Day: January 10, 2013

The Weeping Willow Tree, The Tree of Hecate

The Weeping Willow Tree, The Tree of Hecate

Folk Names:
“Tree of Enchantment”,”Osier”,and”Sough Tree”

Lore and Divinatory Aspects:

The Willow is associated with the elements of water, the moon, and the gods Artemis, Ceres, Hecate, Persephone, Hera, Mercury, Belili, Circe, and Belenos.
Willow is associated with death, femininity, love, and healing. It posesses the powers of love, divination, friendship, joy, love, peace, protection, and healing.
Magical Usage:

For love magic, protection magic, healing magic, and peaceful magic. Used to create loyalty, make friendship pacts, treaties, or alliances. Used for intuition, knowledge, gentle nurturing, and will elucidate the feminine qualities of both men and women.
Its leaves are used in love attraction sachets and moon magic wands from its wood. Used to dowse for water (underground), earth energies, and buried objects.
Used combined with sandalwood to invoke spirits. Placed in homes, it protects against evil and malign sorcery. Carried, the wood will give bravery, dexterity, and help one overcome the fear of death. If one needs to get something off their chest or to share a secret, confess to a willow and your secret will be trapped.
Willow wood is good for magical harps. Good for planting and lining burial graves for its symbolism of death and protection. If one wants to know if they will be married, on New Year’s Eve, throw your shoe or boot into a willow, if it doesn’t catch in the branches the first time, the individuals has eight more tries, if they succeed, they will wed.
Medicinal Usage:

Dioscorides (1st c. A.D.) discovered its use against pain and inflammation. The Hottentots discovered its use for rheumatic fever.
Willow bark is used to treat rheumatic conditions, gout, heartburn, to stop internal bleeding, gargle for sore throats, skin problems, wounds, and burns.
The purple willow is most effective for lowering fevers.
Black willow bark can be made into an infusion as a sexual sedative and to treat gonorrhoea, relieve ovarian pain, and to curb nocturnal emissions or as a tincture for hysteria, hysteria based on genital organs, nymphomania, spermatorrhoea, satyriasis, erotomania, and lascivious dreams.
Sallow or Goat willow eases indigestion, whooping cough, catarrh, and to disinfect bandages. It is a good eyewash, and if taken orally will clear the skin and face of blemishes, or applied to hair for dandruff. Its flower essences will remedy bitterness and resentment.
Other Uses:

Tender shoots are good for baskets. Willow rods were used as thatching in European traditional homes. Willow protects riverbanks from erosion (Peachleaf Willow), drys the soil in soggy/flooded gardens, and its charcoal (Crack Willow) is used in gunpowder.

Who Is Hecate?

Who Is Hecate?

At night, particularly at the dark of the moon, this goddess walked the roads of ancient Greece, accompanied by sacred dogs and bearing a blazing torch. Occassionally she stopped to gather offerings left by her devotees where three roads crossed, for this three-fold goddess was best honored where one could look three ways at once. Sometimes, it was even said that Hecate could look three ways because she had three heads: a serpent, a horse, and a dog.
While Hecate walked outdoors, her worshippers gathered inside to eat Hecate suppers in her honor, gatherings at which magical knowledge was shared and the secrets of sorcery whispered. The bitch-goddess, the snake-goddess, ruled these powers and she bestowed them on those who worshipped her honorably. When supper was over, the leftovers were placed outdoors as offerings to Hecate and her hounds. And if the poor of Greece gathered at the doorsteps of wealthier households to snatch the offerings, what matter?

Some scholars say that Hecate was not originally Greek, her worship having traveled south from her original Thracian homeland. Others contend that she was a form of the earth mother Demeter, yet another of whose forms was the maiden Persephone. Legends, they claim, of Persephone’s abduction and later residence in Hades give clear prominence to Hecate, who therefore must represent the old wise woman, the crone, the final stage of woman’s growth- the aged Demeter herself, just as Demeter is the mature Persephone.

In either case, the antiquity of Hecate’s worship was recognized by the Greeks, who called her a Titan, one of those pre-Olympian divinities whom Zeus and his cohort had ousted. The newcomers also bowed to her antiquity by granting to Hecate alone a power shared with Zeus, that of granting or withholding from humanity anything she wished. Hecate’s worship continued into classical times, both in the private form of Hecate suppers and in public sacrifices, celebrated by “great ones” or Caberioi, of honey, black female lambs, and dogs, and sometimes black human slaves.

As queen of the night, Hecate was sometimes said to be the moon-goddess in her dark form, as Artemis was the waxing moon and Selene the full moon. But she may as readily have been the earth-goddess, for she ruled the spirits of the dead, humans who had been returned to the earth. As queen of death she ruled the magical powers of regeneration; in addition, she could hold back her spectral hordes from the living if she chose. And so Greek women evoked Hecate for protection from her hosts whenever they left the house, and they erected her threefold images at their doors, as if to tell wandering spirits that therein lived friends of their queen, who must not be bothered with night noises and spooky apparitions.

The New Book Of Goddesses and Heroines by Patricia Monaghan..

HEKATE THOU MOTHER OF MIGHT

Goddess Comments & Graphics
HEKATE THOU MOTHER OF MIGHT
by Jeanne Riegler

“Hecate, thou mother of might
Goddess of magick, of storms, of night.
Moon maiden, mother and crone
Dispensing justice from they lofty throne

Watching now with piercing eye
As thy moon palace doth glide the sky
All of life on the planet Earth
Selecting, weighing and measuring it’s worth

Grant us of thy wisdom sublime
Reveal to us the secrets of time
Help us winnow truth from lies
Harken now, please hear out cries

Hekate, thou mother of might
Goddess of crossroads, bearer of light
Moon maiden, mother and crone
Descend unto us from they lofty throne

Walk amongst us and reveal now
The mysteries of thy shining brow
Past, present and future merge
Let us feel thy power surge

Bestow healing upon this planet
Release the songs of thy stones of granite
Help us, strengthen us, in our resolve
To banish all hate, let it dissolve

Hekate, thou mother of might
Goddess of love, giver of sight
Moon maiden, mother and crone
Ensconced upon thy lofty throne
Acknowledge us, who by our own choice
Have chosen to listen to thy voice
Help us spread wisdom, truth, love and light
To save Earth from her desperate plight

We bide the Wiccan Reed to fulfill
“And ye harm none, do what thou will…”
Help us grow in serving thee
As we will, so mote it be.

Hekate, thou mother of might
Robed in splendor, beauteous, bright
Moon maiden, mother and crone
Shine upon us from thy lofty throne.”

Laugh-of-the-Day for January 10: WAYS TO HANDLE STRESS

WAYS TO HANDLE STRESS

Here’s something just for fun … something to make you laugh when you don’t
feel like laughing. By the way …. I’m not taking responsibility for anyone
crazy enough to do some of these things!

Suggestions for Handling Stress

1. Jam 39 marshmallows up your nose and try to sneeze them out.
2. Use your Mastercard to pay your Visa.
3. Pop some popcorn without putting the lid on.
4. When someone says, “Have a nice day”, tell them you have other plans.
5. Find out what a frog in a blender really looks like.
6. Forget Jenny Craig and send yourself chocolates.
7. Make a list of things to do that you’ve already done.
8. Dance naked in front of your pets.
9. Put your toddlers clothes on backwards and send them off to pre-school like
nothing was wrong.
10. Retaliate for tax woes by filling your tax forms with Roman numerals.
11. Tattoo :Out to Lunch” on your forehead.
12. Tape pictures of your boss/least favorite professor on watermelons and
launch them from high places.
13. Leaf through a National Geographic and draw underwear on all the natives.
14. Go shopping. Buy everything. Sweat in it. Return it the next day.
15. Buy a subscription to Penthouse or High Times and send it to your boss’s
work address.
16. Pay your electric bill in pennies.
17. Drive to work in reverse.
18. Relax by mentally reflecting on your favorite episode of “The Flintstones”
during an important finance meeting.
19. Sit naked on a shelled hard-boiled egg.
20. Refresh yourself; put your tongue on a cold steel guard rail.
21. Tell your boss to blow it out his mule and let him figure it out.
22. Polish your car with ear wax.
23. Read the dictionary upside-down and look for secret messages.
24. Start a nasty rumor and see if you can recognize it when it comes back to
you.
25. Bill your doctor for time spent in his waiting room.
26. Braid the hairs in each nostril.
27. Write a short story using alphabet soup.
28. Lie on you back eating celery using your navel as a salt dipper.
29. Stare at people through the tines of a fork and pretend they’re in jail.
30. Make up a language and ask people for directions.

Daily Feng Shui Tip for January 10: ‘National Cut Your Energy Costs Day’

On ‘National Cut Your Energy Costs Day’ I want to talk about slashing energy costs of another kind. If you want to embrace the Three Great Blessings of Feng Shui (Health, Happiness and Prosperity), than you simply must stop spending time with people who don’t support or help you to invite those aspirations into your life. Cut cords and ties with negative or non-supportive people and move on. If you want to attract other like-minded people in to your life then put three green and healthy plants into the ‘Family/Friend’ area of your main floor and watch new and more amazing friendships bloom and grow.

By Ellen Whitehurst for Astrology.com

Today’s I Ching Hexagram for January 10 is 37: Community

37: Community

Thursday, Jan 10th, 2013

hexagram09

 

 

 

 

A community or extended family that works is one where healthy interdependence is appreciated and supported. Good direction is essential, but strong kinship is dependent upon every member of the community. Trust, shared responsibilities and good communication are essential. Each member must be encouraged to find his or her appropriate expression, and contribution.

The functional family is a team that symbolizes the ideal of human interdependence, and has long provided a firm foundation for society. The healthy family is a microcosm of society and the native soil in which ethical values take root and grow. Fertilize this soil, and the whole of society benefits.

The power that bonds a tribe is the yin or feminine principle — gentleness and receptivity. Relationships are improved through cultivation of these. Learn to accept both advice and aid from others, and be willing to assume an appropriate role in any group that supports good relating. A good team player is always valuable to others. Increase your value!

Your Rune For January 10 is Elhaz

bw-elhaz

 bw-elhaz Your Rune For Today

Elhaz       

Elhaz represents your power to protect yourself and those around you. It also connotes the thrill and joy of a successful hunt. You are in a very enviable position right now, because you are able to maintain what you have built and reach your current goals. Enjoy.

Your Animal Spirit for January 10 is the Mockingbird

Your Animal Spirit for Today
January 10, 2013

mockingbird

Mockingbird

Mockingbirds are master imitators, and can mimic the calls of many other birds. They’re also fearless protectors of their nest, and will attack any bird (no matter how large) to protect their young. Mockingbird’s lesson for you today is twofold: to listen to how you might be mimicking others—instead of listening to your own true voice; and to examine the value of what you defend. Hmmm?

Your Deck of Ancient Symbols Card for Today

phoenixCardMED

The Phoenix

The mythical, endearing Phoenix has long been a symbol of rebirth, renewal, and coming full circle. Tired in both body and spirit the aged Phoenix combust into flames and from its ashes is reborn. The Phoenix does not indicate change so much as it does renewal and revitalization. It denotes the completion of a cycle and beginning anew.

As a daily card, The Phoenix suggest you are at a place where some aspects of your life have reached the end of a cycle. Your energies may be weakened from use and stretched over too many arenas to be as effective as they once were. As a result, now may be a good time for you to take a step back and allow yourself time to revitalize both your physical and spiritual self.

Today’s Tarot Card for January 10 is The World

The World

Thursday, Jan 10th, 2013

 

What has traditionally been known as the World card points to the presiding intelligence, called “Sophia,” or Wisdom, which upholds life on this and all worlds. A more precise title for this card might be “the Soul of the World,” also applicable as a symbol of personal empowerment and freedom. In most Tarot decks it is a female figure that has become our standard World image. She originates in Hebrew, Gnostic and Alchemical lore, and stands between heaven and earth as the Cosmic Mother of Souls, the Wife of God and our protector from the karmic forces we have set loose upon the Earth in our immaturity and ignorance.

Where the Empress energy secures and fertilizes our terrestrial lives, the goddess of The World invites us into cosmic citizenship — once we come to realize our soul’s potential for it. Just as the Chariot stands for success in achieving a separate Self, and Temperance represents achievement of mental and moral health, the World card announces the awakening of the soul’s Immortal Being, accomplished without the necessity of dying.

This card, like the Sun, is reputed to have no negative meaning no matter where or how it appears. If the Hermetic axiom is “Know Thyself”, this image represents what becomes known when the true nature of Self is followed to creative freedom and its ultimate realization.

The Daily Horoscopes for January 10th

We seek ways to organize ourselves so we can reach our goals when the Moon shifts into Capricorn at 3:54 am EST. Five planets congregating in ambitious Capricorn prompt us to concentrate our attention on getting ahead or gaining prestige at work. However, it may be challenging to discern what’s most important because hazy Neptune aligns with Venus, Mercury and the Moon today. Thankfully, we should gain a bit of clarity after tomorrow’s New Moon.

Aries Horoscope

(Mar 21 – Apr 19)

Focusing on your career may require all the energy you have now as the goal-oriented Capricorn Moon enters your 10th House of Status. You are more concerned with your own plans today than with the opinions of anyone else. However, you might not be able to reach your objectives without the help of others. Don’t be so narrow-minded that you exclude your co-workers from sharing in your success.

Taurus Horoscope

(Apr 20 – May 20)

Although you may have a concrete idea about how to complete your work, it might be smarter to finalize your plans today than actually execute them. Your intuition tells you to move beyond your normal routines and to try new things, but it’s more important now to rely on your unwavering common sense. Blending your current vision with your practicality and patience creates an unbeatable combination.

Gemini Horoscope

(May 21 – Jun 20)

It’s irritating when something comes along in your life that’s significant enough to anchor you to one spot for a while, especially if your attention is drawn elsewhere. But reality has an important lesson to teach you now, so don’t let your attention wander. Stay focused on your feelings, even if it’s challenging to integrate them into your life. The emotional dust will begin to settle by the weekend and you’ll be able to move on.

Cancer Horoscope

(Jun 21 – Jul 22)

Your current commitments to others may interfere with the fulfillment of your own emotional needs today. It might be wise to just set aside your desires for a few days while you do whatever is expected of you. Your efforts to stabilize personal and business relationships can bring you more happiness in the weeks ahead than anything you try to do for yourself now, anyway. Nurturing those you love does your own heart good.

Leo Horoscope

(Jul 23 – Aug 22)

Put away your playthings and get out your tools and determination because you have chores to do and you might as well take your work seriously. Although you may be annoyed by the arduous tasks in front of you, tackle each job willingly with a can-do attitude. A couple of days of hard work should be enough to free you up to enjoy a weekend of relaxation and recreation.

Virgo Horoscope

(Aug 23 – Sep 22)

The simplest pleasures are the most memorable ones now, yet you can still fulfill your need for fun while you are working. Unfortunately, you don’t take too kindly to anyone telling you how to do your job. Of course, your idea of the best way to approach a task will work just fine. However, you could easily miss the chance to enjoy a special connection with someone today if you’re not willing to receive constructive feedback. Listening to the advice of others offers you more options and demonstrates your willingness to be a team player.

Libra Horoscope

(Sep 23 – Oct 22)

You might feel the stress today as you try balancing your work with the emotional needs of friends and family. Although you cannot walk away from your job, responsibilities may be calling you back home. Schedule your time in advance so you can divide your efforts between your personal and professional commitments. In the meantime, let others know that you’re simply doing the best you can.

Scorpio Horoscope

(Oct 23 – Nov 21)

Everyone seems to be paying extra close attention to what you say today with so many planets traveling through your 3rd House of Communication. However, it’s crucial to focus on the integrity of your actions at all times, making certain they are consistent with your thoughts or you may end up in a rather difficult position. However, the current emphasis is on production now, so you must buckle down and do what must be done. Save the speech for another day.

Sagittarius Horoscope

(Nov 22 – Dec 21)

Low self-esteem could get in your way today as you struggle against the limitations of your current job. This frustration might not be a new one, but it continues to surface again when outside pressures build. If you are financially stressed, consider how your feelings of self-worth might be impacting your bank account now. This is an opportune time to establish realistic goals and then develop an ambitious plan to achieve them.

Capricorn Horoscope

(Dec 22 – Jan 19)

You may be approaching what appears to be the end of a road and you’re trying to determine where to go next. Even if you’re ready to charge ahead, unfinished business needs to be completed before you can see around the next bend. Try not to look too far ahead until after tomorrow’s New Moon; instead, do everything you can to make this day as positive and productive as possible.

Aquarius Horoscope

(Jan 20 – Feb 18)

Your dreams may be so vivid now that it’s difficult to distinguish them from reality. One inner voice reminds you of the beauty inherent in the spiritual and metaphysical approach to life. Another voice confronts you with the hard facts of your present situation. You shouldn’t ignore your responsibilities, even if you prefer to be alone with your thoughts now. Shift back and forth between these two worlds as needed until you find the right balance.

Pisces Horoscope

(Feb 19 – Mar 20)

A team of co-workers or a group of friends places so many demands on you now that it could be hard to find any time away from the noise of social interactions. It’s crucial to show up and let your feelings be known today, even if they differ from everyone else’s. However, once you’ve stated your position, be prepared to go along with the pack. Ironically, demonstrating your cooperative spirit gives you the opportunity for personal expression later on.

Venus in Capricorn: Working for Love

Venus in Capricorn: Working for Love

The business of love in coming weeks

by Jeff Jawer on the topics of love, venus, capricorn, blogs, astrology

Expect a fresh look at relationships and self-worth issues during the next couple of weeks. The action starts on Tuesday, January 8, when alluring Venus enters hardworking Capricorn and romance becomes bound by rules.

This is an intentional process rather than just falling in love. It’s as if this is an involuntary process over which we have no control. The idea of being so attracted to someone that emotion takes over and all we have to do is follow its lead to eternal bliss is understandably appealing. It eliminates the work of thinking, planning and building a relationship over time, and it makes us feel like winners in the lottery of love. At least that’s what Hollywood taught us.

Venus in Capricorn sextile Neptune

Venus in Capricorn is another story, though. It’s about earning trust, which requires time and effort. The first part, however, is not about impressing anyone else; it’s about respecting and trusting ourselves. The love planet’s presence in this responsible Earth sign makes discipline, commitment and patience sexy and appealing. Recognizing your own worth based on the progress you’ve made and the lessons that you’ve learned is the foundation for successful relationships with Venus in Capricorn. The road to love, pleasure and approval, though, turns bumpy from January 12-17.

Oh, the journey starts off sweetly enough with Venus’ supportive sextile to tender and imaginative Neptune on January 9. This is a lovely alignment of intention and self-control (Venus in Capricorn) with the sweet surrender of Neptune in Pisces. Sounds like the best of both worlds and an ideal environment for establishing a romantic mood. But the dreamy and forgiving feel of this aspect quickly gives way to more complex social patterns.

Uranus square Pluto

Darling Venus, all grown up in responsible Capricorn, runs into the cosmic storm of the ongoing Uranus-Pluto square, the transformational aspect that lasts from 2012 until 2015. Venus forms an edgy square with volatile Uranus on January 12 and joins pressure-packed Pluto on January 16. These are aspects that can provoke strange attractions and sudden shifts of mood, as well as intense desires and profound mistrust. On the plus side, unspoken issues can rise to the surface to be addressed openly, which helps to break relationship habits, adding new interest to an ongoing alliance or opening the way to a new one.

The control we seek with Venus in Capricorn is disturbed by these transits because they are meant to teach us to appreciate change. Shifts of values and tastes are gateways to greater tolerance, and they help us discover personal and professional opportunities in these transitional times.

Some people may feel as if they’re going over the edge, but a safety net opens on January 17 when Venus sextiles security-conscious Saturn. This positive aspect connects attraction and order in a well-balanced way, enabling us to regain emotional equilibrium if we’ve lost it and to manage radical change if it’s desirable.

Either way, being responsible without becoming rigid produces a fertile field in which love can grow.

The Daily Cosmic Calendar for January 10

The long void lunar cycle in Sagittarius finally concludes without a lot of fanfare at 12:55AM PST. Capricorn Moon now takes the lunar baton for a 48-hour run through the key sign of professional stature and career planning. Hard work and discipline are the dynamic duo that can guide you to the executive penthouse. Giving you a creative boost and added emotional empowerment to achieve your aims are monthly unions of the Moon with Venus (3:32AM PST), Juno (2:14PM PST), and underworld-ruling Pluto (4:23PM PST). The asteroid Pallas makes news by shifting gears from watery Pisces to fiery Aries (9:09AM PST). See this change as an opportunity to enhance your skills as a problem-solver and super-strategist by being a captain of industry or versatile entrepreneur. Avoid confusion and chaotic situations on the communication front as Mercury makes an abrasive, 45-degree tie with Neptune (3:49PM PST). If you feel the need to meditate for peace of mind and pull away from excessive social interactions, you are probably tuning into the increasing dark-of-the-moon vibrations or balsamic phase of the solar-lunar connection. Tomorrow’s New Moon in Capricorn is creating a temporary vortex of physical energy depletion where contemplation about forthcoming moves is more important than forcing things to happen your way right now.

Calendar of the Moon for January 10

Calendar of the Moon

Beth/Poseideion II

Birch Tree Moon

Color: White
Element: Air
Altar: Upon cloth of white set the budded birch branches, a single white candle, the rune Berkana carved onto a piece of birch wood, and a bowl of clear water.
Offerings: White cakes with the Berkana rune carved upon them.
Daily Meal: Vegetarian with dairy and eggs.

Beth Invocation

Call: Now is the beginning of the year.
Response: Now is the time of stillness and cold.
Call: Now all is still and waiting upon the earth.
Response: Now the earth sleeps beneath her many blankets.
Call: Now is the time of patience.
Response: Now is the time of our longest wait.
Call: We are at peace with the Earth and with each other.
Response: We are at peace with the Earth and ready to begin.
Call: This is the month of indrawn breath.
Response: This is the time of all beginnings.
Call: May the year grow strong before us!
Response: May we grow strong before the year!
Call: For as the birch tree steps forth into the burned fields,
Response: So do we step forth into the aftermath of our own burning.
Call: For as the soft branches of the birch beat away the old year,
Response: So do we lower our heads for the strokes of the future.
Call: For as the pheasant hunts the snow for food,
Response: So do we seek through the ruins of the past.
Call: For as Frigga spins the clouds into thread,
Response: So do we circle like the spinning whorl,
Call: So do we take up the fiber of what has been,
Response: So do we bring forth the new year from our very hands.
Call: From our open hands,
Response: From our open hearts,
Call: From our open bodies,
Response: From our open souls.

Chant: Silver tree, in your branches
White of snow, stars are dancing
Tree of clouds, like thread of silver
Time runs through our hands.

[Pagan Book of Hours]

Calendar of the Sun for January 10

Calendar of the Sun

10 Wolfmonath

Ilithyia’s Day of the Midwives

Color: Red
Element: Earth
Altar: The altar shall be the same as Sponde the previous day.
Offerings: Give aid to a midwife.
Daily Meal: Center around milk and dairy products.

Ilithyia Invocation

Slim maiden with quick hands
That bring forth the life of others,
Daughter of Hera, child of marriage,
Daughter of Zeus, child of kingship,
Your hands reach forth
To every matron’s opening womb,
Bringing the new bride into the world of family,
Bringing the maiden into the time of mothering,
Bringing the tribe a new life.
Let us learn from you, maiden midwife!
For though we do sometimes find ourselves
Bringing new life into the world,
More often we kneel in your place,
As you kneel between the laboring woman’s thighs,
Watching the opening of the sacred door,
Kneeling in honor of the power of birth,
We find ourselves assisting in the birth
Of the others who struggle,
Who writhe and twist and despair of being done,
Who need out skilled hands, our urgent voices,
Our love and care and attention
That what must be birthed shall come to be.
Teach us, Ilithyia, of how to better hold the labor of another
In our waiting hands.

Chant:
From the dark of the womb we bring forth life
From the dark of the mind we bring forth light
From the dark of the dream we bring forth sight
From the dark of the Wheel we bring forth fate
From the dark of the night we bring forth day
From the dark of the heart we seek the way.

[Pagan Book of Hours]

The Witches Moon Phase for January 10: Waning Crescent

Crescent Moon

(waning /6% illumination)

This is a time to rest, reevaluate and reflect, pulling back into yourself to reconnect with inner sources of strength. Now is not a time to initiate anything new. It’s a phase suited to spending time with friends and getting in touch with the “big picture.” A window of opportunity exists for seeing your life objectively and becoming aware of what is important to you. At this point, what are your dreams and aspirations? What larger goals can you aspire to that will bring vitality and excitement into your life? This is a time for resting and gaining inner strength to prepare for a new cycle.

Living Life As The Witch: Surviving Mercury’s Retrogrades

Surviving Mercury’s Retrogrades

The Roman god Mercury (Hermes to the Greeks) is the messenger of the gods—the link between spirit and matter, between soul and personality. Mercury symbolizes the power of communication, reasoning capacities and the ability to perceive relationships and gather facts. Mercury narrates, talks argues, debates, writes, analyzes, memorizes, studies travels, sells, reflects, and expresses itself through the hands as well as the tongue. Mercury is the magician and the trickster, two sides of the same coin, both inclined to be hard teachers. As a master of the hidden realms, Mercury confounds us with unexpected information and events and challenges our habitual perceptions. He also surprises us with unexpected gifts and new possibilities. If we like the surprises, we call it magick; if we don’t, we call it bad luck. Either way, the result is to jar us from the inertia of our routines and move us out of the mundane. So when the planet is retrograde, we can expect things “ruled” by Mercury to go haywire; it’s just another way Mercury is providing lessons.

Mercury retrograde periods are plagued by indecision, bad timing, delays, communication errors, and mechanical problems. Although many of us particularly notice computer problems during this time frame. Uranus is the planet that rules electronic devices, including computers. But since so much of our communication is conducted via computer, Mercury’s influence has expanded.

For many of us, knowing when Mercury goes retrograde can be a sanity saver. We can mark retrograde periods on our calendars so we won’t throw parties, write letters, buy electronics (or pets), sign contracts or take a new job. If nothing else, it’s a time to take extra care that what you say is understood as you meant it to be. For years, it was a time when I battened down the hatches and rode out the messed up energies.

No longer. Now I use the retrograde energies of Mercury in ways that the work like a kind of cosmic aikido move. Doing so has transformed nine weeks of my year into positive, productive times and my frustration level has decreased dramatically.

The key is to remember that Mercury retrograde is a time for “re” doing things. So it is a wonderful time for anything based on research, planning, examination of resources and completing projects. You don’t want to start anything new during Mercury retrograde, but if there is a project hanging out there that you haven’t gotten around to finishing, this is the perfect time to return to it.

Mercury retrograde is not my favorite time of the year, but I’m a lot less stressed about it now that I’ve learned some strategies for using the backward energy to my advantage.

Excerpt from:
Dancing with Mercury,
Backwards: Do More Than Just Survive Mercury
Retrograde
By Lisa McSherry
Llewellyn’s 2013 Magical Almanac for Every Day Living

The Witches Spell for January 10: Simple Broom Purification Spell


Witchy Comments

THE BROOM PURIFICATION SPELL

Before dawn, take a branch from any tree. Thank the tree for its gift and leave a coin or semi-precious stone at its base in payment.

Next, obtain several brightly colored flowers on long stalks. Tie these flowers to the branch to fashion a sort of broom, then sweep the floor in every room of the house, visualizing the flowers of the broom absorbing negativity and “evil” as you work.

Then, still before sunrise, leave the broom at the crossroads.
Traditionally this ritual is repeated at the first of each month.

The Witches Correspondence for Thursday, January 10th

Goddess Comments & Graphics


The Witches Correspondence for Thursday, January 10th

Magickal Intentions: Luck, Happiness, Health, Legal Matters, Male Fertility, Treasure and Wealth, Honor, Riches, Clothing Desires, Leadership, Public Activity, Power and Success Incense: Cinnamon, Must, Nutmeg and Sage
Planet: Jupiter
Sign: Sagittarius and Pisces
Angel: Sachiel
Colors: Purple, Royal Blue and Indigo
Herbs/Plants: Cinnamon, Beech, Buttercup, Coltsfoot, Oak
Stones: Sugilite, Amethyst, Turquoise, Lapis Lazuli and Sapphire
Oil: (Jupiter) Clove, Lemon Balm, Oakmoss, Star Anise

Jupiter presides over Thursday. The vibrations of this day attune well to all matters involving material gain. Use them for working rituals that entail general success, accomplishment, honors and awards, or legal issues. These energies are also helpful in matters of luck, gambling, and prosperity.