Alone With The Gods

I came across this great quote about imagination near the end of the Promethea Series by Alan Moore. It’s from the end of book five:

“Consciousness, unprovable by scientific standards, is forever, then, the impossible phantom in the predictable biologic machine, and your every thought a genuine supernatural event. Your every thought is a ghost, dancing.”

As I read Michael Talbot’s The Holographic Universe, I find this notion even more striking. If reality is but a mere holograph then we certainly may be Spiritual Beings having a human experience as Chardin has suggested.

All of us are just ghosts, carelessly dancing, much like the Fool of the Tarot as we float off that ledge.

I recently moved and was therefore thrust headfirst into my book collection where I had to catalogue, arrange, box, transport and reshelve my little collection. Therefore, I thought I’d share a list, in no particular order, of my favorite esoteric reading.

Here goes:

1. Evolutionary Witchcraft, T. Thorn Coyle
2. The Three Selves and Astral Travel, Victor Anderson
3. Initiation Into Hermetics, Franz Bardon
4. Gnosis, Stephen Hoeller
5. The Middle Pillar, Israel Regardie
6. The Training and Work of an Initiate, Dion Fortune
7. Angels, Demons and Gods of the New Millennium, Lon Milo Duquette
8. Modern Magick, Donald Michael Kraig
9. Raja Yoga, Swami Vevekananda
10. Fundamentals of Hawaiian Mysticism, Charlotte Berney
11. The Chicken Qabalah, Lon Milo Duquette
12. Inner Temple of Witchcraft, Christopher Penczak
13. The Gnostic Gospels, Elaine Pagels
14. Wicca: A Guide for the Solitary Practitioner, Scott Cunningham

And the list could go on and on and on. However, these are some of the specific books that have inspired, informed and enlightened over the years.

What about you?

Yes, I am a witch. It’s not a big deal really. I guess I could tell you I’m pagan or simply gnostic or “spiritual” or perhaps a “Western Buddhist” which might really get the heads scratching.

Yet, simply put, I’m simply a witch. (I have friends that are in love with calling themselves “magicians” versus witches and are convinced that they’re on some higher magickal plain, to which I disagree completely.)

But what does that really mean? Movies aside, it’s not about flying, at least not in a bodily way, there’s no hexing people or such similar nonsense and I’ve never ever said, “hocus pocus.”

So then what to I do? I sit a lot in silence and think meditation is as witchy as you can get. I cast spheres (the circle plus above and below) while uttering poetry and other mantras. I speak to god and goddess and other deity and I’ll even work the occasional spell (prayer, right?). I’m also a healer both of self and others around me when possible. I work with energy and etheric matter. I’m also a teacher, a student and deeply concerned with connecting to my inner divinity and the world to which we are all connected to at all times.

So that’s it for me and that’s why I am a witch. I see being one as a chance to become, as Thorn Coyle has stated, “more human.” And the reason for this is that witchcraft, or any esoteric path for that matter, forces us to participate in our spirituality. It forces us to face ourselves and to look deeply inside at the best, and sometimes more imporantly, the worst of who we are. Because we’re not perfect beings. But, by confronting our shadow side, we can better know all of our parts.

Here lies gnosis, the true knowledge of self that is the goal of so many seekers out there. Here lies balance. And this too is what it means to be a witch.

Here’s what I’ve learned: spiritual practice is, simply put, a quality over quantity proposition. Great, elaborate rituals aren’t needed, nor are $200 dollar robes, walls full of candles or a thick cloud of incense.

What is really needed is attention to detail, devotion, and intent. 5 focused, well-intended minutes sitting quietly with a single candle as part of a ritual act of devotion trumps all the bells and whistles and pomp that goes with a lot of what passes as Witchcraft or Magickal Ritual.

I’ve had the most profound things happen to me when I was most deeply committed to doing the work (And it’s not always easy). And most often this was nothing more than some form of sitting practice or meditation wrapped in a few small, simple ritual gestures.

Whatever it is we seek is found this way, whether it’s gnosis, knowledge and conversation with your Holy Guardian Angel, enlightenment, transcendence or whatever else may drive you down you path.

Because it is in these simple, honest, raw and pure moments that a limitlessness opens up to us and gives us a glimpse of what is possible.