Eye of Magic

Ritual & Spell for Entering the Field of Limitless Possibilities

A Chairde, Friends,

Today’s creative ritual is designed to invite in magic consciousness whenever we are navigating an unknown in our lives. There is a lot of emphasis in the overculture on the need to know, the need to anticipate every possible eventuality. To always be getting somewhere—anywhere, once it is known. Even when we don’t know, oftentimes we have to pretend we know because it’s unacceptable not to know. This makes our lives incredibly difficult. Our nervous systems rattle as we endure this great pain and overemphasis on logos and rational consciousness.

In ways, this is a rejection of the feminine art of entering the void. Of being in and birthing consciousness from the dark. In societies that emphasis waking, productive, knowing time, living in the neon lights of an eternal summer, we have been taught to fear the dark. And of course, our nervous systems are hardwired for safety, ‘knowing’ feels safe. Our societies are not designed to help our bodies cultivate our capacity to hold the dark wisdom of our bodies, the dark wisdom of our souls, the dark wisdom of life.

And yet, it is here in these dark places that exists limitless possibilities for our lives. As Audre Lorde so beautifully expresses:

‘These places of possibility within ourselves are dark because they are ancient and hidden; they have survived and grown strong through that darkness. Within these deep places, each one of us holds an incredible reserve of creativity and power, of unexamined and unrecorded emotion and feeling. The woman’s place of power within each of us is neither white nor surface; it is dark, it is ancient, and it is deep.’

- Audre Lorde, Sister Outsider

The ‘Corleck Head’ discovered in Co. Cavan, dates from the 1st-2nd century. It depicts three of the same face, possibly representing the triple aspect of Irish and Celtic deities, and perhaps also the gift of the file as the seer—to see past, present and future. It’s now housed in the Museum of Archaeology in Dublin (well worth a visit!)

The filí of Old Ireland, our poet-seer ancestors, embraced the wisdom of the dark. You see in the ancient tracts and lore, references to poets and druids as dall. Dall means ‘dark’, ‘obscure’, or ‘blind’ in Old Irish. You also see the use of the words caech, which means ‘blind in one eye’, ‘hidden’, ‘veiled’, ‘mysterious’, and its variation, goll to describe our ancestors. This speaks to the belief that one must enter full or at least partial darkness to access the ultimate magic—imbas forosnai—meaning ‘knowledge or wisdom that illuminates or enlightens’. It is through darkness that the fire in the head is ignited, flame by flame, guiding our path forward.