Cloud Scrying/Watching

Drifting... Drifting

The whole outward world with all its being is a signature of the inward spiritual world. - Boehme

A while back before the weather turned cold I recall, found Mary and I sitting outside watching the sun arch down towards the west, as we observed the clouds forming in the Sky…

Check out the faces in the Clouds!

As we watched, shapes, forms, faces emerged. Our conversation wandered back to our childhoods, Mary in Scotland, and mine in Newfoundland/Nova Scotia. It seems that Cloud Watching when we were kids was a shared passion for the two of us. Laying on the ground, observing the sky above.

Mary’s story has her lying on her back in grass on a hill in a park. As she stares at the sky and the clouds. She is breathing in and out. As she does so, she gradually starts to grow bigger and bigger. “My body grew to an immense size becoming part of the landscape.”

Mine is different… It was springtime and my friend Casey and I had wandered to a hill overlooking the Bay & the Atlantic. We sat looking out over the view, watching the clouds. Eventually we laid back looking up as the clouds scuttled overhead. There was a brisk breeze keeping time with the clouds.

We talked about the shapes and the speed of the clouds and as we laid there it seemed they were moving faster and faster.

Then a jarring thought occurred to me, perhaps the clouds weren't moving but it was the earth, spinning faster and faster. 

I mentioned this to Casey, and he said, “Yeah I'm having the same thought'! 

If the Earth was spinning faster and faster perhaps, we might fly off. It was a moment of terror and we both gripped the grass and Earth holding on for dear life. We felt ourselves rocketing at a fantastic speed.

Of course, the Earth was spinning, and it spins at quite a rate, but not fast enough to fling us off. That day is still indelibly marked in my mind after all the years that have passed since.

Nephelomancy:

Back to the Present Day: The world was just entering its latest spiral into destruction and extremism the weekend before. We had tried not to get tied up in the emotions swirling around all of us, but still they crept in. 5:00 came around, and we stepped outside, to sit and share a glass or two of wine, taking in the late afternoon, soon to be early evening.

The clouds were moving in interesting patterns. Mainly being blown from the north, then northeast. We observed that the clouds were forming faces as they raced along on their dance. The faces were coming and going at an amazing rate of speed, existing for a minute perhaps, sometimes just for mere seconds.

Usually, we would see dragons, birds, deer, dogs and cats in the clouds. We sat there as the clouds morphed into one humanoid face after another and we noticed that there was a definite trend in what the faces portrayed... The majority of the faces took on a demonic aspect whilst others took on those of trolls, and other creatures from the deep archaic past.

We both commented on how we were seeing the same in each cloud formation that appeared. Whether the visions we were observing were inside of us or we were picking up what was streaming through consciousness on the whole.... Understanding that it was more of a revelation of current events, and maybe of future situations.

 —

On Cloud Watching:

With the hurry and the rush of modern life I think we are missing a wonderful part of our inheritance. Just to lie on the ground or to be sitting and watching the clouds unfold touches a deep place in my viewpoint.

I understand that cloud watching was an early form of divination. I have had a long fascination with the idea of foretelling and revealing through observing the natural world.

My late friend Dale Pendell wrote a lovely little book “The Language of Birds” listing many of the various forms of divination. Maybe not all the forms but it certainly covered many that I had never known about. My Review of The Language of Birds: “There is no safety in divination, it exposes you too much. Once the doors of the temple is knocked open by the Oracle, everything is up for grabs. Yet safety, could be divined as stasis, and if there is something to be said, The Language of Birds is about a constant state of flow. Chance, and Fortune are expressions of the Dao, if nothing else. Think tidal; no think madness, think poetry.  Bards, Olaves, calling forth, calling upon the Oracle; some are lucky, and some are not.”   –Gwyllm Llwydd

My first encounter with divination (in my tender youth was) through the I Ching, via casting coins and/or yarrow sticks. (I found the coins easier). I used the I Ching in Big Sur to determine if I would go north to upper California, or to Mexico. “Go north and good fortune will emerge young man” was the reading. I complied with the Oracle; it was a most amazing experience… On the journey north I was given rides by California Highway Patrol (which had arrested me for hitchhiking before in Malibu!), met wonderful people who opened their doors to me, and further wonderful adventures. My life turned on that casting.

When I arrived in Northern California at my destination, I threw the coins again for further guidance. “Burn the Oracle” was the reading. I started to do so to the alarm of my companions. I ended up giving the I Ching away to them instead. I have since tried to find those two passages since to no avail. It is as if in the action of casting, answers were summoned exactly as needed.

Later on, through the influence of my friend Kathy Sawdey I became enamored of the Tarot. I started where many have, with the Arthur Waite deck. It was a companion for many years. Later on, I ventured into the Aleister Crowley deck, with various off shoots. I am still fond of the Waite deck. If I ever return to the Tarot, it will be to that deck, or one based on it.

I later explored various systems using Viking Runes, and Ogham (old Irish alphabet). Using those systems led me to leaving Los Angeles with Mary and moving north; helping in the deciding of where to move to, live etc. Since those times I haven't seriously approached human systems of divination and scrying, with only the occasional exploration. Perhaps it's just Daoist tendencies letting things fall out as they will and going with the flow. Watching the clouds, divining through the elements around. That seems the path at this time.

Nature is full of signpost. Perhaps it is just in the recognizing. I go outside at night, watch the moon, look at the planets (Jupiter has been spectacular as of late) either with just my eyes or with my binoculars mounted on a stand.

There is solace in this, the connection to the wider universe allows me to free up my thoughts and make still the chatter of the human mind. Perhaps….

Perhaps that is what the true message of the Oracle is. Be Still. Just Be. Breathe. All will become clear if one just gives it a chance.

Bright Blessings,

Gwyllm

Commercial Section:

My Art Calendar for 2024 Is Available: Gwyllm Art Calendar 2024

A Sale of my Blotter Pieces: Gwyllm Blotter Art on Ebay

Black Friday Sale on Prints: https://www.gwyllm-art.com/black-friday-sale-page

Updates: I am looking towards the publication of my book this month! More details to follow in the coming days/weeks. Here is the cover!

And… The Last Issue: I am laying the Invisible College to rest after the publication of Issue #12. It has been a good run, but it hasn’t gained any traction, and the design and layout takes an immense amount of my time. We have featured some amazing artist, writers, poets, dreamers spanning the globe. All without advertising… The Invisible College has been a work of love. I wish it could of touched more people.

Here is the last cover. It is by far our largest issue, with wonderful art, writing and poetry.

“The ancient Oracle said that I was the wisest of all the Greeks. It is because I alone, of all the Greeks, know that I know nothing.” - Socrates