The Sunday Stir May 22, 2016

A light read for your Pagan Sunday morning!

Meme of the Week

A Pagan Call to Peaceful Res/Revo lution 

by Ly De Angeles

Photography Arian Levanael (2015)

"I read an article written by a journalist on their thoughts at being invited to a public samhain gathering. It is offensive that the stereotyping of crone, nudity and angsty teen movie actors are how they introduce the article. Paganism is a generic term, most certainly and we all know that, but many of us have hopefully studied and employed vast scholarship to this mysticism. Many of us have traced our ancestry to our indigenous European roots where myth, art, poetry, song, legend the tapestries of tree lore and animal knowledge are woven into spaces within brutal and consumerist cultures.

Through this knowledge and wisdom we are able to offer stories and connection to those of other cultures who, without appropriate sharing, must lump us all together as a bunch of bloody white, mostly privileged, middle class people trying hard to have some kind of significance when, in truth, we have nothing. Not without deep and honest lore.

This true ancestral information is almost forgotten, buried beneath the ash of Abrahmanic dominance. We pay attention to other voices than the propaganda of media. We hear mountains for goodness sake. We are oceans seeking a breath beneath plastic islands. Tony Mierzwicki, I thank you deeply for posting that article.

It is time, however, that those of us celebrating the seasons of our ancestors write new stories to add to the feasts. Repeating material written by Doreen Valiente almost a hundred years ago is no longer vital. Mimicking memes for the sake of sounding like we're with an in-crowd.

I raised a challenge a while back (see below) and I am still willing to get to Ireland before the close of the Gregorian 2016 calendar.
I suggest an equivalent to a gorsedd. I know I have material to share. Anyone? If you know someone to whom this is a significant topic get in touch. I will summon us a community here x"

Read this: https://www.academia.edu/20205588/Heretical_Anarchy_-_A_Pagan_Call_to_a_Peaceful_Res_Rev_olution

In the News

Disclaimer: These are not authored by me, nor are these necessarily articles with which you may agree or believe. These are meant to provoke thought and discussion. These are out there, on the net, and are being read daily.

Woman Murders Her Father For Killing Her 5 Children And 2 Husbands Through Witchcraft

Community threaten to burn the 'witch'

Irish-American Witchcraft: Is It a Haunting or Fairies?

Woman is tied to a post and whipped to death after villagers accused her of being a WITCH 

Witch camp is coming and doesn't require a letter from Hogwarts

Dis-Spelling the Prosperity Gospel

Why are lemons used in black magic?

Are You Letting Witchcraft Into Your Home? Ex-witch Beth says Satan using conniving tactics

Christian Misogyny: Female Sexuality in the Primary Historical Sources for Witchcraft in Early Modern Europe

Astrology

Monthly Horoscopes from Darkstar Astrology
Weekly Horoscopes from Tarot.com

Remember to get your Daily Magic Guide and Tarot Reading on the Facebook page each morning!

This Week's Totem: Crow

Crow, as a totem, has different meanings to different cultures. Crow is the keeper of Sacred Law- not man-made law, but the Universal Law. Crow is a master of illusion. Crow people must walk their walk and talk their talk. Crows are seen as guardians of ceremonial magic and healing. In some cultures, crows are considered bad omens. Of course, you can bet that I'm not one who ascribes to that. Crows have always kept me from making mistakes, or warning me against danger or that something was happening with my family.

In my experience, crows interact differently with different people, which is why I believe there are so many different ways of viewing them. They are the smartest of all birds. They can not only recognize human faces, but will pass that information along to their young- to the 3rd generation down- particularly, if the humans are unkind to them. A human will be marked by crows as good or bad and then it will take at least 3 generations for that human to be given a chance again. I find myself to be  a lot like them. I am not one who forgives and forgets. I tend toward just cutting people out of my life and moving on, steering very clear of those folks in the future. If you are a Morrigan Child, crows will be with you through your life for various reasons, as they are Her totem.

Overall, Crow's message is about change and manifesting it in your life. If you have been working toward a goal, Crow shows up to tell you that it's just about time for things to come to fruition. More than ever, you should pay attention to the omens and signs around you. Crow could also be warning you that you are either spreading yourself a bit too thin, or that you need to stop scattering your energy and focus on what you really want to manifest in your life.

Crows see the world cross-eyed. This is important, because Crow may be asking you to change your perspective in order to manifest your desires. Look at everything from different angles, and see changes you might need to make to bring you what you want.

Remember that Universal Law is not the same as what we think of as "reality". You can bend the laws of physics with your will. Crow can show you how if you are willing to be open to its teachings.

Meditation

This week's meditation is from Cu Dubh. The song is called "Hrafn"

Thursday's Child: The Watcher

Of The Wildwood

As Samhain approaches, I'm feeling much more like cocooning and communing with the spirits of the earth and the Otherworld.

I absolutely love the poetry of Ly De Angeles. I highly recommend her book, "The Feast of Flesh and Spirit", where you can find the following poem. It reflects completely where I am at today.

"I am forgotten until you remember me, 
I am the living root; the forever Tree---
I await beneath the senses for the soul who truly listens
with an ear to hear my mystery...
and in the song of such a one I am remembered;
and remembering will set the sacred free
to walk through dreams that can rebuild the ancient trackways,

to awaken memories of fires on the hills,
to call the faidh and the ceoltóirí  to attend me
As I plant the living legends in the places of the deep,
(where the forgotten ones still sleep)
of the forest of profusion of the ever-living Tree.

I am the Watcher of the Gate--I am not found
in any book already written, already printed, already bound
but in the spaces yet to be heard;
in the mystery of the yet-to-be-written word.
Ancient Now. Alive divine.
Prepare a place for me; a face for me.
Deny me not; I am the legend of the Vine.
And I am yours, beloved---you who hear me
And in an act that holds to nothing, we entwine." ~ Ly De Angeles (excerpt: The Watcher)

Monday Meditation: Mulengro Part 2

Last week, we began a review of Mulengro. If you missed it, read this first.

Mulengro

I know your Name now, you Liar!

You, the killing machine of the soul!

I'll tell!

I'll tell!

If they can hear me they will know your Name also!

Too late! You are known: "Divide and Conquer"!

YOU ARE THE LIE THAT CLOSES OFF THE GATE!!

Your Faces, they are 7!

Your essences, they are 7!

Your Powers, they are 7!

And together they are you! Mulengro!

You are Greed!

You are Envy!

You are Guilt!

You are Deceit!

You are Denial!

You are Expectation!!

You are Assumption!!

-from The Feast of Flesh and Spirit by Ly de Angeles

In order to eradicate this disease from our lives, we must first identify the masks it wears. Last week, we discussed expectation and assumption. Let's look at the etymology of these words. You may want to print this out or look them up for yourself as you meditate upon this today. These come from the Online Etymology Dictionary.

Greed:

"excessively eager desire to possess," c. 1600, a back-formation from greedy.

 In Greek, the word was philargyros, literally "money-loving." A German word for it is habsüchtig, from haben "to have" + sucht "sickness, disease," with sense tending toward "passion for."

Envy: 

late 13c., from Old French envie "envy, jealousy, rivalry" (10c.), from Latin invidia "envy, jealousy" (source also of Spanish envidia, Portuguese inveja), from invidus "envious, having hatred or ill-will," from invidere "to envy, hate," earlier "look at (with malice), cast an evil eye upon," from in- "upon" (see in- (2)) + videre "to see" (see vision).

Jealousy is the malign feeling which is often had toward a rival, or possible rival, for the possession of that which we greatly desire, as in love or ambition. Envy is a similar feeling toward one, whether rival or not, who already possesses that which we greatly desire. Jealousy is enmity prompted by fear; envy is enmity prompted by covetousness. [Century Dictionary]

Deceit:

c. 1300, from Old French deceite, fem. past participle of deceveir (see deceive).

Deceive: c. 1300, from Old French decevoir "to deceive" (12c., Modern French décevoir), from Latin decipere "to ensnare, take in, beguile, cheat," from de- "from" or pejorative + capere "to take" (see capable). 

Deceit is a shorter and more energetic word for deceitfulness, indicating the quality; it is also, but more rarely, used to express the act or manner of deceiving. The reverse is true of deception, which is properly the act or course by which one deceives, and not properly the quality; it may express the state of being deceived. Fraud is an act or series of acts of deceit by which one attempts to benefit himself at the expense of others. It is generally a breaking of the law; the others are not. [entry for "deceit" in "The Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia," 1902]

Denial:
1520s; see deny + -al (2). Replaced earlier denyance (mid-15c.). Meaning "unconscious suppression of painful or embarrassing feelings" first attested 1914 in A.A. Brill's translation of Freud's "Psychopathology of Everyday Life"; phrase in denial popularized 1980s.

deny- early 14c., from Old French denoiir "deny, repudiate, withhold," from Latin denegare "to deny, reject, refuse" (source of Italian dinegarre, Spanish denegar), from de- "away" (seede-) + negare "refuse, say 'no,' " from Old Latin nec "not," from Italic base *nek- "not," from PIE root *ne- "no, not" -al suffix forming adjectives from nouns or other adjectives, "of, like, related to, pertaining to," Middle English -al, -el, from French or directly from Latin -alis

Expectation:
1530s, from Middle French expectation (14c.) or directly from Latin expectationem/exspectationem (nominative expectatio/exspectatio) "anticipation, an awaiting," noun of action from past participle stem of expectare/exspectare (see expect). Related: Expectations.

expect- 1550s, "wait, defer action," from Latin expectare/exspectare "await, look out for; desire, hope, long for, anticipate; look for with anticipation," from ex- "thoroughly" (see ex-) +spectare "to look," frequentative of specere "to look at"

Assumption:
Meaning "to suppose, to take for granted as the basis of argument" is first recorded 1590s; that of "to take or put on (an appearance, etc.)" is from c. 1600. Related: Assumed;assuming. Early past participle was assumpt. In rhetorical usage, assume expresses what the assumer postulates, often as a confessed hypothesis; presume expresses what the presumer really believes.

 I don't doubt there are several of you who skimmed or skipped through those definitions. They are important to understand if you want to rid yourself of this disease. Note the dates of these as well. A study of the early Renaissance period and its effects on society will help you in your understanding of Mulengro's origin and spread.

This week, take the time to delve into these definitions and begin identifying how they play out in your life. Next week, we'll discuss some ideas for eradication.

If you have any questions, feel free to email me or pm me on Facebook.

Sláinte!

Monday Meditation: Mulengro (Introduction)

For those of you who are new to this blog, I'd like to take this opportunity to welcome you and say, "Thank you!" for your interest. As my loyal readers are well aware, I'm a huge fan of Ly De Angeles and her works. One of the things I've learned from her is to identify and work to eradicate what she has termed as "Mulengro". While I've written on this subject before, I want to spend the next few weeks repeating this, as it's an important concept to understand and put into practice, no matter your particular flavor of spirituality.

Ly De Angeles describes Mulengro in her book, "Witchcraft: Theory and Practice":

"Mulengro is the name of an entity that is like an alien barb; one that has become an out-of-control arrow that pierces generation upon generation with is poison. It feeds on its own likeness, and people are its host."

She explains further: "Mulengro denies the individual the right to be an individual and assures that is victims remain emotionally crippled. Mulengro is passed on like a virus through the perpetuation of the seven attributes of greed, envy, guilt, deceit, denial, expectation, and assumption. The only way to rid the psyche and spirit of the virus is to abruptly and completely stop hosting it!"

It's easier said than done. It's a sneaky little villain that lies in wait to attack anyone with an opening. Two of it's biggest culprits are usually expectation and assumption.

Assumption is defined as "a thing that is accepted as true or as certain to happen, without proof."

Expectation is defined as "a strong belief that something will happen or be the case in the future."

Is she young or old?

What both of these have in common is my own perception. Perception is my way of thinking about something that can be easily skewed by the information at my disposal. If I don't have all of the information, I can fill in the gaps through assumption. If my assumption appears to stand up, then I move into the realm of expectation that this assumption can be applied elsewhere or toward the future. When these do not turn out to be true, I have been incorrect and that hurts my ego (bring in the rest of the faces of Mulengro here).

I have to be on consistent guard against allowing this kind of thinking to creep in, and not just inside my own head. De Angeles again: "Do not allow others to perpetuate any kind of these seven faces of Mulengro on you, and do not use them to abort the truth, no matter what the seeming advantage. These faces (behind each of them are the other six) are all vices of disrespect."

Ouch! Disrespect- of self, of others, of the Mystery. I don't want to be disrespectful to any of us! And yet, that's exactly what happens when I allow Mulengro in, even just a little bit.

Assumption and expectation are not the same as intuition. Intuition will usually warn you when these two are in the area. Learning to listen to that voice is a process. It takes time, vigilance and a release of ego, all of which go against our human nature. Most of our battles lie within us, and in order to conquer ourselves, we must be aware of the true enemy.
To name a thing is to have power over it. Now that we've named Mulengro, we can devise strategies against him.

Next week, we'll talk more about this. Your homework, should you choose to accept it, will be to begin identifying areas in your life where you have observed Mulengro.

Feel free to email me if you have any questions!

 Sláinte!

Monday Meditation: The Quickening, by Ly De Angeles (Book Club invitation)

I have a strong connection to crows. One of them keeps following on my walks every day. He reminds me of Ly De Angele's book, The Quickening". In that book, crows guard the main character. I am about to start up a book club on this book next month, so if you're interested, be sure you let me know via email. A purchase of the book will be required, as well as a Facebook account.

Below is a 'reprint' of an article I wrote about it during my "Love of Ly" week.


Many of us fell in love with the characters she introduced in her book, "When I See the Wild God"- Hunter, Brighid, Willlie, Rowan, Puck, etc... and when this book came out, a squeal of delight was heard throughout the Lyverse of fandom. She takes the characters on an amazing adventure, and we get to come along too! Each of us found ourselves in at least one of the folks described, and wondered if we didn't also get a glimpse of Ly as well in here. When I need to reconnect, this is one of my go-to books. The great news is that she's updated and expanded this edition!

Copyright note: The excerpt below is copyrighted to the author and shared here with her permission. To protect her rights, all copy/paste has been disabled  on this blog. I'm sure you understand.

The Quickening

Description from Amazon.com: The Quickening (Magical realism): Most people see the Irish Travellers as a ragged bunch of musicians, artists, and fortune-tellers crossing the country in an old double-decker bus in the new land, in the twenty first century, but these people are a secret. They are a race older than time, the Sídhe, the Fair Folk, almost immortal. On an unforgettable night of murder and mayhem, Kathryn Shilton meets the Travellers and her life changes forever. She and her witch friend Merrin help the Sídhe find the ones responsible for the bombs, fires, and terror wrought on the Southside of New Rathmore. When Hunter’s son, a child of immense magical power, is kidnapped by members of Michael Blacker's Fundamentalist Christian cult all hell breaks loose. But no one knows what’s really going on and who or what are the powers behind both sides in a struggle against bigotry and hate. Except, perhaps, a conspiracy of ravens.

Prologue

Hunter climbed the steep sides of the ancient hill fort, deserted now except fo the ring of low standing stones and the barrow to which the king stone pointed. He sat down with his back against the tallest of the menhir as the twilight lengthened shadows into mysteries.

He'd said all this before, but it helped him get his grounding in the magic.

"Lady?" he called to the dusk. "You here yet?" No answer. He would wait. She'd show up-she usually did when he reminded her of his travels and just how tired he was. In the meantime he'd just talk.

"It's me again," he said softly," and I’ve wandered the great forests of oak and rowan and birch, oh yes I have, knee deep in stone and bracken. And none have taken me down. I was heedless of fear, because the forest was everywhere, and we were so much a part of it all. Do you remember, my Lady?"

The air became a listening thing- still and tense as he reminded it of smells it used to know.

"Now it all hides- what's left of it-and fear is very real amongst the survivors. You know? Proud? Silent? Desperate? Through their blood they can't forget; through our blood, Lady! Through the Mysteries!"
His boot slid out and rustled the loose stones.

"Sorry. Sometimes I get maudlin, yeah? Sorry about that. It's just that people seem so blind, you know? So blind to the repercussions of their needs for comfort and safety that they mostly don't realize the devastating effects that their not-knowing is having on the habitats of others who are not quite so voracious."

There was a shifting of the air as if a piece of night was manifesting from the twilight in just one part of the ring. Hunter pretended to ignore it, knowing what it was, but he talked to her anyway.

"Hey, you know? Willie and Matt and Jack and I have just come back from spending time with a couple hundred of the true people. You know what they do? They stay, day in and day out, defiant before the machine giants sent to take down 'set percentage' of old growth forest. The media was there, too, on and off, for the show, depicting the tale of the joke of the unwashed chaining themselves to the graters and each other as they attempted to stop the devastation-fair enough- who would be clean under the conditions they had to put up with?"

"But of course, you and I both know how it works. Balanced journalism and all that."

"Are you there, Lady?"

"I'm here Hunter." And the darkness gathered itself into form.

Autumn Equinox, the previous year- It's very late. The sky is huge and black and moonless and glittering with a million, billion stars accentuated in their brilliance by the late autumn frost.

We're all out around the remnants of the Feast of the Fire. Brighid lays the offering of food out over at the tree-line for the creatures of the forest as Hunter and Puck share out the last of the mead with the rest of us and pour some to the earth as a blessing to the land.

Everyone is quietly excited as Hunter raises the ancient horn to his lips…

There are two versions of this book. The one our book club will be reading is the up to date version from 2012.

You can purchase this treasure from Amazon right here. It's also available in Kindle format :)

Please do visit Ly at her website: LyDeAngeles.com