Gede Parma - By Land, Sky & Sea: Three Realms of Shamanic Witchcraft

Gede Parma is a Witch, initiated priest, and award-winning author. He is an initiate and teacher of the WildWood Tradition of Witchcraft, a hereditary healer and seer with Balinese-Celtic ancestry, and an enthusiastic writer. Gede is a keen student of natural health therapies, with a deep interest in herbal healing and nutrition, and he is currently studying for a bachelors degree in health science. He is the proud partner of a beautiful Virgo man and the devoted priest of the goddesses Persephone, Aphrodite, and Hekate. His spiritual path is highly syncretic and incorporates elements of traditional shamanism, Balinese Hinduism, British-Celtic Witchcraft, Stregheria, Greek Paganism, Feri, Reclaiming, and WildWood Witchcraft.

Visit Gede at www.gedeparma.com.

Llewellyn Publications

Woodbury, Minnesota

By Land, Sky & Sea: Three Realms of Shamanic Witchcraft 2010 by Gede Parma.

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First e-book edition 2010

E-book ISBN: 9780738727639

Cover art: forestiStockphoto.com/Dmitry Mordvintsev

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To my mother, Roslyn Farquharson,
for her subtle magick, her earthy wisdom,
and her Celtic blood. And to Essie Farquharson,
my mothers mother, who now walks in
the Land of Youth with her beloved Peter.

Editors Note

Readers may note that this book contains word spellings and phrasing unique to British English. These have been retained in order to honor the authors individual voice and spirit.

Part One Land

Part Two Sky

Part Three Sea

Thank-you to Ana and Awen for reminding me to breathe.

To Amy, beautiful Muireann, for organising my timetable.

To Eire for the blessed idea!

To Jarrahbless Eris and her piss-able 8 card!

To Alex, who reminds me every now and then that Im not a normal twenty-one-year-oldand I should be (sometimes).

To Becky for all that lemon sorbet and for the blessed sessions in the park!

To Luna la Fay and Queen Serpentine, who helped me reconnect with my Irish heritage.

To Elysia, who opened the door and helped me succeed.

To Becky Zinsyou are an editor extraordinaire!

To the Witches of Earthwyrm for being guinea pigs.

To Luna, Arione, Meriel, Rowan, Serica, and Helona, who helped me gather together poignant quotes, and to all those who gave me their thoughts on initiation and what it means.

To the cunning rooster Lizz, the wonderful and radiant Mim, the cynical but hilarious Liz, the global-girl Fee, and to Alyce, Maddeline, and all the work girls (haha).

To Osiris, the crazy kitten; you brought hilarity when I needed it.

To Greg for loving me.

To all Wildkin who dance with me through the WildWoodmay it flourish!

It should be noted that while this book is divided into three parts based on the Celtic three-realm cosmology of land, sky, and sea, there are methods, techniques, and ways drawn upon and acknowledged in this book that derive from different cultures and traditions. These cultures include (among others) Greek, Hawaiian, Hindu, Stregheria, and Wiccan, and they will be referred to respectively at the appropriate time. This is done in the spirit of our Pagan forebears, who ventured into new spiritual and cultural frontiers with fervour, a keen heart, and a desire for wisdom. This tradition of weaving together, with purpose, a variety of cultural customs and religious traditions into a new spiritual whole is called syncretism, and the best-known historical example is the mostly Kemetic-Hellenic fusion that occurred in the Ptolemaic (Greek-ruled) city of Alexandria in northern Egypt in the fourth century bce .

Despite my deep respect for tradition, I am also highly syncretic in my ways. I never impose on or misappropriate the various cultural and spiritual practices and traditions that I weave into my life; however, if my spirit is called by the Divine in one way or another, I will hearken to that call and follow it. This is the reason that I give reverence to deities from the Balinese, Celtic, Egyptian, and Mediterranean (Hellenic and Etruscan) pantheons. The former two are directly related to my ancestry, as my father is Balinese and my mother is of Celtic descent (Irish mostly, and Scottish), and the latter two, I believe, are connected to me because I have lived many lives in that area of the world devoted to those gods. As I have always been a highly devout person by nature, these gods have travelled with me through my multiple lives; for that, I am thankful.

I hope that this blending of cultures and traditions, as is the trend in Neopaganism, will not offend the stoic traditionalist or mislead the rampant eclectic who mixes and matches without thought or direction. Remember to always respect the origins of things and to honour your ancestors, for you are the outcome of your familys legacy.

For those of you who derive from a mostly Wiccan background or any Neopagan tradition that celebrates and honours the harmony and balance of the four elements (made whole by the spirit), please do not feel that the elements are in any way compromised by my focus on the three realms in this book. I do acknowledge the similarities in vibration between the land and earth, the sky and air, and the sea and water. This feeling, of course, would seem to negate fire. However, it has been theorised (and it feels right to me) that where the three realms meet, a fire is lit to mark the occasion with power and celebration and in reverence of the Divinethe wholeness achieved by union of the land, sky, and sea. The Celts were a fire-oriented society, and the four main Celtic holy days are known as the fire festivals, as each one involved the lighting of balefires.