Revealed Gnosis in the Triskelion System

 Revealed gnosis or transmitted gnosis as I've seen it called by various practitioners, is knowledge one receives from their Gods and/or Spirits. This gnosis is usually not some temporary message or generic advice from our Gods. It's information and knowledge transmitted for specific purposes. It is often esoteric in nature and helps guide the practitioner towards a fuller experience and understanding of the Mysteries. In many cases it can also have valuable practical uses. While not always as clearly communicated as we might hope, Gods and Spirits have the capacity to teach us techniques, incantations and spells, rituals and invocations, secret names and words of power, and even entire systems of practice over time.

 

Divination can facilitate
the imparting of knowledge
from Gods and Spirits

This type of knowledge, the gnosis revealed to us by the Gods and Spirits, is an extremely important part of the Triskelion's nature and identity. My system would not exist without such gnosis because a large part of it has been and continues to be revealed to me through communication with my Gods and Spirits. I do not claim to be some kind of prophet or oracle. It's simply that in order to fulfill duties, goals, and plans, the divinities I worship and work with have deemed necessary to teach me all sorts of things. This doesn't mean that the entirety of my personal practice is revealed gnosis - not by a longshot. Neither are the things I have been taught some kind of unique, never-seen-before super-tradition. Let me make things clearer with concrete examples.

In the Hekatean part of the Triskelion, there are a number of tools I employ for my rituals and various practices. These aren't necessarily completely newfangled tools; what is "new" and "Triskelian" - in other words, what was revealed to me - are the specific uses, properties, names, and methods of creating and utilizing these tools. For instance, the Dagger is nothing new: most magical systems have some kind of magical knife (or more!). What was revealed gnosis was the way to consecrate it, its specific uses and purpose within the Triskelion system, how it is connected with Hekate etc. Other types of revealed gnosis were the existence and names of specific spirits, the way to approach them as well as rituals and spells with Triskelion-specific purposes.

Revealed gnosis is a fundamental part of the Triskelion because most of it wouldn't exist without this gnosis. Almost everything ends up tying together with previous bits and pieces of gnosis and over time has allowed me to give shape and form to the magical tapestry that is the Triskelion system. There's also quite a few "gaps" in the system because I either haven't received the associated knowledge yet or I haven't applied all of what I've been taught (and in some cases, both). This is also a disadvantage of my personal practice and its reliance on revealed gnosis: Gods and Spirits don't operate on human time or terms. I've received gnosis that didn't make sense or have an applicable role until years down the line, when I reached certain points in my practice that related to it. Other times, I didn't catch all the information (the unclear communication I mentioned earlier) and couldn't proceed with what I had. Still, I find that this systemic model suits both me and the Triskelion as a practice due to the extensive presence and utilization of ecstatic rites, trance-work, and spirit-work.

How do I receive this kind of gnosis though? Honestly, in many ways. Usually it happens when I am in a trance state, either in full ritual or during more casual spiritual and magical exercises. Somewhat more uncommon ways are direct instructions through oracles, divination, or unprovoked "spirit dialogue"*. I've also received quite a bit of gnosis through omens, signs, dreams, and similar synchronicities, although this has been the most random and least detailed way to receive gnosis. My preferred method is to engage in "spirit dialogue" during communion rituals and similar ecstatic rites and thus open myself up enough to receive any knowledge my Gods and Spirits might want to impart. It is my preference because it's a more "controlled" and familiar method which affords me the capacity to both acquire a lot of information and retain almost all of it.

After all these years, I tend to always keep one eye (and ear!) open, so to speak, so I won't be caught off-guard and miss or forget any important information. Sadly, I'm not perfect so I do miss "cues" at times, especially if the imparting of gnosis occurs through dreams or the trance-like state before we fall asleep. Like I mentioned earlier, Gods and Spirits don't operate on human terms and time so Their timing and approach can sometimes be inconvenient. Still, I consider myself lucky and blessed to have received and continue to receive so much knowledge from my Gods and Spirits. I am extremely thankful and happy to see my path unfold in such a manner. That said, I do wish things could be a little clearer at times!

* "Spirit dialogue" is what I call ecstatic, direct communication with a God or Spirit. In simple terms, it's literally talking with an entity! For me, their side of the "conversation" tends to manifest as foreign thoughts (seemingly random thoughts that I didn't consciously form myself - they often mentally "sound" different and contain information I couldn't know and didn't have the time to imagine), feelings and impressions, visions and/or manifestations in pathworkings, etc. Physical auditory and visual responses are very rare for me in general so I don't generally experience them in "spirit dialogue" either.

The Journey So Far

In lieu of recently celebrating the anniversary of my first, “official” Pagan ritual and the beginning of this life-long journey, I decided to write a post exploring my experiences and major milestones in my spiritual and religious evolution. I thought it necessary, lest I forget as I grow older: always remember your past so that you know what brought you where you are now, what the future might hold, and what mistakes you should avoid repeating.

I was always an odd kid, introverted and buried in books of fiction and fantasy. As far back as I can recall I was always enamoured with magic. This found an outlet beyond that of fantasy when I discovered a book in my grandfather’s library (a man of many talents and even more interests): Egyptian Magic, by E.A. Wallis Budge. The contents of this book utterly fascinated my 11-year-old self.

A bit of background info: I grew up in a decidedly Orthodox Christian country, where the only “choices” are Christianity or Atheism and where everything else is treated as either fairytales or something foreign and absurd. My family, with the exception of my maternal grandmother, are not religious (my mother and sister being, in fact, atheists) and I enjoyed as secular an upbringing as possible for a Greek. However, I was still exposed to the worldviews of Orthodox Christianity and (mild) Western secularisation, with all that entails. As such, and this being a time before the internet was widespread and easily accessible in Greece, I was ignorant of other religions, especially Pagan ones.

That book on Egyptian magic opened an entirely new world for me. Before I knew it, I found myself offering figs and water to Gods like Dhejuti (Thoth) and Bast, concocting “potions” with surprising results (such as making a “poultice” of sorts with mud and certain plants and grass that exterminated ant nests better than my grandfather’s chemicals), and weaving small spells inspired by that book which worked far better than I hoped or imagined.

This fascination persisted. When I turned 13, I was given a PC as a birthday present, along with an internet connection (I’m talking old dial-up internet, the kind that resulted in conversations like “Get off the phone, I want to check something on the internet!”). I immersed myself in the endless treasure trove of information that is the World Wide Web. I had already read the Da Vinci Code, which sparked my curiousity and fueled my doubts and skepticism towards Christianity. Soon, I decided to research the religion of the ancient Greeks, since we were never taught much beyond mythology at school. What I found enthralled me. I came across a Hellenic polytheist group, YSEE («Ύπατο Συμβούλιο Ελλήνων Εθνικών)», “Supreme Council of Ethnikoi Hellenes”), and studied practically everything available on their website. In the meantime, I found out about forums and Wicca. This new realisation that magic is real was almost too good to be true. I dived into the study of polytheism, witchcraft, and magic and I greedily consumed every bit of info I could find. Thanks to wonderful, knowledgeable people, mostly initiates of various Traditions and practices, I managed to shed my “fluffy-bunny fur” early on.

And thus came 2005 and my 14^th birthday. I had already decided that this was my life’s path. In order to make it “official”, I adapted the name-giving ritual from YSEE’s website and retook my given name (Stefanos) with its original, ancient Greek meaning of “garland” or “crown”. I named myself Pagan, polytheist, and Witch, and I dedicated myself to the study and practice of these things.

Around this time, I e-mailed the head of YSEE. I was deeply disappointed as I was treated rather badly; I was told I was “living miasma” because I dabbled in Witchcraft and magic, and because I am gay. This behaviour, along with the obsessively polemic and anti-Christian bias of YSEE, disgusted me so I abandoned it (I was never officially a member but from that point on, I stopped using their material or referring others to them). I ended up spending a few years in complete solitary practice, save for what semblance of community the internet provided.

Then, during 2009, I was hit by a powerful revelation. Three Goddesses – Hekate, Artemis, and Selene – made their desire for me to follow them and dedicate myself to them known.  I  was surprised and intimidated by this, especially by Hekate, whom I had never honoured or worked with before and for whom I even felt fear from what little I knew about Her. I performed many divinations and even requested help from good friends – and much more experienced practitioners. It was made apparent that I was called to devotional practice. However, I was asked to take some time to explore first. This was a truly God-sent message. After some time filled with study, rituals, and meditations, on October 31^st 2009, Artemis and Selene’s call all but disappeared. What remained, although empowered and crystal-clear, was Hekate. She asked that I prepare myself for a year: study Her, know Her, work with Her, experience Her, live Her, and then decide whether to devote myself to Her. Exactly one year later, on October 31^st 2010, I formally dedicated myself to Hekate.

This initiated (pun intended) huge changes and revelations. From that point on, on many occasions, I have felt the guiding hand of the Goddess and Her weaving of intricate plans. This persists even now and I suspect it will never end. Hekate has been the sole most important and deciding factor in my spiritual and religious life. She has shaped and continues to shape, everything about me.

Under Her wing, I found myself venturing forth to make more contacts, meet new people, and experience new things. I approached an Eclectic Pagan group in Athens, which sadly didn’t prove a fitting match. Through Hekate’s work, I got to know other devotees of Hers, and some years later met some here, in Greece. I also found another Hellenic polytheist group, Labrys, and was pleased to find it a much better community than YSEE.

Still, I strayed from all of that. Years of battling anxiety and depression made everything nigh unbearable. Unable to cope with fellow practitioners and co-religionists and even with my deities and spirits, I ended up abandoning almost everything: my practice, my writing, my dreams. The only thing that remained was Hekate’s aid: occasionally, I would have “good periods” when I attempted to regain what I had lost. This only helped to keep me somewhat “up-to-date” spiritually speaking, but that was enough and even necessary, as I recently realized.

The last year-and-a-half has been refreshingly fruitful, though! Thanks to treatment, I’ve been getting my mental issues in order (or, at the very least, making them manageable again) and this has had the positive effect of my being able to reinvigorate my religious practice. Specifically, since Summer 2015, I’ve been in a frenzy of inspiration, revelations, synchronizations, and improvement. My practice is almost entirely recovered and revamped. New aspects are being revealed to me and obstacles I could not overcome in the past are dissolved with barely any effort. In addition, I ended up reconnecting with a number of old friends and religious acquaintances and this has led to me acquiring a modicum of group practice and experience. There are definitely many things waiting for me in that direction.

As my recent posts will tell you, my overall practice is getting organized, cleared up, and stabilized, so to speak. I keep seeing old connections established again, old experiences and skills resurfacing, old knowledge returning and being relevant and useful again. This last year or so has been a time of true spiritual rebirth for me. I pray and hope it will continue and thrive.

That’s the summary of my journey so far. These past 11 years, I’ve gone from a kid half-playing at honouring Egyptian deities, to a teenager building his first polytheistic and magical practices, to hurdles and disappointments and the growing up that comes with late puberty, to a Hekatean devotee learning his place and role in the world, to a NeoHellenic Witch growing into an independent adult to, finally, the Triskelion practitioner, a Pagan, Polytheist, and Witch blessed to be himself. Here’s to further growth, improvement, development and the blessings of the Gods and Spirits!

Update: Path Changes And Other Stuff

Hello everyone!

It sure has been slow around here. I only posted once in 2015. Well, it was a pretty shitty year for me personally. However, it was also a preparatory period, in a way, for the evolution of my path. Here's how things have been changing.


My personal path, as most of you know, was called NeoHellenic Witchcraft and it was a mix of Hellenic Polytheism and Witchcraft. It's no longer just that. After much contemplation and seeking, I have decided (with a lot of help from the Gods and spirits) to allow my budding spirit-work and Neopagan practices to merge and grow into a new, unique practice: the Wildwood Druidry. I decided on calling it "Druidry" after all, since I've drawn a lot of inspiration from Ár nDraíocht Féin and, specifically, Ian Corrigan's spirit-arte material. The "Wildwood" part of the name comes from a particular spirit-realm tied to many of my pathworkings and which has been cropping up repeatedly and in many forms throughout the years I've been practicing, regardless of the changes in my path. The Wildwood Druidry complements the NeoHellenic Witchcraft and together they have given birth to the fullest (and most fullfilling so far) form my path has taken in the 11 years I've been involved in all this: The Path of the Triskelion or Triskelion for short. The Triskelion is not exactly an Eclectic system. Each part (Hellenic Polytheism, Witchcraft, Wildwood Druidry) is an entire, standalone praxis in its own right. However, all together, practiced by a particular person (in this case, me), culminate into a multi-aspected system and that is the Triskelion. That being said, all three practices have connections with one another and many things gained or learnt in one affect the others.


What does this mean, in practical terms? Honestly, I can't reveal specific details because I'm still figuring things out. The spirits see fit to grant me bits and pieces, although these often turn out to be the small push needed for me to actually work things out. So, maybe it's just spiritual short-sightedness on my part, heh. What I can say, however, is that I have been undergoing a lot of processes, some of which began since early Summer 2015 (as I found out not long before I wrote this post), others more recent and some visible on the figurative horizon but not yet realised.

Here's what I can share:

1. I've been going through the process of bonding with a potential familiar spirit, a stray cat killed by a car and whose bones I took and have been preparing for a good while (with the help of Sarah Anne Lawless' methods). I call this process "The Familiar's Bone Rites".
   
2. I identified a powerful Daimon that is proving instrumental to my Wildwood Druidry (and is also connected to the Hekatean Craft of NeoHellenic Witchcraft) - this great spirit is guiding me towards the acquisition of an actual "magical name" (He revealed it with a full title in Latin and Greek: Nomen Magicum, Verum et Mysterium, Ὄνομα Μαγικόν, Ἄληθινόν τε καί Μυστήριον), something I never wanted or needed before and even found a bit silly for personal ritual use given my solitary status. It seems the spirits have other plans. I am conflicted as to whether I should share the identity of the great Daimon or my magical name online (I legitimately cannot get my intuition to budge towards either yea or nay) so for the time being I'll err on the side of caution and non-disclosure and if things change, so be it. This is tentatively called "Nomen Magicum Work" although it has more to it than just the name-giving.
   
3. I've been doing massive organising, archiving, evaluating, researching, studying, and reinstating neglected bonds and practices. In actuality, this is the busiest part of this whole thing. Things get messy when you have amassed a decade's worth of material and I really need to make it nice and neat (not just out of perfectionism but because it's literally counter-productive and inhibits my more theory-oriented work).
   
4. I've been working on my partially-developed Hekatean Craft, since I have finally been shown how to concretely utilise the Elemental Pillars, and how to proceed beyond the Rite of Hekate's Triad Seal I performed so, so long ago. This means I am occasionally bombarded, so to speak, by gnosis regarding rituals, procedures and even some rare glimpses of what completing the necessary framework can bring forth. These are actually two different but connected endeavours and are thus called "The Peregrination of the Triple World" and "The Crossroads Cycles".
   
5. Finally, there is Witchcraft and folk magic work to be done; specifically, household workings and "pragmatic" or material magic dealing with day-to-day life, such as prosperity spells, client workings and magical self-care. This is the "Getting-My-Hands-Dirty Juju" (intentionally not as eloquent as the rest, hah).

In conclusion, I am on a very good track, spiritually, religiously and magically, despite bad habits of laziness, procrastination and forgetfullness getting in the way. And here's what this all has to do with the blog and its future:

• Expect more posts. I won't promise a regular schedule or theme (i.e. scholarly, practical, theological etc) but I do have lots of things to write about. Let's hope I can stay focused and true to all this.
  
• The blog will undergo some changes, although I don't know when exactly or the rate of their progress. What this means is that I'll update various pages, finish any works-in-progress, and maybe categorise posts by theme and content.
  
• I have many, many ideas for things to share on here and even expand my writing into areas like book reviews, recommendations and even more educational material. These are just ideas for now.

P.S. I am also doing some research and somewhat unsure exploration of self-publishing since I've been told some of the things I can (and do) share on here would also work well in book format. If that bears fruit, you will certainly hear about it.

Thanks for reading and blessings to all of you! Here's to a productive, wonderful and better future!