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C A U L D R O N A N D C A N D L E #96 -- January 2009 A Publication of The Cauldron: A Pagan Forum website: http://www.ecauldron.net/ message board: http://www.ecauldron.net/forum/ social network: http://tcn.ecauldron.net/ newsletter: http://www.ecauldron.net/cnc/ Please DONATE to Support our NEW SERVER http://www.ecauldron.net/forum/index.php?page=62 In this Issue: [00] Editorial Notes [01] Cauldron News * 2009 Suggestion Drive: How Can We Improve The Cauldron? * New Cauldron Web Site: Phyllis Vega's Tarot Talk * New Message Board Feature: Related Topics [02] Interesting Recent Cauldron Discussions * What Do You Expect of Pagan Group Events and Group Work? * Being Alone on your Path? * Atheism: A Religion? * Walmart release new line of deities! Get yours now! * What is the Good Life? * The Coming Out Topic * Ordeals on Your Path * Your Relationship to your Deity/Deities? * Having a Spiritual "Fling"? * Raising Children in your Religion? [03] Phyllis Vega's Tarot Talk: Tarot Basics [04] Flamekeeping: Socializing Ecstacy [05] Articles * Mid-November Musings * Six Ways to Use Scrying [06] Support The Cauldron with Donations [07] Support The Cauldron with Assistance [08] Newsletter Information (Including How To Subscribe/Unsubscribe) ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ +++ Please support our sponsor +++ LOOKING FOR PAGAN SUPPLIES? Visit The Cauldron's Pagan Supply Store http://www.ecauldron.net/esesf.php +++ Please support our sponsor +++ ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ [00] ========= ========= EDITORIAL NOTES ========= Welcome to the January 2009 issue of Cauldron and Candle. You are receiving this issue because you subscribed. To learn how to unsubscribe, see the last section of this newsletter Our big news this month is that this newsletter is now the home of Phyllis Vega's Tarot Talk, a new column on the Tarot by long time tarot reader and author of ten books on Tarot, Astrology and Numerology, Phyllis Vega. Phyllis has been an online friend since my GEnie Online Service days in the 1990s. I'm a big fan of her Tarot books (especially after the descriptions of the court cards in Power Tarot finally made them come alive for me), so I was very happy to get an email from her a few weeks ago offering to do a monthly Tarot column for Cauldron and Candle. Her first Tarot Talk column is in this issue. These columns (and a few extra articles Phyllis has written) will be collected and made available as they are published at the Phyllis Vega's Tarot Talk web site at: http://tarottalk.ecauldron.net/ There are more articles and all the usual goodies to enjoy in this issue -- a good start for 2009. Randall Sapphire Editor and Publisher, Cauldron and Candle Co-Host, The Cauldron: A Pagan Forum [01] ========= ========= CAULDRON NEWS ========= by The Cauldron: A Pagan Forum Staff ========= ===== ===== 2009 SUGGESTION DRIVE: HOW CAN WE IMPROVE THE CAULDRON? ===== It's January, so it's time for our annual "suggestion drive" when we open a topic and request your suggestions for how TC (the forum, the web site, the MUX, forum rules, etc.) could be improved. We make no promises to implement suggestions, but the Hosts and staff do look at and consider them all. (And have implemented a number of suggestions over the last eleven years). Four items are completely off the table, however: 1) Changing forum software. (SMF has a low server load as well as some features the Hosts can't live without.) 2) Eliminating/weakening our quoting rules. (The Hosts will shut down the board first -- seriously, having quoting with the backlinks to the quoted message is that important.) 3) Eliminating the all the limitations on accounts that have not qualified for Full Membership. 4) Turning the board away from its "Discussion and Debate" orientation. Post your suggestions and commens on our message board: http://www.ecauldron.net/forum/index.php?topic=8028.0 ===== ===== NEW CAULDRON WEB SITE: PHYLLIS VEGA'S TAROT TALK ===== As mentioned in the editorial above, The Cauldron: A Pagan Forum has a new "Cauldron Network" web site: Phyllis Vega's Tarot Talk located at: http://tarottalk.ecauldron.net/ ===== ===== NEW MESSAGE BOARD FEATURE: RELATED TOPICS ===== We've added an experimental new feature to The Cauldron: A Pagan Forum's message board: a Related Threads box that appears at the bottom of each thread of messages. It isn't very smart, as it just compares the thread title to other thread titles on the forum (in boards you have at least read access to). While some of the threads it suggests aren't really related except for have a common word in the thread title, often several of the suggestions are related. This feature is experimental as it may cause a high server load. It it should, it will be removed However, it seems fine so far. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ +++ Please support our sponsor +++ PAGAN-FRIENDLY WEB HOSTING http://www.ecauldron.net/web/zdreamhost.php Dreamhost offers high-quality, low cost web hosting with a dedication to free speech. Pagan sites are welcome! Read why we used Dreamhost for The Cauldron's web site: http://www.ecauldron.net/web/whydreamhost.php Plan Features * unlimited web space * unlimited bandwidth * unlimited email boxes (POP3/IMAP) * unlimited ftp/shell accounts * host unlimited domains/subdomains * php4, php5, cgi, fastcgi, ssi * zend optimizer, ruby on rails * unlimited MySQL databases * announcement lists * discussion (aka mailing) lists * Jabber server * Crontab and Shell access * Web-based Control Panel * One-Click installs of the Wordpress blog & PhpBB forum * 1 free domain name * helpful tech support * and much more! All for $10.95 a month with a $49.95 setup fee. Pay for a year in advance (only 9.95/month) and there is no setup fee. Pay two years in advance and the price drops to $8.95 a month. (And there is a 97 day money back guarantee!) Visit Dreamhost for Affordable, Pagan-Friendly Hosting http://www.ecauldron.net/web/zdreamhost.php +++ Please support our sponsor +++ ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ [02] ========= ========= INTERESTING RECENT CAULDRON DISCUSSIONS ========= Recent Discussion Topics on our Message Board ========= In an average month, over 200 new discussion topics are started on The Cauldron's message board. Here are a few of the more interesting recent discussions. It's not too late to join in. Thanks to Feedburner, you can now receive an email every night on days we post new site news items to the main page of The Cauldron's web site. These emails contain a link to the new item and the first couple of lines of the news text. You can sign up for Feedburner's free news delivery via the form at the end of the site "News and Updates" section of The Cauldron's main web page. ===== ===== What Do You Expect of Pagan Group Events and Group Work? ===== What do you personally expect of pagan group events and group work? Which goals would you like to achieve in the group/s? What kind of group events or group work are you enjoying/looking for? (workshops, open circles, moots, covens, etc.) Do you have experiences with any Pagan group situations? Have they met your expectations? * Read (or join in) this discussion: http://www.ecauldron.net/forum/index.php?topic=8009.0 ===== ===== Being Alone on your Path? ===== Something I've been thinking about a lot lately, is the frustration I feel being alone on my path. I'm in the closet (so far back I can see Narnia) with little hope of coming out anytime soon. Health and finances have made it necessary that hubby, daughter and I live with my folks, who would be intolerant of a pagan. They are good people, and I have a good relationship with them, and wouldn't want to risk losing that because I believe differently then they do. My husband is pretty much non-religious, and most of my friends are the same. Not having someone who gets what I'm going through, or looking for is frustrating. I have met one or two people, through random meetings (once in a bookstore in the metaphysical section) but those never really got off the ground. They seemed more interested in shocking people with their "witchiness". Hm. Anyway, I wondered... anyone else have the same frustration? It's not so much that I want to shout it from the rooftops -- I just would love to go to a public ritual, or buy a book I don't have to keep in a drawer. It would be nice to talk to someone about things that I've gone through in my search. * Read (or join in) this discussion: http://www.ecauldron.net/forum/index.php?topic=7983.0 ===== ===== Atheism: A Religion? ===== I thought it would be fairly interesting, to have a discussion on whether or not Atheism or any sort of Non-theism could actually be categorized, or listed as a type of religion? I mean it obviously takes some sort of faith to follow Atheism or Non- theism. I even found that their is something called Christian Atheism. I do not believe that to have something as a religion you must believe in a God or God's.... for instance their are plenty to religions out their that mainly focus on spirits or something. What do you guys think? * Read (or join in) this discussion: http://www.ecauldron.net/forum/index.php?topic=7981.0 ===== ===== Walmart release new line of deities! Get yours now! ===== Well not really. It's not actually that bad. It's also not about thoughtful ecclectics, syncretists and others who want to stake a reasonable claim to the territory. What it is about is an attitude that seems to me to be increasingly prominent over the time that I have been actively involved in pagan thought and communities (say from 1974) on the east coast of Australia. More and more I see people advocating and practicing an approach to spiritual practice (especially 'choosing' deities) that centres on the extent to which the superficial aspects of the path or deity appeal to the seeker. There is little to no talk of the concerns and practicle considerations of this aspect of life. It often seems like buying the house because the display furniture looked good. What do others think? Have you noticed it? What do you think of it? * Read (or join in) this discussion: http://www.ecauldron.net/forum/index.php?topic=7969.0 ===== ===== What is the Good Life? ===== What is the Good Life? What ought a rational being to consider the most desirable state of being? Through what lens does rationality advise that we interpret the world and our experiences in and around it? These and similar questions have been a concern of not only the western, rationalist tradition, but also woven deeply through the philosophy and spiritual endeavour through place and time. Is the nature of the Good Life a concern to you or your path? Is the concept even meaningful within your world view? Does it matter? As a Stoic, it is of great concern to me. I seek a state loosely translated as happiness, but not directly associated with immediate plesure or pain. I'm very interested to broaden my perspective on this key point of my philosophy by hearing the experience of contemporary spiritual thinkers. All answers greatly appreciated. * Read (or join in) this discussion: http://www.ecauldron.net/forum/index.php?topic=7968.0 ===== ===== The Coming Out Topic ===== I am guessing most of us here were not born into Pagan families, so most of us have had to face the question of whether or not to tell our families and friends, and if so, how. So, a few questions: 1. Have you told your family what you believe? Why or why not? How much have you told them? 2. If you have "come out," how did you tell your family? How did they react? 3. If you haven't "come out" do you think you ever will? Why or why not? * Read (or join in) this discussion: http://www.ecauldron.net/forum/index.php?topic=7949.0 ===== ===== Ordeals on Your Path ===== What would be a spiritual ordeal for you? Do you believe such an experience is demanded by your deity/ies or spirits? Is it demanded by your path, tradition or community? Or if you're on a solitary path, do you think an ordeal is bound to happen along it? How and by whom do you think an ordeal would be provided? Did you ever encounter one on your path? If you find 'ordeal' too strong an expression for your experiences, was there anything along your path you felt remarkably uncomfortable with? Did you ever experience a very scary or demanding encounter with a deity/spirit? Was there something you felt reluctant to learn, etc? How did these experiences influence you? What do you believe a spiritual ordeal could do? (Some people may feel that some things that happen in such experiences may be too private to post on an open forum. I'll be happy about every piece which is shared, even if it means you will answer vaguely or incompletly at some points. Thank you.) * Read (or join in) this discussion: http://www.ecauldron.net/forum/index.php?topic=7946.0 ===== ===== Your Relationship to your Deity/Deities? ===== In what relationship do you see yourself to your deity/ies? - Do you see any hierarchy between you and your deity/ies? - Is he/she or are they like a parent/parents? (In what way?) - Or more like a friend/friends? (How so?) - Or is he/she/are they like a business partner/business partners? (In what regard?) How does that influence your worship? What do you give to your deity/ies or do for him/her/them and what do you receive from her/him/them? * Read (or join in) this discussion: http://www.ecauldron.net/forum/index.php?topic=7917.0 ===== ===== Having a Spiritual "Fling"? ===== I've been turning this idea around in my head for a while. I'm not sure where the spark came from... perhaps the number of people who try out Wicca before discovering a path that's a better fit. I don't really remember. At any rate, I thought the concept might be worth exploring. We often look at someone who takes up a short-term interest, be it exploring a spiritual path or learning a practical skill such as tarot, as being flighty or "fluffy"--particularly if they have a series of these sorts of flings. They're just looking for the bright shiny stuff, we moan. Or we gripe that they don't have the dedication to explore something that's really fulfilling. In some cases, that's probably true. But I think that many times, our spiritual flings do serve a good purpose. We've all had things we've thrown ourselves into headfirst. Sometimes it's a personal relationship. Sometimes it's a hobby. Sometime's it's a diet. Whatever it is, we're convinced at the start that this new thing is wonderful! The best thing ever! And we're totally committed to it! Then a few months or years down the road, after we've examined all the thing's flaws and annoyances, we may find that this just isn't for us after all. But we've still learned, even if we've learned that we don't like knitting. Or that Norse gods don't truly speak to us. Have any of you ever had a spiritual fling? If so, what did you learn/gain from it? Or do you think the entire concept is just silly? * Read (or join in) this discussion: http://www.ecauldron.net/forum/index.php?topic=7846.0 ===== ===== Raising children in your religion? ===== If you have children, do you plan to raise them in your religion? If so, how much? Will you just tell them about your beliefs, or will you expect them to participate in your rituals with you as well? What are your reasons? This is something I've been thinking about a lot. I was raised Christian. I was taught that all other religions were "false". I had to go to church every Sunday. My parents read the Bible to each of us individually every night. I was completely surrounded by Christian teachings and didn't meet anyone who believed differently until I was in my late teens, unless it was people I was supposed to try to "convert." Unfortunately, I found the Christian religion and most of its teachings quite depressing, and I am still struggling with some of the feelings I had because of my religious upbringing. Now, my parents are strongly pushing their religion on my two- year-old niece. It makes me a bit uncomfortable, because she's only two years old so she isn't old enough to decide for herself. I wish I'd been allowed to decide for myself as a kid, and I don't want her to go through life dealing with some of the things I had to deal with. I don't want her growing up afraid she'll die in the night and go to hell, or thinking she can't stand up to people who bully her because she's supposed to "turn the other cheek" or think she's supposed to be subservient to men just because she happens to be female. (I realize that's probably not what the Christian teachings are intended to mean, but kids can easily get those kids of ideas and then have a hard time shaking them when they're older, which is what happened to me.) So now that I've decided I want to be a Pagan (even though I don't know which path yet) and I am of the age where I could have children, I sometimes wonder, will I teach them all I can about my path (when I choose one) but still let them decide for themselves when they are old enough? Will I teach them about lots of different religions so they feel comfortable with people with lots of different beliefs but possibly be confused? Or will I just leave religion alone and let them discuss it if they want to, but not bring it up on my own? I think I want them to at least know what I believe, but I don't want them to feel pressured to believe it themselves. Those of you who have kids, how have you chosen to deal with their religious upbringing? And those of you who don't have them yet but might someday, how do you plan to deal with it? * Read (or join in) this discussion: http://www.ecauldron.net/forum/index.php?topic=7810.0 [03] ========= ========= PHYLLIS VEGA'S TAROT TALK ========= Tarot Basics ========= by Phyllis Vega ========= The standard tarot deck consists of seventy-eight cards. The cards are divided into two groups called the major arcana (greater mysteries) and the minor arcana (lesser mysteries). The twenty-two trump cards constitute the major arcana. The remaining fifty-six cards belong to the minor arcana, which are divided into four suits: wands, cups, pentacles, and swords. Each suit contains four picture or court cards, and ten pip or numbered cards. The artwork on the seventy-eight cards of the tarot deck is rich with archetypal symbols. These symbols are universal in scope and help to activate the inner senses, allowing the reader to tap into a nonintellectual form of knowledge. You read the cards by relating a scenario based on the information that you receive from both your conscious and unconscious minds. Sometimes you'll examine the cards in a spread, and all at once you'll know their meanings in relation to the question. At other times you will analyze the layout, and then relate what you've learned about the cards to events and conflicts in the life of the questioner. ===== ===== The Major Arcana: Greater Mysteries ===== The twenty-two trump cards of the major arcana correlate to principal events in life, and to the social and cultural forces that mold character and destiny. They depict the same archetypal images that exist everywhere in mythology, folklore, legends, and dreams. Taken together, as a group, they form a story of human growth and evolution. In her book, Seventy-Eight Degrees of Wisdom, Tarot Grand Master Rachel Pollack refers to the majors as, "A psychological process, one that shows us passing through different stages of existence to reach a state of full development." On a practical level the archetypes of the major arcana correspond to the attributes of universal personality types, and represent aspects of ourselves. Each card relates to emotional, mental, physical, and spiritual qualities. Everyone is a composite of the primal energies, personalities, and subtypes symbolized by these cards. ===== ===== The Minor Arcana: Other Mysteries ===== The fifty-six cards that comprise the minor arcana in the tarot are known as the lesser mysteries, but that's misleading. It would be better to think of them as "other mysteries," because they are the building blocks of the tarot, its DNA. We need the minors to direct us toward the path that is best for us, to tell us about the people we might meet along the way, and to illuminate the situations we may experience. Whereas the trumps of the major arcana reflect larger matters and important turning points, the court and pip cards of the minor arcana generally refer to the different aspects and events of everyday life. ===== ===== The Four Suits: Basic Elements of Life ===== The four suits of the standard tarot deck are: wands, cups, pentacles, and swords. They correspond to the four basic elements: fire, water, earth, and air, and to the four seasons of the year: spring, summer, autumn, and winter. Wands: creativity, ideas, conception, beginnings. Cups: feelings, love, romance, desire, inner experience. Pentacles: physicality, manifestation, practicality, finance. Swords: action, the intellect, communication, struggle. ===== ===== The Court Cards: People in Your Life ===== There are sixteen court cards in a typical tarot deck--four of each suit. Most often they are called kings, queens, knights, and pages. In some nontraditional decks they go by different names-- daughter, son, priestess, shaman, child, man, woman, sage, speaker. No matter what they are called, the court cards usually represent people. However, they may also symbolize qualities that we possess, or actual events and activities that take place in our lives. Kings: mature men, fatherhood, the yang, the ego, closure, completion. Queens: women, motherhood, the yin, the receptive qualities of the inner self. Knights: young men or women, energy, drive, change. Pages: adolescents or children, youthful innocence, messages, communications, new beginnings. ===== ===== The Pip Cards: Day to Day Images ===== Because they relate to the major issues in our lives, the trump cards are generally thought of as the most powerful in the deck. However, that does not mean that they are more important than the other cards. On a daily basis the court and pip cards are at least as important, precisely because they pertain to the people and events of everyday life. With the exception of the court cards, every card in tarot is linked to a number. The pip cards are numbered ace through ten. Ace: beginnings, new ideas, potential, promise. Two: partnership, relationship, polarities, balancing. Three: synthesis, growth, creativity, unity. Four: foundations, discipline, work, stability. Five: change, shifts, adjustments, challenge. Six: balance, health, harmony, equilibrium. Seven: spirituality, wisdom, insight, complex choices. Eight: reevaluation, regeneration, setting priorities. Nine: integration, fulfillment, attainment, conclusion. Ten: wholeness, completion, transition to a new cycle. There is no right or wrong way to read tarot; no teacher, book, or specific system has a lock on the perfect method for interpreting the cards. The most any book or teacher can do is pass along some tips. Ultimately the only way to learn the tarot is through trial and error, and the best procedure for reading the cards is the one that works best for you. === === About Phyllis Vega === Phyllis Vega is a professional astrologer and tarot reader. She is the author of two popular tarot books, Romancing the Tarot and Power Tarot (with Trish MacGregor), with a third book, TarotCraft: How to Use the Cards for Divination, Creative Visualization, and Meditation currently in the works. Contact Phyllis via email at pvega@bellsouth.net or through her website at http://www.geocities.com/phyllisvega/. Tarot Tarot columns and other works by Phyllis are archived at http://tarottalk.ecauldron.net/. Phyllis Vega's Tarot Talk copyright (c) 2009 by Phyllis Vega. All rights reserved. [04] ========= ========= FLAMEKEEPING ========= SOCIALIZING ECSTACY ========= by HeartShadow ========= HeartShadow is following her own religious path. She calls it FlameKeeping. This regular column will present articles on FlameKeeping, many taken from HeartShadow's FlameKeeping blog at: http://flamekeeping.blogspot.com/ ===== ===== Socializing Ecstacy ===== How do we take our ecstacy, our experiences that simply do not translate into words or our daily lives, and go back to our jobs and our families? How do we balance ecstacy and being a parent, being a worker, being a friend? Where do we find a balance? There's no room for ecstacy in everyday life. We cling, as a society, to the banal, to the safe. Ecstacy is scary and other, something that cannot be controlled or institutionalized (although we try in our religious groups). Yet pieces of ecstacy leak through into everyday life. In our creative work, in our dealings with friends, in our quiet moments by ourselves. We never know quite how to handle it, but we manage to keep from bottling it up. Our society, our lives need more room for the other, for the lack of control and manageablility ecstacy brings. We need to be willing to bring that sense of other into our lives even when it doesn't fit, even when it demands our lives change in response. At the same time, we need to keep up with our obligations or end them honorably. We serve no one when we use ecstacy as an excuse to drop out of our lives, to ditch responsibilities and act like a rebellious teen. There needs to be a place for ecstacy in our lives and our society, scary and transformative as it is. However, that place cannot be replacing those responsibilities that cannot be laid down. We need to be mature even as we are children, responsible even as our world is remade. That which we claim as ours may change, but that which we are responsible for does not. ===== ===== Questions: ===== * How have you embraced ecstacy? How have you denied it? * What responsibilities does ecstacy call for you to lay down? Which ones might it? Can you do so honorably? * How do you deny room for ecstacy in the people around you? How do you attempt to hold them to your perspective of what they should be? [05] ========= ========= ARTICLES ========= ======= ======= MID-NOVEMBER MUSINGS ======= by Aine ======= Do a ritual honoring the seasons. Yeah, I'd rather do my homework. What is the point of ritual? I don't really seem to get anything out of it. You walk around in a circle, consecrate a space, say a little (or sometimes really long) poem and then...Goddess only knows. What exactly is supposed to happen? If you are doing a general ritual, who is honored? Whenever you read articles on The Vox or visit one of the numerous pagan forums, you have to wonder, is their life really that magical? Do they spend every waking minute pondering the parallels between their religion and life? Do they really see life like this? Do they seriously go out performing their rituals, honoring the Gods in sheer joy and ecstasy? Do they have such devotion for their Gods? How much of this is real? The whole idea is so overwhelming. I think my whole problem is this little voice in the back of my head that says, "Is this really real?" The only thing in my life right now that I feel is powerful enough to take me to new spiritual levels is music. I have never felt so holy as to when I am dancing and singing alone. Can one develop a religion based soley on this practice? I doubt it. I wish my personal rituals and rituals I have participated in could feel like this. I wish I could just for a moment feel whatever these pagans are experiencing. To know that ecstasy, joy and sheer devotion...to wrap myself in the sheer unconditional divine love and peace...to realize my place in the cosmic web of the starry universe is something I so desperately need. Please, just gimme a little... "Spare a little candle...save some light for me"* "There's something out there...I can't resist"* And there it is...that instinctual longing for the Mysteries of Life. * from "These Dreams" by Heart === About the Author Aine is a member of The Cauldron: A Pagan Forum. ======= ======= SIX WAYS TO USE SCRYING ======= by Cathan Sian ======= Scrying is a highly individual divination process that takes patience and persistence to use. You need a personalized speculum (a crystal ball, a black mirror or other scrying instrument). You then need to attune the speculum. At first when working with the speculum you will see clouds moving working up to full scenes. At this point there are a multitude of uses for your hard work. This article explores six different ways you can use your scrying abilities. The uses discussed below progress from easy to harder, but please do not limit yourself to just these six. ===== Finding lost things Beginning scryers find asking simple questions the easiest way to get used to their speculum. You ask the speculum a series of questions and see the answers in the clouds. The simplest yes or no questions can be answered by clouds moving up or down. When you ask questions the clouds move in response. For yes, the clouds go up. For no, the clouds go down. In this way you can pinpoint where the item is located. For a more complicated lost item you will need to access a deeper level of scrying. "The scryer concentrates awareness upon some physical object, or uses a preset series of mental or physical actions, in order to bring about a receptive mental state capable of receiving information gathered by the deep mind." [1] To find something lost you can ask your "deep mind." Consulting your speculum may help you put patterns together in a distinguishable manner that leads you to the lost item. ===== Improve your symbology You may have several different charts of symbols to help aid you for tarot or for other endeavors. But the symbols that work best in scrying are the ones you can relate to personally. "Scrying is more like dream interpretation, where you can reference universal symbols or archetypes, but more often than not, the visions and symbols relate to your unique personal experience and its own symbolic history." [2] With the help of your speculum you can start making your personal symbol chart. You will learn to see patterns not only in the speculum but also in the world around you. You can then test those patterns in the speculum by asking questions. In time, the answers you receive from the speculum should allow you to make a more complete symbol chart which you can use in all aspects of your life. For more information consult Crystal Balls & Crystal Bowls by Ted Andrews for some practical exercises. ===== Increase your intuition Using your "deep mind" will strengthen your connection to your intuition. "What scrying and its repeated use do forge is a closer connection between the conscious and unconscious minds, and this will increase your intuition at all levels." [3] You may find your intuition speaks to you in a small voice inside your head. If so, this voice will increase as you use your speculum. However, intuition comes in many forms, such as a feeling that guides you or something you see that leads you. Trust becomes a key factor. The more you scry and believe what you see, the more you will trust your own intuition. Setting up a routine to use your speculum on a regular basis will help strengthen your trust in the things you see. If you do the same thing each time, in the same place then the only variable will be the patterns you see or the messages you hear or the feelings you get. You can be assured that outside influences are not "rigging" your results. After all that work you will be able to trust your intuition in other situations. ===== Self analysis Once you have enough control over your speculum, you will begin to uncover things about yourself you never knew before. This will naturally flow into an opportunity for self analysis. With your own symbol system in place you can work on problems you were never able to tackle before. "Obviously, scrying can aid the development of your whole person. With your speculum, you will have a mirror that reveals your personality. As a result, you have a unique opportunity to grow psychologically and spirituality, a chance to see your own traps and the paths around them." [4] In the position of scryer, you go behind the facade of your every day life. You have the chance to evaluate the real you, a chance to address your fears or problems head on. The better you are at seeing behind your own facade, the better you will see into the speculum. ===== Help from beyond You can find help through the speculum in the form of spirit guides or astral travel. The spirit guides on the other side of the speculum can help answer questions or give guidance. "The mental place of ritual, sometimes called the astral temple to distinguish it from the physical room in which rituals are worked, is far more important for successful scrying than the material scrying chamber, because it is inside the astral temple that spirits and visions actually appear." [5] This is an advanced exercise that should be taken on by an experienced seer. However, knowing the possibility exists helps beginning scryers have a goal to reach for or look out for signs in case the experience comes faster than expected. ===== Long distance healing Scrying takes psychic energy. This energy can be used for a variety of things including long distance healing. "It assists us in concentrating, tuning and transmitting the healing energies and tones. The sound waves sent out by the bowl strengthen the entire etheric body of the individual, so that physical illness will be blocked, balanced, and/or eliminated." [6] Ted Andrews, in Crystal Balls & Crystal Bowls, goes on to explain how long distance healing can be achieved using a speculum, a "witness" and a healing bowl. He also outlines some of the ethical considerations you should think about before undertaking such an endeavor. ===== Conclusion Scrying requires a lot of work but the rewards may be worth the effort. The six ways to use scrying listed above scratch the surface of the things you can accomplish if scrying works for you. "Learning to divine involves recognizing links and patterns to a great degree. If you can see the pattern that has brought a person to a certain point in his or her life, then you see where that pattern is likely to lead if not changed. Divination and seership help you to realize that there are few limitations and many choices within our lives. They help you to realize the more probable consequences, and thus you can take more beneficial actions." [7] [1] Scrying for Beginners, Donald Tyson, 1997, pg 13. [2] The Magic Mirror, John Nelson, 2007, pg xvii. [3] The Magic Mirror, John Nelson, 2007, pg 74. [4] Exploring Scrying, Ambrose Hawk, 2001, pg 10. [5] Scrying for Beginners, Donald Tyson, 2007, pg 48. [6] Crystal Balls & Crystal Bowls, Ted Andrews, 1995, pg 174. [7] Crystal Balls & Crystal Bowls, Ted Andrews, 1995, pg 11. ==== About the Author Cathan Sian is a member of The Cauldron: A Pagan Forum. [06] ========= ========= Cauldron Info ========= SUPPORT THE CAULDRON'S SERVER WITH DONATIONS ========= As mentioned in the October 2008 newsletter, we now need over US$60 in donations every month to keep the server online. No donations, no server. No server, no message board. Well, not really "no message board" as there is always the free backup board, but the limitations of the free backup board drive staff and many members nuts. Your donations are needed to keep The Cauldron: A Pagan Forum's message board up. We now have two ways you can donate. 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(Unfortunately, Randall has to answer general "Tell me more?" type questions with a request for a more specific question. He's not trying to be rude, he just can't think of anything general and useful to say that isn't said here.) [08] ========= ========= NEWSLETTER INFORMATION ========= (Including how to subscribe and unsubscribe) ========= Cauldron and Candle is a free publication of The Cauldron: A Pagan Forum. The Cauldron intends to publish this newsletter once a month and often actually succeeds in doing so. We tried to publish it twice a month for a while, but real life interfered too often. This issue of Cauldron and Candle as a whole is copyright (c) 2008 by The Cauldron: A Pagan Forum. Copyrights on individual items in this newsletter are retained by their author, please contact the editors if you need to contact an author for permission to reprint an article and the editors will do their best to put you in touch with him or her. 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You are also welcome to forward a copies of this newsletter to interested friends and associates provided you forward the entire newsletter. ===== ===== SUGGESTIONS ARE ALWAYS WELCOME ===== Don't forget that your suggestions for this newsletter are always welcome, either posted on the message board or via email to LyricFox (lyricfox01@ecauldron.GETRIDOFME.com) or Randall Sapphire (rssapphire01@.ecauldron.GETRIDOFME.com). Typos are, as usual, courtesy of the Goddess Eris.

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