Aspects of the Soul

Something that isn't held by every Pagan, but a belief of my own is that there as aspects to the whole of the person. Their are a lot of Traditions, ancient and modern, that profess that the soul is divided into certain parts. I could go into great detail here, but this isn't about all of those other Traditions, this blog is about what I believe and why I believe it.
Plato spoke of three parts and he also spoke of the daemon. In his "Allegory of the Chariot" he said that Reason drove the chariot while Will and Desire where its horses. Though I believe that all three of these forces reside in us and make up aspects of our whole, I do not think Reason is in the driver seat. In his "Myth of Er" he spoke of the Will choosing its fate without the influence of either these Reasons or Desires but based purely on the habits that it had gathered in previous lifetimes. This destiny is then handed over to a guiding spirit so that the Will can drink of the River Lethe to suppress its knowledge of the Unseen world.
I've taken my own spin on things, but I find a lot of wisdom in these stories.
I may at some point down the line go into greater detail about each of these parts, but here is the general idea as I see them.

Ikon 
Not mentioned by Plato at all, this could actually be seen as more of an influence of Nietzsche though I hadn't read anything of his at the time of configuring this thought. The Ikon is everything that we perceive with our physical senses as an outward expression of the other four aspects. If you knew all the cues then you could judge every book by its cover. Everyday we make simple, little choices about our actions and our appearance that express who we are, what we think, how we feel and where we're going. The words we use, the way we stand, the clothing we wear and how we wear it are all subtle clues to who we are. This is an aspect of your whole.
Ego 
The very core of your being and your Will to Power is the "ego." The ego is the only part of you that is consistently you throughout every incarnation. In each of these incarnations we make choices based on our Reasons and our Desires and these choices eventually become habits. Once our Reasons and our Desires fade away the ego is left as a pure creature of habit, only making habitual choices. In each incarnation we are given a chance to mold and change these habits through acting with or against them based upon the influences of our Reasons and Desires.
Eros 
This aspect of the soul is that which keeps you tied to this mortal coil. Buddhists say that "life is suffering," and this suffering comes from desires. I don't go in for that whole suffering thing, but I do believe that our desires keep up living. Eros can be thought of the energy that links the Ego to the flesh, literally. Theses desires can be carnal like sex or food, they can be emotional like vengeance or love, they can be "higher" like the search for enlightenment or the need to leave the world better than it was when you came into it. 
Logos 
Reason can be the opposing force to Desire or they can compliment each other. More than just your ability to deduce ideas or basic problem solving skills, this Aspect could better be called the Observer and Cataloguer. The Logos observes the Ikon of the world, catalogs the information and deduces their meanings. In turn the Logos whispers to the Ego to change its habits based on the new information. The Reason should not be confused with "hard fact" because the Logos deals only in abstractions. In the abstract logic and facts are two different ideas. Logic dictates 1+1=2 which is subjective to the idea of more than one objective.
Daemon
Socrates and Plato both spoke of a guiding spirit, a personal god, that warned them when they were about to do something foolish. I purpose that this personal god is just that: you're own... personal... Jesus... By that I mean that when you call out to the divine, when you pray and when you seek guidance, you're talking to your Daemon. The Daemon acts as your advocate among the Divine, speaking to other Daemons, to Gods and other such thought-forms and entities. The Daemon sways your Reasons and Desires guiding you along to your destiny.


I chose Greek because the words are already there and the ideas were inspired by Greek philosophers. Daemon is the actual word used by Plato and Socrates, and it means "personification" or "spirit" and it is the root word for "demon." As it so often happens with innocuous concepts from classical cultures, the word has become bastardized. Logos has a very rich spiritual association, be the word used for the word 'word' in the opening of the gospel of John, "In the beginning was the Word." Eros was the Greek personification of Desire, better known in the modern day as his Roman counterpart (but not equivocation): Cupid. While Ego and Ikon are just the words for "Will" and "Image."
~A. Fox

Tile of the Earth

I've been working on crafting the Earth Tile for my shrine. Calling it an "Earth Tile" isn't the normal name. Before it was called anything else it was simply the Pentacle. A pentacle is an object with a pentagram drawn or carved on it. Traditional Wicca has a slew of other symbols that they include on their's depending on their degree of initiation. The triangles and smaller pentagram represent those degrees, the horned circle symbolizes the Divine Masculine and the back-to-back crescents symbolize the Divine Feminine and the two S's are symbols for "Mercy/Kiss" and "Severity/Scourge."

Like the blade, there are recommended materials to make the Pentacle or Tile out of. Of all the tools, this one is deviated on the most in both substance and in image. It's supposed to be made of a masculine material. Though this is generally a metal such a bronze or better-yet gold the Pentacle is most often made of copper, which is the metal associated with Venus, and hence a feminine material. A masculine wood would work and the most common of those is Oak.

Eclectic (or non-traditional) Wiccans and other NeoPagans deviate on every aspect of the tradition standards of the altar tile, incorporating other symbols, leaving it at just a star (and not always a five-pointed one) in a circle or some other shape or changing the focal symbol all together. These variant tiles have been made in every conceivable material and I've even know temporary ones to be drawn out on paper. The fun part about all these variations is that most of them do not take into consideration exactly what the altar tile is for.

As the tool for the element of Earth the tile is to center and ground or lock energies into place. So, at the end of any ritual in which the practitioner has charged an object with magical or psychic or divine or whatever sort of energy they place it on the tile to lock it into place. When it comes time for the Sacred Meal this tool takes on an even more specific role: the role of the Sacred Serving Plate. The tile becomes either a platter or the base of another platter upon which the cakes at set. 

This last image is what I've decided to put on my altar tile. As a symbol and tool of the element of Earth goes, this one is fairly well rounded. The overall symbol is called a "squared circle" that is a circle with an equal armed cross inside. On top of being the astronomical symbol for our planet it represents the ritual circle that is supposed to be a plain of existence in and of itself. The other four symbols are the symbol for Earth in four different cultures: (Starting from the top left, moving clockwise) Adinkra or West African, European Alchemy, Chinese Hanzi, and  the Mayan Glyph. I've painted this on a round mirror in brown and yellow furthering the symbolism.
~ A. Fox

To Make Sacred

It went a little something like this:
"I need a new sacred cup because my last one broke." I say.
"Well, just take a cup and write 'sacred' on it." He says.
"It doesn't work like that." I say.
"Why?" He asks.
I didn't wait until my time-released blog post got around to answering the questions, but I only really gave him the sort version (which is what he prefers) so that he could come here and read this at his leisure.

A sacred thing is something that is set aside in service of the gods or is in itself worthy of devotion. Either way, it needs to be pretty. The object needs to inspire the one that holds it as sacred. The use of special materials and gifted craftsmanship go a long way to helping with this.

In Contemporary Paganism, this is a tricky business. As our Goddess is eminent and everything is of Her, everything is divine. How does one set aside something as sacred above the rest of divine creation? Just as we have "special china" from weddings or for fancy dinner parties, so to do Pagans have tools and items that are special in their use for devotion and ritual. It isn't that the things on my shrine are better than other things around the house, but some of them hold specific purposes that goes beyond normal items they may be related and are generally difficult to replace because that bond has to be built all over again.

This ritual generally consists of cleansing the item of any previous associations so that it my serve it's new purpose fully without the consideration of others. This cleansing is done with Water and Earth in the form of salt. These are considered the feminine elements, imply that the Mother is the source of compassion that cleanses us of the things we no longer want, making us purely and perfectly ourselves once more. After this is done then there is a consecration to this new and specific purpose. This consecration is done with Fire and Air in for form of incense smoke. These two elements are considered masculine and help us see the God as the divine aspect of Doing and Purpose.
~ A. Fox