Years ago I taught basic witchcraft, but today I’m more interested in going deeper with aspects of ritual working or magical living once people have got some basics. In that context, I’m thinking about invocation, coming into communion with beings of greater spiritual power than we possess on our own. And – not exclusively, but particularly – doing it communally.
Communion with spirit is a deep, deep human need. Overall, we live lives of extreme isolation compared to the vast majority of human existence in small, intimate groupings. Few of us even enjoy human companionship intimate enough to regularly share either sleeping or waking dreams. Even fewer of us enjoy ready communication with the wider, natural world – the sentient trees towering around us, the smaller herbs whispering their offerings of medicinal and nutritional assistance, the birds’ endless gossip, intrigues, and exuberance. Humankind developed immersed and enmeshed in all these kinds of complex intimacy for tens if not hundreds of thousands of years.
When we gather for ritual, what we’re looking for is that communion, both with other humans in our circle, and with spirit, whoever we are calling upon. We want to savor and be nourished by that connection, and we also want to put our shoulders to the wheel of fortune and work together for worthy and meaningful outcomes. When human and spirit join forces, we can accomplish so much that is simply not possible for us humans on our own.
Contemplating teaching that, I realized that’s already exactly what I’m teaching with Ancestral Healing. Yes, it’s only one particular instance of spirit communication, but it’s the most accessible and the most important. Accessible, because 1) As formerly incarnate humans, our ancestors are the spirits most similar to us and easiest to contact, and 2) As our ancestors, they are very interested in us and invested in our success, so they’re usually keen to contact us as well. Important, because 1) They impact us deeply whether we are aware of it or not. We carry the imprints of our ancestors and continue to struggle with everything that was not healed or resolved. 2) When they are well, they can and want to be extremely helpful. 3) We do kind of owe them, as they’re responsible for us being here in the first place, and 4) We are going to join them eventually, and it’s a lot more easeful if we’ve developed a good relationship and made sure everyone waiting for us on the other side is in good shape.
And there’s something more than that: the aggregate capacity of a group of people who assemble not just as individuals, but each one backed by unbroken lineages of their own well ancestors is palpably so much greater than a group of discrete individuals. There’s something that happens in this process, both a degree of resourcing we generally don’t imagine, and a softening of individualism into a mantle of collective power and connection, that lends more depth to what every person is bringing, and so to the circle or ritual itself. This isn’t the only kind of work that does this, but it might be the most important and accessible.
While I eventually hope to do a invocation course, I see Ancestral Healing as a solid basis for that or any other magical, intuitive, or spirit work. Meanwhile, I plan to offer another Ancestral Healing course in the fall, right after the holidays, starting on Samhain/All Souls Night, and this is the first I’m putting that intention out, so plenty of time to ask me questions if it seems interesting. And I’m still offering one on one sessions for people who prefer to work that way, or who can’t wait to get started!
This course is in Hebrew, and details can be found on my courses page.