An Import of my Tumblr Blog
Artemis earliest appears in literature with very Potnia Theron features.
The peaks of the lofty mountains tremble and the shaded wood resounds terribly with the screams of wild beasts, Earth shudders and the sea teeming with fish, but the determined goddess roams everywhere killing the race of wild beasts, (h. Dian. 27. 6-10)
Out of the Drink, Into the Wild: Musings on Experiencing the Sacred
Something St. Anthony of Lisbon “taught” me. I’m still processing everything, and honestly it feels a bit catch 22. Amazing, insane, false ans true, useless and meaningful….
Hedonism and asceticism are two sides of the same coin. One is the selflessness that leads to god(s), and that ecstasy,…
life:
Richard and Mildred Loving never asked to be heroes of the Civil Rights Movement. But when the state of Virginia had their interracial marriage in its crosshairs, the unassuming, intensely private couple fought back. And on June 12, 1967, they won.
Here, on the 45th anniversary of the June 12, 1967, Supreme Court decision that, in effect, codified the right of men and women to simply love whom they choose, LIFE.com presents a gallery of recently rediscovered Grey Villet photographs of the Lovings, their family and their friends, along with the text of the original magazine story.
Xaos – Chaos Mægick: Grounding and Centring
xaos:
These two terms might be used interchangeably by some, and if you’re instructed to ‘ground yourself’ during a rite it may not matter if you, instead, ‘centre yourself’.
I suggest that grounding is a process of connecting with the Earth / reality / environment in a way that sheds miasmic feelings and energies; establishing healthy polarised flow.
In contrast, I suggest that centring (or centering for non-British readers) is a process of acknowledging your place in [the] Universe / wider environment and your own sovereignty in a way that lets go of extraneous thoughts, feelings and energies; establishing a pressured yet unbound identity.
In magick, doesn’t our preparation before a rite and any initial meditation ground and centre us?
When I was learning Rogerian counselling, we started group work by sitting quietly, and each recognising the thoughts and emotions we had brought to the circle out loud. It wasn’t about repression, it was about expression, and letting go (for a time).
Recently, I was talking to a group of counsellors and before I was invited to lead the day’s activities (it was an away day, and I was the guest speaker) we were asked to spend a quiet minute to ‘arrive’. After the long journey to Buckfast Abbey and the hustle and bustle of meeting and greeting so many acquaintances and strangers, this minute of silence to quell the internal monologues and irrelevant minutiae was invaluable.
The transitional, interstitial or liminal periods between one activity / mindset and another are so very important to our psychology, not only to magickians who are, of course, edge walkers.
Next time you meet a friend, start a project, or return to an activity, ask yourself if you’re ready. Have you arrived? Might you ground or centre yourself for a minute?
All of xaos’ best posts (in my opinion, anyway) also seem to be hir least reblogged/liked ones. Why is that, I wonder?
“We call strong Pan, the substance of the whole, etherial, marine, earthly, general soul,
Immortal fire; for all the world is thine, and all are parts of thee, O Power Divine.
Come, blessed Pan, whom rural haunts delight, come, leaping, agile, wandering, starry light;
The Hours and Seasons [Horai], wait thy high command, and round thy throne in graceful order stand.
Goat-footed, horned, Bacchanalian Pan, fanatic power, from whom the world began,
Whose various parts by thee inspired, combine in endless dance and melody divine.
In thee a refuge from our fears we find, those fears peculiar to the human kind.
Thee shepherds, streams of water, goats rejoice, thou lovest the chace, and Echo’s secret voice:
The sportive nymphs, thy every step attend, and all thy works fulfill their destined end.
O all-producing power, much-famed, divine, the world’s great ruler, rich increase is thine.”Daemonia Nymphe – Summoning Pan
