Berkano; Birch and Beginnings

The Door with Berkano inscribed upon it was covered in white Birch-bark, and when I opened the Door and crossed the threshold into the Otherworld I found myself in a grove of Birch Trees.  My own skin was white and papery like the bark on the trees.  I wandered among them and the conversation was of beginnings, and giving birth. 

I was instructed that my life is about to begin a new book, it is filled with clean white blank pages and my responsibility is to write upon those pages a story of truth, and love, and peace.  I am to create poetry of joy and pleasure and wisdom and healing.  I do not get to decide all of the plot twists, only how I respond to them.  I do not get to know everything about the journey of the story, only how to tell it, and to whom.  It is beginning.  The past exists in other books that I have written, and they inform the story, they are my back-story but, the time has come to start again.

May I tell this story well, and may it create magick that makes my world a better place for small growing things.  So Mote It Be! 

Kenaz; the Light of Knowledge and Truth

As I descended the stairs in the Tower, I noticed the lanterns upon the walls, illuminating the stairs so that I could descend them in safety.  The door was inscribed with Kenaz and a lantern hung above the Rune.  I opened the Door and crossed the threshold into the Otherworld and found myself in a large Library. 

There were books and scrolls everywhere, on shelves against the walls reaching stories upwards towards the ceiling, on tables in the center where someone had been working diligently in study. 

Lamps and lanterns glowed everywhere illuminating the space with warm golden light.

It was beautiful and I was filled with joy and pleasure at the sight and the warm power of the place.  

I wandered, finding a book in my hand and enjoying the firm ornate covering and the crisp clean pages and the words in neat print, then a soft, worn, leather tome with gilded edges on the soft delicate pages, then a plain ragged paperback with handwritten poetry.  

Each was a treasure of great worth to me. 

The words in one book reminded me that knowledge is Power, and that words hold Power. Truth is Power. Stories are a way of using that Power to create a better world, Stories and Poetry are magick, they can inspire and invoke and enchant.  They can change the world. 

My purpose in this world is about communication; poetry, and storytelling, and teaching knowledge, and telling truth.   My purpose is to help others find the candles, and light the lanterns, and teach them where to find the Library, and how to read the words.  

Ansuz; Learning to Listen

I stepped through the door and into the Otherworld and looked at my feet, then at my body, then around me and waited.  I could see nothing.  I thought my eyes must be closed but, that was not the case.  I thought something had gone wrong.  All I saw was nothing, blackness, stillness, silence.  I did not understand.  I waited.  I almost began to panic but I was breathing and I could hear and feel my breath.  I could feel my heart beating.  I waited.

A voice spoke in the darkness and I listened.  It spoke about hearing my inner voice.  It spoke about listening to my own instinct and intuition.  It spoke about listening and following my own wisdom.  It was only a voice, only words, language, that thing I love most of all.

Months later I learned the lesson again.  In the mundane world of my job, I learned what it really meant to listen and follow my own truth.  I also learned that journeying can take any form that is needed.  Sometimes it defies all expectations and I need to be willing to let go of the ideas I have about what will happen.  I had begun to do just that and this journey brought the lesson home.

My Dark Moon Ritual is all about listening to the voices of Clarity, Truth, Intuition and Wisdom.  It is about turning inward toward the stillness, silence, darkness and listening to Spirit.  This journey was another way to experience that listening.  It just so happens that it was a Dark Moon in February.