Nvuah - Energy of the Oracle

The Full Moon meeting for Seekers was very successful today. Everyone seemed into the exercises and engaged in discussion and practice. As the Coven goes through the transition of becoming N'vuah, an independent polytheistic and animistic religion, this potential for growth is vastly important.

I do think that the meetings need to begin to plug into the spiritual powerhouse of N'vuah more, though. Seekers should be able to feel tangibly what they are being offered with the prospect of joining the Coven. Granted, usually only a minority of Seekers in any given class will join, but even those that don't should know that there is infinite room for spiritual advancement in this life.

Next week we will meditate with actual entities and experience that advancement and connectedness.

Today, August 17, 2009, is the first anniversary of the Avatarian Rite of Wicca in its current incarnation. This day marks the first year of active operation of the Avatarian Coven and the culmination of four generations of psychic development and three years of attempts at organizing this tradition. I would like to begin by thanking everyone who has supported the Rite and commending the members of the Coven for their progress. It is truly remarkable.

On the same note, now is a good time to assess and fill the needs of the Coven. We have three that I would like to focus on this year:

1. Location: We are facing a very immediate problem. The Coven is growing and as we begin planning regular rituals, we will also need to find a place to hold them. While other local religious groups with physical locations are open enough, our needs are somewhat special. The candles and incense we use in our Fire Stage rituals and the method of feeding the spirits we use, requires an outdoor or, at least, easily cleaned location. Regular meetings necessitate a regular meeting place. This issue could be solved by using public grounds but that would require involving governmental administrations and local fire officials.
2. Curriculum: As the second season of Naturalization approaches, the curriculum needs some solidification. Since the Rite has been operating democratically since its inception, the curriculum will also be approved by a member vote. (Note: Members are those either dedicated to the Rite or presently enrolled in an Avatarian Naturalization course.) The new curriculum is more focused on practice and less on philosophy, following the trend that the Rite seems to be in. It is also partially based on the suggestions given by current members on the forums.
3. Identity: Frankly the Rite has changed a lot since "Avatarian Witchcraft" was written. While the little green book is still an invaluable resource for learning the Craft and enhancing the indivudal's magickal experience, the philosophies of the book no longer reflect the philosophies of the Rite and its members, at least not comprehensively. There will be a new edition available in booklet form this fall for new students. Old students as well should pick it up and note the differences. This new edition will not only be edited but revised and updated with added magickal techniques that all members should be familiar with.

I believe these are three reasonable goals which can be achieved relatively easily. The most difficult of all will be the location. Education in the Rite is still free and, as of right now, only rites of passage and literature cost. When the Rite is a legal church, we may be able to sell merchandise in an online store to support a physical location but that is an estimated three year long project.

The purpose of this address is to recognize all the great things we have accomplished and all the high aspirations we share. The establishment of the Rite as a sturdy cult of Traditional Witchcraft is a statement of the heightened awareness of our generation and will enable us to educate more willing Seekers and to benefit the community as a charitable organization.

Brightest blessings,

Rev. Josh Berkowitz

ARoW Steward

As some of you know, this lunar month is a special one. It began with the Black Moon and, since Moon and Month are semantically equivalent, we might also call it the Black Month. It is the natural lunar leap month and it sets all of our holidays back for a while, making them later than usual. Lughnassadh, for example, occurs on August 20th this year. Traditionally, it is observed on August 1st. In the following months, we will see the New Moons approach the beginnings of their Zodiacal months again as explained on the Wheel Project page.

I would like to discuss briefly what this means, despite the fact that at this point the month is half over. I think it is still relevant and extremely important because of the vocabulary involved. The months on our calendar begin with New Moons which are sometimes called Dark Moons. Two Dark Moons in one Zodiacal (solar) month dub the second one the Black Moon. These words - Dark and Black - have, in the past and into the present, had negative connotations. Modern movements for racial and gender equality have called those connotations sexist and racist since Darkness and Blackness represent not only the non-European races of the world but also the feminine polarity. Thanks to their efforts, people have started to view color correspondences in a more open manner.

In Witchcraft, Black has always been a favorite color. For that matter, so has White. Many Witches associate Black with the God and White with the Goddess. The Avatarian Rite reverses those correspondences following the Kabbalistic model which is much older and more universally accepted than the former one. The point is that both colors are important to us and neither one is good or evil. They represent powers, plain and simple, which can be bent to any end.

The power of Black, to list just a few correspondences, is depth, secrecy, hidden force, mystery, provocativeness, attraction, and Death. Some of these things are a little terrifying but our Craft calls us to face them. The Black Moon unsettles our year and our holidays, it throws them far from traditional settings and shakes up the calendar. Blackness makes us face things we normally wouldn't want to or even know about and it forces us to grow. It shakes up our lives and calls us to put everything back in place, but better this time.

This Black Month, take some time to find the aspects of your life that are difficult. What are your doubts and fears? What are some responsibilities you have been neglecting or realities you do not want to face? Consider these things and challenge yourself to look them in the metaphorical eyes. Then, at Lughnassadh, you will have a mystery to contemplate when you stand between the worlds to honor the gods.

Brightest blessings,

Rev. Josh Berkowitz

ARoW Steward

P.S. Feel free to post responses or original ideas in the forums. The more posts and open communication we have, the better.

This past week there was no correspondence course lesson sent out. Anyone wondering about that need not be concerned. We will continue this Friday where we left off. In the mean time, continue practicing meditation.

There is a Dedication coming up with the next New Moon. It will be the last Dedication coinciding with the New Moon; after it Dedications will be performed around the Full Moon. Speaking of the lunar calendar, here is how we will honor the quarters collectively:

Dark (New) Moon: Earth. This will be a time for the Initiates of the Rite to meet as a Coven when there are Initiates. For now, it will be used for teacher training, specialization advising, and Water Stage studies. The New Moon marks the beginning of our Lunar month which is characterized by the sign in which the New Moon occurs.

First Quarter: Air. Naturalization meetings for prospective Dedicants will be held on the First Quarter. During the rest of the month, those Seekers will keep in touch via the forums and email correspondence with tutors.

Full Moon: Fire. Each Full Moon beginning this Fall will be an Open Circle for the Avatarian Rite. During that Open Circle interested persons and Seekers may take part in a ritual led by Dedicants. That ritual will include the feeding of the Avatarian Guardian Spirits. Beforehand a brief meditation will get everyone in the right state of mind.

Last Quarter: Water. During the Waning of the Moon students of the Water Stage will study their various subjects and discuss their progress.

A bit more on the lunar calendar should be mentioned here. As far as I can tell, we won't need to make a new calendar after all. The astrological calendar found in the Witches' Almanac conveniently lists all the information we need. A good supplement to  that is Jim Maynard's "Pocket Astrologer." The two sources give us this information for the next Lunar month which begins on July 21st.

Lunar Sign: Cancer (Functions as a Leap Month)

Avatarian Theme: Revelation

Venus is: A Morning Star/Illuminating

I will try to update this information every month. It will be useful to be somewhat in sync. You should contemplate the meaning of this data during your daily meditation which is proscribed below:

Seekers - Meditations from Lessons

Dedicants - Group Mind access/feeding and the Middle Pillar

Dedicants in Water Stage - Meditations from Studies or the Middle Pillar in Reverse

Please post comments with any questions or ideas. Thanks.

For my fellow Witches,

As someone who is experienced with the abusive nature of Christian "exorcisms" I found today's AP article about a Connecticut boy abused during one such exorcism apalling. Obviously, our tradition does not wage spiritual attacks on other groups. It is against our moral guidelines as laid out in the founding of Wicca as a modern religion ("The Rede of the Wiccae") and in "Avatarian Witchcraft" which contains our current guidelines. So please do not think that this is an attack on Manifested Glory Ministries, which conducted the exorcism.

The article can be found here. If anyone has a link to the video, please post it in a comment:

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gwceoRa76wAmeJzDIIvb3qb4raYgD9916IP00

The Spirit World is gravely offended by the action of exorcism. It shows complete disrespect for Spirit and a misunderstanding of metaphysics. The Guardian Spirits of the Rite have expressed this and so have many other leaders of animistic religions who see exorcism as a way to transfer guilt onto a scapegoat when it should be felt by individuals. Exorcism, especially of this type, is also a convenient means to blame minority groups for society's problems. In this case, a misled and imbalanced boy was exorcised of his "homosexual spirit" when he more likely needed counseling and someone to tell him that his orientation, whatever it may be, is just fine in the eyes of God(s).

While we will not collectively engage this group in spiritual warfare or even acknowledge their existance by contacting them, I encourage everyone to send supportive emails to the group True Colors which is working to defend this poor boy who clearly has no idea what is good for him. And while our prayers and rituals will not be directed offensively, they most certainly will be on this boy to protect him and guide him toward more light in his life.

True Colors: http://www.ourtruecolors.org/

Please join me by accessing the collective mind of the Avatarian Rite through the following meditation and asking the Spirit Realm and all the Old Gods to protect and guide this boy and all victims of botched exorcisms. Though his name was not released, I believe this is the best approach to raising our collective consciousness and spreading Love in the world.

Accessing the Avatarian Group Mind:

- Fill a bowl or cauldron with water.

- Close your eyes and thoroughly ground.

- Imagine that the water becomes a portal to the beneficent spirits of the Realm.

- Communicate your desires with them.

- Listen for their response and any messages they have for you.

- Imagine the portal closing.

- Ground and pour the water respectfully on the Earth (or down the drain).

Remember, we are doing this in a spirit of Peace and Love, not Violence or Hatred.

Brightest blessings,

Josh/Avatar

Only two people voted last week but I still feel that the majority opinion was represented from talking to a few people about the issues at hand. The Avatarian Rite of Wicca will seek incorporation as a legal church and a 501 c 3. Also, we now award membership to those who:

- Are presently enrolled in an Avatarian course of study (membership carries on until the member asks to be removed).

- OR, are Dedicated, Recognized, or Initiated into the Avatarian Rite of Wicca after receiving the appropriate training.

I look forward to seeing a rise in participation on the forums! It is so easy to just log on and voice your opinions and there are no wrong answers here. I plan to make more information available on the website as time goes by and to keep everyone updated on our legal developments.

I think we are headed in the right direction. With legal standing we can offer the same services to our affiliates as any other church in the Geneva Convention countries. Let's move forward together by keeping in touch.

Speaking of keeping in touch, I would like to initiate a practice which I have felt led to do for a while now. We need to be more spiritually connected too. I will be sending out, to all our active members (whom I will notify of their status), a meditation to connect with the group mind of the Rite. Please stay tuned.

~ Josh

Merry Meet,

Members and prospective members of the Avatarian Rite of Wicca and other interested people: I think a good policy, which we have observed from the founding of the Rite last year (August 17, 2008), is to keep the organizational structure of the Rite completely public and to allow any members of the Rite to vote on ammendments to the manner of operations in the Rite. While the Rite itself, as a religious entity, is governed in a traditional hierarchy outlined in "Avatarian Witchcraft," eventually we will need a more formal and practical method of governing ourselves. Democracy seems most fitting and, seeing as we are a small group, near absolute democracy is possible. So, just for your information and future reference, I will present how we currently run things here and how things may be changing as we move forward.

Right now I facilitate all the decisions and I always run them by everyone in a public forum where all can voice their opinions and vote yay or nay. In the past this has been through our Facebook group. For example, we voted recently on a small fee ($20) for Dedication to cover material costs. From now on, we will correspond through this blog. Responses may be left as comments so as to encourage discussion and transparency. In the past we have allowed anyone to vote who shows interest in our organization.

My proposal, since taxes and other nusances have come into question, is that we take a slightly more organized approach. This will help us as we approach a lawyer with questions about our legal standing (yeah, it has already come to that!) and prepare - if it becomes necessary - to author our Articles of Incorporation for the State.

I suggest we continue to allow all members to vote on issues as they come up and that we define members as people who are registered for courses in the Rite or who have already been Dedicated to it. Currently there are about ten members by that definition. We can measure who is a member and who is not by a public roster on this website (using screennames or Craft names to protect identities). I also suggest thats we continue to recognize our religious officials (currently myself but new members look promising!) as chairpeople of our organization and therefore responsible for working directly with the legal institution.

Here are my reasons for presenting this information now:

- Our organization currently has $0 in revenue. We also have no source of revenue. IF that were to change and we began selling tee shirts and other paraphernalia to generate revenue and expand our site and our offerings (our courses could then remain free), we would need to either file taxes or incorporate as a non-profit, not private, religious organization. The problem then is, we need to approach a lawyer with this potentiality to make sure we do everything legally and appropriately. To do that we should be in agreement about what we actually want to do.

- What do we want to do? Should we continue operating under the radar and not attempt to expand or should we begin seling merchandise, receiving donations, and potentially have a physical location in the future?

So here is the fun part. Please cast your vote (if you are a student of our courses or a Dedicant) and ask questions, make comments below. The vote is then on these questions:

1. Should Josh approach an attorney (to no cost of the Rite or its members) regarding earning tax-free revenue for the Rite?

2. Should the above requirements for membership and guidelines for future governance of the Rite be enacted?

If you would not like to cast a vote, please at least post a response so that we can begin to compile the membership roster.

Brightest blessings,

Rev. Josh Berkowitz

ARoW Steward

The Third Edition of "Avatarian Witchcaft" is in the works. It is to be called Libris Dei Peniti (The Book of God Deep Down Inside) as the Second Edition was called Incunabula Libris Dei Peniti (The Earliest Traces of the Book...). The format is going to be vastly different and much more philosophically comprehensive.

If you have suggestions or questions, please send them to me:

ybennoach@gmail.com