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1a.: Re: Whats is Wicca 2-2 Buckland. - Addendum. From: Blackbird

2.: To Walk Alone. From: Blackbird

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1a.: Re: Whats is Wicca 2-2 Buckland. - Addendum.

Posted by: "Blackbird" blackbird_61@yahoo.com blackbird_61

Sun Nov 14, 2010 8:05 pm (PST)

Hi All,
I seem to have been too clever by half ... somehow despite taking a week
to carefully craft my response I left out the most critical quote of
all.

I wanted to make it (Seax Wica) available to single (Solitary) Witches
as well as to groups (covens). And lastly, I wanted it to be something
anyone could enter without having to seek out an already established
group and without having to submit to their rules and regulations. I
therefore included a form of self-initation, a Right of Self Dedication.
Raymond Buckland, Bucklands book of Saxon Witchcraft pg xi and xii.
As noted in the Main Piece Buckland clearly sees Seax-Wica as a
legitamite form of Wicca but here on this page, there can be no doubt he
is absolutely extending the invitation I spoke of in my original reply.
... Whether that invitation is valid, I cannot say, as it has sparked a
debate that has raged for 30 years and will most certainly not be
settled on my authority.

Blessings BB.

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2.: To Walk Alone.

Posted by: "Blackbird" blackbird_61@yahoo.com blackbird_61

Sun Nov 14, 2010 8:06 pm (PST)

I was walking up to the front door of my building, when quite suddenly
it started to burst open; one of my neighbor's racing through in a
terrible rush; without thinking, there was nothing like time to think; I
exploded into a kneeling cross block. I not only managed to keep the
door from slamming me in the face, I drove it back so hard I tossed my
neighbor off his feet and onto the stairs behind him, ... where somewhat
confused by the sudden turn of events he apologized to me.

I came home to find my daughter working out with one of my kickboxing
tapes, as my daughter has never shown any interest in my martial arts
training I was quite pleasantly surprised, but when I asked her if she
was interested in starting to workout with Step's tape her reply was,
No. One of her Girl friends was breaking up with a guy, and she just
wanted to be able to pop him a good one if he got ignorant about it ..
:)

So I had to explain to her, that that Techniques on the tape were
workout techniques, not fighting technique, and spent the next half hour
showing her how to turn her foot so the proper spot would land, for a
front kick, or a round, or how to properly lock out a straight punch.
...

I have had only minimal formal Martial arts training, from 14 to 30 my
only training, was taking what opportunities life presented to train on
my own; mostly via the Kata's; but in that moment, when it was needed my
body responded exactly as I had wired it to do, through thousands of
repetitions of the katas. At the same time, If my daughter had gotten
herself into a situation and started to punch and kick as demonstrated
on the workout tape, she might well have gotten herself in more trouble,
not less, by provoking a more angry response, and not having the proper
tools to defend herself.

I have taught myself many things in my life, it's a theme of my life. In
England my coworkers would come to me for help with their programming
homework, I have no formal programming training but I was recognized our
best programmer; I have largely taught myself Tarot, and the Magickal
Arts.

So as I noted in my last post ...
I wanted to make it (Seax Wica) available to single (Solitary) Witches
as well as to groups (covens). And lastly, I wanted it to be something
anyone could enter without having to seek out an already established
group and without having to submit to their rules and regulations. I
therefore included a form of self-initiation, a Right of Self
Dedication. Raymond Buckland, Buckland's book of Saxon Witchcraft pg xi
and xii.
Mr Buckland clearly sees Self Initiation as a valid path for Wiccan's
specifically and Pagans in general; but as a Person who has walked that
path, and as a person whose life long disposition has been to walk
alone, I must state, I think a person should think long and hard about
pursuing the path of a solitary practitioner, and prefer spending at
least that first year in a Covened situation if possible.

Just as my Daughter would not have known the difference between a round
kick in an exercise environment, and one meant to strike and do harm if
I had not told her, and demonstrated the difference, and allowed her to
practice it ... planting several kicks on my arm. There are many small
things that as a solitary will not be passed on Mentor to Student in the
context of simple and often Casual conversations.

Ellen Cannon Read, Author of the Witches Qabbala speak to how each
sphere on the tree of life carries with it a Vice and an illusion, so a
person working with Malkuth and invoking and encountering Sandalphon is
in danger for falling victim to the illusion of Materialism and
displaying that in the vice of Inertia, you don't think so maybe, but
... ever delay a spell because you could not find just the right candle,
or incense or other physical trapping; forgetting the thought, preceded
the manifestation, and while material tools are useful and
correspondences important, the most important thing is the energy and
will you put into the spell. Having a mentor on hand to remind you of
that in the proper moment, can be utterly important spare you years of
wasting time plateaued in illusion.

Or again, simple things, while it is Possible to invoke any God/dess in
any language, you get a much more powerful response if you invoke a
God/dess in his or her Language, this my Ama tu AnKi, Sumerian for
Mother of Heaven and Earth, but the former gets a much more powerful
response from Nan.

We have a lot of 'Baby Witches' here as my friend Liz calls herself; one
of the first and most important things Ghost taught me was, that people
do not leave the craft because Magick does not work, they leave when
they discover it does! and then ... sometimes they leave skid marks!

Again having the support of a coven, to help you deal with the REALITY
of that Paradigm shifting experience can be a huge help; because your
Paradigm will shift, but it will shift slowly over time, the rational
mind, the left mind, the material mind will strive mightily to explain
the mystical away, each time you have an mystical experience, and again
as the Poignant reality of that moment fades in into the past.

Again to quote Ellen Cannon Reed.
Our intention is to produce a religion of prophets,
with direct access to the Gods, using symbols, including images and
including our beliefs, as tools. We assume the capacity to connect,
the possibility of meaning, and that our experiences are the
foundation of everything, not our ideas. .....
It's hard, perhaps impossible to explain to anyone what it is like to
experience the presence of another entity in ones minds eye; In my case
I was reaching out to Nan, the whole focus of my spiritual life really,
and instead I find myself confronted with a Ram, Instead of a Goddess I
find myself "Eye to Eye" with a Ram, quite a beautiful creature really,
but not at all what I was expecting, and my first Gnostic Experience
ended with my going Whaaaa!!! and the Entity pulling away.

Nan's presence in my life is real, ... sometimes sur-real she has placed
visions in my minds eye, knocked Tarot Decks off my self for me to read
from, she has caused others to feel her wings beating when I invoke her,
she has even spoken to a friend in a dream, but I have never quite had
an experience like the that wasted opportunity with the Ram again.

What we are trying to Achieve here, we Pagans ... because I think this
applies to all Pagans, is a personal relationship with our Gods, and our
Goddesses; and I don't mean this at all in a Christian Sense, I mean
this in a very real bi-directional sense, a genuine relationship. Such
as I describe as my 10 year long conversation with Nan. or my
relationship with Innana-Kur, the Sumerian Death Goddess. VERY little is
known about her, because unlike any other goddess no Stele describing
sacrifices and offerings to her have ever been found. I believe this is
because the offerings were the dead. While we know that at least in the
Babylonian period the inheritors of Sumer Buried their dead in elaborate
crypts and engaged in a form of ancestor worship; but the common people
could not afford these crypts, and space in a city like Ur was at a
great premium, so I believe that much like the "Sky Burials" of India
today, the dead were offered to Inanna-Kur in a similar way. Between now
and Yule I will, as I have the last couple of years, on each morning
possible invoke this goddess and read the cards, not from Nan's Gendron
Tarot, but form the Tarot of the Sweet Twilight, whose Melancholy feel
suits her.

And I will continue to pursue a ever more intimate relationship with the
triple goddess as I know her;

Innana - Queen of Heaven.
Innana-Ki Mother of Earth (Evening Star)
Inanna-Kur (Tsulsala-Ki) Goddess of the Underworld (Morning Star)

Only you, can decide how best to follow your own path, Covened or on
your own.

In either case I strongly suggest you get Star Hawks Spiral Dance, and I
strongly suggest at some point during the day, shortly after waking or
shortly before bed, you call the Quarters each day for 101 days, till
you can do so in your sleep without thinking about it. spend 5 minutes
at least mediating on the words, on the powerful guardians you have just
called. Think about them, then ground the energy raised, thank the
watchers for their presence and their protection, and release the
circle.

I am also a fan of Raven Grimmasi's work because Raven plumbs much
deeper into the Whys and history of Magick and his work has intellectual
rigor. Wiccan Mysteries is highly recommended.

Prayer is also vitally important but often over looked aspect, but you
don't want to engage in I want a new, Job, Car, Boyfriend Prayers, nor
even so much freeform prayers. which while often nice and heartfelt do
not accomplish building the mystical bridge that repetitive prayers do
...

Instead I would recommend, each night before bed take a simple string of
prayer beads and go through them saying a simple prayer over and over
again, once for each bead, if you do this Quietly in bed, you will find
its very relaxing and helps one to sleep; please feel free to adapt the
prayer I use myself.

Innana-Ki
Mother of Us All,
We Thank you for your Blessings,
Great Queen with Piercing Mind and Vision Bright
Loving Mother with full and heavy womb.
Meet your child in the full moon light gleaming
take us by the hands, carry us between the worlds
Holy Mother Innana, please bless (This Reading, this Intention, your
Servant as appropriate)
The light of the evening star is your servant's true guide. (pause) Ama
tu Anki.

Do this for 7 nights at least it will effect your dreams.

BTW this prayer, really the most important prayer in my practice now,
came with a set of prayer beads I ordered years ago, I have modified it
heavily, but not beyond recognition, but I dont remember the original
authors name anymore.

I will say this in closing, there is MUCH to be gained, especially by
taking ones early training in a covened enviroment, and this road alone
is a long one; but it does have its compensations, had I become part of
a Celtic, or Egyption coven, I might never have found Nan, or it might
have taken more years; being a Solitary, one is ultimately responsible
to and for oneself, one can seek freely for the vision of God and
Goddess that best fits you as an individual a vision that is not
filtered through the lense of anothers tradition, Coven, Family, or
Tribe; it is this Freedom to be myself, to follow my belief that
spiritually we have decayed not grown and that the most ancient images
of God/dess are the truest, that has lead me to Innana. Her priestess
Enheduanna is the Oldest known author in the World, and she is among the
Oldest Names for Goddess.

Ama tu AnKi, BB.

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