Transformation

"My first counsel is this: Possess a pure, kindly and radiant heart, that there may be a sovereignty ancient, imperishable and everlasting"

Baha'u'llah (1817 - 1892)

It seems really odd for me to be posting a quote from the Baha'i faith, but when I read this it really struck me. It's funny, as I read more about people's thoughts and feelings around paganism, witchcraft and magick I seem to find just how rich and varied are the thoughts and views held by practitioners. The one that has hit me the most powerfully recently is the separation between religion and magick. This quote, although not associated with a magickal path speaks to me of the outcome I would want to see for myself from my own spiritual path.

I don't think one has to walk a religious path to practice magick or to be magickal. I don't think for one moment that religion is for everyone, but what I do feel, deep inside myself, is a continual draw towards Spirit, to someone greater than me. I have a conviction that I am a spiritual person, yet the roots, practice and outworking of my own spiritual practice are pagan in nature and do not form part of any organised religion - ancient or modern. I don't like labels or pigeonholing, I resist such labels as they only work to restrict and hinder. However, balanced with this is a need to respect ones path and tradition and I am increasingly aware of this.

I'm thinking of the comments I made a few days ago about the importance of a personal and identifiable philosophy, and mine is based upon a deep awareness of Goddess and God, of the Divine encompassing the sacred male and female, not so much in a sense of balance, but in relationship, in unity. Not one needing the other, not in a power struggle between patriarchy and matriarchy, but rather a deep united relationship of creativity and power - a union that brings life. It also brings profound change. This relationship is evidenced in all nature.

The kindly, pure and radiant heart evolves from the experience of this relationship. From encountering the Divine, releasing the Divine within and from allowing the light of fire to burn deep into ones own soul and experience. For me this can only bring change and transformation on a deep and profound level. One cannot experience Divinity and remain unchanged. This isn't all love and light, it's about profound and deep experience.

From all this comes that ancient sense of imperishable and everlasting Sovereignty - that authority, that freedom, that rightful status. It's what I call the New Birthright and this flows from that point of initiation.

And initiation, it increasingly seems to me, is a continual process!