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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 3
We are bred of Earth, animals among animals.We live here as fully as we can.
There is no point in having a life upon Earth if we do not use it.
We are not far children put here from outside, lost.
We are made of Earth. We return to Earth when our time is done.
The Land is our maker, our Earth Mother.
As her children it is our task to care for her, and then to hand on our trust with her to our own children.
Certain places make it easier for us to connect with the divine. These are no more sacred than other places, but they work more powerfully with human needs. We call the divine in such places the Spirit of the Place.
Such places are often groves of Trees, or a special Tree, for we instinctively know that Trees give us the breath of life, so they are our symbiotic friends.
Trees’ solidity and rootedness renew our sense of security in our lives.
Trees live in three different worlds: the roots below, solid trunk beside us, and branches up in the sky. They link us ground-dwellers to other levels of the Earth.
Another classic sacred place is by Water, for water too is urgently essential to our life.
A pool in a quiet hidden place, a spring of new water; or a well that brings water to the surface, often acts as a divine friend.
Waters come from under the earth so they tell us of deep hidden places.
The chemistry of water reacts to our emotions, and also acts upon them.
In Britain, tradition links sacred waters with the divine feminine, though she has different names in different places.
Then of course there is the sea which merges us with the great divine, in its cycles of renewal, the sea tides.
Many high places are held as sacred too, the top of a hill, or mountain, or a clifftop.
These are often celebrated with fire.
In former times when the nights were truly black, truly dark, not lit with electricity, festival nights were special, darkness dotted with the bale fires in every direction.
High places are typically associated with a divine masculine, again under many different names, understood differently according to locality.
Caves and crevices in the earth speak of mystery, or secrets, so these too link us to the divine.
So do certain rocks or stones, emerging from the earth.
Then there are stones we have shaped ourselves. Dolmens, standing stones, figurines large and small.
None of these sacred places belong to any one religion.
Like the Craft they serve all who go to them with open heart.
Our own personal earth, the body that measures out our individual life, is sacred.
The body must not be made to suffer unnecessarily. There is enough suffering as it is. The body deserves cherishing, pleasure, delight. That is what it clearly wants and needs: we are wise to trust its voice. Seeking happiness is our birthright.
Our own body and its pleasures are sacred, so the bodies of others must be too.
Every other being has its part in the great Mother body. Animal, vegetable, mineral are all a mighty family of life.
Just as we are tiny cells in the great divine Body that is the Universe, so we carry within us whole other universes. That is another way of seeing we must cherish the body we are given.
The art of freeing the powers of the body, strengthening its weakness, in medicine or healing, is a sacred art.
The art of cherishing the Land, keeping clean its waters and fertile its soils, honouring its creatures, is a sacred art.
The art of making something beautiful, or making something useful, is a sacred art.
The art of making love beautifully, powerfully, wisely, is a sacred art.
Sacred art serves the Web of Life in making things happier, more beautiful, more useful.
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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. |
