City Witch: Finding A Cave
By Christopher Penczak
One of our strongest spiritual archetypes, from east to west, is the concept of a magical retreat. For some it conjures the image of the yogic ashram, or camping on the mountain top. My favorite image is the shamanic cave, retreating to the womb of the Goddess reminiscent of the Himalayan sages in their mountain cave retreats. But as a city witch, how you do you find the perfect mountain cave retreat? You can’t if you have your heart set on the romantic image. But if you are flexible, and if you are an urban pagan, than I know you must be, I have a solution for you.
Not to long ago, I was blessed with several days alone in a hotel room. What I thought would be boring long weekend consisting of trying to entertain myself, watching TV and sleeping in, became a weekend of magical exploration, ritual and self discovery.
The hotel can be a modern mountain, filled with many personal, private caves. Here we can retreat from the world, and take time to rejuvenate and revitalize. While traveling to the mountains may not be feasible for everyone when the need for a retreat strikes, the idea of taking a magical evening or weekend, just for you, away from your normal environment isn’t that far out of reach.
The purpose of the spiritual retreat is to disconnect from the mundane world, to see the magical world running parallel in the physical and to commune with these forces to bring transformation. The techniques to achieve such communion are:
Isolation – first a retreat from the people you are most familiar with, those you see daily, or those who know you well and ground you in your expected persona. Sometimes just getting away to someplace where no one knows you can bring a refreshing sense of new awareness. Typically magical isolation is from all human contact, and done in silence, to commune with nature without human interaction or communication, forcing you to commune through intent and intuition. When retreating in the city, losing all human contact may not be possible, or even necessary. Perhaps all you will need is the do not disturb sign on your door. With a personal vow and some will power, you can make a break from most modern technology, refraining from TV, radio and traditional transportation, keeping things as simple as possible.
Breaking Eating Patterns – Anything that breaks us out of our normal routines and patterns, including our food patterns, can serve as a wake up call. When we don’t eat the same things, at the same time, we break preconceived expectations about ourselves. Traditionally spiritual retreats had special cleansing or detoxifying diets, or fasting. Your urban retreat can be an excellent time to research and experiment with new eating patterns. If you plan on fasting, be smart and research a healthy, safe option. I favor detoxifying fruit diets and juice fasts. They clear the mind, heart and body to receive wisdom from the soul.
Prayer – Prayer is the heartfelt communication of your needs and feelings to the divine, a communication from the deepest core of your being, not just your mind. Most witches I know shy away from the word prayer because the word is usually found in a Judeo-Christian context they seek to escape. Personally I don’t feel the work is inherently bad for pagans and witches to use, when you understand the true meaning of prayer. It is connecting with the divine and communicating. When the prayer for a specific request is fulfilled, we say the prayer has been answered. To a witch, that is the same as a spell manifesting. I often describe spell work as ritualized prayer to my non-witch friends. In the Native American traditions, the concept of prayer is used along synonymous with worship, healing and our western concepts of prayer and spells. Shamans pray to the plant or animal spirits for the blessing of healing or harvest. In essence, they are doing the same thing a witch is doing through ritual and spells. So whatever your method of communication, taking the time to do it intensely, with sole focus, is the last mechanism of the spiritual retreat
The spiritual retreat into our urban hotel cave can be very effective with these three techniques in mind, modified to suit your current situation. I’m sure some purest will squawk that the a hotel room is no substitute for a sacred mountain. I agree. But I also believe the sacred is everywhere, if you look hard enough, and all you really need is yourself. So if you can’t go to the sacred mountain cave, then why not go to the sacred hotel cave? If you can get healing or insight, then how can it be a bad thing? Taking time to be mindful, to do magick and to remember the sacredness is the most important thing ever, superceding any other rule or tradition.
There is a tendency to think, I don’t have to go anywhere. I can make my cave in my own home. For witches who live with others, that can be a greater chore. For those who live alone, somewhat easier, but it doesn’t break you out of your habits as easily as a new environment. Home working, in the “home cave” of a room with a locking door is wonderful for everyday work, but when the situation arises that you need extra magical space to create your inner transformation, splurge a bit and get out of the house.
To truly work well in your urban cave, take time to plan your retreat and ask yourself these questions?
1) Why am I doing this? Magick is most effective with a clear intent, so what is your intent? The motivation doesn’t have to be grand and lofty. Are you simply needing to get away form the waking world and recharge you psychic batteries? Or do you have a greater working you wish to tackle, and need some space, privacy and focus? Traditional visionary retreats were often for guidance, not necessarily manifestation of will. People fast upon the mountaintop with training from indigenous teachers to answer life’s great questions – “How can I heal? What is my purpose? How do I find and use my power wisely?” You could go to develop and deepen your relationship with a particular goddess, god, totem or guide. Such ritual spaces are often created at life transition points, even if you have clear guidance, to make an appropriate mark and boundary, such as entering a new serious relationship, changing careers or entering a new phase of life, such as adult or elderhood. All these are great motivations, but so is “What do I find when I slow down and take some time for me?” Sometimes simplicity is the best key.
2) How long with I need? Determine the length of your retreat and stick to it. Plan ahead and reserve the appropriate accommodations. We have a tendency to want to extend our retreats, particularly if we don’t find the answers our ego wants, in hopes of not having to face our responsibilities. We often tend to cut it short, and assume nothing will happen because we don’t want to hear the answers in the first place. My setting a time boundary and sticking to it, you create a clear mechanism into and out of the ritual space. Traditional first quests are one night, second quests two nights, and so on, up to four nights, but these vision quests are most often accompanies by fasting. Elders would know when the time set was done, and send others out looking for you if you didn’t come back at the appropriate time. I suggest letting a magical friend know what you are up to and checking in with you when you plan to be back. Though there is little chance you will starve, freeze or be eaten by wild animals in your hotel room, it never hurts to play it safe, particularly if you are working with powerful issues and energies that you have been avoiding.
3) What do I need to bring? An important question indeed, since once you are there, you cannot go back to your home. You can, but you would be defeating the point of breaking contact with familiar settings. Gather only the essentials. For me, such retreats are more inner experiences, so the outer tools are less important, but I still like to have them. I might bring a basic altar set up that emphasizes my intent for the retreat. Keeping it simple, you could use just a single votive candle to be a meditative focus. Use whatever calls to you in designing the ritual. You can even make a quest for an appropriate altar item part of your retreat, as a sidewalking exercises. (For more on sidewalking meditations, see my book, City Magick: Urban Riutals, Spells and Shamanism.)
With these questions answered, you are ready. Once arriving at your hotel cave, make it appropriately suiting to your work, arranging things in a pleasant manner for you. I always do a banishing and protection ward in a new space, even if I am not doing a spiritual retreat. You have no idea who was here before you, so as the cleaning service empties it physically, it is up to you to clear it psychically. Since most hotels now frown on sage and incense, particularly in non smoking rooms, I clear it by visualizing violet light. Then I create a shield of prismatic crystal around the entire room, all walls and ceiling, including bathroom, to create a safe space, with the intention of barring all spirits and energies that do any harm.
If you are going to set up an altar, shrine or meditative focus, do so now and dedicate it. I also dedicate it to my intent, by writing out the retreat intention on a piece of paper and keeping it on the altar. Then follow your guidance and traditions for going inward and creating sacred space. Your ritual retreat can involve formally casting a circle, doing dream magick, mindfully eating your meals, meditation, shamanic journey or journaling. What technique will take your furthest in this moment. Perhaps a technique you don’t have the time or space for in your everyday life. Take the time now. Create. Rejuvenate. Make magick in your sacred urban cave.