Order of Paladins Lesson : 15 The Wand and the Spear copyright 2013 Kerr Cuhulain

Warrior’s Admonition Your body is your temple: Care for it! Do not engage in useless activity. Listen to the Goddess. Help thyself. You create your own reality. The Warrior’s path is creativity. A serene path to enlightenment. Know thyself. Master thyself. Create your own reality. Nurture the ability to perceive the truth in all matters. Perceive that which cannot be seen with the eye. Learn from your mistakes. Teach thyself. Create your own reality. Do not be negligent, even in trifling matters Grace and guilt do not exist: Strive for responsibility. Honor thyself. Create your own reality. copyright 2013 Kerr Cuhulain

13 Precepts: 1.Know thyself. 2.Nurture the ability to perceive the truth in all matters. 3.You create your own reality. 4.Develop a sense of Right Action. 5.Do not be negligent, even in trifling matters. 6.Your body is your temple: Care for it! 7.Minimal appearance, maximum content. 8.Perceive that which cannot be seen with the eye. 9.Power with. 10. Who dares wins. 11.The Gods cannot help those who will not help themselves. 12. Be creative! 13. Do not engage in useless activity. copyright 2013 Kerr Cuhulain

Code of Chivalry:  All members of the Order of Paladins must live according to the principles of chivalry, which include:  Sincerity.  Courtesy.  Compassion.  Perseverance.  Industriousness.  Justice.  Loyalty.  Courage.  Self-Discipline.  Humility.  Largesse.  Truth.  Honor copyright 2013 Kerr Cuhulain

Hint:  Refer to the notes pages in this Power Point presentation for more in-depth information on the subject of each slide. copyright 2013 Kerr Cuhulain

The Wand and Spear "What ever you can do or dream you can do, begin it... boldness has power, magic and genius in it.“ Goethe copyright 2013 Kerr Cuhulain

Wand and Staff  Knights of the wand and staff:  Shine their light. Their creativity lights the way for the other brothers and sisters of the order as well as the rest of the world.  Use the transformative power of fire. Fire can destroy, but when used properly can burn away the unnecessary to allow new growth and/or, to reveal the true nature of what is. copyright 2013 Kerr Cuhulain

The Staff KKKKnights on this path are masters of fire energy: Creativity and imagination.

The Spear TTTThe Spear is one of the earliest weapons known to man. It was originally just a sharpened stick. The Sumerians utilized massed ranks of spearmen in their army as early as 3000 BCE. A variation is the arrow, which was used as a military weapon from Egyptian times to the Middle Ages in Europe and even longer in the orient. These projectile weapons were an early form of “artillery”. Bowmen and spear throwers were able to project their spears and arrows great distances. Eventually the invention of cannons brought the element of fire fully into the picture.

The Wand and the Spear IIIIn some traditions the Wand or Staff are associated with the element of air, while the Sword and the Athame are assigned to the element of fire. The reasoning usually advanced to support this is that fire is used to shape and temper the metal blade. I have even heard people argue that the shape of the double edged blade resembles a flame. Yet it is wood that produces the flame that tempers the metal. Thus I classify the Wand and the Staff or Spear as Weapons of Fire. copyright 2013 Kerr Cuhulain

The Wand  The character Circe in Homer’s Odyssey had a magick wand. copyright 2013 Kerr Cuhulain

The Wand  Many ancient cave drawings depict people bearing wands. copyright 2013 Kerr Cuhulain

The Wand  Ancient Egyptian artwork depicts the Gods bearing wands or rods as a symbol of their office. Egyptian tombs contained wands and magick texts to help the soul journey to the afterlife. copyright 2013 Kerr Cuhulain

The Wand  In Greek and Roman mythology the God Hermes or Mercury carried a special wand called the caduceus. copyright 2013 Kerr Cuhulain

The Wand  Biblical mythology holds that Moses had a hazel wand (Genesis 30:37). copyright 2013 Kerr Cuhulain

The Wand  The mace, sceptre and wand of office are all symbols of ecclesiastical and formal government authority which trace back to these ancient symbols. copyright 2013 Kerr Cuhulain

The Wand TTTThe magick Wand is one of the most common symbols of magick in popular western culture. The Wand is a phallic symbol: Like the phallus, it projects life energy. The idea that the magick actually comes out of the magick Wand (a Lesser Weapon) is what gives lay people the impression that magick requires magick Wands. copyright 2013 Kerr Cuhulain

The Wand MMMMany traditions hold that the length of the wand should be the distance from the tips of the fingers to the elbow (one cubit). They may be quite plain or painted and/or inscribed with symbols. The Great Book of Saint Cyprian (aka Ciprianillo), published in 1849, gives step- by-step instructions on how to make a magic wand. The Golden Dawn associated the wand with fire and referred to it as the "Fire Wand". This wand was made of wood, no longer than 18 inches in length, with one end cone shaped and with a magnetized steel rod running inside its length, painted red and divided into three sections with yellow bands.

The Spear and Staff TTTThe Greater Weapon of Fire is the Spear or Staff. This is traditionally made of woods like birch, willow or hazel which form long straight branches.

The Stang TTTThe traditional Stang is a Staff with a fork at the top which resemble the horns or antlers of the male animal. Like the Wand, the Staff may be plain or decorated. Kerr’s Stang is a forked birch branch with a spiral pattern of leaves carved around the shaft.

The Pen What’s this, you say? The pen…? The pen a weapon? Careful… things aren’t always what they seem… copyright 2013 Kerr Cuhulain

The Pen Baron Lyton (Edward Bulwer-Lytton, 1803 – 1873) once said: “Beneath the rule of men entirely great, the pen is mightier than the sword.” copyright 2013 Kerr Cuhulain

The Pen And it is… many of you were first attracted to our order by the power of the words that I used in my books, in my blogs, on our web site, from messages that I’d written or from words that I spoke. You must also admit that this fits perfectly into the spirit of the element of fire that the wand represents: Imagination and creativity. The pen is just another wand, and like the wand, can be a weapon copyright 2013 Kerr Cuhulain

Focusing IIII would rather you thought of the Wand, Spear and Staff as focusing tools or a projectors of energy than sources of magickal power. The Weapons of Fire are Magickal Tools that you can focus through. They act as a conduit or a channel through which you can connect to the universe around you.

Never Mind the Wand: Use the Whole Tree  Select a tree, take a moment to connect with its living energy. Give it an offering: some water is always welcome. Ask it to help you.  Stand with your back to it. Raise the energy that you want to send.  Send the energy through the tree towards your objective. You can imagine this either as:  Energy streaming up the trunk and out the branches towards your objective;  Energy streaming down through the roots and the ground towards your objective; or  Both at once.  Remember to thank the tree afterwards copyright 2013 Kerr Cuhulain

Lifting the Sky TTTThere are a number of ways to use the Wand to send out magickal energy. I have found that one of the most effective is a variation of a Chi Kung exercise called “Lifting the Sky.” To do this, start in Entering Tranquility posture, arms at your sides, holding the Wand in one hand. Bring your hands together in front of you, grasping the Wand with both hands. Keep your arms and elbows straight. Move your arms forwards and then upwards in a continuous arc. As you do this, breathe in. Follow the Wand with your eyes. Imagine the cosmic energy flowing into you. As your arms point straight up, you will find yourself looking up. Pause a moment, holding your breath. Then push the Wand up slightly as if poking the ceiling or the sky. Imagine the energy flowing through you and out of the end of the Wand towards your magickal objective. Once you have done this, separate your hands, taking the Wand in one of them. Lower your arms to your sides in a continuous arc while exhaling. Stand in Entering Tranquility posture for a moment to let your energy come back into balance. copyright 2013 Kerr Cuhulain

Grounding TTTThe Greater Weapons of Fire can be used as “lightning rods” to ground out surplus energy. The Staff, Stang or Spear is preferred for this purpose as you can do it standing or sitting: You simply hold the Staff upright on the ground in front of you with both hands and let the surplus energy flow into the ground through the Staff. You can use a Wand to do this too, but you’ll have to squat down to do it, so the Greater Weapons are more comfortable for this technique.

The Infirmary, Forge and Chashitsu  In Caer Paladin in the south there are some smaller structures copyright 2013 Kerr Cuhulain

The Infirmary copyright 2013 Kerr Cuhulain

The Infirmary  The Infirmary is a place where the water energies and fire energies merge.  This is a good place to go if you need healing  It is also a good place to go if you want to explore your healing skills. copyright 2013 Kerr Cuhulain

Forge

Forge AAAAnother building between the Air and Fire Temples TTTThis is where you can forge your dreams into reality, if you’ve a mind to

Chashitsu

Chashitsu JJJJapanese for “Tea House” IIIIn Caer Paladin, this is where you can meet other members formally and spend time together

Chashitsu PPPPreparing for an Order of Paladins ritual is very much like preparing for a Japanese cha no yu (“tea ceremony”). You want to make sure that everything is clean and tidy to honor your fellow Knights and guests. You greet them at the entrance as equals. You lead everyone through a specific ritual to make sure that everyone involved is moved by the ceremony in some way.

Reiki OOOOne of the healing techniques that we teach in the Order of Paladins is Reiki TTTThe word Reiki is made of two Japanese words - Rei which means "God's Wisdom or the Higher Power" and Ki which is "life force energy". So Reiki is actually "spiritually guided life force energy."

Reiki  Reiki was created by Dr. Mikao Usui. Usui recommended that one practice certain simple ethical, natural, ideals to promote peace and harmony, which are nearly universal across all cultures. Dr. Mikao Usui Dr. Mikao Usui copyright 2013 Kerr Cuhulain

Reiki RRRReiki is a Japanese technique for stress reduction and relaxation that also promotes healing. It is administered by "laying on hands". It is a technique for transferring the chi or life energy that we learned about in the first cycle of training to those requiring healing. An amazingly simple technique to learn, the ability to use Reiki is not taught in the usual sense, but is transferred to the student during a Reiki class. This ability is passed on during an "attunement" given by a Reiki master and allows the student to tap into an unlimited supply of chi to improve one's health and enhance the quality of life.

Lesson 15 Assignment:  Go to the Infirmary to discover what your healing skills might be  Go to the Forge to work on your resolutions  Go to the Chashitsu to meditate and interact with another member of our Order  Study Reiki  Report back to us with your findings copyright 2013 Kerr Cuhulain

Order of Paladins Be Glorious! copyright 2013 Kerr Cuhulain