Sol Invictus

Before the Sun, life rustles. Coyotes sing joyfully in the overgrown rows of an abandoned farm. Ravens flutter, dive, caw. A low wind skips along the ground. Then the Sun: Regal, godlike, amazing, a ball of fire rising above the mountains.

My year and a day starts. Yesterday's fog birthed today's clarity. If I am not able to take this craft within me and use it in the trenches of life - at work, amid pressure, disrespect, the stultifying rules of overwhelming bureaucracy - and at home, with a difficult mate - then it will have no more value than any of the others.

In the interests of full clarity I'll give my provenance. A childhood interest in ritual magic fell to one side as I entered the working world. At 30 I fell into astrology and studied charts for 20 years. I also completed the Builders of the Adytum mail order classes in Kabbalah, Tarot, Astrology and Alchemy. Then I sank into matter for a decade: I partnered, became a homeowner for the first time, started working for a local government agency.

Now I am looking at my transition to the far shores. This is not happening any time soon, but it has hove up onto my horizon for the first time. I can sight it in my glass. I will reach the Isle, and now there is a terminus for my future planning.

For this stage of my journey I will need a practice. Mindfulness and meditation are elements of a practice,  not stand-alones for me. So I've selected some form of Old Religion as the accompaniment for my solitary crone years. I will dedicate myself to this, to uncovering the reality of this path, over the next twelve months and a day. I've got 5 books on the topic to read and review (The Witches Almanac, Issue 31, by Theitic;  Dedicant: A Wtiches Circle of Fire by Thuri Calafia, The Inner Temple of Witchcraft by Christopher Penczak, and 2 by T. Thorn Coyle, Evolutionary Witchcraft and Kissing the Limitless). In a box somewhere in my studio are some useful ritual accoutrements collected in my rambles.So it begins.