The Eight Paths and other Wiccan miscellany

(Carrie McMasters)

          Dogs in the Temple:
The "dogs" were MALE Canaanite temple prostitutes (normally eunuchs, as I understand it), with whom male worshippers had intercourse in order  to obtain various boons from the  gods, of which the  fertility of  themselves, their  herds and  their crops  were the chief.    A  "dog"'s  earnings  couldn't  be  contributed  to  Yaweh's treasury.  (Nor  could that of  a FEMALE temple  prostitute!)  Now  if they were doing the Great Rite with male priests way back when TO make things   more fertility, why should Stewart Farrar have a cat over gay men and lesbians  being involved in  the Craft  now?!?  (Although,  in fairness  to him,  I'll bet  he's never  thought of it  that way!   He strikes me as a reasonable man, all in all... )

          As for the Paths: 

               Meditation  is  the first  and--in  my  opinion--the most  basic, because you use it to get to or enhance some of the other Paths. Trance work is the second, which includes astral projection exercises. Perhaps it's the  most important, because  it gets us  where we go  to exercise the power or obtain the wisdom that we want to. 

          Dancing is a Path that I personal can't use because I'm lame; but I've been  told by  able-bodied Pagan  friends that  it's great  because it engages  the whole self--and especially  it helps you  be grounded AND Elsewhere at the same time.  Binding with cords and other forms of sensory  deprivation are good for  helping the mind  travel beyond the body's limits because one  wishes to escape the tedium  and discomfort of them.   (I'm sorry, but  even a flotation  tank gets  uncomfortable eventually!)  Scourging and other repetitive acts also use tedium as a release but  are more  stimulating than being  bound or floating  in a tank.   (They do NOT use pain.   If they're being done THAT intensely,
they're being done incorrectly... )

          Chanting and mantras use  repetitive sound and the inherent  nature of some sounds to produce altered states of consciousness. 

          Drugs  (which  normally  means  incense  and  MAYBE  alcohol  but  NOT hallucinogens  and such)  variously  stimulate,  relax, disinhibit  or otherwise change one's mental state. 

          And  that brings us  back to  the Great  Rite and  other forms  of sex magick, which attempt  to involve all levels from the  physical to the Divine Within at one time.  That's VERY thumbnail; but if anyone wants to know more, I'll be glad to elaborate on the ones I use or have seen used.   Oh, and I can--and  should--add that the various  Paths can be
used in combination as well as separately, that there's some variation from one tradition to another as to what the Eight Paths are, and that not ALL traditions have Eight Paths per se! 

                             Bright blessings!  Granny Spider