Hearth & Horn

Morning walk thoughts:

We should talk about discernment as a spectrum, not a state.

The word "Discernment" is used by Pagan types to mean something like "I am able to tell the difference between genuine divine/magical experiences, and make believe. This is in part an ability or skill: having a genuine 'third eye'. And this is, in part, about humility and wisdom: not letting your ego and pride run away with you".

I encountered the concept of discernment early - too early. I have a cautious, fact-seeking personality - so the idea of discernment really appealed. But I think it stood in the way of my development, and I think perhaps we shouldn't introduce it to seekers at all for like...the first two years. Magic is also about play; rediscovering a childlike relationship to wonder, the unknown, and make believe. As adults, we don't need more influences telling us "...but this might all be fake, I could be imagining it, it's all rather silly" - we need less.

I am a fairy. What do I mean by this? I mean: where I come from, we have a local myth in which all the women were stolen by the fairies and lived seven years underground. When they had to return above the earth, many brought their children - and thus my people are quite literally fairy-blooded. Probably the most important step in my magical development was embracing this. There's a factual approach to this story: "my hometown has a local legend". And there's also the approach which takes you into magical time: "I have fairy blood". It's about how you choose to think about the world and your experiences in it. When I say "this is who I am", I am choosing to play; to be joyous, creative, imaginative, playful, and to embody something I think is beautiful, and which leads me down strange paths. From a magical perspective, that's considerably more useful than restraint. It helped free me from the desire to look for proof, to be discerning, and ultimately to spend more time doing magic, having otherwordly experiences, and having experiences in this world which take me closer to the things of beauty and delight.

I think we should talk about discernment as a spectrum. There are problems at both ends:

• Too much: you're shutting the magic down. You're not open. You're not experimenting. You're looking for "proof" in predefined ways which bar you from the unexpected, from experiencing the Landweird in it's authentic state. You're not stepping onto the path which leads to enlightenment. You may be demonstrating cynical behavior to an extent which isn't fun for those around you.
• Not enough: you are blind to genuine experiences. You are only interfacing with your head: you are on the path, but do not wish to arrive anywhere. Your religion is shallow, or more about you and your needs than the authentic divine. You are also expecting your experience of the Landweird to look and feel a certain way, and are closed off from experiencing it fully. You may be demonstrating egocentric behavior, and if others are involved, it isn't cool.

And how do you tell where you are? Almost certainly - if you are worrying about discernment, then you need less of it; if you're not worried about discernment, you need more.

OR - discernment is situational. Seeing it as a spectrum allows us to move along it, and ask ourselves: "what burden of proof is required to continue?". When I go out in the morning and leave a saucer of water for the fae folk, discernment is not really necessary. The act itself is enough, to be simple and pleasurable, to keep the Landweird in mind, to set my intention for the day.

However, there are situations where greater discernment is necessary. For example, if you're doing regular religious practice then yes, you owe it to the gods to keep dancing until they manifest at least some of the time. Advising people based on divination would be another situation where a greater level of certainty is required. Doing effective Results Magic requires a good bullshit detector, so you can tell the difference between real results and the placebo effect. And anything where other people are involved, you ought to seek a higher burden of proof, stating clearly whether this is what you think or imagine, or whether it is god-given tablets of stone.

SO them's my thoughts. Talking about discernment as a spectrum helps us:

• Recognise that both too much, and too little, can bring different kinds of problems
• Choose how much discernment is required for a situation, and move up and down the spectrum as is helpful

And if any of my readers are newer on their magical paths, it is my recommendation that you avoid thinking about discernment to begin with. Concentrate on rediscovering play & make believe, becoming more OK with childish behavior, with being imaginative for its own sake, and all these things that growing older makes us forget. Once you're regularly doing ritual and slipping into magical time, that's the time to begin observing when (and why) some of these experiences are more "authentic" than others.