Summoning the Fates: A Guide to Destiny and Sacred Transformation [Paperback]

Zsuzsanna E. Budapest (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0738710830 | ISBN-13: 978-0738710839 | Publication Date: May 8, 2007 | Edition: 2nd

During the 1956 Hungarian Revolution, Z. Budapest narrowly escaped a massacre. Was it chance that spared her life, or destiny? Budapest, a pioneer of the women's spirituality movement, introduces us to the three Fates that rule our lives. Not even the gods and goddesses can escape these raw forces of nature presiding over the past, present, and future. Budapest uses fairy tales, historical lore, and personal anecdotes to describe the three sacred sisters who are especially active during our thirty-year life cycles: Urdh (youth), Verdandi (adulthood), and Skuld (the crone years). Want a taste of the cosmic soup bubbling in Fate's cauldron? Budapest also offers heartfelt advice, exercises, and rituals to help you connect with the Fates and embrace your own unique destiny.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Zsuzsanna E. Budapest (San Francisco) was born in Budapest, Hungary. In 1971, she founded the Susan B. Anthony Coven Number 1, the first feminist Witches' coven, which became the role model for thousands of other spiritual groups. The California Institute for Integral Studies recently recognized Budapest as a foremother in the women's spirituality movement. She currently stars on her own cable television show, 13th Heaven, and is the director of the Women's Spirituality Forum.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Circles Within Circles

I don't make my song; I only sing it. I sing my song with words given to me by the Dearest Goddess.

Latvian Women's Folk Poem No. 35802.224

On the freeway near my house there's a billboard advertising the lottery, with a picture of a bag of money and the words "You could be next!"

The other day I complimented a friend on her hair. "Thank you," she said, "but I can't take any credit for it. Curly hair runs in my family."

A friend of mine was in a car accident, then he lost his job, and then his cat ran away. "What did I do to deserve this?" he asked. "Am I doomed to be a failure?"

I know two women, best friends through college. One got married right after graduation to a successful man and had a son and a daughThe other got a job with an accounting firm and began to fight her way up the corporate ladder toward a vice-presidency. They were sure they had found their destinies. But by the time they had reached thirty, the one who was married had left her husband and started law school, and the accountant had quit her job to start a flower shop.

It makes you wonder.

What rules our lives? Is it chance, or choice, or something else? Is it the stars, or that strange force people call Lady Luck, or FortuSince the beginning of time, people have tried to figure out what determines their destiny. In Hungary we have a saying, "Ember tervez, Isten végez"-"Humans plan, God finishes."

But the Fates are beyond even goddesses and gods. They are raw forces of nature. They are rhythms of the ebb and flow of Energy, Matter, and Meaning-the three basic components of the universe. They were here first; they will stay to the last. Everyone's story is in the Fates' web. They are one; they are three; they are nine, three times three. Their mystery cannot be totally understood, or can it? All the other goddesses and gods became their emanations through time.

It was the fate of Zeus to destroy his own father. The Norse gods cannot avoid Ragnarok. When the gods must obey the Fates, you know who is in charge.

This archetype of destiny is embedded deep in the Indo-European psyche. From India across the European continent all the way to the North Sea and the British Isles, cultures big and small have stories, symbols, and ceremonies for the forces who make destiny. Some of these overlap, some diverge, but they agree on the fundamental conThere are three sisters who rule our lives.

The three Weird sisters are working women. They are spinners, weavers, cutters of the thread; they are writers of the Book of Life. They are blessers, birthers, deathers, dressed in white and red and black. They are fortunetellers. They are casters of the lots. They are gamblers and luck-givers. They are living springs of water. They are mornings, noons, and nights. What they rule must be.

Since the dawn of consciousness people have found it psychologiuseful to give names and faces to the Fates. The Greeks called them the Parcae; the Romans, Fata; in northern Europe they were the Norns, who governed men's "wyrd," or fate, and for Anglo-Saxons, the "weird" were those who could foretell the future.

I am especially fond of the word wyrd, because we use it today when something happens that we don't understand, cannot control, or fear. The word comes from a form of the old Germanic verb meaning "to become." When we feel something is weird, we activate our fate recepthe soul that knows the Fates intimately already. Only the soul can understand something weird-the action itself, the presence of the Fates, and their effect on our lives. Often we resist their promptonly to appreciate them later on.

I had to grow up and discover the Fates for myself. The discovery, however, did not come from a book; rather, it was a living process. I had to become aware. You don't really understand what the Fates can do to you unless you have had a visceral experience of them.

During the Hungarian revolution in October of 1956, I was on my way to a demonstration. When you are sixteen, being part of a collecuprising is very exciting. I lived on the Buda side of the Duna Rivand to reach the site of the demonstration, I had to cross the bridge over to the Pest side. I was running toward the bridge when suddenly something weird happened. My feet slowed as if they were weighted down with lead. Frustrated, I redoubled my efforts, but try as I might, I could only shuffle along, furious that I was going to be late.

When I finally crossed the bridge, I heard shots. That wasn't too unusual. It was a revolution, and people had been shooting off guns in celebration for days. But when I turned the corner to the plaza, everywas silent. Too silent. Instead of a crowd of cheering, shouting people, the plaza was covered with bodies. All those who had made it to the plaza on time had been shot down. The blood was still dripping onto the stones. I stood stock-still, realizing that I had indeed arrived too late-too late for the massacre.

In Hungarian the Fates are Sors Istenn?k, the destiny goddesses. But their Latin name, the Parcae, means "those who spare," and indeed my life was spared by them...(Continues)

Product Details

• Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: Llewellyn Publications; 2nd edition (May 8, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0738710830
• ISBN-13: 978-0738710839
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 6.1 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #582,670 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #97 in Books > Religion & Spirituality > New Age > Goddesses

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

23 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A new perspective on fate and the state of the world, May 14, 2007

By 

Raji "Witch and Reader" (Northern Minnesota) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Summoning The Fates (Hardcover)

This is a MOST informative read on the Fates (the 3 spirits who determine the origin, flow and destiny of us all). To ME, the MOST compelling part of the book was the ceremony of inviting the Fates to dinner. I followed the general outline for the dinner and was surprised to actually have these 3 marvelous spirits attend. They revealed to me new insights to my own life that I had never experienced before. Also most compelling was Chapter 10 AND the Epilogue which emphasized the current state of our planet, both socially and environmentally. Zsuzsanna explains that WE as a species, in our entirety can and MUST come together to address these issues. As witches, we need to stand up and take the lead by our very examples of husbandry for the Earth and all on it. This can be done in our everyday lives and through pressure on our "failing political system" and our failing "socio-economic system" as well.

I highly recommend this book to ALL. Not JUST witches or Pagans. It is a must read for anyone seeking wisdom, and insight into our destiny both personal and as a worldwide community. Although Ms Budapest is noted as a feminist writer this has valuable information to everyone, female as well as male, and is a must read for people the world over.

Raji

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Thank you Z!!, January 27, 2008

By 

H. Sanders "Herbal Apprentice ~ Goddess Extra... (Seattle, WA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Summoning the Fates: A Guide to Destiny and Sacred Transformation (Paperback)

I have the origional Summoning the Fates and love the new edition. This is a wonderful book. There is so much information that is vital. I wish I had read this book when I was 25, might have clued me in to a few things, what to expect, what to look for. Thank you Z for this wonderful new edition!!