My 'Athame' Cuts Both Ways!

14 Year Old Girl Covers Van Halen's "Eruption"

So why is this vid on a website called "Occult Realms?"  Because Occult is about more than spirits, witchcraft and spooky rituals done in the dark.  A synonym for 'occult' is hidden.  This young girl has discovered one of her talents.  Each of us is good at something but for many people it needs to be found.  For them it is hidden and they wrongly imagine they have no talent.  A big part of your life needs to be about uncovering the gift you hold inside.

Here's my final word: Most natural gifts require work to dig it out and make it shine, just like gold hidden in the ground.  Regardless of her natural gifts, do you think she just rolled out of bed one day and could play Van Halen? I don't think so.

Lord Thoth & Lady Abundantia

 

Egyptian mythology never interested me.  It still doesn't.  So I am hard pressed to explain why the Lord Thoth won't let me be.  At long last the inevitable has occurred.  It is not going too far to acknowledge that I am compelled to give due homage to this Ibis headed Egyptian deity.  He was known as Hermes or Hermes Trismegistos to the Greeks, Mercury or Mercurius to the Romans.  The more I learn of him the more he feels like a kindred spirit and a spiritual father to me.  Anyone desiring more information about Thoth should visit Gods of Ancient Egypt.

Anyone who knows me personally knows I spent decades as a respected Christian teacher, minister and lecturer.  After escaping my close-minded, backward fundamentalist mentality, the idea of worshiping anything or anyone was, and continues to be, out of the question.  What I do for Lord Thoth is pay him homage and respect.  I also honor him by following in his magickal footsteps ~ according to my own style.  I look to him for inspiration, guidance and help to walk the creative and magickal life.

Lady Abundantia is the Roman Goddess of prosperity, abundance and infinite supply.  Her image appeared on Roman coins.  She carries the Cornucopia of infinite source and distributes it freely to all.  I pay homage to her as well.  Truth is, I have dealings with her and observed her respond to my conversations.  There is a relationship between us.  More will be written here on these two gods who hold a special place in my magickal practice.

The Legendarium

 

Mythic legends and ancient lore stoke the imagination and enchant our minds.  Humans thrive on stories of heroic deeds and victories won against seemingly impossible odds.  Mythologies hold their value even if they are viewed as allegories and not taken literally.  These old stories address concepts, thoughts and feelings that are still relevant today. In my humble opinion, the question of whether a myth is a factual account of something that actually occurred misses the point entirely.

The epic tale of the Lord of the Rings is set against an expansive mythology created by JRR Tolkien.  For serious students of this ‘history,’ Tolkien’s The Silmarillion is as close to being the ‘Bible’ of Middle Earth as it gets.  The entire series of Lord of the Rings related books comprises the Legendarium.  Middle Earth, the realm in which the action in The Lord of the Rings happens, has a long and fully articulated history that begins with the supreme Being, Eru Iluvatar.   Eru Iluvatar, which means ‘the ONE all-father’ in the ancient elvish tongue, created the ‘Holy Ones’ known as the Valar.  Functioning as co-creators, the Valar literally sing the world into existence.  The Silmarillion goes on to relate a truly wonderful account of the development of a realm which is nothing less than breathtaking.

The Legendarium is remarkable on many levels.  For this reason it is not surprising that some people have peered below the surface of Tolkien’s epic mythology to see a deeper spiritual truth.  Although the LotR mythos is relatively new to me, it rings true.  It resonates with who I am and is true for me on a level that does not require correspondence with objective material “reality.”  Physical “reality” is only a tiny slice of what is REAL and TRUE.

We humans are fond of labeling things.  We're pretty good at it too.  The problem is that labels put constraints on the thing they are attached to.  To offer a super-simple analogy, if you label a human being "boy" you define him in ways that also limit or separate him from other concepts.  It might suggest a number of boy characteristics he may or may not have. You might presume, for example, that he likes girls.  You might presume he is a child.  You might presume he's physically stronger than a girl, more aggressive too.  You might presume he likes Tonka trucks, plays sports or masturbates everyday.  None of these things may be true but the moment the label changes from 'human' to 'boy,' it tends to change the way we think about this person.  Another label is "God."  Although a fairly generic word, it also carries a lot of baggage.  The most obvious issue is the gender bias.  God is masculine, Goddess feminine.  The mere suggestion that the supreme being is a Goddess and not a God can open up a gigantor can of worms.  In some countries such a labeling snafu could get you very dead!

Labels tell us what a thing is as much as what it is not.  A car is not a truck, a boy is not a girl, what is good is not evil. To stroll this line of thought a few more paces down the road, change the title 'God' to Brahma, Krishna, Allah or Jehovah and these new labels create diverse concepts, do they not?  Even so, many individuals would say they are all names for the same thing.  Having said that, who could deny that each label inspires radically different images and concepts?  Is the image below your concept of the supreme Deity?  Can you imagine a Christian congregation in the American 'Bible belt' singing hymns to Krishna?  Not likely.  There ARE differences inherent in the two labels for the same thing.  This is the problem with assigning any name or physical representation to the omnipotent, omnipresent Being.  The moment we rubber stamp that label we begin to distort and diminish the truth about it.

The Lord Krishna

The Lord Jesus Christ

Pagans also believe in a supreme Being.  In this they are not unlike Christians, Muslims and Jews.  The difference is that they believe said Being expresses itself in diverse manifestations.  These unique expressions or facets of the supreme ONE are said to be individual gods and goddesses each with it's own unique characteristics, powers, appearance, etc.  Christianity's large cadre of saints and martyrs serve a similar function as Paganism's gods, goddesses, minor deities and elemental spirits.  For example, a Christian may pray to a patron saint whose special province covers whatever needs the supplicant may have.  How is this different than the pagan who prays to the elemental ruler of water to bring rain during a drought?

Myth making comes naturally to humans.  An epic tale can weave the disparate elements of our lives into something that makes sense.  This has intrinsic value to people on a very personal level.  These stories can express a deeper truth than mere factoids can, don't you agree?  Have you never been touched by a story that never claimed to be anything but fantasy?  It begs the question, what is more powerful, an event experienced in the real world or one experienced inwardly?  Is an objective experience superior to a subjective one?  There is food for thought here.

The Silmarillion has been called Tolkien’s first and last book.  It was his first major novel but was written over the course of a long and illustrious literary career.  Ironically, this masterpiece was not actually published until after his death.  It is pure fiction. I, for one, am grateful to the man for creating, or some would say, channeling a reality that has a strange yet irresistible allure for me.  If Shakespeare wrote "a rose by any other name would smell as sweet," why should not each individual have the freedom to worship what deities they prefer in their spiritual quest for ultimate truth - even if that truth is conveyed using fiction as its vehicle?

On Nature and 'White Light" Addicts

Here's my beef. I look at Pagans and Wiccans and observe that many (but not all) are as deluded and backward minded as the most extreme religious fundamentalists. There are scads of books, sayings, axioms and prayers about embracing Nature as our warm, fuzzy 'mommy' and how much we L-O-V-E Her. That is all good and well. I love nature too. Without nature where would we be? NOWHERE, that's where! We are not merely a product of nature, ie. the goddess, we ARE nature. That is to say, we are an inseparable part of the whole. This is one reason why we must preserve and protect her at all cost.

So what's the problem here? Well, in true extremist fashion, many of us choose what facets of "Mother Nature" that fit our own personal biases but do not care to accept the totality of this particular goddess. For example, to listen to some Pagans or to some health nuts, for that matter, all that is 'natural' is good, right and far superior to anything man-made. For instance, Apples= good, healthy, keeps the doctor away, right? Granted, apples are great, but you know what else is natural? Snake venom. Not so healthy. How about anthrax or some of those exotic flesh eating organisms? Ever see a pride of lions rip Bambi into bloody shreds and taters? Ever hear of a little town called Pompeii? The entire population was incinerated and/or suffocated when the volcano erupted. And let's not forget those exhilarating 100 foot tall tsunami waves that snuff out hundreds of thousands of lives in the blink of an eye. Yep, all natural. Mother nature has many faces but some people only want to see the smiling, benevolent one! To me that looks a lot like disrespect for the goddess, not the contrary.

Then there are what I call the 'white light' addicts.  Don't get me wrong people.  I'm a huge fan of white light. In fact, let's all give a collective thumbs up for white light!  Yayy!! Are we clear now?  No misunderstandings?  Good.  Having said that, these 'white light addicts are not unlike people who imagine that white equals good, black equals evil, night and darkness is for Devil worshipers while daytime is the domain of the righteous. Thoughts are subjectively categorized as either "positive" or "negative" - once again, positive being equated with goodness and negative, badness. The arbitrary "rule of three" or harsher "rule of ten" is sometimes tossed into the mix by people who love to fish a handy rule out of their witch's magick pouch and - woah! - its enough to scare you into giving up thinking altogether!

To the 'white lighters' anything that isn't good, soft, kindly, loving, merciful and angelic is beneath them and surely evidence of an immature spirituality. For anyone who is enamored of the fluffy-white-winged angels a la Biblical tales, I suggest you run a tally of angel stories. You will make an interesting discovery. The angels were pretty bad-ass and very often used as spirit HIT MEN! Who was it that killed the first-born of the Egyptians in the time of Moses? An angel. Who was it that killed 185,000 soldiers of king Sennacherib's army- while they were sleeping? An angel. Who was it that suggested to God that he become "a deceptive spirit" and go down to earth on a secret mission? (wrong, it wasn't Satan or a demon) It was an angel in good standing. (btw, God approved his mission of deceit.) And let us not forget the most famous case of angel gone bad - the Devil himself! Kind of puts a new light on your fluffy-bunny angel oracle cards, eh?  

To those white light loving folks who look down their noses at the rest of us, I respectful say; despite your pretensions, you are no better than anyone else - not even a little bit. If your world view suits you best then I'm happy for you.  On the other hand, looking down on people with a different world view is neither evolved nor 'enlightened.'  My advice? Get over yourselves.  Here's a thought; why not see a wider, more complete version of reality? One that isn't drawn in stark black and white, good and bad lines. You may have noticed the world is set in colors, not black and white.  Why not embrace Nature as She is and not how you would make Her? Why not refrain from standing in judgment of your fellowman and, instead, accept the fact that we ALL have a part to play in this extravaganza called life?

Dawn of the 'OLDE AGE'

From the movie "The Craft"

The brighter the light of the so-called "New Age" gets, the clearer it becomes that we are at the re-birth of the 'Olde Age.' I couldn't be happier! Let the world return to the days of magick, sorcery, wizards, witches, cunning-folk, dragons, beastly familiars, mysterious spirit entities and worship of the olde gods.

These days the average enchanter bears little resemblance to her counterpart of ancient times. Technological advances have transformed the world in fantastical ways. I embrace the very new as easily as the very olde. And why not? There is a sort of 'magick' happening every time we use our cell phones. Let us use ALL technologies at hand to sculpt our lives into the masterpiece of our choice.

You would think that the lords of science would have vanquished the olde ways long before this 21st century ever saw the light of day. But, alas! The magickal, mystical aspects of life have more adherents today than ever before! As far as I am concerned, THAT is as good a "Good News" as anything the Christians can offer. On that score, as a former devout Christian minister, I can say without equivocation that a Pagan or Gnostic path is best for me.  My path does not generate an irrational guilt that must then be forgiven and atoned for. Secondly, my relationship with SPIRIT (insert whatever word for the Supreme Being you prefer) is intimate and direct. It does not require an intercessor.

So let the 'olde ways,' hold sway!  Let the demons and angelic demigods, the miracle workers and the wise mage walk the ancient wooded paths once again.  May midnight magick and primordial fires light the inky night and words of incantations and chanted prayers fill the wee morning hours.  The age of enlightenment has indeed arrived and you and I may jump for joy for the modern days show clear the way to our truest nature. We are divine beings but playing the part and sporting the garb of mortal folk.  All hail the dawn of the 'Olde Age!' 

Where Are The PAGAN Grimoires?

Google "Grimoires" and you get the usual results that invariably include the Key of Solomon, The Arbatel of Magick, The Lemegeton and many others after that style.  Have you noticed that they almost always use Christian and Jewish symbolism and iconography?  Even when you add the word 'pagan' to your search, you will be hard pressed to find an ancient Grimoire that is not stuffed full of prayers and supplications to Jesus, Adonay, Elohim, Arch angels and more heavenly hosts than you ever knew existed!  I'm sorry but these texts just don't say 'pagan' to me at all.  I understand that the further back in time you go the scarcer people capable of authoring Grimoires or books of shadows become but, surely there must be SOME purely pagan texts available!  I wonder if the scarcity of ancient and exclusively pagan texts is the reason so many people gravitate toward Egyptian magick, for example.  The Egyptians left much writing about their mystical traditions.

Evoking Eternity by EA Koetting

There is one notable exception.  Its author is a young man by the name of E.A. Koetting.  He has written several books that do not follow in the tradition of most other Grimoires and Books of Shadow.  Evoking Eternity is one case in point. Mr Koetting is definitely not everyone's cup of tea since his path follows a dark route.  Anyone who knows me also knows my belief is that both light and dark magicks make the world go round.

There is much talk of the witch's Book of Shadows, the burning times and how these individuals kept their book secret but, where are these texts?  Were they destroyed by relatives after the witch's death or buried with them?  Why are there so few surviving records?  To listen to neo-pagans you would think a BOS was standard equipment for any self-respecting witch, wizard or magician.  To the contrary, its beginning to look like witches writing a BOS was not a common practice at all.  Honestly, I would be delighted to be proven wrong on this point.  How lovely it would be to know that we today are following in the foot steps of the witchy folk of days gone by!  Be that as it may, I suppose the proliferation of modern books of shadows and Grimoires will be the legacy, the 'ancient texts'  of centuries to come.
 
Does anyone know of ancient Grimoires, magickal texts and tomes that are NOT steeped in the mythology of Christianity and Judaism?  Let me know!