Song of the Executioner

In many pagan paths one of the most outstanding aspects is self-
study and annilization. We learn from our inner voice, we develope
our intuitions and instincts, and in becoming self-aware we find
ourselves more open to the world around us. Once we know exactly who
we are in this life, and what we are capable of, we know where our
boundaries lie. And if we are brave we can learn to push those
boundaries further away. Yet, we all have our absolute limits.
Self-preservation is a natural instinct that can sometimes get out
of control. In attempting to preserve our views, hearts, and
lifestyles it is very important not to defend them by forcing them
on others or expecting someone else to live up to our expectations.
One of the easiest examples of this happening is rooted in past
relationships. I have mentioned how the people we meet have a
tendency to change us for better or worse. If a past relationship
was bad in any way we almost automatically look for signs of the
same pattern in our current relationship. If you have been lied to
or cheated on in the past you are always afraid that it will happen
again even if there is very little chance of it. It is
understandable from a certain point of view. If something hurts us
we do not want to be hurt by it again. We touched the stove, got
burned, and learned not to touch it again. When instead we should
have learned how to turn the stove off.
Some people also have the same reservations about their
spirituality. They will not commit themselves to one path because
they never know what they might be interested in tomorrow. It is not
always because they want to learn everything they can. Sometimes it
is because they have tried to walk other paths and found themselves
in disappointment. And witchcraft is a path that comes with a
warning. There will be times when your faith is tested. There is
just as much darkness here as there is light. But once you have
known the Goddess she will forever claim a part of you and she will
not give it back. When you look on the world of magic your eyes
change and you will always see magic out there in the world no
matter how hard you try to blind yourself from it again.
We fear getting hurt or loosing things. We fear that the past might
repeat itself and we fear the mystery of the future. And it is those
fears that too often manifest themselves into issues and problems
that have no place in the reality of right now.
It is so much easier to focus on the negative aspects of our lives
and hold to the general idea that everything could be better. We
never want to settle for what we have and in our fear we sometimes
make what we do have look a lot worse than it really is.

Negative thoughts and emotions cause a wick effect. They are very
difficult to put out and they burn up all of our energy and
patience. They take our spirit and willpower and use them to their
own ends. Often hurting the ones we care about most. And they spread
from person to person just as a forest fire spreads from tree to
tree. Hate, anger, fear, jealousy, loss...all of these things
consume us and destroy who we really are. They whisper nightmares to
us in our sleep and when we are awake the lure us into self-
fulfilled prophesies of more pain and negativity.
Sometimes the problems do not lie in those around us but in
ourselves. Our point of view is altered and our eyes only see what
pain allows them to. We are no longer in control of our own thoughts
and emotions and we fall into a downward spiral that is very
difficult to pull out of.
It is almost as if we need our pain to remind us of the lessons we
learned through past trials. The pain of the past is a calling card
not to do that again. But in holding onto that card we give
ourselves up to the notion that it will happen again no matter what
we try. And thus helplessness comes to join the party. The fire
spreads and it changes along the way until it covers our every exit.
Then we are alone and trapped in a world that is slowly falling
apart and all we can do is wait until the fire burns us up along
with the rest of everything we have come to know and love.
When our world is consumed by negativity there is nothing left to
look at but ashes. And so we look to the future and outside of
ourselves for someone to blame. It never occurs to us that we were
the ones who started the fire in the first place. We in all of our
great wisdom, strength, and power could never do such a thing. But
none the less that is usually what has happened.
Foresters cut out strips of trees to create fire blocks. If a fire
starts on one part of the forest they then have better chances of
stopping it from spreading. Our minds and hearts are not unlike a
tangled forest that even we can get lost in. We have to train
ourselves to cut strips out of that forest. Find the dead and
twisted trees and weed them out. The parts of us that is dead and
rotting. Those are the ones most easy for the fires of negativity to
consume. Not only do we have to know our limitations but we also
have to set limitations on what we allow to be destroyed. We have to
look at our issues and create a boundary where they have no choice
but to stop before they destroy everything about us.
We our forest masters of our lives. It falls upon us to cultivate
our own minds and hearts into a thing of beauty. And it also falls
upon us not to blame someone else when we are consumed by our own
darkness.
If you have had your world torn apart and destroyed by the raging
fires of negativity remember that even when a forest is burned to
nothing new life will come out of the ashes in just a few short
days. The simple fact that you survived through it all is a sign
that life and hope still exist. And life and hope always find a way.


Angel Snowden-2006