Gryph's Lair

"Do not believe in anything simply because you have heard it.
Do not believe in anything simply because it is spoken and rumored by many.
Do not believe in anything simply because it is found written in your religious books.
Do not believe in anything merely on the authority of your teachers and elders.
Do not believe in traditions because they have been handed down for many generations.
But after observation and analysis, when you find that anything agrees with reason and is conductive to the good and benefit of one and all, then accept it and live up to it."

Buddha

Tomorrow for class we are to write God invocations and devocations. Here are mine:

God Invocation:
Hail to the God, our solar father, we ask that you bless our gathering with your solar power, and we ask that you grant us the gifts of strength, vitality and logic. Hail and welcome.

God Devocation:
Solar father, we thank you for your presence here tonight, and we thank you for your gifts of strength, vitality, and logic. Hail and farewell.

Last night was my first full moon ritual. Blue Willow was our priestess. I wasn't sure what to expect, but I did remember to take my "athame," which is actually a long dagger that I bought originally for my wedding.

It was a wonderful experience; not that I was expecting any different! I completely felt the energy flowing through me. I am sure that as I practice, it will be an even more powerful experience, but it certainly was NOT a disappointment!

Of course we had TWO amazing veggie-full soups to chow down on afterward and that certainly helped! Nummers......

Tonight's class was centered around learning about the Sabbats and doing a God journey. The journey was interesting, and I still am not sure I understand the messages completely, but I've taken note of them and if I am meant to understand them, I will.

As we were led down a path, suddenly at my side looked a huge pure-white Gypsy Vanner. Strange that it was pure white, since they are usually paints (which is one of the attractions for me). I've been in passionate love with Gypsy Vanners (some people call them Gypsy Cobs, Irish Cobs, etc. There's some debate about the "correct" name, but since I first learned about them as Gypsy Vanners, that's the name I use) when I started my Draft Dreams website more than 12 years ago. The OLDEST version of the site is still online here. Be warned, it's FULL of dead links. Draftdreams.com isn't up anymore, although maybe one day it will be. During it's time, Draft Dreams was the second largest draft-horse website on the 'net. To see what a Gypsy Vanner looks like, here is a website from a Redmond, WA based breeder.

Anyhow, back to the subject at hand- Gypsy Vanners. One day I will have one. At least one. I know now's not the right time for me, and it kills me not to be around horses. The smell literally kills a little piece of me, I miss horses so bad. I got my first horse when I was 10, and when I was 18 I sold her because I didn't have time for her. In the meantime, we had four other horses that came and went. Judy was my heart-song, though. She wasn't a Vanner, but she was literally my best friend.

I think I've been in denial of my horse-passion for many years. I can't afford horses right now, and quite frankly even if I could I simply do not have the time to commit, which is the most important thing. Maybe it won't be until I retire that I will be able to have horses again, but one day I will. I'm certain of it.

This white Vanner, who I know (somehow) was a stallion, turned to look me in the eye, and said straight into my thoughts, "Do not deny me." All the while I was preening about my wolf spirit guide, I think I was denying my horse spirit guide. I had always assumed that once I became a parent, the horse spirit guide left me, but I think the honest truth is, I left him.

The experience brought tears to my eyes. The rest of the journey was almost anticlimactic. I leaped onto his back (yeah as if THAT could happen in real life- he was HUGE), and we continued on down the path, together. I could feel his comforting warmth through my jeans, and his muscles bunching beneath my thighs. I wrapped my hands into his incredibly thick mane, and then just closed my eyes to enjoy the experience. If you've never ridden a horse, it's hard to explain the swaying, the sound of his hooves, the smell of horse-sweat, leather, and sweet hay.

We reached the described creek, and rather than me drinking from it, he did. But I could taste the crisp clean water anyhow. We continued on to the described giant oak, and once we reached the tree I slid from his back, pressing into him for a long moment, just breathing while he reached around his massive head and blew his sweet hay breath over me.

Finally I turned to the tree and wrapped my arms around it, eventually melding into the tree and heading for the breeze-tossed branches at the top. God came to me as a Centaur, eerily enough, but darker and swarthier than my white Vanner below. Dark charcoal dapples covered his horse-half, with heavy feathers like a Shire. His human half was sleek and heavily muscled, as I would imagine a draft stallion would look if he turned human. He sported long, thick, tangled dark hair and a flowing tangled beard. His eyes were pools so dark they looked black. He leaned towards me, and stated clearly. "Be strong." Then he handed me a scroll, and I unrolled it to read "Share your core of strength." I looked up and met his eyes, confused, but the look he gave me was knowing. A name floated into my head.... and I knew it was my Craft name. StormSong.

I reached into my pocket and pulled out an arrow. I remember thinking, "what, do I have Mary Poppins pockets, to pull this thing out of there?" The arrow was sleek and black, with some sort of ebony, heavily grained wood, a chipped obsidian head, and sleek iridescent black feathers as the fletching.

I retraced my steps back to the bottom of the tree and was once again with my White Stallion, where I leaped onto his back again and we made our way back down the path before my journey ended.

I literally had tears in my eyes. While my wolf spirit guide brought a fierce sense to me, my horse guide brought me passion.

For tomorrow's class we were asked to write a Goddess invocation and devocation. Here is what I came up with...

Goddess Invocation:
Hail to the Goddess, our moon mother, we ask that you bless our gathering with your lunar power, and we ask that you grant us the gifts of emotion, peace and love. Hail and welcome.

Goddess Devocation:
Lunar mother, we thank you for your presence here tonight, and we thank you for your gifts of emotion, peace, and love. Hail and farewell.

Class on Friday was a blast. We did a Goddess journey, and I have to say that I was pleasantly surprised by how it worked out. We were led to the back of a vulture, then directed as our arms became wings and we took flight ourselves, and flew into a cave. My cave was decorated all around with rough charcoal-looking drawings of animals of all sorts. Later I realized that the animals were all native animals to this area: Fox, otter, bear, wolf, deer, elk, rabbit, owl, etc. We were then led on to meet the Goddess. My "version" was stunningly beautiful, with porcelain skin, leaf-green eyes, and a flowing tumble of knee-length burnished red curls. She was garbed in a long-sleeved white gown with a short-sleeved over-gown of pale green. All around her I could sense (and see with my third eye but not with my physical eyes) animals writhing about her; the same animals from the cave walls.

Now, I had gone to the zoo on Friday and the first thing I thought was, “well no wonder I wanted to go to the zoo today!” But now of course I wonder if it wasn’t the other way around? I’m not sure yet.

The Goddess had a stone in her hands; a perfectly egg-shaped, egg-sized piece of translucent, iridescent rainbow moonstone. She placed it in my third eye, and memories of animals came pouring into my head. The flickers of animal faces and bits of their knowledge flickered through my head as if there was one animal on each piece of film and the projector was running like crazy across the backs of my eyes. The information flooded so fast that I couldn’t catch any one part as standing out.

She leaned over and whispered in my ear. “Believe.” Then she laughed softly, her breath tickling my skin, and she said “Trust in your…” And at the same time she said two words, and it seemed like they were intertwined. “Faith” and “Intuition.”

I found a small silver ring in my pocket, and I knew I was meant to give it to her. It was perfect, shining and round. She slid it onto her finger with her all-knowing, wise smile as I turned away to leave.

There were all sorts of messages in this journey, and it was time I started sorting them out. Things that popped into my head randomly either during or right after….

· I seem to have an affinity for raptors of all types; kestrels, eagles, owls, hawks, falcons, ospreys, harriers…. I never really thought about it before now, but it’s there, and I think I should look into it more.
· The animals seemed to be a clue of some sort. I’ll have to think/meditate more on that…
· Wales kept coming up. And aside from the relationship to Torchwood (Cardiff!!), and that I have a great-great-grandmother from Wales, I don’t know why. Time to check it out. Maybe I should study Welsh/Celtic goddesses?

Looking up the metaphysical definition of Rainbow Moonstone I find, “Rainbow moonstone has a gentle, calming energy. It helps to strengthen intuition and psychic perception, and enhances creativity, compassion, endurance and inner confidence. It is a stone that brings balance and harmony. The Rainbow effect brings in a spectrum of light, and can help with clearing and bringing in uplifting energies. It has been said to have the power to grant wishes. Rainbow Moonstone is primarily related to the Crown Chakra.”

Looking up the metaphysical definition of egg-shaped stones I find, “Egg shaped stones are said to assist with stress reduction. The egg shape symbolizes the potential and developmental stage of our goals and dreams. The egg also symbolizes the void, the unknown and unformed from which form and realization are born.”

More to come as I do more research….

Today was my first ritual since I began following the Pagan Path, in honor of Ostara, which celebrates the Vernal Equinox. Ostara is celebrated as a time of rebirth and renewal, marking the balance of light and dark, when day and night are of equal length.

To celebrate Ostara, we gathered down at the Venus Moon, my local metaphysical store. Co-Priestesses Gypsy Crow and Blue Willow were amazing, and the mood as everyone gathered into Circle was lighthearted and fun (the bunny ears our Co-Priestesses wore probably helped). I have to admit that when the cork blew off the bottle behind Gypsy Crow while she was invoking Goddess, my spirit just soared! The Goddess was certainly showing her presence, wasn't she? As part of our ritual, we planted Nasturtiums in paper cups and wrote on the bottom of the cup a wish we wanted to have happen over the next year. Overall, the ritual was simple, serene, and amazing. I couldn't have asked for a better "initiation." The energy that rippled and seethed around all of us was palpable.

All in all, it was a wonderful, exhilarating experience.