The Great Counselor

(Image: Jai Jai Mother Kali, collage on paper, SG, 2002)

In these hard times for us all, may the great Counselor always be behind our left shoulder (as Carlos Castaneda said), and may She always help us to make wise decisions…

My heart goes out to the world, today.

 

 

Bright Blessings,

Listen…

(Image : The Lady, collage on cardboard, SG, 2004)

kia tere te karohihori…

which means approx.:

May the calm be widespread

May the sea glisten like greenstone

and may the warmth of summer fall upon us all.

(Maori)

*sigh*

I love saying these words aloud (in Maori, and pardon my accent!)…

They are like pearls sliding out of the mouth.

And then, on another note, not less important :

“Stamp out conformity. Stay in bed all day. Dream of gypsy wagons. Marry yourself. Eat mangoes naked.” (Sark)

Certainly, the essence of Druidry, to this Druid.

Hekate of the Crossroads

(Image : Circle of Healing, collage on paper, SG, 2004)

Elderwoman speaks : I am Spirit. Making body is what I do. I am Body. Making Spirit is what I do. I am Primal. I am Sublime. I am strongest when the Two are One.

Elderwoman is the ancient holy one. She is grandmother, witch and hag. She has been ignored, blamed and feared, for she holds powers that others deny. Powers of time and transformation. Powers we may fear, but would do better to understand, especially in our times. The Crone is the Mother of all Mothers. She knows all your bedtime stories, and all your worst nightmares.

She is the One who knows Death. She will introduce you to your shadow. She can free you from your fears. Elderwoman is She Who Has Gone Beyond.

She has lived many years and many lives. Her feet know the paths of the Ancestors. Through her we can touch those who have gone before. She has lived for love, for power, for grace. Now she lives for herself and for her journey. She travels new roads and dares the unknown.

“Queen of the Night, triple-faced Hekate is one of the most ancient images from a pre-Greek stratum of mythology and an original enbodiment of the Great Triple Goddess. She is most often linked with the dark of the moon and presides over magic, ritual, prophetic vision, childbirth, death, the underworld, and the secrets of regeneration. Mistress of the crossroads, this goddess dwells in caves, walks the highways at night, and is the force that moves the moon.

Hekate is the archetypal shaman as she moves between worlds in a fluid way. She bridges the visible and the invisible realities, delving for insight into the magical realms for the ultimate purpose of effecting a healing and regeneration.

Nine Ladies of Avalon

(Image : The Holy Grail, collage on paper, SG, 2002)

Nine ladies with long skirts, white and red and black, dancing through a dark forest, at velvety midnight.

Oh sisters what do we do, so strange the night, so dark the forest, and terrifying the call of the owl,

hoo hoo hoo

together and glancing furtively, owl-like, this way and that,

nine ladies in white-read-and black, dancing under the clear moon, nothing to fear at all, but how vast the mystery

(The Nine Ladies, SG, 2002)

The Isle of Avalon is an inner landscape, an archetype of Beauty, Wisdom and Truth. It is the earthly Paradise which the myths tell us was once our home, now mostly forgotten. It is the land which the poet and mystic see in vision, where the artist and musician find inspiration; where the soul goes for spiritual healing : a timeless land of power and mystery that offers initiation and enlightenment to all those who dare travel to its shores.

The island-valley of Avalon

Where falls not hail, or rain, or any snow,

Nor ever wind blows loudly; but it lies

Deep-meadow´d, happy, fair with orchards-lawns

And bowery hollows crown´d with summer sea.

                         (Alfred, Lord Tennyson)

Nine is the most magical Celtic number, 3 three times itself. Returning to Taliesin´s description of the Isle of Apples in “The Life of Merlin”, the Chief Bard tells us :

“That is the place where nine sisters exercise a kindly rule over those who come to them from our land. The one who is first among them has greater skill in healing, her name is Morgen, and she has learned the uses of all plants in curing the ills of the body. She knows too the art of changing her shape, of flying through the air, like Daedalus, on strange wings.”

Whatever the case, the powers of these women of the Otherworld are very real indeed. Their role is to initiate students into the inner planes through the cauldron of rebirth, an undertaking which demands great sacrifice – to die to one´s old self in order to become reborn transformed, with perceptions and powers beyond the unawakened human experience. The magical cauldron, or grail, is nothing less than the crucible of the goddess out of which emerges the transformed initiate of the Celtic Mysteries. Legend has it that Arthur´s sword, Excalibur, given to him by the Lady of the Lake, was forged there also. This of course symbolizes the masculine principle, the gift of will, authority and action. The Avalon initiation unlocks the energy of both the chalice and the sword, both masculine and feminine powers in perfect balance, for us to take back to our own side of the waters for the healing of our world.

Prayer for the Dead, the Wounded and the Damned

Image : “The Black Lady of Montserrat”, protectress of the Earth Sanctuary)

There are damned places
On this Earth.
Where there is only
ochre rubble & blood

And punky robbers on a killing rampage, 
gum-shewing soldiers, grinning skulls
Biting midges, no-face zeroes,
Who have forgotten the crystal purity
Of the motherland.

Behind the veils, behind the clouds,
Behind the misty walls,
Avalon goes on.
And on and on.

Shekinah, Kali, Inanna,
Ereshkigal, Hecate
Mary the Dark,
Goddess of a Thousand Names,
Our Lady Of All Creatures,
Ora Pro Nobis,
Pray for us,

For the sons and daughters of man
Are lost.