The descent of Innana

I have just finished running a ritual workshop called the descent of innana

It was a way of using alchemical myth to start the transformative process for workshoppers who had never worked in this way before.

I found the workshop partiuclarly moving as my mother had passed away the week before and it got me working through some of my own stuff.

It made me think of all of the ways that we distance ourselves from each other. The way that we use excuses, and make a fuss of things that actually dont mean that much.

In reality we dont tell each other enough that we love each other.

Its seen to be trite or patronising or even sloppy.

My mother had many many flaws but she was a very loving person and my one regret is that I may not have told her I loved her enough. Though I spent the last 6 weeks of her life telling her repeatedly, I think that maybe it did not make up for the lack, I hope it did.

In the descent of inanna we have the passage through the gates which show the descent of divine into the reality of the universe.

On the way we try to identify and balance the vices and virtues of each of the gates.

At Saturn we look past our self imposed limitations and move out of the inertia that holds us all in thrall.

At jupiter we work with the greed that sometimes stops us from being genorous

In Mars we try to combat the anger and lack of drive that sometimes holds us in situations that are not good for us.

In Venus we work with the lack of self love and the need to be controlling of love in and of others.

In the moon we work with the illusions that prey on the minds which create them

I will put the presentation onto the library page if you are interested in seeing the background for it.

If you want the ritual you will have to contact me to get it.

But I warn you its a really hard ritual with lots of emotions bubbling to the surface.

When Sun and Moon are Paired

When the Autumn equinox comes around it always makes me feel slightly melancholy.

I yearn for open fires and warm houses and the early approach of evening always makes me feel introverted and alone.

Its a time of year for study in my life.

In summer I am active and sit in fields with friends around fires jumping with the energy of the summer.

But in Autumn the fire changes it becomes warming and requires that you sit in quiet reflection on the year that has been and the one that is coming. Really there is no new year as in January the first, we just cycle from beginning and end to beginning and end.

This year we are doing a ritual play to honour the Equinox.

We are going to perform the Demeter and Persepone story.

While writing the ritual It made me think about what the themes represent here.

Demeter - the mother of all life. the giver of our food, without the planet providing sustenance for us we would not be, and this provision of food is seen as a right by people of the West. Sadly this is not the case in the third world countries and as such they have a more thankful attitude to the food that they have. We on the other hand waste the bounty that the earth provides. We take for granted all that we have an pay no heed to the cost of the food that we eat.

Maybe Demeter is right to remove it from us.

Persephone - The beautiful Goddes of light, She in the beginning of hte story is young and innocent, walking with her maidens along the banks of a river. Here she represents beginnings, she is the young and seems to represent the beginning of life, however she is an immortal and therefore has no real beginning or end. After being taken by Hades she becomes the Dread Persphone queen of the dead and stands as the Light in the underworld.

There's witches in them woods, you know!

I had an interesting conversation with one of my coveners recently and it involved how people train for magical work.

For some people this may be a natural process which involves solitary ritual and practise which comes to them in an organic way.

That is a beautiful way to practise but for me it was not what I wanted.

I wanted to be trained in how to do magic.

I wanted to learn how to worship the Gods and to walk in the land with knowledge but I also wanted to learn how to make the universe do what I wanted.

In order to do this I joined a coven. My teacher Rowan Oakmist was a constant source of inspiration and showed me how to gain and use the knowledge that I wanted. Actually wanted is not really the word. For those of you who know the pull of the craft you will know that there is not really a choice. Its a constant tapping on the shoulder, a continual need for knowledge and for understanding which on occasion can drive you to distraction.

I luckily found a teacher that was critical, was someone who pushed me to make more of myself, to investigate myself and not to take anyone's word over my own ability to experience it for myself.

I made mistakes, lots of them, my fingers were burnt on many an occasion but I pushed on and discovered not only alot about the universe but also alot about myself.

Training is about investigating the universe by ritual, by experience and by working with others that have the same goals as you. It is hard work and very demanding. But it brings great rewards.

A good teacher does not give you the information and sit back.

A good teacher makes you go and get it for yourself, tells you its not quite there and to do it again, puts up with your tears and your anger, makes you realise that this is not the best you can give and then holds you up while you try again.

To train someone is a commitment from a teacher. It is an honour to watch someone develop from one stage to another. Its hard to watch people struggle but joyous when you see them break through and conquer a barrier that has stopped them being the person they really should be.

It is a privelidge.

In the conversation with my covener she said that she had spoken to a friend who was undergoing training with a coven not to far from where she lives. (this young person comes all the way from England to train with me in Wales)

In this coven the lady had been charged hundreds of pounds to be shown how to do an astal pathworking. During her time in the training she had been initated in less than 8 weeks and no practical training had been undertaken.

But she did have a certificate!!

Now there is nothing wrong with distance learning please do not misunderstand me, I have myself done many distance learning courses which were outstanding. For example Jason Millers Strategic Sorcery course is a fantastic course in physical magic.

There is also nothing wrong in charging for training, in my opinion, but charging hundreds of pounds for what I would consider to be bogus training is not really on.

It is unfair, it is very dangerous to the name of witches and pagans who are trying to pass on good practise and development.

And its bloody annoying for those of us, who do provide good training, when we get tarred with the same brush.

There are plenty of valid and worthwhile schools out there but I thought that in a bid to help the lack of good courses I would try something new.

So from September I will be offering Weekend training courses on various subjects to aid in the training of Witches, pagans or whatever name you would like to call yourself.

These training sessions are tried and tested and use techniques from my own experience, from my teacher Rowan Oakmist and from other sources such as Franz Bardon, Christopher Warnock and other well known sources.

There is a charge but I am going to keep the charge as low as I possibly can to make it accesible to as many as want to come, we will also have a grant for anyone who is unemployed or cannot afford the training totally.

I think that the provision of training for those who are willing to work and for those for whom a structured path is attractive is a very important service to offer.

If you are interested then contact me via facebook or via the email on this website.

In the green light

Byd

PS I will even give you a certificate if you really want one!