Tag Archives: symbols

Piercing the veil

To truly grasp the message and actualize the teaching of any religion or spiritual path, one must go beyond the doctrines to the reality behind them. The esoteric position is that it is as if there is a veil between us and the ultimate reality. Upon that veil are the symbols of our religion or spiritual tradition. When we look towards the ultimate reality, we see the veil, and the symbols placed upon it by ourselves, or by our traditions or cultures. Many people are happy enough with the symbols on the veil. A large number however come to believe that those human created symbols are the reality, rather than the decoration.

Any path worth it’s salt will encourage you take up the sword of truth, and pierce the veil, and thus come face to face with the reality behind all appearances. From which time, you will be one of the few who have pierced the veil, and will see all human activities from a very different perspective, and you won’t really be too concerned about a persons religion or worldview, which are but illustrations upon the veil and of little ultimate consequence.

Rob

Building up your circle

One of the practices that is taught in the Fellowship is to build up a circle of allies from different planes of existence. As pagans, we work with the four elemental qualities, Air, Fire, Water and Earth, and we understand phenomena through their relationship to the elements, and the various cycles of manifestation, which I have discussed on another occasion. One component of the magical enterprise is building up a strong and impregnable aura, which has built into its nature symbolic keys through which various energies and aspects of consciousness can be accessed and amplified. These symbolic keys are receptacles for imaginative energy which creates a living nexus that links the practitioner to the energy and consciousness behind the symbol. These symbols can be purely human created, by ourselves or others, or they can be natural symbols, objects or entities which pre-exist in the natural world or on one of the non material planes.

As an example, I work with four different varieties of trees on a regular basis. They are all tree that grow naturally in my surroundings, and or places I frequently visit. They are naturally Australian Native trees, as that is where I live. For each tree I have made a wooden stave, from a branch that has been dropped. I use these staves in ritual settings, to mark the four quarters. My tree friends are the Ironbark, who I regularly place in the Air Quarter, as I wish to emphasize practicality and solid reasoning in my mental sphere. In the Fire quarter I place the Brushbox, which has a transformative energy. I the water quarter I place the Paperbark, which for me calls to mind the dark still, reflective tannin stained waters of the Paperbark swamps of my region. In the earth quarter, I place the Bunya pine, which bears an abundant harvest of nutritious edible nuts every few years.

I have described the process of making a stave elsewhere…this process is a mechanism by which a relationship with the tree spirit can be established and strengthened. And this relationship can be honored and the connection strengthened within ritual, by honoring those tree allies at the four quarters when establishing sacred space, and by further meditative work within the circle as appropriate.

In addition to the trees just mentioned, I also have four gem stone allies that I work with in the same way, selected for their relevance to my energies, and placed in the four quarters. Being interested in herbs and their uses in healing, I work in the same way with a number of herbs.

In addition to these regular helpers from the worlds of stones, herbs and trees, I sometimes draw in special helpers for a particular working or occasion, in order to work with a particular energy.

You can build up your circle this way over time, adding additional circles of trees, stones, herbs, animals, birds, mythic creatures etc, depending on your interests and proclivities.

Blessed Be
Rob