Magickal Correspondences
April 10, 2008
by Jeffrey Pierce

Obviously, I'm not dead. Synchronicity led me to go out on my own and complete my hypothermia ritual in a remote mountain river in the middle of a snowstorm. (Don't worry, Bri and a couple of close pagan friends have already given me an earful on that one). It was a pretty amazing experience and connected things in ways that were beyond my ability to imagine. That said, let me reassure you that I'm not disappearing on you. I'm not even taking a break. The whole reason for the silence on this end is that things are moving so quickly on my own path that I haven't had the opportunity to sit down, contemplate the implications of the various lessons, and then write about them.

Over the past few weeks I've been given a new spirit animal (Elk), done more ritual work than I typically do in a six month period, developed a degree of mastery in the area of energy work, pulled in my higher self and integrated that energy into my being, underwent my hypothermia ritual on my own in a mountain river in the midst of a snowstorm, honed a couple of psychic abilities, successfully battled a dark South American shaman, rescued a small bird, experienced the endless spiritual, magickal, and psychic implications of bonding with your soulmate, and went through a massive amount of personal growth.

On top of all of that, there's been the blending of families (Briana has two little ones of her own - I'll be referring to them as Fox and Fae here in the pages of Old Ways), the hunt for a new home (we found one and packing has just begun), all of the hand-fasting prep (getting closer), work on Bri's grandparents' farm, business plans to create and polish, query letters for a couple of my novels that had to be written, and, as horribly mundane as it might seem at this point in the process, a forty-hour a week job that I still have to go to in order to pay the bills.

Whew!

In an attempt to keep things flowing here, I'm going to be focusing more on shorter blog entries than long articles until everything settles in. I have mountains of new information to share. Blogs will give me the opportunity to present you with new material when I find myself lacking the time to compose longer pieces.

But, for today at least, let's take a look at your mail.

There was an outpouring of joy and congratulations when I announced that I'd met my soulmate and that Briana and I will be married on June 21. Thank you to everyone who added to the mountain of email, every piece of which I shared with Bri. Mel wrote in with a, "Congratulations!" and a, "How awesome it is that you have found your twin flame!" She continued saying, "Please tell Briana that I said Merry Meet and I really look forward to seeing some of her wisdom come across my screen." Will do, Mel. I've learned a lot from Bri already and I'm pretty excited about sharing her insight and perspective with all of you. In fact, her first article will post next week.

Patricia wrote in to say, "So happy you have found each other again...it is truly a rare gift." We've realized that. The soulmate connection is pretty extraordinary, not only from a romantic perspective, but from the deeply rooted spiritual work you're given access to and the doors that open if you're willing to step up and do the work. I mean, really extraordinary stuff that I hadn't even considered could be approached on this level of reality. And of course, I'm happy to teach everything that I learn - I just have to deconstruct it all and figure out how to present it first.

A dear sister of mine (I've kept her name private as the email was of a rather personal nature) wrote in to say, "I couldn’t read this and not respond. I remember those days – the first issue of Old Ways, the geocities website, many hours spent talking over AOL IM. You and your work have shaped me, and my practices, for I can’t even begin to remember how many years now. Possibly 11? A little more, or a little less. Thank you, for everything that you have knowingly (and unknowingly!) done for me." She was responding to Don't Try This At Home, the announcement that I'd be undertaking what has come to be called my hypothermia ritual and ritually dying in the process. (For those of you who were out of the loop, the original ritual turned out differently than planned, but I completed the ritual on my own). "I’ve been considering doing something as drastic as this, to try and heal myself of the pain of my son’s birth. Of the slowly regained memories of childhood, made negative at the hands of my father. To try and return myself to..me, and who I’m meant to be." Thank you sis, for your openness and vulnerability. I share this only because I hear this sort of thing a lot from the readers of Old Ways. This healing, and it's relevance to magickal work, is something that I'll be delving into in much greater detail. They are so much a part of each other that I can't imagine them not being taught hand in hand.

One of my favorite pagans in the entire world, Anni, wrote in regarding the rite. (I was honestly surprised at the vast amount of email that it generated, much of it from people who resonated with the concept and had been considering a similar approach in their own work.) Anni wrote, "I hope that your ritual on the Equinox was purifying and life-renewing. With warm regards to he who was once known as Graelan, whom I had the pleasure of knowing as Winter ... and who is now more purely Jeffrey than he has ever been." She's an amazing woman and someone that I had the honor of meeting in person during my time living on the East Coast of the United States. I'm always humbled when I hear from practitioners that I greatly admire and respect, and Anni certainly qualifies on both fronts.

Kat referred to the lesson that Acarya offered me that I shared with all of you back in the February 10th edition of Magickal Correspondences. "Thank you so much for sharing what Acarya taught you," she began. "It's EXACTLY what I needed." What's really cool is that I figured out the energetic process behind the final step in all of that. Yes, there really are exercises you can employ to shift into that energy state where there is nothing to harm. That's one of the lessons that I've been working with that I haven't had time to write about. As soon as I figure out the details and how to progress from one state to another (it's always a bit of a challenge to look back and connect the dots once you've been through a stage of growth) I'll share with you all that I can.

There's a ton more to share... finding a house with spirals painted on the hallway floor, amazing places where Bri's path intertwines with my own and the endeavors we're undertaking, and the opportunity for you to sit in on classes I teach in person even if you live hundreds of miles away... but all of that will have to wait for the next issue of Magickal Correspondences.

How does Sunday sound?

Yeah, I'm still catching up, but I think I've hit my stride again.

In peace and light,

Jeffrey Pierce
www.oldways.com

Originally published at www.oldways.com/articles/2008/080210.html