Magickal Correspondences
January 5, 2008
by Jeffrey Pierce
As promised, the medical condition that I've been struggling with has been dealt with. Back in 1987, I was diagnosed with stomach cancer, a condition that, much like other medical issues that I've encountered on my path (viral meningitis, a severely torn ACL, etc.) healed without medical intervention (much to my doctors' discomfort and surprise.) The energy signature for this bout was the same as when I was diagnosed with stomach cancer, only this time it was inside my skull. Things had progressed to the point that I was having splitting headaches, difficulty speaking, impaired hearing, and trouble seeing - all possible symptoms of a brain tumor.
You can imagine the challenge of trying to write coherent articles and lessons with all of that going on.
I was clearly shown that I would initially respond to medical treatment but that the cancer would return with a vengeance after having gone into remission. In approximately three years, I would reach the end of my battle and would leave this incarnation. This is the doorway that I spoke of and the one that I chose not to take. Obviously, some healing had to take place, a process that I do not clearly understand, but one that leaves me pretty exhausted. The pain is gone, as are the secondary symptoms, and the energy signature that I associate with cancer is completely absent.
So you're stuck with me for awhile longer.
Thank you for the well wishes and the energy you sent this way as I worked through this portion of my path. Both were truly appreciated.
Before I begin answering email, please let me apologize for not responding to everyone. Between the healing and the holidays, there were certainly a few responses that were missed, but I promise you that I read every email, most of them more than once. I would love to have the time to reply to each of you individually, but my world doesn't currently accommodate that approach. If your email was lost in the shuffle, it did not go unread and I truly appreciate the time that each of you take to write. Thank you so much.
The latest installment of
The First Cycle, "
The Concept of the Divine," generated a good deal of email. A very sincere thank you for all of your thoughts. Mary Beth wrote in to say, "I believe the danger in so many paths is that once a person decides on a mask for their God/Goddess, they refuse to embrace the validity of all the other masks." This actually mirrors a concept that I'm going to be writing about in the very near future, a piece on how to see beyond your own masks and filters when working with the spirit world. "I sincerely wish that more people would be able to see the mask they place on the divine, in order to see the limitations of such an exercise, understand them, and hence grow more tolerant of the choices others make regarding their faith." That's a beautiful sentiment and one that I imagine many of your fellow brothers and sisters in the Craft resonate with. Thank you so much for sharing, your kind words, and your very eloquent email.
Marta wrote in regarding the same article, thanking me for pushing her envelope a bit. You're welcome. Mine gets pushed all the time, it's only fair if I share every now and then. Sandy (who happens to also be one of my very favorite Crones) also finds her boundaries disappearing, sharing that, "I'm being shown that there are no lines, boundaries, that as we progress everything becomes one. All woven within and without to weave each of us into the Divine. Sometimes in the quiet I can feel the past, present and future energies flow through and around me, all things seen and unseen and I KNOW I'm part and parcel of this greatness, this creative loving, sometimes stern energy. It does not diminish me but makes me more...divine, confident, calm, whole, centered and awed that I can at this stage in my life know my connection to All." Thank you so much for sharing, dear sister.
In regards to my intent to begin teaching all of the concepts of magick, spirituality, and the Craft without holding anything back, Mel offered and enthusiastic, "YAY!!!! Finally someone is stepping up to the plate!" Thank you for your thoughts, your kind words on kinship (the feeling is mutual) and for making me laugh. Yes, Mel finished her email with a musing of the years to come. "I would like to be a crotchety old woman in a rocking chair, that doesn't shave her legs anymore and is even wiser than her years. Perhaps at that point I will be levitating above my rocking chair and no one will even think it's weird. And by then you can send me your articles telepathically."
Well, even if I don't get around to distributing articles telepathically, I'm always trying to improve what I offer you here at Old Ways. For those of you who consider yourself technically savvy, I've begun offering RSS Feeds of the articles, lessons, and
my blog. Yes, I'm actually blogging, something that I'm intending to do at least four days a week. This week I've touched on the mystical reasons why I publish only on
certain days, shared
new evidence of a paranormal visitation, and related than I can occasionally be clueless enough that the spirit world will literally
shout at me to get a message across. In addition to the RSS feeds (which you can find linked from the
front page of the site), I've also begun adding printer friendly versions of the new material and, as time allows, will go back and do the same with all of the previous lessons.
Joanna wrote in with a wonderful email of thanks for the site and the accompanying writings. You're very welcome, dear sister. We're all led exactly where we need to be and it's always fascinating to see the various roads that lead someone to their path - even a mystery novel involving Wiccans as heroines. Thank you for all of your kind words. It sounds like your path is unfolding before you and I'm excited for the discoveries that it sounds like you're making and that I'm sure will continue to be revealed to you.
A wonderful, Yule blessing, was offered by Sandy and accompanied by the sentiment, "I feel more that this site and all involved are family, a team. Pulling, learning, being together. In all our differences we come together to make a strong, united and spiritual whole." I couldn't agree more. If you look back over the writing here at Old Ways, I refer to all of you time and again as my magickal family. It's something that I truly believe and I'm very touched that I'm not the only one who feels that way. Thank you so much for your kind words and encouragement.
A fellow pagan father, Wolfbrother, asked, "How would one get it in one’s son’s mind that 'ghosts' will not harm him? He is 13 and afraid to be alone anywhere."
Sparrow occasionally struggles with this sort of thing. Bear doesn't care for the dark, but he's otherwise pretty fearless. His sister, on the other hand, has a pretty active imagination. No, I'm not saying that ghosts and such are all in a kids head, just suggesting that she has come up with some of the most creative things to be frightened of, things many adults have never tackled. "Dad?" she asked me one evening around bedtime. "What if we're only imagining reality and everything we're experiencing isn't real, but just part of some big computer game?" You learn pretty quickly that the excuses you offer are just that and that the easiest approach is to offer them the truth.
So I typically take one of three approaches when Sparrow or her brother are worried about things that go bump in the night.
One, you can offer them a token of reassurance. No explanations, just something to hold onto. I can't count the nights that Sparrow has gone to bed either holding a smooth river stone from my ritual kit or tucking one under her pillow. You don't have to go any deeper than simply saying, "Would you feel better if you had something to hold onto, one of Dad's magick rocks?" A thirteen year old might be a little old for this sort of thing to work, but I've relied on it time and again.
Two, I explain that the waking world isn't the natural environment for ghosts and such - but it is our natural environment. Just like we'd have to expend a great amount of energy to project our consciousness into their world and we wouldn't be able to interact with very much on their side of the veil, they have to do the same thing with us. (Yes, I've been using this approach since the kids were about five years old.) It works pretty well for Bear and is usually little more than a starting point for Sparrow, which is why she will occasionally drift off to sleep with a stone in her hand.
Third, similar to the second approach, I simply explain that ghosts and such are part of the level of reality that we work with when we're working magick. And their dad does magick, right? Well, if they get scared, all they need to do is call my name, either out loud, in the dream, or simply think it loudly in their head, and I'll be there to protect and defend them. Even if they can't see me, I'm there, just like they couldn't see the ghost before it appeared. This approach can be adapted to call upon a particular god or goddess or another spirit ally. For instance, Sparrow is found of horses and unicorns, and I'll lead her through the process of creating a thought form of one or the other to call upon and that could come to her aid.
I realize that this flies in the face of conventional parenting wisdom, but since when have we pagans been accused of being conventional?
Ian wrote in to ask about The First Cycle course, specifically when the lesson on Tools would be published. If all flows smoothly on my end of the modem, it will be available January 8th - most likely later in the evening as measured here on the West Coast of North America. If you're curious, you can find the date that each lesson will be arriving right below the title of the lesson on the homepage for The First Cycle. I also maintain an online
publishing schedule that you may find useful as it currently extends through the end of 2008.
Speaking of things to come, Nancy asked about the picture of
the sea cave on the front page of the site. "Where did you get the gorgeous picture of the cove on your website?" She went on to explain that she had a very vivid and realistic dream about such a site. The cave is found on the Oregon Coast and... well, there's definitely a story there. Thankfully, the cave is part of the feature on
Sacred Sites that I work with and I'll be sharing all of the details. "Yes, I know that's a good long stretch to wait," Jeffrey offers with a mischievous grin, "But I'm writing as fast as I can!"
And with that, it's back to work - or back to sleep. It's very late (or rather early) as I write this and I'm heading off either to do a little more time at the keyboard or drift off into the Dreamtime. In case you missed it, there's a very in-depth article online on
working magick in Circles and the latest installment of
All Around Us (a piece simply called "
Listening") has also been added to the site. As always, I truly hope these words find you and yours well and filled with joy. May you be well and truly blessed.
In peace and light,
Jeffrey Pierce
www.oldways.com