KINDRED

Ha'Azinu

הַאֲזִינוּ הַשָּׁמַיִם, וַאֲדַבֵּרָה; וְתִשְׁמַע הָאָרֶץ, אִמְרֵי-פִי
Give ear, ye heavens, and I will speak; and let the earth hear the words of my mouth. Devarim 31:1

From generation to generation, the Voice of our Ancestors speaks to us, teaching us the OLD WAYS.

In honor of those who came before ... conceived, crafted and made during the Torah portion of Ha'Azinu .... KINDRED Ancestral Altar Candle made with certified kosher premium soy wax.



Intensely scented with Frankincense and Myrrh essential oils and Pomegranate fragrance oil, KINDRED is herbally charged with Wormwood, Red Poppies, Yew, Mugwort, Elder Flowers and Marshmallow Leaf. KINDRED is gemstone charged with clear quartz crystal to focus, clarify and amplify magical awareness.

This hauntingly beautiful pillar measures 2 x 6.75 inches and comes with a skull and crossbones charm (15 x 13 x 4.5 mm) hung by black ribbon.

Comes beautifully packaged. KINDRED Ancestral Altar Candle may be purchased at WITCHCRAFTS by Liorah Lleucu.

**Handcrafted scented ancestral altar candle made with 100% all natural, pure premium, ecofriendly, certified kosher SOY wax itself made with 100% American farmer soybeans grown domestically in the USA without herbicides or pesticides!!! Candles burn longer, cooler and cleaner, burning without soot buildup.**

ef696436-3d84-4f01-a553-112a59635866

1.03.01

The Lord's Frustration, The Lady's Understanding

Nitzavim-Vayeilech

פֶּן-יֵשׁ בָּכֶם, שֹׁרֶשׁ פֹּרֶה רֹאשׁ--וְלַעֲנָה
lest there should be among you a root that beareth gall and wormwood ... Devarim 29:17

The Lord definitely wants to find this root and to curse it.

But thankfully, the Lady understands the Lord and says otherwise.

The Hebrew root from which the translation "gall and wormwood" is derived, namely לען, means "bitter" and "to give bitter oil." Yet in Witchcraft, the wormwood plant is a protective essence which counteracts poisoning and guards against malevolent magic. It is also used to call up ancestral and nature spirits as collaborative allies in the Sacred Feminine Arts. It appears then that the bitterness may be a male patterned experience of "wormwood" because the female patterned experience of it is quite different.

So, how can the Lady's witches understand the Lord's experience?

The Hebrew word translated as "gall and wormwood," namely וְלַעֲנָה, has a gematria of 161. The word היקום meaning "living substance" also has a gematria of 161. The word היקום comes from the root קום (meaning "rising", "reasserting denied rights," and "standing in opposition to") and is found in Bereshit 7:4 where the Lord informs Noah that He is going to "blot out every living substance from off the face of the earth." Oh, the Lord's in that (bitter) mood again!

The Lady says to the Lord "no, You can't do it. I'm so (not) sorry. Here, why don't You try a tea concoction with my sweet wormwood in it instead to soothe Your anxiety a bit. It's called Aphrodisia. I promise - You'll be glad We're not all blotted out. This is what You really want to do anyway."

Unexpected Results

Ki Tavo

וַיִּקְרָא מֹשֶׁה אֶל-כָּל-יִשְׂרָאֵל
and Moshe called unto all Israel ... Devarim 29:1

... with an agenda. And a witch and her friend came up. Poor evil Moshe with his evil agenda, the crown just doesn't belong to him. It's mine, all mine ... cackle, cackle, cackle. It's just so much fun being a witch.

Friday morning's dream.

I was in a space station like chamber in outer space. With me there were two men. One was my friend. The other was like an evil wizard (who reminds me now of the wicked witch in The Wizard of Oz, only a male in this case). The evil wizard had brought my friend and I to the space station to steal the crown that only I could reach (just like the wicked witch wanted to steal the ruby slippers Dorothy wore in The Wizard of Oz).

The evil wizard thought I was gullible like Dorothy and would just give the crown over to him as easily as Dorothy wanted to give over her ruby slippers to the wicked witch when challenged for it, so he had brought my friend and I there so that I could climb up the tower ladder that went up from the space station to bring down the crown that rested at the utmost top of it. I let him think I was gullible like Dorothy so he wouldn't interfere with my climb or hurt my friend as I climbed. But, I had no intention of giving over my crown to him.

He wanted the crown so that he could rule the world with it's powers. It's my crown, and I'm going to use it's powers to enable myself to do my craftwork in peace. I'm like the evil witch who doesn't want to be bothered and to keep from being disturbed is going to buy a strong deadbolt for my door and a welcome mat that reads "GO AWAY."

Anyway, as I was standing there in the space station chamber with my friend and this evil wizard, in my dreaming mind, even though there was no obvious symbolism to suggest it, I knew that this space station and the ladder with the crown on the top of it were in a mikveh. I'm not sure how the clear association came to exist (as I've only been to a mikveh once in my life), but there it was.

Interjected here in the dream, between the mikveh association and beginning of my climb up the tower ladder, I encountered the space station dining room filled with diners, some cookies, a big dog running loose and some stairs. I took some cookies from the dining room (but never ate them) and avoided the big dog by taking a twisting winding chaotic path on the stairs between various floors of the space station. Then, I climbed the tower ladder and retrieved my crown, claiming it as my own as I touched it for the first time at the top of the tower ladder that only I could climb. The claim reverberated down and the evil wizard knew now that I'm not Dorothy and he was not in Kansas. I was crowned, and he can't have my crown or now hurt my friend now that I am wearing the crown.

Suddenly, I was in my earth bedroom (as it appeared when I was a teenager) with some girlfriends. There was a terrible tornado directly overhead (the evil wizard must be having a fit, I thought). My girlfriends wanted me to get down on the floor so that I wouldn't get drawn up into the winds of the tornado, but I wasn't afraid. I had to get my earrings off the dresser top, so I stood up and got them. They thought I was crazy. But, I knew the winds of the tornado couldn't touch me, and I really wanted to wear my pretty witchy earrings, even within the midst of a tornado (witches are fearless like that, you know). So, I got them and put them on, then got back down on the floor along with my girlfriends.

I woke up.

The Mitzvah Of The Twisted Cord

Ki Teitzei

גְּדִלִים, תַּעֲשֶׂה-לָּךְ, עַל-אַרְבַּע כַּנְפוֹת כְּסוּתְךָ
you shall make twisted cords upon the four corners of your covering ... Devarim 22:12

The "four corners" (east-west-north-south) of the witch's altar is represented by four points of the pentagram within a pentacle. From my blog Craftwork of a Jewitch, the "four corners" in the pentacle may be laid out like directions on a compass as follows:



The "up" point on the pentacle is unitive in nature. The "down area" on the pentacle is multiplicative in nature. Thus, a "twisting cord" within the context of a "four-cornered garment" seeks to create unified multiplicity within multidimensional space, as does the Shema prayer of Judaic tradition. This is true as it pertains to the Torah phrase at the top of this entry and to the witch's altar, which in addition to it's "four corners" as previously described, has a twisted cord adorning it called a witch's altar ladder. Whereas the compass directions are a fact of nature, the witch's altar ladder is handcrafted and hand made, as are many tzitzyot.

Here are some handcrafted twisted cords, also known as witch's altar ladders, available for purchase at WITCHCRAFTS by Liorah Lleucu.

2010 Blog Award

ח' באלול תש"ע
Belz 10

Wow. I didn't know I had such a faithful readership, but thank you to all who nominated my blogs - Walking on Fire and Garden of the Dark Moon Jubilee - for best kabbalah blog on the internet. Both were awarded placement among the Top 10 Kabbalah Blogs for 2010 by BestBloggers.com and Online PhD Programs for "overall brilliance." I didn't even realize I had been nominated.

Thank you, my friends, readers and judges.

Dangerous Mind

Shoftim

לֹא-יִמָּצֵא בְךָ, מַעֲבִיר בְּנוֹ-וּבִתּוֹ בָּאֵשׁ, קֹסֵם קְסָמִים, מְעוֹנֵן וּמְנַחֵשׁ וּמְכַשֵּׁף.
There shall not be found among you any one that maketh his son or his daughter to pass through the fire, one that useth divination, a soothsayer, or an enchanter, or a sorcerer,

וְחֹבֵר, חָבֶר; וְשֹׁאֵל אוֹב וְיִדְּעֹנִי, וְדֹרֵשׁ אֶל-הַמֵּתִים.
or a charmer, or one that consulteth a ghost or a familiar spirit, or a necromancer.

כִּי-תוֹעֲבַת יְהוָה, כָּל-עֹשֵׂה אֵלֶּה
For whosoever doeth these things is an abomination unto the LORD

אַךְ הַנָּבִיא אֲשֶׁר יָזִיד לְדַבֵּר דָּבָר בִּשְׁמִי, אֵת אֲשֶׁר לֹא-צִוִּיתִיו לְדַבֵּר, וַאֲשֶׁר יְדַבֵּר, בְּשֵׁם אֱלֹהִים אֲחֵרִים--וּמֵת, הַנָּבִיא הַהוּא.
But the prophet, that shall speak a word presumptuously in My name, which I have not commanded him to speak, or that shall speak in the name of other gods, that same prophet shall die.'

Devarim 18:10-12, 20

Is that a code?

Or does the LORD's really have a problem with these things? What could the LORD be hiding that He doesn't want someone unauthorized by Him to find out and potentially divulge to the Israelites? Perhaps the LORD fears the spin which could be be put to the information divined by a dangerous mind.

As for me ...
I will not go down under the ground
"Cause somebody tells me that death's comin' 'round ...
[Bob Dylan, Let Me Die In My Footsteps]

There is no victim here. Nor am I "already dead."

An' I will not carry myself down to die
When I go to my grave my head will be high



It's my life, it's now or never
I ain't gonna to live forever,
And I just wanna live while I'm alive
[Bon Jovi, It's My Life]

The Most Magnificent Dance In The Sea

Re'eh

כָּל-הַמָּקוֹם, אֲשֶׁר תִּדְרֹךְ כַּף-רַגְלְכֶם בּוֹ--לָכֶם יִהְיֶה: מִן-הַמִּדְבָּר וְהַלְּבָנוֹן מִן-הַנָּהָר נְהַר-פְּרָת, וְעַד הַיָּם הָאַחֲרוֹן--יִהְיֶה, גְּבֻלְכֶם
Every place whereon the sole of your foot shall tread shall be yours: from the wilderness, and Lebanon, from the river, the river Euphrates, even unto the hinder sea shall be your border. ... Devarim 11:24

A few nights ago, I dreamt.

I was in a "different" magical place. Hidden in this place, behind a wall overgrown with vegetation, was a magical wall. The wall was a portal through which magical people could travel through time and energy. It was also a wall connected to the gymnasium wall of the grade school I had attended as a little girl.

Only people with strong and unusual magical strength could intuit and access the hidden power of the wall. To do so, one placed the palms of one's hands against the wall, melding one's spirit into the spirit of the wall.

As the vision of the wall came into my view, my innards stirred profoundly, as if recognizing a deep part of my own being and link with the cosmos. I walked up and touched the wall, placing my palms against it as waves of something moved through me. I stepped into another world.

In this world there was a teacher, his wife and many students. The students were paired in couples. The students were to be tested to see who could do the swimming dance in the deep dark sea as well as the teacher and his wife could. It was also a trial to rank ability for some reason, as if the teacher and his wife were going to retire at some point and needed to set up a couple to take their place when that happened.

It was a very dangerous test. Only the chosen could swim in this deep dark sea. Those who were able, swam a dance in it as pairs in the form of large primordial sea creatures, as leviathans.

I was a student and I was paired with someone. The teacher and his wife demonstrated the dance while the students observed from "poolside" of the sea. My vision also observed from within the sea itself. Then they got out and all the student pairs got in, morphing into leviathan pairs. I knew I and my partner would be the best at this dance. I had the feeling that the teacher and his wife knew we would be too. I also knew that I was different than the rest of the students - I was new to this school and did some things differently than the others.

Then as I began to swim, for some reason, I couldn't go forward in the water. I looked up to above the shallows of the water from where we all had started the swimming dance and saw that the teacher had put a hex on my feet, so that I was anchored in place as if he was standing on my feet. I saw an energy form of his foot holding me down in the water. He was deliberately trying to give me a disadvantage that the other students didn't have! What abject chutzpah! I thought. This isn't fair at all.

Well, my magic is stronger than his hex, I knew. I uttered a hex-breaking spell and cast up some words in his direction and the power of his hex was immediately broken. I took off in the water and my partner and I swam the most magnificent dance in the deep dark sea.

I woke up.