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.

Defining Wicca

Much confusion reigns about what constitutes the religion (or more properly the spiritual path) of Wicca. As the younger sister of Witchcraft, in popular thinking Wicca is still burdened with all the negative crap that the Abrahamic faiths loaded onto it so that they could use their Eternal Trinity, their three favorite sheep-controlling methods (guilt, shame, and fear) to increase their congregations. In fact, today's Wicca has two main ingredients: 1) From the elder sister it inherited rituals that were directed toward what is loosely called cosmic maintenance. That is, people prayed to maintain the cycle of nature and to ensure that (for example) the sun would rise predictably and the volcano wouldn't destroy the worshipers. When people moved from the gatherer-hunter mode to settled communities, a period called the Axial Age began, tentatively dated as 800 BCE. (We use the terminology gatherer-hunter because most of the tribe's nutrients came from gathering done by women.) 2) During the Axial Age, thoughts turned more toward attempts to understand self and spirituality. Questions arose such as: Why are we here? and What happens after "death"? and What is god? Rituals now began to concentrate on keeping the juju happy and benevolent. To do this, the maximum possible number of adherents had to praise the particular juju favored by the local priesthood and submit to the juju's will as spelled out by the priesthood. Wicca blends pre-Axial- and post-Axial-Age thoughts. It does cosmic-maintenance rituals as well as rituals aimed at understanding the reality of self and spirit. Today with the Green movement, many people are turning back to thoughts of cosmic maintenance; thus Wiccans find themselves at the forefront of religious and spiritual thought. Blessed be Gavin and Yvonne

Thinking about Cancer

Blog 140125, drafted 140125, published _________ Tell Us Your Thinking Cancer is a terrible disease. More and more of our friends seem to have got it. Curiously, our blog too is suffering from a cancerous illness, simply because some self-appointed individuals have decided that they should put a cancer of unrelated pathetic ‘replies' into the blog so that people with genuine questions and comments cannot read it for themselves. For that cancer there is a simple cure: use the USPS. Now. About physical cancer, not the spiritual kind. Edgar Cayce, described as the sleeping prophet--more accurately, the entity that used his body to give information to his supporters --recommended three (3) raw almonds as an essential part of anyone's daily routine. Yvonne recalls the era when everyone was going to Mexico after laetrile to cure their own cancer. Incidentally, our own physician took this cure many years ago and is still free of cancer. Laetrile, we were told, is derived from apricot pits. Being a bookish sort, she referred to the Encyclopedia Britannica to ascertain whether there is any real-world relationship between apricots and almonds. What do you think? They're on adjacent twigs of the botanical tree. Thank you, Saint Edgar Cayce. Let's all work together to recall the Law of Attraction, to avoid both physical and spiritual cancer. Let's ingest three raw almonds every day. And as you take breath to utter criticism of us Frosts, take time to recall the Law of Attraction. Remember always that hate begets hate and destroys the body's immune system. So let it be.

Thinking about Cancer

Cancer is a terrible disease. More and more of our friends seem to have got it. Curiously, our blog too is suffering from a cancerous illness, simply because some self-appointed individuals have decided that they should put a cancer of unrelated pathetic ‘replies' into the blog so that people with genuine questions and comments cannot read it for themselves. For that cancer there is a simple cure: Visit wicca.org, the oldest Wiccan website, or write to us at Wicca / PO Box 297 / Hinton WV 25951. (If you understand that we live under a vow of poverty, you'll realize that we'll be grateful if you enclose return postage.) Now. About physical cancer, not the spiritual kind. Edgar Cayce, described as the sleeping prophet--more accurately, the entity that used his body to give information to his supporters --recommended three (3) raw almonds as an essential part of anyone's daily routine. Yvonne recalls the era when everyone was going to Mexico after laetrile to cure their own cancer. Incidentally, our own physician took this cure many years ago and is still free of cancer. Laetrile, we were told, is derived from apricot pits. Being a bookish sort, she referred to the Encyclopedia Britannica to ascertain whether there is any real-world relationship between apricots and almonds. What do you think? They're on adjacent twigs of the botanical tree. Thank you, Saint Edgar Cayce. Let's all work together to recall the Law of Attraction, to avoid both physical and spiritual cancer. Let's ingest three raw almonds every day. And as you take breath to utter criticism of us Frosts, take time to recall the Law of Attraction. Remember always that hate begets hate and destroys the body's immune system. So let it be.

wicca association

We have just returned from Fireheart, where we had a meeting of some of the Churches in the Association. For you who don't know, the Association is at the present time a small group of Wiccan Churches that have agreed a) not to attack one another and b) to work together on projects that will enhance the Wiccan image and presence in the temporal world. There is no attempt on the part of the Association to control anyone else's spirituality or to issue orders from On High. Any Wiccan church can apply for membership--and will be accepted provided they show that they harm none and are ethical in their behavior. The Association meeting discussed milestones in a neophyte's life and path. 1. We agreed that the sealing-and-blessing is the first milestone, wherein the Community commits to looking after the neophyte. This can happen at any age, though everyone agreed that they prefer it happen earlier rather than later. 2. The next milestone (which some call a first-degree initiation and others a dedication) is that in which the neophyte announces their wish to become a member of the Wiccan Community, and states what they are willing to bring to the Community. This is the complement of the first milestone, in that it is the neophyte's promise to support the Community. 3. Plans are in the works to articulate agreed definitions for further milestones in the life of Wiccans. We just thought you'd like to know. Blessed be those who seek.