The burning times, the witches, and an essay on magic
What is magick at the quintessential level? What is it really? What’s vibrating underneath all the ritual? We assume that the ritual that’s come down to us has always been there – but has it? My sense is that all that stuff got tacked on at some point – I don’t think it was there to begin with. And, if there was any ritual there to begin with, I will bet you it wasn’t anything like what we do now.
How do I know this? Because Wicca originated in Atlantis. Most people think Atlantis is a fairy tale – they don’t believe that it even existed. I don’t know about you, but there’s never been any doubt in my mind on that subject. Whatever the real story on Atlantis is, it’s all been erased – deliberately – and there are reasons for that, that would take too long to get into – but – the point is, if Wicca originated there, there are no records to show us what form those early rituals took.
And if you really examine the rituals we follow now, it’s clear that they bear a very “Catholic” imprint. I can’t prove this but my sense is that this imprint was imposed a lot later, when the patriarchy got its finger in the Wiccan pie. The male influence, as is its want, put a corset on the divine feminine and obscured what was there to begin with, with a lot of ritual. The academics who research this stuff may have a problem with everything I am saying – but – all of them would be lying if they didn’t admit they aren’t working with a full deck – because the real story on Wicca is something they just don’t have access to – there are no records – none that we know of anyway.
So, what was going on before all the ritual got added? Toss out everything you’ve been told about history and use your imagination to go as far back as you can with this. I’m not talking 2000 or even 3000 years; try 5000 or 10,000 years ago – picture the women on the heaths and moors of the British Isles – picture the Rune Witches way up in the Norse regions, and the Baba Yagas in central Europe, and the old Stregas down in the Mediterranean area. How do you suppose those gals did magick?
You want to remember that these women lived in very solitary, isolated conditions. I am pretty sure they didn’t have chalices, or cakes and wine, or silver athames, or any regalia. Back then, all they had was the Goddess. She was everywhere and in everything as far as they were concerned. And when those people offered up their prayers or their spells, they tapped directly into Her.
But, this raises another question – Who, or what exactly is The Goddess? We toss that word around a lot these days, and there are tons of names for her. It’s trendy to be into the Goddess – we say we worship this Archetype, but who the Hell is she really?
Eons ago The Goddess was everything – she was The All – everyone knew, and this was a cellular thing, that they were intimately connected to Her and by extension to the Source. When those people sent their thoughts and their prayers, their spells if you will, out into the ether, they didn’t do it by rote – they tapped directly into the Goddess.
All any witch had to do was stand out on the moor, or in the forest, or near the water and focus on a single thought knowing full well that through the Goddess, it would come to life……. This is the forbidden fruit by the way, the knowledge that you can have anything you want just by letting the Goddess know what’s on your mind.
Sixty to two hundred thousand women were murdered during the Inquisition – some people say it was closer to nine million – because they held space for that forbidden fruit, that forbidden knowledge. The powers that be needed to erase that fundamental truth from the collective consciousness – so they murdered the women who held space for it in order to implant a darker agenda. But due to the Shift of the Ages, the truth is coming back to us now. The Goddess is alive and magic is afoot, according to the bumper stickers I’ve been seeing. The idea that you can have anything you want just by holding the thought of it in your mind and heart is all over the place! And this is not the exclusive property of witches – anyone can do it.
Just for the fun of it, let’s take a quick peek at the “Charge of the Goddess”. I’m sure you’re all familiar with the “Goddess Charge” or you wouldn’t be listening to me. Let me quote just a bit of it here;
“Listen to the words of the Great Mother… From me all things proceed and unto me they must return… For behold, I have been with you from the beginning….and I am that which is attained at the end of desire”
Let’s run by it again: “Listen to the words of the Great Mother – From me all things proceed” – The Goddess is the Womb of Creation, my friends.
And check this out; “For behold, I have been with you from the beginning – and I am that which is attained at the end of desire” . Sounds to me like The Great Mother and The Great Void out of which all things originate, are one and the same thing. And if a wish could be called a desire, according to The Charge, our prayers and wishes end up in the care of The Goddess.
Even the guys who wrote the Bible – whether they knew it or not – pointed out the same thing. When they said, the Spirit of God moved across the waters of the deep and spoke into the Great Void what they implied was that the Goddess was there in the beginning long before the Spirit of God showed up to stir her. It doesn’t take much to figure out that the Great Void, the waters of the deep, The Womb of Creation, and The Goddess are all one thing.
Translating all of this spiritual talk into scientific terms is easier than you might think. If you want to look at The Goddess from a scientific perspective the Womb of Creation is analogous to what they call the Unified Field. Another term for the Unified Field is the etheric matrix. The etheric matrix is the loom that supports and sources the world of form. Physical matter emerges out of this invisible, energetic matrix. There’s a lot of controversy over this concept – but after over a hundred years of pretending it wasn’t there the guys at NASA have finally acknowledged that the etheric matrix, has something to do with everything that goes on here.
Let’s take a look at the term etheric matrix. “Etheric” means ethereal or spiritual or formless – and matrix just happens to be a female word – matrix = matriarch = madre = mater = mother. Adding two and two together what do we have here? The etheric matrix is the Spiritual Mother, or the Great Mother if you will. Whether the science guys are able to see it or not, even they know that The Goddess rules!!!
It takes a lot of words to explain things but the point I am making is simple; magic at the quantum level is about the power of thought coupled with the understanding that in the act of holding a thought for any period of time, it will manifest – if it is in your highest good – just because the Goddess is there to receive it and respond to it. We don’t need anything more than this to do magic, unless we want to include it in the process.
THE WICCAN REDE
Bide the Wiccan Law we must, In perfect love and perfect trust.
And ever mind the Rule of Three; what you send out comes back to thee.
Follow this rede with mind and heart, and merry we meet and merry we part.
For those of you who would like to learn more, or who would like to share a little of what you’ve learned from this essay, we invite you to tune in to “The Burning Times” and “The Witches”
THE BURNING TIMES
This beautifully crafted film is an in-depth look at the witch-hunts that swept through Europe just a few hundred years ago. False accusations and trials led to massive torture and burnings at the stake, and ultimately to the destruction of an organic way of life. The film advances the theory that widespread violence against women and the neglect of our environment today can be traced back to those times.
54+ MINUTES
THE WITCHES
43+ Minutes
Cal Garrison
Is a practicing astrologer with 40 years of experience. An author of five books to her credit, Cal is well known for her affiliation with the late Slim Spurling. A single mother with three grown daughters, Cal lives happily in the red rocks of Sedona, Arizona. She can be reached at cal.garrison@gmail.com