TEMPLE OF WITCHCRAFT Official newsletter of the Temple of Witchcraft Quarterly Imbolc 2012 No, it is Earth that tilts and whirls, the From the Editor... same Earth that feels so steady beneath me. In other articles, Stevie Grant shares her Another illusion, this steadiness, for the artistic work with gourds, including her Our forsythia bloomed early this year, its journeywork with Gourd Spirit (sharing a Earth and I are plummeting through space bright yellow petals flaring like slivers of special message for Temple members). sunshine on thin bare branches. It usually at 67,000 miles per hour. And somewhere Daedalus describes how he finds blossoms around Imbolc, a harbinger of beyond the stars is the tumbling edge of connection working with the spirits of Spring even when its tender flowers are the expanding universe, light years beyond woods and metals, transforming what some dusted with frost. But this year it burst my comprehension. And so — in my own might see as trash into ritual tools and forth at the turn of the New Year, space and time — I offer thanksgiving, a artwork. Darryl McGlynn provides an harkening to its own deva spirit that introduction into a form of energy healing wordless circle of gratitude that extends in whispered to it grow, grow, responding to a known as the Immortality Study. Howling synchronicity bigger than the calendar on rings around me. Hill provides some excellent ways to honor my office wall. our Earth by conserving electricity, and At this time of year, Imbolc is the center of Christopher Penczak explains the Temple’s Here in South Georgia, winter swings like a those circles, and as such, it is an recent work crafting ministerial pendulum. I have grown accustomed to auspicious time to debut the first Temple Bell thoughtforms in this quarter’s Founders this, learning to cherish whatever season I of 2012. New and green, tender and full of Corner. find when I open my door. We're having a promise, Imbolc acts as a herald. Likewise, cold spell now. The sun sets on clear there is much to look forward to in this For those with an lyrical bent, Andrew horizons, and the steely still air settles Plummer shares some haunting tunes to heavy and low. I wrap up in my thickest take you into the Imbolc season, while wool and venture into it, taking a cup of tea Annie Hogsett weaves a little poetic magic to warm my hands. The fragrant steam evoking the spiritual nature of alcoholic rises and hangs briefly before my eyes, like spirits. Shea Morgan offers a ritual to a veil between me and the melting fire of Brighid to reawaken the creative wellspring the sunset. It feels newly kindled, this sun, within. And, as always, you’ll find an clean and reborn, even as it sinks into update on everything the Temple has been indigo night. busy doing over the past three months. I feel the turnings, circles within circles. We hope you enjoy these offerings. Here’s The Sun goes down, stronger now than it wishing a bright and bountiful Imbolc to was yesterday, even if the coming night each of you! May whatever seeds you plant temporarily holds sway. The Moon wanes grow strong. and waxes, and the stars move across the sky, each constellation a member of an Blessings one and all, ancient celestial migration. issue which celebrates the craft of the These illusions of human perspective mark Craft, the sacred work of hands and spirit. Tina Whittle is a mystery novelist/freelance writer me as a part of the cycle, inseparable from Raye Snover, who is sharing Temple Bell living and working in Southeast Georgia. She is the Wheel. For the Moon does not grow or editorial duties with me, has two fascinating currently a Witchcraft IV student in the Temple shrink. The Sun blazes as steady now as it articles appropriate to this season of and is co-editor of The Temple Bell. She is a did at the height of Litha. And those Brighid: an interview with Jessica Arsenault member of the Earth-based Spirituality Group at wandering stars have been burning in their on being a doula, and a Q&A session with her local Unitarian-Universalist church, which she respective places for millions of years, Dave Smith, also known as Damh the attends with her husband and daughter, and also constant and unwavering. Bard, on creative inspiration. Raye also has shares her life with one neurotic Maltese and three a book review on Witchcraft on a Shoestring, a bossy chickens. guide to making the most of magic without blowing one’s budget. The Temple Bell • Imbolc 2012 1 FOUNDERS CORNER The Spirit of the Temple and Ministerial Servitor Spirits Tubal Cain has an egregore. And the Temple of Witchcraft has an egregore, albeit a relatively new one. Starting in the Spring 2011 Leadership Retreat, the ministerial The Temple Egregore is a combination of the energies of group council began discussing the idea of crafting servitor spirits to consciousness — from those who have worked through a help each ministry in its work in the Temple. A teaching we cover developmental system in a specific cycle — with the in the fourth degree of the Mystery School, a servitor spirit is an consciousness of entities and expressions of divinity that desire to artificially constructed entity made through ritual magickal work in partnership with the human members of the Temple, co- techniques for a specific purpose. They are also known as creating something new and beneficial to all entities involved and constructs, semi-permanent thoughtforms or artificial elementals. the world. The work of the training and system helps mold the The entity is crafted out of specific energies in alignment with its vessel of consciousness both to hold more of the Higher Self in purpose through ritual, and a physical “home” is crafted the physical, as well as create an interface for more effective corresponding to its nature and the ritual creating it. Its home can communion and initiation with the spirits of the Temple, and with include a name and/or recognizable image. The entity is given the spirits of the world in general. instructions on its tasks, a method to “feed” it energy to sustain it, and instructions to summon, activate and dismantle it if and when The entities contributing to the Temple include the Divine Trinity necessary. Many believe that strong servitor spirits can evolve into of Dryghten (Divine Will); Cruthear (Divine Mind); Celiced larger entities, and that many spirits and even gods of traditions (Divine Heart); the Goddess & God as the Weaver/Web and the began in a manner similar to a servitor spirit. Unconscious, Singer/Song; the animal guardians of Stag, Horse, Crow and unwanted spirits created in this fashion are considered unwanted Snake; the angels Tzadkiel, Uriel and Lumiel; the Faery Queen thoughtforms or unwanted elementals, and Temple students learn Aroxana; and the Mighty Dead. The Temple is not limited to to clear these thoughtforms from the aura in the First Degree these entities, but is ever evolving. The personal guides of every training. Affirmations and intentions can create wanted individual priest/ess are included, as well as guardians and allies thoughtforms within the aura, with beneficial purposes. from these realms who choose to contribute to the collective Expansion on these concepts is what creates a servitor spirit. whole of the Temple. Various other gods and goddess are also allied with our work in the Temple. Larger servitor spirits, empowered by a combination of collective group consciousness of living and past initiates and various The Spirit of the Temple has thus far manifested with the name spiritual patrons is known as an egregore. The term “egregore” Towathan, and appears as a amalgam of the animal guardians – a relates to the word Grigori, or Watchers, referring to the fallen horned Serpent with iridescent crow wings and flaring nostrils, angels of myth often connected to old Witchcraft myths. Egregore similar to the Feathered Serpents of Aztec Myth. Towathan is the usually refers to the collective manifestation of the Temple Egregore in Spirit Form, empowered energies and intelligence of an occult tradition, which can consist by various sources, human and non-human. of many smaller “group minds” such as the relationship between a Tradition and its covens or an Order and its lodges. Egregores can First suggested by the Capricorn Ministry, each of the twelve naturally develop through the work between people with a ministries in the Temple is encouraged to craft a servitor spirit to common cause or be crafted through ritual work. Along with the aid in the work of that ministry. Each one is crafted with energy of collective human consciousness, an egregore can be correspondences associated with the twelve zodiac signs. formed in conjunction with the energy of specific deities or divine manifestations, as well as other spirit allies from a variety of Gemini Ministry was the first to compete their thoughtform, with realms deciding to add to or fill out the egregore’s energy as a the servitor known as TAllAT. That’s "tal-lat," written so that its partner. Often the spirit of the land, or genus loci, or the spirit of name is a palindrome, a genderless being, incorporating the an ancestral group can add to the collective egregore, rooting the Pentacles of Mercury with the purpose to facilitate collective in a homeland or culture. It is the egregore that communication among members of the Temple. TallaT can facilitates the current of initiation. Gardnerian Wicca has an enhance verbal, written or any other communication in the egregore.