Tag: Earth

A Broom Blessing

Your broom is not merely your broom, it is your magickal broom. As it sweeps your floors clean of physical debris, it sweeps your home clean of negative energy and energetic debris, which lifts the vibrations and clears the way for positive feelings and conditions. Performing this blessing ritual on your broom (and/or vacuum which is merely a modernized version of a broom) will fully activate in magickal power and consecrate it for you magickal purposes.

What you will need:

  • A white sheet or towel
  • 1/4 cup salt
  • One stick Frankincense incense
  • One white or off-white candle
  • A mister of rose water

On the day or evening of the Full Moon, assemble the items and lay your broom flat on the white sheet or towel. Light the candle and incense. Lift the broom and bathe it in the smoke of the incense while saying:

“I call on the power of Air to bless this broom.”

Now hold the broom over the flame (being very careful not to set it on fire) and say:

“I call on the power of Fire to bless this broom.”

Lay the broom back onto the cloth and lightly mist it with the rose water (one pump will do) while saying:

“I call on the power of Water to bless the broom.”

Sprinkle the salt  over the broom and say:

“I call on the power of Earth to bless this broom.”

When you feel ready, gently shake and dust the salt off the broom and onto the cloth. Lift the broom and hold it in both hands. Close your eyes and feel the awakened magickal power of the broom. Next, envision very bright white light flowing down from above, through the top of your head, and throughout your body. See this light also flowing into the broom, as if the broom is an extension of your energy field. After a moment, say:

“This broom is now consecrated and blessed. Blessed Be. So Mote It Be.”

Extinguish the candle and incense. Shake the salt from the cloth into the bathtub and put the cloth in the laundry.

Earth Science Pic for Thursday, October 20th

Fog and Redwoods

October 20, 2011

CanyonRidgePortrait (2)
Photographer: Hugh S. Stickney
Summary Author: Hugh S. Stickney; Jim Foster
 
 
The photo above showing sunny hillsides and valleys choked with fog was snapped in Sibley Volcanic Regional Preserve, California. This view looks down into the redwoods and bay laurels (Laurus nobilis) in the direction of the town of Canyon. Redwood Park is in the distance. Typically, the biggest and oldest redwood trees (Sequoia sempervirens) are found in deep valleys and ravines. Here, in addition to the cyclonic storms of fall and winter, fog drip and condensation is a regular occurrence. Trees above the fog layer, approximately 2,300 ft (700 m), are deprived of this source of moisture and are somewhat stunted in comparison. Photo taken on January 17, 2011

Cosmic Calendar for Thursday, October 20th

This day starts under a void lunar cycle in emotion-laden Cancer. Before the Moon enters fiery Leo (3:07AM PDT), there will be a Moon-Mars parallel (2:45AM PDT). Any parallel by the Moon is short-lived because the Moon is the fastest moving body relative to the Earth. However, even though a Moon-Mars connection quickly dissipates, when it is happening there can be a lot of intensity – particularly if you happen to make a reckless move or act too egocentrically. Once the Moon is transiting in Leo, it is always helpful to come from the heart in all vital discussions. Being altruistic and generous is the key to being happy as the lunar orb moves through this fifth sign of the zodiac. Trying to manipulate others or lord it over them by claiming a divine right of kings and queens is a total no-no. Inspirations are flying fast as the Moon trines Uranus (6:05AM PDT). Hitting the high-tech, computer and electronics trail is once again back in style. This Moon-Uranus rapport is a key motivating aspect of the day and as long as you don’t overdo a good thing or become super-obstinate during the Moon’s square to Jupiter in plodding Taurus (2:38PM PDT), you should be in good shape for a fun-loving evening.

Five-Candle Spell for Creativity (Blood/Harvest Moon)

The purpose of this spell is to enhance and excite your creativity through ritual and dream.

You will need your wand, a ballpoint pen, two green candles, two red candles, a white candle and music conductive to dream magick.

After dark, draw a magick circle and call in the Elements. Write Copper/Venus on one green candle, and write Lead/Saturn on the other green candle. Write Tin/Jupiter on one red candle and Iron/Mars on the other one. Then, write Quicksilver/Mecury on the white candle. Imagine a pentacle on your altar, and at the top of the pentacle place the white candle and its holder. On the arm and leg on the left side, place the two green candles and on the right side place the red candles. As you light each candle, repeat:

“Copper tin, lead, iron, and mercury
Come empower my divine creativity.”
 

Turn on the music. Use your magick wand to draw a clockwise line of light around the parameter of the pentacle, connecting all of the candles together. As you do so, say:

“Copper, tin, lead iron and mercury
Let this star shine with divine creativity.”
 

Let the candles burn safely down and leave the circle until the morning. Play your dream magick music as you drift off to sleep. Give yourself the suggestion that your dreams will be especially creative tonight. In the morning, write down any dreams you have, bid farewell to the Elements, and pull up the circle.

Saucer Meditation (Blood/Harvest Moon)

Saucer Meditation

(Blood/Harvest Moon)

Before you go to sleep, turn on some soft meditative music. Lie back and begin breathing rhythmically by inhaling and counting to three and exhaling and counting to three. Each time you take a deep breath, imagine your lungs filling with the energizing white light of the stars and moon. As you exhale, sense all of the stress and tension in your body being cast out with your breath. A wave of tranquil bliss envelopes you being, sending it into a state of relaxed awareness. At the same time that you are becoming more relaxed, you are becoming more aware of your senses. Your mind is aware of all things at all times.

In your mind’s eye, imagine traveling on a saucer-shaped ship. Before you there is a giant portal and through it you view the many approaching stars. Sirius, Orion’s Belt, and the stars of Big Dipper fly across the portal as you watch with relaxed awareness. A large bluish-green planet comes into view. Its image grows lager on the screen as your flying saucer gets closer, and closer, and closer to it.

You watch as an alien world fills the screen with images that seem foreign but familiar. Alien beings with aqua-colored skin and right golden hair float lightly on emerald-green waves. They smile at you with smiles that send a warm glow through your entire being. You sense a Oneness with them that moves beyond physical barriers and mental limitations. They are your alien friends who you can visit anytime you want in meditation and dream. As you drift to sleep, imagine exploring the universe and all the magickal beings within it.

Elemental Shape-Shifting (Blood/Harvest Moon)

Elemental Shape-Shifting

(Blood Moon) 

In this spell, you will use the different elements to help you shift shapes into different animals and magickal beings.

You will need a clear quartz crystal, cedar incense, a green candle and a chalice of water. Begin by staring deep within the crystal. Merge (become one) with it and say:

Elemental powers of earth

Transform and shift within me

So Mote It Be!

 

Light the incense, and merge with the smoke as it glides lightly through the air, while you say:


Elemental powers of air

Transform and shift within me

So Mote It Be!

 

Light the candle and merge into the flame as you say:

Elemental powers of fire

Transform and shift within me

So Mote It Be!

 

Stare deep within the chalice of water. Merge with it and say:

Elemental powers of water

Transform and shift within me

So Mote It Be!

 

Lie back and meditate as the power of the elements shifts you into different animals. You become a bear emerging from its cave, a bird spreading its wings on the wind, a dragon breathing fire out of its nostrils, and a water sprite frolicking in the mist of a waterfall.

Blood (Harvest) Moon Ritual

Blood Moon Ritual

 

 

The Blood Moon is the last of the harvest moons, and the one closest to Samhain, the time when the veil between this world and the Otherworld is the thinnest. Also known as “moon of the changing season” and “failing leaf moon” the Blood Moon represents the death of one cycle and the birth of a new cycle. Blood is the life force that flows through your physical body. The Blood Moon ritual gives you the opportunity to give thanks and celebrate this life force.

 

For this ritual, you will need a white candle, a red candle, a red apple, a chalice full of cranberry juice, and three daffodil bulbs.

Draw a magick circle and call in the elements. Light the white candle and say:

I light this candle for eternal light.

 

Light the red candle and say:

I light this candle for eternal life.

 

Give thanks to the Goddess before eating the apple:

Divine Lady, I thank you for your gift of life.

 

Place any seeds from the apple on the altar. Take the chalice of juice and go to each of the four directions while calling out:

Oh great and mighty one, ruler of eternal life

Our blood runs together as One on this sacred night.

 

Thank the Goddess and bid farewell to the elements. Pull up the circle and in the morning, take the three daffodil bulbs and plant them into the ground. They represent the eternal life of the divine Goddess being renewed for the next year. Return the apple seeds to the earth.

A Tree Spell for Strength and Courage

You can carry out this spell with an Oak, Ash or Redwood, which are traditionally associated with courage and strength. But all trees are intrinsically powerful and so if you have a favorite grove of trees or piece of woodland, you can choose any tree you especially like. You could also use your magick tree.

By adapting the words you could, alternatively, use the tree spell to heal yourself, especially if you have a debilitating or chronic condition or suffer a lot of pain.

There are lots of ways we can return strength to trees, for example by picking up litter in woodlands, planting saplings in memory of loved ones in local woodlands on tree-planting days or campaigning for the preservation and regeneration of forests.

Timing:  If possible, as sunlight filters through the leaves, but any bright morning.

You will need:  A chosen tree. If you carry out the spell in an unfamiliar place, touch a number of trees and feel which one seems receptive to your energies.

A red (for strength and courage) or pink (for healing) biodegradable ribbon – not synthetic.

  • Touch your chosen tree with both hands at about waist height so that you can comfortably place your upright outstretched palms against the tree to create a circuit. Loop the ribbon round your power hand.
  • Your power hand will send your energy into the tree and it will flow out through your other hand, through your body and in again.
  • Stand for a few moments and allow the connection to flow.
  • Then say softly:

You are strong. Give me strength/courage/healing if it is right to be.

  • You may be rewarded by a gentle breeze through the trees, a sudden shaft of sunlight, a pleasant buzzing vibration through your hands or a sense of peace and rightness. If the tree feels unresponsive, thank the tree nevertheless and try another one.
  • When you feel the connection, press your hands more firmly against the trunk and allow the power to flow. Your whole body will feel more alive and energetic, and you will be filled with confidence, certainty and maybe even joy and harmony.
  • When you sense the power ebbing slowly, remove the pressure until your palms are just lightly resting against the trunk.
  • Thank the tree for its gifts and tie the ribbon round an accessible branch.
  • Spend a few moments sitting against the tree looking up through the leaves. When you can, return the favor to nature.

Affirmation of the Day for October 14th

I am this organism, this life. I am the trees, the flowers, the water and the creatures that need it. I am the air we breathe, the food we eat, the love we make, the moon that sings to us, the sun that warms us. I am all of these, and they are me. I am life, I am Earth, for She is me, and I am beautiful.
~ from MaryDawnChild

NASA Image of the Day for October 14th

Carina Nebula: 14,000+ Stars

The Carina Nebula is a star-forming region in the Sagittarius-Carina arm of the Milky Way that is 7,500 light years from Earth and the Chandra X-Ray Observatory has detected more than 14,000 stars in the region.

Chandra’s X-ray vision provides strong evidence that massive stars have self-destructed in this nearby star-forming region. Firstly, there is an observed deficit of bright X-ray sources in the area known as Trumpler 15, suggesting that some of the massive stars in this cluster were already destroyed in supernova explosions. Trumpler 15 is located in the northern part of the image and is one of ten star clusters in the Carina complex.

The detection of six possible neutron stars, the dense cores often left behind after stars explode in supernovas, provides additional evidence that supernova activity is increasing up in Carina. Previous observations had only detected one neutron star in Carina.

Image Credit: NASA/CXC/Penn State/L. Townsley et al.

Astronomy Picture of the Day for October 14th

Astronomy Picture of the Day

Discover the cosmos!Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer.

2011 October 14

MAGIC Star Trails
Image Credit & Copyright: Babak Tafreshi (TWAN) 

 

Explanation: Colorful star trails arc across the night in this surreal timelapse skyscape from the Roque de los Muchachos Observatory on the Canary island of La Palma. A reflection of the Earth’s daily rotation on its axis, the star trails are also reflected in one of a pair of 17 meter diameter, multi-mirrored MAGIC telescopes. The MAGIC (Major Atmospheric Gamma Imaging Cherenkov) telescope itself is intended to detect gamma rays – photons with over 100 billion times the energy of visible light. As the high energy gamma rays impact the upper atmosphere they produce air showers of high-energy particles. A fast camera monitoring the multi-mirrored surface records in detail brief flashes of optical light, called Cherenkov light, created by the air shower particles Astronomers can then ultimately relate the optical flashes to cosmic sources of extreme gamma-rays.

Making the Tree a Place of Power

Outdoors, your tree will be naturally cleansed and empowered by the weather and if some of the items get battered, don’t worry, However, you may wish initially to cleanse and empower the tree and any artifacts on it at the first full moon after it has been created. You can do this by smudging round the tree with a smudge stick made of a bundle of tied and dried herb sticks. The following is the basic technique for doing this:

  • Light one end of the smudge stick and let the flames die down, then gently blow on the end until it glows red and you have a stream of smoke. You can use your other hand to fan the smoke.  Smudge sticks are generally held in your power hand.
  • If indoors, be careful about sparks and ventilate the room. Also try to stand where you can see the moon or at least the sky through the window. Indoors, you can substitute a sage or pine incense stick if you wish.
  • To cleanse and empower the tree, stand facing the tree at about five paces distance. Raise your smudge stick upwards to the sky and downwards to the earth.
  • Walk nine times clockwise round the tree, making alternative clockwise and anticlockwise spirals of smoke, high and low, stamping your feet as you move and chant.
  • Relax and enjoy the experience. Let your feet carry you, often in a spontaneous spiralling step movement, as you connect with earth energies and your hand weaves smoke patterns. Work barefoot if possible as you have sensitive energy centers or chakras in the soles of your feet.
  • Say continuously until you have made nine circuits:

Empowering tree, be for me, strength and healing. Keep away harm, guard what is dear, and keep love near.

  • You can repeat this ritual whenever you add something new to the tree or before using it as the focus for a personal spell or chant. Re-empower every third full moon.

Creating a Magickal Tree

You can create your own, albeit more modest but nevertheless magickal, world tree in your garden.

You can use any tree or a large bush as long as it has plenty of branches. Indoors, you can use a large ornamental tree or bush. Alternatively, use large, stripped-wood branches indoors or set them in soil. Wherever it is located, you magickal tree acts as a protective force to repel harm from your property.

You can start the tree with just one or two items. You will need some of the following:

  • A witch ball or colored-glass fishing float that reflects the garden and shines in sunlight. These are both protective and empowering. Witch balls resemble huge  Christmas baubles and come from the American folk tradition. You can make one by painting a glass sphere with metallic paint or buy one from a New Age shop or website.
  • Fishing floats make a transparent glass are on sale in antique stores or garage sales, but increasingly in gift shops and houseware stores. Hang two or three of them from the tree.
  • Mirrors. These need only be small to reflect the flow of the life force round the garden and repel all harm. You can use ordinary round mirrors or Chinese lucky Bagua mirrors that display the old Chinese symbols for eight natural forces that together energize the universe and our lives. Convex ones that curve outwards are especially protective.
  • Outdoors, nets of seeds and nuts or fat balls bring wild birds to the tree. This is especially important if the tree itself is not living.
  • Symbols of fertility and prosperity. Fill small raffia baskets with long handles with coins, sparking crystals like yellow citrine and clear crystal quartz or dried herbs like sage, rosemary and thyme that bring abundance to the garden with your home. You can often buy ornamental baskets set with wooden or ceramic fruits and flowers. Look in ethnic stores.
  • Small metal birds (you can sometimes buy them made of recycled metal). They will gleam in the light and encourage the circulation of positivity.
  • Feathers on cords to encourage positive change and the free-flowing life force.
  • Seasonal flowers, again especially important if the tree itself is not living. These can be weaved into circlets or use as garlands secured with twine. Keep these fresh and replace regularly.
  • Sun catchers, crystals or polished glass stones on chains.
  • Ribbons tied on the tree for different wishes. Secure the ribbon with three knots on to the tree and make your wish. Use ribbons that are not synthetic.
  • Use the following list when choosing the colors of items to put on to your magickal tree:

Blue:  Justice, career, travel and house moves

Brown:  Animals, property, finances and officialdom

Green:  Love and fidelity, for gradual increase in health, alternative healing, prosperity and to heal the planet

Orange:  Creativity and fertility

Pink:  Children, new or first love, peace, peaceful dreams and reconciliation

Purple:  Psychic awareness, peace, alternative healing and for protection

Red:  Passion and change

Yellow:  Learning and anything that needs to happen fast or temporarily in your life; also for conventional healing

Daily Astronomy Pic for October 12th

Astronomy Picture of the Day

Discover the cosmos!Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer.

2011 October 12

 

Saturn: Shadows of a Seasonal Sundial
Image Credit: Cassini Imaging Team, ISS, JPL, ESA, NASA  

 

Explanation: Saturn’s rings form one of the larger sundials known. This sundial, however, determines only the season of Saturn, not the time of day. In 2009, during Saturn’s last equinox, Saturn’s thin rings threw almost no shadows onto Saturn, since the ring plane pointed directly toward the Sun. As Saturn continued in its orbit around the Sun, however, the ring shadows become increasingly wider and cast further south. These shadows are not easily visible from the Earth because from our vantage point near the Sun, the rings always block the shadows. The above image was taken in August by the robotic Cassini spacecraft currently orbiting Saturn. The rings themselves appear as a vertical bar on the image right. The Sun, far to the upper right, shines through the rings and casts captivatingly complex shadows on south Saturn, on the image left. Cassini has been exploring Saturn, its rings, and its moons since 2004, and is expected to continue until at least the maximum elongation of Saturn’s shadows occurs in 2017.

Herb of the Day for October 11th – Dodder

Dodder

Folk Names:  Beggarweed, Devil’s Guts, Fireweed, Hellweed, Lady’s Lace, Love Vine, Scaldweed, Strangletare, Witches’ Hair

Gender:  Feminine

Planet:  Saturn

Element:  Water

Powers:  Love Divination, Knot Magick

Magickal Uses:  Pluck the dodder throw it over the shoulder, back onto the host plant (dodder is a parasite), and then return to the plant the next day. If the dodder has attached itself to the plant again, the person in question loves you. If not, no.

Use the “laces”as cords for knot magick (don’t tie the knots too tightly).

Cunningham’s Encyclopedia of Magical Herbs
Scott Cunningham

Astronomy Picture of the Day for October 11th

Astronomy Picture of the Day

Discover the cosmos!Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer.

2011 October 11

NGC 7635: The Bubble Nebula
Image Credit & Copyright: Larry Van Vleet 

 

Explanation: It’s the bubble versus the cloud. NGC 7635, the Bubble Nebula, is being pushed out by the stellar wind of massive central star BD+602522. Next door, though, lives a giant molecular cloud, visible to the right. At this place in space, an irresistible force meets an immovable object in an interesting way. The cloud is able to contain the expansion of the bubble gas, but gets blasted by the hot radiation from the bubble’s central star. The radiation heats up dense regions of the molecular cloud causing it to glow. The Bubble Nebula, pictured above in scientifically mapped colors to bring up contrast, is about 10 light-years across and part of a much larger complex of stars and shells. The Bubble Nebula can be seen with a small telescope towards the constellation of the Queen of Aethiopia (Cassiopeia).

Charging a Smudge Stick or Herbs

Whether you make your own smudge stick, use a prepared one or are planning to burn herbs in a bowl, you can endow them with power.

If you are using a smudge stick, hold it between your hands. If you are using a bowl, place your herbs in the bowl and hold this during the ritual.

In this ritual, we will use the six directions recognized by the Native North Americans:  the four main compass points, then downwards and finally upwards. Begin in the East, important to Native North Americans as the direction of dawn. Indeed a number of western practitioners start traditional magickal rituals by facing the East and opening the watchtowers here. Start with the North for security. If indoors, ventilate the room well.

  • Stand so that there is space round you.
  • Light a circle of red or natural beeswax candles in deep holders, one at each main direction and one in the center to ignite the smudge. If this is part of a ritual outdoors, you can visualize a ring of fire and omit the candles except for the one used to light the smudge. If you do light directional candles, light the central candle and then the candle of the East, South and so on. During the ritual you can move and stand by each, facing outwards in the appropriate direction of you wish.
  • Light the smudge from the central candle. Standing in the center of your fire wheel, face first the East, the direction of Dawn and Spring. Raise your stick or bowl and say:

“I greet the freshness of Dawn and brightness of the new morning. Fill, I ask, tee my sacred herbs with new life and swiftness of purpose.”

  • Turn next to the South, direction of Moon and Summer. Lite your smudge stick or bowl upwards and say:

“I greet the brilliance of noon and its radiant fire. Fill, I ask, these my sacred herbs with inspiration, integrity and courage.”

  • Face the West, direction of Dusk and Autumn and once more raise your smudge tools, saying:

“I greet the deepening skies and the first star of evening. Fill, I ask, thee my sacred herbs with love and healing.”

  • Face the North, direction of Midnight and Winter. Life your stick or bowl, saying:

“I welcome the darkness and the time of quiet repose.. Fill these sacred herbs with acceptance of what cannot be changed and with the wisdom of the ancestors.”

  • Standing still in the center of your actual or visualized fire circle, next to the central candle, lower the smudge towards the Earth and say:

“Kind Mother Earth, bless your own sacred herbs and absorb all that is not worthy of beauty in this wand of herbs and in my intentions.”

  • Finally, lift your stick or bowl high in the air, saying:

“Father Sky, bless these sacred herbs that my wishes and prayers may rise and be transformed into whatever is right and of worth.”

  • Some practitioners end with Mother Earth, or you can vary it according to the nature of the ritual.
  • As well as charging your herbs with power, you can create a complete ritual by facing and invoking the six directions with your smudge and then smudging yourself as a means of empowerment or protection. Alternatively, you can empower a symbol by carrying it to each of the four directions in turn and smudging it while declaring the purpose of the ritual.
  • You can end by lowering it to the Earth and smudging it there, and finally raising it upwards and releasing the energies in the smudge skywards.

 

Today’s Tarot Card for October 9th is The Magician

The Magician

This Tarot Deck: Cat People

General Meaning: Traditionally, the Magus is one who can demonstrate hands-on magic — as in healing, transformative rituals, alchemical transmutations, charging of talismans and the like. A modern Magus is any person who completes the circuit between heaven and Earth, one who seeks to bring forth the divine ‘gold’ within her or himself.

At the birth of Tarot, even a gifted healer who was not an ordained clergyman was considered to be in league with the Devil! For obvious reasons, the line between fooling the eye with sleight of hand, and charging the world with magical will was not clearly differentiated in the early Tarot cards.

Waite’s image of the Magus as the solitary ritualist communing with the spirits of the elements — with its formal arrangement of symbols and postures — is a token of the freedom we have in modern times to declare our spiritual politics without fear of reprisal. The older cards were never so explicit about what the Magus was doing. It’s best to keep your imagination open with this card. Visualize yourself manifesting something unique, guided by evolutionary forces that emerge spontaneously from within your soul.

Using Smudge

  • Personal spiritual cleansing and empowerment are often art of a smudging ritual. Anticlockwise spirals up and down the body with the smoking smudge stick are used to remove negativity, followed by clockwise smoke spirals to restore energy and bring power. Two people can do this, each with their own smudge stick, by standing and facing each other and moving in rhythm as though dancing. The crown is sealed with a clockwise circle and the feet likewise, followed by a final clockwise crown circle.
  • Mark boundaries around your home against bad neighbors or potential intruders by creating a psychic defense wall with alternate anticlockwise and clockwise spirals of smoke. Chant as you smudge:

May goodness and those with good intent enter her and only peace remain.

  • Purify a home or individual rooms of negativity, whether from a hostile visitor, quarrels or an unfriendly ghost, by using anticlockwise spirals.
  • Purify and empower artifacts, such as items you have bought, been given or inherited, especially jewellery, to make it your own. Pass objects or crystals through the smoke nine times anticlockwise to purify them; followed by nine circle clockwise. The words you speak and the fragrance you use will direct the purpose and attract the appropriate energies.
  • Cleanse and empower magickal tools and your indoor and outdoor altar.
  • Open the four main directions in a ritual. With practice you can make an invoking earth pentagram with the smoke from a small smudge stick.
  • Unite the six directions: East, North, South and West (the order o honoring the universe in smudge rituals), then Earth (downwards) and Sky (upwards).
  • Use for planetary healing or peace rituals.
  • Heal people, animals and places where there has been a human or naturally created disaster. Direct the smoke towards an absent person or animal, or a place or swirl it in huge spirals in all the directions. Chant the purpose continuously until you reach a powerful speed and intensity of words and movement with the smoke. then lower your voice and smudge more slowly until you end with a gentle final thrust and a whispered:

May ___________ be healed.

  • Smudge round the outline of a drawn plan of your workplace, anticlockwise and then clockwise, to bring positivity to the office. (Smudging the office itself might set off smoke alarms.)
  • In wish magick, use  chant to call what it is you desire while writing the wish in the air with a smudge stick. End with three deliberate spirals of smoke directed directly upwards (with hand or fan).
  • Induce a state of meditation or, before divination, use  fragrances like juniper, mugwort, pine, sage, yarrow or sweetgrass to amplify psychic powers.
  • Cleanse and heal the human aura, the rainbow-colored energy field that extends an outstretched arm span all round us in an ellipse. Move anticlockwise to remove impurities and clear blockages in the energy flow and clockwise to fill the aura with light and energy.
  • Create a sacred circle or strengthen one already made with salt and water and/or a candle flame. Casting a smoke circle around you gives protection during magickal work or divination and concentrates power.
  • Use smudge in personal dedication ceremonies when you declare intentions and transform the energies around you to galvanize the transformation.
  • Connect with benign guardian spirits, wise ancestors and angels.
  • Smudge can act as the East/Air element instead of incense in outdoor rituals and on your outdoor altar.

2012- A Witches View of Life and the ‘End’

2012- A Witches View of Life and the ‘End’

Author: Fayte Ravencraft

Unless you have been living under a rock, you have undoubtedly heard of the phenomenon that is 2012. The calendar of the ancient Mayan civilization ends on December 21, 2012, and many believe that it spells out disaster for our planet. Others think that it will be a time of transformation and spiritual rebirth. Here is the opinion of one humble Witch:

I won’t lie and say that the whole ‘2012 hysteria isn’t a little scary. I mean we have several extremely rare celestial occurrences, which also coincide with this exact date, which seem to add to the possibility of strange or catastrophic events occurring. The Earth and the Sun will be perfectly aligned with the ‘Great Rift, in the center of our galaxy, and this alignment is said to occur only every 21, 000 years or so. The Sun will also reach its solar maximum, the peak in its level of sunspot activity. Scientists have noticed recently that the Sun has been alarmingly weak for this point in the cycle — the lowest in over one-hundred years according to one article—, which may mean, in my own opinion, that when the Sun activity does pick up, it may cause a little trouble here on Earth.

The Sun’s own magnetic poles are supposed to switch in 2012 as well, which may cause further issues here on earth. These are simply the facts. Not even the most brilliant among us can truly say what they mean because it has never happened before in recorded history, and all theories are just that: theories. I encourage you to do your own research before coming to any assumption, and do not panic about the ‘approaching disaster, ” because there is not necessarily anything to be worried about. You do, I’m sure, remember the same mass hysteria about the supposed apocalypse in 2000, which never occurred.

I say all this simply so that you, the reader, may come to your own conclusions as to what the future may hold, and so that you know just what everyone is causing all the commotion about. I have listed as many Internet sources as possible so that you may further research them if you wish.

It is my personal feeling that December 21, 2012 will be a time of extraordinary power, a time when the veil between the worlds will be at its absolute thinnest. The Great Rift in the center of our galaxy has always been symbolic of the creative power of the Goddess, the ‘Great Womb, so to speak. The fact that the Sun, the symbol of the Lord, The Great Rift, a symbol of the Lady, and our Earth will be aligned will have a significant meaning magickally. There will never be a better time in our lives to perform magick of all types especially that of the divinatory type.

I do feel like it is a significant milestone in the history of human kind, and that, for those of us who are enlightened and willing, it is the perfect time to reach the maximum of our potential. Being a time of great power, it is also a time when we can make a powerful commitment to change things, both within and without, and to decided just where it is we want to go with our lives. Any energies set to work during this rare alignment are going to have extraordinary results, so why not use this as a time to heal the Earth, and with it, all of mankind. The Maya knew that this would be a time of immense power, and both feared and respected it.

We have a great thing here on our planet, and we too often take even the air we breathe for granted. The gifts we have received from the Universe have been greater than we could ever ask for, and it is time now to realize that. I am not convinced that 2012 marks the end of our world, but I certainly hope it marks a great change within the heart of mankind. We must learn to be grateful for all that we have; our lives and this astoundingly beautiful planet, or we might as well have never been here. I hate to say it, but if by some chance the world truly does end in 2012, I am just glad that I’ve had the blessing of spending this life on this beautiful planet. If it doesn’t end, I hope we all do our very best to be more appreciative; we have a good thing going on here, and we get too caught up in the daily grind of things to realize it sometimes.

While I do not feel that the world is truly about to end, I do think that we need to start living as though the end of the world were today, because it very well could be. We have never been guaranteed any amount of time here, and should view every second, the good and bad, as a gift. If we could truly follow ‘In perfect love and perfect trust, ” and have that love and trust towards ourselves and our fellow man, we would truly be making the absolute best of our time here.

As the great Henry David Thoreau said:

“I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived.”

Let us learn all that we can in this life so that when the end comes, we will have the satisfaction of knowing that we have done something that few ever have: Truly lived. If we can say in all honesty that we have lived a full life, then we cannot possibly grieve at its ending. We were lucky even to have one day here, let alone an entire life of loving, laughing and learning! The Great Cycle will continue eternally and we are all but small parts of the infinite cycle. When we embrace the entire cycle, life, death, and rebirth, then there is absolutely nothing to fear.

Nothing is ever truly destroyed, simply changed; and change, my friends, is a very good thing. Embracing change is embracing life.

Blessed Be,
Fayte Ravencraft


Footnotes:
Interview with NASA Solar Scientist

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/sthttp://www.witchvox.com/vu/fms/farticle.htmlory.php?storyId=128268488

http://www.interestingfacts.org/fact/2012-interesting-facts

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z4JuoBD56HQ

Contact me if you would like more veritable facts.