Riding the Dragon

Many Traditional Crafters have an interesting relationship with dragons.

Some see them as archetypes, some as being similar to the Gods, and some see them as living mythical beasts, in a very literal way.

It is certainly true that myths and legends involving dragons are central to many of the traditional cultures from which British Witchcraft derives.

In Sumerian and Babylonian mythology we have Tiamet,

the Mother of Dragons, and even in the Ancient Egyptian Mysteries we can find the dragon tucked away,

take a good look at the figure of Ptah found in the tomb of Tutankhamun, and you will see the markings of feathered wings wrapped around His mummiform body.

Ptah, the Great Architect, and one of the oldest gods in the Egyptian pantheon, is a dragon.

But for us in Briar Rose, the dragon is a very personal thing, because we see drakes to a certain extent as “all of the above”, but most importantly, we see the drake as part of our own make-up.

Just as Orion Foxwood teaches that we have three selves, the Dream Walker, Surface Walker and Star Walker, so in our kind of crafting we work with three aspects of self, the Drake, the Initiate and the Crown.

In other Traditions these also appear,  though they may have different names, such as the Fetch-Beast, the Magician and the Star-Body, or ShadowSelf, Self and Star-Self.

For us, the Drake is the Underworld component of our being, the Shadow form from which we gain our power.

So awakening the Dragon is an important part of our development, and a key part of our rite of initiation.

However, there is a caveat, because the Drake needs to be reined in by the Crown or Higher Self, otherwise it is out of control, and will ride roughshod over the Initiate self.

It is much like the relationship between Set and Nephthys in the Egyptian Mysteries — Set is, among other things, the chaotic yet potent power of the desert storm, wild and destructive.

But Nephthys provides the control and contact for his chaos,

giving form to his force so that the power is tamed and becomes her power of dissolution,

the side of nature that involves breaking down things to their basic building blocks through erosion, decay, and rotting,

so that those components can be recycled and incorporated in new growth, new life.

So the key when working with drakes is to find the balance point,

much like finding the fulcrum point of the Compass in order to work magic…

only the Drake is the engine that powers the magic, and the Compass is the tool we use, guided by our Higher Self or Crown, to direct it.

We use the term “riding the dragon” both for the process of balancing this relationship, and also for the exercise we use to learn and practice it.

The exercise of riding the dragon is similar in some aspects to a martial arts exercise, as it involves directing energy through posture. Start by standing with your feet shoulder-width apart.

Bend your knees to lower your center of gravity, and curve your spine, so it is a little like sitting in an imaginary chair or saddle.

You should lift your heels off the ground slightly, and allow your ankles and knees to flex slightly.

This results in a gentle bobbing motion, which should be matched to your breathing.

Try to curve your back a little more, so the upper part is also curved.

Let your head drop forward and down, and then look up, curving the neck.

Finally, hold your arms and hands out before you, though they should be curved as well, as if you are holding a large invisible beach ball in front of you.

This is the basic rider position.

Now reach down with your senses, feeling for the dark pulsing energy that “bobs” in time to your own motion.

This is your Drake.

Draw it up until you feel almost as if your feet will leave the floor, and be aware of the Drake flexing in time with you between your thighs.

At this point things will start to get warm, and you will feel spontaneous movements ripple through your spine and neck.

This is where you need to find the balance point, which allows the energy to move where you want it, without it getting away from you.

It is a bit like riding a unicycle.

As long as there is balance, you will find that gentler controlled movement is easy and flows well, and the whole thing feels like an extension of yourself —

but lose that point of balance and it will quickly get away from you, and suddenly you are being forced to move, dragged in the direction it wants to go, because you have lost control.

Animal Kinship

It has long been believed that humans have a kinship with animals, and that this kinship allows us to draw on their special qualities.

When choosing an animal as a totem (a hereditary badge or emblem for a tribe or clan that serves as a personal sacred talisman), you call upon the power of the animal and are drawn into harmony with its strength and power.

Totems appear in dreams and bring healing, abundance, strength and power, and protection.

Native American Indians believe that when you align your consciousness with that of an animal, that animal will speak to you in a special way, the way of power.

This way of power is considered to be very potent.

The totem animal then becomes your spiritual ally and safely guides you through life’s trials and tribulations.

For example, if you feel the need for more independence, you might want to work with the cat.

If you are faced with a problem which calls for swift action, then the horse would be a good choice.

The best way to make contact with your power animal is during meditation.

Choose a place where you can be alone for at least 15 minutes.

Dim the lights and turn off all outside distractions, including the television, radio, and stereo.

Seat yourself in a comfortable chair and relax your body. Begin at the top of the head and work downward.

Tilt your head forwards, backwards, and then from side to side, breathing deeply three times each.

Relax.

Continue down through the neck, chest, back, arms and abdomen, breathing deeply three times for each body section.

Relax.

Then continue on down through the thighs, knees, ankles, feet, and toes.

Check all muscles you can feel and be sure that they are relaxed.

If your breathing is even and calm, relaxation will come quickly and easily.

As you direct your breathing, exclude all thoughts and sensations and fix your consciousness totally on the breathing process.

Let your mind slip into a semiconscious state and ask for your power animal to appear.

When the animal comes into focus, relax and allow yourself to connect with the animal on a mental level.

Invite the animal to work with you and give you a measure of its power.

When you feel you have absorbed the qualities or power needed, thank your power animal, and return to a full conscious state of mind.

The Magick of Animals

The following animals all have magickal qualities that can be harnessed in times of need.

Choose an animal to work with that best represents a personality characteristic you would like to develop or improve.

Bear (introspection, stability, wisdom)

The strength of the bear lies in its ability to enter into a state of hibernation.

In this state it is able to digest the year’s experience.

The bear gains wisdom through sleep in dream time.

When warmth and sunlight return, the bear emerges strong, stable, and with renewed vitality.

Bear is strongly protective of home and family.

Bear Associations.

Direction: North Element: Earth Deities: Artemis, Diana, Thor, Cernunnos.

The bear will teach you great wisdom.

He will also teach you the value of stillness and introspection.

When you feel the need for stability, call on the bear during meditation.

Ask the bear to bring you wisdom.

Buffalo (abundance, prayer, thanksgiving)

The buffalo was the major source of food for the Plains Indians.

The buffalo provided meat, hide for clothing, and hooves for glue.

The buffalo was considered sacred in many traditions because it represented the ideal that when all was in balance there was great abundance.

When there was abundance, prayer and thanksgiving were offered in gratitude.

Buffalo Associations.

Direction: North and South Elements: Earth and Fire Deities: Apis, Cernunnos, Jupiter, Thor, Zeus.

When you feel out of synch with those around you or your environment, ask the buffalo for help.

Work with the buffalo during meditation.

When you feel the need to pray or give thanks for blessings received, ask the buffalo to help you express your emotions in a proper manner.

Cat (independence, secrets)

The cat is very independent, a mighty hunter, and has many secrets.

The cat was worshiped by the Egyptians because of its cunning and ability to purge the house of undesirable elements.

Bast, the cat-headed goddess, was considered to be a great protector of women. In ancient Rome, the cat was a symbol of freedom.

The cat is known for hiding and being secretive.

Cat Associations

Direction: North and South Elements: Earth and Fire Deities: Bast, Brighid, Hathor, Isis, Maat, Osiris, Ra

If there is something you need to find out about yourself or others, ask the cat for help during meditation.

If you feel overburdened and feel the need for more for independence, invite the cat into your dreams.

Dog (friendship, loyalty)

Dogs have long been considered man’s best friend.

The dog is loyal to a fault, content with the bare necessities of life, and, like the wolf, protective of home and family.

For thousands of years, dogs have been honored for their loyalty. Hermes (Mercury) was frequently accompanied by his faithful dog.

Argos, Odysseus’s dog, was the only one to recognize him when he returned from the Trojan War.

Dogs have a keen sense of smell, hearing, and sight. It is said they can sense evil and death approaching.

Dog Associations Direction: North Elements: Earth Deities: Odin, Lugh, Demeter, Mercury/Hermes, Ishtar

Use the dog when you feel the need for support from your friends, or when you feel loyalties are divided.

During meditation ask the dog to protect you from the negative thoughts and vibrations others send your way.

Eagle (spirit, connection to the Divine)

The eagle is believed to be the messenger or connection between humans and the divine.

The eagle has the ability to live in the realm of the spirit and yet remain connected to the Earth and its inhabitants.

The eagle represents the grace that is achieved through hard work.

The eagle teaches humans how to have the courage and learn from the lows in life as well as the highs.

Eagle Associations Direction: East Element: Air Deities: Zeus, Indra, Jupiter, Mithras, Apollo

When you need help with spiritual development ask the eagle for help.

In meditation merge with the eagle for help with rising above material desires. Ask the eagle to enter your dreams and impart knowledge of about the Ancient Ones.

Elephant (wisdom, stability)

The elephant has always been revered for its size, intelligence, and devotion to family.

The Greek philosopher Aristotle admired the elephant for its great wisdom and intelligence.

In Hinduism, the elephant-headed god Ganesha is invoked before any undertaking for his wisdom.

Ganesha is said to bring stability and abundance to shop owners.

Elephant Associations Direction: North Element: Earth Deities: Ganesh, Indra, Siva

If you’re having problems making decisions, work with the elephant for wisdom and stability.

If you’re considering starting a business or need to attract more customers to your present business, ask the elephant-headed god Ganesha for help.

Horse (swift action, power)

The horse has long been a symbol of swiftness and power.

In ancient mythology it is the horse that bears the heroes and the gods across the earth, and even across the sky, at great speed.

The horse is physical power and unearthly power. In shamanic practices, the horse enables the shaman to fly through the air to reach the heavens or spirit realm.

The horse is able to carry great burdens for long distances with ease.

Horse Associations Direction: North, East, South, West Element: Earth, Air, Fire, Water Deities: Epona, Helios, Brighid, Apollo, Godiva, Mars, Artemis

When you need to respond swiftly to a situation, call on the horse.

If you need more personal power, or are overburdened by too much work, ask the horse to give you strength.

Owl (clairvoyance, magick, astral projection)

The owl has been called the night eagle because of its connection to the world of spirit.

The owl hunts at night.

The owl can see in the dark and pinpoint prey by sound.

Humans may be afraid of the dark, but night is owl’s friend.

The owl is silent; you can’t hear it when it flies.

The owl has often been associated with the Witch because of its connection to the night.

Owl Associations Direction: East Element: Air Deities: Athena, Lilith, Hecate, Bloeuweed, Isis, Minerva

During meditation, ask the owl to help you unveil the truth and see things clearly.

The owl can also help you learn to interpret omens and intuit dreams. Before doing any kind of divination, ask the owl to be present and help you interpret things correctly.

Wolf (power, protection, psychic development)

Wolves howl at the moon, they mate openly, and walk silently through the woods.

The wolf lives by instinct.

The wolf is the pathfinder, the discoverer of new ideas who returns to his family to teach them the ways of the world.

The Wolf has keen senses, works with the power of the moon, and is a symbol of psychic energy

Wolf Associations Direction: North Element: Earth Deities: Loki, Odin, Diana, Artemis, Brighid, the Morrigan

When you are in need of more personal power or psychic energy call on the wolf.

The wolf will take you to his private den and teach you how to walk silently and work with the power of the moon to build psychic skills.

Black Cat Protection Spell

A good spell to ward off the evil intentions of another, block a psychic attack, or turn your luck around.

Items needed:

One black cat candle,

Black cat oil (composed of patchouli and frankincense),

A mirror.

On the night of the waxing moon, as close to midnight as possible, begin the spell.

On your altar or a small table, place the mirror reflecting side up.

Dress the black cat candle with the black cat oil.

As you do this, visualize your luck changing and good things coming to you.

Next, place the cat candle on the mirror and light it as you chant the following:

Black cat power From this hour Reflect the light Make things right.

Allow the black cat candle to burn for one hour.

Repeat this spell every night, at the same time, until the full moon.

On the night of the full moon, place the mirror with the black cat on it in the moonlight.

Repeat the chant, and allow the candle to burn out.

When the candle has been consumed, discard any wax left and put the mirror away.

The Dragon in Magick

The dragon is a fantastic beast that appears in almost every mythological tradition throughout the world.

Often depicted as a mix of several different creatures, it represents the four elements of life: air, fire, water, and earth.

The dragon has the wings of a bird and is covered with the scales of a fish or snake.

It is capable of breathing fire, and usually guards a horde of treasure deep within the earth.

In pre-Christian Europe and the Far East, the dragon was seen as a symbol of power, virility, and superhuman strength, and was considered to be a friend of mankind.

In magick, the dragon is wholly beneficent and is seen as the manifestation of life-giving waters (the serpent), and the breath of life (the bird).

Generally, it is considered to be a celestial power and has the attributes of both the sun and moon, masculine and feminine, good and evil sides of nature.

The dragon and serpent are usually interchangeable as representations of the unmanifest and the creation of form and matter.

The dragon represents the highest spiritual power, the supernatural, and the spirit of change.

When you align your forces with those of the dragon, you gain strength and power.

Its magick can help you overcome negative thoughts and it can teach you how to live abundantly

Cats as Witches Familiars

The cat, especially the black cat, is a creature of witchcraft, in all popular belief.

No artist’s conception of a witch’s cottage of the olden time could possibly be complete without Baudrons or Grimalkin, sleek and purring by the fire, watching with glowing eyes over all that takes place.

The witch’s cat, however, did not have to be black in color.

In Macbeth, it is a brindled cat that mews significantly, and the name ‘Grimalkin’ means a grey cat.

Indeed, the whole royal feline race of cats have something about them which is magical and uncanny.

They probably inherit this quality from Ancient Egypt, where they were sacred beasts.

The Egyptian cat goddess Bast seems to have been a feline form of Isis.

Bubastis was her sacred city; and there and at other places in Egypt thousands of carefully mummified and reverently interred bodies of cats have been found.

The British Museum possesses a number of beautiful relics of the cat cult of Ancient Egypt; notably the hollow sarcophagi, or statues in the life-like forms of cats, inside which the mummified bodies of deceased pets were placed.

Cats have been known in Britain from early times.

The domesticated cat was brought from Ancient Egypt and introduced to Britain by the Romans.

A certain Welsh prince, Hywel, passed special laws for the protection of cats.

He was evidently a cat lover, but the cats depicted in old churches are usually of sinister aspect.

Feline demons carved in stone glare grotesquely at the worshipper, especially in some of our churches which date from the Norman period.

This is another instance of the gods of the old religion becoming the devils of the new.

A famous weird carving connected with witchcraft is the one in Lyons Cathedral, which depicts a naked witch holding up a cat by its back legs, as she rides upon a goat, which has formidable horns but a human face.

Her only garment, a cloak, streams behind her in the wind ; with one hand she clings to the goat’s horns, while she grasps the cat in the other.

Witches were often accused of changing themselves into cats for the purpose of molesting people, or for running swift-footed by night upon some uncanny errand.

The eat’s nocturnal habits, its moon-like eyes, and horrid midnight caterwauling, all contributed to its sinister reputation.

So also did the electric nature of its fur, from which visible sparks of static electricity can sometimes be stroked in a dark room.

The Devil was sometimes said to appear at the Sabbat in the form of a huge black cat.

One wonders whether this was a far-off reminiscence of ancient cat worship.

The pagan gods were sometimes believed to appear as animals.

Diana took the form of a cat, and Pan of a goat.

The deities of the witches were in fact aspects of Pan and Diana, the Horned God and the Moon Goddess; and the cat and the goat are the animals most associated with witchcraft, in popular legend and belief.

To this day, there are people who fear to have a black cat cross their path; though they probably do not realize the origin of this belief, namely that the animal might be a witch in cat form.

Others, however, regard the black cat as a symbol of good luck.

The old folk rhyme tells us : Whenever the cat of the house is black, The lasses of lovers will have no lack.

People wear black cat charms and brooches, and in the nineteen twenties and thirties there was quite a vogue for teapots in the form of black cats, as there is today for table-lamps in the same shape.

There are innumerable stories of cats being able to see things that are invisible to human eyes. Indeed, there is hardly a confirmed cat lover to be found, who cannot tell some anecdote of their pet having psychic or telepathic powers.

The writer has heard of two cases (one observed by her own mother) of cats which were capable of astral projection; that is, their forms were seen in one place when it was proved that their sleeping bodies were in another.

It has also been a matter of some observation, that cats definitely enjoy Spiritualist seances.

A Spiritualist once tried her best to exclude her cat from the room where seances were held because she believed that the cat ‘took the power’.

It is not quite clear what she meant by this, but the cat refused to accept this exclusion and would try every trick he knew (and cats know plenty) to slip into the room and take part in the sitting.

Alot of Spiritualists, however, accepted their eat’s desire to be present at seances; and this particular cat, a huge black neutered tom, would stalk majestically into the seance room and preside over the meeting.

Either of these cats, had they lived a few centuries ago, would have been highly valued as witches’ familiars. The belief in occult powers associated with the cat is one of the strongest survivals of the old witch lore.