It’s like bibliomancy meets cartomancy! 

The whole thing comes in a PDF and you can print it out and cut the cards out and use them like a regular deck.  The cards are 3×5 in size so you can either print them on regular paper and then put them on index cards or you can print them on heavier card stock and use them that way.  You can also not print them and virtually flip through the PDF.  This is how I use it.  :)

So I wanted to share a sample reading of how you might use the cards.  I know for some people the idea of using words in an oracle might seem a little weird or might almost seem counterintuitive to how you might use oracle cards.  But hear me out on this and trust me, it’s pretty awesome when you give it a chance!

We’ll use moi as the test subject.
Recently I discovered that I’ll be moving back to California, again, sometime next year…most likely in the fall.  I’m not happy about it but I know that it’s just what I need to do because the alternatives are not really ideal.  So I wanted to see, using a past, present, future three card reading, what I might be able to do to make this move better.  Better in that I don’t turn it into a dreaded nightmare, feeling like I’m moving to my doom, which is pretty much how I’ve felt every other time I’ve had to move to California.

So using the “virtual flip” method I describe at the beginning of the oracle book, I land on page 11 which has an interesting grouping of cards (I’ll admit that when I put the cards into the book I didn’t put them in strategically, I just put them in there so some of the groups of cards on a page might look planned but really, they aren’t).

So looking at these cards as past, present, future…

The first card in relation to the past, I can see how this certainly speaks to the past and my issues with going to and living in California.  I choose not to look for the light.  I kept letting the past (literally the things I’d left behind like friends, family, etc) cast shadows that would block out the light.  I would see it briefly and then something would get in the way.  I remember the first time I moved there in 2006 and how in the first week I was there I thought “wow, this is like being in a whole other world”.  That was the light!  And then I would start to feel homesick or guilty for leaving and the shadows would come in, blocking out the light, and soon there was no light to see.  And oddly it was always the dumbest things that brought the light…like the fact that almost all the malls in SoCall are outdoor malls and that the fast food was totally different and better (honestly, it took some looking to find a McDonald’s but In-N-Out was everywhere).  So yes, the light is there if I look for…I know that.

For the present, words from Jim Morrison couldn’t ring more true.  Yes, letting go of fear.  I’m afraid of going because I’m afraid of the things that have made me miserable there in the past coming up and making me miserable again.  I have plans to keep that from happening, but there’s always an element of the unknown in there.  The fear and the worry end up keeping me from looking at this with any real hope or excitement.  I fear being miserable again and that certainly keeps me from being free.  So here I definitely feel like I need to let go of the fear, neutralize it, stop giving it time and energy, and make room for the light and all the possibilities that this could bring.  And, most importantly, I need to do this now, in the present, before the time comes to even plan or prepare for this move so that when it is time for things to get underway I’m approaching it with the right attitude.

And for the future, with the words of Janis Joplin, yes…don’t compromise.  This means that if something about the move isn’t working or making me feel happy, excited and fulfilled, then I need to say so.  I’m not going to compromise what I want and what will make me happy this time like I have in the past.  This is also a fear that I need to work through because I feel that my refusal to compromise might be seen as trying to be intentionally difficult to others involve (mainly my husband) but the way others see things like that shouldn’t cause me to give in to thinks that doesn’t work.  I have to be who I am!

And there you go…a Quote Oracle reading that totally fits and totally makes sense for what’s going on.  I really do love working with this!

First, a little background.  I’m a huge crystal fanatic!  My collection of stones, gems, and minerals is always growing, and while it’s certainly not as massive as the collections of some other crystal fans, it’s one that’s ben cultivated over the years with love, intention, and purpose.  I pick up crystals for a reason.  If I buy a stone myself it’s because it’s called to me in some way.  It could be that the energy of the piece is strong and so I just need to have it, or I find that there’s something about the shape or color that pulls me in.  Crystals are like little people, personalities and creatures in their own right that we sometimes just feel connected to and desire to have in our space.

In 2009 I became a certified crystal therapy practitioner.  I started to use crystals a lot for myself around that time for healing work rather than just magickal work so I decided to do a little more formal study with the stones so I could make crystals part of my Reiki work. Currently I’m deepening my crystal study and working through the crystal healer level 1 certification with the Hibiscus Moon Crystal Academy (you can find some of my favorite Hibiscus Moon offerings on the Affiliates page).  With my current studies I’ve begun to look at crystals in a whole new way because here I’m not only learning the healing side but the science side!  And sadly I think this is sooooo overlooked in the metaphysical community to the point where I honestly think for a lot of people crystals end up being more of a placebo.  Once you really know they work and why they work I have found that they really do work better!!

So it was during some experiences of my own in the last few months that I decided it was time to do something simple with the crystals that I could offer for free to all the wonderful and amazing people in my tribe of Facebook, Twitter, and blog followers.  That was when the idea of the Weekly Healing Crystal Grid came into view!

Over time the grid will most certainly change and evolve, mainly because it’s a fluid form of work and certain crystals may just bed to be part of it that currently aren’t (I’m anticipating that another version of it will include Spirit Quartz, one of my absolute favorite stones).  Here’s what you’ll find in the current grid:

• Rose Quartz – helps to heal the physical heart as well as matters of the heart, sending loving to all those in the grid.  Also helps with circulatory problems as well as issues with the lungs and the chest.
• Amethyst – helps in the healing of hormonal issues, metabolism problems, and general stress.  Relieves pain from the physical body as well as reducing emotional pain.  It’s a great overall balancing stone.  
• Lepidolite – helps to hone in on areas of dis-ease.  Relieves allergies, exhaustion, epilepsy, eases joint pain, and helps to detoxify the body.  
• Serpentine – calms and stabilizes the mind which helps in the reception of healing energies.  Helps to release fears and allows those with physical and emotional healing needs to be more honest and open to the healing and their situation.
• Ocean Jasper – helps to heal digestive issues, instills a sense of peace, and aids the ill in accepting personal responsibility for their healing and their situation.
• Clear Quartz – used to amplify and direct the energies of the grid.  As a healer in it’s own rite, clear quartz stimulates the immune system, helps to being the body back into balance so that healing may flow and work better, and it helps to cleanse and balance the chakras and aura.  In general clear quartz can be used for any healing intention, physical, mental, emotional, or spiritual.
• Golden Healer – The grid is activated using a Golden Healer point.  The Golden Healer is a form of quartz crystal (though some can be Lemurians) and is considered a master healer stone.  The Golden Healer is quartz that has an iron oxide either in or on the crystal that gives it golden hue.  These stones help to active healing, aline the body, and assist and facilitate all forms of healing.  This point that I have seemed most appropriate to active this healing grid.

Every Monday I start by retuning the stones of the grid with a singing bowl.  This helps to bring back them to their natural vibratory state and clear them of any other vibrations they may have picked up from the work during the week prior.  I take slips of paper with the names, ages, locations, and conditions or concerns or those that have asked to be in the grid and read them to the stones.  They are then folded and placed in a crystal bowl that is in the center of grid.  I then place a large pieces of rose quartz in the bowl to act as the center stone for the grid.  The grid is than activated and I add healing incense to the outside grid.  The next step, which is also done every morning for the rest of the week, I create a healing energy chi ball and throw it into the grid to empower the work.  Then on Sunday evenings I remove the center rose quartz and remove the bowl with the names.  The bowl it brought outside to my backyard where I have set up a ritual fire in a cauldron using a homemade cauldron fire water from alcohol and healing herbs.  The each name is read again, a prayer for healing sent to them, and they are tossed into the fire to release a final burst of energy and to send their prayers to the Gods on the sacred smoke from the flames.  A shamanic smudging ritual is done at the end to clear and release any remaining energies.

I love doing this kind of work and I’m happy to do it!!

Come and put your name in the grid for next week!  And if your name has been in the grid and you have had some experiences of progress or change that you feel came from this healing work, please share your experiences in the comments!

But the reason I’m posting this today is because a very important reminder came up in the comments of yesterday’s post about using mugwort.  Mugwort is often used for psychic development and enhancement.  You can create and herbal wash with it to wash crystals and stones used for divination, you can store crystals in jars with mugwort for a similar purpose, and quite commonly mugwort is used to make psychic teas which you can drink before mediation or doing divination work to enhance your ability to access your psychic abilities.  However it was brought up in the comments that mugwort should be avoided by women who are pregnant because it can cause abortion.

Historically mugwort, along with other herbs such as pennyroyal and angelica, have been used to help women rid themselves of children they were carrying that they did not want.  There was a time historically when this was the only way an abortion was done and it was typically done as soon as the woman discovered she was pregnant.  Herbs are not very effective in causing a complete abortion after the 8th week of pregnancy and instead can cause dangerous bleeding and complications that can prove deadly.  If for anyone reason you were in a position today where you were contemplating using herbs to end a pregnancy please please please (!!!) get in touch with a trained and certified herbalist to begin your research.

Many of these herbs, including mugwort, require a fairly highly concentrated dosage to cause and abortive effect, however I am a big believer in being on the side of caution with these kinds of things.  There are herbs that women are highly advised to avoid when pregnant.  Some people may be surprised to see the list of some of the herbs that women are cautioned against using or coming in contact with during pregnancy.

Herbs that can cause bleeding and induce contractions

There are some herbs that can be very useful during pregnancy, however the ones listed above are best avoided whether you are going to use them in magickal ways, in oils, as incenses, or if you’re planning to ingest them in teas or foods.  Again, finding a certified herbalist or holistic health practitioner to check in on what is or isn’t best for you, whatever your situation while you’re pregnant, is the best thing to do.

The irony that I’m posting a blog on a Sunday about not using the internet on Sunday’s doesn’t escape me.  This week I can’t really “switch off” entirely because my husband is away on business on the other side of the country so I need to have some kind of easy way for him to get in touch with me.  My cell phone and I are not friends these days so Skype is my big method of contact.  So today I’m not really off the grid but I thought it would be a great time to talk about how I’m going to share in Switch Off Sundays.

What you do today is important, because you are exchanging a day of your life for it.Unknown

Since I’m sure most people, much like myself, probably are going to still pop onto the internet for a moment, even on a Switch Off Sunday, I thought it would be fun on Sunday’s to share some ideas of what you could do for your Switch Off day.  I’ll share writing and art prompts, suggested books to read, music to listen to, things to do or places to go.  Here are a few general ideas of what you can do with your time away…because if you just shut off without a plan you could find yourself twitching in a corner.  ;)  But keep in mind too that even switching off for half a day is better than what most of us do now, so try to make some time on Sunday’s for a switch off activity.

• Paint something
• Start a scrapbook
• Journal about your dreams
• Try a new guided meditation
• Plan a spell that requires some research…from books!
• Bake a cake
• Reread one of the first magickal books you ever read that inspired your path
• Go to a local zoo, public garden, or nature preserve and actually spend time in nature!

The idea is to spend the day doing something sacred, something that feeds your soul, something that takes you away from the big distractions that often cause us to not pay attention to what’s happening with us on the inside.  I’ll be starting the Switch Off Sundays posts next Sunday.  I look forward to hearing about your Sunday plans and how your switch off days go!

So what does this mean?  It means that you’re going to start to see a lot more integration of my magickal side with the more, dare I say, “new agey” side.  I use that word loosely because I’ve come to a point in my journey where I think that label is so misused and misunderstood.  It’s gained such a bad reputation when really it’s just new thought, and often a repackaging of ancient thoughts, ideas, and practices that many of us know in another way.  Think about when “The Secret” came out!  Those of us that were practicing magick and Witchcraft had the “Oh, no kidding” kind of reaction because The Law of Attraction is one of the fundamental Universal Laws that we work with in magick.

Another reason for this directional change comes from this desire to honor my authentic self.  While being a Witch and Priestess are both major parts of that the other part is my reason for why I’m here, out in the world openly doing what I do, is quite honestly because I enjoy helping others find healing while bringing a little magick into their lives.  There are certain topics that are often relegated to the new age realm that could use a little a little more attention from the magickal community.  Things like self-love, creating balance in life in general, letting go, being your authentic self, learning to say yes…and learning to say no!  These are some of the things that are going to be coming to the forefront now.

Melding these things with the empowerment of magick is what I do and it’s what I’m bringing for you!

So here’s what you’re going to find around here that’s new.

• More Free Fun Stuff – Free e-books, worksheets, wallpapers, meditations…just tons and tons of stuff.  I’ll be adding to the Goodies section regularly.  A few meditations will be on the way soon!
• More Products For Sale – E-books, meditations, and e-courses.  It’s the digital age, my lovlies, and it’s time to bring the magick and the healing work to you in a way where you can just buy it and grab it when you need it!  By the end of May the first of the e-courses will be up (it will be my tarot course).
• Videos – Everyone seems to want to see more videos and you’re going to get them!  To get ready for WitchyTV!  In the next few weeks you’ll start to see those coming up.
• Lots of Different Blogging – I’ll be sharing a lot more personal stuff as well as my thoughts on a variety of different topics that I normally don’t write about (again, going back to that new age stuff).
• Expanded Services – I’m now offering crystal services, a whole host of oracle readings, and Goddess coaching on top of all the other services that I already offer.

This part is really very super important…One Witch’s Way is here now and is going to be growing and growing.  If you subscribe to the blog through NetworkedBlogs the feed will automatically be corrected by now and I’m working on getting the links for the blog through Kindle and Google corrected as well.  I also have a section that is going to be getting started this week called Rowan’s Juicy Healing Journey.  I’ll just leave it at that and you’ll have to wait and see what that’s all about in a day or two.

From there it’s hard to say what’s going to happen.  It’s all fluid, it’s all changing, and it’s all growing, as am I!  I am so excited to be on this new page of my journey.  I hope that all that I have to offer from this authentic point of self serves you as much as it serves me.

I was reading a question in which you answered “how do i know if i have super natural abilities”

However, the question was not really answered as you only mentioned your opinion on whether you believed they exist, not how do you actually know if you have them.

So, my question is. HOW do you know if you have any sort of ability, and how can I learn to control it. I have always felt out of place and wondered if I could do something special, and not “normal”. I have a special thing with air, and telekinesis. I’ve always tried to move objects but never really could. So could you please explain to me how to figure out if I do have ANY sort of gift?

~Ricardo

First off,  I feel that your question is a little different than the previous one in a way.  That question was literally a single sentence (and not a well put one either) just asking to find out if they have a supernatural power. That can mean a number of different things to a number of different people and not having context I decided to answer the question from the very simple standpoint of “if you believe supernatural powers means you can shoot fire from your fingertips, then I can’t help you because I don’t believe those things to be real.” Your question is a little different and seems a bit more thought out, so let me see what I can offer you here.

With your question I’ll again reiterate the point that I don’t believe in supernatural powers, per se. In the 26 years that I have been an active and practicing Witch I have never seen anyone have the abilities that often fall into this category of being “supernatural”. Remember, supernatural means something that is outside of the natural laws. Most of the abilities that people who are serious about questions like this are referring to things that are quite natural and the terminology is usually the problem.

Everyone has the ability to be psychic and to work magick. These things are completely natural. The difference between someone who can use these things and someone who can’t is just a matter of practice and, to a point, belief. If you believe you can do something you are more confident and more apt to actually do what you need to in order to develop those skills.

How do you know if you have an ability? Well, it might not seem like an answer at first, but…do you? Think about that for a second. Do you have anything that you feel you can do that seems different? Is there a psychic skill that you seem to be good at or is your perception in certain areas particularly keen? The only person that can determine if you have an ability is you because, again, belief is part of it. The other part is knowledge. Knowing what kind of skills you’re looking to find within yourself helps.

The best way to test yourself is to start out by researching what are called the “clair-senses”. There are six of them; they are:
Clairvoyance – clear seeing
Clairaudience – clear hearing
Claircognizance – clear knowing
Clairsentience – clear feeling
Clairalience – clear smelling
Clairgustance – clear tasting

The last two, clairalience and clairgustance, are not terribly common and often come and go in very specific situations. The other are what many people would consider the common psychic abilities. They are the skills and abilities that everyone has the power to use if they can learn to work with them. So my suggestion would be to do some research into them, find some material on how to develop and strengthen these abilities, and work from there. You’ll likely find that one comes really naturally to you and the others require work to develop. Everyone has a predominant psychic skill while others may be more latent.

You specifically mentioned TK, and while I have never seen TK displayed in a way that I felt was 100% true, it is one that I believe is possible. In order to use TK you’re working to manipulate the energy field around an object in order to move it. This isn’t at ALL like what you see in the movies, however. You’re not going to be moving cars around (forget the movie “Chronicle”) and you’re not going to be able to likely do more than manipulate light objects even with the most trained skill, something that even people with supposed TK abilities will admit. The best way to start working with energy manipulation in this way is to learn to move and manipulate a candle flame. If you do a little Goggle search for either “telekinesis candle flame” or “candle flame bending” you’ll find material on how to do this. This is also sometimes referred to as pyrokinesis. This is an ability that I have and one that I have found many Witches have, and it’s one that takes time to develop but it’s a fun one to learn and work with.

So HOW do you find out if you have a gift? Again, quite simply…do you have one? Is there something that you can do that is indicative of these various skills and abilities? You have to try doing them and practice at them to be able to know if you have any abilities.

In this episode we invite Reiki Master Teacher and High Priest Storm Faerywolf on to discuss the magick of Reiki and energy movement.

Play List
In the Circle – Hungry Lucy
Maksum Madness – Raquy and the Caveman
Were-Owl – SJ Tucker
Enter the Circle – Emerald Rose
Bell, books, and candles – Graeme Revell
Trouble in Shangrila – Stevie Nicks
Avalon – Sully Erna
Toncoyotica – Soriah
Muted Land – Monica Richards
Forgotten Worlds – Delerium

But first, a little disclaimer…

I do want to say, before we go any further and before we get to part two next week, I am not advocating that anyone take entheogens.  This is something that is not for everyone and each individual practitioner needs to determine how they want to work with these plants if they wish to work with them at all.  Some are far more dangerous than others and some are non-psychoactive and deemed safer to use, however they still bring on a variety of effects on the mind and spirit.  I am not an expert in entheogens in any way, shape, or form.  For that I advise researching the work of the late and amazing Terence McKenna. I am an ecstatic Witch who has spent a number of years studying, working with, and exploring the world of entheogens, herbs and plants, and their connection to spirit and magick, including the direct effects they have when we partner with them, both in the physical and as spirit allies.  This post and next week’s post are based on my study, experience, beliefs, and ideas surrounding entheogens, ecstasy, and Ecstatic Witchcraft.

In order to get the things started, I want to first define the keywords and terms that are going to center around this whole thing.  Those words are:
Entheogen
Ecstasy
Ecstatic Witchcraft
Entrainment

Entheogen
The story of entheogens and their use, the history of the different cultures that utilize them, how they are used, and to what end is extensive and much more in-depth than we have time to explore here.  But in the terms of Witchcraft they are often used in the form of flying ointments or oils and incenses used for the same purpose, to help alter consciousness and extend awareness outside the body and into the other worlds.  Not all Witches work with these herbs, and rightly so since not all Witches would be able to handle the spiritual experiences that these herbs can bring about.  Here I’ll share some of the basics of what entheogens are and some of the ones traditionally used in Witchcraft.  More of the specifics about their applications and effects will be discussed next week.

An entheogen is defined as a psychoactive substance that is used in a spiritual, religious, or shamanic setting or context in order to help achieve an altered or ecstatic state.  When we talk about entheogens we can be talking about everything from the Ayahuasca herbal brew of the shamans and healers of the Amazon to the flying ointments of Traditional Witchcraft both of old and modern times.  While the original idea of the entheogen was that of a plant in some form it has also come to refer to products that are synthesized from plants or compounds found in these plants.  One of the most powerful synthesized entheogen, which is classified as a hard entheogen because of it’s long lasting impact, is LSD.

Entheogens are substances that are used specifically to work on the opening of the crown chakra, they help to let spirit out as well as in.  Though it’s ironic in a sense because some people will say that when you use entheogens in a trance state or in a journey state, you’re not really leaving the body but going deeper within.  The spirit doesn’t actually leave the body and go to journey outside of itself but rather it journeys through the inner worlds and it’s what is allowed into those worlds through the opened crown chakra that may differ from other types of similar experiences.

The term “entheogen” was coined in 1979 by a group of ethnobotanists and mythology scholars.  They were Carl A. P. Ruck, Jeremy Bigwood, Danny Staples, Richard Evans Schultes, Jonathan Otto, and R. Gordon Wasson.  In their work they found that there were only two words to describe the consciousness altering substances they encountered, psychedelics and hallucinogen.  These terms posed a few problems in the context they were working within.  Hallucinogen was a word that has associations through its etymology with the ideas of delirium and insanity.  Psychedelics was not only connected to the idea of psychosis but it was also too intimately connected to 1960s pop culture that there was a concern that the use of the herbs and plants in a religious context could be confusing.  Ruck, Bigwood, Staples, Otto, and Wasson co-authored an article titled “Entheogens” in the an early 1979 edition of the “Journal of Psychedelic Drugs” where they presented the definition of entheogens.

“In a strict sense only those vision-producing drugs that can be shown to have figured in shamanic or religious rites would be designated entheogens, but in a loose sense, the term could also be applied to other drugs, both natural and artificial that induce alterations of consciousness similar to those documented for ritual ingestion of traditional entheogens.”

I talked very briefly about entheogens when I did my post on baneful herbs and talked about flying ointments.  One of the reasons that I had mentioned it there was because of an encounter that I had with someone in an herb shop that dealt in legal highs and legal entheogens.  I think that it’s important to understand that these herbs and plants and the things that the spirit of the plant provides to the person that uses it is not the same as just taking the plant or substance to get high for kicks.  While some of these plants and their byproducts certainly are used for that purpose in greater society, the experience isn’t the same and the after effects can be quite different.

There is a group of entheogenic plants which are commonly used within Witchcraft which come from a family of plants known as Solanaceae.  The name comes from the Latin Solanum which means “the nightshade plant”.  Some people may not know, but potatoes are part of this family of nightshade plants and as such among some of the traditional Witches herbs, potatoes, tomatoes, some types of peppers, and some kinds of tobacco are part o the Solanaceae family.  But the plants most Witches will recognize, which are considered entheogens, include:

Deadly Nightshade
Bittersweet Nightshade
Black Nightshade
Datura
Henbane
Mandrake

These herbs should never be taken internally.  They are often used in topical applications like ointments, which while they do absorb into the skin which is what causes them to have the effects they do, taking them directly can be even more dangerous because of a compound within them called tropane.  The body can build up a tolerance to tropane but the heart is unable to do so.  As a result, over time with regular use, the body needs more and more of the herb to achieve the desired effect but as the dosage increases the heart can succumb to the amount of tropane and death becomes a real possibility.

In summary, an entheogen is either a plant or fungi that contains psychoactive properties, or a product that is a synthesized from of these plants which are then used in a spiritual or ritualistic context.  Other non-psychoactive plants and compounds can also be used for similar purposes in a similar manner but they are not traditionally considered to be entheogens.

And to that same end it’s important to know that not everything you encounter as an entheogen is a true entheogen.  There is a tendency for people to sometimes call a drug an entheogen in order to justify their use of it, and in some cases in order to try and avoid  legal troubles by claiming religious usage (to my knowledge the only drugs that are covered under this auspice in the states is peyote in certain Native American tribes and Ayahuasca among US members of the Brazilian church União do Vegetal).

One thing to consider is that we don’t always have to work with these plants in the physical.  They can also be spirit allies and we can work with them through the necromancy of plants.  Necromancy, for those that might be unclear on the term, is not related to any form of dark or black magick.  Necromancy is the summoning of the spirits of the dead in order to communicate with them to gain knowledge, wisdom, and foresight.  If you stop to consider that, when working with plants in our magickal recipes like incense, ointments, and oils, as well as for herbal blends for spellwork, we are working with the dead parts of the plant most often (dried leaves, flowers, roots, and stems).  When we call on the spirit of the plant to aid us we are working another form of necromancy; by calling on the spirit of the dead plant to come forward and partner with us, give us its knowledge and wisdom, and help us in our work, we are working what boils down to plant necromancy.  This can be used in working with entheogens in a sort of round-about, non-traditional way by working with the plant spirit ally rather than consuming the plant in some form.

Ecstasy and Ecstatic Witchcraft
When I talk about ecstasy here I am talking about it in two forms, the feeling and the drug (yes, the drug).  States of ecstasy in spiritual work are achieved when we reach deep states of trance which remove us from the physical body.  By its working definition anything that is ecstatic takes us out of our bodies.  Shamanic journeying is sometimes debated as being ecstatic because there is the idea that we’re going within more than without during these kinds of practices, but I personally see it as an ecstatic technique.  Other common ecstatic techniques including dancing, drumming, chanting, sensory depravation, breathwork, repeated movements like rocking or tapping, and the use of entheogens.  The Traditional Wiccan practice of tying the arms and blindfolding an initiate during their initiation ritual is a way of inducing an ecstatic state.

The other ecstasy that I’m looking at here is the drug, MDMA.  MDMA is not an entheogen but am empathogen.  Empathogens differ from entheogens in that they are not crown chakra activators but heart chakra activators.  Empathogens are psychoactive plants and compounds that produce euphoric emotional feelings (the openness of the heart chakra) and a sense of empathy that connects one to those around them on a much higher level than normal.  MDMA is classified as a hallucinogen but its hallucinogenic properties are not the same as what we commonly think of when considering hallucinogens like LSD.  The visual elements of MDMA are commonly much softer and less of a part of the experience than with other hallucinogens.  But MDMA is a drug that helps to elicit very strong ecstatic experiences when used in the proper setting.

The practice of Ecstatic Witchcraft is a unique one in that a large portion of the energy work and magickal process involves the use of tools and techniques for reaching these states of ecstasy.  Ecstatic work is that which makes us “free from flesh” (which is how one of my teachers describes the work).  In Ecstatic Witchcraft we are working in the Upper World, the Lower World, and the Middle World or the World Aside.  We may work with entheogens in the form of teas, oils, incense, and ointments in order to help free the spirit in order to heal ourselves or others, and in order to look beyond the veil as well.  At the core of Ecstatic Witchcraft is the process of attaining and working within an altered state.  For some people this is something that puts them far out of their comfort zone because there is an element of losing control that is inherent to ecstatic practice.  But when trained in how to properly achieve these states and how to work within them, there is a great power of control within the loss of control.

Entrainment
The last thing that I wanted to mention is entrainment.  Entrainment, specifically brainwave entrainment, which is also known as brainwave synchronization, is a big part of group ecstatic work.    This is the process of using a single rhythm that is capable of bringing us to a specific brainwave state and using that as a means of getting all the people in a group or tribe to rise up (or sink down, depending on the case) to the same brainwave state.  In various shamanic tribes this would be accomplished through the use of drummers all beating drums at the same number of beats per minute.  Dancers would dance to the same rhythm and those who might fan the sacred flames would also do this at the same rhythmic timing.  All of this would bring everyone present into the same state of trance and group healing could be achieved.

What does it all mean…
Next week I’m going to share personal experiences and practices with all these things.  My path is an ecstatic one.  I consider myself to be an Ecstatic Witch, one with a very heavy leaning on shamanic practices of all kinds.  I have experimented with a number of different ecstatic technologies over the years and I am still studying, practicing, and experimenting.  I have a few favorites (chanting, drumming, and working with entheogens) and there are those that just don’t work well for me (dancing being the big one, except in one very specific circumstance which I’ll talk about next week).

While my path is largely ecstatic it also has been focused on technopaganism during different periods of my life.  Technopaganism has a few different definitions but the one that I am referring to here is modern urban tribal culture, which sometimes crosses lines with the modern primitive movement which is also an ecstatic belief system.  For me this is how is all ties together.  The use of entheogens or empathogens in a very defined setting with a spiritual intent, working with the process of entrainment in order to reach ecstatic states.  This isn’t something that I get to do often, though about 10 years ago it was a weekly think (minus the use of any substances, this was a once a month thing).  Typically my work with entheogens is more subtle and in a more traditional setting.

But again, I’ll get into that next week.  I think I’ve bored you all to tears enough at this point.  :)