7 Ways to Make Your Living Space Smell Nice

by Megan, selected from Intent.com

Rather than spraying chemical-laden air fresheners, choose one of these seven natural ways to make your living space smell a little nicer.

1. Invest in houseplants. Have your favorite plants and herbs growing in your kitchen, living room and bathroom in small pots. The presence of green plants will help reduce indoor air pollution and keep clean air circulating in your space.

2. Save your citrus fruit skins. Save the peels of oranges, lemons, limes and other citrus- fruits. You can place them in boiling water to have a fresh scent in the kitchen, or run them in your garbage disposal with boiling water. Lastly, put some citrus skins in your vacuum bag the next time you vacuum your carpet.

3. Dilute essential oil with water in a spray bottle. You can spray your furniture and carpet to make the whole room smell a specific scent. To diversify, you can have different scents for different areas of your home. For example: lavender for the living room, sandalwood for your bedroom and peppermint for the bathroom.

4. Place bowls of white vinegar in corners of the room. The vinegar will neutralize and absorb any offending odors.

5. Place fabric softener in your shoes and closet. It will take away any stale clothing smells. For another closet air freshener, place a cedar block at the bottom of your closet. Use sandpaper for a new layer once a year.

6. Light soy candles instead of regular candles. Soy candles are longer-lasting, better for the environment and have a more robust smell. (They are also safer than carcinogen-emitting candles.)

7. Bake bread or cook your own meals. Few things are as welcoming as the smell of freshly baked bread or the herbs of a home-cooked dinner.

Calendar of the Sun for July 10

Calendar of the Sun

10 Haymonath

Hela’s Day

Colors: Black and White
Elements: Earth and Air
Altar: Upon black cloth to the right place four black candles, a skull, bones, a pot of earth, a pile of withered leaves, and a gravestone. Upon white cloth to the left place four white candles, incense, an ivory chalice of mead, a crystal sphere, and a bunch of dried roses. Veil the windows.
Offerings: Blood. Pain. Difficulty. Toil. An arduous task that will take all you have to give, and will benefit the generations yet to come.
Daily Meal: Meat stew and bread.

Invocation to Hela

Hail to Hel
Queen of Helheim
Wisest of Wights
Keeper of Secrets
Keeper of the hopes for tomorrow
Guardian of Souls
Implacable one of the frozen realm
Half the face of beauty
Half the face of Death.
You who feed the dead
At your meager table
Where everyone gets their fair share,
You who care not
About wealth or status,
About fame or fortune,
Who cares for the peasant
Equally with the ruler,
Teach us that Death is the great leveller
And that we need have no pride
When we reach your halls.
Lady who takes away
Yet holds always promise,
Teach us to praise loss and death
And the passing of all things,
For from this flux
We know your blessings flow.

(Blow out the candles, bow to the altar, and pour out the libation of mead. The roses should be placed outside to rot in the garden.)

[Pagan Book of Hours]

Daily Feng Shui Tip for Saturday, July 7th

With all due respect to Erich Segal, love might mean never having to say you’re sorry, but sometimes saying you’re sorry just doesn’t cut it. So I thought I’d offer a fabulous Feng Shui cure that will allow anyone involved in the offense to share the love and forgiveness. On a plain white piece of paper using a green ink pen, write the name of the person you need to forgive or who needs to forgive you. Fold the paper in fours and place it inside any lidded clear glass or crystal (never plastic) receptacle. Cover the paper completely with honey and then seal the lid. Every night for nine consecutive nights, light a white candle close to or atop the container and silently speak your heart while offering or asking forgiveness to or from the person whose name is written on the paper. On the ninth day, allow the candle to burn down and place what’s left of the candle and the jar into a brown paper bag. Dispose of this bag somewhere outside of the house. And then, just wait. It won’t be long before an improbable opportunity arises that allows the two of you to clear the air. And then you can breathe again! Love might mean never having to say you’re sorry but this cure ensures a happy ending!

By Ellen Whitehurst for Astrology.com

Making Cauldron Candles

Cauldron Candles

Cauldron candles are simple to make, a lot of fun and they look great! It’s a wonderful way to recycle left over wax.
What you will need:

Clean Sand

A Box or Container

Heat Source

Cooking Pan

Oven Mitts

Small Cauldron or mayonnaise jar

Wax

Candle Wicking

Scissors

Coffee Can or Heat Proof Jar

For wax, you can use paraffin (found in the canning section of the grocery store), beeswax (can usually be obtained cheaply from people who sell their own honey), or even left over candles.
If you don’t have candle wicking, you can buy them at craft stores or do what I do – use small twine or get the wicks out of broken candles.

Directions

Prepare the mold: If you are using a box, line it with a plastic bag to keep the moisture from destroying the shape. Moisten the sand with water so that it will keep its shape when pressed. If you have a small cauldron, press it tightly into the wet sand until it comes to the top. You don’t want the sand over the edge, just flush. Make sure that you have at least one inch of packed sand around the top so that it will hold its shape once the wax is poured in. Carefully remove the cauldron, trying to avoid loose sand particles from falling in. If it doesn’t hold its shape, or you are not happy with the results, redo it! Depending on the size of the container, you can make as many candle molds as you have room. If you don’t have a small cauldron, use a small mayonnaise jar or other container that will give you the basic shape. You can even use your fist for a unique looking cauldron. Kids especially love to do this. You will however need to make legs for the cauldron. Simply use your little finger or a chopsticks and press into the bottom of the mold three times. Try to keep them at the same depth, and spaced evenly around the bottom, otherwise you end up with a lopsided cauldron!
Prepare the wax: Put the wax into the coffee can or the heatproof container into a pan of water; bring to a boil on the stove. Caution – NEVER leave melting wax unattended and if there are children involved in candle making, always supervise them! Hot wax is highly flammable and can burn skin – so be extremely careful.
If you wish to make black cauldrons, add left over black candles or wax to can. If you don’t have any, you can add black crayon pieces until you are happy with the color. Of course, if you want a different color, use the appropriate wax or crayon.
Prepare the wick: While the wax is melting, add the wicks to the molds. Press the wicking directly into the sand at the center of the mold. You will need to drape the top of the wick over a pencil or meat skewer that is placed over the top of the mold – preferably resting on the top of the box, to keep the wick from falling into to wax once it is poured.
Pouring the wax: When the wax is completely melted, put your oven mitts on, lift the can from the water and slowly pour the wax into the molds. You don’t want the wax to cool too slowly or it may crack, so don’t put them outside or in the refrigerator to speed the process.
Finishing the candles: Once the wax has hardened, you can just scoop the candles out of the sand. Trim off any wick that is sticking out of the bottom with scissors and brush off any excess sand.

Candles As Tools of Magick

CANDLES AS TOOLS OF MAGICK

Select four candles in colors representing the four elements. Try using red for

Fire, green for Earth, blue for Water and yellow for Air. Anoint the candles

with oil. Decide on your goal or request and which candle is best for

represents the need. (ie money, business, material objects, grounding matters

would be Earth. Matters of sex, breaking habits, purification, protection,

strength would be Fire. Matters of love, psychic awareness, healing,

friendships, beauty, spirituality, meditation would be Water. Matters of

movement, travel, communication, teachings would be Air.) Place three candles

in a triangle and put the assigned candle in the center.

Meditate on your desire as you light all four candles. Visualize the outcome,

concentrating carefully on that which you wish to happen. Let all candles burn

go out by themselves.

For best results, do this candle burning during the hour of the day that will

aide you and during the correct Moon phases. The Waning Moon is good for

banishing, the Waxing will help things grow.

Above all use extreme care when doing ANY form of Magick that entails the use of Fire.

My relationship with Yemayá

She Moves in Mysterious Ways

My relationship with Yemayá

by Iris WaterStar

The first time that I saw an image of Yemayá, two thoughts ran through my head; the first one was “Oh, that’s me,” quickly followed by the second one, which ran along the lines of “What an odd thing to be thinking about a picture on a candle.” This was about two and a half years ago; the candle was one that I saw in a shop on Capitol Hill called Three Furies. I was there looking around with a friend, and this picture seemed to jump out at me. I had absolutely no idea who in the world this was, but I knew that she was wonderful, and so familiar.

It felt like seeing myself, or some part of myself, a part that I wanted to unfold somehow. This candle was one of the tall cylindrical kind; it was green and had a color painting on it. The picture is of a beautiful woman, standing on the waves of a green ocean surrounded by white blossoms. The stars are out in the twilight sky above her; the crescent moon is off to one side. She has long, dark flowing hair and is wearing a long white gown with her arms outstretched. From her hands, golden stars are falling. She has a thin aura above her head and another bright five-pointed star above her head. She is neither smiling or frowning, she simply is as she is.

I had never experienced a candle calling to me like this one did. I picked it up and put it down several times. Each time, I put it down I was aware of the feeling she was meant to go with me. I finally asked the man who ran the store “Who is this?” He wasn’t sure; he said he thought that it was some ocean-type goddess or something, but that some people had come in recently and told him her name. He couldn’t remember it but it was something like… and he pronounced something that I promptly forgot.

He also told me that these people who knew of her said that he had the candle color all wrong, and that it should be blue and not green. I bought the green candle anyway because I didn’t want to wait the couple of weeks it would take to make another candle.

I took the candle home and promptly set up an altar, with the candle as a centerpiece. I had always had shrines but never one that was dedicated to a specific persona. I had some cobalt-blue glass that I put around it, and shells (I am a Pisces so these weren’t hard to come by ); I had an incense burner, and I bought some moon incense. I had seawater and flowers and white candles.

These things just seemed right and felt like what would be appropriate for an ocean goddess. I remember looking at her and being a little in awe of the energy that seemed to be somehow associated with her. At times, I was a little afraid, but then I immediately would get this sense that she had chosen to come home to be with me and so fear wasn’t needed. I still kept a healthy respect for this energy, as well as a growing fondness.

I later went back to the store and purchased another candle with a beautiful turquoise-blue background. I added that to the altar as well. I did a winter solstice ritual in my apartment that year in solitary fashion. I am used to working with spirit guides, as I have worked as a psychic and spiritual teacher for a number of years, and so I wasn’t completely alone in my work that evening. But I was amazed just the same as I did my work and lit the incense and candles. I really felt her yet unnamed presence with me. It was a very powerful night.

It was a few months after this time that a woman came into my life who was soon to become one of my best friends. She came to visit my apartment, and in that visit, I first learned of who this goddess was who had decided to come into my life. Her name, my friend told me, was Yemayá. And I found out I had unknowingly set up my altar with many of her traditional things.

Yemayá has an amazing way of setting things up. I found myself signing up for a drumming class along with several good friends. I had never really been interested in taking a class in drumming, but my friends said that “afoshè,” the rhythm that we would be working with, was really hot. So I went to a couple of classes and found myself not only learning the afoshè beginning drumming technique. By “coincidence,” we also learned a chant in this class; it was one to call up a certain goddess in the Yoruba faith. Guess who? So I ended up learning a song/chant and a rhythm that is traditionally used to invoke Yemayá in the rituals where the orishas “ride” the participants. I had to laugh; how obvious can you get!

I have been aware of Yemayá in many different ways; she speaks to me, and I am aware of her when I meditate sometimes. She is very loving and powerful, and I have an incredible affinity for her. She also has been very respectful of my personal space. In my own private personal magic, I do things that might be considered on the edge. Sometimes my ritual journeying involves extreme sensation, and one such evening, it involved piercing. I had very clear visions and awareness of Yemayá during this session, and it was also somehow associated with my Venezuelan Indian descent. I won’t go into great detail here, since it was quite personal, but suffice it to say that she comes to me very strongly sometimes. Along with working with Yemayá, I have become very conscious of the power of my own blood time and have incorporated this into my rituals as well.

I find it a little odd that I tend to do these things and then find out later that they are already in line with traditional practices. I guess I just do things backwards sometimes. Perhaps it is just as well to not second-guess myself. But nontheless, I am finally gathering written information about her and her traditions.

I am also going through the rite of formally choosing her as the goddess to which I am dedicated. On my altar, these days I have added a lovely statue of her, a new candle with her picture on it, her name and the term “La Diosa del Mar” (the Goddess of the Sea). I even have some Yemayá oil. I also have an amulet that my good friend made for me (the one who told me Yemayá’s name in the first place) that has many of the things sacred to her on it.

One of the most recent things I read called her the “Queen of the Ocean, First Mother of the World, Queen of Waters, owner of waters both sweet and sour. Mother of the children of the fishes, deliverer of her people.” It seems appropriate from this Piscean perspective.

I have since heard on more than one occasion that an orisha (which is what Yemayá is) tends to choose people, as opposed to people choosing the orisha. This certainly was true in my case. I didn’t know at the time I went into that store on Capitol Hill that I was going in to meet my goddess. And other than my actual experiences with her, nothing means as much to me as the original candles that I bought, when I didn’t know anything about her – just the feeling/thought that “Oh, that’s me, there I am.”

Your Magick Spell for Sunday, June 3 – Solitary Moon Rite

Solitary Moon Rite

Since there is a Full Moon on the horizon, I thought this would be very appropriate and useful. Enjoy!

This rite may be used for either New or Full Moon. The difference is in your meditation and mental attitude in preparation. Remember that the New Moon is a time of outward work and thought, building to the peak which is the Full Moon.

At the Full Moon, you should be preparing to lessen the outward flow of energy, bit by bit, until the period before New Moon, during which you are passive, building a pool of energy within you, in preparation for the New Moon.
The altar should be placed in the center of the ritual area. On it should be placed a rose or stick of incense on the eastern side, a red votive candle to the South; a cup of water on the West, and a bowl of salt or living plant on the North. Around your ritual area, you should place an unlighted candle at the cardinal point of each direction.
To begin your rite, enter your darkened temple, carrying one burning candle, white or lavender, with you. Place it on the center of your altar, sit, and meditate on the meaning of the rite. When you feel the time is right, stand, and go to the eastern point, carrying with you, the burning taper. Light the votive at the eastern point and go to the southern, picturing, as you do, an arc of pure strong light curving from one candle to the next. Continue to the West, and then to the North, lighting the candles as you go, and then walk to your eastern candle again, having formed a circle of protective light surrounding the area in which you worship. Return to the center of the circle, replace the candle on the altar, and say:

“My Lady of the Moon, who is called Diana,
Artemis, Levanah, Isis and by any other names,
I come to you to bring you my love and my devotion.
May you grant me the joy of your presence.”

Mentally divide the room into four quadrants by visualizing a line of silvery moonlight from the southeast to the northwest, and from the northeast to the southwest. Go the East, taking with you the rose or incense. Say:

“Sweet Goddess,
the gentle breeze is the touch of your loving hand,
the wind of storm a reminder of your strength.
The sound of the trees in the wind is your voice,
and the fragrance of flowers borne on the wind is your gift of beauty.”

Place the rose next to the votive candle, then stand there as you picture the quadrant filling with moonlight. See the moonlight streaming quietly and gently into the room, filling the quadrant from center point to the edge of your circle. When this is complete, take the red candle to the South. Place the gift and see the quadrant fill with moonlight. Say:

“Most loved Lady,
the light of the candle is a guide along our path leading to you;
its warmth the reassurance of your presence and your love.
The light of the Sun is the knowledge you impart to us,
driving out ignorance and those things which can survive only in darkness.”

At the West:

“Lovely One,
the quiet pool is the serenity of your being.
The vast sea where life began on this planet
is the vast sea of your being whence all life came;
its waves are the ebb and flow of the universe you rule.”

At the North:

“Goddess of all,
the fertility of the earth is a sign of your fertility, whence all life rose.
The solidity and permanence are still of it are still less than yours.
The Earth’s fertility feeds our bodies, and your fertility feeds our souls.”

Go to the center of your temple, which is now filled with moonlight. Everything in the circle is touched by it, blessed by it, including you. Sit down and feel this moonlight around you. Know that it is the Goddess. Realize that you are in the center of a sphere of light that is half above and half above and half below where you sit.
Begin to breathe slowly and evenly, deep breaths that penetrate your whole body. When this rhythmic breathing becomes natural, imagine that the moonlight by which you are surrounded enters you, fills you entirely. With each exhalation of your breath, some of the essence of yourself leaves your body, and with each inhalation, the light enters you. You are being filled ever so gently with this beautiful light. This light, which is the presence, the being of the Goddess, is within you as well as without. With each breath, you are less yourself and more the Goddess. When you are filled with light, filled with the Goddess, the shell of your body fades away. You have no body; there is nothing to separate you from the entire being of the Goddess. Nothing exists but the being of which you are apart. You have ceased to be a separate entity. You are nothing and everything. All that was, that is, and all that will be, you are. Enjoy this feeling as long as you like.
When you feel it is time, picture the outer shell of your physical body reforming, becoming solid again. It is being built out of the Universe of which you are a part. Now, as you continue your slow deep breathing, see the moonlight flowing out of your body, as gently and slowly as it entered. As it flows out, realize there is a difference. Because you have become one with the Goddess, with the Universe, your being has changed. As the moonlight flows out of your body, it takes with it a part of that which was yourself, now part of the Goddess, and leaves behind a part of the Goddess, forever now part of you. You become yourself again, solid as you were, but changed. You are surrounded by the presence of the Goddess, which now contains a part of yourself . Move again to the East. As you speak, and after, picture the moon- light in that quadrant flowing back to its source, leaving that quadrant as it was. Do this at each quadrant, until all the moonlight has returned to the Moon.
At the East:

“My Lady, guide my thoughts.
Let them lead always closer to you.”

At the South:

“Gracious Goddess, guide my actions.
Let them always help and never harm others or myself.”

At the West:

“Lovely One, guide my emotions:
Let them be healing and touched always by you.”

At the North:

“Sweet Goddess,
let my mind always be fertile and strong,
that I may grow always toward you.”

Return to the East to complete the circle and say:

“Queen of Heaven,
I thank you for your presence,
both now and always.
My love and devotion are yours.
Blessed be!
All spirits who have joined me tonight may depart,
with my love.
Return to your proper places.”

Walk again around your circle, but this time counterclockwise, extinguishing the quadrant guards as you go, and at the same time, mentally erasing the white line which surrounded your circle. When the candles are out and the circle gone, rap on your altar and say:

“So mote it be!”

By: Ellen Reed, Coven of Sothistar

A Spell to Break The Powers of a Spell

If you believe that a spell has been cast against you, place a large black candle in a cauldron (or a large black bowl). The candle must be tall enough to extend a few inched above the cauldron’s rim. Affix the candle to the bottom of the cauldron with warmed beeswax or the drippings of another black candle so that it will not tip over.

Fill the cauldron to the rim with fresh water,without wetting the candle’s wick. An inch or two of the candle should remain above the water. Deep breathe, meditate, clear your mind, and light the candle. Visualize the suspected spell’s power as residing within the candle’s flame. Sit in quiet contemplation of the candle and visualize the power flowing and growing with the candle’s flame (yes the power against you). As the candle burns down, its flame will eventually sputter and go out as it contacts the water. As soon as the flame has been extinguished by the water, the spell will be dispersed.

Break your visualization of the spell’s power; see it explode into dust, becoming impotent.

Pour the water into a hole in the ground, a lake or stream. Bury the candle. It is done.

For Prosperity

For Prosperity
by
Rowan Moonstone

The following is a quarterly prosperity spell given to me by Angel and
Gracie, my first two FamTrad teachers. I have no idea where they got
it, but I can tell you that it DOES work. I”ve used it for years and
it never fails to bring me some unlooked for money. I find that I’ve
overpaid a bill, or an old debt which I had written off as uncollec-
tible gets repaid, I find a $20 on the sidewalk, etc. Try it, it
works!

The spell is to begin at one minute past midnight SUN TIME (I HATE
daylight savings time when I do this. Means 1AM!) on the night of
April 30 (May 1), July 31 (Aug 1), Oct 31 (Nov. 1) and Jan 31 (Feb 1)
In other words, on the first minute of the cross quarter day.

You will need the following:

1 gold candle
6 green candles
9 white candles
Pine oil for anointing candles
salt

All candles must be dressed with pine oil and then arranged as fol-
lows:

Gold candle in the center
Green candles in a circle around gold candle
White candles in a circle around green candles.

At one minute past midnight on the appointed day, trace a salt circle
around the outermost circle of candles, light the gold candle first,
then the green candles, moving deosil, then the white candles, moving
deosil. Circle the altar three times, chanting “Orbiting Jupiter
trine the sun, bring money on the run.” Do the chant 3 times also.
Sit quietly for a few minutes and visualize your monetary NEEDS.
(needs, not desires). Then SNUFF (do not blow or pinch) the candles in
reverse order.

That’s it. That’s all there is to it and it works beautifully.

Your Magickal Spell For June 2nd – Home Protection Mirror Spell

HOME PROTECTION MIRROR SPELL

Compose an altar: place a censer in the center before an image of
the Goddess. Have a twelve-inch (or so) round mirror there as well.
Ring the altar with nine white candles. Burn a protective incense
(such as sandalwood, frankincense, copal or rosemary) in the censer.
Beginning with the candle most directly before the Goddess image,
say these or similar words:

Lunar light protect me!

Repeat as you light each candle until all are glowing.
Now, holding the mirror, invoke the Goddess in her lunar aspect
with these or similar words:

               Great Goddess of the Lunar Light
                  and Mistress of the Seas;
               Great Goddess of the Mystic Night
                  and of the Mysteries;
               Within this place of candles bright
                  and with Your mirror nigh;
               Protect me with Your awesome might
                  while ill vibrations fly!

Standing before the altar, hold the mirror facing the candles so
that it reflects their flames. Keeping the mirror toward the candles,
move slowly, clockwise, around the altar, watching the reflected
firelight bouncing off your surroundings.

Gradually increase your speed, mentally invoking the Goddess to
protect you. Move faster and faster; watch the light shattering the
air, cleansing it, burning away all negativity and all lines along
witch the ill energies have traveled into your home.

Charge your home with the protective light of the Goddess. Race
around the candles until you’ve felt the atmosphere change, until you
feel that your home has been cleansed and guarded by the Great
Goddess.

When finished, stand once again before the image. Thank the
Goddess in any words you wish. Pinch out the candles one by one, bind
them together with white cord and store them in a safe place until
(and if) you need to use them again for this same purpose

Honor Loved Ones: Make a Memory Candle

Adapted from By Candlelight, by Diana Rosen (Storey Books, 2002).

If you want to remember a departed human or animal loved one, the simple act of making a Memory Candle can bring great relief and healing. You can also do this to celebrate someone living, or to mark an important event like a graduation. Either way, the Memory Candle is a beautiful way to honor someone important to you.

1. Decide who you would like to honor in this way: it could be a deceased relative, friend, or companion animal, or someone with whom you have lost contact but still want to remember.

2. Choose a clear glass candle holder-a water tumbler or glass works well.

3. Find a photograph of the person you wish to honor in this way and make a photocopy of it, enlarging or reducing it to fit the height of the candle holder. If you don’t have a photo, you could do a simple drawing or make a photocopy of a memento you associate with that person or animal.

4. Wrap the photocopy around the glass and tape it securely. Place a nontoxic beeswax or soy wax candle in the glass. Place the Memory Candle in a special safe place and light the candle.

4. The soft glow of the candlelight will illuminate the photograph in a very beautiful and special way.

5. You can also pay homage to the living by naming this an “Honor Candle” and using a photograph to celebrate a graduation, marriage, birthday, retirement, anniversary, or other accomplishment of note.

Calendar of the Sun for Friday, May 25th

Calendar of the Sun
25 Thrimilchimonath

Sara-Kali’s Day

Colors: Black and red
Element: Water
Altar: Upon cloth of black and red set a picture of a dark-skinned madonna, a chalice of wine, and many ivory candles.
Offerings: Give faithful service to another greater person or cause.
Daily Meal: Middle Eastern food.

Invocation to Sara-Kali

The wandering people swept across the continent
Like leaves blown before a great wind,
And brought you with them,
Dark Madonna, maiden goddess,
Who is an echo of the great Dark Mother.
Your face changed, and your nature,
Yet never did they forget you.
Your story retold you as servant to the Lady,
Following in her footsteps wherever she went,
Worshipped in grottoes and crossroads
Lit by a thousand candles.
Changed one, goddess of a wandering people,
You teach us that although divine nature
May change and bend, devotion is stronger.
Dark servant of the Lady,
You now embody all that serves faithfully
As you serve the Lady your mistress
As you serve your outcast people.
Teach us that darkness can serve us as well,
That we need not always seek the light
When what we look for has deep roots
Lost in the mist of time
And buried in the cradling darkness.
Sara-Kali, St. Sarah the Black,
We hail your journey across a thousand years.

Chant:
Sara-Kali Sara-Kali
Devlesa Avilan

(Each comes forward to the altar, bows before it, and extinguishes one candle as they leave.)

[Pagan Book of Hours]

Calendar of the Sun for May 16th

Calendar of the Sun
16 Thrimilchimonath

Eir’s Blot

Colors: White and blue
Element: Air
Altar: Upon cloth of white and blue set twelve white candles, one sky-blue candle, a great jug of mead, and a pot of healing salve. Throughout the next three days, the altar stays the same, and one more candle is lit. On this day, light the blue candle and nine white candles.
Offering: Inventory the medical supplies. Help those who are poor and ill. Do things correctly.
Daily Meal: Soup or stew. Bread with cheese, meat, or jam.

Invocation to Frigga’s Handmaidens

Call: Twelve maidens hold the halls of Asgard!
Response: Twelve virgins hold the pillars of heaven!
Call: Twelve mysteries hold the luck of Asgard!
Response: Twelve virtues hold the Law of heaven!
Call: Twelve words of power resound through Asgard!
Response: Twelve stars light up the dome of heaven!
Call: We call upon the power of Virtue!
Response: We call upon the mysteries of heaven!

Invocation to Eir

Hail, healer of Asgard!
Physician who ministers to many wounds,
You teach us that there is never enough healing,
Never enough time, never enough resources,
Never enough hope that anything will survive,
And yet even in face of this helplessness
You teach us that we must go on,
And never give up until the end.
And this is the wound of Creation,
That can never be healed
And yet we must keep trying.
For Perseverance is more than merely stubbornness,
It is the living embodiment of Hope.
Chant:
Cloth of honor from the thread of truth
Weave your heart into all you offer

(A libation of mead is poured out for Eir, and the jug replaced for the next day’s ritual. Honor should be given today to those with chronic illnesses, and they should be given privileges for their perseverance in the face of pain.)

[Pagan Book of Hours]

Calendar of the Sun for May 15th

Calendar of the Sun
15 Thrimilchimonath

Huldra’s Blot

Colors: White and blue
Element: Air
Altar: Upon cloth of white and blue set twelve white candles, one sky-blue candle, a great jug of mead, and a cow’s horn. Throughout the next four days, the altar stays the same, and one more candle is lit. On this day, light the blue candle and eight white candles.
Offering: Hard work, inside and outside, throughout the day until sleeping. Do things correctly.
Daily Meal: Bread with cheese, meat, or jam, packed and eaten during work.

Invocation to Frigga’s Handmaidens

Invocation to Huldra

Hail, Maiden of Industry!
As the shovel goes into the earth,
As the hoe goes into the soil,
As the seed goes into the garden,
As the grain goes into the field,
As the water is carried from the well,
As the home is cleaned and purified,
As the thread is woven on the loom,
So you teach us that nothing comes
Without great labor and terrible work.
For industry is more than merely toil,
It is the means by which the world is changed.

Chant:
Cloth of honor from the thread of truth
Weave your heart into all you offer

(A libation of mead is poured out for Huldra, and the jug replaced for the next day’s ritual. The entire community will take on hard labor today, from after breakfast to Hesperis, to practice the virtue of Industry.)

[Pagan Book of Hours]

An All-Purpose Candle Spell

This is a quick, uncomplicated ritual designed to be used for all positive purposes. You’ll need one candle of the appropriate color, one holder, and matches.
When you’re ready to begin, hold the candle between the palms of your hands.
Breathe deeply. Visualize your goal. Push personal, programmed power into the candle between your hands.
Feel the energy streaming into it. Say appropriate words if you wish simply stating what you need to occur.
Place the candle in its holder.
Strike a match above the candle and draw down the flame toward the candle.
Light the wick.
Put the still-flaming match into a heat-proof container (or extinguish its flame with a quick flip of the wrist).
Hold your hands around the candle’s flame. Feel the energy. Visualize strongly.
Leave the area. Let the candle do its work.

Candle Magic 101 (Part 2)

Candle Magic 101

8. When you dress a candle for magical use, imgine that it is a psychic magnet with a North and a South pole. Rub the oil into the candle beginning at the top or North end and work downwards to the half-way point. Always brush the same direction downwards. This process is then repeated by beginning at the bottom or shouth end and working up to the middle.
9. The best type of oils to use for dressing a candles are natural ones which can be obtained quite easily. Some occult suppliers will provide candle magic oils with exotic names. If the magician does not want to use these, he can select soluble perfumes sold by craft shops for inclusion in candles can be recommended.
10. The candles you use can be colored in accordance with the following magical uses: white-spirituality and peace red-health, energy, strength, courage, sexual potency. pink-love affection and romance. yellow-intellectualism, immagination, memory and creativity green-fertility, abundance, good luck and harmony blue-inspiration, occult wisdom, protection and devotion purple-material wealth, higher psychic ability, spiritual power and idealism silver-clairvoyance, inspiration, astral energy and intuition orange-ambition, carrer matters and the law.
11. If you wanted to use candle magic for healing, you would select a red candle to burn. To pass an exam, burn a yellow candle, to gain esotreic knowledge burn a blue candle or for material gain, burn a purple one. Its is obvious these colors relate to the sighns of the zodiac and the planetary forces.
12. The simplest form of candle magic is to write down the objective of your ritual on a virgin piece of paper. You can use color paper which matches the candle. Write your petition on the paper using a magical alphabet, such as theban, enochian, malachain, etc. As you write down what you want to accomplish through candle magic–a new job, healing for a friend , a change of residence, a new love affair, etc.–visualize your dream coming true. Visualize the circumstances under which you employer telling you that your salary has been increased or conjure up a vision of your perfect love partner.
13. When you have completed writing down your petition, carefully fold up the paper in a deliberately show fashion. Place the end of the folded paper in the candle flame and set light to it. As you do this concentrate once more on what you want from life.
14. When you have completed your ritual, allow the candle to have completely burned away. you do not need to stay with the candle ater the ritual, but make sure that it is safe and that red-hot was will not cause damage or fire. Never re-use a candle which has been lit in any magical ritual. It should be only be used in that ritual and then allowed to burn away or be disposed of afterwards.
15. If you are conductiong a magical ritual which involves two people {e.g. an absent healing for a person some distance away} then the second person can be symbollically repersented during the ritual by antoher candle. All you need to do is find out the subject’s birth date and burn the appropriate candle for that zodiacal sign. If you can, also write there name in the candle with a burin (see picture below) and if possible, create an empathic link, if possible with a picture, some hair, a finger nail etc. Also, if you can, get a candle the appropriate shape (male/female) or inscribe a female sign – d or a male sign – e. If you want, you can inscribe all this below the candle. Remember, to dress a cande, dress from the middle to the top, then from the middle to the bottom.

CANDLE MAGIC 101

CANDLE MAGIC 101
1. One of the simplest of magical arts which comes under the deading of natural magic is candle burning. It is simple because it employs little ritual and few ceremonial artifacts. The theatrical props of candle magic can be purchased at any department store and its rituals can be practiced in any sitting room or bedroom.
2. Most of us have performed our first act of candle magic by the we are two years old. Blowing out the tiny candles on our first birthday cake and making a wish is pure magic. This childhood custom is based on the three magical principals of concentration, will power and visualization. In simple terms, the child who wants his wish to come true has to concentrate {blow out the candles}, visualize the end result {make a wish} and hope that i will come true {will power}.
3. The size and shape of the candles you use is unimportant, although highly decorative, extra large, or unusually shaped candles will not be suitable as these may create distractions when the magician wants to concentrate on the important work in hand. Most magicians prefer to use candles of standard or uniform size if possible. Those wichare sold in different colors for domestic use afe ideal.
4. The candles you use for any type of magical use should be virgin, that is unused. Under no circumstances use a candle which has already adorned a dinner table or been used as a bedroom candle or night-light. There is a very good occult reason for not using anything but virgin materials in magic..Vibrations picked up by secondhand materials or equipment my disturb your workings and negate their effectiveness.
5. Some magicians who are artistically inclined prefer to make their own candles for ritual and magical use. This is a very practical exercise because not only does it impergnate the candle with your own personal vibrations, but the mere act of making your own candle is magically potent. Specialist shops sell candle was and moulds together with wicks, perfumes, and other equipment.
6. The hot was is heated until liquid and then poured into the mold through which a suitably sized wick has already been threaded. The wax is then left to cool and once is thishas occured the mold is removed, leaving a perfectly formed candle. Special oil-soluble dyes and prefumes can be added to the wax before the cooling process is complete to provide suitable colors and scents for a particular magical ritual. Craft shops which sell candlemaking supplies can also provide do-it-yourself books explaining the technicalities of the art to the beginner.
7. Once you have purchased or made your ritual candle it has to be oiled or ‘dressed’ before burning. The purpose of dressing the candle is to extablish a psychic link between it and the magician through a primal sensory expreience. By phsically touching the candle during the dressing procedure, you are charging it with our pwn personal vibrations and also concentrationg the desire of your magical act into the wax. The candle is becoming an sxtension of the magician’s mental power and life energy.

Charging a candle with your personal energy

Charging a candle with your personal energy
While ritually annointing your candle, visualize a pure white beam of light coming up from Mother Earth, entering your body through the soles of your feet and another beam of white light coming down from the Universe and entering your body through the top of your head. Envision the energy of these beams of light flowing throughout your body and mingling together, finally concentrating in your hands, causing them to feel warm and to tingle. Now continue to stroke your candle until you feel the energy from your hands transfer to the candle. Your candle is now charged with your personal energy and magickal intent.

Candle Annointing

Candle anointing

Anoint your candle with the oil that you have chosen. This is done by placing a little of the oil on your fingertips. Grasp the candle at its midpoint with your left index finger and thumb, and use your right index finger and thumb to stroke oil on the candle from the midpoint up to the top of the candle. Next, grasp the candle at its midpoint with your right index finger and thumb, and use your left index finger and thumb to stroke oil on the candle from the midpoint down to the bottom of the candle. Continue in this fashion until the entire candle has been annointed.
All-purpose Candle Annointing Oil
1 cup rose petals
1 cup violets
1 cup water
1 cup olive oil
1 tablespoon clove oil
2 teaspoons powdered cinnamon
1 tablespoon powdered myrrh
1/4 cup wild fennel seeds

To Banish Illness

Burn a black candle anointed with banishing and burn banishing incense.

Concentrate on removing whatever the health problem may be by saying:

” As this candle burns,

So the illness turns,

Melted like this wax,

Cut like with an ax,

Remove and banished,

All disabilities vanished,

As my word you see,

Radiant health blessed be.”

Let the candle burn until done.

Then bury ashes from incense and leftover wax.

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