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or Paths |
(the building) |
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Different paths suit different people. Some people need to work in different ways at different times. Some love working different ways at the same time! Many of our one day sessions can also be done on their own. |
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IN THIS CYLCH: CIRCLEWORK (homepage) A DIY practical ritual guide, FREE download) * THE BOWL: the art of personal purification or focusing * THE CRAFT overview, FREE download page 2 WEB OF LIFE * page 3 EARTH * page 4 |
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IN "THE CRAFT": page 1 Introduction, FREE download. * page 2 WEB OF LIFE * page 3 EARTH * page 4 CUSTOMS * page 5 SHARING * page 6 ANCESTORS * page 7 CHILDREN * page 8 LEADERS * page 9 CIRCLE * page 10 DIVINITY. |
THE CRAFT
by Shan Morgain, priestess of the Craft.
page 6
Living in the Web we are part of a massive Family.The Web is a family made up of our own kin, other humans, animals, green life, stars and stones and space.
Not always a harmonious family – families are places of conflict as well as security and support. Yet even though families do fight and hurt one another, that cannot destroy their links.
It is the first task of families to breed, then to protect and bring up their children.
Mother, father, child are linked, even if they do not see each other, or do not know consciously who the others are. In the nature of things the child matures, ages and dies. The family then mourns their dead, except in times of mass death. The family moves on through acceptance and new birth.
After leaving us the dead are carried on in us, in our bodies, in our genes and in deep memory.
The tones of my voice, the movements of my hands, what I most love and hate, are the same voice, hands, love, hate, as my family has expressed before, going back and back through the generations.
All traditional societies have times set aside to remember our dead.
When the death has newly happened the bereaved may live in this time completely for a while, then visit it less often as they heal. Eventually the remembering becomes part of a festival, or special period of time, held once a year.
The tradition of remembering and honouring the Ancestors, often with gifts, or an extra place set at table, is not only about love and continuity. It also expresses our fear of death, of becoming an Ancestor ourselves.
Many customs suggest the dead are jealous that we are alive, and so we fear their resentment. The root of this belief is how dearly and passionately we value the living body we have.
Since this precious, sacred body, the survival of our line, is the gift of our Ancestors, we thank them and honour them.
It is a mistake to see our Ancestors as primitive, or limited.
In their own time they were coping with complexities every bit as strange and challenging as ours. It only looks simpler to us because they solved their challenges and survived them!
We live because they won.
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IN "THE CRAFT": page 1 Introduction, FREE download. * page 2 WEB OF LIFE * page 3 EARTH * page 4 CUSTOMS * page 5 SHARING * page 6 ANCESTORS * page 7 CHILDREN * page 8 LEADERS * page 9 CIRCLE * page 10 DIVINITY. |
