Category: Divination

Crystal Ball Gazing

Crystal Ball Gazing

This technique is best if done with a Crystal Ball 2-5 inches in diameter and works best on nights of the full moon.

Light one or two candles in a darkened, quiet room. You can hold the crystal or place it on a stand, but it should have a blue or black velvet cloth underneath it. Make sure that there are no reflections from anything showing in the ball. You can also burn incense if you wish. Patchouli works great for me.

Before beginning, center yourself. Gaze into the ball, but do not stare. Try not to blink that much. While you are gazing, breathe in and out slowly and deeply. Just relax and gaze. You will feel a sense of limitless time. Enjoy the peacefulness and simply gaze. Do this for at least 15 minutes, and increase your time by 5 minutes with each succeeding session.

Usually around the second or third session, you will notice a small cloudy glow in the center of the crystal. This is your focusing area where your visions will appear. You may get a vision on your first try, while others have to attempt it several times before seeing something. Go at your own pace.

Just a small warning: Always remember the saying “Be Careful What You Wish For” while gazing. Think about what you wish to see before gazing.

On my third session ( when I got my first vision ) I asked to see a vision of my previous life. I saw myself burning to death in a house fire. That was something that I didn’t really enjoy remembering. Now I find that it is best to just gaze and receive whatever comes to me. Perhaps you can have more peaceful visions by doing that too.

There are also different forms that visions come in. You can get actual visions of places and people, or you can get symbolic pictures. Another form that visions come in are color clouds. Although no one has been successful in identifying what each color cloud means, the following has been pretty accurate for a lot of seers.

  • Blue clouds symbolize success of career or business

  • Gold clouds symbolize prosperity, steady cash flow, and renewed romance to come

  • Gray/Dark gray symbolize ill fortune

  • Black clouds symbolize some seriously bad stuff coming one’s way

  • Green clouds symbolize health, happiness of the heart

  • Orange clouds symbolize hidden aggression and anger, troubled emotions

  • Red clouds symbolize danger to come. This person must watch themselves

  • Silver clouds symbolize troublesome times ahead followed by goodness

  • White clouds symbolize very good fortune to come

  • Yellow clouds symbolize upcoming obstacles

 

Cellphone Magick

In today’s world, it might seem strange to think of someone not owning a cell phone, and it probably seems equally bizarre for a phone to be associated with magick and casting spells? So it may surprise some people to learn that high-tech gadgets and gizmos do have a very important place in a modern witch’s toolbox.

Although there are some eccentric witches out there who still brew steaming potions in remote corners of forests, they really are quite a rare sight these days. We’ve gone mainstream, and most of us have cell phones. I remember when I purchased my first mobile phone some years ago, even before I’d figured out how to call someone, I was seeking ways in which I could use the device magickally. It didn’t take me long to figure out that by transmitting my desires over the cellular network, I could turn all of my wishes into reality.

I can’t take all the credit for this new way of spell-making. My trusted friend and coauthor, Shawn, helped me to try out many different ways of weaving together these contemporary spells, and after a few months of experimenting we figure out how to make the cell phone work to our advantage.

It’s all in the power and intent of the message. We know, for example, that by sending a thought to the universe, we attract the things we desire. Writing spells with pen and paper is a quick and easy way of getting what you want, but because of the energy that powers cell-phone towers and the speed with which we can send and receive texts, sending spells as text messages takes them to the next level.

Another easy aspect of spell texting is that you don’t need candles or any other objects. All you needs is a companion, preferably one who also owns a cell phone and who knows you well enough to recognize that you are not completely mad! This person doesn’t necessarily have to have any magickal know-how, just as long as they are open-minded and eager to experiment. In the past, I have known some witches wo do this process alone by using two mobile devices, but in my opinion the spells work best if you actually enlist the help of another person.

A Modern-Day White Witch’s Guide
Wiccapedia
Shawn Robbins & Leanna Greenaway

Smudging: How to do it — how not to do it

Smudging: How to do it — how not to do it

Michelle Chihacou White Puma Klein-Hass

I came across a very interesting article from “Shaman’s Drum” which was reprinted for Vision Quest Bookstore. I will attempt to convey the gist of it, along with my views, as a student of the Ways of the Teneh, about it. Smudging is a way of using the smoke from burning herbs as a way to cleanse the body, an object, or a given area of negative influences. I myself use smudging to “cleanse” crystals before using them in jewelry projects I may do, and for protecting my home from some recent “bad vibe”-producing events. (landlord troubles!) I imagine that the skillful use of the proper herbs could help in warding and banishing ceremonies as well, if used properly and with reverence. The three most used plant material for smudging are sage of all types, cedar and sweetgrass.

Sage
There are two major genii and several varieties of each genus of Sage that are used for smudging. Salvia, or the herb sage used for cooking, comes in two major varieties: S. officinalis, commonly known as Garden Sage, and S. apiana, commonly known as White Sage. Salvia varieties have long been acknowledged as healing herbs, reflected in the fact that its genus name comes from the Latin root word salvare, which is the verb “to heal” or “to save.” Artemisia is the genus commonly considered “Sagebrush”, and is more common in the wilds out here in California. There are two major varieties to the Artemisia genus: A. californica or Common Sagebrush, and A. vulgaris or Mugwort. There are many other varieties of both Salvia and Artemisia, and all are effective in smudging. Sage is burned in smudging ceremonies to drive out evil spirits, negative thoughts and feelings, and to keep Gan’n (negative entities) away from areas where ceremonials take place. In the Plains Sweatlodge, the floor of the structure is strewn with sage leaves for the participants to rub on their bodies during the sweat. Sage is also used in keeping sacred objects like pipes or Peyote wands safe from negative influence. In the Sioux nation, the Sacred Pipe is kept in a bundle with sage boughs. I would think special crystals could be so protected this way as well.

Cedar
True cedar is of the Thuja and Libocedrus genii. Some Junipers (Juniperus genus) are also called “cedar”, thus complicating things some. Some Juniper varieties are cleansing herbs, especially J. monosperma, or Desert White Cedar. But for smudging, the best is Western Red Cedar (Thuja occidentalis) and California Incense Cedar (Libocedrus descurrens). Cedar is burnt while praying to the Great Spirit (Usen’, the Source — also known to Plains nations as Wakan Tanka) in meditation, and also to bless a house before moving in as is the tradition in the Northwest and Western Canada. It works both as a purifier and as a way to attract good energy in your direction. It is usually available in herb stores in chipped form, which must be sprinkled over a charcoal in a brazier. I like a piece of charcoaled mesquite for this purpose, rather than the commercial charcoal cake.

Sweetgrass
Very important to the Sioux and Cherokee nations, its botanical name is Hierochloë odorata. In these tribes, the sweetgrass is braided like hair braids. It could be burnt by lighting the end of it, or (more economically) by shaving little bits of it onto charcoal in a brazier. Again, use charcoaled Mesquite (I believe it comes packaged for barbecue use under the brand name “Red Arrow”) to burn it, not pressed charcoal tablets. Sweetgrass is burnt after smudging with sage, to welcome in good influences after the bad had been driven out. Sweetgrass is very rare today, and traditional Plains people have been attempting to protect the last of it. Myself, I believe that Cedar, which is not endangered, can safely be used this way. Also Piñon pine needles (used more frequently by the Southwest Teneh, like the Navajo and Apache as well as the Pueblo people and the Zuni) and Copal (used by the Yaqui and in ancient times by the Azteca and the Maya) have similar effect. The three mentioned here are readily available either through gathering yourself or, in the case of copal resin, from any good herb shop.

Using Smudging
Burn clippings of the herb in a brazier… not a shell as some “new age” shamanic circles do… it is an insult to White Painted Woman (The Goddess) to do this, especially with the abalone shell which is especially sacred to Her. If the herb is bundled in a “wand”, you can also light the end of the wand that isn’t woody and use that. I like the latter way. Direct the smoke with your hands or with a Peyote (feather) wand over the person or thing you wish to smudge. If you can see auras, look for discolored places in the aura and direct the healing smoke towards those places on the patient’s body. For cleansing a house, first offer cedar smoke to the four directions outside the house. Then, take a sage bough and go throughout the inside of the house, making sure the smoke penetrates every nook and cranny of the house. It might help also, if you have a power animal, to visualize your animal doing these things, to also dance your animal, and if you have a power song, to sing that too. Then finally, run through the house with a white candle that is well protected, to “light up” the house. Careful not to burn it down when you do it!!!

Final Thoughts
Smudging should be done with care, with reverence, and in an attitude of LOVE. Show your respect and honor to the plants that Usen’ has given us for our healing, and they will return the favor by keeping us well and free from disease and negative energy. Aloe Vera plants, though not to be burnt, are good for the cleansing angle as well. Keep one or more potted Aloe Veras in the house (modern varieties are too tender to plant in anything but full shade outside) in organic (wood or ceramic, never plastic or metal) pots. To honor the plant when you transplant it, sprinkle the roots with corn meal and smudge it with cedar once it is transplanted. The spirit of Aloe Vera is a good protective spirit, and if you burn yourself, can also be used to heal your skin. Be sure to ask the plant’s permission before cutting part of the leaf off for the healing juice. If you don’t, the protective power of the plant will cease, and you will be left with but an inert houseplant… and perhaps some bad karma to boot.

Hi-dicho, it is finished…. ENJU!