The oppressive heat of the burning sun, together with the emotional turmoil of recent times has given way to summer storms and welcome relief from some of this months tension, the land that was fastly turning a shade of brown is once more resplendent in its coat of emerald cloth, nature breaths a sigh as sustenance pours down apon her from the heavens and fruit is born to the jungle that dwells within the house of glass, as the Devil's Apples now also green begin to turn to their scarlet hues.
Soon the rites of Lammas shall once more be upon us, I for one require the need for ritual focus, the pressures of work and other social commitments have left me with a void in that department, communion has been little and I await the festival with the excitement of a child, Hecate's own son in the time of Mr. John Barleycorn shall fell and cry the neck.
The questions of faith yet continue to perplex and confuse this student of Cunning, If one has true faith and has required the necessary knowledge to make it work for them, then that individual will not be threatened by the faith or the uncertainties of others, regardless of the origins of that others belief, to state that your way is the only way shows a lack of personal belief, to refuse to except that what works for one may not work for another is a sign of complete ignorance.
Of course acceptance of other opinions by the Semitic or Abrahamic faiths is by their own rules not allowed, as these faiths are governed by scriptures and rules that must be followed (usually to suit themselves at their own convenience), this fact does not mean that we do not have the ability to accept the beliefs and opinions of them, indeed there are lessons to be learned from the scriptures and holy books of the new religions, as well as those produced by our own.
For many years I studied the nature of my native land, all aspects seen and unseen, trying to piece together bits of the old faith, alone pretty much, but with the aid of reconstructed “British” pagan rituals and Ideas, ignoring the Deities of other lands in order that I should connect better with those of my own soil, supposing this is how it might work, paying to much attention to the wrong people, attempting to bring order to that which demands chaos, looking at reconstructs and not trusting instinct.
This was the beginning of this fools journey, when you build a house you start with foundations, this is a truth, for without solid foundation the house may easily fall, A house of straw, a house of sticks and finally a house of bricks, still not all was right, it worked but there were leaking holes in the roof.
In order to find the holes and make my faith absolute I had to look else where, to other faiths and systems, to compare the truths found there with my own findings, the world over there are more similarities within spiritual beliefs than there are discrepancies, it is often only the methods that differ, in many ways it makes more sense to look to those in other places to piece together the current within our own land, India, America all have systems that are more relevant to the seeker of knowledge than pieced together parts and loose assumptions, Egypt and Mediterranean ancient history, the first writings of human kind hold as much knowledge as the stone circles of our own land, and they are so similar to our own as to be completely valid, the Celtic peoples of northern Europe embraced these ideas and so should we, it is not about adopting an alien way of working but adding richness and substance to our own, fixing up the house and making it stand strong.
Bickering among our selves, creating hatred for those religions that threatened our ancestors is not an answer, neither is trying to create a fictional past life in order to give ones self credence, If every neo pagan wiccan I have met in this life was burned in a previous life, then the souls of such must have split in to many pieces, so many tales of the like I have heard, all those claiming to be in Britain at the time, few were burned here, most were hung.
We should accept and receive knowledge from all people, we must stop trying to “reclaim” what is an untruth or is not ours to reclaim, and we must never stand up and declare that our way is the only way, ignorance is lying to oneself first and ignoring the knowledge of others second.
Look at the holy books for what they are, not as an attempt to mock those who choose to follow the rules therein, but as a way of understanding why they choose to do so, there is knowledge within as a bonus. Let our tolerance and faith evolve.
Ritual form within our own community is another mine field, again many stand atop the stone to declare that their way is correct and others are but falsehoods, many of which are only re writing what others have written before, changing few words and invocations here and there, bright domes of blue fire, a popular visualisation technique and one I have used many times over the years, having to cut a door with a blunt knife in order to collect the chalice that I left outside the circle.
The circle, a sacred space cut off from the outside influence of the world, a place between the worlds, trying to work naked in this country requires working indoors most of the year demanding the presence of spirits and gods, these things I have done and were true for me once, now however they are not, that does not mean that I would ever say that these things will not work, only that they do not work for me any longer.
The outside wildness of my land, away from the new gods of computers and television, that is my sacred space, my compass is but a marker, a gate way, it is an announcement to all, it connects me to the divine, I am not prisoner within its confines and I am free to pass through its edge whenever, clothes or robes allow me to work in all seasons (mist, fog and rain here usually), there is no commanding but an invitation to those who would join with me, seen and unseen, and aid me in what I do, I would not now seek to have domination over nature or to isolate myself from its very being, intuition is my path to knowledge and there are many others who walk that path also.
A driving thirst for knowledge is the forerunner of wisdom. Knowledge is a state that all organic life posesses, wisdom is the reward of the spirit, gained in the search for knowledge. Truth is variable – what is true now, will not be true tomorrow, since the temporal truths are dependent upon ethics and social mores – therefore wisdom is possibly eternal Truth, untouched by man’s condition. So we must come to the heart of the People, a belief that is based upon Eternity, and not upon social needs or pressures – the ‘witch’ belief then is concerned with wisdom, our true name, then is the wise people and wisdom is our aim.”
Robert Cochrane 1931-1966
Remember if a wall should collapse , you can rebuild, you do not require planning consent to build an extension either.
Tolerance over ignorance, love. over hate.
FFF
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