Druid Documentary Trailer

ד' באב תשס״ט
Lughnasadh 5

A documentary about the nature of modern druidry, its historical origins and spiritual message. Public broadcast licence available from the Holistic Channel www.holisticchannel.org.uk

Wind Of The Willow

י"ב בתמוז תשס״ט
Faunus 13

Last night before retiring for bed, I drew an Ogham divination card to read the energy in the atmosphere. That card was Willow, the fid saille. Associated with Goddess, the mistress of the mysteries, the moon, water, protection on deep journeys into the underworld, the power of binding, the harp, music, honey and mead, knowledge of time and proper timing, poetry and psalmistry, harmony, ancestral communication, dreaming, seership, understanding, and all that is feminine, saille has four steps to the right of the stemline (druim).

I dreamt.

I was among a small group of individuals who had been gathered together for the purpose of being moved around in the world as a matter of protection. We were loaded onto an airplane and flown 'above it' and 'out of harm's way'. The scene had the feeling of high level otherworldly espionage - those from whom we kept safely away were not of the normative human world, but of the mystical hidden world. Those of us flown to safety were masters in training. There were only a very few of us in the entire world.

Once we landed, we all went our separate ways, each of us accompanied by a pair of masters who had already crossed the fuzzy liminal line which distinguished novices from masters. The masters of protection worked in pairs. I had a pair watching over me, a master in training.

The liminal line that few novices survived (to become masters in training) was the place of beginning seership. At the place of beginning seership, a seer's eyes were opened to see the hidden but had not yet come to understanding. Seership at this level was literally fascinating - one became mesmerized by her or his visions and gazed into them with innocent curiosity in the effort to gain a clearer view of the vision. There was nothing inherently wrong with the novice doing this. The problem with doing this was that a deathly trap had been deliberately woven into the very act of doing it by ... by this ancient Creator Creature of the Deep Sea.

Each evolving seer had a trap woven since the beginning of creation into her or his budding power of seership. As soon as the person began to see, the act of seeing triggered a shift in the reality around the seer such a lethal lazerbeam was generated that the novice seer could not see. The lazerbeam was drawn from the seer's own sight, to focus specifically and directly on the seer, to kill her or him. A novice seer, though able to see a little bit into deeper reality, couldn't see deep enough to see the lazerbeam focused on to kill the novice seer. Only a master seer could see it.

From a set aside place in reality, I saw the lazerbeam focused on to kill me the first time I began to see. I also saw the pair of masters charged to protect me push me out of its path such that I had not been killed. From there, they had been teaching me to see it and how to avoid its lethal touch, as my seership developed into understanding. As novice seership evolved to include understanding, the lethal lazerbeam would no longer exist because a master seer's mind was so fast and moved at such a high vibration as to make the lazerbeam nothing by default before it became anything. Nevertheless, very few in the world ever survived the liminal line where the lazerbeam operated, where novice seers were either destroyed or lived on to become masters in training.

The Creator Creature in the Deep Sea was a masculine force in a silent Deep Sea. It appeared as a big worm-like fish. I saw it emerge from the hidden depths, and it spoke to me in defense of its killing of seers, saying thus, "I am the Creator Who brought All into being. I Create and I can Take Away."

"What a chutzpahdik little fish," I thought. On the one hand, I understood that in some manner it was the Creator. On the other hand, I understood that despite that it may be the Creator (in terms of Bringing Forth energy), it was still a fish Creature in the Deep Sea. The Deep Sea in which it existed had remained silent in the stillness following its boast. Something perturbed me about this silence.

The Sea is a feminine energy. Now, while the masculine Creator fish had spoken, the Sea he was dwelling in had remained silent. I saw and understood my own power.

I woke up.

"No!" I spoke with the Voice of the Wind of the Willow to the little Creator fish Creature, "you don't have the Authority to Take Away. The power of Destruction is a Female Authority."

Simply walk four steps in the complex Land on the left with a Voice Who Speaks. It is.

Deep.

Leying The Entire Array Of Sacred Knowledge

כ"ט בסיון תשס"ט
Mab 29

Yesterday's (Leying The Land) Midsummer's Eve magical Ogham (Coll), drawn during the planetary hour of Mars (ג), is followed today on Midsummer's Day, drawn just now also during the planetary hour of Mars, by the magical Ogham, Koad (pronounced kawt). The letter Koad represents not one tree, but an entire Sacred Grove - an entire array of esoteric Hidden Knowledge:

Koad, representing the Sacred Grove:

represents all knowledge, a sacred place where all is linked and becomes clear in togetherness and unity - just as the old Groves contained tree sense and bound their users together in a common purpose ... the Grove gathers together for your journey all the knowledge hidden in the trees. It holds comprehension of all that you already know or are capable of learning.

What beautiful magic are the Oghams bringing forth for this summer solstice sabbat!

The names of Koad:

Koad (Breton)
Coill, Garrán (Irish)
Coedwigoedd, Coedwig (Welsh)
Cus (pronounced kawz), Cos, Kelly (Cornish)

The color of Koad:

shades of green

The 'planet' of Koad:

the Sun

Leying The Land

כ"ח בסיון תשס"ט
Mab 28

Today I initiated my newest card deck consisting of Ogham letters, the Celtic Tree Oracle.

Just now, during the planetary hour of Mars (ג), I opened my new deck, shuffled the cards of magical Ogham letters, and drew out one card - drawing forth with it, the initiatory energy which shall characterize this deck.

The card holds the letter Coll, corresponding to the Hazel tree, mediation, measurement and calculation. In Celtic mysticism, Hazel/Coll is associated with the Druids, who:

are inheritors of the knowledge of measurement and calculation of the earlier 'dodmen', the prehistoric surveyors of the ley lines and trackways portrayed in the ancient chalk-cut figure of the Long Man of Wilmington, shown holding staves or rods. Also skilled in the Law, the Druids were called upon to mediate disputes concerning property and land boundaries, much as present day surveyors.

In other words, the magic of this card pertains to laying out mystical pathways and setting up the boundaries of the Land. This card Coll resonates in perfect harmony with my earlier parsha entry about the Land - Walking With Giants.

The word dodmen comes from the Welsh word dodi meaning to lay or place.

Coll means life force within as a channel for creative energy, to catalyze and mediate manifest transformation.

Hazel/Coll in Celtic Folklore

House Of Levi, Beit HaBechirah

כ"ח טבת תשס"ט
Grael 29

These are the heads of their fathers' houses (the sons of Reuben, the first born of Israel) ... Shemot 6:14 (contains feminine phrasing - 'beit')
אֵלֶּה, רָאשֵׁי בֵית-אֲבֹתָם

Last night I dreamt.

I remember arriving to a tunnel-like gathering place for 'different ones'. The tunnel was like those under cities and road overpasses and such. We had gathered there of our own volition - in other words, we hadn't been driven there by fear or anything. We were there because we chose to be there among one another - like gypsies we were.

Some of our group were dancing, some talking, some just hanging out. As a new arrival, I was looking for someone. For some reason, I asked "are there any Druids here?" I was looking for a Druid among us.

Suddenly, I was standing in the shallows of the sea. The head of a man was brought up to just under the surface of the seawater to me by fishermen. I sensed that the man to whom this head belonged was part of my own soul and the Druid of my inquiry.

I didn't let the fishermen bring the man's head up out of the water completely - I had them return it to the safety of the deeper seawater before it had been exposed to air. For some reason, I felt that this was critical to resurrecting him. Then, sort of like in the movie Titanic, I entered into the depths of the sea and joined him. This too, was critical to our resurrection.

These are the heads of the fathers' houses of the Levites (according to their families) ... Shemot 6:25 (contains masculine phrasing - 'levi'im')
אֵלֶּה, רָאשֵׁי אֲבוֹת הַלְוִיִּם

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

A Home In Paradise

This exquisite little home is located on the Hebrides Islands, some of which allow no cars. Can you dream it? Of ancient mysteries and magical landscapes, the islands are paradise.

Sabbath Soul From The Mist Of Ab Duir

כ"ו תשרי התשס"ט
Blodlessing 27

Sabbath Soul From The Mist of Ab Duir at Garden Of The Dark Moon Jubilee

Transforming Curse Into Blessing

י"ט תשרי התשס"ט
Blodlessing 20

The Old Ways, Transforming Curse Into Blessing

The eighth shaman stone in my Temple Collection is a tektite. Among the driest rocks on earth, "with an average water content of 0.005%", yet thought to have been formed in underwater craters through meteor impact, it shamanically represents the Ancestral Well of Knowledge and Transforming Curse into Blessing.

Oddly, all week I have been planning to write of my eighth stone today, and yesterday evening, my mother obtained a DVD to watch over the weekend. That video was The Ring. In the video is a well exactly like the one pictured for the chapter on this shaman stone in my book.

At the end of the film, the main female character who ultimately survives her viewing of the film's "video curse", in trying to figure out how to save her son from the curse when others have perished, she asks herself the question with respect to another viewer of the video who failed to survive - "what did I do that he didn't do?" She realizes that she had made a copy of the video.

She had made a copy. Interesting. Kabbalistically, making a copy is a function of Atik Yomin:

The term Atik Yomin, "the Ancient of Days," implies absolute transcendence in relation to "the days of the world," the normative consciousness of created reality. The word Atik in addition to "ancient" means "to copy." It is the Divine power "to copy" a higher reality or world onto a lower. Thus, the Atik of a world serves as a totally superconscious DNA-like code to copy higher reality onto lower.

Catrin James (Doorways to the Otherworld) writes of Ancestral Knowledge of the Old Ways which is borne in the blood:

(He) was born with knowledge of the old highways and byways, the mountain routes, that these were in his blood too. He did not need to learn them, he had inherited them, he already knew them. I remember in my own childhood too, old women with herbal knowledge. They said that they too did not need to learn, they had been born with it. "In the Blood."

We inherit much more than just the colour of our eyes, or whether we are tall or short, and so on and so forth. We inherit the dreams and memories of which I speak, we inherit gifts, which may go far beyond mundane gifts or even creative gifts, they may be gifts of the soul, like how to calm a storm or still the seas.

The synchronicity of the DVD showing up with its well symbolism just as I prepared to write of the Ancestral Well of Knowledge shaman stone clearly informs me that I and my stone have surely tapped into this magical-mystical reservoir, from where the power to make a copy of the higher reality and to project it onto the lower reality dwells. Knowledge of the Old Ways lives in my Blood and has surely been resurrected in my life. What an absolute treasure for me me as I near the holy day of Simchat Torah and the sabbat of Samhain!

With ancestral knowledge a theme of this entry, using a design based upon those from medieval Celtic tradition, shown (one closed atop one open) is the handmade grey leather pouch in which my shaman stones are kept. It's 17" wide when open, 8" wide when closed, and has matching drawstring soutache cording. In Celtic tradition, this is called a Crane bag, and appears in a Welsh myth of Ceridwen, one of my primary magical Patronesses. Crane bags are similar to Native American medicine bags and an Irish version of the Holy Grail - both of these traditions are also among my ancestral inheritances as is the Jewish tradition of transforming curse into blessing. All come together with perfect peace in my practice.

With Six Letters, Three Cauldrons Of One Torah

י"ז תמוז התשס"ח
Faunus 19


Scribal oddity of two 'n's as found in Torah scroll (shown aove).

The Celtic Ogham alphabet of the Druids is called Beth-Luis-Nuin. Through designating the Ogham alphabet beth-luis-nuin, in some manner then, the three letters (beth, luis, nuin) call out the soul of the Ogham into active creative manifestation. In other words, the letters symbolize the three creative rays of Awen, and the creative energy of the Divine Feminine known in kabbalah as hashra'ah.

From the perspective of a Jewitch, beth-luis-nuin have correspondences to the Hebrew letters Beit-Lamed-Nun. In Torah, beit-lamed-nun symbolize the soul of Torah.

Beit-Beth, with a 'b' sound, is the first letter (בְּ) of the first word 'bereshit' (בְּרֵאשִׁית) in the first book of Torah, Genesis (called in Jewish tradition 'Bereshit'). The six letters of the word 'bereshit' can mean 'with six'.

Lamed-Luis, with an 'l' sound, is the last letter (ל) in the last word 'Yisrael' (יִשְׂרָאֵל) in the last book of Torah, Devarim (Deutereonomy). The word "Yisrael' is a mystical codeword for the collective soul of humanity to whom Torah belongs. 'Torah' is a mystical codeword for the 'keys to creative messianic consciousness'.

In the Hebrew language, the letters lamed-beit spell the word לב, pronounced 'lev' (a hard beit is pronounced 'v', a soft beit is pronounced 'b'), a word meaning 'heart'. The 'heart' of Torah, comprising the soul of Torah, symbolizing the entire Torah, from the last letter to the first letter, the alpha and the omega, speaks forth the realization of humankind's messianic potential and inherent Divinity.

Nun-Nuin. The messianic and Divine consciousness of humankind is symbolized by the 'n' sound, represented actively by the Hebrew letter nun and the Ogham letter nuin.

Two letters with the 'n' sound comprise a significant and unique scribal oddity found in Torah. The two odd 'n's are called nun hafucha (inverted nun, like an introspective 'n' among the Hebrew alphabet) and nun m'zuneret (isolated nun, like the 'n' among the Ogham alphabet set apart from the Hebrew alphabet). Between the two n's are set apart two verses (Numbers 10:35-36) within the midst of the entire Torah. The two verses are said to comprise a link to an entirely new inner arrangement within Torah, one which will be revealed during the golden age of messianic consiousness among humankind.

Taken together, with six letters from both the Hebrew and Ogham alphabets, are three cauldrons of Torah creation letters called forth. Brewing within the three cauldrons of Torah creation letters is the birthright of humankind - Divine messianic consciousness.

Six Letters, Three Cauldrons, Two Alphabets, One Torah

The heart of Torah is the heart of the Ogham. Hebrew and Ogham (shefifon) are elucidations of the same root soul (serayah) of the Divine soul of humanity.

With six letters (beth, beit, luis, lamed, nuin, nun), through three cauldrons (of emanation, creation and formation) is the entire atzilutic-messianic Torah called forth and made manifest.

Fith Fath

כ"ה סיון התשס"ח
Alban Heruin 26

~I will go in the name of God, in the likeness of deer, in likeness of horse, in likeness of serpent, in likeness of King. More victorious am I than all others.

~Scots Gaealic invocation for justice~

Point to Point - Point, Line, Area Consciousness - 3 stages of spiritual development

Point Consciousness 1 - the name of God (Keter)
Point Consciousness 2 - likeness of King (Malchut)

Line to Area Consciousness - likeness of deer, likeness of horse, likeness of serpent

More articles on fith fath (pronounced fee-faw):

Fith Fath Shapeshifting
Shapeshifting in Celtic Myth
Druid Magic
The Deer's Cry In Celtic Shamanism
Celtic Spells & Charms

Her Torah Rising Up From Below

ה' סיון התשס"ח
Alban Heruin 6

Last evening's motzi shabbat divination consisted of 3 Hebrew letters and 1 Ogham letter.

תיו - Torah from the earth; Her Torah, an earth-based shamanic configuration anchored in Truth through the letter tav (ת), projecting through Her hand (י), Torah (ו)

and the letter ailm - the fid of an epiphany

This divination followed the Tzohar dream vision of the single cell-like tav-like Newgrange-like iron framework of an inner temple room simultaneously, both coming down from above and rising up from below. It also connects to my Hebrew name, Liorah ליאורה, whose Torah pasuk of remembrance is Devarim 30:12:

ל א בשמים, הוא: לאמר, מי יעלה-לנו השמימה ויקחה לנו, וישמענו א תה, ונעשנה
It is not in the heavens, that I should say, who can go up and get it for me that I may observe it.

Cells Of A Song

Hishtavut - Her Sound In The Garden

כ'ו באייר תשס"ח
Mab 27

Erev Shabbat (counting yet not counting yesod of yesod - or 41 days which is 5 weeks and 6 days of the Omer - by both the Ari and the Gra), a long line of tornadic thunderstorms rolled through the midwest. In some of the surrounding counties hailstones the size of golf balls came down, Doppler Radar 4x reported live on channel 10 last night. Several tornadoes touched down. In Indianapolis, CNN reports this morning:

At least 14 people were injured late Friday night as a severe thunderstorm with at least one possible tornado ripped through Indianapolis' east side and other nearby counties.

Buildings were heavily damaged at the Falcon Point apartments on Marietta Drive, off 38th Street and Mitthoeffer Road.

About 150 people from the complex were evacuated to John Marshall Middle School.

Foxnews reports that no deaths have resulted from the severe tornadic storms that rolled through the area last night. That 150 people were evacuated to the Middle School is particularly interesting, because this is what happened to me last evening.

What would the Shabbat storm tell me?

During the height of the storm in my area, I prepared and dressed my Shabbat candles, one of which was a stone charged, herbally charged earth element green pillar candle. Carved with mystic symbols, dressed with my own blend of Ceridwen oil, and handrolled with a special faery blend of botanicals, I brought their flames to life.

Then, I went to get a stick of dragon's blood incense. Only, after picking up the package of dragon's blood, I decided I wanted to use a stick of Witches Brew instead. Opening the drawer to one of my herb cabinets, I pulled out a package of Witches Brew stick incense. I have several packages of Witches Brew stick incense. I held for a moment the first sealed package I had picked up in my hand, then replaced it back into the cabinet drawer, picking up a different package of Witches Brew that had been taped closed. Not this one. Exchanging the packages for a second time, I returned to the first package I had originally picked up, opened it and pulled out a stick of Witches Brew incense.

אב with a gematria of 3, restoration of the broken vav of shalom.

The incense-containing ends of the incense in packages of Witches Brew are not visible. One chooses an incense stick by the bare wood ends that rest near the opening of the package. The Witches Brew incense stick I pulled out was split several inches up the grain of the wood on the now-double (like Shabbat loaves joining 7 heavens with the ark of the covenant in the core of the earth) ended incense-bearing end of the stick. In other words, the bare end was whole (one) and the incense end was split (two). Both lengths of the split bore the Witches Brew blend of botanicals. I lit both ends simultaneously in the earth elemental Shabbat candle flame and placed the incense stick smoldering side down into the Celtic triquetra smoking bottle style incense burner on my altar.

My shamanic alphabet divination consisted of 3 Hebrew letters and 1 Ogham letter.

First, around 8:22 p.m., using my standard and rather simple procedure (where I do not see the 3 letters I am selecting from among 22 otiot), I pulled out 3 Hebrew letter cards, in this order:

קלכ

With a gematria of 150, the word means 'your sound' as found in Bereshit 3:10 - "and I heard the 'sound of your voice' in the garden."

Then, also according to my simple standard procedure (where I also do not see the 1 letter I am selecting from among 20 feda, each fid pyrographed into one of my 20 Ogham staves), I pulled out 1 Ogham letter stave:

Nin - the letter of support, connection, feminine power and writing for clarity and contract. It can also mean "fork" (like my Witches Brew incense stick was "forked" at one end). A fork is a bifurcation within chaos with the power to radically change the course of reality and history.

In Ogam, Weaving Word Wisdom, Erynn Rowan Laurie writes on nin:

[Nin is a fid of] weaving together individuals and energies into a greater tapestry of cooperation and peace. In Gaelic terms it expresses a concept akin to the Lakota phrase mitakuye oyasin or "all my relations". Nin is a fid of relationships, both familial and conceptual.

Relationships with others also bring obligation as well as support. Where you are supported, you are also in a place to provide support to others who need your assistance. Nin is the fid of a friend.

Nin's magic is that of weaving and community creation. It can be used to help bring people together for a common cause, and is good for working on peace projects and other tasks that bring disparate people and communities together. Its link with letters and contracts means that it can be used in workings for clarity and understanding in written communications and to help keep legal proceedings in a clear and cooperative space.

With the celestial current, this fid is one of clarity and communication. It suggests harmony and peace in relationships, and speaks of friendship, cooperation and common cause among diverse people. Nin brings connections through communication, and urges you to look for deeper meaning. Nin's link with writing and contracts by necessity brings a connection with the law and the establishment of social order through legal means.

Legally whole peace of rare strength.

Nin corresponds to the ash tree and the herb nettle.

Nettle cloth is stronger and wears better than linen, though fewer fibers can be gleaned from nettle than from flax.

In Ogam, The Celtic Oracle Of Trees, Paul Rhys Mountfort writes on nin/ash:

Ash is a check on peace, for from it [the ash tree] are made the spear shafts by which peace is broken [or restored].

Erynn and Paul both teach that according to Celtic tradition, ash/nin corresponds to 'the contest, boast or flight of women.' Consequently, the contest of women can break peace apart or women's weaving can bring it together into a freedom song of flight. The reality of whole peace or broken quasi-peace/war is given over to the Divine Feminine, manifesting through the collective soul of Womankind.

Paul writes further on nin/ash:

Nin is the ash, a great and sacred tree in Celtic mythology ... presiding over the processes of transformation and manifestation.

This ogam is linked to fate. This does not mean that destiny is iron-cast, but points to the unique fate-path that you have to pursue in this world - one which, although it contains many possible options, is singular to you and no one else. Nin counsels you to regard the continuous unfolding of events as signposts, prompting and guiding you on your journey.

It also challenges you to take up the wand of manifestation and make reality anew for yourself. Positivity, creative visualization, ritual and spellcraft are all instruments of manifestation you may wish to draw upon.

One of ash's greatest features is the massive height to which the tree grows; up to 150 feet. It has quite a sheer trunk with widely spaced branches, and this pole-like appearance contributed to its association in Celtic and Nordic thought to the axis mundi: the central column and axis that supports the sky. As such, it also appears as a type of bridge between the earth and heavens.

Ogam wands were originally made of ash, and the root word nin means 'letters'.

In both cases [of illustrative myth stories shared in the book] we see a symbolic transformation or rite of passage from being controlled by fate to having it in one's own hands. From this flow nin's associations as a tree letter of empowerment in matters of transformation and destiny. In drawing the nin, it is as if you have been handed a magical tool of ash with which to work your will in the world.

I carved the letter nin into my Jewitch wand (the two forms of the letter shin already carved into it at the wand's initial creation), a tool of destiny within my hands, here now in this post with real-world and earthy correspondences to:

* magical letters of creation and transformation

* shins of chochmah (300) and binah (150-150), distinct yet as one

* the middle pillar, ha-emtsa

* hishtavut, magical-mystical balance (nin/150 - קלכ/150) and achieving an immunity to curses

* double-loaved challah, tikun and transformation of evil into holiness

* transformation of a 'curse' (קלל) into a 'blessing' (קלכ)

* restoration of the Divine Feminine

* restoration of the Kohenet Tzedeket (axis mundi, tzadikim nistarim)

* unification (height of nin and gematria of קלכ equals 300/shin)

* restoration of the broken vav of peace (the halved, broken wand of Pinchas transformed into a messianic split middle vav of the Hebrew letter shin)

By this time after carving my wand, the fury of the storm had passed over, but it was still raining heavily and thunderous outside, with lightning dancing across the dark skies. I went outside, felt the magic of the fiercely gentle wind in my face, and let the cool rainwater pour over me as I walked widdershins (holding the essential power of Dark Light) 3 times and 4 upon the wet sacred ground where I walked barefoot like a point of connection joining the entire expanse of heaven with the center of the earth. I felt the soft current of connection sparkling most intimately through the soles of my feet - the heat of the heart of heaven joined to the heat in the womb of the earth as they collided together in the wet cool grass against my skin.

Wholy awesome!

Kept in a black resin pentacle box at the face of my altar when not in ritual use, I slept with my spirit cord around my waist this Shabbat night last night.

Related entry:
Shalshelet HaKabbalah: Weaving A New World, The Filled Nine

Coarse Grains Of Redemptive Blessing

י'ד בניסן תשס"ח
Annwyn 15

In follow up to Transformative Pesach Prophecy, several elucidating ideas emerge from Ceridwen's cauldron of transformative prophecy.

Pesach-Beltaine Connection

Pesach Sheni is May 19 (Iyar 14, corresponding to the time we count the 30th day of the Omer) and astrological Beltaine (Beltaine Sheni) is May 4 (Annwyn 30) this year of 5768. Consequently, both Pesach Sheni and Beltaine Sheni come together through a "time" value of 30.

Ceridwen is associated in Celtic witchcraft with Beltaine. Yet, Ceridwen delivered to me a prophecy associated with Pesach. Taken together, Ceridwen represents for me stepping above the time of both, transcendently joining together Pesach and Beltaine.

As a lunar goddess, Ceridwen is linked with blessings bestowed through Yesod into Malchut. Pesach Rishon this year is April 20 (Nissan 15). The full moon of the witches' month of Annwyn is called the Drawing Down The Moon full moon, also on April 20 (Annwyn 16), suggesting a time through which the redemptive blessings are bestowed is April 20, which is the date of both Pesach Rishon and the Drawing Down full moon of Annwyn.

Grains Of Redemptive Blessing

The blessings bestowed from Ceridwen's cauldron are redemptive, drawn down from the powerful full moon which marks redemption from Mitzrayim, which is Pesach in Jewish tradition.

In Celtic tradition, six sacred grains of spellcraft were brewed as a grael in Ceridwen's cauldron. In terms of middot (measures), 6 grains = 388.79346 milligrams.

388 is the gematria of למשיח meaning "belonging to Mashiach"

79346 represents the five letters ודגטז, where five identifies the Divine Feminine of both Binah and Malchut. The five letters have a combined gematria of 29 - the same gematria as a Torah word used in Bereshit 48:16 to bestow blessing upon both children of Yosef, namely וידגו meaning "and let them grow".

And Yisrael blessed them saying, "let my name be named in them, and the name of my fathers Abraham and Isaac; and let them grow into a multitude in the midst of the earth."

Taken together, Ceridwen's cauldron contains and "bestows the receptive" blessing "belonging to Mashiach" and "of Yisrael", suggesting that Ceridwen is the unified feminine archetype corresponding to masculine Yisrael. Importantly, Ceridwen represents she who bestows the blessing which ignites messianic consciousness, causing it to grow into a multitude in the midst of the earth, as waters cover the sea. Within the letter-sets of both blessings are the letters of the sha'ar (gate) דג, implying quick multiplication in great numbers.

The word וידגו (of Yisrael's blessing) begins with the letter ו, with a value of six, like the six grains of spellcraft brewed in Ceridwen's cauldron. Similarly, the letter-set ודגטז (of Ceridwen's blessing) also begins the the letter ו.

Yet differently, the word of Yisrael's blessing ends with a ו (the letter of connection) while the letter-set of Ceridwen's blessing ends with a ז (the letter of selection). Thus, Ceridwen's blessing represents the extension of Yisrael's blessing into manifest reality. Also, his blessing contains the letter י (a letter of projective energy, שפע), while her blessing contains the letter ט (a letter of receptive energy, קבל).

Ceridwen (Boudicca) and Yisrael (Yaakov) are parallel quantum coarse grains (one primarily an involutionary stream and one primarily an evolutionary stream of consciousness), who together, decohere consciousness into manifest history as described in my poem Coarse Grained Histories, Dialog With The Divine.

Related entry: Ceridwen Candle Dressing Oil

Transformative Pesach Prophecy

י'ג בניסן תשס"ח
Annwyn 14

I woke up in the middle of the night last night with a vision imprinted upon my mind. In the vision, I was sitting at my office desk working on all the extra work that has been put upon me recently (which, by the way, I am successfully making my way through this immense sea of work). Ceridwen, the archetypal Celtic goddess of prophecy and transformation, walked through the doorway into my office. She had a look of controlled anger about her, as if she was restraining herself mightily against some injustice. She also had a halo, like the one she wears in my bronze statue of her cauldron and she (shown, click to enlarge). With Ceridwen's appearance, came the words "warning" and "the writers" (ה-כותבים).

The two messages were one essential communication, each message corresponding to the communication on a different perceptual level.

"Warning" was telepathic and completely encompassing and encircling, like Ceridwen's halo. It was non-local, yet focused sufficiently to be perceived by me. It was sufficient. It was enough. It was Divine Justice (Tzedek, Yesod, Shaddai). The word "warning" contained that sent forth into the world to deliver justice.

"The writers" was spoken telepathically through the archetypal goddess herself. Archetypes are matrices of Beriyah. Beriyah is the universe of discernment, distinction and the letter ה (the letter written in red upon the doorways of the Hebrews in Mitzrayim, and a prefix meaning "the"). Ceridwen, as the archetypal Celtic goddess of prophetic writing, is an archetypal "shoresh" (root) of all writers. Thus, Ceridwen, the root of all writers, spoke like an Elohim of writers, her words "the writers" writing the letter ה upon my doorway(s) as she entered. She was The Writer in my vision.

As well as being the goddess archetype of all prophetic writing, Ceridwen is a goddess archetype of transformation. "Writers" comes from the Hebrew shoresh כתב, meaning "to write" and "to record". A phonetic cognate of כתב is קטב, meaning "killing" and to "die suddenly". The firstborn of Mitzrayim died suddenly, receiving the root קטב as opposed to the root כתב. In my vision, כתב came with a ה. The firstborn who were killed in Mitzrayim had no ה. Thus, Ceridwen transformed קטב (shoresh of "killing") into כתב (shoresh of "writers"), attached a ה, and spoke to me this written message of deliverance.

Related news.

This morning, Illinois experienced a predawn magnitude 5.2 earthquake. In Mount Carmel, Illinois, "a porch collapsed, briefly trapping a woman in her home." CNN reports "she wasn't hurt and was freed quickly." Interesting Mount Carmel connection to Eliyahu, another prophetic archetype.

Two messages of one essential communication.

Two prophetic archetypes delivering one essential communication.

Light Of The Land

י'ג באדר ב' תשס"ח
Raven 14

Today is Ostara (Alban Eilir), the Sabbat fire festival marking the vernal equinox, which fell at 12:48 AM this morning in my time zone. Ostara celebrates the light of the land (aur ha-aretz), the astronomical first day of spring and renewal.

Aurora Borealis, The Northern Lights

Rider

כ'ז בחשון תשס"ח

In my previous entry I mentioned the Druidic concept of the airts, quoting Nigel Pennick:

The fourfold division of the world, and its further subdivision into eight directions known as airts is derived directly from the structure of the human body and its interaction with the physical structure and processes of the planet upon which we evolved and upon which we live.

According to Druidic teachings, there are 12 airts or "winds of the directions".

In my mind, these 12 Druidic airts (the fourfold division and the eight "directions" evolving from the division) correspond to the 12 elemental letters (shteym esarah pshutot) as described in Sefer Yetzirah 5:2 as 12 diagonal "Boundaries" or "Arms" of the Universe, which parallel the 12 "tribes" of Yisrael.

According to Sefer Yetzirah, above the "Arms of the Universe" is the "Place" of the Universe. Interestingly, in my dream, also posted earlier today, the lethal stormclouds were "passing over" my "locations", yet I was in a Hiding Place, where "Place" refers to a singular unified description of "locations" (where locations correspond to the infinite "Boundaries of the Universe").

As I was posting the earlier entry, I was perplexed of perception as to why "locations" was clearly the symbolism expressed in my dream as associated with the limited "sight" of the stormclouds. Thus, while it emerges that the stormclouds operated over the level of "locations", at the level of Place, looking for me, I was safely over even that, Dwelling in my "Hiding Place" "from where" I rode out (or outrode) the storm.

Axis Of The Land

כ'ו בחשון תשס"ח

Small excerpts from an interesting new book I recently acquired - Secret Signs, Symbols & Sigils by Nigel Pennick:

Writing and symbols, art and architechture, technology and warfare are all structured according to the human body.

The fourfold division of the world, and its further subdivision into eight directions known as airts is derived directly from the structure of the human body and its interaction [emphasis mine] with the physical structure and processes of the planet upon which we evolved and upon which we live. At the centre of this fourfold division is the individual person, the source, fount and origin, the naval, the relic of the point from which each of us developed as an embryo within our mother.

Naval points in the landscape [of feminine malchut, for example - my addition] are known in geomantic terminology by its Greek name omphalos. This terminology, calling the central point a naval, reiterates the slain giant motif of the primal creation of the world, where each part of the human being is reflected in its corresponding structure in the world.

In human beings, the naval is the vestige of the umbilical cord which once connected the unborn baby to the placenta in the mother's womb. Through the omphalos, the material world is linked by a cosmic axis "upwards" to the creative, generative upperworld and downward to its complimentary opposite, the degenerative or destructive underworld.

This pattern of a centre in this world linked by an axis to the upper world above and the netherworld below is the basis for traditional sacred cosmology. It exists throughout the world in different cultural contexts.

It is the stable structure of society without which there is disorder and disintegration.

The determination of such a powerful cosmic centre [the teli - my addition], so vitally important in psychological as well as social terms, was one of the major tasks of the augur or locator - many folk tales recall these arduous quests.

Such is the mystery of the relationship between microcosm and macrocosm, "as above, so below". The central naval of the earth, symbolically represents the fixed point at which other states of consciousness and spiritual evolution may be attained by those attuned to such things by dint of personal effort or divine designation.

The discovery of such a place of symbolic power, its definition and the geomantic act is enshrined in the mythos of dragonslaying in the stories of such luminaries as the Pagan heroes Cadmus, Siegfried and Beowulf, and in the Christian mythology, saints such as Beatus, George, Leonard, Martha and Michael and knights like Lord Lambton [and in Judaic stories such as David and Goliath - my addition].

In each of these legends, the dragon, wyrm or serpent that is killed is often taken to symbolise the earth energies which, sensitive people assert, roam, bewilderingly and dangerously free in the soil and the underlying rock formations beneath our feet.

In traditional society, the determination of the most powerful and appropriate location for the fixation of these geomantic energies was the task of the locator. After long and meticulous scrutiny of the site, [the locator] would decide upon the correct time to undertake the geomantic act.

According to geomantic symbolism, at the designated instant, when the forces were at their most malleable, and when the energies could best be tamed, the locator would drive a peg or staff, or perhaps a lance or sword into the earth as the culmination of the foundation ceremony.

All would be applied with the greatest care to ensure the efficacy of the geomantic act.

Piercing the ground at the optimal location appears to fix these wandering energies permanently in an accessible place ... commonly called a place of power.

Many depictions of the geomantic act show the hero or heroine [emphasis mine] transfixing the dragon with a stave, sword or spear, which frequently runs through the head to pin it to the ground below [like Yael of "a mother in Yisrael" fame in Torah - my addition].

This mystical concept is found in many places, most notably in the epithet of King Arthur's father, Uther Pendragon, high king of Britain. In Northern Tradition spiritual symbolic kingship, the strength and health of the monarch, as head of the nation, is indistinguishable from that of the land. When he or she is strong and worthy, the land flourishes in unity, peace, fruitfulness and prosperity. When he or she is weak or unworthy, the land distintegrates in crime, factionalism, greed and poverty. Also, once these magical aspects of kingship are no longer recognised, distintegration occurs. [My addition - once these magical aspects of kingship are again recognised, reintegration occurs.]

Symbolically, King Arthur's withdrawal of the sword from the stone to assert his right of kingship of Britain, is a reversal of the geomantic act. In removing the sword, Arthur frees the dragon power which, as Pendragon himself, the king can control. It appears to be of no coincidence that Arthur's military successes against the Saxon invader, were [like a wandering Jew - my addition] in mobile calvary warfare, not in static and centered defense.

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

[lines above from my poem The Torch]

The rulers ceased in Israel, they ceased, until that thou didst arise, Deborah, that thou didst arise a mother in Israel. ... Shoftim 5:7

Bringing Down Divine Knowledge

י"א בתשרי תשס"ח

In follow-up to my recent post (Dew Of Night) about being rescued by a mystical woman made of faerie folk (the Tuatha Dé Danann of the Druids), I first note that my Celtic middle name is Ann. Ann is a form of the name of the Celtic goddess Anu (also known as Danu, Dannan, Danand, Ana), mother goddess of the Tuatha Dé Danann. (Interestingly, Anu is also the name of a Semitic Akkadian god.)

Anu (אנו) is an extension of Ani ("I", אני a channel of Adonai) into further existence, from Ein Sof-Atzilut (י) into Yetzirah (ו). Ann (אנן) is formed through an extension of feminine intelligence (Binah of Beriyah) acting on the Hebrew letter vav (ו in Yetzirah) of Anu, changing it into a nun sofit (ן of Beriyah and/into Assiyah). A nun sofit implies an essence of "everlasting eternal faithfulness". Thus, my Celtic middle name Ann incorporates into it a line of acting feminine intelligence (emerging out of Aur Ein Sof) extending with everlasting eternal faithfulness throughout all 4 universes into physical reality.

Secondly and importantly, my name אנן like אני, is from the shoresh אנה meaning to "cause", "direct to a goal", "acknowledgement and "gratitude". Thus, I am a living embodiment of the Modah Ani prayer, the first prayer (of gratitude) we say in the morning immediately upon waking. The nun sofit in my name Ann is one tool through which I awakened from the dream described in Two Goats, Nogeáh V'eino Nogeáh .

Thirdly, through my name Ann, I am also a living embodiment of the Anu archetype, mother-goddess of the Tuatha Dé Danann who bring the Stone Of Fal (Lia Fal, prophetic stone of Destiny/Knowledge) to life. Yet, in addition to being Celtic, I am also Jewish. Thus, reflecting these two aspects of my unique identity, the stone I bring has a doubled letter "l" (lamed ל, learning/teaching); the stone I bring is this, my chotimah - Stone of FLL, in Hebrew:

גלעין (stone/kernel/revealing)
פלל (bringing together, mediating, judging, bringing down Divine Knowledge)



Modah ani l'fanecha melech hai v'kayam shehehezarta bi nishmati b'hemlah rabah emunatecha.

Unification Of Da'at

כ"ב באלול תשס"ז

I noted in my previous entry, Her Hands In Herstory:

The Divine Feminine "sun" of tevunah penetrates the darkness from December 19-23. The numbers comprise a "passage of time", namely 19, 20, 21, 22 and 23. The sum of these (ה) five "expressively feminine" numbers is 105, the gematria of a Hebrew word for "her palm" (כפה) and "her projective beauty" (ייפה importantly with two letters yod, symbolizing the Divine Name).

I further noted:

The ancient Temple of Newgrange still stands today in amazing wholeness as a witness to Her Endurance, year to year.

In additional observation - as the two letters yod יי in the configuration ייפה pertain to the Divine Name, the two remaining letters פה mean "Her mouth". The letter pei (פ) is the 17th letter of the aleph-beit, where 17 is the maximum number of minutes the chamber at Newgrange is lit up and is the gematria of "tov" (good טוב).

17, it is enough. dayeinu!

Tov is the 33rd word of the Torah. Thirty-three alludes to union of the 2 levels of da'at (knowledge).

Interestingly, the current Technorati "authority" of Walking On Fire is 33 (see sidebar).