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Archive for the ‘Initiate’s Path’ Category

Whooo-ooh, we’re halfway there…

Posted in Initiate's Path, tagged , , , , , , , , , , on June 29, 2020| Leave a Comment »

Bryn Celli Ddu – courtesy of Wikipedia Commons

I just wrote a bunch of journaling for last week (the week beginning 6/22) and that’s week 12 of my 25 weeks of journaling for Initiates Lit Prac 1, Div 2, Magic, and Trance 2.

I did a TON of magic last week, and I am tentatively encouraged that it is working, so that’s exciting too. Also my Divination is turning up a TON of Eolh runes – a rune of protection, but it’s literally a really spiky plant that lives on the edge of the swamp. It protects you from the swamp… but it also protects the swamp from you, and I can’t help but think it’s a massively significant “social distancing” symbol.

I’m doing a lot of trancework, especially with the Ancestral Healing work that I’ve been doing and will continue to be doing as I go into the Animism and Ancestral Lineage courses this summer, as well as the Magic course I’m doing from John Beckett.

As far as Liturgy Practicum goes, my daily/weekly practices are… pretty daily/weekly at this point? I light the lamp, I do my 3 minute COOR (with no omen usually, just a rite of offering), I do a weekly fuller ritual on Fridays. I do divination whenever I think about it, and it all goes into my journal as well as into a spreadsheet. I don’t need huge paragraphs of reflection on a really well established daily practice at this point. (I clarified this with my mentor to make sure, and they say it’s fine – you reflect on the things that are important, and document that you are doing the work.)

I do need to document my Midsummer observance, but that’s pretty easy. The only thing I find challenging is that I don’t really ever use scripts for my rituals, so I have to say “it looked kind of like this, but not exactly”.

One of the cool things about being in this space is that I am at a point where I can seriously start thinking about who I want my initiators to be. I have some ideas, especially as I’m also Clergy (so I’m going to request at least some of my initiators be Clergy as well). I’m expecting to finish the IP by the end of the year, so hopefully my initiation will be able to be completed next spring, since generally I think at least part of it happens outdoors.

Things are moving along though. Hopefully I’m in my last month of furlough and will return to work on August 1, which will make some of this more difficult, but that’s why I started working on the IP as soon as I got furloughed – I have the time, and it’s been really good to dig into my spiritual work right now.

Runes drawn for the Midsummer 2020 ADF Newsletter

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Recreating the Cosmos

Posted in Initiate's Path, Ritual, tagged , , , , , , , , on May 14, 2020| Leave a Comment »

In the beginning, there was distance. The distance between South and North. The distance between Fire and Ice. The distance existed before the many worlds were born, and in it there was, licked from the ice by the great cow Audhumla, a giant. Ymir he was, and he was the progenitor of all of the Jotun. There in the great between, he drank the milk of the great cow Audhumla, until he was slain. Odin, Villi, and Ve slew him, there in the gap between, and from him they fashioned all of the worlds. They fashioned the earth from his flesh, the seas from his blood, the mountains from his bones, the stones from his teeth, the sky from his skull, and the clouds from his brain. Four dwarfs held up his skull, one in each of the four cardinal directions. His eyelashes became the fence surrounding Midgard, or Middle Earth, the home of mankind.

Today we stand within those eyelashes, on the earth that was once the great sacrifice that brought the many worlds into being, and below it, we find that there are three wells. These three wells are the Well of Fate, the Well of Roaring, and the Well of Mimir – from them we seek wisdom, and we hallow this well that it may connect with the sacred Wells beneath Yggdrasil, that we may speak with the worlds below.

Above these three wells, we find a great tree – Yggdrasil – the steed upon which messages are transmitted from world to world. The dragon gnaws at its roots, the stag forages on its leaves, and the eagle soars in its branches, and around it spin the nine worlds of all of creation. We hallow this tree, that it may be Yggdrasil for us, that we may be the axis of the many worlds, the sacred center of all things.

And between these many worlds, up from the wells below, riding upon the tree, we find the bridge of Bifrost – shining and bright, the fiery way that leads from Midgard, where we now stand, to Asgard, the home of the Gods. We hallow this fire, that it may be the sacred fire that transmits our messages to the upperworld, that we may speak to the worlds above.

By all the mighty kindreds three
By fire and well and sacred tree
By land and sky and flowing sea
I recreate our cosmos.

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Initiate Indo European Mythology 1

Posted in Initiate's Path, tagged , , , , , on May 14, 2020| Leave a Comment »

This course will prepare the student for their work as an Initiate by examining the myths both within their primary hearth culture as well across Indo-European cultures. The student will also reflect on how mythology affects their personal practice, and how it can be applied to ADF ritual structure.

For this course, in all cases where you are to use your primary hearth culture, if you have not chosen one, please choose one that you would like to learn more about and use it for all the questions.

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Initiate Divination 1

Posted in Initiate's Path, Runes, tagged , , , , , , , , on May 6, 2020| Leave a Comment »

This course will prepare the student for being an Initiate by giving them basic instruction in divinatory work, as well as an introduction to doing divination for ritual and others.

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Initiate Trance 1

Posted in Initiate's Path, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , on April 27, 2020| Leave a Comment »

This course will prepare the student for part of the Initiatory Tests by giving them basic instruction in trance work.

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Initiate Liturgy 1

Posted in Initiate's Path, tagged , , , , , , , , on April 15, 2020| Leave a Comment »

This course will prepare the student for part of the Initiatory Tests by informing how they perform ritual and why.

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Changes, Moving, and Spiritual Pursuits

Posted in Druid In This Place, Initiate's Path, tagged , , , , , , , on April 8, 2020| 2 Comments »

Just a brief post to check in. Some major new developments have happened in the last two weeks (alongside the entire world going to hell in a handbasket), and I think you’ll start to see more and different flavor of posts here as I get going.

First – I got laid off last week. There’s a possibility that I’ll get rehired in August, but I’m proceeding as though that won’t happen. I’ve got my resume up and running, and I’m pretty happy with it, but obviously the job market is… not great right now.

As a result, I’m moving immediately, as soon as I can get packed and get up to North Texas, instead of waiting until my lease expires in mid-May. Not having a job, I’ve got plenty of time to pack, but even that has left me with more loose time than I’d like.

I’ve gotten in contact with Blackland Prairie Grove – the ADF grove that meets in Arlington. They’ll be about a 60-75 minute drive from where I’ll be living, unfortunately, but I’ll hopefully get to see them on occasion. Obviously, my job when I meet them is to learn the way they do things, but I’ve offered the use of some of my live-meet technology expertise as they start planning a Beltane ritual.

That’s all mostly mechanical though – on a spiritual front, I’ve been called to do deeper work, and that deeper work needs to be something structured. As such, I’ve spoken with the ADF Initiate’s Preceptor, Rev. Jan Avende (who some of you will know is also the priest who ordained me), and re-upped my study program membership with ADF’s Initiates Program.

A lot of the coursework is duplicated with my clergy training work, but all of the Initiate coursework has practicum elements that I’ll be doing. I’ll be starting ASAP with Initiate Liturgy 1, which my longtime readers will know harkens back to Liturgy 1 that I fulfilled for the Clergy Prelim program in 2014.

I’m intentionally going into these with fresh eyes though – with the focus on becoming an initiate – a spirit worker, a resource, a magical practitioner. I’ve done the work with the focus on being a clergy person, and I think I’ve proven in the last few years that I’m capable of that. So even though there’s a good bit of overlap, I’ll definitely be refreshing all the work, and you’ll start seeing study program courses posted here as I pass them.

I’m really excited about this. I like achieving things – I especially like working on my spiritual pursuits. I like digging my claws into the nuts and bolts of what makes magic and trance work, and this kind of work will absolutely enhance the work I do in ADF, in the wider pagan community, and as a Senior Initiate in the Henge of the Cobbled Path.

So wish me luck! There’s lots of good that could come out of this, so let’s hope it ends with less heartache than it is beginning with.

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The Slow Blade – Trance/Dream Working

Posted in Clergy Training Program, Initiate's Path, Trance Journal 1, tagged , , , , , , , on December 9, 2017| Leave a Comment »

Writing this up so that I remember it for posterity. Not sure what the end result will be.

I don’t often remember dreams, and when I do they are usually gone within a few minutes of my waking up. This one has stuck with me now for awhile, and I want to get it written down so that I don’t forget it.

*****

I dreamed I was going through an ordeal – in the original sense – a test of sorts, where I had to pass a certain number of gates. I was on a long and winding path, and there were ten total gates that I had to pass through. (It was very important that there were ten.) Each one had a gate guardian who was tending a fire at the gate, and the only way to go forward on the path was to pass through. The gates had tall sides, and were blueish-purple and swirly, like portals, but they were (to my mind) clearly “gates” I had to pass through.

I passed through the first four without incident or really memory. I just know that they felt “easy” and that I didn’t have any trouble getting through them. When I got to the fifth gate, my FB friend Cat Heath was the gate guardian, tending her fire.

Except I couldn’t get through. I threw myself at it and bounced off or slid down or fell. I did this for some time, until I was bruised and battered and lying in a heap at the foot of this impassable gate. And Cat looked down at me and said “Well, clearly you’re not ready for this.”

And I woke up.

My first thought was, “Well fuck, I didn’t even make it halfway through before I failed.”

Sometime later in the day, with the dream still on my mind, I went to lay down and see if I could get back into dream-space and ask some questions and maybe look around a bit, and I was immediately back into the space in the dream, lying at the foot of the fifth gate.

And I asked Cat why I wasn’t ready, and what I needed to do. She looked at me, a little puzzled for a moment, and the said “The slow blade penetrates the shield.” She turned back to the fire.

I hauled myself up, approached the gate, and then slowly – painfully slowly- began to push my hand through the gate. And it worked. After some time, my hand was able to pass through.

And then I snapped back to reality again.

*****

I have taken this to mean that it’s time to slow down, that things will happen in their time (whether I’m talking about my clergy work or my divorce or any other thing in my life). Talking with other priests makes me think that this is especially related to my clergy training, but I think there’s more to it. Also that this isn’t something I can force – that I must – MUST- go slowly and force myself to take the time that it takes to be ready for what is coming next. Which is a hard lesson for me, but I will take it as a good sign that my divination on this has been very favorable since I had the dream.

I am still looking for a good diviner to confirm my suspicions, so if that’s you, please get in touch with me. I’d love to get an outside confirmation on what I think is really going on here.

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Liturgy 1: Question 8 – Outdwellers

Posted in ADF, Clergy Training Program, Initiate's Path, tagged , , , , , , , on July 3, 2015| Leave a Comment »

8.    Discuss the Outdwellers and their significance in ritual (or not, as the case may be). (minimum 100 words)

Outdwellers are representatives of the forces of chaos, and generally are seen as beings that would act contrary to the rite that is being performed (specifically to the order that ADF ritual seeks to create) (Newburg). While some view them as specifically malevolent or chaotic beings, others view them as simply “anyone we’re not actively making offerings to today” (Newburg). Some groups also include human feelings and impulses (like anger or jealousy) that would have a negative impact on the rite as part of the outdwellers (Newburg), though making offerings to those feelings seems odd to me. The outdwellers can be a significant (or not) portion of ADF worship depending on how they are viewed by any particular group that is performing the ritual. Some groups make offerings to the outdwellers directly, some groups make offerings to a protective god/ess or spirit to protect the sacred rite from the influence of the outdwellers, and some groups ignore them entirely, preferring not to name those forces and thus garner their attention. I usually do some of the first two – I make an offering to the outdwellers directly (usually beer or soda or cider), and then ask Thunor’s protection of my ritual space – which is something of a threat, considering how Thunor usually deals with things that disrupt the order of the universe.

Added 7/15: Our protogrove has chosen simply to ward our ritual space through an offering and song to Thunor, which is based on an Anglo Saxon hallowing charm, set to music. We tried several other methods of offerings, and nothing felt quite right, but we also didn’t feel right completely ignoring the idea of the outdwellers, and so we settled on using a guardian deity whose function is the protection of the middle world to specifically protect our ritual space. We make these offerings to Thunor both at the beginning of the ritual (asking for protection) and at the end (thanks for protection), as well as singing the charm and carrying fire around the space.

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Liturgy 1: Question 7 – Fire, Well, and Tree

Posted in ADF, Clergy Training Program, Initiate's Path, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , on June 29, 2015| Leave a Comment »

7. Discuss the origins of the Fire, Well and Tree, and the significance of each in ADF liturgy. (minimum 100 words for each of the Fire, Well and Tree)

Fire: The Fire forms one of the gates in ADF’s sacred center. It is the connection to the upperworlds, and it is most often affiliated with the Deities. It is the hearth fire and the essence of change, the spark that creates life (Paradox). Fire burns away impurities and makes things sacred. The sacred fire is the recipient of many of our offerings, which burn into smoke that feeds the deities in the nature of the Vedic sacrifices to and through Agni. Fire was highly important in Indo-European cultures, and many sacred fires are found in the mythology, from Agni (who is fire itself) to the Roman hearth fires and Vestal fires (Dangler).

Well: The Well forms one of the gates in ADF’s sacred center. It is the connection to the underworlds, and it is most often affiliated with the Ancestors, who go “below” and from whom we get wisdom and memory. It is also affiliated with chthonic deities and their underworld realms. Water from the well washes away impurities and makes things sacred. The well is represented in the mythology by the three wells that feed the World Tree Yggdrasil, from which Odin gains wisdom and the Norns get the mud that repairs the world tree’s roots. It is also similar to the watery otherworld that the Irish see as the home of the Ancestors. (Paradox)

Tree: The Tree holds fast the ways between the worlds. It stands at the center and connects all the worlds, and it is most often affiliated with the Nature Spirits, who live in and among its branches. The tree spans the worlds, from the watery depths of the well to the fiery heights of the sky. It is particularly well represented by Yggdrasil, the great World Tree, whose inhabitants include the dragon (Nidhogg), the squirrel (Ratatosk), the unnamed eagle, and the four stags (Dáinn, Dvalinn, Duneyrr and Duraþrór) (Paradox). The Irish also have an ancient sacred tree, the Bile, found growing over a holy well or fort (MacCulloch).

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