Priestesses Pythonesses Sibyls The Sacred Voices of Women who speak with and for the Gods Edited by Sorita d’Este
Published by Avalonia www.avaloniabooks.co.uk
Contributions by: Andrea Salgado-Reyes, Bolina Oceanus, Caroline Tully, Cathryn Orchard, Connia Silver, Diane Champigny, Emily Ounsted, Galatea, Jacqui Woodward-Smith, Woodward-Smith, Janet Farrar, Farrar, Katie Gerrard, Kay Gillard, Kim Huggens, Mariëlle Holman, Naomi Ozaniec, Nina Falaise, Sophia Fisher, Sorrell Cochrane, Vivienne O’Regan, Yvonne Aburrow Cover Image by Nina Falaise Additional artwork & photography as credited.
Published by Avalonia BM Avalonia London WC1N 3XX England, UK www.avaloniabooks.co.uk PRIESTESSES PYTHONESSES & SIBYLS PRINT EDITION ISBN (13) 978-1-905297-21-4 978-1-905297-21-4 First Edition, November 2008 Design by Satori Copyright © Sorita d’Este 2008 Individual contributors retain copyright of their essays and artwork. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, microfilm, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, or used in another book, without written permission from the authors.
Table Of Contents Introducing The Priestesses Pythonesses & Sibyls Preface By Sorita D’este T he Contributors Mantic Voices By Sorita D’est e
The Pythia Of Apollo In Delphi B y Caroline Tu lly
Silent Priestesses B y Kim Hugge ns
The Mantle Of Isis By Naomi Ozaniec
Priestess Of Avalon By Ja cqui Woodwar d-Smith
Waking The Gods: B y Janet Farr ar
The Seer B y Katie Gerr ard
Gnostic Priestess By Cathryn Orchar d
The Path Of A Priestess By Vivienne O’regan
Possession & Dreamwork By Sophia Fisher
Ogun’s Dance By Andrea Salgado-Reyes
Seeing The Truth By Kay Gillard
The Republic Of Heaven On Earth
By Yvonne Aburrow
Dreaming With The Gods By Connia Silver
In The Moment By Sorrell Cochrane
Dancing The Dream By Mariëlle Holman
The Oracular Experience By Emily Ounsted
Dancing Priestesses By Nina Falaise
Drawing Down The Moon By Galatea
Lifting The Veil By Diane Champigny
For Lo! Apollo Is Within Me By Bolina Oceanus
INTRODUCING THE PRIESTESSES PYTHONESSES & SIBYLS PREFACE BY SORITA D’ESTE “Seek not for wisdom in my words Rather seek beauty For I speak to the soul, not the mind, Each utterance a seed to bring forth the fruits of your labour” Weyland’s Smithy, Oxfordshire, 2001 ~~~
Dear Reader, Priestess, Pythoness, Sibyl.
These are words which evoke images of strong magical women, serving in temples, speaking the words of the deities, living in caves and sacred glades. The enduring power of these roles and the functions of spiritual service they perform have survived from the mystery religions of the ancient world to indigenous cultures around the world today and the modern magical and pagan revival. These roles are all united in their use of trance states, which may be achieved through a wide variety of methods. It is these methods which permeate this book, drawing together strands of experience and research from a diverse range of spiritual traditions from all around the world. The Western Mystery Traditions often focus on the priestess being the vessel for the feminine divine, and this pattern is recorded in this anthology within a wide range o experiences and techniques. Both Naomi Ozaniec and Vivienne O’Regan explore the mysteries of the Egyptian Mother Goddess of Magic, Isis, and their wealth of experience as priestesses within a spectrum of different magical environments shines through in their essays The Mantle of Isis and The Path of a Priestess . The Wiccan technique of Drawing Down the Moon is amongst those discussed by Janet Farrar in her wide-ranging essay Waking the Gods , and is also considered from different experiential perspectives by Diane Champigny in Lifting the Veil , Drawing Down the Moon by Galatea, The Oracula Experience by Emily Ounsted and In the Moment by Sorrell Cochrane. Moving to the Norse practice of Seidr, Katie Gerrard presents an adapted version of the High Chair Rite in her essay The Seer . A very different perspective showing the role of the priestess in the Gnostic Mass, a ritual written by Aleister Crowley, is unveiled by Cathryn Orchard in her contribution Gnostic Priestess . Dance and its use in achieving trance states is the subject
of Dancing the Dream by Mariëlle Holman and Dancing Jacqui Woodward-Smith Priestesses by Nina Falaise. expounds on her own experiences of how divine inspiration has manifested through her poetry and ritual work in Priestess o Avalon , and at the other end of the spectrum is Dreaming with the Gods by Connia Silver, which discusses the use of dream incubation to achieve divine communion. The significance o dreams is also considered by Sophia Fisher in her essay Possession & Dreamwork in Haitian Voudou . In Seeing the Truth Kay Gillard describes her experiences of the transformations of transfiguration during trance states. The idea of the gender dynamic between the divine forces and the priestess providing herself as their vessel is explored in several of the essays within this work, in Yvonne Aburrow’s The Republic of Heaven on Earth , Andrea Salgado-Reyes’ Ogun’s Dance and Bolina Oceanus’ For Lo! Apollo is within me . Between them, these essays explore very different perspectives of priestesses channelling not the feminine but instead the masculine divine, something which is rare in the modern Pagan and magical movements. In addition to the experiential works, the first section of the book “Ecstatic Histories” contains three historical essays which explore the major oracles of the ancient world. The first o these is my own Mantic Voices which provides an overview, looking at priestesses fulfilling the role of oracles from the ancient world through to the modern day resurgence of the priestess in western magical culture. This is complimented by two fascinating scholarly essays exploring themes regarding early oracles, Caroline Tully’s The Pythia of Apollo , which provides an in-depth look at the Oracle of Apollo, the God o prophecy in ancient Delphi and Kim Huggens’ Silent Priestesses which explores the role of women in the early Church as priestesses and prophetesses. These essays bring together a wealth of traditions and experiences, with the knowledge, wisdom and understanding o these women shining through, each as unique as the lady who
wrote it. The knowledge and experience brought together here in this way makes Priestesses Pythonesses Sibyls an inimitable work which will benefit the new generation of Priestesses emerging into the world today, as well as those already practising. It is my hope that this will also be an invaluable guide for those who always wished they had someone to ask and discuss these practices with. From the first to the last word, this anthology provides an exceptional and matchless collection of perspectives from the modern sisterhood of priestesses, diverse in their beliefs but united in their roles, offered in honour both of the deities they serve and the traditions they represent. I am truly honoured to have been the nexus for this project and to have been able to bring the voices of these remarkable women together for you the reader. I would like to express special thanks to all the women who contributed to this anthology, all those already mentioned for their written contributions; but also a special thanks to Jenny Sumaya for permission to use two of her portraits, Susan Falcon-Hargraves for permission to reproduce her painting o Selene and Endymion; and Nina Falaise for all the consideration she put into designing and painting the image which graces the cover of this work. Thank you also to all those who believed in this project and through whose enthusiasm this project took flight. Thank you to Jill Lake for her creative flair in the design of the chapter illustrations. Lastly, I would like to also thank my wonderful husband David Rankine for his ongoing support, love and help with this and other projects. Blessings for your path through the Mysteries, Sorita d’Este Monmouthshire, November 2008
THE CONTRIBUTORS Yvonne Aburrow
Yvonne has been a Pagan since 1985, a Wiccan since 1991 and a Unitarian since 2007. She is generally fascinated by religion and spirituality, and is currently studying for an MA in Contemporary Religions and Spiritualities from Bath Spa University. She is the editor of the Pagan Theologies Wiki, the founder of Pagans for Archaeology, and a co-editor o MetaPagan. She contributed a chapter comparing Pagan and Christian LGBT spirituality to a forthcoming book on LGBT spirituality (S. Hunt (ed), Contemporary Christianity and LGB Sexualities , Ashgate, 2009), and an article on Queer Wicca to the See: GLBTQ Encyclopaedia . http://yaburrow.googlepages.com Diane M. Champigny (Thea)
Diane M. Champigny (Thea) is a 3rd Degree High Priestess and Lineage Elder of the Alexandrian Tradition of Witchcraft. She is an active member of the Society of Elder Faiths and is currently serving as a Ritualist and Workshop Facilitator for the Wiccan Educational Society, an international Pagan community. Diane is currently in the process of forming an Alexandrian-based coven. Inquiries may be directed to
[email protected] or for more detailed information about Diane and her work see www.myspace.com/PriestessThea Sorrell Cochrane
Sorrell Cochrane is a High Priestess, with a talent for divination and second sight. Reclusive by nature, she likes to keep a low profile and let her partner and High Priest take the limelight. Mother to a fey baby born on the solstice, she divides her time between music, magic and motherhood. She has seen and experienced too many strange things to consider anything impossible and bounds from one adventure to another, never needing to worry where life and the Gods will take her next.
Sorita d’Este
Author and esoteric researcher Sorita d’Este describes herself as a student of life’s little mysteries. She is passionate about the western esoteric traditions of magic and mysticism, her interests and work span a wide range of subjects including the Celtic, Greek and Egyptian traditions, medieval and renaissance grimoires and palmistry. To date more than 18 o her books have been published, many co-authored with David Rankine. These include include Hekate Liminal Rites, The Isles of the Many Gods, Practical Elemental Magick, Practical Planetary Magick and Wicca Magickal Beginnings. Sorita has lectured extensively on folklore, mythology and magic around the UK and Europe. She currently lives in Monmouthshire, Wales (UK) with David and their young son. www.sorita.co.uk Nina Falaise
Nina Falaise is an artist and teacher of sacred dance. She presents dance as an alternative way to self-development and to liberating creativity on all levels. Nina has worked with experienced teachers of the Western Mystery Tradition since the 80’s, such as Naomi Ozaniec, Marian Green, and Tony Willis. Of sacred dance Nina says, “As the dance moves, vibrating to the sounds of music, she creates a visual image o the unseen. Her body is the poetic voice of the unspoken.” For
those who are interested in the arts and sacred dance, please contact:
[email protected] Janet Farrar
Janet Farrar is better known as an authority on Wicca and has been a practising Seeress, Medium and Priestess since 1970. With her late husband Stewart, she has written several of the defining books on modern witchcraft including A Witches Bible , and The Witches Goddess . She was joined by Gavin Bone, an initiate of Seax Wicca and the Dorset Tradition who was also trained in Seidr, as her working partner in 1993. Together they have written The Pagan Path (1995), The Healing Craft (1999) and Progressive Witchcraft (2004), in which they
first began to explore their work in Trance-Prophecy. They tour regularly in the United States and Europe where they conduct workshops and rituals on the subject, and are currently working on their next book, provisionally titled The Four Key o For more about their work see Trance-Prophecy . www.callaighe.com Sophia Fisher
Sophia Fisher is a Celebrant, hounsi bossal and 2nd degree Gardnerian witch living in Wales with her husband and West Highland White Terrier. She enjoys creative writing, performance belly-dance and sitting near her favourite apple tree. She is a member of Sosyete Gade nou Leve (‘Watch us Rise’ Society) headed by Houngan Hector, and is happy to be contacted by email -
[email protected]. Galatea
Galatea has had a life-long interest in the occult and mystical, due in part to having a parent with similar interests. Since she was a small child her passion has been Ancient Egypt. She was initiated by Alex Sanders in 1971 and has been High Priestess of her own coven for over twenty five years. For the past decade she has worked mostly in the Egyptian spiritual tradition, which informs and inspires her work in the Craft, which she interprets as a Magical, Gnostic, Mystery tradition. Katie Gerrard
Katie Gerrard is an urban witch living in the outskirts o London with her husband, daughter, and fat idiot cat. She has been working with the Norse practice of Seidr since the 1990's, researching and experimenting with what information is available on the historical techniques. For the past few years she has been involved in the facilitation of practical Seidr group in Central London, she has also lectured at national events on this and related subjects. Katie is the author of SEIDR: The Gate is Open and Odin’s Gateways. Kay Gillard
Kay is a psychic, witch, healer, teacher and writer who comes from a family in which many of the women have psychic gifts. She works as a full time Reiki Master Teacher and shamanic healer and much of her spare time is spent indulging in magical pursuits and ‘playing with the faeries’. She lives in South East London with her partner and two very bizarre cats. For more information and to find out about Kay’s work visit www.kaygillard.com Mariëlle Holman
Mariëlle is originally from Holland, but enchanted by the Mythology of this Island, she moved to the UK, with her four children. She became the first initiated teen witch in her own country, and now years later she has her own Coven and groups in the South-East of England. Her dance journey started with Classical Ballet and moved on to Belly Dance and trance dance, in which she performs and teaches. Kim Huggens
Kim Huggens is a PhD student in the Ancient History department of Cardiff University. Her research interests include women in second century Christianity, religion in the Late Antique period, Graeco-Roman magic, Egyptian religion, and the Roman cult of Mithras. Her recent work has included a paper in Horns of Power , edited by Sorita D’Este, and the publication of her first Tarot deck, Sol Invictus: The God Tarot , co-authored with Nic Phillips. She is currently creating a second Tarot deck, Pistis Sophia: The Goddess Tarot , and giving regular talks and workshops around the UK on subjects such as Tarot, mythology, Paganism, Graeco-Roman magic, and Mithras. Kim is the editor of VS .; Memento Mori and From Drop of Water , all published by Avalonia. Andrea Salgado-Reyes
Andrea Salgado-Reyes is a priestess of Artemis and Hekate, witch, trance worker and devotee of the Orixas. Her interests include classical Greece and ancient Egypt, the exploration o ancient forms of worship and indigenous traditions. She keeps
busy setting up a neo-pagan and pagan community on her land in Chile, and providing space for local witches to study and practise in a neo-pagan context. Like a traditional LatinAmerican woman, she is devoted to her mother, cooking and gardening. Unlike one, she is also devoted to polyamory, spellwork and the full enjoyment of her own freedom. Andrea also contributed work to From a Drop of Water and HEKATE Her Sacred Fires. Bolina Oceanus
Bolina is a priestess of Apollo following, in part, a Reconstructionist approach to Hellenistic religious ritual. She fell in love with Apollo at an early age, when she discovered that He united the Sun, poetry and wolves, her three favourite things. Bolina works with other likeminded Hellenists in a small group honouring Apollo and the Muses, and is actively seeking to re-colonise her part of Britain for the ancient Greek gods. Cathryn Orchard
Cathryn Orchard has been a member of Ordo Templi Orientis, an international fraternal initiatory magical Order, since 2004 and has been working as a Priestess in that organisation for the last four years. She has performed Liber XV The Gnostic Mass, the central ceremony of O.T.O. across the world with her partner, musician and author Rodney Orpheus. Cathryn is an artist and designer currently working as a Support Worker with people with learning difficulties while studying to be an Art Psychotherapist. She lives in the Cotswolds district in the West of England. Vivienne O’Regan
Vivienne O'Regan has been a priestess and student of the mysteries for over 35 years. She was a contributor to Voices o the Goddess: A Chorus of Sibyls (1990) edited by Caitlin Matthews and the author of The Pillar of Isis: a Practical Manual on the Mysteries of the Goddess (1993). She had written for a number of esoteric publications and worked within various
esoteric groups. Vivienne O’Regan can be contacted by
[email protected] or if you wish to find out more about her work visit her website www.caersidi.net Emily Ounsted
Emily Ounsted is a Wiccan High Priestess running an Alexandrian lineaged Coven in the London area. She is a priestess of Hekate and previously contributed to the anthology Hekate: Keys to the Crossroads under the pseudonym Amelia. She views her experiences with oracular work as part of a continuing journey towards discovery both of the self and of the gods. She is fascinated by the rich diversity of experience and practice in oracular priestesses today. Naomi Ozaniec
Naomi Ozaniec has been studying the mysteries since she discovered the occult section of her local library at the age o ten. Since then she has written numerous books on all aspects of the Western Mystery Tradition, including The Aquarian Qabalah (2003), Chakras for Beginners (1999), The Elements o Egyptian Wisdom (1994) and Everyday Meditation (2004). She is The Director of Studies in The House of Life, an Aquarian Mystery School dedicated to the service of humanity through the Ageless Wisdom enshrined in the Hermetic Tree of Life. For more information see www.thehouseoflife.co.uk Connia Silver
Connia Silver has been working with (and in) her dreams from a young age, and acknowledges her mother for passing on the affinity. Connia is a spiritual writer and educator who teaches a wide range of intuitive skills and Goddess mysteries. She lives with her husband and companion animals in the Sonoran Desert, where they explore the practices of organic and sustainable living. She is the founder and director o studies of In Her Name Temple and the Crossroads Lyceum, both of which provide Priestess training and other spiritual courses through home-study. Connia may be reached through the following websites: www.inhername.com and
www.crlyceum.com Caroline Tully
Caroline Tully is a student of Classics and Archaeology at the University of Melbourne, Australia, who is interested in the pre-Christian religions of the ancient Mediterranean, the demonisation of the Pagan gods after the rise of Christianity, and their re-appearance in modern mystery religions such as Witchcraft, Neo-Paganism and Ceremonial Magic. She is a fervid article-writer, who endeavours to make her academic research accessible to a popular audience in order to contribute to the Pagan revival. Caroline has written for more than twenty international Pagan publications and contributed chapters to Practising the Witch's Craft by Douglas Ezzy (Allen and Unwin 2003); Pop! Goes the Witch by Fiona Horne (Disinformation 2004); and Celebrating the Pagan Soul by Laura Wildman (Citadel Press 2005). See her blog at http://necropolisnow.blogspot.com/ Jacqui Woodward-Smith
Jacqui Woodward-Smith is a Priestess of Avalon, trained in Glastonbury and living in London. She facilitates the group Tribe of Avalon, which meets to connect to and celebrate the ancient British Goddesses. She is passionate about connecting to the land as sacred, and about working to heal the wounds to the Sacred Feminine in all of us. She is a writer and a poet and has given many talks about the Goddess and the sacred land. She is a director of both the Glastonbury Goddess Temple and the Southwark Mysteries, a community arts organisation. She can be contacted at
[email protected]
ECSTATIC HISTORIES “About that altar lone, The crowding sumac burned with steady fire; Before it, stately, stood a priestess; one Who turned to me her melancholy eyes. I saw her beauty, ripe with color's breath, Yet veiled, as when on wood and hill there lies A mist, a shadow, as of coming death.”
From ‘Gentian’ by Elizabeth Green Crane
MANTIC VOICES Priestesses who Speak with and for the Gods
BY SORITA D’ESTE "’The idea of the Priestess is at the root of all ancient beliefs,’ she said, on one occasion. ‘Only in our ephemeral time has it been neglected.’” Isis Worship in Paris, Mina Mathers, 1900 Woman have long been spiritual leaders, they have served and continue to serve their communities all around the world, spanning cultures and tribes, as the divine voices of the spirits of the land, the Gods and Goddesses of their ancestral people and of their adopted lands. They are named as many things in different cultures and at different times and places, sometimes it is their names that remain today as part of the great stories of history and legend, often as figures so famed that at least in part these priestesses continue to live on in the hearts of men and woman who have never known the power and gifts of a priestess. Such are Morgan Le Fey the famed sister-magician of the Arthurian myth cycle; or Queen Boudicca of the Iceni tribe whom some believe to have been a priestess of the Ancient British Celtic Battle Goddess Andraste. There is Medea , who has been raised to demi-Goddess status, but who is known to have called on Hekate the ancient Greek Goddess of magic and the liminal for help with her own magical endeavours, and Circe who did the same. There are plentiful examples of women in the ancient world taking key roles in religious ceremonies in Egypt, Greece, Rome and all over the Mediterranean and in what is now Europe. Even today in what at first appears to be a patriarchal world there are often women to be found in important spiritual leadership roles. Such are the women who are the spirit healers in some of the indigenous tribes of the Americas, often
also fulfilling a prophetic role in their communities. communities. Frequently these women are also well versed in the use of herbal medicine and other healing techniques. So what is a priestess? Dictionaries give definitions definitions like “a woman authorised to conduct the sacred rites of a religion” and “a woman regarded as a leader of a spiritual movement.” These definitions give a good starting point from which to explore the idea of priesthood priesthood and being a priestess. priestess. Priestess comes from the same root as priest, which is the Greek word presbyter , meaning ‘elder’ . The Anglican Church clings to the masculine term and calls its priestesses priests, as if the use of the male term allows a blind eye to be turned to the presence of women serving in the priesthood of what has been an exclusively male preserve for many centuries. There were no such divides in the ancient world, with roles in the priesthood being clearly defined. Although the priesthood was predominantly male in ancient Egypt, there were some roles that were specifically female, and others that could be performed by either women or men. Thus there are examples of women oracles, and of high priestesses, as well as specifically female attendant roles like Ahai-t (‘sistrum bearer’ ) and Thai Shebet (‘wand bearer’ ). ). Service in the Egyptian temples was usually carried out for a third of the year, and during this time strict taboos were enforced, such as celibacy, rigorous hygiene, dietary and clothing strictures. Women were often chosen from aristocratic families to serve as Priestesses in Ancient Greece at the various sanctuaries and temples temples to the gods. gods. Such priestesses priestesses would be paid a generous salary and often also received parts of the offerings made to the deity. deity. An example of this can be found in the priestess of Athena Nike who who was paid a contractual salary, and also received the hides and legs of all animals which were sacrificed at public ceremonies. Inevitably there were exceptions to this system, such as that of the priestess o Athena Polias who was chosen by lot from all the women in Athens and did not have to be from one of the ancient
aristocratic families. Priestesses often served their temples for many years, but even decades of service would not be considered as an excuse for even a momentary lack of focus on duty. This is illustrated by the incident at the temple sanctuary of Hera in Argos, when in 423 BCE the Priestess Chrysis set down her torch and fell asleep. She had been careless though and her torch set fire to the offerings of garlands which had been left for the goddess and burned the building to the ground. Chrysis had served Hera at the temple for more than fifty-six years, but in light o what happened she fled to Phlius at once in fear of what punishment she would receive for potentially bringing the wrath of the goddess upon the entire community. The term ‘Pythoness’ or ‘Pythia’ was used specifically for the prophetesses at the temple of Apollo in Delphi, and is derived from the name of the great serpent or dragon Python, who guarded the shrine until killed by Apollo. The word Pytho means “to rot” , and may come from one of two sources. The first is that the Python was said to have been formed from the slime left after the great deluge, and the second is that Apollo left the body to rot in punishment, for the Python had chased his mother Leto across the land when she was pregnant with Apollo and his twin sister Artemis. In the ancient world there were many prophetic traditions in which women would take the role of oracle or seer and the term generally used to describe such women was Sibyl. The word Sibylla means ‘prophetess’ in Greek, and so the use is entirely appropriate. A particularly interesting and powerful group of Sibyls were active at Cumae, [i] amongst who were some of the most famous of the mediums and psychics of the ancient world. The Sibyl of Cumae, or Cumaean Sibyl, was the first Sibyl, from whom the generic name is generally believed to be taken. According to legend she was a very beautiful prophetess o Apollo, who he desired. He visited her and asked her what she wanted, and she scooped up a handful of sand and requested a life as long as the number of grains of sand in her hand. Apollo
granted her this boon, but because she refused his sexual advances he did not give her the accompanying perpetual youth or beauty. As a result she aged and withered away, until she was only a voice in a bottle. When children saw her in her bottle, she was supposed to have only said that she wanted to die. The Cumaean Sibyl was made more famous by Ovid’s etamorphosis , where she was somewhat reinvented from Vergil’s earlier description in the Aeneid and described as the guide who led Aeneas through the underworld. Vergil’s descriptions would provide some of the most vivid and illuminating descriptions of oracular states from the ancient world. “They had come to the threshold, when the virgin cried: ‘Now is the time to demand the oracles, the god, behold, the god!’ she spoke these words in front of the doors and her countenance and colour changed; her hair shook free, her bosom heaved, and her heart swelled in wild fury; she seemed of greater stature, and her cries were not mortal as she was inspired by the breath of the god drawing near.”[ii] Significantly the subsequent description of the sibyl trying to prevent Apollo from possessing her likens the experience to that of a rider and a horse, giving an ancient precedent to the term being used in contemporary Voudon. “Not yet willing to endure Apollo, the prophetess raged within the cavern in her frenzy, trying to shake the mighty god from her breast ... as Apollo applied the reins to her [iii] raving and twisted the goad in her breast.”
The Cumaean Sibyl was not the most popular of oracles due to her habit of writing her prophecies down on leaves and stacking them by the door to her cavern. The slightest breeze would scatter the leaves, causing the querent to have to try and piece the prophecy together by working out the correct order o the leaves. The books and writings of the subsequent Sibyls of their prophecies and predictions were closely guarded secrets which
could only be accessed by a handful of initiates. Of course as with all closely guarded secrets they are either forgotten or they become the stuff legends are made of. The Sibyls are firmly in the latter category, with myths and legends plentiful, but facts about their practices and beliefs difficult to refine from the many stranded and colourful tapestry woven by the stories that are told about them. The Sibyls played an important role in both ancient Greece and Rome and their fame and power was well known throughout the ancient world. In fact they were already well established as a powerful cult hundreds of years prior to the current era and the descent of the religions of Abraham. Such was the importance placed on the prophesies they spoke that even after their libraries were burned and with it all their work, forgeries of what were believed to be the Sibylline prophesies abounded during the early Christian period. “Beginning with the generation first of mortal men down to the very last I'll prophesy each thing: what has been, and what is now, and what shall yet befall” (Opening lines from the Sybilline Oracles)
Their predictions of apocalyptic events were taken very seriously and were studied by scholars for centuries in an effort to gain an understanding of their meanings. Of course as they are believed to be forgeries we cannot really attribute the failures or successes of these documents usually referred to as the Sibylline Oracles to the secretive prophetesses of history. The term sibyl was also seen in the name of a fairy queen in the Renaissance. Reginald Scot described the conjuration o the virgin fairy queen Sibylia to learn the future in his classic work The Discoverie of Witchcraft (1584). The Pythia’s name lives on in everyday life today in the form of the name of one of the most famous mathematician and philosopher Pythagoras, whose name means “spoken by the Pythia ”. This is a reference, which legends tells us, was due to an incident prior to his birth when his father consulted the Pythia and was told that his wife would give birth to an child
destined for illustrious deeds. Though other sources suggest that Pythagoras got his name from the fact that he spoke words filled with truth and wisdom, just as the God of Delphi did through the Pythia. We should note that the Pythia prophesied on behalf of a god, Apollo. The same was true for the other famous Greek oracles of Zeus at Dodona and Aesculapius at Epidaurus. Prophecy was a skill performed by women largely on behalf o male gods in the Hellenistic Greek world. The role and influence of the Pythia are discussed in depth in Caroline Tully’s detailed and scholarly essay The Pythia of Apollo . Women oracles were commonly known in the Greek world as mantics , a word usually translated as ‘seer’ , ‘soothsayer’ or ‘diviner’ . The term prophetes was applied to the temple official who interpreted the words of the mantic, meaning ‘one who speaks for another’ . This term changed in context over the centuries to meaning one who spoke for the mantic as the voice of the deity, to become the term for one who became the voice of the deity. It should also be made clear that the oracles we refer to are inspired oracles, where the priestess spoke with the voice of the deity during divine possession, rather than lot oracles or incubation oracles. Lot oracles were where forms of divination such as dice (as used at the oracle of the god Herakles near Bura) or numbered lots with specific answers were used. Incubation oracles were ones where the querent would spend a night in the inner sanctuary of the temple and hope the deity would send a revelatory dream. These were most commonly to the healing god Aesculapius. As with oracles with mantics, prophetes were usually at hand to interpret the meaning (o such dreams) for the querent. One important aspect of the ancient oracles was their connection to the natural world. The Greek oracles usually had one of three features in their sacred precincts – a spring/pool, grotto/cave, or tree. The Delphic Oracle was linked to a specific cave, thought to produce the intoxicating vapours, and the Sibyl of Cumae dwelt in a cave. Many o
Apollo’s oracles had springs or pools, such as those at Branchidae, Claros, Delphi and Thyrxeus, as did those of other deities such as the goddess Demeter at Patrae. The oak o Zeus at Dodona and the laurel at Delphi were also significant in their role within the oracular process. Although gods may seem prevalent at oracles, the first known oracle was the one recorded by Herodotus in his Histories in 440 BCE dedicated to the Egyptian serpent goddess Wadjet at Per-Wadjet (both the city and the goddess were called Buto by the Greeks), which had been in operation for many centuries by this time, from at least 3100 BCE. From this perspective it is also interesting to note the serpentine nature of Pytho, who Apollo killed and replaced as patron of the oracle. There were of course oracles of other goddesses as well, such as that of Nyx mentioned by Pausanias in his Guide to Greece in the second century CE. Another famous temple oracle in Egypt was that of the god Amun at Siwa. Though there is no exact known date of when the oracle was founded, it has been suggested that it was already in operation by 1500 BCE, and it was well known by the seventh century BCE, with archaeological evidence indicating that the oasis at Siwa was occupied from at least 10,000 BCE. Herodotus recounts the story told of how the oracles o Zeus at Dodona and Amun in Libya were founded by two oracular priestesses who were captured and abducted from Thebes in Egypt. This tale clearly suggests the Greek use o oracles came from their contact with Egypt. Herodotus providing provenance by giving ancient origins to existing oracles was a well known phenomenon. Egypt was known as the “mother of magicians” , and this influence may also have been felt by other cultures which fell under Egyptian control, such as the Jews. The Old Testament is full of references to prophets uttering the prophecies of God, but what is often overlooked is the level of practical information included about their practices. A number of the Psalms were specifically used to help achieve
this state (those which start with the words “A Psalm o David” ), and the use of music is also emphasised repeatedly. Thus we find in Samuel : “You shall meet a band of prophets, coming from a high place with harp, drum, flute and lyre, and they will be prophesying. And the spirit of the Lord will come mightily upon thee, and thou shalt prophesy with them.” (1 Samuel 10:5-6)
Additionally the Bible also includes a very lucid description of the experience of the oracle at the liminal point before entering into a prophetic state. This is to be found in the book of Job : “A word was stolen to me My ear caught a touch of it In meditations from night visions When a trance falls on man Terror called me and I shuddered It terrorized most of my bones A spirit passed before my face Made the hair of my flesh stand on end It stood and I did not recognise its vision A picture was before my eyes [iv] I heard a hum and a voice.”
The noted medieval Kabbalist, Rabbi Moses Maimonides explained the use of instrumental music and the importance o being in the right mental state to prophecy. He observed: “A prophet cannot prophesy at will. He concentrates his mind, sitting in a good, joyous mood and meditating. One cannot attain prophecy when he is depressed and languid, but only when he is in a joyous state. When they were seeking prophecy, the prophets would therefore have people play music for them.”
(Yad Yesodey HaTorah 7:4.)
One of the most significant references to the power o prophecy is found in Jewish writings attributed to the prophet Elijah. In Judaism (and Qabalah) the power of prophecy is called Ruach ha-Qadosh , which literally means ‘Spirit o Holiness’ . Elijah made what is possibly the first declaration about the capacity of any individual to achieve the correct state for delivering prophecy, when he said: “I call heaven and earth to witness that any person, Jew or Gentile, man or woman, freeman or slave, if his deeds are worthy, then Ruach ha-Qadosh will descend upon him.” (Tana daBei Eliahu 9)
This is further expressed in the Bible in the Book of Acts , where it declares: “And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams: And on my servants and on my handmaidens I will pour out in those days of my Spirit; and they shall prophesy:” (Acts 2:17-18)
This acknowledgement of the capacity of women to prophesy is something which carried on into Christianity, though it has been largely overlooked and ignored. In her essay Silent Priestesses , Kim Huggens redresses this balance with a fascinating study of the roles of women of power in early Christianity. It has only been in recent years that attention has been paid to some of the outstanding women in the Church during its long history. The eleventh century German saint, Hildegard von Bingen, was known as the Sibyl of the Rhine. Hildegard was an astonishing woman, whose range of talents would shame almost anyone, and who also experienced divine visions
(hence her nickname). Centuries late, in 1373, an English woman had a visionary experience during serious illness, and in recording and transmitting this experience became known as Julian of Norwich, another medieval Sibyl continuing the tradition. An excellent modern example of a Christian woman serving in a role akin to a priestess is the late Mother Teresa, or now Blessed Teresa of Calcutta . One could argue that she was a product of suppression of a patriarchal system, but all the same she achieved what few others could in a lifetime, operating more than six hundred missions in one hundred and twenty-three countries by the time of her death in 1997. Her political and social power could easily be equated to that o some of the priestesses of ancient Greece or Rome, as demonstrated by the temporary cease-fire she brokered between Palestinian guerrillas and the Israeli army in 1982. This was during the siege of Beirut in order to rescue thirtyseven children trapped in a hospital in the middle of the war zone, and she went with members of the Red Cross to evacuate them personally. A significant point made in the early Christian church was the difference between prophecy and ’speaking in tongues’ . The latter was considered to be unintelligible sounds rather than clear language, and was seen as a sign of divine possession. O course this was not a problem for state oracles like Delphi, where writers like Heraclitus and Lucian described the Pythia as hissing and uttering inarticulate harsh sounds. Tests for possession were performed, to ensure that the correct spiritual being had taken possession of the oracle, a practice which can still be seen today in traditions like Voudon. Apart from testing the condition of an oracle, another criteria from the ancient world which has survived in some respects is the importance of such considerations as diet and clothing, i.e. taboos and/or strictures. In ancient Egypt the priesthoods wore white, with clothing having to be of plant origin, so they were usually made of linen, not wool or leather. Likewise sandals were made of reeds. The wearing of white as
the colour of ritual purity continued in the ancient Greek priesthoods. The Catholic Nun’s habit worn through the centuries can be seen as a form of ritual accoutrement, though the white has largely been replaced by black, blue or brown as the robe colour. Dietary strictures have often contributed to the role of the priestess or priest, such as not eating fish or pork, beans or the flesh of any cult animals. This was seen in ancient Egypt, and continued through the ancient world. Likewise a priestess would be expected to remain celibate during her time of service, or if it was a lifelong role, usually to be virgin. Whilst it is easy to believe that in the modern world filled with technology and forward thinking ideals, there would be no place for prophecy or for the Gods and spirits to speak through women, it is maybe a surprise to consider that through astrology columns, psychic phone lines and fairs, the business of prophecy is as important as it has ever been, though arguably with less political influence than the Pythia of Delphi! As Cicero observed in his work, On Divination , “The oracle at Delphi never would have been so much frequented, so famous, and so crowded with offerings from peoples and kings of every land, if all ages had not tested the truth of its prophecies.” (De Divinatione, Cicero, C1st BCE)
The nineteenth century would see priestesses, both oracular and otherwise, start to emerge again from the shadows of society, into public prominence. In the late 1840s in America the Fox sisters, Maggie and Kate, would create a huge interest in mediumistic activity through their public performances, resulting in the foundation of Spiritualism. Despite attempts to debunk them, the sisters were never successfully shown to have faked the séances they led. The emphasis they brought to using trance states to contact discarnate beings can be seen in its way as a revival of the oracular traditions of the ancient world. One of the most important yet completely unknown figures
of the occult revival was Emma Louisa Leigh. From the ages o thirteen to twenty (when she died), Emma Louisa acted as the seeress for the magician Frederick Hockley. She was his most successful skryer, and through her he received much of his material, which would be significant in the development o magical ideas and work from the Renaissance and earlier, including Metaphysical and Spiritual Philosophy; or the connection with and influence over material bodies by Spirits . The life of Emma Louisa Leigh, unknown despite the contribution of her psychic abilities, stands as an example o how often the contributions of women to the modern occult revival have been overlooked or ignored. This is particularly noticeable in the instance of Victorian magicians like Aleister Crowley, who would have not produced his major works without the inspiration and assistance of the many ‘Scarlet Women’ who were to pass through his life. Another significant psychic who did become well known and influence a huge number of people is Helena Petrova Blavatsky, one of the founders of the Theosophical Society in 1875. Through the demonstrations of her mediumistic ability and her channelled and inspired writings, Blavatsky would arguably become the founder of the New Age movement. The motto of the society she helped found could be the words spoken by an oracle of the ancient world – “no religion highe than truth” . A priestess who must be mentioned is Mina Mathers (nee Bergson), the wife of S.L. MacGregor Mathers, one of the founders of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn in 1888. Mina was the first initiate of the Golden Dawn on 1st March 1888, taking the motto of Vestigia Nulla Reorsum ( ‘I will not retrace my steps’ ). Eleven years later, she would be invoking Isis on stage in a Parisian theatre, and forming an Isis Temple in Paris to revive worship of the ancient Egyptian goddess. The Isis temple was outside of the Golden Dawn, and drew “Alchemists, Protestants, Catholics, scientists, doctors, lawyers, ainters, and men and women of letters, besides persons of high
rank.” [v]
Commenting on the Golden Dawn, one of its oldest and most esteemed members, Reverend Ayton, observed of Mina, “Some of our Lady Members are the most advanced. One o Jewish extraction (Mina) is, I think, the most advanced of all.”
Coming from one of the most respected and best connected magicians of the late nineteenth century, about an order which contained many notable magical figures, this remark shows more than any other how talented and significant Mina and also the other female magicians of the Golden Dawn such as Florence Farr, Annie Horniman and others were in bringing in the new resurgence of magic in the popular consciousness. The Golden Dawn would be a unique forerunner in many ways for a magical group, its equality of the sexes in membership presaging social changes that would follow in the subsequent decades. The legacy of the Golden Dawn has endured in many different ways, one of which has been the creation of the two most popular tarot decks in the world. As a form of oracle, the tarot has gained eminence in the last century, and none more so than the Rider Waite and Thoth decks. Both these decks were created by inspired women artists, the former by Pamela Coleman-Smith of the Golden Dawn, and the latter by Lady Freda Harris. Another expression of the Golden Dawn legacy was in derivative groups, one of which, the Alpha et Omega, was corun by Mina Mathers, and would produce another great modern priestess, Violet Mary Firth, better known by her pen name of Dion Fortune. Fortune continued the work of Mina Mathers in popularising the worship of Isis through her novels The Sea Priestess and Moon Magic , and also influenced subsequent generations of pagans and magicians through her magical and mystical writings. Fortune emphasised the connection between her fictional heroes and heroines and the deities, and the methods used to contact the gods, such as trance and skrying. The question of what happens to a person in trance has
been discussed for many centuries. In ancient Greece it was believed that the soul left the body when a person entered possession trance. In the case of oracles this then enabled the god to occupy the body as a vessel and speak through the mouth of the vessel. Thus Euripides wrote, “When the God in his fullness floods the human body, he makes those possessed by frenzy prophets.” [vi]
As time passed different terms were used, so Plato described oracular frenzy as being ‘seized by the god’ rather than flooded. Conversely it was believed that the absent soul could rise and unite with the divine, as observed by Plotinus in his Enneads (VI.9.11). Writing of her own experiences of Voudon in the early 1950s, the American anthropologist Maya Deren commented poignantly, “To understand that the self must leave if the loa is to enter, is to understand that one cannot be man and god at once.” [vii]
Today different traditions offer different answers to this question, with the focus rather on whether the priestess retains any consciousness of the divine presence called within her, or the words spoken with her lips. Several of the contributors offer very different perspectives to the experience of being overshadowed, possessed, ridden, drawn down on, or whatever term may be appropriate within the context of their individual traditions. The issue of retaining consciousness is one that has been discussed historically, such as in the writings of Proclus, who was associated with the Chaldean Oracles . These comments were used by the Byzantine Christian Neoplatonist Michael Psellus, in the eleventh century in his Accusation against ichael Cerularius before the Synod . Psellus quoted Proclus’ observations that some people did indeed retain some awareness during divine possession, “When divine inspiration comes there are some cases where the possessed become completely beside themselves and unconscious of themselves. But there are other cases
where, in some remarkable manner, they maintain consciousness. In these cases it is possible for the subject to work the divine invocation on himself, and when he receives the inspiration, to be aware of what it does and what it says.”
(Oracles Chaldaiques, des Places, 1971) One experience that has been reported frequently is possession occurring from the head downwards, with this being the easiest entry point for a goddess or god or other spiritual creature into the body. This is why head coverings are a common part of so many religions and spiritual traditions. The Jewish skullcap and the magician’s nemyss or covered crown have been described as being specifically worn to protect the wearer from possession. Drawing Down the Moon
The magical tradition now commonly referred to as the Wiccan Tradition, stemming from the practices popularised by Gerald Gardner in 1950’s England, has at its heart a formal invocation of the Goddess into the body of the High Priestess. The High Priestess then for the remainder of the rite becomes the representative of the Goddess within the ceremony, reciting a piece of prose known as “The Charge of the Goddess” or becoming a conduit for the Goddess who was invoked to speak through, therefore becoming an “oracle” of the Goddess. In some Wiccan groups oracular work is not practiced at all, instead the focus is on the High Priestess as the symbolic representative of the Goddess. The term “draw down the Moon” had a very different meaning in ancient times to that which it is given in Wiccan groups today, as it literally meant the descent of the Moon close to the Earth (or an eclipse). The witches of Thessaly (ancient Greece) were particularly famous for being able to draw down the Moon from the heavens in this way. An example of this can be found in Gorgias when in 380 BCE he wrote: “Like the Thessalian witches, who, as they say, draw down the Moon from heaven”. If you are interested in further
exploring the origins of the practices of Wicca, you will find the book Wicca Magickal Beginnings I co-authored with David Rankine of interest. Being an oracle may be seen as a grace or blessing, and produces states which cannot be experienced in any other way. However it is true that such states also carry the burden of responsibility, and at times this burden may be heavier than others. As Plutarch observed, “For sometimes we are involved in numerous and infinitely varied visions, whilst at other times, on the contrary, we have complete freedom and peace from anything of the sort.” (On the Cessation of the Oracles, Plutarch)
Bibliography Aune, David E.; Prophecy in Early Christianity and the Ancient Mediterranean World ; 1992; William B Erdmans
Publishing; Clark, Rosemary; The Sacred Tradition in Ancient Egypt ; 2004; Llewellyn; Minnesota Connelly, Joan Breton; Portrait of a Priestess: Women and Ritual in Ancient Greece ; 2007; Princeton University Press; Princeton Davies, T. Witton; Magic, Divination, and Demonology ; 1898; James Clarke & Co; London Des Letteres, É; Oracles Chaldaiques ; 1971; Les Belles Lettres; Paris Deren, Maya; The Divine Horsemen ; 1952; Book Collectors Society; New York Falconer, W.A.; Cicero: De Divinatione ; 1923; LOEB Library; Harvard Flacelière, R. (ed); Plutarch: De Defectu Oraculorum (On the Cessation of the Oracles) ; 1947; Les Belles Lettres; Paris Fortune, Dion; The Sea Priestess ; 1938; Dion Fortune; London Greer, Mary K.; Women of the Golden Dawn: Rebels and Priestesses ; 1995; Park Street Press; Vermont Hamill, John (ed); The Rosicrucian Seer: Magical Writings o Frederick Hockley ; 1986; Aquarian; Wellingborough Hurwit, Jeffrey; The Athenian Acropolis ; 1999; CUP Archive Lees, Frederic; Isis Worship in Paris ; 1900; in The Humanitarian Vol 16:2; New York Luck, Georg; Arcana Mundi: Magic and the Occult in the Greek and Roman Worlds ; 1985; John Hopkins University Press Morford, Mark P.O., & Lenardon, Robert J.; Classical ythology ; 2003; Oxford University Press; Oxford Plotinus; The Enneads ; 1991; Penguin Books; London Rouget, Gilbert; Music and Trance ; 1985; University o Chicago Press; Chicago Scheid, John; An Introduction to Roman Religion ; 2003;
Edinburgh University Press; Edinburgh Wier, Dennis R.; Trance From Magic To Technology ; 1996; Transmedia; Michigan
THE PYTHIA OF APOLLO IN DELPHI BY CAROLINE TULLY A regular Greek priestess’s sphere of influence reached only as far as the temenos walls of her sanctuary. The authority of the Pythia, or Priestess of Delphic Apollo, on the other hand extended much further into areas such as religion, politics, warfare and overseas colonisation. This was unusual not only for a priestess, but for a woman in what was predominantly patriarchal ancient Greece. This essay seeks to explore the role of the Pythia by investigating first of all the background to the sanctuary of Apollo at Delphi. This will be followed by examination of the function of the oracle, including the method of oracular enquiry and analysis of the Pythia’s performance. The activities of other, non-oracular Greek priestesses are then considered and the limit of their power assessed. The essay concludes that while the Pythia may have had a wider sphere of influence than other priestesses and therefore possessed more power, it was obtained by impersonating a male god and subject to considerable constraint. The Pythia exercised her influence under the guise of being possessed by Apollo rather than in her own name which meant that she was acting as a symbolic male. While the advice she gave was respected and acted upon, she was bound by the rules of the oracle in that she could advise in response to a question but could not take the initiative in doing so, thus her power was constrained. The Temple of Apollo, where the Pythia presided, is situated at Delphi in the region of Phokis, north across the Gul of Corinth from Olympia and the Peloponnese. Dating to the late ninth century BCE,[viii] the site itself has been occupied since 1500 BCE.[ix] Situated on the slopes of Mount Parnassus, the temenos by Hellenistic times measured around 200 meters by 140 meters and consisted of three ascending
terraces linked by the zigzag path of the Sacred Way. It faced south and was set amongst a landscape characterised by springs, crevices and rocks. Thought by the Greeks to have been the centre of the earth, the site was probably originally dedicated to Ge, the Earth Mother. The Temple of Apollo at Delphi has had several incarnations, its latest completed in 320 BCE. From the outside it appeared as a typical Doric temple and the interior was also similar, except that a space was created for the oracle at the back of the cellar in an underground chamber approached by stairs. In this area were housed the omphalos the rock that symbolised the centre of the earth and which may have been the oldest object on site[x] - a gilded statue of Apollo, and a tripod poised above a crevice in the rock [xi] from which came the vapours that, it is now agreed, helped inspire the Pythia to prophesy.[xii] The oracle began operations in the eighth century BCE. Easily accessible by sea and from the east by road, it dealt with the problems of both near and distant Greek communities. Being on the margins of established powers, the oracle was considered to be neutral [xiii] and enquirers for the most part had confidence in the expertise and impartiality of the Delphic priesthood.[xiv] The oracle was asked to pronounce on many different topics ranging from personal problems such as those concerning marriage, children and family welfare, to natural disasters such as plague, famine or drought. Its advice was sought on political issues including interstate relations, war, rulership, exile, city welfare and overseas colonisation. Religious matters including portents and prodigies, desire to please the gods, and changes in traditional cult procedure or buildings were also enquired about. [xv] In early times consultation of the oracle was only available once a year, but by Classical times prophecies were offered one day per month, except during three months in winter when it was closed. [xvi] In addition to the Pythia, who spoke the oracular answers
to questions put to Apollo, the staff of the temple included a Priest of Apollo, who would have been in charge of general overseeing of the entire sanctuary, as well as other officials whose functions are less clear such as the Hosioi, of which there were five, and one or more Prophetai. [xvii] There are no surviving straightforward accounts explaining the procedure o the oracle so scholars have tentatively reconstructed it from several sources.[xviii] A typical consultation is thought to have proceeded in the following way: early on the seventh day of the month the Pythia prepared herself by bathing in the Castalian spring, she then purified herself at the temple hearth with a fumigation of laurel leaves and barley meal. Meanwhile the priest and his attendants prepared to sacrifice a goat to Apollo. In order to ascertain whether the day was auspicious the victim was first sprinkled with cold water. If it trembled this was taken as a sign that the god was available for consultation but failure of the goat to react might lead to the cancelling of the consultation for the day. After the sign had been given, the goat was sacrificed on the altar of the Chians out in front of the temple.[xix] The Pythia then entered the adyton and mounted the tripod (a bowl sitting on three tall metal legs) that she sat on during consultation. The consultation took place in private. Before each enquirer, accompanied by a cult official and his proxenos (the local representative of his own city), entered the temple they were required to offer on the main altar outside a sacred cake whose cost was fixed at a high price. After entering the temple he then had to sacrifice a sheep or goat on the inner hearth. He (no women except the Pythia were allowed to enter this part o the temple) was then admitted to the area reserved for consultation. The Priest of Apollo related the enquirer’s question, which he had already received in written or verbal form, to the Pythia and she answered. We do not know whether she did so immediately, or how long it took for her to summon a reply. The enquirer listened in silence and did not ask other questions. The answer could be cryptic, but the Delphic
authorities were not expected to provide any further information.[xx] The Pythia herself was a woman over the age of fifty who was drawn from the township of Delphi. She was not selected from any particularly special family and may have been one o the temple attendants who tended the sacred hearth fire. Although mature, she wore a maiden’s dress because, according to ancient sources, the original Pythia had been a young woman but the age requirement was changed because one of them had been seduced by an enquirer. [xxi] The maiden’s dress may however, really just have signified ritual purity. The Pythia was not required to be a virgin, but she did need to be respectable. She could be married, but had her own house, lived away from her husband and kept free of sexual intercourse.[xxii] Apparently a Pythia did not receive any special training in oracular technique. According to Plutarch, himself a priest at Delphi, who was observing in the first century CE, (Why are Delphic Oracles no longer in Verse? 405 C): “…like the woman who now serves the god, who if anyone was born here lawfully and properly, and has lived a well- ordered life but brought up in the house of poor peasants, she goes down to the shrine equipped with nothing in the way of technical skill or any other experience or [xxiii] ability.”
However we cannot be completely sure that previous Pythias were untrained or from humble backgrounds. Late inscriptions show that by the third century CE the job had become associated with priestly families. [xxiv] The Pythia not only spoke for Apollo, as other priestesses might presume to do for the deities they served, but spoke as Apollo. Ancient authors believed that she was fully capable o channelling Apollo’s words, however later scholars, in the absence of actual belief in the god Apollo and his literal
possession of a human being, have striven to explain how this could have worked. Solutions ranging from the deliberate charlatanism of the sanctuary to the psychological delusion or drugging of the Pythia have been suggested. [xxv] Ancient sources mention a subterranean gas that arose from a cavern in the earth and which caused the Pythia to enter a trance state which, presumably, made her more susceptible to Apollo’s entry or at least her belief in herself as his mouthpiece.[xxvi] While until 2002 scholars had rejected this explanation, feeling that it was simply a “euhemerising” of the Delphic procedure into a rational, non-supernatural event, geological research has now shown that the ancient authors’ descriptions were based in fact. Delphi sits on limestone stratum through which run two concealed faults that intersect directly below the temple. Petrochemical fumes such as the hydrocarbon ethylene, an anaesthetic gas, rise through these faults to the surface where they may have induced a trancelike state in the Pythia. [xxvii] The sunken adyton in the temple seems to have been specially designed to incorporate the area of the gaseous vent. A block o stone with three smaller holes and one larger hole - still able to be seen at the sanctuary today - may have been the area of the floor of the adyton where the three-legged tripod sat before the chasm.[xxviii] While the gaseous vent might explain how the Pythia went into trance, it does not explain how she came up with answers to the questions put to her in her role as oracle of Apollo.[xxix] Some scholars suggest that she was simply an emotionally unstable woman, used as a convenient “tool” by the politicallysavvy Delphic priesthood who told her what to say. According to this interpretation the Pythia essentially “counted for little” when it came down to providing answers on important, complicated matters and whose “irrational babble” had to be recomposed by the priests before it was suitable for the client. [xxx] Garland thinks that “in the vast majority of cases the seeking of approval from Delphi was little more than a
ormality” , in which case the Pythia would have only had to
assent on cue.[xxxi] Others have seen the Pythia as having personal input into the construction of her oracular answers. [xxxii] One particular eye-witness account of the Pythia’s behaviour coloured subsequent theorising about the way she functioned because it gave the impression that she was “mad” and “ranting”, consequently incapable of giving “real” answers answers to the questions put to her. As we will see however, the case was untypical and should not be thought of as a regular description. According to Plutarch’s friend Nicandros, who was a Delphic priest at the time: “Temple authorities forced the Pythia to prophesy on an inauspicious day to please the members of an important embassy. She went down to the subterranean adyton unwillingly and at once was seized by a powerful and malignant spirit. In this state of possession instead of speaking or chanting as she usually did, the Pythia groaned and shrieked, threw herself about violently and eventually rushed out the door where she collapsed. The frightened consultants and priests first ran away, they later came back [xxxiii] and picked her up. She died a few days later.”
Contrary to the above description however, according to Plutarch the usual way the Pythia appeared was as being: “…in a mild trance, she was able to sit upright on the tripod and spend quite a considerable amount of time there. She could hear the questions and gave intelligible answers. During the oracular sessions she spoke in an altered voice and tended to chant her responses, indulging in wordplay and puns. Afterward, she was like a runner after a race or a [xxxiv] dancer after an ecstatic dance.”
The Pythia’s possession need not have entailed her being out of control. Modern ethnographical examination of spirit
possession shows that rather then simply letting go, it is a technique that is structured and learned, the practitioner is not automatically absent or temporarily insane but intellectually engaged and in control of herself. [xxxv] Goff suggests that the Pythia, although allegedly an uneducated, untrained woman who had probably never left Delphi in her life, may have been able to come up with the answers put to her because the structure of the questions asked at Delphi contained their own answer. Questions were frequently formulated as an “either/or” choice between two explicit options where the form of the question suggested its answer: “Is it better for the demos to do this, or that?” for example. She also feels that the Pythia “would have had opportunities [during her tenure at the sanctuary] to imbibe a general level of cultic and political expertise” so as her
answers would sound feasible and be viable.[xxxvi] The Pythia was an oracular priestess and while there were other mantic women who were also oracles, the majority o ancient Greek priestesses did not perform a divinatory function.[xxxvii] Like the Pythia, other Greek priestesses did not seem to need any particular religious training. Eligibility was based on purely external qualifications rather than those of a moral or intellectual kind. Like everything presented to a god however, a Hiereia or Priestess had to be holokleros , or free of all physical disability or deformity. As the role of Pythia was filled by a woman in her fifties, so too other cults required their priestesses to be of a certain age or marital status. In Athens, where most of our records come from, there were two types o priesthood: the “gentile” which derived from specific eupatrid (aristocratic) genoi and the “democratic” which came from members of the demos.[xxxviii] The gentile priesthoods were usually for life and were officially unsalaried, as is the case o the Priestess of Athena Polias, although they did receive payment in kind consisting of a share in temple offerings. The democratic priesthoods on the other hand were sometimes for life and sometimes paid, as was the Priestess of Athena Nike. In the post-classical period in Hellenistic Asia Minor, some
priesthoods were for sale and women purchased them. Bought priesthoods tended to be held for life because they were so expensive.[xxxix] Priesthood was not usually a full time job so priestesses could marry and raise a family, they could also serve other cults.[xl] Their workload depended on what kind of cult they served, for example the Basilinna only presided at the temple o Dionysus in Limnai one day per year [xli] whereas the Priestess of Athena Polias, who was the most important cult official in Athens, had many ritual duties to perform and assistants to oversee.[xlii] Priestesses presided over rites of purification and animal sacrifice,[xliii] protected and guarded their god’s property and acted as repositories for mythical lore about their sanctuaries.[xliv] Certain offices involved privileges such as seeing forbidden things, as at the Arrhephoria, entering prohibited places or touching powerful objects like the xoanon of Athena.[xlv] Priestesses could also incur ritual pollution and were subject to various restrictions including dietary ones, for example the Priestess of Athena Polias was not allowed to eat Attic cheese or sacrifice ewe lambs.[xlvi] Priestesses were required to perform prayers on behalf of their city’s safety and to utter curses against its enemies, but only under instruction from the demos. They also had administrative roles regarding the care and upkeep of their sanctuaries, ensured that visitors were well behaved and could fine those who were not. Priestesses were also involved in financial transactions (up until 450 BCE when the state took over), were held responsible for infringements that occurred under their supervision and subject to an annual audit. They possessed a legal personality, unlike other Athenian women who were considered legal minors.[xlvii] Despite being important within their cult, priestesses did not actually wield any moral, spiritual or political power and their authority extended only to the boundary of their
sanctuaries. They were unable to enforce a particular belie system in worshippers and were mainly concerned with ensuring that correct cultic procedure was strictly adhered to. Greek religion was not structured in such a way as to police belief and eusebia (piety) only involved the observance o traditional ritual which consisted of reciprocal giving and receiving between suppliant and deity. [xlviii] It was the demos that punished crimes of a religious nature and could bring charges of asebia (impiety) against clergy as well as laity. [xlix] The demos, not the priesthood, was also in charge of including new or foreign deities among the official state cults, appointing new priests or priestesses and authorising the renovation or building of temples. [l] Unlike the Pythia who often advised on political matters, it was extremely rare for a member of the priesthood get involved in Athenian politics. In one case in 480 BCE the Priestess of Athena Polias announced that the sacred snake of Athena had departed the Acropolis, thereby providing support to Themistokles’ proposal to evacuate the city in the face of the Persian advance.[li] As we can see, the regular priestesses were primarily involved in religious ritual and mediation between the deity they served and the worshipper who came to the temple to interact with the god. Although taking on both cultic and administrative roles within their sanctuary, they had limited power and influence outside their temenos. Conversely, in the Pythia’s case, while the cultic and administrative aspects of the sanctuary at Delphi were in the hands of the Priest of Apollo and his assistants, she functioned as the mouthpiece for the god. As far as we know, providing answers regarding the wider Greek world outside the temenos was all the Pythia did. Her influence was certainly far-reaching in that enquirers sought and acted on her advice regarding important civic issues like rulership, interstate relations, war, overseas colonisation and changes in ancestral religion, yet she could not proffer that advice unless requested. [lii] The Pythia had the authority to sanction decisions brought to her, but not the right to suggest
solutions or interfere in any areas on her own initiative. [liii] This is certainly more than most ancient Greek women could have hoped for however, and as Maurizio suggests it may have been the Pythia’s possession that was the key to her anomalous power.[liv] The enquirers at Delphi believed they were being spoken to by Apollo, not some woman, so it was under the auspices of the god that the Pythia was able to exercise authority in political and religious spheres. In patriarchal ancient Greece a woman had minimal civic influence, however under the guise of speaking for the male god Apollo, the Pythia was able to gain access to a position o power.
Bibliography Bowden, H.; Classical Athens and the Delphic Oracle ; 2005; Cambridge University Press; Cambridge. Curnow, T.; The Oracles of the Ancient World ; 2004; Duckworth; London. Dillon, M.; Girls and Women in Classical Greek Religion ; 2002; Routledge; London. Fontenrose, J.; Didyma: Apollo’s Oracle, Cult and Calif ornia Press; Berkeley. Companions ; 1988; University of California Garland, R.S.J.; Religious Authority in Archaic and Classical Athens ; 1984; in British School at Athens Annual No. 79:75123; Oxford. Goff, B.; Citizen Bacchae: Women’s Ritual Practice in Ancien Greece ; 2004; University of California Press; Berkeley. Hale, J.R., & De Boer, J.Z., & Chanton, J.P., & Spiller, H.A.; Questioning the Delphic Oracle ; 2003; in Scientifi Vol. 289 No. 2:57-63. American Vol. Maurizio, L.; Anthropology and Spirit Possession: A Reconsideration of the Pythia’s Role at Delphi ; 1995; in Journal Vol. 115:69-86. of Hellenic Studies Vol. Parke, H.W., & Wormell, D.E.W.; The Delphic Oracle. Volume I: The History ; 1956; Basil Blackwell; Oxford. Pedley, J.; Sanctuaries and the Sacred in the Ancient Greek
World ; 2005; Cambridge University Press; Cambridge.
SILENT PRIESTESSES Women of Power in Early Christianity
BY KIM HUGGENS History gives women a silent role during the beginning centuries of Christianity. We have very few writings left behind by the Roman wives, virgins, mothers, and widows who gave their lives to serve the early Christian community and spread the word of God. Even accounts of their deeds are hidden within writings about others, and at times we must read between the lines to discover the truth about these silent mover-shakers of the first four centuries CE. However, recent decades have seen these women – both named and nameless – and the powerful, albeit silent, roles they played brought to light. This paper examines these roles and their effect on the early church, as well as the expectancies of the Christian community for women. From heretical prophetesses and visionary martyrs, to faithful virgins and praying widows, we will see that the silent actions of these women spoke louder than a thousand words declared publicly by the male preachers and evangelists of the era. Prophetesses, Teachers, and Visionaries
One of the most interesting texts from the second century highlighting a strong female character is the apocryphal Acts o Paul and Thecla. In this text (most likely a novel that used figures such as Paul to give it more credibility/exoticism) the virgin Thecla who is engaged to be married hears Paul’s teachings about asceticism and Christ, and is converted to Christianity. She refuses to be married and pledges herself to a life of celibacy. After being sentenced to death and surviving, and after spurning a second man, she is told by Paul to go and teach the gospel to others. She is credited with bringing many people to Christianity and travelling widely before her death some years later.[lv]
Because of its apocryphal and novelistic nature[lvi] it would be easy to brush away this text as reflecting little truth. However, we know that Christian women often did travel, spread the Gospel, and minister in the second century, and that they sometimes used the text itself as precedent for their teaching and baptizing.[lvii] In the Bible we find examples o women who travel and teach, such as Priscilla, who was left behind by Paul[lviii] with her husband to re-instruct Apollos in the ways of Christianity.[lix] The same Priscilla is mentioned again by Paul in Romans 16 , where he calls her and Aquila his “fellow-workers in Christ Jesus” – implying Priscilla’s equality and similar duties to Paul and her husband. The same letter talks about Mary who “worked very hard” for the church (though the nature of this work is not given) and three other women who also “worked hard in the Lord ”: Tryphena, Tryphosa, and Persis. Most interesting about this letter is that it is designed to commend a woman named Phoebe, a servant of the church in Cenchrea. This suggests that Paul has sent Phoebe travelling to Priscilla and Aquila’s church (which meets in their house) in Rome, and that she is a travelling minister or teacher. Paul states that “she has been a great help to many eople, including me” which hints at Phoebe’s high status and influence within her church. Tertullian tells of ‘heretical’ groups in which women teach, dispute, perform exorcisms, undertake cures, and maybe even baptize,[lx] and Hippolytus of Rome speaks of the Montanist group that was led by two women, Priscilla and Maximilla, and how this group has introduced new feasts and practices as these women taught them: “These have been rendered victims of error from being previously captivated by [two] wretched women, called a certain Priscilla and Maximilla, women they supposed prophetesses. And they assert that into these the Paraclete Spirit has departed […] they are heedlessly swept onwards, by the reliance which they place upon these [imposters]. And they
allege that they have learned something more through these, than from law, and prophets, and the Gospels. But the magnify these wretched women above the Apostles and every gift o Grace […] They introduce, however, the novelties of fasts, and feasts, and meals of parched food, and repasts of radishes, alleging that they have been instructed by women.”[lxi] One particular vision granted to Priscilla is recorded by Epiphanius, in which Christ appeared to her in the form of a woman,[lxii] and the followers of Priscilla are said to have accorded special grace to Eve because she first ate from the Tree of Knowledge,[lxiii] an interesting detail when given in context. These Priscillians seem to have placed great emphasis on female prophets, as they are also reported as holding up the prophesying sister of Moses as support for women in the clergy, and as saying that Phillip had four daughters who prophesied. Epiphanius writes that their church services feature the entrance of seven white-dressed virgins carrying lamps, who proceed to prophesy to the people. That they are virgin is interesting, but the reason for it open to speculation. Tertullian also reports on a Montanist woman who prophesies and has regular contact with angels and God himself: “We have now amongst us a sister whose lot is has been to be favoured with gifts of revelation, which she experiences in the Spirit by ecstatic vision amidst the sacred rites of the Lord’s Day in the church; she converses with angels, and sometimes even with the Lord; she both sees and hears mysterious communications; some men’s hearts she discerns, and she obtains directions for healing for such as [lxiv] need them.”
Most interesting is the fact that Tertullian cites one of her visions as a proof in his argument for a corporeal soul, indicating that the visions of prophetesses were respected and used for instruction, guidance, and knowledge. Similarly, in the third century we find a female martyr whose visions are still
today found amongst Catholic martyrologies: St. Perpetua. Women in the second and third century martyrdoms sometimes take a frontal role, with the male martyrs being secondary characters.[lxv] Such texts often describe the female martyr’s strength, piety, kindness, steadfastness, and faith – Perpetua, for instance, guided the guard’s wavering hand to her throat,[lxvi] bound up her hair in the midst of her suffering so that she would not appear dishevelled; [lxvii] whilst Blandina was bound to a cross and the crowd and other martyrs were awed at her when they saw in her the crucifixion of Christ himself.[lxviii] Perpetua’s account is most interesting in that it is one of the few writings we have penned by a woman – written by Perpetua herself whilst in prison awaiting her trials and eventual execution. In this account she writes in particular o her visions of her passion and that of her fellow martyrs: how she saw a golden ladder that was ascended by her brethren first and then herself, and how she found herself in a garden and given food to eat by a white-robed shepherd whom we can assume to be Christ. In a second vision she saves the soul o her brother Dinocrates through prayer, and in a third (and final) vision she fights and defeats the devil and is given an olive branch by a Godly hand for her victory. [lxix] Although these glimpses of women’s visions and prophesies are small in number, they allow us to assume that such women were seen as great gifts to the church they belonged to, and that their visions allowed those around them to find answers, learn the will of God, and come closer to Christ. Compared to the submissive, passive role often assumed for women in the early church, these prophesying women and their visions moved the early Christian community in ways more mysterious even than God. Secret Evangelical Weapons of the Church
It is tempting when studying women’s positions in the early church to study only official, public roles. This assumes, however, a dichotomy between official and unofficial that places
more importance and value upon the former than the latter, equating ‘official’ with ‘public’ , ‘male’ , ‘active’ , and ‘important’ and which equates ‘unofficial’ with ‘private’ , ‘female’, ‘passive’ , and ‘unimportant’ . This dichotomy is over-simplistic and untrue of the early church. Women who had families and husbands (usually pagan ones) did not often have the opportunity or freedom to take on a public, official, or travelling role ministering in the early church, so instead they adopted unofficial roles that - from the perspective of the growth, spread, and eventual socio-political influence of Christianity were pivotal.[lxx] These women were the ‘secret weapon’ of the early church, aimed at converting pagan households, children, and husbands, and often acting as living adverts for Christianity’s morality and goodness in the face of pagan accusations of immorality. In the first few centuries Christianity was viewed (and often scorned) by much of Roman society as a strange cult, which at its best ignored the gods of Rome and was a religion of women, children, and slaves, and at its worst corrupted young and vulnerable minds and encouraged immoral acts. Many pagan writers of the time were vocal about Christianity, and their concerns, accusations, and critiques centred around women. Marcus Cornelius Fronto (in Minucius Felix’s Octavius ) says that the Christians have “collected from the lowest possible dregs of society the more ignorant fools together with gullible women (readily persuaded, as is their weak sex)” .[lxxi] Celsus,
whose writings we find in Origen’s Christian apologetic work, Contra Celsum writes that Christianity convinces “only the oolish, dishonourable, and stupid, and only slaves, women and little children”. [lxxii] However, he also reveals an astonishing
fact about the activities of Christian women in Rome: “In private houses we see wool-workers, cobblers, laundryworkers, and the most illiterate and bucolic yokels, who would not dare say anything at all in front of their elders and more intelligent masters. But whenever they get hold of children in private and some stupid women with them, they let out some
astounding statements…”[lxxiii] “But, if they like, they should leave their father and their schoolmasters, and go along with the women and little children who are playfellows to the wooldresser’s shop, or the cobbler’s or the washerwoman’s shop, that they may [lxxiv] learn perfection.”
The wool-worker, cobbler, and laundry house of second century Rome was almost exclusively a female environment, with women as workers (and children of the women.) Celsus presents them as ‘getting hold of’ other women and children in such an environment (in other words, places women would visit on a daily basis) and telling them about Christianity. The second quote hints that such women would actively teach these new converts about how to reach perfection – women teaching and converting other women and children, in a woman’s environment. Women’s largely private roles in menial employment, or as wives and mothers in a family unit, allowed their activities to go unnoticed by Rome and society – even activities that, in the second century in particular – were frowned upon or illegal. With the eyes of pagan Rome upon the nascent religion of Christianity, scandal between men and women was often dangerous and life threatening, as well as damaging to the religion’s reputation. Clement of Alexandria stated such secret tactics for conversion much more explicitly in regard to women: “And [they] took their wives with them not as women with whom they had marriage relations, but as sisters, that they might be their fellow-ministers in dealing with housewives. It was through them that the Lord's teaching penetrated also the women's quarters without any scandal being [lxxv] aroused.”
Several writers from the second century mention receiving Christian education and conversion to Christianity from their
parents, namely their mother or grandmother.[lxxvi] Texts such as these show that women who had children also had a considerable amount of influence over their religious education, and thus converting them to Christianity without anybody knowing (and therefore objecting) would have been easy. This evangelism between mother and child could account for Paul’s advice in 1 Corinthians 7:12 , in which he states that a believing man/woman to divorce an unbeliever would cause their children to become unclean. If a Christian woman divorced her pagan husband, she no longer had the rights of religious education of her children, and Paul may have wished to cloak his advice in the guise of ‘pollution’ of the children. Similarly, Christian wives were called upon by writers o the church to convert their pagan husbands through example and good behaviour: “Wives, in the same way be submissive to your husbands so that, if any of them do not believe the word, they may be won over without words by the behaviour of their wives, when they see the purity and reverence of your [lxxvii] lives.”
Wives were not the only type of woman expected to behave impeccably in order to evangelize the pagan community – virgins were also called upon to show by example the superiority of Christianity, and any woman who went out into public was also considered to reflect the morality of the church. This is because in Roman society the moral character of a household was judged not by the men within it but by the women (usually the female head of household), and because certain virtues (such as chastity, silence, and kindness) were admirable in women no matter what their religion – the Roman’s main concern was that Christianity would take away such virtues. (See for instance, Lucius Apuleius’ Metamorphosis 9.14, a description of a drunken, perverse Christian wife.) Against the backdrop of pagan accusations of immorality, Christian women were the frontline defence. This caused
writers such as Clement of Alexandria to instruct and advise women regarding their behaviour in public. Clement pays particular attention to the activity of Christian women when they visit the public bath-house, condemning those who strip naked before all, inciting men to lust by looking at her. [lxxviii] Clement also instructs women on how to wear jewellery and makeup (or the lack thereof), [lxxix] how to arrange their hair, [lxxx] and how to move (“…and let her attitudes and movement give no ground of hope to the licentious.” ) [lxxxi] In a time when a man publicly making converts in the marketplace or Forum would cause him to be arrested, the secretive and private lives of women enabled the spread of the Christian religion behind closed doors and from the foundations upwards. Their whispered words to their household slaves, children, husbands, and friends formed the basis for a community-based, family-centred religion that survived even in the face of Roman persecution. Conclusion
Other, more public roles of women in the early church have not been mentioned here, but are interesting for anybody wishing to continue research in this area. We know that women took on the role of Deaconess in some churches, a role that put them in charge of all other women in their church community, as well as putting them in charge of female baptisms and teaching. However, such women are just as silent about their roles as their private counterparts, but no doubt their everyday actions had just as much impact as those of the magnificent martyrs, prophesying virgins, female apostles, and heretical teachers.
Bibliography Anon; The Martyrdom of Justin Martyr 3 ; 1994; in Ante- icene Fathers vol. I ; ed. Alexander Roberts & James Donaldson; Hendrickson Publishers. The Bible , authorized King James Version with Apocrypha;
1998; Oxford University Press; Oxford. Clement of Alexandria; Paedogogus ; 1994; in Ante-Nicene Fathers vol. II ; ed. Alexander Roberts & James Donaldson; Hendrickson Publishers. Hippolytus of Rome; Refutation of All Heresies ; 1994; in Ante-Nicene Fathers vol. V ; ed. Alexander Roberts & James Donaldson; Hendrickson Publishers. James, M.R (trans); Acts of Paul ; www.earlychristianwritings.com/text/actspaul.html Roberts-Donaldson (trans); Acts of Perpetua and Felicitas ; http://www.earlychristianwritings.com/text/tertullian24.html Tertullian; Ad Martyras ; 1994; in Ante-Nicene Fathers vol. III ; ed. Alexander Roberts & James Donaldson; Hendrickson Publishers. Tertullian; De Anima ; 1994; in Ante-Nicene Fathers vol. III ; ed. Alexander Roberts & James Donaldson; Hendrickson Publishers. Tertullian; De Baptismo ;1994; in Ante-Nicene Fathers vol. III ; ed. Alexander Roberts & James Donaldson; Hendrickson Publishers. Tertullian; De Prescriptiones Haereses ; 1994; in Ante- icene Fathers vol. III ; ed. Alexander Roberts & James Donaldson; Hendrickson Publishers. Secondary Sources Clark, Elizabeth A.; Women in the Early Church ; 1983; Michael Glazier, Inc. Dodds, E.R.; Pagan and Christian in an Age of Anxiety ; 1965; Cambridge University Press; Cambridge. Eisen, Ute E.; Women Officeholders in Early Christianity ; 2000; Liturgical Press. Ferguson, Everett; Early Christians Speak: Faith and Life in the First Three Centuries ; 1999; A.C.U Press. Gardner, Jane F.; Women in Roman Law and Society ; 1986; Routledge; London. Ide, Arthur Frederik; God’s Girls: Ordination of Women in the Early Christian and Gnostic Churches ; 1985; Tangelwuld
Press. Jensen, Anne; God’s Self-Confident Daughters ; 1996; Westminster John Knox Press. Kraemer, Ross Shepard; Her Share of the Blessings ; 1992; Oxford University Press; Oxford. Kraemer, Ross Shepard (ed); Maenads, Martyrs, Matrons and Monastics ; 1988; Fortress Press. Kraemer, Ross Shepard & D’Angelo, Mary Rose (ed); Women and Christian Origins ; 1999; Oxford University Press; Oxford. Macdonald, Margaret Y.; Early Christian Women and Pagan Opinion ; 1996; Cambridge University Press; Cambridge. McNamara, Jo Ann; A New Song: Celibate Women in the First Three Christian Centuries ; 1985; Harrington Park Press. Salisbury, Joyce. E.; Perpetua’s Passion: The Death and emory of a Young Roman Woman ; 1997; Routledge; London. Swayer, Deborah F.; Women and Religion in the Firs Christian Centuries ; 1996; Routledge; London. Trevett, Christine; Montanism ; 2002; Cambridge University Press; Cambridge. -----------; Christian Women and the Time of the Apostolic Fathers ; 2006; University of Wales Press. Witherington III, Ben; Women in the Earliest Churches ; 2000; Cambridge University Press; Cambridge.
SACRED UTTERANCES “Thou, Sibyl rapt! whose sympathetic soul Infused the myst'ries thy tongue failed to tell; Though from thy lips the marvellous accents fell, And weird wise meanings o'er the senses stole, Through those rare cadences, with winsome spell” From ’Margaret Fuller’ by Amos Bronson Alcott
THE MANTLE OF ISIS The Soul of a Priestess
BY NAOMI OZANIEC I am a priestess because I was born a priestess. Through every personal experience, I have been a priestess even when my feet wandered far from the path. My entire life has revolved around this single theme: it has haunted me with hal remembered knowing, driven me to seek understanding, forced me to accept my place and chased me relentlessly through every hiding place that life has to offer. The experiences of my early life are irrelevant to the telling of this particular story but with hindsight I can see the tell tale signs of soul at odds with the religious mindset of modern life. My conscious relationship with Isis began unexpectedly and without warning on a warm summer evening in 1977 when as part of an esoteric study group, I saw Tarot Trump II, The Today the cultural High Priestess for the first time. environment is saturated with Tarot images but then I had never seen a Tarot card and the whole subject was a complete mystery to me. I can still recall a certain frisson of excitement as the room darkened and images, new and fascinating were lit on a screen. Though I could not have known it, my life was about to change completely. As I saw Her image and heard Her name spoken something deep within me awoke, I felt a resonance which I did not understand. Though I did not know it then, She had found me and I had found Her. She of the Silver Star, Isis came into my life, along with her outer manifestation, the High Priestess. In that single moment my life took on a new direction that would take me into the Egyptian Mysteries and into a deep and lasting relationship with Isis. Even now after over 30 years, I am reticent to unveil this story; it is private and entirely personal. Nevertheless there is value in sharing its landmarks so that the same Isis-seed may awaken gently in others. My spiritual awakening was turbulent
and destructive, a pattern commonly experienced in so called magical groups when young, inexperienced and naturally psychic women encounter charismatic and manipulative group leaders. My path into the Egyptian Mysteries was paved with emotional turmoil and psychic upheaval. Yet through the lens of hindsight I can concede that some greater intention had worked its way to the forefront of my life weaving threads ancient and modern into a new tapestry of being. So it was that I entered The Mysteries in this life: suddenly and without prior warning: some piece of ancient circuitry watchfully asleep heard its secret name called and was honour bound to answer and awake. I now find myself wondering which personal stories to share and what purpose might be gained in their telling. The magical injunction: To Be Silent holds much wisdom since intense personal experience is often too intimate to carry a general significance. Even though transmission may only take place when the keys to the tradition are made visible, my testimony is nothing more than the sequence of my own stepping stones in The Mysteries, having no relevance other than to point to the tradition itself. In the decades since my awakening, Isis has emerged as a magnetic figure for the spiritual sensitivities to many in a generation immune to traditional religion. Yet despite this broad interest, the temple skills and living dynamics which lie at the heart of this tradition are experienced but rarely. This is an age greedy for instant solutions and rapid results but temple skills are not grown overnight nor produced at a weekend workshop, but slowly and incrementally gained as a tree maturing with time and season. So here I will tell but one story among many which encapsulated certain key elements of the tradition and marked a landmark in my path as a single Garment of Isis. In 1990 I was asked to take on the role of Isis at a weekend event culminating in a sacred drama. Unusually the ceremony contained an inner drama depicting the Trial of Earth, which provided the opportunity for all participants to speak freely and
express a personal view about the Initiation of Gaia as the embodiment of planetary consciousness. The ritual contained an unplanned entrance by the goddess Isis which was known only to a handful of organisers. This particular story began in a way that I have now come to recognise as being symptomatic of rapid change in the physical-etheric continuum. My first encounter with such energies took place in 1977 during my emergence from the cocoon of contemporary life. Now this same energy was running again, no longer out of control and wild but under direction from a spiritual source. The major shifts in consciousness at the heart of all theurgic experience, take place holistically touching all aspects of being simultaneously including the physical body; spiritual fire ignites the soul and burns the body. My preparation, both conscious and unconscious for the role of Isis followed a time honoured pattern, synchronicities flowed, dreams intensified and sensitivities sharpened as the inner mind opened to subsume ordinary temporal thinking like a great fish swallowing a minnow. This period is often extremely difficult as the inner dynamics begin to loom large and draw close to daily life and physical experience. As the weekend drew closer my body began to produce inexplicable symptoms beyond the usual sense of mounting tension. Most notably my scalp had begun to become irritated. At the event itself, by the end of the first day the top of my head burned ferociously and red itching streaks were running down the length of my back. On the Sunday morning it was our practice to hold a rehearsal, a walk-through of sequence and choreography so that all participants were united in understanding. Since report writing remains a standard magical practice, I am able to draw upon my own report written at the time. As the rehearsal proceeded, it became impossible for me to stay in the room. The energies in the hall were accelerating too ast for me. I stepped outside into the ante-chamber. I was quite unable to sit still while the energies in the hall were still mounting. Like an expectant parent pacing a hospital corridor,
needed to move. I began to dance, with slow yoga-like movements. As I danced I felt a great descent of power and a winged mantle was placed about me. Contact was opened.
My words cannot begin to convey my sense of my sense o surprise and wonder; I was both amazed and astonished in equal measure. There was no mistaking the descent of the mantle of Isis. Even though I had never read about or heard o such an experience, instinctively at some deep level of my psyche, I recognised Her touch. It was as if a winged cloak had been laid upon my shoulders. There was now a short break for tea and robing. Others lef the hall chatting in small groups. I found it difficult to even speak. I went straight to my room. Time seemed to hang. entally I walked the tightrope, holding on to physical reality and my sense of self while not losing contact with the presence in which I was immersed. Finally I was ready, robed in swathes of shimmering green, deep rich brown and gold, a sistrum in my hand. I looked into the mirror and saw the face of another. I lef the room and made my way slowly to the hall. Walking was no easy, I felt unsteady on my feet. The participants were already seated. My entrance was not scheduled. It was to be surprise, symbolic of divine intervention. I sat on a great throne- like chair in the ante-chamber facing the closed door to the hall. As the ritual commenced, the mediation deepened. As the group opened and called upon the deities to be present, I-She answered aloud in the silence of the ante chamber. This continued throughout the opening sequence. I-She answered with word and gesture. Although I was seated beyond the hall outside the closed door, it was as if the door had become transparent. It was no barrier. Within the hall planetary energies were mediated through a group dance. I saw the planets amidst the heavens. When the maze dance of the zodiac was performed, I saw the living starry constellations as great beings. As each one passed before the throne beyond the closed door, salutes were given. With the planetary energies in attendance, the group enacted the Trial of Earth, more properly the trial of humankind.
Gaia was not on trial. The trial was called to assess whethe the Earth's planetary body and human consciousness togethe were ready to take a cosmic initiation. Unusually in this highly structured ritual, participants were at this point free to speak as the spirit moved. Voices weighed responsibilities, understanding and destiny. Individuals spoke of past failings, of present crises and future possibilities. Finally after long and careful debate, the decision was unanimous: the Earth would proceed towards its own initiation. I-She was filled with joy. The time approached fo my entrance. I stood in readiness. A crown was placed on my head with a mantle of stars. I-She was called from within the hall. The doorway became a star gate. It was planned that I should walk around the hall and inally come to stand before the person enacting the role of the Earth, a few minutes walk at most. As I-She entered, the assembled company, each like a shining beacon called out. Though I had expected to simply walk around the company as rehearsed, events took a different shape. As I stood before each individual, She responded - to each a blessing, a phrase, a touch, a word, given totally spontaneously, mediated moment by moment, attuned to each individual person. My step was unsteady. Every footfall was placed slowly and with great deliberation, I felt as if I was wading through the collected energies of the room. At last this unplanned circuit was completed, all had been touched by the Isis light. Finally reached my appointed place and at last stood before the representative of the Earth. It seemed as if I stood before the whole of humanity, confused, bewildered, child-like and vulnerable, reaching out for that dimly sensed and not at all understood. I was wracked by a compassion so intense that my whole body shook. My sight was blinded by tears. The immortal words of Isis were spoken. “Behold I am come “and the remainder of the classic speech
ran its course. The sistrum was raised above the figure of the Earth with a suddenness and force that surprised me. It felt as if humanity was being roused from a deep slumber. The words of Isis had
been spoken. Finally my role was complete. I-She left the hall to sit again on the great chair in the antechamber again. This time the door was left open. I sat and looked upon the harmony of the spheres enacted in dance by the participants. The joy within the room was palpable. I-She sat at the gate, the participants dancing in a great circle passed before the throne. I-She acknowledged each one with salute or gesture. The sense of rapture was so intense that my body began to shake violently. I felt that the mediation had reached a critical level. It was time to withdraw. In one sharp gesture, I reached up and pulled the veil down over my eyes. Contact was closed. My work was done. I stood and turned leaving the ante-chamber. The participants still danced. I withdrew. I did not look back. When I read the words of my own report so many years later, I am still moved by the memories it evokes in me. I still feel a sense of awe and complete wonderment. I understood for the first time what it meant to be a Garment of Isis; my scalp was literally burned, my crown chakra had been opened, Isis had entered. This event was a turning point, a momentous and extraordinary landmark in my relationship with Isis. I tell it only so that it may awaken in others the seed which Isis will bless and bring to fruition in Her own special and glorious way.
PRIESTESS OF AVALON The Manifestation of Inspiration
BY JACQUI WOODWARD-SMITH When I think about my direct experiences of Goddess I am aware that, perhaps, they fall into two categories; my own direct experiences as an individual walking a Goddess path and those when I have embodied the Goddess for others. These two feel very different to me and have certainly had different effects on my own life, although it has all been part of a beautiful weaving of Goddess experience for me. At the same time these experiences are very hard to describe; somehow there just aren’t the words, which is perhaps why Rainbow Jo, in her beautiful and challenging poem ‘Priestess’, writes, ‘If you are called to be a priestess…in the end you will have gained knowledge, which you can never pass on’ . I’m not sure whether
I have gained knowledge but I have experienced beauty which perhaps I can never adequately describe and that can be a lonely feeling but, of course, the answer to that is to say that we can all experience this beauty and that those of us who have can at least pass that knowledge on; everything in life is an experience of the Divine if we choose to see it in that way. Perhaps the most direct and spontaneous way that I work with the Goddess is through poetry writing. When I was young I was constantly writing both poetry and prose but, as I grew older, it began to make me feel uncomfortable to do anything that made me stand out so I put my writing things away, putting away a part of myself in the process. After my selfinitiation as a Priestess of Avalon in September 2003 my poetry began to flow again (first coming to me as I stood waiting for a train at Waterloo station!) and often I feel that it comes from direct contact with Goddess. I find that the times when I can write poems in that way have all been caused by heightened emotion; often anger but also grief, passion, and joy. To allow emotion to flow within in us is to allow our Goddess selves to
shine and often in those moments I find a poem…and, afterwards, those poems are always my favourites, touched as they are by Her magic. Often they come when I am on public transport! Maybe that sounds odd but travelling on a bus or sitting on the Underground might be the only times of the day when I truly switch off my mind (or perhaps my sense o responsibility for myself) and that is when She can get in. Never underestimate the power of the Goddess to speak to you in strange places. Once, travelling on a local bus between Bristol and Glastonbury, I was writing seven poems all at the same time! My poem, ‘Blodeuwedd Rising (Song for Hazel)’ , which still makes me cry almost every time I read it, was written on a bus following dinner with a friend. Our conversation was deep and sad and made me think about how important it is for us, as goddess conscious people, to speak out against anything that harms the Feminine within us. She, and we, have suffered enough already.
Blodeuwedd Rising (Song for Hazel) Sweet flower face with wings of snow You are the gateway to the seasons Fierce in passion, eyes aglow And you will rise in fearless beauty Afraid of you, they change your face But we remember your true nature; Reclaim your love, Reclaim your place Defiled and changed and called a whore If whore you are then so am I As whore I’ll be your temple priestess And you will give me wings to fly Reclaim the whore and rise in beauty With Goddess spirit deep within Knowing our own Goddess nature How dare they name our passion sin!
No one can shackle or control you Owl of Secrets, flying free No chains to bind your hungry spirit With you beside, no chains on me And we will rise in raging beauty To be what we’ve been all along When we can stand alone as equals We will sing Blodeuwedd’s song They left us here in silent fury Thought that they had won the game But as we reclaim our ancient birthright Blodeuwedd will rise again And we will rise in naked beauty Revealing all we have to give Loving in the ways we choose to Deciding how we want to live They try to make us pretty blossoms Deny our claws, deny our power But we must claim our truth and freedom To choose the owl, to choose the flower And we will rise in powerful beauty Surrender to Blodeuwedd’s cry She draws us to the path of moonlight On owl wings we must learn to fly No one has the right to harm us To name and shame, abuse and scar us Call us hag and call us bitch. Reclaim the owl, reclaim the witch! And we will rise in all our beauty For we have heard Flower Face’s call Our bodies glowing with our passion Both owls and flowers, Priestesses all!
(25th/26th November 2003) (First published in Goddess Pages journal, Beltane 2007.)
In 2005 I began the third spiral of priestess training, ‘The Practice of the Presence’ , in Glastonbury, which can be read about in detail in Kathy Jones’ inspiring book, Priestess o Avalon, Priestess of the Goddess: A Renewed Spiritual Path fo the 21st Century [lxxxii] Having gained a personal connection
to, and understanding of, the goddesses in the Wheel o Britannia in year one of the training and learnt practical priestess skills in year two, we moved on to an intense daily nine month spiritual practice in which we strived to gain a deeper understanding, and experience, of the Lady of Avalon through movement, meditation, and trance work. I had been partly dreading this year of the training as I am not a particularly devotional person and hate to sit still for too long but I also knew that if I didn’t really want to do it, it was probably worth doing! The practice involved firstly creating a beautiful altar which changed with the seasons, which is something that I had always done. I believe that the creation of an altar is something that helps to connect us with Goddess with or without any further practice. For me, my altar is the centre of my home and provides a hearth and a heart and also feels like a thread o connection to the heart of the Goddess; it is a place where we touch and where I can show my love for Her. In the practice we would sit at our altar each day, for increasing periods as the weeks went on, calling the goddesses of the Wheel into us and journeying to the Isle of Avalon through visualisation. As the seasons changed we would visualise approaching the sacred island from different directions, exploring what we found there and discovering the mysteries of Her wild nature. I found this experience more and more beautiful as the weeks progressed and was moved and challenged by what I found. It was during these journeys that I met different aspects of myself, my shamanka, my lover, my
witch, my crone, but, perhaps most importantly, my priestess self; the part of me that can hold the energy and consciousness of a priestess all the time in a way that I could never, and should never, do. The goal and the centre of the practice each day was to directly experience the presence of the Goddess of Avalon and to merge with Her and, without first having experienced my priestess self, I don’t believe that I could have done that. Although I don’t often see the Goddess in ‘human’ form She came to me in that way during this practice and, at first, came as the Mother, wrapping me in Her arms and nurturing me like a baby. I found these times very healing, particularly when the time came to merge with Her so that I could emanate the beauty of the Mother from my own centre. To be with the Mother Goddess, who loves us unconditionally in a way that no one else ever could, is one thing but to hold that unconditional love inside yourself and be one with Her changed me forever. As the months went by I experienced Her in many different aspects and it felt very natural to be with Her. I journeyed to Avalon with no purpose, other than being with Her, and I found that both liberating and powerful. I didn’t want to ask Her about my relationships, or my job, or my health; I just wanted to be with Her and what greater purpose could there be? How did that time change me? I’m not sure that I am aware of all the changes, and perhaps never will be, but certainly I noticed very quickly that I was becoming more sensitive to the world around me; I saw plants and trees in a whole new way and developed a deeper relationship with the crows who called outside my window each morning as I began my practice. When the clocks changed and I was there an hour later, which meant that I had missed them, I felt ‘disjointed’ for several months. I became aware of the rhythms beneath all the hubbub of our human activities and acutely aware of the web of life in a way that I never had been before. I had followed the Wheel of the Year for many years and had found the image of the web of life powerful but, through my experiences with Goddess, I began to realise that I had only understood these things intellectually
and that now it was as though some never used part of me had been ‘switched on’ , that I had gained a deep body knowing that changed everything. In August 2008 I held the energy of the Lover Goddess and the Wild Horse Maiden at Glastonbury Goddess Conference and, at the culmination of the conference ceremonial work, embodied the Lover Goddess for conference participants. Nine priestesses, each holding the energy of a different aspect of the Lady of Avalon, sat in a circle in Bushey Combe, which is a small valley in Glastonbury. Each of us had our own bender (a tent like structure made from bent branches and then covered with cloth) and we decorated them to reflect our own goddess aspect; mine was lined with red fur and horse tails … not real ones, I hasten to add! For me, this decoration was part of the process of inviting the Goddess into me and was similar to making my altar at home. She will come when She wants to come but, if we wish to invite Her, then it feels right to make it special. Before calling to Her I ‘stepped into’ my priestess self. This preparing of the chalice that she will enter is important; it is not only respectful to Her but also an important way for us to stay grounded and safe…and a way to signal to our subconscious that magic is about to happen. I’m not sure how many people came to me that evening; sometimes it felt like a hundred and sometimes it felt like none, but it was a great privilege to embody the Goddess for them. Our plan had been not to speak but I found that She had things to say and, although my conscious mind questioned what was happening, I was able to just let her words come. This was quite a different experience than writing poetry or ourneying to the Goddess in visualisation to seek experience o Her because this ceremony wasn’t about me and my experience. It was about allowing others to have experience o Her and, for that, I had to put myself aside. Even that was a powerful lesson to me. When Goddess touches us we always learn and grow. Of course those people could have had their own direct experiences of the Goddess without me, or without any of the priestesses there, but I know that coming to the
Goddess in human form is powerful and sometimes that is what we need. Sitting cut off from everyone I had no idea how the experience had effected the people who had visited me but I was told later that several people had come out with tears in their eyes and had said that it was one of the most powerful experiences of their lives. I have had the same experience at the conference and remember words that a priestess embodying the Death Mother said to me many years ago; words that have helped me through many difficult times. I thank the Goddess for allowing me to be part of touching others in the same way. When we sing, ‘She changes everything She touches and everything She touches changes’ I now know that they aren’t ust beautiful words. They are true and each of us can experience that truth and can, and will, change.
WAKING THE GODS: Our Odyssey into Trance-Prophecy
BY JANET FARRAR Looking back, it seems inevitable that we would specialize in Trance Prophecy, considering the direction we were heading in back in the early 1990s. It has been an interesting ourney. We use the term journey, because that’s exactly what it’s been a journey, a path, an Odyssey, which in retrospect we realise we were being directed to from the start. There have been times when we have felt that we had little control over what was happening around us; little choice in the direction o our path. We have come to understand the meaning of the word ‘faith’ and have come to learn a lot about trusting the Gods. More importantly, as anyone treading the path of the Seer or Seeress soon discovers, we have come to realise that the Gods and Goddesses are truly real. Yes, they’re archetypes, but then, so are we if you read Jung’s work! The Gods and Goddesses are spirits with individual preferences, agendas, biases and minds of their own just like yourselves! Janet’s journey started well before Gavin’s. She is a natural medium and has been having spiritual experiences since childhood. Even coming into the Craft was foreshadowed by a vision of the Virgin Mary sitting on a mailbox and showing her a pentagram on her chest. At first you might think that was an odd mix of symbolism. But our experiences and also our study of history related to the Sibyls show that it’s quite normal for symbolism and metaphors to be very mixed indeed. When you work with ecstatic states, you quickly throw out any illusions about boundaries between religious symbolism and human-created systems of worship. Janet’s connection with divinity started with several “chance” experiences. The major “coincidence” was meeting Alex and Maxine Sanders, and receiving first-degree initiation, in which Janet was initiated with the Craft name Freya. At the
time she didn’t realise the significance of taking that name; she took it because she thought she was born on a Friday. Obviously, Freya was listening even if Janet wasn’t, for Freya Vanadis now plays an important part in both of our lives, and in the path we have now taken. When Janet began working with Stewart, it was clear that the Gods had plans. Janet, being a natural medium, found that she slipped easily into a trance state during the rite o Drawing Down the Moon . Both Janet and Stewart considered this completely normal, as did the coven that they ran. Janet found herself working with different Goddesses, and she found that each has a distinctly different personality. This was the spark of inspiration for Janet and Stewart to write The Witches’ Goddess . She found that performing specific rites tailored to a variety of female deities also had the same effect as a Wiccan Drawing Down the Moon: Janet would become that deity. She found that the more she did Drawings Down and other rituals tailored to specific Goddesses, the deeper the experience became. Eventually Janet become fully possessed, and found herself completely losing control of her body as she slipped into a deep trance state. Many who witnessed this in the coven said time and again that they saw her face shift into that of the deity. Janet also found that when she came out o trance she couldn’t always remember what the deity had said through her. Again, both Janet and Stewart considered this normal, and didn’t question whether other priestesses were having the same experience. In the early ‘90’s we embarked on several tours of the United States, and we realised that Paganism had grown into a thriving spiritual movement. During that tour, people asked on several occasions to witness Stewart Drawing Down the Moon on Janet. We then realised that Janet was particularly gifted as a Trance-medium, and that her experiences were not the norm among Witches. Only a small handful of priestesses were having the same deep experiences that Janet was having. We found the deep trance experiences were more the norm among practitioners of Voudon and Seidh, and we learned that there
were many similarities among priests and priestesses from those traditions, and Janet’s experiences. This was particularly worrying for us. We realised there was something missing in the training of many if not most Witches. Many Witches we met were only trained in the ritual aspects of Drawing Down the Moon . Most had only been taught the most basic internal work to prepare for trance. This was something we felt needed to be rectified. One thing that was interesting: many of the Priestesses who were successful in Drawing Down had the same experiences as Janet. This was important, and gave us a key to understanding the processes involved. Initially we were exploring Seidh, or Seidr, the AngloSaxon/Norse practise of Trance-prophecy. Being Priestess and Priest of Freya we were already familiar with the practise before we met Diana Paxson in 1993, but seeing her Seidr Group at work inspired us to explore further. Initially we examined the links between this practise and those of the Sibyls, the oracular priestesses of Rome and Greece. It was now increasingly obvious to us that trance traditions permeated almost every polytheistic culture of the past, as well as the contemporary ones such as Voudon and Santeria. We set about exploring further, trying to see if there were any common underlying techniques. We experimented with a number of different techniques. Much to our surprise, we found a common basic practise or technique would comfortably address possessory trance from all of the different traditions. Our first public practise of our work took place in Madison, Wisconsin in 1996. We decided that rather than doing the Wiccan Drawing Down the Moon , we would take a more traditional approach using a silver bowl to invoke the Goddess Diana into Janet. One of the things we have learned is that Drawing Down the Moon originated in a specific technique, where the light of the moon was caught in a silver bowl to dazzle the eyes of the priestess. This had the effect of causing hypnotic induction, with the priest or priestess invoking Diana into the Seeress while tipping the bowl back and forth –
strobing the light into the Priestesses eyes. It was highly successful with Diana fully possessing Janet and walking around a circle of over 150 people prophesying in constant rhyme. She made at least three predictions that we know came to pass. In addition to being our first experience doing this work publicly, it was also our first experience of losing control of Janet! Diana would not leave until She had finished, and when she did Janet collapsed to the floor from exhaustion. It was an important lesson for us. With this success we continued to explore the different techniques from Seidh, the African Diaspora religions, shamanism, and Spiritualist mediumship. We went to Italy to study the techniques of the classical world, the Oracle o Delphi and the numerous Sibyls, and we were able to explore the labyrinths in the Cave of the Sibyl in Cumae. We also discovered the sibylline origins of the Vatican. From these experiences we were able to piece together a training system for Drawing Down the Moon . We first started experimenting with this system in our coven in 2002 and started publicly teaching it in 2004 during our second tour of Australia and New Zealand. It was to be an ongoing process of development, which resulted in our labelling of the system as The Four Keys o Trance-Prophecy, these being the understanding of Deity, Energy, Cosmology and Trance technique. Initially it was taught in the Inner Mysteries Weekend workshops. Very soon though, we realised that this work needed to be taught as a stand-alone workshop, so we changed to teaching trance prophecy evening and one day workshops in the United States, England and Europe. Our technique is to set up a central chair within the circle of participants. The circle is drawn directly using energies from Aura and Chakras, rather than ritually inscribed. This had an interesting effect all of its own, similar to the way mediums get participants to touch fingers in séances. We would veil the Priestess, or Seeress and sit her in the chair. The Priest then opens the Seeress’ Chakras, a process similar to the Five Fold
Kiss commonly used in Wicca. The Priest then leads the Seeress on a pathworking, using an Anti-Clockwise visualisation down to the Underworld. We have named this The Underworld Descent Technique. There, the Seeress would enter the Underworld and would journey to the Gates. Sometimes the Seeress would meet a God or Goddess she was already working with, and other times she would meet an Underworld Guide. If she met her personal deity, we would allow them to relay messages from the God or Goddess to questioners in the audience. If successful at this stage, we would go to the next stage – full possession. We would allow the deity to enter the Seeress. It was from this point that some of our experiences have defied belief! It is not unusual for a Seeress to shake, or for her head to be thrown back during the act of possession. We have witnessed this on several occasions. We, and many of the participants have also seen the ‘shadow’ of the deity’s aura behind the Seeress before it entered her, and more importantly have seen the Seeress’ face change through the veil. We have also witnessed changes in voice tone, accent and on at least two occasions speaking in languages which were not understood by the Seeress. One of our most unusual experiences was having one specific deity repeat the same personal message to us from various different Seeresses in different ceremonies geographically distant from one another, and who had no contact with each other. We have also had ‘jumping’ where the deity has instantly left the Seeress and ‘jumped’ into someone else in the room. This is common in Voudon, where the Seeress is ‘ridden’ and often referred to as a ‘horse’.
The possessory deities have not always been from our familiar Pagan pantheons. We have experienced Voudon Lw and Santeria Orisha , as well as Hindu Gods and Goddesses. On one occasion, we had one possessed Seeress who was fully conscious while doing traditional Indian dancing around the room, something which she had never seen or been taught before. Our experiences with the European Gods and
Goddesses have been the most interesting, though. We had to throw out the whole concept of deities being Jungian archetypes once we started to work with them. We learned that they are real, and like real personalities have real foibles and needs. They can also have off days, as we have discovered on several occasions. We also discovered the purpose of the modern Pagan movement: to awaken Them. This is not a problem for the Voudon Lwa and the Santeria Orisha , but our own deities are only just waking up after a thousand-year-long sleep. This has meant that some are more awake than others. Hekate, Bride, Diana, The Morrigan, Odin and Freya seem to the most awake at present and we have come to realise that they are behaving differently. Hekate turns up most often during our teaching sessions. We have come to realise that this is Her preferred role: teaching trance. Likewise the Morrigan seems to be much more politically minded. Both are likely to appear in mythological or contemporary dress. We have begun to wonder how much the Goth movement has influenced Hekate’s appearance! We have also changed internally from this work. We went into trance work to find a training system for the Wiccan Drawing Down the Moon . Instead, we seem to be reviving an influential tradition known to humankind for millennia. We may also have finally found the answer to that elusive question: what is a Witch? Our experience with the Gods and Goddesses has affected us and those we have worked with us in untold ways. We often feel that we are not in control, but rather the Gods themselves are guiding this trance work. The work seems to have a mind of its own, and we are not the only ones who have come to this conclusion. As we have travelled around the world, we have found more and more people on this path, and all of us share a common bond in what we are doing. This Odyssey is not one that we are on alone, but in fellowship with many others. It will in the future affect the very way we see and worship the old Gods and Goddesses. For all of us, this ourney has only just begun.
THE SEER A Journey through the High Seat
BY KATIE GERRARD Thick curling smoke fills the room with a heady scent o Sage and Rosemary, as the intoxicating drum beat quietens and a low chant lingers in the words of the listeners and in the subconscious. And down. Sinking through the soft clay filled earth, its coolness coming in waves. The calmness of the brown freshly ploughed soil gives way to freezing ice, then burning flame, freezing ice, burning flame. Through the curling smoke and the flickering candles sits a figure. “… She was wearing a blue cloak with straps which was set with stones right down to the hem; she had glass beads about her neck, and on her head a black lambskin hood lined inside with white catskin. She had a staff in her hand, with a knob on it; it was ornamented with brass and set around with stones ust below the knob. Round her middle she wore a belt made of touchwood, and on it was a big skin pouch in which she kept those charms of hers which she needed for her magic.” [lxxxiii] Would you know more?[lxxxiv] You may have heard the term seidr used by modern pagans to denote their path or their practise. You may have also read the term in the sagas of heathen Scandinavia. It is a term that over the last few years has become more and more popular with neo-pagans. Wherever the term is used within the sagas it denotes a form of magic either performed by women or performed in a womanly way. Different descriptions of seidr often have little similarity to each other and include cursing, divination, astral travel, and shape shifting. The root of the word again is difficult to pin down, as is a direct translation into English. Diana Paxson[lxxxv] suggests that the word relates to communion with the spirits, similar for example to 'séance' . Sheena McGrath[lxxxvi] tells us that it comes from
the words 'boil' and 'seethe' suggesting that it describes the trance state associated with modern use of the term. If you were translating the word into English it can be suggested that perhaps it would be interchangeable with the word ‘witchcraft’ . Many of our own stories and literature include similar accounts of magical acts worked by women and these accounts, like those of seidr, often bear little resemblance to each other excepting the name given. Witchcraft within Britain was also considered womanly, and seidr was as feared within the Scandinavian stories as it was within British folk tales. Men practising seidr were given the title ‘ergi’ which refers to them being feminine and cowardly.[lxxxvii] Descriptions of seidr within modern paganism are unsurprisingly equally as difficult to pin down and define. Perhaps in explanation for this we could look again to the similarities between the use of the word witch and the word seidr in folklore and sagas. It is fitting then that perhaps as many practitioners describe their work as seidr as describe their work as witchcraft. One clear ritual stands out within the series of modern practises referred to as seidr, and this is the one described at the beginning of this chapter. Based on the Greenland Sagas, it involves a Seer sitting on a high seat and using other worldly wisdom achieved via an altered state in order to answer questions put to her by the audience. Within the Greenland Sagas we are told the story of Thorbjorg, who travelled from homestead to homestead through the winter months telling the fortunes of her hosts through the ritual of sitting on a high seat and speaking to spirits. The spirits were encouraged to draw near with ‘vardlokkurs’ (spirit songs). Modern High Seat rites take on elements of Thorbjorg’s story, although they are not based exclusively on this. The Seer sits upon a high seat holding a staff and wearing a cloak with a hood that falls over their face. Many modern groups will add to this an astral journey for the Seer and they will travel to the realm of the dead in order to meet with the spirits and receive their wisdom. This journey is not given in Thorbjorg’s
story but is instead borrowed from the Volsunga Saga [lxxxviii] which tells the story of Sigurd’s journey, as well as from Odin’s ourney to the gates of Helheim to contact the spirit of a famous seer.[lxxxix] We can consider the possibility that Thorbjorg’s divining would have more in common today with platform mediums than with the high seat rite. Our high seat rite holds elements from the sources given above but we have also borrowed from Greek and Roman sources, and also from the secondary descriptions of modern groups.[xc] The rite starts with an invocation to the Disir (the ancestral women spirits who the Norse believed offered their protection to individuals and families throughout their lifetime). We use incense made from sage and rosemary with a frankincense base to fill the room with smoke. Lighting from candles is kept low and the room dark. The rite starts with all participants dancing to the beat of a drum. They may also have drums and rattles in order to keep time and raise energy while they dance. Each participant enters a state of altered awareness as they drum. One person is appointed to lead the rite and one to act as the Seer. The person who leads does not enter an altered state whilst the Seer will enter a deeper trance. As the energy rises (or seethes and boils) the drumming quietens and the participants sit in a circle. They begin chanting the spirit songs which consist of four short lines and are designed to become circular and break down as the participants lose concentration. When the energy has built, it begins to level off, and the idea is to keep the level of trance and energy constant. At this point the drumming stops and the chant quietens, but never stops. The Seer is stood up and given an individual pathworking to take them down through the earth and through the gates of Helheim (the Norse underworld). They are given a staff to help them journey, a cloak that is worn over their face, and a necklace of Amber for protection. The Seer is then sat on the High Seat. The participant leading the rite signals for the audience to form a
circle around the Seer and one by one they come up and kneel in front of the Seer and ask their question. Each questioner is asked to think carefully about their question, ensuring that their question is open and important. The answers given by the Seer can be widely different from Seer to Seer and also from question to question. Some Seers will be given images and will give cryptic answers; others may be given clearer answers through communication with the spirits they believe they meet within the underworld. Some questions will have clear answers that are fully understandable to the questioner on a mundane level. Some questions give their answers as riddles or puzzles that the questioner must work through to receive the wisdom. Some answers do not become clear for many years afterwards. At the end of the rite the Seer is taken back through the pathworking and brought back into every day consciousness. All participants have something to eat and drink and work to ground the energy within the room and themselves and make sure that they are back to every day consciousness. The spirits are thanked and asked to return to the realms they came from and the Disir are thanked for their protection. The amount of questions a Seer is able to answer depends again from Seer to Seer and from rite to rite. The rite ends when everyone has asked their question or when the visions fade or the Seer is beginning to look as though they are tiring. Where does the wisdom come from? With all magic and witchcraft there is an element that remains occult or hidden. With Seidr each participant must make up their own mind where there wisdom has come from. Is it from other worldly or spiritual sources? Is it from within? Is it from the well of wyrd or the depths of the subconscious? During the High Seat rite the Seer is ‘cold reading’ , they are answering questions of the practitioner without a background knowledge. The props o cold reading (intonation of voice, body language, deeper questioning) have been taken away due to the lack of contact between Seer and questioner. The question is asked once and the Seer has a cloak over their face. This does not mean that
there might still be an element of cold reading however. Has the empathic closeness between Seer and questioner also been taken away by this enforced separation or is the Seer still able to ‘read’ the subconscious of the questioner when answering their question? There is something that feels very timeless about the High Seat rite. The props needed (the cloak and the staff) are ones that can be substituted easily (broom handle and blanket) and the words used can be interchangeable. There is adaptability about the High Seat that feels as though it could have been worked by witches at any point in history within any culture. It exists because we seek to know answers to things that we cannot find out from mundane sources. It exists to look into the souls of mankind and to help plan for the inevitable and the unlikely. It calls to the need for information and the wisdom held ‘behind the veil’ . It relies on the traditionally female values of intuition and empathy, and also on the participants working together, each adding their own unique energy and personality into the rite.
GNOSTIC PRIESTESS In the Ecclesia Gnostica Catholica
BY CATHRYN ORCHARD “Greeting of Earth and Heaven!”
For the past four years I've been training as a Priestess in the Gnostic Catholic Church (Ecclesia Gnostica Catholica or E.G.C. for short). The position of a Priestess in E.G.C. is quite a formally defined role in terms of performing the Gnostic Mass, but through performing the role I have become aware of the wider part that a Priestess plays within her community. At first glance at the role as it is set out in the Gnostic Mass, it may seem that the Priestess performs a very passively servile role; however the internal process that she goes through during the ritual is actually a powerful invocation and strong possession which has fundamentally changed my view of myself, those around me and my concept of the divine. “Make open the path of creation and of intelligence between us and our minds.”
Personally I started out quite unsure of the idea of having a priestess separating me from the direct connection I felt when doing things alone. All of the magic I had done previously had been on my own, talking directly to gods, responding instinctively to thoughts and feelings as they came to me. I had tried a small amount of formal ceremonial magic, but working alone I often felt something was missing. I was interested in experiencing the community feeling that I had seen from the outside in other religions and I was curious about the Gnostic Mass - I liked the idea of the ceremony, that it was a tried and tested ritual with repeatable results; but at the same time that was what made me feel that it might be too structured. Partly I am sure now that this was out of a fear of getting things wrong in the eyes of others that I felt at the time might know more than me.
“Let the rituals be rightly performed with joy and beauty.”
I was invited to attend a Gnostic Mass and despite my initial fears I took the opportunity offered. I decided not to read the ritual text beforehand as I didn't think that it would useful for me to try to understand the ritual intellectually before I had experienced it first. I wanted to see how it made me feel, what it did to me to be in that place at that time. Before the ritual started the Deacon explained what would happen in the ceremony and the parts that the congregation were to participate in. I was extremely nervous, and panicking that I would not remember what to do when we went into the temple. Mostly, I didn't, and I was concentrating so hard on what I had to do that I couldn't fully focus on the ceremony. Somehow, that just didn't matter, I was swept along by the momentum o the ritual itself. “But to love me is better than all things”
Just before taking communion, I saw what I felt to be a great strength in the Priestess's eyes, and really felt that she was in direct contact with ... something infinite, and the awesomeness of her doing that on my behalf. Taking my communion I realised that there was another way to achieve that direct link with the divine I had always sought and that right there I was standing in a huge wave of it, and it took nothing away from me by having someone work as a conduit. In fact, the feeling was enhanced with everyone in attendance being focused on achieving the same results, reaching out together to something outside of ourselves in order to bring it into ourselves. Knowing how it had made me feel to stand there, I felt strongly that I wanted to be able to provide that service for others but I felt sure that it would take me many years to be in a position to do so; and I also knew that I would do it no matter how long it took. “Therefore by seed and root and stem and bud and flowe and fruit do we invoke Thee.”
A few months later I attended a class on the Gnostic Mass. It was a class to teach people to perform one of the roles in the Mass and since I had only just taken my first initiation into O.T.O. shortly after the first Mass I had attended, I didn't think I would be able to take part in the ritual; but I was desperate to learn more about it and I thought that if I hid at the back maybe no-one would mind. As the day progressed, I began to realise that I was being encouraged to step up and perform the Mass and it was the role of Priestess that I was drawn to. “For one kiss wilt thou then be willing to give all” The night before my first Mass as Priestess I slept deeply. We had been practicing thoroughly for weeks beforehand, reading and re-reading the invocation of Nuit that is so central to the role of Priestess in the Gnostic Mass. That night I dreamed of the night sky and I could see the outline of a woman above me in the heavens, the dark shape of her body moving against the backdrop of stars as if she was dancing. Her beautiful, darkly ephemeral face came close to mine, so small in comparison, and a huge pair of dark blue, almost black, lips kissed me gently. “For as much as meat and drink are transmuted in us daily into spiritual substance, I believe in the Miracle of the Mass.” Being a Priestess is for me is often about practicalities. I'm not usually one to spend time discussing how it makes me feel or opinions of what the processes are or energies that might be flowing. When it comes to performing the Gnostic Mass I have a great certainty in the ritual itself and its ability to create that connection with the divine forces. As it took me with it on my first attendance as a member of the congregation, so it does when I am in the role of Priestess. That's not to say that I do nothing at all. I want to make sure that everything is perfectly set up beforehand, that I know the ritual completely in my mind and my body, and have a certainty in my ability to be open to the forces called in. Then I can mentally step back and
allow these things to happen. It is not a passive process but one of being actively receptive. “If under the night-stars in the desert thou presently burnest mine incense before me, invoking me with a pure heart, and the serpent flame therein, thou shalt come a little to lie in my bosom.”
Even during my very first Mass as Priestess, I began to feel that things were slipping into place without me really trying. The forces worked through me without me controlling them, and it was through my letting go of control that made the way for the ritual to do its thing. I felt a sense of doing but notdoing, removing my own self from the situation, so that it is not my ego that does the work but something deeper. It's like being on a waterslide – you have to put in the work to climb up to the top then consciously let yourself go and once you've done that, you're on the slide to the end, flowing with the water. You can decide to a limited extent the way you want to move, but the water ultimately takes you where it wants you to go. The biggest mistake would be to try to stop yourself, to try to hold back once you are moving, the more you go with it, the faster you will go and the better it will be. “Thee therefore whom we adore, we also invoke.”
The Gnostic Mass contains a piece of text taken from The Book of The Law that is spoken by the Priestess as an invocation to Nuit. It is beautiful and works very swiftly as a strong invocation. However to me it does not feel that the invocation starts there. Preparing myself for the ritual, dressing myself in beautiful things in white, blue and gold, and arriving at the doors of the temple, I am always thinking about what I am about to do, the role I am about to step into, and preparing a space in my thoughts for that. When I hear the ritual begin, a deep calm enters me and any thoughts I had of who I am and what I may be doing in my everyday life leave me, making that space for the Goddess. Entering the temple and seeing the assembled congregation sets up a dialogue with them in my
actions, it is their presence that elevates me from being a magician seeking a connection with the divine, to a Priestess seeking that connection in the service of others. I strongly believe that as a Priestess it is them that I am there for, it is them that I am there to serve, and in that service to them I am able to be lifted up to meet the divinity. “I am above you and in you. My ecstasy is in yours. My joy is to see your joy.”
All of the actions I perform at the beginning of the ritual are working towards the invocation that is to come so that the space has been set and the invocation works in such few words. When I invoke Nuit somehow it is not as if she is within me but that I am in Her. I could not fit the infinite night sky within me but as “Every man and every woman is a star” there is a place for me in Her. I find it so necessary to learn the ritual thoroughly in my body, to rehearse and rehearse until my hands know where to be without any conscious control from myself; because when I really achieve that invocation with every part of my being I won't be able to think about what comes next in the ritual. I have always felt that being possessed by Nuit is a 'gentle possession' in that should I need to I can still have a presence of mind without dropping the magic altogether, perhaps this is due to me being in Her and not the other way around. It’s as if I can peek in over my own shoulder and see what is happening around me while She does what needs to be done. Though there have certainly been plenty o occasions when I have entered the temple and have no memory from then onwards until it’s all over and my Priest is coming to collect me from the altar at the end. Those are the times when I have felt that everything has been working perfectly and the power of the ritual has taken hold completely. “One Star in the Company of Stars”
Through my experience of being a priestess in the Gnostic Mass, through invoking Nuit, my view of divinity has completely changed. In my solo work the gods seemed to be
forces outside of myself that I could anthropomorphise in order to commune with. The power of pulling those forces inside o myself and seeing myself inside of those forces has left me feeling truly gnostic. It has left me with a sense of finding a place in the world, of being that one star in the Universe, by looking directly into the darkness, which is never as dark as it seems. I feel infinitesimally small and able to marvel at how wondrous it is to be a part of the infinitely huge whole. And I can see that divinity, refracted in all people, see each person I encounter as a star in the body of Nuit, equally small and hugely part of everything. “Giver and receiver of joy, gate of life and love, be thou eve ready, thou and thine handmaiden, in thine office of gladness.”
As my view of divinity, and of those around me has changed through my experiences, the way others respond to me has changed also. I think that the very process of opening myself out to the forces outside of myself and offering that out to others allows people to be more open with me in return. Performing that role does change a person and others will respond to that differently. When dealing with such huge ideas that cut right to the core of being it is not surprising that it will affect people deeply and change their view of you. In times o crisis people will look to others within their community for assistance and offering yourself as a community's Priestess automatically implies being looked to for guidance. Responsibility comes with that recognition; there are times in people's lives when they may feel vulnerable, and they may look to a Priestess for support. I find the strength and stability in myself that I have gained from the invocation gives me a grounding to act as a source of comfort to other people should they require it. “I believe in one Gnostic and Catholic Church of Light, Life, Love and Liberty”
Having a structured church creates a framework to grow within, one where no-one is left without knowing who to turn
to. If people come to me with their thoughts and feelings, I have others to go to with mine. The support of my peers who are also working as clergy within E.G.C., as well as the guidance of the Bishops, establishes a real sense of a strong church. A church is not simply a building in which people congregate but a community of people working together for a spiritual purpose. “A feast every day in your hearts in the joy of my rapture.” Working as a Priestess in E.G.C. has fundamentally changed me. It has opened my eyes to a spiritual world that I had previously been skirting the edges of. It has allowed me to perform a vital function within my community and find my own orbit as a star in the body of Nuit. “There is no law beyond Do what thou wilt.”
THE PATH OF A PRIESTESS A Journey of Mystery
BY VIVIENNE O’REGAN Recently I visited Glastonbury and as I sat down to lunch in an outdoor café I spotted an attractive leaflet advertising a training course for priestesses that had been left on the table. Reading it caused me to reflect upon my own experience o becoming a priestess, a process that began 35 years ago. I wondered if I had been born a generation or so later if I would be signing up for such a course. Of course, I can only imagine 'what if' because I was born when I was and received my rather ad hoc training as I did; eventually going on to transmit those skills to others to carry on the example of those who had mentored me in these arts. However, along the way I also did undergo formal training in psychotherapy with special emphasis on the transpersonal psychology, Psychosynthesis. In learning to serve as a guide to clients, who wished to embark on a process of selfactualisation, I gained important skills that assisted my work as a priestess within the Western Mystery Tradition. Still the main part of my training as a priestess came from a variety o sources including instinct and being blessed with mentors who were willing to share their experience with me. Please be aware that for this piece I am writing very much from the perspective of my own experiences rather than a more scholarly viewpoint with references to the history of priestesses and their oracular and trance work. I will leave such to those of a more academic temperament. I also won't linger too much upon the phenomena o reincarnation except to state that I am quite aware that I have been an oracular priestess in at least one, if not more, former lives. This awareness first came from the fact that I took to both magical practice and the role of priestess like the proverbial duck to water. My first mentor, Kenneth Grant,
confirmed that I was returning to the Great Work rather than someone new to it. However, he also quite wisely counselled me to focus on the here and now rather than spend too much time seeking answers about the past. To some degree the ability was also in my blood as my late mother was a gifted psychic who regularly experienced trance states in which she communicated with an inner guide who had been with her since her late teens. While she might have sought a more public role especially in terms of communicating with those recently passed from this life, her personality was such that she preferred to work in more private ways. Knowledge of her abilities blended with my own readings o ancient cultures in which women held roles serving as intermediaries between the gods and men. Still I did not consciously seek to emulate her. However, in my early twenties this situation changed. As often in these cases there was a sequence o coincidences that brought me into the orbit of a group of young men who were committed to the works of Aleister Crowley and the Law of Thelema. At that point in time there were few women involved with such pursuits even though there were already the stirrings within feminism to reclaim the Divine Feminine. I soon found myself in the position of serving as a priestess in various rites. I was doing this quite blindly as my fellow magicians had no more idea than I had of what the function o a priestess was. At that point I knew little of Wicca and also wasn't particularly pleased with Crowley's concept of the priestess as a 'magical weapon' of the magician. My fellow Thelemites also felt this was an rather out-moded and old Aeon attitude. It was about this time that Violet Penry-Evans, better known as Dion Fortune, entered my life and changed it forever. Of course, she didn't actually walk into it because she had passed from physical incarnation a few years before I was born. However, in 1972 the occult publisher Samuel Weiser brought back into print a series of occult novels that Dion Fortune had written in the 1920s and 30s alongside her articles on occult
theory. Into these novels she poured her considerable knowledge of practical occultism and her work as a Priestess o Isis. The first one I bought was titled The Sea Priestess. I was delighted to find that the priestess of the title was named Viven Le Fay Morgan. Sharing a birth name created an immediate sense of identification even if my personality hardly matched that of the mysterious Miss Morgan. Through this novel and the others, including its sequel Moon Magic, Dion Fortune became my first guide to a style of priestesshood that involved an active engagement with the unseen world as well as bringing the Goddess within my own consciousness and body. I soon began more formal excursions into developing my oracular gifts. Again whether these gifts were the legacy of my blood or woven into my spirit I don't think matters much. Also, because I had no formal training I had no one to say to me that what I was doing was wrong. I just did what felt natural and also more importantly what worked. I probably took more risks than I might have if I had a more formal apprenticeship and it was partly this reason that I later wanted to assist others in their development. I worked closely with my then husband and magical partner, David L. Smith. He actively encouraged these oracular states and also served as my anchor ensuring I did not stray too far. He also worked with me on the all important interpretation of the material I gained. Certainly at that stage much of the material didn't make a lot of sense to me. I might be naturally gifted but I was still very much the neophyte. So was I the Edward Kelly to his Doctor John Dee? Not exactly because I did remain engaged with the material and just didn't have the temperament to be a passive vessel in these explorations any more than I did in magical rites. Also, David wasn't cast in the same mould as Crowley and we were very much partners in these explorations complimenting each other in our roles. Oracular material can just be gibberish or be so filtered by the subconscious mind of the man or woman acting as a
channel to be almost useless. Therefore, it is necessary to sort the wheat from the chaff and to discover what is of value and relevance. At the same time I was discovering the writings o Dion Fortune, I also came across the work of American psychic Jane Roberts. Roberts had become the conduit for an intelligence living outside of time named Seth. While these days New Age bookshops burst to the seams with those sharing their channelled messages with the world, in the early 1970s Jane Roberts was a pioneer in this field and also brought a critical eye to the material she conveyed to the world. The material I focused upon was varied, some of it linked to Thelemic magic and the 93 current, which we were busy promulgating on behalf of the Thelemic magical order headed by Kenneth Grant and some was linked to David's researches with astrology and neo-Reichean therapy. On a more personal level I was using my experiences and my forays into Dion Fortune's writings to become a priestess of the Goddess in my own right. In the spring of 1976 David and I relocated to London to work more directly with Grant. At that time I was unaware that in a small village in Ireland momentous events were taking place that again would impact upon me directly in terms of my vocation as a priestess and also make an important contribution to the renaissance of the Goddess. That event was the founding of the Fellowship of Isis by Olivia Robertson, her brother the Rev. Lawrence Durdin-Robertson and his wife Pamela. They had been running a centre for meditation for some years at their ancestral home, Clonegal Castle and made the decision to formalise a fellowship dedicated to the Goddess in her many forms. Olivia said to me some years later that they had envisioned that perhaps a dozen of their friends would join the Fellowship. Well, yes their friends did join but word soon spread throughout the magical community and their membership began to grow and grow. At this stage I wasn't aware of the Fellowship though I was plunging very whole heartedly into the pagan and magical community in London. I was also spending many evenings and
weekends engaged in a range of groups under the broad umbrella of the Human Potential Movement. There was another young woman named Marion in a couple of these groups. We became friends travelling home on the tube together and going out for the occasional drink. Then one Saturday I visited the Atlantis Bookshop and saw a thin booklet titled 'Ordination of Priestesses and Priests' and there upon the cover was the unmistakable face of my friend Marion, wearing an Egyptian crown. Opening it and reading I discovered that she had been one of two women ordained as the first priestesses within the Fellowship of Isis in August 1976. I could hardly wait until our next meeting when I was able to tackle her on the subject during our tea break. She was a little embarrassed to discover that her esoteric life had been discovered by someone in her massage group. It wasn't that she had given up that aspect of her life but that it wasn't then in the forefront. She told me that she had been a friend of Lawrence's son David and had spent a number of holidays at Clonegal Castle. Apparently she had obtained copies of Dion Fortune's Moon agic and The Sea Priestess and had been so inspired by what she had read that she decided to paint the Black Isis on a large canvas. Lawrence Durdin-Robertson had seen this painting and decided to provide a suitable sacred space to place it where they could also perform rites of Isis. Thus began the process o establishing the Temple of Isis at Foundation Centre. Later Marion along with another woman requested ordination and this became the model for the F.O.I.'s ceremony. I was delighted to find that Dion Fortune had inspired my friend which had in turn assisted in the establishment of the Fellowship. Truth be told I was somewhat envious of what she had attained at Clonegal in this formal ordination compared to what I felt were my own rather amateur efforts. I confided this to another woman, herself an experienced High Priestess in Wicca and in the Gnostic Mass. She brushed aside my insecurities and told me that she was already a member of the Fellowship of Isis and that it was open to all who agreed with
its Manifesto. She suggested I also join and see where it might lead. I took her words to heart and wrote soon after to Olivia Robertson requesting membership. I then began to attend with my close friend, Naomi, a working group run by a Fellowship member in Surrey. I also begin to correspond with Olivia Durdin-Robertson with whom I felt an immediate rapport. My marriage to David ended not long after this and I had a couple of difficult years in terms of being somewhat rootless. By 1981 I was more settled and the woman who ran the Fellowship of Isis group suggested I take ordination and proposed this to Olivia. In those days there were less ordinations than there subsequently were as people had to travel to Foundation Centre to receive this initiation and that wasn't always possible. So in April 1982 I made my first visit to Ireland and was ordained as a Priestess of Babalon. Olivia had felt that my extensive background in Thelema made this particular dedication appropriate. The Fellowship ordination ritual allows for the candidate to have two attendant goddesses included in the ritual. I chose Bast, who had been for many years the goddess most close to my heart, and Isis, who had drawn both Dion Fortune and myself to Her mysteries. Following this with my then partner, Steve, and another friend we founded an Iseum of the Fellowship. Over the next few years we ran the group and assisted a few people towards their own ordinations. In 1985 we proposed the idea to Olivia and Lawrence of establishing a training course for priestesses and priests that would include utilising the rituals written by Olivia that had featured in the Fellowship's newsletter, Isian ews, and compilation booklets as part of the training programme. Olivia's rituals usually take the form of sacred drama and each contains an opening oracle of a particular Goddess. These were inspired at the time of writing and it occurred to us that the possibility for spontaneous oracles was also there. When rites were enacted at Clonegal Olivia had always encouraged spontaneous oracles whether in a particular rite or as in the
Rite of Rebirth, a private oracle for the celebrant. This was something new for me to allow a merging o consciousness with a goddess and become her mouthpiece. It is an experience I cannot fully describe. Partly it is a surrender but not in the total way of a medium of losing consciousness. It is more of a partnership with the added bonus that as the vessel of the Goddess the oracular priestess is infused with the energy of the Goddess. It was something I had always desired and fleetingly attained. However, Olivia served to open my consciousness to the point that I could do this at will and also, in time, to be able to assist others in these states. However, such practices are not without danger as it is possible for the mundane personality to be flooded or to suffer ego inflation. This can have all kinds of unpleasant side effects. It was because of this danger that part of the training we proposed focused on personal development in terms of the use of techniques of humanistic and transpersonal psychology. It is not a perfect remedy but arms the personality to not be so susceptible to being flooded by the divine through having more knowledge of the processes and of the self. In 1986, Olivia and Lawrence established the College of Isis and invited me and an American priestess to become the first to take on the title of Priestess-Hierophant and for our Iseums to become Lyceums or teaching centres within the Fellowship. We both agreed and travelled to Clonegal for the Summer Solstice to receive these further initiations. While we were the first the invitation was extended to others within the Fellowship and it wasn't long until there was a thriving network of Lyceums offering their own training courses. Our Lyceum resulted in a number of members founding their own Iseums and Lyceums. I also developed a correspondence course that drew on my experience within transpersonal psychology and the magical tradition along with that of the Fellowship. The core of the course was an inner temple of the Goddess, a pattern that had come to me while meditating at Clonegal Castle. In 1990 I left London and relocated to my current home
and continued the work of the Lyceum with new members. It was at this time that I expanded on the correspondence course and had it published by Aquarian Press. The Pillar of Isis: a ractical manual of the mysteries of the Goddess , was published in 1992. My editor did insist that I remove a number o references to the Fellowship of Isis and its rituals in order to give the book a wider appeal. Of course, that is not the end of my story though in recent years my focus has moved away from a public role to a more private path. Part of that has involved returning to work with a few individuals along lines laid out by Dion Fortune. One current project is to write a series of occult novels along similar lines to hers blending my own experiences into a narrative framework. At times I reflect upon some of my early experiences and the sense I had then that I been called to this work of reviving the mysteries of the Goddess. I knew then that I was not alone in this vocation and that many others also had been called. I have been blessed through the years to have worked with some of these women and men and to call a few soul kin. I feel that the current generation of those called to work with oracular states and to serve as priestesses, pythonesses and sibyls do now have available more opportunities for formal training and feel overall this is a positive step as it is less likely these important skills will be lost to future generations. Yet I still deeply value the adventure I had and wouldn't wish for any different path to my own priestesshood.
Siren Song By Sophia Fisher Last night I could not sleep For wanting you. Your coiled tail curled Three times round the bed, Butterfly-pinning my earthbound flesh. I could not speak for love, Nor water, which rose Boiling-cold, To drown the darkness of the room. Just as you, too, were speechless That night you slipped newborn into song Writhing wet into the bodies of man, Of woman on the floor There you were sea-colt-clumsy, yet I saw – The inspiring grace of your hidden hair, The not-there tail. Sirensong at sunrise, Who can love the tempest and the whale? Who cannot?
POSSESSION & DREAMWORK in Haitian Voudou
BY SOPHIA FISHER At a ceremony attended in the United States I found mysel face-to-face with the mermaid lwa La Siren who rules over the sea, its wealth and all its mysteries. At the sound of the sacred rattle, the priest’s legs gently folded out from under him. Fellow initiates, well-practiced in the ways of the lwa, aided La Siren onto a pristine white sheet, where she propped herself up on dainty elbows and was kept moist by a mambo sprinkling cool water from a bowl. I was struck by the immediate change in the priest’s demeanour; I had no doubt that it was the beautiful La Siren looking out at me, leaving no trace of the swarthy Hispanic male she was currently possessing. Beckoning, she linked our little fingers and pressed her forehead up against mine in an odd salute – and again, I was struck by the change in the priest’s eyes, the sense that amidst all the noise and confusion I was face-to-face with a presence not entirely human, while an intense energy pulsed between the spirit and myself in (appropriately enough) waves. La Siren enjoys being sung to (she may even leave possession without it), and so the congregation – a group thirty-strong in a tiny living-room in a private home in New Jersey – kept repeating: La Siren, La Baleine, chapo’m tonbe nan la me Map fe kares pou La Siren, chapo’m tonbe nan la me Map do do ak La Baleine-oh, chapo’m tonbe nan la me The Mermaid, the Whale, my hat falls into the sea I caress the Mermaid, my hat falls into the sea I lie down with the Whale, my hat falls into the sea
The song is as appropriate a place as any to begin a discussion on possession, which has been described variously
according to scientific or religious norms as either delusional or demonic, but can perhaps be better understood by those magical practitioners who frequently engage in trance work as a valid and valuable expression of the divine in humanity and the human in divinity – spirit descended or ascended into matter, depending on one’s point of view. To lose one’s hat to the sea is a direct reference to possession, ‘hat’ being a metaphor for the head, identity or ego (La Siren is the sea); the phenomenon is often referred to as ‘mounting the head’ . The concept of horse (possessed person) and rider (spirit in possession) is also commonly used, with one song to Ogou Badagris being roughly translated as “Nobody knows it but have already saddled up my horse” .[xci] In Vodou it is said that each individual walks the world in the company of a spirit or set of spirits who act as guides, guardians and personal confidantes. These are also the most likely spirits to mount the horse, should it happen (although the lwa can, in theory, possess anyone; and the Ghede may do so at times). The lwa are not deities per se; [xcii] rather, since God in this concept is so vast, so distant, even, from the smallness of his/her creation (for African myths differ as to whether God is male or female, or both) the lwa exist as zanges (angels) and are served, not worshipped, by men and women in order to obtain their assistance in spheres of life, death, love, war, magical lore and so on. For each possible one of these spheres there is a presiding lwa or family of lwa, however it is always best to go first to one’s ‘walking spirits’ for help, since they are more likely to assist you than a spirit with which no working relationship has yet been established. Just as each individual is different, every spirit in Vodou has particular tastes, symbols and taboos. Some lwa favour a particular person; La Siren, for example, is prone to embracing certain individuals and rolling around as if she will never let them go, just as the sea claims people for its own (this is a rather adorable sight during possession, which occurs, after all, on dry land). Some spirits also have running disputes with
one another. Metresse Mambo Erzulie Freda Dahomey [xciii] hates all mention of the Ghede (spirits of the dead) as not quite in keeping with her idealistic world view; the Ghede respond by making fun of her, sharing obscene tales of bedding the Virgin Mary while grinding their zozos[xciv] for the crowd. Anaisa Pye, a lesser-known spirit from the Dominican Vodou tradition, likes to play the Ghede at their own game, and once saved me a deal of embarrassment by giving me a wanga (spell) for a particularly sensitive problem which she knew the Ghede would have been delighted to share with all and sundry later. We get to know the lwa though witnessing their behaviour, and this in turn helps us to better understand ourselves, for each spirit carries a specific human function – love, mortality, war, work etc. There are literally hundreds of documented spirits, and these do not include one’s personal lwa (which may only be served by one family) or ancestors. To better organise this mass of detail the lwa are commonly separated into two or three nachons or nations alongside the Ghede; the Rada, or ‘cool’ lwa, generally seen as African in origin; the Nago, or Ogou tribe, sometimes lumped in with the Rada and sometimes with the Petwo, and the Petwo, ‘hot’ lwa which are described as a mix of indigenous deities, transcended war heroes and the more angry or aggressive African spirits. The lwa are emotional; La Siren’s husband Agwe is said to cry at times when he arrives, while Erzulie Ge-Rouge is so angry that all she can do is stutter. I once saw Dantor threaten a friend with a wine bottle over the head for not calling his mother enough. They are flawed spirits, divine but not divinities as we have seen, and they are capable of feats both wonderful and terrible. When angry, most of them can be appeased, although some are less merciful than others; again, knowledge of the spirit will help here, in the same way that it can be difficult to make a person happy when we have only just met them. By serving the lwa (also known as les misteries, the mysteries) on a day-to-day basis, paying particular attention to
one’s dreams, in which they are known to visit us, and giving full attention to the spirits’ sacred songs and symbols, we are better able to comprehend the lwa. In a sense, the spirits are an aspect of ourselves; it is said, for example, that people walking with Danballah will fear snakes precisely because they have not yet accepted the serpent aspect of themselves (Danballah is represented as a beneficent white python). People who walk with Ghede may experience nightmares about corpses, graves or bones, while a Petwo person may suffer from extremely violent dreams (if he needs to, Ogou chides us even in our sleep). Possession is the crossroads where gods and men may meet. Whereas dreams are bound to the sphere of the personal, in possession the lwa are able to walk amongst the congregation using the horse’s body as a vessel; thus it is a social activity. It is a phenomenon carried out for the benefit o the congregation, not the horse themselves, and when mounted the lwa may drink and dance, give magical advice or personal consultations and may even propose marriage to certain individuals, all without the conscious knowledge of the horse – who retains at best a dim outline of a dream when they awake, but will have most likely blacked out altogether. Afterwards onlookers will say “Feray did such-and-such” not “You did such- and-such” when describing the event, and no responsibility is retained by the horse for anything they have said or done providing that the possession was genuine. Nearly every aspect of a Vodou sevis is geared towards possession, from the constant singing and use of langaj (ceremonial language) to the incessant shaking of the asson (priestly rattle) and, for larger fets, the commanding beat of a hired drum group; to the organised salutes, methodical yet forcing one to spin, which is itself a well-known tool for entering trance. In fact, all the colour and vibrancy of Vodou that can seem almost too intense to the observer are geared towards invoking the lwa to mount. Yet for all this it is not an ‘easy’ experience. Possession is often described as a nearphysical attack, with the horse (when he fights back) being
thrown about quite dramatically, sometimes needing to be held down by initiates until the lwa takes hold. “When the lwa first start to possess you, I feel an electrical current running up my body from my legs. Sometimes I feel the current coming down my arms or at my neck area, usually depending on the lwa. You start to feel a heavy pressure, as if a weight is bearing down on you and you try to fight to get it off...like someone is attacking you. Eventually you give in, because you know you will not win the battle. You feel an intense peace when you give in, right before they knock you out... While you are possessed, you are blacked out. Almost like when you have a dream and don’t remember anything. Sometimes you have ‘a dream’ while you are possessed and it will be as if you were dreaming. I was first possessed at the age of six, and it was a dead ancestor who possessed me...” [xcv]
Possession is what drove me (and many like me) to seek Haitian Vodou after having previous experience with other Western magical traditions. Prior to joining the Sosyete I was initiated into and advanced within a branch of Gardnerian Wicca, where I first studied and experienced the phenomena o trance-channelling, invocation and deity-assumption. I have since come to the conclusion that possession is a very different animal, though each has its purpose in an appropriate ritual setting. During the “white darkness” (as Deren described possession[xcvi]) the lwa perform various feats which demonstrate the validity of their presence, the feats themselves serving in some way to further deepen our understanding o the spirit. These actions tend to be, while not exactly impossible from a rationalist point of view, certainly difficult enough that one would require huge amounts of self-discipline to achieve them consciously; some spirits are known, for
example, for setting themselves on fire, rubbing Scotch Bonnet peppers in their eyes or eating glass, all without any apparent detriment to the horse. Ogou Feray will bend machetes against various points of the horse’s body; I have seen him run at people with the point of the blade at his heart while they held the hilt, demonstrating his strength and fearlessness while also ‘proving’ the possession. The community - and the lwa themselves - are quick to notice ‘forgeries’ when it comes to possession. A mambo is said to have faked being mounted by Feray in order to attract some attention; later he came down for real and punished the mambo by hitting her head so hard against the wall that she bled. There is, however, plenty of room for honest recounts o the experience known in Vodou as “acting clear-eyed”, where the spirits are clearly seen, heard or felt, and the practitioner is able to give accurate messages without losing his own sense o self (this is similar to clairvoyance or oracular work). The experience of initiation – becoming a hounsi kanzo, Houngan or Mambo sou pwen or Houngan or Mambo Asogwe – is directed towards achieving the clear-eyed state, which can be a precursor to full possession. Even the Lave Tet ceremony, which when correctly given is not merely a “washing of the head” as the name implies but is in fact the only initiation most rural Vodouisants will ever have, can lead to deeper states in which the spirits are better able to commune with the individual (this state of mind was at its height for me during the post-ceremonial taboo period). One does not have to undergo any difficult or expensive ceremonies in order to hear the lwa, however; if a situation is important enough, they will always find ways of speaking out. Certain scents and symbols associated with the lwa may appear to us without explanation as we go about our daily lives. I have felt a protective physical presence at my elbow at certain points in life. Dreams of the ocean and a woman with dark hair and green eyes have haunted my husband, who La Siren would like to marry. The Ghede are known for breaking glasses – always the right lens – when they would like to wear
them. I have also had things thrown to the floor as a sign that a spirit wanted them shortly after speaking at their altar, and found new items in mojo bags which had been kept sewn up ever since their creation. I once spent the night in a hotel with some friends; we were going to visit an amusement park. My sleep was heavily disturbed by the voices of two old men in my head, arguing all night over whether I should live and what I ought to do about Vodou if I did – one of them seemed to be the lwa Legba, who opens (and closes) all doors as he so chooses. Driving home the following day, we came within a hair’s breadth of an eightymiles-an-hour head-on collision with a car speeding the wrong way down the motorway, and I took notice. Not quite enough notice, however, as I still imagined my Lave Tet to be a long way off. I was taking a crystal healing course at the time, one o the best in the country, which involved weekly excursions to a heavily rural area where trains had to be hailed like a taxi and the nearest bus route was several miles away. I could not afford to do both the course and Lave Tet. So Legba proceeded to close every door in my path to the course; but it still took several weeks of being flooded out, caught in thunder-storms, re-directed in opposite ways, turned away and stranded in the most bizarre of places for me to finally realise what was going on. Whether we walk with Legba, Ogou, Ghede, members of the Rada or Petwo nations, or as is most common some mixture o the above, the lwa serve in ways similar to a guardian angel or spirit guide - although as we have seen they can be a little more demanding than our traditional understanding of the latter. Practitioners who work with the spirits are quite used to requests for certain foods, drinks or odd quirky items that the lwa just happen to like at the time. While these demands do not always need to be met, some spirits can become quite insistent, and in this sense they might be described as both child and parent, since each side of the symbiotic relationship between lwa and servitor must learn to negotiate: a child should be neither spoiled nor neglected, and compromise works
both ways. Once we have learned to negotiate, however, the resultant friendship can be richly rewarding and as ecstatic as any other relationship with the divine.
Further Reading Deren, Maya; Divine Horsemen: The Living Gods of Haiti ; 1998; McPherson & Co Sosyete Gade nou Leve: www.ezilikonnen.com
OGUN’S DANCE Trance within Candomble
BY ANDREA SALGADO-REYES One of several African Diaspora traditions existent in Brazil, Candomble is a hierarchical religious system with a formal priesthood by initiation, in which magic and ancestor (egungun) worship as well as the worship of nature spirits are dominant practices. There is a deep connection with nature and also with the use of its resources for medicine, ritual, magic and witchcraft. Trance communication is a major form o contact of deities with their worshippers and constitutes an integral part of rituals. It is important to understand that in the Candomble tradition there is a syncretism of African Diaspora religions; o Brazilian native spirituality; and of Catholicism. There are many variants and customs, as there are languages and peoples from whom they derive. Religions which were imported to Brazil with the slave trade from 1549 (slavery was abolished in Brazil in 1888, it was a Portuguese colony until 1822) were quickly declared forbidden by the Catholic Church and their practice was illegal until around 1970. It was only after the repeal of that law that Candomble was able to divest itself from the concealing cloak of Catholic saints and virgins and recover its image as a religion in its own right. Until then, it was common to see a full Catholic altar in temples and homes, beneath its cloth were hidden the cult statues, ritual implements and other paraphernalia. The main African group within Candomble is Yoruba, followed by Bantu, and other South-central and West African nations. The Bahia area received the largest influx of slaves, being the main port city and to this day the most important and historic terreiros continue to exist there, followed by important temples in Rio de Janeiro. The Yoruba pantheon has a male deity as supreme god,
Olorun, then lower echelons of Orixás which number hundreds originally but in present day Brazil 16 main deities are widely worshipped. Then follow the ranks of the lower entities – Exus and Pomba Giras – who are in a sense the ones whom the Orixás command to do their bidding. Exus and Pomba Giras can be approached directly also and have their own rites and devotees. Orixás and their domains
Each one is assigned power over a certain part of nature by Olorun (Main God) and given certain magical powers and attributes. There is a vast body of stories which tell of how each one acquired their powers and how they interact with each other and with humanity. The main Orixás are Obatala (creator of the earth, maker o all bodies), Iemanja (Goddess of the sea and of magic), Ogun (God of War), Xango (God of Justice), Oxun (Goddess of love and sweet waters), Oya (death), Oxossi (God of hunting). Each Orixá has ‘children’ who are born under that Orixá’s protection. Each human being, of whatever race and continent, is deemed to be a child of the Orixá with rights to the protection of his or her ‘parent’ . The Orixá also help with spiritual development and with all aspects of life on earth. One may, for instance, be a child of Oxun, yet if involved in a court case will request help from Xango by making offerings and prayers as well as having a priest or priestess of the tradition carry out magical procedures to ensure a favourable outcome. For those who are found to have a vocation or calling to the priesthood, before undergoing initiation oracles are used to ascertain which Orixá should take the head of the person. A wrong attribution or a rite conducted improperly can result in severe illness, madness or death, as the energies which enter the novice may be in deep disharmony with the essence of that soul, or the Orixá who should have been honoured with the service of that new devotee or priest becomes angered and takes revenge. The Orixá are jealous of their territory, their ritual property and their prestige. When all the proper respects are paid, the whole system works in harmony and for the
benefit of humans and all of creation. Preparation for trance states
When they take place in a properly conducted ritual congregation (Terreiro) the preparations for possession of the body by Orixas and other beings of the Candomble tradition are intricate. When one visits a terreiro for the first time, and the terreiro is very traditional, one is requested to dress entirely in white. Many people will wear different colours there, but each for a reason, usually the colours attributed to their patron deity or –in some instances- to the lower entities which work with someone (Exus or Pomba Giras, caboclos, Yuremas and such). I use the term lower to mean not deities, rather their servants and also native spirits and nature spirits (elementals). There are differing levels of trance and also different types of people to who trance may occur. The priesthood usually only receive the entities to which they are consecrated at initiation. Initiates of the tradition who are not priests or who have not yet reached the final stage of their initiation may be possessed by other entities. Finally, persons present who are not filhos dos Orixás (children of the Orixá, the lay person’s level of entry into the tradition, although technically speaking all humans are children of the Orixas, since Obatala is the maker of all and we each have a mother and a father Orisha from birth) at all may also be possessed upon occasion and when that occurs it is taken to signify an interest on the part of the possessing entity in claiming the person’s “head” i.e. expressing that the deity is the patron or sponsor of the person should they enter the religion by seeking to become a filho de Orixá. In terreiros or more informal groupings and rites it is also possible for outside entities to infiltrate the gathering and to possess at random, causing negative effects upon the individual and also the proceedings, disruptive spirits or malicious entities may even be sent by enemies with this intention. The whole process of preparation with ritual cleansing, offerings made to appease certain entities, feed and strengthen the defenders of the terreiro, pontos dos Orixás (drum beats) to invoke certain entities and Orixá, are necessary
preambles for successful trance work. There are also attending priests for those possessed, whose care ranges from taking persons from the circle as they begin to manifest to clothing them in the costumes appropriate to the entity which manifests, to making entities withdraw Trance messages:
Trance is induced through listening and dancing to the ceremonial drums, or through calling upon the God/dess or entity by name, having suitable offerings which traditionally correspond to the entity chosen. Messages range from the personal, to transmitting teachings or messages for whole terreiros. Below is one given for you the reader, on my request to Ogun to explain to you who He is and how He comes. Trance was induced via listening to a drum player in front of a simple altar to Ogun and explaining the need and purpose for requesting His presence. This way of experiencing and expressing a connection with an Orixá is in fact fairly easy to achieve for those with some degree of mediumistic or channelling skill. As with all links, constancy is key in making initial contact and it should be known that approaching a middle range Orixá is a more manageable experience than attempting to call upon Obatala; or calling Exus or Pomba Giras who may well come at first call if suitable offerings are made but may prove significantly unwilling to leave and cause chaos if the relationship is not maintained. Calling Ogun: “The voice of the drum is everything, it enchants and brings in the deity, it calls out with its own magical voice to the other kingdom where the orixa dwells and makes him want to come down to earth among his children, i draws him in to the right place and makes him see that he is waited for, longed for, that all is ready to receive him and he descends, chooses the strongest, the bravest, the mot gorgeously attired, for that one is fit above all others to receive him. Ogun mounts his horse, his sacrificial priest and makes the earth thunder with his frantic dance, with his divine will which makes the ground shake. Ogun makes the ground shake with his ower, his strength, his manhood is unbroken and always ready
or service, for love, for the joy of being alive. The dance is renetic for the orixa knows his priest’s energy is finite, he gives him life, extended life to dance, to play the drums, to give give give, to radiate Ogun’s strength to the world, to make the world safe and make the men true and righteous for the orixa sees beauty in the world when all within it are ready for their part in creation, for their part in being the children of the orixas. The drum slows at last and the orixa knows his time to dismount his steed has come, he doesn’t want to go, he wants to linger among the daughters of the orixas for the women are comely and proud, filled with joy at his presence and he wishes to enjoy their beauty but he knows those rites are long gone and he goes with a steady step, ascending, ascending to the heavens once more, to the place where the hunt is always plentiful, where the streams are clean and the prey is fierce and the hunting is good, for the orixa knows his time upon earth ever will be brief and then his own domain awaits him, how he loves his children, how he loves his children and their laughter, thei weeping, their fears and their joy, they live as brief but strong lames and then they burn out in the night and he sees them no more … where do they go, his children? Only Obatala knows where he takes them , they only belong to Ogun in the middle o life …. The orixa brandishes his sword over their heads, warning enemies of his vengeance should they dare touch his chosen… then and only then he leaves finally, looking backwards in happiness at their feast on the day of warriors.” You will note that “priest” is mentioned throughout
although a priestess did the calling and the channelling. This is typical of some Orixá, they will only accept or acknowledge persons of one gender in particular and if those of the opposite gender are taken, they will behave temporarily with all the physical expressions of the gender of the Orixá, not of the person. Only people fulfilling certain characteristics may successfully call upon certain Orixá of the opposite gender. For example, a lesbian priestess may call upon Ogum to possess her if she is ready to accept and process the amount of virile male energy that He will place in her. A gay priest may be a
successful channel for a Pomba Gira, if he be feminine and properly attired. Any person may make offerings and ask for help from these entities but that is totally different to being taken by them. Divination and trance:
During trance, entities in a ceremony often approach those attending, particularly if they are “children” of that Orixá. They ask questions and also give information about matters which concern the person’s well being, often warning of approaching ill health and what to do to avoid it, of impending problems and give the outcome of present conflicts and worries. It is a major reason for lay persons to attend such ceremonies, as the possessed initiates are known for the accuracy of their oracles and also for their power to cleanse of harm while they are in trance. It is a very different type of oracle to that of the shell readings made by priests and priestesses outside the ceremonies. The difference is that during ceremonies, the entities are alive inside the bodies of the possessed, inside their minds. The experience is of direct contact with the immanence of the deities, with their strength and wisdom. For the initiates, Gods come down from heaven to share with the faithful their experience of mortal life, thereby making this realm of human experience more magical, more spiritual, in the end more bearable. A personal experience of possession trance:
I have obtained a recording of a ponto de macumba (invoking drumming) to invoke my patron Orixa (Santo de cabeca), Ogun the warrior. I have never heard the drums at a terreiro but I have some experience of the effect of African ceremonial drumming from listening to them while travelling in Africa, so I am mindful of the strong impact on me. I prepare as carefully as I am able, considering I am in London, surrounded by noise and in close proximity with other people rather than in a special enclosure duly purified and attuned to the Orixas. It is not my first experience of receiving entities within me, but it is the first time I seek to deliberately give up control of my body, something I have scrupulously avoided in the training I
received for mediumship in a spiritualist context. I prepare a ritual bath of rosemary and sea salt, a simple decoction in simmering water. It is one of many purification baths which are used to attune with Ogun. On an altar dressed in red, his colour in the strand of the tradition I follow, I have set a red candle, offerings including beer, and my guia (ritual necklace linking me with Ogun). I light the candle, incense also of rosemary, and I make the offerings. I present the herbal preparation for consecration. In the bathroom I have placed a red candle and a glass o water by the bathtub. I have scrubbed the bathroom thoroughly, then showered before preparing the altar. Cleanliness is vitally important in Orixa rites as it is believed that dirt gives lower entities matter with which to manifest. Every part of ritual preparation is geared to raising the vibrational level of the worshipper and also their environment until both are apt recipients of the energy of the orixa being called. I have set aside a long white cotton gown which is new. I light the candle, pray to Ogun to protect and purify me and attune myself to his energy by visualizing how he is usually depicted: a strong, tall African male in the prime of his life, in traditional African clothing and holding a long spear with a metal tip. When I feel his energy, I enter the bathtub and immerse myself to the neck. I remain there for 20 minutes, until the water is tepid. I do not immerse my head, as this “banho” (herbal bath preparation) is deemed too strong and can dislodge energy which is needed to make the link with the deity. I leave the bathtub, wash it out with plenty of running water and I dry myself without rinsing. I put on the gown. I have put the sound system in the bedroom, thinking that I may fall during the trance, and it is the softest option in that case. I am aware that usually one has attendants to take care of the body while in trance. I had already listened to some o the pontos de macumba I have obtained, to check for sound quality and any energies I do not choose for myself. The Ogun one I have not heard, not wishing to detract from the experience I am about to have. I have excluded from the
playing list pontos for Exus, to avoid potential chaotic energy. I begin by listening to a ponto for Iemanja, my female patron Orixa. I ask for her permission and her protection. I lay aside the guia for her –which I wear continuously by day at this point in my life- and place the guia for Ogun around my neck. It is a guia brought for me from Brazil by a Candomble devotee, a priest in training who is devoted to Ogun. It has been attuned by using the correct purification herbs and then it was bathed in herbal washes energised with Ogun’s energy. I requested that the animal sacrifice required to bless the guia with its blood not be done. The guia was blessed verbally by the priest instead. I am aware it is not as powerful as it could be, yet it is the most I am ready to wear at this time. I stand near the bed and put on the ponto for Ogun. I have programmed the sound system to play it continuously seven times, a sacred number for the Orixas and correspondent to a male Orixa. I clap three times and bow three times, each time saluting Ogun. (The right number for a male Orixa, except for Obatala, who must be greeted formally nine times). I make full bows but do not prostrate myself on my left hand side, which is a formal greeting for a female devotee). I stand and wait. The volume is high. The drumming quickly sounds louder still, a faster beat. There is singing, greeting the arrival of Ogun, praising him as father and warrior. Then a request that he descend among his people to bring joy with his presence. I notice that my vision is becoming blurred, my limbs heavier. There is a presence behind me, familiar and protective. It comes closer, overshadowing me. I feel taller suddenly and stronger, my shoulders feel broad and my body elongates. I feel the entity enter, through the top of the head. Then my arms begin to move, slowly and heavily, as if they belong to someone else. My mind struggles to regain control of my body and manages to do so, breaking the depth of the trance. I check the rhythm of my heart and my breathing, both are normal. In fact, my breathing is slower and deeper. I instruct my mind to let go, I mentally place myself beside my body, with the instruction to re-enter when the music ends. Quickly now, I feel my body
begin to move. It dances slow steps, totally different to the usual dancing I do. Then I am seeing myself from outside, moving in an intricate dance with little upper torso movement and with intricate steps which become much faster. I dance and dance, until I think I must surely fall as the body moves faster and faster. I marvel since I have a disability which makes dancing difficult, stiff and painful. I feel hazy. I alternate between feeling partly in my body and outside it at the same time. Within the body, I feel enormously strong and alive. I feel physically much larger and I feel energy roaring through me, filling me as if I were a container with a torrent of water being poured into it. Then all conscious thought is gone, I lose mysel in the music. When I become aware of myself once more, I am lying on the bed on my back. I am sweaty and breathing fast. My body is very hot, my face burning. The music has stopped. I sit up and look around, everything is in its place. I don’t think I have fallen. I check the clock. Over 40 minutes have passed. The sound track was about 24 minutes long. I stand carefully, expecting my body to be very painful. There is no pain, I walk around and I drink a glass of water. I check the candle on the altar. I make sure I am well grounded, but there is no need, my mind is well awake and aware of its environment. I make a prayer of thanks and write down the experience in my journal. I become aware of being extremely hungry and thirsty. Next day, still no pain. For days afterwards, an unusual amount of physical energy and no pain in my body, which usually suffers from arthritis. Ogun is present every day for part of the day, but there is no attempt to re-enter me. The experience seems to have worked well.
SEEING THE TRUTH Transfiguration and Trance
BY KAY GILLARD When I was asked to contribute to this book, I was not sure at first what exactly I should write about, or if I was experienced enough to write about anything! But it’s true that I am fascinated by the oracular experience, witnessing deity speak through a priest or priestess, and in particular being that priestess. I wondered if my own experience was unique or strong enough to write about, a silly question really, since everyone’s experience is unique and powerful. In wondering all of this I got to thinking about where my own experience came from, how I experienced giving an oracle, and how I had even come to be in a position to do this work. The thing about oracular work that always sticks in my mind and often surprises me is how physical the experience is. To those who have never had such experiences and do not believe in them, I think that this type of work may appear ‘fluffy’ or just made up. How do you know that they are not just speaking their own words? Who is to say there is someone or something else speaking through them? For me, it is the physical experience o the oracle that shows how powerful and true the experience is – whether I am giving an oracle myself, or looking at another priestess or priest as they do. When I have watched oracles being delivered I have witnessed changes to the people concerned. Sometimes the change can be heard, as the voice drops down an octave or so, and the voice I hear is very different to the voice of the person I know. One very feminine and lovely high priestess that I know speaks always in a ladylike way, but she can deliver some deep and booming oracles at times! I am certain that the voice used in oracles is sometimes so low that she could barely recreate it if she tried. Not unlike a high priest I know, who as he began to give an oracle from Gwyn up Nudd let out a deep and terrifying
growl that did not even sound human! My own voice sometimes changes when I am giving an oracle, either in pitch, accent or both. Sometimes the changes that I witness I can actually see. Often this is quite subtle; as the deity is drawn down I can see the energy travel from above into the oracle, and the energy field or aura of that person becomes completely different. For one thing it is larger, but I also notice that it moves throughout the message. Often this energy is concentrated on the face and mouth, and for me this is often the first place where I can see the change. The face is obscured or hard to focus on, sometimes energy flows out from the mouth as the priestess speaks. The energy grows, moves, changes colour – it is no longer the energy of the priestess, it is something different entirely. Sometimes this change is not subtle or hard to focus on. Sometimes the change in the energy is so clearly apparent that it manifests as a physical change. I have looked into the faces of priestesses I know well and seen a different countenance looking back out at me. I have watched them sit in a trance state and seen the goddess they will be speaking for sit present in them, long before we have said the invocation and asked to hear them speak. (As awesome as this can sometimes be to look at, on these occasions my foremost thought is, ‘I hope she doesn’t speak before we get to that part of the ritual!’ ) On one o these occasions I have seen a goddess respond to the work we have done in a ritual, work that was particularly pleasing to her. Although the oracle remained silent, I looked across and saw an enormous, eerie and inhuman smile split across her face, and the energy seemed to change. At that point, the priestess later confirmed to me, the charge that she had been told to deliver actually changed because the goddess was pleased with us. For myself, the most powerful physical experience I have felt while giving an oracle was in a private ritual with a friend and magical partner in honour of the goddess Nemain. I think we both felt that the ritual was powerful, and that the oracle
was going to be a very strong experience, so I was sat down as the goddess was invoked into me. As I felt the energy of Nemain come down upon me, I felt like the presence was too much to be contained in my body. I remember lowering my head to look down at myself, and realising that I was right about that. The presence of Nemain was so strong and so huge that I found myself looking at an enormous body, I just physically took up so much space. Most astonishing were my hands, which were at least twice as big as my real hands. I remember, in the part of myself that was still conscious of being me, being awestruck by the enormity of my hands! At one point in the oracle, I had to hold my hands up as I gave a particular message. I knew that I needed to move my hands, that it was essential to communicating Nemain’s message in full, but lifting them was incredibly difficult for me. They were so large and felt extremely heavy. After the ritual, I was told that my face had changed, and that I was not alone in noticing the change in the rest o my body. It really validated my own experience to hear my friend say, ‘my god, your hands! They were enormous! How did you lift them?’ She too is a very sensitive psychic, and I was intrigued that she had seen all of the changes in my body that I could feel and see during the oracle. It is this physicality that really fascinates me about this work, so I have been wondering to myself – where does this come from? I know that not all oracles are necessarily experienced in this way, so is it something to do with the God or Goddess being called upon? Or is it more to do with the priest or priestess delivering their words, or even the perception of those present in the circle? I am intrigued by the idea that shape shifting or transfiguration seen in one who is giving an oracle is based on an inherent ability in that person, or in those who are watching as the message is spoken. It was this idea that called me back to thinking of my own path to get here, and whether my own experience in this respect is due to training or natural ability. I am Wiccan, and so often have I been in circle while oracles are received, or (much less often!) I have been the
priestess the Goddess speaks through, that I have always tended to think that these experiences began with my Wiccan training. But strictly speaking this is not true. My background is in psychic work, which came about long before I found Wicca. As with so many psychics that I have met over the years, this gift runs in the family. When I thought about my experience of giving oracles, I began to think about this link with psychic ability and wondered about the connection. My mum trained in the Spiritualist church for a number of years (before leaving because she is a little too ‘witchy’ for their tastes!) and she is an excellent psychic. Before her my greatgrandmother, who died when I was nine, and a host of other female relatives would get together for psychic circles in their homes (although I understand that there was also some involvement in the Spiritualist church too). In researching for this article I learned, to my great surprise, that my own grandmother never did train with the church. Before this I was convinced that she had, but I have learned that she may not even believe in psychic training. It is her opinion that if you are a natural psychic you do not need training, in fact there is a possibility that training it could lead you into the wrong direction. Likewise, if you need to be trained to be psychic, you are not psychic – or, as she so beautifully put it, ‘you can’ educate pork’ ! Whether I agree with all of her sentiments or not, I have a very strong suspicion that she may be the most gifted psychic of all my family. It was interesting to go over personal experiences o psychism and mediumship with my mum, and really fascinating to discuss it with my Nan who I have never had such in depth conversations with about spiritual experience before. While I learnt quite a bit about my own ‘spiritual heritage’ , something that stood out for me here was the physical experiences that they have either felt in themselves or witnessed in others. What really surprised me was that none of the strongest experiences, which I will relate here, were in anyway connected to a formal oracle or deliberate trance possession; they just sort of ‘happened’ .
I once had an unpleasant psychic experience, where a ‘spirit’ or someone’s energy was trying to force its way into my body through the crown of my head. I was sleeping at the time, and this sensation consumed my dream until I woke up to find that it was actually happening. It was not all that long ago, and I was able to banish the energy quickly and very effectively, although I realised that something was definitely not right with me for something like this to break through my protection. I had left myself open in my sleep, something that can be uncomfortable, annoying and even dangerous for a psychic. I now know that there is a very physical sensation when I am giving an oracle, I can feel the energy of the deity entering my physical body. This was more forceful, because whatever the energy was had come unbidden. My mum had an equally unpleasant experience many years ago, one which she was fully awake for. She was at the house of a family friend and this friend asked her for some advice. Her son had become frightened in his bedroom, and said that he could feel something in there. She too had felt a strange presence in the room, and asked my mum to go to the room to see if she could pick up on anything. Once in the room my mum sat down on the bed and suddenly the energy or spirit in the room had pushed its way into her physical body and tried to speak through her. Like me, she had unwittingly left hersel open to be used in this way. Strange sounds came from her mouth as whatever it was tried to speak, she struggled for breath, and was eventually able to force the presence out, regaining control of herself. Both of us felt ill after our respective ‘invasions’ (I had a cracking headache) and I understand that my mum’s friend was fairly terrified by what she saw! The really interesting experiences I learnt from my family were stories I had never heard before and they actually related to what they had seen rather than felt themselves. Many years ago, quite early on in a disastrous marriage to a man who was quite cruel, my grandmother saw something she has never forgotten. They were arguing and as my grandfather was
speaking his face began to change. As she watched, his face grew into something not quite human. It was large, with huge swollen lips and she describes it as demonic. To use her words, she felt that she was looking at the devil, that her husband’s face had shape shifted into that of the devil in front of her eyes. The face remained for what felt like a long time but was probably less than a minute, certainly it was long enough for her to get a good long look. She took this experience as a warning from spirit that she needed to take care and get away from this man, and that she was in real danger. What I found truly fascinating was that many years later, my own mother had an almost identical experience. She too married unwisely, to a man prone to great and unpredictable rages. One day, during an argument with my father, his face grew and changed in front of her. The way she described the incident to me was almost identical to her mother’s experience. She described the face as not human, but monstrous, and thinks that it remained clearly in this monstrous form for at least 30 seconds. Again, she felt that this should be viewed as a warning. After this happened, she confided in her mother what she had seen, and that was the first time she heard of my grandmother’s same experience so many years before. I asked both women what they thought they saw. When I watch the face of a priestess delivering an oracle change into something else, I believe that I am seeing a representation o the goddess she is channelling. So when my mum and grandmother saw these changes in their respective husbands, what did they believe they were seeing? A possession, perhaps? Actually, they both believe that what they were being shown was simply this: the truth. In order to protect them from harm, they both believe they were shown by spirit the truth of the situation, the true nature of their husbands. It’s a damning indictment of the men involved, to be sure! I think a more optimistic view may be that they were being shown the truth o the energy of those men at those times in their lives (I have no doubts whatever that the danger was real, but I do not believe either men are demonic!) and that this energy was given
physical form that could be seen by these naturally psychic women. I think that is where the experience of the psychics of my family before me and my own experience meet. When I watch physical changes occur in a priestess speaking the words of the goddess, I believe that what I am seeing is the truth, a physical manifestation of the true energy of the goddess that we called upon to speak to us. When I look down at my own body as it acts as a vessel for the goddess, and I see that it is not the same body it was before the goddess was invoked, again I see the truth. The energy of a deity is powerful, and it changes the people the gods speak through, showing the strength of their presence and energy to those who are able to see it.
THE REPUBLIC OF HEAVEN ON EARTH Trance, Gender and Choices
BY YVONNE ABURROW I sometimes wonder if the difference between religion and spirituality simply comes down to this: religion is for the benefit of the divine (however They are conceived of), and spirituality is for the benefit of people (both collectively and individually). Recently, I have frequently come across the view that the Pagan path is all about being chosen by an individual deity, in order to serve them. If one was to substitute the word “Jesus” for the phrase “individual deity” in that sentence, what makes it different from something you would find in evangelical Christianity? I honestly couldn’t say. So, my Pagan path is not about being “chosen” by a specific deity. It’s about choosing which deities, energies, identities and entities I want to work with in order to make the world a better place for all its inhabitants. Pagan spirituality is very much about the here and now, which is why I like the phrase “the republic of heaven” (coined by the Leveller, Gerard Winstanley, and used by Philip Pullman). I am not going to be the slave of another entity, divine or otherwise – my concern is for the general good. I also think that Taoist and ecological ideas of being in harmony with nature are important. They may not have been part of ancient pagan traditions, but they certainly do form an important strand of the contemporary Pagan revival. I think this colours my attitude to invocation and trance work. I am not a passive partner in the process of Drawing down the Moon ; I am a lover calling to the Beloved. The practice of invocation is not about acquiring the traits or powers of a deity, but about bringing their energy into the world for the benefit of all. I believe that the real purpose of the spiritual journey in any tradition is to raise one’s
consciousness for the benefit of all beings (including oneself), and to bring more spirit into matter. It is connecting with the source in the depths of the psyche, and bringing that connection into consciousness. What better way to do this than by invocation? Alternatively, if you prefer to see invocation as the process of bringing unconscious material into the conscious mind (rather than as benevolent spirit possession), the same reasoning applies – Jung described this process and said it was necessary to bring archetypes into consciousness in order to prevent unconscious material from dominating the conscious mind.[xcvii] Pierre Teilhard de Chardin described the ultimate goal o life as tending towards the Omega Point (the maximum level o complexity and consciousness towards which the universe seems to be evolving); he envisaged this in a Christian context, but Oberon Zell articulated the Gaea thesis in the magazine Green Egg in 1970, which was in part based on de Chardin’s ideas, though the unifying consciousness was the immanent Gaea rather than the transcendent Christ.[xcviii] So, my personal Pagan spirituality is about raising consciousness and connecting with nature, and within that, invocation is an important way of connecting with the Divine which is imminent in nature, and which I see as being both one energy and many identities. According to the Hindus, there are three phases to invocation; love, longing and fulfilment. These phases are beautifully expressed in the classical rāga form of Hindu music. First you feel the love for the deity; then you yearn for them and call them, and at last they arrive. I find that making a personal connection with deities in this way is a really powerful experience. There are two ways of invoking deities; as a specific deity with specific name and attributes; or uttering a general call and seeing what turns up. Both have their pros and cons: the former leaves little opening for serendipity, but gets very
specific results; the latter could result in nothing happening, or an experience that is more than the recipient can handle, but can also bring interesting insights – and give you what you need instead of merely what you want. I experience different intensities or levels of trance in the practice of invocation. There is the level where I am in contact with divine energy, a relatively impersonal energy which can be used for consecration. I perceive this energy as warm golden light, or cool silver light in the rite of Drawing Down the Moon. Then there is the level where the deity is present somewhere behind me, and I am getting a feeling of her, but no specific words; at this level I am interpreting her rather than embodying her. I can sometimes dimly see her behind me in my mind’s eye. The next level is where the deity descends into me, often from the top of my head, descending into my body; she is then co-present with me, and speaking through me. Sometimes I get physical sensations associated with this level. The deepest level (one that I have rarely experienced) is where the deity completely takes over, as apparently happens in Voudon. This can be accompanied by physical shaking, and often the invoked-upon person does not remember what was said or what happened during the trance. It is also possible (but slightly more difficult) to invoke deities on yourself. This can be very helpful as part of a meditative practice. However, it is advisable to be careful to make sure that you are fully returned to yourself after the process. I have had gods as well as goddesses invoked on me, and sometimes get a different body-image as a result; it’s very odd having antlers on your head. I don’t feel that the gender of the deity has to be the same as the gender of the invoked person; we can learn a lot by performing different gender identities from time to time. Gender is a fluid and many-coloured phenomenon, and people should play with it more. Much o the Pagan scene is rather fixated on a somewhat conventional view of gender, which disappoints me. I think it’s important to
honour both genders in the Divine, but we should not assume that this means that they are a heterosexual couple, or that this has any implications for how our sexuality should be. Once the invoked deity has arrived, she should be allowed to speak (or not) as she chooses. I dislike the practice o reciting a “Charge” instead of allowing the deity (or archetype) to speak. In the practice of Wicca, I generally feel that invocation is a practice best reserved for initiates, since initiation is a threshold or a preparation for deeper work; and invocation is not something to be undertaken lightly. A good initiation will put the practitioner in touch with the gods and goddesses, the “current” of the tradition, the group mind of the coven, and their own unconscious material (though not necessarily all at the same time). It is being grounded in the techniques and traditions of Wicca that allows invocation to be practised safely. It is also important to make sure that the invoked-upon person has returned to something like normal consciousness after the deity has receded. The quickest way to do this is by eating food, but placing hands on their shoulders and pressing down is also helpful. You can check that their usual personality is present by looking into their eyes. Whatever it is that is really going on during invocation, I think it is a helpful practice, as it allows us to gain insight into the world of the unseen, the unconscious, the unmanifest, and bring its energies into the physical world. It really does not matter if deities have an objective external existence or not, as long as the practice itself is psychologically and spiritually beneficial.
DREAMING WITH THE GODS Priestess of the Lucid Dream
BY CONNIA SILVER Sacred Story Time Priestess Deiphobe steadies herself by concentrating on he eet until the ground stabilizes and the surroundings stop whirling around her. When all is still and seemingly solid, she looks up and discovers that she succeeded at arriving at the intended destination. It is a mirror-image of the golden temple that her physical body is currently laying, in deep sleep. Quietly but with power, she speaks the name of the petitioner who asked for her help earlier that day, and reaches out to him with her mind. After a moment, the person appears next to her, shimmering slightly in and out of focus until she takes his hand, helping him to settle fully into his dream-form. Together, they silently climb the many steps to the foot of a large statue of the Goddess who oversees the temple. In the physical world where they are now sleeping, this sculpture is cold, white marble. But here on the dream plane, the Goddess figure radiates a warm, etheric glow and looks down upon them with a loving expression and knowing eyes. Awed, the petitioner sinks to his knees, while the Priestess nods her head in honour of the Goddess she serves. She holds her arms out on either side of her in greeting, palms open. She addresses her Lady and asks a simple question. After listening closely to the Goddess’ reply, she gives her sincere thanks and directs the man back down the steps. About halfway down, his image gradually fades away. When this occurs, Deiphobe crosses her arms across her chest, closes her eyes and falls backwards saying the word “remember.” She immediately awakens with full recall of the communication that just took lace. It is early dawn, and after a moment of reflection and centring, she rises to tend to her temple duties until it is time to wake the man and share with him the information provided by
the Goddess. Temple Dreaming
Throughout the ages, mankind has considered their dreams to be mysterious messages from the Divine. For our ancestors, dreams were an effective means to communicate with their Gods; to petition their aid and know their will. Many cultures had specific dream Deities and a corresponding Priesthood adept in dream interpretation. Since Divine guidance was most often sought in sacred places of worship, many temples were designed with a special area where a petitioner could sleep overnight and incubate a dream according to a particular need, such as healing. These temples could be found throughout Mesopotamia, Egypt, Greece, Rome and China. Reveal thyself to me and let me behold a favourable dream. May the dream that I dream be favourable; may the dream that I dream be true. May Makhir, the goddess of dream, stand at my head, let me enter the temple of the gods and the house of life. [xcix]
As indicated in the quote above, in Mesopotamia it was commonly accepted that the presence of the God/dess was at the head of the dreamer, overseeing the dreaming process. In Sumeria, the priesthood designated as the ensi interpreted dreams, but the Gods themselves were also sought out to illuminate the significance behind dream imagery. One they went to was the fertile Goddess Nanshe, “Interpreter of Dream,” in order to bring clarity to their nightly visions and to portend the future. And it was not only ordinary mortals who asked the Divine Beings for assistance – the Gods also consulted each other about their own dreams. In this passage of The Dream o Dumuzi , he calls upon his sister, the Goddess Geshtinanna: Bring...bring her...bring my sister. Bring my Geshtinanna, my little sister,
My tablet-knowing scribe, My singer who knows many songs, My sister who knows the meaning of words, My wise woman who knows the meaning of dreams. I must speak to her. I must tell her my dream. [c]
The Assyrians believed that it was only while sleeping that people could successfully connect with the Gods, and many dreams were considered to be directed by them. In nearby Babylon, specific members of the priesthood, called shabru, were called upon to dream for the petitioner. After the dream was received, another member of the clergy (the baru) was responsible for the actual interpretation. [ci] His words were known as the tertu: the “oracle of the god.” [cii] In Egypt it was a common occurrence for the Gods to visit their followers in dreams. The Egyptians classified dreams as being sent by their Deities in three distinct ways: 1) requests to perform an act of faith, 2) prophetic and revelatory dreams, and 3) informative dreams.[ciii] The earliest Egyptian temples employed dream attendants to assist in understanding their messages and had the first known writings of dream symbols and their meanings. The temples of Isis at Philae, Serapis at Alexandria, Thoth at Hermopolis and Imhotep at Memphis, were but a few of the numerous temples that specialized in dream incubation. The early Greeks were greatly influenced by both Mesopotamian and Egyptian dream practices. Dreams fell into two categories: oracles from the Gods, and, oracles from an individual’s soul.[civ] Dreams attained during temple sleep were even more respected and the procedures undertaken before incubating a dream were both complex and thorough. One of the earliest known dream diaries was written by the Greek Aristides. Many of his entries describe the appearance of Asclepius, God of medicine and healing, and his subsequent
directions regarding treatments. The Romans also found great value in dreams, and as they were famous for incorporating Deities and knowledge from many other cultures, had an extensive range of Gods and temples devoted to them. Dream temples for Aesculapius (Latin for Asclepius) were widespread and many were located near a source of water. Temples to the Goddess Isis were also quite popular and she bestowed both healing and oracular dreams, as did the God Serapis, who often had a temple next to hers. Dream incubation was also held in high esteem in China. The Chinese believed that the spiritual soul (hun) travelled at night and visited with spirits and other souls, both living and dead. Dreams were the morning’s memories of those encounters. Once a dream was received, the person would then employ divination to establish what type of dream it was. If the dream was determined to be sent by the Gods, it was then closely examined for its meaning. Political officials were sometimes required to sleep in dream temples in order to attain wisdom.[cv] Dream Yoga & Lucid Dreaming “And there are two states for [a] person: the one here in this world, the other in the other world, and as a third an intermediate state, the state of sleep. When in that intermediate state, he sees both those states together . . . and when he falls asleep, then after having taken away with him the material from the whole world, destroying and building it up again, he sleeps (dreams) by his own [cvi] light.”
The above passage is from the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad , one of the oldest known Hindu scriptures. This text goes on to describe dreams in two different manners. The first explains that the objects in a dream are created by the dreamer himself. The second states that the soul of the dreamer wanders in actual locations and may interact with enlightened
beings who bestow teachings and initiations. Many Eastern traditions developed dreaming techniques for the purpose o attaining further knowledge and enlightenment. Dream Yoga (Milam) is a collection of advanced tantric practices of the Yoga Nidra (yogic sleep), which combines yoga, dreaming and sleep. Through this, the practitioner seeks to attain a state of consciousness in which communion is possible with Divine Universal energy. In some traditions this is called the “Yoga of Clear Light.” Lucid dreaming is one of the teachings within the Yoga Nidra, and is referred to as conscious deep sleep. Simply stated, lucid dreaming is when someone knows that they are dreaming; while still in the dream itself. Lucidity is not the primary goal of Dream Yoga, but arises spontaneously as a result of its practice. Lucid dreaming can found as a concept in many of the early Himalayan texts. The ancient preBuddhist tradition of Bön maintains that their practice o conscious awareness while dreaming dates back 18,000 years. [cvii] Dream Communion with the Gods
Through our research, we know that many of the early temples had members of the Priesthood who could incubate a dream for someone else, but little is known about how this actually occurred. How would the Priestess discern if a certain dream pertained to the petitioner, or herself? How would she be certain the dream was relevant to the issue at hand, or if it was simply her own subconscious reflection? Practice of dream lucidity may have been one answer. If a Priestess could attain consciousness during the dream itself, it could then be guided. The Deities of the temple could be met with in the dream state, and questions directed with accuracy, rather than leaving the entire process to chance. The success of remembering the dream upon waking would also be greatly increased, since lucid dreams are much more vivid and the dreamer often discovers the ability to awaken whenever they wish. With trade routes between East and West, and the subsequent sharing of spiritual knowledge, it is feasible that
the technique of lucid dreaming was learned and utilized by many ancient cultures. This practice may have been discovered by chance as well: temple initiates, already adept in the practice of directing their consciousness through meditation and trance, would have naturally considered the dream state as another stage of awareness to explore. We do not know which, if any, dream temples utilized lucid dreaming as a method to communicate with the Gods, and may never find out. So many manuscripts and books have been lost throughout time and some mysteries were only taught through the spoken word, with great secrecy surrounding them. We do know that lucid dreaming was referred to in very early Eastern texts and in 350 BCE the Greek philosopher, Aristotle, wrote: “for often when one is asleep there is something in consciousness which declares that what presents itself is but dream.” [cviii]
Whether or not our ancestors employed lucid dreaming as a method to commune with the Gods, we can still develop the practice today. Priestess of the Waking Dream
Priestesses have always walked in the liminal realms: ephemeral pauses between day and night, life and death, waking and sleeping, past and future, conscious and unconscious. An effective Priestess requires the type o experience that comes with knowing herself on a multitude o levels. She also needs the ability to maintain a working awareness regardless of the state of consciousness she is in: such as during trance, ritual, or in deep meditation. A Priestess of the waking dream balances between the worlds: mentally checking-in with her physical body from time to time, while still interacting in the dream around her. As the experience unfolds, she stays mindful of any thoughts arising from her own subconscious stream of consciousness, and how they may be affecting the ever-changing dream landscape. Being able to focus on many planes of existence at once, while keeping an overall objective in mind, is crucial. If you have a strong relationship with at least one Deity
and a natural talent for dreamwork, then lucid dreaming may be the next step to cultivate. Although dream lucidity is not necessary to interact with and receive information from the Gods, it has distinct advantages. Being conscious while dreaming allows you a clearer awareness of the dream process while it is occurring, and the ability to influence it whenever necessary. The environment of a lucid dream is more vibrantly clear than a regular dream - and can be more remarkable than is possible in the physical world as well. Colours are brighter; imagery more detailed; sensations and emotions felt more deeply; and music more rich and beautiful. Being able to consciously commune with your own personal God or Goddess in this realm is an incomparable experience. There are many good books on learning how to lucid dream, one of the most popular being a small paperback entitled Exploring the World of Lucid Dreaming by dream researcher, Stephen Laberge. After the basics are achieved, you will want to fine tune them by establishing a working dream environment for yourself. One way to do this is to create a personal dream temple that you can reliably materialize in a lucid dream. This does not have to take the form of a temple itself, but should be a visualization in which you can easily call up and feel comfortable interacting. It will be helpful to become familiar with this inner space by imagining it often during meditation, before attempting to establish it in a lucid dream. Imagery in meditation is more easily maintained, as it is not quite as prone to the influences of every passing thought, subconscious idea, or astral tide; as in the dream-state. When you are proficient at building and holding this space in your mind, then try and create it in the same manner when you find yourself in a lucid dream. This may take some time, as all aspects of lucid dreaming require practice. There are many different factors which can influence success: your own emotional and physical condition, environmental factors such as the temperature of the room and the sounds within it, and other affects such as the phase of the moon, the season, etc. You will also find that the dream realm itself has an ebb and
flow; there are times when negotiating within it will be easier than others. One of the most difficult aspects is to actually maintain lucidity once you have achieved it. The pull to fall back into the dreaming-mind and interact as if the dream were real can be very strong. Often the dream-self takes over, but don’t become discouraged if this happens; as you will always learn and benefit from each experience. Have patience with yourself and consider it an adventure to discover how the process works best for you. Once you are comfortable interacting in your dream temple, your God/dess will often spontaneously manifest, but i She does not, you may invite Her to visit. Before sleep, you may wish to perform some of the same rituals that the petitioners of ancient times did before incubating a dream: take a purifying bath, meditate, place a statue of the God/dess you wish to connect with by your bed, write down your request on a piece of paper, go to sleep in a certain position, etc. Anything that sets that night apart from the rest will help to convey to your subconscious self that you are preparing for communion with the Gods. No one can say if and when the God/dess will appear in a lucid (or regular) dream, or how communication with Her will take place. Each person and each interaction will be different. It is important to stay optimistic and open to the process. It most likely will be nothing like what you expect - and if the encounter is exactly as you imagined it would be, then you may need to examine whether it is a true visitation or something you created yourself. Although it does occur, a Deity does not have to appear in a dream in order to connect with you. Sometimes S/he will send messengers who are more easily accepted by your psyche, such as animals or other guides. Many spiritual practices are also enhanced when consciously performed in the dream-state. The same techniques you do in the physical realm, you can do in the lucid-dream world; and so much more. Imagine performing the asanas of yoga with a million stars surrounding you, or meditating on the ocean floor. The possibilities are limitless.
You also do not have to create your dream temple or carry out a pre-arranged plan in every lucid dream. Simply letting the lucid dream unfold and exploring where it takes you can reveal much about yourself. Experimenting and learning about your own special dream landscape, and more about yourself and the God/dess in the process, is an extremely fulfilling and rewarding experience. My you dream with the Gods in grace and beauty!
IN THE MOMENT Experiencing the Goddess
BY SORRELL COCHRANE It is different every time, but always the same familiarity, the tingle at the base of the spine, the physical change as I grow taller, sprout wings, become more delicate. I do not work with The Goddess but a small number of specific deities, calling upon the appropriate one as the need arises. Each one has Her own feel, look, way of holding Herself, way of expressing Herself, but still, there is something similar about the process, as an Otherworldly being comes into me. We call Her name and sometimes it is not always She who is welcomed who arrives. Sometimes we instantly dismiss the interloper in favour of who we needed to encounter, but sometimes we choose to interact with whoever has chosen to show up. The reasons why a different entity has arrived can be very revealing (I cannot say Goddess, for sometimes those who consider themselves to be such are not believed to be so by anyone else), as can the information provided as proof o identity. Many a time someone has simply paid a fleeting visit, for reasons best known to Herself (curiosity? An expression o future interest?), passing almost as soon as She arrives, but leaving a lasting impression of Her face to show that She has been. Entering into that state is not difficult. The ritual leads up to this point, paving the way to the right mindset. When She is called, it is merely a question of opening up. I am not ridden; I always have the option of control and it can be difficult to relinquish that final piece of myself that remains present at those times when something more than the usual occurs. Memories can be hazy, but there is always the reassurance that anything truly important will remain after the circle has gone. Sometimes it doesn't work. Sometimes there is a call but
no reply. The fault is always mine and a second attempt will manage to draw Her down when I have resolved the problem or removed the distraction. He looks so small kneeling before me when I open my eyes. Her eyes. All that he is, I can destroy in a heartbeat. Yet there is love, so much love, and acceptance and warmth. My children are but that – babes who still have more to learn and I grant them my indulgence. The learning never stops and I may have my preferences but it is still their right to choose. The deeper I go, the closer She comes. Never forget or neglect the physical – you do not just think as She does or feel as She does. You move as She does. I have more work to do to truly honour Her in this fashion. I need to study dancing with swords. There is something in my hands, but I don't always know what it is. There is energy that needs to be focused, directed, used. My hands move where they will, where She wills. There are times where there are no words, only movement. It says all that needs to be said. Much as there is nothing like truly being in that moment, often the most revealing things happen afterwards. She goes when She wills, but Her echo remains and there are things that She knows that She leaves with you. They come cap in hand so many times, only to find that in the asking, the reply is already there. There are some things you just know. There is no room for doubt. We test her. We are too cynical to simply take a being's word for it, no matter how divine they may appear. We check out details, information, names, dates, places. Some may remain obscure but none have ever been wrong. There is much to be learned from Her and there is no other method so... allencompassing, so close, so personal. It is not just about learning more of Her nature or how She prefers to be honoured. It is also about ourselves, who we are, our highest and lowest points. Any work we do for Her reflects on ourselves. In order to be fully worthy as a vessel of the Gods, any imperfection not only must, but will be burnt out, an essential process, one which can be painful, yes, but
surprisingly, may also bring pleasure. By embracing Her so deeply as part of our own essence, we irrevocably change ourselves. Properly preparing yourself may see you walk through the pits of Hades or exiled in the desert, but at ourney's end, true gold awaits. In touching Her, albeit briefly, we can touch our bliss.
DANCING THE DREAM Becoming the Dance
BY MARIËLLE HOLMAN Always and ever I have danced, for happiness, when I felt sad or just for the fun of it. Dancing is very transforming and takes me into that special space where I feel completely at home, and free. One with my being, or spirit, if you like. Remembering many different occasions, while I performed in front of an audience, that took me in that wonderful space. I started as a ballet dancer when I was a young girl, went on to various forms of dances after. Now I am a teacher and belly dancer, which is also a healing dance but that is another story, Or is it?
One of the very first times I was dancing in a trance was when I danced to my records alone in my room when I was a teenager and I totally loved it. Put on my favourite music, comfortable clothes and turn the lights off, just letting go and the whole experience of trance takes you over. You feel free, and extremely happy, like in ecstasy. And you cannot recall what or where you have been in that period. Time and space becomes as one or disappear. Later in my life when I was asked to dance for an initiation in a Coven I belonged to at that moment, or even performing for an audience, or at a drumming festival, all gave me that same floating feeling of gaining energy and ecstasy. The God and Goddess, the Earth, were present everywhere, no better said; in me or rather I was that and that was me. All at the same time. I work with people and their bodies, thru dance, trance, yoga and ritual. These combinations overlap each other and work fantastic together. They give it body, strength, endurance and Kundalini power to first get in touch with you, the temple, body that you live in, and then let go and completely be one with the energy force, where everything is possible. Your soul
remembers, and waves of joy come over you, and you just have to let it flow. To be healed, and feel at home once again. The ancient ancestors and the sacred land, the animals all become very clear. Breathing techniques, to get into the movement, rhythms through the beating of the drum, the Earth’s pulsating power. Feeling with all of your senses, and to be filled with existence and bliss. Whether I dance for the joy of myself, for others, Rituals in the form of belly dance, Yoga dance, Shamanic trance dance or Zar, they all give me that same feeling of bliss, and belonging. I feel strongly that when we first heard the heartbeat of our selves, and combined them with the pulsating rhythms of the Cycle of life, we began to move. Leaping in the air, probably to symbolize the growing of the crops, and reach out in the sky to touch the stars, the Moon and the Sun. Even to move like the animals in the fields. And slowly evolved into a dance, with the help of the clapping of our hands, then branches and ticks beating together, bullroarers, hollowed out trees, didgeridoo’s, rattles, and then the making of the sacred drum. Maybe the wisest one, the Shaman (ca), Midwife, giver of life and holding the power of the other realms, also including that what we call death danced the dance of the birth, the earth, and death and tried to reach out to the whole community to bring forth new energy and healing. Where ever that was needed at that moment. And taught the medicine o dance and travelling into these reams, to the village and the inhabitants. So that all could join in, a circle representing the oneness, wholeness of that collective consciousness, that they worked with in those days. Spiral dances, hunting scenes and healing powers are all examples of dance that is portrayed throughout the walls of the caves in Europe and ancient Egypt, and also in pottery of dancing images. In our time and age we still use the dance to evoke and awaken Spirit. Of course the various cultures and humans have a broad variety of the dance, and coming into the other altered state o
consciousness. Altered state of consciousness; that is a very exciting term. How do you explain this? Your adrenaline pumps up, and the endorphins, hormones of pleasure if you like, come free to roam in the bloodstream and give you that dizzy, out of space feeling. You become more expanded, embrace the Cosmos and go! Knowing that we are a part of the whole Cosmos, Universe, and all in it has spirit. Part of every stone, pond, seed, branch, tree, animal, person. I have explored throughout the years, the diverse types o these trance dances from our European culture, and also the Middle-East. Here in Europe as I described above, and the more modern approach of ecstasy shamanic trance dance, and Seidr. In the Middle Eastern way there is the so-called Zar derived from Egypt and Sudan. Interestingly enough I found out and experienced that these dances are mostly done and performed by the women of the society and or tribe. And the men clapped their hands and sang or chanted songs that encouraged the women to be free. Not forgetting that the men also can dance and trance, and the women clap and drum. Sometimes a combination of that is used. Where the technique is very much the same where ever you go, the purpose and the songs can differ from one and another. As said above, the drum plays an important tool in this. The Shaman’s drum is also referred to as a horse, that you ride and gallops in the worlds of the cosmology .The World tree, or Ygdrasill, with the roots in the Underworld or Hell, which does not mean the same as the bad place where most people are brought up with, the trunk in the Middle world, and the outstretched branches in the Upper world. The horse can bring you in contact with the Otherworldly realms, were paying the utmost respect you can come in contact with spirit guides, elemental beings and power-animals. They will lead you into a spiralling path of healing and wondrous adventures. The drum represents the heartbeat of the Earth, the strong energy we are all a part of. In the modern trance dance, house
the electronic music has a similar effect. The drum becomes one with your own heartbeat and that is very comforting. The tribe, group or people who participate come together in a house, temple or outdoor area and bring things to decorate that space. Build an altar dedicated to the spirits of that particular group or rite. Sometimes only breathing techniques are used to calm the gatherers. And then a slow soft chanting is sung. They can be ancient texts, or a made up chant or sentence used for the purpose of that evening. Clapping in a monotone rhythm, or hand drums like djembe, tabla or riqq are beaten. The women and or men are standing together in a circle. While swaying back and forth with their body and shoulders they use their breathing to feel one. When the drumming and chanting becomes more intense one or two dancers go to the middle and perform a wild undulating dance, mostly with their eyes closed. Until they have enough and being followed by others while they take their places back in the circle. But the joy is greater if the dancers become so enraptured by the dance that a state of trance is reached, and they literally dance until they drop to the floor, or descend to their knees and are completely one with spirit. As if positively taken over by a force of bliss. Exhausting is at the end and the dancer falls on the floor, to be left alone until grounded enough again to stand up, and even dance again! These festivities can last for hours and days! The purpose is to rid you and or the other participants, o unwanted energies, illnesses, or blessing of objects or spaces. Becoming an oracle and speak for sprit is not unusual in this state. But foremost the outcome is the same; sacred rites to reconnect with nature in all her forms. And just be, becoming the dance. …I am standing in a sacred circle in my blue robe bedecked with silver. Before entering herein I had cleansed my body and being smudged with the incense of old. The water o life passed around. All the other priests and priestesses in their
Ritual robes and closely together as if they were a big serpent the kundalini of the life force within. I closed my eyes, and could smell the incense going up into the air, with the soft whispering voices that uttered the proper incantations. In the middle a fire smouldering that reminds me of days long past, one by one; we stepped over it to receive the sacred flame. And then it began; the singing voices got louder, and the drums in the same rhythm as my heart. Swaying my head side to side, then my shoulders, hips followed quickly and softly in tune. How lovely does this feel, I know deep within my being I have experienced this many times before and will do after also. Then an incredible force of emptiness and fullness at the same time comes over me, and I dance in the middle. Everything becomes intense, like fire reaching up my spine with delight and I am only dance. Dance till I drop on the floor and feel energised. I am dancing the dream forever…
THE ORACULAR EXPERIENCE Transmitting the Wisdom of the Goddess
BY EMILY OUNSTED “I am the Pythoness; I sit on the seat of oracle and I rule the universe….”
Trying to pin someone down to explain how they go about their oracular work often ends with a frustrated enquirer and an evasive answer. I think this is because successful oracular work is such an individual technique that each person has to find their own way of working: Sitting in a throne like chair, let the voice carry you to a distant land. A land where the sand is hot and burning under your feet, where the air is heady with perfumes and spices. Already you feel Her presence behind you, Her breath hot on the back of your neck. You allow yourself to open to Her, your mind steps back and She steps forward, the Lion-headed daughter of Ra speaks at the sound of the sistrum. The vision unfolds before your eyes; you see and yet do not see and you feel such love, such love… The technique illustrated above allows a long period of time for the Oracle to get into trance. Listening to a meditation that sets the scene helps settle and focus the conscious mind allowing an open and empty space within for Deity to manifest, to build up the identity of that Deity. This, followed by an invocation, a song of praise, a call to that Deity to manifest through the Oracle, gives what we could describe as the necessary added ‘oomph’ to the person giving the Oracle, the energetic and spiritual boost that allows them to open up and speak the words of the Goddess or God. A word of advice is that it can be a good idea to practice this technique sitting down until you are more assured – for one thing this ensures that you will not fall over when the Deity arrives or leaves!
Different people have very different experiences when they are giving an oracle and they also have very different recollections afterwards. My personal experience is something of a middle ground wherein I’m conscious of what is happening but feel very detached from the experience; I am looking out through the eyes of the Goddess, seeing and feeling as She does (albeit through my own limited scope) and am conscious that the words coming out of my mouth are not things that I am choosing to say. I know that I could stop the flow of words but I know that to do so would halt the entire oracle and probably end the ritual as well. The visions recede, the inner voice is silent, and the final words of blessing have been spoken. The Goddess recedes and the body is once more under mortal control. The experience leaves me shaking uncontrollably with cold, my body almost in shock as though She took all the heat from my body as She departed. As others attempt to warm me and wrap me in a shawl of scarlet, the colours of the Goddess, I realise that the physicality of this first experience was necessary for how else can the rational mind believe the truth of that divine presence? I work primarily within the Wiccan tradition which has a very specific method of delivering oracular wisdom, which is known as Drawing Down the Moon . Traditionally this was used to deliver a Charge – a set piece of poetic prose that the High Priestess has learned by heart and is delivered as though it were the Goddess speaking. In some traditions however this is replaced with an Oracle whereby the High Priestess connects with Deity and becomes a vessel through which that deity can communicate directly to those present. In my view, one major difficulty in working in this way is that this oracle is given by the High Priestess. The High Priestess in the Wiccan tradition is responsible for creating and maintaining the energies of the circle, the sacred space in which the group works. She also directs the ritual, being responsible for what comes next on a practical level, but also maintaining the balance and flow o energy. On the one hand it therefore makes sense that the
most senior and experienced person is the one to channel Deity; on the other it can make genuine transformative oracular experience very difficult. To go from being in a state o consciously holding space and being in control of the energies of the circle and the people within it, to the depth of trance that a true oracular experience necessitates can be very difficult indeed. Moreover you need to do this relatively quickly and to be able to recover yourself afterwards in order to pick up the reins of the ritual. One of the biggest obstacles for a High Priestess in Wicca is to learn how she can fulfil these two different roles within a single ritual. This is the first time I have done this, I breathe deeply trying to remember the order and words. I trip over sentences and am conscious that I have mixed up the order and forgotten my words more than once tonight. And now I’m expected to channel the Goddess? Everything distracts from focus; the people, the chanting, the man kneeling at my feet all seem to splinter my connection with Her rather than strengthen it. I can only hope the call to Her is stronger than my own anxiety and distraction, for my mind is running on what comes next and my heart is beating fast with the fear that She will not come. Although the dilemma of how to be both oracular and the High Priestess is something that each Priestess must resolve for herself, it seems to me that there are a couple of solutions to the problem which I will discuss here. The first is the role of the High Priest. Traditional Wiccan Covens have a High Priest and part of his role is to support and protect the High Priestess by taking on the energetic burden o the circle prior to her achieving her trance state in preparation for the oracle, thus allowing her to fully ‘let go’ . When trust has been built between them she can know that he will bring her back and they can plan for him to direct the next stage of the ritual so that she can have more time to fully recover herself. Knowing beforehand that you will not have to pull yoursel together immediately after giving an oracle can be a big help in
achieving the true trance state required for Deity to come through. The second solution is to use the energy of the ritual to propel yourself into the state required to become Oracular. Here, being in charge of the energy of the circle can be used to your advantage. However for this to work it is necessary that you are very sure of the content of the ritual prior to the oracle. All words, gestures and directing of energy that comes prior to the oracle must be of second nature and require little or no conscious effort of the part of the High Priestess. In the same way that an experienced driver doesn’t think about the mechanics of driving, when they know the route they are going to travel they can enjoy the journey and the process of driving. This way you are able to concentrate on the ebb and flow of the energy within the ritual, allowing the spirit to soar on the energy. After all, this is the heart of the ceremony of which words and gestures are the bones to clothe it. Attuned to this energy and unburdened by concerns about ‘getting it right’ it is possible to allow the structure and energy of the ritual to carry you through to the oracle so that instead of a difficult extra bit that you have to switch your consciousness into in order to attain the right frame of mind, you are already flowing towards this key point of the ritual like the wave breaking on the shore. Coming out of the oracular experience then, is like the wave receding – it is not a sharp break back into the reality of the circle but the next stage in the energetic flow of the ritual. The two techniques described above are not mutually exclusive and indeed work best when combined together. I would suggest that even if one is working in a group that does not have someone in the designated High Priest role it is still worth while considering nominating another member of the group to be responsible for the Oracle Priestess’ well being. The other option is to have the person giving the Oracle purely concentrating on that role and not participating in any other part of the ritual until the time comes for the oracle to be given. Energy spins, glows, rising, rising, rising around me as the
rhythm of the chant sings in my ears. The power of it is so strong I am swaying with it, almost nauseous from its power. I feel Her with me, called on the power of the energy, called to Her place within me as She has been so many times. The hymn of praise, the invocation of adoration calls to us both in different ways, as She descends, descends, descends upon me and the world is shifting, changing, transforming as I see with eyes anew and in the perfect silence of the circle She speaks… In re-reading the above discussion on oracular technique within a group it has become apparent to me that the subjectivity of oracular experience has once again been demonstrated. The challenges I face when giving an oracle while leading a group are particular to me. Specifically, for a long time I found it very difficult to get into a trance state without a good deal of preparation. However I should stress that this is not the case for everyone. She is speaking, her voice rich and melodious in my ears as she speaks of how pleased she is with those before Her. Then I feel the change, the shift running through me and I realise that THAT voice is not mine. Deeper than a mans, wilder, resonating with power I have ever felt in my life I find myself for the first time terrified of this Goddess and of being in this state. For the first time I am completely taken over, overshadowed and encompassed by Her. It is thrilling, terrifying and endless. The end of an oracular experience can feel like a fight to come back from a long journey, or it can feel like a sudden release – I have ended an Oracular trance by mentally fighting my way back to consciousness by choosing to use my own words to end the Oracle, and I have had the experience ended for me as the Deity in question left rather abruptly causing me to fall over (fortunately I was caught by the quick reflexes of the people present!). We should remember that we are not slaves to the Gods and it is perfectly acceptable to tell them – politely but firmly – that as wonderful as it is to have them it is now time
for them to leave! It is very important to be grounded immediately after oracle to ensure that the experience is not lingering longer than it should. I have found physical contact such as a hug to be very grounding as it brings you into awareness of your own body, as can stamping the feet or tasting something sharp such as salt. Energetically simple exercises such as chakra rebalancing can be very helpful in ensuring that you are not still ‘open’ after the experience. It is important to allow yourself the time to come back to your body properly and to allow everyone to integrate the experience they have received and, if there are other elements of the ritual, not just rush onto the next thing on the list. Seek not to call me, for I have come. Seek not to question me for I have answered. I am in seeds, light as feathers, honey blossom and fragrant spring. The very air is heavy with my presence. Those who have no knowledge of me have no knowledge of beauty…
DANCING PRIESTESSES The Spirit of Dance
BY NINA FALAISE Dance is one of the most ancient and elementary forms o magical and spiritual expression to man. Evidence of the origins of dance lies deep within the womb of the earth in caves dating back to the Stone Age. Here we find paintings on the walls of the caves, showing the connection between man and beast through dance as the earliest form of sympathetic magic. At the Cavern of Teyjat, in France, we can see Palaeolithic masked dancers, and in the caves of Altamira, Lascaux or Trois–Freres are wonderful murals of hunters, animals and shapeshifters. Movement has existed from the beginning of time. We see it everywhere, in the flutter of leaves in the wind, the running water of a brook, a dogs wagging tail or the swift movement o dragonfly’s wings. In the heavens, the planets perform a dance around the sun and on earth we may become aware of the cyclic dance of the seasons. To all movement there is the underlying essence of the dance … Rhythm, and within us is the beating of the heart, the initiating force behind our desire to dance. As the ancients observed nature around them, they sought to imitate and move to the rhythms of nature. In many ancient cultures of the world, it was the priestess who fused the vibrations of her heart to the heart of Nature. Nature was expressed through the form of a goddess. To name but some of the dancing goddesses, first there is the Egyptian goddess Hathor. Aylward Blackman writes in The Position o Women in the Egyptian Hierarchy that: “The priestesses of Hathor who danced in her honour consciously impersonated her. They partook in consequence of the nature of the Goddess and were able to impart her
qualities to her devotees.”
In India there is Kali, a goddess who is often depicted with one leg raised, and one arm over her head, in the midst of a dance. The Hawaiian goddess Pele is the goddess of fire, lightening, dance and volcanoes. Pele and her sister Hi'iaka were lively young women who enjoyed having a good time, taking frequent breaks from their work to sing, chant and dance. For inventing the sacred dance, Hi'iaka (also called Laka) was recognized as the goddess of the hula and patronesses of dancers. Dance was the visual expression of both the hidden worlds and this world. In this world the Priestess leads dances for celebrations, funerals, initiations, healing, harvest time and more. The dances of the other worlds come through oracles and trance dances. In more recent times there are four women who are known as pioneers of modern and spiritual dance: Isadora Duncan (1878 – 1927), brought freedom o expression to dance. In 1903, Isadora Duncan gave a lecture in Berlin, titled ‘The Dance of the Future’ , which was published as a pamphlet; it became the manifesto of Modern Dance: "... The movement of the waves, of winds, of the earth is ever in the same lasting harmony. We do not stand on the beach and inquire of the ocean what was its movement of the past and what will be its movement of the future. We realize that the movement peculiar to its nature is eternal to its nature... The dancer of the future will be one whose body and soul have grown so harmoniously together that the natural language of that soul will have become the movement of the body. The dancer will not belong to a nation but to all humanity. She will dance not in the form of a nymph, nor fairy, nor coquette but in the form of a woman in her greatest and purest expression. She will realize the mission
of woman's body and the holiness of all its parts. She will dance the changing life of nature, showing how each part is transformed into the other. From all parts of her body shall shine radiant intelligence, bringing to the world the message of the thoughts and aspirations of thousands of women. She shall dance the freedom of women ...”
Ruth St Denise (1879 – 1968), was one of the first dancers to bring the Eastern style of dance to the West and perform it in such a way that the public could have a better understanding of the richness of Eastern dance. It was Ruth St Denis who was a source of inspiration in Murshid's creation o the Dances of Universal Peace . Mary Wigman (1886 – 1973) was credited for the innovation of “expressionist dance” in Germany. There is a very short but fascinating snippet of Mary Wigman dancing the “Witch Dance” on YouTube. Martha Graham (1894 – 1991), invented a whole new system of modern dance, which is used in all the big dance schools of today. Martha Graham said of dance: “Dance is the hidden language of the soul of the body”
The ability of these women to move our vision to a new way of seeing dance was unique and powerful. Their work was a living prayer, dancing into the hearts of all who experienced their performance. These four women were the modern day dancing priestesses of their time. Today, people of all ages and from all walks of life can find dance to suit their needs, such as disco, ballroom dancing, salsa, flamenco, line dancing and street dance and more! The new age is attracting people to a whole range of dances. We may sample anything from belly dance to Gabrielle Roth’s Five Rhythms , dervish whirling, trance dance and Dance o Universal Peace, and we even have the modern fertility dance…. Pole dancing! So what are we waiting for, we may empower ourselves right now and move straight into the dance of Life. Here is a
dance that offers you the opportunity to express your journey on earth through the life of a butterfly. It is called “The Dance of the Butterfly” . Find an area in your home or garden or anywhere you know where you will not be disturbed for at least forty-five minutes. (It is amazing how much we can move our body, just on the spot!). Maybe you have a favourite piece of music you would like to dance to, or you can dance without music, yet listening to your inner rhythm. Before you start your dance, sit quietly, on the floor (or a chair if you prefer, sitting attentively) in the space you have created for your dance. Sitting with your eyes closed begin by previewing, like a day dream, the life of the butterfly. Watch in your mind’s eye, as the butterfly’s life unfolds. Starting with an egg, see the larva hatch out, then see the larva change into a caterpillar. (A larva may shed as many as four skins before becoming a fully-grown caterpillar.) Watch the caterpillar’s nutritive existence as it lives to eat, devouring one leaf after another. Now see the caterpillar make a journey in search of a strong stem or twig with which to attach itself to by a thread o its own weaving. In stillness, imagine you can see it transform into liquidity within the chrysalis. Then see the magical metamorphosis take place as it hangs suspended in time, seemingly motionless from the twig. Watch the chrysalis skin split open starting at the head. Now the butterfly begins to push against the insides of the skin, then it swallows air to swell itself up. It pushes more and more and its legs are free to cling onto the twig. When the butterfly has freed itself from its encasement, the wings gradually unfold and expand out to full size. Now you may see the butterfly in all its glory. Spend a moment to observe its beauty; the wings may appear to shimmer in a thousand iridescent colours. This delicate creature of light now lives its life using its wings to fly from one beautiful flower to another. Now, return to the beginning of the butterfly’s life. You may like to begin your dance by forming the round shape of the egg lying on the floor and curling your body up into a tight ball,
YOU are now the egg. From here, allow the wisdom of your body to guide you into movements to express the different stages of the transformation all the way through to the butterfly. Give flight to your feelings! When you have finished your dance, you may wish to lie or sit down quietly for a moment, observing your breath and relaxing all your muscles. You may have experienced what it is like to “become” the butterfly. The “becoming” is the beauty that is within you, always.
DRAWING DOWN THE MOON A Personal Account
BY GALATEA The first and only genuine experience that I have had of the descent of the Goddess after the Drawing down the Moon was many years ago. It was my first year in the Craft and I had been acting as maiden during the rituals, as the High Priestess had recently given birth. From the outset, I was aware of the possibility of a very personal relationship with the Gods; I believed what I was taught that the Gods were close to us, but had also had a wonderful magical experience of the Goddess the night I was told that I was to be initiated. I’m not sure what I thought was supposed to happen at the Drawing down the Moon . I regarded it more as an open invitation to the Goddess who was everywhere and within all women, a conscious acknowledgement of what is already there. At least I was never aware of having been ‘taken over’ . This particular night involved a somewhat difficult ritual being undergone by a young man. He was a pleasant and dedicated Initiate and was enduring the task with profound humility. Everything had been normal as usual, we were a large Coven and some of the members were very experienced, so our rituals tended to flow easily and naturally. At the most difficult part of the rite everything changed; a vast and powerful presence took over, assuming complete control. I can only say that I believe that it was the Goddess as She did not introduce herself; in fact She said nothing and words were unnecessary. There was an intense out-pouring of love from Her for this young man as She brought his moment in the spotlight to an end, not a sentimental love but the unconditional and absolute love of a mother for her child. It was as if time had stopped and only an eternal ‘now’ existed. It seemed to last forever and yet must have been no more than a few seconds. Everyone in the
Circle knew what was happening; at least I think they did as I never spoke about it to anyone, with the exception of the High Priest and even then only very briefly, at the time. Speaking of it just seemed impossible; even now I am finding it difficult as no words can do justice. Although the young man’s experience had been the catalyst, the implications were much further reaching. Her love and compassion extended to everyone and everything. I have never experienced the descent of the Goddess again in the same way since, but I really don’t feel the need to. I have been fortunate to have had other experiences of a different kind and the message is always the same – Love! I feel that She showed me the way and the rest is up to me. I’m not supposed to be waiting for Her to turn up and love us, she does that already. Rather, I am meant to be following the example She showed. I get it wrong more times than I get it right, but the older I get the more I understand how important it is for me to keep working at it and it does actually get easier with practice. If I have to put what I felt was Her message into words, it is this - Love each other, love yourself, love everything, be kind and keep a sense of humour.
This does not mean that we should not defend ourselves or others against maliciousness and cruelty, but to do so in the service of Ma’at (the ancient Egyptian personification o rightness, order and truth) and not to gratify the ego. At the time that this happened I was young and inexperienced and thought that the power of the Craft had brought about this wondrous moment but have since learned that such experiences are to be found in people of all faiths and none. I look for that message in everything humanity has to offer, especially in the world’s spiritual traditions, though sadly it is often lost as a once truly esoteric tradition becomes buried in externalized religion and crass commercialism. But like all hidden treasure, it’s there waiting to be discovered by those willing to dig deep enough. My view of the Gods has also changed in the years that have followed. I no longer believe that all women are made in
the image of the Goddess or men in the image of the God. I now think that everything is made in the image of the Divine but in the spiritual sense, in the same way that one is not made in the image of a Volkswagen beetle (if that’s what you happen to drive) so your true nature and image is not the shape of the body you happen to be incarnating in. The myriad forms of life, the Divine essence of which is personified as Gods and Goddesses, teach us something of the nature of Divinity which we may find within ourselves and in all things. Which is not to say that I believe it’s ok to call upon Gods and Goddesses as though they were all the same. There are reasons why one should carefully follow the guidelines of the tradition of which one is a part until such time as it has been mastered - which for most of us is probably not yet!
LIFTING THE VEIL Invoking the Star Goddess
BY DIANE CHAMPIGNY Drawing Down the Moon , or The Lifting of the Veil , as it was
called in an early form of Gerald Gardner’s Book of Shadows, is one of the most inspiring and evocative of rituals, and is a timeless practice. It is a combination of the Priest (with possibly other participants assisting) invoking the Goddess into the Priestess and the Priestess evoking the Goddess from within herself. Coming from the Alexandrian Tradition o Witchcraft, it is central to our practice. Ancient Thessalian witches enacted a similar rite: "If command the moon, it will come down; and if I wish to withhold the day, the night will linger over my head; and again, if I wish to embark on the sea, I need no ship, and if I wish to fly through the air, I am free of my weight."
Trance experiences and ritual possession do not translate well into words. My High Priestess was known to say many times at our after ritual dinners when we were attempting to recount our experiences: “words bad, picture good.” As I write this, I have to hand a small red stone from Ancient Delphi – a gift from my teacher, that I hope will enable me to impart some of my techniques and experiences. Ritual possession not only gives us understanding and knowledge, it connects us with Divinity. It enables us to receive wisdom from the Gods as well as to establish a relationship with Them. It unites us, giving us a chance to know the power in the Divine as well as the abilities latent within us. It assures us that we are part of the Gods, as is well expressed in the old Egyptian adage 'There is no part of us which is not of the Gods' . I believe sincerity is the key component of an effective communication with the Gods. Another crucial factor is also the willingness to surrender oneself – to let go. Another all important factor is your intention.
The old occult maxim states ‘As Above So Below’ meaning to draw on cosmic wisdom/enlightenment from a divine source and transform it into clear understandable knowledge here on the mundane/physical level of existence. It is a process of surrendering yourself in the arms of the Goddess. Giving of yourself completely with humility and trust, with love and reverence. It is the ultimate surrender of your being to the Divine. It is a true sacrifice indeed to attain such blessings from the Gods. Trance has an important role to play in our lives because it unlocks our rigid mindset and entreats us to explore beyond what is normally possible. It gives us an opportunity to suspend disbelief and to bring that experience into our daily lives; furthering our development on a spiritual and personal level. Every interaction we have on the mundane plane throughout the course of our day can become a spiritual experience and can be considered a walking, living meditation; part of our magical toolkit! The Priestess functions as the Goddess incarnate within the circle for the duration of the rite. The Goddess takes the place of the personality, or in other words “possesses” the Priestess. Acting as the Goddess incarnate, the Priestess speaks and acts as the Goddess. The circle's magical energy now becomes the Goddess’ power. The process for me personally starts with the “robing up” or preparation stage before ritual. When the High Priestess announces that it is time to robe up, everyone enters into a silent meditation of sorts while robing, making last minute preparations before entering the Temple with as little noise and fuss as possible. Clearing the mind, focusing on the task at hand, to the exclusion of everything else, is imperative for successfully Lifting the Veil. The trance state continues to deepen upon entering the Temple, when a group grounding and centring is enacted and the level of the trance state of the Priestess continues to intensify. The incense smoke, candle flames, appropriate music, familiarity of the people and the place, the ritual of casting the circle, group chanting, calling in
the directions/watchtowers and the Stellar and Terrestrial Gods and Goddesses all heighten the Priestess’ psychic awareness. It boils down to being able to “step aside” in in order to create the channel and become the container. As the Priest is invoking on the Priestess, with ritual gestures and words according to Tradition, she can envision herself as being a straw or hollow reed. The energy of the Goddess enters through the crown of the head. It is a radiant feeling that moves to your throat, into your chest area, solar plexus, down into the base base area, through the thighs thighs and down down to the feet. I have personally experienced feelings of weightlessness, detachment and great physical height, with my head among the Stars and my feet barely touching the Earth. The altered state of consciousness that the High Priestess experiences during the ritual partially determines the effect (and after effect) that is felt by the participants. Describing the state that is attained during the Drawing is tenuous at best because you are literally Down of the Moon is out of your body and oftentimes the participants are the ones to tell you of their perceptions of the event. Changes in voice, age, ethnicity and facial morphing are common occurrences. The Charge is read initially, but the goal is to spring past the beautiful poetry to spontaneous speech and let the Goddess speak through you. There are often messages for specific people, advice or warnings in general, omens, portents, praise or reprimand. It is an experience of entering a dark, stellar-like ocean o the Unmanifest, of which force has not yet been confined in form, but lies loose, as it were, free to enter whatever channel is opened to it. Where space is a void and forms are being built. If pressed to personify it, I would chose to call call it Nuit. The Goddess presence may stay with the Priestess for days afterward and it is of the utmost importance to ground this energy before leaving the covenstead. Staying behind behind in the Temple, either alone or with the High Priest, after the others have left to dress and possibly prepare the meal is suggested.
Crouching on the floor with your hands flat against it, allowing the energy to dissipate and drain back into the Earth is one technique. Using breathing techniques to return to normal consciousness is another. another. Changing back into your your mundane mundane clothing and eating a meal works very well. Sharing a laugh or doing several ordinary tasks brings one back to normal reality. The pitfalls of not fully coming back to your usual state o consciousness can be uncomfortable at best and dangerous at worst. Going out into the world partially remaining in this state is very jarring as you are not fully back in your body. Driving a car or operating heavy machinery is not suggested! We are responsible for taking care of ourselves and the people around us in this regard. Make a habit habit of practicing good psychic hygiene and you and yours will be the better for it. My training has been focused on duotheistic gender polarity. In my my experience, experience, it is necessary to have a polar interchange, or both sides of the battery present, for a successful Drawing Down. In the hands of well-trained, experienced, consecrated Initiates, it could be as simple as the laying of the Priest’s Priest’s hand onto the lap of the Priestess. As Dion Fortune mentions in The Demon Lover : “. . . a pouring orth of power (from the male) that quickened the life within her, causing it to flow forth in response to him.” Her later novels, and Moon Magic , illustrate this technique and The Sea Priestess and
its effects very very clearly. A careful study of these would serve the aspirant quite well. I tend to think of the principles of Chokmah and Binah, the male and female aspects on the Tree of Life – the two specific opposing principles of the universe. Think of these two principles as intuitive versus rational, holistic versus linear, analog versus digital, or synchronistic versus cause-and-effect. Always remember that opposites attract and that like attracts like. Once you have ventured into the Stellar Void and experienced the Goddess working through you, there is no turning back. back. You can never unlearn what you have learned. Your worldview becomes larger, and you tend to feel set apart
from the ‘normal’ flush flush of humanity. You belong belong to the hidden hidden side of things. things. It can sometimes be a rather rather lonely place. It is a sacrifice and a Service. Service. There is a grand reward in that you know, as oppose to believe, that you are always in Her presence, and Her presence is within you. You have touched her Cosmic Raiment and the light from her eyes will forever shine upon you.
FOR LO! APOLLO IS WITHIN ME The beautiful voice of Apollo
BY BOLINA OCEANUS Shivering, they say, my face did change to something less than mortal, yet more mighty and beautiful than my corporeal form. Taller they say I stood with a voice which was not quite my own. I simply gave myself wholly and gave myself utterly over to the words and inspiration of Leto’s glorious son. I remember the words again spoken by the Hierophant o the temple as he first entreated the beautiful god of prophesy and music, of healing and of eternal youth to our temple on behalf of the seeker: “Hail to thee Apollo, even the swans sing o your beauty and of your song…” but I am no longer dominant, even as a force within myself. I can see, but those before me are nothing more than grains of sand before my eyes, the colours and the shapes vivid as I see and hear the voice o Apollo, the bright Lord, who is now speaking through me. I hear a voice and I am aware that it speaking through my mouth, but it is not my voice and the words are not my thoughts. I breathe deeply of the sweet perfumes rising from the altar stone. Frankincense, bay leaves and other roots and herbs gathered at the time when the Sun was at the height of his power earlier this year, with Helios watching I dug those roots from their place in Tartaros and gathered them into his light. I bite down and taste the warm bitter taste of the laurel leaf in my mouth. The words continue to flow from me. I remain seated and feel the light touch of the veil of Apollo upon my face. A warmth, like the touch of a tender and experienced lover, rising within me. I am in ecstasy; all the while my lips are uttering sounds I cannot comprehend. Again the words of the Hierophant resound as a vibration within my memory: “of you
the sweet-tongued minstrel, holding your high-pitched lyre, you whose song is both first and last…”
Then as if only a moment had passed I am given a glass o sweet red wine which I drink eagerly, still feeling the warmth o the prophet God within me rising in light pulses up my spine, so the wine warms me also, but to a different melody. The Hierophant makes an offering to Apollo upon the altar and the priestesses dance, circling their hips, singing their song to him, “hail to you lord, inspire our song, let our feet find the dance, hail to …
The hierophant declares the rite completed and the seeker is brought to the altar with the knowledge that he is being accepted by Apollo as being true and chosen to join the priesthood. The seeker is consecrated and anointed and then oins the other devotees in a feast of celebration. I remain seated until the Hierophant assists me back to walk barefoot on the cold barren Earth once again and I join the priestesses in a dance just as Helios’ last rays disappear beneath the horizon. ~ Many pagan women have expressed surprise when they find out that I as a woman devote a great deal of my work and devotion to Apollo, but for me there is nothing more natural. In doing trance prophesy work with Apollo I am following in the footsteps of the Pythonesses, who possessed by the spirit o Apollo, spoke oracles on his behalf at his famous temple in Delphi. There might not be an unbroken lineage but certainly it is the spiritual heritage which I have embraced as his Priestess. By allowing Apollo to speak through me I am being like the Sibyl of Cumae who lived for many hundreds of years speaking prophesies in his auspicious name. The priestesses who spoke for Apollo in the ancient world were not oppressed women, they were independent and powerful. The words they uttered could bring politicians and war leaders to fear, as demonstrated in the story of how Alexander the Great was denied an oracle by the oracle and then dragged her by her hair through the temple until she
finally exclaimed what he wanted to hear. The Sibyls who followed in the footsteps of the Sibyl o Cumae would inspire poets and artists for hundreds of years after their own bodies became dust again within the realms o Hades and fertilized the fields of Demeter’s corn once again. How could it be demeaning for a woman today to honour such a God? For me it is all about the wonderful and famous motto’s which survived from Delphi: Know Thyself Nothing in Excess
To truly know ourselves we have to look deep within the recesses of our minds and hearts, we have to allow ourselves to experience life to its full and be willing to dare. Why would we deny ourselves an experience out of fear of gaining insights and deeper knowledge about ourselves? I question the actions I take and the life I live on a regular basis, but I also question the things I feel apprehension towards and the things I repudiate. As a priestess this is a very important part of my work towards gaining the appreciation of my Gods and especially of Apollo. And without knowledge of myself and knowing my own needs, I might find that like in Virgil’s Aeneid “All heard, but none believed the prophecy” and that the gift that Apollo has given me will be lost. Nothing in excess is an interesting expression for the world we live in today. It is now more clear than ever that we need changes on a global scale in order to preserve what is left o this planet for future generations, we need to revolt against the excesses of the rational and scientific materialism we are all enfolded in and we need to break free from the greed we have for contemporary decadence and find a way of balancing it with the spiritual, expressing ourselves again as human beings rather than being swept along the great current of greed. It is only through breaking free from the excesses we live in and the belongings we gather alongside ourselves that we can be free enough to allow ourselves to become ourselves.
Becoming a priestess for Apollo and allowing him to speak through me has allowed me to be free in ways I never expected I could be, but with it I have also been given a great responsibility. I have to speak his words and I am not allowed to interpret them for others. So the empty place will be filled. Your mind will be shown the symbol as you read. Through the branches shown the way of life. There is no pathway. There is no light. Where are you when you see the darkness
I have worked in groups where it was my role to assume the form of a Goddess and enjoyed those rites greatly, though I often found that something was missing or not quite right. It was only when I first experienced Apollo speaking through me that I gave the matter much thought and realised some very obvious things. In the ancient magical and religious practices there were always specific deities who had associations with prophecy, whilst others had specific associations with for example agriculture, love, war or wealth. This makes for an interesting point to consider, is it really all that polite (or for that matter safe!) to invoke deities into ourselves who have no interest in prophesy? In one group I worked with for a period of time it was a Goddess-of-the-week scenario with a different Goddess being invited to speak as the oracle through one of the group members each week. This was a tremendous boost to the selfconfidence of some of the priestesses, but it also created a very false and unstable basis for magical and spiritual work. Furthermore, the priestesses were not required to undergo any training or preparation for taking the role of oracle in these rites. The group facilitator was of the opinion that anyone could be a vessel for the goddesses to speak through, however whilst the “could be” is certainly correct, I failed then and still do today, to see how this could be a balanced way of working. It is very important in my role as oracle priestess for Apollo, as a modern day Pythonesses that I have a close personal
relationship with Apollo. I uphold a household shrine to him and to his sister Artemis, who is also very dear to my heart. I have made pilgrimages to some of their temples and ancient sanctuaries for inspiration. I have visited the place where the ancient Pythia was seated and breathed the fumes from within the depths of the Earth which infused her in part with the God. I have written my own invocations, my own prayers and hymns, and I use them with respect at the festival days o Apollo and the pantheon of deities he belongs to. When he is called into me and I call to him to speak through me, I am able to, as a result of my extensive work to know instinctively if it is Apollo who is speaking through me, or whether in fact I am allowing either my subconscious or another being speak. This is not acceptable when I am on the tripod so I have devised methods of banishing and ridding myself of the unwanted thoughts and instead infusing myself again with the spirit and voice of Apollo. In such instances I engage myself fully in prayer and beckon for the Hierophant to burn more of the sacred herbs and perfumes which we use as an offering to Apollo to beckon him and entreat him to join us and to infuse me as his vessel. At times the rites have failed and we have had to accept that Apollo did not wish to speak to us. At times we have had clear messages indicating that another deity wished to address us and when this happened we would take steps to ensure that we were not being tricked by spirits who have malicious or mischievous intentions. Being a vessel for Apollo carries with it a responsibility – to be beautiful, to be perfect, to shine with an inner and outer radiance projected into the world around oneself, to inspire others and allow oneself to be inspired and most of all, to know that the words he speaks have truth, even when we ourselves do not understand it.
Published by Avalonia www.avaloniabooks.co.uk If you enjoyed this collection you might also enjoy:
SEIDR The Gate is Open by Katie Gerrard Exploring Seidr, the intriguing and powerful early Norse system of shamanistic trance practices. Hekate Her Sacred Fires, edited by Sorita d’Este With around 50 contributors from around the world sharing their experiences and visions of the Goddess Hekate through their writings and art. Both Sides of Heaven, edited by Sorita d’Este A collection of essays on winged spiritual beings – angels, demons, faeries and more. The Temple of Hekate by Tara Sanchez The Temple of Hekate is a vibrant and exciting collection of modern rituals and practices exploring the mysteries of the Goddess Hekate. From a Drop of Water, edited by Kim Huggens A Collection of Magickal Reflections on the Nature, Creatures, Uses and Symbolism of Water The Cosmic Shekinah by Sorita d’Este and David Rankine The History and Origins of the Goddess in the Old Testament and Kabbalah Published by Avalonia www.avaloniabooks.co.uk
ENDNOTES: [i] A Greek colony near modern-day Naples, Italy. [ii] Aeneid 6:42-51, Vergil. [iii] Aeneid 6:77-101, Vergil. [iv] Job 4:12-16. [v] Isis Worship in Paris, Lees, 1900. [vi] Bacchae, Euripides. [vii] The Divine Horsemen, Deren, 1952. [viii] Pedley, J.(2005). Sanctuaries and the Sacred in the Ancient Greek World. Cambridge University Press. Cambridge. p135. [ix] Parke, H.W. and Wormell, D.E.W. (1956) The Delphic Oracle. Volume I: The History. Basil Blackwell. Oxford. p5. [x] ibid. [xi] Pedley, J. op. cit. p151. [xii] Hale, J.R.; De Boer, J.Z.; Chanton, J.P.; Spiller, H.A. (2003) “Questioning the Delphic Oracle” in Scientific American. Vol. 289. No. 2. p57-63. Passim. [xiii] Pedle y, J. op. cit. p136. [xiv] Garland, R.S.J. (1984). “Religious Authority in Archaic and Classical Athens.” in British School at Athens Annual. No. 79. Oxford. p119. [xv] Bowden, H. (2005) Classical Athens and the Delphic Oracle. Cambridge University Press. Cambridge. p29-30. [xvi] Parke, H.W. and Wormell, D.E.W. op. cit. p.17. [xvii] Bowden, H. op. cit. p14-16. [xviii] Parke, H.W. and Wormell, D.E.W. op. cit. p17. [xix] ibid. p31. [xx] ibid. p30-3. [xxi] Didorus Siculus. Quoted in ibid. p35. [xxii] Dillon, M. (2002) Girls and Women in Classical Greek Religion. Routledge. London. p77. [xxiii] Parke, H.W. and Wormell, D.E.W. op. cit. p.34. [xxiv] ibid. [xxv] ibid. p36. [xxvi] Aeschylus, Plato, Strabo, Pliny, Diodorus Siculus, Cicero, Pausanias, and Plutarch who was a priest at Delphi, cited in Hale, J.R.; De Boer, J.Z.; Chanton, J.P.; Spiller, H.A. op. cit. p58. [xxvii] ibid. p60. [xxviii] Parke, H.W. and Wormell, D.E.W. op. cit. p29-30. [xxix] Bowden, H. op. cit. p19. [xxx] Parke, H.W. and Wormell, D.E.W. op. cit. p38. [xxxi] Garland, R.S.J. op. cit. p119. [xxxii] Maurizio, L. (1995) “Anthropology and Spirit Possession: A Reconsideration of the Pythia’s Role at Delphi” in Journal of Hellenic Studies. Vol. 115:71. [xxxiii] Hale, J.R.; De Boer, J.Z.; Chanton, J.P.; Spiller, H.A. op. cit. p59.
[xxxiv] ibid. p58-9. [xxxv] Goff, B. (2004). Citizen Bacchae: Women’s Ritual Practice in Ancient Greece. University of California Press. Berkeley. p282. [xxxvi] ibid. p220. [xxxvii] Fontenrose, J. (1988) Didyma: Apollo’s Oracle, Cult and Companions. University of California Press. Berkeley. P.10. And Curnow, T. (2004) The Oracles of the Ancient World. Duckworth. London. p46, 80. [xxxviii] Garland, R.S.J. op. cit. p84. [xxxix] Dillon, M. op. cit. p76. [xl] Garland, R.S.J. op. cit. Pp86. [xli] Dillon, M. op. cit. p102. [xlii] Garland, R.S.J. op. cit. p91-3. [xliii] ibid. p76. [xliv] Garland, R.S.J. op. cit. p76. [xlv] Goff, B. op. cit. p63. [xlvi] Dillon, M. op. cit. p79. [xlvii] Goff, B. op. cit. p64. [xlviii] Garland, R.S.J. op. cit. p76. [xlix] There were four categories of religious offences: misconduct in connection with certain religious festivals, theft of temple property, asebia and atheism. According to ibid. p79, 119. [l] ibid. p79. [li] ibid. p77. [lii] ibid. p81. [liii] ibid. P.119. [liv] Maurizio, L. op. cit. P. 75. [lv] Acts of Paul II.7-43. [lvi] For another example of this kind of text see The Protoevangelium of James, a text that tells the story of Jesus’ mother Mary. [lvii] De Baptismo 17, Tertullian. [lviii] Although Paul is a writer from the 1st century AD, his writing (along with other New Testament letters and gospels) provides evidence of concerns and teaching about women which is in many respects a backdrop to later texts (since many 2nd century writers cite them, particularly Paul.) [lix] Acts 18 [lx] De Prescriptiones Haereses 41.5, Tertullian. [lxi] Hippolytus, Refutation of All Heresies VIII.12 [lxii] Epiphanius Medicine Box 49.1.3 [lxiii] Ibid. 49.2 [lxiv] Tertullian, On the Soul 9. [lxv] The Passion of the Holy Martyrs Perpetua and Felicitas, for instance, is the martyrology of five figures, only two of whom are female, (I.1) and the account of the martyrs of Lyons in 177 CE sees Blandina as the last to die, having suffered every torture, and encouraged her fellow martyrs. [lxvi] Acts of Perpetua and Felicitas VI.4
[lxvii] Ibid VI.3 [lxviii] Letter from Vienna and Lyons in Hist. Eccl. 5.1.1-2, 8 [lxix] Acts of Perpetua and Felicitas, 1.3, 2.3, and 3.2. [lxx] Although Clement of Alexandria tells us that some Christian women in his city led independent lives. Paedogogus 3.4, Clement of Alexandria. [lxxi] Octavius 8-9, quoted in Margaret Y. MacDonald, Early Christian Women and Pagan Opinion. [lxxii] Contra Celsum 3.44, quoted in Margaret Y. MacDonald, Early Christian Women and Pagan Opinion. [lxxiii] Ibid. 3.55 [lxxiv] Ibid 3.55 [lxxv] Stromata 3.6.53, Clement of Alexandria. [lxxvi] Justin Martyr and his fellow martyrs admit to this in The Martyrdom of Justin Martyr 3, in The Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. I. The writer of 2 Timothy also seems to have received Christianity via the maternal line: 2 Tim. 1:5. [lxxvii] 1 Peter 3:1-6 [lxxviii] Paedogogus III.5, Clement of Alexandria. [lxxix] Ibid III.2. [lxxx] Ibid III.9 [lxxxi] Ibid. [lxxxii] Ariadne Publications, 2006 [lxxxiii] Eirik the Red and Other Sagas, Gwyn Jones (trans) [lxxxiv] Taken from the Havamal [lxxxv]'Return of the Volva: Recovering the Practise of Seidh' Diane L Paxson www.hrafnar.org/seidh/, article first published in Mountain Thunder summer 1993. [lxxxvi] Asynuir, Women's Mysteries in the Northern Tradition: Sheena McGrath, Capall Bann 1997 [lxxxvii] See 'Nine Worlds of Seid-Magic' Jenny Blain 2002 [lxxxviii] The Saga of the Volsungs, Jesse L Byock (trans) [lxxxix] The Prose Edda, Snorri Sturleson [xc] 'Shamanic Performance on the Urban Scene' Galina Lindquist, 1997 + 'Return of the Volva: Recovering the Practise of Seidh' Diane L Paxson www.hrafnar.org/seidh/ , article first published in Mountain Thunder summer 1993. [xci] Traditional songs provided by my Houngan godfather, Hector. All mistakes are my own. [xcii] This is an important and oft-neglected point. It is said that no lwa can act unless God wills it; many Vodouisants and some of the lwa themselves appear to be practicing Catholics, with spirits such as Erzulie Freda and Danballah Wedo well known for taking communion. That said, one does not have to be Catholic to practice Vodou; though some belief in a Great Spirit, all-encompassing Goddess or similar is generally held to be desirable. [xciii] Although Freda has often been called the ‘love goddess’ of Vodou, this description is flawed on several counts. Freda herself represents love in an idealistic sense; she has not the earthiness of Hathor nor the decadent sexuality of Venus, and is traditionally seen as being slightly ‘prudish’.
