CUSP: Climbing Up the Spiral Pathway

By Katrina Rasbold

I have been so busy reveling in my harvest that I have simply not had time to do a  Mabon post before now, so here it is almost a week late, but still heartfelt and joyous.  

Mabon is, of course, the time in our harvest year when the larders are starting to fill from 6 weeks of harvesting from our fields.  While the fields continue to produce over the coming 6 weeks, we also now have the second harvest, which is considered to be the boon from the God and Goddess for a job well done.  Sometimes, if our harvest did not manifest during the first harvest, this boon is what sustains us through the cold winter.

This time is thought of as “the boon” because the crops that would grow with our without our own nurturing, such as apples, nuts, blackberries, etc, are coming ripe and can be picked from the trees and bushes having grown there almost like magic.  These supplemental foods often filled in the gaps for those who depended on their agricultural success to keep them fed until the next harvest arrives.  

In CUSP life, the things that are to be manifested by our own involvement and energy tends to show up between Lammas and Mabon, with some of it continuing through the Fall until Samhain.  Mabon through Samhain is a very special time when blessings seem to come to us from unexpected sources through the sheer grace and love of Deity.  Those goals and surprises that need a little divine assistance are the ones that tend to manifest during this time.

That makes this a particularly special and exciting time.  For me, it’s like waking up to Christmas day every day, wondering what I’ll find under the tree.  Sometimes, it’s something small and sweet and other times, it’s a huge blessing that cannot be denied.  I love them all.  

I have already received several tokens of affection from Deity and I cherish each and every one.  I look forward to what the remainder of the harvest period brings.

On November 1st, it was traditionally believed that whatever was left in the fields unharvested could no longer be used as it was “poisoned.”  Although this might seem rather arbitrary and nonsensical when there are perfectly good cucumbers, pumpkins, beans and such out there waiting to be picked, it’s actually a fairly sophisticated form of good sense.  It teaches us to “make hay while the sun shines” and be invested in the time of the harvest in a sweaty, back-breaking fashion.  To everything, there is a season and when the season of harvest has gone, it’s time to let go.  It teaches us not only discipline, but to know when to release what we cannot have.  Just like the Christian premise says, “God always answers prayer, but sometimes, the answer is no.”  Samhain tells us that it’s time to stop the part of our lives where we take and expect and to begin the part where we settle and adjust to the new factors harvest has produced in our lives.

But what if what you planted in the Spring has not manifested by the time November 1st rolls around?  That is the curse that has plagued us since this path first revealed itself to us back in 97.  While there have been MANY times that a goal manifested for harvest in a fashion that was very different (usually better) than the practitioner intended or expected when they planted, there are a few times we’ve seen where the anticipated goal just never manifested at all.  There was a deafening silence.  Usually, in retrospect, the person doing the planting could see where there were clear redirects from The Universe that were either missed or ignored.  Sometimes, we want a thing so very much that we intentionally or subconsciously ignore the signs that we should be working in a different direction.

Sometimes, the message is not that you’re not going to get what you planted, but more that “You will get it, but it’s not quite time yet.”  CUSP works from the energy that is stored into the collective consciousness of humans from repeated ceremony and practice over thousands of years by humankind.  This is imbued the touch point days we celebrate with a particular energy that we are attuned to because it is embedded in our DNA structure to react to those energies.  

All of that, however, is a man-made concept.  Time itself is a man-made concept.  The Universe and “The Process” knows no time constraints.  While you may have put a goal out there at Spring Equinox, right on schedule, and dutifully followed the cycles of the year toward the nurturing of that goal, you are still following a man-made premise while dealing with divine influence.  That’s the wild card.  Magic takes the path of least resistance and most of the time, the path of least resistance is what follows the natural course of human existence.  Every now and then, however, The Universe plays a “not quite yet”  card, basically “pulling rank” and refusing to follow the box we try to put it in with our man-made time frames.  When this happens, after you have had a good sit in your mud puddle of sorrow and had your pout, you will usually recognize the inherent power in the moment, provided you are plugged in magically and in tune with the flow.  When The Universe takes hold and begins controlling things, all bets are off and it’s anyone’s ballgame.  If this happens, meditate and/or use a divination tool for clarity and know that you are in the supremely magical moment of being held in the hands of the God and Goddess.  They have singled you out for special care and you can bet that your goal is going to manifest in a profound way, likely when you least expect it.

Or, as I said, you might have just jacked up the re-directs between Candlemas and Spring Equinox.

Eric and I have been flying through yet another amazing harvest time.  He planted something very simple:  reveal to me my passion and allow me to make money to support my family while doing it.  I did a ritual in tandem with his planting to vow my support to this goal since he has been very unhappy in his profession (he’s an electrical contractor who owns his own business) for some time now.

His initial thought when he planted this year were that it would manifest in the form of gold mining (he has many, many claims that are local to our home and loves to mine), the California Highway Patrol (out of nowhere, he got several indicators that he should apply) or that his business would take off and come up out of the ditch it had been languishing in for several months.

It is natural that when you plant, you have some degree of speculation on how your goal will manifest, but since we are not the be all and end all, you always include disclaimers like “this or better.”

He pursued the Highway Patrol aggressively, even cutting off his beloved long hair for his final interview.  He got far into the process before information came up that confirmed to us that this was not the path he was to follow.  Of this choice, he had said all along that his feeling was that he had to be willing to take the leap of faith and try, not that he had to actually do it and that ended up being exactly what happened.

He mined for gold aggressively through the year with minimal results.  Like a harpie no one wants to hear, I kept pointing out apparent redirects and he would acknowledge them and press forward anyway.  The fact was that he really, really, really wanted it to be the mining that got the Universal endorsement.  It finally took Governor Schwarzenegger, in a surprise move, signing into law a bill that was expected to not hit actuality until next year, banning all gold mining dredging.  Effective immediately, penalties would ensue and they were harsh ones.  He piddled around a bit after that, but he was done.

His business folded just after Beltane.  He completed a major project he was doing for Beale AFB and then no more work came.  He later learned that electrical contractors are the #1 most displaced employees in California.  

With his three main ideas now squashed, he began to look in other directions and learned that he can still use his Montgomery GI Bill to go to college and that a number of other benefits are available to him as a disabled veteran that will allow his tuition and books to be covered for certain certifications and degrees, plus he can get paid directly for going to school.  This got him extremely excited.  He has been an inch away from his AA for almost as long as I’ve known him and just never got around to finishing it.  He also learned that a pilot school is included in the choices and that is a lifelong dream of his.  In fact, he was actually only enrolling in the Highway Patrol in order to put in the year on the highway he had to complete before training to become a helicopter pilot.  This gets him in the seat even faster.

He gets home from a wonderful trip back East (part of his “boon package”) to visit his family tonight and then he starts aggressively working to get into the Winter semester for school

That’s his deal.

Normally, we could not afford for him to go to schools as his “vocation,” but that is where my own harvest comes in.

What’s funny is that I completely forgot one of the goals I planted while I focused on another one and it still happened.  God is efficient, I tell ya.

I planted three things this year:  to lose a significant amount of weight and to get a job that brought my own financial security and contributed to the family income and was also something I enjoyed doing.  I also planted financial security for our family.  

I began losing weight right away and was led to a number of different tools to help me do that.  I did not lose as much as I wanted to by this time, but I am down by around 40 pounds and feel wonderful.  I also feel very optimistic about the rest coming off throughout the course of the next year.

The financial security still is working out some bugs.

I completely forgot that I planted a job.  I only wanted the job at the time of planting because a few days before, Eric had been “in a mood” and had said some things that had really pissed me off.  I quit my very lucrative civil service job in 1998 to become an official stay at home mom for the first time in my life.  I loved it completely.  When my kids were all in school, I suggested to Eric that maybe I should go back to work to help with finances, which, as usual, were limping.  He pssshawed the idea and said that he really wanted me to be at home and I wholly endorsed that idea.  I was bringing in some money from my website design business, plus we only had one car that he was using for work, plus we live a bajillion miles away from anywhere with no public transportation.  It seemed like a done deal and I was perfectly good with that.  He and I enjoy spending time together and not having to coordinate work schedules to do that was a good thing.  

But then he pissed me off and I said, “Harrumph, I’m going to find a way to take care of my damned self” and planted the job.

And forgot about it because he apologized.

Around seven nanoseconds before Lammas hit, I came across a Yahoo news piece on the best jobs to have working from home.  A consultant on the article was the guy who developed the website www.ratracerebellion.com, which lists a ton of stay at home jobs and how to apply for them.  Just for fun, I went to the website and saw that there were two links there to apply for jobs working on a psychic hotline.  Just for more fun, I filled out the applications and submitted them since I’ve been doing Tarot readings for 26 years and have done them professionally since 1993.  

Then I forgot about that too.  Menopause does crazy things to you.  

Around 8 nanoseconds after Lammas, I was working away on someone’s website and got a call from a guy asking if we could schedule and interview and sample reading.  I was stunned, to say the least.  We set it up for that evening and I figured I should let Eric in on what was going on by then, mostly so he could keep the kids out of my ass while I did the reading.  He was completely shocked, but very supportive.

I did the reading, got the job and started on August 14th.  I had no idea what to expect from such a job, but I do enjoy it.  Although it does involve a good bit of intuitive work and card reading, I quickly learned that a whole lot of it is listening to people and giving them advice based on what you see in the cards and such.  Sit around and talk to people all day, telling them what to do?  It’s a job match made in heaven.  

The only two days I’ve had off work since then were August 15th and 16th because my grandkids were visiting during that time.  I work pretty much whenever I can.  That is the main reason for this entry being late, as well as typical Mercury Retrograde stuff.

I hate talking on phones, as anyone who knows me can attest, so it’s kind of ironic.  I have several regular callers now and it’s always good to hear from one of my return clients.  I think I make a pretty good counselor. There is a lot of path work involved of clarifying where the person is now and what their best route of the situation is.  Most calls are about love life issues.  

Most importantly, I am making a good bit of money doing this.  Unfortunately, we were so far into the hole that we aren’t really safe yet, but we’re getting there, slowly but surely.  

Even if we do get safe and Eric begins to make a lot of money, I don’t expect to let this job go.  It works for me.

All that has happened and we are just beginning the time of the boon!  I am very excited for what it will bring and despite dealing with the snow, which I hate, I do look forward to the introspective time of Winter this year.

Happy boon to you!

Is anyone else just plum blown away by how fast the year is going by?  It seems like just yesterday that I was mulling over ideas for what to plant this year, sitting in a white world of snow and dreaming a little dream of how things would be at the end of the harvest year.

Now we’re on the threshold of yet another harvest, the 12th CUSP harvest since it began to form in 1997.  Each year, our harvest grows on the layers of the ones before it, each feeding the next and the next and the next in automatic crop rotation.  By the 4th – 5th year, the CUSP path had refined into a sophistocated, but easy to manage and implement system of positive manifestation.  It has never let us down in all those years.

The crops are tall in the field and becoming heavy with the first harvest.  Far from being the end of the cycle, harvest is the time when we work harder than we have at any other time of the year.  The next 12 weeks of harvest until it ends on November 2nd will be challenging, to say the least.  We harvest until we feel like our backs will break and our legs will give out on us.  In our “real” lives, we are now seeing the results of months of preparation and activity.  The changes begin and sweep us along in the process of reaching our goals.  

That is not to say that a big truck drives up to your doorstep full of harvest on August 2nd and piles it in front of your house.  No, you still to go get it and that, in and of itself, continues to be part of the manifestation process.  I have had plenty of years that the third week or so of October rolls around and I am still wondering, “Where the heck is my harvest??”  Although the timeline is specific to the energies of the holidays celebrated and held dear by our ancient agriculturally based ancestors, the energy of nature still has its own ideas.  Sometimes, we don’t even realize that the harvest actually has come in until we look back on it in retrospect.  We often get such a firm idea of how harvest will look to us, that it shows up and sits at our feet in a different form and we don’t even notice.

When you are contemplating your harvest, always go back to the exact words you used at your planting in March and the ideas that were in your head at that time.  Even write them out and look at them, meditating on them and considering all of the inflections and ways this goal could come about.  

Personally, Eric planted the goal of finding a vocation he could be passionate about that would meet our financial needs.  For a long time, we thought it would be the Highway Patrol, which seemed to come up out of nowhere as an option.  As the situation unfolded, however, we began to see that it was not the idea choice for him and he was instead lead into the waters of the womb of the Mother Earth to mine for gold.  He has spent many hours in the past several weeks working in the American and Cosumnes Rivers, literally searching for the gifts the Mother Earth has to deliver.  Now that the harvest is upon us and the Earth is yielding up her beautiful, healthy offspring, we expect he is going to be blessed with an abundant harvest.

I planted a healthy weight loss and so far, I have lost 30 pounds.  Many tools came my way through unusual sources to help me along my way.  I originally planned to lose much more by now, but was led down a different path and now I know that the weight will be lost in stages.  The next stage begins this weekend as harvest debuts and will likely end November 2nd.

I hope your harvest is boutiful and your celebration of this magical time is joyous.

Can it be here already?  Happy SUNday everyone!  Today, the sun rules for the most time that it will in the entire year, giving us a masculine strength and the warmth of the Protector’s cloak all around us.  It’s so appropriate that today was actually Father’s Day when we are able to honor those special men who love and protect us in our lives.  I was so fortunate to find, under the most unusual of circumstances, the man who I feel I have loved for my entire life and will love for many lives to come.

It’s hard enough to find a great dad, but how hard is it to find a great stepdad?  My dear husband was loving and generous enough to take the children of other men into his home and into his heart to love, protect and teach them.  Whether a child of mine was his own or not, he treated them with the same kindness, thoughtfulness and generosity of spirit.  The relationship he has with each of my six children is individual and very special and I am so grateful to have found him and I thank the Goddess that they have the blessing of not just knowing him, but having his protection over them.

Likewise, he has protected me, just as The Protector guards The Goddess while she grows our harvest in her womb each year.  He carries me around on a little satin pillow and feels me chocolates all day.  He makes certain that I feel cherished and respected and valued as a person.  He is my very best friend, above all others, and he is my rock.  In October, it will have been a magical 13 years since we met and I each year, each day and each moment, I love him and appreciate him more.

When the Moon’s power is at its height in December, we light a candle and turn introspectively into ourselves, embracing the feminine mystique in all of us, our intuitive natures and the watery depths of emotion.  When the Sun rules at Midsummer, however, it’s time to be outside in the heat, enjoying the physicalities of life.

One group I worked with used this day to have competitions amongst the men, young and old, to see who would be the Sun King for the year.  Their trials would be physical as they competed for the Warrior King title, throwing spears into haystacks, hurling large weights and running races.  They would be insightful and wisdom-based as they would competed for the title of Sage King.  Next, their level of cool with ladies would be tested as they vied for the title of Lover King.  All of the guys who were competing had to go through each category, amassing points in each one.  The minor three titles went to the fellow who got the most points in their individual category, but the manly man who collected the most points in all three competitions combined won the title of Sun King.  If there was tie, we let them battle it out with the battle sticks until one man had lost or broken his stick or was down.

Of course, the women cooed and cheered and batted their eyes appropriately as all of this commenced.

One of my favorite things about Midsummer is the communion with the Fairies.  I was never much about Fairies until we moved to Grizzly Flats.  Up here in the mountains, they will not be denied.  They were here before us and will be here after us.  They play all around our Earth Labyrinth and especially on Eric’s balcony outside our bedroom – his Man Cave.  

The first summer we were here was 2004 and after arriving in March, I knew that for the first time in my magical life, I would be working with the fairies at Midsummer.  We made a fairy ring inside of our circle area and inside it put an assortment of shiny items, pretty buttons, tiny mirrors, glass marbles and the tiniest little wine glasses filled with sweetened milk, along with some crumbled cookies.  We called them in and welcomed them to be with us until they chose to go, wishing them well and asking for their protection and kindness in return.  I’d always heard that Fairies were a mischievous lot, but we are on our 5th year with them and have never had a problem.  

The day after we called in the Fairies in 2004, we went back out to the circle and saw that all of the little glasses were knocked over, some of the items we’d left were gone and there was a tiny pair of bright pink shoes in the ring.  I picked them up and put them on our indoor altar until the next Midsummer.

As I was putting them on the altar, my son, who was 6 at the time, said, “Mom, did you see the Fairies?”  I said, “Fairies, where?”  He said, “They’re outside!  They look like dragonflies unless you see them out of the sides of your eyes and then you can see that they are really Fairies!”  

Sure enough, from the day after Solstice that year on, we had lots and lots of dragonflies.  Each year after that, regardless of whether our Midsummer Celebration is early, late or right on time, the very day after we have circle, the dragonflies come in.

At Winter Solstice, the Summer Fairies leave and the Winter Fairies come in.  They have a very different feel.  They are much more work and much less play, very serious little guys who don’t intermingle much.  The Summer Fairies, however, are frivolous and joyful and love to party and play.

The next Midsummer, we again set up the fairy circle for their welcoming and this time, I placed the pink shoes in the circle.   The next morning, they were gone.  I hated giving them up, but they were not mine to keep.  Each year now, I try to find a tiny pair of doll shoes of some kind to leave for the fairies.

Our Earth Labyrinth has a special Fairy area with a lot of playthings and little Fairy statues.  Tonight, we will welcome them again and tomorrow, there will be dragonflies.  Oh yes, there will be dragonflies.

Jennifer has a special gift for them this year:

A stepping stone:

In CUSP tradition, at this time of the year, you can see your crops in the field and have a pretty good idea of how the harvest is going to go, barring catastrophic disasters.  Your goals are not quite ready and just like those tiny little corns you find on the salad bars, if you try to pick them early and eat them, you aren’t going to get much of a reward.

Midsummer is a time of patience and putting your back into the projects you are pursuing.  Now, like the Protector and the Mother Goddess, we are in the mode of nurturing and keeping our new life safe.

Any time we grow these crops in our life or manifest a different way of being, we are growing a new life:  our own.  We change ourselves with every act of magic and with every step on the Spiral of the Year.  

At Winter Solstice, we vision ourselves as we are and as we wish to be by the end of the next harvest season.  Over the coming weeks and months, we put that vision into proactive magical creation.  At Winter Solstice, the feminine mystique shows us inside our mind’s eye how we can be.  At Summer Solstice, the male energies bring our vision into reality and we see our crops growing strong and vital in the fields.

How are the crops that you planted at Spring Equinox growing?  Are you seeing the beginning of how your harvest will manifest?

I planted a healthy weight loss and so far, I have lost 26  pounds.  It’s about 1/4 of what I would ultimately like to achieve, but I am happy with that progress and feel wonderful.

Eric planted that he would like to manifest his own passion in life and be able to earn money from it.  He has been successful in the construction field, even owning his own company, but it is not his passion.  It’s just a job. 

He loves gold mining and owns many claims here on the Consumnes River and has a friend with a claim on the American River.  Since dredging season began, they have been working the rivers aggressively and that he really does love.

He also has applied to join the California Highway Patrol, an idea that has popped up for him many times but he never chose to pursue.  When he joined the Air Force at the age of 17, his dream was to be a pilot.  His vision, however, was so bad that he was rejected as a pilot and went into telecommunications instead.  That career field has served him well, but again, was not his passion.  

At the time of the planting, he learned that if he joins the Highway Patrol and puts in a year in a car, he can apply to be a helicopter pilot, a spy in the sky.  That is his real dream.  Since then, he has passed three major competitions:  the written exam, the physical challenge and the board interview.  (Sounds sort of like that Sun King competition, doesn’t it?)

He will learn of his results around the time of Lammas and if he receives a letter of acceptance at that time based on the previous 3 criteria, they will do a thorough background investigation and then he is in.  His academy training would begin in December and last for 6 months.  It will be tough being away from him for that time.  He can come home on Wednesday nights and for weekends.  We will all miss him tremendously, but we will give that time with great love for him to be able to pursue his dream.

This would mean so much for our family.  We have not had medical insurance in 9 years now.  Due to the incredible instability in the construction and telecommunications industries, he has rarely had stable employment since he left the Air Force in 2000.  We live very, very frugally and have learned how to get by on very little.  The pay is good, the benefits are good and he would be doing a job that he expects to love.

I want this very much for a man who has given so much to so many people.  My older sons love and respect him as I have never seen men feel about a stepfather.  My younger kids, including Delena (the 16-year-old), idolize him.  He is a bigger than life play toy to them.

To me, he’s my sweet baboo and I have never known a man more deserving of waking up in the morning smiling because he knows he’s going to spend the day doing something he loves rather than something he tolerates at best and hates at worst.

I trust that The Universe sees it the same way.

Happy Midsummer to all of you.

I have been fortunate enough to have walked a magical path for more than two decades now and as a result, I have had some incredible experiences and wonderful memories. I have had the honor of leading three fantastic circles: Desert Song Circle, which was a hive off from TreeSong Circle. Clan of The Shadow Walkers, which was a wonderful circle in Idaho, of all Godforsaken places. Lastly was my beloved final circle, The Whiches. It was through my decade of work with The Whiches that CUSP evolved. It started forming almost instantly with some kind of wild, synergistic growth-hormone development explosion. Within the first year, the basic foundation was formed and after that, the finishing touches came naturally.

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I had a friend named Lee with whom I was having a conversation about manifestation through the movement of energy and she mentioned “Rut Now” magic.  I asked her what that was and she said, “That’s magic that you do when you need something ‘rut now.’”  It made me laugh and it stuck with me, so it’s a term I’ve used in my teaching since then, which was actually 13 years or so ago.

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It’s been so beautiful out that I have really felt Spring in the air.  This morning, I was outside and counted 5 robins and 4 blue jays in my back yard.  I thought, “Ah!  Earth, Air, Fire, Water & Spirit and North, South, East and West.”  I half expected to see one of our local stags stroll through the edge of the yard with a mountain lion in tow to represent the God and Goddess.

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Having mulled our spark of an idea from December through February, we now enter into the time of confirmation and redirect.  Magic, of course, does not honor linear time, so although these are power days where we mark our turn of the spiral, it is by no means an exact science.  You may start to get confirmations and redirects as soon as that spark hits your head and passes your lips into reality.  You may not hear a thing from the Universe about your intentions until a few weeks after planting.  As humans, we like things tidy and predictable, but the Universe does not see fit to run on our schedule.

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In today’s world, we might think that there are no more lessons to be learned from parables.  When was the last time you even heard a parable mentioned outside of the Bible? 

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I swear, it seems like a bazillion years since last Winter Solstice.  I know I’m late posting about this Yule as I normally like to do it a couple of weeks ahead of time when the energy is new and incoming instead of chewed up and on the way out.

I don’t think there is anyone out there who will deny that 2008 was just a really weird year and it continues to be so right up until the last minute.  The reason I am delayed is that quite honestly, I am still trying to puzzle it all out.

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Originally printed in “The Rising Wind,”  Beltane 2003 -   This now defunct online magazine was a wonderful effort put out by Katie Hodges.  It’s such a shame it is gone, but the content still holds up beautifully.

When my dear friend told me that the theme for this holiday’s Rising Wind was to be Beltane (OK, figured that one out – smile) and totem animals, I was intrigued. My experience with totem animals was, for quite some time, tentative at best. I’ve had two previous priests who were heavily ensconced in the attributes and blessings of their totem animals, one being cats, specifically a black panther and the other being wolves. In my dealings with those gentlemen and other pagans I’ve met along the way, I will confess to some fairly strong feelings of inadequacies because doggone it (ouch, no pun intended), I just don’t have one.

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