Final
remembrances from Book of Shadows:
“The nature of
energy was to flow through space and through time, to move, and to change from
one thing into another. To remain fixed,
to refuse to move, or to resist change was to block the natural flow of
life. Open yourself to the movement of
the divine and its energy will carry you beyond all limitations. It is present with every breath that you
take. Open yourself and feel its power;
it will guide and sustain you as you create life.
Nature was a sacred
teacher. Magic, I knew, does not work
against nature but with her, and the wisdom that one needs to make choices, to
experience magic, to live, to be in the presence of the divine, is ever-present
in the natural world. True magic is to
remain connected to that sacred source.
Everything will flow from that.
The art of magic is
the ability to work with the natural flow of energy. We characterize energy as moving in waves, as
light and sound do, but a wave is only a two-dimensional depiction of a
multidimensional movement through, and beyond, space-time. Energy moves in spirals, the spirals of
seasons and snakes, seashells and stars, DNA and dogs curling to lie before the
fire. Here was the meaning of the
Goddess’s coiling serpent.
The spiraling
movement of energy, or cycles, flows back and forth from peak to valley, from
being to nonbeing, waxing to waning, summer to winter, masculine to feminine,
yin to yang, birth to death, and back again.
Opposites do not exist separately from each other, but instead are
joined in the curving dynamic of the universal flow. Witches know that energy cannot remain
forever at one end of the spectrum, for its nature is that of ceaseless,
swirling movement. Night is followed by
day, action by rest – a pattern adhered to by our own bodies as we inhale,
exhale, then inhale again. Just imagine
how we could direct energy with awakened awareness, honed skills, and spiritual
insight. …when we are connected to the
sacred, we will conduct ourselves in a sacred manner, with reverence and
respect for all expressions of the divine.
Sacred energy lies within and connects all living things. This is the truth at the heart of magic.”
pp.
205-207; 211-212; 214-215; 221
