Abilities

     I have worked with several people over the last few years. It is interesting how it happens. Something we are cautioned about in the craft has never happened.  We are cautioned about people come having wrong motives. I have met several, well skilled, and years experienced, and they know better, but never met any noobs asking.
    People come in various stages of readiness. Some are intrigued, and I believe, honestly interested, but as they learn they get .... maybe freaked?... and start with this 'that isn't normal' stuff.
      One of my favorite illustrations is a scene from an old show Roswell. At the end of the series, the hybrid was objecting to his trainer that these 'alien' abilities have him all freaked out. His trainer stopped him cold and explained 'these are not alien abilities, these are your human abilities. You have not even touched your alien abilities'.
      In the craft, we do not 'learn' the abilities. This is not some 'power we get from somewhere.' We are born with abilities. As babies before we speak, we learn to 'dumb down' to meet parents that don't feel us, and can't communicate with us. Many of us grow to adulthood and never find those things again.
       In the book 'Firestarter' by Stephen King the little girl was born with the ability to start fires active and working. They had fire extinguishers everywhere until she 'potty trained' her ability.
       We are all born with these abilities. We are just taught parentally and socially to pretend we don't. We are told it is 'not normal' and it is 'wrong' to have this, much less to use it. This is not entirely wrong. We should not have this until we are able to use it responsibly.
      The society we live in makes this nearly impossible. The reason they fear us is that they think if they could do this stuff they would abuse the ability, and expect us to. They don't understand having the ability to do profound abuses, and the purity of spirit to know not to.
      There is an upside, for example, to being able to feel things so deeply. I come up knowing a lot of stuff about people. There are several down sides. I pick up on a lot of stuff I really don't want to know. When I sense another with abilities, they usually cover and hide. I don't blame them. I have certainly been punished enough for mine.
     So we know abilities are normal, and born within us. As I was exploring my pantheon I was being mentored by a woman that was years more experienced. I told her one day that I was getting a lot of my stuff from Hecate. She was almost upset telling me I could get in trouble that way. I agreed, but explained that I just went uncovered, dead honest, with nothing to hide and it seemed ok. She told me I would not have any trouble like that.
     I have a certain access to the oracle of truth. When the moment is right, I open my mouth and truth I didn't even know comes out. There is a catch. I have to be totally honest all the time. I can be misinformed (though I get held responsible for that) but I can not outright lie and have this. I could have better connection, but I have not gone through the rigors. I don't know I am capable of the level of dedication to go deeper with this.
      This is what the song is all about. In order to have the profound abilities, there are responsibilities. We are not given the ability to see into people's souls so that we can snoop, or manipulate them. We are not given these abilities for our own personal gain. It is important to be able to be honest with ourselves about doing for the greater good.
     We have sayings such as: as above, so below, another: as within, so without. This song is about spiritual creatures that exist in that realm as surely as you sit reading this. They also exist within us. They have special and profound abilities, but the song cautions that we have responsibilities before we can have that. There are things about our own spirits that we must master before we are mature enough to have the ability.
      This is where the problem with misguided people in the craft comes from. There are ways around the responsibilities, but they come with prices. If you are not mature enough to have deep understanding of people, the stuff they carry can drive you crazy.  This is much of why many of us are isolated. The irritation and sadness of dealing with most people can get unbearable.
     Aleister Crowley, one of the most profound teachers I have learned from, Is also described as singularly the most evil person one individual had ever met. His downfall is that he had the idea he could use his ability any way he wanted, and make spirits do his will. This is not exactly wrong, but must be taken  in balance with working for the greater good, and  dealing from non self serving motives, or it does what it did to him.
       I limit my use of a certain tool. It makes things happen. It is easy to use, .... right, there is a catch. It must be used responsibly or it gets tragic results. When I first made it I was turning lights on and off, overturning bookshelves, and knocking things off tables. (All this with both shoulders pinned firmly to the bed) It took a while to 'potty train' those abilities to stop doing that while I was doing other things.
      Believe
      Get used to the idea that this stuff is not just tv, you can do it. .... Right, there's a catch. Really it is either or. You can learn the spiritual responsibility, and handle it with maturity, or you can get it the other way, and it will hurt you and everyone around you.
      Stone levitation
      Imagine the trouble a drunk on a bad day could do with this. I will pretty much help anyone that seems to have an honest purpose, but I have to watch to prevent giving things to people that should not have it. People do not fear us for what we are or can do, they fear what they think they would do if they could. Good thing they think they can't. Good thing nobody told them they can.
Blessings.