The Dark Secrets of the Witch: The Book of Shadows

By Leena Klammer

Learn that it is safe to embrace the sacred dark, for there is much wisdom there. As a matter of fact, much is taken from my own personal Book of Shadows, where I reveal the inner mysteries of rites, beliefs and also the practices of the Old Religion. This book, The Book of Shadows will challenge your own perceptions as you explore the Eleusinian Mysteries, and begin to understand the role of the journey to the underworld. You will gain a new sense of the rich heritage that was passed on from the Old Ways in Southern Italy. Also in this Book are comparatives of different religions and how at the core they all connect together as one. Some examples of the exploration of this include: the resurrection of Jesus and the return of Persephone to the land of the living. Shedding new light on how both are an allegory of the journey of the soul. The Old Ways have their roots in the Indus Valley, it is delved into; where by speculating that they then eventually traveled to other lands.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu.com
• Release date: Sep 13, 2017
• ISBN: 9781387227365

Book preview

The Dark Secrets of the Witch: The Book of Shadows

The Dark Secrets of the Witch: The Book of Shadows

Also by Leena Klammer

Lilah

The Unholy Bible: The Book of Concealment

Copyright © 2017 by Leena Klammer

Published by lulu.com

ISBN 978-1-387-22736-5

First edition

All rights reserved No part of this book mat be reproduced or utilized in any form or by means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing form the publisher, except by a reviewer who wishes to quote brief passages in connection with a review written for inclusion in a magazine, newspaper or broadcast

Introduction

The Dark Secrets of the Witch is a book that will reveal the secrets that most are unaware of. There are many traditions of the craft, which has its roots in the Indus Valley. In this book I will cover a few traditions and may lean more on the Stregoneria path, which is Italian for Witchcraft. I will cover a few to show this common link between many paths. Dark has nothing to do with evil, it is the hidden, the unknown.

Culturally almost everywhere, the word dark has been associated with negativity, ignorance and evil. People fear the dark, because it’s the unknown and fear makes them label things as evil. This is not so, dark is just the hidden, the unknown.

The word occult literally means hidden, shut off from view, concealed from exposure. Occult is the knowledge of the hidden. The realm of the subconscious is hidden, the knowledge that can be found there is hidden, it’s occult. Not only is it dark, or occult, it is the sacred dark where we find wisdom.

Joseph Campbell the American mythological researcher wrote a book called The Hero with a Thousand Faces. He discovered that every culture has a hero myth. He calls the common structure in all of them as the monomyth. George Lucas the creator of Star Wars was inspired by this. There are many different versions of the hero story that contain the same basic structure.

It all started in the Indus Valley as a nature religion where Hinduism has its roots. Within nature everything is a cycle. Energy starts out at rest and then seeks motion. In myth the goddess Shakti brings manifestation while her husband Shiva is destruction. Together the dance they perform symbolizes creation. Energy at rest seeks motion through manifestation (Shakti) and energy at motion seeking rest through destruction (Shiva). It is the eternal cycle between the two that everything exists. Everything materializes and dematerializes in nanoseconds. It happens so fast that our eyes cannot detect it.

This cycle is also described in the myth of the Goddess giving birth to the Green Man. The myth of the Green Man is mostly known in Celtic lands. In Spring the Green Man would mate his mother and die in the Fall. The Green Man is a symbol of birth and rebirth. The Green Man was rebirth and that makes him the Son and the Father. The Father symbolizes Infinite Spirit energy and through the Goddess manifest as material existence.

In quantum physics when photon (light) spirals inward as its pulled in by gravity it manifest as the Father (electricity) and once it pauses as rest it then radiates back out as it spirals outward as the Mother (magnetism). It is this eternal cycle that gives birth to all appearance of form we perceive as material manifestation. The underlying substance of material existence of the Universe is the Son. This predates Christianity. In the original gnostic teachings of the Christos the Father is the Infinite Spirit that scientist detect as electricity. The word electricity origin is a Phoenician word elēkrŏn, meaning 'shining light'. The prefix El is a Northwest Semitic word meaning god or deity.

The Mother (magnetism) was known as the Holy Spirit which is Shakti in Hinduism. Internally the Holy Spirit is Kundalini Shakti which is the divine power within every human being. It is the divine within that goes by many names. It was in modern Christianity when this concept of the Trinity changed from its origins. Christian mysticism is pagan by nature and in accord with science. Science is the study of nature and therefore nature religions are scientific.

This book will reveal the science behind the myths that can be applied to ones life. Magic is an art and science, and this book will guide one into understanding the science behind magic.

Magic is also about alchemy as in inner transformation. Alchemist as in those who practice what is now considered modern chemistry believed that there was a supernatural component when they practiced the science of making things. Example the alcohol from grapes or grain was thought to be the spirit of those substances. Fermentation today we understand that bacteria or yeast is used to cause a chemical breakdown of the substances that creates alcohol. Before chemistry was understood, the Alchemist believed it was magic that caused the spirit to be concentrated as a liquid that causes intoxication.

I will talk about the symbols of alchemy and the craft plays a part in our life.

Part Two:

The Ways of the Old Religion

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ONE

Nature

Nature is the Great Teacher. In Her are all things revealed. Nature reflects the Higher Ways of the Divine. The word Nature comes from the Egyptian word Neter which means god or divine. There are Laws of Nature so that through them we can learn about our self. Observe the ways of Nature around you great and small. Everything has a purpose, nothing is wasted. Don’t be confused by the seemly cruelty of Nature, for everything has duality.

Respect Nature in all her ways, and take only what is needed. Nothing can be taken except that something be given. This is the law for Witches. The kindredness of all living things emanates from everywhere. Actually everything is alive and just an extension of Nature in all its appearances of forms.

Shine a light through a board filled with holes and on the other side where the light shines through will appear multitudes of tiny lights. There is only one light and the board gives it appearance of multitudes. This is the truth of Nature which is that it is just one source that appears to manifest as many. Nature is   a two way Magnetic Electric wave that gives different appearance of form due to a gradual frequency increase.

Nature teaches that all living things all that must be learned. She teaches birds how to make nests, animals how to hunt and survive, human children how to crawl and walk. Nature teaches life, for She is life. All people at one time knew of her ways, until many due to ego tried to separate themselves from her as they tried to control Her. They tried through raping the land of resources, hunting animals for sport, creating lies and claiming only the masculine side as they say He demands subservience and will punish those who do not. Nature does not condemn and shame a person. Nature doesn’t keep one and discard another. These lies are man’s ways to control and exploit other people.

The Witch seeks to understand Nature and live in harmony with the Forces of Nature.

Some may ask, why nature? By observing and studying nature we also begin to understand how we fit into nature and who we are. Science is the study of nature. Through science we understand the cycles in nature, the quantum physics behind nature. We begin to understand astronomy and astrology and how we fit into it all. We also learn psychology which is the study of the psyche (soul). We learn about geology and herbology as botanical medicine.

Our survival all depends on nature. To survive, humans studied how animals fought and emulated their movements in human form. This gave birth to martial arts which go back as far as India and Africa. There are pyramid hieroglyphs and mural paintings in Egypt that date back 4000 B.C.

The earliest images of the gods and goddesses were animals. The reason is because to survive in harsh climates humans studied how animals survived and emulated them. Animals have fur on their bodies to protect them from harsh weather conditions. Mankind mimics this through wearing clothing which started off as furs. Bears are strong; therefore the image of the bear became a symbol of strength, gentleness, affectionate and protective.

Both the Roman Goddess Diana and the Greek Goddess Artemis are attributed to bears in myths and may have gained this from the followers of Artio. It was much later when Diana had a human form. Artio the ‘Bear Goddess’ was worshipped at Berne, Switzerland which actually means ‘bear.’ Some believe she was absorbed into Christianity as The British Saint Ursula (‘Little Female Bear’) a Latinized form of the Saxon ‘Ursel’ meaning (‘She Bear’). Her feast day is October 21 which would follow along with the harvest attribute of Artio. The bear is the oldest European deity.

One of the sacred things attributed to the bear was Shamanism - (As bears hibernate in the winter the Bear Goddess associated with Shamanism - with the hibernation period being the journey into darkness and the wisdom gained brought with her upon awaking in the spring.

This journey into darkness and its importance to receive the light of wisdom I will talk about in a later chapter.

TWO

Black Earth

The word alchemy has its roots in the word Kemet which means black land or the land of the black soil. This was the name of ancient Egypt. Simon’s Necronomicon is also called the Book of the Black Earth.

Blackness, in the alchemical sense, means putrefaction, decomposition. By the penetration of the external fire, the inner fire is activated and the matter starts to putrefy. The body is reduced to its primal matter from which it originally arose. This process is also called ‘cooking’. The black earth is closed up in a vessel or flask, and heated.

Symbolically the body is to be decomposed, that is one shifts one's awareness to the inner self. The planets are both stages of the process and energies in the body to be transmuted. Symbolically Saturn reigns over blackness. The Sun and Moon symbolically are the opposites to be united, and fire and air are the elements stimulating the decomposition. Putrefaction is so effective that it destroys the old nature and form of the rotting bodies; it transmutes them into a new state of being to give them a totally new fruit. Everything that has live, dies; everything that is dead putrefies and finds a new life. (Pernety, 1758)

Saturn is the planet that rules Blackness. Saturn as an alchemical symbol is used as a symbol of chaos, the prima materia and as the philosopher’s stone. These are all symbols for man at the beginning of the alchemical process. Saturn, with his traditional scythe and hourglass, is the god of death and putrefaction, from which new life will arise. The scythe is a tool for penetration. Saturn is the philosopher’s lead. He is the god that can cause melancholy and horrific visions. ‘Melancholia’ is another term for Blackness or depression. As melancholy can arise when alchemically working on oneself, the alchemists advised the use of music to lift the soul.

Saturn is also a god of fertility. Therefore our black earth is fertile earth, an alchemical expression to express the transformation of death into new life, which is also clearly depicted in the thirteenth tarot card, Death. The putrefaction is a necessary phase to start a new beginning. Life itself is a cycle of death and birth, ever creating new life, giving man the opportunity to work on himself and strife to improve his condition.

On the mythological level, Black signifies the difficulties man has to overcome on his journey through the underworld. It is through putrefaction where one becomes a new being. This process is inner alchemy as one descends into the underworld (subconscious) to be destroyed and then brought back to life.

This putrefaction is what alchemy is about. The Necronomicon is about inner alchemy and the ancient Kemetic teachings is also about alchemy. The Per em Heru which translates as Book of Coming Forth by Day mistranslated as the Egyptian Book of the Dead. Many mistake and think it’s just a funerary text; it is a book on inner alchemy.

Psychologically, Black earth is a process of directing oneself to find self-knowledge. A problem is given full attention and reduced to its core. By really going inward, one causes putrefaction, the decomposition of that which has been holding one back. The confrontation with the inner reality is often painful, and can lead to depression. But once in the depth of the darkness, with the discovery of the seed of the problem, the seed in the ‘prima materia’, the light within the darkness is born. A state of rest arises. Insight into the problem has been gained, it has been worked out emotionally, and knowledge arises on how to handle it in a more healthy way and to build a more positive attitude.

In the Sumerian myth of Inanna, she descends into the underworld and each of her garments are removed at each of the seven gates. She enters the underworld vulnerable and naked and winds up killed by her sister Ereshkigal who is the goddess of Irkalla, the land of the dead. Inanna's minister, Ninshubur, however, pleads with Enki. He then sends two sexless beings to resurrect her with food and the waters of life.

In Greek myth it is Persephone who is taken into the Underworld. Hades the god of the underworld abducts Persephone. Her mother Demeter is upset and neglects the earth as she looks for her daughter. Earth became barren so Zeus heard the cries of the hungry people and he sent Hermes to bring Persephone back to the land of the living. Since Hades tricked Persephone to eat some pomegranate seeds, she has to come back each year and stay a third of the time (winter months) before she is allowed back to the land of the living.

Both of these versions are an allegory on the macrocosm about the coming of winter and spring. On the microcosm it is about introspection. Through introspection we are vulnerable for that which we identify ourselves with is left behind. The seven gates symbolize the seven psychological major centers which is called chakras in Sanskrit. Through introspection or meditation we pass through those psychological aspects and come out with a new perspective. It is through this introspection that symbolic putrefaction takes place. This is inner alchemy.

Turning a base metal such as lead into silver or gold with a substance called the Philosopher’s Stone is also an allegory about inner transformation. The average every day person is the lead. The Philosopher’s Stone is the knowledge that is used to transform one into higher awareness which is symbolized as silver or gold. Silver symbolizes the divine human thought that is the link between the non-physical and physical world. Gold symbolizes the divine and used as a symbol of the sun and enlightenment.

In the Harry Potter series, the Philosopher’s Stone was renamed Sorcerer’s Stone because the publishers were concerned that most American readers would not be familiar enough with the term Philosopher's Stone.

THREE

The Craft

The definition of the word craft is an exercise in skill of making something or involving skill to make things by hand.

The oxidation of metals such as iron is a form of putrefaction. Rust causes iron to decompose. This decomposition is also used as a symbolic of the alchemical process needed for the Craft.

Literally when iron is broken down day by day by the earth, torn from its matrix and left to decay it becomes clay. Grass, herbs, vegetables and all sorts of grains and fruits take it from the soil and provide it to us for nourishment. And if we leave iron exposed to the air and moisten it, so that it begins to rust, and then continue to moisten it, in time a natural yellow coating or clay accumulates, which is as good for seeding as any other loam or soil.

Clay which comes from rust can also be used in the art of the craft. Bricks are made of clay and shale and heated to 2,000 ⁰ F. it is bricks that are used in the craft of masonry.

Rust is a symbol of transformation, because it turns base metals such as iron into clay which is used as fertile soil and used to craft. Rust can be symbolic of the catalyst for transformation used in the Craft of building your life as you see fit. Without the alchemical process of decayed iron becoming clay, there is no fertile soil nor can one make bricks or pottery. Symbolically, witchcraft will not work, unless you transform yourself. All the spells are useless if you do not change your attitude and behavior.

The allegory of building Solomon’s Temple is the craft. The Hebrews wrote this as an allegory, the original Hebrews were Canaanites who were heavily influenced by Babylonian mythology. The gnostic Hebrews were pagans who practiced nature worship. They were also later influenced by Egyptian mysticism.  In the original Greek of the New Testament it said that Ioesus (Jesus) was a tekton. This has been mistranslated as carpenter. A tekton translate to mason. He does stone work or temple building and called stone the builders rejected This is his craft which is symbolic of the Temple that cannot be built by man’s hands, such as Solomon’s Temple and the New Jerusalem. The senseless wars in Jerusalem over the Dome of the Rock on the Temple Mount for where the New Jerusalem is believed to be are useless. It is not a literally building and even the bible shows it is not built by man’s hands. The Temple is the body, the brain, the Ark of the Covenant that holds the Commandments. These Commandments are inspired by the 42 negative confessions of the laws of Maat in Egyptian mythology. These laws when not misunderstood are in the heart of mankind and acknowledged when we have supreme self-esteem. This is when we recognize the God or Goddess within us as the most important where events or situations don’t cause our self-esteem to alter up and down.

The tabernacle is our skull which holds the chalice for our brain, with the winged golden cherubim is the hippocampus guarding our thoughts. The brain is the mercy seat that speaks directly to our Higher Source (the Self). The Star of David is the heart chakra. This is also the symbol of the Sacred Marriage and the Sacred Heart of Jesus when our heart chakra is open. The Sacred Marriage is the Adam and Eve, the Christ and Bride uniting the Atman and the psyche in harmony within us.

This symbolic building of the Temple is what is called The Craft within freemasonry. By emulating Jesus, Buddha, Aradia and others masters who came before and after is by going within to achieve gnosis allows us to have the skill to help us and others to build a better world as co-creators with God (Universe, Nature, Universal Mind).

In the book and film series by J K Rowling about Harry Potter, the names she created for each character describes what they represent. Example Malfoy means bad faith or bad trust. The Malfoys in the series are not trust worthy people. The name Harry means House Ruler or Leader. His last name Potter means one who is skilled in the craft of making vessels. The name Potter is symbolic of the craft, in this story, its witchcraft. The word witch is said by some sources to derive from the word Wita (wise man, wizard, and witan to know which is what the word Gnosis means. The Witenagemot is a council of wise men during the 11 century.

The word magic comes from the word Magi which means Wise Men. Witchcraft is the developing the skill of the way of the wise ones. King Solomon was considered the Wisest Man who has ever lived who uses wisdom to lead Israel. Whether he was based on a real historical person or not, it’s an allegory about using wisdom to build that Temple within by developing our skills. That is by recognizing the God or Goddess within. Those who practice a Nature Religion have been persecuted as traffickers of the devil. They honor and respect nature. By studying nature they gain wisdom to be in balanced with her laws in order to Know Thyself. It doesn’t matter what tradition you practice, whether you are gnostic Christian, Sufi, Djedhi, Buddhist, Witch or practice Jewish mysticism; it’s all about Knowing Thyself. At the core it’s the same, just different cultures use a different vocabulary and tradition.

It all started in the Indus Valley as a Nature Religion as I said is in harmony with science. Science is the study of nature. When people cannot come out of their tiny little bubble then they want to point fingers at others because they can’t see beyond language and tradition. Fighting over whose religion is right or wrong is just as silly as fighting over the right way to sit in a chair.

There are only two paths. One path is through nature where we realize that all is part of nature which leads to Knowing Thyself. The other path is seeking external while trying to separate oneself from nature. Every religious system falls under one or the other. All started out from nature before some chosen the other path of separation. When one tries to separate themselves from nature, they are separating from knowing themselves. When you do not know yourself, you cannot know another, including the divine Nature. One must know themselves to know God and Goddess.

FOUR

The Tenets and Belief and Gifts of Aradia

I mentioned in the beginning of this book that every culture has a hero story. This story here about Aradia from Charles Godfrey Leland's Gospel of the Witches may be a historical figure as Raven Grimasi said in Ways of the Strega or it may not. All that matters is the message told in the story about Aradia, a woman who was a Strega, an Italian Witch. What is written here is from Grimasi and Leland about the Strega tradition

Aradia, La bella Pellegrina (The Beautiful Pilgrim) taught that the traditional powers of a Witch could belong to any who followed in the ways of the Old Religion. She called these powers gifts, because she stressed that the point of these powers were the benefit of bonding to the Old Ways, and not a reason for becoming a Witch. The powers are:

1.To bring success in love.

2.To bless and consecrate.

3.To speak with spirits.

4.To know of hidden things.

5.To call forth spirits.

6.To know the Voice of the Wind.

7.To possess the knowledge of transformation.

8.To possess