Anarchy and Witchcraft

I tend to think that radicalism and witchcraft are a match made in heaven. Take, for instance, the structure of the coven. A closely bonded group of traditionally 13, surrounded by a less closely bonded grove. This structure mirrors that of the affinity group, the basic unit of most revolutionary movements. And this is a logical parallel, since Aradia seems to hint that the Craft was originally a technology intended to help the oppressed withstand their oppressors. More importantly, in this age where the dominant culture destroys the Earth, a being we literally believe to be our divine Mother, witches everywhere ought to be up in arms preventing that murder. Sadly, I don't see that going on in our community. One reason might be an unhealthy amount of horizontal conflict, as we split hairs on community labeling instead of organizing to transform our culture for the better. Sometimes transformation looks an awful lot like dismantling. We as magic workers has enormously valuable spiritual contributions to offer to the movement against industrialization, misogyny, and fear-mongering that is civilization. In fact, I view the Pagan community as a vital puzzle piece in this resistance movement as a source of spiritual nourishment much needed by the activist/anarchist community. My gods certainly exhort me to resist and prevent the further rape of our planet, and I presume most others would do the same. So...perhaps the time has come for us to cease our weekend witchcraft and start being contributing members of the anti-civ movement. It may be controversial, but I don't think you can endorse industrial civilization and simultaneously have values consistent with a Pagan religion. Chew on that for a bit.

Building my Own World

I have the job of my dreams. I essentially have creative control of a local, organic and sustainable urban farm while working under a great boss and being supplied with practically limitless amounts of delicious food and great company. I wish more people could say the same. I wish we lived in a culture that didn't require most of us to work demeaning, demanding jobs while degrading that very same fact. But in some way, I'm doing what I can to change that...slowly. You see, at my job, we strive wherever possible to create authentic community. That means my boss respects my gender expression choices and my spirituality. How many other gay Pagans get the privilege of saying that? I'm not trying just to brag here (though maybe that's part of it), I'm trying to remind everybody out there that you don't have to stick to what our culture has told you is possible as a career! There are places out there that will affirm your love of the Earth as a goddess and as our partner in living. There are jobs that will recognize your sexuality and gender expression is a beautiful part of the continuum of human experience. You might have to give up your fabulous apartment, or your feeling of financial security, or your meat-heavy diet, but in return, your life can become an incubator for self-actualization instead of a suppressor. And that's a great part of magick...as we transform ourselves, we can turn that energy outward and change the world. So if your job or your career insults your magickal soul, if it prevents your from creating a better world, or if it actively discourages you from being yourself...perhaps it's time to rethink where things are headed.

I work on a farm you know...

I work on a farm, in case you weren't aware. If you've never worked on a farm, let me tell you, it is radically different from gardening. Even the most ambitious of gardeners won't have to contend with the madness of running a small organic farm in this day and age of industrialized crop subsidies. Most days it seems like a never stop working. I even dream about the vegetables, which can be a bit...unnerving. Every so often I sit back after a  week of harvesting as fast as my fingers will let me and wonder how it all gets done. But don't let me make you think that sustainable agriculture is ruining my life, in fact it's the opposite. However punishing it can be, it's infinitely more rewarding. As a Pagan, I am literally acting out the Great Rite on a daily basis as a fill the earth with seed. My hands, eyes and mind are constantly discovering new things about the body of the Goddess. I wish everyone could have the opportunities that I've had as a farmer to commune directly with Gaia. She has a way a taking over your life, bit by bit, until it's difficult to find where she ends and you begin. Isn't that the goal anyway?

Listen Up!

How do you communicate with a tree? How do you talk to a stone, or an herb, or a spirit, or, for that matter, another person? The art of listening seems to have been lost. If it isn't lost, at least significantly narrowed in definition. We equate it with hearing, with passively experiencing information. I've been noticing just how much more active engagement real listening requires. In fact, truly communicating with someone requires a great shift in viewpoint on our part.

To talk to a tree, you need to become like a tree. Stand (or sit) still, breathe deeply, sink your roots into the earth, feel your branches sway and dance. Think you don't have roots or branches? Try to move away from those strict dictates of ordinary consciousness. Once you get comfortable and in contact with the ground, given a little effort, you'll find you have all the parts of a tree. Perhaps you just haven't been paying attention to them recently. Hinduism teaches us that we are all microcosms of the universe. That tree you want to ask for a branch, that spirit you've been trying to channel: you've got all the essential gear already within your own being. Moving through day to day life without spiritual focus, we've trained ourselves to identify things based on their disparities, but that's only a small portion of the perspective we can acquire by analyzing their similarities. Start by trying to talk to the tree inside you, and you'll find your way to the tree in front of you.

It's usually convenient to imagine that we are all discrete entities, solitaries who interact with other solitary beings. This, however, is a singularly narrow-minded worldview. Think about your own body. Are you your skin? Though this is our largest organ and perhaps the most apparent, I think we would all agree it is not what makes us who we are. Contemplate the long process of cell death and regeneration that governs your skin. At what point does a skin cell cease to be part of you? The lines that divide and define us are much fuzzier than we think. This same blurring of boundaries extends throughout our world. Think about those wonderful vegetables you eat. Eventually, that carrot you're munching on ceases to be a carrot and becomes part of your body. Where is that place of transformation, of everyday alchemy? It's liberating to realize that we don't necessarily have to function as lone islands, but instead can thrive as richly diverse and powerful network: an archipelago.

How badly we need to embrace this process today. How would our political theater look differently if the people running the show tried to step into each others' shoes and the shoes of their constituency? Would we even have the vast, inefficient, top-heavy government that's in place now? I doubt it. Because in the past we've been all too willing to put on blinders and ignore our sense of connectedness, we've manifested an inherently divisive and unfair society. But that doesn't have to be the case. Let's go outside, talk to our tree and our neighbors. To do so, we're all going to have to grow a lot closer.

When Books Aren't Enough

  What happens when books aren't enough? Don't get me wrong, I love books. I've had a frantic desire to read every printed word in sight since I can remember. But at some point on our various Pagan paths, we come to a point where reading just doesn't cut it anymore. When we read a book about prosperity magic, shamanic journeying, or community building, we're briefly entering the mind of the author and seeing things from their point of view. Depending on their level of experience and their skill at communicating through the written word, what we get out of their books might be similar or entirely different than what they themselves have actually felt and seen in reality.
  Because of this it is likely that one day you, like me, will walk into your local bookstore and squat down in the metaphysical section. You'll peruse the shelves, examining cover after cover, scanning bios and reading front flaps hoping for a summary that speaks to you. Usually, when I do this, I eventually find a book that calls out my name. You know that feeling. It's as clear as a bell, telling you to read it, to plumb the depths of the knowledge within. But someday, maybe someday soon, you'll look, and there won't be a book like that. You've filled up on written knowledge for now. And then what?
  Then it's time to walk outside. Do an hour of ecstatic dancing in the blazing sun, drum till you can trance journey across the cosmos, cast a circle every day, build your own community up! When books aren't enough, look up, and start doing, start experiencing what the books have been trying to teach you all along. The only way to move past 101 is experiential learning. Take risks, be daring, and make magic.

Beyond the Seasons

  In the same vein as yesterdays post, I've been pondering the evolution of the Craft. When I first started to study modern witchcraft, an extremely heavy emphasis was placed on seasonal celebration. The purpose behind these solar and lunar holy days was to reconnect the practitioner with the cycles of the Earth. The need for such a reconnection becomes more and more obvious every day. However, I think to be a fulfilling spiritual path, Paganism needs more than ritual celebrations.
  To address the deeper hunger for meaning within this apparently chaotic universe, back-to-the-land era practices have to be expanded and deepened. The self-exploratory work that begins in meditation has to become something more. In honoring the cosmos outside of ourselves, we should be reminded to give equal honor to the limitless cosmos within our own consciousness.
  Believe me, I like the rites of Beltane just as much as the next witch. Becoming aware of the way Gaia changes throughout the Wheel of the Year has been instrumental to my building a stronger connection with her. But this can't be the only goal of our faith. Activism, self-actualization, and the realization of our own deity    are just as important.
  Those same cycles occur in each of us. After all, as above so below, as within so without. The next time you check the moon phase, or plan a ritual for Lugh, think about how those same changes manifest in your life. How does your body alter? Your emotions? How is the connection between yourself and the divine shifting? The Wheel of the Year mimics the revolutions of the Wheels of our Souls. Or perhaps it's the other way around. Who knows?

What is a DIY Witch?

In a sense we are all DIY witches. A DIY witch is someone who is constantly pushing the borders of their practice, whatever it's origins. A DIY witch is intimately connected and invested in the development of their spiritual work. A DIY witch is anyone who questions their own beliefs, and evolves based on the answers. The term isn't meant to be exclusionary. I think a growing number of pagan practitioners are approaching their disparate paths this way.

The DIY idea isn't just about eclectic or solitary practice, coveners exemplify it as well. A coven is the natural outgrowth of a group of DIY-ers who share ideas and inspirations. I call myself a DIY witch, because I believe so firmly in the ongoing dialogue between the deity and humanity, between the seen and the unseen, which can lead to the development of deeper, more personal and more effective communion with God Herself.