Mundane Magic: Sound

While I believe that our interactions with the world around us via our senses are small miracles in themselves, sound especially seems magical to me. Sound changes us.

The sudden jarring blare of music in a horror movie: the crying of a child: the laughter of a loved one: the pop of dry firewood on a quiet night. Sounds of man and nature. Music, in particular, moves us.

"Why Bother?"

Why?

Why bother purposely to get hooked on what has been long described as the opiate of the masses? How exactly can I explain this…

Tools and Supplies (pt 2) : The Athame

A fade up from black: a circle of hooded cultists approach a stone altar, upon which a helpless virgin in white is bound and gagged. They chant and ominous music reaches a crescendo as their leader raises a gleaming dagger, and -

Wait, what? No, no no. Human sacrifices, drawing blood with a dagger - this isn’t Wicca!

"I summon the Dark Lord."
"You must roll a 15 or higher to succeed."

The use of the ritual dagger is one aspect where mainstream religions and media have blurred the lines regarding who does what.

Strange Dreams 2 - and The Wheel of Dharma

I'm gonna be honest - this one is RIDICULOUSLY long. Today’s post is about another dream, in which I met sort of a spiritual guide. If you’re more interested in reading about The Wheel of Dharma - which I’m sure is the more interesting topic for most people who might visit this blog - then hit the jump and scroll down until you see “The Wheel of Dharma” in bold. Otherwise... well, you'll probably be bored. Just a warning.

Tarot

At the beginning of the summer, I was at Colossalcon in Ohio. When I started to get bored between bigger events, I decided to walk around with my tarot deck, and get some practice doing readings for profit (read: $1 a reading). I only got a few bites, but the people that got readings were across the board impressed. Two of the girls I did readings for ended up crying by the end of the reading, shocked by how accurate the things coming up were.

However, following a reading where the guy I reading for was particularly impressed, a guy that had sat down to watch made some comments.

Grinning and scoffing, he said something along the lines of;

“Well yeah, but see the descriptions of these cards are so vague that it could fit anybody. A few key words that could work with anybody make it seem true, it’s all fake.”

I let him go on for a few minutes about how buzz words - words that affect everybody - were being used to make it seem like I knew things that I didn't about the guy I was doing a reading for. He was right and wrong at the same time.

When he was done, I just smiled, and explained to him something that I think anybody who wishes to use tarot needs to understand.

“First of all, Tarot does NOT tell the future.”

Tarot in the Student Life Center

I was sitting in the student life center at the college I go to, relaxing with my boyfriend as we waited for my class time to roll around. I took out my tarot deck and did a quick reading for myself – the results told me for the second time in two weeks that I needed to turn to my boyfriend for help with my bad dreams and worries – and was about to do a reading for him, when;

“Hey, what is that, a tarot deck there?”

There was an older man, latino, with a bushy mustache with a few threads of white in it. He was smiling, and seemed curious.

“Yeah,” I smiled back.

“You know how to do it?”

“Yeah, but I just started doing it earlier this year.”

I described the kind of spread I was using*, and he responded by telling me the style he used.

Pictured: Celtic Cross and Staff layout - aka, the style I use.

“How long have you been doing it?” I asked.

“All my life,” he responded.

He explained that his mother had taught him and his siblings, and that her mother had taught her, and so on. Grinning, he moved to our booth and asked me to do a reading for him. When I finished, he seemed pleased, and told me I’d read correctly. He then asked if I’d mind if he did a reading for me.

I was more than happy, and handed him the cards.

He then spread the cards out, flipping a card up every four cards. A top row of cards was my past and present, and the next three told my future. He used the entire deck in the reading, and used a method that depended almost completely on the face image of the card, rather than the symbols in the picture. But still, he touched on key points –

“Your father is worried a lot about you… he wants to protect you.” Another card – “A man in your family who loves you is waiting for your call.” He also made references to marriage and fortune coming my way.

Overall, it was a very strange and unfamiliar way (to me) to read the cards, but the things he said still made sense to me.

I couldn’t help but think of my dream – tarot cards with meanings I’d never heard of before, with images and values I’d never seen or thought of, but still having meaning nonetheless. I understood, then, the lesson I was supposed to learn:

There are many valid methods of doing a reading, or interpreting the cards – many of them are traditional, and blend different beliefs (he had me make the sign of the cross on the deck before the reading) but all work. It just depends on the person.

In my dream, the new form of Tarot was handed from one practitioner to another, who then inadvertently handed it to me.

The man had pointed to one card, and told me: “Someone old and wise will send you a message, in a dream - or already did.”

Smiling, and wondering what his grandmother and mother looked like in their youth, I nodded. Maybe they already had.

*there are different interpretations regarding what position in cross/staff means what, but I use this:

1) the key issue of the reading

2) Obstacles in the way of resolving problems related to the issue

3) Subconscious traits

4) Conscious traits

5) Past

6) Present

7) Who the questioner is to the people around them

8) Who the people around the questioner are

9) hopes and fears

10) Probable outcome

Strange Dreams

I think that most people who dream (and remember their dreams) experience at some point or another 'meaningful' dreams. Dreams that seem to predict something about upcoming events, or just seem like they're trying to send a message.

I typically have several very odd dreams every night - ranging from flying over the countryside to fighting zombies en masse. But I also have highly emotional dreams, mostly about my parents or loved ones, about regrets, and things I feel frustrated about.

Many Native American beliefs teach that to ignore your dreams is dangerous, and could cause illness and madness - certainly, many people believe that dreams are the mind's way of working out problems it can't deal with during the day; a pressure valve, so to speak, or a filter. Freud believed that our dreams were the result of our desires and wishes combined with the activities we do all day, and that nothing we see in a dream can be made up. Rather, everything in a dream is remembered from our lives in some shape or form. There are countless theories about dreams and dream interpretation, what causes us to dream and why we do it, but no one really knows for sure.

I'd like to believe, for me at least, that dreams really do act as a way for the mind to work out problems in a safe environment. A way to deal with stress or maybe just experience something wonderful. Like I said, I dream a lot about my parents - I worry about my mother, and my relationship with my father right now is more or less nonexistent because I'm afraid of talking to him. So in my dreams, I endure situations with my mom where we're fighting or angry (I worry about our relationship going bad) and I have nightmares about my father controlling my life with fear and guilt. In my dreams I can react in ways I wouldn't (or couldn't) in real life, for fear of retaliation. The consequences I experience in dreams are impermanent, but the implications are powerful and can be a great aid in every day life and dealing with life problems.

Walk in the park

Today was a local celebration with art vendors, craft tables, beer tents, live music, a battle of the bands - the works. There were tons of people of all ages, and lots of dogs. I got let off work early and set about walking around. Right away I found a mortar and pestle for a great price, and snatched it up. Rain clouds that had moved in cleared away, and the sun was bright but not hot.

I walked around and just watched. I got caught up chasing a lost twisted balloon flower with little girls, and couldn't stop laughing. I got to pet at least 3 types of puppies, wander in and out of stores that are always closed when I go by - it was wonderful. I donated money to charitable causes, and watched people all around me perform random acts of kindness.

I made my way to the little park where the bands were playing, and found a seat on a bench. I didn't realize I'd sat down next to someone's stuff - he'd left it beside the bench - and when the owner came back, he sat down next to me. We watched the bands together in silence, and he suddenly jumped a little - his expression seemed to say "how could I forget."

"Would you like a bottle of water?" He asked, reaching into his bag, sounding apologetic.
"Oh! Yes, please, do you have an extra?"
"I have lots, the church down the street is handing them out for free."

Making a pentacle

Still being in the process of accumulating the tools for a proper altar, one of the things I decided to make myself was a clay pentacle. I made a dish for the purpose in my ceramics class, but as I was decorating it, I became self conscious of people seeing it.

Would they think it was a pentagram (satanic) and just assume instead of asking? Would they see it and just assume that I was a long practicing Wiccan? What sort of judgments would people make just looking at it - if any at all?

One guy in my class, noticing that I was using a compass to draw a pentacle, perked up and mentioned that he used to draw them for some friends all the time - and then asked if I was "Into wiccanism or that Odin stuff." I said no, that I was just looking into earth religions, and he nodded, returning to his work - a beer stein with a skull and vines on it.
"That's cool," he replied. "I have a lot of friends into wicca or whatever."
He was oddly immature - being in his early 30's, he dressed and talked a lot like a teenager. It made me question what associations I might attach to myself allowing my interests to be more visible. It also made me question myself.

Making a witch bottle

Witch bottles are bottles/orbs/jars what have you that are meant to trap negative energies, curses (or maybe even astral projecting witches!) inside, and then destroy them either via the items/potion inside, or by the light of day. A witch bottle found in England made the news on the netterwebs recently - a traditional sort filled with all sorts of nasties, such as bent nails... and urine.

More after jump.

Tools and Supplies (pt 1)

A lot of different practices call for a lot of different tools (necessary or not for practice). For instance, Christians don't need a church, or pews, or a crucifix to pray or be Christian - but a good number of them go to churches anyway, partially for the fellowship, partially to feel closer to God, whatever reasons. Smaller, more personal physical items are sometimes carried - things like Rosaries, or a more open term, Prayer Beads.

A few months back, I made a Buddhist prayer mala. 108 beads with 4 markers splitting it into sections of 27, with a 'guru' bead at the bottom, and a tassel. I also added 3 removable counters that attach to the mala - two strands with counters (10 ea) and a little bead on a silver clasp that sits between beads on the ma la.

(The pictures aren't mine)
Holding the mala in either one or both hands, I say a mantra (Om Mani Pedme hum) and for every mantra I pass a bead. For every full round (108) mantras, I slide up a bead on the counter on the left. Every time all 10 beads on the left get slid up, a counter on the right goes up. For every 10 counters on the right, the little clasp moves over one bead.

When the clasp has gone all the way around, that's 1 million mantras. "But wait!" You say. "That math is all wrong!" Well, not quite. Every time I do a round, it only counts as 100. Why?

Every time I say a mantra, it's supposed to give me good karma, or spiritual merit. The last 8, however, are donated to the world, to everyone around me. When the 1 million mantras have been said, I dedicate the practice - once again - to everyone. As of this post, I've reached 31,500 mantras for myself. It'll be sometime before I reach my goal. You might wonder how much time I devote to this, or what the point of it is, but it's not something I do constantly - it's for moments of quiet, meditation - something for when my hands are bored at the movies, or when I'm just relaxing. In other words, for moments of peace... like a physical prayer.

In any case, the point of today's post (before I started rambling on about beads) was that I'm still looking for my tools. Since I'm looking into Wicca right now, I'm looking for the tools I'd use on my altar (Cauldron, Chalice, etc). I'll be heading out to a local gift shop, and some thrift stores in a bit - pictures if I find anything good.


UPDATE

A fruitful hunt! The gift shop uptown was closed today for whatever reason, but a trip to the local Salvation Army and The Goodwill resulted in a small incense burner, and a metal mixing bowl. Not for a cauldron, mind you, but a singing bowl!

I'll post another vid as soon as I find a better striker. As for the burner -

The picture makes it look huge, but it's only about 3" tall. Still, this size is normally around $11 at a store. Oh, and the bowl? A genuine singing bowl of the same size is normally over $100. Both the bowl and the burner ran me about $3. I love thrift shops.

Up and Running

I've been meaning to get this blog up for a couple months now, so here it finally is. Over the past year, I've been mostly looking into Vodun/Voodoo/Hoodoo, and brushed up a bit on Buddhism. Right now, I'm looking into more 'earth' based religions, specifically, Wicca.

Just the other day, August 1st, I celebrated "Lammas" with my boyfriend - First Harvest, the end of Summer and the very beginning of Fall. According to what I've read about the Wiccan faith, a time to celebrate the bounty of the earth, to consider regrets from the past year, and to begin gathering the fruits around you.

I don't exactly live on a farm, but there is a nice field nearby, and a very nice garden which I've been invited to share. I collected little bouquets of Queen Anne's Lace, Wormwood, mint, tansy and Rosemary, for use later*, and in the evening we made harvest bread. I just used regular dough with chopped up herbs and garlic kneaded in. The dough was a bit thick and I didn't feel like making little figures or separate rolls, so I just made it into a braided loaf. We shared the first two bites, and celebrated being together for the past six months. We also celebrated looking forward to future harvests. Overall, it was a very nice day, and a nice 'holiday.'


For those of you questioning the collection of the toxic plants (Wormwood and Tansy), they're not for consumption - their for use in gris-gris/mojo bags and satchels. Some might dismiss it as superstition, but I like making and carrying these at times, putting them under a pillow, or putting them in a drawer with my clothes. If nothing else, it sure makes things smell nice.