PBP - D is for Dryghten

Disclaimer: I am not breaking any oath-bound secrets by sharing this.  The Dryghten Prayer was published in its entirety in the book Witch Blood! The Diary of a Witch High Priestess by Patricia Crowther. It's also available on the web if you know where to look.

Dryghten Prayer (Traditional Gardnerian)

In the name of Dryghtyn, the Ancient Providence,

Who was from the beginning and is for eternity,

Male and Female, the Original Source of all things;

all-knowing, all-pervading, all-powerful;

changeless, eternal.

In the name of the Lady of the Moon,

and the Lord of Death and Resurrection.

In the name of the Mighty Ones of the Four Quarters,

the Kings of the Elements.

Blessed be this place, and this time,

and they who are now with us.

Dryghten (pronounced dricht-ton, from Old English, see below) is a concept in Gardnerian Wicca that there is a self-aware energy pervading all things and places. It is omnipotent, omnipresent, and, most importantly, difficult (though not impossible) to access.  It is comparable to other Pagan concepts such as Akasha, Spirit, the Web of Life, and the Star Goddess (as it is understood in some traditions).

The Dryghten is "Male and Female; changeless, eternal" because it is perceived as the source from which all other Deities manifest.  It is, in its most essential form, Panentheism.  Qabalah, which posits that there is a divine source (Ain Soph) from which all of the Sephiroth manifest echoes this view.

I mentioned that Dryghten is difficult to access from our current reality.  This is, again, paralleled in Qabalah as Malkuth longing for union with Kether.  Sometimes mystics will have experiences for Oneness or the Godhead, Universal Unity, the Monad, etc.  Gardnerians see this as an experience of Dryghten.  Because Dryghten is so difficult to access, it makes sense to honor it and work with it though lesser spheres of manifestation, such as other Gods and Goddesses.  Thus, the Panentheist becomes the Polytheist.

Old English comparison of words using "dryht" or "dryhten"

I included this list to show that "dryhten", as understood in Old English, means to be both holy and royal or of noble blood.   

dryht  1. 2 f (-e/-a) 1 a multitude, an army, company, body of retainers, nation, a people; pl men; [dréogan]; 2. ge~ f (-e/-a) fortune, fate
dryhtbealo see dryhtenbealu
dryhtbearn  n (-es/-) princely youth, a child of the people, a noble child
dryhtcwén  f (-e/-e) a noble queen
dryhtdóm  m (-es/-as) noble judgment
dryhtealdor  m (-es/-as) the lord of a feast; [paranymphus], bridesman (2)
dryhtealdormann  m (-es/-menn) the lord of a feast; [paranymphus], bridesman (1)
dryhten  m (dryhtnes/dryhtnas) a ruler, king, lord, prince; the supreme ruler, the Lord, God, Christ; chiefly used for God and Christ
dryhtenbéag  m (-es/-as) payment (to a lord) for killing a freeman, a lord-ring or money paid for slaying a freeman
dryhtenbealu2  n (-es/-) profound misery, extreme evil, great misfortune
dryhtendóm  m (-es/-as) sovereignty, lordship, majesty
dryhtenhold  adj loyal
dryhtenlic  adj belonging to the Lord, Lordly; divine, of the Lord; adv ~líce according to the Lord, by the Lord
dryhtenweard  m (-es/-as) lord, a guardian lord, king
dryhtfolc2  n (-es/-) people, troop, a nation, multitude
dryhtgesíþ  m (-es/-as) retainer, warrior; an associate, attendant
dryhtgestréon  n (-es/-) princely treasure, a nation’s or people’s treasure
dryhtguma  m (-n/-n) 2 a popular man, man of the people, warrior, retainer, follower, man; bridesman; in pl men, people
dryhtin- see dryhten-
dryhtléoþ  n (-es/-) national song, hymn, a lordly song
dryhtlic  adj lordly, noble; of the Lord; ~ gebed the Lord’s Prayer; adv ~líce in a lordly manner, divinely
dryhtmann  m (-es/-menn) bridesman; a warrior, retainer
dryhtmáðm  m (-es/-as) princely treasure, a noble or lordly treasure
dryhtné  m (-es/-as) warrior’s corpse, a dead body of a host
dryhtscipe2  m (-es/-as) lordship, rulership, domination, dignity; virtue, valor, heroic deeds
dryhtsele2  m (-es/-as) a princely hall, a princely dwelling
dryhtsibb2  f (-e/-a) peace between two nations, lordly kinship, high alliance
dryhtwémend  m (-es/-) bridesman (1)
dryhtwémere  m (-es/-as) bridesman (2)
dryhtweorþ  adj divine
dryhtweorða  m (-n/-n) a divine, theologian
dryhtweras2  m pl men, chieftains
dryhtwuniende  adj living among the people, dwelling among people
dryhtwurþ  adj divine
dryhtwurða  m (-n/-n) theologian

Thus, in Old English, Dryghten has less to do with "the Original Source of all things; all-knowing, all-pervading, all-powerful; changeless, eternal" and more to do with that actual "Ancient Providence" divine kingship!

P.S. Okay, so I'm a few days ahead of myself.  I have today off of work and I wanted to get this out while it was still fresh. :)

Thelema and Possession

Maman Brigitte

I was asked a question last week by an O.T.O. brother about how I reconciled being a Thelemite and doing my own will with allowing possession to occur like I did with Maman Brigitte at Babalon Rising. As a Thelemite we are not supposed to do anything that interferes with our true will and, at first glance, possession looks to be right out. So how do I justify it?  Other than just generally being quite awesome how does possession mesh with my work as a Thelemite?

First of all, I trust the Gods.  Even though I know there are many spirits who have their own questionable agendas I put faith in the Gods, and by extension the Lwa, to be in keeping with Universal Will.  If I am aligning myself to the Gods I am also attuning myself to that Universal Will, which is by extension my own True Will.

"But, Glaux," you ask, "How can a trickster deity like Loki, or Discordia, or Papa Ghede be keeping with Universal Will? Isn't that like inviting in Charonzon?"  Yes and no.  Even Charonzon has a place and a purpose in the multiverse.  By aligning myself with the energy and Will of Chaos, Death, or the Adversary I am bringing their balancing energy into our realm.

Also, and this is an even bigger reason than aligning myself with Universal Will, I 'm a witch.  A Thelemic witch, yes, but firstly a witch.  That is my Great Work.  Those are my blood oaths.  I walk a crooked path.  I talk with Gods, and invite them in.  I bring about change within myself and the world around me by working with spirits of the Gods, the Ancestors, the Mighty Dead, and the Seelie & Unseelie Courts.  Possession is a key technique for a shaman, and that is what witchcraft is, the vestiges of ancient European shamanism.

Maybe you think that witchcraft and Thelema are at odds with each other because of how each system views possession, but I maintain that witchcraft, specifically Gardnerian Wicca is the most prolific expression of Thelema in the New Aeon.  It is no secret that Gardner had a charter from Crowley, or that the original Gardnerian Book of Shadows borrowed (stole?) heavily from the Gnostic Mass and other Thelemic texts.  Nor should it come as a surprise that Wicca has pollinated and disseminated itself through mainstream culture much more effectively than the magical system of Thelema. Wicca is the most popular face of Thelema today, even if most witches have never heard of Crowley or the Book of the Law. So, no, I don't think that witchcraft and Thelema are mutually exclusive paths, rather I believe that, for those who are bound to each system, they compliment each other as magical paths.

So, Glaux... you like owls huh?

Yes I like owls. It's kind of a thing for me.  Let me explain.

When I was in high school I was that weird girl who was in all the school plays and painted her lips black and wore a biker jacket.  I was also openly Wiccan, which really means I'd read a few Scott Cunningham and Ray Buckland books and I was really jazzed about this Lilith character I'd read about.

Anyway, in spite of myself I was a real book hound proto-librarian type who loved to do research. I still have the (now very full) index cards that I started back then on each of the sepheroth. Much like today, if it had to do with the occult I wanted to know it.

I was dating this guy who was in a garage band and was really into Native American spirituality. I think it had something to do with idolizing Jim Morrison. He lent me a book, Ted Andrew's Animal Speak.  I thought this book was amazing. AH. MAY. ZING.  Because of it I was determined to find my totem animal spirit.

Armed with the wherewithal that only a sixteen year old can muster I boldly trekked out into the woods to commune with nature. I was certain that if I simply went out into the world with intent that the universe would make apparent my very own totem spirit in a matter of minutes.  This did not happen.

What did happen was that I missed lunch. And dinner.  And nothing happened.  No forest critters appeared from the brush for consideration as a totem.  No chipmunks.  No blackbirds.  No nothin' for hours.

The sun was setting, and I knew it was time to turn back towards home.  The sky shifted orange and pink, and then to deep lavender.  I was out of the woods and walking through the field next to my house when a monster tried to eat me.  It came out of nowhere, aimed straight for my head. I ducked to the ground, prone and terrified.

Of course, you can all guess what had happened now, but then, in the moment, I thought the sky was falling for certain.  And yes, when I finally got the nerve up to peek at the tree behind me, there she was. Perched in a bare tree, silhouetted in the fading purple sky, the unmistakable outline of an owl. She is a great horned owl, and she sings me to sleep every night thereafter that I spent in my parent's home. In the evening she wings by my window.

Flash forward into my early twenties as I am coming into my own as a magician.  Every witch needs her fetch, and mine came in the form of a screech owl.  I was now deeply into the mysteries of Lilith, and came to understand her as a kind of great cosmic mothering owl-spirit.  I took my first magical name, Noctua, Latin for screech owl.  I cut my staff from a grove where a nest of screech owlettes makes their home.  I go on late night walks just to listen to them call out.

And on into my thirties when I have collected my lineages and degrees, and have molded a truly magical life for myself.  Athena starts talking to me.  She gives me a few tasks to complete, and I perform most of them (one being the work of this blog).  I begin to see that the "great cosmic mothering owl-spirit" is an archetype in many ancient European cultures. Lilith, Athena, Blodeuwedd, Ereshkegal, Calleach, the Burney Relief Goddess, and so on.  I take another name. This time Glaux, Greek for owl.

I don't know where the owl will fly me next.  Right now she is embedded as the archetypical Black Goddess of the American Folkloric Witchcraft/Spiral Castle tradition I am working.  She looms large as a life-sized copy of the Burney Relief over the desk I sit at now.  I am surrounded by owl trinkets and paraphernalia.  A wooden flute carved into an owl that makes hooting noises, an obsidian carved owl from my trip to Mexico, a maneki neko inspired owl from "Japan" in Epcot, several stuffed hedwigs, a stained glass owl from my mother in law.  There are literally hundreds of them.

Do I like owls? Yes. And I've come to think that, just maybe, they like me back.

Back to the Blogging Board

The other day I was reading my boss's blog, and enjoying it thoroughly, when I realized it hadn't been updated since July of 2009. I thought, "I should really encourage her to get back to writing in her blog" when the irony of the fact I haven't been keeping up with my own blog hit me. When I asked her about her abandoned webspace she defended herself with "Oh, I just don't have anything to write about." Which I promise you is not true. Even if the library wasn't going through a complete overhaul of our cataloging and circulation system (which we are) the day-today workings of a public library leave ample room for all manner of interesting anecdotes. I appreciated her sentiment, though. I, too, have not written recently for what I deemed lack of subject matter. I haven't done anything new/groundbreaking/vaguely interesting to anyone with Athena worship in a while, and, with the season of the Witch upon us, I've been poking around in Cochrane's letters and wishing I had the gumption to actually follow the Spiral Castle Tradition full time.

What is the Spiral Castle Tradition, you ask? Gentle reader, allow me to introduce you to a Tradition of Witchcraft in the 1734/Clan of Tubal Cain mold that Laurelei and I created whole hog from immersing ourselves in the Robert Cochrane letters and Graves' seminal The White Goddess. It is a ecstatic mystery tradition with legitimate roots in British Traditional Witchcraft. It is a three-degree initiatory tradition, although we make no claims of succession to anyone, apostolic, or otherwise. Our calendar is based on the eight festival cycle, along side a lunar calendar related to tree-months and totemic animal cycles. The central Deities of the tradition are the Red God: Tubal Cain, and two Goddesses, the White and the Black. Note 7/18/2011: We're blogging about it here.

Is anyone actually a part of this oh-so-nifty tradition? Well, sort of. I mean, if you count myself and Laurelei. I currently practice the tradition when it suits me, along with the Athenian festival calendar (when it pertains directly to Athena) and Thelemic practices including Liber Resh vel Helios and the Star Ruby (because who doesn't love using Greek in ceremonial magick?). So , yeah, my spiritual practices have been very *ahem* eclectic as of late. This is in addition to my loose studies in Goddess/feminist spirituality such as the Women's Goddess Retreat. I just can't seem to focus on one thing, which is probably why, although I am filled with good intentions to mentor to the local occult community, the student have thus far not appeared.

I have grand plans for all of these irons in the fire. I've started three different books, but none of them are anywhere near completion. The first, Under Her Aegis, is my attempt at a guide to the modern worship of Athena. The next is an untitled book on Thelemic Witchcraft. I can hear you laughing, but really, Gardnerian Wicca owes a huge debt to Crowley, and the promulgation of Thelema in the New Aeon has found its most vital medium in NeoPaganism. The systems compliment each other very well. The third work is a monstrosity I fear I will never finish. It is my attempt to distill my collected knowledge of Witchcraft into a single book. I see it as my Great Work, and, because of that, I wonder if it is even meant to be completed. It is more than a simple Book of Shadows. On my best days I see it as a greatly expanded volume in the spirit of Huson's classic Mastering Witchcraft.

All of this, and I still intend to go back to library school. I have always had lofty aspirations -- a good trait in an occultist.

Life is not all coven-planning and writing the next great treatise on Witchcraft. I fret over seeing my family for Thanksgiving later this week. I worry about our Yuletide gift-giving budget. I go to work happily and hope that the forthcoming new catalog and circulation system will run well and smoothly.

And, hopefully, I continue to blog. :)

133.33 and the Librarian Occultist

I am vexed, dear reader. It will come as no shock to you that I'm a librarian. I'm upfront about it right here in the "About Me" blurb on my blog: "I'm a librarian, a Hellenic Polytheist, a Traditional Wiccan, and an occultist." I first started working a library when I was in high school and I am now seeking my Master's degree in Library Science.

The overlap between my passion for libraries and my passion for occultism doesn't come up very often. True, I do see my work as a librarian as an abstract way of honoring the power of Athena, but I am "in the broom closet" at work. I am happy to serve quietly in my own way.

My frustration comes from a kind of open secret among the librarians I have known concerning occult literature. The secret is that books on occultism walk. What I mean by this is that these books (133.33 in the Dewey Decimal classification system) once checked out from the library never find their way back to the library. Often these books are not even checked out, but are blatantly stolen from the library. Go to any public library and examine the 133.33 section (it is an old habit of mine that I always go there first whenever I am in a new library). You will find it to be sadly lacking.

I've witnessed several responses to this dilemma. Some libraries choose to keep occult materials in a special "restricted" section, usually behind the circulation desk where they cannot be stolen outright. Other libraries keep the books as reference materials only so that they cannot be checked out. Still other libraries, and this breaks my heart, have elected to not carry occult materials at all. This is, of course, censorship, even if the library feels that it has no other course of action.

I have wondered for many years just who these occult book bandits are. The public library systems I have worked in have all been in very conservative rural communities. Is it rebellious teenagers looking for the small thrill of lifting a Wicca 101 book, or is it the rabid Christian fiction reading matrons attempting to save their community from "Satan"?

Who benefits from this form of censorship? Certainly not sincere seekers like the one I assisted earlier this week. Our online catalog showed twenty books on astrology, all of them listed as "long overdue" or "lost processing". The poor man simply wanted to know the stories behind the zodiac signs. I wanted very much to share with him the information orally, but, again, I am closeted at work and feared drawing attention to myself.

I am at a loss for a solution to this problem. Here at home I've enchanted my own personal library (which would make anyone with even a passing interest in witchcraft green with envy) so that any book loaned out (which, granted, only ever happens with those I trust implicitly) will find its way back home to me. The task of enchanting a public library collection seems daunting at best, and brings up some gray ethical issues for me.

I dream of someday directing a library filled with controversial books. Dangerous books. Books that open the reader's mind. For now I work quietly and wonder where have all the occult books gone?

Best month EV-AR

April has been kind to me. I began the month being initiated into the bestest, funnest, mostest awesome Witchcraft order in the area, continued by trekking up to Chicago for my O.T.O. Minerval (which, aside from an incredible theatrical performance of Liber Al, was underwhelming, but I'll be taking MUTS later this year to make up for it) got a job at the local New Age/Occult store part-time, moved right along into Anita's totally kick-ass Aztec watermelon frenzy ritual (perhaps the most moving ritual I've ever witnessed) and left the next day with Lynn and C. for the indesribably goregeous St. Augustine Florida. Go look at our sqwee-worthy Florida photos! While in FL, I experienced many of the things FL tourists everywhere crave: seeing an alligator in the wild, splashing around on the beach in the middle of the night, spying a manatee, climbling a lighthouse, going on a ghost tour, noshing on the best key lime pie on earth, and, yes, GOING TO DISNEY WORLD! *sqwees in ways that make me indistinguishable from a piggy* We went to Epcot. It was awesome. The photos are in the link above. Also, on the trip, we stopped off at the Georgia Renn Faire (again, totally friggin' awesome) and the Museum Replicas store in Conyers, GA. But, best of all, while in FL, I got my 3rd degree G. initiation. I am purple beyond purple with glee. Beltane is coming up next (camping at the annual festival at Our Haven Nature Sanctuary) and the Babalon Rising Festival is getting better every day (I cannot encourage you enough to check out the website. The festival is looking stupid-good thus far.) I am in a place of complete joy and contentment with my life right now. What more can I say? Those Cakes of Light sure did the trick!

Reposted from LiveJournal Apr. 24th, 2006

LOL Cat Rede

Teh LOLcat Rede

1. We're in ur perfek luv and trust, bidin ur rede like we must.
2. Dat fud urs, dis fud mine; keep in mind, an all be fine.
3. 3 times round that sirkl pass so evul spiruts CAN NOT HAS.
4. Kittehs wind up spell in ball by speekin it in wurds of LOL.
5. Sofft of paw and grate big ears; do not yowl and u shall heers!
6. Rightpaw round teh biggening moon, kittehs sing teh Witchc@t Roon.
7. Leftpaw round teh smalling moon, kittehs sing teh baneful tune.
8. Lady can has moon of new; kittehs hed-bash her times two.
9. When can has moon full enuf, then can has all sorts of stuff!
10. When North wind come, kitteh, take care! Srsly, iz cold out ther.
11. When South wind to kitteh sing, lov will come an smooches bring.
12. When teh West wind blow the mosts, iz no rest for kitteh ghosts.
13. When teh East wind stir teh air, fill teh bowlz wit fud to share.
14. In metal bukkit, put nine woodz; burn fast or slo, jus burnz em goodz!
15. Teh Elder is teh Lady's tree. Be respektin it. Srsly.
16. When teh Year-Wheel starts to spin, lite Beltane fire FTW!
17. When Wheel iz turned and Yule is bornz, bow to Teh Ceiling Cat With Hornz.
18. Be respektin leafs and trees, and by teh Lady blessed beez!
19. Ur stone. U fling it. Strong and deft. (In streem, to find out WTF.)
20. When u has need of something moar, avoid kitteh who yowlz "NOT YOURS!"
21. Foolish cat iz foolish. U avoid him, or look foolish too.
22. Oh hai! I'ze purrin. Kthxbai! Warm kitteh heart, bright kitteh eye.
23. Teh Three-Fold Law: respekt it, pliz, cuz good or bad comez back in threez.
24. Misforchun? You has it, just a bit? Mai bloo star. Let me show you it.
25. Dis kitteh r mine, and I'z theyrs too. Keep this srsly 4 troo.
26. Teh Wiccan Rede can has wurds eight: kitteh harm none, do thy will. Thx! Grate!

The LOLcat Rede is copyright Elise Matthesen 2008; elise@lioness.net.