Reading the Signs

One of the most ancient magical arts, and which has therefore been absorbed into the modern Craft is that of divination by signs and omens. Robert Cochrane gave crossing the Lethe, the mythological river of death, as another one and since it's the Christians' Good Friday I want to connect divining and endings or death.

Years ago a nun told me that Easter presents a problem in its celebration because we humans are not otherwise used to celebrating resurrections! I have no idea how the devotees of the many other gods who came back from the dead, celebrated this in the ancient world but it seems to me to present a real problem for most humans.

It is the exact problem that people have with the Death tarot card. It gets redefined to the point where it is hardly about death at all, but what is death but an inescapable ending? We cope with our fear of endings by tending to put them off or deny it completely. A good example would be the way half the world's population denies any forthcoming climate disaster and the other half are busy trying to put it off.

My own opinion is that it is very obvious that life on this planet will end at some point, even if we have to wait till the sun burns out. Of course it's quite likely we'll do it ourselves before then! My prediction is that if we don't end the world before the millenial generation get in control, it will then go better environmentally. I love the millenial generation for their strong sense of what is right and taking action.

The ability to face the omen rather than deny it may even be the difference between the witch figure and muggles.

This post was prompted in my mind by this article about a dead man who started breathing just as his organs were going to be harvested. I can't begin to think how difficult the situation must be for his family.