To Will...

The Pagan Experience - To Know – To Will – To Dare and To Be Silent - These Four together are known as The Four Powers of the Sphinx and the Witch’s Pyramid. But, they are not limited to a specific spiritual path and show up in varying forms and combinations within all spiritual truths. So, holding the intention of exploring more deeply what these concepts mean to you, this month our focus is: To Will: What is it that you will (into) to be? How do you exert your will? What form does this will take as you strive towards w(W)ill to Action? Use this month’s writing to dig a little deeper into what this topic means to you, both at the levels of the mundane and the spiritual…….

I spent the summer teaching children. This was a tremendous act of will, one I likened to a marathon. It was a long period of intense effort, with very few breaks. It was also a bit like performance art - one is always on stage.

Every day, I had to think on several levels. As always, self-care had to come first. This was very difficult to maintain in that environment. Time and energy were both limited. Then, I had to think of my personal mission as an educator and spiritual leader. What am I trying to achieve? What is my message?

Of course, I had to keep my eye on my job description, to be sure that I fulfilled my duties to the community, my peers, and the children. That's quite a lot to do when one is working 14 hour days six days a week!

Every day presented a new challenge, and a raft of the same challenges that repeated each day: To maintain one's freshness in the face of exhaustion, heat, insects, and the like. To have patience for the young ones. To be put on the spot every moment, ready at a moment's notice to mentor, teach, inspire, mediate, or comfort. To actually teach something meaningful about Nature or some other topic. To make it all FUN!

This summer was like no other. I have faced many challenges by choice in my life, not least of which has been my journey with martial arts. Long hours, difficult training, and self-discipline were the order of the day. Sore muscles, exhaustion, frustration, fear...all these things were difficult to endure. But in this environment, teaching children, one must do all that AND maintain a positive, fun attitude 24/7.

I look back now that I'm on break and think "how ever did I do it". It all comes down to will. It was the path I chose. Every day, I got up and chose it again. Halfway through the summer, I fell ill. I refused to give up, and made a conscious choice to finish the summer, no matter what.

But it's more than that. Each moment of each day was a choice, an act of will. Surely, I wasn't perfect for all of those moments. There were moments I complained, or brooded, or asked for help. There were moments when I did lose patience. But I'm happy to say that these moments were the exception, and not the rule.

As often as necessary, I took it one day, or even one moment, at a time. I posted the schedule on my wall. I'd get up and think 'ok, breakfast, meeting, hike. Just make it to lunch'.

That's Will - when one is creating one's life consciously, in full recognition of one's powers, one can choose a course of action, then use their will to make it happen. Often, that means choosing actions that support a goal many times a day.

I'd say really, that is the essence of magic. Knowing what you want is Air - getting inspired by a certain scenario and daring to believe it's possible. Working toward it, manifesting it, is Fire, where lives the Will. Choose it, choose it, choose it again.

The magical part of this, of course, is that we often don't know how our Will may manifest. We focus on the goal, we repeat affirmations, work a spell, chant, etc. What happens next is the magic - the external world begins to align itself in accordance with our Will. The opportunities that do support our goals begin to appear. Then we can choose them.

And so it goes, one choice at a time.

"In the highest good of all, with harm to none. As I will it, so mote it be."

One Will

The Pagan Experience - Wk 2- June 8 – will/WILL –  What is your definition of will? What is your definition of WILL? How do you choose to express your will? What is your motivation in claiming your Will to action? How do you integrate the two for your magickal/spiritual work?


Mirriam-Webster defines will as - "desire, wish; used to express desire, choice, willingness, consent, or in negative constructions refusal".

For me, this dictionary definition covers "will", what I would term personal will. This is at the heart of our identity as human beings - we are mammals with individual agency. We have the ability to form individual desires and to carry them out through action, whether it be pre-meditated or spontaneous.

WILL I interpret as Divine Will, the will of the universal sea of consciousness, of the Gods. This is a difficult thing to understand, in my opinion. There are times when I get flashes of what the Divine might want or plan, but as a Pagan, there is no human manifestation of Divine Will or book for me to read. 

This topic is emotionally fraught for me, to be honest. I was born into a Catholic family. In that faith, there is the Pope, God's representative/avatar on Earth. He rules over a whole class of male priests who interpret and communicate God's will to the rest of humanity. They refer to the Bible as their guiding document. Our goal as humans is to live by God's rules as written down in the Bible, and to surrender our personal will to God. 

This has never set well with me. Certainly, it works well for many people. Hurray for them! Your life is simple under such a system - just follow the rules, listen to the priests and voila! A good life and eternal reward in Heaven after death.

After many years of study and seeking, my understanding of Divine Will and personal will is quite different and far more complex. First off, we are all divine, so our individual wills are fragments of the Divine Will. 

I do have relationships with several deities and I don't believe that they spend their time planning out every detail of my life. I do believe that they live through me, experience through me and enjoy embodiment through me, as they do through all material beings. But I don't know what they want; I don't think that our conception of desire or will fits them. In fact, what deities (or the Universe) will is the essence of mystery and the reason that mysticism and spirituality exist.

What then, is Divine Will? In my opinion, Divine Will is the Great Mystery. It is the great flow of the river of life. It is the voice within. That quiet, intermittent, persistent and loving voice that tells us to shine. It tells us to express our beautiful individuality. It tells us to create, to love, to heal, to grow, to explore. Divine Will is the energy of creation and attraction. It is love.

As for me, I express my will in living my life consciously. I strive to act in accordance with my beliefs. I aim to grow and develop myself as a human being to my fullest potential. My motivation in claiming my will to action is my belief that this is my job as a human being. To exist. To experience. To grow, learn, transform, and heal. To be a good citizen of my community, of the Earth, of the Universe.

Magically speaking, I use my will to make changes in my reality. My conscious mind has many desires. When I have one that merits magical and/or mundane action, I take time to think it over. Sometimes I consult the Tarot or the pendulum. In this way, I make sure that this fleeting desire is in accordance with my Higher Self and with Divine Will. I listen to my intuition. When the time feels right, I act.

Meanwhile, I have felt called to serve the Great Mystery through leadership. I've created an interfaith meetup group and a coven. I surely hope that these things are what the Divine wants. Honestly, I have no idea. I'm going on faith that helping others find their way is a good plan.

The clearer my vision becomes, the more that I come to understand myself and my place in the Universe, the more that I am able to contact that inner voice. The more that my personal will merges with Divine Will. 

But I'm not rushing to ultimate union. I believe that we each must play out the number of our days, enjoying them and learning from them to the fullest, without hurrying to our next destination. Full union with the Divine will come in its own time, when it is my time to leave this body behind.