Hallowquest - Lesson 45 or 43 - Stone Maiden, Stone Two & Stone Three

[PathWalker]

Here we meet the Stone Maiden - with a head in a dish (!) - and walk through the landscape cards of Stone Two and Three.

 

We are asked questions:

 

1. What is the best, most practical reason for your quest?

2. Which different spiritual directions or esoteric methods jockey for your attention? Which do you intend to pursue right now?

3. What are the pre-eminent qualities of your spiritual craft? How do you reflect these?

 

We are given a task - planting each night a 'seed of intention' into the squares of the chessboard, for fruition in the months ahead.

 

There's also a meditation where we move through the cards, with the guidance of the Stone Maiden, to help us journey and clarify intentions in ourselves.

Edited November 26, 2019 by PathWalker

[PathWalker]

Working through the questions first, and I must say I sometimes struggle with the wording; I'm not always sure what they were trying to get at. But question3 stirred me to find out this piece of work by Rae Beth, which I'm putting here in case it inspires someone. this is who I am, and who I strive to be, in my spiritual craft.

 

Resolution of a Witch

By Rae Beth. From the book 'Hedge Witch'.

 

May I be as the one who weaves the cloth

in a forest, deep hidden.

May I sit at the work, uninterrupted.

And may I remain an outcast, if that is what it takes.

May I know the seasonal procession in my spirit and

in my body, celebrate cross quarters, solstices and equinoxes.

May each Full Moon find me looking upwards, at trees

outlined on luminous sky.

May I hold wildflowers. May I cup them in my hand.

May I release them, unpicked,

to live on in abundance.

May my friends be of the kind who are at ease with silence.

May they and I be innocent of pretension.

May I be capable of gratitude. May I know

that I was given joy, like mother's milk.

May I know this as my dog does, in her bones and blood.

May I speak the truth about happiness and pain

in songs that sound of the scent of rosemary,

as everyday and ancient, kitchen-herb strong.

May I not incline to self-righteousness or self-pity.

May I approach the high earthworks and the stones circles

as fox or moth,

and disturb the place no more than that.

May my gaze be direct and my hand steady.

May my door be open to those who dwell outside wealth

and fame and privilege.

May those who have never walked barefoot never find the path

that leads up to my door.

May they be lost in the labyrinthine journey.

May they turn back.

And may I sit beside the fire in winter

and see in the glowing logs what is to come,

yet never feel the need to warn or to advise, unasked.

May I sit upon a plain wooden chair, in true contentment.

May the pace where I live be as the forest.

May there be trackways where there are caves and pools

and trees and flowers, animals and birds,

all known to me and revered, loved.

May my existence change the world no more nor less

than the gusting of wind, or the proud growth of trees.

For this, I go in cast-off clothes.

May I keep the faith, always.

May I never find excuses for the expedient.

May I know that I have no choice, and yet still make the choice

as the song is made, in joy, and with consideration.

May I make the same choice every day, again.

When I fail, may I know forgiveness for myself.

may I dance

naked, unafraid to face my own reflection.