Getting Started

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Shannon
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Re: Getting Started

Post by Shannon »

This is excellent. I am new and frankly..new to anything spiritual to be honest so trust me when I say I haven't been trying to jump the gun by any means. I've begun meditation and have collected a few crystals so i think I'm right where I should be. This will make a very nice reference for some time to come. Thank you.
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Re: Getting Started

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You're welcome, and You've made my day. :)

TRIPLE GODDESS AND HORNED GOD
(Ref. Wikipedia)

Diana was the Roman goddess of hunting, and in later times, goddess of the moon and chastity. Cypress trees were sacred to her. She was the daughter of Jupiter and the Titan Latona (or Leto). She is also associated with fertility and nature. Artemis is her Greek equivalent. According to mythology Diana was born with her twin brother Apollo on the island of Delos. Apollo was her only real brother but she had many half brothers and sisters from her father. Her half-siblings were Vulcan, Minerva, Mercury, Bacchus, Mars, and Proserpine. Diana made a group of three with two other Roman deities: Egeria the water nymph, her servant and midwife helper; and Virbius, the god of the woods. Diana is a maiden goddess which means she chooses not to marry.

The Triple Goddess is viewed as a triunity of three distinct aspects or figures united in one being. These three figures are often described as the Maiden, the Mother, and the Crone, each of which symbolizes both a separate stage in the female life cycle and a phase of the Moon, 🌓 🌕 🌗, and often rules one of the realms of heavens, earth, and underworld. In various forms of Wicca, her masculine consort is the Horned God.

The most prominent ancient Triple Goddess was Diana, who was aspected with the Greek Hecate, & Hecate was the "original" triple moon goddess. Diana and Hecate were both represented in triple form from the early days of their worship, and Diana in particular came to be viewed as a triunity of three goddesses in one, which were viewed as distinct aspects of a single divine being: "Diana as huntress, Diana as the moon, Diana of the underworld." Additional examples of the goddess Hecate viewed as a triple goddess associated with witchcraft include Lucan's tale of a group of witches, written in the 1st century BCE. In Lucan's work (LUC. B.C. 6:700-01) the witches speak of "Persephone, who is the third and under world aspect of our goddess Hecate...”

Cernunnos 🦌 is the conventional name given for the "horned god" of Celtic polytheism. His imagery have been found from the Gallo-Roman period, mostly in north-eastern Gaul. Cernunnos is depicted as a man with antlers, seated cross-legged, and is associated with stags, horned serpents, dogs, bulls, and rats. He is usually holding or wearing a torc. Interpretations of his role vary from seeing him as a god of animals, nature and fertility to a god of travel & commerce.

Cernunnos was the Gaelic god of beasts and wild places. “Cernunnos” translates to the Horned One, Cernunnos was a mediator of man and nature, able to tame predator and prey so they might lie down together. He remains a mysterious deity, as his original mythos has been lost to history.

🐝

How to Welcome a Deity

Don’t think of this as an “open house” for any and all comers. Address a specific deity with offerings & prayers respectfully suited to that god-form. You control the access. Set aside space for a shrine. Purify and bless it. Use colors and decor to appeal to the deity. Place 🌸 🍷 🍞 offerings; change food daily. Flowers can stay until their life essence fades. Meditate and offer music 🎶, inviting prayers & praising litanies of a specific deity’s attributes... something like Superman’s “a visitor from a distant planet, faster than a speeding bullet, more powerful than a locomotive, able to leap tall buildings in a single bound, & disguised as mild-manner Clark Kent...
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Re: Getting Started

Post by Firebird »

Deserving of a sticky! :fairy: voi-la'
“There are things known and things unknown and in between are the Doors.”
― Jim Morrison
“All I have seen teaches me to trust the Creator for all I have not seen.”
― RWEmerson
:mrgreen:
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Re: Getting Started

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😃 wowza!


ELEMENTAL NATURE SPIRITS
(ref. Wikipedia)

According to Paracelsus, the elements of earth, water, air, and fire, were classed as the fundamental building blocks of nature. This system prevailed in the Classical world and was highly influential in medieval natural philosophy. The homunculus is another example of a Paracelsian idea with roots in earlier alchemical, scientific, and folklore traditions.

Paracelsus
In his 16th-century alchemical work Liber de Nymphis, sylphis, pygmaeis et salamandris et de caeteris spiritibus, Paracelsus identified mythological beings as belonging to one of the four elements. Part of the Philosophia Magna, this book was first printed in 1566 after Paracelsus' death. He wrote the book to "describe the creatures that are outside the cognizance of the light of nature, how they are to be understood, what marvellous works God has created". He categorizes each by where they live. The following is his archetypal being for each of the four elements:

Gnome, being of earth🪨
Undine, being of water💦
Sylph, being of air💨
Salamander, being of fire🔥

He noted that undines are similar to humans in size, while sylphs are rougher, coarser, longer, and stronger. Gnomes are short, while salamanders are long, narrow, and lean. The elementals are said to be able to move through their own elements as human beings move through air. Gnomes, for example, can move through rocks, walls, and soil. Sylphs are the closest to humans in his conception because they move through air like we do, while in fire they burn, in water they drown, and in earth, they get stuck. Paracelsus states that each one stays healthy in its particular "chaos," as he terms it, but dies in the others.

Paracelsus conceived human beings to be composed of three parts, an elemental body, a sidereal spirit, and an immortal divine soul. Elementals lacked this last part, the immortal soul. However, by marriage with a human being, the elemental and its offspring could gain a soul.

In contemporary times there are those who study and practice rituals to invoke elementals. These include Wiccans, and followers of nature-based religions

......

WHAT ELEMENTALS DO
ref. Summit Lighthouse.org


🪨 GNOMES – Tending the Earth
The nature spirits of the physical level are called gnomes. Gnomes tend the earth through the cycles of the four seasons insuring that all living things have their daily needs. They process the waste and by-products & purge the earth of toxins—including industrial wastes, pesticides, acid rain & nuclear radiation that abuse the earth. They clean up the psychic imprints of discord and negativity carelessly scattered by humans.

War, murder, human trafficking, torture & abuse, profit seeking at the expense of the environment as well as hatred, anger, discord, gossip—all these create an accumulation of negatively charged energy that becomes a weight on the earth body and on the nature spirits.

💦 UNDINES – Guarding the Gardens of the Seas
The elementals whose domain is the water element are undines. The mer-folk are subtle and swift in their movements and can change form rapidly. The undines control the tides and have much to do with the climate as well as oxygenation and precipitation. The undines also cleanse waters poisoned by sewage, chemicals, pesticides and other substances. They work ceaselessly to heal the seas & recharge the electromagnetic field of the waters with currents of the Spirit. Their bodies are conductors of cosmic currents resounding through the chambers of submarine life.

The undines cleanse not only the physical waters, but also that aspect of mankind’s life that relates to the water element—our emotional naggage such as anger, emotional abuse, hurtful speech, selfishness, anxiety and over indulgence.

💨 SYLPHS – Aerating Life with the Sacred Breath
The sylphs tend the air element, directing the winds and atmospheric conditions. They purify the atmosphere and aerate every cell of life with the sacred breath of Spirit. They bring the life-sustaining prana that nourishes all living things. On subtle levels, the sylphs transmit the currents of the Spirit from heaven to earth.

The sylphs often have thin, streamer-like bodies that shape shift as they soar through the air. Sylphs are able to travel at great distances very quickly, and giant sylphs can actually span the skies and interpenetrate the earth, the water and the fire elements.

Like giant transformers, sylphs conduct the currents of the mind of God unto the mind of man. They purify the air of pollutants.

The air element corresponds to the mental level of existence, and thus the sylphs also have the job of purifying the mental plane. The mental plane can become polluted by negative thoughts that feed hatred, anger, prejudice, bigotry, resentment, pride, ambition, greed, jealousy and other poisons of the spirit.

🔥 SALAMANDERS – Infusing Matter with the Fires of Creation
The elementals of the fire element and are salamanders. Their job is crucial, for they serve at the atomic level of all organic and inorganic life, infusing the molecules of matter with the spiritual fires of creation that vitalize life. They control the spiritual-material oscillation of light within the nucleus of every atom.

Whether in electricity, plasma, firelight or the flame of a candle, they transfer the fires of the subtle world for mankind’s daily use. Without the spark of life sustained by the salamanders, life and matter begin to decay. Salamanders Force is the transformation of human’s irresponsible uses of resources. Were it not for the fiery salamanders transmuting society’s frustrations & bigotry, the crime and darkness would be much more advanced than it is today.

The very air we breathe, the food we eat, the water we drink, at the most basic level, are utterly dependent on the selfless service of the nature spirits. The miracle of life is the miracle of the gnomes, sylphs, undines and salamanders.
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Re: Getting Started

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CHOOSING A SPIRITUAL PATH

When considering a spiritual path to practice you seek whichever teaches what you want to know and grow into the path; not what you already believe as you’ll quickly outgrow the path and become bored.Some suggestions:

Druidry.org
https://druidry.org/druid-way/beliefs

Dragon Wicca
http://www.angelfire.com/sd/shedevil/Dragonpath.html

Faery Wicca
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faery_Wicca
Faery Faith.net
http://www.faeriefaith.net/WhatisFF.html

Feri Witchcraft, Anderson Family
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feri_Tradition

Eclectic Wicca
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universal_Eclectic_Wicca


FREE PDFs

Gardner’s BOS
https://celticearthspirit.co.uk/wp-cont ... hadows.pdf

Buckland’s Complete Book of Witchcraft free pdf
https://cdn.preterhuman.net/texts/relig ... hcraft.pdf


Cunningham’s Solitary Wicca
https://cdn.preterhuman.net/texts/relig ... tioner.pdf

Kyballion - Hermetic Principles
http://www.yogebooks.com/english/atkins ... balion.pdf

Aradia, Gospel of Witches
https://www.sacred-texts.com/pag/aradia/index.htm

Christian magic - Long Lost Friend “Pow Wow“
https://www.sacred-texts.com/ame/pow/index.htm

Encyclopedia of Mythology
https://pantheon.org/

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Re: Getting Started

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.

PENTAGRAM THOUGHTS 🌟

Generally, In Wicca each point of the single point-up, five-pointed star in a circle represents one of the Pythagorean elemental forms of matter: Top-aether=unmanifest energy, lower left-solids=earth, upper right-liquids=water, upper left-vapor=air, lower right-plasma=fire

✨
. ☁️ .🌟 . 💦
🪨 .. 🔥
  • Invoking ↙️⭐️. Banishing ↗️⭐️
The star in a circle is a feminine symbol, and the circle represents infinity. Here is just something kind of interesting, and I don't pretend to know the math. Have you ever wondered why a five pointed star is the symbol selected to represent the Wiccan path? This is one explanation I've stumbled over. Those musty ancient Greeks like Antipater and Pythagorus, who maybe got it from the Sumerians, probably considered it kids stuff. It gives me a headache.

The pentagram - five pointed, upright star within a circle - displays phi, the Golden Ratio (0.618). The number one divided by 0.618 is 1.618 (which is the same as adding one to it), and 1.618 times 1.618 equals 2.618, so it is sometimes written that way too. These relationships are found in the layout of a pentagram.

Now here’s the interesting part - The Golden Ratio is also found throughout organic lifeforms (the shape of shells, distribution of seeds in a flower, placement of leaves and branches, and also is observed in the orbiting dance of planets of the inner solar system as well. That's the Sun, Mercury, Venus, Earth and our Moon, and Mars. Every 8 years the path of Venus' orbit, as seen from Earth, traces a five lobed design in the sky, formed by our nearest and furthest approaches to each other. So, in the organic designs and in the planetary distribution and motions, life exhibits the ratios depicted by the star-within-a-circle. Therefore, it is a known symbol of life. And for me this makes a good reason to honor the symbol.

The reference used here for the Golden Ratio is John Martineau's "Little Book of Coincidence in the Solar System" in which no references to Wicca occur whatsoever. Wiccans can draw their own conclusions.

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WitchyWhitney
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Re: Getting Started

Post by WitchyWhitney »

Thank you for this. I feel like I need a reminder on what you have said. The last portion I am actually printing out so I can see it every morning. A reminder :flyingwitch: THANK YOU!
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Re: Getting Started

Post by SpiritTalker »

Goosebumps,all around. :)


LESSER BANISHING RITUAL OF THE PENTAGRAM
A Circle Casting Ritual of Protection and Restoring Balance
(Ref. Wikipedia)


Equipment
Although some orders suggest that magical equipment is needed to perform the LBRP, the original Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn did not use any. However, a modern approach might include the following:
. An altar in the center of the ritual space, upon which are placed instruments representing the four Classical elements
. A ceremonial robe (e.g. a tau robe 👘) or other suitable ritual garb is worn by the magician
. A ritual dagger 🗡 used to gesture to the points of the Qabalistic Cross, and to draw the pentagrams and the magic circle 💫connecting them.

Procedure
The Golden Dawn LBRP consists of three main parts for a circle casting ritual, in this order:

1. Qabalistic Cross, can be repeated at the beginning or end. This is meant to construct an astral cross on the body of the magician, with points corresponding to Sephiroth on the Tree of Life. While constructing this cross, the magician vibrates Hebrew words from the last lines of the Lord's Prayer, English can substitute:

. ➕Thine is the kingdom, the power and the glory, forever. Amen

2.Formulation of the Pentagrams, in which either an invoking ↙️⭐️ earth pentagram for calling or a banishing pentagram ↗️⭐️ for dismissing is drawn in the air at each of the four cardinal points and an associated name of God is vibrated. This segment of the ritual is meant to call or release the four elements (Air, Fire, Water, and Earth respectively). The four pentagrams are connected by a circle 💫, also drawn in the air.

E - YAHWEY - Hebrew name of God, YHWH aka Tetragrammaton, Latinized name JeHoWaH
S - ADONI - Hebrew “my Lord”
W - AHEYA - E-hy-eh is the first person singular of the Hebrew verb to be, 'ehyeh 'asher 'ehyeh "I am what I am”
N - AGLA - 1st letters of Atah Gibor Le-olam Adonai,"You, O Lord, are mighty forever.

3.Invocation of the Archangels, during which the magician declares the Archangels Raphael, Gabriel, Michael and Uriel (or Auriel) to be present, while visualizing them at the four cardinal points.

(Face East, draw the invoking pentagram after calling each angelic name ↙️⭐️ )

Raphael before me
Gabriel behind me
Michael to my right
Uriel to my left
Above and below me is the Light of God ✨

(Then air draw the 💫circle.)

Some traditions, in order to distance themselves from the Judeo-Christian content of the ritual, replace the Qabalistic Cross, names of God and archangels with suitable substitutes; using, for example, the chakra system instead of the Tree of Life, Pagan deities instead of Old Testament God names, etc. Magicians practicing Thelemic magick will often intone the name Aiwass at the heart while performing the Qabalistic cross, as reinforcing their commitment to the presiding intelligence of Liber AL.

Invoking pentagram begins at the top point with 1st stroke to the lower left point ↙️⭐️
Banishing pentagram begins at the lower left point with 1st stroke to the top ↗️⭐️

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Re: Getting Started

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7 HERMETIC PRINCIPLES
(Ref. Wikipedia & the Kyballion)


Mentalism: all is mind. There is only one Consciousness.
Correspondence: As above, so below.
Vibration: nothing rests, all is in motion.
Polarity, everything is dual, is & is-not.🃏
Rhythm, vibration is a measured motion 🎶 or like a pendulum swing.
Cause & Effect, for every cause there is an effect.
Gender, everything has both feminine and masculine attributes.



1. Principle of Mentalism
The Principle of Mentalism embodies the idea that "All is Mind." Everything that happens has to be a result of a mental state which precedes it. For anything to exist, thoughts had to form first, which then form physical reality or manifestation. "Your thoughts are seeds, plant positive seeds in your mind garden."

2. Principle of Correspondence
The Principle of Correspondence expresses the idea that there is always a correspondence between the laws of phenomena of the various "planes" of being and life. As above, so below; as below, so above. This principle states that there is a harmony which can be made, agreement and correspondence between these planes, delineated as:
The Great Physical Plane
The Great Mental Plane
The Great Spiritual Plane

3. Principle of Vibration
This expounds the idea that motion is manifest in everything in the Universe, that nothing rests, and everything moves, vibrates and circles This principle explains that the distinction between manifestations of Matter, Energy, Mind, and even Spirit, are the result of only different "vibrations". The higher a person is on the scale, the higher the rate of vibration will be. Here, The All is said to be at an infinite level of vibration, almost to the point of being at rest. There are said to be millions upon millions of varying degrees between the highest level, The All, and the objects of the lowest vibration.

Mental Transmutation is described as the practical application of this principle. To change one's mental state is to change vibration. One may do this by an effort of Will, by means of deliberately "fixing the attention" upon a more desirable state.

4. Principle of Polarity
The Principle of Polarity embodies the idea that everything is dual, everything has two poles, and everything has its opposite.[9] All manifested things have two sides, two aspects, or two poles. Everything "is" and "isn't" at the same time, all truths are but half truths and every truth is half false, there are two sides to everything, opposites are identical in nature yet different in degree, extremes meet, and all paradoxes may be reconciled.

5. Principle of Rhythm
The Principle of Rhythm expresses the idea that in everything there is manifested a measured motion, a to and from, a flow and inflow, a swing backward and forward, a pendulum-like movement. There is rhythm between every pair of opposites, or poles, and is closely related to the Principle of Polarity. It can be seen that this Principle enables transition from one pole to the other, and not necessarily poles of extreme opposites.

6. Principle of Cause and Effect
It explains that there is a cause for every effect, and an effect for every cause. It also states that there is no such thing as chance, that chance is merely a term indicating extant causes not recognized or perceived.[15] The Principle is clarified in the chapter Causation.

7. Principle of Gender
The Principle of Gender embodies the idea that gender is manifested in everything. The authors state that this does not relate explicitly to the commonly understood notion of sex, but rather "... to beget; to procreate, to generate, to create, or to produce..." in general. Gender manifests itself on all planes as the Feminine and Masculine principles.
Mental Gender is described as a Hermetic concept which relates to the feminine and masculine principles. It does not refer to someone's physical sex, nor does it suggest that someone of a certain sex necessarily has a matching mental gender. Ideally, one wants to have a balanced mental gender.

The concept put forth in The Kybalion states that gender exists on all planes of existence (Physical, Mental and Spiritual), and represents different aspects on different planes. Everything and everyone contains these two elements or principles.
The Feminine principle is always in the direction of receiving impressions, and has a much more varied field of operation than the Masculine. The Feminine conducts the work of generating new thoughts, concepts and ideas, including the work of the imagination. The Masculine principle is always in the direction of giving out or expressing, and contents itself with the "Will" in its varied phases.

It is said that there must be a balance in these two forces. Without the Feminine, the Masculine is apt to act without restraint, order, or reason, resulting in chaos. The Feminine alone, on the other hand, is apt to constantly reflect and fail to actually do anything, resulting in stagnation. With both the Masculine and Feminine working in conjunction, there is thoughtful action that breeds success, which points out that both the Feminine and the Masculine fulfill each other.




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earthenergies
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Re: Getting Started

Post by earthenergies »

THis is amazing! Thank you for taking the time to write all this wonderful info ST :)
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Re: Getting Started

Post by nightshroud »

thanks I learned a lot um I may not make daily practice available just depends on schedule.
The darkness is my friend for I am Nightshroud the darklord.
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Re: Getting Started

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That's cool. Nobody's watching. You get to decide.
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Re: Getting Started

Post by nightshroud »

To me it comes from the heart as long as you can put your heart and soul into it the gods will listen. (That) makes for an easier connection with them, because the gods don't want you to try and be like others. they want you to be your wonderful self.

Mother Gaia blessed us with individuality why not use that? nothing wrong with you I went down that road. The gods love you for you. :D

Blessed be your day and hope you find this helpful.
The darkness is my friend for I am Nightshroud the darklord.
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Re: Getting Started

Post by Shadee »

Remember when you told me about centering, and I said I couldn't do it right? ^^ I might have found a solution.

Centering is about bringing back our energy to ourselves. The energy that we spread by feeling concern about various things, like work, family, the dinner, and other worldly things.

Here was my problem: when I tried to center, I felt overwhelmed with energy. And since I have absolutely no natural shield against such thing, I just ended up laughing and crying like crazy after five minutes of trying. This made my emotions go completely nuts, yet most of them didn't come from me. It was like laughing out of being tickled.

Then I realized these energy bursts came from inside my chest, near the Heart chakra. It's a very sensible spot for me, and I might have made the mistake of trying to bring back my energies there. So when I tried again, I decided to store it all behind my navel button, near my Sacral chakra. And this time, it felt a lot better.

So there you have it ^^" I wasn't listening to my body enough, I guess... Thank you for this guide!
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Re: Getting Started

Post by SpiritTalker »

:mrgreen: cool!
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