Tori’s Temple – A New Category

I have decided to give Christopher Penczak’s Temple of Witchcraft series another go, and will be using this blog as a means of keeping track of my progression. I, of course, will have a private journal for recording things, and the posts here in this new category will be edited to leave out the more personal things that need to be kept hidden.

I am definitely looking forward to this study, and hope that I have the drive to get through it, as I have attempted in the past but life usually gets in the way. Fingers crossed. I have a tough time keeping commitments and it has caused some problems in my life.

I think it is an apt time to begin a new journey, seeing as Samhain is this coming weekend, and it is viewed as the New Year for witches. New beginnings, so fun.

I will be doing my first post sometime this week, unsure when… Again I say that I have a serious problem with commitment, and often forget that I planned on doing or writing something. I have to find a way to keep myself on track and remind myself that my spiritual path is a serious investment and I need to be serious about this. *sighs* I have dreams, you know? I am so tired of slacking. Lol.

Altered States

http://www.dearmrlevy.com/dml/2012/12/29/altered-states-of-conciousness

Ealier this morning, around 12:30AM, I walked into our bedroom and undressed, turned YouTube on to a video of Shamanic Drumming, and climbed under the blankets. I closed my eyes and began paying close attention to my breath, willing myself into a light meditative state. I listened to the drumbeats, and felt the pounding in my soul.

As I slipped into trance, I felt a soft, cool breath on the right side of face, as if someone were breathing on me. I slipped into the void and fell into a vortex, where I began to spin as if I were on the Gravitron ride at an amusement park or carnival. I felt and heard nothing from the outside world – I knew it was still there, I could sense my husband in the living room, and I knew my children were upstairs asleep, but I heard nothing. It had all faded away from my mind.

My right arm felt weighted, as if held down by something – when I felt the distinct sensation of itches begging to be scratched all over my body, I ignored them. I am sure they were still there, they never went away, but my mind glossed over them and did not recognize their existence. I began to feel as if my right arm had faded out of existence, and unfortunately this triggered my mind to come back to waking consciousness.

I shook it off, wrote down my experiences, and attempted to do another trance but ended up sitting in darkness, in the void, with nothingness my only companion, for about 30 minutes. This second trance was not a fail, but it was exactly what my mind needed to reset after the vortex episode.

This was my first step into using a drumming recording to enter a trance, and I must say that I prefer this method over the typical counting down method. This is a much smoother transition into an altered state, and it creates a different experience entirely. It makes it more difficult for me to find my Tree, at least from the first experience, but I think it will prove to be a more solid method than any other I have tried.

Soul Connection, Part I

When I met Aaron on November 3rd 2014, I felt an instant connection. I walked up to him when we were on break (we met our first day of training at work), and I told him point blank: “You’re my best friend.” He was accepting of this, and we hung out at work all the time – I tried to sit near him as much as possible, even though we had assigned seats. We joked around in class and out. It was this resonance that I had never experienced before, like that feeling when you meet someone and you just know they are right for your life.

Struggle

For the longest time I have struggled. I talk a lot about struggling, especially with spirituality, mostly because I have such a conflicting desire in what I want from my spirituality.

Totem Animals

 

“A totem is a spirit being, sacred object, or symbol of a tribe, clan, family or individual. Native American tradition provides that each individual is connected with nine different animals that will accompany each person through life, acting as guides.” – http://www.legendsofamerica.com/na-totems.html

The website goes on to explain that though a person may have many guides throughout their lives, the totem animal is the primary guide that stays with a person their entire life. It also has a list of questions to assist the reader in determining their animal guide(s), and the meanings of the different animal guides that are common.

Something I Never Expected…

While surfing Youtube for New Moon ritual videos – just ideas and stuff – I came across a short guided meditation for finding your spirit animal guide. I had expectations going into this meditation – I have already encountered two of my spirit guides – Black Cat (just as his name suggests, he is a black feline; however, he can appear as a small house cat or a fully grown black panther) and Coyote (a shapeshifting Native American shaman, who most commonly appears as a Coyote) – but the guide I encountered was one I have never met before…