By Land, Sky & Sea (8 page)

7

Witches embrace positive change, and when this change does not occur spontaneously, they create it.

—Janet Farrar & Gavin Bone,
Progressive Witchcraft

The quantum realities that are being explored by cutting-edge scientists currently speak of the unity of things that Witches, shamans, and mystics have known for millennia. Having no beyond-the-surface understanding of quantum theory myself, at least in the scientific sense, I will not embellish further on that field here. What I feel inclined to provide in this chapter is a methodology of working and weaving with that subtle metaphor (and reality) of energy that will not only enhance your skills in this area but align you with the life force so that you are in constant conscious connection with it. Like gnosis, this depth of acceptance, understanding, and being will not only empower you in every sense but will gift you with that ethereal (and yet so earthly) grace that has always been a side effect of the lives we live and the work we do.

The Wyrd

Like a spider’s web, the web of wyrd is fragile yet sturdy…so delicately balanced that the gentlest tug transmits along all of its threads.

—Freya Aswynn,
Northern Mysteries & Magick

Weaving with magick is a charge within itself. The basic premise of Witchcraft is that all is interconnected and thus we are each intimately connected to everything else. We are empowered to consciously effect change and transformation within the web that is the energetic blue-print of this underlying reality. How one goes about this determines the character, or “colour,” of the individual’s intent, and intent is the driving force of magickal work. However, a debate on foundational ethics will not be embarked on in this book.
[1]

The web that I speak of has been called many things, but it is the Anglo-Saxon concept and theme of “Wyrd” that speaks the message and truth of what enlivens and empowers Witches to weave as we do.

The Wyrd can’t be explained easily. It is one of those things that, even as a writer and a Witch, I cannot aptly or with justice describe. I could dance, sing, and make love, and yet though each of those things would express the Wyrd, the Wyrd is too big for one creative outlet to allow it singular expression.

The Wyrd is that thing which is everything. It is vibration; it is cause and effect; it is the foundational laws that created the metaphor and energy exchange of cause and effect (and what binds together the continuum of flow) in the first place.
[2]
Wyrd is fate, and it is not predestined. It is spiralling and it is dissolving. It is oneness and it is plurality. It is the paradox and the great mystery, and yet it is just a web. The beauty of Wyrd is that the less you say, the more you say, and that is a beautiful thing. Now, an interjection…

One rainy day, two Witches heard a knock at their door. There, standing awkwardly, however nicely dressed, were two delightful Jehovah’s Witnesses. Arione, the Freisian Witch, invited the two bedraggled Witnesses in for tea. Over the next hour or so, the Witches and the Witnesses spoke of many things—work, travel, the beautiful home they sat drinking tea in, and finally, of course, religion! The four discussed many aspects of spirituality, and everyone seemed decidedly passionate about the subject. Of course, one cannot discuss religion and spirituality without mentioning the Divine!

“We find it strange and overtly patriarchal that the Divine is only referred to as a ‘he’ in the Bible,” said the Balinese-Celtic Witch.

“I’m all for women!” declared the female Witness. “But I believe the Bible refers to God as male because it is easy for the world to relate to a loving father.”

The two Witches exchanged a perturbed glance.

“And what of the Mother—where we all, as humans, were birthed from? The woman who nourished us with milk and carried us for nine months as we grew and developed in the womb? This is a universal human experience. Where has the Mother gone? Is she obsolete?”

The two Witnesses seemed at a loss for words.

“The Divine is mystery—the great mystery is what we sometimes call it. It is life, it is spiralling wonder, it is in and out, it is everywhere, in everything, and possibly nowhere…what an expansive thing, the mystery. It’s the thing we dance to, make love with, sing for, and eat. It’s magickal,” said the Witches, sighing because they felt and experienced this great mystery in every moment.

“Are you satisfied with a mystery, however? What if you could really know God?” piped a Witness.

The Witches smiled.

“We are totally satisfied—completely fulfilled and overflowing with ecstasy—a little drunk even. All this because the Divine, to us, is a mystery. And we know it deeply in our hearts.”

The best way to experience the Wyrd is to do just that. Only you can determine how you will do so. Knowing Wyrd is almost a side effect of the other magickal work that we do. By casting a spell and seeing it come into fruition, I become aware of the Wyrd. By attaining gnosis and liberating my spirit, I gain the right consciousness to perceive the Wyrd’s all-encompassing grandeur. By merrily sipping tea on a Wednesday afternoon in the company of Witnesses, I realise, “My oh my! This tea is good!” These are the gifts of the Wyrd, and through them we know it.

It is essential, at least, to be aware of the Wyrd when weaving with magick because one is of the other and the latter stems from the former. The Wyrd is not the originator of things, however; it is the “isness” of things. Magick, as my friend Awen said to me one day, is that “thatness” that is. In a worldview that experiences life as continuum versus a “start-finish” scenario, there is no reason to suggest (or need) a cause or originator of things.

In the WildWood Tradition of Witchcraft, of which I am an initiated priest, we acknowledge, honour, and celebrate the Weaver whose charge is the Wyrd. They are the two sides of the same coin. We call her first (out of our Sacred Four
[3]
) at our coven rituals. Our reasoning/feeling for this is that she, being of and residing with the Wyrd, is our most primal foundation. We couldn’t possibly do what we do or be what we are without this vibrating web of wonder. Remember that it is mystery, and when you know, you know. A wise Witness once observed, “You both seem so very fulfilled in your spirituality. That’s amazing! I guess it’s time to go. Thank you for the tea.”

I imagine the Weaver likes to drink tea with the Wyrd…or perhaps the Wyrd is the tea and she is the cup.

Note: Having said all of the above, one of the best books I have ever read is actually about the Wyrd and is called
The
Way of the Wyrd
by Brian Bates. I urge you to read it.

Paying Homage
to the Weaver

A close friend of mine (also a WildWood priestess) often says that the Weaver’s gift is retrospect. Another friend mentioned to me that one becomes aware of the Wyrd in hindsight. The Weaver, the Wyrd, and the web are all words for the same concept—the underlying, radiant interconnectedness of things; fate singing in the veins of the All! The Weaver is that hugeness of life but also the smallest, most obscure detail. We call her Grandmother of Time, the Sovereign of Space, and the Silver-Bright Lady of Midnight Hour. When exploring the Wyrd and the web and the “bigger picture,” it’s a good idea to honour and pay homage to the Mother of it all. What follows is a devotional to the Weaver. Adapt it to suit your tastes/tradition/inclinations.

Stand before your altar or in a sacred space, and ground and centre. Align with the oneness of things, and kneel, bowing your head. Visualise and feel an expanse of nothingness—a void—in your mind, and be at peace with non-being until gradually you feel the subtle throbbing of a pulse—a pulse which is you, not you, and everything else. The pulse is the Weaver moving you to be and to exist. You smile, and a laugh all but bursts from your lips as you relish
being
! You feel her silver threads in everything you are, and you are proud and honoured to be her child. You hear a faint laughter that rings through the stardust and the swirling molecules of fate. Aloud, you say this prayer:

Silver-Bright Lady of Midnight Hour, Sovereign of Space, and Grandmother of Time, unto you am I. May I be in your arms, and by your laughter may I be. For you are the inspiration for the reason, just as you are the feeling in all things! I am a child of earth and starry heaven; in your name do I pray. Blessed be.

Moving Into,
Moving Through

My soul, do not seek eternal life,
but exhaust the realm of the possible.

—Pindar, ancient Greek poet (Pythian III)

The expansion of consciousness is paramount to magickal work, which seeks to externalise the persona, free the spirit (journey-work), and bridge the gap between individuated perception and holistic worldviews (clear-seeing, or clairvoyance). Before one can attain aptitude at astral travel, the “sight,” and other intuitive faculties, it is necessary to recognise, acknowledge, and celebrate the truth of non-separation—the fundamental principle of quantum reality. In understanding this universal truth of interconnection and interrelation (the Web of Wyrd), we find quintessence and realise the microcosm to the macrocosm—the self to the Self. This is moving into the centre. This centre is in all places, in all times; it is the initiator, the seed, the outcome, and the flow of the continuum of life. Moving through the centre is the perpetual, never-ending course and journey through the continuum of life. In fact, moving through is dancing the continuum.

If we are to centre ourselves in the continuum and then dance through it, we are in fact expanding our consciousness, liberating the spirit, and discovering the infinity of existence itself.

An Exercise in
Expanding Consciousness

Begin by deepening and prolonging your breath, and being only aware of the inhalation and the exhalation of air into, through, and out of your body. Continue with this rhythm until you reach the void. In that void, suspended in no-thing, vibrating silently, you feel wave after wave of palpable, throbbing “existence.” As formless nothingness, a yearning begins to develop in the centre of something that feels distinctly unique to “you.” The yearning is to go outward with the waves that pulse in the centre, and go forth into the surrounding darkness. In the far distance, each wave curls into itself, incandescent flashes of what looks like light flare, and you desire to be showered in that luminous glow so that you may see yourself and what you have become. You know inwardly that you are life seeking and yearning to know itself. You surf out with the next wave, and the exhilaration of the speed and the direct clarity of the aim fills you with ecstasy and propels your awareness into light. Showered in light, you find that you are now a star shining in a galaxy. As a star, you birth a solar system; through gravity, you draw to you cold space mass, and it forms into gaseous orbs of brilliant colours, and they orbit around you. In a moment, this is all forgotten, and you are a human being on a planet of flourishing and evolving life. It is a green and blue planet, and you thrive here. You find yourself on a vast plain; you crouch down to dig your hands into the dirt. As you do, the coolness of the soil reacts with your skin, and you fall into the dark womb of the Mother, who nourishes and sustains you. Deep down, in the centre of the earth, is her molten core—a star! You are light again! You rush outward, and in one explosive sigh of utter joy, your awareness expands to encompass all the planets, all the stars, all the galaxies, and all the worlds. You feel that there are so many sighs, and your sigh, in this infinitesimal moment, has synchronised with the others to create harmony, balance, and clarity. You know that the “edges” of your expanded consciousness are boundless, and you feel no end to your soaring, sighing truth of existence. For now, you are everywhere, in everything. You remember the origin of depth inside—the no-thing of no-where; the void of nonexistence that sought to see itself in the mirror. You are a child of that void, and you are a creator of the All which is life.