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Subscribe to this list via RSS Blog posts tagged in Descent into the underworld

Posted by on in Studies Blogs
Coins for the Dead

I’ve begun training as a cremationist, and while it can feel overwhelming at times when faced with all the things I have to learn, I really enjoy it. I like how hands-on it is, and how the steps in the process utilize different skills and actions. Cremation is a deeply spiritual act to me. I physically care for the dead and participate in their transformation, assisting the Fire in releasing their spirits from their physical forms.

 

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Posted by on in Paths Blogs
The Wisdom of Descent

I guess it’s seasonally appropriate—it’s the dark time of year, and once again my mood is dark. There’s a gathering undertow pulling me down, until I’m drowning in the fear of drowning. There’s the kind of anxiety that makes staying still an agony and every activity terrifying. Creativity is absent. These words are hard to write.

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Recent Comments - Show all comments
  • Archer
    Archer says #
    Thank you Meredith. It's been a process, but I am in a much better place now, and working on understanding and continuing to have
  • Meredith Everwhite
    Meredith Everwhite says #
    This really resonated with me, I feel like I could've written it myself. I'm in a very similar place and I take comfort in knowing
  • Irisanya
    Irisanya says #
    Beautiful. Thank you.
  • Archer
    Archer says #
    Thanks so much Ted--I will definitely check out your blog entry--it's obviously been a right of passage for both of us.
  • Ted Czukor
    Ted Czukor says #
    What an amazing teacher you are, Archer! In the very act of expressing your angst, you give the best step-by-step advice in copin

Posted by on in Culture Blogs
What a Goddess

 Now our lady the Goddess had never loved,

but she would know all mysteries, even the mystery of Death,

so she journeyed to the Underworld.

 

So begins Wicca's foundational story of the Goddess's Descent into the Underworld.

It's an etiological masterpiece, the tale of the making of the First Witch. But for now, I'd like to linger here with this first sentence. Often it gets glossed over in a rush to get to the good stuff, but that's a shame, really. As a first sentence, it's a brilliant set-up, and my gods: talk about rich characterization.

Now our lady the Goddess had never loved... Well, there's your foreshadowing. You know exactly what's going to happen in this story: she's going to fall in love. That's the central mystery, after all. But look at what else it says about her.

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  • Anthony Gresham
    Anthony Gresham says #
    Thank you! I already knew about Ishtar's descent to get back Dumuzi from Babylonian mythology but I wasn't familiar with this one
  • Steven Posch
    Steven Posch says #
    GBG. To the best of my knowledge, the tale of the Descent first saw print in Witchcraft Today in 1952. Although he already knew Do
  • Anthony Gresham
    Anthony Gresham says #
    Is this story from Robert Graves or Gerald Gardner?
Stations of the Descent: A Call to Wiccan Artists

The truly puzzling thing is, there's no dearth of Wiccan artists out there.

That's what makes the absence all the more striking.

The story of the Lady's Descent into the Underworld is, arguably, Wicca's foundational myth.

Where, then, is the art depicting it?

It's a profoundly visual story. One could readily envision sequences of the Descent à la (if you'll pardon the comparison) Catholicism's Stations of the Cross.

Where are they?

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Recent Comments - Show all comments
  • Tabatha Baumgarden
    Tabatha Baumgarden says #
    Though this post is a year old, I am curious about this as well. Though, I have been out of touch with the readings and whatnot si
  • Steven Posch
    Steven Posch says #
    Here's a link with the text and analysis by Cei Serith: http://ceisiwrserith.com/wicca/legendofthedescent.htm I'll look forward t
  • Dominique Pierson
    Dominique Pierson says #
    I have a little etsy shop and I create pagan themed nichos/box shrines. This would be an interesting concept for a shrine/assembl

Posted by on in Culture Blogs
The Secret Heart of Samhain

The god stands naked at the temple door.

Crowned with antler and autumn leaf, he leads us, also naked, out and down.

Into the Underworld. Into the cave. Into the belly of the Earth.

Darkness of darkness.

He kneels to her. He raises his flame.

It dies.

In darkness, we call out the names of the dead.

In darkness, we sing. Asking for life, we sing.

In darkness, the apple passes, and we eat. Life has a price.

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Posted by on in Culture Blogs
Goddess Rising

One day the Goddess went away.

The Moon wanes away into darkness. The seed goes down into the soil. Summer descends into Winter.

Each Spring, we too descend. Into the Underworld we go. We seek Her, we find Her, and we bring Her back.

There was a time in history when it seemed that the Goddess had gone away.

So we descended into the Underworld. We sought Her, we found Her, and we brought Her back.

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Recent Comments - Show all comments
  • Chloe
    Chloe says #
    Very beautiful. As someone who reveres and adores Persephone, this speaks to my heart. Thank you!
  • tehomet
    tehomet says #
    Beautiful.

Posted by on in Culture Blogs

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