A New Tradition: Feri Thanksgiving @ Casa Vesperus

After asking around a bit, we are stepping in to fill the gap left by the departure of Cora. We offer our home as a gathering place for Feri folk and their friends. Our intention is to do this annually, as part of our Feri house project. We want this to be a community project, so it will be more potluck-y than Thanksgivings past. To that end, we have created a wiki for people to state that they are coming, and what they will bring. The link:
http://casavesperus.pbwiki.com/thanksgiving-2008

To edit the wiki page (in other words, tell us you are coming and what you will bring) you need to log in using the user name “casavesperus” and the password “lucifera”.

This event is for community-building, and to that end, we are instating “Cora Rules”. This means all are welcome and hospitality will be shown. It will be considered rude and unacceptable to parade political and personal differences during this community gathering. We leave that to the inter-web.

For those of you who really don’t know, Thanksgiving is Thursday, November 27th and it falls on the new moon this year. Woo! We are gathering starting at 1 pm, and it will go until who knows when. We hope to see you there, or at the Cora birthday brunch in January (our next event).

Casa Vesperus is near the 580 and 880 and airport. If you need transit from BART, please contact us via comments. If you wanna come in from out of town for the shindig and need a place to stay, we have room for a few, including a full sized futon, a couch, and floor space.

A Weekend Intensive...

Two Handed Magic: The Crooked Path, Left and Right Handed Magic in the Feri Tradition, led by Karina Blackheart...

            Feri's walk a crooked, star-lit path along a razor’s edge, between Will and Surrender, the Iron and the Pearl, Divine as eminent and immanent. In this weekend intensive, we will examine and enter fully into the paradox that is Feri Magic. Working with the Creation Story, the Divine Twins, Soul Alignment, the Iron and the Pearl Pentacles, we will explore both esoteric and mundane topics such as suffering, sexuality, desire, passion and compassion, healing and hexing.

            An adept magician must know when to exert will and when to surrender. We gain this wisdom through knowledge of Self in all our parts—even those parts we might consider weak or selfish.

            In a carefully constructed container for this work, we will more clearly define the work of our Personal God through ritual, discussion, song, journaling, trance-journeying and divination. Healing the fear, shame and guilt which keep us from our Truth is powerful. Defining our Will is powerful. Walking the star-lit path takes courage, dedication and sometimes, blind faith.

            Are you up for it?

Bring to this Class...

•           A journal and pen

•           A (sacred) Kala cup

•           1 white and 1 black taper candle with holders

•           A brief definition (15 words or less) of Your Highest Will

About Karina...

Karina began studying the Craft in 1991 and entered Feri training in 1994. She attained a Third Road Initiation in 1997, her Feri Initiation in 2002 and in October of 2007, she received the honor of the Black Wand blessed by Anaar, Storm Faerywolf and Michele Jackson. A Feri teacher, healer, ecstatic poet/writer, a Mother, lover, warrior and Master of the Black Arts, she walks the razor's edge in pride and wonderment. Karina emphasizes ecstatic embodiment of Feri principles and practices in her life and her teachings.

What is Black Heart Feri?

Feri, Faerie, Faery, Fierce, Ferocious, Fearsome, Fey,

A Tradition. A Craft. A Path. A way of Being. Shamanic. Ecstatic.

Paradoxical. Simplistic and complex.

A current. Power. A Danger. A Blessing.

Sensual. Sexual. Natural.

Definitions fall short

Feri cannot be defined in terms we understand through intellect alone. Feri is understood and integrated through poetry and experience, possession and passion, discipline and dreaming. Here is a taste, a morsel, a tease, a scent.

If you are Wise you will Know. Other-Wise, enjoy the poetry and think me a fool.

In Love and Power, Be Thou Blessed.

—Karina

www.blackheartferi.com

Return Mail-in inquiries to...

            Covenant of the Wiccæ

            9028 West Plymouth Avenue

            Littleton, CO 80128

Sponsored by: Covenant of the Wiccæ...

Web:          www.cotw.us

Phone:       720.394.5050

Email:        COTW@att.net

Address:     9028 West Plymouth Avenue

                  Littleton, CO 80128

                  (Denver Metro Area)

                  Get your COTW and Liber 76 Gear from CafePress!

                  www.cafepress.com/liber76

About:        Covenant of the Wiccæ celebrates a blend of paths, holding open and closed Circles. We are a teaching coven, offering entry level Witchcraft casual courses for students seeking Dedication, 1st year studies and Initiation into our Coven, and Priest[ess] training at its Esbat and Sabbat celebrations. We seek new ways to serve the community and expand our services as we grow. Building Your Temple.

To be held at: Spirit Wise...

Web:          www.spiritwisegifts.com

Phone:       303.730.2974

Email:        constanceb@spiritwisegifts.com

Address:     6590 South Broadway

                  Centennial, CO 80121

                  At Arapaho and Broadway

                  (Denver Metro Area)

About:        Spirit Wise is a full service metaphysical center, gift and book store located in Centennial , Colorado, at Arapaho and South Broadway. Spirit Wise has been serving the Denver south metro area for over twenty years. They offer classes, workshops, Reiki, massage, Tarot readings, astrological charts, energy work and more. In past years Spirit Wise/Conference Room has been graced by many respected authors and teachers. To learn about coming events, check out Spirit Wise Newsletter online, or call.

Current Mood: excited

http://www.tengerism.org/table_of_contents.html

Enjoy this one. I have no idea how accurate this information is, but it is, at the very least, interesting.

Just a little reminder that I will be teaching an introductory class on the Iron Pentacle at my store in Walnut Creek, CA tomorrow night. Class starts at 7pm. Cost: $20.

The Iron Pentacle is one of the most important tools of self-transformation that the Feri tradition has to offer. In this class we will delve into each of the five points of our beloved pentacle to see how they play out in our lives, as well as invoke this symbol in ritual to see how and where we are in or out of balance so that we may then begin to reclaim our lost power.

Limited street parking available. Parking validated for 2 hours at the nearby Cypress St. garage. Call the shop at 925-933-2342 for more information.

Earlier this year a CD of Victor Anderson’s poetry read by the Feri Community was produced to promote fundraising for Cora Anderson’s care (www.thegreenwand.com/Tracks.html). Sadly, Cora has since crossed, but the A Jewel For Cora CD was a big success at the time of her greatest need. There remain 25 copies prepared on black CD. Although Cora was never able to visit Stone City, she did see pictures of the stone circle (www.stonecity.moonfruit.com/#/photoshenge/4520460205) and was glad that such a place existed so close by. As a tribute to Cora and to benefit Stone City, these 25 copies are available for $12 each (plus $3 for US shipping). All proceeds go to The Stone City Foundation. No additional CDs will be made.

Email Onyx at

In light of discussions and rumors of discussions elsewhere on the Internets, I feel moved to say this because I think it needs saying.

Due to the fact that a few teachers are very public, and a whole bunch aren't, Feri is like an iceberg. You only see one-tenth of it; the other nine-tenths are underwater where you can't see.

That one tenth is still obviously an integral part of the iceberg. But it is not the *whole* iceberg. Because some lines and teachers are much more public than others, and Feri is so divergent, what you do see cannot be construed as telling you much about the whole. In feel, yes. In specific, no.

Hell, even as an initiate I don't know everything. Each line has their own lore, and just because the Bloodrose stuff is so prevalent, that doesn't mean that's what everyone has or does. Even some of us who are Bloodrose "cousins" have or do a whole bunch of stuff they don't. Keep that in mind.

I know some of you who are finally thinking you've got the hang of this stuff are going to be a bit dismayed to hear this. But look at it this way: the Mystery continually unfolds. Not just in your relationship to the current and the Gods, but in your relationship to other Fey. The tradition in some sense is the people, and they are a nearly inexhaustible resource. It'll be fine.

Hello,

The September 27th-28th "Nimue and the Black Heart" workshop with Karina in West Virginia is filling up fast.

Only three spots are left!

Hurry,

Swan

( Workshop Description )


( Registration form )

Current Mood: giddy

colin (the_misha) was brought into feri yesterday by tim, diana, and me, with much aiding and abetting by various Supernatural Personages. Please welcome our new feri brother.

"Witches were a bit like cats. They didn't much like one another's company, but they did like to know where all the other witches were, just in case they needed them. And what you might need them for was to tell you, as a friend, that you were beginning to cackle.
"Witches didn't fear much,...but what the powerful ones were afraid of, even if they didn't talk about it, was what they called 'going to the bad.' It was too easy to slip into careless little cruelties because you had power and other people hadn't, too easy to think other people didn't matter much, too easy to think that ideas like right and wrong didn't apply to you. At the end of that road was you drooling and cackling to yourself all alone in a gingerbread house, growing warts on your nose.
"Witches needed to kknow other witches were watching them."
--Terry Pratchett, A Hat Full of Sky

I spent the day cleaning my shrine to Malik Taus. Polishing the brass, washing the cloths, dusting and setting it up proper. Once is was all up, I lit the candles, did my devotions and decided to take a couple of pictures.

Just the altar

A view of most of it

Current Mood: accomplished

Nimue and the Black Heart of Innocence

"How beautiful and lascivious the black hearted innocence of
children and animals." Victor Anderson quoting the Dogon peoples.

Holy Nimue
Dark Darling of the Starry Magics
With you we laugh, cry, play, sing
And have our being
Holy Nimue
White One
lascivious keeper of the Black Heart
Untainted by shame, fear or guilt
In you we see our True Nature.

by
Karina


She is the Dark Daughter. Fierce and wild, unashamed and certainly
uncivilized. Nimue has much to teach us about innocence,
wonderment, Self-ishness and compassion. She embodies a purity
that, to the outer culture, seems anything but! As content singing
naked in the garden as she is smashing bugs or stirring storms, she
requires we proudly lay claim to the parts of ourselves we have
denied and covered over with shame, fear and guilt. Fearless,
shameless, without remorse, Nimue is both beautiful and terrible.
She pulls the pulsing, shining Black Heart from her pocket where
she's kept it hidden with frogs, bits of sand, some burrs, a
bluebird feather and other treasures collected on her tromp through
the woods. She holds it out to you, asking, "Wanna play?"

Nimue has deep mysteries to reveal to us. There is profound
healing leading to tremendous power to be had here! Together, we will
carefully create a container for this work by building altars,
cleansing and charging the space, aligning our Triple Souls and
making Kala for that which stands in the way of this Work. We will
feed the Guardian of the group mind as well as make appropriate
offerings for exploring this path safely.

Through Soul Alignment and Kala, coupled with discussion, poetry,
movement, Pentacle work, guided meditation, trance, journaling,
partnered and group exercises, song, ecstatic dance and play, we
will invoke a state of BlackHearted Innocence and celebrate our true
nature.

By the end of this weekend intensive, students will have developed a
deeper, personal, working realtionship with Nimue as well as having
reclaimed apsect of our own wildly innocent nature. Students will
take with them practices to continue deepening this important
relationship as well as tools for discerning and developing our own
Black Hearted Innocence.

It is suggested that workshop participants have experience with some
foundational Feri practices, specifically, Three-Soul Alignment and
the Kala Rite. Other important skills include grounding, a sense of
self-responsibility, respect for the group mind as well as for
individual participants. It There is a materials list for this
class. Space is limited. Early Registration not only helps us
organize this Intensive, but also assures your place.

September 27 -28th. Details: Workshop will run from 10 a.m.m - 8
p.m. on Saturday 9/27 and from 10 a.m. until around 2:30 p.m. in
Shepardstown, West Virginia on Sunday. Lunch both days is Brown Bag.
Dinner Saturday is an organized potluck (details as we approach the
date) Coolers will be available for food storage. A list of hotels
and B&B's will be made available.

Intensive Fee: Sliding Scale $110-$145 per person. Please email
Swansister at swanstar@verizon.net to register.

Current Mood: energetic

Please forgive any cross-postings.

I know there are several of you who are connected to the land at Diana's Grove, the retreat center and nature sanctuary that hosts the Midwest Witchcamp. Recently, a logging operation began clear-cutting the land bordering the Grove, and a campaign to preserve the land is now in place.

Below is the Grove announcement, along with a link to the proposal. Please pass this around far and wide. Even if you have no connection to the Grove, it's a worthy cause to help protect any land from unsustainable clear-cutting.
.
Email and phone contacts to voice questions and concerns are at the bottom of this post. Thank you so much.

The announcment:

Greetings from Diana's Grove

A couple months ago we began hearing the sounds of logging to the south of Diana's Grove. Eventually we discovered the 880 acres bordering Diana's Grove to the South and East are being clear cut. The impact of this logging is devastating to the wild life, habitat, and (needless to say) the beauty of the land. The green hills that border the Grove on two sides will be gone. This company is cutting to the bare earth and leaving nothing. One of the values we hope you share with us is a value for the environment, for the preservation of land, and making an ecological difference in the world.

We have explored a variety of options and actions that might be taken including contacting various individuals, neighbors, agencies, and organizations. The land is being clear cut at a rapid rate. The logger plans to complete the 880 acres by late Fall of this year. We have developed a plan that will enable you to help with the preservation of this land if now is the time in your life for such action.

Attached is our initial proposal of action and a map of Diana's Grove and the land around us. If you are at all interested or know someone else who might be, please let us know. Also, you may forward this information to any individuals or lists you think might be able to help. Thank you!

For pictures and updates about this situation: http://www.dianasgrove.com/landproposal.html

For more information contact Charles or Patricia at 573-689-2400 or land@dianasgrove.com

May your sacred lands be held in the hands of the Goddess.

Patricia Storm
Diana's Grove

Last Sunday we discovered that Cora (and Victor)'s urn is away from it's little cubbyhole at Chapel of the Chimes, apparently still out being engraved.

Does anyone know when it will be back so that we could stop by and pay respects in that form?

Thanks,
John

“Feri lore has it that, ‘All Gods are Feri Gods.’ However, there are 7 deities who are known to have a special affinity for the tradition. Come meet the Gods of the Feri Tradition in sacred space at beautiful Angel’s Landing.”

Featuring San Diego Feri Initiates:

Michele Jackson, Kathryn Tinuviel, & StarChild

 August 16^th & 17^th

·       All inclusive two day, one night Feri retreat and workshop

·       Commune with the Ancestors & The Mighty Dead

·       Practice  working with Blue Fire Breathing / Trance Induction

·       Discover the forms of Mari

·       Look deeper into the Star Goddess & Melek Taus

·       Journey to their realm in ecstatic Ritual

·       Connect with other Feri Folk in the beautiful Julian Mountains

For More Information, www.faerystar.org

"I’ve been thinking a lot lately about narcissism and how my spiritual traditions seem to exacerbate and sometimes even create it. Reclaiming is a fertile ground for extroverted narcissistic tendencies to blossom, what with easy access to being in the center of the circle, a focus on empowerment within a climate of no accountability, and the persistent thought form that our magic is the only thing that can really change the world. Feri is fertile ground for narcissistic introverts, with its ooga booga, secrecy, and persistent thought form that those who receive “the current” are special. The hexing that is so glorified in some Feri circles suits narcissists nicely. Somebody pisses you off? Well, gather your energy and do a spell to annihilate them! In Reclaiming, the spellwork is not encouraged, but character assassination and female style bullying are rampant."
---Deborah Oak, part of a longer blog at http://branchesup.blogspot.com/2008/05/i-feel-pretty-oh-so-pretty.html

exactemente.--vw

in the Bay Area or hoping to move here soon?

who we are:

Oberyn Solis – a new initiate and Feri practitioner. Not teaching and not willing to teach student roommates. He has interests in queer theory, plant allies, alternative healing modalities, music (plays the pennywhistle and harp), other spiritual traditions (such as Zen and Vajrayana Buddhism, chaos magick, Taoism, and more) cooking, poetry, and theatre.

Lillitu Shahar – a Feri student nearing the end of Thorn Coyle’s 2-year class, she intends to continue study with Thorn and other initiates with a goal of initiation. She works with and loves animals, particularly parrots (and two small ones will be living in this house) and has interest in living art, performance, and culture, reading, hoodoo, reiki and other forms of energy healing, herbalism, and cooking/baking. She intends to attend bodywork school in the near future.

necessary disclosure: Obie and Lilli are in a poly relationship. we are adults about it and make it our work that it will never get in the way of other relationships, including roommate ones. we respect each other and others as individuals and do not subscribe to the “us vs. them” just because we like each other in “that way”! we intentionally want a communal household (more than just the two of us) and are creating that, step by step.

necessary:
• a practitioner (student or initiate) in the Feri trad. someone who does regular self work and is not ruled by complexes.
• a sense of humor and a genuine like of people, including their foibles.
• open, honest, communicative, resolution-oriented (references from group living or working situation preferred).
• someone who is happy to host Feri community gatherings and/or circles in the home
• comfortable with polyamory/polyfuckery and bisexuality/queer sexuality/BDSM (in theory in common space, in practice in private space)
• comfortable with animals including parrots, reptiles, dogs. if you intend on bringing animals into the home, all current roomies must meet and agree to the new animal roomie, just like a human one.
• no cats due to allergies, sorry.
• people with children are welcome to apply, as long as all roomies agree on new roomie (just like adults and animals).
• must be able to pay at least $500 per month rent (per bedroom) + utilities + your share of the security deposit (which is usually equivalent to one month’s rent), possibly higher depending on what we find...
• stable income
• responsible, reliable person who pays bills on time, communicates effectively on household and personal matters, and respects group process in decision-making (method to be determined by household once it is formed).
• willingness to come to regular (but not excessive) house meetings to ensure smooth running of home
• no smoking, Teflon cookware (toxic to parrots and people), or drinking/drugs to excess. we do partake ourselves, but are not addicted or dependent.
• need to be respectful of other people’s property- asking before taking, respecting the word “no” and other such social niceties…

desired:
• someone wanting to do daily practice, rituals, and circles and Feri community building together
• someone who also does energy healing, body work, and/or hoodoo
• someone who is good with plants/gardening
• someone who likes to cook or bake
• artists, musicians, writers, poets, freaks, much welcome and appreciated!
• wanting to share group meals from time to time would be nice.

where we are now:
• we are looking for a house in the oakland/berkeley/emeryville (east bay, bay area, CA) areas this summer; we are looking to commit to a place in July and move in August.
• people who are interested from out the of the area (relocating) are welcome, but must be able to come up with their share of move-in costs by scheduled move-in date, even if they come out later.
• we are a mixed gender group of two so far (one initiate, one student)- diverse sexualities, from different areas of the country originally.
• food situation is open to negotiation. some roomies have allergies that preclude 100% sharing (but they wanna share "staples"), others may want to do coop buying/meal prep.
• we are hoping to get a space large enough to include a temple room as well as space for a large occult library.
• animals destined to be included are two small parrots who share a cage. they are flighted and all roomies must be OK with bird-proofing to some extent while they are out of their cage. we hope to get a dog as well.
• we eat meat. vegetarians and vegans are welcome, but understand that your diet is not shared by all in the home and cookware that is not yours specifically will have meat cooked in it.

I think eldriwolf is on to something with the idea that we should find another word than "work" to describe what we do, what skills we develop, what relationships we seek and maintain. The American "work ethic" is not life-affirming, not creative, does not mix well with the ethics of Witchcraft. There's other memetic thoughts in here... the process of giving birth should not have the same name as the process of digging ditches.

Glorifying "work" as the most noble activity a person can do is not part of my goals, not part of my values. The whole labor revolution--the 40-hour workweek the unions fought for, the insistence on paid sick leave & vacation time, the growing number of silly kitchen gadgets (and some incredibly useful kitchen gadgets--this week, I love my fridge), are all about *eliminating* work and the need for work.

Work is not something we should treasure. Work is something you have to do towards a goal... work, in itself, is not valuable. Finding a way to reach the goal without work, or with less of it, should be rewarded. If the goal involves activity, and that activity is desirable in itself, *that activity should not be called work*.

Call it play. Or art. Or active creativity. Or expression. ("The real test of a Feri is not initiation, but whether s/he's expressed Feri through his/her life.") Maybe we need brainstorming to find a new word.

anyone who is interested in buying a copy of the tee shirt can find it at http://www.cafepress.com/veedubferi

i am not taking any markup, so all charges are for the shirt and shipping.

you can also get a coffee mug with the same design.

First of all, my thoughts and prayers are with the Feri community re Cora's recent passing. Even those of us who aren't Feri but were part of the American Pagan community in the mid 80s (this would be me) were deeply influenced by her and Victor.

In an odd coincidence, I added all of tunes from Gwydion's two albums to my mp3 player on Beltane -- before I knew of Cora's passing. I'm curious -- does anyone know who played the concertina on the "Farewell to Ye, Mary" track? (I'm a concertina player myself) The CDs I have don't mention it.

thanks much!

Hello,

If you can, bring pie and/or beverage to Chapel of Chimes to share after the formal service on Monday.

Those who cannot make it to California can eat pie in Cora's honor. She loved chocolate especially, but I don't think she ever met a piece of pie she wouldn't eat.

We can have a pie wake.

love - Thorn

x-posted to victor-cora