There are two different approaches to taking classes with Blackfeather Mystery School: you can attend the classes and modules that appeal to you and follow up with them on your own. You can also take the mystery school as a series. If you do so, you are encouraged to work with a specific home practice. Additionally, there are a couple other tools and techniques that regularly get referenced in Blackfeather sessions. They are covered below the daily practice section.
The Blackfeather Altar
Supplies:
- Working surface. This can be a small table or transportable tray or box if you can’t leave an altar up in your home
- Black altarcloth. Remember to keep this simple and affordable when possible. Feel free to use fabric you already have: scarves, pillowcases, sheets, etc. Also, Goodwill and other thrift stores frequently have scarves and other fabrics available inexpensively. If you struggle with depression, and find that a black altarcloth causes your depression to worsen, please use a white cloth instead. The color choice is to help keep your altar an energetically stable space. Both black and white are good colors for controlling loose energy.
- A mirror or other reflective object that can be propped so you can see your reflection. I got a small craft mirror and stand at Michael’s for less than $10. Remember that you can also use materials you already have. The surface of your gazing object must be reflective enough that you can make eye contact with your reflection.
- A black or other dark-colored covering for the mirror (again, white can be used instead here if black causes you trouble). You will drape the mirror when it is not in use.
- One candle. I prefer candles in jars since they’re less likely to spill wax. If a dark color is available, please use it. Otherwise, use what you have.
- Matches or a lighter
- An anointing oil or scent you would like to wear. This one is totally up to you – you can even use your daily perfume here. However, I would counsel that this is an opportunity to explore some scent qualities that might help you support your practice.
- A piece of paper with the daily Self-Blessing written on it
Daily Practices
The core Blackfeather daily practice has three parts: a Self-Blessing, Grounding and Centering, and Shielding.
Daily practices are easier to do in the morning than in the evening. Our willpower gets used throughout the day and is a finite resource. In the evening, we tend to be spent, and it’s very difficult to find the wherewithal to Work. Set your alarm for 10 minutes earlier in order to have space for your Daily Practice.
Blackfeather Self-Blessing
Please print or write this self-blessing out to place on your altar. This working is designed to start taking the edges off the self-war most of us are fighting. When we are constantly attacking and tearing ourselves down, it makes our magick less effective. For every spell or working we pour our wills into, if part of us is actively trying to sabotage our efforts, the spell will ultimately be less effective. A deep and authentic sense of self-worth really helps bolster us as we move through this world, on every level imaginable. One way to start developing that confidence is through adjusting the messaging we send to ourselves. This works on the brain’s neuroplasticity and helps reprogram our thought patterns.
Light the candle on your altar, uncap or prepare the bottle of oil or scent you plan to use and uncover the mirror. If it’s not already positioned so you can see your reflection, set it so that it is. Look into your own eyes in the reflection. As you look into your eyes in the mirror, allow a feeling of love and acceptance to rise in you. Look into your own eyes with love.
(I realize this first part might be really difficult if you struggle with self worth and self love. In this space, we will use the Principle of Resonance. When we hit the middle C on a piano and do not muffle the other strings, the higher and lower C notes also ring out. Similarly, when we access certain emotions and energies, other related emotions and energies ‘ring out.’ If self love is not open to you, go for acceptance. If acceptance is not open to you, go for patience. If patience is not open to you, go for compassionate observation.)
Put some of your anointing oil onto your finger. Say aloud:
I bless my body with strength. I am opening to my own power. (anoint your shoulders)
I bless my mind with focus. I am opening to my own wisdom. (anoint your third eye)
I bless my spirit with vitality. I am opening to my own potency. (anoint your heart)
I bless my blood with memory. I am opening to my own heritage. (anoint your wrists)
I bless my path with mystery. I am opening to that which is greater than myself. (anoint your feet or wherever you can reach in that direction)
I bless my Self with sovereignty. I am opening to my own ascendency. (draw a crown around your head)
By the Powers who watch over me, by the Powers living within me, may it be so.
Move on to the Blackfeather Grounding & Centering (preferred) or, if you do not have time, snuff the candle and cover the mirror.
Blackfeather Grounding & Centering
A recording of this meditation is available here.
Close your eyes and allow your breath to deepen and lengthen. Consciously relax your body, starting at the top of your head and working your way down to your neck and shoulders….your chest and back….your lower back and hips…your legs all the way to your toes….your arms all the way to your fingertips.
Draw your awareness to your heart center. Notice a green glow radiating from your heart. This is your life force – raw prana or chi: the magick that animates you and all living things. Become aware of the bright glow of life within you. You might see or sense that energy pulsing in time with your heartbeat.
Your heart center is part of a web of life extending in all directions. Become aware of the lines of energy connecting you to other life. They stretch in all directions – above, below, out to either side…. These pathways hum with creation energy – the raw force of life. Allow some of the energy from the web to flow toward you. Let that green life-energy replenish your heart center, then expand to heal and recharge any areas of your body that need it.
When you feel full and connected, turn your palms to face up or out and gather the extra energy still flowing toward you by slowly sweeping your arms from your sides to up over your head, allowing the palms to touch. Draw your hands down to your heart, resting them on your chest. Feel your body incorporating that energy and returning to itself.
Whenever you are ready, take a deep breath and exhale on a sigh. Gently open your eyes.
Move on to the Blackfeather Shielding (preferred) or, if you do not have time, snuff the candle and cover the mirror.
Blackfeather Shielding
One note about the Shielding: this visualization uses green flames. If you find that green flames are not a good fit for you, you are welcome to visualize something different – briar, stone, crystal, a mirrored surface, etc. As long as you are easily able to imagine the shield, and it resonates with you as being repellent to others, feel free to employ it instead of the green fire.
Close your eyes and draw your awareness to where your body is resting on the earth. This might be the soles of your feet, your shins if you are kneeling, or your seat if you are sitting. About two feet below that point of connection, visualize green flames forming. These flames will form a barrier between you and the rest of the world, protecting you. Visualize those green flames thickening and beginning to spread up your aura – the egg-shaped sphere of space your physical body is centered in. See the flames spread up past your feet and ankles….your knees…your legs…sense them surrounding your aura in flickering green fire. Send those flames up past your waist….your chest…your shoulders….sense them beginning to close above your head. Feel the moment when the flames connect above you, completely encasing your aura in green fire.
Leaving the shield in place, take a deep breath in. Let it out on a sigh. Whenever you are ready, open your eyes.
Snuff the candle, cover your mirror and cap or seal your anointing oil. This is the end of the full Blackfeather daily practice.
Blackfeather Oil
One great way to enhance magickal and ritual work is the use of built-in triggers for specific states of mind. When we regularly enter certain spaces, we begin to develop patterns of mind and behavior that are suited to those spaces. A great example is the ways in which we are different at work and at home.
Scent is a powerful trigger on its own. Certain smells can make us feel safe and relaxed, can remind us of our childhood, or can induce less pleasant emotions due to their associations.
Blackfeather Mystery School students use a designated oil for times when we are all together for these classes and for rituals. This oil is specific to times when we are collectively engaging with the work of the school. Your daily anointing oil should be a different scent than your Blackfeather oil.
We recommend choosing a scent that helps you connect to your spirituality – perhaps a scent that reminds you of ritual, or smoldering herb bundles, or incense. This is a fun opportunity to explore different perfumes. We personally love many of the offerings of Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab.
Return to Self Mudra
Energy work does have some risks since we are frequently in contact with energy that does not originate inside of us. So, a useful technique is to create a tool to help us return, fully, to our own Sacred Selves. Please get up and find a space somewhere in your home (or outside) where you can walk around a little bit. You’ll need space to move your arms as well.
Begin by repeating your name, your identity-specific name, to yourself softly. Begin to walk around as you do so. As you walk, begin to make a gesture that goes with your name. A movement of some sort. You can say your name more loudly at this point if it helps. Simplify your gesture, so that it’s just one or two movements at the most. Now, make the gesture smaller. Whisper your name, and make the gesture a whisper as well.
Come to stillness. This small gesture is your Return to Self Mudra – a key that brings you back into your body, with only your energy attached to you. I use mine after energy work, rituals and any trance possessory work. It’s a safety mechanism that draws you back to your Sacred Self.
Blackfeather Mystery School 