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fist full of godsI'm delighted to announce that one of my personal favorites among my books, A World Full of Gods, is back in print in a revised and expanded edition. When it first saw print in 2005, it was literally the Western world's first original work on the philosophy of religion in centuries to take polytheism seriously -- not as a metaphor, not as a mask under which some less challenging set of ideas could be found, but on its own terms, as a live religious option.  There have been several other books on the subject published since then, but I think A World Full of Gods still stands up very well among them, and the fan mail I've fielded from Heathens, Kemetics, and many other modern polytheists leads me to think that other people share that opinion.

Here's the publisher's blurb:

*  *  *  *  *

An investigation into the underpinnings and superstructures of the Pagan world view

Pagan religions have tended to be more concerned with practice than with theory and in a system that has no dogma - no legislated doctrine - that is as it should be. Yet as the movement grows and matures, it is inevitable that we will begin to think in a more abstract way about our models and systems.

John Michael Greer provides a primer on the kinds of ideas and themes that must be included in any discussion of the theology and philosophy of Neo-pagan religions.  Much of the book takes shape in a dialogue with existing ideas in theology, philosophy, and comparative religion. It looks to find a comprehensible yet intellectually rigorous middle ground between too much and too little reference to the work of other scholars.

It aims to be part of a conversation, that stretches out over the centuries. Voices of polytheist spirituality have had little place in that conversation for many years, but much of value has been said in their absence. The rebirth of polytheism as a living religious tradition in the Western world will inevitably force a reassessment of much of that heritage, and pose challenges to some of its most cherished assumptions.Yet reassessment is not necessarily rejection, and the traditions of modern polytheism are deeply enough indebted to legacies from the past that an attentive ear to earlier phases of the conversation is not out of place.

*  *  *  *  *
Three additional notes:

First, the publisher has graciously provided a discount code for this title, good from now until the end of May.  Visit their website here and use the discount code JMG20 during checkout, and you get 20% off the cover price.

Second, longtime readers will be bemused -- to use no stronger word! -- to hear that Pagan blogger and podcaster Rhyd Wildermuth, with whom I've had some interesting history, had me on his podcast to talk about A World Full of Gods. We had a lovely conversation. As far as I know, it's only available to his subscribers so far, but it should be available to the general public in a few weeks.

Finally, why "For  A Few Gods More"? Back when I was originally working on this project, twenty years ago, it was a running joke among my friends to refer to it as "A Fistful of Gods," with reference to a certain classic spaghetti Western film starring Clint Eastwood. That inspired suggestions that a sequel or new edition should be "For A Few Gods More," and a third would of course be "The Good, The Bad, and the Godly"...

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polytheist monasticismI'm delighted to announce that Polytheist Monasticism: Voices from Pagan Cloisters is now in print.  It's an anthology, edited by Janet Munin, of essays by people involved in one way or another in the emerging world of polytheist and animist monastic life.Yes, there are monks and nuns in polytheist traditions; there were monastic traditions in polytheism long before Johnny-come-lately faiths such as Christianity and Buddhism were born; and the revival of polytheism in recent years has inspired a significant number of people to take up a vocation as polytheist monks and nuns.

The essays in this book were written by some of the people involved in that movement. I've got a piece in there, about the process by which the Ancient Order of Druids in America organized its own monastic system, but there are other essays in the collection that are much more interesting! 

(All this is timely for another reason. One of the tasks on the horizon as I sort out the legacy of my late teacher John Gilbert is the revival of the Universal Gnostic Church, the religious tradition he inherited from his teachers and passed on to a handful of successors. The UGC had, among other things, its own monastic orders, the Order of the Universal Monk and the Order of the Universal Nun, and those will need to be reactivated as well in due time.) 

If you're interested in the anthology, why, it's now in print and hitting bookstore shelves. You can order a copy here if you live in the United States (they're temporarily backordered but should have more copies soon) and here if you live anywhere else in the world. 
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Polytheistic MonasticismI'm very pleased to announce the publication of Polytheistic Monasticism: Voices from Pagan Cloisters, edited by Janet Munin, a new anthology of essays by people involved in one way or another in the emerging world of polytheist and animist monastic life. Too many people think of monasticism as purely something done by revealed religions such as Christianity and Buddhism; au contraire, there were monks and nuns in ancient India and Egypt long before those other religions were born.

Over the last decade or two, as pop-culture Neopaganism hit its diminuendo phase, there's been a great deal of new interest in more traditional modes of polytheist spirituality, and that inevitably led some participants to look toward the sort of deep commitment to their spiritual paths that gives rise to monasticism -- and things unfolded from there. As far as I know this is the first attempt to sketch out the emerging movement that's resulted from that trend. 

(Yes, I've got a piece in the collection, on the process by which the Ancient Order of Druids in America established its own monastic church, the Gnostic Celtic Church; it might be of use to others who are looking toward a similar process -- but frankly most of the other essays are more interesting.)

It's just been announced for release in the spring of 2022.  If you'd like a copy, you can preorder one in the US here, and in the rest of the world here
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DruidsLast week I posted an announcement here about Beyond the Narratives, the latest anthology of my essays to see print. It so happened that several of the people who responded had read one of the essays in it already -- "The God from the House of Bread"  -- and that launched a conversation that I, at least, found fascinating. 

The basic theme of the article was an interpretation of Jesus from within the worldview of traditional polytheism -- the way of thinking about gods I discussed at some length in my book A World Full of Gods.  I gather it came as a welcome surprise to some of my readers that as a polytheist, I firmly believe that Jesus is a god and the son of a god, and cheerfully affirm that those who choose to enter into a covenant with him ought to follow his commandments and participate wholeheartedly in his traditional forms of worship.  From a polytheist standpoint, after all, are many gods, and they have different expectations for those who enter into covenants with them; Jesus is not a god I worship, but it's just as reasonable for those who do worship him to do these things as it is for me to follow the teachings and practice the ceremonies of the smaller and decidedly more eccentric Druid faith to which I belong. 

Apparently this is something that intrigued a number of my Christian readers, and it started a lively conversation. Since that conversation was tucked away in a book announcement, I decided that it made more sense to move things to a post specifically on that subject -- and here we are. Does the idea of a polytheist view of Jesus and Christianity puzzle you, interest you, leave you cold? Let's talk. 
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Druid SigilIn the course of the ongoing conversation over on my blog, the Druid organization Ar nDraiocht Fein (ADF) came up for discussion. Quite a few people mentioned that they had been members of ADF but left the organization, most of them recently -- and one of my longtime readers and students mentioned that he's long been interested in the religious dimension of Druidry and is looking to set up an organization for people who share that interest. That got a lively response from the former ADF members, and the questions that came up immediately were: 

Why did each person join ADF in the first place?

Why did they leave? 

That's what this post is for: a frank discussion of what attracted people to ADF and what convinced them to quit. Full disclosure here: I'm also a former ADF member, though I left quite a while ago, and I'll be adding my own reflections to the conversation. 

I'm well aware that this is a topic about which some people -- notably those who are still members of ADF -- may have strong feelings, and may not express those with the courtesy and thoughtfulness I expect from my commentariat. For that reason, any attempt at trolling, concern trolling, derailing, flamebaiting, or other bits of online gamesmanship will be deleted. This post is a place for those of us who have had experiences with a troubled Druid organization to talk about those experiences, so that a different organization can learn from them. Those who don't want to participate in that conversation are welcome to go somewhere else -- and those who might want to interfere with that conversation are welcome to go shinny up a stump. 'Nuf said. 
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Ascendant III'm delighted to announce that Ascendant II: Theology for  Modern Polytheists is now available for sale. Regular readers will recall that Ascendant I came out at the beginning of this year and got an enthusiastic reception from polytheists interested in the intellectual side of their faith; the interest was substantial enough that Neos Alexandria, the group that published the first volume, immediately made plans for another. It apparently didn't take long to get a flurry of first-rate essays -- and so here it is. The essays in this volume are: 

"On the Goodness of the Gods: An Essay in Moral Theology" by John Michael Greer
 
"On Idols and Myths: The Gods as Real and Sensory Objects" by Brandon Hensley
 
"The Theology of Personal Experience" by John Beckett
 
"The Case for Cultural Appropriation in Contemporary Paganism" by Wayne Keysor
 
"Applying Cross-Cultural Methods of Myth Interpretation to the Myth of Baldr’s Death" by Ky Greene 
 
"Modern Science and Contemporary Paganism: Uneasy Friends, Amicable Rivals "by Wayne Keysor
 
"God Among Many Gods: Deploying a Classical Christian Proof for Polytheistic Religion" by Brandon Hensley

Serious stuff, well worth close reading and long intervals of thought. I'm delighted to see the polytheist revival unfold this degree of scholarship and intellectual depth along with its increasingly passionate devotional sphere and its increasingly lively influence on the arts and literature. The gods and goddesses are back in town! (Well, actually, they never went anywhere; some of us humans just got clueless about them for a while.) 

Interested? You can order copies here
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pagan nunYesterday I fielded an intriguing call for papers, which I've attached below. It didn't come as a complete surprise -- I know the editor -- and I've also heard a fair amount from various corners of the modern polytheist revival about explorations of monastic spirituality. Still, it strikes me as a very good sign. Perhaps the most serious of the many weaknesses of the Neopagan movement is the extent to which it focuses on a purely social, outer-directed model of spirituality; the turn toward a more inner-directed spirituality on the part of contemporary polytheists, I think, is a much needed balancing factor. 

At any rate, here's the call for submissions. Yes, I plan on writing something and submitting it. 

***********************

Call for Submissions:

Anthology of Polytheistic Monasticism

Polytheists who identify as monastics are invited to submit personal essays about their experience and practices to be included in an as-yet untitled anthology intended to heighten awareness of this form of Pagan spirituality. The editor is Janet Munin, editor of Queen of the Great Below: An Anthology in Honor of Ereshkigal.Danica Swanson of Black Stone Hermitage is serving as a consultant.

We are looking for vivid personal accounts and thoughtful reflections, not research papers.

Possible topics include:

  • How a person came to and/or currently lives out a monastic vocation
  • The joys and challenges of monasticism
  • Monastic theology
  • Your Rule of Life or other monastic disciplines you’ve adopted and what their impact has been
  • Interviews with polytheistic monastics
  • How monasticism differs from or overlaps with other spiritual identities or practices
  • Living in community vs living as a hermit
  • Balancing a monastic lifestyle with the need to earn a living in the world
  • Poetry and/or prayers which vividly express monastic practice or devotion

* Submissions must not have been published previously, either online or in print.

Submission deadline: August 30, 2019

Early submissions are encouraged.

You may submit more than one piece.

All submissions are subject to editing, and the editor will ask authors to revise or modify their work if needed.

Please send all questions and submissions to janet.munin@earthlink.net.

You are welcome to send a query email if you would like feedback on an idea before committing yourself to writing a full article.

All submissions must be in an editable format.Google Docs is preferred, but Microsoft Word is fine. Please ask the editor about other formats before sending.

Compensation & Publisher

All contributors to the anthology will be compensated.

We will be submitting the project to publishers, and final compensation will be dependent on contract terms. Due to standard requirements, we will need several completed pieces to accompany the query.Once decisions are made about the publisher, we will follow up with specific information about compensation and rights. Anyone whose work has been accepted will be free to withdraw it should the terms not be acceptable.Contributors will be compensated even if the anthology ends up being self-published. 
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AscendantI mentioned, a little over a month ago, the imminent release of a new anthology of essays on theology written from a polytheist perspective. It's now available in both print and ebook formats, and can be ordered here. Here's a glimpse at the contents: 

Introduction: Theology: What It Is, Why We Need It by Michael Hardy 
From the Desk of the Editor-in-Chief by Rebecca Buchanan
Why Theology? by Wayne Keysor
Approaching Theology Through the Divine Individual by Brandon Hensley
The One and the Many: An Essay on Pagan Neoplatonism by John Michael Greer 
Two Models of Polytheism by Edward P. Butler
You Can’t Offend the Gods by Patrick Dunn
The Hellenic Gods and the Polis by Gwendolyn Reece 
Of Lying Gods and True Religion by Wayne Keysor
Moral Humans and the Immoral Gods: An Examination of the Problem of Divine Evil in Contemporary Paganism by Wayne Keysor

That is to say, a fine robust banquet of essays on the gods and their relations to us and to the rest of the world. There's going to be a second volume, too, as this first collection has attracted plenty of interest and enthusiasm. Stay tuned! 

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 I'm delighted to report that two new anthologies are about to hit the bookshelves -- one of them with a contribution by me, the other entirely my work. 

Ascendant 1Ascendant is the first of a projected series of anthologies on the subject of polytheist theology and philosophy of religion, published by Neos Alexandria, one of the liveliest of the current polytheist religious organizations. It's got essays by some of the leading lights of today's polytheist revival, wrestling with an assortment of Big Questions from the standpoint of belief in many gods. My essay, "The One and the Many: An Essay on Pagan Neoplatonism," takes issue with the common but mistaken confusion that sees Neoplatonism as monotheist, on the one hand, or monist on the other. I think it came out well, but it's far from the best piece in the book. If you're interested in the philosophical and theological dimensions of polytheism, this is not a book you'll want to miss. 

A Magical EducationA Magical Education is the first of three anthologies of my talks and essays, published by Aeon Books. This volume includes nine of the talks I gave at a variety of Pagan and occult conferences  between 2001 and 2010 -- specifically, the nine most popular talks, the one I was asked to give again and again. As a taster, here are the titles of the talks: 

1 - A Magical Education
2 - Magical Ecology
3 - The Secret History of Neopaganism
4 - Victorian Sex Magic
5 - Understanding Renaissance Magic
6 - Magic, Metapolitics, and Reality
7 - Alchemical Initiation
8 - Healing Through the Elements
9 - Paganism and the Future

The two remaining volumes, The City of Hermes and Beyond the Narratives, include between them nearly all of the short pieces I published between 1993, when my first article saw print, and 2015. 

Ascendant will be in print within a matter of days, and I'll post something here as soon as it sees print. A Magical Education will be out in March, but is currently available for preorder here, with free shipping worldwide. 
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magical templeSeveral previous entries here have covered the basic practices of ceremonial magic in a form reworked for those who follow polytheist faiths. We've discussed the Lesser Ritual of the Pentagram, which is the most basic ritual working in Golden Dawn-style ceremonial magic, and the Middle Pillar exercise, which is the basic GD method of spiritual development and inner alchemy. I've heard from a number of people who've been practicing those regularly since then. That being the case, it's time to move on to the next piece of the system: the rituals for opening and closing a temple. 

Please note that a magical temple in this sense isn't a building set aside for magical work. I wish I had one of those, but that's kind of hard to afford on a writer's income! A magical temple is a space temporarily set aside for magical practice. It can be any convenient place. Before the temple is opened and after it's closed, the space can be used for any other purpose. (For example, I use my study as a temple space; the rest of the time, it's where I write.) It needs to be large enough that you can set up an altar in the center and then walk around it without bumping into anything. The altar can be any flat surface at more or less waist height at least 18 inches square -- a folding tray works very well. You can cover it with the altar cloth of your choice, or leave it bare. 

You'll also need two pieces of hardware to go on the altar. One of them is something in which you can burn incense; the other is something to hold a small amount of water. These can be as ornate or as simple as you like. I practiced for years with a simple pottery wineglass and a plain wooden incense burner. Put the altar in the middle of the space, with the four sides square to the four points of the compass -- if you have any question where east is, get a magnetic compass and find out. When you stand at the west side of the altar and face east, the vessel of water is on the left side of the altar and the incense burner is on the right. 

Once you're set up, you're ready to begin. As with the other polytheist ceremonial magic rituals I've posted here, the marker (PATRON) in the text should be replaced by the name of your own patron deity.  Here are the rituals:  

Opening the Temple

First, stand at the west side of the altar, facing east. Raise your right hand, palm forward, to salute the divine powers you will summon during the ritual, and say, “In the name of (PATRON), and in the presence of all the gods and goddesses, I prepare to open this temple.”

Second, perform the complete Lesser Invoking Ritual of the Pentagram to call magical energies into the space.

Third, standing at the west of the altar, facing east, pick up the vessel of water in both hands and raise it up. Say: “Let this temple and all within it be purified with water.” Go to the east, dip the fingers of one hand into the water, and flick droplets of water three times to the east. Go around to the south, and do the same thing; repeat the same action in the west and the north. Return to the east, face east, lift up the vessel of water in both hands, and say: “The temple is purified.” Then go back to the west of the altar and return the vessel of water to its place.

Fourth, standing at the west of the altar facing east, pick up the incense—if you are burning stick incense, just the stick is fine; if you are using cone or loose incense, lift up the burner in both hands.  Say, “Let this temple and all within it be consecrated by fire.” Go to the east and with one hand, wave smoke from the incense three times to the east. Go around to the south, and do the same thing; repeat the same action in the west and the north. Return to the east, face east, lift up the incense in both hands, and say: “The temple is consecrated.” Then go back to the west of the altar and return the incense to its place.

Fifth, starting from the west of the altar, walk clockwise in a circle around the altar, passing the east four times. Each time you pass the east, bow your head in respect. This is the ancient and very widespread Pagan rite of circumambulation, still practiced in many polytheist societies around the world. As you walk, imagine your movements creating a whirlpool of energy that draws in magical power from the far reaches of the universe to your magical temple. When you have passed the east four times, circle back to the west of the altar and face east.

Sixth, spread your arms wide and say, “(PATRON), my patron god(dess), I ask you to bless and consecrate this temple of high magic, and aid me with your power in all the work I perform herein.” Pause for a time, and concentrate on sensing your patron deity’s presence and power surrounding you.

Seventh, still standing at the west of the altar facing east, raise your right hand again, palm forward, and say, “In the name of (PATRON), and in the presence of all the gods and goddesses, I proclaim this temple duly open.” This completes the ritual.

Closing the Temple: 

First, standing at the west of the altar, facing east, pick up the vessel of water in both hands and raise it up. Say: “Let this temple and all within it be purified with water.” Repeat the process of purifying the temple with water, exactly as you did in the third step of the opening ritual. Then go back to the west of the altar and return the vessel of water to its place.

Second, standing at the west of the altar facing east, pick up the incense and say, “Let this temple and all within it be consecrated by fire.” Repeat the process of consecrating the temple with fire, exactly as you did in the fourth step of the opening riutal. Then go back to the west of the altar and return the incense to its place.

Third, starting from the west of the altar, walk counterclockwise in a circle around the altar, passing the east four times. Each time you pass the east, bow your head in respect. As you walk, imagine your movements dispersing the whirlpool of energy you created earlier and sending the intention of your working out into the universe to accomplish your will. When you have passed the east four times, circle back to the west of the altar and face east.

Fourth, spread your arms wide and say, “ In the name of (PATRON), I set free any spirits who may have been imprisoned by this ceremony. Depart unto your rightful habitations in peace, and peace be between us.” Pause for a moment, and then perform the complete Lesser Banishing Ritual of the Pentagram. 

Fifth, standing at the west of the altar facing east, raise your right hand again, palm forward, and say, “In the name of (PATRON), and in the presence of all the gods and goddesses, I proclaim this temple duly closed.” This completes the ritual.

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Okay, now you've got the rituals; what do you do with them? 

First of all, of course, you practice them until you can do the complete opening and closing ritual from memory, just as you did with the Lesser Ritual of the Pentagram and the Middle Pillar exercise. (If you haven't practiced those two rituals enough to do them from memory, go back and work on them until you can do that, before you get to work in this ritual.) 

Once you've got the opening and closing rituals by heart and can do them with intention, the fun begins. The opening ritual establishes a space in which you can do serious magical practice, and the closing ritual disperses any unused energies and makes the space safe for other purposes. They're the two slices of bread on which you build your magical sandwich. The filling? That's up to you. It can be spellwork, it can be spiritual exercises, it can be active imagination aka scrying in the spirit vision aka Pathworking, it can be whatever kind of magical working you happen to want to get up to. Doing the work in an open temple gives you a safe, cleansed, magically empowered space for any work you want to do, and closing the temple afterwards settles things down afterwards. 

There are other ritual elements that get plugged into the ritual structure we're developing here, and we'll get into those as we proceed. For now, try doing this at least once a week; if you don't have anything else to do between the opening and the closing, try doing the Middle Pillar exercise in the space between the opening and the closing. 

Have fun, and we'll go further in due time. 
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Middle Pillar exerciseA while back I posted a version of the Lesser Ritual of the Pentagram for people who want to get into ceremonial magic but aren’t into the Judeo-Christian symbolism of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, on the one hand, or the Druid Revival symbolism of the Druidical Order of the Golden Dawn on the other. I’ve heard from a number of people who’ve worked with that ritual and had good results with it. Now it’s time for the next ingredient in basic magical training, the Middle Pillar exercise, adapted for the same purpose.

This is the basic internal energy practice of Golden Dawn magic. It’s meant to waken and energize five energy centers in the subtle body, and then circulate energy through the subtle body as a whole. It’s best done every day, right after the Lesser Banishing Ritual of the Pentagram and right before your daily meditation.

You’re going to need to personalize this rite to work with whatever pantheon of deities you prefer. You’re going to need the names of five deities; you’re also going to need five colors and five symbols.

The default option here, adapted from Israel Regardie’s The Art of True Healing, is to use deities corresponding to the five elements—spirit, air, fire, water, and earth, in that order. In that case the colors are white, yellow, red, blue, and brown, in that order, and the symbols are the sun, a cloud, a flame, a drop of water, and a stone.

That’s the default option, again. You don’t have to use the default option.  If your tradition has other symbols for the five elements, you can use them; if it associates the elements with other colors, you can use those.

You can also choose a different and subtler logic for the deities you assign to the energy centers. The first deity can be the supreme deity of your pantheon; the second can be a deity of wisdom and initiation; the third can be a hero deity, a sun deity, or a deity of  the hearth; the fourth can be a fertility deity, or a woodland deity, or a deity who’s closely associated with the life force; and the fifth can be a maiden goddess. (Those readers who know their way around The Celtic Golden Dawn now know the logic behind that book’s version of the exercise.)

By the way, in case you were wondering, the names of the deities don’t have to have four letters each. That was just for the pentagram ritual.)

However you do it, work out a suitable table as follows:

Crown center:             DEITY 1         COLOR 1       SYMBOL 1

Throat center:              DEITY 2         COLOR 2       SYMBOL 2

Heart center:               DEITY 3         COLOR 3       SYMBOL 3

Genital center:             DEITY 4         COLOR 4       SYMBOL 4

Foot Center:                DEITY 5         COLOR 5       SYMBOL 5

In the Druidical GD, these are as follows:

Crown center:             Hu                   White              Sun

Throat center:             Ced                 Violet              Crescent moon

Heart center:               Hesus              Golden          Cluster of oak leaves

Genital center:             Coel/Sul*        Silver               Red dragon

Foot Center:                Olwen             Green              White trefoil

*There’s a lot of polarity symbolism in Druidical magic, so which deity you invoke at the genital center is determined by which set of physical genitalia you have, Coel if you’ve got male genitals, Sul if you’ve got the female set.

Or let’s say you wanted to do an Anglo-Saxon version, one option might be this:

Crown center:              Tiw                  White              Sun

Throat center:              Woden             Blue                 Raven

Heart center:               Frige                Red                 Spindle

Genital center:             Ing                   Green              Sheaf of Barley

Foot Center:                Eostre              Brown             Flowers

Other arrangements could be chosen easily enough; these are just samples. Make your decision and give it a try.

Once you’ve got your table constructed, the exercise is done as follows:

*********************

First, perform the complete Lesser Banishing Ritual of the Pentagram.

Second, imagine a ray of light descending from infinite space to form a sphere of light just above your head, around eight inches in diameter. This sphere is COLOR 1 and contains SYMBOL 1. When you have formulated it clearly in your imagination, vibrate NAME 1 three times.

Third, bring the ray of light to your throat, and form another sphere. This one is COLOR 2 and contains SYMBOL 2. When you have formulated it, vibrate NAME 2 three times.

Fourth, bring the ray of light to your heart, and form a third sphere, which is COLOR 3 and contains SYMBOL 3.  NAME 3 is vibrated here three times.

Fifth, bring the ray of light to your genital center, and form a fourth sphere.  This one is COLOR 4 and contans SYMBOL 4. NAME 4 is vibrated here three times.

Sixth, bring the ray of light to your feet, and form a fifth center. This one is COLOR 5 and contains SYMBOL 5.  The name vibrated here, three times, is NAME 5.

Seventh, return the attention to the center at the top of the head. Bring a current of white light a few inches wide down the right side of the head and neck,  the right shoulder and arm, and the right hip and leg, down to the center at the feet, and then back up the left leg and hip, the left arm and shoulder, and the left side of the neck and head, back to the center at the head.  Repeat this a total of three times; if possible, synchronize with the breath, so that the energy flows down with the outbreath and up with the inbreath, but it is more important to visualize the whole course than to make it happen within a single breath.

Eighth, in the same way, bring a current of white light from the center above the head, down the midline of the front of the body to the center at the feet, and then back up the midline of the back of the body to the center above the head. Repeat a total of three times.

Ninth, turn the attention to the center at the feet. Breathing in, draw a current of energy up the Middle Pillar of the body from that center to the center above the head; breathing out, allow it to spray like a fountain out and over the whole body, cleansing the entire aura, pooling at the feet and being drawn back up the Middle Pillar with the next inbreath. Do this a total of three times.

Tenth, perform the Circle of Presence. This completes the exercise. 

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Over the years that I've studied and taught occultism, I've heard from a lot of people who are interested in practicing ceremonial magic but don't find the Jewish or Christian religious context of most ceremonial magic appealing. My book The Celtic Golden Dawn was written in part to set out a system of ceremonial magic for people like me who find the Druid Revival traditions to their taste, but of course there are a lot of people out there who go in different directions. The other day, after a lot of brooding and some questions on the blog along these lines, I got to work, drafted a ritual, and field-tested it to work out the bugs. 

To use this ritual you'll need five divine names. One of them is the name of the god or goddess with whom you have a personal relationship. The other are four names taken from the pantheon you worship, each of which has four letters. (Think ZEUS, ISIS, etc.) It's best to have two gods and two goddesses; other than that, and the requirement that each name have four and only four letters, it's up to you.* **

* If you use a sacred alphabet, such as the runes or Ogham, it's four runes or four Ogham fews, whether or not that amounts to four English letters. 

** In the ritual below, the names of the deities will be given as PATRON, GODDESS 1, GOD 1, GODDESS 2, and GOD 2.

Got it? Here's the ritual. 

1. Stand facing east. Raise your hands from your sides in an arc until your palms join above your head, fingers pointing up. Draw your joined hands down to your forehead, visualizing light descending from infinite space to a point above your head, and say, "In the name of..."

Draw your joined hands down to your heart, visualize a ray of light descending from above your head to the center of the earth, and vibrate the name (PATRON). (Vibration? That's the mode of chanting that produces a buzzing or tingling sensation in your body.)

Now separate your hands, and touch your right shoulder with the fingertips of your left hand and your left shoulder with the fingertips of your right hand, the hands crossing at the wrist. Say:"...my patron god(dess)..."

Now raise the elbows straight up and bring your hands up, out, and down in a circular motion, bringing them back together palm to palm in front of your lower abdomen or groin (depending on your body's proportions). Visualize your fingertips tracing a circle of light. As you do this say: "..I place myself within the circle of Her (or His) presence..."

Now bring the joined hands up to your heart again, fingertips pointing upwards. Visualize the shaft of light descending from infinite space to the center of the earth, the circle of light you drew with your hands, and your heart shining like a sun. Say: "...and protection."

This rite is called the Circle of Presence, and replaces the Qabalistic Cross. 

2. Go to the eastern quarter of the space, and trace a pentagram with the first two fingers of your right hand, beginning with the top point, and tracing counterclockwise to banish. (This is for the banishing ritual; you'd trace clockwise to summon.) Visualize the pentagram drawn in a line of light. Point to the center of the pentagram and vibrate the name (GODDESS 1).

Trace a circle around to the south, draw the pentagram in the same way, point to the center, and vibrate the name (GOD 1).

Repeat to the west, trace the pentagram, and vibrate the name (GODDESS 2).

Repeat to the north, trace the pentagram, and vibrate the name (GOD 2).

Trace the line back around to the east and return to the center.

 3. Say: “Before me the powers of Air; behind me the powers of Water; to my right hand the powers of Fire; to my left hand, the powers of Earth. For about me stand the pentagrams, and upon me shines the blessing of (PATRON).” Visualize the elements in the four directions when you say these words.

4. Repeat the Circle of Presence. This completes the Lesser Ritual of the Pentagram. 

Notes: 

1. Yes, you can have the gods in east and west and the goddesses in north and south if you wish. It works best to have the gods facing each other and the goddesses facing each other, for the sake of balance. 

2. Yes, you can reference some kind of elemental symbols in the four quarters in part 3 if your tradition has them, e.g., the four treasures of the Tuatha de Danaan, or the four sacred animals we use in Druidry. If not, just use the elements as given. 

3. Yes, I know, the Hermetic GD version of the pentagram ritual traces the pentagram differently. We've done it this way in the Hermetic GD for some years now with excellent results; give it a try and see how you like it. 

4. Why four and only four letters? I have no idea, but it reliably works better that way. 


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ecosophia: (Default)John Michael Greer

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