Wahya Circle
Tuesday Travels

World Studies 101
Days Immemorial

“Remembrance” days are held yearly at various times for those fallen to many conflicts around the world. From Armistice to Veteran, we remember our dead, each in our own way. Or, do we? Here are a few deaths of great leaders to recall and sit with on a day of remembrance, or as you venerate others.

ARTEMISIA
Artemisia, the story you do not hear. We have known that humankind has long been subservient to mankind. In reality, females had unrecognized power all along. Do you remember the story you heard of the Spartan 300?

You know, the one where Xerxes went to war against Greece (480-479 BCE). Well, Artemisia was the ruler of Halicarnassus. She was the one who ordered five naval ships to help Xerxes defeat the Greeks in the naval battle of Salamis. (Leonidas and his “300” fell soon thereafter.) Artemisia, named after the Goddess Artemis, sister of Apollo, is the only woman Herodotus attributes with the virtue of courage, or andreia, an almost impossible quality for a woman to possess since it literally meant 'manliness'. Artemisia of Halicarnassus later erected a mausoleum that was known as one of the seven wonders of the ancient world, and she knew her power if no one else did.

TRUNG SISTERS
Have you ever heard of the Trung sisters, Trưng Trắc and Trưng Nhị were born sometime around the year 35 CE. They flourished as heroines of the first Vietnamese independence movement, it is they who headed a rebellion against the Chinese Han-dynasty overlords and briefly established an autonomous state.

QUEEN BOUDICCA
How about this? “We British are used to women commanders in war; I am descended from mighty men! But I am not fighting for my kingdom and wealth now. I am fighting as an ordinary person for my lost freedom, my bruised body, and my outraged daughters.... Consider how many of you are fighting — and why! Then you will win this battle, or perish. That is what I, a woman, plan to do!— let the men live in slavery if they will.” These are the warring words of Queen Boudicca, according to ancient historian Tacitus.

If these stories interest you on this time immemorial, you may read more here:
LINK TO READ MORE...

Think About It
Is Your Magick Changing?

Where do you stand with what you have learned today? Have you learned anything of use for your practices? Do you feel you have more to learn? Do you feel you have a good grasp of your Personal Strength and are showing it? Are others taking notice of ‘changes’ in you? Can they ‘see’ the magick you embody? Or, are you having to hide your magick? Why? What is the real reason? What do you fear? Why?

Divination 101
Cartomancy: Tarot

III - Three - 3

Wands (Rod, Staves, Clubs)

Community, Unshakable stability, Good team, Lord of Virtue

Triangle: Alignment of three wands
Content watching ships sail out below
Successful business has taken place, work can move forward
Cooperation

Coronet: Practical
Checkerboard scarf
Mediator +/-
Great understanding

Cups (Chalice, Hearts)

Progress is beginning, Partnership, Fall (season), Abundance in community, Newness coming into life, Rejoice

Triangle: Cups raised: Full self-awareness, Mutual respect, love for each other, Business travel?, Improvement of relationships, Lord of Abundance

Swords (Scepters, Spades)

Pip, Minor, look at other cards around it
Presence of Major Arcana trumps this card, what this card represents often needs to be removed
Belief system needs to be removed, it no longer serves you

Concept, Idea, thing needs to be removed, is removed, changed

Sadness

Water from clouds is healing, in your hands
Prepare, general weather
Delay
You may need to stop and pay attention, is this “red flag” immanent?
First thought, what is it?
People of rank or importance TO YOU

Ask yourself: have you met this personality before? Has this personality harmed me before? How to focus.

May have trouble brewing early in relationship
Are you taking short cuts? Eye opener.

Triangle: Blades in heart: Opposite energies (Male and female)

Pentacles (Coins, Disks)

Everything is “black and white” to this person
Can multitask OR needs to give full attention to task at hand
Monk is paying attention wholly, Spirit is always listening, attentive
Jester, Prince in hiding, has the “plan”

This person wants to be CLEAR

Practical
Cooperation
Key: Solar crosses in triangle overhead: Burden shared

Represents trades and nobility (typically trade)
Maybe nobility is amongst you
Is a collaborative effort needed (to question)?
Will meet someone new.

Major Arcana

III (3) The Empress

Action Card
Subconscious after seeding of idea
Crown is triangle
Heart shield: Symbol Venus
Casual robe, for pregnancy?
Roses, secret rose, the hidden
Buried mystical secrets
Myrtle leaves – radiant energy
7 pearls, impossible negativity, Venus
Behind: waterfall, forest
(In RWS) Removed wings, feathers of ascension: Listen to Earth

Removed crossing on globe

“many throned”, Self
Circle with horizontal line, Mercury

Sulfur triangle silver cross

Divine nature: Focus on WHOLE card
Removed: crescent moon

XII (12) Hanged Man

Legs: crossed (cross)
Living tetrahedron with crossings (plutonic solid)
Fire symbol
Water symbol
Air symbol
Earth symbol
Deep meditation; Not suffering
New way of thinking; Tolerance
A pause in one’s life
Quiet wisdom
A person does not know, what he does not know
Time to see other perspectives
Odin trait
Cosmos perfection
Purpose
Accomplished

XXI (21) The World

Great Work
Animals: Ezekiel’s Apocalypse, totems, guides, Four Powers of the Magician, or Sphinx
Witches Pyramid is represented by:
Eagle: To Know
Human: To Will
Lion: To Be Silent (Silence)
Bull: To Dare

Leafed oval: Initiates crown

Convergence of soul and mind
Sees self actualization
Partner of Sun: Strength, Light
Ascending (act of)
Fourth crossing with legs
Awakening to all living kind
WE ARE ALL DIVINE!

Correspondences 101
Element Spirit

Akasha (Sanskrit ākāśa आकाश) means space or æther in traditional Indian cosmology, depending on the belief. In many modern Indo-Aryan and Dravidian languages the corresponding word (often rendered Akash) retains a generic meaning of "sky". The belief in “sky” is world wide and is not exclusive to ANY specific human use. Since the beginning of the hominids we descend from, there has been “sky”.

In ancient Greece, where the Western concept of the Elements originates, Aristotle and others sought from the classical set of physical substances—Earth, Air, Fire and Water, something they could FEEL tied it all together and that was Spirit. After all, the Greeks were not strict materialists—they recognized a divine presence and worshipped many individual Deities, so they knew that there was more to the Universe than meets the eye. The word “Aether” was applied to what the Greek philosophers saw as the “upper air,” or the air that the Gods breathed in the celestial sphere. It had initially been considered to be part of the Element of Air, but later it became clear that this energy was an Element in its own right.

While the four “classical” Elements — Earth, Air, Fire and Water—together comprise the physical world, there is a Fifth Element, often referred to as Spirit, or Sky. This Element exists within all four of them and all of them exist in us. Humans. Some Practitioners consdier this where the Ego driven earlier Practitioners went “wrong” in attempting to “bind” and “command” other Free Willed entities, simply because we contain them all —plus Spirit. Many forgot that these Elements existed long before humankind and will do as they please, not necessarily as we “command” them to do. Especially if what we as Practitioners are “commanding” they do is outside of their realm, or “scope of practice” if you will. But, just as we have a variety of Practitioners, there are a variety of Elementals.

It is nothing to see one of Earth have some Spirit and manifest. Or, one of Water do the same. It is also said that one of Earth and Fire can prevent little things like a campfire from igniting as they are mischievous entities sometimes. And, then, of course you have Elementals of purely Spirit that have never existed on this plane yet exert that Universal Energy (Unconditional Love) upon it. It is Egotistical in itself to think we are the ONLY things with Divine Choice or that we control the flow of Universal Spirit or Energy. Perhaps this is what was encountered by Solomonic traditions, that caused them to be so forward and aggressive with these Elements in binding them. (Share your thoughts if you have any on the matter.)

Protect yourself while working magick all the same.

The Spirit Element is immaterial, yet present in all things. It does not consciously exist apart from anything else to us on this plane. It is invisible, but essential for connection and balance between all other Elements.Spirit is what is called forth in ritual, through the invoking of the Divine, God/dess, and Elements. It dwells in us as living beings, both when we are aware of it and when we are not. But when we are aware of Spirit, and when we have clear and focused Intentions, we can utilize this Universal energy to manifest desired change through magickal workings.

Universal Energy

Spirit is unlike the other four Elements in that, since it is part of everything, it does not have any specific ritual or magickal correspondences. We should state, at least in most traditions, it is in a perpetual state of Uncondition.

In most Western thought, the exception is color—it may be represented by the color white, as white is reflects all colors combined. In Eastern thought, black is often seen as its equal. White reflects all color, and is considered Additive and black absorbs all color and is Subtractive.

We here at TCMed are not sure that is correct, as the color you see is the color reflected, hence, the energy reflected. So, if white “reflects all color”, we believe it will reflect, or Subtract, what you do NOT want in your life, magick, etc. Whereas black absorbs all color, and is therefore Additive. We believe black will add what you are working for with your magick.

Research is ongoing but the current conclusion is that a great deal of various dogmatic thought corrupted our natural attractions to color. It has shamed many who find certain colors appealing. It has fear-mongered many into what they believe generationally today.

EXAMPLE: You want to bring Abundance INTO your life, Additive, so you would use a black candle to represent you or your finances absorbing all that is possible.

EXAMPLE: You want to push away Negative Thought, OUT OF your life, Subtractive, so you would use a white candle. All things are reflected.

The way you have to remember color, the color you physically “see” is the color reflected by that item. This is why we suggest going with what you FEEL at APMS, NOT what your ‘eyes’ or those of another tell you.

Furthermore, Spirit does not have an associated gender, energy type, season, or cardinal direction. It is associated with everything you practice, from crystals to the Wheel of the Year. (Depending on your Path.)

Spirit is really the Element of Divine Intellect. Many believe it needs no specific symbols to be recognized. However, when discussing the Wiccan Elements, the pentacle is often mentioned, since the star has five points—one for each Element—and is surrounded by a circle, which can symbolize the way in which Spirit holds all of creation together. For Christians, it is often represented by the cross; for Hindu, the Om. Also often used are the Eight-Spoked wheel, the Spiral and Circle.

Long story short, Spirit is a bridge between the physical world of Matter and the spiritual world of … you guessed it, Spirit, places such as those between the planes, between the Hedges, etc. In cosmological models, the spirit is the transitory material between the physical and celestial realms. Within the microcosm, the spirit is the bridge between body and soul.

(Examples)