Princess Cleo does the clean sheet dance

One of my weekly tasks is to wash the sheets. (I tend to do housework while thinking about what I am currently writing.) And every week when I put clean sheets on the bed, Miss Princess Cleo does her littel happy kitty dance that the bed has clean sheets.

Miss Cleo is one of the rescue cats. She was the daughter of Sandy, the queen of the feral colony that we inherited when we brought the house. As a kitten, she broke one of her hind legs; it got infected and had to be removed--which is why she became an indoor cat. Most days, I can tell that she started out as a feral cat; she is a little demanding.

Going to the Hearthstone Community Church's Open Full Moon ritual tonight; it is a blue moon. My wife is staying home; she has to trim pots and herb jars. Some of them will end up at Spiritways; others will end up on her Etsy store, Celtic Soul Jewelry and Pottery.

Witch trials and the survival of paganism

Troll Cat reminds me that it is my opinions that are going to get me burned at the stake.

[This post has been censored in the name of peace...provided that you can have peace and actually disagree with people.]

When I was younger, I believed in the myth that nine million witches and pagans were killed during the great European Witch Hunts. And that the esoteric tradition had been successfully hidden through the use of the oral tradition among covens and lodges.

Today, I do not believe this.

Instead, I believe that the Witch Hunts were primarily Christian on Christian violence; the targets were heretics and property owners who had lands and wealth that the Church and secular authorities wanted. In other words, the Witch Hunts were not about destorying a pagan religion--rather it was about the Church and secular authorities being greedy; the Witch Hunts were driven by economics and the need to control the Christian religion. And it extends past the Church and government, for there was a reward given to people who turned in witches; greed drove the accusations more than fear.

And the numbers killed were much lower than the nine million that is generally cited by those who still insist that they were really a hunting down of actual pagans.

Now, let's be honest: one death in the Witch Hunts was one too many. Among the victims were women, many of them widows, who just happened to have property that other people wanted. The Witch Hunts were wrong.

But the fact that the Witch Hunts happened is not proof that pagan and esoteric traditions managed to survive underground. It is merely proof that people back then were willing to use the Bible to commit acts that go against the love that Christianity claims to be about, much like there are people today who are willing to do the same.

I do believe that some of the customs of the pagan religion survived. But not in the oral tradition, and not in the Book of Shadows copied hand to hand. No, the surviving bits of the pagan religion consists of ideas and customs that were absorbed by Christianity. Many of a Saint is built from the gods and goddesses that the Christians overthrew. These ideas affected magic and alchemy. The ideas also made their way into the Witch Hunting Manuals--but considering that a Witch Trial was done by the Manual, with an ample dose of torture, no confession can be trusted as proof that pagans still existed.

And these ideas were written down...or at least, enourgh of them were, that when the nineteenth century thinkers started to react against Victorian England, they had something to work with. The bones of British Traditional Wicca, as well as the ideas that formed the Golden Dawn and several other lodge systems, can be found in English literature and grimoires.

Yes, I am a British Traditional Wiccan. The type of Wicca I practice comes from England, not Europe. If we waited for Europe to reclaim its pagan heritage, we would still be waiting. The revival of paganism is a British event, not European.

(For the record, the pagan survival in the Norse lands extended to 1000 CE...but we cannot touch that stuff because of the little mess that happened during the first half of the twentieth century.)

What changed my mind about the Witch Hunts and survival of the pagan religions? The evidence I have been exposed to. My mentor in college was a medievalist--I have read more than my fair share of medieval texts. And before I stepped into college, I hunted down information all on my own--the Witch Hunting Manuals are tedious to read.

BTW is a product of Britian; it is a brand new religion.

So why do so many people believe still in the survival of paganism through the oral tradition, and that the Witch Hunts were actually hunting witches? Simply because they are trying to prove that their religion is older than Christianity and that they are still in danger of being burned at the stake by people who believe otherwise. I understand why they must defend their version of history, for it is a psychological need; but the evidence that I have seen says that their version of occult history is just a myth.

(If you want to change my opinion, provide actual proof.)

Google bait this

This is a picture of Peregrin Wildoak and Mitzy Gaynor.

One of the things that I need a score card to keep track of is exactly who Peregrin Wildoak is, and exactly who are his sock puppets. In fact, it has gotten to the point where I wonder if I am actually a real erotica writer and professional student who is taking a semester off to work on his business, or if I am just a delusional sock puppet who thinks that he should be writing bad sex scenes involving trolls and half-dressed Adepts while studying for the GRE simply because he has fallen behind the washing machine.

I figure that it is only a matter of time before I learn that I am Peregrin Wildoak's sock puppet.

In the interests of keeping my sanity, well what's left of it, I am going to be starting a campaign to convince Google that my cats are Peregrin Wildoak and Mitzy Gaynor. After all, there are no "real" pictures of Peregrin or Mitzy anywhere, therefore it should be easy to fool Google into thinking that I have two tribble eating cats who write about gun control and the bad food that is served at the local KFC. I suppose that they could argue about who is really a servant of Eris, and whether there is intelligent life on earth, and if one should wear a fez and bowtie to a Golden Dawn lodge meeting--you know the really important stuff; none of that unimportant stuff like unrevealed teachings and lore that just bores people to death. No, they will be all about strife and war, and never mention peace and harmony and how it takes a ***** to ascend into a solar body.

And yes, this is just a wild attempt to get all their Google love and deny them readers. Think of it as me doing the world a favor: everyone loves cats and Peregrin and Mitzy would make great cats.

Astrology for Yourself (Book Review)

One of the problems that I have with the Golden Dawn material is its general lack of good instructions on astrology. Now mind you, I understand that there are a ton of books out there on astrology; this is as true today as it was in the Stella Matutina days. But for an organization that is supposed to teach occultism and magic, you would think that there would be more.

(This is speaking from the viewpoint of classical [pre-1940s] Golden Dawn and Stella Matutina; it has no bearing on what the modern GD groups are doing. And please note that when you start talking about the "initiated" form of RR et AC astrology--you can fit all the published information on a dozen pages.)

So I am always looking out for possible astrology course books. And a couple of weeks ago, I encountered a new one--well, new to me, that is.

Astrology for Yourself: A Workbook for Personal Transformation--How to Understand and Interpret Your Own Birth Chart. Douglas Bloch and Demetra George.

This is a book that I brought for just a couple of pages. Most of the book's information can be found in other basic astrology courses. But I like the journal aspect of it. And let's be honest--some of the ideas, such as the Moon Phase Wheel, just beg to be expanded and used with other aspects of astrology. (The Moon Phase Wheel could used in one of the Adept Minor subgrades if you are doing a subgrade style course.)

I highly recommend Astrology for Yourself to anyone who is still searching for a supplimental text for their astrology studies.

[Full disclosure: This review is based on a copy that I personally brought.]

QoD Joseph Campbell on the goal of the Hero's Journey

"[The end of the hero's journey] is not to identify oneself with any of the figures or powers experienced. The Indian yogi, striving for release, identifies himself with the Light and never returns. But no one with a will to the service of others would permit himself such an escape. The ultimate aim of the quest must be neither release nor ecstasy for oneself, but the wisdom and power to serve others."

--Joseph Campbell

Esoteric Dry Erase Board August 2012

What is currently on my dry erase board.

One of my Facebook friends just posted how she just brought her daughter a dry erase board for school, and remarked that she was thinking of getting one for herself for studying purposes. And looking for an idea for a blog post that would not get me into trouble (as if there is such a thing), I decided to take a picture of what was currently on the dry erase board in the ritual workshop.

As you can see I am doing something with the seven ritual layers, as well as the Tetragrammaton, elements, zodiac, and the Tree of Life. There is also two of the Sp. Solis plates and an Algiz rune on the board...probably not related to the other two projects. Or maybe they are--it might be a secret if they are related.

QoD Blavatsky on the responsibility of teachers and gurus

[Note: The following quote does not neccessarily reflect the opinions of Morgan Drake Eckstein or the BIORC.]

"[There] is one important fact which the student should be made acquainted. Namely, the emormous, almost limitless responsibility assumed by the teacher for the sake of the pupil. From the Gurus of the East who teach openly or secretly, down to the few Kabalists in the Western lands who undertake to teach the rudiments of the Sacred Science to their disciples--those western Hierophants being often themselves ignorant of the danger they incur--one and all of those 'Teachers' are subject to the same inviolable law. From the moment they begin really to teach, from the instant they confer any power--whether psychic, mental, or physical--on thier pupils, they take upon themselves all the sims of that pupil, in connection with the Occult Sciences, whether of omission or commission, until the moment when initiation makes the pupil a Master and responsible in his turn. There is a weird and mystic religious law, greatly reverenced and acted upon in the Greek, half-forgotten in the Roman-Catholic, and absolutely extinct in the Protestant Church. It dates from the earliest days of Christianity and has its basis in the law just stated, of which it was a symbol and an expression. This is the dogma of the absolute sacredness of the relation between the god-parents who stand sponsors for a child.* These tacitly take upon themselves all the sins of the newly baptized child--(anointed, as at the initiation, a mystery truly!)--until the day when the child becomes a responsible unit, knowing good and evil. Thus it is clear why the 'Teachers' are so reticent, and why 'Chelas' are required to serve a seven year probation to prove their fitness, and develop the qualities necessary to the security of both Master and pupil."

---H. P. Blavatsky, Practical Occultism (Important to Students)

*"So holy is the connection thus formed deemed in the Greek Church, that a marriage between god-parents of the same child is regarded as the worst kind of incest, is considered illegal, and is dissolved by law; and that absolute prohibition extends even to the children of one of the sponsors as regards to those of the other."