by Неизвестный
beauty. Can you live with that? Then you are ready to be whole, in this moment.
Let the energies settle inside you, sealing them into your body by placing your right hand
on your heart and your left hand on your belly. This balances all the points in the realms of
compassion and will. Take a deep breath.
WALKING THE PENTACLES
I use the Iron and Pearl Pentacle points as a walking meditation. As I step,
I chant, "Sex, love, pride, law, self, knowledge, power, liberty, passion, wisdom, sex, love . . :' interlacing Iron with Pearl, I activate the points in my body. As I say each set, I try to sense the place in my body where those
points originate, for example self and knowledge are in my left hand. This
keeps me connected to my body-moving through the world-cleansing
and expanding myself to meet that which I can see, touch, taste, smell, and
hear. Sometimes I use prayer beads to add another tactile layer to my experience.4 As hematite and pearl slip between my fingers, I am reminded that strength and luminosity connect me to my magic.
Using a string of beads, or simply using the words as a focus, spend some time walking with the pentacles, letting the concepts enter further into your body and soul.
41 have a beautiful set made by Feri Witch anaar. These can be ordered through www.whitewand.com.
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SPELL TO BECOME WHOLE
Stand in the star position, with arms outstretched and feet spread. Now
take a breath and conjure yourself, saying:
By Sex, I invoke Love.
By Pride, I invoke Law.
By Se!f; I invoke Knowledge.
By Power, I invoke Liberty.
By Passion, I invoke Wisdom.
Through Wholeness, I invoke Life.
connectin� to the gods of Feri
Anna and Arddu5 are warrior Gods, old and potent Gods of Feri Tradition. I am placing these Gods in the North because they are the Gods of dark spaces, of deep power, of regeneration through the cutting away of
dead wood. They are the reapers, the wise ones, who know how to help us
make difficult choices. They are aged Gods, having spun the furthest out
from the Star Goddess, yet close to her too, for they are on their way back
as all things are part of the cycle of emergence and return.
Anna and Arddu walk the midnight paths and teach us the lessons of
death, change, and silence. They also open our bodies and minds to the life
force that runs deeply, even in wintering trees. Things that seem asleep are
storing life, ready to burst forth again. The sexuality of our connection to
the earth and Gods is never absent, even in the face of old age and death.
5Welsh, pronouncrd "arthrr."
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Anna
She whispers your name at midnight. She is the holder of all secrets. She is strong. She is
the tree itself that holds Merlin and was the lightning that clift the tree, opening Mari's womb
to take him in. She is bare branches at winter. She can still laugh. She is older than dust, and
calls you with the kiss of darkness. Open to her embrace, she is the shadowed path you
walk upon.
Anna says: "You are not just midwifing the new way: you are also midwifing the death
of the old . . . look at the darkness to better see the stars."6
Arddu
He is too long neg!tcted. He can show the way. He is that which is cut down-the moment of death. He is the teacher of transition and the teacher of decomposing vegetation and flesh falling off of bone. Listen deeply. His way is subt!t and powerful. Don't be tifraid of
the dark. He dances to the rattling of the bare branches. He will teach you how to see in the
dark and how to make love to mystery.
Arddu says: "I will teach you how to walk into the blackness where mystery dwells.
Hold out your hand."
YO U Afe the Bodv of the BUfth
You are sacred, alive on the earth. Your body holds mystery and you know
how to dance in the dark. Feel the power of the North in your bones. Now
take a breath and reach for the sky.
6�his quote came through priestess Miria.
7
powers Above:
nisin� und nreumin�
What lies above you, calling to your spirit? What captures your imagination and feeds your dreams? Step out under the night sky and see the stars, birthed in space and dying in flashes of iron and heat. Yet all looks
still and cool. All seems peacefUl mystery. That is the paradox of your
life and your connection to the life of stars. What shines in you? Look
into the mirror. Burn brightly. Your soul is as vast as space.
We continue
cardinal invoking
directions our
and sacred
calling sphere
on the by turning
Powers
from
Above.
the
The four
Powers
Above and Below are very important in Feri Tradition. We do not live in a
flat world, but one that stretches far around us-honoring the Powers
Above and Below acknowledges this. The Powers of Above, Below, and
Center all hold the element of spirit. Spirit drives the hub of the wheel
that becomes the sphere of life.
When we call the Powers Above into our sacred space, we allow ourselves permission to stretch beyond our comfort zone, beyond what we
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sometimes allow as being possible. This is the space of vast opening, exploration of new dreams and living in a world where much is not yet proven, leaving doors of perception wide open to our deepest senses and
wildest imaginings. It is the place where science and fantasy meet and our
souls can dance with the Gods.
In this chapter, we will look into the Star Goddess's mirror. We will
gaze upon the powers of dreams and desire. We will dance with the Peacock in love's storm, and travel to the stars, returning always to the cycles of earth, and to ourselves, more human and more divine. What is real?
What is imagined? What is possible within us?
Lovin
Mirrors have been a traditional tool of seers, oracles, and priestesses
throughout time. Whether polished bronze or a clear dark pool looked at
under the full moon, mirrors have been gateways to vision and true seeing.
Our tool for the Powers Above is the black mirror of space. This mirror
holds our ability to stretch toward ourselves, to gaze upon our reflections
and embrace ourselves in love. Mirrors can also help us by reflecting our
true selves back at us. Remember the queen's mirror in Snow White? It was
trying to show the truth, but the queen didn't want to see it. The silver mirror can hold the harshness of the light. The black mirror can help us to see beyond the surface. It shows us what is hidden in shadow. Can you learn
to gaze on each with love?
The Star Goddess, named Quakoralina, was gazing out into the vast
blackness of space. She caught a glimmering, a glimpse, and began to move
toward it. Where the edges of space curved, a black mirror formed. In it,
she saw herself and was struck by her great beauty. She began to look upon
herself with desire and, fUll of this desire, began to make love to herself.
She was so beautiful and full of desire that the image grew substance and
powers Above: Risincs and nreamincs
209
stepped fo
rth. God Herself came in ecstasy, and stars spun across the sky.
The Milky Way is the product of her joyous lust, and too, from her love
and lust, the Divine Twins were born. Brothers and lovers, they wheeled
out across the sky, and thus was born paradox: bird and snake, air and
earth, hope and fear, beauty and strength, brightness and shadow.
Brothers and lovers, they shift and change: sisters, siblings, male and female, female and female, male and male, the paradox unfolds. Blood of blood and sex of sex. The ray of divinity, the impulse of creation, flowed
out into the multiverse and thus were all the Gods born, and thus was born
our universe, our earth. We are children of paradox, and so we hold the
center spaces where all things meet in chaos and in form. Together we
shine.
If we love ourselves, there is no end to what we can create. Self-loathing gets us nowhere.
It hurts us and causes us to hurt others. Stretch up into space and feel how huge and beautiful you are. Breathe in. Know that you are loved, loving, gorgeous, and strong. You can fill space. You can shine.
guzin� ut the silver Mirror
One of the hardest things for many of us is to acknowledge that we deserve love and the good things that come our way. Just as we must take responsibility for our part in the difficult things in our life, we must take equal responsibility for the good. We must nourish ourselves and know
that to continue to do our work responsibly requires a base of self-love.
Other parts of the book have addressed this, but I'd like to offer another
exercise to help us. This exercise comes in this section of the book because
it requires preparation. It requires all of the work we have done on ourselves in years past. Seemingly simple on the surface, our cultural conditioning can make this exercise difficult to do with l'asr.
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Use the following technique every day for one fUll cycle of the moon,
or one month. If it still is not easy, contract with yourself for another cycle. You will begin to see changes in your life, in your ability to receive abundance, and in your ability to give love with generous compassion. Remember: if you cannot receive, you cannot give. Things in nature work in multiple ways, and the way of replenishment is one of them. A tree will
not bear fruit if it has not received rain and sun and air. You will not bear
fruit if you cannot receive love.
You will need a mirror and a candle to do this. A big mirror is better:
one where you can see your whole face and head at one time is best. If you
have a magic hand mirror, it is all right to use this. Your bathroom mirror
will do the trick as well.
In a private space, light a candle. Take a deep breath. Look at yourself in the mirror. Really look. See how your face curves. Look at your ryes, your nose, your chin. Take another breath. Do you have wrinkles, pimples, fat? Look at that. Take another breath. As you
breathe, let your stance begin to soften. Let arry tension you are holding in your face, your
shoulders, your back, and belly begin to release. Let yourself grow soft. This is warrior work,
this ability to be soft. Close your ryes for a moment if you need to. If you have fear,jeel it.
If you feel anger or sadness, let those be with you. Now, take another deep breath and blow
some softness into those feelings.
As you continue to breathe, open your ryes if you have closed them. Look into your ryes
in the mirror. Look deeply at yourself. Now, out loud, say, "I love you." Take a breath. Say
it again. "I love you." Take a breath. You will now say it a third time, beginning with your
name. "
, I love you." On your next breath, take in that love. Take it into any of
the places that felt tense. Imagine that you can breathe it into your heart. If you have any
excess energy or emotion, you can breathe it up to your God Soul, aligning your Triple Soul.
Look in the mirror and say, "Blessed be."
powers Above: Risin
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Restin
You can do this during the same time period as the silver mirror exercise,
or you may want to do it daily in the moon cycle following. Please do it
daily for the full month, which will allow you to relax and sink into the
work. It may feel difficult, hut for us to expand fully into our lives, we
must expand our ability to receive and give love.
If you share a bed with a partner, you may want to tell him or her that
you will be doing an exercise and to not disturb you. Or you can just lie
there, breathing and doing this exercise without saying anything. It is not
something that will he readily apparent to anyone else, except that your
breathing may he deeper than usual. This exercise draws on the work we
did in Chapter 2 with changing the color of our aura.
Before you go to bed, notice where the moon is in its cycle. Is it dark, waxing, waning,
full? Let yourself feel the moon. Then go to bed. As you lie in bed, preparingjor sleep, begin
to breathe deeply. Let your body relax. Relax your neck. Let your back and butt sink into
the bed. Tense your leg muscles and release them. Feel your tension drifting away as you sink
into the bed, relaxing. As you breathe, begin to feel yourself cradled in gentle arms. Let your
aura begin to fill with a sense cif warmth, scifety, and love. Fill your aura with pink light.
Let yourself feel cradled in the arms cif God Herself. You are jed by love. You breathe in the
love the universe has for you, child cif earth and starry heaven. You are beautiful, unique,
and wonderful. You are loved, wholly and without reservation or expectation. Let yourself
relax into this love. You are surrounded by love. Let yourself drift to sleep, cradled in security, gentleness, and love.
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The guufdiun of Above
Heaven shinef
The Guardian of the spaces Above can help you to reach beyond your
comfort zone by opening and connecting you to the forces that swirl high
above you.
Take a deep breath, connecting to your grounding cord. Cast the blue sphere around you.
Light a candle on your altar, violet or black. Look above you and breathe deeply. Begin to
s1t/y whisper, "Heaven Shiner, Heaven Shiner. Heaven Shiner. Expand the swirling vortex and join this rite." Feel a breath upon your forehead. Open to the Guardian 1 Above.
Chant the name, over and over. "Heaven Shiner, Heaven Shiner." Begin to feel the presence
coming closer to you. What does this Guardian feel like? Can you get a glimpse? Speak the
name, over and over, whisper it, sing it, or shout it out if you are able. Heaven Shiner, the
Guardian 1 Above. The force that births stars, spinning out that which forms us and shows
us what is possible. This Guardian wheels above you, shot with stars. Reach. Reach. Say the
name, over and over. Feel the presence. Raise your hands above you and say, "All Jour stars
are one, by the Powers Above, I call Heaven Shiner."1
Heaven Shiner, Heaven Shiner, Heaven Shiner,
Zenith 1 time and exploder 1 space.
Expand the swirling vortex and join our rites.
Show us the beauty in vast possibility.
Let us open together,
Let us open.
Touch our spirits, touch our souls.
May we grow beyond our borders.
:This is a traditional Fcri calling.
powefs Above: nisin'? and Dfeumin'5
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May we vision evolution
May we fly in the midst of love.
Heaven Shiner, Heaven Shiner, Heaven Shiner,
T#lcome.
Take a deep breath. Feel the Guardian above you, guarding all those spaces beyond and
bringing them closer, huge and beautiful. Stay in this presence for a while-feeling, sensing,
gazing. You may wish to write or draw what you sense. There may be a key to this presence.
Listen for it. When you are done for this meeting, you may say:
Heaven Shiner,
Thank you for your presence
Thank you for the gifts of reach and space.
May I touch the stars and rise to destiny.
Go if you must, stay if you will.
Hail and farewell.
TRACKING You R NIGHT D REAMS
Our night dreams have many functions. They process the day's information and uncover fears and desires. Since we are working with the Powers Above, let us try to expand into the processes that happen when we are
most unconscious, when our autonomic reflexes are taking care of our
bodies. This may give us information to use when we are attempting to live
our lives in waking states. Night dreams reflect our secrets, holding the
power of the black mirror of space.
Relax your breathing, feeling yourself sink more deeply into your bed, letting your
breath flow down through your body. Before going to sleep, set your intention to remember
one dream.
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When you awaken, write down whatever images, thoughts, or sensations come to you.
This may be an entire story or one word. What preoccupies you in your sleep? What fears
or hopes arise? Just notice. Over time you may begin to see patterns that are helpful to your
spiritual work.
ENGAGING You R DAYTIME DREAMS
What is your deepest wish? Do you feel you deserve it? We often have
deep-seated patterns that keep us from realizing our wishes. Do the Self
Love Cleansing in Chapter I, and let those thought forms begin to wash
away. Let the Gazing at the Silver Mirror spell help you.
Begin to draw your dreams closer to you. What would your life really look like if you