Becoming the Earth: Contemplation, Visioning & Aesthesis.

Artist Paige Bradley

Written By Alicia Bello

I wanted to write an erotic love article to you. I wanted to write love to you by saying: May all kinds of milks, honeys, fragrant oils and flowers fill your home, altar, and bath. Let there be Eros possession in which every word rolled off the tongue is a spiced nectar. Let there be every lush nude sensation. Let every body in whatever sensual embrace undulate, hum, shudder and drunk on rhythm and ecstasy … whether crying out or soft sigh of respiration, mouth the genuine expression of ecstatic release (and please do always). Hopefully that article will want to be written soon because, well… what a sensation. Instead this article transformed from body in relationship to body into body in relationship to earth… a different kind of body, of intimacy.. the same and different.. but kind of the same. I have found myself outside significantly more than being inside anywhere. My hands and feet have been constantly investigating and trampling through the tropical landscape of Florida and so the intimacy running through me has been the aesthesis of shoots of new green covered in dew, balmy air scented with salty wet earth, and bees pressed deep into the center of flowers… and all of this is happening in the wide open, no shame, Nature needing no permission to burst with her blatant sensuality.

Connecting to the earth is not a new concept for those who practice the craft (to each and every guardian of the directions, the elementals, Hail and Welcome). It is a foundation of study and also a potent remembering. Within every natural witch lies dark earth, fertile, lush with the protected seedcrets of ancient ways, alive with mystery and kept sacred and untainted from the “normalization” of the status quo. No matter how we practice, each and every expression of the work that we do is beautiful to behold in its own right. Our earnest devotion to our practice is the catalyst to what peels away the layers so we begin to see the world completely differently. The earth is living, breathing, pulsing and we perceive it perhaps as our ancestors have, not in the grandiose Hollywood kind of way, but magic in the very real sense that begins to show itself when we learn(remember) how to look (be in relationship to it).

The Anima Mundi, the spirit of the world at this point is no longer a concept but so much more. It is perceived in the body and felt in the depths of individual experience. We, in turn, interact with our planet instinctually, in which in any given moment we turn on and tune in, and allow the power to course through our very body vessel. We can play the subtle vibrations like an instrument that opens the gates to other perceptions and other realities. The relationship that we cultivate with the spirits of the land is so very vital and just like any important relationship we’ve got to keep in touch, forget the small talk so to speak, and nurture it. We know the state of earth right now and quite obviously to say that it’s not healthy is a gross understatement. Just being with the understanding is like a glacial shower and it’s a beginning. We start right here, right now, with what is right in front of us. Without projecting rage or blame on anything, or fear, for the current state of the earth but to just be in a state of heightened mindfulness about say, the decline of bees or the poisoning of water… The Mother is where she’s at just as we are. Just to be in a heightened kind of mindfulness before any practice in which we evoke the elements, and contemplate their actual current state is incredibly important because we have to start where we are at. That being said, magic works non-linearly. No matter how we are working we can heal through coming into contact with root essence of the elements. What I am offering, however is to maybe initiate any ritual with that kind of present acknowledgment and then move into connection with the spiritus, gennii loci, and/ or Anima Mundi.

Visioning

I practice this visualization outside with meditation and contemplation either at sunrise or sunset, but as I usually instruct: if it feels right to practice it in ritual then do it. If you feel inspired to practice on the spot totally do it….except if your driving…listen to your intuition.

Demeter, just one name for Earth Mother is birthing and dying and birthing for us constantly...

Photo: Alicia Bello 

Vision your body/full self becoming Demeter by dissolving into the earth completely and merging with her creative chaos and order. Lie down on the earth while practicing. If you can, be completely naked or partially naked. See the shape of your body turn into dirt. Watch all of what you were dissolve into the earth completely. You are gone, but now you are also the whole of the earth. You are reborn in spring. See your blooms opening and the bees drinking your nectar. Smell sweetness of the season on the wind. Go through all the seasons of the earth in this way over and over. See the earth, which is you, floating in space. Place the periphery of your attention on the rhythm of the breath of your body. See the earth in your visioning breathing, the rhythms are in synch. Draw the scope of your vision to the place within the earth that you inhabit. See you where you are envisioning yourself as the earth while you are also the earth. Draw this harmonic image into the vision of your heart and let the vision pulse with your breath as you bring your attention back to your physical body. Enjoy your breathing still seeing the earth pulsing with your breath as your beating heart. Start all over again. Do it as many times as you can.

• Take notes on how this practice affects you after two weeks and a month.

 As you move through your day, contemplate aesthesis as drawing in the essence of the world, the Anima Mundi with robust sensory perception. Drink in everything.

Witches Under Empire: What it Means to Be a Witch In "Trump's America"

Written By Jaliessa Sipress

Just the thought of merely existing  in “Trump’s America” may seem like some treacherous shadow-work; consistently being pushed to face our worst fears and darkest conceptions of this world while trying to maintain a sense of self and focus on the light.

Most likely, that is exactly what we are stepping into.

With the erasure of pages on the new government’s website that previously acknowledged issues of climate change, LGBT rights and Civil Rights, Trump’s confirmed misogynistic comments regarding sexual assault, and his right-wing stances on police terror, abortion rights and immigration issues, there is definitely cause for alarm.

However, working with shadows and lighting a candle in the dark is what we do best, and the postcolonial (or continuing colonial) world has never welcomed the hard and necessary work witches have engaged in for centuries, so what is new now? Despite the new US President’s nationalistic sentiment (or possibly in exact alignment with the era he is referring to within it) America has never been great. For those of us living on the margins of race, class, gender, spirituality, sexuality and disability, our precious work has historically been violently persecuted and left to the shadows.

So, do not fret my dear witches, a Trump-inauguration is a mere practice in veil-lifting, another opportunity to practice seeing in the dark, and revealing our political and social climate for what it really is only makes our work that much more important

Just as we would practice healthy boundaries with the powers we cannot see while spell-casting or engaging in spirit-communication, we must form a relationship with strict boundaries to this new force that is the Presidency of Donald Trump. To do this, it serves us to remember three things:

• The work we do at home in solitude must echo the work we do in the presence of others

• A witch’s power lies in being unafraid of the unknown

• A concentration on fear attracts things to be scared of

To begin, I must acknowledge that secrets made and secrets kept in personal ritual are of the utmost of importance, and their existence as secrets is sacred. Additionally, to keep the people and politics you protect when you step foot on the streets also within your private practices is crucial. Private here means altar space, home space, and sacred spaces you frequently inhabit for safety and light. To keep your politics here is to be conscientious of whose practices, rituals, symbols, words and imagery you use, to keep a candle burning for the people you cannot reach, and to center self-healing around the idea that the healing you do is not just for you, but for the people that need you and for the people who have come before you.

Second, the uncertainty and unpredictability of Trump and his cabinet that may feel daunting and scary for us is really his fall and not ours. Witches stay ready. A predominant part of witchcraft is completely based within “the unknown.” We communicate with things we cannot see or are told have no vocabulary. We know how to improvise, to work with flowers and weeds and how to heal ourselves and oftentimes others. The epitome of being a witch is the knowledge of the earth’s force, an awareness of the changing seasons, positions of the stars and the knowledge of our own and other witches’ power. There is a steadiness to knowing that you are learning to master a presence that lies beyond what we can see and touch, because a capitalist society can only touch the tangible, only mess with the material, and can never understand or consume the power of the witch.

And that is why we are feared.

Most people are terrified of what they cannot see, what is not “scientifically proven” and what they have never been told is okay to explore. Our defiance of letting fear immobilize us is a huge part of our job description. Our persecution is and was based on the fact that we mess with things that other humans are too scared to touch. So, what happens when the witches are scared? What happens when we use the same power we use to manifest, heal and conjure to fear what is to come? It becomes no different from calling on Aunt Milly from our salt circle; we invite the object of our focus into our space, into existence.

During this term of election, there must be an embracing of fear and willingness to carry on with our confidence, knowledge and strong sense of solidarity leading the way. We need each other now the way we have always needed one another, the way we have always needed care and attention and the way we have always needed to perfect what we do and know best. Every person has a place, and to investigate your larger contribution to the world at this time is crucial. I know herbalist witches, astrologer witches, sex witches, hood witches, good witches, bad witches, shadow workers, wortcunners, rune throwers, conjurers, psychics, angel beings, light-bearers, medicine people, community healers and everything in between. This diverse set of knowledge is priceless in the face of hegemonic structures that seek to bury us and our history. Whatever kind of witch, warlock, regular schmegular bitch or magical star being you are, you and your power matter and we have got to keep moving, shaking, laughing, whispering, conjuring, kicking, screaming, growing, learning and loving in the face of this age-old regime with a new face. We will always hold the power as long as we recognize what we all bring to the table and figure out how to use these powers to resist.

So, gather with your coven to bottle tinctures with intentions of sustaining the resistance through Reishi mushrooms, skullcap and yarrow. Host gatherings teaching the history of the crossover between radical witchcraft and community organizing. Continue to defend the Earth, question the government and fight like hell for causes of the living while keeping your fire lit with the rage of the dead. We are here on this earth, at this time for a reason. So, whether you were born into a coven or you just stumbled upon witchcraft, you have been given the task of protecting what is sacred.

To be a witch is to reclaim the power of connecting with our bodies, our spirit and the earth and  in ungovernable ways, to create paths towards a more regenerative, sustainable society through channeling our ancestors and wisdom from other realms. A man barking orders and spewing hate from a position of socially-constructed power is no match for the power of the people when guided by light, ancestral wisdom and unwavering solidarity. It is our job to carry the legacy, to stand amongst the crowds with rose quartz and motherwort tincture in our pockets, bundles of cedar burning in our hands, holding the match when it is time to burn it all down.

The Shiny Squirrel interviews The Hoodwitch

Jessica Goldfond the founder of The Shiny Squirrel a New York PR company that specializes in emerging designers sat down with owner and creative director Bri Luna for a recent interview. she discusses tarot spreads, ghost photography and more! 

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