NMR ISSUE 48

Astrological Forecast 48
Be Careful What you Wish For
Cherished Secret of Success Resonance
Crone Empowered
Crystal Skull Luminaria
Daily Prayer
Doing It by the Book
Editorial 48
Esoteric Symbology of the Tarot
Frog, Cobra & Chickadee
Helping Hand or Magickal Hand
Ikhanten's Doom
Letters 48
Modern Scapegoat Rituals
North Star Road:
Other Editorial 48
Pagan Catechism
Prayer to the Goddess
Renewal Through Release
Samhain Ritual
Temple of the Goddess grounding Meditation
The Fellowship of Isis
The Kabalah in Everyday Use
The Serpent and the Radio
Timelapse
Wolf Moon
Wrath of the Gods Luminaria

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Renewal Through Release: The Cauldron of Purification

By Judith Rhoads

This is the time of year to forgive all debts and grudges in order to start the New Year renewed and fresh, reborn in a spiritual sense. I think this is a wonderful tradition. It really helps in releasing the excess baggage we carry, known and unknown, especially the latter. What you don't know can hurt you in unexpected ways because you don't know where it's coming from or why. It's frustrating and leaves you feeling somehow let down by spirit. After all, you're working hard at your spirituality. You are a model magical person, living your religion, usually being more Christian than Christians. So where is the crap coming from, the seemingly undeserved crap that hits the nicest people? It is a sort of self-sabotage from subconscious/unconscious stuff that accumulates even without your being aware of it. Your subconscious mind holds everything ever said to you or about you since you were in the womb. Also all the hurts; mental, physical and emotional that the conscious you, the Middle Self, has forgotten, but the Little Self remembers and is still reacting to.

For example, suppose when you were little, a man in a brown suit with a brown tie was mean to you and frightened you. To this day, every time you meet a man with a brown suit or a brown tie, you could feel uncomfortable and take an immediate dislike to the person without understanding why. You may have missed out on a new best friend because he happened to be wearing brown when you met. Sounds silly? It happens. If you stop to think about it, you may find you have some strange likes and dislikes with no apparent cause. Remember of course, it works the same for the positive side. Perhaps a man in a brown suit and tie was kind to you, helped you out. You could find yourself partial to men in brown. But it is the negative we want to work on releasing so with that in mind use the following pathworking for clearing known and unknown negative baggage.

This would be excellent to use in Circle with a group if you have someone who is good at leading guided meditations. Remember, when alone, be sure to take the phone off the hook and be sure you won't be disturbed. Take your time to get completely relaxed. You may have a favorite method already, if not, try this one or add it to your own.

Surround yourself in the white light, seeing yourself inside the egg-shaped light, also completely white. See every hair, every cell in your body as a brilliant white light. Then turn every cell in your body completely red, bright red for the Root Chakrum. Then orange for the Spleen Chakrum. Then yellow for the Solar Plexus Chakrum. Then green for the Heart Chakrum. Then light blue for the Throat Chakrum. Then indigo for the Third Eye chakrum. And finally a translucent violet color for the Crown Chakrum. Then bring in through the top of your Crown Chakrum a brilliant white light from the Chakrum point about three feet over your head; this is the lowest Chakrum point of your High Self. Mix the white light with the translucent violet of the Crown Chakrum until you have a light lavender color. It should be close to the color you see in the sunsets at night. Stay in this color as long as you are comfortable. It is a purifying color. It restores and heals, but the high vibration will make you nervous after a while. (This is a good time to look over your body in the lavender light and see if you find any dark spots. If you do, rub them out with the lavender light.) Finally, of course, return to the white light.

Now see in front of you about three feet away a doorway opening on a forest scene, a magical forest. The path runs from beneath your feet to the doorway and beyond. In your mind's eye, stand up and go through the doorway. Immerse yourself in the forest surroundings. The more you get into a meditation, the more you get out it. Feel the path beneath your feet smell the flora feel the bark of a tree hear small (or big) animals in the brush feel the wind on your skin notice the temperature. Walk the path experiencing with all your senses. Get so engrossed that a sudden movement or noise of an animal can startle you.

Eventually come to a fast running stream. Drink; wash your face and hands. Look up and see a small stone bridge just a little downstream. You decide to cross but stop in the middle of bridge to look again at the fast running stream. You realize this is the perfect place to get rid of the negative baggage you DO know about. In a pocket you will find a pen and paper. Tear the paper into various strips just big enough to hold a word or a sentence only. Write down what you want out of your life, a bad habit, an annoying neighbor or fellow worker, an illness, debts, smoking, etc. Write each thought on a different piece of paper, read it over and throw it into the stream. Watch it being carried out of your life forever. Do as many of these as you wish. Then finish crossing the bridge to the other side.

The path leads to a cliff. You explore the cliff and find an opening, a small one just big enough for you to crawl through. The tunnel angles down. Just as it gets completely dark you see a glow coming from around a turn in the tunnel. You come into a small cavern aglow with torches and a fire in the center. It's warm and cozy and gives you a strangely secure feeling, like being in the womb of mother earth. You smell something delicious cooking over the fire in a cauldron being stirred by a crone. She looks up at you and smiles and says: It's about time you got here. You are struck by Her face and all the love and wisdom and sheer power you feel emanating from Her.

You know, really know you are in the presence of the Divine. Mind your manners. She beckons you forward and startles you by saying, Take off all your clothes. She smiles at your discomfort as She points to a huge cauldron-shaped hot tub set in the ground. She explains that now you are to get rid of the unknown negative baggage in Her cauldron. You undress quickly and sit on the edge of the cauldron. You slip into the warm, caressing water. You expect to touch the bottom but find that inside the cauldron is much larger than outside (it's magick).

Now a whirlpool takes you deeper and deeper. You start to panic until you realize you are breathing just fine in the water. Relax, enjoy the journey. You realize that the trip through the tunnel was, in essence, returning to the womb of the mother, and now you are going back to the moment of conception. As you ungrow you hear your mother's heartbeat. Fantastic! There are lights, you hadn't expected lights. There is a popping sound and you find yourself out of a physical body just at the moment of your creation. You feel a forward motion again and find that you are being reborn, recreated. There are the lights again and now the heartbeat again: all the wonder that is creation as the whirlpool takes you upwards.

During the journey upward, feel the difference in yourself. You have been renewed in every cell without the negative junk our Little Self, out of ignorance, packs all over our bodies in any available space. Don't you feel lighter?* Most important, your brain has been rewired. There are new pathways for your neurons, new synapses; even your brain stem has been upgraded. You are clearer, stronger, younger, healthier in every cell.

As your head breaks the surface of the water, you see the Crone looking at you and smiling in satisfaction. All went well. You accomplished much. She helps you out of the cauldron and hands you a towel. While you are drying and putting on your clothes, the Crone dips a ladle into the small cauldron over the fire. She hands you a cup of delicious smelling soup. Somehow you know you are not just taking in nourishment for the body but for mind and spirit also. You know so many things now. You can feel it. Speech is not even necessary with the Crone. Your looks exchange volumes, you understand She is fortifying you for the work you will do on both sides of the veil. That is why you are here, why you are learning a new language: a language of light and understanding. You are being prepared. You are happy and grateful to finally be at this point in your evolution. The past is gone, gone forever.

Thank the Crone, hug the Crone. Promise to come back whenever you feel a need for renewal. She will always be waiting. You may either come back out of meditation on the count of 1-2-3-4-5 or stay with the Crone and nap or go to sleep for the night. She will guard you.

Be aware your life will be very different now, obstacles have been cleared away. You understand more, you see things more clearly now, know things you didn't know before. You have some experimenting and exploring to do to try out all your newness. Dreams you know you will dream more and have more lucid dreams, better communications with your guides and teachers. This is exciting; this is your future full of exciting possibilities. You are free from chains you didn't even know were binding you. Go and enjoy.

Blessed Be!

* Emotional hurts usually get stuffed in our spine, which is why most people suffer from backaches from time to time. Mental stress gives us headaches, etc. Remember, the body is the Little Self's domain.