Many of you know that I’ve run three different Covens in my lifetime. The latest of these – Mystic Star Coven – went on hiatus a little over a year ago. We had practiced together for nearly two years. Of course, during such a time frame, people come and go. Not everyone sticks around, usually because the person decides that our particular way of doing things just isn’t for them. And of course, that’s fine.

But over time, you soon begin to realize who your “true friends” are. They generally stick around in all of the tough times of running such a group. The true friends are there for the long haul, and they don’t take anything you do as a group lightly. These are the most memorable members of any Witch’s Coven.

One such person was Angela Fugatte. She arrived not long after the group’s inception. In the beginning, there were four of us. Then we added one, and two left. Then Angela came along, making four of us. Finally, we added one more, making five, and then one of the founding Members left to follow her own path – and that left us with four again.

Of course, you can’t hold anything against the people who leave. They’re off exploring their own paths, which we all must do. The journies we take are very uniquely our own. If we can share that with a group, so much the better, but you obviously don’t want to stick around with a group of people whose ideals are not your own. And this is understandable.

But Angela hung in there with us for a long, long time. Through all of my decisions and thoughts and meanderings on changing the way Mystic Star “did things,” Angela was there. Granted, she had never been involved with a group like ours before, but her advice was always spot-on.

Angela was, of course, a daughter, a wife and a mother, herself. But to us, she was Sister. And we will remember as such.

Today, at 4:30 p.m. eastern, we will be holding a special service for Angela. Our Sister passed away this past Thursday at the age of 27. We will remember her for participating with our group. We will remember her for her smiles and laughter. We will remember her presence within all of the rituals that we held – especially where things went a bit haywire. (We had such amazing times.) But above all, we will remember her for who she was in this life – our Sister.

And while her body is no longer present with us, we know that her spirit lives on. I personally honor all of Angela’s contributions to us as a group, but I also honor her wisdom, strength and purity of spirit. We will miss you, dear Sister.

And while these words have been spoken by many, they are never as true as when a beloved Sister of the Craft passes into the next realm: merry have we met, merry we part, and merry shall we meet again. Blessed be, Angela.

I remember working magic to get my first few cars a long time ago. I say “cars” (plural) because it took me several tries to get the goal clear on the spell I was working. The reason is because I had clear purpose, to be sure, but it wasn’t specific enough to make my desire manifest quickly, nor in the best possible result. So it took several tries. The moral of the story?

Make the purpose of your servitor strong and clear, but also specific. Here are some tips on  how to really get down to the nitty-gritty when writing purpose statements for your servitor. (Keep in mind the fact that you’re going to use these statements when you tell your servitor what it is that you’d like them to do for you.)

If you  haven’t been to the site in a while, I’ve got some amazing news for you!

A couple of things are happening, actually, but I’m only going to tell you about one very important thing …

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Peace,

Alan

Most of the people I regularly communicate with probably know by now that I work with my Ancestors. I’ve done this off and on since my initiation into Serpent’s Eye Tradition Witchcraft, but it is only recently (about six months ago) that I decided to take it more seriously.

In a sense, working with your Ancestors can accomplish a lot. First, Ancestors can be quite protective of their descendants, so if you need some strong guardians, then Ancestors are a great place to begin. Plus, because the Ancestors are considered (by most) to be a little closer to our plane of existence (i.e., they’re dead relatives, as opposed to angels in the high heavens), they tend to get work done faster.

It's changed a little bit since this picture, but this is my Ancestor Altar.

The best way to begin working with your Ancestors is to set up a shrine to them. First, get a white cloth and wash it in water with some of your first urine of the morning. Allow the cloth to dry outside in the sunshine. Then spread it over your altar, then sprinkle it with some of your favorite perfume or cologne.

Gather up some photos of your deceased loved ones. Try to find photos that don’t have other people in them. Get some nice small, standing frames and put these pictures in them. Of course, place these on your altar/shrine. If you have any mementos from deceased love ones, these are also great items to add to the altar.

My own altar has pictures of some of my deceased relatives, along with the pamphlets that were passed out at their funerals. My grandfathers’ buckeye and my great grandmother’s crucifix are also there. I’ve also added some of their favorite things, like a peacock feather (my aunt’s favorite decorative item), a rose lapel pin (from my great aunt), a shell from my uncle’s favorite beach, and various things of that nature.

You’ll want to place a plate in the center, but make sure it is one that you only use for this purpose. It’s fine if you get it from your kitchen, but don’t use it to eat from ever again. This is specifically for your Ancestors. Also, find a small, clear glass votive candle holder or a glass or crystal cup from your kitchen. You might also want to include a bell. I don’t like bells much, so I use a small Tibetan Singing Bowl instead.

Once you’ve got your altar all set up, choose a day when it is quiet around the house. On this day, each week, you’re going to “work the ancestor altar.” Of course, you’re free to adapt it to whatever way suits you, but here’s how I “work” my ancestor altar:

(1) I first empty the water from the glass and fill it up with fresh, new water.

(2) Next, I make sure that my white jar candle is ready for lighting and I have matches or a lighter nearby.

(3) I tone the Tibetan Singing Bowl.

(4) I light the candle. Then I take the candle in my left hand and the glass of water in my right. Beginning in the east, I face each direction (clockwise) and say, “I salute my Ancestors, in love, honor and respect,” while holding aloft the candle and water-glass. Then I get down on one knee and give just a little splash to the direction on the floor.

(5) Once I’ve completed this at all four directions, I put the water-glass on the plate and the candle to the left of it. Sometimes I just say, “Hey guys, nice to see you! Hope things are good! Just saying hi!” Other times, I might make a specific request, such as, “I really need a fresh idea for my next article … how about it? Thanks in advance!” Then sometimes, I might be a bit more formal and say something like, “Dearest Ancestors, thank you for all you have done, are doing and will do in my life. You are amazing to me and have never failed. This request is an urgent one … [request] … Keep me mindful that a healthy priest makes all things sound, and that I am indeed the Creator of my Destiny, as God created me in the beginning. Thank you again for all that you have done, are doing and will do in my life. You are amazing! Amen!”

(6) When I’m done, I usually just give a simple “Thanks guys,” and make one good solid knock on my Tibetan Singing Bowl. Then I go about my business.

Every now and again, it’s wise to dust the altar, rearrange things so that it is aesthetically pleasing, and so forth. Usually about once a month, I’ll make a major offering to the Ancestors. Cook up their favorite foods (mine tend to like chicken, potatoes, steak and the like – good old southern foods) and leave it on the plate in place of the water. My Ancestors all really loved coffee in life, so a couple of times a week, if I’m particularly blessed that week or just feeling overly joyous and generous, I’ll give me a couple of mugs of fresh, black coffee. They always enjoy that, and generally end up giving me more blessings for it!

I suggest taking time with your Ancestors. I know that, in working with other spirits, its a good idea to get to know the spirit before asking it to do work for you, but with Ancestors, they already know you. They know your heart, they’ve seen your life, and they know how you are. So I don’t think it’s going to hurt to just go ahead and ask them for something, but be very sure to thank them for it when it happens. Ancestors can be fickle, so its a good idea to keep on their good side!

I’m going to do an eight-part series on Servitors over the next couple of weeks, so you might want to pay attention to this. If you’ve ever thought about using Servitors for your own ends, then you may find this quite an enjoyable series.

Just to give you a brief intro to the subject of Servitors, lets define what they are.

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Andrew Harvey wrote the introduction to Shambhala’s excellent Teachings of the Christian Mystics. Here is a passage of Harvey’s that I absolutely adore. It elaborates a lot about what I believe to be truth for me.

So demanding and illusionless a path remains a perpetual challenge to anyone who dares to see its truth. This truth in its fullness was almost immediately betrayed by the historical development of Christianity. An egalitarian path that welcomed and celebrated women was turned into a hierarchiacal and misogynistic Church; a vision that criticized all power was conscripted to sustain first imperial and then papal ambitions; a force of love that wanted to end all division and separation becaue a force of fanaticism and fundamentalism that derided other religions and created one more prison of exclusion.

…As an integral part of this betrayal, Christ himself was dogmatically separated form the human race he wanted to liberate. He was declared the Son of God, a perfect being whose divinity set him apart from everyone. Christ himself never claimed to be Son of God; his only claim, significantly, was to be ‘Son of Man.’

It is clear that Christ did not want to be worshiped as a God; he wanted, in fact, to do something far more necessary and far more subversive — to reveal, by living it, the divine truth of every human identity and so instruct and empower the Christ within each of us and bring each of us into the atmosphere and splendor of the Kingdom of God that is our natural and rightful inheritance. Declaring Christ unique and divine muted the outrageousness of Christ’s real adventure and created a subtle chasm between humanity and him that prevented the full liberating power of his radical discovery of the divine power and truth latent in everyone from reaching and transforming the world…