We have no churches or large congregations in our spiritual community and the only times large groups of Witches comes together is at a festival or public Sabbat. The real deep spiritual work is done in our Solitary practice and in our small groups, the Covens. The inner and secret workings of a Wiccan Coven are something many people don't understand.

                When we start our Seeker year we make a vow to stay in the Coven for a year and a day. We are exploring the Path of the Witch and learning the basics. After that year we may be ready to dedicate ourselves to the Craft by taking 1st degree Initiation. Some people leave the group at that time and become Solitary Practitioners and others make a commitment to their Coven to continue. These commitments, as a new Seeker and later as an Initiate, are deep magical acts that put down roots into the Way of the Witch and into the hearts of the Coven mates. They create a connection to a spiritual family based on perfect love and perfect trust and a safe place to explore the Mysteries, get support and experience things that you cannot experience in Solitary Practice. This can cause a phenomena we call 'group mind', a telepathic connection within the group. Remember the time we all brought rice to the potluck?

                This does not mean that there will always be harmony in the group! As we go deeper into the magickal process of transformation becoming healed and realizing our own authentic self, as we become aware of the Divine in nature and in ourselves and start to manifest it in the world, we all hit obstacles and shadows. These shadows can be extremely difficult to face and overcome, but they are the places of real change and personal power. Each person in the Coven will be dealing with these shadows but the Coven itself may have collective shadows. So with all these intense issues coming up there are bound to be tensions within the group from time to time.

                Why do you think that the people in the Coven have come together as a spiritual group? Is it a co-incidence or is it a very important synchronicity?  The Coven is not a book club or a self-help group. It is an apprenticeship under the guidance of men and women who have been where you are now, and have graciously agreed to give back what they received from their teachers by helping others. They have faced their own shadows! The techniques in each Tradition may be different but they are all aimed at one goal, to help participants have personal connection with the Divine Immanent, the God and Goddess in the world and in us, but to do that they must first undergo a transformative process. The Coven is like the Cauldron of Cerridwen and sometimes it boils! That may be the only way that the Goddess can transform the contents of the Cauldron (us) and the process may get hot!

This boiling process is very mysterious and can take the form of interpersonal conflict, group experiences that shock us or scare us, energy within the Circle that is so intense we don't understand it and many other things. Whatever is going on in the Coven changes us! We need to have confidence in our selves rooted in our commitment to the group and the process and we need to trust the Goddess.

Some Covens cannot stand the heat and fall apart at this point. They may blame many things on the end of their Coven but the deeper spiritual reason is that the members could not work through the boiling (transformative) process. They don't have a deeper vision of what is really going on. The most insidious manifestation of the disintegration of the Coven is gossip. This is definitely a type of black magick that spreads poison into the Coven and unless it is rooted out and brought into the light of day, the Coven can fall apart. It destroys perfect love and perfect trust which is the very fabric of the group.

A strong High Priestess can feel that something has changed in the Coven because she is connected to the group mind and the pulse of the Coven. But sometimes the Coveners hide things from the HPS because they are afraid to talk to her, thinking that if they criticize the group they may be ostracized. A climate of respect and openness allows the Witches to speak their truth and bring it into the Circle. Everyone in the Coven is encouraged to participate in this open dialogue as each member takes their place in the Circle with equality. 

"We are a circle moving one with each other we are moving together we are one. I am spirit and I move in you. You are spirit and you move in me." chant by Marae Price (copyright 1996) Click here for the music. This blog entry is dedicated to Lady Rhiannon of the

When an Elder is not an Elder

We often talk about respecting our Elders and our Ancestors but an Elder is someone who has earned respect by their behaviour, not just the fact of living on the earth for 50 + years or being a blood relative. I went to a Women's Circle a few years ago where we were asked to name our mothers and our grandmothers.....I am Anna, daughter of Susan, daughter of Hilda. There were some women who felt supremely uncomfortable with that identification because they had spent years healing from abuse and neglect inflicted by their birth mothers or grandmothers. Just because someone gave birth to you does not make them a respected elder.

In the discussion about native cultures and Shamanism we hear about ancestor worship, elders leading the tribe, and matriarchal lineage. We are told earnestly that to disconnect from our ancestors is to lose our identity and disconnect from who we are. That this disconnect can lead to depression and illness.  How do we reconcile this idea with a dysfunctional family now? If adult children in dysfunctional families feel that it is their fault and their responsibility to fix the problem they return again and again to try and mend the rift, only to have wounds re-opened and more abuse heaped upon them. If it is an abusive man beating a woman, she is told that it is healthy and good to walk away and start a new life. If it is an abusive mother or grandmother, walking away and starting a new life is called abandonment. Men and women are made to feel guilty that they are not in touch with their birth mothers or taking care of them in their old age, no matter what the story. You must forgive your elders and you must sacrifice your life, time, energy and money to take care of them when they are elderly. Love and light! It is your duty to do this! Shame on you for not visiting your grandmother in the nursing home! How can you call yourself a spiritual person if you don't forgive the abuse and love your Mom!

Learning to forgive and heal does not mean that you need to return to the abusive relationship. If the abusive person has not changed and is not ready to make amends, the same cycle of hurt just starts again. Just like an abused women should not return to an abusive marriage, continuing to romanticize the mother-child or grandmother-grandchild relationship and keeping the connection even though no reconciliation or change has occurred is pointless, fruitless and damaging. It may be very hard to admit that you need to end the relationship with your parents; maybe the hardest thing that you will ever have to do.

This does not mean that you have to sever the connection with your ancestors and your family lineage. You are genetically part of this family and always will be. You can participate in honouring the family, learning about the family, and even doing Shamanic healing around ancestor wounds, and still not need to re-kindle a relationship with a violent or abusive parent. Respecting our elders does not mean condoning or forgetting trauma. In our pursuit of spiritual transformation, we can work on trying to understand why it happened and letting go of the anger and pain. Saying 'I forgive you' is not the same as saying, 'You can hurt me again!'

(This article has grown out of many conversations with people in the Sacred Cauldron Community. It is not meant to apply to any one person or story.)

Do Wiccans Have Psychic Powers?

"There ye shall assemble, ye who are fain to learn all sorcery, and to these shall I teach things that are as yet unknown." (from the Charge of the Goddess by Doreen Valiente.)

            If you search on the internet for Witchcraft twenty-five and a half million sites come up! If you had the time to read them all, do you think that you would learn the secrets of the Goddess, also called "Sorcery"? Would those internet addresses reveal spells that would bring you love, wealth, health, immortality, riches, power and more? What is Sorcery? 

Here's the secret (the unknown): Sorcery is power; power to do whatever you want.

            A funny thing happened and I would like to tell you about it. I noticed that all the Witches were developing powers. They were able to read peoples thoughts, see auras, touch people and heal their pain, know what would happen in the future, remember their past lives, speak to animals, hear the voices of those who had passed on and many other things, but most of all they were happy. You might not think that being happy is a magickal power, but really it is the goal of all Sorcery! Why would we be "fain to learn" if it didn't make us happy? When I confronted them saying: "You all have powers!" They said: "No we don't."  They didn't realize that their lives were full of magick and power. They couldn't see it because to them it was normal and natural, just business as usual.

            But they do have powers and they didn't get them by reading books or the internet! Because of their practice within the Craft the Goddess taught them all they know in a way so gentle and subtle they didn't even realize it was happening. Even though they did not start the practice of the Craft to get powers they were drawn to the path of Sorcery by a Mystery as deep as their souls. Synchronicities called them; strange co-incidences led them to the Circle. They were searching for peace, for transformation and for Her, not for psychic powers.  So what happened?

            As they began to worship, love and honour Her, they changed. This is the Mystery. Cell by cell and thought by thought they metamorphosed into something different: they became Witches. Witches connect with the Divine in Nature and believe that God is both masculine and feminine, that She/He is present, immanent, in the world. As they practice they awakened to that Divine Spirit. They became their authentic selves. Then the Sorcery manifest, just like seeing, hearing, tasting, and feeling. It was another sense, a natural part of their awakened selves until they became and assembly of Sorcerers.

(this is part of an article first published in Pagan Pages)

We opened the Sacred Cauldron Center seven years ago and it has expanded and grown as the Wiccan Community has grown.  The Covens in the Greenwood Celtic Shamanic Tradition use the Center for their meetings and there are many workshops, public events, classes and courses going on.  When we open our doors to the public everyone is welcome but sometimes people walk through the door that we don't expect! Wonderful people with dreads, body piercings, purple hair  and covered in tattoos and not so wonderful people who create chaos.


We Can't Walk Some Else's Path

We struggle with this sometimes because we have the vision of creating a healing oasis where seekers can come to find peace, inspiration and information. We want to be inclusive and welcome everyone. What do we do when a chaotic personality with mental health problems bursts into the circle and disrupts the peace? Not everyone is ready or able to do the deep spiritual and magickal work in a Wiccan Circle, just like not everyone can be a healer or a Shaman. That does not mean that people cannot gain a great deal from the work being done at the Center as long as they are able to be respectful.  Lately I have come to understand that we cannot rescue everyone! And we are not meant to! There are people in the world with challenges that they are working on, suffering from, living in and we can't change that. We can offer them a place in the Public Circle as long as they don't disrupt or harm or others. We can send them healing and good wishes from the Healing Drum, but we can't necessarily solve their problems. That is the path they are walking and it is their work to heal their own souls.

Letting Go

        Letting go of this feeling that we need to rescue is important. This need is coming from a place of ego and trying to control others. We think they should change and we try to push them in the name of helping. This is wrong thinking! The Goddess loves all of us, even the damaged and hurting people, maybe especially these people! They belong to Her and She is guiding them. Whether they listen and follow is their choice and their right. Personal freedom is important to us so why not extend this to everyone who walks through our doors?  This doesn't mean that we never ask people to leave the Circle, but it is not from a place of exclusiveness,  rather a place of protecting the peace and letting them honestly know that this is not the place they need to be at this time on their quest.

        So are Wiccan Communities exclusive? No we don't set out to exclude anyone! But some people exclude themselves by their behavior. And that is their personal choice.
       

How do Witches deal with Stress?
Our modern lives are full of stress, rushing to meet deadlines, working long hours to pay the bills, looking after our families and keeping up with our friends. Even Facebook and e-mails can be a stress factor. Everyone wants us to instantly respond! Sometimes even the idea of fitting in regular spiritual work such as meditation or morning ritual can be a stressor….and then there’s finding time to exercise and eat well. Reading this post reminding you of stress can be stressful! Do Witches handle stress differently from other people? If so what do they do?

If you go to a non-Wiccan counselor they won’t be able to understand the profound spiritual path you are on. They have never experienced the presence of the Goddess in the Circle or the fellowship of the Coven. They may suggest coping mechanism to you such as exercise or meditation but these things are only band-aids. What you need to do is find the profound stillness of Sacred Space. This is the only way that you as a Witch on a transformative mystery path can move away from the stress of the mundane and into the magickal life.

First Things First

Don’t miss Coven. No matter how busy you are take the time at least once a month (more if you can) to sit in sacred space with your Coven. Cast the Circle properly and call the Elementals, purify the Circle, call the God and Goddess, ground and center. Sit in Their presence. Just sitting in sacred space can have a profound effect on our energy.  Doing Solitary ritual everyday by yourself is good but if you are in a disturbed and stressed state of mind the creating of the sacred space can be very disjointed. In a strong Coven the mundane world is left behind and we truly are between the worlds. This is a total disconnect from stress and it can be profoundly healing.

Go Outside

Every day you must go outside, rain or shine, winter or summer, even if only for ten minutes and DO NOTHING. Just be outside and feel the rain, look at the clouds, feel the air on your skin, notice the moon or the sun, touch a tree. This tiny amount of time is your way of connecting with the rhythm of the earth and re-connecting with who you are. You are part of nature and the divine is there. Research has shown that spending 20 minutes outside every day in a nature place (where there is an open sky and trees, fields, plants etc.) can have a profound effect on relieving and preventing depression.

Talk to your High Priest or High Priestess

It’s important to let your HP/S know what is going on with you. They are trained to listen and to support you. This is not counseling but it is pastoral support. Let them know what is going on in your life, spiritual and mundane. Feel the connection with the the Tradition and the Old Ones through them. The Old Ones are the Witches that have gone before and who are looking out for us. They are our ancestors in Spirit (as opposed to ancestors of blood). If you are a Solitary Witch and you don’t belong to any Tradition try and find a High Priestess who would be willing to be your Mentor and meet with you on a regular basis, every month or every few months, just to talk about your spiritual work. Be prepared to pay her for this pastoral counseling though. She won’t charge her Coven but you are coming to her as an outsider and she deserves to be payed for her time the same as any other counselor.

Simplify

Finally, last but NOT least, is to simplify your life. You need time to breathe! Do you really need to have that fancy house with a $3000 a month mortgage? Would you be just as happy living in a little cottage that you could pay off in a few years? Do you need a big car or would a little car get you were you are going just as well? If you don’t need so much money you won’t need to work so hard and will have more time to spend in the garden, knit a sweater, play hockey, cook home-made jam, visit friends and all the other things that make life so rewarding. If you spend every waking minute worrying and working at the end of your precious life you will look back with regret. Take time to spend with people you love and let the others go. Keep it simple! Breathe a big sigh of relief and go outside. Let go of worry and feel the wind on your face. The Lord and Lady are waiting!