest-garden.

One ancient animal flew up like a bird to the snake tree. The ancient creature had a long sword-like bird-like beak, but like a spider's jaws might, the ancient bird thrust into one of the fruits of the snake tree (which was really an individual human) below the heads of Adam and Eve. Like a spider, it injected venom into the human which was a fruit, liquifying the innards of his body. Then, like a spider might, the bird sucked out the juices of fruit-human, eating him this way.

It was not easy to be a human in those days, when humans were like fruits on a snake tree.

Down Through Time, Folding Over Continents

I've forgotten much of this dream, but it pertained to ancient family matters through time as well. It also had a stellar aspect to it, including the idea of finding lost family members down through time. It had an element of cataclysmic nature in it too.

We were from the stars, but in folding over the north american continent, many were drowned under the sea, lost in time. I remember vowing to find you, stepping out from the sea onto the new shore to do it. I had not been drowned by the sea, and like a mermaid, had survived the cataclysm of folding over continents.

The Snake & the Fish, Two Totem Meanings of the Hebrew Letter Nun

The Hebrew letter nun in modern times carries the Aramaic meaning of fish in the sea. The Hebrew letter nun is derived from the ancient pictograph meaning snake.

In my dream, Adam and Eve were formed like two sofiyot, like two straight extended final letters nun extending through time.

Prophetic Kabbalistic Witchcraft, As Above So Below

Every night before I go to bed, I do a quick dream divination using my Well Worn Path witchcraft deck. Last night, using these cards (which I keep by my altar in a handmade Dark Forest Divination pouch), I drew the card 'As Above So Below.'

'As Above So Below' is also a kabbalistic teaching of the Hebrew letter nun.

Complete alignment and harmony exist throughout my Celtic-Jewish shamanic practice of kabbalistic witchcraft.

The Tree Behind the Hedge, Hedge Riding to the Tree of Transformation

The first two items listed yesterday evening at WITCHCRAFTS by Liorah Lleucu, are related to this week's Torah portion Vayikra, and discussed on Garden of the Dark Moon Jubilee - Two Turtledoves In Action.

Hedgecraft is a form of witchcraft which redefines witchcraft as centered around the journey to the Underworld and contact with the Unseen to transform the essence humanity into something greater. Hedge-riding is the act of doing it.

Related - Red Thread Witch Tea made with a base ingredient of Ancient Forest black tea.

The Divine Spark On Oaths & Obligations

כ"ו שבט תשס"ט
Imbolgen 26

Gavrielah (Thoughts Of A Jewitch) is a convert to Judaism interested in Jewitchery, but she has a concern regarding an oath she made at her conversion:

I accept Judaism to the exclusion of all other religions, faiths and practices and now pledge my loyalty to Judaism and the Jewish people under all circumstances.

She is wrestling with the idea that incorporating practices of other earth-based spiritualities into her Judaism might make her an oathbreaker. She writes:

Item #3 [quoted above] is the problem and makes me wonder if in stepping outside of recognized Jewish practices I'm an oathbreaker. Many rabbis and Jews would say yes including probably the ones who created that oath and the rabbi who oversaw my conversion but how much should that really count for?

Well, if Gavrielah has ever gone to a Kol Nidre service on Yom Kippur following joining up with the Jewish people and recited the Kol Nidre prayer, she is free to be any kind of Jewish person her neshamah leads her to be, including a Jewitch kind of Jew. Both Judaism and Witchcraft recognize that one's obligation to his or her unique Divine Spark supercedes to nullify her obligation to and liability for 'breaking' any religious oath to any set of religious practices, including those of Judaism.

May a vow never become a prison for your soul. Wherever your path may lead, may you be free to go.

Related entries:

Judaism's View On Religious Vows
Witchcraft's View On Religious Vows

Witchcraft's View On Religious Vows

כ"ו שבט תשס"ט
Imbolgen 26

From my earlier entry Blooding The Cord & The Man In Black (quoted from a Crooked Path Journal article by Peter Paddon):

Not all British Traditions use a cord or cingulam, but for those who do, it has very special significance. In the Path that I follow, the cord represents the Tradition, the Coven, the lineage and the initiate's connection to them. The Guardian or Man in Black can use the cord to grasp a covener who has 'slipped away' between the worlds and bring them back to where they are meant to be.

At initiation, the Magister and Mistress will blood the cord of the new initiate, to seal the promises made. In my Path, the promises are made to teach and guide the initiate to the best of our ability, to help them find their true Path, wherever it may be, and to accept them fully to our hearth and hearts. Other Traditions have other promises, and possibly other symbolism too, but this is how we do it. The initiate also bloods the cord at that time, sealing their own promise to their Gods and their Ancestors to do their best to follow their Path, wherever it may lead them.

Take home message - may a vow never become a prison for your soul. Wherever your path may lead, may you be free to go.

Related entry - Judaism's View On Religious Vows

Judaism's View On Religious Vows

כ"ו שבט תשס"ט
Imbolgen 26

From JewishEncyclopedia:

Before sunset on the eve of the Day of Atonement, when the congregation has gathered in the synagogue, the Ark is opened and two rabbis, or two leading men in the community, take from it two Torah-scrolls. Then they take their places, one on each side of the ḥazzan, and the three recite in concert a formula beginning with the words של מעלה בישיבה, which runs as follows:

"In the tribunal of heaven and the tribunal of earth, by the permission of God—blessed be He—and by the permission of this holy congregation, we hold it lawful to pray with the transgressors."

Thereupon the cantor chants the Aramaic prayer beginning with the words "Kol Nidre," with its marvelously plaintive and touching melody, and, gradually increasing in volume from pianissimo to fortissimo, repeats three times the following words:

"All vows [כל נדרי], obligations, oaths, and anathemas, whether called 'ḳonam,' 'ḳonas,' or by any other name, which we may vow, or swear, or pledge, or whereby we may be bound, from this Day of Atonement until the next (whose happy coming we await), we do repent. May they be deemed absolved, forgiven, annulled, and void, and made of no effect; they shall not bind us nor have power over us. The vows shall not be reckoned vows; the obligations shall not be obligatory; nor the oaths be oaths."

Take home message - may a vow never become a prison for your soul. Wherever your path may lead, may you be free to go.

Related entry - Witchcraft's View On Religious Vows