Samhain 2007 C.E.

"Merry Samhain!"

Pattylinn's Tarot Experience

PATTYLINN'S TAROT EXPERIENCE
(a Salem-Turnopia Tale)

Dear Cousin Bertha:

Did you celebrate the last Full Moon in Lower Greybogg? It was in Taurus, I know that is your sign, so I figured you must really be full of energy. Unless your sign is badly aspected, that is... it must not be though, or mom would have asked me to light a candle for you, you know how she is about healing stuff. I got together with my Circle, we call ourselves the Full Moon Loonies, since Blanche is a member and her boyfriend is a werewolf, lol. Get it? Loonie? Full Moon? Werewolf Oh, what the hell. Anyway. We decided to stay sober this time after the ritual, (Blanche has a tendency to go overboard on the wine part of the cakes & wine after the full moon ceremonies).

May Witters decided that a full moon would be great for having a group tarot reading. She shuffled the deck, and each one of us (all 13) closed our eyes and picked one card. Then one at a time, we sent our card around the circle and so we had 12 readings on our card, each. It was really a great idea, and a lot of fun. Well, at leastit was fun until it was my turn to read Lorna Baywolf's card. I looked at her card, and it was the Major Arcana card called "The Fool". As you know, it shows a young man about to step off a cliff, totally unaware and not looking where he is going, with a little dog snapping at his heels. One of the meanings of it is taking a 'leap of faith'.

When I looked at it and concentrated, things around me started getting dim, and I felt myself falling into the card. I wound up on my backside with a "thump!" on the grass. The young man stopped stepping off the cliff and came over to help. The dog kept licking me in the face and yapping. Totally annoying! But the guy was really cute. After staring into his big brown eyes for a few minutes, I noticed that we were right there near the cliff. I asked him why in the heck he wasn't looking where he was going and about to walk off the cliff. He smiled at me... oooo, he had cute freckles and a sexy smile... and said he (Kevyn) was just waiting for someone like me to rescue him. Then he said that he had food wrapped up in the bandana he had on a stick, along with another set of clothes. There was actually wine and cheese in there! Pretty strong wine, too. And he could really kiss!

We were getting down to some really steamy kissing, when the dog came up and yapped at us and tried to drag Kevyn back toward the cliff. I kind of accidentally kicked him (hard) and he ran off yelping... the dog, that is. We had the nicest little afternoon interlude, which is a nice way of saying hot monkey sex, but then... The little dog came back and started snarling and biting at us, and we were so startled that we stepped backwards. Oops! We went fell off the cliff, wine bottle, bandana, and all.

And that is the true story of how I wound up falling in the middle of the tarot circle in my "birthday suit". Of course, I would deny it to anyone else but you, cousin. You know how good I am at binding spells, so I know you will keep my secret!

Lots of love, Your Cuz,

Pattylinn Paranorme
133 Spider Avenue
Salem-Turnopia

...........................................

© Copyright 10/28/07
Beth Clare Johnson
(Mystic Raven)

Vodoun

“Vodoun is clearly more than the ritual of the cult temple. It is an integrated system of concepts concerning human behavior, the relation of mankind to those who have lived before, and to the natural and supernatural forces of the universe. It relates the living to the dead and to those not yet born. It ‘explains’ unpredictable events by showing them to be consistent with established principles. In short, it is a true religion which attempts to tie the unknown to the known and thus create order where chaos existed before.”

Harold Courlander --
The Drum and the Hoe: Life and Lore of the Haitian People [1960]

What Is Magick?

What Is Magick

By
David Rankine
© copyright 1999, 2000, 2001 David Rankine

What is magick? Forget all the fallacies and stereotypical pre-conceptions taught to you out of fear and ignorance and approach this question with an open mind. You will probably find it is not what you have been taught to think. Magick has been defined as "The art and science of causing change to occur in conformity with will *1" which could be put more simply as making desired change happen; or as "energy tending to change"; a definition I use is "magick is conscious evolution through directing energy". This does not really explain magick though, so I will try to elaborate on these phrases without jargon.

An aim of magick is to train the mind by harnessing and making more consciously accessible such higher faculties as intuition, inspiration and the creative imagination, and by drawing on the power of the unconscious - to try and use more than the 10% of our brain's capacity that we do.

Magick assumes belief in, or rather experience of, subtle energies. We can only see about one seventieth of the light spectrum, yet what we cannot see still affects us - such as x-rays and ultraviolet light. Similarly, magick is about focusing more subtle, non-physical energies, and directing them to create change. To go about this requires experience, and training to improve the power of the mind, and specifically, the will.

Acts such as meditation, breath control, voice work, body work, visualization, drama, ritual, and others, are all designed to improve our body and mind, to better sharpen us and balance us, and to enable us to perceive and wield more subtle energies.

In the same way, an individual is as strong as their will, and the more balanced and integrated a person is, the stronger their will (note, this is probably one of the main reasons why so many magicians have experience of counselling and/or psychology, recognising the help these

processes can give, both through training and experiencing them. This also acts as a removal of farcical social stigma often attached to these processes).

Practising magick tends to act as a deconditioning mechanism and can be a subtle process, the longer you practice, the more you change and the unnecessary inhibitions, stigmas, guilts and sin complexes that society builds in are removed. This has the effect of releasing their energy into the psyche, where it can strengthen the individual.

The more physical side, such as yoga, bodywork, dance and massage, also removes the tension held in the body as body armour, and releases this and removes energy blockages which impair full efficiency and may result in illness.

Possibly the major difference between magick and many of the religious paths to spiritual growth is that magick is more dynamic, and places the emphasis on you to work for change - there are no gurus in magick, rather there are fellow students with different perspectives and experiences - we learn from each other, as in other areas of life.

Magick tends to work a lot with symbols, as these are the language of the unconscious, and this is an area of tremendous power to tap. Symbols have many functions, and one of these, released through magick, can be the ability to confound the ego and the censor mechanisms, and enabling us to perceive more subtle truths, or experience direct revelations. Although we may not be able to fully explain how symbols work, we know from experience that certain symbols seem harmonious with certain types of energy.

For example a magician may tell you that if you want to attract love you should wear green, and rose perfume, perhaps wear copper, like a bracelet or necklace, etc. These are all things attributed with Venus, who is associated with love, and so the principal is one of contagion - sympathetic magick, or making something happen by working with items linked to it. This is one of the oldest and most commonly practised forms of magick. Working with the symbols of a type of energy does seem to attract that energy.

A cautionary word here, magick is often seen as a way to hidden powers, and entered for the wrong reason, the "I want sex, power and lots of money" syndrome. Now there is nothing wrong with these things in themselves, but when you do magick you will discover that you tend to get what you need rather than necessarily what you want.

When you do magick you generally use techniques to alter your state of consciousness and raise energy, and then direct that energy to create a desired result. The channel that energy takes as directed by your altered state of consciousness is not necessarily the path you might expect in your normal everyday state. Magick does bring you power, yes, but it is powerover yourself, not other people. It is the power that is important, to grow and to create positive change.

This does not mean there is anything wrong with using magick to gain more physical things, there is nothing wrong with doing a ritual or spell to get a job, whereas trying to make a specific individual go to bed with you would be wrong. Magick is very much about intent, and if your intent is to get work, you are not imposing on people, whereas if you were trying to make somebody do something that they would not naturally do, you are imposing on their will.

If you did a ritual to attract love without specifying a person, but opening yourself to the opportunity to meet someone where love may arise, and to feel more attractive and better about yourself, you are not imposing, you are trying to create positive change.

Magick is a commitment to yourself, and it requires determination, perseverance, strength, openness to change and absence of rigidity, a love of life (including yourself), and a desire to grow and fulfil your potential. It may be that you already have all these qualities and do this already without calling it magick - magick is not about labels, and those who think and talk as if it is unfortunately put some people off. Magick is learning about the natural flows of energy in the universe, and working in harmony with them to effect positive change, both in yourself and in your environment.

Some people ask why magick is spelt with a 'k' on the end. This is to distinguish it from magic, associated in the popular mind with illusionism and prestidigitation, stage magic. Magick is not about illusion, it is about creating real change, and the 'k' signifies this. K is the eleventh letter of the alphabet, i.e. the one beyond ten. Symbolically this is very powerful, as we work in base ten, and eleven represents the unseen, or hidden energies - the subtle energies of magick, eleven is considered to be the number of magick.

Magickal training and experience bring forth the energies of the unconscious, and so it is no surprise to see that symbols become more important as you develop, providing not only the language of dream and the unconscious, but also helping create a more flexible perception grid of the universe. To grow spiritually, it is vital that you remain flexible and do not become dogmatic, rather that you are open to experience and willing to question your ideas and beliefs as a result of those experiences.

Magick can be a painful process. It is not easy to maintain the discipline and honest self-critical approach all the time. It can also be hard work dealing with the energy released without being knocked off balance sometimes. The important thing in these cases is to remain honest and keep at it. Nobody said magick was easy! It takes a lot of practice and hard work and pain, but the rewards are spiritual and mental growth, the joy of life and the beauty of unconditional love. Beyond the limits there are no limits!

-end-

-------------------------

© copyright 1999, 2000, 2001 David Rankine
www.avalonia.co.uk
This article may be reproduced for non-commercial purposes, providing that this original copyright notice stays in place at all times.

Tut's Death Resolved?

The following news stories are being looked into regarding their validity by the Temple of Kemetic Wicca:

"3000-year-old mystery behind King Tut's untimely death resolved"
http://feeds.bignewsnetwork.com/?sid=292917

"Death, Curse and Flowers" -
http://allaboutegypt-blog.blogspot.com/2007/10/death-curse-and-flowers.html

"King Tut died in a hunting mishap" -
http://zahihawasstvf.blogspot.com/2007/10/tut-died-in-hunting-mishap.html

Ancient Egyptian Customs

"The customs hitherto described are those of the Egyptians who live above the marsh-country. The inhabitants of the marshes have the same customs as the rest, as well in those matters which have been mentioned above as in respect of marriage, each Egyptian taking to himself, like the Greeks, a single wife; but for greater cheapness of living the marsh-men practise certain peculiar customs, such as these following. They gather the blossoms of a certain water-lily, which grows in great abundance all over the flat country at the time when the Nile rises and floods the regions along its banks - the Egyptians call it lotus - they gather, I say, the blossoms of this plant and dry them in the sun, after which they extract from the centre of each blossom a substance like the head of a poppy, which they crush and make into bread. The root of the lotus is likewise eatable, and has a pleasant sweet taste: it is round, and about the size of an apple. There is also another species of the lily in Egypt, which grows, like the lotus [lotos], in the river, and resembles the rose. The fruit springs up side by side with the blossom, on a separate stalk, and has almost exactly the look of the comb made by wasps. It contains a number of seeds, about the size of an olive-stone, which are good to eat: and these are eaten both green and dried. The byblus (papyrus), which grows year after year in the marshes, they pull up, and, cutting the plant in two, reserve the upper portion for other purposes, but take the lower, which is about a cubit long, and either eat it or else sell it. Such as wish to enjoy the byblus in full perfection bake it first in a closed vessel, heated to a glow. Some of these folk, however, live entirely on fish, which are gutted as soon as caught, and then hung up in the sun: when dry, they are used as food."

Excerpted from The History of Herodotus (a.k.a. The Histories), Book II – Chapter 92, by Herodotus. Translated by George Rawlinson [first issued in 1858].

Sumerian Mythology

PREFACE

The Sumerians were a non-Semitic, non-Indo-European people who flourished in southern Babylonia from the beginning of the fourth to the end of the third {sic "millenium" "millennium"} B. C. During this long stretch of time the Sumerians, whose racial and linguistic affiliations are still unclassifiable, represented the dominant cultural group of the entire Near East. This cultural dominance manifested itself in three directions:

1. It was the Sumerians who developed and probably invented the cuneiform system of writing which was adopted by nearly all the peoples of the Near East and without which the cultural progress of western Asia would have been largely impossible.

2. The Sumerians developed religious and spiritual concepts together with a remarkably well integrated pantheon which influenced profoundly all the peoples of the Near East, including the Hebrews and the Greeks. Moreover, by way of Judaism, Christianity, and Mohammedanism, not a few of these spiritual and religious concepts have permeated the modern civilized world.

3. The Sumerians produced a vast and highly developed literature, largely poetic in character, consisting of epics and myths, hymns and lamentations, proverbs and "words of wisdom." These compositions are inscribed in cuneiform script on clay tablets which date largely from approximately 1750 B. C.{xr. a} In the course of the past hundred years, approximately five {xr. b} thousand such literary pieces have been excavated in the mounds of ancient Sumer. Of this number, over two thousand, more than two-thirds of our source material, were excavated by the University of Pennsylvania in the mound covering ancient Nippur in the course of four grueling campaigns lasting from 1889 to 1900; these Nippur tablets and fragments represent, therefore, the major {p. viii} source for the reconstruction of the Sumerian compositions. As literary products, these Sumerian compositions rank high among the creations of civilized man. They compare not unfavorably with the ancient Greek and Hebrew masterpieces, and like them mirror the spiritual and intellectual life of an otherwise little known civilization. Their significance for a proper appraisal of the cultural and spiritual development of the Near East can hardly be overestimated. The Assyrians and Babylonians took them over almost in toto. The Hittites translated them into their own language and no doubt imitated them widely. The form and contents of the Hebrew literary creations and to a certain extent even those of the ancient Greeks were profoundly influenced by them. As practically the oldest written literature of any significant amount ever uncovered, it furnishes new, rich, and unexpected source material to the archaeologist and anthropologist, to the ethnologist and student of folklore, to the students of the history of religion and of the history of literature.

In spite of their unique and extraordinary significance, and although the large majority of the tablets on which they were inscribed were excavated almost half a century ago, the translation and interpretation of the Sumerian literary compositions have made relatively little progress to date. The translation of Sumerian is a highly complicated process. It is only in comparatively recent years that the grammar has been scientifically established, while the lexical problems are still numerous and far from resolved.

Excerpted from:
SUMERIAN MYTHOLOGY
A Study of Spiritual and Literary Achievement in the Third Millennium B.C.
SAMUEL NOAH KRAMER
REVISED EDITION
University of Pennsylvania Press
Philadelphia
[1944, revised 1961]

[Scanned at sacred-texts.com, October 2004. John Bruno Hare, redactor. This text is in the public domain in the US because it was not renewed in a timely fashion at the US Copyright Office as required by law at the time. These files can be used for any non-commercial purpose, provided this notice of attribution is left intact.]

Source:
http://www.sacred-texts.com/download.htm

Essay: Theodicy...

"Theodicy: An Alternative Spiritualist’s Point of View"

by

Dr. K.A. Sahure VI°, D.D., Msc.D.

Temple of Kemetic Wicca

Excerpt:
"According to Merriam-Webster, 'Theodicy' is defined as follows:

': defense of God's goodness and omnipotence in view of the existence of evil'

This is a short treatise about God v. Evil, God and Evil, and God/dess v. 'Evil' from an Alternative Spiritualist’s perspective which will be expanded and expounded upon over time from the inception of the first edition of this theological essay..."

Starting with the Kabbalistic 'God Form'…"

This upcoming essay can be found at once completed:

http://www.geocities.com/applicatus_occultus_metaphysicus/theology.html

What's In a Number?

The New Moon in Libra on October 11 occurred at 01:01.

Are these both Master Numbers? Or the number 2? Does it really matter?

According to a leading numerology site:


2 Positive Traits: Cooperation, adaptability, considerate of others, sensitive to the needs of others, partnering, an arbiter or mediator, modest, sincere, spiritually influenced, a diplomat.

2 Negative Traits: Shyness, timidity, fear, self-consciousness, drown in detail, depression.

11 See number 2. Spirituality is emphasized more, but in essence, the 2 traits, positive and negative apply.

The New Moon in Libra invites a fresh look at relationships. Putting an existing partnership back on track or opening the door to new connections is a natural expression of the Sun and Moon's union in this couple-oriented sign. An intuitive trine to the New Moon from spiritual Neptune adds imagination and forgiveness to smooth the road to more harmonious alliances, while an uplifting sextile from optimistic Jupiter expands the field of possibilities for co-operative ventures.
(http://www.stariq.com/NewMoonReport.HTM)

Perhaps the synchronicity of the 11's is an attempt by the cosmos to get us to pay attention - to REALLY pay attention.

Libra is about relationships. It is a sign seeking balance and harmony almost at any cost, and typically willing to please others. It has a dislike of confrontation and a strong need for maintaining peace and stability. But it is also motivated by justice and an egalitarian spirit. Venus, the ruler of Libra (and also Taurus), will be in Virgo for the New Moon, and it has just completed a conjunction to Saturn. A limit has been reached, but it may not be recognized. It’s like Venus is in a blind spot, unaware of where she is, and caught up in the details that would be applicable anywhere but are creating a kind of blinder to the challenges of the present.
(http://sphinx.planetwaves.net/blog/?p=68)

Here is a new twist! Libra and the number 2 are about balance, keeping the peace, partnering, being considerate of others. However Venus is keeping the blinders on. There are challenges and problems and if we take the meanings of New Moon in Libra and the number 2 without adding in other planetary placements, we could be in for a rough ride. It doesn't matter how much Libra dislikes confrontations - he had better take a look around and see what is really happening. It might not be in his best interest to forgive and seek harmony. If a limit has been reached and there is no hope of perfect harmony, love and co-operation, it might just be best to pull the plug. At the very least be open to any difficulties, challenges or disharmony. You can't fix it if you don't know it's broken.

Sesheta-mallorn

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Be Not Afraid . . .

"I'm not afraid . . ."

~ Jill Scott ~

You all,

Be not afraid,

Just

Fill in the rest

Of the words,

So Mote It Be!

Mabon

The season of Mabon:

Getting in touch with our root(s)

Merry Meet, and Ah ba meri-v!

Last weekend up to Sunday 23rd of September was this years Mabon season which represents the Autumnal equinox. Traditionally, in Europe, this is the harvest time. The farmers crops have ripened to the ultimum – the suns rays are weakening, the autumn cold and rain is soon on its way and just as important, the worm will turn! The worms which have left the root vegetables up until now whilst eating other of nature’s goodies will ruin your crops!! And with that comes the worries of how the farmer will nourish the family, the animals, and the community.

I had great delight in running round telling my sister, my friends, and my neighbors who have kitchen-gardens to ‘get their crops in’ which they did, and thank goodness for that – the following Monday it ‘chucked down’ with rain! (as we say in England) All was safely gathered in, as the old harvest hymn goes.

I began thinking about how important this time must have been to our slave ancestors. Over the Mabon season, up till the Harvest Moon, they would have been working hard and fast to gather in the fruits of their labours – the harvest moon shines as bright as the day, perfect for gathering in the last edible crops and ploughing the chaff into the ground to nourish the soil for the coming spring. And then the fires….fires everywhere, little fires, great big fires, burning all that was no longer needed, and the ashes ploughed back into the soil. Every able body in the community would have helped, even toddlers. And at the end, the celebrations, dancing, drinking, merrymaking, lovemaking and thanksgiving!!! What else could our ancestors have been thinking?.....as I read on another posting – more time indoors with the family and community, (perhaps more babies were conceived then?) more time to plot and plan uprisings – (perhaps this is why the slave masters were so generous at this time) More time to appreciate the little you had…….. In the Caribbean, each island still has their ‘crop over’ festival, where there is intense merrymaking, the island celebrates as one and takes great pride in itself, its roots and its culture!! but I think that this represents a strong memory of the importance of this time. For me, as a Black Khemitan, living in Europe, Mabon represents a time when we look at our ‘harvest’ what we have achieved during the year, or life itself even, and how much what we have gained can carry us through the ‘winter’. Winter can be a depressing time. We naturally draw towards hearth and home and the more stable aspect of relationship. But what if you do not have those things or fear losing one or all of them?.... I took part in a ceremony where we wrote our fears down on parchment, placed our fears in the hands of the goddess Auset (represented by the offering cup) and then burned them, thus leaving it to Her care while we meditated. It was very loving and powerful, in meditation, we were all told in different ways that we must take more interest in our local communities. A lot of us are afraid to walk the streets in our own town, but we were told, in meditation – the powers that be are deliberately trying to induce extreme fear of lack, or attack within communities– this is at the heart of a lot of the madness going on. Relationships and familes aren’t what they used to be, but if the community or ‘village’ tears itself apart the authorities will move in.

Whew!! We were left with much food for thought. As a crystal healer I meditated more on this when I got home, and I thought, but these are Root Chakra issues!! Now I’m not going to go too deep here, but the Root Chakra is mainly concerned with issues of Stability, Protection of self and family, connection to the Earth, initiating action, primal instincts etc. My point is, that if you can de-stabilize a human via the root chakra ie via fear, fear of lack, fear of attack, then they are extremely vulnerable, with a deep, possibly hysterical need for stability and safety, along with the need to stop the feelings of anxiety by using whatever they can get their hands on. They are also, of course, extremely open to suggestion as to how this condition might be stopped, be it drugs, war, religion, sex etc. And of course, a ‘slave’ to their instincts. This sad state of affairs keeps some poor souls in a perpetual psychological ‘winter’. I once met an ex-soldier who still carried a survival pack with him – every day no matter what – and slept with a gun under his pillow. Soldiers deliberately have their root chakras stimulated and de-stabilised as part of their training, and the effects are long-lasting. Personally, I’m so sick of the fear messages and other rubbish being pumped at me that I have got rid of my television, and get my news off the radio or from other human beings.

Returning to Mabon, after the harvest the winter would have been faced with some trepidation by our ancestors. Without the luxury of an extended family, their community relationships would have been vitally important in surviving a harsh winter along with the constant background fear of death, punishment and separation. I wonder what they would think of us today……Lets heed the call of Auset and rebuild our communities for the sake of those who did not/could not survive the winter of slavery and for those of us living who carry their genes. Over this season, lets try to overcome our fear of our neighbours and take even one small step out into our community – go to that meeting, the one where they are talking about what they are going to do about the violence in the neighbourhood, join the protest – the one to keep your local amenity open, teach at your local Saturday school, you’ve been thinking about it long enough – and they need you. Blessings of the season – and may all be gathered in close, to you.

Hotep.

Sothis

From the Source of "Certainty"...

Bonswa,

This entry is particularly and directly pointed to "thee critics" who are fueled with the vilest of negativity and bitter bile toward Alternative Religious Spiritualists or Pagans.

If you DO NOT care for the purposeful information presented here by the highly spiritually enlightened, learned and legally ordained Priestesses & Priests (Clergy) here--THEN, spend your time elsewhere.

Sincerely, those of you who perpetrate, perpetuate, and disseminate these dismal-minded efforts online and via e-mail of witnessing, evangelizing, etc., because someone else most likely told you to do so based on Xtianity and in the name of his or her religious belief system--you surely need to redirect your energies into something much more purposeful. For example, truly begin with taking care of your own house of cards (or skeletons) first.

Therefore, please cease and desist with your foolish, non-learned, and simply ignorant attempts of conversion to YOUR failed belief system--i.e., mainstream religions. We DO NOT project or exercise this kind of psychotic behaviors upon you!

You know what you must do in order to rectify your behaviors in order to bring these into a positive Light within the precepts of your religious and/or spiritual following or perhaps ministerial calling.

You know "to whom" this is meant for... and perhaps, you may or wish to seek the assistance of mental health professionals based upon your serious negative presentation in life. I hope that your Mom and Dad find out and learn about what you are doing online even as a so-called adult with all of the FREE TIME you have to denigrate people whom you have never met and about many things you have no experiential about! Or perhaps, you are just purely intellectually challenged at this time which makes you write the nasty thoughts within your feeble-mindedness. We do not know but your actions certainly speak for themselves!

“RELIGIOUS TOLERANCE IS WHERE IT'S AT!”

Please quote me on the above when you do decide to send your nasty e-mails to someone else!

Seek to learn well before you are absolutely misunderstood…so that YOU ARE NOT subjected to or taken down a path that you have never seen or witnessed ever in the presentation of YOU OWN LIFE!

For, our Internet presence IS NOT some silly video, virtual, online game of "WITCH" we live and practice 24/7/365 + 1 in all sincerity of OUR DIVINITIES!

YOU owe all of us a PUBLIC APOLOGY for YOUR impertinence and ignorance!

I know who you are!

SHAME ON YOU!

Em Hotep,
Blessed Be!

Santero Frater Kheti, D.D.
Temple of Kemetic Wicca