#oracular work

[wildecstasy]

When the whole of the ancient world looked as though it was going to burst into the flames of war, when people struggled to survive famine and pestilence, and when natural disaster threatened to destroy the tenuous fabric of ancient society, the oracle, the sibyl, and the seer were there with messages of hope for the future.

- Janet Farrar & Gavin Bone, “Lifting the Veil: a Witches’ Guide to Trance-Prophesy, Drawing Down the Moon, and Ecstatic Ritual”

[7serendipities]

Crow Folks: Tend to Your Vessel

This month, on an intuitive feeling, I drew ogham to ask what I should bring with me when I went to seek Na Morrigna around their Cauldron. I pulled Ailm, and so when I journeyed there I brought with me a pine sprig. What next followed unfolded a bit like a fable, a simple story with a deeper, metaphorical meaning and a moral, instruction in proper behaviour.

- - -

Na Morrigna turned my pine sprig into a spoon, and with that spoon They instructed me to stir the liquid in the great cauldron, clockwise around, a total of nine times. By the time I had finished, the liquid was a swift whirlpool, a vortex through which the bottom of the cauldron could be seen, just barely. One of the Sisters pointed, and I bent down, to look more closely. There was a tiny crack, a hairline fracture, in the base of the cauldron, and as I watched, the force of the whirlpool strained the cauldron, and the crack began to widen, and the liquid began to flow out so that the bottom was no longer visible, and then with a loud crack, the bottom broke in two and all the rest of the liquid was quickly absorbed by the land beneath, gone and leaving no trace. What a disaster came of such a small thing! “Protect your foundations.” They told me. “Tend to your vessel. But when it breaks…” I looked to Na Morrigna as They went silent again, wondering what They would have me do next. Instead, They each took their walking stick or spear and pounded the broken vessel with those, to break the cauldron further, into small pieces of rubble. When that was done They set down their sticks and raised their hands, using sorcery, and reduced the rubble to dust. As the dust settled, I reflected that it seemed like it had more potential this way than it had as rubble, and that was strange to me but also right, because this was more completely destroyed. Then each Sister took up a new task: One poured water on the dust to hydrate the clay, One shaped the clay with her hands into a new pot, and One piled wood around the new cauldron that was taking shape, taller than it was tall, and in a wide ring, surrounding it. When their work was complete, They all three took up a place around the wood ring, and bent to strike a fire, so that it might catch from all sides. The blaze began to fire the pot, and by the time it had burned down to coals, the new Cauldron was finished, and ready to once again be filled.

- - -

When it was finished, I was sent on my way with the memory of what I had seen, to share with my community. The experience reminded me in many ways of a dismemberment healing, a similarity that was somewhat underscored by their use of the word/concept “vessel”, as in the saying “you can’t pour from an empty vessel”, which means that we (the vessel) can’t help others if we don’t have enough energy for our own needs. I’ll leave the story as I saw it happen for you all to think about and interpret (and feel free to share any meaning you glean from it!) but my personal interpretation is along those lines: we need to take care of ourselves and our needs, in order to be able to do the Work that Na Morrigna are calling each of us to do. This time of the year, that can be really difficult for many of us - particularly those of us who have difficult family situations and many social obligations. But as that hairline fracture with the added stress of the whirlpool caused the whole cauldron to crack in two, so too can small issues in our own lives - when ignored for too long or stressed by difficult curcumstances - cause upheaval. The message, I think, is that sometimes more destruction can actually be fruitful at that point, if you can get back to a place of potential and open possibilities. It’s given me things to think about, for sure.

[eyes-of-ra]

I believe I'm meant to walk the path of an oracle priestess. It's been calling to me and I don't doubt this. I notice that you're the only one on Tumblr so I'm coming to you for help, if you don't mind. How did you initiate into it? I know I'm going to need /a lot/ of training for this purpose but I'm just not sure where to start and I'm wary about doing this completely alone. (Are there any communities?)

I’m entirely Deity-led and self-taught, and I don’t personally know of any communities that support this kind of work in a Kemetic context.  (In a Norse context there’s at least one tradition with a community, and I know a couple of individual Hellenic Oracular Priests, but no group.)  Granted, I’m not involved in either of the Kemetic organizations that have chapters in the US, so they might have oracular training I’m unaware of (and maybe others can chime in on that).

My study started with several books on Egyptian religion and magic generally, which had maybe three or four lines about oracular practices, and then these two books:

1. The Way of the Oracle, by Diana Paxson

2. The Essential Guide to Possession, Depossession, and Divine Relationships, also by Diana Paxson

Wow this got long so I’m putting everything else under a cut!

It’s worth noting that I don’t agree with everything she says in those, but they were pretty good starting points. That first book is about the Norse Oracular Seidhr tradition she founded, but it touches on historical practices from other regions.

My initiation came after two(?) years of study and thinking about it.  I decided to renew my devotional oath to Bast and Sekhmet, and within that ritual and trancework, I ended up pledging to follow this path, and was prepared to become a vessel.  

Now, I’m an oracular-priestess-initiate, and I imagine I will be for several years.  This is similar to on-the-job training, like a medical residency after you complete your degree.  My ritual has gotten much “tighter”, and the process of opening myself to let their messages flow through me has gotten easier, but in the case of oracular messages for individuals, I still usually double check with what I call “over my shoulder” divination - Bast and Sekhmet take a step back but stay hovering over my shoulder while I pull a card to make sure I understood the crux of their message.

I do not, at this time, give up bodily autonomy while I’m in my oracular trance.  I’m still the one writing the words in my notebook to type later.  Part of that is because I don’t have a community, so it’s just me doing the ritual solo.  I don’t have anyone to pull me back if I get all the way to blacked out and missing time, and I don’t have anyone to transcribe for me.  Bast and Sekhmet, however, have assured me that this is normal - there are a lot of different ways to be an oracle, and full bodily possession isn’t required.  There are some metaphors for possessory work that I’ve seen previously that compare it to driving a car.  If the deities enter the car, that’s possessory work, even if you’re still the one driving.  They might be in the passenger seat while you’re in the driver’s seat, or you might switch, or you might be in the back seat while they’re in the front.  And full blackout is like them sticking you in the trunk while they drive.  For me most of the time, it’s as if both seats in the front have a break pedal and they sometimes reach across to move the steering wheel, but only I have a gas pedal.

Before I started any oracular work, though, even before I began reading about it in an Egyptian context, I was already quite accomplished at divination and journeying and hearing the messages of the gods in my own life, and that is a good place to start if you’re not already proficient in those!

Good luck!  And if you want to come off anon, I’m happy to talk in more detail.

[7serendipities]

Wep Ronpet 2022 and the first Bright Moon of the New Year

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[7serendipities]

Crow Folks: A Resting Place

This month when I did my Dark Moon ritual (a few days ago, sorry for the delay posting), I began my journey at the cottage where I usually meet Bé Chuille and Dinand, and I spoke to them first, and then took the path out back which, in a meandering way, leads me to the place I normally meet Na Morrigna around their cauldron. I had a feeling, as I walked up, that we’d be doing prophetic poetry again this month, and sure enough, as I lowered my eyes to look in the cauldron, what I found was a small stick with ogham carved on it. Three feda: hÚath, Uir, and Tinne. My kennings for those three are, respectively: “Humanity’s Hedge”, “Unending Cycles”, and “Tested Resolve”.* I was told that we’d be working on poetic forms with specific numbers of syllables this time. Three lines of three syllables, followed by two lines of five syllables for each ogham fid, and then an ending couplet with three syllables on the first line and seven on the second.

Here is what I ended up with, when They were satisfied with my work:

hÚath

Held at bay, At thorn-point: Disaster.

It will not come if it is not summoned.

Uir

Cycle turns. Remember: Prepare, breathe.

Not a finish line, just a resting place.

Tinne

Hardened blade Thorn-sharp edge Clean and smooth

Forged in melting fire; plunged in ice water.

Together:

Moon Cycle: Time to reflect and to plan.

* I developed these kennings as part of the Ogham Intensive through the Irish Pagan School a few years ago.

[7serendipities]

Kemetic Bright Moon 7/13

This month when I came before my shrine, I was told to do this ritual before the other working I had planned. A message to my community, before I turn to more active heka. So I asked for an omen, and received the following:

Go, burning brightly, and do the work you are inspired to do, that has you alight with passion. You are fiery and powerful and incandescent in your rage, and this will fuel you and sustain your action. But also make time to take careful stock of your position and surroundings. Look for needs that demand prompt fulfillment, and make note of weaknesses that must be reinforced, in both yourself and your communities. Grounded planning with an eye towards longevity will be required to bring your goals into manifestation, but don’t let self-doubts and obstacles prevent you from taking action. Go.

That gives me both hope and something of a direction to help in my plans, and I hope it is helpful to some of you as well.

Also - it’s that time again, ya’ll! Wep Ronpet is coming up fast, and here are the dates I’m using for this year, based on the heliacal rising of Sirius over Washington, DC:

Epagomenal Days: Aug 4-8 Aug 4 - Birth of Wesir Aug 5 - Birth of Heru-Wer Aug 6 - Birth of Set Aug 7 - Birth of Aset Aug 8 - Birth of Nebthet Wep Ronpet: Aug 9 Arrival of Sopdet Feast of all the Netjeru

I’ll be doing my usual follow-along on Tumblr, with rebloggable digital votive offerings and prayers, and a tarot card omen from each Netjer on their birthday. And I’ll be doing a personal and a group execration as well, probably on the evening of the 3rd due to schedule restraints on the 8th, which is my normal timing. If you have anything you’d like me to execrate for you, please email that to me no later than the 1st!

The next full moon is Aug 11th, after Wep Ronpet. If you have any questions, or if you would like to request a personal message or heka working for April, please email the shrine here. And if you are interested in supporting the shrine, I have a tip jar set up here. Thanks! Apologies for missing last month - I unfortunately had a (blessedly very mild) case of Covid, after managing to avoid that for two full years.

Image in the thumbnail is a stock photo (provided through Squarespace) of the sky seen through the pillars of a ruin of an Ancient Egyptian temple.

[7serendipities]

Kemetic Bright Moon 3/18

Earlier this month, there was a holiday I had been planning to figure out hot to celebrate, a sort of revivalist holiday made of three separate historical holidays that I enmeshed: The Feast of the Eyes of Ra, The Festival of Chewing Onions for Bast, and the Festival of Chewing Cucumbers for Sekhmet. I ended up not getting a full formal ritual written out and shared ahead of time, but I did have a feast meal with my family - yes, including raw green onions and cucumbers in a not-very-Egyptian pasta salad, but everyone (Bast and Sekhmet included!) seemed to enjoy it. I also incorporated the dark chocolate bunny that at some point became a traditional spring offering - first at Sacred Space a number of years ago, but I think I’ll keep it as the centerpiece of the Feast for the Eyes of Ra. I’ll try to work up a more formal ritual to share with y’all ahead of time next year!

But here we are now, a few days past the full moon and the equinox (I don’t know about ya’ll but it has been BUSY in my house this past week), and I finally have a typed up omen for the Bright Moon to share:

The conflict that surrounds you is getting worse before it subsides, but you will make it through. Try not to let the violence you witness send you fleeing if it is not putting you in immediate danger. You still need to be present and engaged in your own life. Think about long-term and wide-ranging goals that you can contribute to from where you are, Movement and action will help alleviate the terror. Focusing on long term equitable structures will give you a proper direction. To begin, just GO. Your feet will find a path. Your hands will find work to do. Your eyes will find others to follow. Move with purpose.

The next full moon is April 16th. If you have any questions, or if you would like to request a personal message or heka working for April, please email the shrine here. And if you are interested in supporting the shrine, I have a tip jar set up here. Thanks!

Image in the thumbnail is of my shrine, with a gold-wrapped chocolate bunny on the offering dish in front of the statues of Bast and Sekhmet.

[7serendipities]

Kemetic Bright Moon 2/16 — 7Serendipities

This full moon, as I have done on most full moons since I began my service to Bast and Sekhmet, I performed my usual ritual, and asked them

"You are fighting internal battles, and find yourself in crisis. You may wonder who is to blame, but you should instead spend your energy figuring out hot to get out of the situation you are in. Be sure of your footing as you move forward, because you will need careful self control to change your circumstances. Do not be discouraged, however: defeat is far from assured! You are closer to where you wish to be than it may seem, and you will make your way there if you continue carefully forward. Your goals are within your skillset to achieve; all they require is continuing effort."