touchingtiferet

[touchingtiferet]

FYI, this blog can now be found at touchingtiferet.com

[touchingtiferet]

the comfort of all who yet strive

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New sign for my porch! It reads, “Chi an Wragh,” Cornish for, “The Witch’s House.”

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the Morrigan by Tsabo6

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∆

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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 Prayer, Patricia Crowther

I had been looking for a piece of art representing the Dryghten, the Primordial Godhead, to hang above my hearth shrine, but I couldn’t find anything that resonated with me. So, I decided to create my own. I quite accidentally fashioned this symbol one day. It is the joining of the Moon Goddess symbol with the symbol of the Horned Lord of Death and Resurrection. A rather nice syncretism, methinks.

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“We are removed from the web of interaction with the natural world; the rhythms of our daily movements do not relate us to earth and sky, weather, seasonal changes, sources of our food. Our language does not structure the natural world into sacred space, either in vocabulary or in categories of thought.”

Drawing Down the Moon, Margot Adler, Penguin Books: 1986, 433 quoting Brandy Williams.

I finally finished reading Drawing Down the Moon—I know, only 30 years late to the party. There were several parts of the book that struck a chord within me, and this is one of them.

I love languages and often mourn the decline of Celtic languages as community languages. Each language encapsulates a culture’s unique way of thinking. When languages disappear from a community—and become solely academic—we lose a cultural context of the human experience, an understanding of what is important, what is historic, and what is novel.

The quote above brought this thought to a unique place for me: Language in a living culture also implicitly references what is holy. This seems apparent enough. I studied Religious Studies in college and am well aware of different vocabulary tropes used in various religious and spiritual systems to indicate something mythic or Mysterious. However, I’ve never really thought about how language informs—and is informed by—my own religious experiences with Witchcraft.

There are the obvious buzz words that fuel my life as a Witch, words like: magic, ritual, spell, element, etc. What about more ‘mundane’ terms? What about: water, flame, joy, love, and the like? I use all of these to connect with the Sacred and to manifest it, but do I connect my ‘mundane’ interaction with these concepts to my ‘sacred’ use of them? No. It’s not something I always do or realize. So the question arises, can language be a medium for this? Can paying attention to the concepts I invoke via my words bring more connectedness to my life? I don’t know, but if I had to hazard a guess, I’d say it’s likely.

Some religious philosophies, such as those of many Buddhist traditions, see language as dualistic: it separates things into categories, because something can only be ‘this’ if it’s not ‘that.’ I often fall into that camp, myself. But can language be used as a spiritually unifying tool? Can it bring a holistic sacredness to the world, such that I realize the water I use in my Circle and the water I pour from the tap are inherently the same being with the same properties, both mundane and sacred? Perhaps. Perhaps there is something to this semantic gematria, and perhaps I can create my world sacred simply by verbally recognizing it was always so.

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Do you know the old queen of the world, who continually walks without ever tiring? ... The queen is old as time, but she hides her skeleton under the remains of the beauty of women from whom she steals away their youth and their loves.

The Doctrine and Ritual of High Magic: A New Translation, Eliphas Lévi, trans. John Michael Greer and Mark Anthony Mikituk, TarcherPerigee: 2017, 191.

I adore Chris Orapello’s statues and other works. This one, titled Witch Queen, is currently available on Sacred Source--though back-ordered at the moment. I’ve been waiting for it to become available (at an affordable price) for several years now. This has been a powerful image for me since I first saw it, but I wasn’t exactly able to articulate why for quite a while.

It was during reading the introduction to the Ritual in the new translation of Lévi’s High Magic (quoted above), that it hit me: She is the cold goddess of Fate; she who weaves and cuts life; she who observes life remotely, uninterested in the daily on-goings. She is the Objective Deity, the Source, the Baphomet and Godhead. For me, she is a representation of the Dryghten in a beautifully Witchy way.

I adore this representation of the Ultimate. She adorns my hearth shrine, situated between representations of the my Lady and Lord.

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It’s been quite a while since I have used this blog. I’ve always liked the idea of using Tumblr to store images that speak to me, journal my thoughts, and initiate discussions with others of like mind. However, I’ve never found quite the right use-case for my Tumblr, one which could foster all of these desires. We’ll see if this is it.

I’ve decided to make this blog Craft focused, as that is currently where I’m focusing much of my life. I intend to post Witchcraft-related images and topics, and perhaps some of the occasional philosophical thoughts that come into my head.

I’ve renamed the blog to ‘Touching Tiferet.’ Tiferet is the sixth sefira of the Cabbalistic World Tree. It is referred to as ‘the Christ Center’, whereat we must sacrifice the ego in order to embrace the reflection of the Source that dwells within us.

This is my journey, my experiences. I am no authority, no expert. I am an Initiate walking the path. This blog first serves to organize and record that which I find beautiful. If others are able to able to connect with the content, so much the better.

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John Katsikarelis

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First foray into making oil. First up, juniper oil!

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Some workspace rearranging.

(New statue of Down [Dôn/Danu], a sun for Beli Meur [Beli Mawr], a wheel for Aryanrod [Arianrhod], and a statue for Ley Luev Gyffes [Lleu  Llaw Gyffes])

(New skull for the Ancestors and a statue for Gwynn mab Niwl [Gwyn ap Nudd])

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Jessie Arms Botke (American, 1883-1971), Blue Peacocks on a Golden Background. Oil and gold leaf on canvas laid on masonite, 102.2 x 81.9 cm.

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Spirit Cernunnos

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I’ve been playing around with “translating” the names of Welsh gods/heroes into Cornish. Some of it is actually translated, but most of it just changing the Welsh orthography into Cornish orthography (via the Standard Written Form). Any thoughts? I’m really just winging this.

(Cornish : Welsh)

Gwynn ap Nydh : Gwyn ap Nudd

Aryanrod : Arianrhod

Down : Dôn

Ley Leuv Gyffes : Lleu Llaw Gyffes

Beli Meur : Beli Mawr

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Tantric Union - Shiva ~ Shakti (art by Orryelle Defenestrate-Bascule)

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