The Widdershins Spiral
The Sage speaks:
In the ways of magic, balance is all. It is from balance you are born; this is the balance of the earth, your Mother. Her life force, Her equilibrium reverberates within all, and through it She maintains aU in Her mystical earthly web.
Remember that a fruitful tree cannot bear fruit when the season turns. The tree must have a time of rest and rejuvenation. For during that time when its leaves wither on the bough, its movement is mostly internal. This tree is actually gaining in strength so that in the spring it can blossom and fruit once more. So go the ways of magic.
The life of magic ebbs and flows just as surely as the light of the moon. There are times of movement and there are times of rest. Just as the fruit tree’s magic bursts forth from its times of internal movement, so must yours. Honor these tides of your power and your magic will be strong, for you shall live within the ordanes of the Great Ones.
The Widdershins Dance
Widdershins means counterclockwise; in Neopagan parlance, it specifically means to go against the direction of the sun. Within the sacred circles of Witches and shamans, the word widdershins describes the movement of energy that is “reverse’’ to that of sunwise or “deosil” energy, which is active and focused toward outward manifestation. Widdershins energy is rarely used within the Witch’s circles; in fact, most practitioners’ only exposure to this work is annually at the great festival of the Celtic new year, Samhain.
At that time, spiritual rommunities called covens celebrate the passage through the dark gates of the Lord of Death, which is one of the many aspects of the Celtic Horned God, Cernunnos. Death is a natural part of life for pagans, Witches, and shamans, who believe that the entire universe and all her creatures are a manifestation of deity, of spirit. Witches believe that deity is the source of life energy and this energy swirls into physical form. It takes the shape of humans, plants, animals, stars, and planets.This energy can swirl out of physical form as well. Humans experience this at the time of death. Neopagan spiritual systems celebrate death not in its aspect of end ing, but as a transition point from one state to another. At Samhain, Witches dance widdershins around the magic circle in honor of this reverse cycle, which moves spiritual energy out of physical form.
The circular widdershins dances hold power and many more layers of meaning beyond that which is currendy observed in traditional Wicca. For instance, anyone who has studied meditation knows that death is not the only time that spirit spirals out of form, away from its physical manifestation. Meditation is a way of providing brief periods that are similar to that of a dormant fruit tree, when it seasonally ceases to bear fruit. The tree is not dead in these periods. Its action becomes internal while it refuels from its source, its spirit, the earth.
Similarly, the waning and dark moons are symbols for the work of consciously focusing our attention inward to draw power from spirit. The dark moon is a symbol for these periods of internal magic.
Clearly, a tradition that honors the power of an inner craft is miss ing from contemporary Wicca. But how could such an important ele ment be missing from the contemporary Craft? The fact that there are gaps in the existing practices of Witches is understandable, since the Craft is reconstructed from the myths, lore, and customs of the tribal Europeans, a people whose mosdy oral traditions of religion and magic were forced underground (and many of them lost) with the invasions of the Romans and Christians. Because of this, contemporary Witchcraft is a constantly evolving discipline.
With this in mind, I began to explore ideas that might help recon struct the missing inner tradition of contemporary Witchcraft What resulted from my search was a new vision of the Witch’s power that included a cycle of reverse energy that I call the widdershins spiral.
Dark Spirals
At the time of the waxing moon and at many of the Eight Great Sab bats, Wiccan celebrants utilize a dynamic technique to generate psychic power through circular and sometimes spiraling dances. Through the dance around the circle, past the four elements (air, fire, water, earth) represented at each of the compass points (east, south, west, north), Witches create a swirling cone of power, the essence of magic that they use to create outward action, movement, or change.
This outward-directed power must be fueled from some source. For Witches, the source is deity-the Goddess and God-who suf fuse their very bodies, minds, and spirits. Access to the Gods and their powers occur when Witches shift their locus of consciousness from the external to the internal world.
The moon both waxes and wanes, which illustrates that magic occurs in cycles, pulsations of both external and internal movement. You need both cycles to achieve a natural balance in your personal, spiritual power. The widdershins spiral is the power cycle that coils you back to the center of your being, to touch the sacred source of Witch power, and arouse inward movement and illumination.
If there was a sacred, spiraling dance created for widdershins magic, it would move past the same four deosil elements of the magic circle. But instead of starting in the east, in the element of air, the widdershins spiral would begin in the west, in water. It would swirl past fire, then air, and then earth, and return to water in the west.
The energies of the widdershins spiral are like the twin brothers and sisters of air, fire, water, and earth. They are born from the same four elements, and as many brothers and sisters do, they create tension. Widdershins powers create an opposite or reverse polarity to that of their brother and sister energies in the deosil spiral. This polar tension is the source behind all movement in magic.
Working in both directions—deosil and widdershins—is the bal anced path of the Witch and shaman. Another way of describing the two paths is to say you can either work magic from the outside to the inside or from the inside to the outside, depending on the moon’s cycle; The waxing moon symbolizes magic that starts on the outside; the waning moon is symbolic of magic that starts within.
If, for example, you light a green candle every day to create some sort of change, this would be working magic from the outside to the inside. You light the candle in order to create magic, which is a change in consciousness. You do not have to concentrate on creating consciousness changes because the physical candle becomes a psychic trigger, setting the internal powers of the unconscious in motion.
If you begin magical work from the point of the unconscious—for example, by meditating on the purpose of lighting the green candle you are working magic from the inside to the outside. By meditating on the purpose, you do not necessarily need the green candle because you begin with a shift in consciousness. However, mediation that does not translate into action is useless.
Thoughtlessly lighting a green c;:andle is ineffective. But in combination, their magic is potent. You need both cycles, internal and external, to walk the path of the Witch and shaman in balance and power.
The double spiraling design found throughout Europe serves to illustrate the relationship and the interplay between these two ways of working magic.
The double spiral design has been found primarily in European archaeological sites that date back almost 8,300 years.70 This mystical symbol emerged as a pottery design in the second half of the seventh millennium B.C.E. in Thesaly. It later spread throughout Old Europe and was a common design from 5500 to 3500 B.C.E.71 The design seemed to be a favorite among the Celts; it was often incorporated into their jewelry and pottery designs and appeared on the walls and facings oflong barrows.72 The double spiral design serves as a symbol of regeneration, of the cyclical, reciprocal power exchange between polar energies such as life and death,73 positive and negative, active and passive power.
This interplay between polar energies-called the “spiral dance”74 by pagans and Witches-is the dance of the eternal spiraling of our lives: birth, growth, decay, death, and rebirth. Incarnation moves steadily toward excarnation; excarnation moves us into the next incarnation, and the round never ends.
The sunwise part of the double spiral, which starts from a center point and moves outward in consecutive rings, is the first half of the double spiral. It serves to symbolize the stage through which spiritual energy manifests in a physical form. It also symbolizes the time when you work magic from the outside to the inside-when you use the physical world to make change in the internal, in your consciousness.
The ‘counterclockwise’ or second part of the spiral, which starts from the outer rings and recedes toward the center, symbolizes the stage in which energy moves out of (or even away from) its physical form, such as through meditation. In a meditative state, you move your consciousness away from physical action toward spiritual action. For Witches, meditation is the time of working magic from the inside to the outside. It is using the internal world to make change in the physical.
Widdershins Energies
Whether accessing power in a deosil or widdershins way, the path of the double spiral treads past the four compass directions and lends us power from each of the elements. East, south, west and north represent the elements air, fire, water, and earth respectively. Let us look at both of these power cycles to dearly note differences in meaning of the ele ments and compass directions when they become widdershins powers.
Deosil Quarters
When we generate magical power through the deosil spiral, the east is the place of beginnings, and it imparts the power to know. Knowl edge, insight, and communication are key powers evoked in the east. The south is the place of growth, passion, and the life spark. It teaches us the power to will. The place of endings, of decline, is in the west, which brings forth the power to dare. The west’s power brings forth our emotions, such as courage, joy, anger, and sadness. The power to be silent belongs to the north, which is the place of wisdom, death, and mystery.
Deosil Elements
In the deosil spiral, the alchemical elements represent human qualities and characteristics. Air is representative of knowledge, communica tion, and birth, while fire symbolizes our drive, ambition, and aggres sive impulses. Water symbolizes the tides, ebbs and flows of our lives, and is closely aligned with women’s mysteries and our emotions. Earth symbolizes materialization, stability, and fertility.
Generating Deosil Power
The deosil energy spiral starts in the east, the place of beginnings where you initially gain knowledge (east, air). Once that knowledge is assimilated into your consciousness, your consciousness is then raised and you acquire wisdom (north, earth). Once you are wise, you then can feel the courage (west, water) to take action (south, fire), which then leads to physical manifestation.
Widdershins Quarters and Elements
When the spiral of energy moves widdershins, taking you within, each of the quarters and elements becomes a point of tension, pulling in the opposite direction to that of the deosil spiral. This psychic tension is a necessity in the generation of magical energy. Each of these new widdershins powers are stages of consciousness you experience on the journey within toward a meditative state. But they are also psychological attitudes that can be powerful and transformative. They are accessible to you at any time with a little practice.
The widdershins spiral begins in the west, moves to the south, to the east, to the north, and then circles to the west once more. The tension point of water-the west’s power to dare-becomes the power to accept in the widdershins paradigm. In order to dare, to go beyond the limits, beyond the known, you should know what the limits are. The power to accept is that which grounds you in the here and now, so that you can see the reality of both your limits and assets.
In the south, the tension point for fire, the power to. will is the power to surrender in the widdershins spiral. Most people find it diffi cult to associate this term with power. However, in our new power structure, surrendering has many layers of meaning. It means the ability to relax the body and mind, to let go so that you can tap the source of power behind willing, which is spirit. It also means “to allow the processes of nature to unfold.” Both of these types of surrendering are advantageous, especially when on the way to apprehending internal power, as you will see in the upcoming chapters.
The tension point for the east, air, which is the power to know becomes the power to wonder. Knowledge begins with wondering. The power to wonder opens your mind to roaming beyond the limitations of knowledge into the zone of unlimited creativity and spontaneity. When you operate from knowledge, you are the teacher; when you wonder, you are the student. Witches, shamans, and all manner of mystics aim for flexibility of consciousness, so they assume both roles.
In the north, the tension point for earth, the power to be silent becomes the power to resonate in widdershins magic. Resonance is the doorway through which wisdom, direction, and divine power enter your life. It is the point at which the Goddess and God fully enter your consciousness and your entire being. It is a form of divine possession through which you resonate with and then assume their powers. The deosil term to be silent means to create a void. The void is filled when you claim your power through the Goddess and God by resonating with them.
|
Direction: |
Deosil: |
Widdershins: |
|
east |
to know |
to wonder |
|
south |
to will |
to surrender |
|
west |
to dare |
to accept |
|
north |
to be silent |
to resonate |
|
Element: |
Deosil: |
Widdershins: |
|
air |
knowledge, |
wondering, |
|
communication |
moving beyond |
|
|
what is known |
||
|
fire |
passion, |
relaxation, |
|
tension |
release |
|
|
water |
emotions, |
grounding, |
|
intuition |
presence |
|
|
earth |
manifestation, material goods |
inner-manifestation, spirituality |
Generating Widdershins Power
In combination, these polar powers of the widdershins spiral spin you in the direction of inner growth, movement, and manifestation. You begin this movement by accepting where you are in time and space and honoring your limitations and attributes honestly (west, water). Once you have done this, you have surrendered (south, fire) to reality; then you begin to relax: mentally and physically. Once you surrender in body and mind, you open your consciousness up to wondering beyond the bounds and limitations of knowledge (east, air). Once you have opened your consciousness to wonder, you slowly begin to resonate with the Universe (north, earth). You then operate from the perspective of the big picture, or the macrocosm, because you have melded with the Goddess and the God.
Beginning the Work
In each of the chapters that follow, you will once again find fairy tales as your guides through the world of widdershins power. Each chapter also includes exercises, meditations, and rituals to help you access these dark powers within. Take each lesson at your own pace, for these powers are potent and transformative. They expand your consciousness so that growth can occur. Once you shift your axis of power and the locus of your magical control to “within” change is inevitable.
The Sage speaks:
From west to north go ‘round and soon, Resonance will be the boon.
Spiral in, then back to west, Thou hast begun the sacred quest.
70. Marija Gimbutas, The Language of the Goddess, San Francisco: Harper Collins, 1989, pp. 279-291.
71. Marija Gimbutas, The Language of the Goddess, San Francisco: Harper Collins, 1989, p. 279.
72. ust a few of the many striking archaeological remains with the spiraling motif include Maiden Castle hillfort in Dorset, England (c. 300 B.C.E.), The Turoe Stone in County Galaway, Ireland (c. first century B.C.E.), and the walls and surrounding stones at Newgrange tomb in Newgrange, Ireland (c.3200 B.C.E.). See, e.g., Maria Gimbutas, The Language of the God dess, San Francisco: Harper-Collins, 1989, and David Bellingham, An Introduction to Celtic Mythology, New Jersey: Chartwell Books, 1990.
73. Marija Gimbutas, The Language of the Goddess, New York:Harper-Collins Publishers, 1989, p. 204.
74. See, e.g., Starhawk, The Spiral Dance.San Francisco:Harper-Collins, 1989.