I’ve had several “craft” names over the years, each marking an achievement or a transition. But for the purposes of Wicca Discovery, I’m choosing to work under my legal name. In any event, I am your hostess, and I have been serving as a learning and research resource in these fields for roughly 20 years. Additionally, I serve on several interfaith discussion councils and I have made it my business to study every path to the divine I can find. So far as I’m concerned, sharing my own knowledge and experience with other people is a vital part of my spiritual journey, but also if I aim to teach, I should let you know more about me and the life circumstances that have brought me to this point.
I think I had the best and healthiest spiritual upbringing a child could experience. To begin, my parents were themselves spiritual explorers, having thought through the mainstream dogma of their youth to a point of universal acceptance and a belief of the divine inherent in everything (and in nothing). We had no labels and really didn’t need any. They taught me the basics of morality and ethics, and the significance of the intangible, that which really couldn’t be described in words. There were Neopagan and Wiccan influences, but I was encouraged to study and experience all faiths so that I might be of better service to humanity.
The following bit of verse is how I’ve managed to best explain my spiritual origins and my understanding.
My path is sacred, though it names nothing deity
Yet all things like wind and snails and light are holy
This path is me, is mine, is myself
The guiding light of the heart glows in my mind’s eye
Compassion, kindness, love and gentle regard
Acting the words for those without a voice
Cherishing this moment, right now, as the best ever
Secure in the gnosis of the Aether and the Other
Laughter is the language of the spirit
So has been the path so far
No female figure has ever been as strong and as meaningful to me as my own mother. Not only has she been everything maternal, she encouraged me to embrace what in my experience other mothers were hesitant to discuss—my own being as a woman and the journey of womanhood. She never used the word “Goddess” exactly, but she evoked a kind of reverence and devotion within me, that which I came to know as the Goddess. When I reached menarche at ten years old, my mother helped me celebrate my transition and demonstrated how this cycle was a manifestation of the female divine. That I am now at this point on the path of the Goddess began with my mother encouraging me to take joy in being of the female divine.
I don’t think I qualify as a beginner—but on the other hand, aren’t we all beginners in the eyes of the Goddess? It’s my rule to teach with humility and my goal that no one should ever be made uncomfortable.
I began my studies in depth with the Temple of the Ways, a progressive Pagan tradition celebrating the goddess Nehallenia. In addition to being an active member in the Re-Formed Congregation of the Goddess, I began several new Goddess-oriented projects and initiatives—Spiral Way, Grove of the Seven Sisters, the Tribe of Theagenia, the Sisterhood of Themiskyra, and most recently Kitty Boston Coven Unlimited in honor of my grandmother.
I earned my BA from Muhlenberg College in History/Religious Studies/Linguistics in 1993, and went on to pursue graduate studies at Florida State University. I have both taken and taught independent coursework in the history of Neopaganism, Reconstructionism, group and individual therapy, group dynamics, and mediation/conflict resolution.
I am a regular participant and occasional ritual leader in local groups and circles. But I go where I am needed, and so I often serve as visiting clergy with other groups. My favorite action is when I attend interfaith gatherings as a representative of alternative faiths. I carry the community with me, and I am honored to speak as best I can on everyone’s behalf.
Walking my path has been a sincere spiritual adventure, one that has challenged ideas of which I was once certain and one that has helped me develop new thoughts. That I have evolved in mind and spirit over the years is an absolute for me. At the end of the day, I would like to discover who we are and why are we here.
Wicca celebrates the Goddess and the God, but a lot of my personal spiritual is Goddess-oriented. This is not because I’m somehow against males, but rather because in this incarnation I happen to be female.
My home grove, where my coven gathers and where other associated groups join us in celebration and observation, and I call this place of serenity Blue Avalon. A reflection of the Goddess Herself, Blue Avalon has many layers. For me, Blue Avalon is a place of the spirit, what I call Blue Avalon of the Mind. The grove is also Blue Avalon of the Heart and Blue Avalon of the Soul. But whatever I call it, Blue Avalon is a vital part of me, a place very real both physically and spiritually.
When we consider Blue Avalon as a geographic place of dreams, the grove is an earthly manifestation of the Goddess. She shows us the path to Blue Avalon, which can be a metaphor for the process of attaining wisdom and reflection. The boundaries can be crossed and the challenge is surmountable, but we are still required to make an effort in the journey. In Blue Avalon we are not burdened with the seductive flash of the modern world. Instead we are gifted with a simple splendor, the gentle beauty of trees and hills, the crisp sweetness of apples and the pure taste of cold spring water. Blue Avalon is the Goddess showing Her love.
Yet the Goddess sometimes seems intangible and untouchable. This is no cruel joke or a streak of malice. Rather this is the natural result of our mortal human condition trying to reach across a cosmic gulf to touch the divine. Blue Avalon then is a construct that represents that divine in images and feelings we are able to experience and understand. If a woman wants to connect with the Goddess, all she need do is bite into an apple.
Blue Avalon is sometimes imagined as a place of peaceful endings. For me, Blue Avalon is a land of new beginnings. When I picture the grove and I feel what for me is the Goddess within, I experience an eagerness to learn, to explore new things. I feel that I have only a cursory understanding of Blue Avalon, and the grove is beckoning me to undertake the journey to a more complete understanding. I am encouraged to seek, and to realize that there is truly never any real end to the search. I am inspired.
Much like the cupped hand of the Goddess, Blue Avalon is a cradle of nurturing energies. For many years I have found refuge in the Blue Avalon of my mind. By eating a symbolic apple and drinking from the symbolic well, I am refreshed and renewed. I am made whole and strong and ready to tackle the challenges on my path.
What does Blue Avalon mean to me? Blue Avalon represents the reason I am on the path of the Goddess. Blue Avalon is not only comfort and beauty, but it is the strength to rise up and meet adversity. Just as I feel the Goddess has embraced me, Blue Avalon is welcoming me, and there is much work to be done.
I tend to be an optimist. I believe that circumstances will work out for the best. But our lives aren’t always about the good and the positive. We may find ourselves in despair so deep we begin to question how we can go on—or if we can go on at all. This is the time when we find out who and what we really are, and what we are capable of doing.
But it’s how to survive that may be the knowledge that will serve Blue Avalon and her faithful the best. We’ve all been in pain, we’ve all known suffering. Life is not about avoiding the unpleasant, for the unpleasant is part of life. But it’s these challenges that allow us to find out who we are and how strong we can be. I would share this understanding—how to work through pain as a challenge to be accepted and surmounted. If we are refreshed by the Goddess and a bit of Blue Avalon, we can all find the inner strength to survive when life goes sour. After all, there is much joy and beauty in life, but these things require their balance. To me, being of Blue Avalon means accepting the dark, the painful, and the sad as the natural entities they are.
Considering the state of the world, kinship is more important than ever. We need to know we can rely upon each other. Perhaps the fire of kinship that we can kindle in Blue Avalon can create a light that will pervade the world. I want to share this philosophy, the philosophy of taking what comes as from the Greater Powers and meeting its challenges. We all can push through the pain.
Showing posts with label Pathways. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Pathways. Show all posts
Friday, October 14, 2016
Kitty Boston Coven Unlimited
We are a group of Wiccans and Witches with a good sprinkling of Pagan practices that was founded in Philadelphia, PA in 2002. In 2012 we celebrated our tenth anniversary as a working and celebrating coven.
Kitty Boston was my paternal grandmother who passed from this plane just months before I was born. I have been raised on stories of her activism and her struggles to secure justice and fairness, especially for women and labor groups. The values of the coven are the same values Kitty stood for and shared with her community. In my place as High Priestess and mentor I truly feel that I am carrying out the mission left to me by my grandmother—and it’s occurred to all of us more than once that perhaps I am Kitty reincarnated. Personally, I rely on the inspiration of the former and simply enjoy the fascinating possibility of the latter.
Our coven has expanded to accommodate a much larger member base through an online presence. This way anyone from anywhere who feels moved to join our numbers may do so easily. We have not yet looked closely into forming hive covens from online groups, but the discussion is certainly open.
The basic purpose of this coven is explained in the Goddess Quartet.
Whatever path we walk, we have four main objectives:
TO KNOW
We cannot serve the powers if we remain content to wallow in ignorance. Therefore we must always be on the alert, always ready to learn and work to understand. Knowing is perhaps our greatest tool.
TO WILL
Our strength comes from our determination and our perseverance. As is said elsewhere, there are no shortcuts, only shortcomings. We must have the tenacity to see what we have begun carried through to its completion, and completion must be our greatest desire.
TO DARE
Moving forward in our personal quests is a test of our inner courage. We do not avoid such tests, as they are an essential part of spiritual growth. There are no easy answers and often there are no predictable outcomes, but we go forward all the same.
TO KEEP SILENT
There is great power in keeping our explorations and achievements to ourselves. In this way we develop our inner self, our inner most thoughts. We don’t need to share everything we do with everyone.
CREED UNLIMITED
Children of the Unlimited, the future is yours.
Leave those who prefer to cleave to old ways have their peace. No one is correct, no one is incorrect. Always bear in mind the importance of history and past learning, for it is these which are the building blocks of the future. But above all, never forget that the Unlimited Way faces the future. Our question is not what has been, but what will be, and how will we affect circumstances.
Our goddess is not a literal goddess. Rather, She is the embodiment of the “divine” essence that exists within everything and everywhere in the universe–our kind of panthiesm. She is all ideas of deity.
To be an Unlimited witch is to bear a great and pervasive responsibility–but never without deep rewards. By accepting this Creed you promise that you shall be a steward of all things–your fellow man, other life forms, your planet, other planets, the universe itself. In return you will find that you have capacities and capabilities far beyond usual human scope. You will, in reality, begin to see yourself not just as an earthling, but as a resident of the universe.
Assuming responsibility is your first obligation. The second involves studying and practicing a holistic kind of healing. One example is the practice of healing by touch. The majority of our healing comes in herbal form. We do not discount professional medical care. But we do understand that being healthy begins with taking care of ourselves–by being our own practitioners.
Kitty Boston Coven requires that you take up causes dear to Her and be an active participant in any way you can. The continuing erosion of spiritual freedoms affects all of us who practice non-standard paths. Support environmental reforms and projects. Endangered animals need our concern and protection. Take care of your earth and your fellow man.
Living is a constant exercise in magic. We have made “magic” such a normal part of our lives that it is virtually second nature. Much of the power of our magic comes from our own instincts and our own divinity within us. To this end, we do not do much in the way of spellwork, although we do create talismans and amulets. The study of magical texts from every tradition and every time period is a crucial part of existence. Never stop learning.
As you study magic, study also the language of the skies–astronomy. We embrace far beyond our own world. Know the stars and the planets. Pay attention to moon phases. Celebrate the four solar points of the year at the Winter Solstice, the Spring Equinox, the Summer Solstice, and the Autumnal Equinox. Remember that to us there is life on planets other than the earth. Be open to the endless possibility of the stars.
At the same time, never neglect your obligation to teach from your own knowledge. You are free to teach the Unlimited Way to those who strike you as good candidates, but education goes far beyond that. Do everything you can, by whatever means you can, to see that good, factual information is disseminated. Knowledge is more than just power–knowledge is everything.
All paths are valid to those who walk them. Do your best to engage those on other paths in a most diplomatic way. We build bridges, we do not burn them.
Finally, in everything, let compassion be your guiding hand.
Kitty Boston was my paternal grandmother who passed from this plane just months before I was born. I have been raised on stories of her activism and her struggles to secure justice and fairness, especially for women and labor groups. The values of the coven are the same values Kitty stood for and shared with her community. In my place as High Priestess and mentor I truly feel that I am carrying out the mission left to me by my grandmother—and it’s occurred to all of us more than once that perhaps I am Kitty reincarnated. Personally, I rely on the inspiration of the former and simply enjoy the fascinating possibility of the latter.
Our coven has expanded to accommodate a much larger member base through an online presence. This way anyone from anywhere who feels moved to join our numbers may do so easily. We have not yet looked closely into forming hive covens from online groups, but the discussion is certainly open.
The basic purpose of this coven is explained in the Goddess Quartet.
Whatever path we walk, we have four main objectives:
TO KNOW
We cannot serve the powers if we remain content to wallow in ignorance. Therefore we must always be on the alert, always ready to learn and work to understand. Knowing is perhaps our greatest tool.
TO WILL
Our strength comes from our determination and our perseverance. As is said elsewhere, there are no shortcuts, only shortcomings. We must have the tenacity to see what we have begun carried through to its completion, and completion must be our greatest desire.
TO DARE
Moving forward in our personal quests is a test of our inner courage. We do not avoid such tests, as they are an essential part of spiritual growth. There are no easy answers and often there are no predictable outcomes, but we go forward all the same.
TO KEEP SILENT
There is great power in keeping our explorations and achievements to ourselves. In this way we develop our inner self, our inner most thoughts. We don’t need to share everything we do with everyone.
CREED UNLIMITED
Children of the Unlimited, the future is yours.
Leave those who prefer to cleave to old ways have their peace. No one is correct, no one is incorrect. Always bear in mind the importance of history and past learning, for it is these which are the building blocks of the future. But above all, never forget that the Unlimited Way faces the future. Our question is not what has been, but what will be, and how will we affect circumstances.
Our goddess is not a literal goddess. Rather, She is the embodiment of the “divine” essence that exists within everything and everywhere in the universe–our kind of panthiesm. She is all ideas of deity.
To be an Unlimited witch is to bear a great and pervasive responsibility–but never without deep rewards. By accepting this Creed you promise that you shall be a steward of all things–your fellow man, other life forms, your planet, other planets, the universe itself. In return you will find that you have capacities and capabilities far beyond usual human scope. You will, in reality, begin to see yourself not just as an earthling, but as a resident of the universe.
Assuming responsibility is your first obligation. The second involves studying and practicing a holistic kind of healing. One example is the practice of healing by touch. The majority of our healing comes in herbal form. We do not discount professional medical care. But we do understand that being healthy begins with taking care of ourselves–by being our own practitioners.
Kitty Boston Coven requires that you take up causes dear to Her and be an active participant in any way you can. The continuing erosion of spiritual freedoms affects all of us who practice non-standard paths. Support environmental reforms and projects. Endangered animals need our concern and protection. Take care of your earth and your fellow man.
Living is a constant exercise in magic. We have made “magic” such a normal part of our lives that it is virtually second nature. Much of the power of our magic comes from our own instincts and our own divinity within us. To this end, we do not do much in the way of spellwork, although we do create talismans and amulets. The study of magical texts from every tradition and every time period is a crucial part of existence. Never stop learning.
As you study magic, study also the language of the skies–astronomy. We embrace far beyond our own world. Know the stars and the planets. Pay attention to moon phases. Celebrate the four solar points of the year at the Winter Solstice, the Spring Equinox, the Summer Solstice, and the Autumnal Equinox. Remember that to us there is life on planets other than the earth. Be open to the endless possibility of the stars.
At the same time, never neglect your obligation to teach from your own knowledge. You are free to teach the Unlimited Way to those who strike you as good candidates, but education goes far beyond that. Do everything you can, by whatever means you can, to see that good, factual information is disseminated. Knowledge is more than just power–knowledge is everything.
All paths are valid to those who walk them. Do your best to engage those on other paths in a most diplomatic way. We build bridges, we do not burn them.
Finally, in everything, let compassion be your guiding hand.
Wednesday, October 12, 2016
Nine Gifts from the Cauldron
Poetry sings
Reflection maintains
Meditation preserves
Lore promotes
Research questions
Knowledge gives
Intelligence arranges
Understanding nourishes
Wisdom ennobles
The Simple Path
My path is sacred, though it names nothing deity
Yet all things like wind and snails and light are holy
This path is me, is mine, is myself
The guiding light of the heart glows in my mind's eye
Compassion, kindness, love and gentle regard
Acting the words for those without a voice
Cherishing this moment, right now, as the best ever
Secure in the gnosis of the Aether and the Other
Laughter is the language of the spirit
So has been the path so far
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