Posts Tagged With: Smudge stick

Magickal Thinking For Everyday Living – Finding Your Personal Goddess

Find Your Personal Goddess

For The Solitary Witch

If you walk your path alone, here is a ritual you can use to try and find the name of your personal Goddess. Of course, it can also be used by Witches who usually practice in a group; just pick a night when you will be by yourself instead of with your coven or circle.  Since you are in search of the Goddess, the best night to do this ritual is on a Full Moon – outside, if you can manage it. But inside works too, if you can’t be out under the moonlight.

You will need:  a quiet, dimly lit space (if you are outside, a bonfire is nice, but completely optional);  rhythmic music (preferably without words)  or a drum; a large white or silver candle to represent the Goddess ( a candle in a woman’s shape is nice, but any good-sized candle will do); a large bowl filled with pure water; a slip of blank paper or parchment; a pen; and a sage smudge stick or any purifying incense.

Prepare you space by setting the bowl on a level surface (the ground, an altar, or a low table).  Place the candle behind the bowl and inscribe it with your name if you wish; if you have a magickal name, use that. If you are using prerecorded music, start it now. Place the slip of paper in front of the bowl along with the pen.

Light the sage or incense and waft it around the space and around yourself to clear and cleanse your energy. Then sit or stand in front of the bowl and light the candle. Breathe slowly and deeply, feeling the light of the Moon coming down from the sky and into your body. If you will be drumming, start now. As you drum or listen to the beat of the music, think about the thythm of your heart. Feel that rhythm expand to fill the area around you, just as it did whe you were in your mother’s womb. Then, you could feel her heartbeat, too. As you listen to the drum beats, hear the beating of the Great Mother’s heart surrounding you.

You may enter into a light trance state, or you may just be relaxed and tuned in to the energy around you; either one is fine. Go with the beat as long as you want, and send out your desire to learn the identity of your personal Goddess. Close your eyes and send that yearning out with all your heart, opening yourself to an answer.

When you are ready, open your eyes and look into the bowl. Can you see her? Do you see the form of a maiden, a mother, or a crone?  Do you see birds or animals or symbols? You may even see her face or hear her name echoing in the music. If you need quiet now, turn off the music. Pick up the pen and paper and write down her name without thinking about it. You might be surprised what will come to you.

If you don’t get a clear answer right away, try putting the blank piece of paper under your pillow that night, with the intention of dreaming of her. In the morning, pull out the paper and write down whichever name pops into your mind first, while you are still half asleep. (Be sure to leave the pen by your bed.)

Don’t be discourage if the ritual doesn’t work. Perhaps the time isn’t right for you to know, or you are torn between two paths and the Goddess is waiting for you to make the choice that will lead to her.

Excerpt from

Llewellyn’s 2012 Magical Almanac,

Practical Magic for Everyday Living

Find Your Personal Goddess

For The Solitary Witch

By Deborah Blake

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Spring Cleaning Party (Hare Moon)

Spring Cleaning Party

(Hare Moon)

Cast this spell to rid your space of negativity.

You will need a drum, a bell, and a sage and cedar smudge stick.

During the waning moon, gather your family and friends together for a Spring Cleaning Party. At dusk, smudge the area with the smoke of the sage and cedar smudge stick. Thoroughly extinguish the smudge stick. Draw a magick circle around the area you want to cleanse. Invite in any divine energies that you want to help in your cleaning process.

Beginning at the north point, walk clockwise around the parameter of the area (north, east, south and west) while beating on the drum and have everyone chant together:

All unwanted and negative energy

Be gone from this place,

In our Lady’s name, so be it!

Repeat the exercise by again circling the area, only this time while ringing the bell and chanting together:

All unwanted and negative energy

Be gone from this place

In our Lady’s name, so be it!

Now set the tone of each room of your home by standing in the center of each moon and repeating this affirmation together:

May the bright and loving, divine power of the Goddess and God fill this space, now and forevermore. So Be It!

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Drying Herbs

Drying Herbs

Any fresh Herbs can be dried. They should be picked and tied in small bunches. Hang them in the kitchen or a well-ventilated shed to dry. As soon as they are dried out, they should be crumbled into jars and stored in a dark place–they might look decorative hanging up, but will soon become dusty and begin to deteriorate.

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Grounding Your House: Creating the Right Energy Field for Your Home

Grounding Your House: Creating the Right Energy Field for Your Home

by Sienna

Home Sweet Home. Home is where the heart is. Be it ever so humble, there’s no place like home.

Humans pride themselves on living in large homes. We are the only species that creates homes much larger than the space that we need for sleep. Bees and ants create large homes, but only as the swarm or tribe grows. We don’t hibernate, nor do we share our stores with large groups. Therefore, we make sure that our homes can keep us warm in bad weather, provide us with a place to prepare meals, hold all our stuff and be a safe haven when the world outside turns bitter.

But if you are energy-sensitive or emotionally sensitive, you want to make sure your home is a pleasant place to be, a place of contentment, happiness and peace. Sometimes this is more difficult than it sounds, as negativity comes and goes through our lives. A bad day at the office can come home with us, make us slouch around the place, slam doors, insult the pet. If we live with others, their bad moods can affect us more than is commonly recognized. So how do you keep that energy from affecting your peaceful place of solace?

There are many ways to cleanse energy, such as smudging with sage, cleansing with sprinkled salt and water and doing banishment by a rote working. But trying to do these things while the thoughts of traffic jams and crappy work schedules cloud your mood is usually counterproductive. Who wants to go through the hassle of lighting that sage bundle when all you really feel like doing is lighting your boss’s house on fire? Usually, when we come into our houses feeling negative from the outside world, all we want is to sit undisturbed for a few minutes and get rid of that feeling. If your house is full of that feeling anyway, it makes finding a peaceful mood even more difficult.

The method I present can help you keep your house clear all the time. It doesn’t hurt to smudge or cleanse or banish daily as well. However, if you don’t have time, or you want to create that mellow feeling in a new place, this method really works.

I recommend doing this practice with any new home before you move in, while the place is still empty of furniture. Once you have the keys to your new place, you can slip in before the moving van shows up. It only takes a few minutes, and you can have all the necessary articles in a gym bag or other “incognito” carrying case if you don’t want to alert your new neighbors to your paganism. It works just as well with apartments on the fifteenth floor as it does with entire houses. If you want to ground a home that you already occupy, take into account the furniture layout and try to get as close to the walls with the cleansing as you can. In either case, if you’re concerned about neighbors’ opinions and are using a smoking sage bundle, keep it below window level until or unless you have privacy blinds or curtains in place.

Start by smudging, banishing or cleansing with salt and water, as you might already do. If you don’t know these methods, the easiest one to learn is cleansing with salt and water. Use sea salt and ordinary tap water or rain-caught water, and combine them in a special bowl or chalice. Then walk around the interior walls of your home clockwise, sprinkling the water sparingly as you go. The thoughts in your head should be of clearing out old negativity. Imagine the negativity scurrying out through the walls as you go around the edges of all the rooms, through doorways and past windows. Don’t skip over alcoves, closets or small rooms.

Once you have made an entire pass around the outer rooms, go to any rooms at the center of the home and make sure they are cleared also. You should feel a difference immediately. Next, find the middle of the floor plan. You can do this by looking around the place and estimating (if you have lived there long enough, this should be easy). By examining the floor plan on paper or measuring the distance between all the outer walls and calculating the center mathematically, you might be more exact, but you may also find that your center point is in the middle of a wall. If that is the case, then pick a point just to one side of the wall. If you have several floors, do this on the lowest floor or in the basement.

When you have located the center point of your home, sit there. In your typical meditative posture, calm yourself, center yourself and begin visualizing a large tree root growing from your body down through the floor and into the Earth. If you are above the ground floor, make that root go through the floors below you in a straight line downward. See that tree root go all the way to the hot molten center of Mother Earth, creating a flow of energy downward. You may be surprised when that warm Earth energy travels back up the root. This is clear, clean energy and will replace any negative energy you removed with the cleansing. If the flow upward doesn’t happen automatically, use your visualization ability to make it happen.

When you have established the flow of energy to and from the heart of the planet, use your mind to attach the energy permanently to the floor space you are sitting on. You can see it attached biologically (tendons), mechanically (bolts) or electronically (circuitry), whichever suits your personality best. Next, imagine that smaller roots reach sideways from the main root to the outer corners of the home. See these roots attach to the edges of the home in the same fashion, as many as you think necessary. When you are done, the system of roots might resemble a tree with your house perched in its branches.

Activate these smaller roots with the same flow as the main root. See all the energy from the corners of the house following the smaller roots to the main root, then down the main root to the heart of the Earth and the positive Earth energy following it back again. If you have several floors, make sure the small roots reach all the way up to the attic. If you are in an apartment, and you have people living below you, remember that the root is astral and will not negatively affect anyone or anything below you.

When you have that visualization in place, emphasize its permanence within your mind. Know that it will be there daily. Then open your eyes, and consider yourself finished.

This working will create an atmosphere in your home that is self-cleansing. All negativity will be funneled away and replaced with that good, clean Earth energy, every day, without you having to lift a finger. It is still a good idea to smudge or cleanse on a regular basis, but now you won’t have to do it until your mood is right.

When you come home each day from your daily schedule, remember that the root system is there, and allow it to pull that negativity from you as you settle in. This practice will go a long way toward helping you keep a peaceful, mellow atmosphere in your home.

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Earth Herbs

Earth Herbs

 

 

Alfalfa: Alfalfa is kept in the home to protect against hunger and poverty. It is frequently burned and the ashes scattered around the home for the same reasons. It works well in money spells as well.

Barley: Barley is a healing herb and is known specifically to relieve toothaches. It is absorbent and will remove negative influences. Barley also can be scattered for protection.

Beet: Beet juice is sometimes used as magickal ink and as a substitute for blood in magickal use. It is known to attract love.

Buckwheat: Buckwheat is most often used in spells concerning money and/or protection. IT can be scattered, carried or burned.

Corn: Corn works well in matters involving fertility, luck and protection. It is frequently used in Sabbat rituals and as an offering.

Cotton: Cotton is known for it qualities of luck, healing and protection but has other specific uses as well. Burning cotton is thought to cause rain, while scattering cotton seeds assures a productive catch when fishing and repels ghosts. Cotton cloth is excellent for magickal use, as it is completely natural.

Cypress: Cypress is both a death herb and an immortality herb. It is a symbol of the crossover between the planes of life. It is a healing herb and is thought to increase one’s life span.

Fern: The fern improves health and increases luck and prosperity. It is an herb of exorcism and can banish any negative influences. It is said that burning the fern’s seeds will cause rain to fall, whereas carrying them will rend one invisible

Honesty: Also known as the silver dollar plant, honesty is used in prosperity spells and rituals.

Horehound: Horehound is protective and healing and is used in exorcism rituals. Drinking it is said to improve one’s mental powers.

Horsetail: Horsetail is used in fertility rituals and spells.

Knotweed: Knotweed is used in bindings and health spells. It is absorbent and therefore protective.

Loosestrife: Loosestrife holds within it the attributes of peace and protection. Simply scatter it around. It can also be given to someone to cease an argument.

Mugwort: Mugwort aids in astral projection, increases strength and psychic powers, and is protective. It is very useful in any type of intuitive work. (Note: Contact with mugwort may cause dermatitis. Also do not ingest.)

Oats: Oats are used primarily in money and prosperity spells.

Patchouli: Patchouli is useful in spells involving fertility or money. It is good substitute for graveyard dust.

Potato: The potato is often used as a poppet for image magick. It is also protective when carried.

Primrose: The primrose is carried to attract love. When growing in the garden, it attracts fairies. It also is said to protect against madness.

Quince: Eating quinces is said to promote love. If eaten while pregnant, it is thought to increase the intelligence of the child. The quince can be carried for protection.

Rye: Rye bread served to a loved one will ensure that your love is returned.

Sagebrush: Sagebrush, also known as white sage, is a cleansing herb. It has long been used by Native Americans in smudging ceremonies to drive away any negative influences.

Tulip: The tulip serves in matters of love, prosperity and protection. It may be carried or placed on the altar.

Turnip: Turnips is the home protect against every type of negativity. They are also used as poppets in image magick.

Vervain: The magickal use of vervain has been well documented throughout the ages. It was considered the most prized of the herbs among ancient Druids. It contains the magickal qualities of love, protection, purification, peace, youth, chastity, money, healing and sleep.

Vetivert: Vetivert is most useful as a curse-breaking herb. It also attracts money and luck

Wheat: Wheat attracts money and fertility.

Wood sorrel: Wood sorrel is a healing herb when placed in a sick-room or carried.

Categories: The Earth Witch | Tags: , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

An Opening Ritual

An Opening Ritual

As we stand in our circle, let the arms of the Goddess enfold us. Feel her warm
loving touch. In her touch we feel all that is … around us. We can feel the
oneness of all things. We call her to enfold us … to encircle us. In her arms
we fear nothing, for everything is part of us.

We call upon the elements of Air. Spirits of the East. Let our thoughts be as
Air — clear and crisp. Swirling free, with no bounds. Whispering through the
lonely canyons. Rising up to meet the sun.

We call upon the elements of Fire. Spirits of the South. Let our will rise
within us like lava, radiating with energy and power, flowing down to meet the
sea.

We call upon the elements of Water. Spirits of the West. Let our emotions be
fluid as the tide, changing shape and form with its surroundings. Reflective
as deep blue pools … passionate as the crashing waves upon the rocks.

We call upon the elements of Earth. Spirits of the North. Feeling it beneath
our feet, we draw strength. We send our roots down into her soil. Growing solid
and firm. Partaking of her warmth and security.

Thus we are in her embrace, wherein we are not separate beings … but one …
in total trust and total love.

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Attuning to Power Objects

Attuning to Power Objects

 
 
Attuning to an object creates a resonance between the two of you. In a way, it sets up short cuts or a speed-dial relationship between you, allowing you to use this power more quickly and easily while increasing the ease with which your spirit allies can communicate with you. Before doing the actual attunement, it is a good idea to release any unwanted energies from the object. A crystal may be a true gift from the gods, but it is unlikely that you want or need residual energies from previous owners or other people that may have handled it. So purify this object by smudging with sacred herbs, holding it under running water while visualizing unwanted energies breaking up and being washed away, burying it in soil for seven day, or leaving it our under the Sun
and Moon for a full day and night.
 
To begin the attunement ritual, create sacred space in your usual manner. Smudge the area, cast a circle, light your candles, or chant your power song. Invite in your spirit guides and guardians and ask for their blessings.
 
Take some time to center your energy. Breathe deeply into your muscles–particularly into any areas of tension–and feel them relax. Count yourself down from ten to one, consciously relaxing more with each descending number. Relax the focus of your eyes and become aware of your connection to all things. Now call upon your spirit allies or patron deities, whether you know them or not. Let them know that you are here to open yourself to them and that you seek communion with them.
 
Pick up your power object and hold it in both hands. Visualize pure white energy filling this object, breaking up and releasing any remaining unwanted energies. Then sit with it for a moment and allow your energies to begin to mesh. Feel how this object feels. Feel how it makes you feel.
 
Now imagine that this object before you is as big as a house. Walk around and take a good look at it from all sides. What do you notice?
 
Visualize a door on one side. Place an offering at the door and introduce yourself. State your reason for coming and ask permission to enter. If you feel that permission is not given, try again later or ask if you need to do something else before entering.
 
When permission is granted, enter through the doorway. Take note of the colors, light temperature and anything that you see inside the object. If someone meets you at any point, greet that being with respect and be open to any messages he, she, or it might have for you. Express your reasons for exploring this object and ask for guidance into a deeper attunement with the power this object holds for you. Then wander through the object, going where you feel led and stopping at any place you find attracive in some way.
 
When you feel you have gained all that you can in this meditation, or when you feel it is time to leave, return to the doorway. Give thanks to the object your spirit allies, and any beings you encountered here. If you wish, ask for continued guidance in how best to work with this object.
 
Count yourself back up from one to ten into ordinary consciousness. If specific guidance was given or requests were made for housing or use of this object, be sure to follow through on those in a respectful manner.
 
Keep in mind that this meditation can do more than simply attune you to this object. Repeated use of the meditation can introduce you to previously unknown spirit allies that may be associated with this object. It can also allow you access to your own lost powers and provide a forum for you to regain some of it. Although quite simple, this little attunement exercise can be surprisingly powerful.
 
Kristen Madden
Llewellyn’s 2007 Magical Almanac
Categories: The Witch's Tools | Tags: , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

How To Dispose of Ritual Tools

How To Dispose of Ritual Tools

By Patti Wigington

Sometimes, for whatever reason, you may decide that you have a ritual tool you no longer need. Perhaps you’ve got three athame too many, or someone has gifted you with a new chalice and you’re tired of the old one, or maybe something just doesn’t speak to you the way it used to. Whatever the reason, it can sometimes be a bit of a dilemma as to how to dispose of your ritual tools.

Difficulty: Easy
Time Required: Varied

Here’s How:

  1. Pass It On

    If you’ve got a particular tool that still has a good feeling to it, or that has some sort of sentimental value, and you’ve decided it’s time to get rid of it, why not pass it along to a friend? You’ll be happy to know your item has gone to a good home, and your friend will be happy to receive a new magical tool. Before you pass it along, you may want to hold a short parting ritual to separate yourself from the object. Once your friend has the item in her possession, she can re-consecrate the tool to make it her own.

  2. Into the Wild

    Some items seem to like being released into the wild, like animals. If you have a magical tool that came from nature — a wand made from a branch, a special stone, a bottle of sea water — then put it back into nature. While you may not be able to return it to the place you originally found it, you can always find a quiet place in the woods to leave it. Another option might be to toss it into a creek or river, as long as it is indeed a natural object.

  3. Release by Fire

    Sometimes, you might have an item you don’t want any more, and you don’t want to give it to anyone else. You might not want to leave it out in the wild where someone can dig it up, either. In this case, the best thing to do is use fire to get rid of it. Burning a magical item doesn’t have to be complicated – build a fire and place the item in it. If you wish, say a few words to separate yourself magically from the object, and then allow it to burn.

  4. Burial

    Another good method of getting rid of old ritual tools is burial. Typically, you’ll want to select a place that isn’t going to be disturbed later on — if you have property of your own, you can bury the item in your yard. If you don’t have your own land, or you’re going to be moving soon, you may want to find a remote spot somewhere that you can bury the object. Use good judgment before digging on any public property.

Categories: The Witch's Tools | Tags: , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

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