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Written by Ivo Dominguez Jr • Narration by James C. Welch
A version of this that I wrote was published in The New Aradia: A Witch's Handbook to Magical Resistance edited by Laura Tempest Zakroff (Revelore Press). I have modified it into a solo pathworking. The background music was created by me as well.
Pathworking:
Our thoughts and emotions create thought-forms, durable patterns on the astral plane and within our inner landscapes. The more intense our emotions and focus the longer they last. If it is more than we can manage, or are already worn down, then this becomes a storm. The patterns of negative emotions around us, in our inner world, can cloud our perception and do us harm. Like calls to like so these energetic patterns stay close to their creator and crowd in upon them and draw additional woes. The following is a pathworking that is a spell to calm the inner storm.
Close your eyes and move inwards. Take a deep breath and become aware of any distractions from the outside world— sounds, sensations, thoughts and feelings that came with you to this moment. Gather these distractions together ••••• and bid them depart. •••••
Open your eyes briefly and then close them again holding within yourself the image of where you are in the here and now. See a sparkling mist rolling, slowly filling your vision. See it grow thicker, and thicker, and thicker until you are enveloped in swirls of pearly mist, rosy mist, that glistens with sparkling motes. ••••• Although you are still, you feel motion all around you. Although you are still, you feel the fog swirling all around you.
The fog fades and you find yourself standing in a dim featureless void. You are holding a silver arrow in your hand with fletching made of blue feathers. •• With each breath let details of the energies, thoughts, and emotions around you begin to come forward and take shape. •• Choose to perceive these as a storm rather than as patterns of emotion and energy. ••• Take the silver arrow in your hand aimed upwards, and feel a cold ripple of energy pass through you. • You lift off and rise. • Rise on the planes until you are floating above the storm. Look at the rolling swirling motion of the clouds. • Smell the wetness in the air and the crispness of lightning wanting to be born. • Study the storm with all your senses. ••• Giving your turmoil this shape and naming it will give you power to disperse it. •
Now hold the silver arrow with both hands against your chest. Awaken the Four Elements within yourself. Call upon the power of Air within yourself, • of Water within yourself, • of Fire within yourself, • of Earth within yourself. ••• The power inside gives you power outside. •
Call upon the power of Air, the wind, to push away the clouds, break up the rotation of the storm, to clear the fogs, the precipitation, and so on. • See it happen as you float above the storm. ••• The storm has been dispersed. Now call forth gentle breezes that are cool or warm as needed to bring comfort. Take a breath of the clear sweet air. •
The rains that fell were not clean. They are tainted with the sour and unpleasant smells and textures of heavy emotions and thoughts. • Aim the silver arrow downward and descend. • You feel yourself gently touch down. The silver arrow transforms in your hand into a silver pitcher filled with pure, shining water. • By the power of Water cleanse whatever stains remain of the storm. See yourself pouring water in an unending and growing stream. • • All is clean and sweet smelling. •
Weathering the storm took its toll. • Now the silver pitcher becomes a silver torch with a flame of red and blue. Let the power of Fire restore your vitality and resolve. •• As you hold the torch your skin begins to glow with lustrous health and vigor. •• As you look into the flames you feel a warmth growing in your heart that spreads throughout you. • You are warm, • comforted, and • relaxed from head to toe.
It is time to shield yourself and hold in the goodness you have gathered. The flame on the torch folds like paper down into the torch. It ripples in your hand and becomes a silver shield emblazoned with a blue five pointed star. • Call upon the power of Earth to guard you. ••
Walk round in a circle with the shield pointed outwards. •• Hold the shield close and let it melt into your body. • Feel the stability, solidity, and confidence settle into your bones. •
Offer words of thanks and affirmation to the Powers of Air, of Water, of Fire, and of Earth. •• Affirm that you have been cleansed, renewed, and protected. ••
A fog begins to roll in around you. •• Although you are still, you feel motion all around you. You feel the swirling and the turning all around you. ••
Little by little, the fog lifts and you flutter your eyes open and find yourself back in the here and now. Back in the place where we began. Back in the place you held in your memory so that you could return. •••
Take a deep breath. Move your toes and fingers. Be here and in the now. Be here and in the now. And you are here!