What Use The Body?

I've been reading more of Dion Fortune's book 'The Training And Work Of An Initiate' today and have been presented, once again, with her charge to be free of the 'desires of the flesh' and to rise above the senses. She calls for us to see the body simply as a vehicle for our Higher Self to use and that really is the only purpose it serves. When she calls for us to do these things she quotes biblical scripture, and I am really confused by this, seeing as my past is steeped in biblical charismatic Christianity. I am free of that now, but breaking free wasn't easy. It was a very long time before I felt able to continue my spiritual quest, and it is that quest that has bought me to where I am today. She talks about 'Christ Energy' and 'Christ Rays', and this is something that I really can't enter into. I am not a Christian, of any kind!

However, I'm wondering how others see the body and the desires of the flesh?

I can see where she is coming from in part. If we allow the desires of our body to rule us, then we become tied into the mundane world. If we are rooted in the mundane world, then we cannot travel to other planes, we cannot explore the higher and lower worlds. However, it is here, in the mundane world, that our present body lives, and it is this body that enables our Spirit to make sense of this world, and we have lives in this mundane world, and we want to be of use in this mundane world, so we cannot lose our place in it altogether. Where is the balance, and is there a balance to be had? Do we accept that this world is an illusion? A shadow cast by a greater reality, and should we long to shake off this mortal existence for the promise of a greater reality?

Yet as a Pagan I know that all I see is the Divine manifest, Nature is my scripture, it's where the Lord and Lady write their holy writ, and it is with the mystery of Nature that I connect. So I struggle to see it as illusion, but I can see it as a mirror, showing me something of what lies beyond, showing me the mystery of life, death and rebirth and the fact that I do not only have to observe Nature, but I am part of it, I too am part of the mystery. Yet I experience nature through my own human senses, and it is these very senses that Dion calls for us to break free from.

Is there balance to be had here? Is it a matter of experiencing this world through this body, and this world presents as a microcosm of what can be and what truly is? As I learn to travel beyond the limitations and restrictions of this body, of this vehicle, it is then I begin to experience the macrocosm of what really is - the other realms and planes that exist beyond this one. If this is so, then there is still a level of freedom that needs to be found, and it's probably here where I need to move forward, into a greater degree of freedom that relies less on this world and that responds less to the demands and desires of my body. Is this about bringing the body under Will? I don't think the desires of the body are wrong, surely sex, food, love, nature, all the rest of it are to be enjoyed, but are not to enslave? Is that the balance?

I think Dion would probably label me a Mystic and not an Occultist. There are many pages that I need to go back and re-read, and although I am not reading this book as one that will totally inform my path, I have been reading it as I recognise her as a leading Occultist and know that I can learn from her. It's just a matter of what I need to take with me that's confusing me at the moment, I think!

Developing Will

So much of my spiritual journey in recent weeks and months has been about the amalgamation of light and dark, the coming together of an inner relationship, fully appreciating, respecting, loving and embracing my inner landscape and knowing that this is the foundation of my spiritual and magickal practice. It's been about establishing a true and powerful inner relationship between Younger, Talking and Higher Self.

Today I began to see and understand the next step along the path. From this understanding of my inner landscape comes an appreciation of my emotions, my feelings, my impulses. Those emotions that have their home in Younger Self. Some feelings are fully expressed, others are oppressed, or have been silenced for many years. There's no such thing, really, as an unexpressed emotion as it will come out in some way, shape or form.

As these emotions are accessed, as Andrew (YS) feels able to express them, or bring them to the attention of Talking Self, Will needs to be developed and strengthened. It's about bringing these emotions under Will. It's not wrong to express them, but such energy needs to be focused, and released in way that affects positive change, not maximum destruction! Channeling, focusing these powerful energies is a real work-out for Will. It's an incorporation of these emotions into my True Self and bringing them under appropriate and healthy control and thus as Will develops and grows so obstacles, barriers, people, all those things that block and restrict will, one by one, be removed, opening that spiritual conduit further. It's about focusing and channeling the energy where it needs to be - and where it needs to be for the most effective magickal results.

This is progress. Understanding the movement within, those inner shifts those changes, both quick and purposeful, applying wisdom, listening to the Lord and Lady and my Guides and walking the path laid out before me brings a real sense of inner harmony, of belonging, of wholeness, and a sense of preparation for future happenings.

Charge Of The Goddess

"And you who seek to know me,
know that the seeking and yearning
will avail you not,
unless you know the Mystery:
for if that which you seek,
you find not within yourself,
you will never find it without."

Words from the wonderful Charge Of The Goddess.

This is the mystery of Goddess within and without - God within and without. The Divine is in all things and all things are in the Divine, I am Part Of The All. This is the wonder, this is mystery yet it is also reality. I find Goddess and God within, as well as without. Spiritual power exists within, as well as without. I find spiritual reality from looking inward, as well as outward and upward. "As above, so below" is the ancient cry, and equally as within, so without. Spiritual power begins, has its roots, in the positive and productive inner relationship between Younger, Talking and Higher Self. It's all about relationship.

Andrew, my Younger Self, is sensitive, nervous, devoted, loving. loyal, spiritual and intuitive. He's not been loved quite in the way that he deserved or needed and therefore can be a little needy at times. This causes him to look for too much without at times, he looks for what he needs within in others, and in other things, as opposed to finding it within.

It's time to really find what is real and needed within " . . . if that which you seek, you find not within yourself, you will never find it without."



Andrew has a strong spiritual connection, and this is something he has always known, but has been led down paths that were not for him. He's been led too much, and feels angry about this. He has been hurt, is fearful of some situations, and trust is a huge thing for him. To trust is like walking on ice - "will this provide the support I need?" It takes a very long time to gain Andrew's trust, and if it's broken, his sense of abandonment is very overwhelming.

Things are starting to turn and now it is time to commence the restoration of this inner relationship, to reestablish the connection between YS, TS and HS. As my inner world comes together so I move forward into new and exciting places. Andrew can find the love, security, power, support, strength, fulfillment and satisfaction he craves and needs within and there is so much inner landscape to explore.

And the inner world, the inner landscape is the launch pad into new worlds and new realities.

(The picture is not mine and can be found here)