A New Dark Moon for Hekate

Tonight the Moon fades to darkness, before it reappears in the coming days as the New Moon, all forming part of an endless cycle which us humans have been observing since we first gained conciousness upon this Earth.  The Lunar cycle is one of the most important of all the natural cycles as its influence is so widely felt, and as it is so immediately visible.  Yet, it would seem in this modern world there are some who are so far out of touch with the natural world that they are unlikely to know even when the Moon presents herself in her rounded bright glory. 

In magical traditions of course the Moon is no newcomer, seen as female in most of the Western Mystery Traditions who base their symbolism on that of the Ancient Greek Goddess Selene, or the Roman Luna; the Moon is as often (if not more often!) also believed to be male from the perspective of other world traditions and pantheons.  In many of the Witchcraft traditions, including Wicca; as well as many of the Pagan traditions who base their practices on Wicca, a key practice observed by covens and groups is that of “Drawing Down the Moon”.  In the traditions based on Gardnerian or Alexandrian Wicca this is a practice in which a goddess is invoked into the body of a Priestess prepared for the role who then either enters into trance; or recites / reads “The Charge of the Goddess” which is a piece of prose composed by Doreen Valiente using the writings of Charles Leland and Aleister Crowley.  This particular practice seems to be based on a misunderstanding of traditional “drawing down” found in many older traditions of European Witchcraft in which the power of the Moon is drawn down and used to empower something (ex. a spell, charm or other working).  These older traditions have a history which goes back many thousands of years and was written about by philosophers such as Plato, as well as the poets Propertius and Virgil.  Often its use would coincide with a descent of the Moon (or an illusion of this) nearer to the Earth or an eclipse.  The Thessalian witches were well known to be able to draw down the Moon, so much so that this was a theme which is found throughout ancient literature to be connected to them.  For example, in Aristophanes’ comedy “The Clouds” we find:

“Suppose I purchased a Thessalian witch,
and made her draw me down the moon by night,
Then shut it up, as if it were a mirror,
In a round bonnet box, and kept it there”

If you want to know more about the origins of “Drawing Down the Moon” you may find Wicca Magickal Beginnings by myself and David Rankine interesting, it provides amongst other things a line by line analysis showing the origins of the Charge of the Goddess. 

The Dark Moon is also of course closely linked to the Goddess Hekate, who it is believed was the primary Goddess of the Thessalian Witches.  Though there is no evidence that they were a priesthood in any formal sense of the word, it is clear that they practiced the types of magic associated with Hekate.  This includes the three key strands, being Nekuia (divination from the dead); Pharmakeia (Herbal/Poison Magic) and Goeteia (Sorcery).  There are also other links between Hekate and the Witches of Thessaly, including the Witch Sorceress Medea who Lucan wrote about as picking herbs in Thessaly; who is also linked to Hekate through literature, likewise the witch Erictho was a Thessalian witch who was also linked to the Goddess Hekate. 

In the ancient world every Dark Moon marked a feast day for Hekate, it marked the end of one cycle and the beginning of the next (New Moon which results from the darkness), and as such was an important day in the calendar.  There are examples going back thousands of years of offerings being made to Hekate around this time,  examples include writings by Aristophanes.  At times these writings refer to offerings being made on the thirtieth day of the month, but do remember that there is no way of equating the ancient Greek calendars directly with our own as there was no uniformity in the way it was used.  As expressed in Hekate Liminal Rites, we agree with the writings of K.F. Smith, in regards to when offerings are made, who in his article “Hekate’s Suppers” (published in The Goddess Hekate by Ronan) suggests that this may have indicated the night on which the first sliver of the Moon is visible again after the Dark Moon.   This may also be a logical conclusion for those of you who observe the Moon on an ongoing basis, how frightening it may have been to our ancestors who relied on the Moon for timekeeping, knowledge of the seasons and the simple provision of light at nightime.  What would happen if the Moon did not return, but remained dark forever?

Tonight as the Sun is already preparing for its nightime journey through the Underworld, and with the knowledge that there will be no visible Moon tonight, I am starting the process of packing in preparation for a house move later this month; as well as preparations for a ceremony with other likeminded folk at the Dark Moon next month to mark the ending of the cycle which will begin tomorrow and the beginning of yet another one.

Speaking for the Goddess…

In my essay “Mantic Voices” published as part of the Priestesses Pythonesses & Sibyls project I edited and which was published by Avalonia last year, I examined the role of the Oracle Priestess in different traditions.   It is clear from the available evidence that comes to us from the many spiritual traditions of the world that woman have long been spiritual leaders.  They have long served the gods and spirits of their native lands and their ancestral people, as well as those of their adopted lands.  Whilst these women are named as many things at different times and in different cultures, it is clear that many of them served in the role of the “prophetess” – that is that they became vesels for the gods and spirits to speak through, either through deep trance or through other forms of interaction, such as mediumship and divination. 

From Medea and Circe, to Boudica and Morgan Le Fey we find them, through to the Nuns of the Roman Catholic Church and though they insist on the masculine form of the word, other Christian churches, such as the Anglican Church here in the UK, now also accept women into their Priesthood.  But not all Priestesses are destined to become oracles for the God(s).  The oracles in the ancient world were often women who were chosen for the role due to their particular skill and abilities, sometimes they would be chosen based on oracles received from a serving priestess.  Great importance was placed on the oracles of the Pythia at Delphi and the Sibylline prophesies.    Their predictions were taken very seriously and were often studied by scholars for many centuries in an effort to understand their meanings.  There were many different forms of oracle too – and this in itself is very interesting and warrant an entire area of study, often much neglected today.

The practice of oracular work in modern pagan rituals is often neglected in favour of a pre-prepared “Charge” which is read out by someone in a group.  This is a remnant of the practices of our ancestors which was of course a lot more ecstatic.  There are very few groups and individuals practising full trance in the pagan revivalist traditions.  In the Wiccan tradition I have heard that it is growing in popularity in more recent years, though out of my own experiences it is necessary to make a great many changes to the practices of the tradition in order to incorporate full trance necessary for such practices.  The rituals were not designed to incorporate full trance possession, but instead for the recital of the prose concocted by Doreen Valiente from fragments taken from Leland’s The Aradia and Crowley’s Law of Liberty text.  In fact, a little known fact by those who frequently use the Charge of the Goddess in their rituals is that ironically the only channelled material it contains comes from Aleister Crowley’s “Liber Al Vel Legis” (better known as “The Book of the Law” and much of what was included was actually attributed by Crowley to Hadit, the masculine principle in his system of magick.   So yes,  it does make a powerful piece of prose to use in ritual, but it is also in reality a rather weird choice if you are speaking for the Goddess, using words which originally came from a male divinity!  

The Wiccan Tradition, and in particular parts of the rituals which are attributed to Doreen Valiente, is often “borrowed” (to use the nice term) from such inappropriate sources, yet even though people are now becoming more aware of such origins, there seems to be a reluctance to change anything.  In fear of losing “authenticity”.  Maybe its time to study the meaning of “To Dare” and “To Know” – the two, I have found, often goes together rather well.  Do we truly speak the words of the Goddess of the Wicca when we recite “The Charge of the Goddess”?  I realise that there is a lot of power in those words, charged as they have been over the years by (probably!) tens of thousands of recitals.  How honest are we when we recite those words and claim that they are from our deities?  Is that what was intended?   Is this another dogma which is being formed, which we should not question? 

There are of course traditions, groups and individuals who do work towards understanding the mysteries of the many Gods and Goddesses through trance and possession.  Many examples of the women who speak for the Goddesses (and Gods!) can be found in Priestesses Pythonesses & Sibyls – it is difficult for me to highlight any of them in particular, as Priestesses Pythonesses & Sibyls  was born out of my own desire to be able to learn from and with the women I asked to contribute to it – they come from so many traditions – including Wicca  and the Fellowship of Isis, but also the Western Mystery Tradition, Priestess of Avalon, Thelema, Candomble, Voudou and Seidr.  I have had the honour to work with some of them over the years in different ways, and I hope in time to have the honour to experience ritual with all of them.  I highly recommend this book and the essays therein to women who do mantic (oracular / trance) work with the feminine divine, and indeed those who open themselves to speak for the Gods.  (After all, the most famous oracular priestesses, the Pythia at the Oracle in Delphi, spoke for the God Apollo!).

On Ritual Bathing.

Its really not that cool to suggest that there is a “right” and “wrong” way of doing things in Western Magic these days, especially not amongst the various modern Pagan traditions.  We are all meant to be equal and we are all meant to be able to do things whichever way “feels right” to us.  After all that is what the guru’s have been telling us for the last couple of decades.   Yet, for thousands of years there has been rules governing the practice of magic and spirituality, in all cultures and places, and it was certainly no different in the ancient world. 

Horrific punishments often awaited those who broke the rules because all those involved fully believed in magic and believed in the gods.  Its not just some of the mainstream religions of today who has shown brutal characteristics at times, after all many of the practices found in such mainstream religious traditions are continuations of pagan predecesors, and that is not always just the good, fun and interesting – it also includes many of the same rules!

Many of the practices found in modern Wicca (Gardnerian and Alexandrian varieties in particular) have their roots in ancient Egypt.   The invocation of guardians at the four cardinal points of a magic circle, the sweeping of the temple with a broom, the casting of a circle and much more.  But the rules are absent – for example the priesthood would be expected to abstain from fish and pork, they were forbidden to eat beans, they could not eat the flesh of any of the cult animals (this would vary according to which temple / deity etc), they had to abstain from both sex and masturbation, they had to avoid impure people (incl. menstruating women and sick people) and they had to avoid substances made from animals (ex. leather, bone etc).  Does any of this sound familiar? 

Then there is ritual bathing.   Whilst serving as the High Priestess of covens I had my own rules, as all good High Priestesses will.  Two of the most important rules on my list were:  Personal hygiene and punctuality.  The former would include having a ritual bath or shower if possible prior to arriving for a coven meeting, as well as ensuring that robes and other ritual dress was clean.  In Egypt a magician or priest would be expected to bathe frequently, at least twice a day and twice a night at times.  They were also sometimes expected to have a ritual bath in cold water prior to ceremonies.  Sometimes bathing would take place in a sacred lake associated with the temple they served at.  They would often also rinse their mouths with a gargle made from water and natron, and sometimes words would be written onto their tongue with myrrh ink to ensure that only words of truth would be spoken.  Myrrh has of course long been known to have purificatory and antiseptic qualities.  There were many other steps taken to ensure ritual purity too.  Ritual bathing survived from the ancient world through to the medieval and rennaisance grimoire traditions, as well as many other mystery cults.

These things are, however, rare amongst modern pagan magicians / witches who are attempting to recreate the traditions of old and adding their own unique flavours to it.  Somehow these steps are seen as pointless or too much fuss, or obviously old fashioned and therefore redundant.  I remember conducting public ceremonies in London and in other parts of the UK for many groups of people over the years, sometimes for small groups of 10 or 20, sometimes for a few hundred – and on occasion for a couple of thousand people.  So I have, when it comes to public ceremonies at least, possibly “seen it all” (though every now and then I hear stories which still surprise me!) during the  200 or so such public ceremonies I lead over the years.  One thing however which did always surprise me is how there would always be a couple of people who had serious hygiene issues.  And I am not just talking sweaty on a hot stuffy day.  I mean dirty clothes and really smelly hair and hands which would turn a bath full of water into mud. 

Its not cool to talk about this, I know.  But I did at times wonder what would happen to people who turned up for rituals at the temples in the ancient world like that?  Would they be taken away and washed?  Would they be denied entry?  Would they be punished?   If so how?  Or is that that simply having bad body odour would interfere with the flow of energy during a ceremony, as it would make others who are present gasp for fresh air?   Or that not being clean was considered an inappropriate way to be before the gods?

Or all these things and another more important one?  As someone who has been involved in the study of solomonic magic for many years one of the comments I have frequently got from others (especially now that “grimoires” have become trendy) concerns the need for such purificatory rituals such as bathing and fasting.  Again because it is deemed as being unnecessary in modern day practice.  Having thought through this carefully and spoken about it often with David (see www.ritualmagick.co.uk) we have come to the conclusion that the misunderstanding about these practices could be because they are amongst contemporary practitioners of magic seen as additional to, rather than as part of, the ceremonies.  In fact, we believe that they are important components of the ceremonies presented in the grimoires, as they not only prepare the magician for the work on a physical level, but also actually contribute to their understanding of magical practice, discipline and energies.  Most importantly, it also helps to focus the mind and keep the ego in its rightful place, balanced and ready to focus on the work.  We learn from the past, the experiences of the magicians who walked this path before us, and from their mistakes – in this way we can improve on, rather than reinvent the sacred technologies necessary to conduct our work.

I would welcome other opinions on this matter, from both sides of the divide – as it is.  How important is ritual bathing in the tradition you follow?  Could it be omitted if practiced?  Have you tried incorporating it and noted any differences in your experiments?

Zodiacal Stones

Zodiacal attributions for gems have flowered to such an extent that many stones are attributed to a number of the zodiacal signs, just like the idea of stones associated with each month, the idea of stones associated with a particular sunsign is a popular one today.  This old poem provides one such set of attributions, it is of course not definitive, as there are many others associated with each birthsign also!

How things Change – Magic & Religion

Recently I was involved in preparing “The Book of Treasure Spirits” for print.  This book is in fact a transcription of a magical grimoire (with commentary!) with lots of magical operations in it for conjuring spirits to help with the quest of finding hidden treasure, something which was a popular pursuit in times gone by amongst those who practiced the art magical.

The first conjuration is preceded with an introduction saying: ”

A Prayer to be said before the calling forth of Elemental or Infernal Powers, or Spirits of Darkness.

This made me think and ponder upon the idea that magic and religion are so tangled up, yet so very different from each other.  Today if you say “elemental powers” to most neo-pagan, Wiccan and Western Mystery Tradition inspired magicians the immediate thought would be that it is somehow related to the Four Elements of Air, Fire, Water and Earth.  Very few would consider the beings associated with these elements to be “infernal” or have any connotations to “darkness” – yet for many hundreds, if not thousands of years such connotations would have been part and parcel of the practices and concepts associated with these beings.  And no, not by one of the larger world religions, but by the very magicians who called upon and invoked them – but of course opinions have always varied greatly and there have been many different classes of beings associated with each of the elements over the thousands of years since magical thinkers such as Empedocles first began formulating ideas around them.

For example, the Elemental Rulers (which we discuss in Practical Elemental Magick for those wishing to learn more) attributed to the four elements vary greatly according to tradition.  For Air we have the archangel Raphael, and Cherubs according to Liber Juratus and Paralda according to Levi.  What, if any, are the differences between these different rulers?  Is it possible that they may all be “rulers” or that they are exactly the same thing?

More recently I have heard that there are people who do devotional work to the elemental guardians (which originate from the Enochian Watchtowers of John Dee etc) derived from Wiccan practices.  This idea seems to be gaining in popularity, alongside the idea that honour should be paid to various other spirits and beings which were in the past considered malignant, but who gained some respect and a cleaner reputation in more recent years.

So, is this type of progress a progression or a regression?  Are the Lords of the Watchtowers and the Guardians of the Four quarters, the salamanders, undines, gnomes and sylphs worthy of devotion?  Or are they infernal powers and beings of darkness?

You decide.  At your own peril.

Natal Crystals

Knowing, using or wearing a crystal or stone associated with your birthday is a very old practice and as popular today as always.  The practice of attributing stones to specific months of the year, whose virtues were believed to be transmitted to the bearers of their natal stones can be traced back to Josephus in the first century CE – though of course it might be a lot older.  This idea was further developed by St Jerome in the early part of the fifth century CE.  Both authors specifically refer to the High Priest’s Breastplate, and the twelve stones being attributed to the months of the year and signs of the zodiac.  Curiously the wearing of natal stones for their properties is not recorded until eighteenth century Poland.  The influence of Jews who settled in Poland and who were familiar with the High Priest’s Breastplate has been suggested by Kunz as the most likely cause for the development of this custom.

What follows is an old rhyme which records the crystal for each month, other attributions are sometimes given according to the zodiacal sign.