Practical Witchery! by John Stormm (e book free reading .txt) 📖

The rest of this message is in essence, was that she wouldl help me get this novel written, and advise me on getting it published, even as she has done so many times with her own. This woman was a multiple, award winning, romance novelist.  That was my next sign, that I was not being left hung out to dry, and that my chances to earn my own way were improving.

Since my birthday was upcoming on the Eve of Lughnasadh, the Feast of First Harvest, this was the time I that I had requested, that I begin reaping the fruits of what I had sown in tears. As I was leaving the post office on my bicycle, after dropping off my final assignment to Long Ridge Writers Group, and a contest entry to Writers of the Future, a wad of bills totaling $29.00 blew up to my foot in the parking lot, and there was not a soul around, for me to determine who might have dropped it.  So, I put it to good use!

Blessing after blessing, after blessing, has been coming my way. I’d gotten an interview about new job placement, and they said my chances were good. I got it.   I had finished my new novel, and then some, and I’m willing to bet you couldn’t get passed four chapters of it with dry eyes. It has gotten two very good professional reviews, and I started shopping for a proper literary agent to market the series. I have taken a deep sigh of relief, and breathe my thanks to my Lord and Lady daily, for the gifts that I’ve been so graciously given, with all of life’s little victories. My last trip to my woods, I met a new friend in a lady hawk, whom sings back and forth with me, when I come into the meadow that she hunts in.  I’ve been stuffing myself with sweet berries in the woods and good things are showing themselves in abundance. It’s such a blessing to be born and raised a witch. It’s hard to share blessings when you don’t have any, and not worth living when you can’t.

Blessed be!

Disclaimer: A large portion of the following information was gleaned from the writings of Douglas Monroe from his book, “The 21 Lessons of Merlyn” and published by Llewellyn Publications. There are many druidic sects that do not agree with some of the practices of Monroe’s New Forest Centre, especially his views on druidic celibacy, but I will argue that many diverse groups practice *periodic* celibacy or abstinence, as power dictates as useful and this doesn’t subtract anything of the man’s insight and education in matters of Celtic mysticism. I also must advise that I am not quoting him so much “verbatim”, as I tend to spout a lot of what I was taught in my own circles. You can always check out Monroe’s books. I highly recommend the reading and with an open mind.

First, I want to remind our witches here of a little piece of worldly wisdom that says:

Image is everything.

And since we know as wise, this is not completely true, because many things are rarely what they appear to be. But it's hard to argue that "muggles" will react with great aplomb, to what they believe that they are seeing.  It has its own "cause and effect," is what I'm trying to point out here.  I also want to quote a little proverb by a writer named Terry Goodkind that says:

Magic works because people believe it does, or are afraid that it might.

Also, not completely true, but I just want to point out, that for their effects, that these are largely believed as gospel, by the non-initiates of the craft.  As I've said before:  Everything works, or it doesn't, for a reason.  "Belief", is as good a reason as any, in many cases.

As a traditional Old Craft witch, there has been a practice that uses these erroneous precepts, to their fullest effect, that has been passed down through the centuries. Some refer to it as “the placebo effect”, when something like a little herbal remedy, along with some convincing mumbo-jumbo, gives the added confidence, or faith needed to help a healing process. To some of my witchy, goddess dancing sisters in the Pacific North West:  They know how to carry, and present themselves under a powerful glamour, where even a “Plain Jane”, has been known to ignite a man’s underwear, from forty feet away, or command undivided attention in a room, by simply using the attirude and manner that she displays herself. To anyone with a little wit, wisdom and imagination, this can be some useful stuff to know. But this essay is on ceremonial implements known as Pelen Tan. I tell you the preceding that I might open your minds to the potential to which some of these may be used.

Allow me to jog your memories back to stories we’ve all heard of intrepid adventuring children out spying on the mysteries of a haunted wood, when they see a procession of ethereal robed celebrants and ghostly lights moving through the trees with them.

Now, we’ll jump to another piece of tradition where large turnips or pumpkins are carved out with faces and candles placed inside to create jack-o-lanterns, which were often carried to ghostly effect by itinerant ghouls and goblins in search of food and drink on a Halloween night. Got the picture yet?

I tell you all that in order to tell you about a little known implement called the pelen tan. It is also a kind of lantern that is carried in processions into nemeton by druids or witches and then hung in the trees as the rituals progress. These are the ghostly lights that keep the faint of heart at a distance from the secret rites they were never meant to witness.

According to Monroe and not a few other sources, the witches wore black robes and the druids primarily wore white to such events. The lights the druids carried were mostly blue or green and the witches carried mostly red orbs. The effects of these lights on these colors is eerie. The blue gives an almost black light effect on the white robes, where skin tones don’t show up so well in a darkened wood. You can almost imagine these empty robes followed by these lights floating their way down a woodland trail at night in a haunted wood. For the raven clad witches, under the red lights, the pale Celt’s skin takes on a scarlet luster and the black blends in with the surrounding shadow having these disembodied heads and hands drifting down the path with these hellish lights accompanying them. You can see how these images might be used to serve the orders who used them. On the practical side of things, the lanterns provided light in such a way as to not interfere too badly with one’s own night vision. Very useful, but where can I get some of these, you might ask. You make them.

Considering the effects you might want, you go to a craft store or maybe something like a Pier One Imports, and find some glass globes. Nothing too big or too small as it has to hold a candle completely inside of itself. In times past, the old green glass fishing floats were used and you might still find some of these. Green, blue or red is what you want. You’ll want some uniformity in your color choice. Too many other colors and they look like party lights and the effect is lost. Next we appropriate some black candles… not for purposes of black magick, mind you. We want the light within our globes to appear as a single floating point as opposed to an illuminated stem holding it up and immediately identifying it as a candle. Using hot wax or using glue or epoxy, you may want to fix something to hold your candle in place in the bottom center of your globe. Now we have to get handy with a means to carry and suspend our ghost lights (pelen tan) and those of you skilled in macramé will probably fare better than the rest of us in this part. We’ll need a fire resistant material like leather thong or a fine chain (nothing shiny please) to create a web basket that won’t obscure your light going up about 18 inches to a knot where you can make a hook out of an old wire hanger to suspend your light in your nemeton and hold it through the procession without getting burned. The candle flame should be centered within the globe and not extending through the brim of the glass. Darken your chain or thong to render them invisible in the darkness and in only a short distance, you create the illusion that these balls of light are floating of their own accord.

Now as we have a host of seasons like Imbolc, Beltane, Midsummer, Lammas, Samhain, a couple solstices and equinoxes to do us proud, take your pelen tan along with your athemes and cauldrons and such and celebrate with a flair.

We are coming up on the Harvest Moon and like other members of my clan, I've been out harvesting wild foods to prepare for our upcoming Sabbaths and family get togethers. Unlike many in the United States, we do not come from an ethnic Judeo-Christian background. We are hereditary, Celtic witches of a matriarchal succession that has counted its roots back almost fourteen centuries. We are a family that has practiced and kept its secrets for many, many centuries as a matter of survival in a world where it's been a death sentence of the worst kind to be found out as a witch. Decent Christian business folk would not likely sell to us in the market, or charge exorbitant prices because of our unrepentant heathen condition. Or our families forced to run and hide in the wilderness, where decent people feared to go, to survive the witch hunts.

But ours is a nature based religion, and Nature takes care of her own. From ancient times, those of our persuasion have been sought after by the civilized world of the day for our knowledge of medicinal plants and healing lore. Much of this is still practiced by witches today. It occurs