The Ancestors

The foundation for everything spiritual we do begins with the Ancestors, those who came before us, paving the way, carrying their traditions, and continuing the bloodlines, so we can not only live but continue to keep open the lines of communication between physical humans and spiritual beings. There are three types of ancestors: ancestors by blood, ancestors by adoption, and ancestors by initiation. Everyone has the first type, many people have the second type somewhere back in their ancestry, and some people will gain the third type after they initiate into a traditional spiritual system. Regardless of the type a person currently has, it’s important to develop a strong connection to the foundation.

Whether our ancestors come from Africa, Europe, Asia, the Americas, or where ever, ancestors by blood are directly connected to us by that which flows through our veins. It’s because of this direct blood link that they are able to affect our lives, even if they have not been honored for generations, sometimes blocking our paths if they are not honored. The moment a descendant begins to work within a living spiritual system, they know it and become active, usually slowly at first but gradually increasing over time. It is also because of the blood connection that we can speak with our ancestors without asking permission or help from a gatekeeper, such as Legba or Ellegua. The connection is already there and always open.

Whether our ancestors were Jewish, Christian, Muslim, Pagan, or what ever when they were alive, there are ways to venerate and work with them all. In much of the Spanish-speaking Afro-Caribbean and South American countries, the Allan Kardec-based “espiritismo” method of creating an altar space, the boveda, and communicating with our ancestors and spirit guides, is used to work with a wide variety of spiritual beings. For those of us who come from the outside into Afro-Caribbean religions and African-based New World systems, the boveda is a very effective way to re-establish our connections to our ancestors, regardless of our ethnicity.

For those of us who carry these traditions and systems, it is up to us to ensure their survival, as they were handed to us by the ancestors, and to keep them intact and powerful for future generations. We are only stewards of these traditions, not owners, and it is not our right to change them based on personal bias, dietary choices, or any other selfish or egotistical reasons. They have survived the test of time and proven themselves effective for many reasons we will never fully understand. Although they do they do evolve, responding to changes in human civilization or environment (or both!), it’s by the direction of the spirits, who are wiser than we are and can see further than we can, do we implement any changes. Great responsibility is placed on those the ancestors have trusted to maintain these practices and teachings, and to fail in that responsibility brings harm to not only the individual but to the community. A depressing end comes to the legacy many ancestors sacrificed greatly to maintain.

Photo by Steven Bragg

Simple Cleansing Bath

There are times when things feel a little off. Not horrible, or major feelings of anxiety or dread, but you just don’t quite feel yourself. Spiritual messages and dreams aren’t quite coming through as you usually experience them, and so on. If this is the case, you may be carrying around some spiritual ‘ick’ and maybe you’ve picked up a random dead or two. The vast majority of the time, this can be taken care of by the type of simple spiritual bath described below. There are many variations and recipes, but this is one that works quite well for a wide variety of spiritual maladies. Keep in mind, though, that getting rid of negative energy and spirits is sometimes like scrubbing away layers of grime. You may need to repeat the process a few times, say 3 or 7, before you feel all new and shiny again. Also, sometimes, there may need to be a cleansing of your living space to go along with this. This may be sometime post soon.

Good times to do this are, well, anytime! However, this is especially effective just before the dark of the moon and the end of the year.

Items you’ll need:

·        White candle (taper or emergency)

·        Metal basin or large bowl (preferably white)

·        Colander

·        Pot of water to be heated on a stove

·        Holy Water

·        Florida Water

·        White rum (or aguardiente)

·        Cigar

·        Dry Herbs: Rosemary, Hyssop, Rue (other herbs can be added, but keep it to an odd number)

·        Salt

·        Bible

First and foremost, light the white candle, pray to your spirits, asking them to bless, guide, and protect you, and then place the candle on the stove. Fill a pot of water, and heat it up on the stove on medium heat. As the water is heating up, place the colander in the basin or large bowl, and add the herbs. Next, light your cigar, blow smoke on the herbs (traditionally this is done by placing the lit end in your mouth and blowing the smoke out the other end), and then talk to them and tell them what their job is.

Once the water is a little more than warm, but not boiling, pour it into the basin or bowl. Let the herbs soak at least 5 minutes, then lift the colander out, and place it in the pot or on a separate plate. As you pray, add the Holy water, Florida Water, and salt. Then take the white rum or aguardiente and spray it three times into the basin or bowl (this takes practice, and if you can’t spray it, then just take it into your mouth and spit it in.) Blow cigar smoke into the bath. Pray Psalm 51 over the bath.

Take the bath and white candle into the bathroom. Strip down, get into your bathtub or shower (it helps if you’ve taken a regular bath or shower before hand), and, while standing, pour the bath over you from head down. Make sure some falls on your back and some goes on your front. Then you let the bath drain and you air dry. If you’re cold, you can pat yourself with a clean towel. Once dry, put on clean, light-colored clothing, and cover your head with a light-colored cloth. Remain indoors the rest of the evening, avoid becoming intoxicated or high, and sleep with the head covering until the next morning. You can even place a bowl of water under your bed for the night to catch anything remaining around you, and throw this water out of your house the next morning. Take the left over herbs and sprinkle them outside around your house, if possible under the steps to your place. 

On Being Multi-Traditional

At times I’m asked why I’ve gone through so many initiations and how do I handle so many different spiritual paths? Sometimes I’m accused of being a “Jack of all trades, master of none” and a title collector. The Biblical concept of not being able to serve two masters also comes up. So, today I’d like to take a moment and explain, from my point of view, why I believe it’s important for some people to go through the initiations and trainings of more than one spiritual path. Hopefully this will serve a good purpose in bringing about a better understanding for folks on both sides of the issue.

A foundational belief I hold is that all people are born with many spiritual beings around them, connected to them. There are the person’s blood ancestors, spirit guides, higher beings and their potentials, and then finally that person’s dominating spiritual force. But that’s just at birth. If a person becomes spiritually active then he or she may pick up more spirits the further down the spiritual road this person walks. However, if a person never becomes spiritually active, these forces tend to remain in the background, silently attempting to guide the person, sometimes coming through in dreams or as intuition.

If a person does become spiritually active, and they’re exposed to the right set of circumstances and influences, it may come to light that these different spirits require the person to go through different things in order to bring about healing or elevation or whatever to these spirits, or that they need to be “fed” or empowered in a certain way. Perhaps the person’s long-ago ancestors wish their descendant to be spiritually active in a certain way, but the ancient rites have been lost, so they lead the person to another path in order to be “made” in the way they want them to be and to pick up things similar to the older ways that these ancestors recognize. Sometimes a person has an ancestral debt to pay off, such as with slavery in the South, and the “sins of the fathers” must be dealt with in order to bring about healing for those spirits who were enslaved during life. There are many potential reasons for this to happen, depending on the spiritual make up of the person. Which brings me to my next point.

Today more than ever, and especially here in the U.S., many people are mixtures of different bloodlines, ancestries, cultures, and so on. It stands to reason that a person with varying ancestral backgrounds may, not always but may, need to undergo certain rites in order to lift up those ancestors in ways that they recognize and accept. Some spiritual practices can be universal, but not all them are, and at times it depends on the preferences of the person’s spirits which is the correct way for them. If someone feels pulled to different things, there may be a reason for that. I’d advise reaching out to priests/esses of these different paths, researching before jumping into anything, and taking one’s time. It’s not a race, nor is it a competition. It’s for you, your spirits, and your journey in this life.

I’ll use myself as an example for all the things above. When I first started on my personal spiritual journey I was solitary, eclectic Wiccan. I read lots of Llewelyn books. However, I got to a point where it simply wasn’t cutting it. I wasn’t connected to the spiritual world like I felt I should be. Sure, there was some connection, but I knew there was more to it and I knew I needed to seek it out. Why? I had no idea at the time, I just knew I had to. So, before I even had a real concept of working with my ancestors, I prayed to them to lead me to where I needed to go. Shortly after that, I was invited to my first Haitian Vodou ceremony. Of course it was the most impressive thing I’d ever experienced, and every fiber of my being said, “This is it!” Long story short, I ended up on a plane to Haiti to undergo the kanzo (initiation.) Only later did I come to realize the reasons why. It wasn’t because I was supposed to eventually become an Houngan and lead a house. It was because I was in part paying off an ancestral debt incurred by my Southern slave-owning ancestors, also in part so my own spirit could be re-molded in a way only Vodou could do. Once this was done, I found myself in a situation where I could properly (for me, that is) undergo the rites of British Traditional Wicca for many of my blood ancestors. Later I found out that 75% of my blood comes from the U.K., so it was important that I pick up something that was born on British soil.

After all this was when I was ready for the dominating spiritual force in my life to reveal herself. Enter La Santisima Muerte. After I received my training with her she came to me in a dream and showed me how she’d been around me my whole life. Then she opened the door for me to undergo certain Congo-based rites, under her protection, in order to heal some spirits around me and for me to learn more of how to work with those darker and more dangerous forces of earth and fire one finds in Palo Mayombe.

Have I picked up a great deal in the last two decades? Yes. Am I a master of all of them? No. But then, I don’t believe I need to be a so-called master of everything I’ve picked up, because I wasn’t meant to. I’ve gone through all this for my own spirits, my own ancestors…not to fulfill the expectations of others. But just because I’m not a master at all of them doesn’t mean I’m not damn good at them. I remember when I was in band in junior and high school. I played a different instrument every year, started out with brasswinds and ended up with woodwinds. However, every year I was always the first chair player of whatever section I was in, and I had music scholarships for the three years I played in college. So, maybe I’m not a master in all my spiritual traditions, but I’m still better than a lot of people in these same traditions. In all my journeys I’ve met very few masters. I’ve met a lot of people who think they’re masters, but really they can’t see beyond their own glass ceilings.

Part of my role in this life is to be a guide for other people, opening doors and roads, connecting people to the different paths in order for them to further themselves in their own spiritual journeys. This is reflected in the strong connections I have to the crossroads spirits in most of my traditions. If I didn’t have all these traditions I wouldn’t be able to fulfill this aspect of what I was meant to do.

As for not being able to “serve two masters” or “serve at two altars,” first of all that originates from a monotheistic, Abrahamic source. I’m not Jewish, Christian, or Muslim, so that doesn’t apply to me. However, going beyond that addressing the deeper meaning, I’ll say this. None of these spirits that I serve are the Divine Creative Force of the universe. They are spiritual beings, and they are not my masters. I work with these beings; I do not worship them. I give them thanks and appreciation and love, but I don’t see myself as their slave. I do have to juggle my time, resources, and energy, however, because I’ve gone throug the work of establishing relationships with all of them, they understand what it is I have to do in this life, and they know they share me with other beings. I only know of one jealous god.

One of the advantages I’ve found in being multi-traditional is when someone comes to me with an issue, I can usually pinpoint the nature of the problem more quickly and accurately than others, and I can either take care of the problem myself or refer the person to a reputable priest/worker, instead of sending them on a wild goose chase and them possibly spending lots of time, effort, and money finding someone who isn’t a fraud or out to milk them of as much money as they can.

So, I’ll close this with saying, everyone has their own reasons for what they do. It’s not my place to sit in judgment of why people may be doing this, that, or the other. That certainly doesn’t accomplish anything positive or helpful in any way. Some people may be collecting titles, and if so that’s their business. I really don’t care. The proof of all this lies in the pudding, and the vast majority of the time the best pudding is made behind closed doors, not out in the public for all to see. The nature of the occult is that it is occult, secret. Readings are done in private; workings are done in private. Public ceremonies are for the community and can provide some things, but the strongest witchcraft and workings are done in private, not really because it has to be super secret, but because this is when you’re affecting change in a person’s life. That is no one else’s business and doesn’t need to be proclaimed far and wide.

Not everyone can or should be multi-traditional, as not everyone can handle it. But for those of us who do, most of us anyway, we do it for our own spirits, our own life journeys, and for the people we help along the way.

MY 13 Principles of Wiccan Belief

The recent rise and fall of the American Council of Witches 2015, an absolutely pathetic attempt to gain instant and easy fame by overwhelmingly underqualified individuals, got me thinking about the past two decades I’ve been practicing witchcraft and continually seeking a deeper understanding of this thing called Wicca. When I was first exposed to Wicca, via books, which were the only things available to me at the time, I wanted to badly to believe all those words printed on the pages. However, after years of reading, seeking, initiations, and training I’ve come to accept certain things about Wicca and witchcraft. It’s been through trial and error, dealing with embarrassing moments of ego bruising, and times when I’ve had to walk away to contemplate only to be drawn right back to where I left off. I’d had to let go of pretty fantasies only to find hidden gems under the layers of mundane history. But what follows in an admittedly incomplete and imperfect set of tenets I now hold in regards to my personal practice of witchcraft and my opinions on Wicca. I put these out there in hopes they help others who may not be willing always tow the Wicca Party Line about certain areas of our craft. After all, we’re talking about witches, and we tend to be a stubborn lot not prone to being told what to do.

1. Wicca is a form of witchcraft. The word ‘Wicca’ doesn’t come from words meaning “wise one” or “to bend.” That’s been discredited. Wicca comes from the Anglo-Saxon words ‘wicca’ (pronounced WEE-cha), which means male sorcerer, and ‘wicce” (WEE-chay), a female sorcerer. This is where we get the word ‘witch’ from. Gerald Gardner spelled ‘wica’ with one c, most likely because he wasn’t educated in a school but by a nanny, but the second c found its way back soon enough. It really should be pronounced WEE-cha, but everyone started pronouncing it WI-ka. Regardless of all this, of the Wicca, at least those in the Gardnerian and Alexandrian traditions of Wicca are initiated into traditions of witchcraft. We may be the red-headed, Mormon, step-children of witchcraft, but a part of the greater witchcraft “thing” we are. Under all the layers of Golden Dawn concepts, O.T.O. quotes, Valiente poetry, Aradia rip-offs, and “more-Wiccan-than-thou” attitudes, there is still a strong current of witchcraft flowing through the Gardnerian and Alexandrian spiritual families, going back to the British motherland. Also, I don’t capitalize witch because there are many types of witches, and they don’t all belong to the same religion, while some don’t belong to any. It’s called grammar.

2. Wicca is not ancient. Witchcraft is ancient, but Wicca, as a religious system, only dates back to the 1940s/50s-ish with Gerald Gardner, the New Forest Coven and Dafo, and the Bricket Wood Coven and Doreen Valiente. Please read Ronald Hutton and Philip Heselton, and let’s put this to rest. Yes, I realize there are some questions left unanswered, but stepping back and looking at the forest, come on, let’s get real and stop pretending to be Mists of Avalon. However, just because something isn’t ancient doesn’t mean it’s not real or it doesn’t work. Just look at all these other systems that have been created in the last century and a half that seem to work just fine for those who have done them and continue them today. The Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, the O.T.O., the Druid stuff, and on and on. Wicca has been around for 65-ish years now, and I can tell you that a great deal of experimentation has gone on. What’s worked has been preserved and passed on, and what hasn’t worked has been thrown out.

3. A witch is born; a Wiccan is made. Witches are people born with spiritual and magical aptitudes that others aren’t, much like how someone born with musical talents will advance faster and go further than someone born without any musical talents. Anyone can learn to play an instrument, but those with talents will play them better and with more ease. However, even the ones born with talent have to work hard and practice to achieve professional status. To be a traditional Wiccan, a person must be initiated into the tradition/family and (hopefully) instructed on how to function within the coven. Not all initiated Wiccans are born witches, but they can develop abilities to a degree over time and be of much use in the coven setting.

4. The “harm none” you read about everywhere is bullshit. “Harm none” comes from the Wiccan Rede “an ye harm none, do as ye will” which is many times passed off as a binding rule or law among Wiccans. It’s not. “Rede” means council or advice. It’s not a fucking law. It’s good advice, but I don’t always go by it. My ethical system is basically, if I can live with the consequences, I’ll do whatever the hell I want. I’m grown.

5. Also, this “threefold law” business sounds like role-playing teenagers came up with it (thank you, Llewellyn Publications and The Craft, for helping to spread that nonsense). How in the world can you send something out and expect it to come back to you “times three”? And please don’t try to tell me “it’s magic, you can’t explain it,” because I know good and well from my own experiences and the testaments of others that magic works through laws similar to those of physics. There’s nothing that’s going to GAIN momentum all by itself after it’s sent out. So, no. However, there is a threefold aspect to magical workings, but that’s part of my initiate training, so I can’t share that here.

6. To be a witch or even a Wiccan coven leader does not necessarily mean I need to be a pillar of the community in service to any and all. I am in service to my gods and spirits and to the people they bring to me for help, not every single person who emails me or stops me in the street. A coven, or at least a traditional coven, meets in secret, all its members are oathbound initiates, and works for the protection and spiritual advancement of its members, who are a family. What part of that looks like it’s designed to establish churches, sit on interfaith councils, and stand as gleaming examples of spiritually advanced beings for all to see? I mean, sure, you CAN do that if you want to, and many have. If that’s what they feel led to do, then great. However, COMMA, don’t expect me to do that, and don’t look down your fucking nose at me when I don’t. Witches have classically been those on the fringe of society, shunned but respected and feared. Alliances with those powers the witch is traditionally associated with don’t come easily and aren’t found inside the local U.U. They are found in wild and dangerous places under the veil of darkness and require sacrifices not all have the stomach to give. After all that I’m usually too tired to put on a suit and tie to sit around a table for interfaith dialogue.

7. Gods and spirits are real, not archetypes or extensions of our minds or any other bullshit NewAge sewage out there. And by real, I mean they are independently-existing, non-corporeal, conscious beings. I hold a degree in philosophy and religious studies, so I know good and well that I can’t prove this to be true or really convince non-believers, but I’ve experienced enough to know this to be true. Human beings have held this belief and interacted with spiritual beings for thousands and thousands of years. It’s only been since people thought they had (most) everything figured out that that folks stopped believing in them, or at least saying that they don’t believe in them. From where I’m sitting, people still get scared watching haunted house movies, and when push comes to shove and something weird happens that simply can’t be explained away…that’s when those deep-seated ancestral fears of the unknown creep out, and with them the horrifying truth that we haven’t even begun to figure everything out. And it’s really that fear that causes most people to negate the existence of spiritual beings. That, and they don’t want to get laughed at by other people who probably would get just as scared given the same things happened to them. SO…when you go before the gods and spirits, treat them with a bit of respect, because they are watching.

8. And speaking of spirits...Ancestors must be honored. The widely-held (eclectic) Wiccan belief of a simple-minded style of reincarnation (taken out of context from religious concepts from India) tends to dissuade many people from honoring their ancestors. Many non-Abrahamic religions have the concept of the multi-component soul, and some digging into European pre-Christian religious practices strongly suggest the same was held by pre-Christian Europeans. The most common number seems to be a spiritual trinity, with each part breaking away and going to different places after a person dies. One part a “divine spark” so to speak returns to that the Divine Creative Source, while another part usually reincarnates. But one part always goes to join the ancestors, which is why all religious practices, either currently or earlier in their histories, include ancestor veneration. The ancestors are how we’re here and are our foundation. Honor your dead, develop a relationship, and they can help you out in ways you couldn’t even think of now.

9. And speaking of gods…since Wicca isn’t ancient, what about the Goddess and God of the Wicca everyone keeps talking about? I’ll admit to this one: I don’t know. I received secret names at my initiations, which I obviously can’t discuss here, but there’s debate even within the Gardnerian and Alexandrian traditions about who these beings are. Some covens say there are the over-arching God and Goddess of the Wicca we all (initiates) work with, some say each coven works with local deities and spirits, some combine these approaches, and still there are more. Well, here’s my take on it. I think each coven is a unique combination of each member’s ancestors, spiritual guides, and dormant pagan deities, all brought together through the same initiatory process. So, who’s to say exactly who the tutelary spirits are for each coven and if there are or aren’t an over-arching pair of witch deities? Not me.

10. If the gods and spirits are real, then guess what…so is magic. (Oh, by the way, can we drop the “k” at the end? Unless you’re someone related to the O.T.O. or another Crowley-based system, in which case wear that “k” on a badge!...but if you’re not, then spelling magic with a “k” just looks silly.) Yes, folks, that’s right, witches (including Wiccans) do witchcraft. Witch-CRAFT. CRAFT of witches. Magic. Spells. Curses, the whole shebang! If you don’t practice magic, don’t bother calling yourself a witch or a Wiccan, call yourself something else. You can still wear all the flowy crushed velvet robes and dance around with flowers in your hair even without calling yourself something you clearly don’t embody. But witches and Wiccans? Study your herbs, stones, charts, moon phases, oils, seek out those places of power near you, never stop learning, and work your craft.

11. Yes! Above I said curses, because why? Because witches deal with both light and dark, healing and cursing. Witches deal with spirits of the dead, nasty spells, and things that go bump in the night. Read anything that’s not published by Llewellyn and most likely, it’s there. I even prefer my Wicca with teeth and an edge. Summon those spirits that are going to get the job done, not just make me feel all warm and fuzzy inside (that’s what rum is for.) Witches straddle the worlds (remember the whole “between the worlds” thing?), and just like how not everything in the physical world is nice and your friend, so it is with the spiritual realms—as above, so below—and witches and Wiccans should be able to deal with what they find. When witches come into their own and Wiccans are initiated, which sometimes goes hand in hand, a light is kindled that shines in those other realms, and just as moths and other creatures are attracted to a flame, so too will denizens of those other realms be drawn to that new light. Best be prepared.

12. Inside a circle or at the kitchen table aren’t the only places to commune with our gods and spirits and work our magic. Witches and Wiccans both should learn more about harnessing the powers found in certain places outside the home. To borrow a term from an Afro-Brazilian tradition, the kingdoms of power are where you can find not only the herbs and objects, but also the spirits that are attracted to and become part of those powers. The cemetery, the crossroads, the woods, mountains, lakes, rivers, swamps, open fields, deserted places, and more, they all add valuable assets to a witch’s supplies and arsenal. Go slowly, be respectful, use common sense, don’t believe everything you receive from a spirit (many will be more than happy to trick you into giving them service), but don’t be afraid to get out there and go beyond what the books have to say.

13. Thirteen, thirteen, hmm, I don’t really have a thirteenth…oh, wait, yes I do! If you ever get the urge to establish a “council of witches”…don’t.