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walking the path of integration, joining my soul's work with the spirits of Nature and the
Gods." Breathe your intention into your amulet or stone, giving it power. You may also sing,
drum, or dance to raise energy to channel into your sacred object.
Hold your beeswax candle in your hands and firmly say, ((Now that I am dedicated to
my practice, I request that the right teacher be shown to me, to further help me on my way."
Breathe this prayer into the candle, place it in a bolder, and light it, using the flame of one
of your other altar candles.
Bask in the power of the Gods and Guardians, breathe in life force and align your Triple
Soul. Men you are ready, sn1iff the candle, knowing that the prayer is held in the wick and
will be magnified each time you light it. Thank all that you called into your sphere and draw
the energy of the blue fire back into your blade. Ground and center once again, exhaling by
pushing the energy down through your feet and up through your head about a foot. Send another breath out to your aura. Your rite is complete.
You are now fully dedicated to your spiritual life and to expanding your
relationship with the Gods. Whether the teacher that comes to you is of
the Feri Tradition or not, know that your prayer for further self-knowledge
and integration has been answered. Lessons in the mysteries are present
everywhere.
" Remember, You Are u god ! "
There is a wonderful story from the Hindu tradition about Krishna as a
boy. He and his friend are playing ball at the edge of a lake. The ball inevitably is thrown into the lake by a wild pitch. Krishna dives in to retrieve it. In this lake, he encounters the seven-headed hydra Kaaliya, who both
guards and poisons the small body of water. A fight ensues between the
serpent and the blue God, and they struggle together until Kaaliya holds
Krishna, trapped and gasping for air, at the bottom of the lake.
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Krishna's friend shouts down to him, "Krishna, remember, you are a
God!" Upon hearing this, Krishna fills again with the breath of life, his
strength returns, and he soon gains the upper hand. He gains control of
Kaaliya, and rising to the surface, dances on top of the serpent's many
heads. He threatens to kill Kaaliya for poisoning the waters of the lake,
but Kaaliya's wives intervene and the serpent himself says, "It is my nature
to give off poison:' Krishna decides then to banish Kaaliya to the great
ocean, which is so big that it will be impossible for Kaaliya to poison it.
This story teaches me two important lessons. The first is about the importance of peers, friends, and community. In community, we can remind each other of our divinity. When one person is feeling depressed, another
can say, "Remember, you have tools you can be using to help yourself. Remember, you are a God." The reminder that we hold the divine within us helps us to do our work. If our community members devolve into vicious
gossip, for example, one of us can remind the group of our stronger,
kinder natures. Then we can rise back up to the surface and breathe clean
air again, instead of choking on our own toxic fumes.
The second lesson of the story is that of creating space for things that
are difficult to bear. If I am envious, or angry, or grief stricken and feel like
I cannot bear to look at myself or at the situation at hand, I try to create
more room for the feeling. I stand in my fear, for example, and take a deep
breath. Upon my exhalation, I imagine my energy body expanding, creating more space for the strong emotion to flow. Once I do this, I feel more ease and less trapped. I expand my ability to bear my own pain and to face
my fear.
In order to take in either of these lessons, we must be willing to both
look at the pain or sickness and be willing to change our relationship to it.
These exercises are not about getting rid of the pain or eradicating the
sickness, but about bearing both and seeking out that behavior which is
most helpful to us and to our communities.
succed sphere: closin� the sphere, openin� the world
283
When have you needed a reminder 1 your own divinity? Do you need one now? Take
a moment to align your Triple Soul. If you are in a meeting where people are growingjractious, take a deep breath and encourage others to do the same. Then point out a common goal or ideal you may all be seeking. This is a reminder 1 the stronger, kinder nature 1 the group
and is supported by your own inner divinity.
When have you been overcome by griif,jear, enry, or anger? Take a breath into that state,
that memory. Make space for your emotions so they do not have the power to paralyze or
poison you. Breathe now. Feel your energy body expand as you exhale. Remind yourself that
you can hold more humanity than you sometimes know. You are part 1 God Herself.
We can continuously expand into our own Godhood. God is Self Self
is God. God is a person like myself
Fin dines u Thifd puth
Throughout this book, you have been asked to expand your capacity to
hold energy and emotion and then join these practices with recognizing
your Godhood. This work will make you ready to find your rightful place
in the world.
The following is the third part of the cauldron exercises we began in
the previous chapter. This piece fits into finding your true work in the
world. It may also remind you of the work we began with our blades,
looking at choices, engaging our wills. This also strengthens us, helping
us find what our purpose is and what the best path toward it may be.
Having recognized our conflicting voices and warring desires, we can
truly listen to the deeper voice created by our alchemical powers and find
what the Gods and our hearts really want us to do. Walk strongly and sit
still. This work takes a warrior, a Witch, an artist, an alchemist. Are you
ready?
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When you think rj your desire, your dream, your work, or even your pain, what
in you says yes and what in you says no? Usually, we try to go with one voice or another. An adept, however, sits between those two voices, tempered by the heat created in the tension rj not answering. Take a breath. Hold "yes" and "no" in your body and your
heart. Sit with it. Do not act. Something will arise, a third path, which will lend energy to
your work.
Remember, the third path leads to Faery and to magic, a place both beyond where you think you are, and paradoxically, deeper within.
Findincs Your work
Living fully as seekers and priests requires us to give context to all of our
actions. How are we living our lives? What do we read, eat, listen to, or create? How do we structure our days and nights? These sorts of questions always bring us around to asking, "What is our work?" which is why the
dictum is embedded in the Feri Flower Prayer: "Who is this flower above
me, and what is the work of this God? I would know myself in all
my parts:'
What is your true work? Sometimes this question emerges slowly over
time. It requires every tool in this book to sense what your work might be
and it requires as much presence and attention as you can bring to bear in
order to step into your work fully and effectively. In Chapter 4, we worked
with developing o
ur will. "What is the work of this God?" asks us what
our deeper will is, our true will. Are you ready to discover this? Can you
open to its unfolding?
Ask yourself What do I longjor? How can I be rj service? What feeds me? If I could
do anything with my time, what would I be doing?
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As the way opens in front of you, so your work will unfold. The more
you diligently practice integration, the clearer your work will become. After many years of work on self, in community, and many years of growth as a Feri priestess and teacher, I began to say this prayer: "May I do my
work. May I do the work of the Gods." My true work, which I had always
felt inside, but which had always been a struggle to bring into life, suddenly began to open up with ease and dizzying speed. If I had not put in all of those years of preparation, would the same thing have happened? I
don't think so. The preparation laid the foundation for the prayer. Yet
without the prayer, and the intention to remain open, my true work might
have taken longer to manifest.
What is your prayer? Right here and now? What is your work in this moment? Take
some time to sit with these questions, to pray about these questions. You may want to do some
divination: get a Tarot reading or do some scrying. Drop into Deep, Expansive Attention
(Chapter 3) and do some automatic writing. Start with the words: "What is my work?"
or "I would know what my true work is." Open up to the Gods and see what happens. Ask
the Star Goddess and the Peacock God to give you vision and clarity.
Your path opens now in front of you. Take a breath and look at yoursel£ Gather your energy, step into your power, and evolve. May you know yourself in all your parts.
close the sphefe und open the wofld
Our work is done and always beginning. Take your sacred blade in hand,
and as we began together, by casting the sacred sphere, so shall we close it.
Thank the Faery ones and ancestors for their help. Thank the Gods and
Guardians, honoring their presences. Once all the Guardians are thanked,
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you may say, "Lords of the Outer Dark, Guardians of Mystery, go if you must, stay if
you will, and may peace be between us, until next we meet. Hail and Jarewell!"3
Now point the tip of your athame toward the Powers Below, and then
sweep your blade up to the Powers Above. Imagine the blue fire flowing
back into your blade. Moving then from North to West to South to East,
release the sacred sphere and send a spark of that fire spinning out, using
your magic to reenchant the world. The rest of the blue fire will remain
held in your blade, until you need the containing sphere once again. Where
you started this journey by making one small room sacred, you now have
the ability to walk within a sacred world.
While you do the above actions you may say:
My knife gathers the flame
Back deep within.
The forces we have called,
Now outward spin.
Earth, water, fire, and air
Have taken part,
Within this space
OJ magic, will, and art.
Unto their righiful homes
m bid them speed,
Until next time we call
To them in need.
And may the Gods
Now bless each waiting heart,
For merry we have met,
And merry part.
3Some of this is Feri oral tradition as passed to me through Tom Johnson. ("May peace be bt•tw•·rn
us.") The form is my own.
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Holy Mother, in whom we live, move, and have our being, from you all things emerge,
and unto you all things must return.
May your life be blessed. May you grow in knowledge and beauty,
strength and love.
Ap pendiR: Reudin
und Resoufces
Feri Trudition und Its offshoots
Anderson, Cora. 50 Years in the Feri Tradition (Cora Anderson, 2003 reprint).
Available through www.whitewand.com and selected bookstores.
Anderson, Victor H. Thorns of the Blood Rose (Cora Anderson, 2003 reprint).
Teaching poems by the founder of the Feri Tradition. Available through www.
whitewand.com and selected bookstores.
Anderson, Victor H. (with additional material by Cora Anderson). Etheric
Anatomy: The Three Selves and Astral Travel (Acorn Guild Press, 2004 ). Available
through www.lilithslantern.com and selected bookstores.
anaar. The White Wand: Toward a Feri Aesthetic (April Niino, 2004). First in the
forthcoming series on the White, Green, and Black Wands in Feri Tradition.
See www.whitewand.com or selected bookstores.
www.dianasgrove.com
Not Feri, but a respected source for distance learning and weekend workshops.
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Appendix: neudin�s und Resources
www.feritradition.com
This site includes links to many Anderson Feri Tradition practitioners, offshoots, and resources, including lt!tch Eye 'Zine, White Wand, Lilith's Lantern, Storm Faerywolf, M. Macha Nightmare, and many others.
www.reclaiming.org
This site has information and links about the Reclaiming Tradition, including classes, the Reclaiming QJtarterly, and Witchcamps.
lt!tch Eye: A 'Zine of Feri Uprising
An occasional 'zine published by Feris Max Airborne and Storm Faerywolf
and always full of interesting articles and poetry. See www.feritradition.org/
witcheye.
other Helpful or rnspirin
Adler, Margot. Drawing Down the Moon: lt!tches, Druids, Goddess-Worshipers and
Other Pagans in America Today (Beacon Press, I 986 reprint).
First published in 1979, this is the premier overview of contemporary Paganism. It includes some information on Victor Anderson.
Aurelius, Marcus. Meditations (The Modern Library, 2003).
A classic Stoic Pagan text helpful to anyone engaged in self-development.
Bey, Hakim. T.A.Z.: The Temporary Autonomous Zone, Ontological Anarchy, Poetic Terrorism (Autonomedia, 1991), and Millennium (Autonomedia, 1996).
These books hold much that will be of interest to Feri students. This author
has also been an inspiration to Chaos magicians and radical political thinkers.
Cooper, Rabbi David. God Is a verb: Kabbalah and the Practice of Mystical Judaism
(Penguin USA, I 998). Easy to understand information on the Jewish view of
the Triple Soul.
Appendix: Rea.din�s a.nd Resources
2 9 1
Curott, Phyllis. Witchmifting: A Spiritual Guide to Making Magic (Broadway Books,
200 I). One of the few Craft books I highly reconunend. If you are interested
in non-Feri Witchcraft, this is an excellent source of practical magic.
Dominguez, Ivo, Jr. Castings: The Creation of Sacred Space (SapFire Productions,
I 996), and OJ Spirits: The Book of Rowan (SapFire Productions, 200I). Two powerfully interesting books by the founder of Assembly of the Sacred Wheel. Available through www.sapfire.com.
Duquette, Lon Milo. The Magic of Aleister Crowlry: A Handbook of the Rituals of
The lema (Red Wheel/ Weiser, 2003 ) Thelema provides interesting parallels to
.
many Feri concepts, including not coddling weakness or submitting life force,
and to developing will.
Another classic Stoic text helpful for those engaged in work on self and developing will.
Foxwood, Orion. The Faery Teachings (Muse Press, 2003).
Not Feri, but good work in folkloric Faery practice. See www.foxwoodtemple.net.
Greer, Mary. JtOmen of the Golden Dawn: Rebels and Priestesses (Inner Traditions,
I 995). For an interesting history of the early Golden Dawn, which set tlw
stage for much contemporary magic, I recommend this book.
Hall, Manly P. The Secret Teachings of All Ages (Tarcher /Penguin, 2004).
A reader-friendly reprint of a grand source for religious and metaphysical n·search. Skip the misinformation about Islam and dive into the otlll'r inf�u·mative segments.
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Appendix: Reudin
Hoffman, Enid. Huna: A Beginner� Guide (Schiffer, I 997).
This book comes highly recommended by some of my students as a resource
for Triple Soul work.
hooks, bell. all about love: new visions (Harper Perennial, 200 I ).
This is just one that I like for meditations on love, honesty, and innocence.
Helpful for Black Heart work and reclaiming sex and love.
Hopman, Ellen Evert, and Lawrence Bond. People of the Earth: The New Pagans
Speak Out (Destiny Books, I996). Includes an interview with Victor Anderson
and many others.
Hutton, Ronald. Triumph of the Moon: a History of Modern Pagan Witchmift
(Oxford University Press, I 999). The best history on Witchcraft you'll find,
to date.
Kapit, Wynn, and Lawrence M. Elson. The Anatomy Coloring Book (Addison
Wesley, I 993). A simple source for discovering your physiology. Body awareness is a must for any spiritual practitioner, especially those of us in earth-based systems.
Lenihan, Eddie. Meeting the Other Crowd: The Fairy Stories of Hidden Ireland
(Tarcher/Penguin, 2003). The title says it all. For those of you interested in
stories of the Faery world.
Levi, Eliphas. The History of Magic. Translated by A. E. Waite (Weiser, 2000).
A good source for any serious student of the occult.
Lorde, Audre. Sister Outsider (Crossing Press, I 984).
See especially "The Uses of the Erotic" for insights into the Black Heart
work and reclaiming sex as sacred life force.
Appendix: Reo.din
293