The Many Faces of Fae

SFAWC: The Many Faces of Fae

A lot of people talk about Craft names and names that are associated with who you are within the Pagan/Witch/Wiccan community. Tonight, I was doing my new moon ritual when I became acutely aware of the different sides and personalities that I took when doing different magick/worship. When I act as a Priestess for the Goddess (Astarte), I am revered, graceful, I conduct myself with grace and manner. When I praise or do ritual with Herne I am a wild Pagan, almost faun like in my own way. Then, when I conduct actual witchcraft I take on a dark, powerful, and commanding persona. I realized that in one ritual alone that my personalities and emotions alone are vast and complex. Does this happen for anyone else?

This got me thinking about the different phases of my learning and practices. I have always been Pagan. Since the time I was born I was raised in a Pagan household. I was raised under the mantle of Herne specifically. I was taught reverence of his temple, his worship and word, I was taught the lessons of the trees and the forests. When I first began my interest into Witchcraft, I looked into Wicca (as with most beginners). My first book, admittedly, was Grimore of a Solitary Witch by Silver Ravenwolf. Even though she isn’t really held high in much of the Witch/Wiccan community I did learn a lot of valid things from this book. At this fluffy bunny stage in my life I went by the name of “Breathless Moon” which was my favourite line in a Loreena Mckennit song. I stayed as Breathless Moon for my entire studying period. It was a name that I connected with deeply (I still do), and it helped me to define a lot of what being a Witch was. I wrote three personal Books of Shadows under the name Breathless Moon while I was learning the ropes of a Goddess based religion. I always knew that the “Goddess” existed, but my grandmother is a devotee of Herne, so that is what I was taught. Wicca (or rather neoWicca) helped me to open a door and to explore a whole new world of spirituality and Witchcraft. As I grew and learned about spirituality, I began to disagree with a lot of the fundamentals of what Wicca taught. I still saw myself as a Witch, but not really Wiccan anymore. I was ready to start my path as a Priestess of the Goddess, and with help from the universe I started on my journey. 

Once I discovered that I had a connection with the Goddess unlike the one I held with Herne, knew what I wanted to do. I was a healer, a teacher, a guide and to tie it all together I wanted to be a Priestess. I began to understand and explore “The Light” and its relation to how we were all connected and my spiritual consciousness began to rise. It was time for a new life. I packed all my Wicca books away, and chose a new name. I knew that my family was Elvish in origin. It was really very clear in all of our Elf like qualities, so my new name had to be something Elven. I was given the name “Faewynn”. Which in Elvish means “Spirit maiden”, which was acceptable for my new spiritual path. I still wanted to incorporate the moon in it, so I came up with Lunaise (from the root word Lunar). Around this same time, I was blossoming into a vast amount of spiritual gifts, my life was very overwhelmed. I was 16, and I dropped out of school. I knew that to emerge a priestess, I had to separate myself from the normal world and build my world up spiritually. For two years, I stayed a hermit. With rarely any contact with the outside world, accept for a wonderful woman named Linda who became my mentor. She helped me to understand the lessons that I was being given. It is in this time that I built up my connection with the Goddess Astarte and the Light. 

Finally after the two hardest years of my life, one day I went deep into the woods near my house and meditated for a while. This was a hugely spiritual moment for me. In my vision the Goddess came to me and touched her finger to my forehead revealing a Blue Moon. An ancient symbol that was used for the Priestesses of many “mythological” places of Celtic Europe including Avalon. She then told me that from this day forward I was her daughter, and a Priestess of the goddess. I was to adopt the last name Evenstar as a symbol of my ascension. (sidenote: For those of you who don’t know, Tolkein based Arwen Evenstar off of a real myth of the “Evening Star” which is actually  from what I have read the Goddess Astarte’s name roughly translates to. She was the personified Goddess of the Evening Star, lighting the night’s darkness and bringing hope for those who had none, this would be my life’s purpose). I emerged from the forest Faewynn Lunaise Evenstar. Priestess of the Goddess. From that moment on, my life has never been the same.

Even though I had become a Priestess of the Goddess, Witchcraft still was still a very valid choice for me. I enjoyed it’s practices and I realized that I could use it in conjunction with what I had learned as a Priestess to help people. After a few years of dabbling with the craft it has only recently become part of my life more actively. After going through a traumatic breakup with the man I thought I was going to spend the rest of my life with, my natural reaction was to reopen the pages of Witchcraft and study. I had been part of an Active Witch coven for two or so years prior, but the break up really sparked my interest in it again. I needed a name for the part of me that was a Witch. Immediately the name “Willow Starknot” came to me. Willow is the tree that I am in the druid zodiac, and Starknot comes from the Pentacle, which has also been called the “Evening Star”. From that I discovered vastly new angles within the Witch community and started this Project here on tumblr and blogspot “Stories from a Witches Cabinet” to share my experience of Witchcraft as I grew into adult-hood. 

My journey to where I am today took me six years of toil and struggle. But also six years of incredible self discovery. I know have many charges that I teach, and have recently took two new initiates under my wing to teach and guide them in not only the Priestesshood, but also in Witchcraft. I have become a member of a wonderful community of sister witches here on tumblr.

All in all, in my own practice, all of these things that I’ve talked about above attribute to who I am in ritual and worship. Tonight this became very clear to me and I was very proud of myself. This was just one small moment in which I have find who I am and what makes me me that I wanted to share with you.  

~Faewynn Lunaise Evenstar

Introduction to Witchcraft

This is a serious of posts that I am going to be making about Witchcraft and a tutorial on it as a beginners guide.

Witchcraft is a broad term that covers a large and expansive set of practices. There are a few misconceptions about witchcraft that I would like to cover first. First, Witchcraft has nothing to do with the Christian versions of "satan" or the "devil". In fact in most cases Witchcraft and Christianity have no connections at all. The second most common misconception is that if you are a Witch you are automatically a "Wiccan" which is also not true at all. Wicca is a religion that follows a set of guidelines and religious beliefs. Witchcraft is a Spiritual practice. Witchcraft is about finding your own personal power and following whatever spiritual or religious believes that fit the best for you. What sets Witchcraft apart from other spiritual practices are as follows: 

• A Witch is someone who uses the power of Magick, the spirits, their own energy. They are guardians of power and work with the inherent abilities of all living beings on the planet. They direct and control the natural forces of energy and the Spirits to direct a certain intent.
• Witches believe in Magick (spelt with a 'k' to differentiate from stage show magicians). Magick is basically the existence of an underline current of energy that is present in all of life on our plane of reality and the ability to control that energy. It is an inherent ability of ALL witches to be able to use this 'energy' to direct will and create results
• Witches do not have to work with gods. However, if they do they choose the gods that they feel most comfortable or connected with. Since witchcraft is about that individuals spirit there are many witches that believe that they are their own creators of power and choose to affiliate themselves with no gods. 
• Witchcraft can require certain tools to represent certain energies. These are things like Candles, Ritual daggers called Athames, incenses, totems or statues representing a certain type of energy the witch wants to call on, staves, swords,  animal totems. The list of tools that a witch can use in their craft is completely up to that witch. If it feels right to them, they use it. This book will explain many of those tools.
• Witchcraft is NOT just for girls. The term Witch is for both male and females. Because a "Witch" is a completely different thing than a "Wizard", "Warlock", or "Druid". 
• For me, Witchcraft is about uncovering and using your personal power and intent to affect or create certain outcomes. 

Witchcraft is not simply defined by the things above, because it is a personal journey and the journey of each person will be entirely different. Witchcraft is truly about the person who practices it, and they will use it however they see is a benefit to themselves. Everyone has the inherent ability to be a witch, because being a witch is about being alive. Some are more open to it than others, and it comes much easier to certain people than others. It is true that there are people who are simply born witches, and by themselves have this ability unlocked already. But if ever someone wants to unlock their own personal power Witchcraft will come easily to them. It is not a craft to be trifled with, because out of all the crafts named previously, it is one of the most powerful. It can be used with helpful intent or darker intent depending on the wielder of the power.

Another thing about Witchcraft is that it is truly an ancient craft. It is as old as the awareness of ourselves. It is something to not fear, but also to not be taken lightly. Your power and how you use it defines you. Having power can be a good thing but also poisonous if you are not careful with the knowledge that is given to you. Being a Witch truly means that the ancient powers are with you, you walk in a world much older than you can even believe, and if that does not frighten you, then I bid you welcome and merry meet....

The Summer Solstice and Herne

          Wiccan practice says that for Litha the Oak King dies and the Holly King takes

up his crown. I am not Wiccan so I don’t really follow that tradition specifically but I do believe that the Summer Solstice has everything to do with the Lord of the Forest and King of Witches, my Patron deity Herne. The summer solstice is one of the Lesser Four Sabbats of the Witches Year. It marks the time when the sun is closest to the earth and enters the sign of Cancer. Aside from the astrological significances of Cancer the time of the Summer Solstice is a time for new beginnings not unlike the spring equinox.

         It is the time when Herne as the Lord of the Hunt is ripe with power and strength because he draws his power from the sun. The sheer energy of the Summer Solstice can be used to break through barriers in your life and burst in a ray of light through the darkness that you may find yourself in. Herne as King of the Witches offers to his children his power and strength and you may come to him during this time of the summer and pledge yourself to him. However, you have to remember that Herne is the representation of the Divine male. His energy is raw, powerful and very sexual. Often times his ritual’s either include sex or masturbation of some form. If you do a ritual for Herne you can definitely expect that you lower bits will definitely feel the tingle of his raw masculinity, whether men are your thing or not. The Herne consciousness is very sexually orientated but instead of using this energy for literal sexual act you can use it to *take* what you want.

         This energy of taking what you want and leaving no qualms is exactly what the Summer Solstice is all about. It was especially powerful for me this time. That energy was only amplified by the Solstice happening at the end of the Dark Moon as the New moon began. Mixing those two energies amplified the experience of both and I literally felt the whole world around me break down and change. I cried for several hours during that night.

         Unfortunately that night I was not able to do ritual. A friend of mine that I hadn’t seen in a long time came over for a visit and I was busy for most of the day and night with her and the rest of my group of friends most of which I hadn’t seen in a long while. Overall it wasn’t a bad way to spend the Solstice. However, the next night was my ritual night. Around midnight I dressed in my ritual garb, painted my blue crescent moon on my face, grabbed my Grimore, and headed out to the backyard. I am extremely lucky that my back yard is mostly private with a lot of trees and an open space for a fire pit and circle. That night I used the Dragons for my elemental guardians because I knew that I was going to need that extra power for everything I was feeling.
         I won’t go into extreme detail, but most of all my ritual involves songs and dancing. It’s how I raise and direct energy. I love to do both and the Pagan community has so many good songs that I use in almost all of my rituals. Very rarely do I ever use legitimate spells or invocations. I do use affirmations and sometimes spells if I am feeling extremely up to it. I called Herne and I gave him everything I had. I danced for him, I sang to him, and I offered him up my self. It was one of the truly most powerful nights of my life. Even though it was after the initial solstice.
         Even though, I did call on the goddess, I felt that in that night that I was the goddess. It was a really powerful experience that I know that I am truly blessed to have gone through. There is a tremendous amount of things going on in my life and before that night I wasn’t really sure if I could actually handle them. Herne reassured me that I could handle it and when the time was right he would deliver to me a Hunter of his to share in my life journey with. To be comforted by the sheer energy that was manifested is not something that every witch gets to feel during every ritual. Do I attribute this to solely the energy of the solstice and New moon? Not entirely.

         I am a firm believer that the divine exists within ourselves, and that we hold the power to make things happen and call on certain universal energies to help us in our time of need. This is what being a Witch is about to me. I have met the gods face to face and I know that they exist though I believe that it is within my own personal reality. The power to change your life is given to us as a divine birth rights. We are wholly apart of the gods, because it is the gods that created us. There are certain times when different energies are converging and amplify one another. Such as the Solstice and the New Moon opening up a powerful amount of new and fresh energy that we, as witches, can harness and direct. This was made such an emotional and powerful night for me because I was in a very emotional and powerful place. As Sully Erna writes “That which is like, unto itself is drawn”. I was so open and willing for something powerful and in such an open state I drew in this energy of Herne and brought it to reality.  

         The Summer Solstice may be one of the lesser Sabbats, but it can be as powerful as Beltane or Samhain if you open up yourself to the power that is Herne.

Blessed Be

Faewynn Lunaise Evenstar
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Giving life to our Desires

            So, we decided last week what we wanted and who we were. We explored our personal power and what exactly that means for us individually. Let’s explore a little bit about how to take exactly to get what we want. Witches posses the inherent ability to control and manipulate energy. Our world and our individual realities are all made up of different energies. The quickest way to bring something we want into our life is to bring that energy or vibration into our lives. There are many ways a witch can draw upon certain vibrations. Using something called Correspondences or time tested things that all have similar vibrations to the intention. For example: Rose Quartz is a Stone that is a correspondence for Love because they resonate at the same frequency. You can use Rose quartz, pink candles, heart shaped totems, or anything that has the same imagery or power of love. This can all vary from witch to witch because sometimes different things have different meanings for some people. In example if you Love someone and that person gave you a gift or you have a picture of them you can use that also in whatever work you are doing for them.

         The other way is affirmations. Affirmations are a powerful tool for witches (or really anyone). Since we have the ability to command energy, an affirmation can be used to command certain energies into your life. They are used in all sorts of work. You can use one in Spell work; you can write a daily affirmation that you say everyday. The trick to affirmation is like I said to command the energy to do what you want. It is generally said in a authoritative voice and many people teach to say it in the present tense. If you are writing an affirmation for health you would say something like “I AM healthy!”, bringing the energy of healthy into your life to heal you. Bringing things into the NOW is a good technique for not just affirmations but in all aspects of your life. Focusing your energy and intent on the now helps us to create realities in which we want instead of lingering in a reality of the past or dreaming of something that may never happened. This can be a key point in working with the power of affirmations.
            Our next important part is not necessarily about bringing things into your life but rather gratitude. The universe is vast and wide, being connected to the energy of gratitude everyday is a positive life changing energy. If you are looking for a simple overall improvement in your spiritual life everyday practice Gratitude everyday. One of the first things my mentor taught me was to be grateful for what is already here in our life. Honor the spirit, honor our gifts, honor the divine, and if you can’t find anything to be grateful of then be grateful for the sole fact that you are. It is especially important to be grateful when even the smallest of steps are taken to get to what you want. That smile from the person you are trying to get the attention of romantically. That time they called you just to talk. Give thanks for anytime you feel an improvement in your health. For more complex things like being able to step on the break in time to avoid that car that ran the red light. All of these things are little gifts from the divine and when we accept these good things and give thanks by putting positive energy out we are more likely to attract positive energy towards us.
            These things can all be used together and often highly affect in a short period of time when combined and used everyday.

Personal Power

I think that this is relevant for other women as it is for me. We all have to come to terms with a few serious issues as we grow into adult hood. The main issue being what exactly do we want out of life? I know that this is something men do too, but some woman have the habit of being incredibly giving to other people. I just finished a two year relationship. While I cherished and loved the time that was spent together when it was over the dust settled I was left feeling like I had just crawled out of the long dark of Moria. Who was I? Or better yet, who did I want to be? My life had become all about him and in that I completely lost myself.
            One of the things, that a lot of Goddess’s whom represent change and personal power tell us is that before anything new can happen the old has to come to an end. That to become ourselves we must travel through the dark of the forest to come back into the light of the day. This is something that I have always preached but I don’t think I had much self-practice. The forest can be a dark and scary place if we look at everything as a challenge. Yet instead of seeing it as a challenge we can look at it as an opportunity to find out new things about ourselves.
            Putting our ideals into alignment with this train of thought can yield tremendous results. Even at the utter and complete end of something you can come out feeling new and refreshed knowing that you have taken a step for yourself. All too often women and healers get wrapped up in taking steps for other people. We forget to love ourselves and to take care of our needs. We so often put the needs of others before our own. Is this a bad thing? No. One of the good qualities of the feminine is its devotion and loyalty to others. I believe that this is part of the great divinity of the feminine. By nature people who are feminine love to give their energy and love to other people. This is an exceedingly necessary part of the cycle of life. However, if this is also not tempered with self-reliance and concern for ones own self we can give to much of ourselves away. Sometimes that is not a problem but what happens when the people or person that we have given ourselves to is no longer in our lives? Now we’re trapped in the dark with no idea what to do.
            The practice of personal power is a relatively new idea, but at the same time an ancient concept. The huge spiritual wave of enlightenment in the early 1900’s brought with it women’s rights. Yet, in ancient times these things were commonplace. Married women in Rome had rights to everything the husband owned and could sue him for it in court if he divorced her. The Priestess’s of Ancient times were often held in high regards. In some places they even consulted in politics and held council positions to men in power. Wise women around the world were revered over the male chieftains or tribal leaders. The power of the women in these places was not feared or restricted but revered. With time and change the personal power of women was taken away until at one point they were no more than property of men.
            As I come into adulthood I am faced with the real world. A place where personal power is thought little of and where men and women alike are simply told what is expected of them.  That doesn’t make it any more important, in fact I think it should make it more. When we loose ourselves in what other people expect when those people move on (as people do) we are left not knowing what it is we should be doing. The answer to this question is “What do YOU want to be doing?”. When I came out of the forest, there was only one thing I had in my head that I wanted to do. Write. Write so much and bleed my heart and soul out onto paper. I know that not only will it help me find myself but it will give me a chance to do something I love more than anything.
            For myself personal power is about know and not being afraid of the real things in life you want. Simply knowing who you are and what you want gives you a firm sense of solidity in your life. I don’t think you will ever know exactly everything about yourself because our realities are so vast and different from one another we are always learning and changing. Though you should at least try to know enough about yourself where you can be comfortable within your own skin. Know what you want to expect from people, know how you’d like to be treated and don’t take any other treatment besides that. Know what makes you happy, and then see yourself making positive strides towards it.

Personal Power: Pages from a Witches Cabinet
Correspondences: Red, Orange, Gold, Black
Number: 1 (your OWN power)
Astrology: Aries is a deity of Power, any days or associations to Mars, During the Waxing/Full Moon
Hera, Hecate, Maeve, and other goddess of power can all be used for Personal Power invocations.
Daily affirmations are a good way to declare Personal Power: “I AM!!” is a good simple affirmation
Make lists or journal about the things that you want out of your life, write or about the things that make you happy or sad if you want to find out who you are. Actively see yourself taking steps to better your life and put yourself in a position that makes you happy.

The Beginning

I have known my whole life that I wanted to be a writer. However, the problem is that whenever I go to write something, I always reach a road block. What am I going to write about? Even at my young age, I know so much about the spiritual journey I am on. My problem is that I have no idea how to culminate this knowledge into a form that is not only legible but also enjoyable to read. I know that it is my destiny to transcribe my knowledge then to share it and teach it to whomever comes looking for it. But where do I even begin? The beginning would seem like a good start. So let me settle down, with a nice cup of tea, my glasses, and try and tell my story the best that I can.

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As far back as I can remember I have been a child with... particular spiritual gifts. I have always been able to sense spirits or energy, and on top of that I am also an empath. I was fortunate enough to be raised in a family in which these things were common to have so I was raised to nurture and care for these abilities. My family comes from all over Europe. We have Celtic blood from Ireland to Amsterdam and the practices of pagan ways has been passed down from generation to generation. Eventually coming from my grandmother to me. My grandmother is most definitely a child of the forest, her patron god is Herne. Almost everything I was taught while growing up was at her teaching. We never called ourselves "Pagan" or "Witches" this was just a way of life for us. I would come to her with questions about ghosts, my empathy skills, spiritual questions about the divine, and so much more. Eventually as I got older I was introduced to Wicca. Wicca followers the basic principles of what I was taught growing up. The love of the earth, the world of Faeries and magick, the power of energy, and the existence of the divine Mother and Father. It wasn't to long after that I started calling myself a Witch. I finally had a name for the way that I had lived my life for all these years, and it was a name that I loved.

I decided that I didn't want to be a Wiccan, it was a relatively new term for the religion of Witchcraft instead of simply the spiritual practice. I was drawn specifically to Green Witchcraft because of its work with Faeries and other Fae-kind which I had always considered myself kin to. My practice quickly began to include many aspects of Natural Magick. I would work with the elements and the natural flows of energy. I included a lot of songs with dancing to work with the Faery, set up a Faery grotto, and began to study herbal lore/remedies. At this time, I was still in High School and going into my Eleventh grade year. Eleventh Grade was the hardest grade for me in school and my empathy had gotten so active I was becoming physically ill quite often. I eventually had to drop out because I was in such bad shape that school was not helping me or teaching me anything. It was at this time that I went into the next phase of my life.

After I left school my social life completely stopped and I was absolutely cut off from most of the world. I was a hermit only on purpose. I knew that I had to focus on healing and learning to handle not only my abilities but also Witchcraft. That was when my mentor appeared and took me under her wing. She taught me about enlightenment, world knowledge, showed me what it meant to be an empath, helped awaken my potential as a healer and teacher. She had given me so much in these two years, and for sometime it was just her and I learning or experiencing life to its fullest or lowest moments. I learned and grew to amazing and exciting new levels in that time. I experienced hardships unknown and several trials. However, after much thought, meditation, and communion with my Goddess I emerged from the darkness and was granted the tittle of Priestess. This was the start of my life's work, and a path that I always knew I was destined to take.

Back into the Swing of things. Hecates Lesson

Back into the swing of things

            After all the holiday rush, and the busyness of life in general, I find my way back into the swing of things. As a witch and a woman I find that I have become increasingly able to flow with the waves of life. It may or may not have something to do with being a Pisces as well. I try to allow life to happen, and take me where I am needed. It is sometimes not ALWAYS where I would like to be, but much like the Doctors Tardis I have found that is always where I need to be. Life is one giant lesson, and we are all its students. So, I go where I am taken I stay there for however long I am needed then when the lesson is learned I come back on to the main path. That is exactly how I have felt the last two months. I will try my best to return to a regular swing.

            Today, I want to talk about some of the lessons that Hecate’s temple teaches. In the temple of the Dark Goddess Hecate we learn of what many people call our shadow selves. Hecate is the Goddess of the passage into the underworld, of death, of change, and of our shadows. She stands at the Crossroads of life’s journey and holds a torch (or lantern) and provides for us some understanding of the road ahead. She is often depicted as a bent over hag cloaked in black and hooded. One of her methods of teaching is she removes her hood and reveals to you your own true shadow. This is not meant to frighten or scare you but only so that you may be aware of it and overcome its hideousness. She does this because she knows that only once you have released your shadow and your fear you are then able to move on past her into change. Effectively dying, or leaving your old self behind and immerging transformed into the light. She is not necessarily the goddess of the underworld, but rather the Goddess of slef-transformation.

            To apply or acknowledge Hecates lesson we must first identify our shadow selves. We bring back the symbolism of Hecate’s veil. When she lifts her veil what you are seeing is not her but rather your true self. No matter how horrifying it seems. To identify our shadow selves look for what annoys you in other people. What is it that you get so negative about? What about that certain somebody can you completely not stand? This is our shadow selves. From personal experience one of the things I couldn’t stand was certain friends being to controlling. It seemed like no matter what someone did they would always get annoyed. The lesson I learned from this is simple. I was really being to controlling. I was really passing judgment of people that did not deserve it. In truth, we were both being far too judgmental and negative of issues than was necessary. I know now that one of my personal issues that I work to overcome is to not be so judgmental of people.

            Don’t get the lesson wrong. I’m not saying that the people who don’t annoy you aren’t the problem, because the qualities that annoy you are still present in them. Hecate’s temple teaches that these qualities are not only in them but in you as well. So yes, that one person on your mind right now is exactly what you are thinking they are, but have you ever stopped to say “Hey, maybe I’m to blame as well”. Accepting the fact that we are not all perfect people and we do make mistakes and have flaws is not only necessary to Hecate’s teachings but also essential. Acceptance and acknowledgement is what Hecate truly teaches at the fundamental core of her lessons.  The power to over come our fears and shadows is a spiritually profound phenomenon. However the power to accept ourselves in EVERY aspect of who we are, be it light, dark or in between is where the true enlightenment comes from. Hecate’s lantern is just that, one of enlightenment. The road that she travels on with you may be dark, but she teaches us that from this darkness we learn acceptance and we turn it into enlightenment.

            To bring the energy of Hecate’s Lantern into your life, I would suggest several things. Keep a journal someplace where you can write and learn about yourself. Make notes of traits in people that annoy you and see if you can find that issue and flaw within yourself. Every once and a while, sit in a dark room with nothing but a single candle or lantern lighting the room and meditate on the dark side of yourself and thing about how you can acknowledge, accept, and move past it into enlightenment. Learning about the Darkness of ourselves is how we find within us the true light.