At your altar, you stare into a silvery bowl filled with water, shining by the light of the Full Moon.  The surface shivers as you breathe upon it, and as the ripples still, the bowl expands to become a large, circular mirror.

Your reflection in the mirror is sharp and clear, allowing you to see every detail of who you are in your day-to-day self.  Out of the corner of your eye, you catch a movement within the mirror, and then, another to the opposite side.  Within moments, the spaces reflected beside you, above you and behind you are filled with a myriad beings of many shapes and sizes  Some are the Shining Ones who inhabit the realms beyond our sight, realms that are truly but a hair’s breadth away from our own, did we but know it.  Others are parts of you that you cannot see under ordinary circumstances, but with the aid of the mirror, and the Moon, they reveal themselves to you. The beings acknowledge you, and you them, and you all continue to gaze into the mirror.

The light of the Moon begins to dim.  Within a brief span, its face is covered as if by a veil, the glow diminished to a dull blood orange.  Oddly, though, you can see as clearly by this light as at the fullness—perhaps more so.  The details of the eclipsed Moon are shown in sharp relief.  That which was washed out by the glare of the Sun is now revealed.

Returning your gaze to yourself, you notice that you are now revealed by a similar light.  You notice the damage that time has done, not merely to the surface self, but the one that lies beneath.  The hurts that caused you to shut down first one part of yourself, then another and another.  See them now revealed as motes of light, as doors that have opened to the strange light of the occluded Moon.  These could well be fearful places, but this night, you are shown these wounds in a different way, one that causes the waters of your compassion to rise within you.  Each one of us contains not only the wounds of the world, but the way of healing them, as well.  And as we learn of the hurt places, we can open our hearts to them, and make them a part of us once more.  More than this, we can act as gentle mirrors to help others find their hidden pain, and learn the path toward wholeness.

Now the veil begins to withdraw.  Moment by moment, the Moonlight grows brighter.  In this growing light, you can see not just the being you are, but the being you are becoming, the Shining One that lives within you.  Nurture this flame, and remember always that you contain the seeds of a better future.

On opening the Holly Chalice for our Dark Moon visioning this night, I hear the moan and roar of the highway.  As I shut my eyes, it follows me down to the Lake of Visioning like howling ghosts in the darkness. The water is illuminated by the setting Sun, now moving into eclipse as it  conjuncts the Moon in the sign of Pisces. Boundaries collapse and our Shadows leap out towards us in the gathering darkness. Will we greet them as friends and allies, or run from them in a panic?

I can see that the lake edge has become a wide and endless track; cars, trucks, and motorcycles race around it in ever-faster circles, rushing to find the exit that will never appear. The water throws back dancing, flame-like light, and the frightened hoard drive onward. Faster, ever faster.

Pisces dissolves us, and we become one. The track of cars becomes a ribbon of golden light and darkness, encircling the shining black lake.  Like a flow of lava, or the primal pulse of light and darkness.  Fear, anger, and pain transform into a partnership of duality, and we write our stories from a place of power and hope.  Here is the turning point; we can step through the frightening image into a world of our own making, a world powered by that which we had feared the most.

Take a breath, and the vision dissolves back into the flicker of candles as we return to our quiet home. The soft breath of sleeping dog and cats, and the bubbling of a pot on the stove holds the traffic at bay for a little while. Remember the vision of your own making, and hold it in your heart.

In mid-September of 2011, some members of the Assembly of the Sacred Wheel, plus a couple of friends, took a bus tour around Ireland.  Our primary focus was to visit as many stone circles, dolmens, passage tombs, and other sacred sites from the ancient Celtic world as possible during our ten days.  It was, for many of us, the trip of a lifetime, as well as wonderful time spent with good friends.

One evening, toward the end of our trip, we were treated to an extraordinary visit with author and storyteller Eddie Lenihan.  I was fortunate to have a recording device with me, and recorded more than an hour of his stories.  Here it is for your listening pleasure, and for the sake of the magick in this world.

Books by Eddie Lenihan:

Meeting the Other Crowd

Irish Tales of Mystery & Magic

Devil is an Irishman