Nothing much to post except I am still exercising, watching what I eat, and working hard to lose weight. The good news is in the last three weeks I have lost 10 pounds, not as fast as I would like but still a loss none the less. I do feel a lot better so I can only imagine how well I will feel at 180 pds.



We have added a new Wizard Board to our spirit board line, be sure and check it out if you get a chance.





Bell-Decae
Wizard Board

Creating magick in your life!

For those that follow the pagan traditions, many are allured to the magickal elements that are conveyed by many paths. Some are allured to the power, others are often drawn to the realm of believing the unbelievable, and a few people are drawn by the realm of magic that knows no limits. It is the realm of no boundaries, the realm where anything and everything is possible.



For those that are drawn to the “no boundries” realm of magic, it is the magic that is deep within the self. It is the magic that allows you to live every dream, every single fantasy, and every type of possibility you have ever even thought of. That magic begins with the self and draws from that same self as its source.



This type of magic relies very much on creative visualization, positive thinking, and the understanding that you can determine the shape of your reality. You can be what you want to be, do what you dreamed of doing, and have the life you fantasized about. But it begins with you and ends with you.




Celtic Cats
Magick Journal




The first step of living this kind of magic is to create a magic life list journal. This is you personal journal, it is much like a diary and it is the source of writing down every single dream you ever even remotely thought of. No matter how crazy or how wild those dreams are, write them down. Start this journal to record what you want, your dreams, and your wishes for the future.



Basic guidelines for the journal are as follows:



Remember that dreams, goals, and desires are fluid, a year from now you may have a completely new set of goals.



The ability to dream is only limited by your self.



Faith is the cornerstone of all magickal system, even long before the advent of Christianity.



Never force the dream, just allow it to be, and practice visualizing that.



Be responsible and be careful what you wish for, you will get it but is it what you really wanted?



Read the life list often, focus on it, make it part of you, allow it to be.



When I was 30 I wrote a magickal life list of over 200 goals, most minor some major. To date I have completed over half of those goals, most I was unaware that I did until I reread my life list. It works if you let it.




Black Panther Animal Totem
Drawered Altar

Working on losing weight!

I have started working on losing weight, probably the number one source of most of my health problems over the last three years. I have had the privilege of experiencing diabetes, glaucoma, heart attack, a serious infection that put me in the hospital for a week, and just that overall feeling of being tired.



So since a couple months ago GypsyBeth bought me a Wii Fit, I have decided to get real serious about it. For the last two weeks I have exercised daily and the last week I have seriously reduced my calorie intake and being very careful what I eat. My goal is to go from 230 lbs to 180 lbs by Yule. Today I have weighed the lowest at 224 since I started watching real close the last two weeks.



So this quick post is to pat myself on the back and say “good job DragonOak”! hah!



Also just a quick not of a new product that is up an on the web site:


Wheel of the Year Altar
with Shelf And Drawer

Be forewarned, this blog is more for me than it is for anyone else. If you read it and become bored to tears it is NOT because I didn’t warn you.



I ponder how my life came to this point, the pagan path, the woodworking, the life I lead; and I attempt to rationalize why it is I do what I do. The epiphany to that question is because I love it. I love the freedom that my life entails. I love the creative process my life encompasses.



So, mostly for my own benefit, I write down some of the major moments or directions in my early life as a guide for what a wild and crazy ride my life has been so far:



From 1964 to 1976 I grew up in a small farming community in the state of Kansas. This is where wheat was everything and Bob Dole the senator would be king. For eight of those years I was raised by my grandparents, my grandfather was blind from working in the foundries, but he never let it stop him. He continued to raise chickens and goats, and he kept the pens cleaner than most industrial operations today.



In 1972 I got my first real insight into the current state of Christianity from a hell, fire, and brimstone Baptist Revival at the High School football field. I went because it was for the free bible (boggle).



In 1976 my mother met a Post Traumatic Disordered Vietnam Marine Corp Veteran, they married, which I often think she did it so I could have a father figure. While I am sure he loved my mother very much, I am not so sure he gave to much concern for me, but that is my own feelings. That year we moved to Arizona, it was amazing to actually see mountains for the first time. After 12 years the sea of wheat fields have become quite old. In Arizona I learned to hunt, fish, and spend hours and hours in the great outdoors of the desert. Most of those times I spent with Rocky O’Donnell, who recently passed away from a brain tumor. Those were good times all in all.



In 1977 my family joined the Assembly of God Church, and boy what a ride that was. That church was completely full of tongue talking, spirit dancing, and demon believing bible thumpers. People often confused their fears into a state of reality. Demons were around every corner, Satan was going to make life miserable for the church attendees (but please keep tithing), and the end of time would be any day now. Ya I know, and it gets worse.



In 1981, it was decided by this group of fanatics that their children must be controlled. They must decide where they go, who they are friends with, and a “Marine Corps” set of rules. Personally I couldn’t take it anymore, I was the banner child to my grandparent on what a good kid was, but then I rebelled from this heavy oppression. As a result I got into some trouble with the legal system and was sent to the Teen Challenge program (a program operated by Assembly of God churches for trouble men and women, but really just a guise to complete indoctrination to the point of no questioning), where the brain washing could be completed. This is where as a 16 year old, I was sent to Los Angeles, where I could live with 15 to 20 other men, and be told that any arousal I received from being any where near a female was a sin. While attending, the Assembly of God big boys decided to close the center I was at, this of course after one of the participants ran away with the wife of the program administer in Riverside California. But low and behold God being the great superior being that he was, provided a place for me at a new program called the New Challenge Ministries. New Challenge was a place where they held true to the indoctrination practices of the Assembly of God Church. After a year of attending these programs I was allowed to return home.



After trying to figure out where my life was going, I decided to attend college. Not just any college, but a good outstanding Christian college, where I would not be tempted by the wiles of the secular world. That was until I met my first wife, and I was thoroughly tempted by her wiles. After a year of attending Evangel College I decided I would transfer to the secular state university, so I could be even more tempted by her wiles.



Eventually she blessed me with two beautiful boys after being tempted by lots and lots of those wiles. After a short time serving in the U.S. Army, I went back and finished my degree at Southwest Missouri State University (now called Missouri State University) with a bachelors degree in secondary education in history, psychology, religion (rut roh), geography, and political science (double rut roh).



After a year of trying to find a teaching job in an era of education cutbacks of Reagan and Daddy Bush (read my lips no new taxes hehe) I decided teaching was not for me. I divorce later, more my fault than hers, met my second wife, rebound relationships are bad bad bad, though she was an awesome woman, my guilt would not allow me to be happy. And eventually met Gyspy who has be a wonderful, awesome, super, beautiful, and a multitude of other positive pronouns, soul mate.



But why am I a student of the occult? Is it another form of rebellion against the Christianity of Today? Or is it seeking a new direction in order to understand truth about human spirituality? Those are questions I have considered for a very long time.



I can remember at 8 and 9 years old playing with Ouija Boards with my mother. I remember reading her astrology books. I remember her fascination with the hidden knowledge of our ancestors (or what is commonly known as the occult). And those times instilled in me a curious nature about those things. I secretly studied, as a young teenager, sources of mythology, the histories of the ancients, the stories of the gods and goddesses of different cultures. And during the periods of my indoctrination (brainwashing) I studied the occult so that I could understand the Christian adversary Satan. In order to defeat an enemy one must know that enemy kind of thinking.



While attending that bad, bad secular college, I took a course on World Religions (rut roh). And for the very reason that many fanatical Christian cults enforce self imposed ignorance (ours is not to question why, but just to accept) I feel into the Christian concept of a trap. I learned truth, that all major religions had a theme, a basis, and a connection to each other. All of them no matter how misguided, or misconceived had some truth. Ours is to find that truth in order to ascend to the next step of actualization.



While I may be a little (lol) biased towards Christianity I like who I have become. And even in my indoctrination to fear of things unknown, I have never met a Satan or Devil. I have met truth in ways that are indescribable and I like that part of me. I have freed my spiritual self from the bonds of religious systems that bind one in the guise of discipline and fear.



So in summary I do what I do as a method of self-realization, self-discovery, and because I am free to be me.




Wiccan Style
Wood Altar

Plenty to blog about but little energy to do it. 



Since my reserves are down, I have to focus on my work because I have little energy to spare.



May your summer be full of discovery and wonder, may the season provide
you with family and comfort, and most of all may you be blessed in this
journey we call life.



Until next time,

DragonOak

Creating Truly Magickal Ritual Tools

 

The methods and procedures behind the old magickal rites for
creating truly magickal ritual tools include a four-fold process.  To enter the deeper realm of magick, we must
consider the process by which the tools of that very magic are to be made.  Based on my studies of the occult and deeper
forms of magic, there are four dimensions, properties, or elements used in the
creation of magickal tools.  The
physical or material properties, the emotions or vibrations, the focus or will,
and the actions or rituals compromise the four elements of magic. 

 

The more effort and personal energy we put into creating a
magickal tool, the more magick or power that tool contains.  In some ways the process by which we create
magickal tools is akin to art.  The more
personal energy and time we extend, the greater the creative force that will
prevail.  And like great art, over time
the result will be sustained and magnified. 
I do not write this as the law of magick, I write it as an option to
consider when creating or even purchasing your magickal tools.

 

While the creation of a truly magickal tool is not complex;
it requires more input than just mere faith. 
I truly appreciate the neopagan movement, and it’s seeking to define
itself as more open and less judgmental style of spirituality than the more
“mainstream” movements of today.  While
being accepting of and more tolerant with methods, procedures, and “rules” of
the order, they tend to encourage the free thought, and intermingling of ideas.  This is as it should be in my opinion,
because the source of personal spirituality must be discovered rather that
dramatically acted or blindly followed. 
But in the process of tolerance, it is important to acknowledge and
remember, the rituals, practices, and methods of old, lest they be lost. 

 

First is the element of the physical properties.  This can be determined by asking the
following questions.  Keep in mind, the
more magick put into the process, the more magick and energy we can utilize from
it.

 

1. What
   are the raw materials of the item, i.e. the wood, herb, stone, etc.? 
2. Were
   the materials grown or harvested specifically for a magickal purpose?
3. Do
   those elements have magickal properties that correspond to what you want
   to the tool to be utilized for?
4. Was
   the material harvested from a magickal location, i.e. druid oak groves,
   cross roads, conjunction of lay lines, your personal meditation place,
   etc.?
5. Was
   the material harvested during the right magickal time, i.e. phase of the
   moon, planetary alignment, season, etc.?

 

The second consideration in the realm of magickal dimensions
is the emotions or vibrations of the materials and/or item.  Everything in the universe resonates a
specific vibration for that element, as humans we relate this vibration to the
emotion.  As such we can actually change
the vibration state that is linked to our emotional state.  So the following questions are a guideline
to determine the level of magickal input the said item has:

 

1. What
   was the emotional state of the environment or area when the materials was
   harvested, i.e. was the area being traumatized by clear cut timbering, or
   strip mining, or was it a hidden area that looked un-trodden by human
   feet?
2. What
   was the emotional state of the person that harvested the materials i.e.
   happy, anger, unsettled, etc.?
3. Meditate
   and focus on the item, its base materials, and try to align with the
   current vibration state of being. 
   Does it align with the purposes of the tool you are trying to
   create?
4. What
   was the emotional condition during the rituals consecrating the material
   or tool and subsequently in preparing or using it?
5. When
   you use the tool what is the emotion state you are in?  And consider how those energies whether
   conscious or subconscious are entering into the tool.

 

Next consider the “intent” that was put into the elements
and the magickal tool.  Ask the
following questions concerning the focus, will, or thought that went into the
magickal item. 

 

 

1. Is the
   item being created as it wishes to be? 
   Take time to meditate on the current state of the materials and/or
   item, and try to answer if that is what it wants to be?
2. Was
   the intent if the harvester or creator good or malignant?
3. What
   is your focus or intent with the magickal tool?
4. Does
   your focus or intent align with the same intentions of the material or
   magickal tool?
5. Does
   your focus and intent with the tool align with the state of being or
   wishes of that which is the subject of the spell or ritual?   An example would be if I were to focus
   on changing the color of a flower from pink to white, and my wand and
   crystal are the charges for that spell, does the flower wish to be changed
   from pink to white?

 

And the last level in creating a tool or making an existing
tool magickal is the element of action. 
These usually center upon how the item was consecrated, how the item is
used, and the rituals or actions behind the use of the tool.

 

1. Were
   the materials and/or item consecrated within the rights and traditions for
   its created purpose? 
2. Are
   the rituals appropriate for the materials and/or tools?  In a ritual working with earth
   elementals would you build a magickal pail of water?  Water washes earth away.
3. Are
   the materials and/or tools being used during the appropriate season or
   time?  It is similar to using snow
   during the summer.
4. Do the
   materials and/or tools work well with the deities, spirits, or elements
   that are the center of the ritual? An example would be to use a wand
   during the invocation of a deity like Thor, when a blade or hammer would
   be far more appropriate.
5. Are
   the materials and/or tool being used or brought to action in alignment
   with their natural properties? 
   Crystals focus energy while stones like hematite absorb certain
   negative energies.  Does the tool
   require the strength and power of the oak, or the bending and change
   properties of the willow?

 

 

For me to put this subject into relative terms, lets take a
simple book of shadows and go thru some basic considerations of its relative
magickal energies.  If I was to go down
to Kmart and purchase a spiral notebook to act as my book of shadows, is it
magickal?  Yes but very low in the
magickal energy and capabilities.  The
resources used to make the notebook, the creation or making of the spiral
notebook, and how the completed item was transferred to my stewardship, had
little or no magickal input.  So this
makes its capabilities very low on the magickal scale. So far the only magickal
property here is my intent when I buy it to be a magickal book.  Once I focus on the spiral notebook,
consecrate the book, add my spells and rituals into the book it becomes a
magickal force, but only retaining the properties I put into it.

 

Now lets take this theory to the more magickal input side
into the equation.  On the eve of a
waxing moon (increasing energies) I find a willow tree that has been struck by
lightening.  With permission and a gift
of fertilizer, I take a branch from the tree and cut it into a set of witches
runes.  I burn the runes as near a full
moon as I can, and proceed to charge the runes in a bath of moonlight.  Then upon a dark moon I consecrate the runes
before the goddess Hecate in ritual as prescribed by the old traditions.  Now do you see the power in a ritual tool
created in such a way?  And as such this
is how many of my tools are created, by the old traditions and rights.

 

So take care and consider the elements and methods of
creating your ritual tools.  There is
much to say about following tradition and the old rights.  Although there is nothing wrong with
following your own personal path, and your own choice of deity, ritual etc, I
recommend that you do not completely throw out the wisdom and knowledge of the
ancients.