Thurisaz

It is easy to cast some runes as benevolent spirits of light and love. Thurisaz is not one of those runes. The Thorn has the personality of a rabid pit bull with a toothache. It will gladly tear into anything you send it after, and if you aren't careful it will turn around and chew you up as well.

This is not to say that Thurisaz is "evil."  Trying to classify runes using terms which are intended to apply to human behavior can only result in confusion.   Forest fires, dam breaks and volcanic eruptions have no malicious intent: the meteor which wiped out the dinosaurs and the plagues which reshaped European culture were neither kind nor cruel. Thurisaz is harsh and terrifying, but it is also a necessary part of the order of things. It is the predator which keeps the populations of deer and rabbits in check and the famine and disease which takes over that role when the predators are hunted to extinction.  We avoid it, or treat it with sentimentality, at our own peril.  If we understand its power and its place it can be a mighty ally: if we are careless, it can become a deadly, implacable foe.

A thorn can penetrate thick hide because it concentrates weight and force to a tiny point.  This is the lesson of Thurisaz: it is enormous energy brought to bear on a small area. The teeth that rend the throat, the keen sword-edge that slices through armor, the blast points that knock down granite hills all show the influence of Thurisaz. Thurisaz is a great breaker of obstacles: wielded wisely, it can blast away barriers (internal and external) which stand in our way. It is not wild and untamed savagery, but fierceness brought to bear on a specific target.

Thurisaz can also be used to weave a nearly impenetrable wall of thorns around the runecaster.  It is an aggressive and unrelenting defense, one that wears down attackers and can subject them to a "death by a thousand cuts."  It can entangle an enemy in the briars and slow them down, or it can get inside them and rip them to shreds. If your foes are not strong enough to stand against Thurisaz, the rune will happily treat them as prey and feast on them. (This is not a side of Thurisaz which should be invoked likely: once you've put it on the scent, it will be difficult if not impossible to turn it aside should you have second thoughts about the attack).

Thurisaz is also identified as "Thurse," an archaic term for the Jotuns or giants of Nordic and Germanic legend. This is another key to understanding its nature. The Jotuns are fierce, primal forces of nature, red in tooth and claw. They are terrifying enemies but can also be great friends to those they deem worthy.  Thurisaz is a rune which will not be wielded by the weak and it can find your faults like a predator sensing a wounded animal.  If you are strong enough to earn its respect, if you can raise your rage and passion and keep it in focus rather than letting it scatter,  if you can maintain your awareness and anger simultaneously, Thurisaz will be a powerful guardian. If you are willing to give it your weakness in exchange for its strength Thurisaz will be a wise if sometimes sadistic teacher: its lessons may be painful but they will be lasting. 

When working with any of the runes, it is advisable to "redden" them or give them a few drops of your blood. For Thurisaz it is damned near mandatory. This is a rune which likes the taste of blood and will respond best after being properly fed. It should be approached with caution, but if you are going to work with the runes it must be approached. It will teach you to be ruthless when pity would be weakness, and to hone your emotions to a point rather than letting them diffuse into impotent rage or meaningless posturing.  It is not a kind or a gentle rune, but it reminds us that the universe is not always a kind or a gentle place and that mercy is a luxury which must often be earned by force.

From a Conversation on Shamanism

Galina Krasskova and I are having an interesting discussion on Shamanism on the Yahoo group Spiritual Occultist.  The term "Shaman" gets bandied about a lot nowadays by people who are utilizing some of the traditional practices of Shamanism but who aren't filling the role classically played by shamans.  Some of the people using it don't even think the traditional practices are necessary or even desirable.  I'd be interested in hearing what others had to contribute to this conversation.

This is very true and was what I was trying to get across in my post about healing and shamanism. It’s a Job and there can be a lot of tools in the toolbox that goes a long with that job, but when it comes down to it, it’s still a specific type of Job, which is why I tend to refer to shamans as spiritual technicians. (A more unsentimental bunch of folk you will not find than the shamans that I work with LOL)

And the thing which I would point out is that it is a job which involves clients. The shaman works in service to a community. When s/he wanders about the spirit worlds s/he generally seeks power to be used in service of that community, not "enlightenment." "Enlightenment" is a concept which comes from Buddhism, a tradition which has generally been actively hostile to Shamanism. While there have been a few Shamanic/Buddhist syncretic religions formed, most notably in Tibet, by and large Buddhists have persecuted Shamans for working with demons, being overly concerned with the material world, and generally posing a threat to the established Buddhist order. The Hinayana Arhat seeks to find enlightenment for hirself: the Mahayana Boddhisatva wishes to bring it to the masses. The Shaman wants to ensure the continuing fertility, good health and survival of the tribe. 

Beautifully put. I am primarily ordeal, ascetic practices, and sometimes horsing so my experience with plant spirits (to induce trance) has been minimal. I certainly know it’s a valuable tool though. It really is a matter, as you so aptly put it, of pragmatism and matching the tool to the job at hand.

Plant allies have garnered a bad reputation in the community because of people who equate a "mystical experience" with dropping a couple tabs of MDMA (more likely some crap piperazine derivative these days) and attending a rave.  Don't get me wrong, I support the right of consenting adults to ingest any chemical they please. But there is a big, big, BIG difference between recreational drug use and sacred use of plant allies.

Approached with respect and caution by people who are called to use them as tools, plant allies can give you access to realms which are difficult or impossible to reach without them. I don't know anyone who would say you can recreate an Ayahuasca or Salvia divinorum experience just by meditating... at least not anyone who has actually worked with those plants. Approached as recreational aides, plant allies can help you catch a good buzz. Trying to compare the two uses is like saying that a priceless Ming dynasty vase is no different than a public toilet since both happen to be made of porcelain. 

(from Dorothy, another Spiritual Occultist participant):  Drugs and deprivation are used when the person cannot enter the spiritual world without them. With proper meditation and training, these are not necessary.

(From Kenaz, Responding to Dorothy) How much experience do you have in exploring the spiritual world with drugs and deprivation? And how does that work compare and contrast to your spiritual explorations without them?

I don’t use plant spirits’ help but I do use ordeal and the trip is fast and dirty. Sometimes this is the most efficient way to go (sometimes not). Sometimes it is the safest and most expeditious way to go, sometimes not. Again, it’s all about matching the tool to the job at hand.

I understand Dorothy's trepidations about encouraging the usage of plant allies. I certainly have seen "Shamanic" lists which have degenerated into rambling conversations about various fun trips. But one should avoid judging a practice by its loudest and most visible morons. Thousands of years before we had stoners, we had shamans using various mind-altering tools to accomplish their jobs. The toolsets used were remarkably consistent throughout various times and cultures. I am certainly open to the possibility that someone may have come up with a shamanic system which makes some or all of these tools superfluous. But before I hail this remarkable advance in spiritual technology I'd like to see some evidence for its efficacy and safety. 

Remember that Discussion on Goetia?

Anyone who is interested in doing Goetic work (or any other kind of evocation) really needs to read this fantastic post from Devi.  She provides a very clear and concise list of the skills which you should master before moving on to evocation work, along with pointers on how one can acquire those skills. This is a valuable addition to the literature on Evocation. It's difficult to write solid introductory material for beginners (hence the reams o'crap we find in the Alternative Religion section of our local bookstore).  It's even harder when you're trying to do a 101-level piece on a 301-level topic. Devi has succeeded admirably here: Goetists-to-be are advised to read this piece and take her lessons to heart.

You Guessed it ... even MORE on Paying for Spirituality (for Alexandra)

Since my last post inspired a fair bit of commentary, I thought I would respond to some of those comments in separate postings. First I wanted to address Alexandra's comment that

i do expect *my* elders to be better equiped for the future than what a lot of Pagan Elders nowadays display, that is, to actually have retirement plans, to care for their health in the best way possible, to save their money for rainy days. In short, to be responsible for their lives. I, for one, think that its self absorbed to think that anyone has to carry you *general you* around because you provided something, specially when that something already comes with a price tag.

I agree that many Pagans (including quite a few Pagan elders) are appallingly bad with money. I think that part of the problem stems from the 1960s/hippie era idea that money is inherently evil. Many of the big players in the transformation of British Wicca into American Neopaganism were hippies and countercultural types. Their distaste for "the Establishment" and big business was reflected in their general distrust of any kind of financial transaction: they felt that everything worthwhile should be freely given and freely offered. And of course if you disrespect money you shouldn't be surprised to find that money disrespects you back.

Perhaps one of the best thing Pagan elders and elders-to-be can do for themselves and the community is recognize the value of their work and set appropriate boundaries. If that means that more elders start charging money for classes, then so be it.  If it means saying "I have to support myself with a day job and hence you will have to work around my schedule for teaching and other needs," then that is fine too. And if it means slapping some folks upside the head for their sense of entitlement and their idea that "information should be free" (meaning your knowledge should be given to me with no cost or obligation on my part), then it's about time somebody did it.

Expecting that you are going to devote your life to the Craft freely and in exchange people will look after your needs freely is obviously not a workable model. Perhaps a better model is "you will pay me what I am worth for my services, or at the very least you will contribute your share of the cost of running this group." I think that once we get past that sense of entitlement and that distaste for all things financial (on both sides) many of these problems will take care of themselves.  My friend Galina has commented on the "doggedly downwardly mobile Pagan aesthetic."  We all - elders AND acolytes - need to recognize that what we are doing is valuable. There is no shame in demanding a tangible exchange for goods and services. (Alexandra suggested several non-monetary possibilities in her original comment, such as "Helping out around the house, doing chores and errands, helping in what i can in my line of work and so on.") There is shame in expecting things to be given to you on a silver platter.

Still more on Responsibility for Elders: Who are our Elders?

On Alchemical College, Soror MX noted that around 90% of her spiritual work is solitary. She may have purchased some books and attended a few lessons, but she has not established a serious life-changing relationship with any Pagan "elder." While she did acknowledge that there were people who had touched her life in profound ways, they were not necessarily part of a Pagan, Wiccan or magical community.

This is a very important point. More than Judaism, Christianity or Islam, Neopaganism is a "religion of the book." Many, perhaps most, Pagans are learning their religion primarily or exclusively from books, websites and online forums. If they are lucky, they may meet fellow Pagans face-to-face at occasional festivals, but the vast majority of their spiritual journey is a solitary one. They don't feel the need to support the elders in their Pagan community because they are not part of any Pagan community.

Once upon a time Pagan bookstores and magical supply shops served as a meeting place for magically inclined types. If you wanted an uncommon herb or some particularly rare volume -- which, in the 1970s and 80s, included things like the Farrar's Witches' Bible and Crowley's Book of the Law -- you had to go to a specialty store. There you could meet others who shared your interests: you might even be able to use their back room for rituals or join the owner's coven if you were deemed worthy.  Thanks to Amazon, eBay and other online stores, many of these shops have been driven out of business. That is not to criticize the Web or online business: the automobile forced many buggy makers and horse traders to seek alternate lines of work. But it is impossible to ignore the way that meatspace magical communities have become harder to find as web-based communities have exploded, or to claim that a list moderator has the same kind of presence in a student's life as a face-to-face teacher.

Adding to this confusion is the Neopagan idea that "you can be your own high priest/ess." Within British Traditional Witchcraft (and other initiatory systems), attaining a degree required a certain amount of time, study and practice: it cemented your place within the community as a leader whose opinion could be trusted. Within non-initiatory strains of Neopaganism, anyone who wants to claim the title can become "Lord Sapphiredragon Twitchbottom" or "High Priestess Crystal Breakswind."

Quite a few of these self-proclaimed Grand Mucky-Mucks will happily assert their right to be treated as Elders, or at the very least claim that their opinion is just as valid and important as anyone else's. Sure, Priestess Y has been practicing the Craft since before Lord Twitchbottom was a Grand High Zygote and Priest X has written more books on the tradition than HPs Breakswind has read, but authority is for fascists. If your spiritual beliefs are true for you, then by gum they're true. After all, Priest X wasn't in Pre-Christian Celtic Europe, so how does he know the Druids didn't make pumpkin pie and potato casserole to celebrate the Revealing of the Threefold Law?

So how do you determine who the true Elders are in a world where everyone can be a High Priest/ess?  I have some thoughts (and wrote an article on this question for newWitch a while back) but I'd be interested in hearing what others have to say.

In an upcoming post I want to address an important point which Alexandra and a few others have raised: how much responsibility should Elders (once we figure out who they are) take for their own well-being? I'd be foolish to deny that many spiritually minded folks have a lousy grasp of economics. There are many Pagan elders whose writings I admire but whom I would not entrust with large sums of money.  Rufus Opus has posted some interesting thoughts on the subject in his blog and I would encourage anyone interested in the topic to check his post out.

Yep, we got even MORE on Paying for Spirituality: from Mysticwicks

On the MysticWicks forum, one of my blog readers asked: 

Or are you going to tell us, Kenaz Filan, that those Voudou initiators are all oh so honorable that they will never promiss something that is not on their hands to give? Will you tell us that none of those students you speak of in your blog that feel defrauded couldn't, at any point in, fallen prey to some initiator who didnt disclose the truth of inititiation in the hopes that some dumb westerner that believes that money buys all would get some thousands of dollars?

I do not know the student in question or the Mambo who initiated him. But I do know the Houngan who vouched for said Mambo and I trust his judgment that she is an ethical practitioner who gave her student an initiation according to the regleman. (Within Haiti this is called temwen or "testimony").

Obviously there are people in the Western Hemisphere's poorest country who will perform an "initiation" ceremony for you in exchange for several thousand dollars. Some of them will feel obligated to give you a correct initiation, while others will be happy to give you what is called an "American asson." As with anything else, caution is advised.  Here are some issues I raise with students who ask me about making kanzo:

First, most people do not need a Kanzo ceremony. You need to be initiated as a Vodou priest/ess if and only if you intend to officiate at community ceremonies. If you are a solitary practitioner or if you are not interested in working as a clergyperson, an initiation is useless to you at best. At worst it obligates you to responsibilities you may not be prepared to fulfill.

The vast majority of people who are serving the lwa on their own don't need any ceremony at all. Their lwa will likely be satisfied with a simple candle on occasion and an occasional gift of food, rum or some pretty item appropriate for the spirit. Of those whose lwa demand more, most need nothing more than a lavé tet (ceremonial headwashing) or a maryaj lwa (marriage to the spirits). These ceremonies are considerably cheaper and less onerous in terms of time, materials and responsibilities. They will serve the purpose without the obligations and expenses that are incurred by the initiation ceremony.

If you are convinced you want/need to be a Vodou priest/ess, attend a few fets (Vodou ceremonies) at your prospective initiator's house. These fets are generally attended by other initiates made by your Papa/Mama Kanzo to be and by initiates from other houses. This will let you see up close and personal whether Vodou is a path you want to follow. It will let you see how your Mambo or Houngan is regarded in the community and how the lwa are served: it will also give you a chance to speak to the lwa and see what their plans are for you.

Vodou is a community religion: while you can serve your lwa as an individual, initiation marks you as a member of that community. If you take steps toward joining that community before you write a check for the ceremony - if you actually take time to know the people who are going to initiate you - you are far less likely to get ripped off.

As I have said elsewhere, an average société is lucky to break even on a kanzo. They do the ceremony because they want the house to continue growing, and are selective about whom they initiate. Gaining their trust and convincing them that you are a good fit for their group takes time and effort. If anyone offers to initiate you after an exchange of one or two e-mails, or tries to hard-sell you into purchasing a seat on their next initiation tour, chances are that you are getting taken for a ride.

And of course I have to end with the inevitable disclaimer: the initiation is only as good as the initiate. If you get a correct initiation according to the regleman and treat it as the first step in your life as a Vodou priest/ess, you are likely to see major life changes and spiritual and personal growth. If you treat it like another trophy on your spiritual mantle, you're likely to get an expensive beaded rattle that you can place next to the Tibetan bone trumpet you bought during last year's trip to Nepal and the Ayahuasca bowl you bought the year before that.

From the Kenaz Filan Request Hotline: the Connection between Lwa and Orisha

Victoria, one of my readers from Germany, asked a question about the relationship between the lwa and the Orisha. This is an interesting topic and one that frequently comes up online and elsewhere. What follows is my attempt at giving a complex question a relatively simple answer.

There's a tendency to see "African culture" as an enormous monolithic civilization. In fact, Africa is a continent which contains an estimated 2,000 languages: Nigeria alone has an estimated 250. There are several important cultural groups within Western and Central Africa, the area most profoundly effected by the Middle Passage.  The deities of the Fon/Ewe people of Daome (in modern-day Togo and Benin) are the main spirits served as the "Rada Lwa." (A group which takes its name from the slave port of Arara, located in Ouidah -- a name which is reflected in "Damballah Wedo" or "Damballah of Ouidah").

Another powerful group within the region was the Yoruba or Nago peoples, most of whom resided in and around the area of modern-day Nigeria. One of their major deities was the blacksmith/warrior Gu, lord of iron and warfare. In Haiti he was served as Ogou, while Cubans call him Ogoun and Brazilians Ogum.  In Vodou many Ogou songs praise him as "Olisha Nago" or "Nago Orisha."  In fact, all the spirits who originate in Yorubaland are part of the "Nago Nation." That includes Ogou Shango (Chango) and Ogou Batala (Obatala), a lwa served with white and red who resembles the "warrior road" of Obatala, Obatala Ayaguna. 

Many people compare Obatala and Damballah because both have white as their primary color, both are known for their even tempers and both are very clean spirits who dislike dirt, smoke and alcohol. But Damballah is actually a Fon/Ewe spirit, the great serpent Da, while Obatala is from Yoruba culture. It's like conflating Osiris and Jesus: both are connected with death and resurrection but the stories connected with them and their cultural roles are quite different.

Erzulie Freda takes her name from Aziri, a river in Fon/Ewe territory. In Nigeria there is a goddess honored on the Osun River. So while Erzulie Freda and Oshun are both African river spirits and both share some common interests, they originate in different places and cultures.  A lot of Vodouisants believe that Freda and La Sirene are sisters who are both married to Met Agwe, the Lord of the Oceans, but they are definitely see as different spirits.

Vodou originated in Haiti and its spirits come largely from the Fon/Ewe area with a sizeable influence of Central African Bantu/Congo spirits and practices.  Lukumi/Santeria comes from Cuba and is almost exclusively derived from Yoruba traditions: it is seen as "Las Reglas de Ocha" while Congo-derived practices like Palo Mayombe are "Las Reglas de Congo."

I will be posting this to my lists, where there are several members who are initiated in Palo or Lukumi, and will be sure to include any of their corrections or comments. But this should give you an idea of some of the distinctions between the two.