Please do go to the other Greymalkin Gazette Gazette groups on other networks. Sorry to have been gone so long, but for a few months, we had serious computer issues. Tegwedd has a new computer now, and Stephen has his laptop back after being in the shop for for almost 5 months. Tegwedd is on her computer every day, but Stephen gets on his only once every few days, but now that the house and yard are shaping up, with Tegwedd’s reluctant help, he’s able to get on it every day for a couple hours. We expect the inspection any day now. Tegwedd started the Greymalkin Gazette to be a journal about magick, Paganism, and the Craft of the Wise.
For those of you who are not familiar with the Gazette as an Internet group, it as the same basic mission statement as the original publication; that is, to explore these 3 linked areas of inquiry and write about them. Any member of the group can post magickal or Pagan poetry, articles about the Craft, magick, or Paganism in general or short short fiction. Articles or stories should be no more than 900 words. Tegwedd has an idea to turn Doc’s newsletter the Unhewn Megalith into an Internet group as well. It’s specialized, concentrating on Druids and Celtica. It’s going to join our cluster of Druid groups.
How did the Greymalkin Gazette get its name? Well you may ask. Back in 1988, Lynn Sereda came to stay with Fat Boy and Tegwedd, and Lynn wanted to bring back the Witchaven Society. But she had the typical hostile personality that came from having done crank, and misunderstood Tegwedd said, put the worst possible construction on it, and left. So the New Reformed Orthodox Order of the Witchaven Society died a borning, or NROOWS, as we named it, sounded like a sound that a putty would make, so Tegwedd named the newsletter the Cat’s Meow. She even got Llewellyn to send her books and other products to read and review. Unfortunately, a lot of people thought that the Cat’s Meow was about cat care, so Tegwedd named it yet again, this time, she called it the Greymalkin Gazette because she wanted to make it clear that it was about Paganism, magick, and the Craft of the Wise, not cat care. Greymalkin is one of the traditional names for a Witch’s familiar, and Tegwedd had a putty named Greymalkin for almost 17 years until she died in 2004. As was previously stated, the statement of intent or mission statement is to keep our people informed about Paganism, magick, and the Craft of the Wise. What would you like to see in this group?
We’re watching the TV show “Secret Circle.” At first, Tegwedd thought it was jejune like the “Vampire Diaries” that came before it, but now the adults, the parents of the kids in the circle are getting involved, and things are getting more interesting. Stephen is entranced. Tegwedd likes the music, which is very new agey. Stephen likes the music too. On our satellite service, it’s on on Thursdays from 9 to 10 o’clock pm on the CW. Find where it is on your TV service. If you can, watch it, and see how you like it.
Breaking news: This just in: The Greymalkin Gazetteis now the official publication organ of the Abbott’s Inn International School of Magick. We were stoned, which is when we come up with our brilliant ideas. Just like that, we decided to do it. So the Greymalkin Gazette is now the publication arm of the Abbott’s Inn International School of Magick. And when we get some extra money, we can start publishing it hard copy again, unless Lizet consents to teach Tegwedd how to do the newsletter all in email format. It came out as a publication and would if we got it going as one again, every 6 weeks around the Pagan Sabbats, so that won’t change. Stephen asked, “Since this is the organ of the school, which organ is it? The heart or brain?” Tegwedd replied, “The brain, of course.” But if we were in ancient Khem, it would be the heart, since the Khemish believed that the brain was of no account, and that the heart did all the thinking, as well as feeling.
We would be working on the book right now , except that we’ve been driving ourselves and each other crazy (a short walk, not a drive, we know) trying to get the house ship shape for the inspection at the end of this month. But once that’s done, we’ll be able to return to working on the Book. For those of you who don’t belong to our other groups, the Book is the Ultimate Guide to the Tarot. We are working on the 3 sample chapters to send to Llewellyn in the hopes that they will accept them and contract with us to write the rest of the book. If you have any questions about this, please send them either to this or the Tarot for Pagans group. We’re waiting to hear from you. Like our other groups, we intend this to be an interactive group. We respond well to positive feedback, new ideas, or new thoughts. We respect your knowledge and understanding of the issues at hand.
Saturday Tegwedd attended the re-opening of the Colonial Heights Library. The first thing she noticed were the comfy chairs. “Oh no! Not the comfy chairs!” They were upholstered in a print some might say was rather gaudy, but Tegwedd liked because it was bright and cheerful, and reminded her of Pennsylvania Dutch hex signs. It was red, purple, and blue designs, both floral and symbolic on a white background. In their own way, the chairs were very elegant. An Hispanic woman she looked part native American) who looked to be about Tegwedd’s age sat in the chair opposite her, and we both waxed enthusiastic about the chairs. Tegwedd selected a book out of the Scfi and Fantasy section, Masters of Fantasy. The plump redheaded (there must be a lot of Celts who work for the library, there is at least one other redhead who works for the library, only the other one is slender) helped her checked out the book and put it in a neon green tote bag with the legend “Mango Languages.com” on it. Tegwedd then got in line to the community room, where they had cake, cookies, juice and coffee. They didn’t have tea. Tegwedd selected a piece of cake, an M&M cookie, and a cup of juice, and found a place to sit. As she had approached the library, she could hear a marching band, which she guessed came either from a local high school or a college, which was playing “Tusk,” a song by one of her 3 favorite musical groups, Fleetwood Mac (the other 2 are Cream and Led Zeppelin). After she finished eating, she headed home. Stephen went over there too but there was no cake or cookies. Nor did he bring home a book. He should have headed over when Tegwedd had.
We have been on a month long tear cleaning up the place for the landlady’s inspection. We have redistributed our stuff and thrown a lot away. Tegwedd has thrown a lot of stuff away, more than Stephen has, since many of her discards became his possessions. There are things of Doc’s she can’t bear to throw away, but doesn’t really want to keep either. If Doc’s Brother comes up from Texas for a visit, she’ll give them all to him. The gaming stuff she promised to a young man of her acquaintance; Herne Cathcart, the son of the High Priest and High Priestess of the Sacred Cats Coven, to which she belongs as an elder.
Speaking of cats, the putties have done their parts in this endeavor too. The other night a mouse stupidly wandered into the house. One means, if you were a mouse, would you wander into a house where eight cats reside? Frakki and Putty Bear tag-teamed in the catching of the mouse. First Putty Bear would have it in his mouth, then drop it to deliver the coups de grace. Then Frakki would hold it in her mouth. It couldn’t have been easy for either of them. We were sure the mouse was struggling. We could hear it squeak and squeal. It was still alive. They dropped it to bat it around with their paws some, it escaped and got under the couch. They caught it again, and then Stephen got hold of it (he didn’t touch it. He put it in the dustpan and then in the big garbage can outside, where it scurried to the bottom. This morning the garbage truck took up the garbage bin, and now the mouse, if alive, is headed for a landfill. Even if the mouse isn’t alive, it’s in a landfill.
We’ll try to get to this group more often. Meanwhile, post your poetry, articles, and short fiction here!
Our friend Caitlin ni Manannan has people bringing her wood from when they prune their trees in their yards. And we are shortly going to be making Rune and Ogham sets. So if you’re local, bring us your branches. They should be at least the thickness of your thumb.
All you hard-workin’ Pagans should stand solidly with labor and against the Tea Party. As James Hoffa Jr. said, “Recall those sons of bitches! Go to your ballot boxes and vote them out.” The 75,000 Verizon workers are on strike, and we stand with them. Solidarnosc! as the Poles would say. Verizon management, all Republicans, have made 100 unreasonable demands, and refuse to negotiate, but are paying scabs to cross the picket lines, and work for them. All the workers want, is to keep what they have, a small cost of living increase in wages, their health care, and their pensions. Management wants them to pay $100 per month for health care, while they get it free. If you were thinking of getting a Verizon phone and account, don’t, and do tell them why you aren’t, that you are boycotting them. If you have a Verizon account, close it, and go to another carrier, and tell Verizon why. If you want to piss off Stephen, abuse or oppress the workers. Tell Verizon that you refuse to do business with an employer who oppresses its workers.
Soon we may be selling pendants of the lady and the tiger worked in silver. If you reading this are a silversmith please call our toll free number 1-888-611-7982, and we’ll do business. Coming soon--prints of the Lady and the Tiger by Lizet. Rune and Ogham sets worked by Stephen. Tegwedd has started to crochet cellphone holsters of her own design. They are of acrylic yarn, in assorted colors. She is obsessed right now with making holsters for the Pagan Pride Harvest Festival, but she will make you one to order for a reasonable price. She has some right now in assorted colors for just $9.95+S&H. She is working with yarn she has on hand, so a custom one will cost more because she has to obtain the yarn to make yours. It will cost $14.95 + S&H The smallest container for US priority mail is $4.95.
We are offering a new service. For just $19.95, you can have spell-coaching. We will take you through the construction and performance of a spell. It’s very simple. If you want to perform a spell but you don’t think you know what you’re doing, hire us to coach you through it. The fee is payable to our PayPal accounts, to either abbotts_inn@yahoo.com or tezra.reitan@gmail.com .
We will coach you using strong ethics. Tegwedd has a couplet she will teach you which you can add to your spell that will ensure that it is ethical. Abbott’s Inn International School of Magick is over 40 years old, having been founded in 1970 in Berkeley, CA. It went cybernetic almost 9 years ago. Lizet has been helping us put the school on a more commercial footing, and with her inspiration, Tegwedd has started packaging the classes into manageable packets. Ms. Freeman did a 3rd website for us almost a month ago at http://abbottsinn.wordpress.com. From there, by clicking on two of the graphics, you can go to either of the other two sites: http://abbottsinninternational.com/ and http://abbottsinn.com/ . You can also get to our network http://abbottsinn.ning.com/ . With her help, we also salvaged some things from his old website, including the mission statement: The Abbott’s Inn International School of Magick aims to provide a gentle nurturing environment that promotes education in both the atmosphere and the specific tools of magick. Our research arm is called the Magickal Research Institute or MRI, not to be confused with the medical MRI, or Magnetic Resonance Image, which Tegwedd had on her right ankle about 10 months ago. Stephen and Lizet came up with the name almost 9 years ago. The three of us have become a very effective working team. Stephen has his cell phone, and we are both enjoying learning how to use our cell phones. His cell phone number is 916-467-6393. He’ll have access to the Internet on that phone. He says “I’m not very good at texting because of my glaucoma, so please be gentle with me.” Don’t forget to call 888-611-7982 for all your divination, learning class, and research needs.
Monday, September 26, 2011
Wednesday, September 7, 2011
Stele of Revealing & Writing of Book of the Law
Do check out the other 11th House of Thoth groups on other networks. Sorry to have been gone so long, but we had computer issues for a few months. Now you won’t be able to get rid of us because Tegwedd now has a new computer, and Stephen has his laptop back. We also have cell phones that go on the Internet. Stephen’s is a go-phone, and Tegwedd has the regular arrangement, but we both got the same model phone. They’re even the same color, blue and black.
Basically this group is about the intersection between Uncle Al (Aleister Crowley) and the Khemetic tradition. Uncle Al an his bride Rose Kelly Crowley Spent the nights of April 8th-10th 1904 in the Great Pyramid receiving the Book of the Law, which Rose channeled through her husband’s Holy Guardian Angel Aiwass. We don’t know what drugs they may have taken, must’ve been good stuff, wonder if we could get some, because of all the channeling that Rose did. Uncle Al loved Rose deeply. She was a sincere priestess and occultist. But he didn’t love her as much as loved that damned mountain that he just had to climb. If he hadn’t deserted her and their newborn daughter in Rangoon, she wouldn’t have slipped into her cups, and would have seen to it that the bottles for the baby’s milk were boiled, or would have breastfed the baby (which is actually best) so she wouldn’t have gotten typhus and died. When you love someone, you don’t leave her and your newborn daughter in Rangoon. You stay with them. Thelemite men, ever after that, have a tendency to mistreat their women.
But back to Khem. Khem means “black” It gave its name to alchemy and its offshoot chemistry. Egypt is the Greek name for it, a corruption of the Khemish Hout-ak-Ptah, which means the temple for the ka or soul of Ptah. The Greeks under Alexander and Ptolemy had trouble pronouncing Hout-ak-Ptah. What’s so tough about it? Tegwedd just did it. They must’ve been monumentally stupid. The black land came from the black fertile silt that came over the banks of the Nile each year during the annual flood. Now with the Aswan Dam, that doesn’t happen anymore.
The Stele of Ankh-ef-en-Khonsu is a painted wooden offering stele discovered in 1854 at the mortuary temple of Hatshepsut at Dayr Bahir by Francis August Marinett, which was originally made for the Khonsu priest Ankh-ef-en-Khonsu . It was discovered near his coffin ensemble of 2 sarcophagi and anthropomorphic inner coffins. It dates to cerca 680/70 BCE either late 25th dynasty or early 26th dynasty. Originally located in the Boulaq Museum, under inventory number #666, it was moved around 1902 to the newly opened Egyptian museum of Cairo . On the front, the stele shows Ankh-en-ef-Khonsu offering his god Re Harakhty Ra of the 2 horizons or Ra-Hoor-Khuit. The text on both the front and back shows a number of quotes from the Book of Coming Forth by Day, aka the Egyptian Book of the Dead. He also begs his gods not to stand against him when he stands in the Hall of Judgment. The way that Uncle Al paraphrases this is quoted in the Book of the Law (Liber Legis). “This combination of magic[sic] and theology is technically called ‘theurgy’ from the Greek theos and ergon work.” All quotes and information are from the Wikipedia, although we derived some material from the Thelemapedia.
Who is your favorite Khemetic deity? Tegwedd is torn between Sekhmet the lion Goddess and Seshat the Goddess of and inventor of writing. Tegwedd named her computer after Seshat. Seshat is shown wearing a leopard skin dress. This may explain why Tegwedd is so fond of leopard print. She has a leopard print comforter, wants to get leopard print sheets, and has a leopard print case for her many crochet hooks. She wanted a leopard print upholstered sofa, but Doc put his foot down. She still wants one, though, and if she ever got a lot of money, she would get a couple, since the living room needs two couches.
Stephen just picked his wallpaper for his cell phone. It’s the Stele of Revealing, #666 in the Bulaq Museum. He got it from Widipedia,and is very excited about it. According to the unpublished Society of Hidden Masters, Lady Frieda Harris became Uncle Al’s disciple on May 11th, 1938. She started at the 4th degree because she already had a previous initiation into Co-Masonry. Crowley also began to teach her divination. She had he choice of systems, and opted for the Y Ching . “Y Hing was your choice which I approved because it has the kind of discipline that will inform your painting. If you are to make a new mark in art, you need a new mind, enlightened from the supernal triangle.” From a letter from Uncle Al to Lady Frieda.
By his own admission, Uncle Al had intended his Tarot deck to be traditional, but Lady Frieda encouraged him to use his occult, spiritual, magickal and scientific knowledge in the project. Harris sent him a regular stipend to help with the project. She also used her society contacts to procure financial backing for the paintings, catalogue, and publication of the Tarot deck. The pressure may have taken its toll on both Harris and Crowley. It was to languish in someone’s basement until ‘69 or ‘70 when it was acquired by Carl Llewellyn Weschke, who published it at Llewellyn Publications, for which Stephen once worked.
We’re still searching for a house mate. Now if you are willing, able, and ready to to do some hard physical labor like Stephen is doing to get the house and yard in shape, $100 will be taken off your rent until the work is completed, then the rent will go back up to $400. So you will be paying only $300 until the work is completed. .
Our friend Caitlin ni Manannan has people bringing her wood from when they prune their trees in their yards. And we are shortly going to be making rune Rune and Ogham sets. So if you’re local, bring us your branches. They should be at least the thickness of your thumb.
All you hard-workin Pagans should stand solidly with labor and against the Tea Party. As James Hoffa Jr. said, “Recall those sons of bitches! Go to your ballot boxes and vote them out.” The 75,000 Verizon workers are on strike, and we stand with them. Solidarnosc! as the Poles would say. Verizon management, all Republicans, have made 100 unreasonable demands, and refuse to negotiate, but are paying scabs to cross the picket lines, and work for them. All the workers want, is to keep what they have, a small cost of living increase in wages, their health care, and their pensions. Management wants them to pay $100 per month for health care, while they get it free. If you were thinking of getting a Verizon phone and account, don’t, and do tell them why you aren’t, that you are boycotting them. If you have a Verizon account, close it, and go to another carrier, and tell Verizon why. If you want to piss off Stephen, abuse or oppress the workers. Tell Verizon that you refuse to do business with an employer who oppresses its workers.
Soon we may be selling pendants of the lady and the tiger worked in silver. If you reading this are a silversmith please call our toll free number 1-888-611-7982, and we’ll do business. Coming soon--prints of the Lady and the Tiger by Lizet. Rune and Ogham sets worked by Stephen. Tegwedd has started to crochet cellphone holsters of her own design. They are of acrylic yarn, in assorted colors. She is obsessed right now with making holsters for the Pagan Pride Harvest Festival, but she will make you one to order for a reasonable price. She has some right now in assorted colors for just $9.95+S&H. She is working with yarn she has on hand, so a custom one will cost more because she has to obtain the yarn to make yours. It will cost $14.95 + S&H The smallest container for US priority mail is $4.95.
We are offering a new service. For just $19.95, you can have spell-coaching. We will take you through the construction and performance of a spell. It’s very simple. If you want to perform a spell but you don’t think you know what you’re doing, hire us to coach you through it. The fee is payable to our PayPal accounts, to either abbotts_inn@yahoo.com or tezra.reitan@gmail.com .
We will coach you using strong ethics. Tegwedd has a couplet she will teach you which you can add to your spell that will ensure that it is ethical. Abbott’s Inn International School of Magick is over 40 years old, having been founded in 1970 in Berkeley, CA. It went cybernetic almost 9 years ago. Lizet has been helping us put the school on a more commercial footing, and with her inspiration, Tegwedd has started packaging the classes into manageable packets. Ms. Freeman did a 3rd website for us almost a month ago at http://abbottsinn.wordpress.com. From there, by clicking on two of the graphics, you can go to either of the other two sites: http://abbottsinninternational.com/ and http://abbottsinn.com/ . You can also get to our network http://abbottsinn.ning.com/ . With her help, we also salvaged some things from his old website, including the mission statement: The Abbott’s Inn International School of Magick aims to provide a gentle nurturing environment that promotes education in both the atmosphere and the specific tools of magick. Our research arm is called the Magickal Research Institute or MRI, not to be confused with the medical MRI, or Magnetic Resonance Image, which Tegwedd had on her right ankle about 10 months ago. Stephen and Lizet came up with the name almost 9 years ago. The three of us have become a very effective working team. Stephen has his cell phone, and we are both enjoying learning how to use our cell phones. His cell phone number is 916-467-6393. He’ll have access to the Internet on that phone. He says “I’m not very good at texting because of my glaucoma, so please be gentle with me.” Don’t forget to call 888-611-7982 for all your divination, learning class, and research needs.
Basically this group is about the intersection between Uncle Al (Aleister Crowley) and the Khemetic tradition. Uncle Al an his bride Rose Kelly Crowley Spent the nights of April 8th-10th 1904 in the Great Pyramid receiving the Book of the Law, which Rose channeled through her husband’s Holy Guardian Angel Aiwass. We don’t know what drugs they may have taken, must’ve been good stuff, wonder if we could get some, because of all the channeling that Rose did. Uncle Al loved Rose deeply. She was a sincere priestess and occultist. But he didn’t love her as much as loved that damned mountain that he just had to climb. If he hadn’t deserted her and their newborn daughter in Rangoon, she wouldn’t have slipped into her cups, and would have seen to it that the bottles for the baby’s milk were boiled, or would have breastfed the baby (which is actually best) so she wouldn’t have gotten typhus and died. When you love someone, you don’t leave her and your newborn daughter in Rangoon. You stay with them. Thelemite men, ever after that, have a tendency to mistreat their women.
But back to Khem. Khem means “black” It gave its name to alchemy and its offshoot chemistry. Egypt is the Greek name for it, a corruption of the Khemish Hout-ak-Ptah, which means the temple for the ka or soul of Ptah. The Greeks under Alexander and Ptolemy had trouble pronouncing Hout-ak-Ptah. What’s so tough about it? Tegwedd just did it. They must’ve been monumentally stupid. The black land came from the black fertile silt that came over the banks of the Nile each year during the annual flood. Now with the Aswan Dam, that doesn’t happen anymore.
The Stele of Ankh-ef-en-Khonsu is a painted wooden offering stele discovered in 1854 at the mortuary temple of Hatshepsut at Dayr Bahir by Francis August Marinett, which was originally made for the Khonsu priest Ankh-ef-en-Khonsu . It was discovered near his coffin ensemble of 2 sarcophagi and anthropomorphic inner coffins. It dates to cerca 680/70 BCE either late 25th dynasty or early 26th dynasty. Originally located in the Boulaq Museum, under inventory number #666, it was moved around 1902 to the newly opened Egyptian museum of Cairo . On the front, the stele shows Ankh-en-ef-Khonsu offering his god Re Harakhty Ra of the 2 horizons or Ra-Hoor-Khuit. The text on both the front and back shows a number of quotes from the Book of Coming Forth by Day, aka the Egyptian Book of the Dead. He also begs his gods not to stand against him when he stands in the Hall of Judgment. The way that Uncle Al paraphrases this is quoted in the Book of the Law (Liber Legis). “This combination of magic[sic] and theology is technically called ‘theurgy’ from the Greek theos and ergon work.” All quotes and information are from the Wikipedia, although we derived some material from the Thelemapedia.
Who is your favorite Khemetic deity? Tegwedd is torn between Sekhmet the lion Goddess and Seshat the Goddess of and inventor of writing. Tegwedd named her computer after Seshat. Seshat is shown wearing a leopard skin dress. This may explain why Tegwedd is so fond of leopard print. She has a leopard print comforter, wants to get leopard print sheets, and has a leopard print case for her many crochet hooks. She wanted a leopard print upholstered sofa, but Doc put his foot down. She still wants one, though, and if she ever got a lot of money, she would get a couple, since the living room needs two couches.
Stephen just picked his wallpaper for his cell phone. It’s the Stele of Revealing, #666 in the Bulaq Museum. He got it from Widipedia,and is very excited about it. According to the unpublished Society of Hidden Masters, Lady Frieda Harris became Uncle Al’s disciple on May 11th, 1938. She started at the 4th degree because she already had a previous initiation into Co-Masonry. Crowley also began to teach her divination. She had he choice of systems, and opted for the Y Ching . “Y Hing was your choice which I approved because it has the kind of discipline that will inform your painting. If you are to make a new mark in art, you need a new mind, enlightened from the supernal triangle.” From a letter from Uncle Al to Lady Frieda.
By his own admission, Uncle Al had intended his Tarot deck to be traditional, but Lady Frieda encouraged him to use his occult, spiritual, magickal and scientific knowledge in the project. Harris sent him a regular stipend to help with the project. She also used her society contacts to procure financial backing for the paintings, catalogue, and publication of the Tarot deck. The pressure may have taken its toll on both Harris and Crowley. It was to languish in someone’s basement until ‘69 or ‘70 when it was acquired by Carl Llewellyn Weschke, who published it at Llewellyn Publications, for which Stephen once worked.
We’re still searching for a house mate. Now if you are willing, able, and ready to to do some hard physical labor like Stephen is doing to get the house and yard in shape, $100 will be taken off your rent until the work is completed, then the rent will go back up to $400. So you will be paying only $300 until the work is completed. .
Our friend Caitlin ni Manannan has people bringing her wood from when they prune their trees in their yards. And we are shortly going to be making rune Rune and Ogham sets. So if you’re local, bring us your branches. They should be at least the thickness of your thumb.
All you hard-workin Pagans should stand solidly with labor and against the Tea Party. As James Hoffa Jr. said, “Recall those sons of bitches! Go to your ballot boxes and vote them out.” The 75,000 Verizon workers are on strike, and we stand with them. Solidarnosc! as the Poles would say. Verizon management, all Republicans, have made 100 unreasonable demands, and refuse to negotiate, but are paying scabs to cross the picket lines, and work for them. All the workers want, is to keep what they have, a small cost of living increase in wages, their health care, and their pensions. Management wants them to pay $100 per month for health care, while they get it free. If you were thinking of getting a Verizon phone and account, don’t, and do tell them why you aren’t, that you are boycotting them. If you have a Verizon account, close it, and go to another carrier, and tell Verizon why. If you want to piss off Stephen, abuse or oppress the workers. Tell Verizon that you refuse to do business with an employer who oppresses its workers.
Soon we may be selling pendants of the lady and the tiger worked in silver. If you reading this are a silversmith please call our toll free number 1-888-611-7982, and we’ll do business. Coming soon--prints of the Lady and the Tiger by Lizet. Rune and Ogham sets worked by Stephen. Tegwedd has started to crochet cellphone holsters of her own design. They are of acrylic yarn, in assorted colors. She is obsessed right now with making holsters for the Pagan Pride Harvest Festival, but she will make you one to order for a reasonable price. She has some right now in assorted colors for just $9.95+S&H. She is working with yarn she has on hand, so a custom one will cost more because she has to obtain the yarn to make yours. It will cost $14.95 + S&H The smallest container for US priority mail is $4.95.
We are offering a new service. For just $19.95, you can have spell-coaching. We will take you through the construction and performance of a spell. It’s very simple. If you want to perform a spell but you don’t think you know what you’re doing, hire us to coach you through it. The fee is payable to our PayPal accounts, to either abbotts_inn@yahoo.com or tezra.reitan@gmail.com .
We will coach you using strong ethics. Tegwedd has a couplet she will teach you which you can add to your spell that will ensure that it is ethical. Abbott’s Inn International School of Magick is over 40 years old, having been founded in 1970 in Berkeley, CA. It went cybernetic almost 9 years ago. Lizet has been helping us put the school on a more commercial footing, and with her inspiration, Tegwedd has started packaging the classes into manageable packets. Ms. Freeman did a 3rd website for us almost a month ago at http://abbottsinn.wordpress.com. From there, by clicking on two of the graphics, you can go to either of the other two sites: http://abbottsinninternational.com/ and http://abbottsinn.com/ . You can also get to our network http://abbottsinn.ning.com/ . With her help, we also salvaged some things from his old website, including the mission statement: The Abbott’s Inn International School of Magick aims to provide a gentle nurturing environment that promotes education in both the atmosphere and the specific tools of magick. Our research arm is called the Magickal Research Institute or MRI, not to be confused with the medical MRI, or Magnetic Resonance Image, which Tegwedd had on her right ankle about 10 months ago. Stephen and Lizet came up with the name almost 9 years ago. The three of us have become a very effective working team. Stephen has his cell phone, and we are both enjoying learning how to use our cell phones. His cell phone number is 916-467-6393. He’ll have access to the Internet on that phone. He says “I’m not very good at texting because of my glaucoma, so please be gentle with me.” Don’t forget to call 888-611-7982 for all your divination, learning class, and research needs.
Saturday, July 23, 2011
The Monty Python Strikes Again
Welcome to Dead Parrot Fan Club 7, also known as the Dead Parrot Society! We’re glad you could make it! Do check out the other Dead Parrot Fan Club groups on other networks. This group is for all you Monty Python enthusiasts out there. How many of you joined Netflix (or Blockbuster)so that you can get all the old Monty Python episodes and movies? Who is your favorite Monty Python member? Stephen’s favorite is John Cleese, but he also likes Eric Idle. Tegwedd finds it difficult to choose one, but if forced to choose a favorite, she would say Terry Jones because he’s Welsh, and she likes the first name Terry. John Cleese has adapted very well to Hollywood, although he and Palin play off each other very well in A Fish Called Wanda.
Which is your favorite sketch? Tegwedd is torn among three: the one where they’re asking great philosophers inane questions about sports, the Upper Class Twit games, and the Lumberjack song. Stephen’s favorite sketch is the Dead Parrot sketch. It is also Dylan Cook’s favorite sketch, and the sketch this group is names after. Another favorite vignette of Tegwedd’s is the FreeMason vignette, and another favorite sketch of hers is the “Nudge nudge wink wink” sketch. Which is your favorite Monty Python movie? Stephen’s, as you might suspect, is Monty Python & the Holy Grail, while Tagwedd’s fave is Jabberwocky. You can probably get it through Netflix if you just want to view it, and Amazon.com if you want to own a copy. Why do all of you love the Monty Python? Tegwedd loves it because she loves British humor. Stephen does because the Python changed social behavior and attitudes towards controversial things. It brought the concept of being gay out in the open, because of Graham Chapman being gay.
They are one group who helped create the concept of music in comedy. Across the pond, at about the same time, the Firesign Theatre did the same. South Park was influenced by both groups. There is a South Park musical about the Mormon church on Broadway right now, and even the Mormons like it. Cheech & Chong were also influenced with their “Born in East LA.”
So far as Stephen knows, and Tegwedd’s research on the subject bears this out, Yellowbeard was Graham Chapman’s last movie role. He portrayed King Arthur in Monty Python & the Holy Grail, and Brian in Life of Brian. What is your favorite Monty Python song? Ours is “The Lumberjack Song.” Stephen’s second favorite is “Every Sperm Is Sacred” from The Meaning of Life. Dylan, we haven’t heard from you in awhile. We’d love for you to post to this group. He started the Monty Python Fan Club on Yahoo. We’re trying to kill that group because it doesn’t have an owner. Dylan changed his nick, and the name cited as owner is his old nick.
Many Monty Python members besides Graham Chapman have done solo movie roles. There was A Fish Called Wanda for John Cleese and Michael Palin. Then for Palin there’s Three Men In a Boat, The Missionary, A Private Function, American Friends, Wind in the Willows, Willows in Winter, Fierce Creatures, and Not the Messiah (He’s a Very Naughty Boy). John Cleese’s movie roles are too numerous to mention. He did Fierce Creatures with Michael Palin, and many more by himself. Eric Idle did All You Need Is Cash (the Rutles mockumentary), Hollywood Burn, the voice of Waddlesworth the parrot in 102 Dalmations, and the voice of Merlin the magician in Shrek the Third. Dylan’s favorite Monty Python movie is Monty Python & the Holy Grail. Terry Jones is known mostly for directing movies other than the Monty Python films. Wind in the Willows and Erik the Viking. Terry Gilliam is more of a director and animator than a performer. He directed several movies, among them The Adventures of Baron Munchausen and Brazil. John Cleese was a star of Fawlty Towers. His character Fawlty, was based upon a real hotel manager whose rude approach to customer service was memorable for Cleese. Tegwedd didn’t care for the show, and only watched one or two episodes, but Stephen loved the show. It was cancelled after 2 seasons. Cleese is both the most prolific of the Python, and the eldest, having been born in 1939. Terry Gilliam, the only American of the Python was born in Medicine Lake, MN in 1940. His family moved to California a few years later after his sister had pneumonia. Graham Chapman didn’t die of AIDS as most people assume, but of throat cancer because he was always sucking on that infernal pipe of his. This information is from the Wikipedia.
Do any of you know of any other Monty Python groups we can hook up with. We’d like to connect with these other groups and share information, perhaps the other groups can post to our groups. Carol Cleveland was the only actual woman to play parts in the Monty Python sketches. The other women’s parts were played by members of the Monty Python themselves in women’s clothes and falsetto voices. She was in the Lumberjack sketch in the Jeanette McDonald role. Stephen believes that transvestism in the Monty Python sketches originates in the “Carry On” movies of the 50s and early 60s. Cross-dressing and transvestism are very common themes in British comedy. Peter Cook and Dudley Moore were comedic partners in Bedazzled and were great friends with Benny Hill and the Monty Python. Stephen believes they played the female parts themselves because they were on a shoestring budget and want to have to pay female actors. In Monty Python & the Holy Grail, they used coconut shells instead of horses, which was hilarious. Terry Gilliam in the movie was Patsy the devoted servant who carried everyone’s luggage, and gets killed by the Trojan chicken falling on him. He was the cartoonist in Jabberwocky being chased by the Jabberwock doing these crazy cartoons when his character has a heart attack. Gilliam was the hidden Python member. He was also the wise man in the hut telling Lancelot that he must get a shrubbery. How did Terry Gilliam wind up with the Monty Python? Neither of us can figure it out. It wasn’t in the Wikipedia article. We’re both very curious about this. Help satisfy our curiosity. If you find anything else about the Monty Python that you think we’d like to know, please post, and let us know. If you have any other tidbits about the sketches or the movies, please post them as well.
The Monty Python was a direct heir to the Beyond the Fringe comedy troupe of the late 50s, early 60s and the Carry On movies of the 50s going into the 90s. If anyone knows of a Carry on movie having been released in the 2000s, please let us know.
Stephen will have no computer access after today, July 22nd, until his laptop returns. When it returns, we’ll return to preparing the 3 sample chapters to Llewellyn. The Mission statement for the Abbott’s Inn International School of Magick provides a gentle nurturing environment that promotes education in both the atmosphere and specific tools of magick. As always, call 1-888-611-7982 for all your divination reading, learning class, and Pagan-magickal research needs, or go to http://abbottsinninternational.com/ , http://abbottsinn.com/ , and http://abbottsinn.wordpress.com , and our Ning network http://abbottsinn.ning.com/ .
Which is your favorite sketch? Tegwedd is torn among three: the one where they’re asking great philosophers inane questions about sports, the Upper Class Twit games, and the Lumberjack song. Stephen’s favorite sketch is the Dead Parrot sketch. It is also Dylan Cook’s favorite sketch, and the sketch this group is names after. Another favorite vignette of Tegwedd’s is the FreeMason vignette, and another favorite sketch of hers is the “Nudge nudge wink wink” sketch. Which is your favorite Monty Python movie? Stephen’s, as you might suspect, is Monty Python & the Holy Grail, while Tagwedd’s fave is Jabberwocky. You can probably get it through Netflix if you just want to view it, and Amazon.com if you want to own a copy. Why do all of you love the Monty Python? Tegwedd loves it because she loves British humor. Stephen does because the Python changed social behavior and attitudes towards controversial things. It brought the concept of being gay out in the open, because of Graham Chapman being gay.
They are one group who helped create the concept of music in comedy. Across the pond, at about the same time, the Firesign Theatre did the same. South Park was influenced by both groups. There is a South Park musical about the Mormon church on Broadway right now, and even the Mormons like it. Cheech & Chong were also influenced with their “Born in East LA.”
So far as Stephen knows, and Tegwedd’s research on the subject bears this out, Yellowbeard was Graham Chapman’s last movie role. He portrayed King Arthur in Monty Python & the Holy Grail, and Brian in Life of Brian. What is your favorite Monty Python song? Ours is “The Lumberjack Song.” Stephen’s second favorite is “Every Sperm Is Sacred” from The Meaning of Life. Dylan, we haven’t heard from you in awhile. We’d love for you to post to this group. He started the Monty Python Fan Club on Yahoo. We’re trying to kill that group because it doesn’t have an owner. Dylan changed his nick, and the name cited as owner is his old nick.
Many Monty Python members besides Graham Chapman have done solo movie roles. There was A Fish Called Wanda for John Cleese and Michael Palin. Then for Palin there’s Three Men In a Boat, The Missionary, A Private Function, American Friends, Wind in the Willows, Willows in Winter, Fierce Creatures, and Not the Messiah (He’s a Very Naughty Boy). John Cleese’s movie roles are too numerous to mention. He did Fierce Creatures with Michael Palin, and many more by himself. Eric Idle did All You Need Is Cash (the Rutles mockumentary), Hollywood Burn, the voice of Waddlesworth the parrot in 102 Dalmations, and the voice of Merlin the magician in Shrek the Third. Dylan’s favorite Monty Python movie is Monty Python & the Holy Grail. Terry Jones is known mostly for directing movies other than the Monty Python films. Wind in the Willows and Erik the Viking. Terry Gilliam is more of a director and animator than a performer. He directed several movies, among them The Adventures of Baron Munchausen and Brazil. John Cleese was a star of Fawlty Towers. His character Fawlty, was based upon a real hotel manager whose rude approach to customer service was memorable for Cleese. Tegwedd didn’t care for the show, and only watched one or two episodes, but Stephen loved the show. It was cancelled after 2 seasons. Cleese is both the most prolific of the Python, and the eldest, having been born in 1939. Terry Gilliam, the only American of the Python was born in Medicine Lake, MN in 1940. His family moved to California a few years later after his sister had pneumonia. Graham Chapman didn’t die of AIDS as most people assume, but of throat cancer because he was always sucking on that infernal pipe of his. This information is from the Wikipedia.
Do any of you know of any other Monty Python groups we can hook up with. We’d like to connect with these other groups and share information, perhaps the other groups can post to our groups. Carol Cleveland was the only actual woman to play parts in the Monty Python sketches. The other women’s parts were played by members of the Monty Python themselves in women’s clothes and falsetto voices. She was in the Lumberjack sketch in the Jeanette McDonald role. Stephen believes that transvestism in the Monty Python sketches originates in the “Carry On” movies of the 50s and early 60s. Cross-dressing and transvestism are very common themes in British comedy. Peter Cook and Dudley Moore were comedic partners in Bedazzled and were great friends with Benny Hill and the Monty Python. Stephen believes they played the female parts themselves because they were on a shoestring budget and want to have to pay female actors. In Monty Python & the Holy Grail, they used coconut shells instead of horses, which was hilarious. Terry Gilliam in the movie was Patsy the devoted servant who carried everyone’s luggage, and gets killed by the Trojan chicken falling on him. He was the cartoonist in Jabberwocky being chased by the Jabberwock doing these crazy cartoons when his character has a heart attack. Gilliam was the hidden Python member. He was also the wise man in the hut telling Lancelot that he must get a shrubbery. How did Terry Gilliam wind up with the Monty Python? Neither of us can figure it out. It wasn’t in the Wikipedia article. We’re both very curious about this. Help satisfy our curiosity. If you find anything else about the Monty Python that you think we’d like to know, please post, and let us know. If you have any other tidbits about the sketches or the movies, please post them as well.
The Monty Python was a direct heir to the Beyond the Fringe comedy troupe of the late 50s, early 60s and the Carry On movies of the 50s going into the 90s. If anyone knows of a Carry on movie having been released in the 2000s, please let us know.
Stephen will have no computer access after today, July 22nd, until his laptop returns. When it returns, we’ll return to preparing the 3 sample chapters to Llewellyn. The Mission statement for the Abbott’s Inn International School of Magick provides a gentle nurturing environment that promotes education in both the atmosphere and specific tools of magick. As always, call 1-888-611-7982 for all your divination reading, learning class, and Pagan-magickal research needs, or go to http://abbottsinninternational.com/ , http://abbottsinn.com/ , and http://abbottsinn.wordpress.com , and our Ning network http://abbottsinn.ning.com/ .
Friday, July 22, 2011
What is Hedgecraft?
Sorry to have been away for so long, but we had computer issues, and also forming new groups. We have a whole bunch of vampire groups on H15 now. Stephen is still having computer issues, and this Friday the library will be closes for 2 ½ months for renovations. Tegwedd has a new computer, but she has noticed that Stephen has a field around him that is harmful to computers, so she won’t let him near it. He kills computers. He has killed at least 5 so far. Even the library computers have fallen prey to some kind of anti-technology field around him. The computers there worked just fine for Tegwedd, but they slow down and stop for him.
What is Hedgecraft anyway? A lot of people are slinging it around, it’s like the new buzzword in the Pagan community. Hedgecraft is an admixture, a witch’s brew, if you will, of herbalism, an understanding of trees, herbs, plants, and natural healing that encompass naturalism and natural magick, it also encompasses natural crafts, handiwork with materials drawn from nature, also kitchen witchery and cottage witchery. Witches’ brews and potions are hedgecraft, as are the formulation of oils, incenses, and brews. So is the crafting of magickal tools, amulets, and talismans out of materials found in nature. The last ten years hedgecraft has enjoyed a renaissance such as we haven’t seen since the rebirth of the Craft some sixty years ago. Hedgewitches are sprouting up all over. Tegwedd just found a new definition for hedgecraft. She googled it. Hedgecraft, or “riding the hedge” is the shamanic art of crossing the hedge or boundary between this world and the Otherworld. It is mostly European in character, and the practitioners often delve into their own heritage to practice this art. It is also the art of the cunning man or cunning wife of the villages and countryside. It is also adaptable. Doing a fertility spell over a neighbor’s tractor is not at all unusual for a hedgewitch.
Hedgewitch is a book by Silver RavenWolf that describes what hedgecraft is, and what a hedgewitch is. You could be a hedgewitch. Tegwedd got an idea from the book’s first chapter that she has been using ever since. Silver told the story of a man who had an old fashioned phone (one of those gold or brass and artificial ivory ones you see in European movies on TV) that he did not hook up to any phone line, dialed 911, and called the universe (or multiverse if you’d rather) with an urgent plea. The formula used for sending your petition to the multiverse is: Dial or punch in 911 Smile as you say your petition, what you need. Then say: “This always works, it always helps.” Then Tegwedd likes to add something she learned in another book by Silver RavenWolf: “I accept this mentally, I accept this spiritually, I accept this emotionally, I accept this physically.” Hedgecraft can be used for raising money because it’s a green craft, and in the USA, our money is green. In fact, one of our names for our money is greenbacks. Midwifery and potion making can also be considered hedgecraft and go back thousands of years, back to cave dwelling times. The two principal tools of a hedgewitch are a cauldron and a big wooden spoon, or perhaps even a spoon made from a spoon gourd.
A number of new books on hedgecraft and topics related to it have recently come out on the market. Some of these are: Natural Witchery, Garden Witchery, Cottage Witchery, and The Garden Witch’s Herbal. And these are from just one publisher. The hedgewitch is the picture from faery tale books we all expect to see when we hear the word hedgewitch. Of course she might not be dressed in a ragged robe and pointy hat, but a tee shirt and a pair of jeans. She might be a he and live in a suburban apartment instead of a country cottage, and hir garden might be a community garden down the block.. One such hedgewitch was Scott Cunningham. In one of his many books, he says that his surname, an old family name, comes from the cunning men who were in his ancestry. He was into magickal foods, oils, herbs, and potions. Ellen Dugan is definitely, having written several books on hedgecraft-related topics. The hedgecraft movement within the Craft is a happening thing, and shows no sign of slowing down. Stephen likes this topic because a large part of what his grandmother did, and what she taught him was hedgecraft. All you ecology freaks should become hedgewitches and go back to the magick of naturalism, of hedgecraft. Really get back to the root of the matter. Hedgewitches should be protectors of the environment and elemental politics. Put your resources where your mouth is. Anyone who calls hirself a hedgewitch should be actively concerned about the environment and ecology. Have concerns for our forests, rivers, lakes, rivers, plant like, and animals. If you call yourself a hedgewitch, you should do your utmost to support natural healing with herbal remedies such as tinctures, potions, compresses, poultices, and natural vitamins. Wean yourselves off of traditional Western medicine and reclaim your Goddess-given ability to heal both yourselves and others naturally, including the animals and livestock you are in charge of.
You could say that hedgecraft is somewhat along the lines of natural alchemy. You take herbs and transmute them into an herbal potion. This transformation is transmutation, an alchemical process. It’s vitally important to keep good records of the process by which each potion is created so that you can create a potion book of shadows which can be published, and more importantly, recreate the potion the next time it is needed. Doing this pays homage to the late great Scott Cunningham who was a real life potions master. Both of us recommend the books he wrote on the subject such as Incenses, Oils, & Brews. There are many books on this topic published by Llewellyn, and other publishing houses. Look how important the concept of potions was in the Harry Potter books and movies.
In color magick we think that we can easily say that green should be the dominant color of hedgecraft. Green is the traditional color of healing. It’s the color of Venus, Aphrodite Who lost Her nightie, the Goddess of love. Because of this, it’s also the color of love, and the anahata or heart chakra. It’s also the color of the plant world. What are your favorite herbs to use for hedgecraft? Stephen’s favorite hands down is marijuana, cannabis, ganja, dutchie, Indian hemp. He has glaucoma, and he can see better when he uses it, because it takes the pressure off his eyeballs. It’s a powerful muscle relaxant, and people who have AIDS or have to do chemotherapy for cancer can use it to quell nausea and increase their appetites for food. Stephen doesn’t recommends smoking it because of his asthma, but cannabis tea is good, and brownies are splendid as are blondies, and sandies, a kind of cookie (or biscuit, as the Brits like to call them. Tegwedd isn’t fond of having smoke in her lungs either, having never used tobacco because she’s allergic to it. Tegwedd used to like to use it when she was younger for prementrual symptoms. Many women use it as a tea for menstrual cramps. Stephen’s favorite form of Sacred Herb is hashish, but this is still illegal. To know more about cannabis, Stephen highly recommends that you join the publication High Times on the internet. You can google it and also join NORML, which Stephen joined around 1970, when it was founded. Another form of it is hemp, which Tegwedd would like to see legalized, and turned into an industrial crop to replace tobacco, which does nobody any good. Hemp can be used for everything from cloth to biofuel. It would provide thousands of jobs, it doesn’t deplete the soil the way that tobacco does, and it would bring in billions in taxable income. Read the Great Book of Hemp. Tegwedd likes taking a bath in basil water. Basil is a money herb. She takes a bunch of fresh basil, and separates out all the best leaves. She cooks the rest in spring water until it turns green. She puts it into a clean jar (an old pasta sauce jar works well for this purpose). She lets it cool enough so that she can handle the jar, and takes it and the best leaves into the bathroom, and runs a comfortably warm bath, pouring the basil water into the bath water. She soaks in it and visualizes getting money from all sources except those that would be harmful, and rubs her body with the leaves. She gets out of the bath, and lets her skin air dry so that the virtue of the basil bath stays on her skin.
Tegwedd first heard of NORML in the 80s. That was also when she saw her first issue of High Times magazine. She thought that a columnist for the magazine with the byline Lord Nose, was Stephen, because of his lifelong obsession with noses. She recently brought him a copy of Kush, another magazine about sacred herb, from the library, which didn’t want it. Stephen ate it up. “Their loss,” he said. There was an article, “The Women of NORML” about a group of women working in Washington DC to get the laws against cannabis changed. We’ll bet that you can join the magazine online. We also recommend that you google Hedgecraft, and see what you come up with. There might be groups that we can hook up with. After all, the Abbott’s Inn International School of Magick is a networking service.
Hedgecraft is is a very popular topic in the Craft. What is Hedgecraft? Hedgecraft is a species of natural magick which combines herbalism, natural crafts and kitchen witchery to form an integrated whole. It also includes natural or herbal alchemy and practical veneration of the plant world. Be sure and visit our 3 websites http://abbottsinninternational.com/ , http://abbottsinn.com/ , http://abbottsinn.wordpress.com , and our network, http://abbottsinn.ning.com/ . You can have your own page there. Donate to help us upgrade, so that your page can have music. We haven’t had the resources yet to upgrade the network. Abbott’s Inn International School of Magick provides a gentle nurturing environment in both the atmosphere and specific tools of magick. Our research arm, The Magickal Research Institute, provides an environment where research can be done in magick and and the Craft of the Wise, as well as other Pagan/magickal topics such as spiritual alchemy. One example is how lead is transmuted into gold. The answer is Path 17 the Lovers card, which leads from the 3rd Sephirah, Binah, ruled by Saturn whose metal is lead to Tiphareth, ruled by the Sun, whose metal is gold. Our new site, http://abbottsinn.wordpress.com is an interactive site where you can leave comments, graphics, and music. If you leave graphics with your comments, please help us understand how to do it. As always, call 1-888-611-7982 for all your divination learning class, and research needs. We’ll resume work on the book The Ultimate Guide to the Tarot once Stephen gets his laptop back.
What is Hedgecraft anyway? A lot of people are slinging it around, it’s like the new buzzword in the Pagan community. Hedgecraft is an admixture, a witch’s brew, if you will, of herbalism, an understanding of trees, herbs, plants, and natural healing that encompass naturalism and natural magick, it also encompasses natural crafts, handiwork with materials drawn from nature, also kitchen witchery and cottage witchery. Witches’ brews and potions are hedgecraft, as are the formulation of oils, incenses, and brews. So is the crafting of magickal tools, amulets, and talismans out of materials found in nature. The last ten years hedgecraft has enjoyed a renaissance such as we haven’t seen since the rebirth of the Craft some sixty years ago. Hedgewitches are sprouting up all over. Tegwedd just found a new definition for hedgecraft. She googled it. Hedgecraft, or “riding the hedge” is the shamanic art of crossing the hedge or boundary between this world and the Otherworld. It is mostly European in character, and the practitioners often delve into their own heritage to practice this art. It is also the art of the cunning man or cunning wife of the villages and countryside. It is also adaptable. Doing a fertility spell over a neighbor’s tractor is not at all unusual for a hedgewitch.
Hedgewitch is a book by Silver RavenWolf that describes what hedgecraft is, and what a hedgewitch is. You could be a hedgewitch. Tegwedd got an idea from the book’s first chapter that she has been using ever since. Silver told the story of a man who had an old fashioned phone (one of those gold or brass and artificial ivory ones you see in European movies on TV) that he did not hook up to any phone line, dialed 911, and called the universe (or multiverse if you’d rather) with an urgent plea. The formula used for sending your petition to the multiverse is: Dial or punch in 911 Smile as you say your petition, what you need. Then say: “This always works, it always helps.” Then Tegwedd likes to add something she learned in another book by Silver RavenWolf: “I accept this mentally, I accept this spiritually, I accept this emotionally, I accept this physically.” Hedgecraft can be used for raising money because it’s a green craft, and in the USA, our money is green. In fact, one of our names for our money is greenbacks. Midwifery and potion making can also be considered hedgecraft and go back thousands of years, back to cave dwelling times. The two principal tools of a hedgewitch are a cauldron and a big wooden spoon, or perhaps even a spoon made from a spoon gourd.
A number of new books on hedgecraft and topics related to it have recently come out on the market. Some of these are: Natural Witchery, Garden Witchery, Cottage Witchery, and The Garden Witch’s Herbal. And these are from just one publisher. The hedgewitch is the picture from faery tale books we all expect to see when we hear the word hedgewitch. Of course she might not be dressed in a ragged robe and pointy hat, but a tee shirt and a pair of jeans. She might be a he and live in a suburban apartment instead of a country cottage, and hir garden might be a community garden down the block.. One such hedgewitch was Scott Cunningham. In one of his many books, he says that his surname, an old family name, comes from the cunning men who were in his ancestry. He was into magickal foods, oils, herbs, and potions. Ellen Dugan is definitely, having written several books on hedgecraft-related topics. The hedgecraft movement within the Craft is a happening thing, and shows no sign of slowing down. Stephen likes this topic because a large part of what his grandmother did, and what she taught him was hedgecraft. All you ecology freaks should become hedgewitches and go back to the magick of naturalism, of hedgecraft. Really get back to the root of the matter. Hedgewitches should be protectors of the environment and elemental politics. Put your resources where your mouth is. Anyone who calls hirself a hedgewitch should be actively concerned about the environment and ecology. Have concerns for our forests, rivers, lakes, rivers, plant like, and animals. If you call yourself a hedgewitch, you should do your utmost to support natural healing with herbal remedies such as tinctures, potions, compresses, poultices, and natural vitamins. Wean yourselves off of traditional Western medicine and reclaim your Goddess-given ability to heal both yourselves and others naturally, including the animals and livestock you are in charge of.
You could say that hedgecraft is somewhat along the lines of natural alchemy. You take herbs and transmute them into an herbal potion. This transformation is transmutation, an alchemical process. It’s vitally important to keep good records of the process by which each potion is created so that you can create a potion book of shadows which can be published, and more importantly, recreate the potion the next time it is needed. Doing this pays homage to the late great Scott Cunningham who was a real life potions master. Both of us recommend the books he wrote on the subject such as Incenses, Oils, & Brews. There are many books on this topic published by Llewellyn, and other publishing houses. Look how important the concept of potions was in the Harry Potter books and movies.
In color magick we think that we can easily say that green should be the dominant color of hedgecraft. Green is the traditional color of healing. It’s the color of Venus, Aphrodite Who lost Her nightie, the Goddess of love. Because of this, it’s also the color of love, and the anahata or heart chakra. It’s also the color of the plant world. What are your favorite herbs to use for hedgecraft? Stephen’s favorite hands down is marijuana, cannabis, ganja, dutchie, Indian hemp. He has glaucoma, and he can see better when he uses it, because it takes the pressure off his eyeballs. It’s a powerful muscle relaxant, and people who have AIDS or have to do chemotherapy for cancer can use it to quell nausea and increase their appetites for food. Stephen doesn’t recommends smoking it because of his asthma, but cannabis tea is good, and brownies are splendid as are blondies, and sandies, a kind of cookie (or biscuit, as the Brits like to call them. Tegwedd isn’t fond of having smoke in her lungs either, having never used tobacco because she’s allergic to it. Tegwedd used to like to use it when she was younger for prementrual symptoms. Many women use it as a tea for menstrual cramps. Stephen’s favorite form of Sacred Herb is hashish, but this is still illegal. To know more about cannabis, Stephen highly recommends that you join the publication High Times on the internet. You can google it and also join NORML, which Stephen joined around 1970, when it was founded. Another form of it is hemp, which Tegwedd would like to see legalized, and turned into an industrial crop to replace tobacco, which does nobody any good. Hemp can be used for everything from cloth to biofuel. It would provide thousands of jobs, it doesn’t deplete the soil the way that tobacco does, and it would bring in billions in taxable income. Read the Great Book of Hemp. Tegwedd likes taking a bath in basil water. Basil is a money herb. She takes a bunch of fresh basil, and separates out all the best leaves. She cooks the rest in spring water until it turns green. She puts it into a clean jar (an old pasta sauce jar works well for this purpose). She lets it cool enough so that she can handle the jar, and takes it and the best leaves into the bathroom, and runs a comfortably warm bath, pouring the basil water into the bath water. She soaks in it and visualizes getting money from all sources except those that would be harmful, and rubs her body with the leaves. She gets out of the bath, and lets her skin air dry so that the virtue of the basil bath stays on her skin.
Tegwedd first heard of NORML in the 80s. That was also when she saw her first issue of High Times magazine. She thought that a columnist for the magazine with the byline Lord Nose, was Stephen, because of his lifelong obsession with noses. She recently brought him a copy of Kush, another magazine about sacred herb, from the library, which didn’t want it. Stephen ate it up. “Their loss,” he said. There was an article, “The Women of NORML” about a group of women working in Washington DC to get the laws against cannabis changed. We’ll bet that you can join the magazine online. We also recommend that you google Hedgecraft, and see what you come up with. There might be groups that we can hook up with. After all, the Abbott’s Inn International School of Magick is a networking service.
Hedgecraft is is a very popular topic in the Craft. What is Hedgecraft? Hedgecraft is a species of natural magick which combines herbalism, natural crafts and kitchen witchery to form an integrated whole. It also includes natural or herbal alchemy and practical veneration of the plant world. Be sure and visit our 3 websites http://abbottsinninternational.com/ , http://abbottsinn.com/ , http://abbottsinn.wordpress.com , and our network, http://abbottsinn.ning.com/ . You can have your own page there. Donate to help us upgrade, so that your page can have music. We haven’t had the resources yet to upgrade the network. Abbott’s Inn International School of Magick provides a gentle nurturing environment in both the atmosphere and specific tools of magick. Our research arm, The Magickal Research Institute, provides an environment where research can be done in magick and and the Craft of the Wise, as well as other Pagan/magickal topics such as spiritual alchemy. One example is how lead is transmuted into gold. The answer is Path 17 the Lovers card, which leads from the 3rd Sephirah, Binah, ruled by Saturn whose metal is lead to Tiphareth, ruled by the Sun, whose metal is gold. Our new site, http://abbottsinn.wordpress.com is an interactive site where you can leave comments, graphics, and music. If you leave graphics with your comments, please help us understand how to do it. As always, call 1-888-611-7982 for all your divination learning class, and research needs. We’ll resume work on the book The Ultimate Guide to the Tarot once Stephen gets his laptop back.
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