The Ramblings and Wanderings

Archive for September, 2008

Traditional and Contemporary Witchcraft Ethics

Rather different from Wiccan ethics. In fact, many will say that Hedgecraft (and other Traditional and Contemporary Witchcraft Paths) has no moral code. And that may very well be true. However, there are certain ethics that I find most hedgewitches I come across do ascribe to.

Know thyself.

You are responsible for your self, your actions, words, thoughts and feelings.

There are consequences for everything. You must accept these consequences, as they are a result of your actions.

The witch who does not curse, cannot cure; The witch who does not cure, cannot curse.

Sometimes to heal is to harm, and to harm is to heal.

There can be no light without the dark, nor can there be dark without the light.

Be practical.

You are a part of nature.

Respect the lessons of history and of the ancestors.

Seek truth.

In Hardwood Groves

The same leaves over and over again!
They fall from giving shade above
To make one texture of faded brown
And fit the earth like a leather glove.

Before the leaves can mount again
To fill the trees with another shade,
They must go down past things coming up.
They must go down into the dark decayed.

They must be pierced by flowers and put
Beneath the feet of dancing flowers.
However it is in some other world
I know that this is way in ours.

Robert Frost

A Field Guide to Otherkin by Lupa

Plant Spirit Shamanism: Traditional Techniques for Healing the Soul by Ross Heaven, Howard G. Charing, and Pablo Amaringo

Irish Witchcraft by Lora O’Brien

Identifying and Harvesting Edible and Medicinal Plants in Wild (and Not So Wild) Places – Steve Brill

Peterson First Guides: Trees – George Petrides, Olivia Petrides , Janet Wehr

The Essential Guide to Herbal Safety – Simon Mills

The Dictionary of Modern Herbalism: A Comprehensive Guide to Practical Herbal Therapy – Simon Mills

The Magical Garden: Spells, Charms, and Lore for magical Gardens and the Curious Gardeners Who Tell – Sophia and Denny Sargent

The Elements of Natural Magic (Elements of) – Marian Green

The Complete Book of Herbs: A Practical Guide to Growing and Using Herbs – Lesley Bremness

Green Pharmacy: The History and Evolution of Western Herbal Medicine – Barbara Griggs

The Healing Power of Celtic Plants: Their History, Their Use, and the Scientific Evidence That They Work – Angela Paine

The Nature Path – Starhawk

Natural Magic – Doreen Valiente

Gaia: A New Look at Life on Earth  James Lovelock

The Wild Plant Companion: A Fresh Understanding of Herbal Food and Medicine – Kathryn G. March

Leechcraft: Early English Charms, Plantlore and Healing – Stephen Pollington

Herbs of the Northern Shaman – Steve Andrews

Ecoshamanism: Sacred Practices of Unity, Power and Earth Healing – James Endredy

Or what I did for the Second Harvest

I attended a CWA of BC ritual for the Equinox (I went to the Lughnasadh one as well) Link: http://www.cwabc.org/ in Kelowna BC, actually it was held in Oyama at a beautiful park that is basically a small peninsula on Kalamaka Lake. The ritual was lead by Andrea (of the CWA) and Tad (of the Druid’s Hearth, see links), with a number of other people helping. There were about 15 people who attended. I got to help too, which was fun/scary because I haven’t done much group work in the last couple of years.
The sky darkened and started to rain just as the set-up was done and Andrea was rounding everyone up to start. So for a few minutes we toyed with Tad’s awning but, of course, as soon as the guys had it half built, the sky cleared a little and it stopped raining.
It was a lovely non-denominational (hehe Eclectic) Wiccan ritual, with kind of an apple theme, very appropriate for the Okanagan. The Circle lined with apples looked very Harvest-y and pretty. Andrea chose to cast the Circle with Tad’s sickle, which was pretty cool and nicely in theme.
There was a new lady there, Andrea and I ran her through kind of a quick orientation. Which reminded me of some notes I took once years ago on doing just such a thing. I shall have to dig them out
I discovered my Wiccan ritual has gotten a little rusty and my script reading and memorizing even more so. Which is funny, how long does it take to unlearn what you have learned eh?
In true form; I delivered all my lines in dramatic fashion. I can’t help it lol. One of my first teachers (not that I’ve had many or anything) was a HP who was into theatre and had some drama training in college (hi Amber!) Sadly, I had to move out of province before I even finished my Dedicant training (yeah, I ain’t special) with her Coven (which was very Alexandrian). But I could almost hear her voice whip cracking: “Emote! Say it like you mean it” hehe I might have been a little over the top.
There was a great drummer there, which was good. I have no sense of rhythm. There were a lot of chants. I hate chants myself, but they are important for group ritual, especially open Circles because it allows everyone to participate.
The ritual was very pretty, with elements of Reclaiming in it, and therefore very eco-friendly. Which makes the tree-hugger in me happy. Andrea and Tad did a great job. Everyone did a great job.
One lady shared a lovely story about hearing standing stones sing while traveling in Ireland. And another shared her and her husband’s story of how the Okanagan Pagan community came together to help them during a time of tragedy. I think when we look at the Pagan community in a broad general sense, from a distance; we see something fractured and fighting. But at the grass-roots level, it is often a different story. Take that Internet!
Tad found a real cool flannel/cotton fabric that was black on black plaid and wanted to make a robe. So I helped him with the measuring. But I didn’t do any of the cutting or sewing. The robe turned out pretty darn good and he looked quite sharp in it. I always forget how much I enjoy things like sewing or knitting. Now I’m inspired.
We made potato and veggie soup and it got a little over cooked on the camp stove (oops) but it was still good and hot, and since it was lightly raining and a bit chilly, the soup was perfect.
After the ritual, during clean up, a doe, a deer, a female deer, wandered by and everyone was trying to roll apples towards it to feed it lol I walked down and got pretty close to it. There’s a trick to getting close to deer: Act like you’re approaching a King or Queen. Because you are *wink*
A single rainbow and a double rainbow came up over the lake as we were loading the cars and we decided that it was probably a good sign.
All in all, it was a good day.

2: the handing down of information, beliefs, and customs by word of mouth or by example from one generation to another without written instruction

3: cultural continuity in social attitudes, customs, and institutions

4: characteristic manner, method, or style <in the best liberal tradition>

2 a: simultaneous b: marked by characteristics of the present period : modern , current

2: In England, the term ‘witch’ was not used exclusively to describe malevolent magicians, but could also indicate cunning folk. “There were a number of interchangeable terms for these practitioners, ‘white’, ‘good’, or ‘unbinding’ witches, blessers, wizards, sorcerers, however ‘cunning-man’ and ‘wise-man’ were the most frequent.”

3: Sometimes known as the practice of the religion Wicca.

4: The practice of folk religion.

5: The practice of folk magick.

6: The practice of folk healing.

7: A varied nature based spiritual and magickal practice that stems from ancient European practises.

2: “superstition”; rituals to ward off the Evil Eye, curses, demons, witchcraft etc.

3: blessing of animals and crops (fertility rites), food, vehicles, buildings etc.

1: In English history, the cunning man or cunning woman is a professional or semi-professional folk magic user up until the 20th century and, to a lesser degree, to the present day. Such people were also frequently known as wizards, wise men, wise women, witch doctors or conjurers. The term white witch was infrequently used for cunning folk until recent times, except in the county of Devon.

Thanks:

Merriam-Webster, answers.com, wikipedia,

The Evolution of a Book of Shadows

I began walking my spiritual Path at the age of 14. From about the ages of 14 to 18, my BoS was 70% photocopied from books and other people’s BoS (the internet was still fairly new at the time) and about 15% printed material found online, 10% beautiful drawings and illustrations and 5% hand written notes, poetry and original stuff by me. But then, I WAS a teenager, and one who grew up in a world where handwriting things had gone out of style. The cover for my BoS was very plain, as I was in the broom closet at the time.

From roughly ages 19 to 23, my BoS began to develop in a much more personal and intellectual manner, not unlike my own development as a young adult. Out went much of the photocopies, though some were hand copied and put back in. By 23 my BoS was 10 % photocopies, 50% printouts from online (ah the heyday of Paganism breaking out into the internet), 10% illustrations, and 30% painstakingly hand written notes, prayers, research, poems, thoughts and ideas. My BoS now took up more than one 3-ring binder, so an Herbal and Grimoire were born. All three were leather bound, the leather hand burned (with a wood burner) with fancy spiral designs on them.

At 25 my main ritual BoS had an accident, much of it stained or destroyed by the spilling of a large cup of earl grey tea. And shortly after, my Herbal took a tumble while hiking and wound up partially submerged in a swamp.
Today, My BoS takes up five, 2-inch, 3-ring binders. The kind that are nylon and zip up, keeping the contents safe. I also have much of its content in plastic sheets!

There is my Ritual and spiritual BoS, my Herbal, my Grimoire (which has the least amount of pages in it), my Misc (for any oddball bits and pieces) and my Old Stuff. Old Stuff is full of papers that are partially damaged, not used that often anymore, or anything I feel is wasting space in the more “working” Books.

As of writing this my BoS is about 50% hand written, which is pretty good for someone who was taught to type, not write growing up, and 45 % printed from a computer. However, most of that material is still original work and notes (etc) BY ME, it is just typed. The stuff I really want memorized or that it very meaningful gets slowly and painfully handwritten, the rest is comfortably typed. I still do have some pages that are copied from other sources, but I know as years go by, more and more of that will find its way into Old Stuff. What illustrations survived are still there, in fact, my Herbal has many drawings of plants, and even some photos. And the covers of my waterproof binders are painted with mandala like designs.

What this rather long and possibly not very interesting essay is trying to say is:

Understand that things are different now, that kids are taught to type, not write. If it bothers you older generations so much that we type and need a calculator to do math, change the school curriculum and/or change how you teach the Craft. Spend some time at home with your kids and Craft students working on their handwriting, researching, and spelling skills, because they do not teach that at school any more.

Understand that in this age of instant gratification, the Internet, and search engine research, the youngsters are going to start out with a BoS that is mostly full of fluff and filler.

Understand that while someone may do something one way at 20, they will probably not be doing it that way at 30. Give us some time to mature and walk our path a little bit first. Let us make some mistakes and learn from them. Let us peek into your BoS and realize how much better something like your Book is. Give us time to grow up. Give the gods a chance to toss our Book into a swamp and make us start all over again.