Bone Songs Chronicle for September 5, 2021

Witchcraft/Paganism Curated News

Trigger Warning: some of these stories speak to several kinds of abuse. I am not responsible for the content. I share for educational purposes, and want you to be forewarned. Read the news at your own risk. Some of it is cool!

Weekly Horoscopes with the Astro Twins

This Week’s Tarot: Page of Cups

This card’s depiction is my favorite when it comes to embodying the meaning of this card.

The Page of Cups suggests a new idea or opportunity has come to you out of the blue. Your creative energy is flowing, and now the question is how you will express it. Will you snap up this new idea and turn it into something, or will you let someone else bring it to fruition? It is up to you! Spend time exploring the idea to see if you want to move forward.

The Page of Cups invites you to have an open and curious mind. Be open to anything – including a fish popping its head out of a cup! It is with a curious mind that you will discover new aspects of life and yourself. Open your mind to all possibilities, especially those of a creative or intuitive nature, you will be pleasantly surprised. Be ready to dream the impossible dream, and explore the magic of your fullest potential, even if it seems out of reach. The Page of Cups is asking you to embrace your inner child and believe that anything is possible. As the Queen of Hearts told Alice, “Why, sometimes I’ve believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast!”

This Week’s Totem: Porcupine

North American Porcupine courtesy of Smithsonian National Zoo

Porcupines are rodents with a coat of sharp spines, or quills, that defend them from predators. They are indigenous to the Americas, Southern Asia, Europe, and Africa. Porcupines are the third largest of the rodents, behind the capybara and the beaver. The common porcupine is a herbivore. It eats leaves, herbs, twigs and green plants like clover and in the winter it may eat bark. The North American porcupine often climbs trees to find food.

Porcupines’ quills, or spines, take on various forms, depending on the species, but all are modified hairs coated with thick plates of keratin, and they are embedded in the skin musculature. Old World porcupines (Hystricidae) have quills embedded in clusters, whereas in New World porcupines (Erethizontidae), single quills are interspersed with bristles, underfur and hair.

Quills are released by contact with them, or they may drop out when the porcupine shakes its body. New quills grow to replace lost ones. From ancient times, it was believed that porcupines could throw their quills at an enemy, but this has long been refuted. Porcupines are generally nocturnal but are occasionally active during daylight. They tend to crave salt, and those with this totem may also have a tendency to overindulge in salt.

Porcupines are generally good-natured, and so are those who carry this medicine. They tend to thoroughly enjoy anything they are doing. They have a strong sense of curiosity, and they seemed to be continually amazed and filled with most things they encounter. Although they have poor eyesight, they remain more curious than cautious.

As stated above, they do not shoot their quills at a predator. Instead, they will hide their head to protect their faces and shake their bodies (mostly the tails) in the direction of their enemy. While the quills do not have poison, they are barbed and quite painful. This is true of those with this medicine as well. If they get hurt or feel they are under attack, they will generally use passive-aggressive behaviors to send painful barbs to those who they perceive to be a threat.. and it will hurt their opponent for a very long time.

Porcupine’s main message is that of retaining your childlike sense of wonder and innocence. Ask yourself: Are you allowing other people’s opinions to prevent you from exploring activities you would otherwise find fun and enjoyable? Do you have recreational time in your life? Are you overly sensitive to the barbs of others? Porcupine can teach you how to enjoy life and maintain a sense of wonder no matter what conditions or circumstances you find yourself in. Don’t forget to nourish the child within.

Bone Songs

“If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle.” ~ Sun Tzu

This week, I want to talk about a lesson from one of the greatest military strategists of all time- Sun Tzu, and how that relates to a Witch’s perspective, particularly in the Powers of the Sphinx maxim, “To Know. To Dare. To Will. To Keep Silent.” We’ll discuss the first, “To Know”, in this segment, and look at the other three in future posts.

In Witchcraft, “To Know” is a significant part of our practice. For every book in which this is discussed, you’ll find a variety of definitions as to what “To Know” is all about. In Thelemic or Hermetic teachings, it usually means “to know what needs to be done”. In most books on The Craft, you’ll find that it is about the accumulation of knowledge for the purpose of using that knowledge toward your personal growth and use of your birthright. For our purposes today, it’s about studying one’s self, one’s enemy, and human nature in general.

In many spiritual and martial practices, the main focus is on introspection. For those who have practiced martial arts, you understand that each movement, each challenge, is not about learning how to fight. It is teaching you about your self, your strengths and capabilities, as well as your weaknesses and growth opportunities. Meditation, yoga, tai chi.. all of these are also designed to teach us about ourselves. The more you are able to slough off the masks and self-deceiving images you have built within your psyche to keep you from acknowledging your true self, or to protect you from getting hurt, the more you are able to see who you really are, and accept then embrace that person. Once you are able to get a clear, solid look at this person and live genuinely, the stronger you become.

Clear sight is important in any battle. Once you can see yourself, you can clearly see the enemy. Most oftentimes, the enemy is ourselves.

Remember, no victorious commander goes into battle without a strategic plan. This is not an easy or quick exercise. The preparation alone will take you weeks, perhaps months, to accomplish. Creating your strategy and implementing it will take longer, and you will continually be on guard against this in your life. However, the rewards are tremendous. As Sun Tsu says, “If you know Heaven and you know Earth, your victory will be complete.”

Your skill and draiocht (magic) will be clear and strong, and your life will take on a much deeper meaning with the eradication of this enemy.

That’s it for this week’s edition. I hope you’ve enjoyed. Comments and constructive feedback are always welcome.

Sláinte,

Alexis, The Bone Song Witch

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