The Dark Side of the Moon
I got together with my coven last night for a dark moon esbat. It seems like it's been a long time since we gathered for ritual, just us without guests. I was certainly feeling the need to be in ritual space.
The coven has been very goal oriented this year. We set goals at Imbolc and, during the waxing year, we worked on manifesting. We shifted at Lughnassadh with our wicker man ritual, where we gave up and released those goals we would not be getting around to this year. Most of all that dealt with daily life -- work, school, community, relationships. Last night, we stayed with the theme of release, but we shifted the focus to getting rid of the things that block us from progressing magickally and spiritually. As we move towards Samhain, we really wanted to work on opening up the channels to deepen our connection with the ancestors and other spirits.
We set up the altar outside along with the fire bowl and did our standard Georgian castings and invocations. Mythologically, we were a bit scattered, but it all worked. Cakes and ale were Indian chocolate cake and Armenian pomegranate wine. We called on Herne, a strong presence in our coven, and Cerridwen, but the inspiration for the body of the ritual drew on the story of Inanna's descent. Everyone brought seven things to release, one at a time, to the fire. Once the releasing and clearing was done, we moved to opening the channels. We charged some items we use when when we work with ancestors and spirit guides and did some scrying with the fire and smoke.
I'm not very good at spirit communication and I'm even worse at scrying, but my skills have really improved over the year. Last night, I received some messages. At first, I kept seeing vague warnings of troubles that lie ahead. Once that cleared, I saw spirits reaching out to my HP and HPS, ancestors or guides wanting to make contact. I saw one of my own guides, a woman who seemed to be made up of brilliant white and yellow light. I believe she's one of the highly elevated astral beings (blah, that sounds so New Age!) that I've been told about more than once by those in my Santeria community. Her presence was warm and comforting, but I'm not sure what it means.
There was more Indian chocolate cake, with ice cream, and wine after ritual. My HP also gave me a tarot reading, which was a nice surprise because it's not really something he seems to do very often and I was overdue for one. It was all work related and did offer some clarification though I'm still not sure what steps to take. I know I should have left my current job some time ago, but I haven't been able to find another. I don't want to be jobless for months, but the cards seem to indicate that may be necessary. School and dreams of a Master's and a career are also clouding my vision and my there's conflict between the practical and the intuitive sides of me. My HP suggested I do some more work on this at the full moon.
On another note, I've noticed a lot of conflict lately. I haven't had any directly, but there's been drama every where I turn -- arguments between friends, relationships ending, in my extended family, my coven, and in my Pagan community. It was all too much to be coincidental so I checked in with Quaaa, a good friend who knows a lot of about astrology. He told me a lot of stuff I didn't quite understand, but the bottom line is this: yes, there's astrological tension between certain planets. Overall, however, I have to admit that I am happy. Work is quiet right now, school is going very well, and so are my personal relationships with friends and significant others. I'm looking forward to FPG, working with the Black Hat Society, and other various projects on the horizon.
The coven has been very goal oriented this year. We set goals at Imbolc and, during the waxing year, we worked on manifesting. We shifted at Lughnassadh with our wicker man ritual, where we gave up and released those goals we would not be getting around to this year. Most of all that dealt with daily life -- work, school, community, relationships. Last night, we stayed with the theme of release, but we shifted the focus to getting rid of the things that block us from progressing magickally and spiritually. As we move towards Samhain, we really wanted to work on opening up the channels to deepen our connection with the ancestors and other spirits.
We set up the altar outside along with the fire bowl and did our standard Georgian castings and invocations. Mythologically, we were a bit scattered, but it all worked. Cakes and ale were Indian chocolate cake and Armenian pomegranate wine. We called on Herne, a strong presence in our coven, and Cerridwen, but the inspiration for the body of the ritual drew on the story of Inanna's descent. Everyone brought seven things to release, one at a time, to the fire. Once the releasing and clearing was done, we moved to opening the channels. We charged some items we use when when we work with ancestors and spirit guides and did some scrying with the fire and smoke.
I'm not very good at spirit communication and I'm even worse at scrying, but my skills have really improved over the year. Last night, I received some messages. At first, I kept seeing vague warnings of troubles that lie ahead. Once that cleared, I saw spirits reaching out to my HP and HPS, ancestors or guides wanting to make contact. I saw one of my own guides, a woman who seemed to be made up of brilliant white and yellow light. I believe she's one of the highly elevated astral beings (blah, that sounds so New Age!) that I've been told about more than once by those in my Santeria community. Her presence was warm and comforting, but I'm not sure what it means.
There was more Indian chocolate cake, with ice cream, and wine after ritual. My HP also gave me a tarot reading, which was a nice surprise because it's not really something he seems to do very often and I was overdue for one. It was all work related and did offer some clarification though I'm still not sure what steps to take. I know I should have left my current job some time ago, but I haven't been able to find another. I don't want to be jobless for months, but the cards seem to indicate that may be necessary. School and dreams of a Master's and a career are also clouding my vision and my there's conflict between the practical and the intuitive sides of me. My HP suggested I do some more work on this at the full moon.
On another note, I've noticed a lot of conflict lately. I haven't had any directly, but there's been drama every where I turn -- arguments between friends, relationships ending, in my extended family, my coven, and in my Pagan community. It was all too much to be coincidental so I checked in with Quaaa, a good friend who knows a lot of about astrology. He told me a lot of stuff I didn't quite understand, but the bottom line is this: yes, there's astrological tension between certain planets. Overall, however, I have to admit that I am happy. Work is quiet right now, school is going very well, and so are my personal relationships with friends and significant others. I'm looking forward to FPG, working with the Black Hat Society, and other various projects on the horizon.
1 comments:
I've been missing you posting. :) Sounds like overall you're in a pretty good place. Kewl. Oh, and congrads on the project grad!
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