WEB FEATURES A special feature from the archives of WeaveAndSpin.org from the RQ Archives Archives – Pearl Features Free Online! Back Theme section from the final issue of RQ! issues of The Pearl Pentacle is a tool for personal transformation and one of Reclaiming’ Reclaiming core classes, taught in the Bay Areaand other communities. Quarterly — 60+ pages of Adapted from the , the five points of the Pearl Pentacle as and Magical currently taught in Reclaiming are: Activism – Love (Head) are available Law (Right Foot) as free downloadable Wisdom (Left Hand) PDF files at Liberty (Right Hand) RQ.org Plus Knowledge (Left Foot) you’ll find lots of other features on Thsee interviews and articles with gender, , ritual, , music, Seed, Robyn, Gwydion, Rose, and activism, and much more! Brook convey some of the mystery and magic of working the Pearl Pentacle. Visit WeaveAndSpin.org/archives This class is also taught online at WorldtreeLyceum.org Download PDF or read online: WeaveAndSpin.org/pearl-pentacle/ Reclaiming Music CDs also available from the RQ Archives Chants & Music available online Our Magical Ancestors – an Illustrated essay

How did we get here? Where are we coming from? We’ll examine and obscure sources ranging from magical to political to cultural, looking at what each offers to modern practicing Pagans. This 40-page illustrated essay surveys our magical and spiritual roots from ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia to Gardner and Gimbutas. A second section looks at activist and cultural roots. Reclaiming has released five albums of Earth-based chants and music. “Presents an enormous amount of material in a very attractive Albums feature many favorite witchcamp and readable way.” chants, including songs by and others, recorded by a mixed chorus plus – Michael D. Bailey, conga, guitar, fiddle, and more. Associate Editor: Magic, Ritual, & Witchcraft Listen free at all streaming sites.

WeaveAndSpin.org/history Visit WeaveAndSpin.org/playlists

Reclaiming Quarterly • PO Box 14404, San Francisco, CA 94114 • [email protected] • WeaveAndSpin.org Love Law Wisdom Liberty Knowledge Love Law Wisdom Liberty Knowledge

The Pentacle of Pearl

An RQ feature coordinated by George Franklin & Abel Gomez Pearl Pentacle Magic: the Oyster Trance The Pearl Pentacle is both a tool for personal transformation One common Pearl working is the Oyster Trance. We journey and one of four Bay Area Reclaiming core classes — see to the depths of the ocean to explore how the oyster anchors below for more on core classes. itself, how its body is shaped, how it feeds, how it lives. Reclaiming’s Pearl Pentacle class, like the Iron Pentacle that A pearl begins to develop when an irritant penetrates the preceded it by a few years, was adapted from Victor and Cora oyster’s shell. It attempts to expel it. If this fails, the oyster Anderson’s work in the Feri Tradition of Witchcraft. secretes layer upon layer of nacre, gently washing the wound The five points of the Pearl Pentacle as currently taught in over and over again. Eventually the irritant is completely coat- Reclaiming are: Love, Law, Wisdom, Liberty, and Knowledge. ed with nacre, accepted, and transformed into a precious pearl. Some of these points have other attributes as well. In the same way, we learn to work with our own irritants and The interviews on the next several pages convey some of the wounds, whether from the outside or from within, gradually mystery and magic of working the Pearl Pentacle. transforming them into our own unique pearls.

What is Pentacle Work? What is a Core Class? Pearl Pentacle classes focus on each of the points in turn, devoting a session each to Core classes are the basic curriculum Love, Law, Wisdom, Liberty, and Knowl- of Reclaiming, laying the foundation edge. The work might include discussions, for advanced magical work. meditation or trance, embodied exercises, Bay Area Reclaiming core classes: games, dyad or small group encounters, • Elements of Magic – an singing and chanting, etc. introductory class in Reclaiming- We also “run the pentacle” through our style magical practice. bodies. The five points correspond to the • Iron Pentacle – Sex, Pride, Self, head, hands, and feet. If we stand with hands Power, Passion. and feet outstretched so we form a star, we begin from head/Love and send a ray of en- • Pearl Pentacle – Love, Law, Wisdom, ergy to right foot/Law, then back to left hand/ Liberty, Knowledge. Wisdom, across to right hand/Liberty, down to • Rites of Passage – plumbing the uncon- left foot/Knowledge, and back to the head to com- scious via dreamwork, trance, and story. plete the cycle. • Tending the Community Temple. Begin by grounding and centering your own energy. Then Although each offering varies, there is a basic curriculum for let it rise to a point just above your crown so you can feel it each class. floating like a small ball of colored light, like an iridescent pearl. Focus on “Love.” After a short bit, let that energy drop Over the years there have been other classes suggested as on a breath to just above your right foot. Focus on “Law.” core: Power and Mystery, Pentacle of the Great Turning, Then across the body to left hand/Wisdom. And so on. Advanced Elements, deity-based classes, priestessing skills, and more. When you have run 3-5 cycles and have returned again to head/ Love, run the energy around the outer ring – head, left hand, If you want to see any of these classes offered, contact the left foot, right foot, right hand, head. At each point, focus on the CRAFT teachers cell, which offers classes and workshops in corresponding pentacle point. End again on head/Love. the greater Bay Area and around California. Finish by returning your energy to your center. Ground excess You can find complete class listings at www.Reclaiming.org/ energy by touching the floor or your own center and breathing. classevents/ — or email [email protected]

i s s u e 103 • Re c l a i m i n g Qu a r t e r l y 37 Love Law Wisdom Liberty Knowledge Love Law Wisdom Liberty Knowledge

Reflections on the Pearl Points Men’s Pearl Pentacle class • San Francisco 2010

Love My Law is Love unto all beings Affection My Love is poured out upon the Earth Trust Passionate Liberty Nurturing Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness Wisdom Divine Liberation Insight Aphrodite Free Choice Intuition Eros Free Speech Gnosis Transformation Athena Freedom’s just another word for nothing left to Discernment lose Integrity Power-with Wisdom of Fools Earth Wisdom Paradox

Law Knowledge Respect Before the Law there came a man from the country... Know myself in all my parts Dharma Know thyself Law of Gravity How do I know what I know? Consensus Gnosis Law of Threefold Return Arcane knowledge Murphy’s Law Tree of Knowledge Jupiter Common Knowledge Do as thou wilt is the whole of the Law

Pearl words harvested from Men’s Pearl Pentacle class, San Francisco, Spring 2010: Gwydion, Alphonsus, George, Jason, Michael, Chionesu, Jonathan, Kevin, Henri, Ross, Abel, Leif, Mark. For more information contact [email protected]

38 Re c l a i m i n g Qu a r t e r l y • i s s u e 103 Love Law Wisdom Liberty Knowledge Love Law Wisdom Liberty Knowledge the energy of deep healing ...

... to be present with our wounded places ...

... oceanic ... the full moon ... deep mother energy

An RQ interview with Seed What came to be meaningful to When and how have you found it useful? me — a personal meaning — is that the Do you have specific Pearl practices? How/when did you start working with The Pearl Pentacle is inside all of Pearl? What draws you to it? five-pointed star is such a deeply potent my practices. This is one of the beauties I was introduced to the Pentacle of form in nature, and for us as humans. of Pearl – I’ve never had to set it aside. Pearl in the mid 1990s as a Reclaiming A great number of the foods that Certainly, whenever there is crisis in my challenge: to run the Pearl we eat, the fruits and vegetables, are life, Pearl tends to arise. At these times, Pentacle every day for a month and a from plants with five-pointed flowers: it is mainly a tool for contemplation and day. Once I experienced its power, I kept berries, apples, pears, cherries. It makes for clarity. Holding the crisis in each on running it every day for over a year. sense that the pentacle is a symbol point in turn: How is love manifesting My initiation took several years, of abundance, nearly essential to the in this situation? How are the laws of and during that time the Pearl Pentacle worship of the feminine divine. human emotion and of nature shaping it? became a “boon companion,” a The five-pointed star flipped, with What wisdom is being revealed? What medicine. It sank in so deeply that I point at bottom, is the sign of the horned possibility/liberty is opening up? What didn’t know if I was running it or it was god, much maligned by Christian culture. knowledge is gained and how can it be running me – I would just recognize it This is another primordial symbol of of service? continually arising. nurture and abundance – the hunt. It seemed to be laid out so The human body itself is a five- What is the relationship between the beautifully — the points matched the pointed form. So, it makes so much Pearl and Iron Pentacle? natural way that my thoughts arose and sense that to honor ourselves and to Iron Pentacle energy tends to my spirit worked in the world. honor the abundance and fertility of the be brighter, more jagged – it evokes Earth, we would be drawn to work with individual power, how we show up Was Pearl a core Reclaiming class at that the five-pointed star. in the world. Pearl is more about time, or did you help introduce it into Reclaiming? What does working the Pentacle of Pearl embracing and integrating this power. At that time it was not a core class, mean to you? It’s often said that Iron is more about but it was being taught occasionally. I Pearl energy is the energy of deep had taken it with Beverly Frederick, and healing – the ability to be present with continued on next page others were teaching it. I was one of those our wounded who supported it becoming a core class. places in It is such a lovely balance to the Iron such a way Pentacle, which was already a core class. that we can reclaim them Tell us about your early work with and turn them . I came to pentacles as a student, into jewels. as an initiate. I stepped into a tradition It feels very that was already teaching pentacles. I oceanic, with accepted them on their face and began the influences working with them. Those who studied of the the full directly with Victor and Cora Anderson moon, of the may have a deeper sense of the origins deep mother of the pentacle practices. energy.

i s s u e 103 • Re c l a i m i n g Qu a r t e r l y 39 Love Law Wisdom Liberty Knowledge Love Law Wisdom Liberty Knowledge continued from preceding page running Knowledge as “service.” At the end of the road, what is worth sharing Some thoughts from the individual, and Pearl about being in with the world? healthy community. I think Pearl is also More recently, the point named Rose May Dance deeply individual, and Iron at its best “Power” has been taught as “Liberty.” is a blessing for community. There’s a I have begun to teach it this way. We Why do you work the Pearl Pentacle? universality to both. explore “choice” within Liberty. The I run both Iron and Pearl Pentacles Some have said that Pearl as a word “choice” goes back to roots daily. Pearl completes Iron. Not that new-agey, “goody-goody” Pentacle – I meaning “to enjoy” and “to taste,” or Iron doesn’t stand on its own, but Pearl completely disagree. There is plenty that “gusto.” I love linking liberty/choice is a nice complement. I work inside the is challenging in each of the points of to intuition, to what feels and tastes pearl, as if I am the seed that the pearl the Pearl Pentacle, as there is in the deep healthful and good. is covering. It’s like my aura. ocean and deep mother energy. We teach What are some skills and techniques it in a way that plumbs those resonances, you use to strengthen and balance the What is your experience running working with the irritant, the piece of points? Pearl energy? grit that creates the pearl, and with the We use trance, story-telling, heal- It’s a soft and beautiful practice. Pearl challenges of compassion. ing, shadow work, enactments, , softens the Iron – it sits inside it. I get Some teachers feel Iron should be an ddivination, among other techniques. a 360-degree experience, like a round taught before Pearl, but that hasn’t been Healing work comes in more with Pearl pearl. I like whorling with color – pearl my personal experience. I’ve taught Pearl than with Iron. The specific exercises is iridescent. first and found it to be a complete work- arise out of the energy of the points them- ing. I have observed that sometimes when selves. How does it fit into your daily people have taken Iron, they are eager for Any “cautionary tales” from your practice? Pearl as a balm. I feel that anyone who experience? wants to study either one would benefit. My daily practice also includes the Ha To me, the energy of Pearl is like a Prayer. I send my breath to my aura and How do you run the Pentacle-points? tonic herb – there are certain plants that to my God-self. Living in San Francisco, There are so many ways to run are just good for people. I guess if you my world often looks grey. It’s easy to pentacle energy! Here, it’s good to did nothing but run Pearl, it might be a see this world as a pearl. mention that within Reclaiming, there little out of balance. If someone were are differences in the order in which running Pearl as a watery, deep energy, What do you mean by working the points are named. The way they are and what they needed was to balance “inside” the pearl? named in The is Love, with fiery, bright energy, they would Actually, I am inside and outside it at Law, Wisdom, Power, Knowledge, and need to create that balance. Each of us is the same time. That kind of mystery this is how I was taught them. so unique in our needs and our creative appeals to me. Another permutation reverses the paths. That said, the Pearl Pentacle positions of Wisdom and Knowledge. is a wonderful tool, a deeply healing There is some variation of the Pearl I find it really evocative to place practice. points, How do you run them? Wisdom before Knowledge. Our culture Seed has been teaching Reclaiming has a such a bulimic relationship to Instead of Knowledge I sometimes classes in the Bay Area since 1995. knowledge. We seem to feel, as a find myself saying “History.” And I say Her teaching is characterized by culture, that we need to have “ingested” “Liberation” instead of Liberty. warmth, mischief, sensuality, and all kinds of data before we eventually emotional depth. She has been involved come to wisdom. It can be useful to first Any last thoughts? in community building in many forms, explore our own wisdom – to know what I think it’s good that we developed including providing open circles, conflict is calling to our spirit and what is deeply Pearl as a core class, but it needs to resolution, mentoring, and working to and most important, in order to then grow and have more practice. promote inclusiveness throughout the know what to study, what knowledge we community. She is an initiate of the want to gather and to share. Reclaiming tradition and a longtime Rose May Dance has a lifelong eclectic The word “wisdom” comes from a spiritual practice, and has worshiped the member of the San Francisco Bay Area root meaning “to see,” close in meaning Goddess since 1979 (in Reclaiming since CRAFT Teachers Cell. to the word “vision.” This is an exciting 1981). She is a devotee of the Laughing way to run Wisdom energy. I like RQ interview by George Franklin. Goddess who lovingly spins the universe.

40 Re c l a i m i n g Qu a r t e r l y • i s s u e 103 Love Law Wisdom Liberty Knowledge Love Law Wisdom Liberty Knowledge Pearl Pentacle and the Roots of Reclaiming

An RQ interview with Gwydion What is its significance within the Reclaiming tradition? Why is it How and when did you start working considered a core Reclaiming class? with the Pearl Pentacle? I was taught that I was taught that Reclaiming I was introduced to the Iron and has four core roots: the psychology Pearl Pentacles as part of Feri Tradition Reclaiming has four core movement, anarchist politics, feminism, when I first began studying the Craft. and Feri Tradition. I see our work in Most of my work for the first five years roots: the psychology Reclaiming with the Pearl Pentacle focused more on working the Iron being influenced by both the psychology Pentacle. I explored the Pearl Pentacle movement, anarchist movement and Feri Tradition. occasionally during that time; I think The Pearl Pentacle is inherently a that you can’t help but work the Pearl politics, feminism, and tool of the Feri Tradition; it comes to us Pentacle when you are working Iron. I through the teachings of Victor and Cora think it happens whether or not we are Feri Tradition Anderson. conscious of it. The psychology movement My work with it really deepened influences this work through its strong when Thorn Coyle and I began teaching aid us in this work of self-reflection and focus on self-exploration, reflection, and Pearl Pentacle together more than fifteen self-improvement. self-improvement. This gets back to the years ago. When I work on teaching concept that Pearl helps us in this work When and how have you found it a topic, the process challenges my of self-reflection and self-improvement. useful? How is it different from the Iron perceptions about it and transforms Pentacle? This, too, is an integral part of Feri how I work with it. Part of the teaching For me, Pearl Pentacle is a tool that Tradition, not only through the use of process for me is figuring out how to helps me in my relationships with others, the Pearl Pentacle, but also the Iron articulate my thoughts and experiences whereas Iron Pentacle helps me in my Pentacle, and work with our shadow with it, which in turn deepens the work relationship with myself. Of course selves. Much of the focus of the core for me. there is overlap, but when I’m having work we do in Reclaiming and Feri What does the Pearl Pentacle mean to difficulty in my relationships with others is actually focused internally on our you? What is its special significance I eventually manage to remind myself own healing, empowerment, and self- compared to other magical tools? that I can only change myself and how I improvement. Someone at work recently described choose to interact with others. I see the Iron Pentacle as “how do I the process of self-reflection and self- Pearl Pentacle has given me the relate to myself’ and the Pearl Pentacle improvement as being like that of a tools and courage to face myself and be as ‘how do I relate with others.” I pearl. It is taking qualities or experiences willing to make changes. I’m not always realize that this is an over-simplification of ourselves which we find unpleasant able to do this right away, but eventually because both are inextricably or uncomfortable and choosing to accept I come back to “what do I own in this intertwined, like a ten-pointed star even these aspects as part of our being situation, what can I do differently?” or web; you pull one string and the (even though we might wish we could In preparing for a class on the entire system is affected. But if Pearl just spit it out); of allowing ourselves to Wisdom point, I read an ancient proverb influences how I relate to others, through be transformed by it and ultimately to that said that wisdom comes to those love or laws for example, then the Pearl find strength in it. For me, this is what who risk making mistakes and then learn Pearl Pentacle is all about. It is a tool to from those mistakes. continued on next page

i s s u e 103 • Re c l a i m i n g Qu a r t e r l y 41 Love Law Wisdom Liberty Knowledge Love Law Wisdom Liberty Knowledge continued from preceding page Can you share a few Pearl stories from is simply to run the energy through working with other teachers in the the points and around the circle on a Pentacle also influences or acts as a tool Reclaiming and Feri Tradition? regular basis. Not only does this work to to help us in the Reclaiming roots of One of my favorites is the stengthen and balance the points, I also anarchist politics and feminism. Devotional Dance movements that find that it energizes me. Thorn created for each of the Pearl Let’s take feminism first: at its core Anything else you’d like to share? Pentacle points. These are simple principles, feminism is about how we I once heard someone in Reclaiming repetitive movements that really help to value, respect, and treat one another say that what is missing in our tradition, anchor each of the points, the qualities regardless of our differences (especially our community, is the power of of those points within our bodies. those of gender and sexuality). forgiveness. I’ve often felt this way Ultimately, as well. I think Pearl it is the Pentacle is a strong tool manifestation to aid us in the power of the of forgiveness for it principles of teaches us that though equality and we take risks and may liberty. And fail, we learn from yet, how can those mistakes and act we achieve differently. Through these principles this process we gain the if we do knowledge to discern not reflect when we are wrong. on our own Through our own relationships empowerment we gain with ourselves the strength and courage and with to apologize to those those around we may have hurt, and us? How can forgive our selves and we treat our others. co-workers, lovers, friends, Gwydion is a queer and family witch and a science with respect, geek. He is a Reclaiming seeing their priest and has taught inherent value (even when we are angry This transforms abstract concepts into Reclaiming classes, with them or feeling hurt by them) physical manifestations, which I think workshops, and witchcamps locally and without expanding our own capacity makes the points more accessible. abroad for nine years. Gwydion has for Love? Through our own work on Another favorite is some of the been a member of the San Francisco self-liberation and learning from our workings Alphonsus, George and I did Bay Area Reclaiming community for own mistakes, we gain the capacity for in the Men’s Pearl Pentacle class (San over 20 years. compassion and empathy. Francisco 2010). We worked to push the RQ interview by Abel Gomez. Reclaiming’s structure and decision- boundaries and take risks even when making process derive from roots in one or more of us found the exercises anarchist politics. In order for a network challenging and uncomfortable. I found For further reading of semi-autonomous cells connected to it challenging, healing, and powerful to a central hub to work, there needs to be be playful, physical, and intense in a di- • Evolutionary Witchcraft, by T. Thorn trust, empowerment, and acting from a verse group of men. Coyle place of stewardship of the community. What are some skills for strengthening • The Spiral Dance, by Starhawk Through the Pearl Pentacle, we are able and balancing the points? How do you to come to agreement on our core values strengthen the weaker points? • “Reclaiming and the Iron Pentacle” — and make agreements on the processes I think the best way for articles from the RQ Archives — visit we will use to work together. strengthening and balancing the points www.ReclaimingQuarterly.org

42 Re c l a i m i n g Qu a r t e r l y • i s s u e 103 Love Law Wisdom Liberty Knowledge Love Law Wisdom Liberty Knowledge Pearl Pentacle: Our Collaborative Creation by Ravyn Stanfield As we realize our Pride in our abilities, Like the Moon we may take on more visible efforts Natural pearls occur when a grain and receive difficult feedback from the of sand or debris is trapped inside a Like the moon reflects the sun public that sends us into a shame cycle. mollusk and is rubbed against the inside You and I reflect each one The multiplicity of roles we take on in of the shell, irritating the soft inner our lives exert pressure upon us that sanctum. Eventually, the edges of the There are forces we cannot see can make it difficult to show our true particle are smoothed and an iridescent They’re inside us, core Selves all the time. If we choose to pearl is formed. The pearl’s energy They remind us to be free exert our influence, we may get some is also associated with the moon and push back from those around us who mirrors, the ocean, the shimmering – Jeffrey Alphonsus Mooney are not used to our full Power or fear interior faces of sea shells and all that we may be trying to dominate them. reflective surfaces. When we express our Passions, we The Pearl Pentacle is a teaching of may experience disappointment when both the Reclaiming and Feri traditions. take for our own lives and choices. We things we care about are not shared in Many say that this Pearl energy begin to stop shaming ourselves; we also exactly the way we had hoped. Staying resonates at the same musical notes as discontinue blaming others for our own current with the Iron Pentacle energy is Iron Pentacle, but one octave higher. Sex feeling states. We recognize our attempts a process, not ever a finished product. vibrates up to Love, Pride vibrates up to maneuver other people and contrive As we integrate Iron, we will fumble to Law, Self vibrates up to Knowledge, all aspects of our environment. We take and bumble, hurt the feelings of others Power to Liberty and Passion to charge of our resentment and search and get lost. Iron makes us whole and Wisdom. Pearl has been said to be the for the places where we can forgive the human; it does not make us perfect. work of many lifetimes. The energies of harm that has been done to us and find Perfection is not ever the goal. Pearl have more potential to be shared ways that we can thrive. The intention I experience Iron Pentacle energy amongst people who hold similar values. of Iron Pentacle is to stop submitting as the progression from Birth to Love--- Iron creates a solid core of a being, an our will to others; it is also about our gift, our human birthright. When individual star in the body of the Star relinquishing our need to control what we work Iron, it hopefully leads us to Goddess. Pearl creates a collective others do. Instead, we learn to formulate love of self and others from a place of vision of the way that we can live with statements about ourselves, to request recognizing ourselves more fully. That each other, many star beings shining in that our needs be met rather than make Love initiates the Pearl Pentacle, and we the same galaxy. It is softer but in some demands of others or ignore our own gain experience of these Pearl energies ways, stronger and more absolute. needs entirely. through exasperation, mistakes, loss, The longer we work the Iron After we have run the Iron Pentacle and aging. I see Pearl pentacle as the Pentacle, the more responsibility we energies in our bodies and lives for some time, it is common to notice progression of Love to our eventual disturbances, and perhaps conflict as we Death- the Pearl energies of Love, Law, Editors’ Note – this article works the change familiar patterns that have kept Knowledge, Liberty and Wisdom being Pearl Pentacle with the Knowledge us small and safe. It is not always easy. some of the gifts we gain along the way if we are lucky. and Wisdom points reversed from the Keeping a strong connection to Sex and If we continue to revisit our creation diagram on page 38: Knowledge in the the life force can fluctuate with changes in health, weather, work, relationship. continued on next page left hand and Wisdom in the left foot.

i s s u e 103 • Re c l a i m i n g Qu a r t e r l y 43 Love Law Wisdom Liberty Knowledge Love Law Wisdom Liberty Knowledge

continued from preceding page begin to accept our interdependence. flow of life force or Sex within and With this kind of Love, we start outside ourselves. Love claims our myth of the Star Goddess making love to forgive ourselves for all the errors collaboration. to Herself in the black mirror of space, that we have made. We also let down we learn by heart that all creativity our defenses, even when others make La w comes from self love and the dance with mistakes that hurt our feelings. We This energy of Love flows into Law. ourselves reflected in another form. believe that we can recover from hurt Law lives in the way that following our Collaboration is a place to unearth new and even thrive. Love unlocks the Pride creates a personal code of ethics, inspiration. We get out of our own heads gates of the heart in a healthy way; we in the beliefs that we must follow for and share space in the creative void, relinquish the thoroughfare that opens our health. Law expresses my private using the chemistry of two or more to so wide that anything can overwhelm definition of integrity, as well as natural shape something that we would not our being and the fortress that protects law, the inevitable cycles of life: birth/ have formed by ourselves. Creative us from every harmful potential. Instead, growth/harvest/death/rebirth. Law is partnerships or group work can open us our hearts have uncomplicated gates that about living in right relationship. This to worlds of possibilities that we Law is born in Pride, would never have considered all that we can do alone. Time in community can and accomplish. We also create even more conflict, recognize our gifts projection, competition, emotion and we begin to share and opportunities for growth and them. We notice the change. This is why we practice events that happen to Pearl in community. It takes knock us off balance; the irritation of other people we catch ourselves being their imperfect selves and when we start to think rubbing up against our imperfect obsessively about selves to really polish our rough our mistakes. We no edges. When we dedicate to the longer hold our past Pearl Pentacle, we are willing responsible for our to figure out what will work for limiting beliefs and we all parties involved and care for stop blaming others ourselves at the same time. who do what we are afraid to do ourselves. Lo v e In the octave In Pearl, we begin with Love. between Pride and This version of Love cracks Law, we develop the heart open; it’s the way my being open and close as situations determine our own code of honor based on what moves toward something and makes whether we use our boundaries more helps us feel within our integrity and room for it, the welling up of tears in and less. Love occurs when we are what encourages us to feel proud of my eyes when I am truly touched. Love strong enough to return to life force, to our behavior. In Law, we strive for is the warmth in my belly or chest, run it through the parts of life that feel congruence between our actions and the joy, communion and the ineffable painful, like death and loss. Love comes these codes. We are curious about the magic inherent in contact with another when we can get a sense of humor principles of other people and we ask being. This is not the love we find in about our life struggles and the rigorous questions about their motives. We greeting cards and it is not solely about expectations we have of ourselves describe the impact of others’ actions romance. This Love is based in Iron and and others. Love appears when we are and ask for reparation in a way that so it is fierce, not ethereal. When we willing to act on the behalf of the life recognizes the worth of each person. have repeatedly connected with the life force and stand up for what is essential We honor the places where other people force of Sex to the point where it rises to us. Love is about the self interacting cannot do exactly what we want and unbidden in our bodies, that life force with another, whether this is an animal energy can expand beyond our edges. or plant ally or the relationship with We form energetic connections of Spirit our planet or another human. Love continued on next page between ourselves and other beings; we approaches when we restore the

44 Re c l a i m i n g Qu a r t e r l y • i s s u e 103 Love Law Wisdom Liberty Knowledge Love Law Wisdom Liberty Knowledge

continued from preceding page self, we catch ourselves when we are able to negotiate. This energy we act from of Law is a Fire that we build and tend shadow. From together so that it can warm us all. the experience We do not necessarily hold all people of realizing the accountable to our personal codes Self, we construct but we strive to find the agreements Knowledge between ourselves where we can all of the world. benefit. We can collaborate within our We integrate communities here; what do we accede information is vital; what is inevitable? How will we and put it into base our lives on the natural laws we practice. experience? What are the agreements Knowledge, that we celebrate together? What are the like Air, is all boundaries that we hold sacred? How around us and could accountability to each other feel welcomes our supportive of our individual talents and inspiration and Sometimes the work of Liberty Pride? Law helps us determine when we conspiracy with it to choose, teach and is to negotiate our needs within the prevent someone from doing harm if we share it with others. When many people needs of others and compromise for the see actions that do not acknowledge the who know themselves come together good of the whole. Sometimes, Liberty laws of our planet or the worth of each and work on a project, it is refreshing. occurs when we refuse to release our human. The conflicts and agitations that come beliefs completely, even when we hold up in the community have a much Kn o wl e d g e a vision that seems unpopular. Liberty is better chance of providing fodder for sometimes asking the folks who oppose Law flows upwards into Knowledge. evolution. Knowledge spreads from our views how we could better take their Knowledge is the awareness in my the individual to the group: This is concerns into consideration. Other times, bones, what I intuit, what I have where we were successful, this is where it is advocating for the desires of a group spent time learning, my life’s lessons. we got stuck, this is how we moved of allies who is not at the negotiating Knowledge includes my intellect but beyond the conflict. Knowledge helps table. Other times still, it is admitting is not limited to this as there are many us move forward and answer our ancient that we do not know what is best for ways of knowing. Knowledge is the questions of Who? What? Where? anyone else unless we ask them. truth that I understand enough to speak/ When? Why? How? As a result of time spent with Iron, teach/impart it to another. We so often we no longer inflate ourselves to control ask How do I know or When will we Li b e r t y others nor deflate ourselves to please know? The work of diving deeply into Knowledge moves through the heart and them. Our Power from within increases Self and repeatedly asking the questions across the chest into Liberty. Liberty is and so does our influence. We live in a of who we are give us these answers the freedom from constraints, collective world where people use power over to by building trust in our bodies, our life force in motion, the transformation destroy the planet and feed their own intuitions, our lessons. We acknowledge from solid to liquid to gas, unfettered greed. Is it any wonder that we are our shadow and our potential for acting power rushing. Sometimes it is even suspicious of Power itself? Yet, there are unconsciously from fear. When we have the way that knowledge allows us many places where we desperately need this kind of knowledge rooted in the the ability to make another choice, more Power being used for healing the sometimes it is our sovereignty. Liberty damage on our planet, not less. When is not one person’s magic and this can we learn to trust that our power with Editors’ Note – this article works the be incredibly challenging. The strange others is happening even if we are not fabrication of uninhibited freedom to do in the physical proximity of our allies, Pearl Pentacle with the Knowledge whatever we want, whenever we want is we are on our way to Liberty. When we and Wisdom points reversed from the not the kind of Liberty that we can ever learn to use the Power that corresponds above workings: Knowledge in the left realize if we expect to live around other with our level of responsibility and hand and Wisdom in the left foot. beings. continued on next page

i s s u e 103 • Re c l a i m i n g Qu a r t e r l y 45 Love Law Wisdom Liberty Knowledge Love Law Wisdom Liberty Knowledge

continued from preceding page trying to move things with our will; we we move through this cycle together, no longer force things to go our way, building and reforming culture. We allow our influence to benefit others, instead we look for the leverage, the keep experimenting with new faces we adopt Liberty. When we listen to as power points, the places where we can of humanity and moving towards the many voices as possible, as well as the assist fruition or give into it. Wisdom predestined end of our lives. And after one within ourselves to make decisions, invites us to surrender and rely on a Death, both ours and the eventual we are beginning to create the song of watery flow that defies purely rational collapse and rebirth of culture, we may Liberty. training. Wisdom comes through our be reformed back into the nourishing Liberty by definition is not the life , our passage from one Dark of the Star Goddess. Death and magic of one person, it is much more state of being to the next. We acquire Darkness will lay together until the like an ecosystem. A tree and a lichen it at the end of the lifelong alchemical spark of Love and Light that is our and a waterfall can all be powerful transmutation of our patterns; it is reflection in the curved mirror of space within the same ecosystem. A river and a knowledge we have performed over brings us into being again. Our orgasm rock wall and a great wind will negotiate a period of time. The more we pursue and the reformation of matter from their relationship over time, finding their our Passion and have varied and deep nothing creates us anew as Iron pentacle roles and shaping each other. We have encounters with life, the more Wisdom shaped humans, each of us singular stars to trust that humans will cooperate in we receive. in the gown of the Star Goddess. We will never change the world with only our own efforts. The lone warrior is useful to push or direct us in emergency moments and in those times when we need one voice to offer us revelation or example. Collaboration is crucial. Our cumulative effect is rooted in our relationships with ourselves and our connection to each other and the Earth. Our irritations become valuable, even beautiful over time as they yield gifts. We can soften our hearts towards each other and still emanate our strength. Pearl reminds us to tell each other how amazing we are as often as we tell each other how much we could improve. It gives us the opportunities to laugh at Wisdom is best held in a group. ourselves, smooth our edges and like the this way again. We could do our parts to No one person’s life can offer them moon, reflect the shining powerful light communicate lovingly and clearly and every single experience. The practice of the sun and influence the tides of our act in integrity with our Laws and use of listening to the wisdom of the human changes. The tide will indeed be our Power to heal and create beauty. It group before making a decision is turning when we finally allow ourselves seems more difficult these days to create one we could stand to recreate in our to grow in our shared power and glow in societies based in Liberty, but perhaps communities. We can also give ourselves our lucent magnificence, each of us an we are just out of practice! the opportunity to sit a little longer with iron star, each of us an iridescent pearl. our emotions before we speak to others, Wi s d o m crafting responses that are based in our Gerri Ravyn Stanfield is a healer, author, Liberty opens to Wisdom. Wisdom is the wisdom and offered with Love. What and educator dedicated to liberating the gift of following Passion to its end, the might change about our feedback to each sacred leadership abilities and super integrated and polished teachings of life other if we were involved in that level of powers within each of us. Ravyn creates experiences. Wisdom asks us to become magic? ceremony and ritual art, weaving poetry, an artisan of life, to develop the ability And Wisdom surges back to music and performance into contempo- to honor mistakes as our best teachers. Love and the Pearl energy streams rary offerings of the human imagination. With the energy of Wisdom, we stop through us unbounded and vast as Visit www.gerriravynstanfield.com

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...and a brief addendum...

After we finished production for this feature, we received two additional posts from Reclaiming teachers, which we include Some thoughts from Brook here. I was first introduced to Pearl Pentacle through Feri study, not through Reclaiming (though I was and remain, of course, very much Reclaiming in conjunction with Feri). An addendum from Rose May Dance My mentors gave me the points and suggested that I run See short interview with Rose May Dance on page 40 of this energy through my body-as-a-Pearl-Pentacle, and then issue. — RQ meditate on each point in turn, doing this in invoking order. Pearl was never “described” to me. I learned a lot about the Pearl from Reclaiming classes I took in 1980 and 1981. I remember my teachers, Star and Lauren I ran Pearl energy almost daily for about 6 months, I think. Gale, arguing about which way everything went and that is I did it consistently until the points developed deep personal where I heard Lauren say, “it is if the Goddess were drawing a meaning, solidified somatic meaning in my body. pentacle on the front of your body.” Then I added an exercise I had read on a Feri list where one I think The Spiral Dance uses Knowledge on the left hand and runs iron energy through each point in turn on ones body in Wisdom on the left foot, an edit because some early teachers invoking order, head/Sex, right foot/Pride, etc. Each Iron point thought Knowledge should come before Wisdom. is brought to a bright orange flame, as a piece of iron heated in a fire. Now that I am older and perhaps begin to enjoy a bit of wisdom or at least perspective, I find Wisdom opens the On the second pass, each orange, flaming, iron point is turned way to Knowledge, which I work as “Knowing”. Anyway, into a blue, pearl flame, from Sex to Love, from Pride to Law, the Reclaiming way is sort of “any way that works for you,” and so forth, through an invoking pentacle-in-the-body. (Amusingly, in The Spiral Dance Star quotes Victor Anderson I did this daily for 2-3 months. As the magic worked me, this as saying something like “ is pure poetry, Black series deepened not only my personal relations with Pearl but Magic is anything that works!”) also revealed relationships between Iron and Pearl. In early Reclaiming classes, all our trances were inside a pearl This Feri Pearl work was all done solo. It was a big change to inside and outside us. I feel my Pearl encircling neck, heart, start thinking about pearl work as group work, as community breasts, and solar plexus. work. It was a big change to (somewhat) disconnect pearl from iron once again as a distinct body of work. Another anecdote that may be of interest: I was introduced to Pearl with Wisdom at the upper left point of the pentacle and Knowledge on the bottom left point. Later, when I started to work with Reclaiming Pearl, I had to re-do these associations, as my co-teachers typically had these two points switched: Knowledge on the upper left point, Wisdom at the bottom left. My associations built up over years with the flow of Pearl and with the relationship between Iron and Pearl points had to be reformed. During this same period, many Reclaiming folk changed Power, as I’d learned the upper right point (just like Iron), to Liberty. Ah, back to daily pentacle work we go. “She changes everything...”

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