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

Knot What You're Thinking

We are up to week 24 of the Pagan Blog Project, and it's getting more and more difficult to select subjects following the alphabet. A few fellow bloggers are stymied and suffering the dreaded writer's block...it's more difficult to chose subjects for some letters than others. I'll admit that I've gotten behind-not because I've had writer's block, but because other things have been blocking me...sometimes Life simply happens and our schedules are disrupted...so here I am, trying to get back on track and post when expected...onward.

K is for knot...an " interlacement of one or more flexible bodies" according to Merriam Webster's Dictionary..."a joining or binding" says others. One of the most useful skills I learned in Scouts was knot tying. It was necessary to know how to tie knots to  successfully pitch a tent in the days before rip-stop nylon and shock cords, when a tent was actually made of canvas and guy lines were necessary to suspend the structure. It was literally a badge of honor if you possessed the ability to tie more than a half dozen knots at camp. And then there was macrame, which is a series of specialty knots applied as a type of hand- weaving...everyone in my generation knows how to make one of those utilitarian plant hangers that was so popular in the 70s. There are entire websites dedicated to tying fishing lures, which incorporate elements such as beads and feathers into the final product.

I will admit that my knot tying skills have degraded over the last few years of urban living. I discovered just how inept out of practice I'd become when I attempted to re-attach the clothesline to a tree and failed to properly fasten the rope with a proper clove hitch. I suppose nailing the clothesline tot tree would show a lack of ecological savvy and woodsman-ship, so I didn't resort to that drastic a measure. It's to the point where if I can't make do with an overhand knot, then I resort to other methods...like duct tape.

Superstition places great store in the magickal power of knots. Folk magick uses the power of binding luck to a person by tying a knot in an article of clothing being worn ( much easier to do when petticoats, skirts and long tailed shirts were the fashion). Tying a knot in a handkerchief was an easy way to remember something- and to hex and bind.Other schools of thought believe it unlucky to allow a knot to remain tied in some circumstances-such as twisted and knotted bedclothes. One old belief in particular is that a dying soul cannot be freed from the body if the sheets and blankets are wrapped too tightly or knotted. 

Happily I can report that most knot magick (or cord magick)will require nothing more involved in the way of supplies than an overhand knot and a short length of string. Knot magick is simple and done with little effort other than focusing your intention to bind the power of a thunderstorm ( particularly good when your working needs an energy boost later ) or bind love during a handfasting. Knot tying is one of those methods that are multipurpose and can be used in so many way as an effective tool. I usually include a period of meditation on my desired out come and use a chant to seal the work when I bind in the energy or release it. There is a more involved method for using knots and cords here:http://www.herbalmusings.com/cord-magic.htm Personally, I use utility cord ( the kind used to tie packages) because it is inexpensive and readily available. It is usually white or cream colored, which means it covers pretty much everything, but occasionally I have combined it with a bit of colored embroidery floss for a visual effect. They are tied firmly to keep the energy, but not so tightly they cannot be released by hand.

I have several very nice witch's ladders made of simple cord. One incorporates beads and a few silver charms, but the others have been made with simple overhand knots from thin cotton cord. They resemble a rosary or necklace and can be worn around the neck, wrist or ankle. They have been tied during the full moon, dark moon, wind and thunderstorms. I have one which was made during a hurricane and another during a particularly energetic rock concert....and they all work well for their intended outcome.

For practice, I would suggest tying a string of not more than three knots  on the same length at a time when you are feeling particularly powerful or confident, and saving that particular talisman for a time when you need a little something extra in your working.