Outdoor Workings

("Hecate" by Marc Potts)

So, last night was spent in the woods down by the river in a spot local to a lovely magickal friend of mine, a Priestess of Hekate. It has been a long time since I worked outdoors, and I plan to do more outdoor work when I can. Rituals in the woods under the stars hold their own special kind of magick.

The rite was simple enough, but I already feel that I have learned a fair few things. We stood by the riverside opposite a roaring waterfall and called out to the land spirits, the guardian spirits of place. Offerings were laid down for them with some polite words and requests for protection from prying eyes (we had already experienced a mildly disconcerting encounter with a park warden about half an hour before beginning) the offerings are also regarded as a mark of respect to the land spirits, it's more a case of "Please, accept this drink and food we are giving to you, now please keep your distance!" We explain that we were not going to take anything from them and that we would leave the site untouched (we actually did some litter picking when clearing a ritual space) My friend has had a lot of dealings with various nature spirits and land wights and it felt good to be with someone who had some understanding of their ways. A lot of them appreciate alcohol, so a bottle of brandy was poured out for them.

Once the spirits had been acknowledged, I cast a circle and then we took turns in calling out to Hekate for communion with Her. We sat in silence for a good while after the invocations. Each of us had special requests and internal work that we wanted to do.

I feel I am definitely noticing a very specific energy every time I call on Hekate. It's the same feeling I get in my temple at home before the shrine. It's a heady sensation, I feel mildly out of control, like i'm going under, it's not the most pleasant of experiences (and yet, yes, I keep coming back for more!) the feeling is almost identical to my experiences with mild possession from my Vodou days. The sound of the waterfall almost became deafening and traces of strange sounds could be detected from beyond.

I was aware of Hekate moving, almost swaying around the circle and across the waters. She was TALL! After I had said what I wanted to say, and experienced inner visions, flashes of imagery as usual, I began to focus more on the mild trance state that I was in and the uncomfortable sensations. I worried about the incense we were burning, a blend specifically put together for Hekate, because I knew that it contained aconite.

I had spoken with various herbal wise friends of mine about aconite, expressing my concerns, since I know that it is poisonous. I even spoke online to the woman that creates and sells these concoctions. I was met by these various people with different responses. Some said that it would be fine to burn outdoors and that, as it was in a certain amount, and was only the aconite petals, it should be fine. Others, told me they personally would not use it. Aconite can stop the heart beating. I had resolved to use it because we were using it outdoors and I would not be sitting close to it so it should be fine, and the aconite content is pretty low, as far as I can gather! I worried though. I felt a mild panic attack coming on, and I hadn't had one of those in over a year.

I focused on my breathing and after a few moments a few clouds came across the sky, reflecting light pollution from the local town so it wasn't as dark as it had been. I looked up the sky and felt a sense of relief and the uncomfortable sensation left me as rapidly as it had come.

"She's gone" my friend looked at me and said. This made sense. The ambience didn't feel anywhere near as heavy.

After taking some time to re-adjust, we then began to eat and drink wine (pouring out wine for Her Ladyship beforehand) For a good couple of hours both of us felt that we were being watched and it was slightly uncomfortable. It was the spirits of place. My friend has a special word she uses to describe that uncomfortable sensation - grobbly! It's perfect. We both had the grobblies for a short period, but as our night vigil progressed and we became merry and exchanged much conversation, I feel I truly learned the power of laughter. You can banish with laughter. Many magicians will tell you this. Sometimes, standing up to threatening spirits, rather than cowering and running away, is the best policy. My friend illustrated this concept for me with an analogy. If a lion is behind you, you keep walking on calmly and the lion won't think that you are prey. You run, and you are much more likely to be dinner, because you acted like dinner.

Another factor to take into account is urinating! When working a site, if you have, at some point, urinated somewhere in that place, you have left your mark, just like an animal marks its territory. A part of you has become one with the landscape, and we both noticed how much more at home we felt once we had both urinated in a bush a few metres away from the circle (after cutting doorways)

We sat under the stars drinking red wine and hung around for about eight hours. Upon leaving the site, I left my offerings to Hekate - garlic cloves and raw eggs, all natural and biodegradable. We set off (making sure not to turn back!) and headed home. On the way, at a three way crossroads, a gentleman (who sounded very Greek. Yes) in a tweed suit on a bicycle, asked us the way to Stockport (the nearby town) We told him it was straight down the road he was already traversing and watched bemusedly as he swayed all over the place on his bike. We were tipsy ourselves by this point and found it funny, but to be fair, it really isn't safe to cycle when drunk! He wasn't wearing a helmet either.

We have wondered if he was Hermes. Hermes has a strong connection with Hekate (as does Dionysos) he rules travel and communication and the crossroads are also sacred to him.

All in all, a pretty magickal evening!