If you'd like me to elaborate on any of my answers, please say so in the comments and I will do my best. :D
Do you use runes as a written language?
No, I have tended to use plain English for writing out notes and spells, but lately I've been developing my own version of the Theban alphabet.
Do you feel you have natural gifts such as (premonitions, hearing spirits) and if so do you think this is what led you to this path?
We all have natural gifts such as premonitions, etc. I don't think they led me to this path. Something else led me to this path. A seeking nature.
What deity do you work with if any and why?
For me, deity is a concept and not literal beings (most days -- some days, I believe in individual deities wholeheartedly). The gods and goddesses are our conceptualisation of wavelengths of universal energies. When we want to tap into certain types of energy, invoking a god or goddess is like a kind of shorthand for naming the nameless.
Have you always worked with this same deity?
Yes, I realise now that I have always worked with the same force, and I think we all do. I have called it many different things throughout my life, depending on where I've been in my journey. I have always been a seeker. God, Jesus, Holy Spirit. Sat nam, Wahe guru, Shakti, Buddha, Avalokiteshvara. Kwan Yin. Lord and Lady. Cernunnos, Aradia. Isis. Artemis. Universal Consciousness. Dharma. No-thing. So many names.
Do you use any personal items in your practice, (blood, semen, tears, urine, etc)?
When I am moved to, yes.
Do you do past life readings or have ever had one done; who where you or how did you die?
No I do not. I don't believe in past lives. My consciousness is tied up in the unique aggregate of my corporeal being, and when this body dies, this consciousness goes with it. Whatever spark of energy that powers this machine, I believe, is not extinguishable. But that doesn't mean I have 'past lives'. That just means I am alive.
What is your favorite magical tool?
The Tarot. Without it, there would be no awareness for me that all my life I have been on a magical path.
What is a song or type of music that gets you into a witchy mood?
Anything that stirs my higher self. If by 'witchy mood', you mean energy raising, that is.
Where is the most magical place you have ever been?
There are a few where I have had experiences, some good, some bad, some both at the same time!
Chartes Cathedral labyrinth and Black Madonna (at the time I visited, I was a devout Protestant and knew nothing of these things, yet in this building I felt like I was going to fall to my knees)
Christchurch, Stratford-on-Avon (I felt a very strong aversion to the building as soon as I set foot in it and had to leave at once; I was on a Buddhist path at the time)
To be honest, the most magical places I've ever been would be river valleys, where water tumbles and crashes over rocks, and there is moss and trees and swarms of bugs and unexpected shafts of sunlight with rainbows. I've been in lots of those wonderful places.
What animal is your familiar if any?
I don't have a familiar, no pets. But I do have a spirit animal, which is a crow, or any corvid.
If you have a familiar, did you choose them or did they choose you?
They chose me. I asked for a vision of my spirit animal and envisioned a bare tree with flock of black birds pouring out of it.
What in the craft are you best at (tarot, spells, ritual,) etc?
Tarot
What in the craft would you say you are weaker at?
Robert Cochrane once said, 'If one who claims he or she is a witch can perform the tasks of witchcraft, that is they can summon spirits and spirits will come, they can turn hot into cold and cold into hot, they can divine with rod, fingers and birds, they can claim right to omens and have them. Above all, they can tell the Maze and cross the Lethe. Then you have a witch' (Letter to Bill #V, page 1). Telling the Maze and crossing the Lethe would be my weakness. :)
What is your most favorite part of your craft (spell writing, divination, etc)?
Divination, chanting, candle magic.
What was the first tool you ever purchased?
Most of my tools are found objects or used objects not manufactured for the Craft, but I suppose I'd have to count my first purchase tool as a tarot deck.
What was your first homemade tool for your practice?
I don't have any homemade tools.
Part Two tomorrow!
Love what you say about deity! As for past lives, I'm on the fence on that one. I believe our divine spark persists, but it may manifest as rock bacteria for a couple of aeons, maybe as a nice rest from being human or being a whale, or whatever. Would I even be able to recognise the sensations from such a different existence?
ReplyDeleteOoh Chloe, what an exellent question! I do believe in past lives and that we can remember them. In fact I *think* I have memories... Need clarification on that one because it might be just fantasies lol... But remembering to be a man is quite difficult, let alone trying to understand a rock bacterium's existence
DeleteRock or whale, whatever of me transfers to that form will not have my consciousness, which is inseparable from my physical body and DNA. This is the teaching I have carried over with me from my Western Buddhist experience. I do not doubt that a force carries over -- the force is in everything in the universe, and we are not actually separate from it, though we might think we are because of the limitations of our perceptions, which come from the five aggregates.
DeleteI don't want to wake up again as Carla Tate, or ever have any memories of being Carla Tate. It would be irrelevant. But I don't believe that can happen, because there has only ever been and only ever will be one time in the history of the universe that the elements and the universe came together in exactly this form that I am now. It will not be repeated.
Nope, you wouldn't recognise the sensations of being a rock or a whale. You won't be there. Not the you who is thinking about what it might be like. That is my belief.
Katalin, I'd love to read your answers to this witchy tag! :) x
DeleteI loved your answers Carla! You are so sure about your beliefs! I am still an incy wincy bit of my teenage self who was super secretive and shy in telling anyone about being 'different' - I am still hesitant to call myself a witch because I don't have candles and pentagrams and all that... And I don't even have cats! :O I am considering doing this question thingy but I already am overloaded with loads of muggle stuff. :(
DeleteI've been bad at keeping up with your blog recently. In my defense, I've been trying, with varying degrees of success, to spend less time "plugged in" these days. That said, I'm still surprised I've miss seeing this tag around. A quick Google just now showed responses beginning in July. I think I'd like to try this. I've often said I like participating in various Facebook groups because people sometimes post things that make me really *think* about my beliefs and practices in a way that helps me to internalise and honour my path.
ReplyDeleteWill I publish the results?... Maybe. And as much as I'm itching to learn your perspective on these questions, I don't want yours or anyone else's, "take" colouring my responses, so I'll save these posts for reading after I've completed my list.