Kything-The Loving Presence

Madeleine L'Engle

Originally posted to the Pagan Blog Project 2014,Week K



"My heart is a kything place where we ever meet."
                                                                - Caitlin Matthews, Celtic Devotional



Kything is commonly defined as an act of spiritual presence or contacting another through telepathic means. My first experience with kything came through reading Madeleine L'Engle's books A Wind in the Door and A Swiftly Tilting Planet. She explained that she found the word kythe in an ancient Scottish dictionary belonging to her grandfather, and that the word meant " to make visible". L'Engle was a stoic Episcopalian who promoted Universalism; in the liberal Anglican Communion, she is considered as a modern mystic.  The ultra conservative branch of the Church attempted to have her branded as a heretic.  I met Madeleine L'Engle on a red eye flight to Denver, Colorado in September of 1979; we were both on our way to volunteer at the Episcopal Church's General Convention. In the wee hours of a cold Wednesday morning,we had to change flights and found ourselves walking the entire length of the Kansas City airport concourse in search of an unlocked ladies room. By the time we'd used the facilities and found  a cup of hot coffee, we were engaged in an animated, thoroughly enjoyable conversation and had solved most of the world's ills. I was 23 and clueless that I'd just spent two hours in a private audience with one of the world's most famous authors. We had lunch a couple of times over the course of the convention ( by that time I realized who she was) and before we parted company she personalized a copy of A Wrinkle in Time for me and included her mailing address, so we could keep in touch.

One of those things we talked about was the communication of one person with another on the astral plane by kything. L'Engle believed it was possible to "know the mind and emotions of someone with whom you have an existing close bond", such as a sibling or a lover or a special friend...all you had to do was quite your mind and visualize that person in your third eye. It helped if you had something that you had received from the other to hold because it made the connection stronger. It was also easier if the person you were attempting communicating with was also thinking of you at the same time-the connection was quicker and more vivid. A few years later when I began to study the Craft, I realized that kything is a form of sympathetic magick.

Caitlin Matthews presents a lovely, simplified version of kything a loved one in her inspiring book Celtic Devotional. The method she uses is a visualization ritual sent out as a heart-level prayer. during the process you envision little things about your loved one: the crinkly smile lines around their eyes, the roundness of their lips and brightness of the eye. It is a wonderfully lyrical experience.
[http://books.google.com/books/about/Celtic_Devotional.html]

I learned another version of kything during a discussion of the book "Kything,the Art of Spiritual Presence" by Louis M. Savary and Patricia H. Berne [Paulist Press, 1989] at the Rhine Research Center in Durham, NC. Although Savary, a former Catholic pries,t and Berne, a clinical psychologist, use L'Engle's work as a foundation to teach  meditation and contemplative thought as a way to open the individuals insight through a conversation with the higher spiritual self, I found the writing and cumbersome language stereotypical to that of the 1980's New Age Movement. There are also several things that bother me about their approach, even though empirical information from various controlled experiments dot the pages of this book. Specifically, the wordy psychobabble and clinical feel- even though the book is presented under the genre of spirituality; contradictions concerning techniques (first the authors attempt to explain the technique of "grounding" as being "present to the self", then a paragraph or two away saying that grounding  prior to kything is not key to making successful contact. I think the thing that disturbs me most is the statement that if you don't know what the person looks like that you're kything you should visualize an image that represents them. It begs me to pose the question of why you would be kything someone you don't really know...and  feels slightly like an invasion of privacy- more of it being like remote viewing that connecting at a spiritual level.
[http://www.thewellspring.com/flex/professional-integration/2463/kything-being-present-to-another.cfm] Personally, I prefer the original concept by Madeleine 'LEngle and the technique suggested by Caitlin Matthews because they keep the feeling of kything being a sacred spiritual act in balance, making it more than just ESP/mental telepathy. The former is an invitation to spiritual union, the latter sounds more like generalized mind reading wrapped in New Age contrivance.

For further reading: http://www.virtuar.com/tango/articles/2007/kything.htm

Frauds and Fools

Yesterday, while I was blissfully window shopping at the mall, someone caught a glimpse of my pentagram and "just had to introduce" himself as a fellow Pagan. Before I could blink, he had locked in on me and gravitated into my personal space. I don't mind chance meetings brought about by recognition of the religious symbol hanging from my necklace; in fact, I've had some rather pleasant exchanges with people over the years. I've also had some, er...interesting ones. I could tell this was going to be one of the latter rather than the former.

" My name is Zoltan Equinus, and I'm a High Priest in Persephone's Mound..I'm also a 32nd degree Mason, a Reiki Master, and an ordained minister in the Order of Malki Tzedek. My partner Blatforth and I build our own stringed instruments and have recorded a CD of  music played on the balalaika. We'll be playing at a kirtan dedicated to Gwalchmei with full shanti on Saturday night. Maybe you'd like to come?"

This was all unloaded in an enthusiastic rush before I could exchange any sort of pleasantry...or even my name. I know my face was frozen in that 'smile-because-this-person-could-be-dangerous' expression; I could see myself reflected in Zoltan Equinus' black pupils. Admittedly, I was a little unhinged  because the last time I saw an individual with pupils blown out like that was when Burgess Meredith played an alien life form masquerading as a kindly old priest in an airport restroom- right before he ripped another patron to shreds and ate them.

Okay, maybe it was actually because my new acquaintance was a little too eager to share his Pagan credentials with a stranger. TMI, dude. A simple " hello" would have been much more conducive as a conversation opener than the implied, " You need to know I'm more accomplished than you are... right now." I might have been less momentarily fixated on the word DERANGED emblazoned across his T-shirt,too.

Otherwise he seemed to be a nice enough chap, except that even after exchanging a civil introduction and mundane pleasantries (which included commenting on my Peter Stone Celtic knot pentagram), he once again elaborated on his 'credentials' before departing. I would have liked Zoltan Equinus a bit more had he not felt he needed to impress me with his peerage...which he failed to do. Our meeting would have been much nicer if we'd simply introduced ourselves, or even if we'd exchanged knowing nods as we passed

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"Send me your haunted items" the listing began on a popular online auction site " I will examine and remove any negative energy from items you send and return them to you. My goal is documentation only as I am pursuing my second criminal justice degree. Donations appreciated."

There was a minimal flat charge for shipping and handling...and no other information. I would think twice about sending off anything that even might be a prized possession to a complete stranger. No name, no address...just an eBay seller listing, by an anonymous individual. The minimal shipping and handling charge would have basically covered transport of most items one way only. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to make assumptions about this one, folks.  One more thought: the alleged student was not working on a degree in metaphysics, mind you....Criminal Justice. No real mention of this being a paranormal research project. I'll leave it at that and you can formulate your own thoughts about legitimacy.

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" This handmade item has come to our possession from a local self proclaimed witch who has direct ancestral linage to a convicted warlock associated with a very popular witch trial city. This item was strictly created to absorb evil energies during castings and to guide negative, evil, misguided entities into a safer realm. It was made with brightly colored material to attract the good in life and banish the menacing. This ritual tool has been in use long enough and needs a good home to rest."

Wow...what a great offer! A used folk magick item that's more than likely just teaming with all sorts of interesting energies from who knows exactly where! The last sentence would send any experienced occult practitioner off to find his/her stash of holy water and a box of matches. Talk about opening yourself up for trouble? I'm not running a retirement home for lower entities and demons, are you?

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Lest you think all of the above examples I've given are the product of my over-taxed imagination, let me assure you they are all quite real. Unfortunately. I have only changed a few of the details in each situation for the sake of  propriety and litigation...but there are thousands more just as outrageous out there in our Pagan/Occultist/Magickal Communities, and even a novice could see through most of them. Or, at least I'd like to think so...but I'd be wrong. The reason these things still exist in our realm of experience is because some of us still actively and unknowingly engage in them...P.T. Barnum was right about a sucker being born every minute, because he knew the breath of human guile and gullibility.

Many of us stumble away from what we felt was a religious experience of untruths and falsehood into the welcoming and waiting arms of charlatans, frauds and fools who have found a niche preying on the spiritually malleable. People tend to want to believe things which are the direct opposition of what their previous situation was, believing the pendulum will swing will make things okay. Sadly, we too have those situations and circumstances but which turn out to be  equally as much lies...such as individuals with lots of credentials which turn tout to be too good to be true, or persons who "only want to help" the innocent by helping themselves to whatever they can, to intimate offers of tools or other services which are not only harmful, but potentially dangerous. Will you be fooled? I hope not. 

Swallows: Birds of Magick

There are many types of Swallows (aka as Purple Martins), but the one most associated with the occult is the Barn Swallow. A slim little bird, it has rounded wings and a distinctive long tail which ends in two long points. Swallows are found throughout Europe, Asia, Africa and the Americas, and there are six subspecies in the Northern Hemisphere alone.

Swallows are fast fliers: you will often see them diving after insects which have been stirred up by tractors working the fields. They find man-made structures convenient to nest upon-barns, chimneys, houses and bridges. It builds its cup-shaped nest out of mud and straw. Sometimes you will see a large birdhouse with numerous holes in them which look rather like apartment buildings; these are made exclusively for 'purple martins', and are indeed tiny little compartmentalized bird houses within one larger structure.

Swallows are frequently mentioned in religious and literary works due to it's close association with humans and it's migratory habits.They are often referred to by a name which relates to the location where they build their nests, such as 'barn swallow' or 'cliff swallow'. The story of the infamous swallows that return to the mission of San Juan Capistrano, California is still popular. Every year the birds leave town around the feast of the death of San Juan in October and return there in the spring around the feast of Saint Joseph in March. They have traced to a spot in Argentina where the migrate in the winter. The annual return of the swallows to Capistrano each year is a huge tourist attraction for the mission, which is the oldest building still in continuous use in California <sup>http://www.infoplease.com/spot/swallows1.html

Swallows are thought to be both a blessing and a curse. A story related to the crucifixion of Christ claims that the tiny swallows flew around the head of the deceased Jesus and chirping," Dead! Dead!" to the Roman soldiers so they would inflict no more torture on the body.

A swallow nesting in the roof of a building is believed to guard against lightning, fire and other misfortunes. If the bird abandons the nest, it is a sign of ill fortune. Killing a swallow will result in various punishments from damaging rains to soured milk, and even death of the perpetrator. Folk legends abound about birds, and it is especially thought to be unlucky if a bird flies into house; not so with the swallow, who is thought to a sign of happiness.

In many cultures, the swallow is associated with death. A Russian folk tale claims that the spirits of dead children take the form of swallows in an attempt to stay with their families. In Ireland, a hair plucked from the head by a swallow means the individual will not only die but is doomed to reside in Hell; the Scots believe that a swallow has a drop of the Devil's blood in it's veins [Cassel's Dictionary of Superstition, pg 252]. A Native American tale recounts the swallow bringing fire to humans, a feat commemorated by the ring of red feathers about the neck of some. Many folk tales feature the antics of swallows portending the weather, such as  this rhyme: "Swallows fly high, no rain in the sky; Swallows fly low,'tis likely to blow".

A prevalent belief in folk magick is that a swallow carries stones in it's crop which can heal madness, promote eloquence, restore eyesight, or bring luck to the bearer. There are other remedies which endorse the use of the body of a swallow for curing toothache, alcoholism,or epilepsy.
Copyright 2012, Broom With A View/Amaethjera</sup>