ASSlMlLATlON
The Sage speaks:
I can see that you are held back. I know what troubles you, my child, for I have known the spirit with which you now wrestle. This spirit’s name is Past. Past determines what your limits will be, and so Past is truly the guardian of the magic, the guardian of power you can ultimately attain.
The realm of Past is not easy territory to traverse. It is laden with bramble and thorn of old pain that threaten to reopen wounds, but it is also lush with trees filled with the ripened fruit of past happiness. Past wants us near. It draws us close so that those brambles may be cleared. The wounds from Past threaten to kill you, but they inevitably heal.
This journey is a good omen, but heed this warning, my child: if you dare to venture into Past’s realm, tarry not long there. Go to Past only for its healing and return without delay. For Past’s path ways are brightly lit but go nowhere-only in circles. Paths that lead to desired destinations are direct, but can many times be darkened, mired paths. Which path is finally in your best interests? Why, you know the answer and have always known.
Wise ones know that Past carries a secret fear of their power to move into the future, which ultimately controls Past’s influence. Remember that Past is stupid and cannot create anew. It has no vision, only hindsight. Past may have the power to define where you came from and who you are, but it cannot say who you will be! Look into the future, my dearest, set your sights somewhere in its swirling unformed mists, and the spirit of Past becomes inactive. It knows it has lost you when you side with the future.
Tell me, my beloved, what does Past whisper in your ear right now?
Childe Rowland50
Once there were four children-three boys and one girl-who were all born into the royal family of a distant kingdom. One day, when they were still young but on their way to maturity, they stood outside on a moss-covered knoll and played together with a golden ball. The eldest child, Burd Ellen, kicked the ball with such force that it went over the top of a nearby holy mound and down the other side.
Without thinking, Burd Ellen dashed around the side of the mound to fetch the ball, but she did so going widdershins, or counterclockwise. The three boys waited and waited, but Burd Ellen never returned with the ball. She had vanished. They searched for her, but it was all in vain. Poor Burd Ellen was gone.
So, the boys went to the wizard Merlin and asked him if he could say where she was. Merlin thought a moment and then replied, “The fair Burd Ellen has been carried away by the fairies because she went widdershins around the mound, which is the opposite way to the sun. She is now in the Dark Tower of the King of Elfland:’
The eldest of Burd Ellen’s brothers vowed that he would bring her back from the Elf King or die in the attempt. So he begged the wizard Merlin to tell him what he might do to bring her back. Merlin taught him what he should know, and then the eldest brother set out for Elfland. The others waited long, but the eldest never returned. So the middle brother begged Merlin to tell him what he might do to bring back the others. Merlin taught the youth, who then set out for Elfland. The youngest waited long, but the others never returned.
So the youngest, named Childe Rowland, asked Merlin what he might do to bring back the others. The Merlin said, “Two things: one which you must do and the other which you must not do. Whoever speaks to you in Elfland, you must cut off their heads with a sword. The second thing is that you must not eat anything while you are there in that dark land.”
So Childe Rowland, with the Merlin’s wisdom in mind and a sword at his side, set off for Elfland. He journeyed for many days until fmally he saw someone who was tending fairy sheep. (He knew that they were otherworldly by the fire in their eyes.) He asked the shepherd if he knew the whereabouts of the elf king’s Dark Tower. The shepherd did not know, but told the youth to go down the road farther until he met a henwife and that she might know the vicinity of the tower. So without delay, Childe Rowland took out his sword and severed the shepherd’s head with one blow.
He came to the henwife some distance from the sheep and asked her the same question. She told him that the Dark Tower was still further on, but in order to get in he must circle round the tower three times going widdershins and chanting: “Open, door! Open, door! And let me come in!” Then he could gain entrance to the Dark Tower. Childe Rowland then proceeded to sever the head of the henwife.
Childe Rowland then journeyed on a bit further until he came upon the Dark Tower. He did as he was instructed; the gates opened, and he entered the Tower. Once inside, he expected the Tower to be as black as pitch inside as was its exte rior, but instead it glowed with a soft radiance. The light came from a gigantic pearl that hung in the main chamber.
When he entered this chamber, he was met by Burd Ellen who said, “Why have you come for me? It is no use. You will end up dead like your brothers, who lie yonder.”
Childe Rowland did not care to discuss the matter. Instead he told his sister he was hungry and asked for some food. Because she was under the spell of the King of Elfland, his sister could not refuse him the food, though she knew it would be his downfall. She could not warn him, but she looked sadly to the floor and shook her head as she fetched a meal. But Childe Rowland remembered what Merlin had said and dashed the food to the ground when it came.
In an instant, the doors to the chamber flung open and in rushed the hideous Elf King. Childe Rowland rushed to meet the creature with his sword. Then they fought and fought, till Childe Rowland beat the King of Elfland to his knees, causing him to beg for mercy. Seeing no good in destroying the Elf King, Childe Rowland granted him mercy on the condition that he raise his brothers to life and release them all from his spells. “I agree,” said the Elf King, who took out a phial of blood-red elixir. He anointed the two brothers at the five senses, on their ears, eyelids, nostrils, lips, and fingertips, and they soon sprang to life. They told Childe Rowland that their souls had been lost, but were now restored.
Once all had been mended, the four siblings went through the dark halls, out of the Dark Tower, never to return.51
Working with the Subshadow
To this point in the journey along the road of darkness you have only worked with the shadow mask. That work centered around resolving your dark and sometimes pernicious behaviors-your outward directed shadow. You learned that once the shadow mask was recog nized and confronted, it would be difficult to wear that mask without conscious awareness ever again. That journey set limits to the shadow mask’s influence in your life. For that reason, resolution of shadow at the mask level can mark the end of a journey into personal darkness for some readers.
For others, exploration of the shadow mask only raises more ques tions. “Where did my shadow mask come from?” “Can I effect the life of a shadow?” The answers to these questions are found in magical work centered around the second layer of shadow called the sub shadow. The journey into subshadow culminates in a mystical process called assimilation, which is a method ofbringing the subshadow into a form that can be easily taken in or absorbed in the consciousness. However, in this procedure the only parts of the subshadow that are assimilated are those that stimulate growth and a change of consciousness. The magic of assimilation begins with a spiritual odyssey into the past, where the roots of the shadow mask lie.
In focusing on the subshadow, it is fundamental to consider the past’s influence on the present shadow mask. Women’s experiences with sexism provide an illustration of how the shadow mask (which is like an outward, visible symptom) emerges from the subshadow (which is like the cause of that symptom; it is much like subtext, the meaning behind the words on a page or the history behind the present moment).
When a woman experiences her first brush with blatant sexism, that instance could be characterized as a degrading, disempowering situation. The instance of sexism itself is a shadow mask, a symptom, an affect that comes out of an entire history of women’s disempower ment-the subshadow. The feminist movement is the catalyst facili tating a change in consciousness regarding those historical, underlying issues of gender bias. As you will see, the feminist move ment is like magical assimilation, because it provides a forum for women to strive toward empowerment on their own terms.
Common sense tells you that where you are, what you are, what you believe, what you know, and how you feel in the present are all directly related to the past-good, bad, or neutral. This by no means implies that the past railroads you into predetermined behaviors. There are always choices for present behavior. No one is absolved from responsibility for the decisions they make regarding their actions. However, what fuels behaviors linked to the shadow mask are past events that typically caused physical, mental, or spiritual pain.
My understanding of the subshadow’s origin is that from time to time you are unable to fully absorb certain painful events of your life into your consciousness. Because you don’t fully absorb these events, they become like nodes of energy that get trapped in the body, mind, and spirit. Over time, these unassimilated events can lessen your magical potential, rob you of your spontaneity, and cause you to feel weighted down and wounded on all levels.
But what causes the subshadow to form? It is a manifestation of natural human limitations. It is physically impossible to consume an entire meal, digest it, and absorb its nutrients instantaneously. It is just as impossible to accomplish the same task with life’s experiences. Each encounter goes through processes similar to physical ingestion, digestion, and absorption. First you take in the details of an event, then you attempt to make sense of it, and finally you endeavor to learn from it. Painful events are especially difficult to absorb in this way. Magical assimilation begins a cycle of healing by breaking apart the trapped energy nodes throughout your interconnected planes of being.
Magical assimilation synthesizes a myriad of approaches because the subshadow permeates your being on distinct, yet integrated planes or levels: physical, mental, and spiritual. An ancient hermetic saying is, “as above-so below;’ which means whatever happens in the spiri tual realm is mirrored in the physical and vice versa. This implies that every plane of existence is interconnected with the next, and when one of these is effected, so are the others. If you work with shadow on the physical or mental planes, then you can effect change on the spiritual. It is clear that a multi-planed magical approach to the subshadow can facilitate assimilation on all levels. An exploration of ideas related to assimilation of the subshadow in psyche, body, and spirit is therefore in order to begin the magical wheels of assimilation turning.
The Mental Plane
In relation to our definition of the subshadow, there are two main theories that link it to the mental plane. One reaches back in time to the emergence of psychology as a fledgling field of study in the West ern world. The other is more contemporary, but the two have over lapping features.
Some of the first theories to explore the idea of subshadow claimed that energies of painful past events get stuck inside of us, never losing their original impact. These models of psyche stressed that assimilation happened slowly over time. Freud, Jung, Adler, and even con temporary psychoanalysts theorized that the original events are continuously reenacted in a symbolic way in an effort to resolve themselves.52 Though these early theories had tremendous impact on understanding subshadow, they proved not to be the final word. They did pave the way for some compelling contemporary models.
One contemporary model that seems to closely match the three planed, interwoven definition of subshadow is related to behavioral theories of psychology. According to Dr. Francine Shapiro of the Mental Research Institute in Palo Alto, California, unassimilated events of the past become like knots or crystallized energy that get locked into the nervous system.53 These knots are like barnacles on the hull of a ship that can cause permanent damage or, in some cases, sink the whole boat if not scraped off. She developed a technique called eye movement desensitization and reorganization (EMDR), which breaks up these energy crystals so that they can be more readily assimilated. The theory Dr. Shapiro put forth relates well to several body-centered ideas that work with subshadow.
In magical assimilation, you will experience guided imagery exercises that will tap into this plane of the mind and that will begin to dislodge the energy nodes of the past.
The Physical Plane
The link between the planes of mind and body (or mental and phys ical planes) is well documented, and it is almost conventional wis dom that whatever you think eventually affects your body.54 This happens because the nervous system, which is actually an extension of the brain, is the regulation mechanism that tells the body how to operate. The body houses almost 800 muscles. These muscles all have “sensory cells” that link the muscle system to the nervous system, which facilitates communication between the mind and the body.55
Most of the time we are not conscious of the link between body and mind. There are other times-for instance, during a stress headache-when you become aware of the effects of the link.
According to alternative, holistic health care professionals who focus on mind-body coordination, emotional energy is linked to the muscle mass56 They believe that long-term emotional stresses, such as those that evolve from the subshadow, contribute to the tightening of various muscle groups.57 The specific muscles that tense up under stress differ from person to person, situation to situation. However, over a long period of time, the stored tension weakens the body structure, breaks the natural flow of bio-energy, or natural body energy, and eventually this contributes to the formation of disease. Techniques such as massage therapy, Rolfing, Judith Aston’s “Patterning” chiropractic care, and Feldenkrais’s work assist in the release of these muscle-linked emotions.58
Through the journey of assimilation, you will discover the specific muscle groups that are linked to your subshadow. Work on this plane will ultimately include the use of touch and massage, which can either be done alone or with a magical partner. Before you incorpo rate a partner into this magical work, be certain to assess your com fort level with the partner’s touch.
This work on the physical plane will assist in the release of emo tional tension or subshadow energy stored in the body. Now let us turn to the realm of spirit.
The Spiritual Plane
For Witches, shamans, and others with an animistic world view, the term spirit refers to the life force that flows through all creation. This force is called prana in Hindu theosophy, mana in Polynesian shamanism, and chi by the Taoists.59 In each of these philosophies, the realm of spirit is invisible, yet supportive of the physical plane. The physical and spiritual, in turn, connect to the mental plane. The source of life-force energy is the divine, the Universe, or as the Witches say, the Goddess and the God, and a constant and unim peded flow of that energy facilitates life, health, and wholeness.
According to the Chinese Tao, a balance of life force, chi, generates health and happiness; an imbalance causes disease. In this philoso phy, there is no difference in the physical and spiritual planes. They are merely different manifestations of the same energy.60 So when chi (the spiritual plane) is impeded by the blocked emotions of the sub shadow (the mental plane}, that in turn can cause excessive muscle tightening in the physical plane, which makes an individual suscepti ble to illness. Working to facilitate the flow of spiritual energy can effect change on the physical and mental planes.
Each culture approaches its exploration of the spirit plane differently. In the Western mystical tradition-specifically, in Witchcraft ceremony and ritual are ways to tap into the realm of spirit.
I see ritual as an intentional, symbolic act or set of actions that convey spiritual principles and that are intended to change con sciousness. Rituals are often tied to myths, which are themselves elaborate symbol systems. In fact, one definition of ritual is, “the enactment of a myth.”61 Rituals are intended to effect the mental plane through their spiritual symbolism. Symbols address the mental plane and speak to the deepest part of our consciousness-the unconscious. In Western psychology, we know that the unconscious is not a verbal entity. It speaks with the body and uses unstructured sounds, gestures, pains, and bodily expressions to communicate. The unconscious understands the world through our bodies as well; it uses the five senses to give and receive information. It speaks through the symbols of dream, through music, color, and through gestures and other movements of the body.62
An important component of ritual in many cultures is the physical plane. This is exemplified through rituals that make use of the body, movement, and dance.63 Movement facilitates a visceral connection with the unconscious. Through dance and other body movements, the contents of the unconscious are made manifest. For that reason, magical assimilation includes ritualized movement, and through ritual and dance you will simultaneously access the planes of spirit, mind, and body.
Application of “Childe Rowland”
The tale of Childe Rowland clearly marks out the challenge of the subshadow and the healing power of assimilation. In this tale, the subshadow was called the “King of Elfland” and the hero who bravely dared to face this entity was C hilde Rowland.
By the time Childe Rowland had journeyed into the realm of the subshadow, he saw the results of the subshadow. It had made his brothers “dead” and had placed his sister under a “spell:’ This tale is unique in its ability to allow the reader identification with both the hero on his journey and the other characters of the tale who are in peril; we all could be placed under the spell of the Elf King, the sub shadow, if we never attempt to find resolution. Once under the Elf King’s spell, we are no longer self-empowered. We are shadow-driven which makes us like Childe Rowland’s brothers-dead in spirit.
As you recall, the origin of the shadow mask is an unassimilated emotional event. Many times the reason why an event goes unassim ilated is that it is threatening, just as the King ofElfland appeared to Childe Rowland. However initially threatening the Elf King may have been in the tale, the end of this story revealed an astonishing quality of this subshadow: it carried the ability to heal, to restore to life what it had killed. This, too, is a quality of your subshadow.
In the tale of Childe Rowland, the wise old Merlin offers us some sound advice: when we are in the land of our subshadow, we must stay firm against the threatening pain of the past. Merlin tells Childe Rowland not to listen to anyone nor to eat anything while in the domain of the subshadow. He said that it would be better to “cut off the head” of past pain than to listen to (or actually, absorb) the pain of the past. He warns Childe Rowland not to eat anything while there either. This bit of advice relates to the idea of not listening to the shadows. If we eat of the shadow, we consume or take in its qualities. To feed ourselves on our past pain brings about our spiritual death, as it did to Childe Rowland’s brothers.
Magical assimilation is not a technique to help you absorb the pain you have left unexperienced. Instead, it is a magical way of turning the unassimilated pain around, so that, like the King of Elfland, it has the ability to heal. The promise of this tale is that you too can bring the King of Elfland to his knees and have him restore you to life with his phial of blood red elixir. The journey begins with magical assimilation.
MAGlCAL Assimilation
Magical assimilation will involve several steps that specifically address each of the three interconnecting planes of existence. Meditation in the form of guided imagery addresses the mental plane. Massage and body movement work on the physical plane, and ritual touches the plane of spirit.
Each ritual in Wicca, and the rituals you will learn in this book, begin with the creation of “sacred space” which is space set aside for spiritual endeavors. For the purposes of assimilation, you create sacred space by “casting” a dark moon circle. The magic circle sym bolizes spirit, as the circle is a geometric shape that suggests an eternal quality that the spirit carries-it has no beginning and no end. Casting a circle delineates the space that will contain the magical, transformative energies you generate during your rituals. The steps for creating a dark moon circle are in Appendix A in the back of the book.
Your journey of assimilation will be in the form of two rituals that take place over two consecutive nights. The first ritual is best done on the last night of dark moon during whatever month you choose. This is the time also known as the fourth quarter of the lunar phases. On the mundane level, there is only one night where the moon is fully dark. In mystical traditions like Wicca, three nights oflunar darkness are observed. Witches observe three nights as a symbol of the three phases of the Goddess-the maiden, mother, and crone. The second assimilation ritual should be done on the night immediately follow ing, which is the time of the first waxing moon, also known as the first quarter. The timing of these rituals symbolizes the end of one way of being in the world and the beginning of a new way: the dark moon signals an ending, and the return of lunar light a beginning.
Be sure to read through each ceremony and guided imagery exercise before attempting your magical assimilation. Once you feel safe doing these exercises, find a partner to read the meditations for you during the rituals, or try reading them into a tape recorder so that you can play them back at your convenience. The magical work given below is used to facilitate this endeavor. Keep in mind that even though you may participate in these rituals, the real work of assimilation is a very slow, daily, internal process. For some people, assimilation is a life-long endeavor. Be patient with yourself and be sure to honor your limits as you go through each exercise.
Night I: Night of Shadows
Moon Phase: 4th quarter, last night of dark moon. Purpose: to assimilate the subshadow and shadow mask. Items Needed:
• Banishing incense.64
• Banishing oil.65
• A red candle.
• A bowl of water.
• A dish of salt.
• Your shadow mask.
• A pair of scissors.
• A cauldron, small pot, or other vessel in which you can burn things safely.
The first night’s ritual has two distinct sections. The first part includes a guided imagery exercise; the second part is more ceremonial and includes movement, chanting, and dancing. Feel free to pause between the two sections of the ritual to rest, or even discuss your experiences with your magical partner.
On the night when the moon is darkest (the last night in her twenty-eight-day cycle), gather the supplies for this ceremony and find a secluded, peaceful setting for the ritual. It can be done either indoors or outside. Set up an altar in the spot that will be the middle of your magic circle.
Cast a dark moon circle.66
Once your circle is cast, find a comfortable spot, lay on the floor, and begin the following guided imagery exercise.
ASSimilating the Subshadow
Close your eyes. Begin to scan your body for tension. Begin at your feet and slowly move your consciousness upward through your body. Where are you holding tension? Wherever that is, take a deep breath and as you exhale, breathe through the tension and allow it to melt away from your body, into the ground where it is neutralized.
After you feel relaxed completely, take another deep breath and imagine that a blue mist is beginning to swirl at your feet in a counter clockwise direction. The mist covers your body completely, and when it does, it lifts you and takes you back to the shadow mask chamber.
When the mist sets you down, you are at the top of a spiraling stair case that leads downward. Follow the stairs until you see your special metal symbol, inlaid within the marble walls. This symbol represents your shadow mask. Take that symbol from the wall and continue to spiral downward until you reach the doorway to the chamber.
Unlock the door with the metal symbol and enter the chamber.
You will see your primary shadow mask illuminated on the far wall. Go over to it, take it down, and place it on your face.
As soon as you do this, you find yourself speeding through a tunnel of time. Colors and faint images pass on all sides of you, and soon you are transported to a scene from your past. This is the moment in the past when your subshadow was created. Allow this scene to play before your spirit eyes. Notice what age you are in the scene. Notice the people involved in the scene.
[Partner: pause for at least two minutes.]
Now allow yourself to feel the emotions that this scene is evoking. Bring these feelings into full conscious awareness. As these emotions come forward, take note of where you feel them in your body. If you have a partner, tell this person now where you feel the emotions. If you do not have a partner, take a mental note of where the emotional energy is held.
[Partner: wherever in the body the emotions are felt, place your hands on that spot and carefully, gently begin to massage that area.]
Wherever in your body that feeling is being held, breathe into it, make it bigger and bigger with each out-going breath. Continue to watch the scene in front of your spirit eyes and allow yourself to feel the enlarged emotion. Sustain this feeling with your breath for as long as is possible and allow yourself to physically let out your feelings as you watch the scene-cry, moan, yell-do whatever your body needs for you to do to dislodge the pain that was once stuck inside of you. Do this while you continue to lay on the ground with your physical eyes closed.
[Partner:pause for at least five full minutes, or until the meditator has completed her or his catharsis.]
Special note: It may take the meditator several minutes to open up to her or his emotional states. Continue to encourage the meditator to express the emotional state. If there is no catharsis, discontinue the meditation and try again in 28 days, during the dark moon phase.
Allow this feeling to subside now. Let it soften.
[Partner: again allow a couple of minutes for the charged emotional state to subside and soften. You may end the massage work at this time.]
Now imagine that you lift up and float above the scene you’ve been watching. Feel how you are becoming lighter, easier, more tender and tranquil as you rise up out of the scene. You are taking the vantage point of the higher self-the wisdom self, where you are beyond the extremes of human emotion. Imagine that you actually become your higher, wisdom self.
From this vantage point above the scene, watch all the players involved in the scene and, magically, the meaning of this scene will become clear. There was a lesson to learn-what was it?
After you come to an understanding of the scene, begin to take deep breaths. Notice that with each deep breath, the shadow mask you are wearing feels as though it is shifting and becoming warmer, lighter, brighter. The colors of the mask change, and the shape changes, too. You cannot see it fully yet, but you can sense the changes occurring. The mask has become light; it is assimilating more fully into your consciousness. It now has a new name, a name of strength. It has now become an ally of yours. Listen within, and the new name of strength will be dear to you.
When the mask has stopped changing form, continue to breathe deeply and slowly, and notice that as you do, the scene from the past fades away. Continue breathing deeply until the scene is completely gone and you find yourself back in the dim recesses of the shadow chamber. When you are fully within the chamber, take off the changed mask and look at it. What has it become now? Observe the colors, shapes, designs, and other decorations it has now assumed. Look inside the mask and there you will see printed the name that this power has become. What strength is this mask lending to you?
Once you know this, it is time to leave the shadow chamber. Climb the stairs once more and return the symbol to the wall (if it has not disappeared or changed as well). If the symbol has changed, notice what the symbol is now.
At the top of the spiral staircase the blue mist begins to wrap and swirl around your body. Once it completely covers you, it lifts you up and takes you back to the place where your physical body rests comfortably.
Once you are fully back, open your eyes, stretch, and take time to answer the journaling questions either aloud to your partner or in written form in the space provided below.
If you do not have a magical partner, locate the place in your body that held the subshadow energy and gently massage it for several minutes to facilitate subshadow movement on the physical level.
JOUrnaling
What is the new name of the mask?
What power does this changed mask lend you?
What action is needed on your part to retain this power?
Draw here the new mask: (You will use this in the ceremonial portion of the ritual that will follow.)
PUrging Ceremony
Hold in your hands the shadow mask you made in earlier exercises. Starting in the west, and continuing counterclockwise, present it at each of the four compass directions: west, south, east and north. At each compass point, hold the mask up high and say:
Guardians of the (west, south, east, north), Behold the power of the night!
Shadows that once danced now take flight!
Next, chant the name of the shadow mask over and over until you feel psychic energy beginning to build within you. If the chanting is not enough to generate psychic energy, try dancing around the circle in a counterclockwise direction. Allow the chanting to grow louder until you reach a climax point. That is the point at which you will have cre ated a vortex of psychic power, or as the Witches say, a “cone of power.”
At that point, use your scissors to cut the shadow mask in half. To heighten this moment, try screaming or extending a long sigh. During this, imagine that some of the energy vortex is used. After that, cut those two halves of the mask into halves, so that there are four pieces.
Hold your hands over the quartered mask and direct the rest of the energy vortex into the mask pieces. As you direct this energy, visualize the subshadow leaving through your hands and imagine that it becomes confined to the mask pieces.
Take one piece of the mask along with your cauldron or other ves sel to the western quarter. Light a match and burn the mask piece in the vessel. While it smolders, extend your arms so that the palms of your hands are directed towards the west and say:
Shadow, bound and restrained
Mirror of self-my non-self.
I bind thee and I return thee,
To the darkest void
Of the outer spaces!
Repeat this process at each of the remaining three compass points with your other mask pieces. Be sure to move around the circle in a counterclockwise fashion: west, south, east and then north. When you have finished this, scoop together the ashes of the mask and set them aside for later.
Next, sprinkle yourself with the water and salt mixture you used to cast the dark moon circle. With this, dab a bit on to each of your five senses: apply it to your hands, your ears, on your brow between your eyes, and on your lips. Repeat this process with the smoldering ban ishing incense to symbolize a cleansing with air and fire. Hold your hands over the smoke and then use your hands to fan the incense on to your ears, eyelids, nose, and mouth.
Finally, anoint yourself with banishing oil in the same way on each of the five senses to represent their awakening to life.
Close the circle.
After you have closed the circle, take the ashes from your burned shadow mask and dispose of them ceremonially by scattering the ashes to the four winds. Take the ashes to the ocean, a lake, or stream and scatter them in the water, or cast the ashes into a hole you dig in the ground and cover them over.
While you discard the ashes, you may chant the following or even create your own magical chant:
Triumphe supra umbra! Sins incurrere pleores!
Translation from the Latin:
I conquer my shadow!
Protect me mighty ones from its danger!
The deed is done. Subshadow has been ceremonially banished. This concludes the first night’s ritual.
Night II: First Light
Moon Phase:1st quarter (first night).
Purpose: To assimilate the positive qualities of the transformed mask. Items Needed:
• A red candle.
• A dish of salt.
• A bowl of water.
• Incense of your choice.67
• Mask-making supplies.
On the first night of the waxing moon cycle, gather your supplies and cast a circle, but this time, cast a standard circle instead of a Dark Moon one.68
Within your circle, purify the mask-making supplies by passing each through all of the elements. Sprinkle a bit of water and salt on them, pass them through the candle flame (if that is safe and possible), and pass them through the twisting smoke of the lit incense.
After the mask supplies have been purified, begin to assemble them, creating the new mask you saw in the meditation of “Night 1: Night of Shadows:’ This new mask is called the “Mask of First Light:’
Once it is complete, place it on your altar at the center of the circle.
Begin to dance deosil-sunwise-while chanting the name of the new mask. For instance: “Radiance...radiance...ra...di..ance....” As you dance, start out slowly, chanting the name softly. As the dance pro gresses, begin to make it wilder, louder, and full of your magical intent, which is to assimilate these new qualities. There are no dance steps to this magical movement that are more important than the ones you create. Spontaneity is the key. Try not to allow your critical mind to interfere with this process of creativity. Don’t edit whatever may come up in your magical movement. There are no incorrect move ments in this dance. This dance encourages the process of becoming. It is a technique that allows us to leave the negatives of the past behind. In the process, the future, new qualities come into being. 69
As you dance, imagine that you gather magical energy and form it into a cone of power or energy vortex. Listen to your intuition and when it tells you that you have gathered enough magical energy for the transformation and assimilation, stop the dance. Extend your hands over the new mask. Draw on the energy you have created and imagine that you are sending the energy into the new mask. While doing so, chant:
I assimilate the virtues
Of the mask of first light.
In me, through me, by me, be me!
When you are fmished, sit comfortably and place the mask on your face. Ask yourself internally, “What will be the first visible signs in my life that this mask has transformed me?” Wait for the answer. Then ask, “What are the first actions I must take to keep this mask alive?” Listen to the voice of your inner wisdom and when you have the answer, take that action when you can.
Celebrate the new assimilation with cakes and wine, the traditional Wiccan celebratory meal. When all is done, close the circle.
50. This tale is actually a cante-fable, which is a mixture of folk tale and verse. The cante-fable is a very ancient form of the English fairy tales and harkens back to a time when stories were told or performed, rather than written. It is speculated that the verse parts of the cante.fable might have been sung in such a performance. Joseph Jacobs, English Folk and Fairy Tales, (3rd edition, revised), New York: G. P. Putnam’s Sons, (n.d.), p. vii.
51. Joseph Jacobs, English Folk and Fairy Tales, (3rd edition, revised), New York: G. P. Putnam’s Sons, (n.d.), pp. 122-129.
52. Henri Ellenberger, The Discovery of the Unconscious, New York: Basic Books, 1970, pp. 480-500.
53. Francine Shapiro, Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing Work-shop ManuaPalo Alto: Francine Shapiro, 1989, p.2
54. See, e.g., Ron Kurtz and Hector Prestera, M.D., The Body Reveals, New York: Harper & Row, 1984.
55. Thomas Hannah, Somatics, New York: Addison-Wesley Publishing Company, 1988, pp. 13-14.
56. See, e:g., Ron Kurtz and Hector Prestera, M.D., The Body Reveals, New York: Harper & Row, 1984, pp. 6-11
57. See, e.g., Thomas Hannah, Somatics, New York: Addison-Wesley Publishing Company, 1988.
58. Ron Kurtz and Hector Prestera, M.D., The Body Reveals, New York: Harper & Row, 1984, p. 11.
59. See, e.g., David E. Bresler, Ph.D., “Chinese Medicine and Holistic Health,” in Arthur C. Hastings, Ph.D., James Fadiman, Ph.D., and James S. Gordon, M.D., Health for the Whole Person, Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 1980, pp. 407-419.
60. David E. Bresler, Ph.D., “Chinese Medicine and Holistic Health,” in Arthur C. Hastings, Ph.D., James Fadiman, Ph.D., and James S. Gordon, M.D., Health for the Whole Person, Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 1980, pp. 407-419.
61. Betty Sue Flowers, (ed.), Joseph Campbell, The Power of Myth, New York: Doubleday, 1988, p. 82.
62. See, e.g., Loretta Malandro, Larry Barker, and Deborah Barker, Nonverbal Communication, New York: Random House, 1983, pp. 94-117.
63. See, e.g., Denny Sargent, Global Ritualism, St. Paul: Llewellyn Publications, 1994, p. 55.
64. See Appendix B for recipe.
65. See Appendix B for recipe.
66. See instructions in Appendix A.
67. I recommend using White Moon Incense. The recipe is in Appendix B. However, any incense that seems to stir your unconscious processes is helpful.
68. See Appendix A for the standard, deosil circle-casting format.
69. Paul Davies, The Mind of God, NewYork Touchstone, 1992, p. 34.