Autumn  Magick

  According to many of the Pagan calendars of old Europe, November 1 marked the beginning of the winter season. With game animals growing scarce and the harvest at an end, it was time to look inward for spiritual inspiration rather than outward to nature. Many European myths reflect this shift in focus - most notably those of Persephone and Kore who descend to the Underworld throughout winter to await their rebirth at spring.

Pathworking (taking a guided meditative journey) is the process of traveling inward on the spiritual planes. This inner-world exploration takes us into our own Underworld to be changed in our souls, spirits, and psyches so that we can ermerge reborn at winter's end. What we learned can be carried forward throughout the summer season, and may be cycled back into the season of self-exploration the following winter.

The myths of Persephone and Kore clearly teach us that. although they spent the depths of winter in a place modern people refer to Hades or Hell, these women were not hapless prisoners of their captors, but reigning queens of the Underworld. Here they ruled over the spirits of the dead and kept the fertility of the Earth safe. It is to them that we call out in spring to awaken and arise from the Underworld and bring with them the rebirth of the land.

In ancient Greece, Kore's sojourn was celebrated at Eleusis, home of the sacred Eleusian Mysteries so sought after by modern practitioners of Earth-based religions. Ritual drama depicting her descent and rebirth were permanent features of the rite and likely featured pathworking exercises for the intiates so that they could journey with the Goddess through the learning process of change and rebirth.

Pathworking is one of the most powerful magical tools we have for aligning ourselves with the energies of deities and mythic figures, and for evoking personal change on the deepest levels of being. The inner-worlds are real, and so are the changes that occur there. The art takes time to master, but almost everyone has some success right from the beginning.

 

Journey Inward

To begin your own pathworking, find a place where you can be alone and undisturbed for at least a half an hour. If it is practical, light some incense or play some soft music to drown out distractions. Get comfortable. Allow your thoughts to slow as you focus on a goal. When you feel it is time, take yourself mentally into your own Underworld - the deep inner-realm of your being where the deities lie. You may explore on your own, follow a prepared script that you have written for the journey, or use a script from a book on magic. Think of these daydreams with a purpose because they cause us to forge links between the conscious and subconscious mind. The structured fantasies take us from the personal to the universal, and create a wholeness we are unable to achieve in any other state of mind. 

To start your winter night's pathworking, allow your mind to take you deep below the earth. You may follow a tree's roots down or wander into a cave or fall through a well. Choose the imagery that makes you most comfortable and speaks to your inner-self of traveling to Earth's center. When you arrive at your destination you should feel so deeply into your meditative trance that the pathworking assumes a sense of reality that daydreams do not. Allow the beings who live there to approach and speak. Some may offer gifts. Others may teach. Some may tease. Always remember you can walk away if you don't like what you find. When you are ready, seek out the presence of the Earth goddess who is spending her winter here as queen. Allow her to teach you, bless you, and show you the best way back home again.

Each time a specific pathworking is enacted it forges new neutral pathways, allowing the subconscious and conscious to work in tendem. Clearly, this will have benefits for you far beyond the spiritual. Your entire mind/body connection witll be enhanced and all your senses heightened.

When you find a pathworking pattern you like, stick with it as much as possible. You don't want to clone your experiences, however, so allow for growth and new exploration within the framework of your original pathworking. Over time the beings who live in this Underworld and your own needs will expand your experience in the right direction, gently encouraging you to stretch yourself to new levels of awareness.

 

By; Edain McCoy from Llewellyn's Witches' Calendar 2001