Daily Alignments

 A Practice in Leaning into the Discomfort Experienced when Sharing Witchcraft

 

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Someone commented on a piece I wrote here that they always liked reading my posts; that they were magical; but, they wished I would speak more directly to practice, sharing more directly what I actually do as far as witchcraft goes.

And I had to sit with that for awhile and take my own council.

Should I be sharing more about my witchcraft practices?

I try to write so that the “practice” is embedded in the writing.  In other words, if I’m talking about hanging out with a friend, there’s something important that I am saying, and that ‘saying,’ if read carefully, contains insights into the practice of witchcraft, and, specifically my practice.

In other words, it’s really all there.  It’s just hidden in plain sight.

But, I had to contemplate if, perhaps, I should be–at least sometimes–more explicit about practicing witchcraft?  More explicit about witchcraft practices?

That’s never been my way.

For me, there’s an intimacy in the practice of witchcraft.  That intimacy is between myself and my spirits.  Myself and spirits of a place.  Myself and those with whom I feel comfortable sharing my intimate relationships.

In other words, if I wouldn’t let you cross the threshold of my home, or invite you out to sit with my friends and me, then I probably won’t be sharing the details of my witchcraft practice with you, because it’s a practice as personal and intimate as the personal and intimate conversations and relationships I have with anyone else with whom I share my life.

Some people don’t feel that way.

I don’t know what they get out of witchcraft.

Fame. Money. Cultural Capital. Ooohs and Aaaaahs.

They’ll sell your ass down-river for publicity and a moment to bask their ego in the spot-light.

That’s Camp-Fire Grrl shit.

And I ain’t no camp-fire grrl.

I’m a Hearth-Fire Grrl.

Bitchy?  I don’t think so.  Boundaries are key to my relationships.

If you in, you in; if you out, stay the fuck out!

–Mama Lola

Draw it in, nice and close; intent direct eye contact; whisper; the touch of hands; nothing to be, nothing to hide; ride or die.

That’s how my friendships and relationships go.

But, the person who wrote me brought up a decent point:

There has to be degrees.  There has to be some things I’m willing to talk about.  There has to be some sharing, at least a bit.

So, I will share something more explicit…

 

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I’ve had a student for awhile now.

I cherish the relationship between him and me.

Love and Trust.

One of the things I was given very early in training were daily alignments (from a group of Steghe, here in Massachusetts, dear to my heart, about 20 years ago).  The objective of these alignments were to slowly draw the cycles of the moon and sun into my very cells, so that, eventually, it could be high noon, and I would think of the moon, and instantly know what phase it was in, and, when dusk came, I’d find out I was correct.  Or, I’d be in an area that I’m unfamiliar with, and could rely on my compass-sense to navigate directionally, and I would find that I was correct.  In other words, these alignments seemed simple, and yet, doing them every day, oriented me, gave me a vantage, that produced a deeper connection between me and the natural world.  I was “in-compassed,” for lack of a better term.

This is Old Magic.  Old Training, like where you’re brought, blind-folded, out to a spot in the middle of nowhere, are told to count to 300, remove the blind-fold, and find your way back before dawn. Sometimes with a lit candle that you’re not allowed to let go out or it’s a ‘fail.’

I don’t even see this type of training anymore in “Modern Witchcraft.”

But, I’m old.  I’m 44 years old, and things change quickly.  Practices and Lore fade into obscurity

But, I’m training my student in the Old Ways.  It’s how I was taught, so, naturally, it influences how I teach.

So, my student is doing daily alignments.

I was passed the practice of alignments orally.  They were just told to me and I worked with them until they were committed to memory. That’s how my training went.  It wasn’t until I came back into the larger witchcraft community, to finish my Feri training, around 2014 that I was given handouts via email communications, etc.  I’m still a fan of oral tradition.  There’s something that happens when furiously writing in a notebook as your mentor is rapidly talking on a subject that is just a different embodied experience than receiving an email of your ‘lesson’ for the day.  Can you recite, by heart, five of your friends’ phone numbers?  Meaning, if you were stuck somewhere and suddenly your cell phone was dead, and you had the option to use someone’s phone to call for help, would you even be able to place a call?  Or, like many or most, “Siri, call so-and-so” has caused you to not know people’s numbers?  It’s just a question.  But it underscores what I’m saying about oral tradition and practice, versus electronic correspondence and training.

ANYway.  I was passed alignments orally.  After awhile, I came across a really lovely book, which I also suggest to anyone, called Embracing the Moon, by Yasmine Galenorn. In her book, Yasmine has elemental prayers/meditations/alignments, and I fell in love with them.  These came to replace the original alignments I had been passed orally.  And, fairly recently, I re-wrote the alignments, myself, in their present form below.

The alignments that I was initially passed were shorter and much different than the ones I use now and have passed to my student. The practice is the same, but the words said have gone through the two incarnations mentioned above.  As a nod to the older form, from Yasmine, I kept one original line in each, which I sectioned off below with [brackets]  The rest is mine.  I selected one line that I thought was particularly poignant or beautiful, and wrote the rest around it, so that these alignments are a new practice, reaching out of the past and into the future.

I’m nostalgic like that.

So, here are the daily alignments in full practice form.

As I tell my student: I would suggest doing them in full practice form for quite awhile.  They are deliberately crafted in that way because they are designed to do something and produce something in that form.  So, give them their due time.  After that, feel free to keep working them the same, mix them up how you like, or throw them away.  Your choice.

One last note: I am a New Englander.  My witchcraft was born and bred in New England. It changes when I am in other locations.  But, these alignments are written for practice in New England.  If the symbolism and directions do not match your own geography, then change them to fit your own natural environment.

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–In the morning, facing East, the rising/morning sun, dawn to 10am–

I am smart

I am intelligent

I am an excellent communicator

I am cunning

I both see and perceive

The patterns that unfold before and about me

I both see and perceive

The safe path between obstacles

Like the spirits of Air

The swift and far-reaching winds

[My mind soars to other realms

And back again]

I am air

I am air

I am air

 

–In the afternoon, facing south, the afternoon sun, 12pm-4pm–

I am motion

I am driven

I am motivated

I act upon my visions

I cut away

The bullshit to get at the Truth

I cut away

That which is not best for me

Like the spirits of Fire

[The glow of flame and lava]

[I magnetize and inflame the senses

As I heal and burn]

I am fire

I am fire

I am fire

 

–In the evening, facing West, preferably as the sun is half-sunk behind the horizon–

I am beautiful

I am passionate

I am feeling

I am sensing

I possess immense capacity and capability

To feel and process my own emotional landscapes

I possess immense capacity and capability

To help others feel and process their emotional landscapes

Like the spirits of Water

The rains, lakes, rivers, and oceans

[I am joy and hidden depths

Transcended from the moon]

I am water

I am water

I am water

 

–At night, facing North, wind-down/bedtime, 9pm-2am–

I am strong

I am stable

I am balanced

I am grounded

I manifest financial prosperity and abundance

In my life

I manifest physical pleasures and delights

In my life

Like the spirits of Earth

The soil, rocks, caves, and mountains

[The cornucopia showers blessings

Into my life]

I am earth

I am earth

I am earth

 

–Sprit is different from the others.  It’s a bit more of a wild-card.  It can be said upon opening your eyes in the morning before even rising out of bed, and said once more when back in bed at night, before closing your eyes to sleep.  It can be said at dead-noon and dead-midnight.  It can be said anytime, really.  Your choice.  Just note what each particular practice does for you, personally, because there’s something important to be learned there–

I am sexual

I am creative

I am co-creator of the universe

I am part of the spiral dance

[I stand in the center of my web weaving]

As above so below

[I stand in the center of my web weaving]

As I will it, so must it be

[My body, mind, and spirit are in harmony]

I am aether

I am aether

I am aether

 

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And, that’s that.

Those are the alignments that I use myself.  And those are the alignments that I teach.

Do I do them every day?  No.  I used to.  Now, I do them when I feel like doing them.

I hope someone finds them a useful, insightful, practice that inspires, informs, teaches something, and brings something magical into their life so that they feel blessed having crossed paths with this page.

I mean, if that’s what happens, then I’m over the moon about it.

Peace. xx

j