Listen to the Magus

"To know, to dare, to will, to keep silent"

While laying in bed reading my new book on Wicca, I thought some more about Hekate last night. Being represented by the key as a symbol of secrets and wisdom, she reminds me of The High Priestess in tarot, even though some tarot creators have chosen to place her elsewhere in the majors of their decks. In The Mythic Tarot by Juliet Sharman-Burke, she is brought to life under the light of The Moon, shown as a triplicate with her three-headed hound. Even though I am using these cards for divination, I can see how they might be useful for performing a ritual. As well as there being a symbol for the goddess Hekate, there are also representations of everything else you might need for ritualistic spells and magic. Not everyone has the space or money to house an athame, cauldron, or other ceremonial tools. With a little of the right intention, the two packs could easily provide an affordable and portable symbolic altar.

For today, I have drawn The Words of the Magus. The card shows two open pages from a Book of Shadows, which reads "To know, to dare, to will, to keep silent". I read that this is a card of achievement and mastery. However, with the path disappearing through the archway and into the horizon of the book illustration, the card suggests that mastery is not yet complete. After my Christmas dinner, rum and raisin cheesecake, and a handful of mini sausage rolls, I was a little scared to confront the scales today, but they were actually favourable and kindly, showing that I had lost a pound under my target weight, as appose to putting any more on. How ever much of a relief this is, I cannot be complacent and must continue to maintain what I have lost and eat healthily. I think a lot of people make the mistake of thinking that everything is sorted and then pile all of the weight back on again. The card also reminds me of smoking. In less than a week, I would have given up completely for two months. I have been out and drank alcohol over the festive period, but despite the urges, I chose to stay inside and talk with my non-smoking friends, rather than indulge outside with the smoking ones. Yup, it wasn't easy and I still have the odd craving throughout the day, but I'd say I have tackled the worst of it.

Today's threesome from The Teen Oracle is spikier than yesterday's, bringing the black cat of Trouble to the centre of the reading. When I read three cards like this, I sometimes find it easiest to combine the central card with each of it's neighbours independently, rather than try to merge the whole lot together in one. Here, when it is squeezed together with Gossip, the interpretation seems pretty obvious. The slurs and inaccuracies of gossip are never a good horse to back. As I have previously read in my studies of Kabbalah and more recently in The Wiccan Rede, words can be deadly, causing a kind of spiritual bloodshed to those they are directed at. When someone gossips about another, whether true or not, it's hard to shed what you have heard and those negative qualities are forever glued to the soul of the gossip's target. This card combination reminds me to watch what I say and choose what I listen to. Accepting or spreading gossip has it's consequences.

When Trouble is merged with Chance, we are presented with a warning. These cards depict a situation where we should not jump into something without checking it out first. After yesterday's suggestion of an opportunity, I think it wise to check out the small print, rather than simply striking because the iron is hot.

My boyfriend drove us over to our friend's house today to bake muffins. Well, what actually happened was that he baked 48 muffins (12 Savory Feta Cheese & Spinach, 12 Strawberrys & Cream, 12 Raspberry, and 12 Chocolate Oatbran) while we sat at the kitchen table and watched. The Chocolate Oatbran were from a Dukan recipe and were disgusting, but the other 36 were really moist, light and tasty. We left a selection with our friend, who cooked us a lovely Italian-styled salad with ghocchi for our dinner, and brought the remainder back home. With a cup of cocoa, we just presented my parents with a tasting session. They were especially happy with the Strawberry and Raspberry choices but literally screwed their faces up at Dukan's option, which has found it's way to the bin.

Today's trio from the Teen Oracle has been interesting because I both received gossip and was in a position to share some too. I tried my best to avoid talking about someone and kept my lips tightly sealed, regarding the information I had heard. The idea of talking about someone felt akin to shooting an arrow in their direction. Yehuda Berg of The Kabbalah Centre has previously said " If you’re gossiping about another person, you’re judging them. And all of the judgment we put out there comes back to us. There’s no way around that. No judgment can come to us that we didn’t first give out ourselves". This sounds very similar to the ideas in the Wiccan Rede, where everything we send out comes back at us three-fold.


Illustrations from The Well Worn Path by Mickie Mueller and The Teen Oracle by Cinnamon Crow Dixon.