The Inner Circle
Welcome to the Inner Circle.
This is my personal page concerning Wicca and the following of the Lady and the Lord. I am currently a studying novice, and a solitary. If you, or anyone you know, has good studying materials that I can use in my work, please let me know.
My Notes and Studies
The Witches' Creed: "Do as thou wilt, an it harm none."
I can see so many things to be learned from this simple phrase! As I have found all witches do, the Wiccan are an accepting and generous religion, what I would describe as a 'rock in the storm'. I think, if you seek peace and good fortune, take a moment, as you ought, to listen to the words of Nature around you. Sometimes, the best advice in life can be given by those that are not even alive.
For the major part of my notes on Wicca, magick, and life, see my Book of Shadows. (In case you didn't know, every practicing witch ought to have a Book of Shadows, or a diary of prayers, philosophies, invocations, etc, etc.
Wicca and You
You want to become a follower of the Wicca? Be patient. By the Wiccan way, a novice must study for at least a year and a day before becoming an initiate. That brings up another question:Initiation? When is it necessary, and why, and how? I have learned that it really depends on your 'sub-division', sect, or 'coven' tradition. Being a solitary novice, I plan for a small initiation, preferably outdoors, in harmony with Nature. PLEASE, whatever you do, don't try and become a witch because you saw the movie "The Craft" or "The Crucible" and you think Winona Ryder is cool. That is going against everything the Wiccas believe in. As far as initiation, again...really, it all depends on you.
Magick
Because I know so little of the Wiccan magicks yet (I am still studying the Nature and the Lady/Lord), I have shown here an article written by the expert on Wiccan matters (and a practicing witch), Robin Wood.
'Grounding and Centering' by Robin Wood
Grounding and centering is the absolutely essential first step for any energy
working. It's the thing that makes sure you are pulling the energy from the Earth,instead of depleting your own resources.
Without it, you will find yourself exhausted (or highly exhilarated) immediately
after doing work, and then sick, headachy, dizzy, or faint afterwards. Sometimes
the headache can persist for days afterwards.All of these are signs that something is wrong.
Fortunately, it's easy to fix! Grounding and centering is a simple thing that is a natural ability in all of us. For some reason (probably that it smacks of the occult)it's rarely taught in the schools now, though. So this is your chance to learn ithere.
Sit comfortably, without any part of your body resting on any other part (no
crossed legs, etc.) and smile. (It relaxes you wonderfully to smile.)
Begin by looking at the diagram to the left. These are your Chakras. We aren't
going to go into what they are, or how they work right now. For now, just look
at them. Notice that they go up in spectral order, starting from red and going
through orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo (actually a lovely, bright blue-violet, but it's called indigo anyway) and violet. The first one is red and is at the base of your torso, near your anus. The second, orange one is about the width of both hands (with fingers held together, and including your thumbs) above that. In fact, in my experience, they tend to be pretty evenly spaced, and all about two hand-spans apart. The third is at the Solar Plexus (yellow), the fourth at your heart (green), the fifth at your throat (blue), the sixth at your "third eye" (indigo) and the seventh at the crown of your head (violet.)
You probably already know this; but you have more than one body. The ones we
are going to be concerned with here are your physical body, and your etheric
body. Just assume for now that you have the body you are used to thinking of as
"you," and you also have another one, larger and subtler, that has all the same
parts and is around your physical body like two layers of an onion. Think of it as the blue outline in the picture.
The point of the first part of the exercise, centering, is to line the two bodies up so that the energy can flow freely. You do this sort of like zipping a zipper. Hold the picture firmly in your mind, and line up the two red dots, physical and
etheric, front to back and side to side. As you visualize (imagine) them coming
together, hear the note C in your head. The first note of the scale.
Then carefully visualize all the others coming together as well, one by one, front
to back and side to side until there is only one colored light. As you do, go on up
the scale; doe,re,me etc.
When you get to the final doe, visualize your whole body wrapped in white light.
If this is really hard for you, visualize it going the other way, starting with your
crown chakra, the violet light on the top of your head, and going down your
body and down the scale. But try to learn to do it the other way, because it makes
grounding easier.
For the second part of the exercise, Grounding, it is absolutely essential that you
be centered. If you aren't, please go back and read that part now.
Starting with your crown chakra, the purple spot at the top of your head,
visualize (imagine) a cord of light going all through your body, connecting your
chakras as it goes.
See it coming down from the root chakra, and becoming a root itself. Feel it
going through your chair, through the floor, through the foundation of the
building, and into the ground. Feel the warm, fertile ground below you. And feel
your root going deeper and deeper, down through the ground, down below the
deepest well. There is a whole core of energy down there. The core of the planet
is full of pure, clean, loving energy; and the Earth means her children to use it.
So draw that energy up your root now, up through the ground, through the soil,
through the foundation, and the floor, and the chair, and into your body. Feel
that pure clean energy coming into your body.
And pull it on up through your body, up through all your chakras, up through
your crown chakra, up through the top of your head. And as it comes, it washes
away all the tired, old, nasty energy, and fills you with clean, pure, fresh energy,
energy from the Earth.
And let it come out of the top of your head, and flow out like a fountain, like the
branches of a tree, up and arching gracefully down, and flowing back into the
Earth. You are sitting in the center of a circuit now; a circuit of energy flowing up
from the center of the Earth, through your body, through the top of your head,
and back down into the Earth again.
See how that feels? If you are doing it right, you will be able to feel it. If not, try
it again some other time. It's really not hard.
Now, the important thing to remember at this point is not to get greedy and try to
keep too much of the energy. When you are finished with the exercise, you
should have exactly as much energy as is normal for you. No more, and no less.
Just think of yourself as taking no more and no less, and your own body will
even it out for you.
It's nice and clean and fresh, but it's the same amount. If it isn't, you will wind
up with one of the headaches again. And you don't want that!
Keep doing this for a few minutes every day, and soon it will be as easy as
taking a deep breath. And it will make you feel so much better!
Not just when working with energy, but when facing any kind of stress, or
tension, or fear, or exertion, or anything. Being grounded and centered just
makes life a bit easier to take!'
-Robin Wood (At his website)
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©Robin Wood, 1997, Used with permission.
Email: silver89@hotmail.com
