Pillars: Circling the Compass – Shani Oates, etc (Anathema Publishing)

Description

Description

“The magic circle is part of the general heritage of magical practice, which is world-wide and of incalculable age.”
—Doreen Valiente, The ABC’s of Witchcraft

To step into the Circle,
To circumambulate the Compass,
To leave it all behind,
And yet to invite the All inside,
Such is the boon and the task,
Of the committed and inspired Seeker.

In casting the Circle, aims may differ and intent may vary, and yet the fact remains that contemplation, action, and devotion are indeed close cousins; all are bound by common thread… Which is often the lamenting of the loss of the Mystery Tradition, and the coeval desire to see it restored.

What is the appeal, or the existential dilemma, that brings one to try to reconnect the ‘many-pasts,’ consult and congregate with the spirits, and bring the epiphanic pieces into the still-Now, to better elevate individual consciousness? Thusly do seekers attempt to understand and assimilate in their alchemical vessel the many important occult teachings and texts that may be construed as obsolete and decrepit to the eyes of the uninitiated, the archonized, dishonest, or the cynical pessimist.

And so, we come to the theme of this volume of PILLARS, “The Circle & The Compass,” along with the many interpretations and allegorical insights that come with it. By “Circling the Compass,” is the Seeker indeed participating in (or somehow resuscitating) the Traditions of old, or are these disciplines truly lost under the sands of Time?