It is a sometimes lonely post that hedgeriders occupy, having only our contacts of the Otherrealms to keep us company. So few truly understand, can really grasp our experiences. Some politely nod as if to comprehend with a false sense of empathy. Others give a coy smile, all but rolling their eyes at what we may do. That is, if we choose to share our path with them at all.
As a part of our path, we learn to speak in symbol and poetry. We read the texts of bards long past (and not so long past), then pull from it the secrets that they cleverly encoded, and still more that they never meant to betray. We search long and hard for the mythos surrounding certain spirits or gods. Then we re-enact it, play it out, assume all of the different roles to fully understand the myth, to drink in the mysteries. This language of symbol is the language of the gods, the currency of the Otherrealms, the universal equalizer. It is in this vein that we should examine the implications of the hedge.
In the medieval era, the hedge was seen as marker of one’s property or the town’s limit. But this is far from the origin of the hedgerow (or the hedgerider). Some hedges have been dated back as far as the Neolithic Age (4000 – 6000 years ago). As long as there has been a boundary, there has been the watchman of the boundary, the hedgewitch.
In the beginning, many of the hedgerows were constructed seemingly at random in regards to their composition. Societies were moving from a nomadic lifestyle to a more settled agrarian one. At first, any boundary would suffice. Then, as we developed spiritual alliances with the land and its inhabitants, the content of the hedgerow shifted. We began to see the hedge take shape, woven tightly together to keep the livestock in and all else out. It provided protection and containment, allowing society to develop rapidly within the hedge walls.
To understand the consequence of the hedge, we must reinvoke the mindset of the times. Wars were being waged. Dynasties and kingdoms were being forged. Boundaries were important not just as a matter of ownership, but as a matter of identity. Farms and towns were only part of what was being preserved. Entire cultures were at stake. As we currently move into a more universal and limitless worldview or society, boundaries are seen as undesirable. In the modern era, we don’t like being told what to do or how far we can go. This is marked by the dissolution of visible borders or boundary lines.
This is especially true in the U.S., where many Americans don’t have a sense of their ancestry or origin. I would have little problem with that, seeing as how time shall pass and ancestral cultures will shift with the era. I do take issue with this, though, in that the American culture is indistinct, lacking a sense of history or identity. Truth be told, this isn’t just an American thing. The whole world is moving towards globalization. The ‘civilized’ culture once protected within the nest of the hedge is sprawling, leaving no space wild or untouched. The symbol of the hedgerider is quickly being lost, and with it vital tools. The wild of the spirit world is being usurped by digital technology. The intangible worlds no longer hold their reverence as we seek to define and quantify the entirety of existence, disregarding the things that cannot be categorized or broken down into a statistic.
While I may sound like a raving romantic, I am still a child of this age. I write these words on my laptop sitting within arm’s length of my cell phone as my coffee pot turns itself on to begin the morning’s percolation. The modern hedgerider longs to know the unknowable, stretch the boundaries of our existence. This can be seen in the great strides and discoveries on the forefront of medicine, technology and science. The great indiscretion is that we, as a global culture, have lost our reverence and modesty, thinking that we can define all and that which is ineffable is simply useless. The course correction that I am recommending is to examine the hidden wisdom of our forbearers through the symbols that they have left us, which brings us back to the hedge itself.
The three most common shrubs to compose the hedge were Hawthorn, Blackthorn and Hazel. Hawthorn is a woody shrub that produces a fragrant five petal white flower. It is also known as the Maythorn, Whitethorn or Quickthorn. The younger shoots bare thorns, showing the plant’s propensity for protection. The blooms that appear in May grow in the shape of a pentagram, linking the tree with magic and the mysteries. The time of flowering links the Hawthorn with the ancient celebration of Beltaine or May’s Eve. This would imply a link with fertility, beauty and love (or at least lust). The fruit of the Whitethorn is called a haw, a small berry that is red when ripe bearing a delicate taste sometimes used to flavor brandy. The red berry further highlights the associations with matters of the heart, linking it still with Beltaine’s fires.
Blackthorn or Sloe is related to the Hawthorn, but bears a blue-black fruit. The thorns of the Blackthorn remain for a longer time than with its cousin, Whitethorn, showing even more virile powers of protection and stronger consequences for violating its boundaries. The name Sloe derives from the Germanic root slaiχwōn, indicating it’s plum-like fruit. The fruit is bitter and used to flavor gin. The term ‘sloe-eyed’ indicates eyes with the darkness of the sloe berry. The darker protective nature of the Blackthorn would have inevitably been used for a more protective boundary than it’s gentler Hawthorn relative. Either plant, though, is seen as highly protective and deeply wise.
Hazel not only acts as a boundary when grown on the hedgerow, but is also used in the sustainable wattle and daub building practices, which has been used for the past 6000 years. It is also used to construct fences (which could be seen as an evolution or mechanization of the hedge). Practically speaking, the nuts of the Hazel tree could be stored for up to a year, making them an invaluable source of food during the winter months. This tree is also said to be affiliated with wisdom and inspiration in Celtic tradition, with Nine Wise Hazels surrounding the sacred Pool of Knowledge. Including the Hazel in the hedgerow is a sign of practicality and versatility.
These are the trees most commonly composing the hedge, and by examining the traits that are attributed to them we can begin to understand the role of the hedgerider. If the hedge was meant to mark a boundary, the hedgerider was meant to cross the boundary when others couldn’t or wouldn’t. The protective nature of the hedge indicates that the rider is thought to put herself at risk to cross the boundary into the ‘unfamiliar’ territory of the Otherworlds, exemplified by the untamed wilds outside of the cozy familiar town.
The connection of the Hawthorn to May implicitly marries the role of a hedge crosser to the Rites of Beltaine. In these rites, the normally taboo behaviors surrounding sexuality are suspended for the evening, allowing participants to participate in the Beltaine marriage, a reflection and celebration of the sacred union of the gods. While I have little information as to the role sex may have played in the life of historic riders, there is little doubt as to how the rider was viewed by the people of the community.
Hedgeriders’ activities would have held a certain reverence, but also a certain amount of fear for the people of the community. Riders would have been seen as eccentric at best, aberrant at worst. The role of hedgewitches as spiritual leaders or advisors deteriorated as society became more ‘civilized’. As time moved forward, the practice of jumping the hedge wasn’t openly embraced or celebrated as readily as it had been in the past. At times, it would have simply been tolerated due to the services provided by the riders.
One of these services is that of healing. The modern day view of healing is a bastardized version of how it was seen in the older days. The spiritual component of illness was fully acknowledged, and this is why the hedgerider was sought out. Healing took place due to spiritual alliances forged by the hedgewitch, not because of the chemicals of the plants that they used. The practice of healing was intimate, not sterile.
Many in the pagan community connect ‘hedge witches’ with herbalism. This view would have us think that the hedge riders of old grew a veritable apothecary in their garden and treated patients much like a doctor would, slipping in the occasional working for a lonely heart or a good harvest. While riders would have had a wondrous knowledge of herbs, it would have been the wildcrafted forest-grown herbs and the powers behind them that hedge rider addressed. While the edge dwellers would have known how to heal, many may not have considered themselves healers.
Even with the eccentricity associated with them, the Hazel’s association with the hedge indicates the wisdom that can be gained through contact with the spirit worlds. Contact with the realm of spirit also brings inspiration, which can be seen even today through the creativity that seems to weave itself into all aspects of the craft.
In many modern ecstatic traditions of the craft, we can see the echoes of these archetypes and expectations through our expressions and roles in society. In many traditions that include journeywork, there is a heavy emphasis on artistic expression. The ‘mad poets’ of the Anderson Feri Tradition exemplify this connection.
This poetic view of the world is nearly necessary to be able to understand and interact with the Otherrealms and the inhabitants of these ethereal worlds. Poetry is the common language of the heart, the soul, and the Gods. The experiences had across the hedge are both completely real and at the same time symbolic. It is through working with this dual existence of symbol and actuality that we can affect change to this world from the other side of the hedge.
The wonders of the Otherrealm will frequently take their toll on riders though. This is marked by the thorny protective powers of Hawthorn and Blackthorn, as they bear witness to the price for the lessons of wisdom gained by crossing the hedge. The ‘eccentricity’ ascribed to the edge dwellers of history is an outward expression of the flirtation with madness of successful hedgeriders. The unsuccessful riders simply went insane.
This is the part of the discourse where I express concern (and thinly veiled disdain) for the ‘insta-shamans’, ‘Samhain witches’, and ‘mail order mambos’. There are some that offer Mystical Trips into the Amazon, where you ingest a sacred concoction and return home a shaman. Still others offer to fly you out and initiate you with no more training than a weekend. Hedgeriding isn’t a hobby that you can poke around with once or twice (or even a season) out of each year and ever gain mastery befitting initiation. You have to work for it. You must learn the techniques, the science before you can truly participate in the art.
In the ecstatic line that I am currently a part of, it is the spirits of the Other themselves that indicate when a student is initiated. I have had close to fifty students in that time, yet only two that I have felt should be initiated. Currently I am studying the Anderson Feri Tradition, another ecstatic practice. The training involved for most of the lines in Feri involves at least five years of training before initiation is even considered.
Many schools of shamanism base their curriculum around the journey into the Other. This is a definite point of skill and study appropriate for the hedgerider, but should not trump the teachings of inner work to prepare for the full experience. We need to know how to incorporate changes initiated upon the Web of Existence in the Other. We must be vigilant at keeping ourselves balanced, clear and aligned.
We often hear the old adage ‘a foot in this world, and a foot in the Other’. This saying indicates that we should function in each world. It’s all too easy to use riding as an escape from the woes of this world, yet jumping the hedge should remind us of the inherent beauty of the physical realm. Detaching from the physical doesn’t allow you to go further in the spirit realms; it keeps you from being able to affect any real change, gain any true wisdom or achieve the gnosis that is sought from the practice. If you go too deep, you get caught in the current and drown.
The view of the hedge rider’s world is complicated, poetic, enigmatic and usually contradictory. It is quite simple and wise. It is at the same time ancient and foreign to most. It requires the ability to see and accept reason, even if you don’t understand it. This is the way of the hedge. Beauty and terror. Wisdom and madness. Paradox and poetry.
Mar
20
Musings on the Hedge by Elige Stewart
Mar
20
Article: Dietary Cleansing and Detox by Elige Stewart
There are a million different products on the market to scrub your colon, wash your liver, flush your kidneys, etc. This little article is going to talk about cleanses and sanity. Many of the products that are out there use harsh natural laxatives to produce a notable reaction in the bathroom. Further, these products are usually in the form of a full handful of pills to be taken with every meal. On the opposite end of the spectrum, we have some experts telling us that we need to deprive ourselves of all but juice or cleansing elixir for up to forty days to achieve true cleansing. So with this broad of a scope to look at, let’s set some ground basic questions up to help make heads or tails out of this cleansing stuff.
1. Why do you want to do a cleanse?
2. What body system in particular are you looking to cleanse?
3. How long are you willing to do the cleanse?
4. What are you eliminating from your life? What are you not willing to eliminate?
5. What are you adding to your life?
Why do you want to cleanse? Most people’s knee jerk reaction to this question is to lose weight. Totally valid reason, but one that can lead to some sketchy territory. If you are looking for something to make you drop weight so you can return to exactly the way you were living before the ‘cleanse’, then you are not cleansing. You are dieting. The difference between diets and cleanses are sometimes hard to see on the surface, as the big differences are frequently in the intention of the program. My personal views are as such: A diet is a restrictive nutritional regime for the sole purpose of weight loss in which the participant will part with after the goal is achieved. A cleanse is an occasional tool to help maximize health used on a regular basis to help the body rid itself of ‘toxins’, perform at a higher level and to help foster lifestyle changes. A cleanse is something that you would plan on doing seasonally for example, whereas a diet is just something you do whenever you want to lose weight. Cleanses can also help to bring about lasting changes in health, shift in personal energetics, and can be done for spiritual reasons in addition to physical ones. (For example, I enjoy a seven day chakra cleanse to help bring my subtle energies into deeper alignment.)
What body system do you want to target in your cleanse? By choosing a body system to focus on, it can help you to decide what changes will benefit you the most. The most common focuses for a cleanse would be: colon, liver, and gall bladder (though this is by no means the only focal points for cleansing). Some cleanses focus on what you specifically want to eliminate: Candida, parasite, heavy metals. While some systems may address all of the above all at once, this is not the ideal situation. Cleansing should be done systematically and mindfully. Further, not all people need all of their systems cleansed. If you don’t know where to start, you can first address your digestive system through a GENTLE colon cleanse.
How long are you willing to do the cleanse? The strictness of the cleanse combined with the sometimes fairly extreme reactions make a lot of people unable to cope with a cleanse for the recommended amount of time. If you are cleansing for a specific action (such as Candida), the amount of time required for the cleanse to be effective can vary drastically depending on why you are cleansing. For individual body systems or organs, a week to 10 days seems to be the effective ideal. This time span seems to work well for working with subtle energies as well. To incorporate a lifestyle change, 21 to 28 days is sufficient. Cleansing for spiritual purposes tends to vary. For example, cleansing for the 40 days of Lent is common, as is a 28 day cleanse tied to the moon cycle.
What are you willing to eliminate during the cleanse? This is the most important component of cleansing, and is usually the one that is most overlooked. You can’t just take a pill and voila – you are detoxed! It doesn’t work that way. You have to look at what you are putting in to your body that you feel should be cleansed. Let’s break cleansing down into three levels. Level one cleanses are trial runs for lifestyle changes, and will incorporate small changes as to not shock the body. They strictly adhere to a change for a specified period of time to allow you to fully realize the benefit of the lifestyle change. A good example of this would be the elimination of white sugar and flour from the diet for 10 days. Level two cleanses would make more drastic changes and/or last for extended periods of time, and usually have a very specific target. While these cleanses will frequently seem a bit cumbersome, you may consider doing it to address a particular problem. Candida cleanses are good examples of this, as participants must eliminate virtually all sugars (including natural ones, fruits, etc), processed foods and yeast containing foods from the diet for over a month, usually while taking an antifungal herb or supplement. Level three cleanses are seen as extreme and should only be done under the guidance of a qualified health professional. Extended fasting of any type would fit into this category. An important point to consider is that these levels are subjective. For someone eating the standard American diet, cleansing through raw veganism may be a level 3 extreme cleanse. But, for a longtime vegetarian, cleansing through raw veganism might only be a level 1 and the next logical progression in their healthy lifestyle.
What you are not willing to eliminate is just as important as what you will. For example, many people aren’t willing to give up meat especially on an extended cleanse. Still others don’t want to give up their coffee. The answer here is moderation. During a cleansing period, eliminating heavy meats such as beef and pork will still allow for a detoxification to take place. Moderate consumption of organic chicken and turkey, as well as fish, is completely allowable from my standpoint. Also, I don’t believe that a cup of coffee or two in the morning will be terribly detrimental. Exercise your common sense when considering this question while determining what path to detoxification will benefit you the most.
What are you adding to your regiment during the cleanse period? Two major components pop to mind that people don’t often consider: Water and exercise. Ideally, you should be consuming half of your body weight in ounces of water each day. For example, if you are 150 pounds, then you should be taking in around 75 ounces of water. Most coffee cups are about 6 ounces, so that means that you should be drinking a mug full of water 12 to 13 times a day. If you have a glass of water once every hour until 4 hours before bedtime, then you will be properly hydrated. This is major! Water is what allows the body to clean itself, so proper hydration is necessary for a healthy detox. Exercise is beneficial for many different reasons. And we’re not talking about training for the Olympics here. Yoga or pilates stretches the tissues of the body while they allay stress and tension. It’s kind of like wringing out a sponge, moving waste matter out of the tissue. Aerobic exercise such as walking pumps the lymphatic system allowing the waste products of the body to be moved into the organs of elimination.
This is also the place in our line of questioning where we talk about herbs and supplements. Since herbs and supplements are ADDED to our daily regimen, you should be looking at what they ADD to your body and not so focused on what they will eliminate from it. In other words look at how an herb will support the body, such as Milk Thistle supporting the liver or Eleuthro supporting the adrenals. If you aren’t constipated, then you don’t need a laxative herb such as Senna or Cascara Sagrada. Defecating more frequently because of a laxative doesn’t make you detox. It can interfere with your body’s nutrient absorption and weaken peristaltic action (which is a fancy way of saying that it will make your colon lazy and give you constipation later on). If you suffer from chronic constipation, then look first to your level of hydration. Drink more water and usually within a week you will be having healthy bowel movements.
If you want to undertake a detox, then I highly recommend talking to someone who can help you design a program that works for you such as a nutritionist, naturopath or herbalist. For those interested in a general cleanse, try out the following program.
1. Keep an intake journal for 3 days. This should be done before any other steps are taken. Three days will give you a good idea of what your typical diet is. You should record the time, how you are feeling, what you are putting into the body (food, drink, etc.), and approximately how much. The amount doesn’t have to be precise, such as a fist sized chicken breast, cup of coffee, or a bowl of salad.
2. Drink more water (half of your body weight in ounces of water). Make this the only change in your diet for 1 week, then gauge how you feel. Then you can move on to the next step if you want. Remember that if it’s sweetened, carbonated or caffeinated, it doesn’t count towards your water intake. Herbal tea or water with lemon can go towards your water tally though.
3. Move your body 6 days a week. This seems like a lot, I know. But I’m not talking about hitting the gym every day. I’m suggesting incorporating a 15-20 minute walk three times a week. (Doing it after the heaviest meal of your day will aid digestion.) The other three days, do 15-20 minutes of stretching, yoga, calisthenics or pilates. The objective isn’t to break a sweat, but to get your internal juices flowing to help with the cleanse. Add this to your regimen for 1 week before moving on to the next step.
4. Eliminate white stuff from your diet. This includes white flour, white sugar, white potatoes and artificial sweeteners. I don’t believe in just leaving a void, so instead eat whole grain breads and pastas; natural sweeteners such as honey, molasses and turbinado sugar (Sugar in the Raw); yams instead of potatoes; and if you really need the sweet without the calories, try stevia. Dairy is also very heavy and taxing on the system, so is also frequently included in this category of elimination. If you are so inclined, go for it. If you can’t live without dairy, then limit yourself to 1-2 servings a day of organic dairy. Do this in addition to the first two steps for 7 days before incorporating the next step.
5. Raw it up! Raw foods are very supportive to cleansing. Incorporate this step by making 50% of what you eat raw. This is 50% by sight, not by weight or calorie count. (You really shouldn’t be concerned with counting calories during a cleanse anyway.) In other words, if you have a cup of oatmeal for breakfast, then you eat an apple with it. A tuna sandwich for lunch with a side salad (clear dressings like Italian are more cleansing than cream based like Ranch). I personally count steamed vegetables as raw for one meal a day (usually dinner). This allows for some really cool yummies like steamed veggie fajitas, or salmon with mango salsa and a side of steamed cauliflower and yams that’s been mashed up like mashed potatoes. Remember that you’re not eliminating anything this time around – just adding more raw food to what you are already eating. Do this step for another week, then:
6. Assess. Take a look through your food journal. See how you felt throughout the changes you just instituted. Which changes seemed to make the most difference? Did they make enough difference for them to be incorporated into your everyday lifestyle?
This program gives you a month to incorporate some pretty hefty changes. Most of the changes don’t become permanent for most people, but usually they will trigger enough of a change within to notice a big enough difference to prompt you to make some smaller changes, such as limiting white flour and sugar, or continuing to walk 3 days a week. Here is a list of some other practices and supplements you may want to consider incorporating during your cleanse.
• Dry brushing – helps the skin eliminate toxins by removing dead skin cells
• Massage – improves circulation and lymph movement to aid in the cleansing process
• Steam Room/Sauna – helps to draw toxins out of the body through the skin
• Herbs – help to support different body systems during a cleanse. I recommend herbal teas or extracts over pills. Taking all of these for the entire cleanse would be like trying to dust with steel wool. Choose your herbs for how you want to support and aim your cleanse, and for what you need.
o Linden Flower, Chamomile, Scullcap, Passionflower – Great herbs to help with anxiety and tension
o Eleuthro or Ginseng – Great herbs that help the body adapt to different stresses.
o Dandelion, Burdock – Great digestive stimulant.
o Raspberry Leaf or Nettle – Fantastic nutritive infusions. (Think ‘Drink your vitamins’.)
o Milk Thistle or Burdock – Excellent herbs for liver health.
o Ground Flax Seed – Very high in fiber and Omega3 fatty acids, so aids with general colon cleansing while supporting skin and joint health.
o Black Walnut Hull – Strong anti-parasitic.
o Garlic – Anti-fungal, anti-microbial, great for heart health.
o Pau D’arco – The ideal anti-fungal for Candida.
• Eat Organic! I know I’ve said it several times already, but it warrants saying again.
• Reiki or other forms of energy healing can also help to support the cleanse.
• Eliminating some TV/Internet time. Why would you want to have a perfectly clean body while cluttering up your brain with a bunch of crap off of the tube? Don’t go crazy here, but maybe turn it off instead of watching the evening news.
So these are my tips for a sane and doable cleanse that will help you to feel more energized, buoyant and ready to take on the world! Remember that you can stop anywhere along in the cleanse if it becomes too much for you. Listen to your body. Avoid the extremes, and enjoy the journey!
Dec
02
Test Post
This is just a quick diagnostic test post.
Nov
25
Jun
05
The P.U.R.E. Concept of Shamanism and ‘Crafting by Elige Stewart
For many of us, shamanism and witchcraft hold very situated ideas in our mind. Shamanism seems to conjure a Native American medicine man with feathers in his hair, leather pouch of magic stones and herbs, and ceremonial pipe. Witch conjures a different image of a hag with wild hair mixing potions and making ointments. Neither of these are accurate depictions of these practices, which are far more similar than they are different.
Those of us who know a bit more about the craft and shamanism will affiliate these practices with certain spiritual or religious paradigms, such as Wicca. Understand that practitioners of the traditional craft and shamanism alike may see the wisdom in these paradigms, but may also follow a different religious path. As a matter of fact, there are many practitioners who we would call ‘witches’ or ‘shamans’ who consider themselves Christian. The traditional paths are NOT religious paths – they are spiritual traditions and practices that are influenced by religious or philosophical paths of the practitioners. The cunning folk of Britain are an example of this. (See the Wikipedia link http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cunning_folk for more info on this path, as well as http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hedge_Witchcraft#Hedge_Witchcraft.)
With this idea in mind, James and I were discussing our respective practices which are mostly different in name only. When we boiled down what was the most important to me as a hedgewitch (a practitioner of a traditional shamanic form of the craft) and to James as a walker of the Dreampath (a blend of concepts from Native and South American practices, empathic development and mindfulness meditation practices), we came up with a powerful concept: P.U.R.E
P.U.R.E is an acronym for Purposeful, Universal, Respectful, and Environmentally Centered. To us, this is what our paths boil down to. Here is a little more about each of these concepts:
Purposeful – Our practices are centered around purpose. Every nuance and detail has a personal significance. Every action is taken with a purpose in mind – whether to celebrate the turning of seasons, to connect with land, spirit helpers or the Fair folk, even to facilitate healing (a huge part of each of our practices).
Universal – Our practices are inclusive, accepting and nurturing. Further, regardless of the faith you follow or the philosophy that you subscribe to, the practices affiliated with these paths should help to strengthen your own experience of the Divine. Many ‘Universal’ standpoints tend to draw from all faiths and then water down the beliefs and practices to make them easier to embrace for all people. Our concept of Universal is also experiential and ecstatic – this means that your spiritual experience is personal and subjective. Your connection to the world of Spirit is your own responsibility.
Respectful – The practices of traditional hedgecraft and Dreampathing are respectful of the views and vantages of our forebears. We are also people of the 21st century. Every path evolves, including spiritual paths. While we respect the ways of the past, we may honor them in a modern form that is more conducive to our modern culture. For example, hedgewitchery was well-known for utilizing ‘flying ointments’ to initiate a journey into the Other Worlds. These ointments frequently contained belladonna, henbane, jimson weed and many other potentially lethal herbs. As a modern hedgewitch, I choose to utilize other traditional practices (such as drumming and rattling) to achieve a trance state to journey into the Other Worlds, along with tools that aren’t necessarily traditional (such as certain forms of breathwork) and more mild herbs (such as mugwort and bay) to aid with jumping the hedge (aka shamanic journeying).
Environmentally Centered – While many of the Earth based spiritual paths are known for their ecofriendly stances, this isn’t the totality of what we are talking about. This is where we see the biggest divergence between our spiritual paths and the paths of religion. Religions (whether Wicca or Catholicism) tend to follow a spiritual ‘calendar’. In Catholicism, this is the observation of Lent, Easter, the feast days of saints, etc. In Wicca, this is seen in the observation of the sabbat festivals which are based around the seasons. While these are both wonderful and vivid practices (which I personally will incorporate into my own practice), James and I both believe that it is much more important to be connected to the land we live on. It has been our collective experience that spiritual experience is much more powerfully connected to PLACE than it is to TIME. By honoring the land in which you live, you also honor the lands that lie behind and beyond the physical land – the Other Worlds. This is the vital link that brings about the personal spiritual experience.
These simple concepts are inherent in shamanic practice – whether the practices of Core Shamanism, Hedgewitchery, or Dreampathing.
Jun
05
Energy Update – Summer 2010
Energy Updates will now be done quarterly/seasonally, as it is just easier for me to get them done all at once, and many of you seem to want a longer outlook than a month at a time – so enjoy the new format!
New Moon 6/12/10 – Sun/Moon Gemini
What to Expect over next 2 weeks: Lots of innovative action. Many new and/or unusual opportunities, especially in the fields of technology and media. Even though the drives will be there for these innovations, things feel out of synch. The stress on the New Moon for expansion and innovation is immense, so if you don’t let yourself wander aimlessly or get overwhelmed, this can be a very productive time for you (though you may only realize it in retrospect).
What to Manifest: Clarity in communication, sharp wit, new studies.
Correspondences: Colors – yellow, orange. Stone – agate. Scent – parsley, dill, iris.
Lunar Eclipse – 6/26/10 – Sun Cancer/Moon Capricorn
What to Expect over next few months: Focus on civil service, health and employment. Possible troubles with transportation and communication, market fluctuations. Expansion of scientific frontiers, fruitful innovations and creation of new fields of technology. Strongest culmination point occurs mid-December – just in time for next set of eclipses!
What to Manifest: Balance between work and play. Ambition and drive. Groundedness.
Correspondences: Colors – green, brown. Stone – turquoise. Scent – pine.
Solar Eclipse 7/11/10 – Sun/Moon Cancer
What to Expect over next couple of months: Focus on foreign affairs and higher education. The overcoming of obstacles. Domestic issues, especially homes and housing market. Financial stresses correspond with waiting for expansion to happen. Strongest influence is within a day of the eclipse.
What to Manifest: Home ownership, expediting new ventures and expansion, emotional balance and well being.
Correspondences: Colors – green, smoky grey. Stone – pearl, moonstone. Scent – poppy, rose.
Full Moon 7/25/10 – Sun Leo/Moon Aquarius
What to Expect over next 2 weeks: Drive for innovation continues, but meets with resistance. Major time for letting go and releasing what doesn’t serve you. Pick your battles, and hold your cards close to your chest.
What to Manifest: Balance between work and play, invention, privacy.
Correspondences: Colors – electric blue, silver. Stone – amethyst, red garnet. Scent – foxglove, pine.
New Moon 8/9/10 – Sun/Moon Leo
What to Expect over next 2 weeks: Conflict with authority. Difficulties with work, but more from external sources – office politics, gossip, implementation of new systems. Entertainment comes to the forefront, as do children. New opportunity for ‘good times’.
What to Manifest: Workings for children. Lightening the load and enjoying life more. Self esteem.
Correspondences: Colors – golden yellow, orange. Stone – ruby. Scent – frankincense.
Full Moon 8/24/10 – Sun Virgo/Moon Pisces
What to Expect over next 2 weeks: Spiritual release. Balancing work and home life. Introspection, shifting self image. Opportunities for transformation. Intensely intuitive period.
What to Manifest: Psychic and spiritual development. Finding the right home. Overcoming addiction.
Correspondences: Colors – Sea green. Stone – aquamarine, bloodstone. Scent – ambergris.
Apr
01
April 2010 Energy Update
Energy Update
The New Moon on April 14th occurs around 7:30am in Aries. The only aspect formed to the new moon is a sextile (opportunity) with Neptune and Chiron in Aquarius. This is light influence, but positive aspect. With the planets involved, this is an opportunity and a spurring for spiritual growth and innovation. Many of us may feel this as a ‘psychic opening’, and while Mercury is preparing to retrograde beginning later this month, our introspective natures will heighten. This new moon will have it’s strongest effect in opening doors to our spiritual growth. A lunation such as this is ideal for setting up the energies of Mercury Retrograde.
Using this moon to manifest or work ritual, you will want to use it to help energize your spiritual seeking. Manifest a new spiritual study or teacher during this time. Follow your heart’s desire and open to your personal joy. This is also the time for letting go of what is holding your back on your spiritual journey. Aries New Moon is also good for ambition and physical exertion or exercise. (Begin any new routines- especially exercise routines – by the 4th of April to not have them challenged by the Mercury Retrograde.) Red candles and cinnamon incense best embody the energy of this moon, while burning a yellow candle on a mirror will help to focus the energy of Mercury for introspection during it’s retrograde cycle.
Mercury begins retrograding on April 17th at 13 degrees Taurus and goes direct on May 11 at 3 degrees Taurus. Use this time to turn your interests inward and enjoy meditation or art. (The retrograde in Taurus will be particularly fond of creating pretty things). As always, avoid the purchase of unnecessary items (especially technology) during this time. Keep an eye out for possible miscommunications. And try to embrace this time of introspection.
The Full Moon occurs on April 28th around 7:20 am in Scorpio. This moon is all about intensity. Hopefully by this point you’ve started to use the retrograde energy to do some soul searching. This full moon is about shifting your awareness to letting go of what’s holding you back, especially in a spiritual sense. The aspect configuration of this moon is asking you to look especially hard at your everyday routines and streamline them to maximize your growth and energy levels. Little changes can make huge differences, but with the Scorpio moon, you may feel the need to swing to the extreme. If you truly desire to make an extreme change, the Mercury – Sun conjunction is asking you to do it in baby steps, spacing the change out through the end of May while remaining mindful of your goals. Incorporating your feelings and intuitions into something grounded may appear challenging, but it’s supposed to – especially if you’re looking to make permanent changes to your spiritual path, routine or life in general. This may not make it easier as it is ‘happening to you’, but be sure that the feeling of intensity will ease in time.
The Full Moon in Scorpio is an extreme moon. This is an excellent time for letting go and reinventing the parts of your life that you aren’t happy with. Beware of looking for instant gratification, as the Mercury Retrograde may make your expectations of timing unrealistic. Red and black candles represent this moon, as does a heavy intense incense like dragon’s blood or patchouli.
Apr
01
April Podcast
There is no podcast this month, but Elige will be appearing on Journey into the Light radio program on April 6th, 15thm 20th and 28th. The programs will be broadcast live and will include both interviews and calls from listeners. Check it out at http://www.blogtalkradio.com/journeyintothelight .
Apr
01
Spirit Attachment
Spirit Attachment by Elige Stewart
Possession. Hollywood has grabbed this concept and ran. A spirit intrudes into a (usually young and pretty) person’s body causing all kinds of havoc – from killing boyfriends to puking split pea soup. I don’t think I have to tell you that this is not at all usual. However, the underlying concept – spirit attachment – is far more common than you’d think.
Spirit attachment is basically motivated by when a person dies and they retain a desire to experience the physical world. This can be motivated by the spirit simply wanting to ‘wrap up’ some leftover business or watch over their loved ones in the way they did when they were alive. More often, though, the spirit is driven by a desire to experience something that they can only get in a physical body – drinking, sex, domination, etc. The spirit will then connect with the energy field of a living person to have these experiences, which is spirit attachment.
The effect that spirit attachment has on a person varies. For most, it will manifest as a new or heightened compulsion. This can be very annoying, but rarely causes any alarms to go off unless the compulsion is something of an addictive nature, such as a more robust drinking regimen. Changes in personality, moodiness and a generally disinterested affect also tend to accompany spirit attachment. The person experiencing the attachment frequently reports loss of focus, exhaustion and losing track of time.
Everyone will have this list of circumstances or ‘symptoms’ at some point or another in their life (most likely not all at once though). Personalities can change and morph over time, heightening some traits while downplaying others. In the case of spirit attachment, generally the changes will be fairly extreme. The loss of focus, exhaustion or loss of time management skills will be almost constant. The changes in personality will be marked enough for everyone around you to notice.
Spirit attachment can also manifest as a physical condition. This can be sudden chronic pains that aren’t easily explained by a doctor, loss of sensation, lowered immune response, and sleeping disturbances/insomnia to name the most common conditions. There is a situation where a woman lost her sense of smell for over a year due to spirit attachment. Her sense of smell returned after a spirit release session with a hypnotherapist.
Spirit release is most often addressed in one of three ways: actions taken by ‘host’ of attachment, hypnotherapy or energy work. Sometimes you can quickly identify the main motivating factor of an attachment – e.g. alcoholism, drugs, etc. In this case, eliminating what the spirit wants from your life will cause it to move on. You will usually have to eliminate the trigger for over a month for this method to finally cause the spirit to move on.
Energy work such as Reiki or Quantum Touch can help to address attachment as well. It is a specific technique in energy work (that has come to be known as ‘Psychic Surgery’ in Reiki) that addresses this condition. Not all practitioners of all energy work systems will practice a technique that is effective with spirit attachment. Energy work tends to work best in the situation when you are unsure whether you have an attachment. Most everyone can benefit from regular energy work sessions, so I usually recommend going in to see your Reiki Master and simply let them do what they do. You’ll notice the benefit of this immediately, whether or not you had an attachment.
Hypnotherapy is the best way to go when you are sure you have an attachment. The process is very empowering for the person having the session. It is a direct way to disconnect with the spirit and move on with your life. Some hypnotherapists will call the process ‘Depossession’ as opposed to Spirit Release. Rest assured that it is the same thing.
Spirit attachment is a fairly regular occurrence, but many people will be able to relate to the list of ‘symptoms’ who don’t have an attachment. It is human nature to try to relate to what we are hearing/reading/seeing. The big question is – do these symptoms disrupt your life in some way? Most of the time, if you are experiencing these symptoms you won’t notice whether your life has been disrupted by them. It will be pointed out by a close friend. If these things are disrupting your life, then you may want to consider seeing someone.
Spirit attachment tends to happen during stressful periods of our lives, such as the loss of a loved one, job transition, or severe illness. The two most common places for an attachment to take place – bars and hospitals.
If you feel that you may need spirit release, contact a qualified medical intuitive, hypnotherapist or energy healer. Then call your doctor. If you are having any physical symptoms of spirit attachment, you should see your doctor to address them. Personally, if you are experiencing physical symptoms and you haven’t called/seen your doctor, then I will refuse to see you as a client. The physical symptoms can be a sign of a much bigger and more acute problem that should be cleared by a medical professional with the proper training to help those situations.
Spirit attachment only has as much power as you give it. In the end, you have the control to break free and soar. Sometimes it may require a little outside help, but this should always be a process of empowering you. As always, if you don’t feel uplifted and inspirited/inspired when you leave an intuitive or energetic practitioner, then you should find a new one!
Mar
01
Podcast – Fey, Fairies and the Spirits of Fate
This audio discussion is about the Fair Folk of the Lower Realms, more commonly known as the Fey or Fairies. The focus is on their role in Traditional Witchcraft and Hedgeriding, not on the Victorian image of fairies that we have come to know.
Fey, Fairies and Spirits of Fate Podcast Link
Just click on the link and an audio mp3 player will open in a new window or tab.