Tag: Arts

Crystal of the Day for Feb. 11 – Carnelian

Carnelian

The reddish/orange stone known as carnelian is often streaked with white, and its colors are reminiscent of the rich landscapes of the American southwest. Use carnelian in rituals that involve grounding, because it is indeed associated with the element of Earth. Its healing powers are used in treatments of impotency and infertility, and in some cases it is believed to stop excessive bleeding, such as nosebleeds. On a magical level, carnelian comes in handy for magical shielding, or as a talisman against psychic attack.

Calendar of the Sun for Saturday, Feb. 11

Calendar of the Sun
11 Solmonath

Tiresias’s Day

Colors: Black and White
Element: Air
Altar: On cloth of black and white, lay a conch shell cut so that it can be blown through, a cup of water, and symbols of the hermaphroditic union.
Offerings: All should come to the ritual dressed in clothing of the opposite sex. Those who are of the third gender should wear black and white and be chosen to do the work of the ritual.
Daily Meal: Cakes and breads shaped like double genitalia.

Invocation to Tiresias

Tiresias, great seer,
You who traded sight
For foresight,
You who traded male
For female
And female
For the union of both,
Teach us that such boundaries
Are merely illusion,
To be dismantled
And walked right through.
Teach us that there are
New ways of seeing
That look past the blinders
Of culture and roles.
Teach us that our assumptions
Can often be done without
And that our lives will be
The better for it.

(There is no specific chant for this ritual; all should chant wordlessly while the water is poured into the conch shell and it is passed around. Each should either drink from it or blow into it like a trumpet, depending on whether they need to invoke female or male energy respectively into themselves. Then the rest is poured as a libation.)

Isis and Osiris Love Placket (Storm Moon)

Isis and Osiris Love Placket

 
The Goddess Isis and her consort Osiris brought agriculture, music and spirituality to the ancient land of Egypt. Osiris was gentle and hated violence, and Isis was wise and adept at the ways of magick. When you bring this Goddess and God into your love magick, you bring divine love and caring into your relationship.
 
For this spell, you will need a white candle, a red envelope, a lock of your hair and a lock of your lover’s hair, and a green felt pen.
 
Light the candle and dedicate it to the Goddess and God:
 
Wise Isis and gentle Osiris
May your love always shine on me and my lover.
 
Take the red envelope, place in it your lock of hair and your lover’s, and seal it with a few drops of candle wax. Take the green felt pen and draw the image of an ankh on the front of the envelope. Now, draw a heart around the ankh, and as you do so, say the following:
 
Bring life to my love
Let it grow into eternity
So mote it be! Blessed be!

Howdy Ya’ll! It’s Tuesday Again!

Good Afternoon Pictures, Images, Comments, Graphics
Today’s Affirmation for Tuesday, February 7th

“The universe is an endless source of strength I can draw on as I undertake new challenges.”

 

Thought of the Day for Tuesday, February 7th

“Take the breath of the new dawn and make it part of you. It will give you strength.”

Hopi Saying

 

Meditation of the Day for Tuesday, February 7th

Listen for the Bells

According to myth Celtic Shamans used sacred branches hung with silver bells to open doors between the material and spirit worlds. Close your eyes and imagine hearing the music of the silver bells Approaching the sound you see a gateway formed by two blossoming trees. Passing through, you fin yourself in another world. Ahead of you the guardian of the gateway is tending a cauldron over a fire. The guardian fills a chalice with liquid from the cauldron and hands it to you. The spicy drink replenishes your strength. The guardian tells you to return whenever you need to, reminding you to listen for the silver bells. You pass back through the gateway and open your eyes. You feel full of life and energy.

The Five Stages of Spellcasting: Stage One

The Five Stages of Spellcasting: Stage One

 

Stage 1: Formally defining the purpose of the spell.

Take your symbol that should be made of natural material, natural fabric, crystal, beeswax, dough, clay, flowers, herbs, twigs or metals.

Set the symbol in a dish or flat plate in the center of the altar (you can use a pentacle dish is you wish).

Raising the symbol dish in the center of the altar as you face north, name the purpose of the spell and the time scale, for example, “by the time the leaves are on the trees,” “by the next full moon or “within seven days.”

At the same time, define the person for whom you are casting the spell – this could be yourself.

If you wish, you can now, while you are speaking, pass the symbol on its dish slowly in turn over all four elemental substances, beginning in the north or east.

You may now speaking slowly and confidently, ask for any god or goddess or maybe an angelic power that could be helpful.

Put the symbol back in the center. Touch the symbol with your wand or with a crystal point or the outstretching tip of your index finger to make the connection between the symbol and the energies to be raised. Say:

Be filled with powers and blessings that _________(name) may be/ have/ do__________.

In a ritual you would announce the purpose of the gathering and draw everyone together in a initial chant or action during this first stage.

Calendar of the Moon for February 5th

Calendar of the Moon
5 Luis

Sarasvati’s Day

Colors: Purple and Blue
Element: Air
Altar: Upon cloth of purple and blue place seven blue candles, incense of Indian scents, many peacock feathers, and instruments of the arts.
Offerings: Make something creative and artistic, or assist an artist in doing so.
Daily Meal: Indian food.

Sarasvati Invocation

Hail Sarasvati, Lady of the Arts!
Hail Sarasvati, faithful to her husband!
Every eye of your peacock tail,
O Lady of the starry heaven,
Sees a different part of beauty –
Beauty that sings, that dances,
Or writes, or puts the hands
To making music or the touch
Of things that draw the eye.
Yet of all these eyes not one
Takes in the whole tapestry
Of the full radiance of life
Save your two alone,
Who see all things not as they are
But as they might be
Come finally to fulfillment.

(All should now join in creating some work of art together, or in reading poetry, or in making instrumental music, or all of these things. )

Calendar of the Sun for February 5th

Calendar of the Sun
5 Solmonath

Day of the Serpent

Colors: Malachite green, sea-blue, and silver
Element: Water
Altar: Set a cloth of sea-blue embroidered with a great serpent in malachite green and silver, and on it place a figure of the Midgard Serpent with its tail in its mouth. Around the room strew colored ribbons in a great circle. The ritual takes place within the circle.
Offerings: Cords or ribbons knotted into a circle.
Daily Meal: Eel. Fish and seafood. Seaweed. Salad. Cooked greens. Eggs.

Invocation to the Midgard Serpent

Hail Iormundgand
Child of the Trickster
And the Hag of the Iron Wood,
Brother and sister of Death,
Neither male nor female
But complete within yourself,
Neither forward nor backward
But eternally circling,
Neither of the earth
Nor apart from it
But forever surrounding us
In our Middle Land.
Teach us, O Serpent,
Of what it is to see the end
And the beginning as one,
To see all things
In their place on the wheel,
To live with the turning
And not mistake it for a straight line
Even when the horizon
Is too far away
For our weak eyes to find.

Chant: Ior Ior Iormundgand

(All join hands and do a circle dance around the outside of the room, just inside the serpent boundary.)

The Power of Words in Spellcasting

The Power of Words in Spellcasting

We already know, words have the power to heal, to express love, to praise and to comfort and negatively to hurt or criticize.

In magick, words spoke deliberately and rhythmically are one of the most significant ways to build the energies in a spell.

In Ancient Egyptian magick, the basis for modern magick, one of the major creation myths tells how Ptah the creator God, thought the world in his mind and then created it by speaking magical words or hekau. The generative power he used was called Heka, which is also the name of the God of magick. This power is equivalent to the concentrated life force. In some versions of the myth it is Heka himself who speaks the words that give form to the thoughts of Ptah.

The Ancient Egyptians believed that this creation power animated every spell as it did at the first creation. So to the Ancient Egyptians ever act of magick was a recreation of that first act of world creation, using words to bring thoughts into actuality.

Today We Honor The Goddess Athena

In Greek religion and mythology, Athena or Athene (play /əˈθiːnə/ or /əˈθiːniː/; Attic: Ἀθηνᾶ, Athēnā or Ἀθηναία, Athēnaia; Epic: Ἀθηναίη, Athēnaiē; Ionic: Ἀθήνη, Athēnē; Doric: Ἀθάνα, Athana), also referred to as Pallas Athena/Athene (play /ˈpæləs/; Παλλὰς Ἀθηνᾶ; Παλλὰς Ἀθήνη), is the goddess of wisdom, courage, inspiration, civilization, law and justice, just warfare, mathematics, strength, strategy, the arts, crafts, and skill. Minerva, Athena’s Roman incarnation, embodies similar attributes.[4] Athena is also a shrewd companion of heroes and is the goddess of heroic endeavour. She is the virgin patron of Athens. The Athenians founded the Parthenon on the Acropolis of her namesake city, Athens (Athena Parthenos), in her honour.[4]

Athena’s veneration as the patron of Athens seems to have existed from the earliest times, and was so persistent that archaic myths about her were recast to adapt to cultural changes. In her role as a protector of the city (polis), many people throughout the Greek world worshiped Athena as Athena Polias (Ἀθηνᾶ Πολιάς “Athena of the city”). The city of Athens and the goddess Athena essentially bear the same name, “Athenai” meaning “[many] Athenas”.

Athena as the goddess of philosophy became an aspect of the cult in Classical Greece during the late 5th century BC. She is the patroness of various crafts, especially of weaving, as Athena Ergane. The metalwork of weapons also fell under her patronage. She led battles (Athena Promachos or the warrior maiden Athena Parthenos) as the disciplined, strategic side of war, in contrast to her brother Ares, the patron of violence, bloodlust and slaughter—”the raw force of war”. Athena’s wisdom includes the cunning intelligence (metis) of such figures as Odysseus. Not only was this version of Athena the opposite of Ares in combat, it was also the polar opposite of the serene earth goddess version of the deity, Athena Polias.

Athena appears in Greek mythology as the patron and helper of many heroes, including Odysseus, Jason, and Heracles. In Classical Greek myths, she never consorts with a lover, nor does she ever marry, earning the title Athena Parthenos. A remnant of archaic myth depicts her as the adoptive mother of Erechtheus/Erichthonius through the foiled rape by Hephaestus. Other variants relate that Erichthonius, the serpent that accompanied Athena, was born to Gaia: when the rape failed, the semen landed on Gaia and impregnated her.. After Erechthonius was born, Gaia gave him to Athena.

Though Athena is a goddess of war strategy, she disliked fighting without purpose and preferred to use wisdom to settle predicaments. The goddess only encouraged fighting for a reasonable cause or to resolve conflict. As patron of Athens she fought in the Trojan war on the side of the Achaeans.

Wishing You A Super Sun Shiny Sunday, dear ones!

Good Afternoon Images, Pictures, Comments
Hey, it’s hard thinking of new greetings each day, lol! I hope you are having a fantastic Sunday. I feel so good today there ought to be a law against it. The glorious Sun is shining, brightly. It looks so warm outside. I watched the Weather Broadcast this morning. The weatherman said it was going to be up in the 60’s and you better get out there and enjoy the day. Well dumb butt, believed him, I always wear shorts around the house. So I figured if it is supposed to be that warm, I would run out in them. I opened the door, not to bad. My big mistake was shutting the door. Good grief! The wind is blowing a gale and I think the wind chill is 10 degrees out there. It’s my own fault, I should know by now, never, ever trust the local weather people.

So I hope your morning is nice and warm. Remember if it looks warm outside, stick your toe out first. Well with that helpful tip, how about we get on with more important matters.

Have a Very Blessed Day!

 

Affirmation of the Day for Sun. January 29th

“I do not seek perfection – only to do the best that I  an. If others do better. I will admire them without envy while trying to do better myself.”

 

Thought of the Day for Sun. January 29th

The Flight of Icarus

According to Greek mythology, Icarus was a young man who tried to escape from a labyrinth wearing a pair of waxen wings made by his father Daedalus. However, despite his father’s warning. Icarus flew too close to the sun, his wings melted and he fell to the Earth. Hold this story in your mind to remind yourself of the need to balance idealism and aspiration with a realistic awareness of human limitation.

A SPELL FOR BREAKING KARMIC CONTRACTS WITH PEOPLE

A SPELL FOR BREAKING KARMIC CONTRACTS WITH PEOPLE

Ingredients

(so they don’t continue to play the same detrimental roles in your further incarnations.)
On parchment or some other nice quality paper, write in red ink
(dragon’s blood ink, bat’s blood would be great too):
(Name) I declare our contract broken.
You no longer have power over me.
Never again will I be your servant, in this life or any other.
(you can use your own words, go into detail about how you feel you’ve been wronged
manipulated, whatever.)
Sign your name, burn it with a black candle. Get rid of the ashes.

Amazing Grace

Amazing Grace

 

Amazing grace, how sweet the Earth
that bore a witch like me!
I once was burned, now I survive,
was hung and now I sing.
T’was grace that drew down the moon
and grace that raised the seas.
The magic in the people’s will
will set our Mother free.
We face the East and breathe the winds
that move across this earth.
From gentle breeze to hurricane
our breath will bring forth the change.
Turn towards the South and feel the fire
that burns in you and me.
The spirit’s flame will rise again
and burn eternally.
We greet the West, our souls awash
in tides of primal birth.
Our tears and blood, our pain and love
will cleanse and heal the earth.
Reach into the North and know your roots
down deep ancestral caves.
We find the wisdom of the Crone,
Of circles we are made.
Amazing earth, enduring life,
from death into rebirth.
T’is earth I am and earth I love
and earth I’ll always be.
Amazing grace, how sweet the Earth
that bore witches like we.
We once were burned, now we survive,
were hung and now we sing.
Goddess bless, so mote it be,
Our magic spirals on.
Merry meet and merry part
and merry meet again
 
Courtesy of Dana… From GrannyMoon’s Morning Feast Archives

Spell Of The Day for Jan. 26th – A Matter of Fate Spell (Wolf Moon)

A Matter Of Fate

The three most notable and powerful giant maidens in Norse mythology are the Norns, with their shape-shifting wolf companions called the Hounds of the Norns. These giant goddesses of fate are named Urd, who represents the past, Verdandi, who symbolizes the present, and Skuld, who signifies the future. Even gods cannot undo what the Norns weave into the fabric of fate.

As you drift off to sleep, give yourself the suggestion that you will meet the three Norns in your dreams. Repeat to yourself:

“I will meet the Norns in my dreams and remember the answer to my question when I wake up.”

If you have something specific you want to ask the, then feel free to ask it. Otherwise, leave it up to the Norns to tell you what you need to know. When you meet the Norns in your dreams, don’t be afraid to confront them and ask them what you want to know. When you awaken, be sure to make a note of any answers or information you receive in your journal.

Heartwings Love Notes 347: The Goodness of Friends

Heartwings Love Notes 347: The Goodness of Friends

 
Heartwings says, “It is wonderful to have a good friend, and even better to have more than one.”
 
On Sunday Stephen and I slept late, had a nice brunch and prepared ourselves for a relaxed creative day. Then the clanking began again. The noises had gone on occasionally for the past week or so, once or twice waking Stephen up. We couldn’t figure out what they were, and they seemed to be getting worse.
 
From the basement where I had gone to investigate I heard Stephen calling. I rushed upstairs and into the sunroom. With three large windows and a slider, that room is often cold. That morning I discovered that several of my plants had frozen in the night. There was more to come. Water was flooding from the baseboard. We fetched a bucket and bailed to no avail.
 
Water poured on out. The rug was already soaked. I called a friend who had helped us get settled and knew the heating system to help me shut off the water to that room. It took time but we finally did. I opened the door to the garage. Water had come out of the broken pipes long enough to have soaked much of the garage ceiling. Water and plaster rained down on the car.
 
A second friend came and helped us by pulling most of the sheetrock down and carrying it away. He also brought over a large fan and a dehumidifier to help dry out the rug. His wife called their heating technician who came over today and now the pipes are fixed and the heat is back on in that room.
 
Even though the whole experience was quite traumatic, Stephen and I are extremely grateful for the way it all worked out. First, if it hadn’t snowed we would have been gone all that afternoon. Then if it hadn’t been for the help of our friends I don’t know what we would have done or how we could have managed. What a blessing it is to have friends and how grateful we are.
 
May you be given whatever help you need whenever you need it.
 

Blessings and Best Regards, Tasha Halpert

 

For more Love Notes or to subscribe: www.heartwingslovenotes.com.

My poetry and blog: www.gotpoetry.com under the Avatar of Pujakins.

Domestic Tranquility, conversations between me and Stephen and Cooking with Tasha are posted on You Tube under Stephen and Tasha Halpert.

Check Heartwings Place on YouTube to hear me read my Pujatales.

For Stephen’s and other humorous writing go to: www.funnywrite.com

To view Stephen’s art, go to www.stephenhalpert.com

 
 

Great Lady Brid, Goddess of Eire

Great Lady Brid, Goddess of Eire

by Darrion

Goddess of smith-craft, gift us with the joyful sound of the hammer and anvil as the craftsman hammers on the metal heated in the forge of Your hearth and heart, warm us in this cold and dark time period with Your love and creative spirit.

Goddess of healing, gift us with Your gentleness, wisdom and love for all who seek Your healing energy, allow us to tap that well of intuition, spirit and knowledge; as we open our hearts to assist others on their healing journeys, guide our hands and hearts.

Goddess of poetry, gift us with Your lightheartedness and playful spirit, grant us with that creative spark, open our vision so we may be aware of and use this energy to tap the wealth of our inner awareness, and allow me the strength to step aside and allow You
to guide my pen.

Goddess of fertility, gift us with the strength of the union of Goddess and God, take the firmness of the God and bury it deeply in the mound of the hill of Tara, fertilizing the earth and preparing her for the planting season to come.

Goddess of inner vision, prophecy and divination, gift us with that inner gaze and awareness, so that we may devote ourselves to unending service in joy and love to serve the Great Mother,
clan and tribe.

Precious Pup of the Day for Jan. 19th

Gypsy, the Dog of the Day
Name: Gypsy
 Age: Ten months old
Gender: Female Breed: American Red Nose Pitbull
Home: Eugene, Oregon, USA
This is Gypsy Danger Queen. Gypsy has love in her heart for everyone she meets, whenever someone comes over she gets low to the ground and wiggles around because she is so excited to see them! She will always bring a toy to greet people with. Gypsy loves to snuggle and sits like a proper lady. She likes to talk to you, especially when she wants food or to go for a walk. Gypsy Danger Queen loves cookies and her Kitty (a stuffed animal she has had since she was eight weeks old and carries like a baby).

Gypsy has beautiful green eyes, a red nose, silky mahogany fur and one of her ears sticks straight up! You can tell when she is really listening because then both of her ears will stick up. We love having Gypsy as a part of our family and couldn’t have asked for a better princess!