Divination: Shufflemancy - A Modern Approach to an Ancient Form of Divination.

 Dear Reader,

In ancient Greece (and other parts of the world), there was a form of divination practice that involved going to the temple and asking the gods a question, after which one covered their ears and went out into the agora. When they uncovered their ears, the answer to their question was found in the first bit of speech that they encountered. (I forget the exact term for it, I apologize.)

Shufflemancy is the act of putting a very long playlist of random music (or turning on the radio to a random station) after asking a question of the gods. The first bit of music or speech that hit your ears after doing so is the answer to your question. It sound weird. But, it actually does work pretty well. I first encountered it in a psychiatric hospital of all places. A woman said to her that god talked to her through the radio. I was confused by this and unsure if this was a feature of her mental illness. (I was staying at a mental hospital at the time and people had a wide assortment of disorders they were dealing with. I, myself was struggling with a depressive episode that included psychotic features at the time. It made me cautious in my approach to everything because I was reality testing everything to tell the difference between what was my auditory hallucinations and what was legitimate input.)

I got out of the hospital and put the confusing thing from my mind. A few months later, I was highly exasperated with my being depressed and feeling worthless. I had the radio on and it was playing random music, as per usual. Within moments, a song came on that had the message that I was loved and I mattered. I was surprised. Looking back, I really shouldn't have been quite so surprised. But, it was a surprising experience and I tried it again and again over the span of that month. It consistently happened that a song of a bit of speech that related to what I was dealing with came up. There were times it took a bit of interpretation to figure out the connection, but it wasn't terribly difficult to assess. The lyrics were usually rather straight forward (at times brutally honest and blunt even).

The nice thing about shufflemancy is the fact that you can do it at anytime if you have an MP3 player with a huge play list (mine has about 2 days worth of music on it, it's astonishing how far tech has come) or if you are listening to music on a station that has a very long playlist set. Sometimes, even commercials will have the answer to your question. (That is when it gets weird, in my opinion. You don't expect those 30 second sound bites to have any real information in them but sometimes it happens.) And because it's fairly common to see people listening to music or using headphones/earbuds/headsets with their mobile devices, no one knows that you're up to a little magic when you do it. Because all you have to do is concentrate on your question and then release it to the universe to get your answer.

Godspousery: WTF is it?

 Dear Reader,

You may have heard of the term 'godspouse' and wondered what on earth it means. You may have seen some people refer to themselves as 'godspouses' and wondered if their grip on reality was slipping. You may have seen the numerous posts referring to godspouses as overly imaginative/obsessed fangirls of a certain deity. Being a godspouse myself, I can assure you that it is a real type of relationship one can have with deities. And that it doesn't mean that you have to give up an ounce of sanity nor that you are overly imaginative.

Before I get into the details about the relationship dynamic of godspousery, I need to address the overwhelming degree of loathing and disparaging commentary that gets directed at godspouses. There is a large sector of the community that has a problem with the concept of someone being married to a deity. Their arguments range from accusations of hubris (i.e. you're not that special, get over yourself) to accusations of mental instability (i.e. you're hallucinating all of this, you sicko) to even accusations of being deceived by malevolent entities (i.e. you are a puppet of the devil¹). The majority of the bias against godspouses comes out of the Christian over-culture. The only form of godspousery that is recognized within that context is that of Christian nuns and priests. Conveniently forgetting that there are monks who have this type of relationship. And even the Christian form of godspousery gets sneered at because they are described as not 'really' thinking that they're married to Jesus. This bias is most predominant in locations where the over-culture is very strongly Protestant Christian, typically of the evangelical/Dominionist variety.

There is plenty of historical records of godspousery across the world's religions. It is an established form of relationship with deity. Not all relationships with deity are going to be parent-child dynamics where the deity is the parent. There are going to be relationships where deity is the beloved and the human is the lover. That's godspousery in a nutshell. There are other dynamics that happen between deity and humanity, but they go beyond the scope of this post.

Godspousery is a very intimate relationship with the Divine. It passes through multiple stages, at times seemingly to move through them in a sequential order and at other times cycling through the stages at random. This is true of most any relationship. The fact that one is involved with a deity (or a spirit, but that's also another post for another day) is a lot like being in a long distance relationship with a mortal lover who's opportunities for communication are somewhat limited. There are challenges but the relationship can be maintained despite them if both parties are determined enough to make it work.

I mentioned earlier that there are stages to this sort of relationship. Here's a brief summary of them.

• Introduction - This is where both parties of the relationship are introduced to each other. This may be a case where the deity expresses their desire for a relationship via a medium. Or it may be the case of a person expressing their desire for a relationship to the deity.
  
  
• Courtship -  The courtship phase is not too different from the courtship phase of mortal relationships. There is mutual gift giving, mutual expressions of admiration, and mutual efforts to gain the affection of the beloved. The gifts given can be offerings to the deity, works done in their name, or artistic expression in the deities name by the mortal lover. On the deity side of the ledger, gifts given range wildly. It can be anything from a windfall of good fortune to random objects appearing. It can appear as a repeating theme in music that is randomly playing. (I call that Shufflemancy and I consider it a form of divination. I'll explain the basics of that next week.)
  
  
• Oaths of Fidelity - This is where both parties pledge their affection and loyalty to each other. The oath of fidelity can be for a set period of time (at first, my pledge to Freyr was for a year and a day) or they can be perpetual. It is customary for a gift to be exchanged at the time of the oath between the parties who are swearing it. Typically, it is a ring. In the case of a godspousery relationship, the mortal lover is picking out the rings with input from the deity. Or, the deity will direct their mortal lover towards a special item to wear as an outward sign of their devotion and of the oath between them. (In the case of my relationship with Freyr, it is a silver Greenman pendant that I wear all the time.) There are times, however, that a gift is not given. This does not mean that the oath is not important but that there is no means for a gift to be given. (This is the case with my relationship with Loki.)
  
  
• Establishment of 'household' - This is the phase of the relationship where both parties settle into their own routine of communicating and spending time with each other. It varies wildly from relationship to relationship how this manifests. This is true with human relationships as well. Compromises are made and discussions are had about how things should operate in the relationship. Occasionally, disagreements arise. (Ok, it may be a bit more often than occasionally but if it is a daily occurrence some form of relationship counseling is needed to assist in the communication breakdown causing this problem.) But, in this phase, all the bumps and lumps of the long term relationship are worked out.
  
  
• Relationship maintenance - In this state of the relationship, one is working to keep the entire thing running smoothly. It requires good communication and a solid understanding of what everyone's needs and expectations are in the relationship. When things are not going well, the problem is evaluated and the parties in the relationship work together to solve it. When things are going well, everyone in the relationship enjoys and finds fulfillment in the relationship and each other.

You will note, the phases of a godspousery relationship is pretty much identical to those of a human relationship. There will be something of a power dynamic here that is going to lean towards the deity's side of the relationship because of the deity having far more capacity and such than a human. If the relationship is healthy, however, the deity will take the human's frailties and vulnerabilities into account when taking actions. 

There is a relationship dynamic similar to godspousery but far more BDSM oriented known as being a god slave. The degree of autonomy of the mortal partner in that relationship is dependent upon the negotiated terms of the oath and the mortal partner's needs. This type of relationship also is an established form of relationship with deities through out the world's religions. It may not be called such but it can be found with a good deal of frequency within Catholic Christian mysticism. This relationship dynamic, however, is outside the scope of this piece. It may be discussed at some point in the future, if there is interest.  

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1. The statement that I reference here is typically associated with the Christian mythological figure known as the devil and/or Satan. I could go into a long post about the relationship between paganism and this figure but, again, that's for another day.

Veiled Witch Video No. ? - Filianic adaptation of the Anglican Rosary

 I have no transcript. The prayers can be located in my book (Garlands of Grace: Filianic Rosary Meditations) or at the mirror blog on >THIS< page.

Herbalism: Chamomile tea is for more than upset tummies.

 Dear Reader,

Chamomile tea has a long history of being helpful for digestive issues. It's excellent for this purpose but it also has magical properties that makes it very helpful for other things. Chamomile is an herb that can promote good sleep. It is also an herb that helps one have prophetic dreams. Folk medicine has prescribed this herb for its calming effects for a long time. When blended with other herbs used for psychic work, chamomile can be a gentle guide into a trance state.

In poppets, chamomile invokes Sun energy and the essences of serenity for the target of the poppet magic. In charm bags, chamomile does the same thing. It also carries with it the energies of prosperity and youthful vitality. Chamomile is also associated with the spirits of the land and the fairies.

One must take care with chamomile. It can cause allergic reactions because it is related to ragweed. It has also been shown to be a potential herb to induce labor for pregnant women. Interestingly, it has the opposite effect on women who are not pregnant, serving to gently ease meneustral cramps. It is not as effective in this purpose as raspberry leaf, but it can be helpful.

Chamomile is generally considered safe to consume in moderate portions on a regular basis because of its gentle effects on the body and the fact that interacts with so few medications on the market. If you are taking aspirin or other NSAIDs, you want to limit your chamomile intake to only a few cups of tea a week because it does interact with these medications.

There are ongoing pharmacutical studies to determine the medicinal properties of the many variants of chamomile used in herbal medicine. It has shown promise as an anti-anxiety treatment and as an anti-inflammatory treatment. These studies are on-going as of the time of this blog post. I am sure that in the near future, they will have a good deal about this apple scented herb figured out. In the meantime, be sure to consult with your pharmacologist and doctor before beginning an herbal medication regime to make sure that you don't have to worry about interactions or other nasty things.

Imbolc

 Dear Reader,

Imbolc (it has a number of variant spellings but this is the one that I've been using since the 1990s) is the midwinter cross-quarter holiday on the Wiccan wheel of the Year. It is strongly associated with the Irish goddess Brigid. The meaning of the name of the holiday has been up for debate since the 90s as has the meaning of the holiday. Modern Wicca has generally settled that this is a festival of light and fertility.

Imbolc is close to when the ewes begin lactating prior to giving birth to lambs. The milk and cheese provided valuable nutrition during the late winter months when the other food supplies were running low. Today, we have the luxury of fresh food all year round and are a bit removed from this natural cycle. Celebrating Imbolc helps bring us back into alignment with the natural cycles of life.

Imbolc is considered by some to mark the very beginning of Spring. It is no small coincidence that it falls on the same day as Groundhog day. Divination is done during this time to figure out how much longer the bitter cold of winter will last (which is what Groundhog day is all about). People begin planning their gardens and looking forward to what tasks they need to do to prepare for spring.

After the darkness of deep winter that we saw at Yule, Imbolc is a breath of bracing, fresh air because we see much more daylight and the world is a bit more awake than it was during the Longest Night of the year.

The Feast of Lights (Lucaid)

 

Image courtesy of Markus Spiske at Pexels.com

Today is the Feast of Lights in the Filianic and Déanic community. It is a celebration of the light of the Daughter that is kindled within her as she steps onto the wheel of Fate and enters more directly into creation. It is considered to be the first of the Eastre feast days. It is also the final feast day of the season of Winter. Some Filianic traditions recognize this as the day that the Daughter is given governance over creation. In either case, the Daughter is honored this day as Princess of the World and Sacrificial Priestess. 

It is here that the journey into Moura begins. In my personal devotions, I say a rosary for Our Lady's blessing and protection of my household. I pour out wine for her and her Mother. I also invoke Déa's blessing upon the candles that I use through out the year so that their light may fully reflect her's in this world. I also spend some time in meditation upon the Scriptural passage that speaks of the Bright Mother giving her Daughter governance over creation and the Daughter's taking on of Fate.

I also begin the process of planning out what I will work on during Moura to strengthen my spiritual discipline and what I will give over to Déa in personal sacrifice for the month of Moura.

QuestionTime: What Do You Want Me To Post About?

 Dear Reader,

I have hit a dreaded impasse. I am unsure what to write for the Divination section here. As such, I am opening up the floor to any suggestions, ideas, or input you may have for how I might improve this portion of my blog. Please, kindly leave a comment with your thoughts. I am somewhat overwhelmed by the volume of material I have sitting here to go through and I need your help picking what to delve into next.

♥