SoulCraft is a Wiccan-based magical tradition that uses Egyptian elements and a spiritual technology that includes methods of core shamanism, meditation and techniques derived from modern research in paranormal and consciousness studies.
Wiccan-based means that SoulCraft most often works in Wiccan-style circles and observes the Wiccan Wheel of the Year, consisting of the solar festivals (the solstices and equinoxes) and the cross-quarter holidays of Beltane, Lughnassadh, Samhain and Imbolc. Full and new moon esbats are also observed. Although the structure of SoulCraft is nominally Wiccan, some of our underlying philosophy and orientation are different from standard Wicca. These differences will become apparent as you read the pages on this site.
The nominal work of SoulCraft takes place in a circle that evokes the neo-platonic elements that are common to Wiccan traditions. Unlike most Wiccan traditions, the year in SoulCraft starts with the spring equinox (the beginning of the solar year) instead of at Samhain. In addition, all of these cycles are placed in an interpretive framework called the Journey of the Soul.
It must be stressed that SoulCraft is not an Egyptian tradition and no claim is made that the use of Egyptian elements represent authentic Egyptian rituals or practices. Authentic Egyptian practice may not be possible, for we exist in a different time and culture, and we recognize that our understanding of ancient Egyptian spirituality and religion is incomplete. Also, SoulCraft uses elements from other spiritual paths, and we apply the same principles to those elements as we do to the Egyptian ones. We try to remain as faithful as we can to the spirit and intent of the borrowed elements as we understand them, but we recognize that they are adaptations, not reproductions of the practices of the source traditions.
For example, a pipe ceremony in SoulCraft is not a Native American pipe ceremony, or a reproduction of one. Only one who has received proper training from a recognized Native American teacher can do an authentic Native American ceremony. Our pipe ceremony, then, is an adaptation, inspired by Native American tradition, but it is not Native American. It has been changed to fit within the framework of SoulCraft.
The Journey of the Soul is an overlay to the Wheel of the Year that describes a progression of spiritual lessons or developmental stages a soul undergoes as it evolves. These lessons loosely correspond to the holidays on the Wheel of the Year. Though they may be experienced in a different order, and the learning does not necessarily follow the patterns of the seasons, we acknowledge the lessons of the Journey of the Soul and celebrate them symbolically as part of the seasonal cycle. Ostara marks the beginning of the solar year, and the New Year in SoulCraft. The Journey of the Soul reflects this New Year theme in that the spring equinox symbolizes the emergence of the soul or the beginning of a new cycle of lessons.
SoulCraft makes no claims to ancient roots. We assert the timelessness of Spirit, but as a contemporary vehicle for spiritual experience and growth, SoulCraft is new. We reject the specious histories and shoddy scholarship that others use to create a false aura of legitimacy and authority.
The roots of SoulCraft lie in the eternal scope and nature of Spirit and in forms of ritual and religious observation that seem most effective for creating appropriate physical and psychological space that allows participants to have a spiritual experience. If authentic scholarship should turn our understanding of history on its head, the principles and practices of SoulCraft will remain largely unaffected.
The authority of SoulCraft as a tradition derives from the work and experience in assimilating its various elements and constructing the tradition around its philosophical, spiritual and theological foundations. The authority of SoulCraft as a conduit for spiritual growth and experience flows from the experiences of those who employ the tradition. Nothing is for everybody, and not all people will benefit from the structure and practices of SoulCraft. As much as it would please us to have created a truly universal spiritual system, this does not seem possible at this time.
We acknowledge the utility and beauty of science, mathematics and the powers of rational thought. We also recognize their limitations. With all of the tools of the rational arts at their disposal, rationalists, materialists, mathematicians and scientists have failed to produce a model that explains, or even describes, all aspects of our universe and human experience. The simple rebuttal of the ultimacy of their theories is the persistence of phenomena that defy explanation and the experiences of millions of people that do not fit within their models.
Given these millions of experiences and the data surrounding so-called paranormal phenomena, it is clear that reality extends beyond the reach of mere rationality. Even quantum theory, one of the crown jewels of physics, depends upon counter-intuitive principles that flatly rebut our notions of logic and rationality. Godel’s theorem proved that any logical system (including mathematics) is incomplete and ultimately rests upon unprovable assumptions. And Cantor's theorem proved that it is impossible in principle to create a theory that explains everything. So we are forced to the conclusion that logic and rationality are not sufficient to accurately model the universe. Reality consists in part of non-rational elements.
SoulCraft draws upon the methods of many spiritual traditions, including the tools of core shamanism, meditation, ritual and magic. We look outside of traditional and orthodox religion for philosophical and theological bases for our beliefs, and for extensions of our spiritual technology.
Our philosophical base is rooted in Process Philosophy, which began with Alfred North Whitehead. Process Philosophy describes the universe as an eternally emerging creation that unfolds from within. Our theological base is panentheism, which describes Spirit as immanent, external and transcendental. Our spiritual technology (the tools and methods we use in pursuit of understanding and spiritual growth, and in our magic, divination and healing) comes from a variety of spiritual traditions and from contemporary research in the paranormal and in consciousness studies.
Finally, our spirituality begins with the concept that Spirit is the source and substance of all manifested and potential existence. We are spiritual beings, part and parcel of Spirit, and containing in microcosm all of its qualities. Spirituality is the art of making contact with these qualities and activating them in our lives. We agree with Matthew Fox, who says that true spirituality begins with compassion.
SoulCraft is neither theistic nor dualistic. Although we talk about and invoke various “deities” in our practice, we do not insist on their concrete existence. There may be entities who possess the qualities we commonly ascribe to “gods” and “goddesses”, but in general we conceive of deities as aspects or avatars of Spirit that are comprehensible enough for us to work with. In matters relating to “truth” or “reality” we adopt the model of hierarchical interpenetration that Mark Woodhouse introduces in his book Paradigm Wars. In this model, reality has perhaps an infinite number of hierarchical levels. As Woodhouse describes it,
“...Each level in the Great Chain [of Being, ed.] (with the exception of the lowest) contains the level below it and (with the exception of the highest) is contained by the level(s) above it. More structured than the belief that everything contains everything else, interpenetration is asymmetric. Higher contains lower, suffuses and permeates lower, but not the reverse...
“But higher not only sustains lower. It also predisposes lower-level activity in certain directions, which is to say that the condition of our minds in general affects the conditions of our bodies. This should be understood in a strong pervasive sense, involving more than the simple truism that, after all, what we think or feel determines how we behave. It means, for example, that unresolved emotional and attitudinal issues can surface in the form of physical disease.”
In this model of dimensional interpenetration, things are true on their level of the Great Chain of Being, but they are not necessarily true (or real) on other levels. Thus, for example, unicorns, dragons and other mythical creatures exist in what James Hillman calls the imaginal realm, though we typically think of them as "only" imaginary.
The imaginal realm is where the archetypes reside, and where the gods and goddesses and mythical creatures exist. Though they do not have material existence on our level of the Great Chain, they do seem to have an existence that persists independently of our belief or non-belief in them.
Hillman’s imaginal realm invokes Woodhouse’s model of dimensional interpenetration and helps us to place magic in a psychological context that extends beyond normal perception without hallucination and delusion. Hillman would almost certainly dispute this point, as he denies that the imaginal realm has a metaphysical nature. We believe the imaginal realm is the (or a) crossroads where the physical, psychological and metaphysical intersect with the spiritual. It is the jumping-off point for therapy in Hillman’s original sense of the word as meaning serving the soul. We think it is also the jumping-off point for magical and shamanic practices, which are about serving the soul on individual and collective levels. Some parallels to the Tibetan bardo states seem apparent here. Interdisciplinary study in this area may reveal practical spiritual technologies for accessing and using the bardo states for magic, divination and shamanism.