covenrochester

I post this in honor of Delandra Elana, a Druid Priestess in northern New York (June 5, 1936 to December 22, 2021), who first taught me numerology.

"Social Security"
by Terence Winch

No one is safe. The streets are unsafe.
Even in the safety zones, it's not safe.
Even safe sex is not safe.
Even things you lock in a safe
are not safe. Never deposit anything
in a safety deposit box, because it
won't be safe there. Nobody is safe
at home during baseball games anymore.

At night I go around in the dark
locking everything, returning
a few minutes later
to make sure I locked
everything. It's not safe here.
It's not safe and they know it.
People get hurt using safety pins.

It was not always this way.
Long ago, everyone felt safe. Aristotle
never felt danger. Herodotus felt danger
only when Xerxes was around. Young women
were afraid of wingéd dragons, but felt
relaxed otherwise. Timotheus, however,
was terrified of storms until he played
one on the flute. After that, everyone
was more afraid of him than of the violent
west wind, which was fine with Timotheus.
Euclid, full of music himself, believed only
that there was safety in numbers.

-----------------------------------------------

Delandra Elana was a musician, too, so I imagine she stood firmly with Euclid on this point. I do, too.

*** Blessed be to those who serve the Great Mother and the Horned Father.

* Copyright to Coven Rochester

Lammas is the Great Sabbat held in honor of the God. The superficial meaning of the Sabbat concerns the Harvest and thankfulness. Its Mysteries, however, involve the Sun and Sacrifice, Honor, Integrity, and Personal Responsibility.



The Altar, with some of the offerings thereon (there were more), and and some instruments below, for the dancing.



Blessings to you from the Great Mother and the Horned Father.



My Lammas dish for the feast. I recently read a book called OLD CRONE COOKERY. It contained simple and homey fare, mostly vegetable based. And so I thought I would make a panoply of vegetables in a skillet . . . baby corn in butter, sauteed broccoli-stem slaw, and roasted potatoes. And then a bit of cheese on the side. We also had fantastic cookies and a warm berry cobbler.

*** Blessed be to those who serve the Great Mother and the Horned Father.

* Copyright to Coven Rochester

Most Witches will have at least one amulet that they have bewitched to protect them from the harms of general daily living. The protective amulet will absorb negative energy aimed at the Witch without the Witch having to give it any thought. Did you cast a jealous glance at her? Did you yell at her on the highway? Did you wish her ill? She didn't notice. She doesn't care. Hence the invaluable amulet.

Some Witches gravitate toward certain stones, and I take keen note of that. It doesn't matter if the stone is pretty, symmetrical, polished, rough, misshapen, or whatever. The Witch wants what she wants, and that is that. If I see a Witch wearing a big honkin' piece (and why not? it must match her power) of Amber, Bloodstone, Coral (undyed), Magnetite, or Opal, I know who and what I'm dealing with.

Another very highly prized general amulet in the past (and still, today) is the Staurolite, or Fairy Cross. Nature, unaided, produces these Elemental Crosses. See the picture above, a Fairy Cross set in silver for a male Witch.

*** Blessed be to those who serve the Great Mother and the Horned Father.

* Copyright to Coven Rochester

Druids and Druidesses Greeting the Sun

When I was 19 years old, I undertook a limited apprenticeship with a Druidess from the North in order to help her in some of her work. I learned a lot from her, but much of it was implicit learning, i.e., what she did and did not do, what she said and did not say.

She did not insist on us learning much in the way of Druidic ritual, but she insisted that we learn the Chants to the Four Corners of the Day. Every morning, before we got to work, she would lead the apprentices and students to the eastern edge of a field or meadow, and we would do the chant to the rising sun, like a plainsong chant. Before lunch, we did the chant to the noonday sun. And at the end of the workday, the chant to the setting sun. At home, we were expect to do the chant to the midnight sun on our own.

She did not care if members of the public were present or if we were being watched. Druids are traditionally public figures and not secretive.

The dawn and noon chants are addressed to the Lord of the Sun, and the sunset and midnight chants are addressed to the Mother of the Night.

The Druidess passed away last year at the Winter Solstice. I have never forgotten the "tune" of the plainsong chants, and I have used them off-and-on for over 30 years. I hope someday that others will take an interest in learning them and preserving them.

*** Blessed be to those who serve the Great Mother and the Horned Father.

* Copyright to Coven Rochester

HORNED FATHER,
SOVEREIGN GRACE,
WHAT WOULD YOU DO
WERE YOU IN MY PLACE?

No seed will take root.
No work will bear fruit.
No bees on the hum.
No harvest will come.
No birds in the field,
Abandon your yield,
But do not despair:
This fortune is fair.

MEANING: Sometimes we must compost a recent effort so that something even better can grow from it.

This is a common theme in oracles given by the Gods and the Fates: Rejoice that we have kept you from the evils that you have sought, and made room for the blessings that you have failed to seek.

*** Blessed be to those who serve the Great Mother and the Horned Father.

* Copyright to Coven Rochester

The Table, Before We Began

We held an herbal medicine workday today from 12 to 4, and it was a great success in productivity, with the participants learning a great deal about remedies made in the wisdom tradition. We managed to make 10 different herbal products.

-- Elderberry Tincture: This will be ready well in time for the winter cold and flu season! One of the Great Medicines of humanity.

-- Calendula Tincture: Antifungal, antibacterial, and antiviral in effects, it has so many uses. Another of the Great Medicines.

-- Motherwort Tincture: Against menstrual and menopausal discomforts, against anxiety and pain, and helps promote sleep. Also a tonic for the heart when used daily. A third of the Great Medicines. We used fresh plant material, as I had sufficient in my garden. It is the blooming tops that contain the medicine.

-- Blackberry Throat Spray: Against sore throat. The recipe may be varied, but it should always contain tincture made from Echinacea angustifola (not purpurea), which has a numbing effect on mucosal tissues. Other ingredients included home made blackberry brandy, raw and organic honey, and Yarrow Tincture.

-- Healing Mouthwash: We made three variations. In an earlier posting, I gave the recipe for the one I use.

-- Toothpaste: A Sage-Myrrh toothpaste flavored with Mint. Also included Calendula and Yarrow Tinctures for broad spectrum coverage against bacteria in the mouth.

-- Plantain Liniment: There was sufficient Plantago major in the yard that we were able to use fresh! Another of the Great Medicines.

-- Cramp Bark Tincture: For stopping cramps and muscle seizures anywhere in the body. Good against menstrual pain and female pelvic congestion. Viburnum opulus by name, you may know it as the Snowball Bush. Alas, you must be taught when to harvest the bark in order to secure the medicinal virtues.

-- Hypericum Lotion: May be used as a sun screen. Against nerve pain and muscle pain. It will stop the development of Shingles if applied to the affected body part when you sense it potentially coming on. Another of the Great Medicines.

-- Comfrey Lotion: Another of the Great Medicines. I had sufficient in my garden to bring fresh. For repairing the skin, joints, and ligaments.

As you can see, we seemed to focus a lot on the Great Medicines. That was not purposeful. It is simply that the Great Medicines are so effective and have such varied uses, that they naturally find a place in witches' apothecary cabinets.

I also reported on recently making a Thyme Lotion from Thyme in my garden. It has been found effective against yeast and fungal patches on the skin.

I've had so many good ideas for the next workday, it is difficult to choose the next topic!

*** Blessed be to those who serve the Great Mother and the Horned Father.

* Copyright to Coven Rochester

I graduated a horary astrologer this past Sunday after he handed in his final exam: a timed prediction before the event occurred, and verified. He cleverly filmed the event occurring, and then panned downward toward a clock giving the time. It reminded me of the time that I predicted a job offer for someone coming by a telephone call, 48 days ahead of time. On the appointed day, I sat in a chair in that person's office and heard the call come in. You might think it incredible, but trained astrologers can do that without much difficulty.

In addition to a diploma, I also issue each graduate the above bracelet, with a bead for each planet -- Sun, Mercury, Venus, Earth, Moon, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, Pluto. Then there are sparkly black beads representing the Fixed Stars, and then some perforated black lava beads representing The Distant Unknown.

Thank goodness the craftsperson making them still includes Pluto. Although scientists have dissed the planet-most-distant, horary astrologers are still on speaking terms with Himself. He manifests his influence humorously at times, representing the basement, an underground spring, a man driving around a woman, agoraphobia, elopement, or quarantine, and only sometimes death, imprisonment, malice, or crime.

*** Blessed be to those who serve the Great Mother and the Horned Father.

* Copyright to Coven Rochester

One of the Hebrew Sages once wrote: "A dream uninterpreted is like a letter unread."

Dreams are a way for the Goddess to speak to us, either directly or symbolically. The dreamer sitting down to analyze a dream is like having a conversation with the Goddess. If the dream represents a problem in your life, the Goddess will also give you a solution to the problem in the dream. Implementing the solution may be uncomfortable or difficult, and that is where the Horned Father will help. He will stand by you, give you resolve or courage, prod you, and prompt you. If you fail in implementing the solution, He will not forsake you or punish you, but gather you into His arms, comfort you, and let you rest so that you can try again. "I am always at your back," He has told us.[1]

Even short dreams can be significant. Above is an example of one of my own dreams. It is very short. I awakened at 5:50 a.m., and wrote down with a pencil a few snippets on a small pad on my dresser. I then cleaned it up, and typed it up in this form:

"I am cleaning the house of books and occult objects in order to get rid of demons or to stop attracting demons. I am particularly focused on a closet near the front door, although I do not recognize the house. I am kneeling down in the closet, cleaning things from the floor. There are others present -- two people, I think, but I do not know who for sure, perhaps one of my brothers, perhaps my spouse. They are not helping to clean, but talking at me, and I snap at them, annoyed, for interrupting me. I am wearing an orange sweatshirt and white sweatpants while I am cleaning. I have a profile image of a particular demon in mind."

I later searched for the particular demon image. I found similar images, but none were an exact match (the four images you can see in a line). Then I found the precise image I saw in my dream. It is Asmodeus, in profile, from Francis Barrett's THE MAGUS, published in 1801 (down in the lower right corner).

It is a relatively short account, but I assure you that it is FULL TO THE BRIM. I spent two days analyzing and interpreting it. Hence all of my color coded notes. Some of it is really very subtle, ingenious, and funny. I am kneeling because the knees are ruled by Capricorn. What is Capricorn in Tarot? The Devil, i.e., an instance of repetition from the mention of demons. The orange sweatshirt is telling me something about the interior star related to the Sun.

The method I learned for analyzing dreams is from HAVE A GREAT DREAM (BOOK 1), by Layne Dalfen, and I highly recommend her approach. To analyze the dream, one types it out, then analyzes it for six categories: feelings, symbols, plays on words, actions/nonaction, plot, repetition.

[1] This complementary duality is everywhere present in the Craft, and in the spiritual progress of Witches. Your Mother will tell you what is going on and what to do about it. Your Father will support you with reason and energy until you do it. The Mother instructs the mind. The Father makes sure you that earth that instruction in your bones by action. This, in fact, is the whole method of spiritual development: learning what to do (the Mother), and then doing it (the Father). Step by step, the Mother will tell you Her great design for you, and step by step, the Father will implement that design in your body, until you find yourself a perfect expression of Animal, Man, and God -- hooves, heart, and halo of horns -- or Power, Love, and Wisdom.

*** Blessed be to those who serve the Great Mother and the Horned Father.

* Copyright to Coven Rochester

SOMETIMES A WILD GOD by Tom Hirons; Illustration by Rima Staines

Sometimes a wild god comes to the table.
He is awkward and does not know the ways
Of porcelain, of fork and mustard and silver.
His voice makes vinegar from wine.

When the wild god arrives at the door,
You will probably fear him.
He reminds you of something dark
That you might have dreamt,
Or the secret you do not wish to be shared.

He will not ring the doorbell;
Instead he scrapes with his fingers
Leaving blood on the paintwork,
Though primroses grow
In circles round his feet.

You do not want to let him in.
You are very busy.
It is late, or early, and besides…
You cannot look at him straight
Because he makes you want to cry.

Your dog barks;
The wild god smiles.
He holds out his hand and
The dog licks his wounds,
Then leads him inside.

The wild god stands in your kitchen.
Ivy is taking over your sideboard;
Mistletoe has moved into the lampshades
And wrens have begun to sing
An old song in the mouth of your kettle.

* * *

Go read the rest, or listen to the author recite it, or both, at:

https://tomhirons.com/poetry/sometimes-a-wild-god

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I love this poem because it is a reminder to me that there is no progress in the Craft without the Horned Father. I cannot imagine the Way of the Wise without Him. You will find records of witch trials in Europe where people stated that they would rather die than forsake Him. Let us repeat, with Ameth the Elder, "The Gods of the Witches are the oldest gods of all."

*** Blessed be to those who serve the Great Mother and the Horned Father.

* Copyright to Coven Rochester

A Desktop Orrery and The Herbology

Argemone
* To bring about order, to chasten the lordly, to expel what must be expelled.
This bright torch amongst plants will light the way forward, scorch dragons with their own breath, and melt away both ill humors and the ill-humored.
--Theophrastus Philophytonides

If you are having difficulties dealing with superiors or colleagues in the workplace, one of your greatest magical aides will be the spirit of the common Agrimony, Agrimonia eupatoria. Theophrastus, of course, would have called the plant ἀργεμώνη, "argemone," (ar-yeh-MAW-nee), the Bright One, in his own language. The plant's polarity alternates between genders, but will most naturally adopt the male polarity if given a choice. In that way, the plant is like Mercury, his ruling planet, and Air, his ruling element. He is a peacemaker, a negotiator, a settler of disputes, a mediator, a compromiser. He will smooth things over and smooth things out. And if someone resists, he will prompt that person to leave for greener pastures so that everyone, even the resister, will benefit. If you need the services of Mr. Agrimony, Esq., a Witch can tell you, easily enough, how to seek his assistance.

*** Blessed be to those who serve the Great Mother and the Horned Father.

* Copyright to Coven Rochester