Spotlight on a Witchy Wisdom Tradition 🧙♀️
The wisdom traditions are the original spiritual psychologies that were in existence long before western talk therapy came along. Each wisdom tradition has its own set of principles, and many have overlapping ideas.
For this month’s installment of get to know the wisdom traditions we’ll dive into Hermetic Kabbalah from the Western Mystery School.
To give you a taste of what this witchy wisdom is all about, here is a quote from one of the source texts, the Kybalion.
“The masses are carried along, obedient to environment…outward causes moving them about like pawns…But the Masters, dominate their moods, qualities, and powers, as well as the environment, and become Movers instead of pawns.”
The Kybalion, by The Three Initiates
But let’s not get too crazy just yet. Before we can reach this level of Mastery where we are controlling outcomes, we must first “Know Thyself.
What is Know Thyself? What does that mean? It definitely has a lot of overlap with traditional therapy type of stuff (getting to know our thought/emotion/behavior patterns, our programs, our inner parts, processing our psychological dramas and traumas).
The Western Mystery Tradition teaches us that once we Know Thyself, we can use all the tools we gained from that process in order to ascend to another level of mental functioning.Once we Know Thyself, we have the tools to consciously evolve thyself.
These witches knew that our mind creates our reality. This has been an accepted premise in psychology and in cognitive sciences. Confirmation bias, for example, means that we will notice what we think about. Think about a green car, you'll notice green cars everywhere. Believe you are unloveable, you'll notice evidence of your unlovablility. Etc.
How we think, what we feel & believe, not only impacts what we notice in our surroundings, but it also directly impacts how people respond to us and what opportunities come our way. If our energy is warm and vibrant people will respond differently than if our energy is angry, etc. Change on the inside, creates change on the outside. As the Kybalion teaches us “as above, so below” as within, so without.
Once we Know Thyself we understand how our thought/emotion patterns, our vibration, gets in our own way. But, like I said, this is just the first step. Our patterns and programs run deep.
The problem with analyzing and talking too much about the problem is that the problem continues to be a part of our SUBCONSCIOUS BELIEFS about ourselves. Hermetic Kabbalah teaches us that our subconscious mind (and the Universe, the field where we can capitol C Create our reality) is always paying attention.
What I love about the Western Mystery Tradition, is that it offers us specific tools that can help us think and believe in the things that we want to think and believe in (rather than going off on our insecurities and autopilot). Tools like setting intention, working with archetypal images in Tarot cards, ritual, and incense interact with our senses and subconscious in order to keep us focused on (and keep momentum moving towards) the realization of our visions and desires (rather than swimming in the problem story).
You want another example of a wisdom tradition? Or have we reached the point where the modern day attention span is shutting down? Or did we already pass that 200 words ago?
In any event, let me just say this one thing about “wisdom traditions” in general. I like them. They give us a place to put our energy and attention that leads us towards personal evolution. Rather than talking about our wounds, healing our wounds (which is sometimes a necessary part of the healing journey- but it doesn’t have to be the ONLY part of it, or even the main part of it).
The wisdom traditions show us how to change the energy a bit. How to be bearers of light or service or intentional capitol C Creation of our lives and our realities (if we choose this path which, as you already know, I personally do).
There are so many ways to heal. So many ways to evolve. What works for one won’t work for the other, will work for the other.
Take what resonates for you, leave the rest, and don’t forget to play.