Tunnel Through The Sea

ט"ז בניסן תשס"ז

This morning, I dreamt.

My "brother" (not my actual brother, but I knew he was a "mystical" brother in the dream) and I were transported like twins to a high mystical mountain in an icy, glacial enchanted place. Many kinds of ethereal creatures inhabited the icy world to which we were flown upon the "wings" of magician. We saw these creatures as we flew beyond the ridges and icecap of the mountain.

We arrived at a place inhabited by magickal humans. There we were kept among other X-men-like captives for scientific evaluation and experimentation. We were housed in a wooden cabin-like place. It wasn't an uncomfortable dwelling. The room we were deposited into was warm and cozy, actually. There may have even been a hearth and fireplace in the central "living room", even though the initial room we encountered was quite bare but softly well lit.

The next thing I remember, although there was more to the dream than this, I was facing an open tunnel worming through a sea which filled everyplace before me.

I woke up.

Derelict Of Duty

Justice: "Wrong none by doing injuries, or omitting the benefits that are your duty." Benjamin Franklin, 13 Virtues

While the following article was written from a Wiccan-witch perspective, it equally applies to non-Wiccan practitioners of witchcraft as well, as there are many *flavors* of witchcraft traditions. Wicca is one tradition among many equally valid earth-based witchcraft traditions, including eclectic solitary practitioners who blend teachings and practices from several traditions. All witches need protection. Importantly, it is the constitutional DUTY of government representatives and officials to protect the religious freedom of American witches and to put down religious persecution as well. From my perspective, those charged with the duty are seriously derelict of duty.

Wednesday's (3 April, 2007 CE)
Louisville Courier-Journal Opinion Page

Inside the First Amendment: The nature of discrimination
By Charles C. Haynes
Gannett News Service

People accused of witchcraft in America aren't executed anymore (we are 300 years and a First Amendment away from Puritan Massachusetts). These days they just lose their jobs.

Don Larsen discovered this the hard way. A year ago, Larsen was a Pentecostal Christian minister serving as an Army chaplain in Iraq. But then he converted to Wicca, whose members are self-described witches, and applied to become the first Wiccan chaplain in the U.S. armed forces.

Today Larsen is a former Army chaplain back home in Idaho. As reported last month in The Washington Post, the Army not only denied his request to change religious affiliation, but also removed him from the chaplain corps (despite an outstanding record) and sent him packing.

The Army denies any discrimination against Wiccans and cites a maze of Catch-22 bureaucratic reasons for Larsen's dismissal. But earlier attempts by Wiccan groups to obtain a military chaplain have also failed -- in spite of there being more than 130 other religious groups on the approved list.

True, Wiccans make up only a small percentage of military personnel (around 1,900 by the Pentagon's count, though the real numbers are likely much higher). But other religious groups with similarly small numbers already have chaplains.

This isn't the only example of unfair treatment of Wiccans in the military. After nine years of "reviewing the process," the Department of Veterans Affairs still hasn't approved the pentacle -- a five-pointed star that symbolizes Wiccan faith -- as an "emblem of belief" that can be placed on government headstones of Wiccan soldiers.

Despite the fact that the 38 approved emblems include religions of every stripe (and atheism), the VA will not add the pentacle. Does this mean Wiccan soldiers are good enough to die abroad, but not good enough to be buried with respect at home?

The military's stubborn refusal to recognize Wicca may have something to do with the firestorm of criticism that greeted news stories of Wiccan meetings on a Texas military base about eight years ago. Then-Gov. George W. Bush wanted the military to bar Wiccan ceremonies, saying, "I don't think witchcraft is a religion." Some outraged Christian conservative leaders called on Christians not to enlist or re-enlist as long as Wiccans were permitted to worship on U.S. bases.

Although military officials have continued to allow Wiccan worship (under the First Amendment, they have no choice), they are undoubtedly reluctant to stir that pot again. After all, the governor is now the president.

Antipathy toward Wicca isn't confined to the armed forces. Fear of witches, it seems, is popping up everywhere.

Last year a group of Georgia parents accused their local schools of promoting Wicca by having Harry Potter books in the school libraries (just the latest battle in the ongoing anti-Harry campaign). In December, the State Board of Education ruled that the books could stay.

In February, a Delaware judge upheld a finding of religious discrimination against a department store that dropped a course taught by Wiccans in the store's "campus of classes" program.

And this month a former teacher on Long Island, N.Y., testified in court that she was fired after public school officials accused her of being a witch. According to the teacher, who says she doesn't practice witchcraft, the principal was angry because she taught about the Salem witch trials and wouldn't participate in Christian activities that he promoted.

As Wicca grows -- and it's one of the fastest-growing religions in America -- so will conflicts over witches. That's because most of what people think they know about witches and Wicca is wrong. Contrary to popular myth, Wiccans have nothing to do with the "evil arts" or Satanism. Nor do Wiccans conform to the stereotypes rooted in fantasies from "The Wizard of Oz" to "Sabrina, the Teenage Witch."

If it isn't what many people think it is, then what is Wicca? Although no religion is easily summed up in a sentence, most Wiccans would probably agree that Wicca is a nature-based religion rooted in a conviction that the Divine permeates all life. For a fuller explanation, Wicca Demystified by Bryan Lankford is a good place to start.

For First Amendment purposes, however, it doesn't matter what military officers or school principals or other government officials think about Wicca: It is their constitutional duty to protect the religious freedom of all Americans, including witches.

Charles C. Haynes is senior scholar at the First Amendment Center. His e-mail address is chaynes@freedomforum.org.

Hat-tip to Joshua for the article.

Technorati tags: witchcraft religious discrimination religious persecution constitutional duty justice injustice first amendment wicca witches wiccan witches nonwiccan witches eclectic witchcraft eclectic witches druidry jewitches social action social justice

HaMasovevet

reposted from 11/28/06

In Talmud there exists the famous story of Choni HaMa'agel (חוני המעגל). Choni the circle-drawer was a miracle-worker.

Nevertheless, I do not want to name the sacred circles I cast as a Jewitch using the root עגל which means both circle and calf. From this root is born the word used for calf in the idolatrous golden calf incident we read about in Shemot 32. Consequently, I won't call myself a Ma'agelet.

I prefer to use the root סבב which means surrounding, encircle, rotate and turn events [1]. From this root comes sovev kol almin ("surrounding all worlds"), which is the transcendent Divine energy which permeates the universe. This is the energy I choose with which to cast my sacred circle.

Thus, my circle name is Liorah Lleucu HaMasovevet.

Footnote:

[1] Etymological Dictionary of Biblical Hebrew, R' Matityahu Clark

Technorati tags: Torah Talmud Torah Judaism Kabbalah jewish mysticism mysticism jewish meditation meditation shamanism jewish shamanism kabbalah iyunit kabbalah maasit witchcraft jewitchery jewitch witch jewish woman sacred feminine divine feminine shechinah lilith spiritual development spirituality kosher spirituality masovevet magickal name circlecasting

Tsunami Strikes Solomons

Tsunami Hits Solomon Islands in South Pacific
At Least 13 Killed; Death Toll Expected to Rise
By GEORGE HERMING
AP

HONIARA, Solomon Islands (April 2) - "Bodies floated out to sea and thousands of residents camped out overnight Tuesday on a hillside above a devastated town in the western Solomon Islands after a tsunami that struck without warning washed away coastal villages, killing at least 13 people. The death toll was expected to rise.

The tsunami was triggered by a magnitude 8.0 quake that struck shortly after 7:39 a.m. Monday six miles beneath the sea floor, about 25 miles from the western island of Gizo and 215 miles northwest of the Solomons' capital, Honiara, the U.S. Geological Survey said. The quake - the strongest in the Solomons in more than three decades."

read full story at link above

Mighty Mice Music, Sounds Of The Epiphany

ט"ו בניסן תשס"ז

"The bridge of understanding brings us closer, the tide of change may be frightening but it has our hopes at heart" ... lyrics from Heartland by Daughters Of Gaia

Inside the package I received today containing my black witch's cloak was also the new CD I'd ordered by an artistic group previously unknown to me. The CD is Ancient Future by Daughters Of Gaia. I ordered it on a whim, following the scent of an orchestrated synchronicity with the Universe. Opening up the new CD, I discovered the synchronicity running through it. The music was produced for a company called - Mighty Mice Music. My shamanic power animal. The animal of the epiphany in 1967.

The music on this CD is awesomely mystical! Bravo! Well done! An excerpt from the title chant Ancient Future:

ancient wisdom, ancient ways
listen to what the old one says
cool earth against my skin
listen for the pulse
for the song to begin
warm flame calls forth the night
I drum in the dark
I drum for the light ...

excerpt from Wise Woman:

I'm a wise woman, creating the magic
in me, listen to the sound of music all around
setting my heart and soul free ...

and an excerpt from the final selection, The River:

I remember the child in me
I remember the endless sea
back to the sea, back to the sea for me ...

Unemployment Discrimination

י"ד בניסן תשס"ז

Well, I just received notice that my claim for an unemployment benefit has been denied on the basis that the nursing facility I formerly worked for told the unemployment adjudicator that I wasn't looking for full time employment, despite the fact that I applied for several full time positions with the facility. Each time the facility chose not to hire me for those full time positions to which I applied. Despite that I reiterated this fact to the unemployment adjudicator, he chose to believe the lie over the truth.

Harrassment and discrimination. Now, not only am I a victim of pervasive employment discrimination but I am a victim of unemployment discrimination as well. Of course, this is not the first time a nursing facility has protested my unemployment benefit following firing me for religious-related reasons. The first "protestor" of unemployment benefits fired me for refusing to work on Shavuot. It never ends.

Goddess help me! Keep me from utterly and bitterly cursing the entire community - Jewish and nonJewish alike - to unmitigated gehinnom, midah kneged midah.

So, while I file an appeal, which hopefully, if adjudicated with justice on the facts of reality, I will win (as I did against the first protestor), the rest of the world continues on with blinded mindlessness.

When oh when, will justice be done?

BTW, at the same time I received notice of the denial of benefits, I received the package containing my black velvet witch's cloak, witch's spell bottle and other witchy items. The world may hate me, but the Goddess is with me. Reversal ritual number 2 marches on. And tonight, I will be wearing a witch's cloak while I perform it.

Technorati tags: Torah Talmud Torah Judaism Kabbalah jewish mysticism mysticism jewish meditation meditation shamanism jewish shamanism kabbalah iyunit kabbalah maasit witchcraft jewitchery jewitch witch jewish woman sacred feminine divine feminine shechinah lilith spiritual development spirituality kosher spirituality employment discrimination unemployment discrimination persecution religious discrimination

Se'or - Sourdough Starter & The Amulet Of Challah

י"ד בניסן תשס"ז

Dave at Balashon posts (via Orrin Tilevitz on Mail-Jewish) regarding se'or and the myth that yeast is forbidden on pesach:

To the extent this myth exists - and I don't know anybody who thinks baking soda and baking powder are inherently not kosher for Passover - it may be a result of the widespread mistranslation of the word "se'or" (see, e.g., Exodus 12:15). Beginning with the King James and continuing through the original JPS and the current Art Scroll translations, the word is rendered as "leavening", which could include baking powder and soda - or, for that matter, egg whites. I once spoke to an Orthodox rabbi who told me that "se'or" meant yeast, and therefore yeast was inherently prohibited on Pesach. (My response was to ask whether he drank wine on Pesach, a question lost on him because he seemed not to understand what fermentation was.) But se'or doesn't mean any of these things. It actually means "sourdough starter" (see, e.g., Rav Saadia Gaon's commentary, and the supercommentary on it, in Torat Chaim), which is a mixture of flour, water and yeast spores from that air, that is left to ferment, in the process of which the yeast grows. AFIK, until recent times sourdough starter was the leavening agent in bread; bakers in chazal's era did not have yeast as a separate product.

Consequently, we can see that all "things of the ego" are not forbidden. Merely those "things of the ego" which ultimately lead to "sourness" are forbidden.

A sour ego, necessarily then, retards development and is an obstacle to psychospiritual redemption. This idea is connected to the fact that my challah tray (the one I've had for nearly a decade) broke this year. It won't be around for pesach.

Challah is from the hebrew root חלה meaning to "retard development", "weaken", "hurting", "hindering well being", "appeasing", "losing control of senses", and an "amulet or necklace against illness" [1]. Thus, and importantly, we can see that the mitzvah of challah acts an amulet against illness, suffering and losing control. Ultimately however, using the amulet of challah to avoid tikun of the feminine retards feminine psychospiritual development.

Thank Goddess my challah tray broke!

There is a well known understanding in The Craft that if one uses a protective amulet or talisman, when the amulet or talisman breaks, this indicates that it is no longer needed, it has successfully fulfilled its purpose of protection, and the danger has passed by. In other words, the danger the device was protecting against has "passed over". A real pesach kinda thing.

Footnote:

[1] Etymological Dictionary Of Biblical Hebrew, R' Matityahu Clark

Technorati tags: Torah Talmud Torah Judaism Kabbalah jewish mysticism mysticism jewish meditation meditation shamanism jewish shamanism kabbalah iyunit kabbalah maasit witchcraft jewitchery jewitch witch jewish woman sacred feminine divine feminine shechinah lilith spiritual development spirituality kosher spirituality challah mitzvot pesach passover

Eureka Moment

י"ד בניסן תשס"ז

Duh! Am I a dunce or what?

I just now realized the connection between the mystical but very real resistant-to-medication week-long (at least) headache that vanished overnight and the vision I had today of the budding pearly kernel (tzitz).

Budding Pearly Kernel Vision

י"ד בניסן תשס"ז

א I had an odd mind-vision today. A very long thin thread-like stalk grew out of the dark "ground" (essence) like a "budding" flower (tzitz ציץ). Only the bud was not flower petals. The bud actually looked like a luminescent kernel of pearly white and silver. The small base part of the kernel-like bud was silver and turned into luminescent pearly white as it extended into the wider distal part of the kernel. It swayed gently as if in a breeze. Emotionally, the vision was charged with the feeling that this little bud had overcome great obstacles to its survival and it was swaying with "relieved victory" that it had survived and was alive! It was almost as if the little bud was silently proclaiming "I am!" ת

Reversal Ritual 2 In Motion

י"ד בניסן תשס"ז

Observations On Today

Reversal ritual #2 was set in motion this evening during the planetary hour of Venus. Some modifications were made to the ritual's original and revised content, but those modifications will not be posted. Nor will the data-notes regarding immediate observations be posted.

Today was a rather good day. Chimes are lightly tinkling as I type this. The candles on my beautified altar are burning peacefully. The scent of cinnamon-vanilla-ginger incense flavors the air, as does the gentle scent of a burning hand-dipped beeswax candle.

I've dedicated a pretty wooden chest-cabinet of drawers for my mystical-magickal supplies. Ah, the pleasure it brings me. It's so organized too! This definitely appeals to the "J" in my INTJ personality. Truly, I am in heaven. A witchy wooden cabinet of drawers! Yum!

I retrieved a few silver items from my treasure chest (I really have one) and polished them up this afternoon. They look real fine! One old chalice (a kiddush cup) was so crusted with tarnish that I thought it might have to be discarded like the glass challah tray that broke a few months ago. But, the chalice cleaned up and looks brand new. Amazing. I have 3 chalices now. One is a goblet-chalice.

The dull headache I've had for over a week (despite many large dose analgesic treatments) in the center of my forehead between my eyes vanished today. I woke up and discovered that it was no more. Yay! Just in time for the full moon esbat reversal ritual too! Thank Goddess!

No more mystical depression of years past. No more mystical headache. I think witchcraft is very good for me.

Did I mention that my little potted herb garden is sprouting up and growing quite nicely now? Little sprouts are poking up from the dirt all over the place and the ones that had already sprouted are growing quickly. I blessed them again today.