I recently attended Mystic South with some other amazing pagans and witches. It was eye opening, how many people are ‘on’ their journeys instead of ‘in’ it. While there may not seem to be a clear delineation between ‘in’ and ‘on’ in this instance, grab some tea ~ the universe was definitely there to highlight it for us all.
Exhilaration of Fear, Failure, and Fallibility
While I was there, I also presented a workshop, the Spider and the Spiral. Spider has been my ally this year, looking deeply at how our webs are woven and utilizing certain concepts. Being my first workshop in person, I was wholly unprepared despite my best guesses and the hours of working with clients to showcase and explain the impact of spider. For she is all around us and I have no doubt that she led me to this point in my journey to learn.
The Presentation
Knowing what people really want and whether I can provide them with forward movement (even if it requires the magic of walking through time first) is important. Once the presentation was over, even with a kinesthetic prop and some explanation, I recognized that it was not enough. It forced me to recognize that my own way of weaving for myself (and others), and what I do in the audience when others weave for me, is not how everyone looks at the journey.
Some of them are ‘in’ their journey, accepting full responsibility for the way they are weaving now and are doing so consciously. There are just as many that are ‘on’ their journey, they are searching and going through the journey, but they are still somewhere between owning it and full on denial that the magic of being in the journey requires a deconstruction and awareness of the web woven thus far. It was exhilarating because I felt failure in a different way, fallibility in a different way, and I was fearful in a different way.
The Sacred Conversations
This exhilaration popped up when I was able to have some very sacred conversations during the workshop. Many people react to direct challenges as something to be angry about (I believe there are times that I have in the past and probably will in the future, because it is a part of being human). I felt failure because some of the questions I thought I had directly answered through verbiage in my workshop were not answered in a way that was digestible to my audience, were not answered at all (brought up later by my best witches who always give fair, sound, and constructive feedback), or they did not like the answer I gave.
It showed me that I am fallible and fear began to creep in during these Sacred Conversations.
I recognized immediately that being a witch in the journey is far different from a witch on the journey, because the value of safe over sacred is strong for those on a journey. It also forced me to look at the framework of the private network I am building and the course structure of Spider & The Spiral. I want to help people to own their magic, to be in their journeys, and I have no doubt I can get them there. What I cannot do is the work that is required for them to be ready for it or make them accept that they are not always going to like the answers they find while they are still ‘on’ it versus ‘in’ it.
Spider Teachings
There is nothing wrong with being ‘on’ a journey and there is nothing wrong with valuing safe over sacred, in fact I believe that is where all of the 101 containers start with witchcraft. Without it, we wouldn’t be able to rise to appreciate sacred over safe.
It also means that this exhilaration, in part at least, comes from the understanding that Spider also doesn’t care if I like her answers either – I can be in or on my journey too.
The Spider brought me to Mystic South to learn and to teach, to weave and to unweave, and to come back with her medicine in a form that is palatable for those ‘on’ and ‘in’ their journeys. This impact is required to weave change forward, especially in a time when we are going to be forced to align in weaving destruction to create something better for all of us.
A Candle & A Key,
Kaycee
Feature Image Credit: Pixabay
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Kaycee is also the creator of Dark Goddess Collective, with an upcoming community of Sovereigns being built on a private network to do the deeper work of impacting change across the globe one witch at a time.