Speak Little, Listen Much

I had a conversation with a friend not long ago. I'm not sure how it came to this topic, though many of them like myself are non-linear thinkers and as such topics tend to move from one to the next with seemingly no relation at all. But somehow in someway I ended up sitting in my kitchen drinking tea and found myself defending the importance of living in your thoughts.

I know the first argument against this, I do. You get too disconnected, they say. You get too lost and your thoughts can go to very dark places, they argue.

 First off- don't kid yourself into thinking you are more connected to the world than you are in your own mind. What is meditation other than going deep inside yourself, into your mind and the confines of yourself to feel out your connection to the world around you. I don't know about you, but nothing bad has ever come out of my meditative exercises. Through meditation I met Kaijana, who has taught me to stand up for myself and what I believe, and that to me is one of the most powerful lessons any of us can learn in life.

Second- You can control your thoughts. You are not their slave, they are your own and you are their master. One of my favorite books on witchcraft has one of the most powerful quotes about life I have ever absorbed "You are the magician, you are the master of your world and everything in it, including your own emotions."

Growing up pagan, I'd get a lot of crap about going through a phase, what with the amounts of paganism in popular culture in the 90's, but honestly what I love about this religious path is not just the magick or the feeling of endless possibility, its the lessons you learn from it that you carry in life. The first goal to being a witch is Know Thyself, but that shouldn't apply just to a religion, that should be a life necessity, because it is. And by thinking deeply, by truly letting yourself delve deep into your mind can you allow yourself to do exactly that.

Through witchcraft I grew up not begging for forgiveness from my gods and goddesses for my mistakes. To me, they don't forgive, because there is no need to. There is no Hell, because there is no need for one. The threefold law will show you the error of your ways, and with it you learn, and you grow stronger, fuller, and more powerful in your own way.

What happens when you don't, you ask? I can tell you the answer, because I did exactly that for the past three years of my life. You become stagnant. Often I hear from loved ones that they are in a rut, and my first question will be, "Well, what you have been thinking about lately?" And the answer is always the same, they haven't.

Don't be afraid of the dark places or the scary thoughts. Follow them to where they lead, master them, and they will no longer rule. They are parts of yourself, and just as important to your individual existence as the lights and joys you carry. I won't lie, there are plenty of things of which to fear in this world, but your own mind should never be one of them.

"Bide within the Law you must, in perfect Love and perfect Trust.
Live you must and let to live, fairly take and fairly give.
For tread the Circle thrice about to keep unwelcome spirits out.
To bind the spell well every time, let the spell be said in rhyme.
Light of eye and soft of touch, speak you little, listen much."

-the Wiccan Rede, stanza 1

Weekend Witchcraft; Animal Guides and How To Find Them

Kaijana, my fierce and powerful animal guide. 

Animal guides are different for all of us, and in my own experience they tend to shift and change with us throughout our lives. She was once a leopard, smaller in stature, and far more timid. Black with dark brown spots. Today she is a massive golden jaguar, her head is nearly the size of pillow. She doesn't tolerate much, and is fiercely territorial. Kaijana is my greatest asset and has pushed, prodded, and snarled at me to become the woman I am today, and one I am truly proud to be. 

To find your animal guide takes time. I don't recommend the trip for anyone who is faint of heart or short on patience. Again, I surmise that the journey to finding your guide is different for everyone. Mine began, as most of you already know, with a thorough cleansing of my home. You will need to meditate, and one session will rarely yield all of your answers.Doing so for some can feel like astral projecting, moving to a different plane of existence where the metaphysical is more physical than meta, allowing  you to see the unseen within and outside yourself. Focus on breathing, and if your brain is wandering, try to give it a singular thought, a word or even just staring into a candle flame, to put your mind in the proper state. I used an Ascended Guides candle, sandalwood incense, and a pentagram charm from Some Enchanted Evening to help discover the name of mine, and it truly worked to gain her trust once more.

Once found, name learned, and trust earned, be sure to speak to them often and keep them close. I wear a necklace with a pendant shaped like a fang filled with pyrite and a drop of mercury, reminding me of her fierce and powerful nature. Recently I purchased a small figurine of a powerful jaguar placed by my personal spell candle. I also found Rainforest incense by Gaia, which I burn in the living room and makes my home feel like exactly that. Kaijana sleeps in my bed at night, taking up most of the full size mattress, often headbutts me to get to work, and loves to prowl on a walk about town. So far she has helped me to make better choices, and to do so confidently and without fear. 

The power of your animal guide is only limited to that which you limit yourself. If you choose to have none, the possibilities which they hold for you can be as endless and vast as time itself. 

Dream walking

Dream walking is a meditative practice to recall ones dreams. Lately I've been having dreams of some of my past lives, but they've been changing, and I was curious to see if it was simply my dreaming mind warping them, or if the memories were simply more than I previously knew them to be. 

You can dream walk anyway you like. The important thing is to be meditating, not sleeping. This way you are able to direct the dream as you would like, without getting lost in the twists and turns of our often confusing subconscious thoughts. I started doing it actually pacing around my friends bedroom, because in the dream I had I was walking, but really, whatever meditative exercise you prefer would work fine. I love taking baths to ease my aching back from a long day of writing at the computer, and my last dream walk I was trying to pick up the thread of the dream that ended with me waking up in a tub in whatever past life I had found myself back in that time. It was very vivid. My hair was in ringlets down to my shoulders, and the water smelled of rose oil. 

Recalling past lives can be vital to the journey of our souls, which is really what we are. You are a soul in a body, not a body with a soul. I've been meditating like this with a notebook nearby, coming to every so often to jot down notes before I drift back in again. It's been a fascinating journey so far, and I came to realize what I've been seeing in my sleeping mind was actually a dream in my past life, a dream within a memory of sorts. 

Next time you have one of those dreams you simply can't get out of your head, consider lying down somewhere quiet with a notebook in hand, pick up the thread, and see where your dreams will lead you. 

My Spirit Animal

Inspired by my darling LadyUnlaced's popular post about finding your spirit animal, I became emblazoned to write a post about my very own beloved spirit animal, the black spotted leopard.

source

Solitary, powerful, mysterious, wild, and absolutely free. Leopards in the wild are extremely opportunistic hunters, eating everything from big game to dung beetles if food becomes scarce.

Like Unlaced with her white tiger, I've always known this animal was mine. I remember seeing a picture of one in a Nat Geo book as a little girl and being in awe. I actually got the chance to see one in person at a local fair, and I was in awe as much as I was in shame. She was beautiful and deadly and should not have been in such a cage. I could see the "get me the fuck out of here" look in her eyes, and there was nothing more that I wanted to do than somehow get her back to the wild. 

My black panther spirit is named Aradia, a nod to the queen of the witches. She is strong and protective and puts my interests above all others. She is often cold and calculating, for she cares for no ones needs and happiness but my own, but I treasure her companionship always. 

Whose your spirit animal?