Frances Billinghurst's Blog, page 14

Books, Covid-19 and Devotional Works

I recently sat down with Rebecca Buchanan where she asked me about my devotional work with various deities, including the Dark Goddess, how my spiritual practice has been affected by Covid-19, as well as my writing projects, both past and upcoming projects.

Rebecca is a pagan poet and author of fairy tales, fantasy, horror, romance and science fiction.

My interview with Rebecca can be found here.

I first became acquainted with Rebecca through her involvement with Bibliotheca Alexandria, who have published a number of anthologies that I had contributed essays and poetry towards including:

Unto Herself: A Devotional Anthology for Independent Goddesses (includes my essay on Neith),

A Mantle of Stars: A Devotional for the Queen of Heaven (includes my essay on Nut),

Queen of Olympos: A Devotional Anthology for Hera and Iuno (includes my essay on Hera),

From the Roaring Deep: A Devotional in Honor of Poseidon and the Spirits of the Sea (includes my devotional invocation and beach side ritual to Poseidon),

By Blood, Bone and Blade: A Tribute to the Morrigan (includes a piece of my devotional poetry).

Join Me at the On-Line Seven Sisters Festival

Australia's Seven Sisters Festival is reputed to be one of the world's largest women's wellbeing festival.  Usually taking place in rural Victoria, this three day event is designed to celebrate, inspire and support each other and revel in the delights of being a woman.  Like many festivals originally scheduled to be held this year, the 2020 festival has moved on-line and will be taking place from 4pm on Friday, 16 October until 2.30pm on Sunday, 18 October across five Zoom rooms.

I am delighted to be presenting "SHADOW AND THE DARK GODDESS" in the "Experimental Space" Zoom room from 5.30pm on Saturday evening.
You can purchase your tickets here.  I hope to see you then.
**The times given are Australian Eastern Standard Time.

Contemporary Witchcraft will be setting the foundations

As I write in the introduction to Contemporary Witchcraft: Foundational Practices for a Magical Life, much appears to have changed since the early 1990s when I took my first steps into the world of contemporary witchcraft (then generally referred to as Wicca). Back then the neophyte (beginner) was expected to learn how to render the “veils” between this world and the mystical one by applying themselves to the work in order to understand these mysteries. 
 My initial instruction not only focused on the practical application of ritual and magick, but also the “behind the scenes” information, providing an insight into the psychological changes, as well as what is actually happening on the astral level. It is this understanding that enabled me to gain a stronger belief in the magical work that I was undertaking – a belief that also proved to be most beneficial during dark nights of the soul, the times of doubt when the logical mind saw me questioning what I had been dedicating much of my adult life to. 
These days Wicca has almost become a generalised term for neo-paganism, which often includes an assortment of New Age practices, as opposed to focusing on the initiatory teachings that stem from the original vision that its founder, Gerald Gardner, and later, Alex Sanders, had. Despite what seems to be a copious amount of information available today, much tends to be the same material regurgitated without any real instruction as to why or even how certain techniques are done, let alone any form of acknowledgment as to where the information was originally obtained. There also seems to be an increasing belief of “anything goes” and “do what you feel”, resulting very much in a self-styled form of witchcraft with an emphasis on using one’s own intuition, as opposed to older foundational work.

Times may have changed, as have the needs and desires of people, and whilst spiritual practices also have changed, this does not necessarily mean that all of the original vision Gardner had is outdated and needs to be discarded. As the saying goes, we do not have to “throw the baby out with the bathwater”. When it comes to magick, there are still aspects and techniques that simply can only be learnt over time through the practice of the magical art. Such things cannot really be taught through the pages of a book or the internet. There are other aspects of magick that are best taught under physical instruction of a trained practitioner as opposed to a handful of inexperienced novices boasting about their alleged successes.
Contemporary Witchcraft: Foundational Practices for a Magical Life will be published by Moon Books mid to late 2021.

My Interview with Witch: Radiant & Rooted Now Available

I am delighted to announce that my interview with Kim from Witch: Radiant and Rooted is now available.
You can listen to it on podbean through this linkhttps://witchradiantandrooted.podbean.com/e/interview-with-frances-billinghurst-episode-9/
Alternatively, you can watch it on following You Tube video where I chat with Kim about my forthcoming book, Encountering the Dark Goddess: A Journey into the Shadow Realms, as well as why I consider working with the Dark Goddess important when it comes to shadow work, and also my second book with Moon Books due for release later in 2021:

Guest Appearance on Witch: Radiant + Rooted Podcast

Kim of Witch: Radiant + Rooted with her copy of
Encountering the Dark Goddess: A Journey
into the Shadow RealmsThis morning I had the delightful pleasure of being interviewed by Kim, one of the co-hosts of the podcast Witch: Radiant + Rooted, a Southern Hemispheric seasonal podcast that celebrates the stars, the earth, and the in-between.

In the interview we talked about my forthcoming book, Encountering the Dark Goddess: A Journey into the Shadow Realms, which will be officially published by Moon Books in March 2021.  Kim had just finished reading a pre-release copy that can be ordered direct through me.

We also talk about my second book to be released through Moon Books next year, that being Contemporary Witchcraft: Foundational Practices for a Magical Life.

For non-Australian readers, pre-orders of Encountering the Dark Goddess: A Journey into the Shadow Realms can now be made through John Hunt Publishing as well as Amazon.com.

My interview is expected to be available on the Witch: Radiant + Rooted podcast round the Southern Imbolc, which will be taking place next weekend (1-2 August 2020).

Introduction to the Shadow and Shadow Work

In his On the Psychology of the Unconscious, psychologist Carl Jung stated:

“It is a frightening thought that man also has a shadow side to him, consisting not just of little weaknesses and foibles, but of a positively demonic dynamism. The individual seldom knows anything of this; to him, as an individual, it is incredible that he should ever in any circumstances go beyond himself. But let these harmless creatures form a mass, and there emerges a raging monster.”

In my forthcoming book,  Encountering the Dark Goddess: A Journey into the Shadow Realm , i described the Shadow Self as:

"The Shadow Self is also seen as an archetype that represents the neglected side of our nature. It is this aspect of ourselves that can drag us down into a pit of despair. This “darker” side of our personality relates to the “reptilian”, or our more primitive, instinctive brain functions that we share with all reptiles and mammals. These most powerful functions form part of our oldest coping brain functions and without which, we would not be alive. These functions include emotions and impulses such as anger (often coupled with fear), sex drive (need to procreate) and selfishness (survival). If any of these functions are taken to the extreme or enacted upon in a less than desirable manner (dictated by society’s norms), then we may find ourselves shunned, our actions disproved of, and we end up being categorised as “undesirable”."




The second part of my thoughts on the Shadow and the Shadow Work can be found is this second video:


I anticipate to share more of my thoughts on working with the Shadow and the Shadow Work, especially when utilising darker aspects of the deity, as I suggest in my upcoming book, Encountering the Dark Goddess: A Journey into the Shadow Realms (now due for release in April 2021, due to be published by Moon Books).

In his On the Psychology of the Unconscious, psychol...

In his On the Psychology of the Unconscious, psychologist Carl Jung stated:

“It is a frightening thought that man also has a shadow side to him, consisting not just of little weaknesses and foibles, but of a positively demonic dynamism. The individual seldom knows anything of this; to him, as an individual, it is incredible that he should ever in any circumstances go beyond himself. But let these harmless creatures form a mass, and there emerges a raging monster.”

In my forthcoming book,  Encountering the Dark Goddess: A Journey into the Shadow Realm , i described the Shadow Self as:

"The Shadow Self is also seen as an archetype that represents the neglected side of our nature. It is this aspect of ourselves that can drag us down into a pit of despair. This “darker” side of our personality relates to the “reptilian”, or our more primitive, instinctive brain functions that we share with all reptiles and mammals. These most powerful functions form part of our oldest coping brain functions and without which, we would not be alive. These functions include emotions and impulses such as anger (often coupled with fear), sex drive (need to procreate) and selfishness (survival). If any of these functions are taken to the extreme or enacted upon in a less than desirable manner (dictated by society’s norms), then we may find ourselves shunned, our actions disproved of, and we end up being categorised as “undesirable”."




The second part of my thoughts on the Shadow and the Shadow Work can be found is this second video:


I anticipate to share more of my thoughts on working with the Shadow and the Shadow Work, especially when utilising darker aspects of the deity, as I suggest in my upcoming book, Encountering the Dark Goddess: A Journey into the Shadow Realms (now due for release in April 2021, due to be published by Moon Books).

Author Snapshot Interview: Frances Billinghurst

This week I had the great honour of appearing in Rachel Patterson's Author Snapshot Interview .  Rachel is a well respected author on kitchen witchcraft, High Priestess of the Kitchen Witch Coven, and is an elder of the online Kitchen Witch School of Natural Witchcraft. 
Some of the questions Rachel asked me included:
:: what or who inspires me,:: whether I had any daily spiritual practices and if so what they were,:: what my favourite sacred or spiritual places are,:: what were my favourite subjects to write about, and:: what is the one article, book or talk that I am most proud of.
Rachel also kindly included a list of the books that I have published to date, both self published through TDM Publishing as well as the two that I have currently in various stages of publication with Moon Books.
If you are interested in what I told Rachel, you can read my Author Snapshot Interview here.

Death, Descent and the Dark Goddess

Artist UnknownWorking with the Dark Goddess often involves descending into the Underworld and undergoing a form a "death".  This "death" could relate to the releasing of unachievable expectations and beliefs of ourselves, including career or relationship goals, and even the removal of outdated idealisms and perceptions that we have often taken onboard from our social environment.

As such, it is important that these "deaths" are treated in the same way that a death of a loved one (or pet), the ending of a relationship, or some other milestone in our lives are dealt with.  By this I mean that regards of what the "death" is, we still find ourselves go through the five various stages of experiencing grief as identified by Swiss psychiatrist, Elizabeth Kubler-Ross, even if we are not consciously aware of this.



If we do not allow ourselves to grieve naturally after our descent and release of our attachment to what has been lost, then our ability to return to the surface and completely integrate our new life can be difficult.

The following video from my YouTube channel that contains a reading from my book, Encountering the Dark Goddess, about descent, death and the Dark Goddess. 




An assortment of videos about the Dark Goddess and working with the shadow self can be found on my YouTube channel that also includes various other discussions on metaphysical and magical topics. Please feel free to describe so that you do not miss out on further updates.

Live Reading from Encountering the Dark Goddess

I will be doing a live reading from my latest book tomorrow afternoon (3.30 pm Adelaide time). "Encountering the Dark Goddess: A Journey into the Shadow Realms" is due for release in March 2021 through Moon Books.

The Dark Goddess is often associated with the Underworld where she leads the uninitiated through a transformative journey of self-discovery, change and soul. She is connected with the unwanted, the forgotten, the ignored or even ashamed parts of our psyche. However there is more to her than that.

"Encountering the Dark Goddess: A Journey into the Shadow Realms" guides you through what this challenging facet of the Divine Feminine, the Dark Goddess, is truly about, and encourages you to step through the veils into her hidden realm to explore 13 aspects of herself.

Early pre-release copies can be ordered direct from me (Australia and New Zealand only) through this link.

UK/USA and rest of the world copies can be ordered through John Hunt Publishing

ONE DAY DARK GODDESS RETREAT
I will be hosting an one day workshop at the Riverdell Spiritual Centre, near Gawler on 12 September 2020. Bookings are essential as there are limited places available.

I am also hoping to be at the CONSCIOUS CONNECTION OF SELF Women's Retreat to be held in Queensland, in November 2020.

Do not forget to subscribe to my Youtube channel