Facebook Rant

Someone just sent me another one of those annoying Facebook “What kind of (enter name of animal, vegetable, inanimate object, famous person, only-the-gods-knows-what here) are you?” quizzes on Facebook. Some of these I’ve been more annoyed with than others: For instance, one recent one asking me what kind of alcoholic drink I was. I never participate in them: I consider them meaningless in the extreme. They are as bad as those automatic “We’ve just sent you a (rock, flower, drink, only-the-gods-knows-what) that are about as sincere as a counterfeit $20. I never comment on them and usually don’t do anything other than quietly block these stupid things, but this one that was sent to me today pushed me over the edge. The question was: “What kind of sniper rifle are you?” Let me rephrase this: They’re asking “What kind of instrument of violent, unexpected death are you?” Are you serious? As a former ERT member who managed to apprehend every one of his suspects WITHOUT shooting anyone, I take serious exception to that request, and said so on Facebook.

NOT a fan of Facebook, can you tell? My support goes to Twitter.

BB Kerr

Precept of the Month for July

This month’s Precept of the Month is: Perceive that which cannot be seen with the eye. Perception is a tricky business: Things aren’t always the way that they seem on the surface. The Warrior must learn to see through deception and illusion to grasp the true nature of her situation. The Wiccan Warrior must learn to dip below the surface and arrive at a true understanding of things in order to act appropriately and effectively.

The only way to control something is to understand it. The more you know about something, the more control you have over it. Knowledge is power. Magick is knowing. There is an old Japanese saying: "From one thing know ten thousand things." The Warrior uses knowing to take charge of his life. Knowing is the foundation from which accurate perception stems. From this foundation the Warrior can separate what is real from what is illusion.

At the Motherhouse we constantly engage in psychic challenges in which I challenge members to find things that I've left around the Motherhouse or in our astral temple. We also periodically engage in "divination sessions" in which all of our members bring their preferred divination tools and read for one another.

Bright Blessings, Kerr

Not Knighthood

Last night I dealt with a 911 call from an Asian male who'd been in the underground parking lot of his building with his wife. As they got out of their car, they unexpectedly encountered a dangerous looking character lurking in the parking lot. The Asian male was pretty sure that this menacing suspect had a knife in his hand. So he immediately took action: He pushed his wife in the direction of the suspect, fled to his apartment several floors up, thought about it for a few minutes, and then called 911 to report that he'd left his wife to do rearguard action while he escaped to safety. Would we please now come quickly and rescue his wife? To complicate things even further, he'd left the device to buzz open the garage door downstairs in his car in his haste to seek safety.We responded code 3 and rescued her.I'm wondering if a divorce is now being considered by the wife. I hope so.
Bb Kerr

Battle of Proof II

The challenge facing some of my Knights now is what to do when the Seneschal challenges them at the entrance to the Mastering ritual which will make them Masters: “How will you demonstrate your Mastery?”

Last weekend after our Litha ritual, one of them had an epiphany: They had been thinking of asking for their Mastering (in our order you must ask for it, it isn't given to you automatically), but like so many others they were stuck on what their Battle of Proof should be. And they suddenly figured out that, in their case, all they had to do was stand up in front of the Challenge formation and unveil a symbol of what they had accomplished as a result of all they'd learned through dedication to the Warrior path represented by their Magickal Weapon. Without saying a word.

As simple and as elegant as that.

I said in an earlier post to my Order that the Battle of Proof is a short demonstration. And this can take the form of an actual demonstration involving your chosen Magickal Weapon, the one that you dedicated yourself to in the Arming ritual that made you a Knight. It could be a bojutsu kata, a display of swordsmanship, or an Arnis siniwali form. But think about this: What does your Magickal Weapon represent? Creativity? Will? Vision? Strength? Spirit? Then consider: What could be a symbol of this path that others can see? An action? A statement? A symbol? Let me remind you: The Battle of Proof isn’t really about fighting or martial arts. It is about Mastery. Remember that saying that I told you about by Paul Tuitean? It goes:

Soldiers march. Warriors dance.

You will also recall that I reminded you what my definition of a Warrior is in my books Wiccan Warrior and Full Contact Magick:

A Warrior is a person who makes a fearless and objective inventory of their personal characteristics and then uses this information to take control of their life.

Again: Being a Warrior is not about fighting, it is about winning. It’s not about using your hands, it is about using your head. This is especially true of this situation, because in the Mastering ritual you become the Magickal Weapon. The Mastering is about the fifth pair of Magickal Weapons: Mind and spirit. Remember your Sun Tsu: “Those who render others armies helpless without fighting are the best of all.”

Once again: The Battle of Proof needn’t be long or elaborate: In fact it is better that it is short and concise. If an expression of your Mastery takes the form of a physical demonstration involving a Magickal Weapon, like a kata, no problem. However, don’t get hung up on that. It can also be a recital, a poem or haiku, or a song you wrote to honor your Warrior path. It could be a Warrior dance, a demonstration of psychic ability, or a written essay on a related subject. Or it could be as simple as a gesture, a symbol, that represents your achievement.

One way to look at the Battle of Proof is like a Zen Koan. For those of you unfamiliar with that: In Zen Buddhism, Zen Masters give their students riddles called koans to solve. The Japanese word “koan” (the Chinese equivalent being “kung-an”) means “public case”. That’s exactly what this Battle of Proof is, a public case. In answering a koan the Zen student is allowed to do anything. Anything at all. As in this case, the answer can be a gesture, a pantomine, a statement, or a single word. An old Zen poem states:

Everywhere I went I met with words,
But I couldn’t understand them.
The ball of doubt within my heart
Was as big as a wicker basket.
The Master, from his mat of felt,
Rose up like a dragon,
And, baring his right arm,
Struck my chest a single blow.
My ball of doubt, fright-shattered,
Fell to the ground with a crash!

The first koan of the Inzan School of Zen is:

“In clapping both hands a sound is heard: What is the sound of one hand clapping?”

The answer? The student faces his Master, takes a correct posture, and without a word, thrusts one hand forward.

As simple and as elegant as that.

The Battle of Proof is my koan to you. Like the Zen monk, you can do anything within reason to answer it. So be creative. Look closely at what your Magickal Weapon represents and chose wisely. Remember, one of our precepts is: Minimal appearance, maximum content.

In Her Service
Kerr Cuhulain
Grand Master

Order of Scáthach

There Are No 'Drop In' Knights

At the beginning of the Order of Scathach Armoring Ritual (see the Rituals page of our training blog) is the Challenge where the Constable addresses the participants. In part, it reads:

“And some of you have that inward look which tells me that you don’t like what you see when you look in the mirror. You consider yourself weak or flawed or insignificant. That’s a difficult thing to deal with, to be sure. But if you came here to rub shoulders with us Warriors, hoping that you’d gain some respect or honor by association only, then I suggest you get lost. We’ve no time for that. But if you’ve come here to reinvent yourself, to rise from your own ashes like the Phoenix, to be glorious, then you are very welcome indeed. We are here to witness your triumphs and cheer you on.”

Recently I went through our membership list, identifying people that had not been heard from in some time. Some, due to extenuating circumstances in their lives, wished to take a “sabbatical” and be listed as supporting members. The idea was that at a later date, once things in their lives had been sorted out, they would be able to get involved once again in the lessons and move onwards towards mastery of their situation and themselves. I have no problem with that at all. We all have our times of trial and tribulation. Supporting each other is part of what this organization is all about.

Let me be very clear about something: The Order of Scathach will not have “supporting members”, auxiliaries or “fans” of any description who “rub shoulders with us Warriors, hoping that you’d gain some respect or honor by association”. Like we say in our Armoring ritual challenge, we don’t have time for that. That’s why I wrote that into the Challenge. If you want to be part of this Order, you must participate in this Order. As one of our Knights, Dame Devenir, put it: “There hasn't been an Order of Knighthood in history that has ever allowed ‘drop ins’.” I concur wholeheartedly and we're certainly not planning to be the first.

Recently some people have attempted to sit on the sidelines, thinking that just being on the membership list entitles them to show up at all events (while missing all classes). They’ve demonstrated that they’ve got time to waste on meaningless posts but are not willing to devote time to learning like the rest of us. If you simply want an audience for what you have to say, there are plenty of Pagan chat groups. The Order of Scáthach isn’t just a chat group. We don’t mind visitors to our rituals: That’s one of the ways that we let people discover for themselves if this is a path for them to follow. On line students from all over the world are always welcome. We periodically do public rituals for the public to see what we are all about. What we will not tolerate at any Motherhouse is freeloaders who never show up for classes, make no effort to study on line, and yet want to participate in all of our rituals. This isn’t a club for people who are fans of knighthood. It is a Fianna of Warriors. This isn’t a Church. It is an Order of Knighthood. In church you stand up or sit down when told to and sing the hymns that you are directed to. In this Order of Scáthach you stand up for yourself and sing the songs from your heart.

I want the Order of Scathach to be something special, something different. It isn’t going to be special unless we insist on standing up for our Precepts and Code of Chivalry. Let me remind you that one of our precepts is: Who dares, wins. Industriousness is part of our Code of Chivalry, and it is commitment that will earn you your Mastering degree. You can’t “buy” a degree here. This is like a dojo. Hopefully here a colored belt means something.

It is amazing to me how many people wish to be considered experts but never make any effort to learn. They want to be treated with respect and yet they make no effort to earn it. Telling the world that you are a master won't last long if you don't make any effort to be a master. Laziness isn't a path to mastery. People will eventually see through the facade to the real person underneath. Master yourself and you master everything else.

In Her Service
Kerr Cuhulain
Grand Master, Order of Scáthach

Precept of the Month: June

The precept for the month is: Minimal appearance, maximum content. This is a good thing to keep in mind when doing magick. Keep it simple: You want your energy to go to the objective, not into a fancy production that’s meant to get you there.

The principle of chivalry for this month is Industriousness. What you put out there you get back. This links into the article on prosperity magick that I posted the other day.

BB Kerr

Goddess Rising Conference, New Orleans

I will be attending the Goddess Rising Conference in New Orleans, October 30 to November 1, 2009 with a Commandery of the Order of Scathach to teach classes and conduct an Armoring ritual. I've added a link to the sidebar for anyone interested in participating.

BB Kerr