Soul Bites Blog

Scrying Beyond the Mark

Back when I was a practicing LDSer I found a scripture that still resonates with me. It is from The Pearl of Great Price and reads: "Which blindness comes from looking beyond the mark".

I have always had the gift of second sight in dreams--dreams that guide me with as clear a vision as if the Goddess herself had sat me down and shown me an instructional video tailored to my life. But as I learned more and more about the Craft the prospect of seeing those visions realized instead in the depths of a pristine crystal ball or in the seductively dark surface of a scrying mirror seemed somehow sexier than the dreams I had been having since I was a child. So I invested in a little crystal ball and a shiny new black mirror, charged them, breathed spirit into them, and sat with them for countless hours in the light of the moon or a solitary white candle.

I saw nothing. Well...next to nothing.

I could only get as far as a swirling mist before I would blink long and be left right where I started--with a blank, staring surface. And worse than that, the harder I worked at finding the gift of vision outside myself, the more the visions inside me began to fade--becoming less and less frequent until stopping entirely.

Then finally, after weeks and weeks of this--visionless, working harder and harder and getting less and less results--I had a breakthrough.

I had been scrying outside in the moonlight under my favorite tree. I was frustrated--nothing--again. I closed the mirror and sighed when, in my mind's eye I saw a clear picture of my Saturnic deity--a good friend and guide with whom I have always had an extremely intense but loving push-me pull-you relationship. He smiled at me, winked and said, "How's that scrying thing workin' out for ya?"

I had to laugh. As usual I had been making things ten times harder than they ever had to be. (When I was eight a counselor at summer camp watched me go through all kinds of needless contortions to get into an upper bunk and said, "Baby, if there's a hard way to do something, you're sure gonna find it." Man oh man did she have ME nailed!)

Still smiling, my man Saturn said, "Just ask what you need to know. Just ask and dream as you always have. It's as easy that."

I shook my head and chuckled. Yes, I had my own variety of vision already, but in my perpetual quest for greener grass--or, in this case--the more visionary glass--I had turned away from my own gifts in pursuit of someone else's. I had blinded myself by looking beyond the mark--beyond myself.

That night I had the most intense dream I have had in a very long time. I was sitting in my living room and, with a sincere belief that I would receive an answer, I asked a question regarding the direction I should take on my spiritual path. In the dream I closed my eyes and saw a swirling mist as had been the final stage of so many scrying attempts, but then I saw a silvery white eye opening and, still in the dream, I opened my own eyes. Through the window I could see nights and days passing--dawn to dusk, noon to midnight, faster and faster until a sudden stop and the answer I was seeking materialized right there in front of me--in the charged and newly opened mirror of my mind.

-M. Ashley

An Earth-Shaking Return

Yesterday was my 29.5 birthday--my Happy Saturn Return--and it WAS earth-shaking.

As per usual at this time of life I am struggling with all the common quasi-adult meets for-real adult stuff: I found my first wrinkles (smile lines) a few weeks ago and immediately went out and bought the most aggressive wrinkle cream I could find; my career is dramatically shifting from commercial/journalistic to creative/nonprofit--nonprofit in both the "charity" and "starving artist" sense; and soon I may be moving to a completely different state. But here's the real kicker: At 4:37 this morning, with the moon in Libra--my sun sign--and in the eleventh hour of the night--the hour of Mars and Aries--the sign and planet directly opposed to mine--Mother Gaia herself gave me a little Happy Return Day nod in the form of a mild 5 pointer earthquake centered in Illinois and felt as far as my comfy bed here in Nash-Vegas.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying the quake was all about me--though the fact that the big San Francisco earthquake happened on my eleventh birthday gives one pause to wonder ;-) --but the coincidence spoke to me. It seemed to say, "Yeah, things are going to be shaky for a while, but just enough to give you a good jolt, wake you up, and make you pay attention--never more than you can handle. Never more than you can bear."

Who knew so much comfort could come from a little pre-dawn shimmy?

-M. Ashley

PS
You MUST check out this video of an Indiana weatherman trying to give his early morning report as the world shakes around him yet he is never seriously rattled. I have to give him at least him twenty-five cool points  for un-shakability. 

PPS
I just included this 'cause I like the "pp".

Altar Tipping: 'Tis a Gift to Be Simple

I have this terrible habit of planning massively elaborate spells that take days, weeks, moon cycles or even full seasons to complete. I work and plan and fret and fuss and get the exact planetary hour, moon correspondence, day correspondence; I write each part of the process into my overcrowded "to do" list, change it a few times and a few times more; pick a better date and a better planet and a better hour a better combination of all these things; spend hours upon hours writing and rewriting the ritual script; mixing oils, incenses and inks; planning what magical meal I will eat pre-spell to get my mojo going; planning what I will wear; setting and re-setting the altar...then, when the day and hour and moment finally come, I'm pooped! I have so exhausted myself and my spiritual faculties with obsessive planning and unholy perfectionism that I have very little energy and even less interest in the actual doing of the thing.

So the altar sits, ready but unused; the little spell slips I prepared weeks in advance unburned and unread; the bowls of herbs and vials of oil collecting dust; the wicks of carefully inscribed and anointed candles white and untouched as fresh snow. I feel I have failed as a witch, my perfectionist demon laughs, and that cackling defeat makes it hard even to face my altar, let alone admit my mistake, clean it up, release it, and start over.

I have repeated this pattern over and over--the sage wisdom of "keep it simple stupid" falling unheeded on my detail-clogged ears--until recently.

A few weeks ago I set up yet another over-complicated ritual involving chakra cleansing. I got halfway through it before my internal resources gave out. I was miserable. My energy never really returned in full and my altar grew cold and dusty--all the unspent energy I had poured out in the planning process stagnating around it until one night, as I groped in the dark for the light switch, I accidentally bumped into it--barely a nudge--and the whole thing collapsed into pieces like a bomb had gone off. One of the three legs of the table I had been using had come completely out of its joint. Spell pages were scattered everywhere, stones were strewn across the carpet, and everything else was hopelessly tangled in the altar cloth. There was an almost audible spiritual sonic boom as the thing went down and, although it was disheartening to see my altar in a disheveled heap on the floor, I have to admit, I felt a certain sense of unburdening as all that energy was finally and cathartically released.

The incident put me immediately in mind of a post Rev. Morninghawk made at Hawk's Cry a few months ago about how spiritual stability depends largely on a balance between three equally important pillars. Although I had a great passion for and knowledge about my craft, my sense of action--of putting it together simply and executing it swiftly--was sorely lacking. And that leg of my craft was further eroded by the shame and guilt I indulged in over my mistakes--like weakness cannibalizing itself.

So now I have rebuilt my altar beginning with a new foundation and a lesson learned. It is simple and small. It rests lightly on its newly balanced legs and each day I return to refresh it and myself, to move spiritually as the Spirit moves me, and to starve my perfectionist demon into silence with simple, consistent, loving and meaningful action.

-M. Ashley

Defying the Divinitory Doldrums: Uncommon Elemental Divinations

Have your tarot cards been uncommonly quiet lately? Runes speaking an unintelligible language? Scrying mirror insufferably foggy? Don't fret. Sometimes I get a little burnt out on standard divination methods too, so here are a few unusual ones I practice to keep my skills sharp and fight the burnout that can come from wrangling those cards and stones one too many times:

• Cloud watching is not only a great way to commune with air elementals, but, if you ask those fabulously flighty elementals for specific answers to questions that have been troubling you, you will be amazed at the forms the clouds can take and the whispers you will hear on the breeze that moves them.
• Sister technique to cloud watching, try sitting out some moonlit night and pointedly staring into the branches of a friendly tree. Especially during colder seasons, when the branches are bare, you can see miraculous things in the patterns they make against the nighttime sky.
• Find some bit of running water somewhere and just listen. Ask the water sprites and elementals to help you find your understanding. Even if you don't have an idyllic babbling brook in a lush meadow at your disposal, a trickling faucet in a comfortable room works just as well, (jsut make sure your bladder is empty before you start, otherwise your divination might be interrupted rather abruptly).
• Get in touch with the aspect of fire present in electricity. Walk around your house listening to and watching all the little electrical beeps and flashes as you focus on your question. Sometimes the clue to unraveling a tough problem can come even from something as seemingly mundane as catching part of a digital clock display out of the corner of your eye
• If you have the soul of a writer, try using your writing practice as a divination. Keep your question in mind and just let your hand go. You may have several paragraphs of life-gunk that needs to be pured out before you can get down to the nitty-gritty answers, but if you stick with it you will get those answers. This is especially great for accessing internal wisdom.
• The principles at work in the writing exercise also work very well for any art form. Paint your answers, play, sculpt or dance them into your consciousness. Even if you don't get your answer right away, positive activity in the medium that is most near and dear to your soul will help to focus your energy and may even aid you in the more standard divination methods.

-M. Ashley

Soul Bites' Love Bites: February's Best of the Pagan Web

In honor of the coming season, I have given Love Bites (now a monthly affair) a new sexy look. It's almost Springtime--the endless gray days being spotted here and there with sunshine--and as the world blossoms, so too the Pagan web has been blossoming with some amazing insights:

Lunaea of At Brigid's Forge explores the blessings of both abundance and scarcity:

But as I dipped my china cup into the silver pan of cooled clear water (so I could brush my teeth), I was humbly grateful for such a small inconvenience that points to the great blessing of water that usually comes so effortlessly and endlessly to me.

Pitch at Here's the Pitch discusses some possible pitfalls of mixing Craft and Christianity:

What I find challenging about sharing Craft with Christianity, as some Christians and many one-time-Christians take up Craft, is the efforts to bring some of these Christian notions and outlooks over into Craft. Because I think that the basic tenets are opposed, I find borrowed Christian notions and outlooks dilute the Craft tenets.

Yvonne at MetaPagan sparks a fiery debate over sacred prostitution and its implications on today's Paganism:

...anti-pagan polemic has often centered on the issue of temple prostitutes. If temple prostitution didn't exist, then that's another fallacy exploded.

Red Witch at Sexy Witch insightfully reviews Maxine Sanders' autobiography:

Though many of the stories are a little disconnected and cryptic, any reader interested in the rise of Wicca will gain much from reading Fire Child.

Anne at The Gods are Bored takes a poignant and humorous look at the meaning of Imbolg:

Imbolc is about your own personal ground hog hole, and the Goddess you invite to bless it.

Deborah Oak at Branches Up, Roots Down muses on the primaries and gratitude as an active principle in her life:

I’ve learned by experience to be both specific and broad in my spellcasting. What I truly want is neither Obama or Hilary, it’s healthcare for all, peace on earth, everyone fed, a sustainable relationship with nature, and a graceful transformation from empire to a collaborative nation amongst collaborative nations.

My pledge this year was and is to embrace gratitude as an organizing principle and to treasure my son, my partner, and my beloved friends. My birthday was on Saturday and the whole day my pledge kept resonating. I am so blessed!

And finally, Angela-Eloise at Blogickal notes Mother Nature proudly flying her freak flag:

And today in Boston we are having very freaky weather. It's as if Nature is high on something and being silly, silly, silly.

-M. Ashley

For My Readers: A Valentine

I love that you have found me--have found this blog--that you read with interest and attention, and comment with intelligence and wit.

Thank you for your kind support.

I wish for you a year filled with inspiration and new ideas for your spiritual practice, and the love, patience and courage to bring those ideas to life.

With All My Heart,
-M. Ashley

Sweetness in the Heart and on the Lips: A Valentine's Day Ritual

Among others, my immediate family-of-choice consists of my two nutball biker house-mates and a near-militant atheist friend--all of whom range in their feelings about my witchery from iffy to downright opposed--and yet I love them, and whenever the American secular or traditional holidays with which they are comfortable match in spirit with the nearest Sabbat, I try to find creative ways to share that spirit with them without being too overbearing or "out there".

Valentine's Day is one of these holidays, as it is deeply rooted in ancient Roman traditions including the Lupercalia and Venus' week of celebration that traditionally ran from February 14-21. The following is a little Valentine's Day ritual I developed to share the meaning of the Imbolg/Lupercalia/Venusian season with my non-pagan loved ones:

1. A week or two in advance, corral your loved ones and see if they can make some time on or around Valentine's Day for a short get-together. Once you get everyone nailed down, ask them to bring a valentine for each person attending. The valentines can be in any shape or form they wish, from the simplest to the most elaborate, but specify that they should, at bare minimum, contain their completions of these three sentences: What I love about you is... I thank you for... In the coming year, I wish you...
2. Prepare valentines for each person attending in the way specified. Again, these can be as simple or as elaborate as you want. For a little extra spiritual oomph, try writing and preparing them on a Friday in the hour of Venus and anointing them with a little love-drawing oil or passing them through the smoke of a typically Venusian incense like rose or vanilla.
3. Once you have written your personal valentines, prepare a construction paper envelope (like the ones you did in elementary school) for each person. Decorate them with all the normal trappings--glitter, doilies, stickers, etc..--but also try to find a few things to stick one them that represent the person for whom you are making it.
4. When the day comes, prepare a snack for your guests--I find that something along the lines of milk and cookies works well. I make pink and white frosted honey cookies in the shape of hearts so as to touch on the milk and honey aspects of love and Imbolg.
5. Set the table in any way the suits you and place each of the envelopes, like place cards, wherever you would like your guests to sit.
6. When your guests arrive, simply enjoy each other's company over milk and cookies, exchange valentines and put them in the envelopes. Explain to your guests that the valentines are to be read later, in privacy, and kept throughout the coming year to be used as a little boost of love and friendship whenever they may need it. Once the year is up, it is their choice whether they would like to keep the valentines, or burn them and release the ashes into the wind to spread love out into the world
7. Once the valentines have been exchanged, go around the table and have your guests offer a toast saying out loud one thing they love about each person there.
8. When the time comes to say goodbye, send everyone home with their valentines and a few extra cookies--sweetness in their hearts and on their lips.

In the past, I have also included in my valentine making one for each of my deities--which I leave on my altar until Ostara--one for my home which I bury by the front steps, and one for the world which I burn and scatter.

-M. Ashley

PS
Do any of you have witchy Valentine's Day traditions? I would love to hear all about them..

PPS
I just included this 'cause I like the "PP". :-)