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Re: Hekate & Her Mysteries

Posted: Wed Apr 03, 2019 4:36 pm
by Wanderer
monsnoleedra wrote:Once again I had the urge to shift the order around a bit so hopefully this will not change things to much.


Shift away. Doing so fits with Hekate anyhow.

monsnoleedra wrote:I first got the idea about back biter blades and first blooding from forging and I think the Orient to be honest. It pretty much had to do with the first time the person as an owner of the blade pulled it from its sheath. Not specifically every time it was pulled from a sheath that it had to be blooded. Then there was the idea of a blade potentially being ensouled during creation so in order for it to know who it's owner was it would be blooded during creation with it's owners blood so the blade would never gain a taste for it's owners blood or turn against him / her.


Ah, I got you now. You're referencing this as a means of owning the blade, and I've heard some versions of the same in some circles. Usually, this manifests as "oh, it bit me...guess its mine now".

A friend of mine in Arizona went further with this and would blood a blade every time it came out of the sheath as a part of both ritual practice and day to day carry thereof. If that were a requirement for fixed blades, I'd only ever carry a folder, as I view my blood as being sacred and part of my sovereignty.

As such, blooding a blade or runes or a khatvanga are all instances of demarcating ownership and allegiance.

monsnoleedra wrote:I can see sticking a blade into the earth though as that also ties into the idea of claiming but it also to a degree ties into the idea of both breaking the dragon's back but also of breaking both dragon lines or fairy lines. Both of those idea's sort of loosely tie into the notion of breaking an ant line where you draw your finger across the path ants make which causes them to loose their way and become confused and loose their pathway / energy lines. But in the concept of ley lines it also breaks the energy flow. Potentially even diverting or ending / truncating the flow point if the blade or spike is left in the earth. Your ability to show power over such "fields" would in a way demonstrate authority and control over both the land and it's energy, thereby claiming it before all things. Sort of the idea of the King and the Land are one, so therefor you are now the King and ruler.


Exactly, though I don't go so far as to view this as an act of breaking the dragon's back or wonking out ley lines. Instead, its more about adding a shunt to the conduit as a means of benefitting from the power and providence already present within the locale. I don't see it as an intensely martial thing in its nature, but it could well be used in this way to an extreme degree.

In instances where such a ritual maneuver has been used in a pain-causing way, I can see the landvaettir present being more than a little leery and disinterested in interacting with humans. Once bitten, twice shy.

I have found, however, that diverting or truncating that energy and then pouring it back into the land with additional boons attached goes a long, long ways towards building immense trust. For instance, I was creating an oil that would give a spirit more power in the space in which I live. This spirit is a trusted and longterm friend of mine...someone I've interacted with endlessly, so I felt comfortable insisting upon him being allowed to become more manifest here.

The spirits of place fought me on this process...hard. They kept blowing out the candle, soaking it with water, and essentially creating adverse weather in response to my work, so I explained to them what I was doing, why I was doing it, and then brought the arrangement inside and proceeded to do the deed.

The whole time, the spirits of place were looking at me from inside and outside the home, acting like they were judgey villagers from Minecraft, but they were essentially unable to interfere at that point. They weren't happy, but they were powerless on account of the wards inside the home.

It was only after I'd completed my work and then used my spirit buddy's energy to heal the land that the spirits thereof let out a happy sigh and responded with understanding around what I was doing. Up until that moment, they were pissed off because people had disrespected them and taken from them, whereas it was in this act that I was actually creating mutual prosperity from this act.

That act garnered quite a bit of trust, but only after I got through the phase of having grumpy old landspirits messing about. If you're going to Work the land in this respect and act as King, then building that trust is paramount.

But that goes back to that core understanding we were talking about:
Magic many times is about demonstration of both force and ability.


It is indeed, as not always will the audience have any real understanding of just what the hel it is you're looking to accomplish. This occurs with people and spirits alike, and once they come to understand your methodologies and intentions, things tend to be a fair bit more peaceful.

That isn't to say that it will always be peaceful, as there are times where natural entities need to be pacified or conquered in order to serve the greater good. However, when milk and honey will suffice, let them.

Yet more importantly is presenting it in such a way that it is understood and comprehended by those who observe it and can convey what they have seen or witnessed.


Seconded, as I agree entirely.

In this Hekate creates some situations that are both enlightening but also creates some situations that are about as clear as mud. Even among her own practitioners I've found that she tends to give us terms, phrases and images that often conflict or down right contradict each other on the surface. Yet I wonder at times is it the image that is conflicting or is it the words that we use that cause the confliction or is it how we see the image vs how we think we see them.


Oh yeah, major parallels with my practices here, as that conflict seems to be a rather large part of the point. Growth and change are had through adversity, and its through that meeting point in the middle, however calm or violent, that a cancellation of the extremes happens and real development occurs.

Some of this conflict strikes me as manufactured surface tension, for want of a better means of describing it, but that is often how spiritis of this kind communicate and help us to change. Many times, what we initially perceive as conflict is the act of cancelling that conflict out either partially or in entirety as a process of inciting this change.

We might initially perceive it as being this terrible, wrong kind of affair at first, but that's a lot of how these kinds of developments within the meta of one's life begin to matriculate. We see the same kind of experience found in Qliphothic magical practices, and its a requirement for the kind of transformations we're looking to create through magic.

This, too, ties in to the idea of death and dying from a shamanic point of view, as that's ultimately the most threatening thing that could ever be done to us as living beings with a fleshy vessel.

It's funny but I resisted the idea of both death and being any sort of shamanic practitioner for years. but the more I resisted the more it got pushed into my face. What's interesting though is that I do not like the title Shaman or shamanic practitioner but I find if I do not use it people tend to put it on me none the less. So I settle for Shamanic Practitioner. It's the same as being a Priest for Hekate, I resist that one as well. Heck even have asked her about it. She tells me I do not want you in that capacity so do not call you for that. Have friends though that keep pushing me to pursue it and can't understand why I do not. But can't seem to grasp that it is not my path though I do follow some of it's tenants.


Yep, that. I'm reminded of someone who was once a friend to me, and perhaps more of one to someone I once knew. This individual was called and claimed by the Morrigan, but made a point of flying in the face of this time and again despite the repeated dreams, ongoing signs, and overabundance of indications of "hey, little girl...you are mine" going on in her life.

At about the time she came to me and asked me for my opinion, I told her what was what, and she really didn't care for it. Resisted it all the same and had real issues with what I said to her on the subject....even broke away from our friendship for a while. Well, not terribly long thereafter she was driving around with a passenger in the car, and she ended up getting into a really gnarly car wreck. By all estimations, she should have died, and her boyfriend that was with her damn near did.

You see, he was a distraction, and this was part of the memo that was conveyed. He's now a quadraplegic and she has owned up to being owned by the Morrigan. It took this kind of substantial show of force for her to recognize that She claimed her, as the Morrigan wasn't asking. Sometimes, this is how it goes.

Sometimes we just wind up priests/priestesses for specific deities, and there are no ifs, ands, or buts about it. It simply "is" and that's that. Such was the case for me and the Horned God, as he claimed me at the age of three. I've been working with and for him ever since, and he pushes me hard. I'm his Rocinante...one of them anyway. I don't fight it, as there's no point to my doing so when my life & efforts have a positive impact on those around me.

I don't, however, run around calling myself a Priest of the Horned God or anything of the kind. That'd be a kind of pointless label, as it doesn't really tell you anything beyond conveying "ok, this dude works with [ ]". "Shamanic Practitioner" is a bit more telling, as is the adornment of "Sorcerer" in this context.

We are defined more by our processes than we are by what's written on our nametags.

Yep. We become what I refer to as a spoke runner or rider. An anchor holds us in both worlds at the same time, though it doesn't hold us in the same place but slides along. So we never know quite where the other ends lies in the other world only that it is there, like an open circuit waiting to be connected and opened when needed.


Agreed. Its a good way to look at this too.

Unfortunately it also has the negative at times of leaving you with this sensation of wishing you could go home for the final time. Longing for that home you wait to return to but can't quite remember all the time as it is sort of foggy at the same time.


I hear that, as that's a sensation I can remember having from really early on in my childhood. I was a weird kid in so many ways, and that desire to "get home" to a place that wasn't the manifest world certainly didn't help things.

There's a different kind of soul-tiredness that hits you when you work in this way too, but that can be difficult to explain to others. Its something that you either understand through experience or don't get at all.

I had that same lesson with my Grandfather from a long distance revelation. That was one of my first exposures to the idea of the Kiss of Passing / Good bye.


That brought some tears for me, as it seems we link up in that experience too.

I didn't really notice new spirits so much as I noticed corrupted or mutated spirits. In the cities it's worse, almost as if the electricity and concrete just bends and deforms their bodies as they are separated from the natural elements. Yes electric is natural, but it's all bent and twisted in the neon signs and power grid. It doesn't disapate into the earth it runs on rails or down wires and cracks in the air. Even the energy in the water doesn't get transferred into the land it's pushed through drains and pipes until maybe it's released into infested waterways or the sea / ocean where it gets absorbed into the water. There it tries to take it's natural shape back but it takes time to recover if it ever does. But those that are hung in the city never do and become more and more deformed and corrupted, trapped.

Not to say all of them for some of them do adapt to the environment and actually do thrive. But they are the exception vice the rule. But they are more like rodents than the larger wild life that once inhabited the area.


It is entirely possible that I was experiencing and observing mutated/corrupted spirits in this context, as I had gone to Japan twice as a teenager, and haven't gone back as an adult. I see the world rather differently, given the decade and a half since I was last in that space, and its entirely possible that I would see these spirits differently too.

As you are correct, the energy present in this space doesn't follow the same flow anymore. Geoelectric currents are a thing, and with all of the additional iron, titanium, copper, light fixtures, bulbs, LEDs, glass, and so forth in our environment, spirits have had to adapt to these changes. There's a lot of truth to the idea that the different materials that make up our homes now have an effect, as you can feel the difference in homes that use brick instead of gypsum. Locales that use limestone tile or wood instead of carpet or linoleum have a different vibe and flow to them.

When aquafors aren't interrupted by massive jolts of electricity and the resources aren't diverted quite so readily, there's much more peace. Small towns feel different in this and other respects for a reason.

Thinking this through, I'll need to watch for mutated entities as a part of my work now, as its a really solid idea. I can think of a few ways to make use of this while providing a benefit to people and spirits alike.

Perhaps just my experience but I've found she prefers natural productions than manmade. A good mist or fogbank or smoke from a fire will produce where a fog machine does nothing. But then I admit I live in an area where there really is no reason you shouldn't be making a real fire or using a actual misty rain or morning / evening fog.


Its entirely possible that the natural occurences are more profoundly powerful in your locale because of what controls them, too. I've noticed substantial differences in the nature of various manifestations, and it largely seems to be related to the land itself.

For instance, in Phoenix, a manmade fire isn't appreciated most of the time. Its too damned hot, so unless the spirit is a fire spirit, its largely disinterested in being made manifest through fire unless the fire itself contains something to aid in the manifestation of whatever you're conjuring.

Water, however, worked amazingly as an offering and means of manifestation because it would cool things off. Something you generally don't see much of in the desert.

In Portland, water is considerably less interesting, however, as its everywhere. It rains 75% of the year here, so that's not really a special event. We live in a temperate rain forest after all.

Manmade fire, however, goes a really long way here. If one is able to do so in the forest with natural materials, especially those that are wildharvested with respect, the manifestations can be enormously powerful. I learned this firsthand when learning PNW-oriented survival skills from a friend of mine, and its stuck with me since.

In Denver, both high heat and water are common because the weather is essentially bipolar, so things that scent the wind are of particularly high value. The winds there carry those scents a ways, bringing others to the table in a hurry.

In Sacramento, water is useful during the summer and fire during the winter. Incense goes a fair ways, especially if offered in ritual, but the most gain is had through pacifying the angry dead. It is, however, an area far more steeped in violence than most people seem to realize, so this too makes sense.

I think one of the things Hekate pushes home, for me anyway, is that she is the mistress of liminal spaces. Not just for the home but also the forest and field, civilization and uncivilized, night & day, clear & cloudy, etc. SO when I sit and look out or stand outside and look up the mountain and the mist or fog is hanging on the mountain and the tree's are like silhouette's and barely there its all illusions. You have to look but at the same time you can't really trust you eyes for what you see might not be what is really there.


Well said and I agree. That's some of what I've experienced too, as coming into a space with the understanding that there is more than what you initially see has been striking me as part of the purpose and point of what she teaches. That little nugget of info is an important inclusion that she seems most insistent that I not forget.