Cemeteries

I adore cemeteries and have my entire life. Aside from just being who I am, I also think my having spent a great deal of time as a small child helping my mother and grandmother clean up the family plots in various cemeteries also encouraged this comfort I feel at gravesites. I get a sense of peace, of calmness, of a quiet serenity peppered with a bit of fear when, however briefly, I am faced with the idea of my own mortality. When I was younger, I used to fear being buried in the ground and made everyone I thought would outlive me promise to build me a small mausoleum in which to spend my eternity. But given my whole-hearted embrace of mother earth and all she has to offer, coupled with the fact that mausoleums are grandly expensive and I am but a lowly commoner, I've learned to make peace with the idea of sleeping beneath the ground. Being at one with the earth once again isn't such a bad thing.

Cemeteries are wonderful storyboards of people from the distant (and not so distant) past, with their headstones lichen-covered snapshots into the lives- and deaths- of those who went before. Buddhism tells us not to fear death but rather embrace it, meditate on it and learn to love the idea of it for in accepting our mortality we are able to understand more fully what it means to live. To vanquish this fear frees us to truly live in the moment. Be not attached to anything (including fears and worries) and you will end your suffering on this earthly plane.

Not too long ago I began keeping a photographic journal of very old cemeteries here in New England; honoring those who have passed before me and experiencing my own sense of where I fit in in this vast timeline of people (click on the link at the bottom of this post to see my photo journal). There's nothing quite like a quiet interlude in an old graveyard. A friend recently told me about a headstone in Connecticut of a family killed together during the summer of 1777 and the epitaph on that stone says it all:

"Death like an overflowing stream sweeps us all away.
Our Life's a Dream, an empty Tale,
A Morning Flower, cut down and withered in an hour."

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mercuryglassmoon/sets/72157622641903918/

Trees 101: The Yew

Personally, I'm not a big fan of yews as to me their foliage smells too much like cat pee, but that doesn't mean that they aren't a magnificent tree to behold, nor hold a great deal of power within them. This is truly a tree of the Winter Solstice as the yew's spring season begins on the day after the solstice. Given that the darkest time of the year is when this tree begins its rebirth, it's considered a Goddess tree (with the Goddess in her crone form) as well as a tree of death. Ironically, this is also a tree of immortality as being an evergreen, it never seems to die in going dormant. All evergreens are considered to be trees of immortality. In ancient times, yews were traditionally planted in burial grounds as it was believed to be a gateway to the next world.

The yew has been used to make bows, arrows, spears and magic wands. The witches in Shakespeare's Macbeth used wands made of yew to work their magic. Along with the birch and oak, the yew was the third tree in the three pillars of wisdom. The yew is symbolic of stability, sovereignty, and mystery. Yew wood has also been used to make household items such as bowls, shutters, boxes, handles and hooks, and various religious and altar objects. It has been rarely used to make furniture. Yew leaves and bark, as well as the tree's seeds are all poisonous to humans and should never be ingested. However, at one time the skin of yew berries was used as a laxative and a heart medicine. Traditionally, to dream of yews is a portent of death, either one's own or that of a loved one.

The yew vibrates to both masculine and feminine energies. It is ruled by Jupiter, Mars and Saturn and is governed by the elements of air, water and fire. Yew can be used in ritual to enhance psychic abilities, to bring one closer to their ancestors at Samhain, and in protection spells. When using yew in any magickal capacity, remember to never ingest any part of the tree and to wash your hands well after handling it.

"Ancient Yew" courtesy of Giles C. Watson on flickr.

Boneset Ghost Spell

Boneset: : any of several composite herbs; especially a perennial of central and eastern North America with opposite perfoliate leaves and white-rayed flower heads used in folk medicine. The first known use of boneset was in 1764.

As we all know, this is the time of the year when the veil between the worlds is at its thinnest and those who practice necromancy, or just wish to contact the spirits of loved ones passed, are paying tribute to ancestors, honoring them with offerings of food, and engaging in various necromantic practices of divination. It's also the time when hungry ghosts, or those with no family or friends to remember them or feed them, restlessly wander the earth. It's traditional to place barley and milk outside as an offering to those wayward spirits, thus easing their hunger and preventing their mischief. Alternately, you can keep them away completely with a small bouquet of flowers and herbs.

Boneset will chase away the nastier spirits while drawing to your home benevolent spirits who have only the best intentions. Hang a bouquet of boneset (with sprigs of white pine and any other protective herbs you'd like to incorporate into your bundle) over your front door, as well as any other entrances that are used regularly. Tie the bouquets with black satin ribbon. Keep in mind that folk tradition believes that the most potent boneset is found growing on or near graves (though I am in no way condoning any indiscriminate picking of a person's grave). You can burn small boneset branches or twigs in a cauldron to drive away any existing ghosts, and should you be a little too involved with the practice of necromancy this Samhain season, boneset can also be used in small bundles hung over the beds of anyone deemed to have "ghost sickness," an illness believed to develop after engaging in extended contact with the dead. If your pets have been actively engaging in necromancy, this will protect them too!

Photo courtesy of gmayfield10 on flickr.

Psychopomps

I have a friend who, in the last several months, has not-so-subtly been urged both consciously and subconsciously to begin walking the path of a death midwife. This would be an extraordinary role to undertake, but sadly, not one that I would want for myself as it would require an emotional fortitude that I simply don't possess. That said, however, I have always found the role of the psychopomp to be incredibly interesting.

The psychopomp (from the Greek, pompos, meaning conductor or guide and psyche meaning breath, life, soul or mind) is literally a guide for the soul. The psychopomp's primary function is to escort the dying to their place in the afterlife. They take many forms from animals and angels to humans and mythological creatures, and most of the world's religious texts and sacred narratives, as well as the mythological tales of countless cultures, contain stories of the psychopomp at work. Previously deceased loved ones have also been known to act as psychopomps, arriving at the side of a dying person to lovingly guide them to the other side at the moment of death. A modern day death midwife is someone who helps to assist a person in dying without fear by calmly and gently facilitating their passing, while a modern day psychopomp can communicate with spirit and is able to meet with the soul of the person dying while in an altered state of consciousness and then accompany that soul on its natural journey back to its spiritual home. This is also one of the (many) traditional roles of the sacred shaman.

The shaman bridges the earthly and spiritual realms and travels effortlessly within both. They're not only psychopomps in that they guide the souls of the deceased on their final otherworldly journeys, but they also rescue trapped or fractured souls from the spirit realm. In doing this the shaman heals a human body for whom a portion of its soul has left it for one reason or another and was not able of its own accord to return intact, thus healing body, mind and spirit. The shaman also serves as the communicator between the living and the dead, rather like a sacred medium.

The psychopomp is never judgmental. Their role is simply to serve as the mediator between the conscious and unconscious realms. The Grim Reaper is a psychopomp as well, but to be honest, I think I'd much rather see my father waiting to guide me home, or even Anubis, Hecate or Freyja. And of course, there's always the belief that the Grim Reaper form of the Angel of Death can be bribed or outwitted, thus prolonging one's life. But that's another thought for another day.

Photo courtesy of Jack of Nothing on flickr.

What is Magick?

To my mind, 'magic' is the hard-to-define quality of the things that stir up mystical feelings like amazement, curiosity, imagination, and above all wonder.

Magic is that which renders something beautiful in a spiritual sense. It is that which makes one feel as if the world is more than it is presently understood to be, and yet at the same time the world is working itself out in a good and beautiful way.

Magic underlies the relationship between us, and the greater immensities of birth and death. Thus the experience of being in the presence of something magical is an empowering, uplifting experience. Magic, understood this way, contributes meaning to life.

- Brendan Myers

Photo courtesy of Christopher_Hawkins on flickr.

Past Life Regression

For Christmas I was given a CD meditation to induce past life regressions, something I have always wanted to do given my absolute belief in multiple lives (see Reincarnation Dilemma, 4-26-09). I was thrilled with the idea of spending a quiet evening being hypnotized by this thing and seeing who I was and where I'd been before I was the me I am right now. Thrilled, that is, until I foolishly decided to mention it to someone who burst that bubble of mine in short order with, and I hate to admit this, some very valid points.

Being hypnotized and brought back to one's past lives is a tricky thing as you never know exactly what you're going to encounter, including the possibility of reliving your death in those various incarnations, which might be a bit unsettling for some. It was suggested to me that this might not be something I'd want to undertake alone. Having a trained professional in the room with you, guiding you and bringing you out of your trance quickly and carefully if need be, is probably a very good thing. After all, who wants to relive a previous death of theirs all by their lonesome, even if it is just a mental exercise and even if the meditator has no fears about death?

Like just about everyone, I do have other fears and neuroses and I was asked, "What if you have this particular fear in this life because of a very traumatic, violent death in a another life? Are you really prepared to live through that ordeal again alone in your living room?" Hmmm. What if you have this fear as you were the one who inflicted this pain on another and your karmic debt is to suffer from the oftentimes debilitating fear of it this time around? Frankly, I'm not sure how well I would deal with the knowledge of having been someone who was violent and evil in another lifetime, a fact that however awful, is just as possible as my having been a decent person too.

And these two innocent questions were just the beginning. All sorts of "what if" scenarios popped into my overly active, highly imaginative mind. And they all boiled down to whether or not I should do this by myself and the answer is "probably not." I still desperately want to do this and I am still in love with my little gift, but maybe the first time I undertake this journey it should be done with someone who has both a sound reputation and a great deal of experience in this field. Then when I have gotten my feet wet with someone who can help me digest whatever information I might learn about myself, then and only then should I do it on my own. And when I do, I'll be sure to keep my mouth shut about it until afterwards!

Trees 101: The Willow

My mother and I were talking about trees yesterday and I told her how much I loved to sit beneath the large old willow in the backyard of my childhood home, to which she replied that my father would never have planted a willow tree as it is symbolic of death and when one plants a willow, someone you love will die. While this isn't exactly true, the willow was a popular image engraved on Victorian headstones and along with the nickname of "weeping willow" is frequently thought of when it comes to the subject of death.

Instead of bringing death and misery, the willow can actually alleviate sadness and darkness and when one sits beneath its long embracing branches, will find their energies calmed. Willow is a favored wood for wands due to its flexibility. Native Americans wove their baskets and fishing nets from willow because of that flexibility. Medicinally, willow has been used to treat headaches and fevers by use of the leaves, bark and wood of the tree. To conjure spirits mix ground willow bark with sandalwood. The traditional besom, usually made of birch, is bound with willow branches.

The willow is the third sacred wood for the sabbat fire and, not surprisingly, it represents death. The tree is associated with the moon and thus the Goddess, giving it feminine energy. It's a magickal tree that vibrates to the elements of water and fire. The willow is the traditional tree of Samhain.

Reincarnation Dilemma

When I was just shy of two years old, I wandered out of my playroom with a long dark brown colored pencil in my hand and sought out my mother. I then put the pencil in my mouth, took an imaginary puff from my “long black cigarette” and told my mother that before I had died and been reborn I used to smoke these. Naturally, my mother freaked out. She called my aunt and by the time my aunt had arrived at our house, I was no longer talking about my past life. Some people believe in reincarnation and others think it’s a big load of bunk, but just about everyone has a strong opinion about it. Not surprisingly, I personally believe very strongly in it. I only wish that I were still able to conjure up memories of my past life (or lives), but unfortunately for most people, that ability fades away very quickly the longer we remain on this earthly plane, and usually while we are still quite young.

My father passed away in 1980 when I was 16 years old and not a day has gone by that I haven’t missed him more than I could ever express in words. Through these many years I’ve had a great many visitations from him in my dreams. How do I know these were visitation dreams and not just ordinary dreams? Visitation dreams are incredibly vivid in every last detail and stay with you forever, as rich years later as they were the moment you first woke from them. Every single detail of my father’s visitations remain in my mind in super sharp focus, as opposed to just dreams about my father, the particulars of which all faded within hours of my waking. I hold the visitation dreams dearly in my heart, every last one of them.

Back in 2003, I had a very vivid and uncomfortably intense visitation dream from my father and was certain that the purpose of it was for him to say goodbye to me once again as he was preparing to reincarnate. I’ve held on to that dream in my heart and in my mind for six years now and only recently spent some time discussing it with a shaman who agrees with me that it was in fact a reincarnation dream as he was coming back to this plane in another form and he needed to say his final goodbye to me. I have had some very conflicted feelings since I first had the dream and they’ve only intensified since talking with the shaman. While I am happy that my father has moved on to the next stage of his soul’s journey, I can’t help but feel lost and abandoned all over again. I know it’s selfish of me to wish he were still watching over me, but it’s nothing if not completely honest. After all, I have lived my life for the last 29 years believing that when it’s my time to die, my father will be there (wherever “there” is) waiting for me and it’s the belief that I will see him once again that has kept me unafraid of death for nearly three decades and honestly looking forward to that time when I will be with him once more. But if he’s not there anymore because he’s back here as someone I don’t know, what will happen when I die? And when I go there, will I then be alone there too? My talk with the shaman has shattered my personal belief system and I’m now no longer sure what to think or how to feel.

This is one of the dilemmas we face with reincarnation: at some point we all need or choose to come back and where does that leave our loved ones that we yet again leave behind? It’s something that I have occasionally questioned, but without a great deal of concern until now, when someone I love so much is simply gone. Now really gone. I know when we die and when it’s our turn to return, we don’t fret over what or who we have left behind, but how do those of us who have been left behind handle the knowledge that those we have loved have begun a new life somewhere with no knowledge of us and all we shared anymore in their minds or hearts? Reincarnation, like so many other rites of passage in our lives, clearly contains within it a great deal of pain and conflict.

That’s what my heart is telling me, but my head just thinks that because my dad is gone again and really gone for good now, that this sucks more than anything. And now nothing is the same, nor will it be ever again, and I don't like it at all.

Trees 101: The Birch

I'm in love with trees. I can think of nothing better than spending time sitting beneath a favorite tree, meditating, reading or simply soaking up the tree's energy. Or meeting a new tree while out walking and doing the same. It's amazing how varied different trees' energies are. If you aren't sure about this energy thing, try this: ask the tree quietly if you can draw some of its energy for yourself and if it would mind sharing it with you. If the tree says yes, stand or sit up straight with your back to the tree, making as much contact as you can along the length of your spine. Relax and concentrate. You should within moments begin to feel a tingling sensation at your contact points, such as your shoulder blades. This can also be done with your hands pressed against the trunk too. Be sure to thank the tree when you are done and if possible, leave an offering to show your gratitude, perhaps a handful of birdseed at its base.

Trees have been considered sacred for millennia and one of the many reasons for this is that trees are one of the few things on this planet that dwell in all three realms simultaneously: its roots are in the netherworld, it's trunk is in our earthly realm and the top of its branches touch the heavens. They carry an immense amount of power to heal. My favorite tree is the Birch and so I'll give them the honor of being first.

The birch is a feminine tree, ruled by the planet Venus and the element of water. Birch trees represent the Goddess. They are one of the nine sacred woods used for Sabbat fires and are considered to have both protective qualities and symbolize renewal. Birch wood is an incredibly hard and strong wood and thus is used for furniture, boats and can even be used for food as the sap is used to make birch beer. The traditional besom is made of birch twigs bound together.

The twigs of birch trees have been used for exorcising spirits by tapping them on possessed people to drive the evil out. It is purifying and cleansing.

Birch is the tree of the dead and through renewal, rebirth and new life.