About
The Olde Religion
Witchcraft, or the Olde Religion, is one spiritual approach to worship and communion with the Earth, the Sky and the Sea, from ancient times. As far back as our scholars have discovered historical or archeological records,the ancient ways of aligning with Nature, studying the weather patterns, moon signs, seasons of growing and harvesting, communing with the other life forms on the planet have been necessary to the wellbeing and survival of mankind.
In the age of metaphysics and quantum theory, scientists are discovering that wisemen and women of the past knew alot!
The old ideas and practices of shamanic spiritual elders are now being seen in a new way and found to have sound scientific explanations as to their effective and sometimes "miraculous" results. The old has become new again, so of course interest is reawakened in learning and accomplishing these artful ways.
My interest is not to get rich from teaching others, so my concern is mainly to ensure that you value what is offered and make time to work with it and make it your own.
In this time of uncertainty and scarey medecines that no longer work, Mother Nature still serves us well, if we take the time to educate ourselves on what works. And as we know the observer in each of us is that part of our spirit that determines our outcome in most every situation, we do well to keep a positive focus and a clear intent about what we desire to accomplish.
Meditation on a daily (if Possible) basis, is the best way to harness the ability to focus and keep a clear mind, as well as to remove our conscious awareness from our everyday strife and concerns for a short time, to go within, achieve a peaceful mind set and "re-boot our inner computer"..
If you want to know a good method, simple, clearcut and uncomplicated, to begin meditating on a regular basis, stay tuned....or email me for more details.
The Reason Why
As a child I would spend my days in the woods, my evenings watching the stars and feel this enormous longing for some unknown thing, some memory lurking at the edge of my consciousness, that would make my chest swell in wonder at the beauty of the sunrise, or the magic of a field full of sunflowers waving in the noonday sun. I didnt know what I was searching for, or why all the other spiritual paths I tried left me feeling like an outsider, a missing link that kept looking for the "others like Me".
Like an alien I went up one road and down another, trying to find my way home, until in my teens I heard a voice one day, chanting lowly, "Oh mighty Isis, Oh Mighty Isis". It made the hair stand up on my neck, and stopped me in my tracks as I walked down the hall past a room where a television was playing. I backed up and looked in the room and asked "who said that?" And my sister replied" its on Tv, a new show I guess". It was a weekly show that starred a young lady who was a science teacher by day, and a superhero when duty called, to protect her young students. She would twirl around three times chanting " Oh Mighty Isis' and then turn into a toga clad greek looking goddess/superwoman. She would rush off, rescue the student from peril and then return to her science teacher self, until the next week's show.
The Tv program didnt interest me much, as my pursuits were more nature oriented, and I wasnt about to waste time indoors once I found out the origin of the "voice". Somehow I knew that the costume was all wrong, But that chant followed me, and I can still hear it in me head, some 45 years later.
As I moved up in school I found myself more and more interested in knowing about Isis, and ancient mysteries that her name invoked somewhere within my soul. I was not an avid student of Egypt in the normal sense, but that feeling kept me searching for the reason I reacted so strongly to certain ancient names, and places. As a teen I found myself reading Edgar Cayce's works, as well as Jane Robert's "Seth Books" and began to feel like I was finally connecting with something that made sense to my spirit, even though I couldnt name it yet. I also knew there was soooo much more to reality then we were taught in school, and that magick was real. I just knew it.
I began to experience what we know call "flashes" of psychic knowing, when someone called on the phone, when someone was not being honest, I usually knew what my giftboxes contained, before they were opened.
My distaste for hypocrisy and injustice grew, as I realized most of humanity spent much of its time trying to fool others, and themselves, rather than approaching life head on, and truthfully. And this just blew my mind. It made no sense. Because I knew they were being slick or not being "real" and assumed others did too. Surprise, when I found out that most other folks didnt see it the way I did, because they didnt know! Again, I felt the outsider, and learned that it made life smoother, if I kept my mouth shut about what I knew, or felt.
In the early "70's, I got a book called "Diary of a Witch" ,by Sybil Leek and I felt as if a window opened in my mind that had been shuttered for a very long time. So much of what she had written was exactly how I looked at things and felt about life, about Nature, about people, about the past, that I just was delighted to know that I was not alone in my thinking. That someone else with more experience than I, walked the same path, cared about things in the same way, and DID believe in magick.
My grandmother, who was half english and half native american, had shown me how she read cards or tea leaves, when I was much younger, and had taught me some of her natural wisdom, but witchcraft was never mentioned. It was just "the way we do things in our family". The reverence for Nature, her interest in the occult, whitewashed though it was by being a member of the "daughters of the Nile" and other charitable spiritually motivated organizations, like the" Eastern Star" ladies, probably influenced me subconsiously to be accepting of these otherworldly type groups. But not until I read Sybil's book and then obtained the "Art of Witchcraft" by the same author, did I have a label, or "niche" in which I could fit myself that seemed to make sense. It just felt right. And the fact that before reading her book I had "known" how to summon the wind, when I needed to chat, and found trees to be some of my very best chums, didnt hurt either.
So with the help of my Grandmother Twyla, born Feb lst, l902 ( a very special day to witches) and my "adopted" Grandmother Sybil Leek, I found myself at last. To my good fortune, years later I was actually blessed with knowing the mystical Sybil personally, she was a delightful mentor and guide and left the earth plane too quickly. But the bit of herself and her wisdom she shared with me, set my feet firmly on the road to where I am today. And I will always be grateful.
Others
Fellowship of Isis International
Temple of Isis, Geyserville, Ca.
witchvox