Hawk’s Cry

Kronos, Gatekeeper to Eternity

As you probably know, Ouranos and Gaia begat Kronos (Romanized as Saturn) who castrated his father. Kronos and Rhea begat Zeus, who overthrew his father in the epic war of the Titanomachy. But there is much more to the story I would like to shed light on.

Many have interpreted the stories of Ouranos-Kronos-Zeus as an illustration of patriarchal rulership, where the ruler desires power and seeks to keep hold of that power at all costs, similar to the Biblical story of Herod the Great. They see Ouranos and Kronos as the “evil” father who rules as a tyrant and desires to keep his subjects, even his own children, within his tight grip. It is only the benevolent Zeus and His “enlightened” siblings who overthrow the “tyranny” and bring light and order to the world.

I propose this is not the case.

To begin, let’s look at the meanings behind the deities. Ouranos is the celestial, timeless sky who descends each night to mate with his wife, Gaia. To relate them to the Qabalistic Tree of Life, I propose they correspond to Chokma (Ouranos) and Binah (Gaia). They are two parts of the timeless Supernal Triad. But to bring about manifestation to more concrete planes, there needs to be a way to break from timelessness and create a more concrete form. Thus, Gaia and Ouranos gave birth to Kronos.

I think Saturn/Kronos is frequently misplaced at Binah on the Tree of Life. This has never made sense to me because that would be the only planet originally placed in the Supernal Triad, thus breaking the natural symmetry and rhythm of the Tree. As a result, I realized that Kronos properly exists in Daat, the Abyss. It is through time that all lower aspects of existence can be manifest because of the framework provided by time.

Kronos castrated his father, Ouranos, not out of the petty desire for power but instead it was the power of time that made further emanations mortal and changing. In effect, the creation of time castrated Ouranos’ ability to emanate timeless offspring. Now all things have a time-based reference and therefore, are mortal and finite. This is what separates the Supernal Triad from the lower Sephiroth.

The story says that Kronos wanted to prevent his children from overthrowing him, as he had with his father. As a result, he devoured his offspring until Zeus tricked him. This makes sense because time devours (ends) everything as now everything changes and is finite.

The story of the Titanomachy can be taken a couple of ways. One is that Zeus, with the help of his mother and grandmother, discovered the secret to beating time, thus becoming able to create immortal, unchanging and supernal creations. But he did not kill time. Instead he only banished Kronos to Tartaros, the Abyss. This does not diminish the power of time, but makes it a force hidden from the understanding of lower emanations on the Tree.

When Zeus, a deity of light and order, led the Olympian Gods to the victory of the Titanomachy, it broke the universe through the barrier of timelessness and enabled more concrete forms lower on the Tree to manifest.

But it was not a total victory. Kronos was not killed or made impotent. He was simply hidden away in the darkness of Tartaros, where many of the dark and powerful Titans exist. Kronos still rules all below Him, as time ends all things just as it begins all things.

The second way to look at the Olympian victory is that Zeus did not beat time, but only learned to use it for His will which is to bring forth further manifestations on lower, and more concrete, levels. Zeus brought a further separation between the Light and the Dark when he pushed Kronos into Tartaros.

Many more people worship Zeus instead of Kronos because they are drawn to His light and sense of concrete order. They shun the things that live in the dark out of fear of it.

This is why most people cannot progress beyond Chesed and truly cross the Great Abyss. They cannot get past the fear of the ticking clock, the vast darkness with its many pitfalls into hubris and insanity. Most focus their energies only on the light and wonder why the dark, destructive forces of time always intrude in their workings and in their lives.

A few learn to embrace the dark and balance it with light. They seek its wisdom and understanding. This allows them to truly understand time and use Kronos to guide them across toward the eternal powers of the Supernal Triad on the other side. Kronos is not a petty tyrant who wishes for everyone to stay within His grasp at all costs. He is a guide for those who wish to grok time and use it to further their will, for both creation and the necessary destruction.

These select people who commit to studying the dark mysteries also understand that order is not timeless. Light is not timeless. All things are born of the dark and they will die in the dark. It is through embracing the darkness of Kronos/Daat that they can evolve into a higher eternal being themselves.

On Abundance (or the lack thereof)

These times are tough for many people, and they are going to be a lot tougher for a while. We are in an economic storm that started in 2008 and is going to continue for at least the rest of the year. The “recovery” we saw was merely the eye of the hurricane.

But does this mean there’s nothing you can do for yourself or your family? Does it mean that you’re doomed to poverty? No, not at all. Even during the Great Depression, many families grew in abundance and some even became wealthy. How do you grow instead of decline? It’s a matter of understanding the nature of abundance.

I’m sure you’ve read about abundance before, as it is a popular topic among Pagans/Wiccan literature and elsewhere. But hopefully here I might provide a slightly different perspective that may help supplement what others have written.

Money, wealth, love, and all things are ruled by the Law of Gravity, as it affects energy in addition to matter. The law may manifest differently depending on the nature of the matter or energy but it does affect everything. Ever notice that people who already have millions of dollars are the ones who receive even more millions? The same as how people who have nothing generally don’t receive anything substantial either. Government policies and forced redistribution of wealth through taxes and welfare cannot change this fundamental law of the universe.

Many have said that the difference is your attitude. You need to think about positive things to attract positive things. If you think about negative things, then you will attract that. There is a lot of truth to it. But I don’t agree with how I’ve seen many approach this.

I see a lot of Wiccans who go through life trying very hard to focus exclusively on positive things, and deny as much as they can the negative things. This is an unbalanced way to live and tends to not achieve the positive abundance that’s sought, but instead the denial brings misery. It is a passive-aggressive way of viewing the universe.

Instead, my suggestion is to put aside your expectations. Life shouldn’t be “like” anything. Many, including myself, become despondent when life brings something that “shouldn’t have happened.” Life is. Just take it how it comes and don’t worry about how it “should” be. Instead, view the events that happen to you in terms of your will. The events happen and you need to decide how to react to them.

Think of it this way. If you lose your job (as I personally experienced during the Dot.Bomb crash), you can go home and mope about how your former employer “owes” you something, like a job or salary. Or how the government “owes” you for higher unemployment benefits than the small amount they give for a while. Or how the government “owes” you for a livelihood. This thinking comes from how you’re not “supposed” to be jobless. You say this shouldn’t have happened and someone (other than you) caused your plans to be thwarted.

Well maybe someone other than you messed up. But how is that thinking going to help your situation? Instead, think (and pray) about it in terms of your will. Maybe it is a blessing in disguise. You need to look at your will and decide from that what you are going to do next. Don’t worry about the past, about what happened. Just look at where you are at right now, what is your will, and what can you do today to further yourself along your path. If you don’t know what your will is, then I highly suggest checking out my series on the Witches Square, which will help you discover your will.

How does this relate to abundance and gravity? Here’s how. Take what happens to you or around you and find something, no matter how small, to be thankful for or that is positive. This is where I deviate from the people I see who only see the positive and deny the negative.

Don’t deny that it sucks to lose your job (or whatever negative happened to you). Likewise, don’t deny that you’re pissed off about it. Anger and sadness are a natural part of a balanced life. Scream out your anger to Medusa. Then see where you are at and what you are going to do. What good came out of it? Did it free you from an unhappy situation (even though it wasn’t the way you wanted to be freed)? The way to see the positive and attract the positive (thus raising the gravitational pull of positive things to yourself) is to find the blessing in everything.

If someone else gets the promotion you wanted, don’t resent them. Be truly happy for them. Get pissed off about it at home, figure out what the blessing in it could be for you (this may take some meditation and prayer) and then be honestly and sincerely happy for the other person. Understand that this doesn’t all have to happen in a day. It takes time to go through the process.

Here is a small prayer I wrote that can help with growing the abundance of money, love, and anything in your life:

Lord Apollo, Lord of Light,
grant me the eyes to see that my life is blessed,
even though I am blind to it sometimes.
Show me the blessings in everything.

Lady Venus, Lady of Love,
help my heart open to your eternal love,
and the positive attractive powers of your love,
as love draws all things together.
Show me the way to open my heart more to give away what I wish to receive.

Lord Jupiter, King of Abundance,
guide me to use the light of Apollo and the love of Venus
to attract the abundance of the universe
as you attract and grow, and give eternally.
Show me the way to use my many blessings to achieve my will.

So mote it be.

Wiccan Ordination and Ministry Revisited

A couple years ago, I wrote an article on Wiccan Ordination and Ministry. It is an important topic (as you can see by the number of comments) that deserves revisiting, elaborating, and some revising.

Over the last two years since that post, I have learned a lot about ministry from my Gods. I still see much of what I previously wrote as being still relevant and important, so I suggest you take a look at it if you haven’t already.

I grew up spiritually in the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota. It is a very spiritually open and developed area that has earned the nickname “Paganistan,” and with good reason. Since moving to Aberdeen, SD and the Los  Angeles area, I have had the opportunity to experience living in less Pagan-friendly areas.

Through that experience, I’ve seen how much more dire the situation is for a lack of ordained Wiccan and Pagan ministers. There are literally millions of people interested or practicing Wiccan or Pagan religions who are in need of ministerial services and unable to obtain them locally. This ranges from spiritual counseling, bereavement assistance, spiritual guidance and instruction, leading groups, and just being a spiritual friend.

A number of Wiccan and Pagan organizations and churches have folded in the last few years, making it more difficult for people who are called to obtain their ordinations locally, or receive any local ministerial training.

It is because of this that I have changed my views on online ordinations and related ways of getting ministerial credentials. I previously wrote that free online ordinations like those issued from the Universal Life Church offered no training or preparation and are not recognized by all states. As such, I recommended against using that method because it was what I considered to be inadequate.

The Gods have been telling me, though, that I need to be more open and flexible in my thinking. Even though I received ministerial training thorough an apprenticeship program, I’ve since learned that I still had much to learn that can only be taught by experience and the Gods. There is nothing that will replace the teaching methods used in the School of Hard Knocks.

As a result, if you have a desire to serve others in a ministerial capacity, don’t let the lack of a local organization prevent you. It is the Gods who offer True Ordination. People (and organizations created by people) cannot do this for you, regardless of your religion. The obtaining of ministerial credentials is just a human legal procedure used to give the State power over its subjects. If the Gods call you to ministry and give you ordination, then look into the laws of your area to see if you need to file ordinations to get state recognition. Many states have no such requirement, so you don’t need to do anything.

If they do require this step and you don’t have a Wiccan organization in your area that offers this, then by all means file with the Universal Life Church. They are very familiar with the filing requirements of every state and can provide whatever paperwork you need, including hand-signed original documents. Though they charge a fee for some services, it takes them time and resources to do this, so I think it’s appropriate to pay for that.

Also remember that you can act as a minister even without filing. The only restrictions in states that require filing generally relate to officiating legal marriages. You can do everything else without filing.

As far as receiving ministerial training, my suggestion is to perform daily practices (you can find some suggestions on this blog and elsewhere), open your heart, pray, and listen to your Gods and spirit guides. It is the School of Hard Knocks, but it is an excellent school if you remain open, loving and persevere though the challenges of ministry.

The Wiccan and Pagan communities need more ministers, and the Gods are calling more and more to serving them in ministry. Don’t let the rules of human-run state prevent you from answering the call you received from the Gods to serve.