Vivian Hadleigh's Blog

Archetypes of the Mature Masculine

Emotional Maturity and the US Elections

This discussion isn’t intended to recommend any candidates, but rather to equip you to make good choices when you vote in November. I think the archetypes expressed by the various candidates—both women and men—are very clear, as are the dangers and the possibilities inherent in them.

What is an archetype? According to Jungian psychology, it is “… a collectively inherited unconscious idea, pattern of thought, image, etc., universally present in individual psyches.” – Dictionary.com

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Let’s get one thing straight at the outset. You can’t bully, plead, cajole, threaten, make rules, punish, clean up after, or in any other way  manipulate an immature person into behaving like a grownup. It didn’t work for their parents, and it won’t work for you, no matter what your relationship.

Maturity has to happen from the inside out. It cannot be forced or directed, but it can be inspired. Let’s define a mature person of either sex as someone who is inwardly secure and outwardly responsible.

In their ground-breaking book about masculine archetypes King, Warrior, Magician, Lover, Robert Moore and Douglas Gillette theorize that modern men have trouble achieving maturity because the old rites of passage, the events which defined the requirements of the next level, have been lost. That we have so lost touch with mature masculine archetypes that we no longer have the capacity to even imagine how mature masculine energy could and should behave. Witness politics and Wall Street.

You’ll find the Moore and Gillette archetypes summarized briefly below, along with an additional archetype, the Shepherd, whom I have encountered many times.

What you can do to improve this situation is re-learn how the mature masculine functions, and start expecting mature behavior in both your personal and professional (and political!) relationships.

And while there isn’t as helpful a book about feminine archetypes, exploring and understanding these mature masculine archetypes will help you imagine what kind of mature feminine energy would balance and match them. Jean Shinoda Bolen’s Goddesses in Every Woman is a great place to start your journey.

Another reason it’s important for you to know a bit about the major masculine archetypes is because you might be surprised to find that what you had labeled as immature is actually healthy… just not what you want or need in a relationship, a business situation—or a political leader.

And, by the way, a mature man often exhibits more than one archetype at the same time.

Masculine archetypes

The King – The two primary functions of the King archetype are ordering or organization, and fertility or blessing. He is the Father in both physical and social terms. The immature King can be a tyrant or weakling, using whichever method will achieve his aim of total domination. The mature King, like the legendary King Arthur, sees to the well-being of the corporation or community by creating laws, policies, maps and other structures which bring order, and he leads by his example.

The Warrior – This archetype has been driven underground in today’s world, giving plenty of room to its shadow expressions of abuser, bully, coward and terrorist. The mature Warrior is action-oriented, decisive, highly controlled, and motivated by devotion to a cause or ideal. The positive Warrior is still a destroyer, but before he acts, he steps back to be sure that his act of destruction will serve the greater good. The Warrior in combination with other archetypes confers both strength and depth.

The Magician – Moore and Gillette identify the Magician as both a theoretician and a master of technology. Anything which requires special training is the province of the Magician, whether it’s high finance or quantum physics, shamanism or psychoanalysis. The immature Magician appears as a know-it-all, practical joker or manipulator. Detached and thoughtful, the mature Magician understands and masters the use of raw power, and in his maturity tames that power for the benefit of others.

The Lover – The Lover is about the sensual, in terms of both sexual expression and sensitivity to the beauty and delight of all aspects of the physical world, from Nature to art to eroticism. The Lover is often powerfully empathic and even psychic, and he sees and experiences the world through an artist’s sensibilities. An immature Lover can be impotent or a sex addict, a Mama’s boy, or all dreams and no action.

The Shepherd – This archetype was not discussed in Moore and Gillette’s book, but I’ve met him many times. An immature Shepherd could be a Mama’s boy, or one who gives away his power to buy love and approval. A mature Shepherd can be a father, minister, CEO or physician, but in any guise he is personally concerned with the well-being of each individual in his flock, even more than that of the collective.

Bringing them into being

What can you do to assist in a rebirth of the mature masculine? Now you know a bit about what mature archetypes look like, and how they operate, the most important thing you can do is to act as though these mature expressions of archetypal energy, and their feminine counterparts, can and should be a part of your everyday reality.

You can also elicit their mature expression in individuals you know or work with by recognizing the immature version and, through discussion, work assignments, joint projects and other co-creative actions, give the mature archetype hidden beneath the bad behavior a chance to express itself, and then reward it when it does. You’ll be healing our world every time you encourage and strengthen the mature expression of these vital archetypal energies!

Slightly revised from the version originally published on Californiapsychics.com, and reprinted with permission.

© 2008-2011 Outlook Amusements, Inc.  All Rights Reserved.

A miracle is the impossible made possible. Experiencing or witnessing a miracle fills people with awe and awakens faith in a Higher Power and the possibility of divine intervention.

Are Miracles ‘Real?’

Dictionaries and our relentlessly rational Western mind focus on the idea that a miracle has to be picked apart and ‘proven’ to defy scientific or rational analysis. And whether you’re talking about the miracles attributed to Jesus, Mohammed, and other avatars and spiritual masters, or even near death experiences, cynics and debunkers usually find a way to scoff at them.

At least twice Jesus was reported to have fed between 4,000 and 5,000 people by blessing and then passing around a couple of loaves of bread and a few fish. To our modern minds, it seems likely that Jesus motivated people who already had food to share with others, while the small contents of a single basket were passed around.

But even when hindsight provides a likely explanation, it cannot diminish the impact of that miracle, the solution to a dilemma that was beyond people’s ability to imagine, and so seemed impossible to them.

Modern Miracles

Sometimes miracles happen in a moment, like spontaneous or hands-on healings. Sometimes they can take many years, such as when victims of crippling diseases or birth defects transcend their limitations and achieve greatness.

However miracles happen, here are some of their common ingredients:

Asking or Intending

Two of the most intractable social and political problems of the 20th century, persistent and painful reminders of humanity’s propensity for separation and violence, were miraculously transformed within a year of each other, from 1989 to 1990. Both apartheid in South Africa and the Berlin Wall began to unravel after decades of seemingly hopeless diplomacy and struggle. Why?

Probably because a bit more than two years earlier, on the first World Healing Day, December 31, 1986, literally millions of people across the globe gathered at the same moment in time—not the same time of day, but the same moment, noon Greenwich Mean Time, 4am in Los Angeles, 3pm in Moscow—to imagine a world at peace.

To make room for miracles in your life, you first need to have the courage to ask for help from a Higher Power, rather than simply deciding that a solution to your dilemma is impossible. And then, spend time imagining the result you want—not how to get there, just the result—and you will have created space for your miracle to take place.

Letting Go

Sure, sometimes God or the Universe or whoever is in charge of miracles, will wrestle whatever you’re struggling with out of your grasp long enough to create a miracle for you. However, it makes the whole process easier if you just remember, after you’ve asked for a miracle, to let go.

Letting go means no peeking, no worrying, but rather fully and freely placing your request in the hands of the larger forces of the Universe, and getting busy with something else.

It also means letting go of resistance. Healers often comment that it’s far easier to heal animals, even to completely erase the presence of dangerous cancers, than it is to heal humans. Maybe it’s because animals don’t block miracles by believing that healing is impossible.

Faith or Trust

One of the reasons spiritual masters, called spiritual avatars, like Jesus, Buddha and Mohammed were able to work miracles was their absolute faith in the Divine force that makes the miracles possible.

In truth, all that’s required is that you suspend disbelief long enough to let a miracle in, and to simply be willing to allow your Higher Power to create a real miracle, a solution to your ‘impossible’ dilemma that is beyond your ability to imagine.

And if you can learn to relax enough to trust that the Universe will provide you what you need when you need it—all the time—then you’re home free.

Everyday Miracles

To make room for miracles in your own life, start noticing the small ones that are taking place all around you. Coincidence and synchronicity are small miracles. Sunshine after rain, spring birdsong, a huge thunderstorm, the birth of a child are all miracles.

But the biggest miracle of all is our beautiful blue planet, hung like a jewel in the vastness of space, teeming with life and beauty and miracles every day.

Portions of this article originally appeared in the CaliforniaPsychics.com blog,

and is published with the permission of Outlook Amusements, Inc., the owner and operator of California Psychics ®.

© 2008-2011 Outlook Amusements, Inc.  All Rights Reserved.

The Pagan traditions associated with the fire festival Beltane, or May Day (traditionally celebrated May 1 or 5), are an erotic and joyful celebration of life and fertility. Sap is rising in plants, animals and humans, and it’s mating season for most species.

Birds are singing to stake out territory, and you might catch some interesting mating displays interspersed with frantic twig-collecting for nests. Animals everywhere are stepping out two by two (after the dust has settled from male territorial disputes).

And in earlier times, people twined ribbons around a magnificently phallic Maypole in a seductive dance, decorated themselves with ribbons and flowers, lit fires on every hillside and jumped over them in handfasting ceremonies, and then sneaked off to complete the whole lusty process (with or without the benefit of handfasting commitments) in the warm, welcoming, rustling, giggling, starlit darkness.

And, most important, the goddess and the god consummate their mating in the Great Rite, which assures fertility and renewal of the land for another year.

 Sacred Sexuality

The Great Rite, as well as Hindu, Buddhist and Jainist tantra, are the most powerful examples of sacred sexual practice known today. One of the best known examples of the Great Rite is told in the ancient stories of Mesopotamian goddess Inanna and her consort Dumuzi.

In the traditional Great Rite, the king and queen, or a priestess and priest representing them, bind themselves to the land and all who dwell there in a pact of awakening and renewal. As the masked scene in the movie DaVinci Code showed, the event is often, but not always, witnessed by fellow celebrants. In ancient times, the community as a whole usually witnessed and participated vicariously as the king and queen blessed the land and their lives in a public expression of the sacrament of sex.

The ritual usually takes place at a sacred site, perhaps in a circle of standing stones, or another site where Earth energy, in the form of ley lines and vortexes, is most intense. The celebrants blend their energies sexually while connecting with the Earth’s currents and lines of energy to assure abundant crops, and to further the health and well-being of the nation, the community and the land, both wild and cultivated.

Sex as an act of service or devotion can be quite different from romantic sex or eroticism, but as powerful—or more so.

There is no question that an intense sexual experience, whether or not there’s love present, can actually trigger changes in your biochemistry. The heightened state of awareness and release of energy can ignite cells, chakras, and your energy field as a whole, and can trigger significant transformation in your life as a result. That same energy, properly directed, can have a profound healing and transformational effect on the Earth and all its inhabitants.

Meditation and Ritual

You can use the following meditation, which is based on Great Rite, to support and further renewal and recovery for our troubled planet and all its inhabitants. Sacred work of this kind assists in recovery for endangered plant and animal species, and helps transmute the energies and trajectory of climate change, nuclear plant and oil spill disasters, earthquakes and violent weather, and the like.

You can do this meditation/ceremony alone or with a partner or group, adding the dynamic of actual sexual union or not. It’s very powerful and effective, no matter how you choose to enact it.

Preparation & Celebration

If you can, do this celebration outdoors at night, with a crackling fire and, even better, after you’ve done a Maypole dance and other fun Beltane rituals. If that isn’t possible, it’s good to imagine yourself doing all those things as a beginning to your meditation.

If you perform the ritual with a partner, have some fun practicing the following steps at least once before you do an actual Beltane ceremony. And it should be fun! The element of erotic play and celebration of light and promise is an important component of the healing energy.

Do this in a space that is sacred to you, whether you create it yourself or visit a spot which feels magical and full of life and promise. You also can sit in your home and simply go there in your imagination. Energy is energy, and while it might seem easier if you’re actually there, you can partake of the “vibes” of any sacred space from anywhere, especially if you’ve actually been there at least once.

Once you’ve created quiet and relaxing space, get comfortable, and go within. You may want to use the clearing and grounding meditation in the final chapter, which is also a free download at www.Vivian-Hadleigh.com, as a beginning.

If you choose to do this alone, then work with your own inner masculine and feminine energies (see the Spring Equinox chapter), called anima and animus in Jungian psychology. If you celebrate with a partner, then awaken and raise your sexual energies with foreplay, but stop just after entry. Or do this in your imagination.

Partners, real or visualized, should remain physically or energetically linked as they do long, slow, deep breathing together.

After the breathing rhythm is established, continue it while you imagine that you are sinking into the earth, becoming part of it. Remain quiet until you can feel or imagine the Earth’s energies moving through you like a powerful river, perhaps even feeling the Earth breathe as well.

Then, in your imagination or with your partner, begin to move in the sacred dance of union, masculine and feminine energies meeting, merging, pulling back, meeting again as you build energy. Feel the currents move out further and further as the energy rises, and imagine them going anywhere you would like to send healing and renewal.

Once you have connected with the place or places where you would like to send energy, allow the Earth energies and sexual imperative to take over and direct your sacred dance until they and you reach an ecstatic peak.

You will release enormous currents of energy as you experience physical release. It usually feels first like the energy is being pulled out further and further, like water receding from the shore, and then rushing back in like a wave breaking. The waves can recede and return several times before the energy finally settles and is ready for grounding.

To complete the celebration, be sure that all residual energies are released back into the Earth. Easy ways to accomplish this include simply lying there and letting everything settle around you, or consciously releasing the energy by exhaling with your hands placed on the floor or earth…and then sharing food, drink and gratitude—joyfully.

This meditation journey, along with ones for Imbolc, Lughnasadh and Samhain, as well as the Solstices and Equinoxes, is available in my book Sacred Cycles: Ancient Doorways to Inner Space, available on Amazon.com.

It’s just too easy these days to be blasé and cynical. After all, a short dose of the news is usually enough to plunge anyone into gloom, and cynicism provides some distance. These days it’s “cool” to feel… a bit cool.

But since you have a choice about how you experience the world, why stay stuck in a humdrum existence when there’s magic afoot? It’s not difficult at all to add some brightness and spice to your day with a heaping helping of awe. Just train yourself to be alert for opportunities—and then to pause and savor the moments when they occur.

Awe defined

And what’s not to like about feeling in awe? Sure, it might feel safer to use cynicism as a defense against disappointment, but it’s pretty wimpy. Awe is about goose bumps. Awe is “wow!” or breathlessness and a big smile. Awe can make your eyes pop and your heart speed up. Awe is love.

Most importantly, the regular experience of awe activates the power of the Law of Attraction, because positive feelings, however they’re triggered, kick in the afterburners of your ability to magnetize and manifest your dreams. This Law proclaims that if you think mostly gloomy thoughts, you attract mostly gloomy experiences. But if you think “Wow!” that’s what you get more of. Not a tough decision, right?

Find the awe!

Nature, of course, provides limitless daily opportunities to feel awe—a sunrise, a sunset, thunderstorms, a wintry beach, a tiger that’s still magnificent and ferocious, even in its zoo enclosure. Seasonal changes—the fire of autumn foliage, or the magic of the setting sun hitting an ordinary street at just the right angle to render it golden.

Or perhaps it’s human endeavor that can arouse those feelings of wonder in you…witnessing a moment of true compassion, the perfect layup on the basketball court, the treasures of an art museum, a ballerina’s soaring grand jeté, or music that pierces your soul. Science opens our world to new sources of awe, with the mind-bending quirks of quantum physics or the astronomer’s ability to look ever deeper into the vastness of space, revealing the mysteries of black holes and dark matter – and the beauty of galaxies and supernovas.

Try looking at a daisy, or a blade of grass…with the eyes of a child. Or think about how a rose opens from the inside out. Or discover your awe in the day as a result of that wonderful combination of nature and human endeavor—a truly stupendous sexual experience.

Power up awe muscles

You might start your day out right, by setting your cell phone or tablet wallpaper or browser home page to NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day, or the Treasures of the Louvre. Change your screen savers to pictures of the ocean or magical glades, or those challenging pinnacles you want to climb some day.

For some, keeping a daily journal or a running list of awe-inspiring or magical moments will awaken your openness to experience, and allow you to enjoy those moments again and again. Or you can build weekend adventures with friends, trading turns for hunting up an “Awesome Moment” or event of the week.

Whether you approach awe with a sense of fun or complete seriousness, by dedicating yourself to discovering and experiencing it for at least a few moments every day, you will open your heart, your present, and your future to true magic in the form of joy, the miracles large and small, and the personal fulfillment that is happening right now!

 

This and other blog posts are available in both print and ebook at Amazon.com as Embracing Life in a Challenging World.

Originally published as “Living in Awe” © in 2009 by California Psychics, and is copywritten by them and published with the permission of Outlook Amusements, Inc, the owner and operator of California Psychics ®.

Free download of the complete cycle of the year in Sacred Cycles from Amazon.com 12/14-18/2014

 

There are three mythic or archetypal elements which strongly affect us during the late fall and winter. The first myth, that of St. Nicklaaus or Santa Claus, is an archetype of abundance and generosity, and one of the most beloved icons of Western culture.

The second and third archetypes are inextricably bound together, and their myths explain spiritual mysteries that seem to baffle most modern people. The first of these, which is described in countless myths, is the endless cycle of death and rebirth, both in nature’s seasons, and in the constant recycling of human souls through many lifetimes.

The story of the Sacrificial God, who dies annually so that the land and its people can live, is the third archetype—one that appears frequently in death/rebirth myths from all over the world. Although the Sacrificial God holds a very important place in Christianity, his mythic roots reach far back into antiquity.

Samhain (Hallowe’en) marks the death of the Sacrificial God, and the planting of his seed. Upon his death he becomes the holder of the light, living in the womb of the Earth or the Dark Goddess. He reanimates at the Winter Solstice, which occurs in the Northern Hemisphere when the Sun enters Capricorn between December 21 and 23, just as the seeds in the cold earth begin to sprout. However, he remains within the safe, nourishing womb of the goddess until the first shoots appear at Candlemas or Imbolc in very early spring.

It is the god’s sacrifice of his physical being that makes a new and more abundant cycle possible. It’s easy to see how this archetype arose from the most basic tasks of an agricultural society, turning the leftovers from the harvest, both animal and vegetable, into the earth to fertilize for the next season. The myth itself, rather than being frightening, ultimately comforts humanity with the promise of the rebirth to begin a new cycle.

The Sacrificial God who most dominates our culture with His promise of redemption (the return of the Light) is, of course, Jesus Christ. Other Sacrificial Gods abound in mythologies all over the world. For example, King Arthur and Merlin are both seen as sacrificial gods. Irish, Scottish, British and Welsh mythologies have many such stories.

The death/rebirth or life/death/life cycle, the third mythic element, is one whose message of hope most people experience only in their deepest unconscious.

Keep in mind that until February (Imbolc/Candlemas/Lady Day), we are living in the realms of the Dark Goddess who emerged on Samhain, and it’s very easy to access her wisdom. Since that ancient psyche is so accessible now, you might want to do the following meditation to see what insights emerge from the Winter Solstice point, the moment of greatest darkness, and the next moment, when the Light is reborn.

For maximum effectiveness, begin this short meditation just before the actual Solstice moment, which you can find in most astrological calendars.

Meditation

Find a quiet, undisturbed space, and have on hand candles, matches, and a timer, as well as a notebook and several writing implements. Get comfortable, and go within. You might want to use the clearing and grounding meditation in the final chapter, which is a free download at www.Vivian-Hadleigh.com, as a beginning.

Extinguish all lights but one or two candles. Imagine that you are in those ancient times, that you have been huddled with your tribe in a deep, icy winter, and that you are sitting together around a small fire while an ice storm howls outside and seeps through the cracks of your shelter.

Remember that the power and effectiveness of your meditation increases with the number of senses you include: imagine what you see, what you hear (the fire crackling, people muttering fearfully),what you smell (everyone’s been in this shelter together for quite some time), what you hear, what you taste (will the food supplies last through this terrible winter?), how it feels to be sitting in clothes that haven’t been washed for months, the mood of the people around you, and your own feelings.

A few moments before the actual Solstice moment, exhale completely, extinguishing the candle flames as you exhale.

You might want to practice this for a week or so before the meditation, to get used to sitting for a moment with your lungs empty, and to see how long you can remain empty before beginning to feel the first little tingle of alarm … and then inhale deeply, immediately. Don’t inhale before the tingle, though, unless you have health needs that make waiting unwise. It adds to the power and effectiveness to let that tiny bit of unease slip in. Set your timer to signal when to inhale during the actual meditation.

Sit there for brief seconds before the Solstice, in the dark, with your lungs empty. Feel the absolute stillness and quiet, and let yourself be aware of any images, insights or visions which emerge into that quiet. Then, at the Solstice Moment, inhale deeply and fill yourself completely with breath and that first spark of returning Light, feeling and seeing it illuminate every cell!

Next, as you exhale naturally and gently, light the candles again, imagining that you are exhaling the Light you breathed in the moment before, and that it awakens the candles. Be sure to write down your experiences both in the last moment of deep dark and in the first moments of returning light, to refer back to during the coming months.

There are other ways to synchronize your personal rhythms with this Solstice. You could decorate a Yule Log, preferably oak, with traditional holiday greenery like holly and evergreen boughs, mistletoe and red ribbons, nuts and berries.

As you decorate it, think about your dreams for the new year, both personal and global. Before you go to bed on the 21st, extinguish all lights and fires in your home, and in the morning light the Yule Log as the first fire of the reborn Light to bless your home and family for the coming cycle.

Or, do as the ancient priests and priestesses probably did, and hold a vigil during the longest night, doing chants, songs and prayers to summon the Light. Or, light a candle each night from the Solstice till Christmas, and feel the connection between the rebirth of the Sun and the birth of the Son. However you choose to mark it, the Winter Solstice is a moment of great power. May it mark the beginning of a blessed time for you.

This meditation journey, along with ones for Beltane, Lughnasadh and Samhain, as well as the Solstices and Equinoxes, is available in my book Sacred Cycles: Ancient Doorways to Inner Space, available on Amazon.com.

 

From Samhain to Winter Solstice

Your Underworld Journey: the In-Between Time

Art by Pamela Simonton

If you cast your imagination back to ancient times, it’s very easy to understand why the cycle ushered in by Hallowe’en is viewed with fear.

Even without its association with magick and the dead, Samhain can cause deep, subconscious shudders. This is because it marks our entry into the darkest part of the year, and a time when our ancient, subconscious selves begin to worry, again, if the light will ever return.

The amount of time we spend in darkness increases visibly, and daily from Hallowe’en on October 31 (people who use astrology to determine the correct Samhain date place it at 15 degrees Scorpio, which occurs usually between the 5th and the 7th of November) until the Winter Solstice (which occurs in the Northern Hemisphere between December 20 and 23, when the Sun enters Capricorn).

In mythology, Samhain marks the time of the Dark Goddess. Whether you call her Kali or Cerridwen, Lilith or Medusa, Hecate or the Morrigan or Baba Yaga or Badb or Ereskegal or Crow Mother, or simply the Crone, this fearsome deity is usually seen either brooding over a cauldron, surrounded by faint forms of ghosts and goblins and owls and snakes, or dancing on the corpse of her consort—certainly images to strike terror in hearts of those who don’t understand her purpose.

Even more terrifying, the Crone, of all the mythical characters and deities, is the one who tells it like it is.

When it pleases her, and she’s in the mood to tease the mere mortal who dares her presence, she’ll speak in riddles. But whatever she tells you, it will be the bare bones truth, no waffling or polite phrases. If you’re being an idiot, that’s what she’ll say. If you are on a collision course with something unpleasant, she won’t mince words. And to prove her point, she’ll show you things you’ve spent your entire life trying to forget. Because she knows that there is power for good buried beneath the fearsome memories, just waiting to be released.

But what’s probably scariest is that in order to speak to the Crone you have to literally or spiritually enter the dark, go into the cave, descend into the bowels of the earth or your own psyche.

So it’s not surprising that today’s psychically disconnected western culture tries to whistle away the dark by hanging tinsel and lights earlier each year, and populating the world with tots in superhero and princess outfits, cutesy pumpkin carvings, and frantic holiday busy-ness.

…so we won’t have to look into the Crone’s face, and hear what she is saying.

The Dark Goddess rules the crossroads, the decision point in individual and collective lives, and the time She rules from Hallowe’en to the Winter Solstice is also called the in-between time. It is when the veil between consensus or everyday reality and those other worlds is very thin. It is when we can confer easily with the dead, our ancestors, the ancient gods and goddesses and faerie kingdom, and the spirits of nature and the underworld.

In some versions of the Samhain myths, the old god (associated with light) mates for one last time with the goddess, who has now evolved into her Dark Mother form. He willingly dies, because he knows that his seed of rebirth has been planted in her infinite womb. There he will be nourished and sustained until it is time to spark to life again as the awakened seed of the new god, her son and consort, at the seasonal new year of Winter Solstice.

What meaning and value does this mythology have for you? Dark Goddess stands at the cave entrance inviting you into your own psyche, the place within you that sits quietly, waiting for you to get out of the car, turn off the TV and music, turn off the lights, and simply BE.

As she stands over her cauldron, the Dark Goddess shows us all how to use the natural cycles of Earth to annually re-examine our inner and outer lives, how to discard into her cauldron for recycling those elements of our lives and psyches which no longer support and nurture us. And she invites us draw from that same cauldron things which will give us strength and creativity (clothes, tools and weapons) to make the most of the new cycle. It’s also a time when each of us can look at and, yes, question the current values of our culture. And question even the bones of our individual beliefs about what constitutes reality.

When you allow your own energies to flow with Nature’s cycles, you begin to realize that there’s something skewed in the belief that only progress is good, that expansion, production, growth and plenty are the only things of value. You can remember the importance of quiet and simplicity, of inner focus, and the strength that is developed when you’ve journeyed into the Underworld and re-emerged, honed down and full of the Dark Mother’s gifts of insight, wisdom and primal magick.

Transpersonal psychologists believe that each person’s Shadow, the unacknowledged part of their psyche, can undermine an individual unless it is invited to participate in the person’s conscious life. The subconscious fear of winter extinction, the fear of the dark, is definitely a part of the Shadow’s realm. And as long as your Shadow and your Shadow’s fears are behind you, you can’t see what they’re up to, and they can (and do) undermine you easily.

However, when your Shadow is invited to sit at the table, so to speak, with the conscious elements of your psyche (your work self, your relationship self, and so on), then it can contribute wisdom from your deepest, most primal consciousness, rather than defeating the efforts of your conscious mind. This is the depth teaching of the Tarot’s Moon Card (XVIII), because your Shadow selves live in that dark pool in the foreground of the traditional images.

Meditation

Pick a quiet, undisturbed space, and darken the room completely, or burn just one candle if you prefer. Have note taking materials on hand. If you don’t have a favorite routine to prepare for meditation, try the one in the final chapter, which is also a free download at www.Vivian-Hadleigh.com.

Once you’re comfortable, grounded, and breathing calmly and deeply, imagine you’re standing at the entrance to a cave, at the top of stairs carved out of stone heading down into the darkness. Imagine yourself holding a candle or torch, warmly dressed, and filled with excitement and a bit of trepidation at the prospect of meeting the Dark Goddess.

As you descend the stairs, observe the walls and ceiling of the rock tunnel, because there are often pictures or symbols there, ones which could add meaning to your journey.

At the bottom of the stairs you will find the opening of a cave pulsing with powerful energy. Enter the cave, and find a place to sit. You may decide to blow out your torch or candle if you feel brave enough.

Now sit quietly and wait for the Crone to approach silently on owl or bat wings, or with a shuffling gait and a rap of her staff. Listen with all your senses while she speaks to you, and don’t be put off if she seems abrupt or impatient…it’s just her way, and the magnificence of her gifts more than makes up for her prickly personality.

When she is ready to leave the cave, the Dark Goddess re-lights your candle or torch, and the light reveals before you three beings or symbols. They represent parts of the past, present and future, possibly Shadow elements, which you are to take with you and work with during the in-between time, which lasts until the Winter Solstice. Examine or speak with each of them while you’re still in the sacred cave of the Dark Goddess. Her energy will help you reach even more deeply into your psyche, as you use her owl-like ability to see in the dark, be it physical, mental, emotional or spiritual.

When you feel complete, take your candle or torch, gather your past, present and future tasks and return to the stairs. As you ascend, look again at the tunnel walls to see if they have changed at all, or if your experience has helped you interpret them.

When you emerge from the stairway, and are back outside, you will find an additional gift from the Goddess, a magickal tool to help you navigate the in-between time, and the tasks she has set for you, with greater ease.

This meditation journey, along with ones for Beltane, Lughnasadh and Samhain, as well as the Solstices and Equinoxes, is available in my book Sacred Cycles: Ancient Doorways to Inner Space, available on Amazon.com.

How to create your own vortex

Easy, exact instructions for constructing your very own souped-up, geometrically precise

Star of David meditation space/crystal grid

I’ve been using crystals since the mid-80’s, and have constructed, experimented with and experienced all kinds of crystal gridworks based on sacred geometry, including some pretty elaborate rooms and other structures. Pyramids, merkabahs, whole rooms constructed for specific healing modalities, crystals laid out along a copper screen for a healing bed, and much more.

By far the most powerful gridwork I’ve ever experienced is the simplest to create: the Star of David. If you use well-matched crystals and a geometrically precise layout, you will literally feel the power like a breeze the minute you sit or stand in the center. And the longer you leave it in place (but keep the crystals cleaned!) the more powerful the vortex becomes.

In fact, if you use double-terminated instead of single point natural crystals, the power both expands and concentrates at the same time, spreading the energy and power through the room and out into the rest of the space surrounding it.

The Star of David is a geometric, visual representation of “as above, so below,” and to my mind, that’s where it’s true power is derived…from the intersection and entwining of above and below. Look at the image above: a downward-pointing triangle (above) interlocked with an upward-pointing triangle (below). Earth and sky. Masculine and feminine. Within and without. Spirit and matter intersecting and blending and feeding each other. It’s also similar in energy and expression to the Taoist yin/yang symbol.

Also, in addition to being an important symbol of the Jewish religion, the Star of David is related to, and possibly a grandchild of the Sri Yantra, or Yantra of Creation, which has been important in the Hindu and Buddhist traditions and since the earliest Vedic times. Considered the most powerful and mystical of all yantras, it symbolizes the creative principle of the Universe, and the continuous, interlocking and interdependent expansion of all realms of creation from the central source, or bindu.

Building your grid

The power’s in your crystal selection. And in precise geometry (which isn’t as hard as it sounds).

Keep in mind you’re not drawing a Star of David, but creating a layout enabling your crystals to make one. What you’ll end up with looks more like a circle or flower than a Star of David. How you lay the crystals out creates the Star.

Also, unless you’re really good at assembling things, I highly, highly recommend you do this one step at a time and not read ahead. It’s far simpler to do than to read about. And keep referring back to the Star of David illustration at the beginning if you have trouble visualizing.

First you’ll need a selection of 6 natural, unpolished, single-point quartz crystals, preferably at least 4-5” long, of about the same weight and power…

 

 

…and, preferably, with an affinity for each other. Like litter mates, although this affinity can usually be created through exposure. Here’s my set of babies all from the same mine in Hot Springs, Arkansas. They’re small enough (around 1″) to make a great mini-grid for activating, programming and powering up larger crystals and clusters.


If you really want a blast, use all matched (see next bullet point) double-terminated crystals. Blastoff!

 

Also, if you can’t find “littermates,”  it’s best if you have all six crystals “live” together for at least a month or two. If you’re good at sensing energies, ask each one if it wants to work with the rest of them.

 

 Second, make sure you have a protractor  and a yardstick.

 

 

Third, get a square or geometrically round cloth (round makes it easier to lay out your exact Star of David geometry) which you won’t mind marking up. A round or square mat or heavy cloth like canvas will work best.

Make sure it’s big enough to sit in cross-legged, or in a chair if you prefer, with room for all the crystals in a circle around you. Which means it’s pretty big, because the flat sides of the square have to be far enough apart to accommodate both person and crystals. The dear friend who tested these instructions ended up, after trial and error, getting a round yoga mat and used masking tape as well as a marking pen to lay out the grid.

Fourth, mark out the grid as follows: Using the yardstick, draw a line between one corner of your square cloth or mat and the one directly across, or straight across the middle if you have a round cloth or mat. Don’t connect the other corners; it’ll mess you up. Just the single line for now. This is the first cross-section of your Star of David.

Measure the distance between the corners or, with a round mat side to side, and mark the exact center of your cloth right on that line.
Put your protractor’s flat bottom line on the line you just drew all the way across (not just the flat edge or the protractor, but the line which connects the 180-degree marks). Place the exact center of the protractor on the center mark you just drew.
Put a mark on the cloth next to both 180-degree marks (which are on the corner-to-corner line you just drew) and on both 60/120-degree markers on the curved side of the protractor. 60/120 means that most protractors have the degrees marked out on both sides of the curve, in opposite order. So one time the 60 is on the outer edge and the 120 inside, then the opposite on the other side.

Now place the flat 180-degree line of the protractor on the same corner-to-corner line, but with the curved side in the opposite direction.

Do the same thing at the 60/120-degree marks.

Next step, draw a line connecting the first two 60/120 degree marks directly across from each other, and through the center mark, connecting the two that are furthest apart.

Remember, you’re not making a triangle, but marking where you will place the crystals to create a harmonic pattern which, once you set it up, will resonate not only from one crystal point to the one opposite it, but also along the lines of each Star of David triangle if you lay them out correctly.
Repeat with the other three opposed pairs of points.
You’ll end up with a circle made up of 3/6 lines (depending on how you want to count them, from the center, or point to point) radiating out like a flower from the center mark.

Measure the distance from the center of the square you marked earlier to the edge of your round mat, or, if you’re using a square cloth, the edge of one of the flat sides, not the corner.

Put an x or other visible mark at a point far enough in from the edge you selected to leave room for one of your crystals, but far enough out to accommodate your bottom & knees, or your chair and feet.

Next-to-last step:

Measure the distance from the center of the square to the point you marked.
Go to each of the lines you drew connecting opposite crystals, measure the same distance from the center, and put a mark. You’ll mark the lines on both sides of the center, so you’ll have 6 marks.

Final step:

Place your crystals with the points facing the center (if they’re double-terminated, check with each to see which termination they want to have pointing inward).
Place them in this order: first on one set of alternating points, so you’re laying out one triangle of the Star of David, and then creating the second triangle the same way, points in.
I recommend deciding ahead of time (and marking on your cloth) which will always be the point of the upward-pointing triangle and always begin at that place.
I usually go left to right each time.
Although I’ve never tried it, right now my guidance is suggesting that I (and you) try laying out the crystals for the “feminine” or upward-pointing triangle right to left and see what happens to the energy.

You have now created a Star of David crystal grid for your meditations.

Now, sit in your circle and take off into inner space!

Some added hints:

If you have pets you might not be able to do this, but if you leave the grid out all the time, and use it regularly, the power will just increase and spread throughout your home or classroom.
About once a month, clean all the crystals energetically and physically (salt and water bath, 24 hours under sun and moon, or full moon or new moon if you’re after a particular kind of energy. Although in my experience the Star of David energy is a bit more solar.
You could also try putting one triangle of three out under a full moon and the “feminine” three under the new moon in the same astrological sign/month.

Questions? Confusion? Use the comment section below, and I’ll reply as soon as I can.
For the care, feeding and powering up of your crystals, for your gridwork and other uses, there’s lots of great info in my ebook:
Using Crystals: an e-Pocket Guide
The first chapter of Using Crystals is here on the blog.


And many thanks to my dear friend author C. B. Williams for serving as instructional guinea pig!!

Mindfulness in Everyday Living

Simply put, mindfulness is being aware. It is the habit of paying deep, focused, complete and non-judgmental attention to whatever you’re doing, wherever you are, and whatever’s happening, whether you’re chopping wood and carrying water, tinkering with a car engine, or driving on the freeway.

To loosely quote 60’s icon Ram Dass, mindfulness is the ultimate way of Being Here Now.

Although mindfulness is a Buddhist term, the practice of mindfulness has, in some form, been an important part of most religious, shamanic and spiritual traditions for as long as anyone can remember. Quiet, ordered monastic or solitary life made it easy and natural. But in this crowded, high-speed age of moment-to-moment multitasking, how is it possible to learn and sustain mindfulness?

These days, we’re so focused on amassing facts and running our lives using logical, analytical thinking that we’ve let our other intelligence, the mysterious, creative and inclusive intelligence of our non-linear brains, languish. This lack is so marked that people who also use their creative, dreaming, inclusive thinking centers have an extra edge, and mindfulness is one of the best ways to activate and use all functions of your brain equally.

More and more people believe mindfulness is not only possible, but necessary. It has become an increasingly important psychological component in a wide variety of therapies, and is used to facilitate stress reduction, long-term recovery from addiction or depression, and in the treatment of a variety of mental and physical conditions.

Starting Out Right

The easiest time to activate mindfulness is when you begin your day. No multitasking, smartphones, Facebook, Twitter, Pintrest, audiobooks or television broadcasts allowed, not even while you’re exercising!

Instead, concentrate fully, with both your mind and all your senses, on each individual step of your morning routine. Don’t plan the day ahead, or think about the squabble last night, just pay attention to what you’re doing.

Pay attention to water temperature and fragrances while you wash and brush your teeth. Feel each muscle stretch and twinge as you exercise. Feel the sweat. Breathe in and breathe out with awareness. Pay attention to the rhythm of your natural breathing patterns. Don’t analyze. Just observe.

When you make coffee and breakfast, be fully aware of each step of preparation and consumption, embracing smells, textures, colors, tastes. Relish the silence around you and the small sounds as you perform each task.

If the silence and lack of usual morning noise is making you fidget, observe that. If you keep returning to your morning habit of planning your day or worrying about what happened the day before, be aware of that. As Buddhists say, thoughts are just thoughts, with no intrinsic reality. Don’t judge them; just let them be, and continue to focus on your inner and outer experience of the moment.

More Than Meditation

Obviously, mindfulness is an active form of meditation, with all the well-known benefits. But it’s also a powerful, expanded way of being in the ‘real’ world.

Simply pausing to become more fully aware before you start your car in the morning, or before you enter your office, can radically shift the first moments of your experience, and, as a result, the rest of your day.

For example, in both your professional and personal lives, being mindful during conversations can produce remarkable results. Rather than thinking about what you’re going to say next, or running scripts about similar conversations, focus completely on all aspects of the person who’s talking to you, and let intruding thoughts come and go without giving them the power to interrupt your awareness.

Observe inflections, body language and facial expressions, and listen fully and carefully to what the other person is saying. Be aware of your own reactions and how the surroundings affect both of you. Don’t analyze, because that takes your attention away from what’s happening. You’ll find that you learn and understand far more through this enhanced awareness than you did using intellectual analysis alone.

Maintaining Mindfulness

How can you focus clearly enough to be mindful in a busy office or while driving a carload of kids? It takes a little practice, but if you began your day mindfully, it’s far easier to continue in that expanded, observant state.

Actually, most of us learned a very simple, useful mindfulness technique in kindergarten.

Remember Stop, Look and Listen? It’s as effective during high-level negotiations as it was for crossing the street safely.

Pause.

Breathe.

Observe using each of your five senses.

It only takes seconds, and when you’re through, you’re already way ahead of everyone else in the room.

This and other blog posts are available in both print and ebook at Amazon.com as Embracing Life in a Challenging World.

Originally published as “Mindfulness in Everyday Living” in 2009 by California Psychics, and is copywritten by them and published with the permission of Outlook Amusements, Inc, the owner and operator of California Psychics ®.

Make Retrogrades Work for You

Retrogrades are the Universe’s way of giving you a ‘do-over,’ and, even more important, letting you know that one is needed. Whether it’s the three-times-a-year chaotic mess generated by Mercury Retrograde, or the slow, deep transmutation of Pluto’s (typically) six-month backward motion, retrogrades can work to your advantage.

How is that possible, you ask? Because retrogrades are a time to go back over everything relating to the planet and its effect on your birth chart—whether you want to or not! When astrologers refer to retrogrades, they’re actually talking about a change in a planet’s apparent motion, so that while the planet’s orbits don’t actually change, how they appear to move relative to the Earth’s orbit does.

Retrogrades have a general effect on daily life for everyone, on the stock market, international relations, personal relationships, the economy and so on, especially when the retrogrades form an aspect to other planets, or a new or full moon, or an eclipse.

When they really pack a punch, though, is when they move back and forth across planets, angles and points, and through houses in your personal astrological chart. There are several stages for a retrograde’s influence on your chart, and each has its own opportunity for growth and learning.

Retrograde phases

The first phase occurs when a planet moves forward across one or more of your chart points, called direct motion. Especially if it’s one of the outer or transpersonal planets—Saturn, Chiron, Uranus, Neptune and Pluto—its arrival can cause a bit of an uproar, presenting you with challenges specific to the nature of the planet transiting and the points and houses it affects (called aspects).
Next, just before starting backward, the planet will appear to stand still. This is called stationary retrograde and, if it happens close to one of your chart points, its effect can be very intense, highlighting the issues involved even more.
Then there’s the retrograde period itself… this is your opportunity to go back over choices you made and actions you took when the transiting planet first hit your chart points. The need to look deeply into causes and effects, and to rethink and rework actions and choices is particularly strong when the retrograde has direct contact with your planets. During the retrograde, as much as possible, stick to reexamining issues from the past rather than starting on new ones. If you take on new ones you’ll just have to rethink them again later.
Next is stationary direct, which is much like stationary retrograde in intensity. It’s a pause point, a time for you to gather up your retrograde research and journals and plans and get ready to move forward with them.
Finally, during the new direct motion, you get to test your new theories and resolutions to see if they work better than your first reactions to the planet’s presence.

When you realize that the outer planets will contact your personal chart points very few times in your life, and that each of them spends between 30-45% of the time in retrograde, it’s easy to understand why a direct-retrograde-direct experience of one of them can be momentous. Those passages usually mark profound change and soul growth.

Retrograde planets

Use this thumbnail guide to know what to expect when a retrograde planet hits your chart:

Mercury - Back up your hard drive! Mercury goes retrograde three times a year, each time for three weeks. The reason people say don’t sign contracts during Mercury retro is because you’ll likely have to renegotiate later. Better to just wait. Day to day communications do pretty well, the more important it is, the more carefully you should proceed.
Venus - This planet is about far more than love and romance, and its retrogrades tend to highlight this. Venus retrogrades about every eighteen months for a little more than a month, and during that time she asks you to look at what you value: in yourself, in relationships, in your career, in your surroundings, in the things you buy and the places you live and work.
Mars - Mars is about ego, self-actualization and how you apply your energy. It spends a little less than three months of every two years and two months in retrograde motion. If you don’t pay attention to the retrograde’s requirement for pause and reflection before action, you can find yourself involved in accidents and arguments.
Jupiter - Retrograding about 30% of the time, Jupiter turns inward and becomes more spiritual and philosophical. It’s a time to re-evaluate your big plans, or any kind of expansion in the affected area. The challenge is to root out phoniness and focus yourself on heartfelt inner reasons for your actions and decisions, rather than the drive for external success. Any kind of big spending can go awry if done thoughtlessly.
Saturn – In backward motion for about 140 days, retrograde Saturn wants you to think before saying yes to anything. Look at your current commitments, projects and promises and be sure they are still relevant and, if not, say no and move on. Keep extra responsibilities at a minimum, and remember to focus on what’s in place and avoid taking on new responsibilities.
Chiron - Because of its elliptical orbit, Chiron’s retrogrades are less orderly than other planets. While Chiron reaches out to heal others when direct, it looks within to apply its powers of acceptance and healing when in retrograde. Finding compassion for yourself is the task, and it offers an opportunity to find healing, or at least understanding and acceptance, for recurring personal issues.
Uranus - Watch out! During Uranus backward motion, which is about 42% of the time, you will probably astound friends and family with your unpredictability, and your stronger-than-usual quest to understand why. Its urge toward freedom is more powerful when it’s retrograde, and Uranus will root out and blow up the excuses, self-deceptions and fears which keep you from being wholly authentic in the areas it affects.
Neptune - Neptune, which moves backward about 43% of the time, is one of the very best of the do-overs, because since Neptune rules denial and deception, its retrograde makes it far easier for you to spot and understand subtle signals. Your inner voice is clearer and your perspective is enhanced. The kicker is that if you don’t use the time well, you can be haunted afterward by uneasiness that’s hard to pinpoint.
Pluto - Since Pluto spends about half the year moving backward, it’s not felt as vividly unless it hits your chart, and then it acts like a roto-rooter, thoroughly (and sometimes uncomfortably) flushing out and cleansing your inner landscape. As they say, resistance is not only futile, it will make the experience far more uncomfortable. Far better to cooperate with Pluto’s agenda and spend your time reaching deep into your psyche to eliminate old patterns and beliefs that are holding you back.

No matter what planet is in retrograde, it is up to you to use this powerful transition time to learn your lessons and strengthen your soul. Pretty soon, you’ll have so many things sorted out in your life, you’ll have no problem sailing gracefully through all the planetary shifts we encounter every day.

This and other blog posts are available in both print and ebook at Amazon.com as Embracing Life in a Challenging World.

Originally published as “Make Retrogrades Work” in 2009 by California Psychics in two parts, and is copywritten by them and published with the permission of Outlook Amusements, Inc, the owner and operator of California Psychics ®.

 

Sacrifice – the King is Dead. Long Live the King!

At the moment of the Fall Equinox, between September 20 and 23 in the Northern Hemisphere, the goddess and the god are once again equal in power and light, but this time the goddess is in ascendancy. She will take over the care of the Earth and its inhabitants during the harvest and the time between the worlds which begins at Samhain, until the Spring Equinox.

The god/king prepares to sacrifice his very being to make next year’s harvest possible.

Celts named the Fall Equinox after Mabon, the Welsh God who is, among other things, the king of death and the Otherworld, and a deity of the harvest and fertility. Cernunnos, the horned god (who was probably demonized as the Christian Devil), and Lugh, who appeared at the August pagan holy day, also step forward to share their lessons regarding life, death and appropriate or meaningful sacrifice.

The Fall Equinox is the time of the “second harvest,” primarily of apples and wine, and of the Feast of Avalon, which literally means “land of apples,” and which is directly related to the Arthurian legend and Camelot, which is believed to have been on the Isle of Avalon.

This harvest is also associated with Dionysius, the Greek god of wine who, like the other gods associated with the period between Fall Equinox and Samhain, was regularly sacrificed as part of rituals in his honor…the climax of the orgiastic frenzy of his worshippers, fueled by sacramental intoxicants, was the tearing to pieces and eating of the raw flesh of a sacrificial animal, believed to be an incarnation of the god. This, of course, reminds us of the symbolic role of communion wine and bread in Catholic and Episcopal Christian rituals, and the stories of Jesus’ last supper.

Goddesses who preside over this harvest-to-Samhain period include the crone Cerridwen, of course; and the horse goddess Epona, bringer of dreams and “night mares,” she who conferred sovereignty on Celtic kings; and Demeter/Ceres of Greek and Roman mythology, mother of Persephone…the daughter who, like the sacrificial god-kings, makes an annual journey to the Underworld on behalf of humankind.

Martyrdom, the act of sacrificing oneself for the greater good, is a misunderstood and often unpopular concept in our culture. Like the Virgin and the Innocent, the Martyr is viewed with cynicism by western cultures, not without good reason.

Somehow for us martyrdom has become associated with the idea of sacrificing for ulterior motives, and to the tune of endless whines and laments…to manipulate, to buy acceptance or favors, to buy one’s way into heaven, or even to pre-empt the Puritan ethic’s belief that we must pay for our pleasures. For more information, I recommend reading the chapter on the Martyr in Carol S. Pearson’s The Hero Within: Six Archetypes We Live By.

The true Martyr does not sacrifice her or himself in order to buy something or achieve a personal goal or desire. The Martyr is summoned from unrealized sources deep within the hero at the moment it is needed, from the recognition that he or she is uniquely qualified to make a sacrifice that will contribute to the greater good. A phrase from a Native American ceremony that has stayed with me for years is this: “I give this so that my people may live.” This is the Martyr’s reason for sacrifice, nothing less!

Modern Examples

The most compelling movie portrayal of a Sacrificial King/Martyr in decades, though, is Ken Watanabe’s Academy Award-nominated portrayal of Katsumoto in the 2003 film The Last Samurai. If you want to understand this difficult archetype, watch The Last Samurai again…several times.

Another excellent modern example is the unwilling superhero David Dunn, played by Bruce Willis, in M. Night Shyamalan’s movie about comic book superheroes, Unbreakable. Dunn has denied his super powers, even to himself, out of guilt and fear for his marriage which, when we begin the movie, is ending in spite of his sacrifices (a frequent result of inappropriate sacrifice). When he faces who he is, accepts it, and begins to act on it in spite of the threat to his relationships, those relationships are transformed and renewed rather than broken apart.

Both films make two important points.

First, no matter how much is sacrificed, the experience is ultimately transformative rather than negative. And second, no matter how much suffering the Martyr experiences, she or he absorbs it all, saying, in essence, “suffering ends with me.”

Ancient kings, according to some myths and legends, literally sacrificed their lives to fertilize the land for the next year’s crops. They ruled for a year, were honored, feasted and revered in thanks for their willingness to give life blood for the good of the people, to literally fertilize the crops with their essence, their blood and flesh and bone.

Everyday people do this all the time, although usually not as literally, and they do it without the benefit of a year of preparation and reward.

It doesn’t take a superhero with special powers to recognize the important moment, and how you are uniquely qualified to meet the challenge facing you, and on behalf of others.

There are special powers within each of us—whether a woman finds the strength to literally lift a car off an injured child, a solder leaps atop a grenade, a child finds the courage to face an abuser on behalf of a sibling, or a widower gives up a prestigious promotion because his children need him—we are each visited by the Sacrificial God at such moments. And we are empowered and blessed by his special wisdom and powers, powers which lift and transform us into something nobler, and larger than our mundane selves.

Honor the Sacrificial God/King in ritual with a glass of wine, and honor him in yourself by recognizing the times when you have made appropriate sacrifices. Eat a tart and juicy apple in honor of the gifts from the goddess as our Mother Earth. Then prepare yourself for the Time Between, when we rejoin the Crone and go within, surrendering what is no longer useful to the womb of the Goddess, and to rebirth in new form.

Meditation

Once you’ve created quiet and relaxing space, and have writing tools on hand, get comfortable, and go within. You may want to use the clearing and grounding meditation in the final chapter of my book Sacred Cycles: Ancient Doorways to Inner Space, which is also a free download at www.Vivian-Hadleigh.com, as a beginning.

Since Martyrdom is an act of surrender as well as heroism, and there is an inevitability to the steps which must be taken, enter into this encounter with the Goddess and the God unplanned and unadorned. Without expectations or agendas.

If you like, bring along symbols of what you plan to release to Cerridwen’s cauldron.

But expect the unexpected, and embark on this stage of the journey with the god’s certain knowledge that the next steps are a period of quiet and nourishing gestation in the goddess’s womb, and then rebirth.

Surrender, now, to what emerges from your psyche during this meditation, welcome its wisdom, and integrate the fires of transformation.

And then rest and prepare to begin again at Samhain.