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!

Return of the blogger

Wow, so it's been a very long time since I last made a post in this blog! I have decided to start making more regular posts again, or at least try to, in an attempt to get me into the habit of writing more frequently again. I have still updated the odd post on my livejournal account, but that journal is reserved more for all the other stuff in my life. My livejournal doesn't have a theme, I just put whatever the hell I like in there, and use it as a way of finding out what is going on in the lives of those friends of mine who still use it.

Since my last post, I have achieved some of the goals I was working towards in my life and i'm currently in the process of achieving more goals, and this makes me happy.

Spiritually and magickally, things have been kind of interesting. My coven just sort of fell apart last year due to various reasons and I am now back to being a Witch Alone for the forseeable.

Whilst I do miss working in a coven (the structure of group work, the motivation it encourages, the drama of the rites etc) I must say that I am enjoying the freedom of solitary work right now, and feel like I can go at my own pace. It is also working wonders for my self-esteem.

I continue with regular meditation, and I ALWAYS learn something new from a meditation, it is an eternal teacher. I have been exploring my astral temple frequently.

I have been working with the goddess Hekate now for quite a long period. I perform devotions at least once a week and have a permanent shrine space for Her. I burn oils for her, usually patchouli or cypress. I offer her garlic cloves and honey. It struck me recently, that perhaps one of the reasons I have been so called to working with her a lot is because, in my magickal and spiritual life, I am in something of an inbetween state (again! though this time it is in terms of my magickal life, rather than my mundane life, I have a job now!) but the links have not been completely severed. My group may be salvaged at some point in the future, but then again, it might not!

I definitely wish to be in a group structure again, but just how long it will be until this happens, I do not know, and for now I am enjoying the ride! The lack of a physical teacher figure in my life is forcing me into following my own intuition more and doing things my way. I have not abandoned the ways of my tradition, I use the same ritual protocol and techniques I have been taught, because these are special to me, and effective. But of course, my tradition has always been experimental. Whilst the ritual structure and certain ways of doing things, are always used, precisely what flavours and fills my rites is now down to me and me only. If I wish to experience a deity or spirit or try a new form of magickal working, it is my choice as to how I go about doing it, and so far, it seems to be going well.

I have been working a lot with crystals and stones for a while now, this was prompted by my purchasing of David Rankine's "Crystals Healing and Folklore" I possess a pretty good selection of various crystals (most of which were purchased quite a few years ago when I first fell in love with the mineral kingdom and their magical potential) I am using crystals a lot in conjunction with meditation and dreamwork.

I have been exploring working with servitors. I have been engaging in more trance journeying, and I am learning more and more about how to communicate and interact with spirits (for want of a better word)

I am also undertaking an email correspondence course in astrology for tarot readers, following on from the natal chart I had done for myself by an astrologer friend I met a couple of years ago through the shop. The course is very laid back and I can do it in my own time.

In terms of reading, I must say that my most valuable literary purchase of late has been "The Encyclopedia of Spirits" by Judika Illes (awesome, amazing author) I love the book so much (along with all her others) that I told her so over facebook, and she replied straight back with a huge thank you and told me how much it means to her when she gets these lovely comments from readers of her books who share her passion for Gods, Saints, Spirits and spells!

I cannot recommend her work highly enough, the amount of research that must go into her books makes me feel dizzy with awe. Check out her website.

And finally, for now, seeing as I am in the mood for sharing online resources, I would like to draw attention to "The Unnamed Path" as an interesting series of podcasts for gay male occultists, check it out here.

Expect more posts soon!