Psychic versus centralized power

psychic versus centralized power Many humans have an instinctive lust to have what they think of as power: to snarl out orders and have everyone within hearing range scramble to obey. One of the biggest dreads on Yvonne's dread-list indeed is the accumulation and exercise of centralized power. Where can we find a demonstration of centralized power? Look no further than the Kremlin to see an illustration of CP in the temporal/mundane world. In the world of religion? Hmm. That's a tough one. Anyhow, reflect one moment on our most recent blog concerning spirituality versus "real"-world magic. Every human born has one or another form of power. Some have telepathy. Some have far-seeing. Some have the power to heal. Some can read cards. It's only a matter of research to find the specific power(s) innate in your own self. Now think a moment. If we get in touch with our own power(s) and exercise them on our own initiative, what happens when we have a precognitive dream? When we heal a child's skinned knee? When we communicate without electronics with a distant friend? When there's a "death" in the family? If we do this stuff on our own, what about that clergyman standing there with his hand stuck out? He's gonna have to get a real job, boys and girls. No wonder, then, that for centuries conventional clergy have threatened the direst fates they can invent (emphasize: invent) to deprive us of exercising our own innate powers. The powers are "dangerous"? "evil"? "satanic"? I don't think so. Blessed be Yvonne

Real Natural Magic

In popular thinking, magic (whether spelled magic, magick, or magik) is an integral part of Witchcraft and Wicca. In some ways the popular view is correct, whereas in other ways the two topics are distinctly separate categories of human consideration. In this blog we hope 1. to show that magic is a misunderstood natural phenomenon*, and 2. to clear up the distinction between a) the broad popular view that includes using magic to harm and b) the narrower Wicca practice that is limited by our prime guideline: If it harm none, do what you will. The guideline is further limited by consideration of the Law of Attraction: What you send out will return to you. In considering a "miraculous" healing wherein for instance cancer simply disappears, today's medical practitioners call it spontaneous remission, whereas in ancient times it was attributed to magic. If we admit that the mind controls the body to a much greater extent than we've been allowed to realize, and if in addition we admit that telepathy is real, then the ideas both of spontaneous remission and of magic disappear like the phantoms they are. The "remission" was not spontaneous. It was caused by the body healing itself as it had been told to do 1. telepathically or 2. magically, when the mind was convinced that the healer had magical power. You might quibble that here Wiccans are in fact causing harm to a tumor or (in the more general healing case) to the organisms that are causing the disease. Yes, we admit that possibility, but we sacrifice whatever entity or thought prompted the medical condition on the basis of the greater good. What about magically gaining an objective? We know from astral-travel experiments that the future is not fixed. When we travel forward in time, the scene we observe or participate in gets more and more variable--more fragile--until our least thought alters the future. Example: If you sincerely desire a blood-red Subaru WRX, you can travel astrally into the future and place the WRX in your driveway. Since the future is the consensus of everyone's thoughts and thus can be influenced by a number of actors, you must keep returning frequently to the driveway, each time putting the WRX into your future. This means that you alter the consensus reality first in the far future, then in the not-so-far, and so on. You may have to do this for several months; but eventually the River of Time will bring the WRX into your present reality. Presto-- "magic"? or another natural occurrence? We recognize that every creature has certain powers. You can demonstrate this fact to yourself with the aid of something like a Crooks radiometer or, even more simply, by exercising your innate ability to affect the height of a flickering candle flame--but, in our opinion, using magic to perform parlor tricks or to bring gain to the practitioner at the expense of the underlying spirituality of Wicca is regrettable: disrespectful, ungrateful, deficient, hollow, a prostitution. In fact, the two activities (the spiritual and the "real"-world) are simply in different dimensions of reality. In the vertical dimension, you have the reaching-upward of the spirit. In the horizontal dimension, you have the "real"-world activity of attempts to influence future events. The two fields intersect only in the human mind. It is sensible to watch your semantics so you can accurately say what you mean. Further, doing magic does not imply subscribing to the spiritual path called Wicca, nor does subscribing to Wicca imply any necessity to do magic. People who have confused the two fields should indeed learn and understand their powers in use and practice, preferably when those powers are applied to healing. Further, such individuals should think carefully about the long-term effect of their activities in light of the Law of Attraction. The use of power for personal gain or for parlor tricks or to injure another living being is abhorrent to those of us who walk the Wiccan path. When embarking on any effort for selfish reasons, always keep in mind the Law of Attraction. Even in such simple things as control of weather, remember that the storm is going to hit somewhere. If you deliberately shift its path, whom else will your efforts affect? Our cherished friend the late Dame Sybil Leek spent her final years on the east coast of Florida. We were always amused by her re-directing of hurricanes away from her home; however, there seemed to be a bounce effect: they would bounce off her part of the coastline to turn back westward (that is, inland)and would re-appear, usually just north of her somewhere in Georgia or South Carolina, with devastating effect. It happened so many times that it was obviously beyond chance. Was she following the Wiccan Rede--If it harm none, do what you will? In our thinking the question remains open. So we beg of you to think of the possible consequences of any action you contemplate. We publish these ruminations to encourage the examination of assumptions toward the setting of a pride-worthy example in a cowan world. To explore further thinking on power and related topics (for example, healing), see our website www.wicca.org. Blessed be those who live mindfully. GY - - - - - - - - - * More on this topic very soon

summer schedule

Gavin's health has improved to the point where we plan to travel and to speak at several festivals this summer. It is especially important for those of you who wish to be blessed-and-sealed or to be dedicated to contact us (Gavin and Yvonne) through the School and let us know what you would like to do. The first gathering we expect to attend is Beltane with Florida Pagan Gathering in Lake Wales, Florida 33898 on April 30 to May 4. Camp la Llanada, 2819 Tiger Lake Road, Lake Wales, FL fpg.com Although we are not listed, we will be there: we promise. Next we anticipate our first visit to Michigan Pagan Fest between June 13 and June 15 at Wayne County Fairground, Belleville MI. 10 a.m. Friday to 6 p.m. Sunday. MIPAGANFEST.com Following that, we will again enjoy our old favorite events at Brushwood Folklore Center near Sherman, New York: Sankofa (the replacement for SummerFest) and Sirius Rising. These two festivals occur back to back between July 7 and July 19. camp@brushwood.com We'll look forward to seeing you troops. Remember: At Sirius Rising there will be a meeting (a convocation) of existing Wiccan churches and of other Wiccan churches that would like to become part of a larger Wiccan church community: not to march in robot mode, but to lock our shields and thus strengthen the voice of Wicca in a larger world.