Witchcraft as Goddess Religion

One of my re-reads on this path is Starhawk's The Spiral Dance. I bought it when I took the Elemental Workshop that I mentioned in my last post as part of the mandatory reading material.

I love reading, it's a major part of who I am, I often have one or more books on the go at any one time. A lot of the books I read are fiction, every now and then I'll pick up something with more intellectual weight. I'll be completely honest with you though. I sometimes have difficulty absorbing the information. What I mean, is that while I am reading I get what is being discussed, I understand the material. When I am no longer reading, sometimes the information that I have just finished reading seems to melt out of my head. It's a bit frustrating and one of the reasons that I started to take notes when reading so that I could go back and read my thoughts on the text and hopefully have it stick. Sometimes this works and others not so much... often what I'm left with is the gist, which is often enough and not so rarely not enough.

The point of this post then:
I'm re-reading The Spiral Dance and these are my thoughts so far on the chapter that I've been reading today; Witchcraft as Goddess Religion. It's a chapter that speaks to the legend of witchcraft's history being careful not to erroneously call the legend historic fact which would call down the wrath of the intellectual community. It is a full legend, lush with hypothetical assumptions based on what could have been truths if there were any documentation to back them up. Happily, the thing about faith is that it doesn't rely on facts but on belief. Whether the Goddess religion is more than 35,000 years old or new to this century is not relevant, nor should it be. What is important that it makes spiritual sense to those who follow it.

Witchcraft takes it's teachings from nature and reads inspiration in the movements of the sun, moon and stars, the flight of birds, the slow growth of trees and the cycles of the seasons-Starhawk, The Spiral Dance

Ultimately; for me, the Divine springs from a universal place. The Christian God is just a different aspect of that ultimate force. Ditto for Hindu, Islam, Buddhism and any other Deity out there.

With this reading, the idea that poetry and not theology is what Witchcraft is built on is sticking in my thoughts as I consider what I've read. And it makes sense, I've called on the Elements breathing in the scent of fresh earth, blowing soap bubbles, dancing like a flame in a campfire and imaging ocean waves crashing into the sand. I've welcomed the Goddess and the God into my circle with a simple song, there is not one single way to practice a Pagan religion...

Things happen for a reason

One of the great things about going to the library or a book store is that I always end up finding something that ends up being what I need to find, as opposed to what I went there to find in the first place. I took some time yesterday and went to the book store to look for a book I've seen online that I thought would fit right in with what I am hoping to accomplish.

Heading out, I knew that there was a possibility that the book I wanted would not be in stock. It wasn't.

Instead; as is the case when you open yourself up to the universe, the right book was. It is important to me that my spirituality is combined with creativity simply because I feel closer to the divine when I am being creative. The Divine Feminine Fire by Teri Degler was sitting on the where the book I was looking for wasn't. It's all about making creativity an integral part of the creative path and learning how to connect to the divine feminine through creativity; which is, as I've mentioned before, exactly the book I needed to find.

I have always felt that the the one element that I relate to best is the water element. eight years ago I took part in a series of classes held by the local Reclaiming Tradition on the elements of magic. I went into the class feeling that the element I would feel most at home with was going to be Water. And I didn't expect that the evening would be a simple one, just one that I would feel most at home with.

I was amazed that the class that focused on Fire left such a lasting impression on me. In hindsight, this shouldn't have been so surprising to me considering that fire is associated so closely with creation and artistry. It was in fact one of the most powerful workings I have ever done.

So in honour of the marriage of creation and the Divine I worked on the cover page of the Book of Shadows that will be the focus of this journey for me.

Beltane: observance of each spoke in the wheel of the year are and have been low key in our house. I try to do one or two things that have some significance to the holiday with an eye to expanding our family rituals as time, money and the Peanut's attention span allows. This year for Beltane the Peanut and I went into the back yard and washed our faces with the morning dew (which if we are going to be honest was probably 50% rain).

We also dressed in our finest dresses, tiptoed with tinkling bells into the back yard with an offering of bread and honey for the fairies in our garden. The offering was happily accepted and now we'll be on the look out for the fey when we cloud glaze in the back yard.

Crossing the Threshold

Tonight.

Once the Peanut has drifted off to sleep and the Husband has headed out for a night of testosterone with his buddies I will bathe myself and then sit in the dark and the quiet. I will light a candle and call upon the powers of the Earth, Air, Fire and Water, I will call upon the Goddess and a circle will be cast.

I will speak to her from my heart. I will lay clear my intentions and cross over leaving my old self behind, stepping toward the new.