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he heart of Avalon calls to the Souls of many, as individual Pilgrims find themselves led by its extraordinary force, that once felt can never be forgotten... Steeped in ancient mystery and Arthurian legend; where Pagan meets Christian and Folklore meets Crop circles; where lay-lines bridge East and West and Science and History debate; where Gods and Goddesses greet and dance happily at Fairy Balls. Here the search for ones inner truth (the holy grail) is respected as being sacred to each individual, even though it has many paths. Ah yes, Avalon the mystical sacred Isle is very much alive and busy in service; spiritually honouring every man and woman in complete union with the ever evolving Divineself. Throughout the pages of AVALON magazine we will attempt to meld the old with the new, combining many spiritual concepts with Arthurian legend, mystical folklores, ancient practices, sacred sites, exploring shamanic wisdoms, magickal crafts, Alchemical and esoteric knowledge, while offering alternative healing, with inner wellness techniques, as we share a variety of interesting metaphysical and New Age ideals, steeped in otherworldly spiritual developments of varying kinds. The team at AVALON Magazine hope you enjoy the visual reading experience we have created and return to journey with us through this portal time and again..!

Blessings all that is sacred in you )O(

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AVALON Magazine

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Contents 2

Avalon Advertising Rates

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Exploring The Forbidden FRUIT, by Amber Rose

8

Who or What id Dion Fortune, by Alan Richardson

12 Apple Tree Mediation, by Lizzy Rose 14 Birth of a New World, by ZaKaiRan 16 Into the Mists of Avalon, by Serene Conneely 18 The Prophet at the Dawn of the New Age: Part 2,

by D G Mattichak Jr. 22 Subscription page.

24 Labrinths, by Ceri Norman 26 Interview - Spiral Dance, by Lizzy Rose 29 What is a Hedgewitch?, by Ellen May Long

30 Apple Wisdom, by Dechon Chodron

33 Healing Wells of Cornwall, by Frances Billinghurst

36 MERLIN's Channelled message by Apple Blossom 38 My First Crop Circle, by S'Roya Rose 40 Animal Dreaming, by Scott Alexander King 42 Angelic Messages - Gabriel, by Lit El Star 43 A Magnificent Time Awaits us, by Lindsay Ball 44 Book & CD Reviews 52 AVALON Business Directory

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Exploring the Forbidden Fruit...

Traditional Witchcraft & Sex Magic

by Amber Rose

S

ex has multiple uses in Witchcraft; in fact the only limitations are ourselves and our imagination, what we are comfortable with and how well we express ourselves openly to our deities. There is nothing dirty or immoral about sexuality in Witchcraft or in life. It's a perfectly natural, beautiful thing, and it's time to cast aside our hang-ups and explore the mysteries of the goddess, as the sensual, magical, blessed beings we are.

Sex magic may be applied in many ways. It can be given as an offering to a deity in the act of worship. It can be used to raise energy for working, or to empower sexual fluids used for magical purposes (semen, vaginal fluids, or menstrual blood). It can empower sigils, amulets, mojo bags, and tools. Acting out the mysteries of the gods to attain insight, understanding, inspiration, or creation may be part of your sex magic. It can also be used to conceive, to expand consciousness, to release pent-up energies (especially after ritual or ceremonial workings), in love, sex, and lust spells, or to aid in breaching the barriers between the worlds of Life and Death. It can be used to create potions or magical inks designed for love workings and enchantments, and for a whole bunch of other purposes. Simply explore and indulge in the energies of your inner god or goddess! http://avalonmagazine-net.webs.com

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t is also important to state here that safety and care should be considered at all times, including safe and protected sex if you choose to explore sex magic with another. Never feel obliged to have sex for the sake of being initiated or included within a ceremony – that's just creepy, and totally unnecessary. If in doubt, remember that sex magic works just as effectively when performed on your own. Remember, your sexuality is your power. Play it safe and wise; if alarm bells start ringing, then your intuition is telling you to remove yourself from the situation.

Sex magic is a celebration of yourself and of sexuality. It's an ancient tradition that represents the spiritual union and matrimony of the earth and sea, the air with the sky, the sun with the moon, life with death, the light with darkness, masculine with feminine and of course, the goddess and the god. Sex is indeed one of the most potent forms of practice that has existed from the first man and woman until our modern time. Loving our patrons and the goddess within teaches us how to bravely connect to our spirituality, energies, pleasures and sexuality, and reminds us that all acts of love, sex and pleasure are rituals of the goddess, that this is who we are, and the goddess lives still.

Techniques If you are prudish the next part of this article may make you wiggle in your seat! But, if you can't handle impish words and vivid imagery summoning all forms of saucy images – maybe it's time to suck it up and read on, regardless. If you’re a worker of the mysteries and medicine – a witch, in other words – you'll know that occasionally we need to get down and dirty with nature.

Sex Outdoors Have sex outdoors with all the elements present – land, sea and sky – to invoke a god or goddess or to raise energy for a ceremony, spell, working or mystery rite. Evoking a god or goddess who is the same sex as you, and having sex while under the influence of that specific deity, can enable you to re-enact the sacred mysteries and to empower a rite. If you don't have a sexual partner, masturbation is perfectly fine; you will just have to visualise the sexual interaction during the rite. In folk magic, partaking in sex outdoors, especially on the ground, blesses the earth with 6

AVALON Magazine

our bodily fluids to encourage its continual fecundity.

The sexual secretions can then be used in love potions, to anoint icons of gods and goddesses, or in libations made in offering to nature spirits or poured into a hole in the ground to nourish the earth or garden. Menstrual blood is potent in the productivity of crops and gardens, and in connecting to all realms and worlds.

Sigil Magic Sigils are ritually and magically charged symbols, used to achieve unambiguous desires or intentions, which can be drawn with various magical inks on parchment or otherwise created by the practitioner. Sigils can be absorbed via a state of euphoria attained through sex magic or other mind altering means such as trance and meditation. Sexual secretions are used to give the sigil life and activate it. Orgasm releases the spell and working.

Flying Ointment and Sex Magic In older Witch lore, witches would anoint the staff of their besoms or distaff handles with Flying Ointment, Devil’s Grease or Witches' Salve, a blackish-green salve designed to enable flight, or astral travel. The skyclad witches would then make genital contact with the ointment whist straddling the besom shaft, absorbing the salve and leaving their ‘earthly’ bodies in order to attend the Sabbats. Another method which works well with both straight and gay couples is to massage a lover’s penis or vagina with the ointment, then have sex during a rite so that both may fly. Care should be taken and no poisonous substances should be used in the salve. Be cautious of allergic reactions and if unsure, use an incense to alter your perceptions and use a sensual massage oil instead of the salve.

Initiation For initiation purposes, it is best the initiation is given at the point of orgasm; as mysteries and secrets are passed on during climax from the initiator to the initiate. Ideal places to conduct initiatory sex are outdoors, where two rivers meet, or in a private location where all elements are present. Crossroads are also ideal, especially if you work the darker mysteries or with chthonic deities such as Hades, Hermes, Kalfou, Hecate, and Baron Samedi.

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Sexy Formulas Sexual Flying Ointment

Libation of Euphoric Bliss

Ingredients: Shortening or beeswax oil base 3 tbsps galangal root 3 tbsps mugwort 1 tbsp dittany of Crete 2 drops of sandalwood oil 3 drops ylang ylang oil 1 drop benzoin oil 1 part ginger 1 whole vanilla bean

Ingredients: 1 oz Baitz orVok Cherry Brandy 1 oz Baitz Cadbury Creme Fine Peach Brandy 1 tsp honey Cumin powder

Method: Melt shortening over low heat – half a cup should be sufficient. Add herbs while visualising your intention and stir. Steep the root, herb and vanilla bean in the shortening or beeswax oil base for 9 minutes. Strain well through a sieve or cheesecloth. Lastly, add the oils and mix well. Store in an airtight glass container, and leave to set overnight. Label with the date and time the salve was made. This should be used to massage into the skin during ritual.

Method: Slightly warm the brandy, mixing in the honey and stirring until honey is melted. Sprinkle cumin powder on top and serve. Sensual, fiery and seductive, ideally to be shared during ritual and prior to rites, it may be served afterwards as nourishment and to end a perfect, personal sexual experience, or used as a libation to the goddess and god.

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Witches' Passion Honey For Love & Lust

Ingredients: 1 cup of light, pure honey 2 cinnamon sticks (broken) 1 tsp whole cloves 1 tsp of dried strawberries 1 20 cent-coin sized piece of ginger 1 inch-long peel of dried Lemon Jasmine flowers or red rose petals 1 vanilla bean 1 pinch of ground cardamom 5 ground apple seeds Method: Empower all the ingredients and sexual fluids, if using. Pour the ingredients into a sterilised jar with an airtight lid, add the honey and shake well until all the herbs are moistened. Fasten the lid tightly and place the jar on your altar between two pink (love) candles or red (lust/ passion) candles. Light the candles and allow them to completely burn out. Place the jar in a dark place for a period of 3 weeks. Add this special love/lust honey to spells and potions designed for love, lust and sex magic.

Alternatively, exclude the sexual fluids and use in hot drinks and food intended for purposes of love/sex magic.

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who or what is

Dion

Fortune

rily an a s s e c ne lf, tune is r o own se F r n u o Dio y sion of ks and expres its little quir l with al ities procliv

by Alan Richardson

The older I get, the less I understand about Dion Fortune. The more I read (and write) about her, the less I actually know. Is Dion Fortune simply the pen name of someone who died in 1946? Or a convenient name given to an entity who has floated in and out of many peoples’ minds ever since? Yet again, could ‘Dion Fortune’ be more accurately described as ‘it’?

That is to say, instead being seen as a wise and powerful soul on the Other Side, could it be more in the nature of an energy, an inner plane impulse which pushes us in certain directions?

Honestly, I don’t know.

The one thing I can be dogmatic about that no-one can be dogmatic about Dion Fortune. Whether she is a great soul on the inner planes, or it is a flow of energy rather like an electrical current, shouldn’t worry us too much. But for the sake of this essay, and out of sheer courtesy, let’s agree to refer to Dion Fortune as she, and take it from there.

I suppose that if we were to view her in the Gnostic sense, the whole experience might be a little more accessible. The Gnostics, as you know, had a single Big Idea, and it was simply expressed as: All is One.

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That’s all. Three short words that are wonderful in their simplicity, yet infinite in their depth.

I didn’t really get that, however, until I came across Arthur Guirdham’s statement: ‘We Are One Another’ which says the same thing from a more human angle, and that was like a light being switched on. So… I am every person reading this; and you are all me. Realise that and we must necessarily give to each other what we would want for ourselves. Simple.

And remember that the same thing applies in your relationship to Dion Fortune too: whatever happens in any inner plane contact is always a twoway event. She wants to learn from you, as much as you learn from her.

That helped me clarify some of my own links with Dion Fortune, and the attendant bewilderment.

When it comes to ‘seeing’ things psychically, then I just don’t. Not for lack of trying, believe me! Nor do I have any talents for clairaudience, psychometry, mediumship, predicting the future, communing with angels, riding silver broomsticks or any other overtly psychic skill.Yet clearly something was linking with me and prodding me in all sorts of directions whether I realised it or not. Just for the sake of easy communication it’s probably best to think of this something as being Dion Fortune.

Though I would argue there is more and also less involved here than the bald comment might imply.

You see, I reckon that we all have what might crudely be termed ‘bits and pieces’ of her within us, and in an odd way we can all think of ourselves as reincarnations of Dion Fortune.

Perhaps this is why some indulge

themselves a little bit too much in that direction, and start believing it in the literal, exclusive sense. Now there’s nothing wrong with that as such. We all make complete idiots of ourselves at various points along the Path; and as a young lad I had wonderful times as Vlad the Impaler, Napoleon III, Grigoriyevich Rasputin and D.H. Lawrence. The only danger is when you expect everyone else to believe this, and fail to accept within your own self that – almost certainly – something else is going on.

One of the marks of the true Priestess is being all things to all souls

What I’m stumbling towards, I suppose, is the idea that Dion Fortune is necessarily an expression of your own self, with all its little quirks and proclivities. As I lamented after my first writings about her, people wanted her to be as themselves. So I was lambasted by the Christians for making her too Pagan, and the Pagan communities for emphasising her Christianity. This of course is one of the marks of the true Priestess, being all things to all souls.

I suppose if you tried to create a ‘true’ image of her on the inner planes it would be as a brilliantly reflective, multi-faceted and multidimensional crystal, if such a thing can be conceived. Come close to this pulsation and you get a myriad of images, from a million different angles. http://avalonmagazine-net.webs.com

Again, don’t be in too much awe about this. She is part of you.You too have this quality.You yourself can be more truly seen as a brilliantly reflective, multi-faceted and multidimensional crystal.Your partner/ siblings/friends/children, etc. will all ‘see’ you in differing ways, and very often there will be no apparent points of agreement. And thank god for that, when you think about it!

All of which is something of a preamble and perhaps an excuse as to how I see Dion Fortune, and how she came to impinge upon my own fields of interest.

I suppose that I am obsessed and sometimes possessed by the Spirit of Place: the idea, the experience, that some places are alive and can teach you things. This goes as much for a grotty back alley in the middle of a city as it does for a sylvan glade in open countryside.

Which is why I’ve never gone doolally about the whole Glastonbury experience. Making a cult of a place can be just as limiting as making a cult of a person. I believe that everyone, wherever they live, can find their own Earth Zodiacs. Whether they actually exist doesn’t matter: the effort of trying to find one, and the exercise of discerning patterns within the land creates a resonance between your own psyche and the Land itself.You can all find holy hills, sacred wells and rivers, mythic heroes and the whole Avalonian panoply in the world around. Just try, that’s all you need to do. Astonishing things can happen that will be relevant to no-one else but yourself.

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When I received a very definite inner push to start writing in earnest about Dion Fortune, it came after a long series events which forced me to live in a small valley which curves around a small plateau near Bath. The series of synchronicities involved here would take a book in itself to list, and many were never obvious until some years later.

Spirit of Place is the idea, the experience, that some places are alive and can teach you things The whole of that Limpley Stoke Valley and the Winsley plateau which forms one side of its curve are soaked in Earth Mysteries both ancient and modern, as it seems to have drawn people there over the millennia, all linked by the same themes. There are standing stones, fragmented avenues and near-forgotten stone circles scattered across the fields.

Guy Underwood, who is some ways is a Founding Father of dowsing, did his first researches there. Arthur Guirdham, whose books on the Cathars and group reincarnation had such impact on the ‘New Age’, had his visions and wrote his books in nearby Bathford.

Clinging to the hillside further along from Limpley Stoke is the hamlet of Conkwell with its holy well known as the Spring of the Green Man, and just beyond that is the locale known anciently as No Man’s Land, which hints at Women’s Mysteries once worked where the old circle and the three roads meet.

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Chris Patton, Britain’s very first ‘Green Minister’ responsible for Environmental Affairs was given his appointment when living on the hilltop overlooking that holy valley.

While William Smith the father of English geology, who formulated the stratification of the soil and rocks, lived in nearby Tucking Mill.

a curvature of the wall. Legend has it that the original builders tried to put the church lower down the valley, but that the Devil himself made them put it where it now stands. From that unexceptional curve in the wall the land beyond drops steeply though not dramatically. The eye is made to fly like a witch down the Valley of the Nightingale towards Westwood.

In fact I think that our destinies are Once, a young and fertile goddess was moulded not only by the astrologies above, but also by the geologies below, worshipped here, nubile but sightless, and perhaps there is no real difference. ever-giving but ever-chaste. By the time the Christians came the goddess was changed to St Mary the Virgin.

As far as churches go, the only Even the early Fathers understood Catholic Church in that immediate something of the true nature of area is dedicated to St Thomas More. virginity, which meant not so much Well, forgive me but I wouldn’t an intact hymen as a consideration of call him a Saint myself, not for the being one-in-herself, as only a goddess way he persecuted ‘heretics’ (they translated the Bible into English, damn can be.1 This way, female deities of the fields and the corn were to be them!), but this figure is not without transmuted into the Virgin Mary, significance in the Dion Fortune saga who, according to the system of the as you may know. magicians, was also Isis, and Keridwen, And there is on top of the Winsley and Fiân – Herne’s own lady – queen plateau overlooking the valley, the of the valley and streams. Although the church dedicated to St Nicholas – often linked with the old fertility gods colours might change a little, all else remains always the same.

– and which was built on the site of a huge dolmen.

While in the other direction, very close by, the Church of St Mary the Virgin lies on a side road which leads down from the busy A36, sloping and winding toward the plush and trim village of Freshford. Hidden by hedgerow and dry-stone wall it can easily be missed by the motorist. In all the centuries it has not changed much. Long before Christ, long before the Romans, longer still before the Druids, this had been a holy place. Even now the actual site of the original pagan worship still survives within the church grounds, although it is marked by no more than http://avalonmagazine-net.webs.com

Our destinies are moulded not only by the astrologies above, but also by the geologies below

Within the churchyard itself are the tombs of thirteen Anglo-Norman nobles, Templars everyone of them.

Sometimes, sitting very still, so quiet that the other senses can come out as delicate as mice, they can still be sensed: brooding but not hostile, autocratic but not cruel. They were men whose lands became rich on

wool as their newish and nominal lord, Jesus, became mighty through the formula of the Lamb, and can still surge with recognition at the old Latin of Pax Vobiscum (peace be with you), said softly above their stones.

Priestess. And they passed this on to young Violet when she arrived, a couple of years later.

I had experience of this inner tone myself, when I was compelled to write my novella On Winsley Hill2.

No matter how much I tried to alter the style, I couldn’t. It was as though I was taken over by something that was determined to get a song across, and express itself through my prose. Try as I might, I couldn’t change the style, and haven’t been able to emulate it since. Was this Dion Fortune speaking through me? No, probably not. But I do think it was an impulse from the hill itself – an impulse that may well have been passed down to young Violet via her family.

This is the church where Dion Fortune’s parents married, where her grandparents’ graves can still be seen, and where young Violet’s echo has also been noted.

John Smith Looking back, I feel that ‘Dion Fortune’ was quite happy to throw information about her parents and grandparents in my direction., but stopped short of allowing me access to the deeper teachings of her Lodge – to which I never belonged anyway.

It’s just as well: I would never have been able to appreciate or do justice to Well, that’s the best that I can explain the latter, which left the way clear for it.

Gareth Knight’s brilliant biography at a much later date.

All of which just goes to say that ‘my’ Dion Fortune became an essential part It seemed to me that her parents of my own inner bias toward this Spirit Arthur and Jenny, as she preferred of Place thingy that has bothered me, to be called, who met, courted and battered me sometimes, but by and married in the Limpley Stoke and large inspired me for most of my life.

Winsley Hill environs, picked up I’ve never fully understood everything something of the Earth Magic of the that has gone on between me and her, place. Or if not her parents, certainly but I’m adamant that you’ve all got her beloved maternal grandparents, your own stories to tell, and your own John and Elizabeth Smith, who were bewilderments to express. Nobody is buried there. ahead of anyone else in this respect, neither better nor wiser.

Although the latter were what we would now think of as New Agey types We Are One Another after all, and with a passion for alternative medicine can link our stories with marvellous and 19th century state-of-the-art equality. health spas, I doubt if they would have had any conscious awareness Alan Richardson is an author and of this small area in the terms I have magician, notable for his works on some of just described. But I think they were the most influential wizards and witches of infected by a kind of spiritual tone, the 20th century. and inner song very like that which www.alric.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk you can discern in the novel The Sea http://avalonmagazine-net.webs.com

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APPLE TREE MEDITATION

S

tart by talking a walk to where an apple tree grows. If this is difficult go to your fruit and vegie market and purchase an apple – (note the colour you choose). If you are lucky enough to find or own an apple tree, look around at the base of the tree for a fallen branch and or an apple. If there is none, ask the tree for its permission and then neatly prune an older branch. Bid the tree thanks and gift her a coin. Bury the coin as near to the truck as is possible without harming the root system and pour the tree a libation of apple cider or apple juice. Now find yourself a space to meditate, ideally outside on the earth is best, but this is not always possible due to weather conditions or simply your location.

Wherever you find yourself, make sure you have a quiet, safe undisturbed space so that you can completely relax. Turn your phone off, lock your doors and make sure the TV or radio is off. Pour yourself a glass of apple cider or juice that you have purchased earlier, your apple and or apple branch, a pillow or cushion, a blanket and a clean pair of socks.

The art of meditation has 4 steps to achieve desired results: 1.

Relaxation 2.

Imagination 3.

Visualisation 4.

Realization Remember, place no judgement, no expectation and don’t try to make anything happen - just simply allow yourself to “BE” in the moment. This meditation is a light and gentle beginning to our journey together. It is important that you avoid trying to think of ‘nothing’. Our mind is generally not designed to be blank when in an active state.Yes, to meditate is to a degree, a non-active and restful state of being, however, our subconscious is active. The psyche is also active and just like programming a crystal or a working altar tool, we program our minds with the content we feed them. When meditating, we absorb more than we realise when we simply allow our soul-self to become open to access that in-between state. So now that you are ready to connect with your apple journey, take your shoes and or socks off and place your fresh socks on your feet. Drink half your glass of apple juice and now lay yourself down with your pillow or cushion under your head. Pull your blanket up over you; when you meditate your body temperature will drop. It is always important to be comfortable when meditating. Now holding your apple and or branches in your hands clasp them over your chest and close

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Lizzy Rose Australias's Celebrity Psychic.

Specialising in Psychic, Clairvoyant,Tarot & Medium Readings. High Priestess of Mumma MoonWomen's Circles & Goddess Temple Gatherings.

Email lizzyrosebookings@gmail.com www.lizzyrose.com.au 0452 479 505

your eyes. Take many deep, slow, long, yet gentle breaths in through your nose and out through your mouth. When you are completely relaxed, bring your apple close to your face and breathe in its smell, its fragrance and connect with its life force. This first meditation is designed so that you can embrace this amazing fruit, and on this beginning of your journey ask, accept and invite the apple fruit or branch, to take you with it into another world. This time allow yourself to simply relax and to physically feel the apple, the branches, the stem and maybe the leaves. Let yourself be taken to a special, sacred and safe place, all the while breathing deeper, slower and drifting away. Ask that your apple journey share with you an answer to a question that you may have. When in meditation, allow your higher self to ask one and only one question. Let the apple answer this for you. Stay in this relaxed state, breathing deeply, and allow yourself to fall deeper and deeper into the world of the apple tree. Ask to share its history and its memories. Whether you journey far or near, long or short, your meditation is exactly the length that it is meant to be. Slowly, when you are ready, allow your body to reconnect with your physical carriage, your bones, skin and your vital organs and so on. Open your eyes and when you are ready, sit up gently and then drink the rest of your apple drink.

When you can, collect your thoughts, place your apple or branches down by your side and now write down in your Meditation Exercise Book, your experience while it is fresh in your mind. Before your conscious mind fully starts to process the messages you have received and the travel that you have undertaken for your higher self, record your thoughts. This is a very important time and one where you must not try to analyse your spiritual experience at this stage, just document it. In time to come, it will indeed make sense and sometimes that happens very quickly. When you are ready, pack up your items and keep your apple or branch for three days. After that time, find some land, maybe your backyard or an open park way, where it is safe and take a small shovel, dig a hole approximately one foot deep and bury your apple and or branches. Now give thanks to the earth.You may want to say something to the spirits of the apple tree when placing the apple in the hole. Do what feels right. Cover the hole over, then with respect, leave this place be. All things come from the Goddess and all things return to her. Know that you have begun a great journey; know that nature has brought you home.

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Birth of a ! . . d l r o W New g to happen...?

What is goin

by ZaKaiRan

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ell beloveds, what happens now, after all of the fanfare of 2012 and the end of the world as we know it, what’s going to happen next? Well, we start all over again. Now we create a new world, so don’t worry about the old world, just let it gently die from old age. The heartless forces of control that believe they own planet earth, are afraid that they will lose control of the masses and we will dust off the guillotines and storm the Bastille, will continue in vain to try to control us as well as the money systems on the planet, because they are afraid to open their hearts to see what is really inside. But fear not my bright little stars because your bright million candle watt lights are illuminating even the darkest forces.

You are an unstoppable force! That is, if you choose to be, it is your choice. Or, you are a very stoppable force if you allow yourself to be - it is your choice. This reality is a dualistic reality and you have always had the choice to create heaven or hell in your life, (or anything in between), regardless of outside influences.

Now is your time to shine, if you hold the focus and keep steadfast to the cause of truth and love. Do not be distracted by the dream stealers that just want your attention to stray over here and over here to this shiny thing or this immense promise. This just takes your valuable energy away from yourself.

Instead focus steadfastly on your dreams! Hold them dearly in your hearts and never let them go! Dream big my fledgling Elohim! Dream big and hold to your dreams and we guarantee that they will come true! But again, you must hold steadfast to the wheel through the storm of distraction. Always focused on your dreams, without being distracted by thoughts and time constraints and 14

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projections from others that you should do this or that!

The universe has waited for eons for your return beloved hearts. The Universe has waited for you to remember your Divine Power. For you to remember, that you are divine power it self. For you to remember, that you are the Creator of Stars! And to help you remember, we remind you to start a bit smaller first, before you reach for the stars, to remind yourself one step at a time that you are an amazing and powerful creator of reality. And we remind you to notice every magical creation and congratulate yourself when you manifest these things. To honor yourself for each divine manifestation, no matter how big or how small.

If you do not acknowledge your manifestations you will just carry on like humanity does, thinking they are lucky or unlucky. Thinking that reality creates itself by chance, rather than through your conscious intent.

So you must let go of the old world and it’s archaic beliefs of lack and competition! You must be born again, as if nothing existed prior to 2013! And everything that existed prior to 2013 was just like a historic movie.

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This is a new world you are creating! But before you can create a new world that you have been envisioning and dreaming of since the day you woke up from your amnesia., you must create a new world for yourself, within yourself. It is time to start again. You are now born again.

Yes, all the wisdom you have amassed from your past guides you, but do not cling too dearly to what has comforted you in the past, because we can assure you that there are much greater comforts in store for you in this new world you are creating for yourself.

What do you want in your life? Whatever is your wildest dream, you may have it! Dream it, see it, believe it, think it, envision it, imagine it and feel it – and it will surely manifest, without fail - if you are steadfast and unrelenting and do not ever give up – ever ever ever!!!

If you can be distracted from your dreams by conflict, drama, gossip, codependence, attachments and addictions. And you listen to people that have no idea what they are talking about, that do not know how to guide themselves, who give advice to others based upon their fears - then you will lose your dreams, and you will struggle to manifest your heart dreams and desires.

And you may say, “it is not possible to consciously create reality, I have tried.” Or you may say, “that positive thinking, positive affirmation and Law of Attraction stuff doesn’t work, because I tried it for a couple of weeks!”.

You may say, “I’ve been working at manifesting for 10 years now and it hasn’t worked, I’m not a millionaire!”

Well, we can say for a fact, that if you had been fully and completely focused and steadfast on creating specific desires, in a specific and empowered way, you would have them by now. Because we know how the Law of Attraction works. It is not the recommendation of attraction, it is the Law of Attraction.

Did you meditate, affirm, write, imagine, feel and focus 100% of your attention and especially your feelings?

Completely knowing in your heart that it is going to manifest? Feeling it like when you were a child and you knew that there were presents waiting for you at Christmas or Hanukkah. You knew they were there, you could see them, and you were so excited that you were crawling in your skin! If you had done this, with full conviction and feeling, even for a short period of time every day, completely focused on your dreams and goals?

If you had done this, you would have them all by now!

This is not speculation, it is Law! Just reading “Think and Grow Rich” once, isn’t going to do it for you. Just going to one seminar on the Law of Attraction, isn’t going to manifest the goodies for you.

Placing .05% of your attention and focus on your dreams will only manifest .05% of your dreams. Placing 10% of your attention and focus on your dreams will only manifest 10% of your dreams, etc.

But it does not matter what you have done, what maters is what you are going to do now! Because of the increased levels of light and the increased amount of awakened souls that are collectively focused on self empowerment – it is going to be a thousand times easier for the light workers to manifest what they truly desire, regardless of what anyone else wants or doesn’t want you to do.

The key is to focus internally, not externally. Do this and you will manifest what you want. If you focus externally, you will just do what other people want you to do to suit them, not you. You must learn to guide yourself then you do not need to listen to what anyone else says about anything or anyone. You don’t need anyone else’s advice or guidance about what decision to make about this or that, because you have your own guidance and your heart knows best.

Learn how to “Tummy Test” (info on my website), or muscle testing or whatever method of receiving guidance works for you. But the point is, do not listen to gossip and only listen to people that are well and truly authorities in that field, not just theorists. Not just people that have done a course and are now “authorities” on that subject. Listen to people who have what you want and who have been where you are now.

And above all, listen to your own guidance and intuition, then, no matter what happens on planet earth with the money systems, or governments, or food, or water…you will always be in the right place, at the right time, doing the right thing with the right people!

ZaKaiRan www.EarthAscensionTimes.com Empowering you to easily and gracefully Create Heaven in your Life and Co-Create Heaven on Earth! To Infinite & Beyond! www.zakairan.com

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Into the Mists of Avalon...

Part 2: Avalon - The Priestess & the Pathway

by Serene Conneeley

Glastonbury has touched the hearts of millions from around the world and inspired a growing Goddess movement.

C

arved into the side of Glastonbury Tor is an ancient labyrinth, which winds around the hill in seven levels. Pilgrims walk the spiral path to the Eggstone, the psychic centre of the labyrinth, and back out as a meditation and a transformational step in their own spiritual development – a modern-day initiatory experience or rite of passage.

It’s an amazing process, a sacred ritual that you can do alone or with a group of people with the same intent. I set out with a friend yet walked it alone, into my heart, my self, my desires, my needs, my limits. I moved through the mists of my mind, and through the veil that separates the real world from the otherworld that lies over Glastonbury.

A few days later I walked back out – away from my past and towards my future, towards my true self. I felt lighter,

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transformed, having let go of my fears and the things that had scarred me, the things that no longer mattered. It’s a personal journey, a way to deal with the past, prepare for the future, answer a question or learn to listen to inner guidance.

Walking Into Yourself A labyrinth is a walk into yourself, reflecting the patterns of life and of the earth. They’re found the world over, and are a wonderful form of walking meditation, quietening the mind, opening the heart and expanding the spirit. I’ve walked labyrinths in England and in Brazil, and there’s currently one being finished in Sydney’s Centennial Park.

You can also create one yourself, using chalk marks on the ground, embroidering one into fabric that you don’t mind stepping on, laying out pebbles, crystals or shells to

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Avalon's primary power lies in its ability to connect us with ourselves and our inner wisdom. mark your pathway, or growing herbs or flowers into the border pattern you want – the latter is a beautiful longterm project. And not only can you walk your labyrinth physically, feeling its power rising up through your feet and imprinting itself on your soul – but you can also carry it out in your mind’s eye as a visualisation. So much of magical and healing work is about learning to physically embody the spiritual, and walking a labyrinth – releasing what you need to let go of as you walk in, finding peace and a sense of centred balance in the middle, then incorporating this new lightness of being as you return, transformed, to the outside – can capture this and help you bring about personal change.

The Art of Scrying One of the legends of Glastonbury is of the priestesses who lived there in the time of the Druids, who divined answers and glimpses of the future in the surface of the Chalice Well. But this ancient art is something you can do anywhere, because connecting to your intuition is about connecting with your heart. If there is no sacred well near you, you can still scry using a bowl of water, a crystal ball, a piece of black obsidian, a lake or a pool of ink.

To try scrying, fill a bowl with water, add some ink if you prefer, then light a candle or sit outside under the moonlight, and gaze at the water’s surface. Clear your mind and focus solely on the water. Take note of any images you see, either floating there or in your mind’s eye, and write them all down so you can analyse and start to interpret them later. Another way is to use a scrying mirror, which is the method the famed seer Nostradamus employed. To make one, you need a picture frame. Remove the glass, give it a clean, then paint one side of it with matt black paint, covering it as evenly as possible. Several coats, allowing drying time between each one, will ensure there is no light shining through the glass. When dry, reassemble, with the unpainted side facing outward. Consecrate it, then begin your scrying.

If you’re using a tool to scry, you can boost the effect by rubbing fresh mugwort leaves on the surface to strengthen its power. Magical herbalists also recommend drinking an infusion of mugwort tea before divination work to boost psychic abilities, as well as burning mugwort and wormwood incense while scrying.

Accessing Avalon from Afar Truly beautiful art can transport you to the realm of Avalon and connect your heart to it. One of my favourite artists for this is John E Shannon, whose evocative, mist shrouded paintings – including Lady Avalon, Morgana Le Fay, Morning Mist and The MorningWatch – capture the haunting magic of this place and touch my heart so deeply (www. jeshannon.com).

Avalon is also brought vividly to life in Marion Zimmer Bradley’s enchanting bestseller The Mists of Avalon, and the movie starring Julianna Margulies and Anjelica Huston that was based on it. It details the pre-Christian goddess worship of the Old Religion and the real-life magic of the priestesses of Avalon. Through this and other legends, Glastonbury has touched the hearts of millions from around the world and inspired a growing Goddess movement.You can study to become a modernday Priestess of Avalon through the Goddess Temple (www.goddesstemple.co.uk). Seekers undergo a three-year apprenticeship and initiation into the tradition, studying to reclaim the role of healer and keeper of wisdom, celebrating the cycles of life and nature. While it is best suited to people living in England, so they can take part in local rituals throughout the year, there is also an online correspondence course available.

The energy of Avalon and Glastonbury is one of gentle nurturing combined with the strength and power of your inner priestess, which can be invoked right now. Avalon is a reminder that we need to connect with nature wherever we are. This realm is not merely a geographical location, but also a place within our hearts – the place where magic resides.Yes, I still love visiting Glastonbury, and no doubt will again, but its primary power lies in its ability to connect us to nature, wherever we are in this world, and to connect us with ourselves and our inner wisdom.

Serene Conneeley is the author of Seven Sacred Sites,Witchy Magic and many more, and creator of the meditation CD Sacred Journey. www.sereneconneeley.com

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The Prophet at the Dawn of the New Age ...Part

2

by D G Mattichak jr D G Mattichak Jr. is a Hermetic occultist and Thelemite who has written extensively on the subject of ceremonial magick, Qabalah and the Aeon of Horus. Check out Dgmattichakjr's blogs - Blogging About Everything; http://dgmattichakjr.com/ or Ankhafnakhonsu's Magick Blog; http://ankhafnakhonsu.net/

Aleister Crowley

The Argentium Astrum & The Equinox

The A.A. was founded by Crowley with the help of George Cecil Jones and a new devotee of the Beast named J F C Fuller during 1907 and combined the teachings that Crowley had followed in the Golden Dawn with the techniques that he had learned from practicing yoga at the hands of Allan Bennett in Ceylon and included a heavy influence from Crowley's new creed Thelema. The central goal of the practices of the A.A. are to firstly attain the knowledge and conversation of the Holy Guardian Angel and then to pass through the ordeal of the abyss in which the illusory self of the ego is destroyed and the True Will of the individual is revealed.

The practice of the A.A. is broken into ten steps, or grades, each one corresponding to a Sephiroth on the Tree of Life beginning at the base in Malkuth, ten, and ending at the pinnacle in the perfect unity of Kether. In order to prepare the candidate for this path of initiation Crowley 18

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devised a complex set of practices designed to empower the magician with the skills necessary for the Great Work of uniting their microcosm with the Macrocosm.

Ostensibly to preserve these magickal practices beyond the rapidly approaching Apocalypse which Crowley believed that the Book of the Law must bring on to usher in the new Aeon (from the many prophetic verses in the Book of the Law itself- many of which have proven correct) Crowley began publishing an occult periodical in 1909. This took the form of hard cover books of several hundred pages in length published biannually called The Equinox.

Sporting the motto of the A.A., The Method of Science The Aim of Religion, these volumes were the vehicle for spreading the word of the new Aeon and the practices of magick that were employed by the Hermetic Orders to a wider audience. Often referred to as the encyclopedia of ceremonial magick the material in The Equinox has been used over and again as the basis for new magickal groups

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in the century since its publication. It is without a doubt the most comprehensive compilation of occult teachings and Hermetic magickal practices ever attempted and almost every work on magick that followed it has, knowingly or otherwise, been heavily influenced by it.

The A.A. soon grew to be an important magickal order and had many notable members including Austin Osman Spare and Victor Neuburg. Crowley had finally divorced Rose and in 1910, in the company of his Scarlet Woman of the time, Leila Waddell and Neuburg he performed a series of magickal ceremoies for the public entitled The Rites of Eleusis and the public life of the Great Beast was begun.

The Sex Magick of Ordo Templi Orientis and The Paris Working

In 1912 Crowley published one of his most curious and magickal works; The Book of Lies. This book conceals much of the qaballistic symbolism of Crowley's A.A. system of ceremonial magick including two rituals of extreme importance to the order, The Mass of the Pheonix and The Ritual of the Star Ruby. It also proved to be the catalyst for an association with another magickal order that would persist to the end of the Beast's life, the Ordo Templi Orientis or OTO.

Much has been written about OTO and its intentions, some labeling it the most dangerous secret society in the world while others deem it to be little more than an old boys club. Either way, in the early Twentieth Century it became a very serious occult society that had been founded by a wealthy Austrian industrialist Karl Kellner and the eccentric tantric occultist Theodore Reuss around 1900. In 1912 Ruess had assumed control over the order after the death of his partner and after reading Crowley's The Book of Lies called on him and declared that he had revealed the central secret of OTO. Pointing to Chapter 69 in the work he informed the Beast that as he had revealed this secret that he should therefore have the corresponding degree of initiation conferred upon him and Crowley's career in OTO began. Within two years the Beast was the head of OTO in the English speaking world and upon Reuss' death in 1923 Crowley assumed the role of Outer Head of the Order.

OTO proved to be a fertile ground for Crowley to spread

his creed of Thelema and he rapidly took to the task of rewriting the order's ceremonies with a new aeonic theme including his most famous rite, The Gnostic Mass. When he had finished he had transformed OTO from a quasimasonic group into the official organ of Thelema in the outer world, mirroring his more arcane orgaization the A.A. for which OTO acted as something of a recruiting ground.

Crowley's interest in sex magick predated his association with OTO and began during his 1909 sojourn in Algeria with Victor Neuburg which was subsequently recounted in Crowley's book The Vision and The Voice. At the end of 1913 Crowley renewed his partnership with Neuburg to perform what is arguably one of the Beast's most famous works of magick; Opus Lutetianum, or The Paris Working.

In a series of two dozen ceremonies the pair invoked the old Roman gods Jupiter and Mercury with mixed results including a shadowy prophecy of WWI. At the completion of this series of operations a new phase in Crowley's life began as he took an extended tour of America that lasted for the duration of the Great War.

The Wickedest Man Alive: Secret Agent 666

Crowley had always attracted a certain amount of scandal and even as early as his days in Cambridge had notoriously turned his literary skills to writing a homoerotic pornographic novel entitled White Stains. Controversy continued to follow his affairs, as was the case during the Golden Dawn schism in 1900 and the ensuing quarrels

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over the leadership of the order which came to a climax in 1909 when the Beast published his old magickal order's secret documents in The Equinox Volume 1, Number 2 as part of the long biographical series on Crowley in the periodical called The Temple of Solomon the King

by Capt. JFC Fuller. The quarrel that ensued ended up in court and while Crowley won the case it was at a cost to his reputation which was once again the subject of scandalous reports of his doings. His reputation for amorality, taste for narcotics and his amorphous sexuality inspired the English tabloid press to dub Crowley "The Wickedest Man in the World".

During the Great War Crowley seems to have been in the employ of His Majesty's Secret Service as an agent provocateur while at the same time recruiting an ever growing following of acolytes who he inducted into either OTO or his beloved A.A.. While traveling across the US with yet another incarnation of the Scarlet Woman Jeanne Robert Foster (and her cuckolded husband) Crowley claimed to have conceived his magickal son with her (using sex magick) as the Book of the Law had prophesied that he would in the form of Charles Stanfield Jones who had recently been 'born' as a Master of the Temple in the A.A., a claim that Crowley would later recant. In any event, creating this homunculus remained an enduring 20

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magickal ambition of the Great Beast and he even wrote a novel about his efforts entitled Moonchild.

His overtly subversive mission in the United States during the war was to infiltrate Germany's influential propaganda machine that was based there which by all accounts he did with aplomb. It was also during this period that he claimed his greatest successes with magick and attained the highest practical grade within his A.A. scheme of initiation, Magus. At the end of the war Crowley returned quietly to Britain before once again heading to the Continent where he began the most well known and so the most controversial period in his tumultuous life on the Mediterranean island of Sicily.

The Abbey of Thelema

In 1920 Crowley had yet another Scarlet Woman, the painter Leah Hirsig who he had met in New York around the end of the war and who had inspired Crowley to paint his critically acclaimed 'Dead Souls' series of paintings.

He was also performing rites of sex magick with another woman referred to in Confessions as Soror Cypris and both women became pregnant by him. Using the I Ching for guidance the Beast set off from his temporary lodgings in Paris with Cypris to find a suitable place to establish a Thelemite spiritual retreat where he could teach aspirants his A.A. system of magickal attainment. At first the experiment seemed to be a success and Crowley spent many months writing as well as painting murals on the inner walls of the Abbey itself which have gone on to become objects of veneration by many Thelemites.

Leah, who's first child with Crowley had died a year earlier, lost her child and when he discovered that Cypris had been using black magick against Hirsig he expelled Cypris from the Abbey. This began the scandal surrounding Crowley's utopian commune which only became worse after one of his novices, Raoul Loveday, died of cholera after drinking water from a local creek.

The story was twisted in the press so that it blew up into a scandal (Loveday was said to have died from drinking the blood of a cat that had been ritually sacrificed) and the net result was that Crowley was expelled from Italy by Benito Mussolini in 1923.

After Crowley's departure the Abbey quickly disbanded and eventually the building was left to fall into ruin. It is currently unoccupied and Crowley's murals are rapidly fading inspiring sporadic but unsuccessful efforts to

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preserve the property as a shrine to the Great Beast.

Crowley went at first to Tunisia and then back to France, taking Leah, who he called his Ape of Thoth, with him but their relationship suffered and they parted in 1924, although Hirsig remained loyal to him and even worked as his scribe as late as 1925. After this Crowley drifted around Europe until in 1929 he was expelled from France, ostensibly because of his immorality but most probably for reasons of espionage. He returned to England and once again managed to reinvent himself to begin yet another phase in his life.

Magick in Theory and Practice

During his stay in Paris Crowley finally finished what many consider to be his Magnum Opus, Magick in Theory and Practice. This seminal volume on ceremonial magick was begun as a result of a series of operations of sex magick with Mary Desti in 1911 that conjured an entity named Abuldiz. It outlines the entire course of magick as it was practiced by the Great Beast in his magickal order and includes all of the principal rituals of A.A. suitable for novices including the complete Pentagram and Hexagram Rituals from the old Golden Dawn instructions. The format recalled Eliphas Levi’s masterwork Dogma et Rituel by presenting the theory of modern magick in twenty-two chapters which coincide with the twenty-two letters of the Hebrew Alphabet. In it Crowley explained the various magickal formula employed by Hermetic magick and its appendices included many of his Holy Books of Thelema.

Magick in Theory and Practice was only one part of a larger work called Book 4 which also contained instructions for performing yoga, making and consecrating the magick weapons as well as a complete explanation of the Book of the Law; The Equinox of the Gods. The last thing that Crowley did in Paris was to ensure that this volume was published and it has gone on to become the standard book of reference for ceremonial magick.

After the fiasco at the Abbey of Thelema at Cefalu, Crowley seemed bent on rehabilitating his reputation, at least somewhat and his expulsion from France was a blow. He made some effort to promote himself in a more positive light in the English press with limited success until he became involved in yet another scandal that dragged his life very publicly through the courts.

In her 1932 novel Laughing Torso, Nina Hamnett called Crowley a black magician for which the Beast promptly sued her for libel. It is hard to understand what motivated Crowley to do this as the obvious reaction would be for Hamnett’s lawyers to dig up Crowley’s seedy past, which they did and the case was thrown out by Justice Swift who said; “I have never heard such dreadful, horrible, blasphemous and abominable stuff as that which has been produced by the man who describes himself to you as the greatest living poet.” The damage to Crowley’s reputation was fatal and the cost of the proceedings bankrupted him, a state from which he never recovered.

Even so, Crowley always seemed to have the money to fund his champagne lifestyle and while he is rumored to have spent the 1930s engaged in His Majesty’s Secret Service efforts to thwart the rise of Hitler’s Nazi Germany (see Secret Agent 666- Richard B. Spence) and at the same time he was pouring a lot of effort and other people’s money into the purchase of Mandrake Press which he intended to use to publish his autohagiographical work The Confessions of Aleister Crowley. After a short trip across Portugal with his latest Scarlet Woman Hanni Jaeger he famously faked his own death and some sources even have him involved with a scheme to convert Hitler to Thelema which fell apart when the dictator showed his true colors, although Crowley had been blacklisted by the SS as a “high grade Freemason” in 1934...to be continued.

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Wild Woman Weekend!

Michele-lee Phelan’s art is the key to opening and expressing the realms of earth, spirit, and the imagination.

A painter of dreams,dragons, mythology, goddesses and faeries.

Michele-lee promotes and sells her book, oracle decks, original artworks, and fine art prints via her website Dreams of Gaia: www.dreamsofgaia.com

w w w. d r e a m s o f g a i a . c o m

“‘Mystical art and illustration of Michele-lee Phelan’”.

is an annual event held in the bush lands of Western Australia that gifts a sacred, magical space for women to gather together to share stories, wisdom & journeys, to connect with Mother Earth & Goddess Moon, and to empower & encourage one another to embrace the wild within.

Now in its 8th year, the custodians Ariana & Larissa have dreamed this years inspiration – Rise of the Phoenix – to embrace the swirling energies of new beginnings and ignite the fires of creation; to journey from the ashes of the old world into the beauty, wonder and potential of the new. With drumming around the fire, dancing, meditations, creativity, sumptuous magical feasting & weaving the threads of sisterhood, this year promises to sing to your very soul.

Accommodation, nourishment & magical shenanigans are all inclusive all you need to bring is the wild woman within!

For more information hop onto the website or find Wild Woman Weekend on facebook.

www.wildwomenweekend.com

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Labyrinths

by Ceri Norman

L

The many musets thro ugh the which he goes Are like a labyrinth to amaze his foes.

Shakespeare’sVenus & Adonis, Stanza 12

abyrinths are found all over the world. Their distinctive designs can be found within churches, on village greens, carved on rocks and even as body art throughout the ages. Designs vary immensely, though the most well known is the classic seven ring labyrinth as found carved on a rock in Rocky Valley near Tintagel.

The intriguing design of a labyrinth can temporarily ensnare the senses as well as the whole of a person methodically tracing their way in and out of the design.

There is something separate, something sacred and special 24

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to walking a labyrinth. Often labyrinths and mazes are confused but while a maze may have many directions for you to take a labyrinth has only one path to follow.

The symbol has many uses, most commonly labyrinths have been utilised as processional walkways for meditation or magical purpose, but they also appear as protective emblems on the walls and floors of Roman buildings. The most famous labyrinth comes from Greek mythology.

Although known as a labyrinth, the description actually suggests a maze. On the orders of King Minos, Daedalus designed and constructed the complex labyrinth at

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Knossos on the Isle of Crete. The purpose of the labyrinth was to hold the Minotaur, a half-man and half-beast. The design was so complex that Daedalus had trouble finding his way and the hero, Theseus, who killed the Minotaur only found his way out thanks to Ariadne’s thread.

It is from the Minoans of Crete and the Lydians of what is now Turkey that we get the word ‘labyrinth’. It is generally thought that the word derives from the ancient royal symbol of the labrys - a ceremonial double edged axe, so Labyrinth means ‘place of the labrys’. During excavations in Crete many of these labrys symbols were found, many closely associated with female figures. A clay tablet from Knossos records "to all the gods honey; to the mistress of the labyrinth honey" indicating that the labyrinth had a mistress or perhaps a Goddess. As Kerényi points out in his work Dionysos, the mistress must have been very important to receive the same amount of honey as all the rest of the gods put together!

Ancient labyrinths were not unique to Greece; Pliny in his Natural History mentions four labyrinths: the Cretan labyrinth, an Egyptian labyrinth, a Lemnian labyrinth and an Italian labyrinth. Halfway across the planet the same design was also being utilised in the Americas, where the labyrinth is often shown with a man standing at the entranceway. This ‘Man in the Maze’ is the creator God I’itoi who lives in a cave. The labyrinth design is said to be a map to his domain beneath the earth or a map of his house, depending on the tribe. Labyrinths are also found in Christian churches. Chartres Cathedral has a fabulous example as does Norwich Cathedral. In churches, labyrinths were used to represent the Holy City of Jerusalem or as a kind of substitution for pilgrimages there, in the seventeenth century certain French labyrinths were described as “paths to Jerusalem” (Wright – The Maze and the Warrior).

Labyrinths were also built outside, not necessarily on holy ground. In the churchyard of St John’s, Glastonbury is a very small, but lovely labyrinth which I love to walk whenever I am in the area. It makes an interesting comparison to the nearby Tor labyrinth, which surely must be one of the largest labyrinths in the world. Many labyrinths - confusingly called turf mazes - are found on village greens, where they were hewn into the earth or laid out with stones. These turf versions were often

used for the rather more Pagan May Day or Beltane celebrations rather than for the purposes of pilgrimage.

In Britain several of these turf mazes were also known as ‘Troy Towns’. The name Troy Town probably alludes to the allegedly labyrinthine walls of the ancient city of Troy.

In Scandinavia, Troy Towns made with stones were often located along the coast line; their purpose was to trap or slow down strong winds within their design in order to protect the local fishermen.

New labyrinths are still being built today for religious and secular reasons, and labyrinth walking courses are incredibly popular. There are hundreds of walkable labyrinths in the UK and all over the world. http:// labyrinthlocator.com is a great database to explore as it has a very handy search function allowing you find any labyrinths near you. Alternatively, you can easily create your own labyrinth at home, either by planting a design out in the garden or by drawing a chalk outline on the floorboards of your home. For a temporary labyrinth, draw one out on a beach. Even drawing a labyrinth on a sheet of paper will give you something to work with as you can trace it with your finger.

To walk a labyrinth is to journey within and to be transformed. The clear delineation of the pathway seems to separate the interior of the labyrinth from the outside world. Within a labyrinth you follow a single path that leads you into and around the labyrinth before eventually taking you back out the way you came. This brings order to chaos and turns the mind inward to active yet contemplative meditation. We journey deeper, within ourselves and our souls. As we walk to its centre, we find our own centre. Too often we rush from A to B, never bothering to enjoy the journey, or life for that matter.

Take your time with a labyrinth, follow your own rhythm - that of your steady heartbeat and pacing feet. Treat the experience as something sacred and it will be. We emerge from the labyrinth to the same physical place as where we first entered it, yet we can emerge as somehow different on every other level.

Bright blessings.

Ceri Norman is a perpetual student of the earth’s mysteries and the author of Celtic Maidens and Serpent’s Mound. www.cerinorman.com

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"Witch In The City" Interviews - 'Spiral Dance'

by Lizzy Rose

W

hen I think of Avalon I can’t go past the talented Celtic band ‘Spiral Dance’ who hail from Adelaide South Australia. So I sat down with Adrienne Piggott and her band for an afternoon of delightful conversation and interesting journeys that led me through Glastonbury, Chalice Well gardens and the Tor. If your ears haven’t yet been blessed by this group and their beautiful music I’d like to be the one to introduce you to a journey of magick myth and legend.

Q. What is Avalon to you? What comes to mind when I say “The Spirit of Avalon”?

Adrienne - I love the term Avalon – it conjures up all sorts of magical, beautiful images of a land I hold close to my heart. A place I can go in my mind where the horned God walks the greenwood, standing stones dot the landscape, the spirits of the trees whisper and the Goddess and the Green Man are ever present. The Spirit of Avalon is alive and real, the spirit of the land.

Q. What can Australian private and public-practising pagans learn from Avalon and from England? In turn what does the UK offer Australian pagans and how connected do you feel we are in Australia to our English roots?

Adrienne –Most of us are new comers to this great southern land and we all have ties to somewhere faraway, a tribe and ancestors from another time and place. Many of us started our spiritual journey via the teachings and practices from those far away lands and as our ancestors were part of those lands it’s only natural for us to follow those feelings and ideas, to want to connect to those teachings. The Druids were the priests and teachers of my ancestors in Ireland so I feel drawn to connect with that path just as many pagans in Australia feel connected to many of the spiritual paths that have their roots in Albion. Ours is a relatively new community here in Australia and also much smaller than the UK so there is always teachings to be passed on from the vast amount of history and knowledge that resides in the UK, but while that is important I believe we have to acknowledge the fact that we are part of this land. We need to connect and be part of the land of Australia and incorporate that in our spiritual lives.

Paul - A very good question and not an easy one to answer as I think we all have our own paths and draw inspiration from different things. Obviously there is a strong connection to the Northern Hemisphere, to Europe and to the UK here in Australia, as many of us have our ancestors in the ground there, more so than here. But different groups draw from various arms of paganism, be it Celtic, Egyptian, Greek, Norse etc. But it is interesting that during our travels, the band has had many discussions with pagans all over the World and one common topic is how the sabbats relate to local seasons. Some covens and groups in Australia use the sabbats directly as the Northern hemisphere and call quarters the same too; some 26

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swap them, some move the sabbats through six months to reflect the summer/winter change. But honestly, if you think about it, it’s a lot more complicated than that and it’s becoming increasingly common to observe the local conditions and work with them – working with nature, if you will.

Q. How influential is the U.K when you’re song writing?

Adrienne – The legends, myths and folk music of the UK has been a huge influence on my song writing. My ancestors hail from Great Britain and Ireland, I am first generation Australian and growing up surrounded by stories of my parents home and lives and those of my ancestors always made me long to venture there. My imagination has been fired by the calendar customs and traditions of those faraway lands of my people and my tribe.

Q. Spiral Dance latest album “Through a Sylvan Doorway” externally and internally brings to life the journey of the greenwood, the horned man and the fae folk, when creating such magick how much do you feel is channelled through you? And how much is born intentionally when song writing?

Adrienne - I think it is a bit of both. I think most song writers would agree that sometimes they don’t know where a song comes from, it’s like a gift and it falls onto the page, other times it takes deep intentional thought to write lyrics and create a song. There are times I look back on certain songs I have written and wonder how I managed to write that or wonder where it came from as I can’t actually remember thinking the words – they just happened!!!

Q. Do you privately incorporate your songs into your spiritual practises? If so and you’re happy to share, which songs would you sing or speak when in ritual?

Adrienne – My spiritual path and practises are very intertwined with my musical path and that is all tied to the cycle of the seasons and the cycle of life, of being in touch with the earth and her mysteries.

You need to live it. I can’t imagine day-to-day life without songs and music, how our voices resonate with the energies of the beauty of nature that surrounds us everywhere. ‘Rise up’ I sing to the beautiful full moon. In the very early days of my journey I used ‘Magick’ in ritual but these days I tend to chant more. Sometimes before meditating in my own circle I sing a chant of Brighid, Cerredwin Bloduwedd, Morrigan, Rhiannon, Danu, Arianrhod. This always moves me into a lovely headspace!

Q. Spiral Dance has travelled throughout Australia, have you been blessed to play in every state? If so what parts of Oz remind you of the U.K and why?

Adrienne- We have been lucky enough to have played everywhere in Australia except the Northern Territory and we hope to get there next year. Tasmania comes to mind as reminding me a little bit of

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Lizzy Rose Australias's Celebrity Psychic.

Specialising in Psychic, Clairvoyant,Tarot & Medium Readings. High Priestess of Mumma MoonWomen's Circles & Goddess Temple Gatherings.

Email lizzyrosebookings@gmail.com www.lizzyrose.com.au 0452 479 505

'Spiral Dance'

parts of the UK. Could be the climate, the European trees and the village feel of so many little towns in Tasmania; could be its history with the English settlement there? There’s parts of Tasmania that are dark and Secretive like so many areas of the UK but in saying that Tassie is very much part of this great land and unique!!! I think as so many of us have ties to Great Britain we tend to let that influence where and how we live. I live in the beautiful Adelaide Hills and I have a very English cottage garden and some lovely non-native trees. I also adore the native bush land where I live.

Q. How do you feel each Australian state compares spiritually, in regards to the pagan public community? How does this vary with the U.K? Adrienne –We love the pagan communities wherever we go in Australia and they all feel like family. Each state is unique yet they are alike in many ways, people from many pagan and spiritual paths organising various events so the community can gather. I think it’s important that each state has community events so likeminded pagans can take part and learn, then we can reach out across the borders and connect. South Australia has a very strong pagan community as well and Spiral Dance are a bit of a vortex for this community and

so make sure we put on lots of events so the community can gather and share. My latest project has been a ‘Bardic Circle’ for the SA Pagan community. A regular gathering to share stories, poetry and songs. I really believe that this is an important part of a persons’ spiritual journey. So much creativity has emerged and it’s only early days yet. I am very excited about that!! You know even though we are in different hemispheres and the population of the UK pagan community is so much larger than here in Australia we are not so very different. We met folk at gatherings and events in the UK that could have been from our communities here. I felt very much at home in the UK surrounded by Pagans, Druids and the folk of many paths.

Q. Have you ever had the honour of performing at, or close to Glastonbury, Avebury or the Tor? What would you recommend a first timer to the U.K do at such sites?

Adrienne – Glastonbury was our first gig in the UK. Glastonbury is a fascinating and spell binding place, I don’t think I have ever been anywhere quite like Glastonbury. Mystical, magical shops line the High Street and small side allies selling an array of beautiful pagan wares from Green Men to exquisite handmade incense. Hippies, Goths and spiritual folk all wandering the streets mingling with the

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"Witch In The City" interview with - 'Spiral Dance' cont...

locals. It’s a crossroads for many paths, a place that still holds ancient power. We climbed the Tor, that strange and beguiling hill in a fine mist of rain and marvelled at the beauty of the countryside below and felt we had truly arrived at somewhere very, very special. Each of us carried a unique experience of our time on the Tor back down to the Chalice Well Gardens where we spent some quite meditative time sitting by the ancient spring, a place of peace and inspiration. At the end of our tour we travelled to the beautiful county of Wiltshire, to Avebury Stone Circle, Silbury Hill and The West Kennett Long Barrow. The energies in this part of Wiltshire are very alive; you can feel it when you walk around the stones and the wild and woolly day with the wind whipping around our faces added to the atmosphere of this magical landscape. Seeing ribbons and small offerings tied to branches and twigs of a beech tree reminded me this was still a sacred place. For anyone who goes to any of the sacred sites in the UK, just soak up the energies and feel your own way – the earth will speak to you!

Q. As a band you have been around for a few decades now, what would you say collectively is your top 3 memories for Spiral Dance?

Adrienne – Our first gig in the States many moons ago playing to a crowd that stretched out across a field and most of them were singing the words of our songs. More recently meeting a soldier who had just returned from Afghanistan and told us that the songs of Spiral Dance on his iPod had acted as a lifeline to sustain him through some very tough times and helped support him when he thought all was lost and the third would be the gig in Glastonbury back in November 2012.

Q. “Sing the Stones” is a powerful song dedicated to mother earth with an important message for the global environment; do you feel that there should be a strong pagan presence in politics? Do you feel pagans should make more public noise and raise more awareness in support of climate change and preserving our sacred sites, than they currently do? If yes, how do you think we should tackle this?

Adrienne – When I wrote that song I was feeling such anger and pain for mother earth and what was happening on so many levels to our planet that writing ‘Sing the Stones’ was a way of healing my anger. Every time I sing that song I nearly cry. Paganism is an earth-based spirituality.

Surely this is what being a pagan is all about – respecting and caring for Mother Earth, our environment. For me paganism is a green spirituality, an honouring of the earth, the seasons and the elements, the wheel of the year and working with the natural world. If we don’t have awareness of nature and the environment around us and choose to live only surrounded by concrete, plastic and air conditioning we lose touch with the vitality of nature, with the natural energies of the earth. We all need to walk on Mother Earth gently. We can all be part of the healing and it can be done in the smallest of ways from how you deal with the environment around your home, recycling etc to joining a land care group or to having a louder voice in the community. How each of us chooses to do that 28

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has to be right for the individual but I believe there is something each of us can do.

Q. Your song “Rise Up” holds a special place in my heart particularly the line, “ Rise up rise up- light the skies up- Rise up Old Mother Moon will you rise” Where were you when this song came to life and what inspired you?

Adrienne – The chorus ‘Rise Up’ first came to life many years ago when I was working with a group of beautiful women in the Adelaide Hills. We were working on our full moon ritual and wanted to honour Arianrhod, Goddess of the silver wheel so I started to sing the chant and we incorporated it into our ritual then verse by verse the song came to me.

Q. In your latest album you feature Damh the Bard with his song “Spirit of Albion” will Spiral Dance be performing with Damh the Bard in the UK in 2013 and if so, where and when?

Adrienne – We love touring and sharing the stage with Damh – he weaves such magic with his songs and lyrics. Damh has done 3 tours to our fair Southern Land and we are hoping to bring him back later in 2013 around our Beltane time – he and Cerri certainly feel at home here and we feel like we are all family. If Damh comes out to Australia later this year we are hoping to tour Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide with him again. We are currently planning to head to the UK again in 2014 so if we can hook up with Damh and tour with him over there then that would be awesome.

Q. What’s next for Spiral Dance?

Adrienne - Hmm good question – well we are always thinking ahead, working and planning the next adventure. Personally for me I am writing and working on the songs for the next album and some of the feel and stories of this beautiful land will enter into the lyrics. I have just finished a song called ‘Goddess of the Southern Land’ and can’t wait to get that arranged and let the band birth it!! This year we have our English Ale in May, our Winter Solstice in June, tours interstate and all being well will bring Damh the Bard to Australia again, so the band is busy organising our year of performances. Plenty of gigs coming up and lots of lovely, happy time ahead I hope!! http://www.spiraldance.com.au/

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What is a

Herb Combinations:

Hedgewitch?

by ELLEN MAY LONG

H

edge witchcraft is an ever-popular branch of magic favoured by those who prefer ritual to ceremony – that is to say, tradition to grandeur, even if it's a tradition of their own making. A hedgewitch is a practitioner of spells for the here-andnow – the immediate need fulfilled. Generally practised on a solitary basis, its tools are natural or domestic – the bounty of the kitchen and countryside.

Many witches would dispute the origin of the word 'hedgewitch', and the significance of the hedge itself. To me, the hedge is liminal – a place between places – so don't be surprised if you spot faery folk, green men, doorways or portals within and around them. They are some of the only places where large, old trees, and 'weeds' – some of our most useful magical plants – are left alone to thrive.

The Romans and the Anglo-Saxons were prolific hedgelayers, but most British hedges were planted between 1750 and 1850. According to studies, some could be older still – dating back to the Bronze Age, meaning that some British hedges could be composed of parts of the ancient wildwood that once covered the country.

The hedgerow contains a wealth of wild plants used widely in witchcraft and herbal medicine. To put them to use, try this bit of hedge witchcraft for yourself: Create a magical pentagram charm from the wealth of plants found in a hedgerow – particularly those used to attract or repel certain energies.

Strength & Determination -Oak, Ivy & Bramble Home Protection -Rowan, Rosemary & Nettle Wealth & Prosperity - Wheat, Cinnamon & Goldenrod Prophetic Dreams - Willow, Lavender, & Mugwort Love - Hawthorn, Rose & Cinnamon

1

Start drying some herbs – anything in your garden or the hedgerow that you recognise as useful or that you like. Drying them should take no more than a couple of weeks.

2

You'll need 5 straight sticks for the base for your pentagram charm – willow, hazel, and ash are ideal.

For speed, choose willow, which, once stripped of its bark, dries overnight.

3

Assemble your branches in a pentagram shape and tie with strong twine or string at each joint – inner and outer.

4

Layer your herbs on the base, so that there are leaves and/or flowers sprouting from each point of the star. Begin with long stalks – lavender looks particularly good because of the green stems.

Tie everything loosely as you go. Shorter sprigs such as hawthorn, with its red haw berries, can be tied on at the inner joints rather than the tips of the star's points.

5

Finally, wrap a good amount of string tightly around each joint, tying up at the back. Decide which point will be at the top, and make a loop to hang it from using your twine.

6

Then, simply hang your pentagram charm somewhere prominent in your home or business!

Magical Herb Combinations:

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Apple Wisdom & The Wheel of the Year

F

l

rom dream to seed to birth, to blossom to growth to harvest, to decay and back to the earth.

The wheel of Brittannia represents the cycle of the year in all her seasons.

It is how the Priestesses and Priests of Avalon celebrate the passing seasons and each of the nine goddesses recognised in the tradition.

The year is divided into eight celebrations, dedicated to eight different goddesses. The ninth goddess stands at the centre of the wheel linking everything together. In Avalon she is known as the Lady of Avalon, Nolava.

Different aspects of her nature are shown on the wheel, and as we walk on her body, tuning into the different seasons, we begin to understand how we are connected to the earth and all the mysterious ways within her natural world.

Samhain: 31st October Direction: Northwest. Goddess: Cerridwen Power Animals: white sow, crow, hawk and toad

Cerridwen represents death and rebirth – the end of one cycle of the year and the beginning of the new year. This is the time to let go of old habits, releasing them into her cauldron to make way for the new.

Every month a woman experiences the process of death fully within her menstrual cycle; each month she releases an egg – new life that is there for a couple of days only if not fertilised. Releasing this egg can be a very painful process, especially in our modern world because we are not fully honouring our cycle.

Recognise your cycle as a gift linking you to the earth, and the goddess. By honouring this link you will begin to experience belonging. In the natural world, everything is born out of darkness; all seeds, all life. At this time, when the veil is thinnest, remember the dead and plant some apple seeds for your future with intention.

Winter Solstice: 21st December Direction: North. Goddess: Danu Power Animals: owl, wren and eagle

l

This ancient mother of the north covers the earth with a blanket of snow at midwinter, reminding us to slow down and be still, and to connect with our crown of wisdom, held in the stars. She teaches to dream your dream and to begin the 30

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Cerridwen Samhain. Keeper of the Cauldron. Release and let go of all that you no longer need.

Danu Winter Solstice/Yule.

Crown of wisdom. Sit in the stillness and open to your dreams. Ask Danu to dream your dreams awake.

Bridie – Imbolc. Keeper of the sacred flame. Open to the inner voice of Eostre Bridie as she touches you with Spring her white rod of inspiration.

Equinox/ Feel the quickening.

Ostara. Fire Goddess. As the sap rises we feel the energy rising to fire our spirit forward into our ideas and inspiration.

l

by Dechen Chodron

l Banbha Autumn Equinox/ Mabon. Ancient Earth mother. A point of balance in the year, to harvest all Ker that we have dreamt Lammas. into being, as we Corn Goddess. gather in the The harvest is upon crops. us as we give birth to

our ideas and the fruits of the earth.

Domnu – Summer Solstice/Litha.

Goddess of the ocean deep. Journey to the ocean, feel the warmth of Rhiannon the sun on your back as it Beltane. reaches its zenith.

Goddess of love and sexuality.The time is now to meet that someone special … jump the sacred fire.

journey. She can teach us many things, if we are still enough to listen. Take time to meditate at your altar and listen, connecting with the element of air: your breath. Allow yourself to journey out into the vastness of space, into the emptiness. Give yourself space to breathe. Experience the goddess in your meditation, in your dreams, and in your daily life. Ask questions, pray, and listen for the answers in signs all around you in the world and in your dreams and visions. Write down your dreams to help you remember and interpret them.

Imbolc: 1st—2nd February Direction: Northeast. Goddess: Bridie Power Animals: swan, wolf and snake Bridie is a maiden goddess and bringer of the quickening (spring). As Bridie touches the land, she returns the life force to it, just as snowdrops begin to appear. Bridie will whisper in your ear to ignite your ideas, bringing passion to those seeds of inspiration within you. If your passion is strong, the seed will grow as you nurture and tend it, watering it with love and motivation throughout the year, to eventually see it blossom and grow into fruit upon the Tree of Life. Create a ceremony calling back Bridie by lighting a candle in her name, with intention for the new year ahead. This patroness of poetry, healing, and smithcraft can aid us in turning the base metals of our soul into gold. Ask Bridie to heal your unwanted thoughts and memories, so as to reveal your true and radiant self. Give thanks and begin the healing journey home.

Spring Equinox: 21st March Direction: East. Goddess: Eostre Power Animals: hare, rabbit and cat

The word 'Easter' is derived from Eostre. Winter is now over, the sap is rising, and she brings the return of spring as flower, bud and leaf, and in the hope and renewal present in the air after the dark winter. During an equinox, day and night are of equal length, making this a point of balance between dark and light.

She brings the fire and the warmth of the sun back to the earth and to our hearts. She gives us the foresight to carry on when the going gets tough. In Avalon she is the violet flame of love, that sends a ripple of inspiration into the world. Eostre is goddess of fire, and as she dances upon the earth we honour all fires, especially the hearth fire that brings warmth and food, and the spiritual fire, that can strike like lightening, to awaken all those in its path.

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Apple Wisdom & The Wheel of the Year... cont Beltane: 1st–5th May Direction: Southeast. Goddess: Rhiannon Power Animals: horse and birds

Lammas: 1st August Direction: Southwest. Goddess: Ker Power Animals: cow, deer, goat and sheep

Rhiannon, goddess of love and sexuality, is bringer of the beautiful pink apple blossom at Beltane. At this time, when nature is alive with the buzzing of the birds and the bees, and fertility is all around, ask Rhiannon to help you understand your own passion and sexuality. Consider how you feel about your body and your sexual, sensual nature.

As we walk in honour of our sacred selves, we radiate our truth. Then the blossom of our true creativity can shine forth upon the earth for all to see and experience.

We jump the fire either alone or with our loved ones, to honour our commitment to journey with them on the path in the coming year. Build a fire at Beltane and invite your friends to join you around its sacred flames. Some think Beltane is on the 1st of May, however the official Beltane is astrologically on the 5th.

This is the corn mother, the birthing goddess who gives unconditionally and bestows abundance. Now is the time to dance in the light of her prosperity. In this, the first harvest festival of the year, the mother appears, giving birth to all the fruits of nature. Go out into the fully ripened fields of corn and feel the abundance all around you, as vegetables ripen and we eat from her source.

Recognise the special gift of women to give birth. Both men and women can sow seeds in our gardens in harmony with her cycles. At Lammas, bake bread shaped like the goddess in honour of the grain goddess Ker and Madron the mother. Be observant of her creatures: cow, goat, sheep, and deer – the horned ones. Their gifts of milk, meat, skin, and bones will nurture us through the winter.

Summer Solstice. 21st June Direction: South. Goddess: Domnu Power Animals: dolphins, whales, salmon, seals This queen of the ocean is about surrendering to the deep – releasing, relaxing and revealing any pent up emotions held within from the long winter past. The emotions we feel let us know we are truly alive. Many rites of passage in our lives are experienced through our emotions: birth, death, marriage, divorce, and love. Connect with the element of water and pause to remember all of the creatures of the deep. As you experience the sensation of water upon your body, send out a prayer to all the creatures of the ocean, sending love to the water, and asking for healing. As you lay within her body, allow yourself to connect to Domnu, and see what images come to you. Then write the experiences of the day in your journal.

Autumn Equinox: September 21st Direction: West. Goddess: Banbha Power Animals: blackbird, badger, fox, mole and squirrel Banbha is Lady of the orchard, and her time is the festival of the second harvest. We have journeyed from dream to seed, to growth, to blossom, to birth, to harvest. Now we see fulfilment of our dreams as we give thanks for the harvest of fruits, nuts and grains she has produced. The Autumn Equinox is the second point of balance when light is equal to darkness for a day and a night. Light will then begin to recede as we approach winter. Create an altar dedicating offerings of apples to Banbha, and giving thanks for all that you have received in the past year. Dress in the colours of Autumn, and as you go about your daily work, you will be reminded of the festival of Banbha.

Walk upon her body at this time, seeing her transform in a rainbow of colours, as she prepares to return to the inner depths of the earth to rest and rejuvenate.

Dechen was inspired by the Goddess to develop her work as an artist because she discovered the zen of seeing. Dechen runs regular Goddess & AppleWisdom workshops in Glastonbury UK. Her artistic talents cover a range of disciplines including Oil Painting, Sculpture, Land Art,Water art, Photography, Film &Video, Dance, and Storytelling. Visit www.camelot-creations.org.uk 32

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Healing Wells of Cornwall

by Frances Billinghurst

N

atural wells have always been considered as sacred places throughout the British Isles. This was because they were perceived as a direct entrance into the body of the Great Mother Goddess, with water representing the natural life force, the source of both life and fertility. Such wells were often believed be closely guarded by nymphs, or other supernatural creatures, who must be properly propitiated before access to the powers of the waters could be gained.

Paying homage to guardians and the ancient Pagan Gods and Goddesses at the holy wells was so deep-rooted in the consciousness throughout Britain that the Christian Church had to accommodate this Pagan practice to a certain extent. It replaced the Pagan guardians with saints and, therefore, the wells continued to pour out their blessings to all humankind - this time with the approval of the Christian Church. In areas where "too much" Paganism persisted, the Church tried to denounce well worship. However, this was often met with little effect, as the practice of honouring the local well guardian (either under their original name or a new Christianised one) was part of the people's local custom and folklore. Today this association with the Pagan past is still evident in the offerings left by those who have visited the ancient sacred wells.

Many of the wells around Britain and Ireland were accredited with individual powers. Some could be used in order to raise storms at sea, while others could cure various diseases such as eye ailments, toothaches and even barrenness. The offerings, which were regularly made by the local people, or by those who had made special pilgrimages to these sacred wells, depended on the healing powers of the water. Fertility wells were often given pins and brooches, while wells believed to heal toothaches received hazel nuts and twigs. Other popular kind of offering was that of white quartz pebbles.

One of these sacred wells is Madron Well in Cornwall, the country itself being described as a place pre-eminently of dream and mystery by Victorian novelist and poet Thomas Hardy in 1870. Situated some four kilometres north of the village of Madron is a serene and delightful place hidden down an overgrown, woody path, within which the well named after the village's patron saint, St Madron, can be found. It takes about 15 minutes from the car park to walk down this natural green tunnel to the well, but somehow, only about five minutes to walk back. This, in itself, is an uncanny experience adding to the mystery of the place.

This ancient holy well is still in use today and captures the atmosphere of how holy wells used to be in earlier

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centuries when they were more widely used. From the branches of the wishing tree, which stands at the edge of a muddy mire, are rags (known as "clotties") tied as offerings to the spirit of the well.

For hundreds of years people formed the belief that as the rag rotted away, so would their illness.

re The offerings, which we local regularly made by the had o people, or by those wh to these made special pilgrimages on the sacred wells, depended ter. healing powers of the wa And some of the rags looked as if they had been there for a long time if the moss and lichen, which had grown over where they were tied to the branches, was anything to go by. Beneath the branches of the neighbouring overgrown bushes, the entrance to the holy well itself can just be made out.

Much folklore surrounds Madron Well, some still being used today.

Crosses were floated on the water in May, on the first three Sundays or Thursdays, by maidens, linking a connection to the festival of Bealtaine (celebrated at the end of April in the Northern Hemisphere).

Pins were thrown into the water and the number of bubbles counted was said to indicate the number of years before the maiden would marry.

This custom was still being carried out as late as the 1950s where the local girls would go to the well in order to drop pins into the water for wishes to be granted. It is generally thought that many were unaware that they were continuing a long tradition 34

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going back to when the well was a focal shrine for rituals.

Skin diseases are said to be cured if a person walked three times widdershins (against the Sun), then nine times deosil (with the Sun) around the well, then laid to sleep.

The ritual should be performed in silence and a clottie made and left on the nearby Hawthorn tree when the person left the following morning as a token of respect to the Goddess and the water sprites. One documented cure, however, was made in 1640 when a boy crippled playing football followed the ritual of bathing in the well on three successive Thursdays in May and then sleeping on a nearby grassy mound known as St Madron's bed.

Paying reverence to an ancient spirit was a rather uncanny experience.

When I visited Madron Well, it was overgrown and little of the water could actually be seen. But it was obvious that the size of the ancient wells does not matter for the nearby bushes were covered with clotties.

Other wells throughout Britain, under a Christian guise have been turned into modern shrines with elaborate mosaic panels depicting scenes from the Bible, but this is not the case with Madron Well. It was left in its natural form.

Further down the path are the remains of St Madron's chapel, roofed only now by an old fir tree.

The ruin of this medieval enclosure was believed to have been dismantled

by Puritan soldiers in 1646, but this tranquil place is still believed to be used by pilgrims today for services and baptisms. The walls are overgrown with moss and ivy, and ferns now grow through the cracks in the stones. At one end a large http://avalonmagazine-net.webs.com

granite slab, the altar, can be found, often covered with small offerings such as flowers, seashells and even small polished stones. At the other end of the enclosure a small natural spring enters the ruined chapel, trickling into a small stone basin.

All around the site previous visitors had left offerings of small bunches of wild flowers, on both the altar and in the basin, which added to the serene nature of the place.

Over a thousand years ago St Madron is said to have baptised villagers. His feast day is remembered on 17 May. But who really is this St Madron, for there is nothing really known about him?

Cheryl Straffon, in her book Pagan Cornwall - Land of the Goddess, suggests that St Madron seems to be one of the many ancient local Goddesses who had a "sex change" in order for the Christian Church to feel more comfortable with the local Pagan Deities. Madron, she suggests, may have actually been a version of Modron, who is the Mother Goddess of the Welsh tradition. Modron may have been Christianised into the female Welsh St Madrun, who could then have been brought to Cornwall

by Welsh comers. In the process, it is possible that the sex of the Celtic Mother Goddess/saint became masculinised because both the Welsh "Madrun" and the Cornish "Madern" are etymologically identical.

Paying reverence to an er ancient spirit was a rath uncanny experience.

Gaia's Garden C G C reating

Another tradition associated with the sacred wells are that they are cared for by guardians, and that today some local families have taken on this role to look after the sacred wells, especially during tourist season. Indeed, towards the end of my visit at Madron Well an elderly man appeared from almost out of nowhere. Could it be that this gentleman was one of the well guardians? Or maybe Thomas Hardy was correct and this part of Britain was truly a place pre-eminently of dream and mystery.

Frances is an initiatedWytch and High Priestess of an active coven based in Adelaide, South Australia.

She has an interest in the occult and all things magical, as well as folklore and mythology. A prolific writer, her articles have appeared in over 12 separate publications worldwide with essays in Unto Herself: A Devotional Anthology to Independent Goddesses, and Shield ofWisdom: A Devotional Anthology to Athena as well as two anthologies yet to be published

by Avalonia. Her own book, Dancing the Sacred Wheel: A Journey through the Southern Sabbats, can be purchased by contacting the author.

For further information, write to PO Box 2451, Salisbury Downs SA 5108, Australia; visit the Temple's web site www.templedarkmoon.com; or email frances@templedarkmoon. com.

oddess

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s ’ n i l r Me message d e l l e n n a h c

by AppleBlossom

Invoke Merlin for the following qualities: The wise sage, Wizardry, Magic , Teaching, Psychic powers, Healing, Alchemy, Power within, Inner strength, Spell casting, Knowledge, Trickery and humour, Energy shifting, Esoteric beliefs, Skills, abilities, and intellect, Science and maths, Control of will, Prophecy, Laws of cause and effect, Shamanism, Discipline, Creating Magical Tools.

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"Dear child,

Only those I sort out to be seers of the future would be enlightened by my I am not one to be feared. I do have knowledge. many tools and gifts from beyond, but I also find the very thought that I I do not, and will not, use them for was considered mad a bit of a tedious selfish gains or needs. It is my choice indecision amongst your beings. to be known and remembered forever Ludicrous in fact! If mad, then I would more as the wise one. The all knowing sage who not only knew how to combine prefer to be called obsessed with my chemicals to form the solutions to many passion and desire to further push the mathematical formulations, but also to barriers. To extend mans universal combine these chemicals as the alchemist understanding of how things worked.

I am, to create magic‌real magic!

I have a deep yearning for the use of symbols, numerology, maths, and science.

It is my great honour to share what I Together when utilised, like the sum of can with you now, to pass on messages so that once and for all 'my story' reigns one plus one, an outcome or reaction is attained. This was one of my greatest true to mankind, dispelling the myths, theories. That to add one substance to and instead to enlighten the reader of that of another would cause a reaction. the wizard and the bright one of my I was not able to make gold, but I was times that I was. able to achieve and prove on many levels that there are magnetic forces at play It is true that I was a poor man. amongst the human world, as well as However, I did not live with a pig in a the spirit world. Within both realms, sty, indulging in my lack of material although separate, they are also one and gains with sadness. My poorness often recorded in books, is greatly unfounded connected. in many ways, for instead of counting The science of push and pull is what my riches within a pouch, I found causes‌what is caused. It is like waves students to help fund my studies, of energy. When this energy is tugged although even then I mostly taught on at, destroyed, or interfered with by the a volunteer basis. It was my passion to smallest of inflictions, then the total share my strategies and secrets of the sum, degree, and outcome thus changes arts with others. Yet I would be most accordingly. selective in who I chose to retain and keep these secrets.

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This is how my magic worked!It is well known that I was the creator of Stonehenge as well as King Arthur's counsellor and advisor, building him the infamous 'Round Table.' I must laugh at such allegations. Although greatly appreciated and adding to my personal list of credits, I cannot accept this all as truth. Believe if you may, but I like no other man had the ability to move the stones used to create Stonehenge. Look to the stars for this answer! As for the 'Round Table,' yes I was a willing aid and consult in the design of this.

As a parting thought, oh what a disaster it was to even contemplate falling in love with the Lady of the Lake - a delusion of love, trust, and betrayal. Let me say no more about this subject, or she will gloat from her grave in Avalon forever more.

Farewell my traveller between this world, the fantasy, the fiction, the living, and the ones now gone. Farewell to you, child of the Earth."

Apple Blossom (Amanda Phillips) is a natural psychic, medium, and witch. She is also a Reflexologist practitioner, and the author of five books. Apple enjoys writing for many new age magazines in Australia and internationally. For more information: www.appleblossomauthor.com.au

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My First Crop Circles C

rop Circles had held an enormous fascination for me for many years, in fact ever since I originally heard about them and saw my first pictures. I can’t remember exactly when that was, but my initial reaction was one of total awe and I knew in that moment I had to see them for myself.

Finally in 2011 I had the opportunity to go Crop Circle hunting… I experienced four crop circles in one day... all of them were just amazing.

Let me share my story with you.

The first time I visited Avebury Circle I was shown into a little shop call the Henge. It was a quaint special little magical shop, which had all sorts of spiritual bits n pieces on offer.

Everything from Lifestyle Magazines, Natural Health products, Herbs and Healing books, all kinds of Personal growth and wellbeing products, along with Magical books on varied topics; Moon calendars, trinkets, crafts and gifts of varying sorts, with lots of amazing crystals and beautifully designed magical jewellery… I was in heaven!

However, the one thing that stood out and attracted me the most was the huge collection of Crop Circle books, Large posters, cards and paraphernalia. They held a huge fascination for me and I was drawn to them like a bee to honey.

There were even some recent crop circle photos of new ones that had just been found. Immediately it sparked a need within me to find and experience them.

I had no real idea where to look or what to look for, but with eager anticipation I was determined to find them. Having spoken to some knowledgeable locals, I 38

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gathered that there were special places that crop circles were frequently found almost every season and if I took off towards this general area, I was bound to come across at least one. Until then, it hadn’t dawned on me that they would have a regular season, but of course this would coincide with the growing of crops... Doh!. I was also warned that some farmers, whose crops were damaged as a result of the crop circles, were not always happy about the attention they recieved and may not be abligingly hospitable, so I had to be respectful and mindful of the this.

I set off early on a typically wet drizzly English day, with grey cloudy skies’ promising more intermittent rain, adorned with full wet gear and wellies.

First I drove towards the direction of Avebury, as I’d heard there were some new sites having appeared in the area only a week or so before. As I approached the area I felt a buzzing on the top of my head within my crown Chakra, followed by a feeling of head pressure. I was immediately impressed to drive down a particular road that I didn’t know, into a lane and passed what looked like farmhouses. The track had become very muddy, but I felt sure that the adjoining paddock was where I was meant to look. Sure enough, as I walked into these barley crops there were two crop circles within this one paddock and they were huge. ... I was awestruck...

Walking into the circles had an eerie feeling, I approached cautiously at first, and then I spotted some others who had found it also. We exchanged pleasantries and I found out this farmer was ok with

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visitors, even encouraging, having placed a donation honesty box right where everyone would walk into the first circle.

Well why not I though, as his crop was dammaged afterall. Happy at the idea, I made my donation, then proceeded to walk into the circle. There appeared to be small circles all joined together by larger circles and what appeared to be large dots to the side, like wings…

The Barley had been flattened in the one direction, appearing almost gently woven As I got to the middle, the largest of the circles, I decided to lay down on the flat/woven crop; I closed my eyes to connect energetically to the circle’s energy and space. I took some slow deep breaths to opened myself up psychically and clairvoyantly to my surprise I immeadiately saw a huge iridescent bright blue light. This was followed by a white cylindrical light, then I felt a presence and again the pressure in my head returned. In that moment I saw a vision of what appeared to be the base of a spacecraft, whereby it looked like it was hovering above, waiting or about to leave, not that I knew what one looked like, but somehow I knew what it was.

In that moment I felt very peaceful even tranquil and a little elated, and I became quite emotional. It’s hard to describe the feelings I had and the visions I saw.

But I felt very different after that first crop circle experience. I sat up and then walked the full length and breadth of the crop circle, before leaving it to go to the next one. The second one was quite different in shape and seemed slightly smaller than the first. Before I had time to finish exploring it the rain began to really poor down, so I ran to the car.

by S’Roya Rose

www.sroyarose.com

Not too far away on another road, I came across one of the famous White Horses, and wouldn’t you know, just underneath it was …yet, another crop circle. This one was visible from the roadside, although it was quite a walk from my parked car. I did not have the same feeling in this one even though I walked the full length & breadth of its intricate labyrinth. I talked with some of the other crop circle enthusiasts there, who happily chatted quite openly about their experiences; where they had seen them, what they felt, sharing also their apparent reverence ect.

One thing was sure, we all found them to be profound experiences, uplifting mostly and freeing in some way.

From my feelings and visions it was quite clear to me that they offered us energetically some kind of cosmic connection/attunement or harmonic resonance of sorts. I felt a quickening after having visited them. I can’t explain it, but it was amazing. Later that night I couldn’t sleep at all, even though I was physically exhausted having walked miles, I seemed wired like I’d drank heaps of coffee and so stayed awake all night. To my surprise I had heaps of energy in the following few days, even though I’d not had much sleep. My first Crop circles had been hunted down, explored, walked and surveyed and I knew I would be talking about them for years to come.

Crop Circle in Wiltshire near the White Horse. 2011

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39

Animal Dreaming

BY SCOTT ALEXANDER KING

W

ith the creation of the Animal Dreaming Oracle and the World Animal Dreaming Oracle Cards came the desire to foster within you, the seeker, and a deeper appreciation of the animals that you have bonded with, or that you may sense, spiritually, with yourself or others. I hope to broaden the understanding of the animals that physically share this planet with you too, by endorsing them as more than just pets or playthings.

The animals, to me, are and always have been sacred messengers of Spirit and I am thrilled to have been given this opportunity to share the symbolisms that I have grown to celebrate as my personal connection to Spirit.

with is grieving, in pain or suffering from illness. I am also able to tell other stuff about your life too ... whether or not your son is likely to find himself in trouble with the law, for example, or if your house will sell in time. I can explain the best way to reach your potential, or to find that perfect job – all because I have the ability to access the realms of Spirit.

People ask me, ‘Are they totems, power animals, familiars, archetypes or what?’ Generally, I don’t give an answer, and that’s mainly because I don’t have one to give! I simply don’t know. I’ve tried to explain them away as being nothing more than the aura in animalistic form or a totemic manifestation of the chakras working predominantly with the people they accompany … but none of these I’ve seen animals with people since I was a kid. Not in the explanations have ever really felt ‘right’. After reading physical sense (although for many years, I didn’t know Patrick Harpur’s book, however, The Philosopher’s Secret they weren’t ‘really there’), but rather in the astral, the Fire, I wondered if the ‘animals’ I’d been seeing were in in-between space between our world and the realms of fact daimons – beings that walk with each and every one Spirit. Whenever I meet someone for the first time, I can of us, offering insight, clarity, direction and purpose. clearly see an animal with them, standing either to their The description given by Harpur helped explain why the left or right or sitting on their shoulder. The animals tell animals changed form; why sometimes I referred to them me things about the people: about their lives, their hobbies, as ‘he’ one day, and ‘she’ the next; why sometimes they felt their hopes and fears. I hear their voices as feelings, like like ‘mother’ energy, and then other times, more like the memories placed in my mind that I know aren’t mine. ‘father’. Perhaps these animals are ‘daimons and perhaps Their mere presence offers insight, too – messages based I am a ‘daimonic man’. One thing I can say for certain is on the wisdom I have come to know and understand; that the animals I see ARE contradictory. They DO change symbolic meanings inspired by the way they would relate shape and gender. Sometimes they DO change shape, and interact with each other and their natural environment while retaining the same energy. They CAN be the same in the tangible world. The animals seem to change each ‘entity’, while appearing as another or in another form. time I see the person thereafter. It’s as if the animal They DO appear to be physical and non-physical at the represents where the person is at emotionally, physically same time. And they DO offer insight, direction and clarity or spiritually at that time, its energy mirroring that of the and at times, DO appear as Angels. For years I have been person it shadows. Sometimes these animals manifest as visited by a Black Jaguar that has crystal blue eyes, and for loved ones in Spirit – but not in the way you’d expect to years I’ve seen an apple-green Tree Snake. I didn’t take see them. When I see someone’s passed-over loved one, much notice because it wasn’t out of the ordinary for me for example, they always show themselves to me in an to see animals in or around my home. And then it struck animal form; an animal archetype that best captures their me … Jaguars don’t normally have blue eyes. So, you can character, their spirit, and their true essence. I might see imagine my surprise when I asked the Jaguar one day, ‘Who your dad as a Bear; your son as a Monkey or your aunty as are you?’ to hear his straightforward reply … ‘Michael’. a Snow Leopard. Depending on the animals I see, I am also The surprises continued when the Tree Snake told me his able to determine whether or not the person I see them name was ‘Raphael’.

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Rabbit - Fertility The Rabbit in its many guises is an animal that’s preyed upon by most of, if not all, the world’s predatory species.

Nature has compensated the Rabbit by gifting it with an almost unbridled fertility rate: a single female can produce as many as thirty offspring a year. Rabbit embodies Mother Nature’s ever-changing cycles: growth; life, death and rebirth. Symbolic of seasonal change, of new life in the spring, energy and vitality in summer; the inward contemplation of autumn and the wisdom and maturity of winter; to yet again return to the rebirth of spring, Rabbit keeps us in touch with the great circle of life and the natural harmony found between and within everything of Nature. When we acknowledge our relationship to all things, the Web of Life is honoured and balance is restored.

To give to the Earth Mother by walking with her, instead of simply on her, our quality of life deepens, with all ventures embarked upon prospering beyond our wildest dreams.

Because Rabbit has hopped into your life today, you’re being reminded to walk gently upon the Earth, with a sense of reverence for and honour of all things. To do so will see your wants and needs supported by Spirit and your life become more fertile, abundant and free of obstacles.

Rabbit helps us notice Nature’s portents and the cycles of change within ourselves. When you walk in harmony with the world around you, you can’t help but become one with it. The greater the love and encouragement you afford it, the more you will be rewarded. Rabbit is encouraging you to view your body as a sacred temple, a representation of Spirit and a way of acknowledging the miracle of life. Take notice of the subtle internal changes that will take place when you begin to walk hand in hand with Nature, because they will be plentiful.Your love for your friends and family will become richer, your self-respect will flourish, and your ability to create will demand to be recognised.

Rabbit ensures that your life is soon to become richer, brighter and more meaningful, especially when you back it up with dedication, empathy, passion and a sense of sacredness.

Scott Alexander King was born to love animals. He spent much of his childhood observing, drawing and writing about the animals he experienced in the small, tattered journal he always carried in his pocket. He would record every animal he saw: where he saw them, what they looked like and what they were doing at the time.This was an activity he never tired of ... so much so that, in essence, he’s still doing it today! Scott is the author of the best-selling, internationally recognised Animal Dreaming (a shamanic reference book and field guide that offers spiritual insights into over 200 native and introduced Australian animals and birds) and the ground-breaking Animal Dreaming Oracle Cards. He is also a husband (he met his beautiful wife in a pet shop!) and father of three. He and his family – along with a huge menagerie of animals – live in the breathtaking Northern Rivers where he endeavours to write every day. Scott is available for workshops, seminars, readings and interviews.Visit Scott’s official website: www.animaldreaming.com or seek him out on Facebook

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Angelic Messages There are Seven Main Archangels and Healing Rays For Mankind.

They each work with our seven main chakras within our templates.

THE ARCHANGEL

GABRIEL

This Painting Vibrates to the Violet Ray of Harmony...

This Energy Vibrates and connects with the Brow chakra.

The Archangel Gabriel is the Gatekeeper for this centre of Consciousness.

This Ray vibrates at the energy of Understanding as Gabriel is “The Messenger of God”.

He teaches us about Clair Voyance & Clair Audience - Spiritual seeing and hearing.

Eyes be mindful of the Light. To see and hear the Angels is to look through the Heart with Love.

Connecting with you at the Brow Chakra (Third Eye), Archangel Gabriel wishes you to know, that he/she is here to help you with your creative & artistic expression and seeing clearly.

ANGELIC MESSAGES FROM THE ARCHANGEL METATRON.

1

It is time for you to bring out your creative talents.

We incarnate to be able to express our Divinity in creative ways.Your soul needs to express your creativity and emotions in positive ways. Time to have some fun, so put yourself out there.

2

Harmony will come when you can see clearly through your heart with love. And really listen to what others are saying. They too have their story.

See the other persons point of view.

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3

You are receiving angelic messages. If you are unsure about them ask Gabriel to give you Validations.You may ask to be given this three times so that you can be sure. True Divine Messages come from the Heart with Love. Keep up the good work. Practice makes perfect.

Lit-El Star is a healer & visionary artist who creates Angelic Portals for the Angelic Realms & Acended Masters of light & love.The divine purpose of theseWindows From Heaven™ is to facilitate heavenly experiences for you. Lit-El Star uses The Angelic Aquas®. Vibrational Healing Waters together with crystal pigments & water based acrylic paints. Check out her New APP on her website www.angelessencehouse.com

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A Magnificent Time Awaits Us

T

hese beautiful and inspiring words are channelled by The Crystal Team through Lindsay Ball – Atlantean Crystal Master.

Atlantis and Lemuria were times of great joy, peace and happiness and it is these feelings that we are now able to reconnect to, to create a new Golden Age, a new era, here on Earth.

For the Divine Plan that was laid down for you all eons of time ago, is now unfolding in the most glorious way imaginable for you all.

And following the stupendous energies created in the year of 2012, this now allows for greater energies, greater gifts of light and love, and greater wisdom and knowledge from ancient times to be revealed and reconnected to.

And as this ancient knowledge and wisdom is absorbed and integrated into your systems, into your cellular structure, your DNA, and your crystalline grid, so it allows for your conscious mind to make the reconnections that already exist within your systems and your unconscious mind to burst forth and enable you to see the future potentialities of all that is being made available to you. For rest assured, dear ones, these potentialities are already occurring; events are happening around your earthly plane that are creating the manifestation of these energies.

The Lemurian Legacy The Lemurians were a very high vibration race who lived very lightly on the Earth, and as such left little evidence of their existence. They did however leave a wonderful legacy as you call it, of the Lemurian crystals within the Earth that are like the most massive computers you can imagine. These glorious crystals created from the energies of The Pleiades, Orion, Sirius and Neptune are energy storers, energy directors, energy regulators and beings of great love and light radiating these wonderful energies around your orbit. These energies are encouraging those souls who are awakening and those already on their journey to strengthen their connection to Source, to reconnect to the beautiful crystalline energies of light and love, to receive the wisdom and ancient knowledge stored within them, and to work in harmony with Mother Earth, all living beings and all that is.

Crystal Technology Atlantis was also an experiment of living a spiritual existence within a physical body, and their life was more technologically based than the Lemurians.

Crystal power of such sophistication enabled their life to be very expansive and this crystal technology will once again come to be available for you all as time moves forward.

The end time of Atlantis was caused by an element of human nature using free will as a destructive force and this was not permitted to continue. This cannot happen again – future use of crystal technology will be bound by laws of nature and intent.

A Way of Life that is Wonderful So taking the elements of the Lemurian and Atlantean experiences; their love of Mother Earth, their acceptance of a spiritual existence within a physical body, the understanding of the bigger picture and the Divine Plan, taking the elements of love, compassion, understanding, collaboration, co-operation, peace, honour, trust and connection to Source, creates a way of life that is wonderful, abundant, loving, joyful and harmonious.

Adding the crystal technology enables vast experiences unimaginable to you at this moment, but includes transport, energy supply, healing, cultivation on a grand scale and connections to the natural world, the universal energies and Source, to develop in a magnificent way.

This wonderful lifestyle is now becoming available to you all dear ones, as we move forwards into the new era, the new Golden Age, as the 144 crystalline grid is now established to hold more of the love and light of God for you all.

A magnificent time awaits for us all!”

Lindsay Ball – Atlantean Crystal Master, healer, speaker, channeller and author of TheWay Forward.

For more information please visit www.lindsayball.co.uk; www.thewayforwardbook.co.uk; or email Lindsay via E: info@lindsayball.co.uk, M: 07814 790016

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43

D C & k o Bo Reviews

Sacred Journey CD

By Serene Conneely RRP $20.00 www.serenconneeley.com

Sacred Journey: Is a Meditation to Connect You to the Magic of the Earth. In fact is a CD of seven meditations to take you on a journey, connecting you with the power of the elements and balancing the masculine and feminine energies of your heart and soul to reawaken the divine spark within. The music combines with words to activate energy, remove pain, soothe and nurture your spirit and ignite your inner fire.

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A Magical Journey

By Serene Conneely RRP $40.00 www.serenconneeley.com

A Magical Journey:Your Diary of Inspiration, Adventure and Transformation combines a diary with a guidebook that includes the benefits of writing in a journal, tips and exercises to express your deepest desires, and tools to release emotional blockages and unleash your authentic self. Find out how to make a wish come true using the cycles of the moon, celebrate some of the festivals that take place around the world, and create magic in your life through ancient, sacred energy.

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Serpents Mound

By Ceri Norman RRP ÂŁ10.50 UK price www.cerinorman.com

Deep in East Anglia, land of Saxons and Serpents, close to the village of Wormford lies an ancient burial mound. Foolish mortals have robbed out the mound and awoken the Serpent within...

Melinda Matthews is having a very bad day. She has lost her job, found her man in bed with another woman and a tree has crushed her car. Just when she thinks it can’t get any worse she finds herself stuck in the middle of nowhere next to a haunted burial mound. Here she finds herself caught up in an ancient conflict between two powerful adversaries.

Melinda must battle an ancient Serpent bent on revenge with the help of Cate Howe, local librarian and self-appointed guardian of the mound. Time is quickly running out as the events of the past are repeated in the present causing yet more destruction and death. Can the two women bring peace or will they like others before them fall victim to the Great Worm of Wormford?

The last shaman

By William Whitecloud

Reiki A Spiritual Pathway

by S’Roya Rose RRP $34.95 www.sroyarose.com

The Living Temple of Witchcraft

by Christopher Penczak RRP $21.95 www.llewellyn.com

The Last Shaman is a captivating journey through the jungles of war-torn Africa. Mark Vale, the lead character, represents all of us struggling to take back consistant ownership of our personal power, as he goes on an unwanted journey to find the last Shaman, who is responsible for ending the war and saving thousands of lives! All throughout, Mark learns from a colourful array of characters -: including a Doctor of Philosophy exiled to the swamps, a shape-shifting sorceress, and the widow of a tribal scout - who teach him to commit completely to the desires of the Soul. We see how that enables him to create in a way that uplifts not only himself, but also the whole world that he is a part of.

William draws from his experiences - from a childhood in Swaziland, to Hemetic Philosophy and a life dedicated to intuitive matery. The Last Shaman becons us to seek the path of our highest destiny

S’Roya Rose is one of Australia’s better-known Reiki Masters.

A controversial leader in her field she lifts the lid on the myths and sheds light on the spiritual growth that can be obtained with the use of Reiki. S’Roya shares her truth that Reiki connects people with their soul essence, thus speeding up their spiritual evolvement. In this way Reiki is a transformational spiritual pathway, a practice that one uses to transform the lower nature or ego as one evolves into higher consciousness.Much has been written about reiki as a hands on healing technique, however very little has been said about its spiritual development aspects.

This book explains the pathway that is created with the use of reiki energy, how it comes about and how it will affect you. Through the gift of reiki she has been able to help those who search for self-improvement and inner transformation as a path of healing and enlightenment.

Venture deeper into the mysteries of witchcraft and discover within yourself new levels of wisdom, love, power, and responsibility.

In the fifth installment of the awardwinning Temple of Witchcraft series,popular author Christopher Penczakexplores the Descent of the Goddess.

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Mark Rinker Distributor I am an independent distributor for RBC LIFE, a producer of drug-free, natural, holistic, nutritional wellness products.

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Sword & the Serpent

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Adrian Moore

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