Tag: Earth

The Witches Moon for August 16th – First Quarter Moon

First Quarter Moon

(waxing/68% illumination)

Emotions begin to stir coupled with recognizing that the new beginnings you are making must also increase personal security to be worthwhile over the long haul. This is a time when it’s appropriate to get in touch with your gut instincts and begin to guide your life more deliberately, with an awareness of using your “sixth sense” as well as your enthusiasm. Obstacles may emerge that require you to reevaluate how to better integrate yourself into your immediate environment.

The Witches Almanac for Friday, August 16th

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The Witches Almanac for Friday, August 16th

Friday (Venus):  Love, friendship, reconciliation and beauty.

Festival of Minstrels (European)

 

Waxing Moon

The Waxing Moon (from the New Moon to the Full) is the ideal time for magick to draw things toward you.

Moon Phase: First Quarter

Moon Sign: Sagittarius

Sagittarius:  Encourages flights of imagination and confidence. This is an adventurous, philosophical and athletic Moon sign. Favors expansion and growth.

Moon enters Capricorn 11:25 pm

Capricorn: Develops strong structure. Focus on traditions, responsibilities, and obligations. A good time to set boundaries and rules.

Incense: Orchid

Color: Purple

What Is Your Soul Type? Quiz

What Is Your Soul Type? Quiz

Are you a Hunter or a Visionary? A Peacemaker or a Bright Star? Find out with  this fascinating quiz that helps you understand more about who you truly, deeply  are.

You may want to share this quiz with friends and loved ones. Learn more about  your own soul-nature here:

If you are a FIRE SIGN, do you

* Sometimes feel negative and often  find something to complain about?

* Find that you are either extremely  encouraging or extremely discouraging of others and their actions?

* Dream  of the perfect mate even though you are disappointed again and again when others  let you down? If this sounds most like you, then you are a RETROSPECTIVE  SOUL. (Retrospectives get their name from their tendency to look backward,  sometimes holding on to old hurts.)

Or do you

* Feel compelled to express your artistic temperament?

*  Think you are sometimes unrealistic in your expectations of people and  situations?

* Find that you often look through rose-colored glasses to try  to see only the best in someone? If this sounds most like you, then you are  a DREAMING SOUL.

Or do you

* Think of yourself as positive and outgoing, especially in  difficult circumstances?

* Love to be center stage, even if it is at the  expense of others?

* Need accolades and a partner who gives you their full  attention? If this sounds most like you, then you are a BRIGHT STAR SOUL.

——————————

IF you are an EARTH SIGN, do you

* Love a challenge  and strive to conquer it at all costs?

* Motivate others with your  enthusiasm but move on if they hold you up or disrupt your plans?

* Need  freedom and flexibility in any personal relationship? If this sounds most  like you, then you are a HUNTER SOUL.

Or do you

* Take a while to decide on the right career path?

* Think  of yourself as a social organizer who will call others even if they don’t call  you?

* Need reassurance and security, as you’re not always sure of your own  value? If this sounds most like you, then you are a VISIONARY SOUL.

Or do you

* Naturally take charge of most situations?

* Find that you  are usually the first one to volunteer?

* Need to be involved with your  partner and have real communication? If this sounds most like you, then you  are a WARRIOR SOUL.

—————————— IF you are an AIR SIGN, do you

*  Very often wonder if the grass might be greener someplace other than where you  are?

* Not really need the security of a house, home, or family?

* Consider yourself romantic and love the idea of romance but find it difficult  to commit to a single relationship? If this sounds most like you, then you  are a TRAVELER SOUL.

Or do you

* Feel content to be wherever you are at any given moment?

* Avoid conflict of any kind in order to keep stability both at home and at  work?

* Need a stable partner who is totally committed to you, even if the  relationship is not perfect? If this sounds most like you, then you are a  PROPHET SOUL.

Or do you

* Need the opportunity to try out new and innovative ideas?

* Value stability and almost always feel like things are stable?

*  Openly and easily share your emotions, and need a grounded home life? If  this sounds most like you, then you are a NEWBORN SOUL.

——————————

If  you are a WATER SIGN, do you

* Always find yourself interested in  others?

* Like to involve yourself with worthwhile projects, and love to  philosophize and intellectualize things?

* Want a relationship, but like to  hold back, and find it hard to share inner feelings? If this sounds most  like you, then you are a SEEKER SOUL.

Or do you

* Feel like your main focus is on marriage and family, even on  social occasions?

* Work with children, or in a teaching, caring, or  nurturing profession?

* Enjoy nurturing your family? If this sounds most  like you, then you are a PEACEMAKER SOUL.

Or do you

* Like company, but feel you can be just as happy doing your  own thing by yourself?

* Get involved with several projects at once, finding  it hard to say no?

* Like to make the rules in your relationship? If  this sounds most like you, then you are an OLD SOUL.

Calendar of the Sun for August 15

Calendar of the Sun

Feralia: Day of Purification

Color: White
Element: Air
Altar: On a white cloth put a lit candle, incense, a cup of water, and a bowl of salt.
Offering: Although this day is not a day of total silence, it is a solemn day and talking should be done only when necessary and in quiet tones. Bodies should be thoroughly cleaned during the bathing hour, and then the altar area should be cleaned and purified with all four elements. Each person, upon entering the altar space at the beginning of Sponde should remove their clothing and be naked, and each body should be purified with the four elements and marked with water and salt, at which point they may enrobe again. Chores of the day should concentrate on cleaning and repair.
Daily Meal: Vegan and extremely simple and plain.

Feralia Invocation

Breathe the air into your body
And breathe out again,
And as you breathe out,
Let all grime and corruption
Depart on that breath
(All breathe together for twelve breaths.)
Feel the blood coursing through your body
And imagine it clean
Of anything but what should be there.
Feel the energy coursing through your body
And wash it clean
Of anything that does not belong.
Feel the Earth beneath you,
Remember that She can absorb all
Remember that all rot is her provenance
Draw her energy up into you
And give it back again.

(After this grounding, all breathe together again in a yogic breathing pattern for the next half an hour, after which all will go with water and salt and incense and fire to all rooms in the house and cleanse them. Great care should be taken for the rest of the day not to disturb the energy of the freshly cleaned house.)

[Pagan Book of Hours]

Current Moon Phase For August 15th: First Quarter Moon

First Quarter Moon

(waxing/90-135 degrees)

Emotions begin to stir coupled with recognizing that the new beginnings you are making must also increase personal security to be worthwhile over the long haul. This is a time when it’s appropriate to get in touch with your gut instincts and begin to guide your life more deliberately, with an awareness of using your “sixth sense” as well as your enthusiasm. Obstacles may emerge that require you to reevaluate how to better integrate yourself into your immediate environment.

Elder's Meditation of the Day August 13

Elder’s Meditation of the Day August 13

“A bit of sunshine, a drop of rain, a puff of life from the Great Spirit as He gently breathed upon that spot, created the Native Americans. They were well formed and agile, copper colored and proud.”

–Harriet Starleaf Gumbs, SHINNECOCK

We are made in the image of the Great Spirit. A long time ago He breathed life into our ancestors. He made the Indian strong. He created a Warrior. Our ancestors created more warriors. We have been tested throughout the seasons and we are still here, stronger than ever. It is good to be Indian. We are proud of ourselves and our ancestors. Mostly we are proud the Great Spirit has never forsaken us, and continues to guide us.

My Creator, let me live my life today in a way that would make my ancestors proud. Let me remember each month that I am here to serve You. Today let me conduct my life in a way that also would make You proud.

Your Charm for Tuesday, August 13th is Abracadabra

Your Charm for Today

Today’s Meaning:   

The most powerful of all talisman indicating you or someone close to you will recover from an infection.

General Description:   

One of the most famous of all talismans, and used as a magical formula by the Gnostics in Rome for invoking the aid of beneficient spirits against disease, misfortune and death. Sammonieus, the celebrated Gnostic physician; instructed that the letters of this magical triangle which he used for curing agues and fevers, were to be written on paper, folded into the shape of a cross, worn for nine days suspended from the neck, and, before sunrise, cast behind the patient into a stream running eastward. It was also a most popular charm in the middle ages. During the Great Plague, 1665, great numbers of these amulets were worn as supposed safeguards against infection.

Daily Cosmic Calendar for August 13th

[All times are calculated for the Pacific Daylight Zone. If you are living in a different time zone, add or subtract the necessary hours so that any timed alignment will be exact where you live.]  Can you feel the difference between a day when the Moon is in Scorpio — as it is today — and when the Moon is in the other eleven zodiacal signs? There is a fierce intensity to Scorpio that is deep, subliminal and — often — palpable, if you are rather tuned in and psychic.  Avoid using inflammatory rhetoric in any discussion as Mercury forms an off-kilter, 150-degree to mysterious and willful Pluto (7:59AM) while Mercury also makes an opposition to Juno (10:02AM). Pushing the envelope — without considering the feelings and sensitivities of dear ones and colleagues — is taboo.  Opportunities for advancement in educational and literary pursuits are still available — courtesy of a flowing trine in water signs between the Moon and Jupiter (8:12AM).  This harmonious configuration of 120-degrees broadens into a Grand Trine as the Moon trines Chiron (11:27AM) — giving a boost for explorations in the healing arts. Therefore, all three water signs — Cancer, Scorpio and Pisces — are geometrically in synch (a very intuitive association) via Jupiter, the Moon and Chiron. Immerse yourself in film classics or a bestseller tonight.

The Witches Spell for August 13th: Prosperity Spell

witchcraft-supplues

The Witches Spell for August 13

Prosperity Spell

This spell is designed to attracting money and needful things to you.

First, you need a bell. Any bell you are comfortable with will do.

Next turn and face the East. Start to ring the bell and chant:

“I call forth divinity,
I call forth the power and protection
of the Element of Earth.
I magnetize the things I need and want
to come to me now.”
 
“This is the bell (make sure you are shaking it),
That works so well, that starts with this spell,
That sweeps the room,
And clears out doom,
That breaks the trial
And makes you smile.”
“That creates prosperity powered by
redundancy which creates prosperity.”

So Mote It Be!

The Witches Almanac for Tuesday, August 13th

Witchy Cat Graphics & Comments

The Witches Almanac for Tuesday, August 13th

Tuesday (Mars):  Passion, sex, courage, aggression and protection

 

Women’s Day (Tunisian)

 

Waxing Moon

The Waxing Moon (from the New Moon to the Full) is the ideal time for magick to draw things toward you.

Moon Phase: First Quarter

Moon Sign: Scorpio

Scorpio: Increases awareness of psychic power. Precipitates psychic crises and ends connections thoroughly. People tend to brood and become secretive.

Incense: Ginger

Color:  Gray

Current Moon Phase for Aug. 12 – Waxing Crescent

Crescent Moon

(waxing/38% illumination)

During this Moon phase, there is a slight slowing down of enthusiasm due to an emerging desire to produce tangible results from the energy being expended. The issue of values enters into the equation and an urge to tie together the data available so that you can utilize current opportunities. There is still plenty of forward motion, and this is a great time to continue initiating and progressing forward. This Moon phase favors gaining more information and the input of others to further your plans.

Spell to Gain Energy

Spell to Gain Energy

 

You need:

bright red or orange candle
spicy incense
glass of clear pure cold water
bowl of sea salt
 

If is sunny out you may want to start the spell by going outside for a few minutes and breathing in some fresh air. Sit in front of the candle and say:

Give me energy to happily complete the task I have been given to do. I will feel better for having done it. The completion of the task will be my reward.

Sprinkle the sea salt around the candle and say:

Give me strength, O sacred Earth.

Pass your hand near the candle and say:

Give me strength, O sacred Fire.

Pass your hand through the smoke of the incense and say:

Give me strength, O sacred Air.

Drink the water down and say:

Give me strength O sacred water.

Now immediately get up and go do your task.

Crystals

Crystals

A crystal is a body that is formed by the solidification of a chemical element, a compound, or a mixture of them, and has a regularly repeating internal arrangement of its atoms and often external plane faces. But it’s more than that. A crystal is one of the many bounties of the Earth’s crust. They are a powerful tool and correspond directly to the element of Earth, but also the Air, Fire and Water. Each crystal has it’s own vibration and thus each vibration corresponds to a correspondences such as healing, protection, relaxation etc. Because each crystal does have a vibration, a larger crystal is not any more powerful than a smaller one. A larger one might look better, but not everyone has the means for such a thing.

Several crystals have the same correspondences, but, to chose which one you want you must first have a look at all those crystals without touching them. See which one has an effect on you. Now, when the crystal has been chosen, or when the crystal has chosen you, you must individually have a look at the crystals, Separate the ones which you like from the ones you don’t like just by having a look at them. Then, pick up each crystal in you receptive hand, opposite to the power hand, so if you are right handed it’s your left hand, and close your hand into a gentle fist. Feel the crystals pulse, it should be like a gentle drum rhythm, it could be very fast, or slow. You will feel whether the crystal is right for you, or not. The crystals vibration will complement yours and act like a ‘lock and key’ to your aura in the sense that they will blend. The crystal will let you know if it is not for you.

A newly bought crystal should be cleansed. This could be as long as a whole moon phase, with elemental cleansings, or just a simple mental cleansing. Before buying that particular crystal, it would have been touched my many people, and been next to many people who might have been upset, angry, sad etc. So this may effect you. To cleanse, it could simply be a dip in salty water, being buried over night in the ground, gone through crystal cleansing incense (or frankincense, sandalwood or just about anything for that matter, maybe even a herbal blend for the crystals purpose), being placed on a bed of quartz crystal, being passed through a flame, fairly quickly, being brushed with a feather, being placed overnight in moon light, or sunlight. Be careful because some crystals fade or lose color from being held in the sun, some even disolve in water, or may react with the candle flame, so be careful.

Current Moon Phase for Aug. 8th – New Moon

Moon & Witch Comments & Graphics

New Moon

(waxing/12% illumination)

The New Moon is a time best suited for new beginnings! For the first 48 hours following the exact time of the New Moon each month, a window of opportunity opens for making wishes that, if noted, come true in the days and months ahead. There is a tremendous amount of enthusiasm in the atmosphere, making it a great time to go forward and begin projects that you feel instinctively attracted to initiating. Follow your impulses and let yourself make new starts in areas that are important to you.

Merry Meet On This Glorious Thursday That The Goddess Has Given Us!

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You know you can know a person for years (like I have Lady A) and truly not know them.  I had always wondered why she had an actual broom closet, full of brooms. I thought they all pertained to magick. HA! Was I wrong…..

There is one for cleansing……

One for casting a circle…..

One for handfasting…..

and

One for….

wiccan_1010_wwg

CLEANING!!!

The Witches Almanac for Tuesday, August 6th

Gothic Comments

The Witches Almanac for Tuesday, August 6th

Tuesday (Mars): Passion, sex, courage, aggression and protection.

Hiroshima Peace Ceremony

Waning Moon

The Waning Moon is a time for study, meditation, and little magickal work (except magick designed to banish harmful energies).

Moon Phase: New Moon 5:51 pm

Moon Sign: Leo

Leo: Draws emphasis to the self, central ideas or institutions, away from connections with others and other emotional needs. People tend to be melodramatic.

Incense: Cedar

Color: Red

Today's Tarot Card for Tuesday, Aug. 6 is The Moon

The Moon

Tuesday, Aug 6th, 2013

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What has traditionally been known as the Moon card refers to a deep state of sensitivity and imaginative impressionability, developed within a womb of deep relaxation. Here we dream and go into trance, have visions and receive insights, wash in and out with the psychic tides, and experience deep mystical and/or terrifying realities beyond our ordinary senses. The full moon and/or eclipse cycle charted by the Magi (as in some of the earliest Moon card images) exemplify this as a mechanism that Nature uses to expand consciousness.

The variants of the courtly lovers (representing skillful use of the sex force) or the man sleeping it off under the tree (use of drugs to alter consciousness) are also traditional avenues for tapping this primal force. Human interest in higher states propels us to the frontiers of consciousness, where we cannot always control what happens. The Moon card represents the ultimate test of a soul’s integrity, where the membrane between self and the Unknown is removed, and the drop of individuality reenters the Ocean of Being. What transpires next is between a soul and its Maker.

Current Moon Phase for August 6 – New Moon

New Moon

(waxing/0% illumination)

The New Moon is a time best suited for new beginnings! For the first 48 hours following the exact time of the New Moon each month, a window of opportunity opens for making wishes that, if noted, come true in the days and months ahead. There is a tremendous amount of enthusiasm in the atmosphere, making it a great time to go forward and begin projects that you feel instinctively attracted to initiating. Follow your impulses and let yourself make new starts in areas that are important to you.

Lammas Rebirth Incense

Lammas Rebirth Incense

By , About.com Guide

Celebrate the Cycle of Life and Rebirth at Lammas
By the time Lammas rolls around, it’s usually pretty hot. In some parts of the world, gardens are beginning to dry out, and the earth has gone from soft and pliable to dry and cracked. If you haven’t harvested your herbs yet for drying, now is a good time to start doing so — in other words, pick them before they die on their own. Any fresh herb can be dried simply by picking it and tying it up in small bundles in a well-ventilated area. Once they are completely dry store them in airtight jars in a dark place.

To make your own magical Lammas incense, first determine what form you’d like to make. You can make incense with sticks and in cones, but the easiest kind uses loose ingredients, which are then burned on top of a charcoal disc or tossed into a fire. This recipe is for loose incense, but you can adapt it for stick or cone recipes.

As you mix and blend your incense, focus on the intent of your work. In this particular recipe, we’re creating an incense to use during a Lammas rite — it’s a time to celebrate the beginning of the harvest. We’re thankful for the foods we’ve grown, and for the bounty of the earth, and the knowledge that we’ll have enough to eat through the coming winter months.
You’ll need: 

  • 1 part basil
  • 1/2 part cinnamon bark
  • 1 part coriander
  • 2 parts goldenrod
  • 1 part heather
  • 1/2 part rosemary
  • 2 parts Sweet Annie (you can use dried apple blossoms if you don’t have Sweet Annie)
  • 1 part yarrow

Add your ingredients to your mixing bowl one at a time. Measure carefully, and if the leaves or blossoms need to be crushed, use your mortar and pestle to do so. As you blend the herbs together, state your intent. You may find it helpful to charge your incense with an incantation, such as:

 

We’re thankful this day for the gift of rebirth,
Fruits and vegetables, the bounty of earth.
For the Harvest Mother with her basket and scythe, Abundance and fertility, and the blessings of life.
We’re grateful for the gifts we carry within
And for what will become, and what has been.
A new day begins, and life circles round,
As grain is harvested from the fertile ground.
Blessings to the earth and to the gods from me,
As I will this Lammas, so it shall be.

 

 

Store your incense in a tightly sealed jar. Make sure you label it with its intent and name, as well as the date you created it. Use within three months, so that it remains charged and fresh.

How To Hold a Lammas Bread Sacrifice Ritual

How To Hold a Lammas Bread Sacrifice Ritual

By , About.com Guide

Grain is the heart of Lammas, and the beginning of the harvest season is a milestone in many societies. Once the grain is threshed and milled it is baked into bread and consumed, honoring the spirit of the grain god. This ritual celebrates both the harvest and the sacrifices we make each year, as well as the sacrifice of the grain god. Decorate your altar with symbols of the season — sickles and scythes, garden goodies like ivy and grapes and corn, poppies, dried grains, and early autumn foods like apples. If you like, light some Lammas Rebirth incense.

Difficulty: Average
Time Required: Varied

Here’s How:

  1. For this rite, you’ll need a loaf of Lammas bread and a cup of wine or water. You’ll also need pieces of straw or other plant material, enough for each person in the ritual to make a small doll, and some yarn or string to tie the dolls together. Finally, you’ll need a fire. You can either have a large bonfire, or a small tabletop fire in a pot or brazier.
  2. If your tradition requires you to cast a circle, do so now.

    The High Priest or High Priestess says:

    It is the time of the harvest once again. Life, growth, death and rebirth, all have come full circle. The god of the harvest has died once more, That we may eat and consume him, Giving us strength in the months to come.

  3. The HPs hands each member of the group a sheaf of straw, saying:

    We now create dolls in our image. These dolls symbolize our selves, in our many aspects, and all the things we give up each year, so that we may thrive and flourish later on.

    Each member of the group constructs a doll to represent themselves. Use the instructions here if you don’t know how to make a doll: Corn Doll or Straw Man. As each person creates their doll, they should energize the doll with personal qualities. These are the essences of self that each person is bringing to sacrifice, so that they may be reborn as the harvest god is each year.

  4. When everyone has completed their dolls, the High Priestess says:

    The god of grain is dying, vegetation returns to the earth. We call upon the gods of the harvest, asking them for their blessings. Tammuz and Lugh, Adonis, Dumuzi, Cernunnos and Attis, Mercury, Osiris. You are born each year, and live in our fields and are sacrificed as part of the cycle.

  5. Raise energy by circling your fire or altar three times, moving in a counter-clockwise (widddershins) direction, building speed each time (you’re moving against the pattern of the sun, because it’s the end of the harvest season). If you like, you can increase the feeling of power by chanting one of these popular traditional Wiccan verses:

    Hoof and horn, hoof and horn, all that dies shall be reborn. Corn and grain, corn and grain, all that falls shall rise again.

    or:

    Earth my body, water my blood, air my breath and fire my spirit.

  6. If your group is musically inclined, have half the group sing the “Hoof and horn” part, and the second half sing the “Earth my body” verse, so that it forms a round robin. The effect is amazing!

    When the raising of energy is complete, each person in the group approaches the fire, one at a time, and casts their doll into the fire. They can either say out loud what their sacrifice will be this year, or speak it only to themselves and the gods. As each doll is placed in the fire, direct leftover energy into the flames as well.

  7. When everyone has made their sacrifice, the HPs holds up the loaf of Lammas bread. Say:

    Months ago, we planted seeds, and through the summer watched them grow. We have tended the fields in our lives, and now we are blessed with abundance. The harvest has arrived! Thank you, lord of the harvest, For the gifts yet to come. We eat this bread, grain transformed by fire, in your name, and honor you for your sacrifice.

  8. The HPs breaks off a piece of bread for herself, and passes it around the circle, so that everyone can take a piece. Eat the bread, and then pass around the cup of wine or water. If you wish, you can say something as the cup is passed, like:

    May you reap the blessings of the harvest.

    Once everyone has eaten their bread and sipped from the cup, take a moment to reflect on what you have harvested for yourself this season. End the ritual as you normally would or move directly into a Cakes and Ale ceremony or other rites you wish to perform.

What You Need

  • A loaf of Lammas bread
  • Straw or plant material
  • String
  • A fire
  • A cup of wine or water