The Sacred Symbology of Trees
Author: Eldyohr
Tag: New Age
Quartz (Clear)
Quartz is one of the most common minerals on earth, but it is considered an essential part of any witch’s crystal collection. It is a multipurpose stone that can be included in almost any spell to bring about a positive result. Quartz is wonderful for balancing emotions, especially if you are trying to heal painful feelings such as child abuse issues or if you have problems with self-esteem. This crystal amplifies magickal wishes and will bring extra power to any spell. Use it to tap into a higher consciousness and to keep in touch with your spiritual side.
Crystal Power
Witches always have crystals somewhere on their person, and if you stroll around their gardens you will often find a piece of amethyst twinkling out at you from a cabbage patch, or perhaps there will be a sliver of quartz nestled somewhere under a bush. Because crystals possess unique properties of conductivity and electrical frequency, they are used in everything from radios to watches to computers. Wiccans value crystals because they are wonderful for changing auras from negative to positive and they help clear destructive energies from our homes and gardens. There are so many types of crystals in the world that it is impossible to list them all here. if you want to learn more about crystals, there are countless books and websites out there, but for now we are going to explore some of the more popular crystals in use today. These are not just worn as jewelry, but often place on our altars to support a spell. You can use any size crystal or stone in a spell, the results will be the same.
Crystal of the Day for July 11th is Milky Quartz
Crystal of the Day
Milky Quartz
Common in mountainous regions, veins of milk quartz can be seen threading their way across exposed and eroded rock surfaces. Reflecting light from great distance, this stone has been used to enhance sacred sites for thousand of years. The stones we buy and use today retain this aura of sanctity.
IDENTIFICATION AND CARE
- Some coloured varieties of common quartz, have distinct names – for example, the pinky-brown “strawberry quartz.”
- Milky quartz is usually massive, but fully grown crystals also occur.
MAGICK
- Symbolizes the energies of the moon
- Represents purification and cleansing
- Harnesses the power of light
HEALING FUNCTIONS
- Clears blocked energy gradually
- Gently releases difficult emotions
- Disperses negative thought
- Calms an overactive mind
- Helps to ease us into the universal flow.
Ask for Spiritual Guidance
Ask for Spiritual Guidance
Some people believe that we each have a number of spirit guides – angelic beings from the spiritual realm – to whom we can turn for guidance. To contact your spirit guides, address them directly, asking your question aloud, in your head, or in writing – whichever feels most natural. Remain open to the answer- it may come at any time, whether spontaneously, out of a chance conversation, or perhaps revealing itself in a book you happen to pick up.
What Is The Purpose of Reincarnation?
Some people really don’t understand reincarnation; they wonder why we would want to keep coming back over and over again. It’s a bit idealistic to think that we can have just one life and then retire to a fluffy pink cloud for the rest of eternity? You may well get to the ultimate resting place someday, but before you do, you have some work to do.
These are three reasons for reincarnating:
- To work on overcoming your faults
- To experience every human emotion possible
- To eventually become a part of the Divine Power
When a soul is born, it begins a journey of spiritual development. With every incarnation on Earth, we learn valuable lessons that help us on the journey and go on to make us the true individuals we are. It’s a bit like being in school. Sometimes the lessons we face are painless and we can sail through them with ease. At other times, they can be hard-hitting and difficult, making us face arduous challenge head-on.
Take, for example, a person who seems to experience trials and tribulations on a constant basis. From a spiritual perspective, what is this all about? once you have undergone a lesson and have learned it properly you won’t have to go through it again.That chapter of your life will be over and you will move on to other lessons. You might think that it’s unfair to have to go through problematic situations, especially if others around you seem to have it easier, but each lesson we face gives us an internal strength that can never be taken away from us. Call it character building. These lessons enhance our inner wisdom, which is what we are all ultimately striving for. This is how it goes, life after life, until you’ve learned all you need to know.
Crystal of the Day for July 6th is Kunzite
Crystal of the Day
Kunzite
This beautiful pink crystal, named after the American gemstone specialist G. F. Kunz, who discovered it at the start of the 20th century, is the most sought after member of the spodumene family (to which the delicate green hiddenite also belongs). It forms long, striated prisms which can be opaque but are often deeply translucent or completely transparent. Kunzite’s colour from a side view is pale, but looking down the length of the crystal, it deepens to an appealing pinky violet. Occasionally, spodumene crystals will contain areas of pink and green together.
Identification and care
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Kunzite crystals contain parallel striations.
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Stones darken in colour once mined.
Magic
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Strengthens the heart and attunes us to universal love
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Counteracts aggression
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Helps us to understand other people
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Bring conflict to a resolution
Healing Functions
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Supports the cardiovascular system and thyroid function
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Enhances self-esteem
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Helps to override negative, unhelpful thought patterns – very protective
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Creates a space for meditation
Practical Ideas
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To heal and protect where love is lacking place kunzite at the heart and arrange four clear quartz, points outward, in a diamond shape around the body.
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Wear a pendant of kunzite or hiddenite to provide yourself with invaluable protection during difficult emotional times.
‘THINK on THESE THINGS’
‘THINK on THESE THINGS’
By Joyce Sequichie Hifler
There are very few days when we have control of our time. No matter what our schedules may be, there is always a change taking place that keeps something from happening when it is supposed to happen. And when the day is ended and our schedules have not been met, then it begins to drag on our spirits.
Soon we become so wound up in the problems of the moment that the delights of our souls drift away and become a part of the mist of “someday.” Someday I will get to do what I want to do. Someday when this necessary work is finished – and it is possible that the things we believe to be so necessary are really robbers of our lives? Do we spend too much time with the menial tasks and allow our creativity – the ability to bring newness into our lives – to dry up and become nonexistent?
William Blake called this within us “God.” One of the greatest poets ever to live, he believed that if we keep alive our ability to see and feel the beauty of life, our menial tasks will become easy and the way successful.
Yesterday is only a dream, tomorrow only a vision, but today – we live. If we live as we should, our yesterdays will be dreams of happiness, and our tomorrow’s will be visions of hope.
Nothing is so sad as the man who spends all his time today judging tomorrow by his experiences of yesterday. He has a vision, but his faith does not support him to pursue it. If some great stroke of good fortune should overtake him, he will be all ready to go, but he doesn’t really expect it to happen. So today he sits waiting for the world to change for him, never guessing that he is the one who must change.
No one is so misled as the woman who has such a busy schedule that she hasn’t time to listen to her children. She expects to take the time to play with them – someday. But it is today that the bridges must be built from the soul to the body to the spirit. It isn’t something built from a quick kiss or a smart smack in the right place, but from daily communion and understanding.
Today is the very life of life when the best things are nearest – breath in our nostrils, light in our eyes, flowers at our feet, duties at our hand, and the path of God before us.
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Available online! ‘Cherokee Feast of Days’
By Joyce Sequichie Hifler.
Crystal Formation
The mechanism that creates crystals is movement in the Earth’s crust. As layers of crust float on the liquid rock mantle beneath collisions and pressure create fractures that allow superheated liquids and gases, filled with different elements to move rapidly toward the surface. As these liquids and gases cool. they often crystalize. The temperature, pressure, surrounding rocks and mix of elements all determine which minerals crystallize at a particular place. Crystals and rocks produced in this way are known as igneous.
If crystals and rocks are exposed to wind, frost and water, they begin to erode. Small particles are washed into the sea where they form silt deposits. After many millions of years of extreme pressure, these deposits become compressed, forming sedimentary crystals and rock. Minerals of this type ten to be softer than igneous crystals as they form at lower temperatures and pressures.
Crystals From Ancient to Journey
The forms of crystal healing that are in use today arose in the alternative culture of the 1970’s and 1980’s but like many complementary systems, they have developed out of old cultural traditions. The idea that every store has special magickal properties can be traced back through Europe literature of the early Middle Ages to their sources in Greek, Roman and Arabic philosophy which in turn owe much to the Ayurvedic traditions of indian.
Modern crystal healers initially focused very much on the properties of rock crystal (clear quartz). Traditionally crystals of quartz have been highly valued by healers around the world for their ability to connect with spirit worlds, to reveal and diagnose illness and to allow a Shaman or healer to remove the causes of disease. The use of crystals, crystal mirrors and crystal balls for divination is simply a continuation of the long tradition.
These mystical ways of using crystals are usually dismissed by modern science as mere superstition and yet science recognizes the unique – properties of minerals and crystals, making use of their characteristics in everything from wristwatches (quartz), automobile spark-plugs (kyanite), medical lasers (ruby) and space shuttle windows (sapphire).
The pragmatic and metaphysical views of the crystal world may seem to be mutually exclusive. However, both approaches are valuable. One provides useful tools and technologies, while the other enables us to see beyond the attention to one of these sides of our natures, we miss out on a wealth of experience – both are necessary to keep us whole and healthy. Crystal healing can restore fundamental balance to our existence.
Crystal of the Day for June 29th is Blue Celestite Crystal Cluster
Crystal of the Day
Blue Celestite Crystal Cluster
Connect with your Guardian Angel!
Celestite (also known as celestine) can be found in clear, white, gray, blue, green, yellow, orange or reddish brown. It offers a gentle uplifting energy that will raise one’s awareness. It is an effective stone to use in order to establish and maintain communication with the angelic realm.
This cluster is ideal for placement in the bedroom, or meditation space as an environmental cleanser. Celestite is a soft stone (both physically and metaphysically) and its vibrations radiate in all directions.
Celestite is an elevating crystal that makes one feel as though floating on a cloud.
Your Daily Influences for June 17
| Your Daily Influences June 17, 2011 |
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 Tarot Influence |
Rune Influence |
 Charm Influence |
| Three of Pentacles Material fortunes grow. Crafts or arts are mastered. |
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| Raidho Raidho may mark the coming of a physical or spiritual journey. Whichever the case, changes in your life are soon to come. Spiritual or material goals may be attained. |
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| Leo the Lion This aspect of your life will be strongly influenced by a person who is generous, warm-hearted, creative, enthusiastic, broad-minded, expansive, faithful and loving. This person is most likely a relative. |
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| Your Daily Influences represent events and challenges the current day will present for you. They may represent opportunities you should be ready to seize. Or they may forewarn you of problems you may be able to avoid or lessen. Generally it is best to use them as tips to help you manage your day and nothing more. | ||
Sealed by the Desert: How Dark and Light Earth Mother Brought Me Peace
Sealed by the Desert: How Dark and Light Earth Mother Brought Me Peace
article
by Janice Van Cleve
I had to pray. Never had I felt the need to pray more strongly than I did right then. The confluence of personal emotions and the raw beauty of the sacred space in which I found myself demanded it. I had to connect with spirit and find center.
My emotional energy came largely from the breakup. Nine months had passed, and the wounds were still raw. We broke off abruptly, then tried counseling, then made those achingly painful attempts to rebuild a friendship in the looming shadow of the broken love. It was a failure that acted itself out over and over during that summer like repeatedly scratching a scab before it could heal. I needed healing, and to do that I needed to get off this downward spiral. I needed a change of scene. So when my friends invited me to visit them in San Antonio, I accepted.
Their own relationship was none too smooth. They fought all the time and shared very little sex or even tenderness. Yet they were building a lasting relationship. From the advantage of being a disinterested third party, I was able to observe them and their friends with a bit of objectivity. I concluded that spiritual support seemed to be one thing working in their favor. They shared spiritual values and the same higher power, which served to unite them even if they were miles apart in the mundane world. Social support seemed equally important. They had a tight-knit network of couples who modeled, expected and affirmed staying together even through the difficult times. I suspected that this was because Texas was a toxic environment for lesbians and gays. Having a partner to fight with was better than having no partner at all, and finding a new one was more difficult than in Seattle. Finally, of course, they had the shared responsibility for a house and a mortgage. Nothing unites or divides like money.
Being objective about them helped me be objective about myself. My ex and I did not share spiritual values, did not have the same friends and lived apart. In this quiet retreat in Texas, I was able to see what was right in front of my face back home. Yet the last two years had not been a mistake. I learned that I could be loved. She learned that she could be respected. These were the gifts we were bound to bring to each other. The gifts were delivered. Mission accomplished. It was never in the cards that we would fill all of each other’s needs. Our roles in each other’s lives were completed. Now it was time to go our separate ways, enriched for our next mission.
It was all well and good to realize the fact intellectually, but I needed to bring spirit to that realization. I needed to pray, but this place didn’t feel right. It was a small bedroom in somebody else’s house in a mediocre suburb of San Antonio, and I had none of my tools. Besides, the energy was wrong here with all the bickering. I needed to be alone in the wild. I needed to be out there where air and earth, fire and water were exposed and tangible. I bid my friends good-bye and flew to Carlsbad, New Mexico, to visit the caverns. Carlsbad Caverns captured my imagination as far back as my childhood and I had visited them in wonder and awe two years previously. I knew it was the place I needed to be. And there I went.
Late on the day I arrived, the late afternoon sun cast an orange fire on the dry hills beyond the Pecos. Small patches of green flanked the river as it meandered down through the dusty plains to the Rio Grande, far to the south. Behind me, the Guadalupe Mountains began to gather purple shadows beneath their stony brows, just as my own shadow began to fall across the pavement of the visitor center parking lot. Soon it would be dusk. The bats would be swarming out of the caves like a fluttering blizzard to scoop up their dinners of insects down in the valley.
It had been a full day. Many and various were the adventures I had pursued in the chambers below. I had booked myself on ranger tours to explore caves that most tourists don’t get to see. My lantern cast weird shadows in Left Hand Cave, and I marveled at “soda straws” and perfectly round puddle marbles in Lower Caves. I even squeezed through Murdock’s Pinch, which is a long horizontal crawl so narrow that I had to keep my head sideways and propel myself with no more than my elbows and toes! Wonderful as these adventures were, they were dwarfed by the enveloping majesty of sitting alone in the darkness of the Big Room and hearing the echoes of far off drips from the ceiling high above hitting some distant formation as they have for millennia beyond reckoning. I can’t think of any place on earth that would feel more like the womb of Dark Earth Mother.
There was peace in the Big Room and an ageless quiet, but I could not pray there, either. The presence of Goddess was too deep and dark and ancient in that place for me. My little Gemini air spirit felt oppressed and crushed. It was all I could do to sit for a while and absorb Her intense, enveloping totality. When I had experienced all that I was able to hold, I took the elevator to the surface.
That’s how I found myself outside in the parking lot with this huge compelling need to pray. With no real direction in mind, I walked across the pavement and stepped over the edging. The rough, stony roof of Captain’s Reef is sparsely clothed in scrub, sagebrush, various cactuses and spiky yucca plants. The view is expansive, and the sky is open and broad. I breathed in the fresh air that was more attuned to my spirit than the cave and started out through the desert flora toward the plateau’s edge.
There, I found a bare rock space that was like a floor, surrounded by cacti and a number of tall, spindly branches of some leafless bush. I gathered a few stones and made a circle, and sat in their midst. The warmth of the sun-baked rock seeped into me. The life energies of the wild plants around me was vibrant enough almost to hear with my ears. I tuned my inner energies to their symphony and listened to the hum of busy insects finishing up their day’s activities. The gentle breeze washed over me, around me and through me. Here was the place I could pray.
I connected with the four directions and with earth and sky. I opened up my soul to the universe and allowed my body to live in the moment in these surroundings without any mental or social controls. Here in the wild, I was open to magick. I felt my mundane world and its cares break up like a desert mirage, and I came face to face with the reality of sun, sand and sky. The raw wind of spirit ripped through me, and I became one with it.
Who knows how long or short I traveled in that space before I caught sight of a preying mantis. So wrapped up was I in my past, I had not noticed her sitting motionless on a cactus in front of me. In her serrated arms, she clutched a grasshopper, and as I watched, I could see her contentedly munching away with no cares in the world except with the task in front of her. I could not imagine that she cared much for what happened yesterday, or even remembered it. Nor do I think she worried much about tomorrow. Only today mattered, and a fat grasshopper was enough.
Ordinarily, I would have observed this as a little slice of nature and stuffed in away in my trivia collector. This time, however, I was open to hear the message of the Goddess in the wild. Through that preying mantis, content in the moment, She worked her magick. She moved my heart and passion to feel the transformation of letting go, which I had only intellectualized before. She brought spirit to my realization, and in that moment I was free. I breathed in the fresh air and felt relief and rebirth.
I wanted to take with me a symbol of the magick that had happened on that rock. I opened my hand, and as I did so, my attention was drawn to a small stone. It was a rough piece of limestone, about two inches long, and flat on one side. On it, I could make out the image of a face. It smiled at me. I took it for the smile of Light Earth Mother and thanked Her. She was teaching me that letting go is a death of sorts, but through letting go, I would move on to new life. I accepted Her token.
The sun disappeared behind the mountains, and the bats went screaming out into the night. I drove back into town for a whopping steak dinner. Praying in the desert is hungry business!
Janice Van Cleve keeps that limestone on her altar as a symbol of death. Next to it, she keeps an ocean seashell as a symbol of life. They represent different moments in the eternal cycle of life, death and rebirth.
Creating A Magickal Tree
You can create your own, albeit more modest but nevertheless magickal, world tree in your garden.
Although you might have a small garden, you can still create a magickal tree in the centre of it, it can be used to circle round for spells and rituals and as a focus of power. It changes it energies according to the seasons and you can sit close to it in Sun, Moon and Starlight to absorb their different powers.
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, your 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 coloured 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. You can also find them sold as disco balls in gift stores.
- Fishing floats made of transparent glass are on sale in antique stores or garage sales, but increasingly in gift shops and housewares stores. Hang two or three of these from the tree. You can have a rope with three fishing floats, each of different coloured glass on your tree, better yet use your imagination, it’s your tree be creative.
- Mirrors. These need only be small to reflect the flow of 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 energies the universe and our lives. Convex one that curve outwards are especially protective.
- Outdoors, nets of seeds and nuts or fat ball 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, sparkling crystals like yellow citrine and clear crystal quartz or dried herbs like sage, rosemary and thyme that bring abundance to the garden and your home. You can often buy ornamental baskets set with wooden or ceramic fruits and flowers.
- 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 used 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 or to the tree and make your wish. Use ribbons that are not synthetic.
- Use the following list when choosing the colours 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 first or temporarily in your life: also for conventional healing.
The Truth Is In The Experience.
The Truth Is In The Experience.
Author: Snowdragon
My religion, if it can be called a religion (it’s more a way of life for me), is full and fluid and like the ocean. It never stays in one place, it is ever changing and evolving like spring to summer and summer to fall. And I grow and change with it, adapting new ideas, establishing a greater sense of myself with every footstep.I send my roots down into the fertile soil and drink of the un-ending knowledge that this earth holds before me. And like the gardener whose careful hands tend the living, breathing earth I propagate my own experiences with grace and determination. There is no formula for magick, it is not an exact science, nor is it an ancient unbending truth; it is an experience. It is the wisdom that is established from this experience that helps us to define the meaning of the word ‘magick’. I have a very long and deeply embedded ancestral link to Israel but as a child this link was not made evident to me and it wasn’t until I reached adult hood that I could better understand the connection to my Jewish roots.
Israel is a profoundly spiritual place, rich in history and ceremony. And it seems that every little mundane chore such as the making of the first meal of the day, washing of the hands and face and the general tidiness of one’s home is ripe with spiritual significance. It is the pervasive conception that god is in the details that allows the Jewish people to maintain a consistent and unwavering connection to the spiritual realm in daily life. Perhaps it is this practice of acknowledging the spiritual when engaging the practical that will help us to truly experience magick.
It is my purpose to try to establish a greater connection to the spiritual within my mundane life so that the question isn’t whether or not I should practice magick and how I practice magick but more importantly, why?
I feel that life is a magickal journey and that it is the in-between moments where our attentions are diverted to material matters such as clothing, shelter and food that cause us to lose our sense of who we are as spiritual beings. Bread may be bread and hunger may be the driving force in its creation but it is the ceremony in its preparation, the transformation of cooking it, and ultimately the sharing of it in a social setting that makes the whole process a physical representation of a greater spiritual experience. This is the essence of magick and thus where our truest spell work can be done. Just as we would study for a test or exam one must first conceptualize of the desired outcome, establish a methodology for creating said outcome and then set out with the appropriate tools to materialize the goals we wish to achieve. In doing so, we open ourselves to our greatest potential, increasing our connection to our higher selves. It is here that we define who we are, recognize our strength’s and weakness and determine whether or not we are willing to overcome them. For, we are always able. We have the very tools we need in our hands the trick is learning how to use them effectively and with true purpose and intention.
In effect spell-work is the physical act and magick the driving force. So there can never be a lack of magick in one’s life if one is willing to acknowledge the spirit that whispers underneath. The simple act of “stopping to smell the roses” is an expression of connecting to the spiritual self, the desire to know god, to touch with the hands of creation and to be an infinite part of it. But like all good things there is danger of obtaining too much or over indulging in the material benefits. I find this particularly true when it comes to religion. We often find ourselves becoming fanatical about our approach to spiritual matters, and instead of obtaining a greater understanding of our spiritual selves and having the foresight to trust its existence we become greedy and disenfranchised with the spiritual truth of those around us. We cling to our ceremony as though without it our very souls would cease to be instead of allowing it to grow, evolve and breath like the very earth in which we live. In fact I find no greater representation for the spiritual realm then the earth beneath my feet and the sky above my head and it is in this world where I have discovered some of my greatest spiritual explorations. With the people that I meet, the challenge of a new relationship and within the dynamics of those that already exist.
If we wish to continue to deepen our connection to the spiritual we must be willing to let go of it. If we cling too tightly we damage the fragile nature that makes the quest for spiritual truth so imperative. Like a clear crystal stone, if we hold it to the light we can see the internal structure that makes up its formation but if we set it down in the shadows we can not acknowledge its beauty then the very purpose of its creation is lost and its existence irrelevant. The search for spiritual relevance is what separates and defines us as human beings. We have our very basic nature still intact, eating, sleeping and procreating but it is the unseen internal struggle for knowledge that makes us the truly remarkable beings that we are. For there is no right answer, life isn’t a test or quiz and unlike our academic quests we are our own best teachers. Each of us retains the right to a spiritual truth, whether it is through Paganism, Christianity, Buddhism or all of the above the journey is yours to experience. Embrace your spiritual self with the ceremony that fulfills you the most and magick will never be too far behind you.
Spirituality and Magic – Don’t Sell Yourself Short
Spirituality and Magic – Don’t Sell Yourself Short
Author: Friendly Spirit
I’ve read some informative and highly interesting articles on Witchvox recently and wanted to share a perspective that perhaps may help some in their dealings with their own spirituality. This includes rituals where many find sources of enlightenment but also includes just about anything else, eclectic or traditional, in the general areas of spirituality, magic, ethics, etc. My comments do not center on promoting my own beliefs. Rather I’d like to comment on keeping a bigger picture in mind no matter which path or paths you choose.
The bigger picture is, what are you really and how does what you are relate to which practices you use or follow in seeking spiritual enlightenment? I’d also like to suggest a few simple things to keep in mind when choosing a path or religion.
Which Path/Religion to Choose?
I don’t think that anyone but you can say which exact path or religion is right for you. And I’m not sure most can tell if they don’t try things. I guess the “right” one is the one that works for you. Try things and see what helps you improve your spiritual life. Does it help you to be a happier person or live a better life or feel more spiritual or does it not?
It’s a simple question really but then things should be simple.
But how do you know what to try in order to see what works best for you? Well, I guess many will try different paths before they find out but I can offer here some very simple guidelines in helping eliminate any while conducting your search. These guidelines work very well for me but, if they are something that does not work for you, then don’t use them:
- Does the path/religion preach that you are small or insignificant and it offers you a way to improve? I say reject that path/religion because it is based on a lie. The lie being that you are small and insignificant. You are not. You are an immortal, spiritual being.
- Does the path/religion depend substantially on faith, fear of gods or such things as damnation, etc? I say reject that path/religion as it is based on a lie. Your goal in spiritual enlightenment should not be based on fear, mysteries that you cannot comprehend, etc.
- Does the path/religion suggest not harming yourself and others and does it have at least some system of ethics against doing the above? I say look into it. Ethics are logic, really. They are things that just make sense if you truly want to expand spiritually or in any other way. It makes sense because you the immortal being are good and you will hinder your own growth when doing harm.
- Does the path/religion hold firm beliefs that are contrary to your own, even though your own harms no one including yourself? I don’t suggest getting into it unless you yourself are trying to change your own beliefs, as you feel they are incomplete or somehow wrong.
- Does the path/religion involve the use of drugs, hypnotic suggestions, invalidation or evaluation of you by others? I say reject it, as real spiritual enlightenment depends on you either regaining or otherwise obtaining a personal spiritual improvement which, in the end, depends on you and not the invalidation and/or evaluation of others.
- Does the path/religion promote kindness and things loving? If so, this is a good point as such things as kindness and love are completely natural to a spiritual being. Those times you could not be more mean or tough in a situation were not really signs of weakness. But the times you could not be more kind were signs of weakness as, again, kindness and love are natural in a spiritual being who, when itself, is truly good.
So What is The Bigger Picture to Keep In Mind in Any Path or Practice?
Keep in mind what you yourself really are verses what is being dealt with in your practice. I feel this is most important in order to obtain the maximum benefit of any path towards spiritual enlightenment.
What you are is very different than what you are being. For example, in this life you may have a female body, be a mother, a wife, an office worker and a Witch. Those are all identities you have assumed as you progressed in life while your body developed from the stage of its birth to where it is now.
Can a good spiritual path help you to be a better mother, Witch, neighbor, wife, etc? Sure it can. It can assist you in being anything you want. But, here again we are addressing what you are being in this lifetime, not what you are.
So, you’re not that body you have, right? I mean, for example, if you lost one of your hands in a car accident does that change that loving thing that is “you?” That thing that loves your children, arts or music? Is your body that thing that soars to wonderful music or what you consider beautiful in nature or otherwise? No, it is not.
I was in a Pagan chat room recently and in it this wonderful lady talked about children and other things, which was a great chat. She was obviously a kind and caring person but she stated that we all love our children because of a genetic imprint that makes us feel nurturing, defending, and so on. I loved her but I wanted to scream out, “YOU ARE MUCH MORE THAN THAT!” Yes, human bodies and animal bodies do have a “life force” and a genetic line that does provide for caring, nurturing, etc. (or else there would be no real continuation of a species), and when you take on a body you tend to be affected by it and the genetic line BUT you are so much more than that.
It was not appropriate to argue in that room nor did I feel a need to argue, but I really wanted her to realize she was SO much more than some sort of “genetic imprint” connected with a body…
Yet science often stops at just that point in trying to measure what you are. The physical universe can make a great “playground” in which to play and bodies can be a “calling card” spiritual beings use to identify and play with each other.
So if you are not your body, are you your mind? Again, you are selling yourself short if you agree that you are your mind. Here is a simple exercise you can do as you read this right now that might help you conclude you are not your mind:
Read these next two paragraphs and then close your eyes and think about it
Pick a pet or other animal you have with you or had with you once. Was it in your house? What color was it? Size? How did it look? When you think of a time with it, do you see it in your living room, outdoors or what? What was it doing then?
You can do this exercise with a child, a friend, whatever. Close you eyes now and do it and, when you are done, open your eyes and continue reading this.
Okay, so I am going to assume you just did the exercise. Who was looking at the picture(s) of that pet, animal, child, friend or whatever after you closed your eyes? It was not your body as your eyes were closed. Was it your mind “looking” at that? No, in fact it was YOU looking at it. And what you were looking at was a part of your mind (the pictures and things you saw).
My point is, you are not your mind. You are an immortal spirit that currently has a mind and a body.
Your body is located in time and in space (for example, here on Earth) and the pictures that make up your mind are locatable as well. But you yourself are not so located except by your own considerations and your agreement with the considerations of others.
While this is a subject that would take up a great deal more writing space than is available here, my whole point is if you want to get maximum spiritual enlightenment from any path you choose, please keep in mind what YOU are and never get confused with what you are not (a body, mind, tools of magic, etc.).
For example, the idea of using crystals, stones and other physical things to produce energy or other effects could really work but not for the reason many think. Matter (physical things) are just solidified energy and if someone figured out (by accident or otherwise) how to “tap it, ” lots could be produced. Some physical things like crystals perhaps store more energy than physical things like granite. I believe that different paths and people of older traditions have discovered a lot of that.
But what’s most important is that it’s NOT something bigger than you (the spirit). You’re tapping into something that can be amazing in terms of what is generally agreed to be possible BUT it is comparatively nothing to what YOU (the spirit) could produce. If it helps you to tap the energy and magic that is “sleeping” inside of you then by all means do it.
If people could practice such things with the bigger picture of what they really are in mind, to the point where they at least don’t worship such things as the tools of magic, then it could really be something special.
Just because we spiritual beings may use bodies and other physical things in order to communicate with each other, does not mean that we must be limited to that or to what is commonly agreed to be the limitations of bodies in order to perceive or communicate.
You know, you have many agreements in place automatically all the time with regard to your body and mind. Such agreements as human eyes see only certain hues, human ears hear only certain sounds, words are important to communication, you must breath air, and so on. If a spiritual being had the body of a cat for a lifetime, it likely would go into agreement with what a cat sees, hears, senses and the like. Same with any other body type. But they are only considerations you have agreed with and you yourself as a spiritual being are not restricted to such limits. If actions taken in rituals or otherwise in different paths help you to simply “disagree” on all those limits to perception, then they are probably good actions if they lead to your own spiritual enlightenment. And they are probably good things to do until some day you will be able to bring all the magic and abilities out of yourself without need of any tools.
Spiritual enlightenment is a matter of rehabilitating the spirit’s (your) abilities so that YOU may make a better life for yourself and others. Don’t be impatient and expect yourself to go from where you are to perfection overnight. If in any way you find yourself improving any aspects of your life (you feel better, you’re no longer depressed, some things come easier now, you feel more love for others, etc.) then by all means be happy as your effort on your path is working. Keep it up. It gets better and better as you grow spiritually and realize more of your own potential.
Just keep in mind that it is you the spiritual being that is awakening and that all the magic there is, is in you now. And if some path helps you find it within yourself for the improvement of you and others then it is a wonderful thing indeed.
You don’t HAVE a spirit. You ARE the spirit. Remember that and I believe you will get much more out of your practice.
Final Comment:
I have made no attempt here to comment on a god or goddess or anything else besides you. I believe that subject is very highly personal and that the more you expand spiritually, the more you understand such things. I only want to point out that you are something very, very special and much more than most people or even many religions let you believe.
Personally I have a very deep affinity for the Goddess. Every time I even reflect on that subject I feel wonderful. I do not categorize her in ways that many others have done. I personally don’t feel her under the many names people have given her in the past. Nor in temples dedicated to her in the various forms that might have been real to people at the time they gave her a name or a temple. Rather, personal to me, I see her everywhere, especially at times where I feel more enlightened. I reflect on her every time I see the love of a mother for her child, when I see anything nurturing, when I so much as see a spore fly in the wind and settle on the ground, knowing some day it may grow to be a plant.
I feel all that at times when I see kindness, love, the good in others. I see her when I see what in many lifetimes I’ve perceived as spirituality, courage, caring, wisdom, magic, strength and all things good. I think of all these things when I think of true “femininity.”
I don’t believe you have to roam anywhere to see her and the best evidence of her is within you now.
The Importance of Being a Wise Woman – a Witch
The Importance of Being a Wise Woman – a Witch
Author: Briallason
The term “witch” wasn’t given to anyone accused of being such by the person being accused. The term was given by the ruling powers to a certain type of individual that the ruling powers did not understand and of which they were terribly afraid.
What was, or is, this type of individual that has frightened so many governments, religions, and ruling powers for so long?
They are nothing more than males or females who are aware of their position in life in accordance with the mathematics of the universe (universal law).
They are persons who recognize and are willing to accept their right and responsibility to be in charge of their own lives: Responsible for their own actions, their own lives, their fate, their destiny.
They are persons, male or female, who recognize that within them must reside the respect, council and wisdom of the heart of a mother – a wise woman – in order for a balanced society to exist and for life to be able to continue perpetually.
In the beginning of civilization, it was the key to proper balance in every realm. Made up of many, many races and nationalities of peoples, this ingredient and characteristic was found deep within each of them.
What does it mean to be a wise woman or Witch? True Witchcraft can be practiced from one place and one place only – from deep within the heart and innermost being of the individual. And it is nothing more than a certain degree of consciousness within that individual.
How important is the practice of Witchcraft to each person? It is as important as the very elements upon which we call – earth, fire, air and water. They are essential to our existence, for without them we will not survive. Neither do we call upon spirit to cast a circle, for if we indeed call upon the four elements, then spirit is there in the midst; it is us, you and I.
In a time before now all five elements existed in perfect harmony and each existed with harm to none. And in a time soon to be, again it shall be so.
During current history, as balance was overthrown and the earth and mankind were pulled into an extended sleep, things continually worsened, becoming even further out of balance. And the wise woman or Witch in every person became the enemy of imbalance and a threat to greed and self-indulgence, for the wise woman mind will not bend nor stoop to unjust harm or abuse. And she was greatly feared, to be destroyed on sight.
For the wise woman, wisdom was, and held, the key of life. For centuries she was hidden or hard to find; yet she was always sought by those who wished to destroy her. Anyone practicing any of her ways was considered to be an enemy. Many books were burned, all manner of propaganda was instigated against her, and a song was produced to lure the sleeping generations into submission and obedience.
It was a sweet song, near – if not impossible – to keep from singing and following. It was the song of prosperity, of money, of ease, wealth, dominance, of someone else to fight your battles for you, someone else to determine directions you should go, and it sounded so sweet, so right, so true.
And with time, it took root, and grew. Many chose mates to think for them. Others volunteered to be the leaders, many joined together to show the others how to worship, or what to worship. Armies were formed to protect and fight to keep the freedom of others to indulge in their seeking. Governments were borne, then stronger governments, and institutions and corporations. And they hated each other and began to destroy each other and if, per chance, they could not destroy, then they joined each other, becoming larger and larger with less competition.
And all the while, the wise woman, wisdom, hid and was cast away and downtrodden. But where would she dare hide or be hidden?
Only the wisdom of the Mother herself could hide wisdom where it could not be harmed or destroyed. So she hid it deep within the sleeping hearts of her children, in the dry and barren wilderness wasteland, the cave of the heart, where once had flowed the rivers of life, but now, a place where wisdom herself alone could enter.
And in the Spring Season, at the beginning of the New, in the Dawn of New Day, the children slowly began to awaken – awakening first to the realization that although the old song had promised so much that was needed, it had not produced. Life steadily worsened, and though a few maintained quick riches in the short-term, most people labored more and more just to maintain short-term existence. And with that awakening, slowly came the desire and need to change that manner of existence.
But how to change that old order? To join and fight against wrong by taking of arms and actions to destroy those that subscribed to such ways? By might and power and forming more organizations to stamp out injustice? No. It only produced more misery and injustice and harm to innocent people.
But then, in the first faint winds of dawn came a sound – a song – more beautiful than any other ever heard. A song, first hard to distinguish in direction, then more and more, as sleep was wiped away, the realization – the song is coming from within! Within the barren desert, moisture, breeze, heat and substance. The song’s rhythm was felt within the minds and hearts of the children, the steady drumming from Earth Mother herself, and the importance of wisdom began to dawn.
That wisdom shed light on the importance of loving one another and doing no harm, of understanding the responsibility for your life, and yours alone, and accepting the same. It whispered the truth of the necessity of thinking for yourself, and while respecting other’s advice, the deep realization that direction for you belongs only to you, and with it the responsibility is yours, thus no one else is to blame.
And more and more, the song is heard, and old things begin to shake, for injustice does not survive in a world that is awake.
And a desert blooms, and a fragrance fills the air. And we begin the slow, painful, but steady birth into the time after history, you and me, in perfect love and perfect trust, with secret deity hidden within, balancing our own life in the center of the elements, bringing survival and hope to each other. How important is being a wise woman, a Witch?
It is the beginning, and end, and the ever after of survival and existence.
A Tale of Being Reborn
Author: Raventalker
As I drift off to sleep this cold, winter night in March underneath the full moon, the Storm Moon, I see a young native Indian man. He is very strong and wise beyond his years. He is a healer, what some might call a medicine man. I lay before him in a trance like state as he begins his ritual. He starts off with chants and a bit of a dance.
With leaves of some sacred plant tucked into his ear lobes he dances about my body, cleansing my soul and the air that surrounds me so that the healing process may begin. Blessing the area once cleansed, he continues his mystic chants. I see myself laying there, now bound by the feet and ankles …
A white horse I see, this horse is there to carry me on my journey. A ritual of unbinding my legs now begins. Large knives or blades are heated by the blazing fire that roars in the circle, then used to cut away what ties me down.
A white wolf appears. By my side he takes a protective stance and with his eyes of pale blue he holds his position at my side to protect my spirit as the ritual continues through the night. My head is then wrapped with some sort of large, green leafy plant anointed in the native medicines, my eyes are then covered as well with the same.
Pink blossoms are then places over my eyes. Not sure what the flower is but it is fragrant, not strong but a gentle scent and the petals are long and oval shaped much like a star but with many more points. As I am being healed I am also being given certain gifts. At this time I do not question all that goes on, I accept the healing and welcome the gifts.
Natives at both my sides chanting and dancing all around me, I am then adorned with white seeds that are placed down the center of my stomach, from my breasts to my navel. I reach down to touch the ever faithful wolf that still stands guard at my side. As I stroke his fur, he leans in to my touch and yet maintains his stance to re-affirm that he remains to be my protector and shall not, under any circumstances leave my side. …
To each side of me there are natives painting my body with ointments and healing colors. They paint on symbols of healing and rebirth… my insides are being healed for the next stage of the ritual. Now below my navel a large area is painted. This is where my womb lies. Oh yes, I see, now it is clear that I am about to give birth. Birth to who or what I ask…
Once the adornment is complete the medicine man and his fellow natives begin to chant at a stronger, louder, more intense pace. The birthing has begun and I see and image emerging from my own stomach. A figure cloaked in white. What’s this I see? I am giving birth to my own self!
Slowly I rise from within myself. A long laboring task. Once I am fully born I look back to have a look back at the body I have just come from. Now nothing more than an empty shell. It looks as though all the useful bits were taken out and now all that is left is a thick skin of a shell. A tough thick skin, for that person that I came from had grown tough from many lifetimes of pain and suffering. I see I have taken the heart with me and yet left the brain behind.
Maybe this is telling me that the old way of thinking is no longer needed and that new thinking is now possible. … Leaving behind also all the painful memories that cluttered the mind and held me back from truly progressing.
My eyes I see I have taken as well, but they have been cleansed and renewed so that I may have a fresh, untainted look at the world around me. With new eyes, new visions emerge. and with new visions come new hopes, new dreams, new goals and a whole new life.
As I am now fully free from my old self, I go to the white wolf to thank him for the devotion and protection he has given to me during this time of renewal. I kneel before him and look into his eyes and tears begin to fall from my newly reopened eyes. I am overcome with so much emotion for when our eyes met, I saw the heart and soul of this wolf. Strong and pure, full of love. A love so true that no sacrifice was too big. For I saw that the wolf would give his own life for my protection.
As I gather myself, I am told to rise and hold my head up high. For now I am to see myself as a priestess and I needed to start living the part. I was told to recognize my gifts and embrace the new me that has emerged this cold March night. This would be my next great task in life, for I have never seen myself in such a position of stature. I was told that by accepting my new position was to truly love myself and it was less of a title that others would know me by and more of one that would be known to myself.
Knowing who you are and accepting that and embracing it with love is the only way to inner peace and with your own inner peace you can now finally begin to help others heal. For your inner self is like your home and if your home is not in order you cannot expect to help others get their own in order.
As I agree to accept the new life that has been given.. I begin my journey.. Walking down life’s path again, with a new perspective and new look at what the world has in store and what magic lies ahead.
With the white wolf at my side we begin down the path and I see myself transform into a wolf as well and we run off into the shadows of the night. Side by side we run off to start anew. Not in front or behind but at the side of my protector, my partner.
There was also at some point in the vision a red star that was given to me. Placed in my right hand. The star was a symbol of a gift being given to me. It would be a gift of touch. Now to help others heal. I must use my hands in some way. In a way that touches them. Not necessarily physically but spiritually, emotionally.
Another star is seen – purple/blue on the outside tips and an orange- yellow in the middle and then a bright red light in the center casting a bright red light into the heavens. This part of the vision is unclear. No idea what this last image means … anyone have any insight?
Your Daily Influences for May 18th
| Your Daily Influences May 18, 2011 |
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 Tarot Influence |
Rune Influence |
 Charm Influence |
| Four of Wands Work will be well done. Peace and harmony will be realized. |
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| Raidho Raidho may mark the coming of a physical or spiritual journey. Whichever the case, changes in your life are soon to come. Spiritual or material goals may be attained. |
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| The Heart You find yourself unbeleivably frustrated within this aspect. You are not sure what to do or when to do it. This will last longer than you wish, but fear not a solution will present itself, be patient. |
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| Your Daily Influences represent events and challenges the current day will present for you. They may represent opportunities you should be ready to seize. Or they may forewarn you of problems you may be able to avoid or lessen. Generally it is best to use them as tips to help you manage your day and nothing more. | ||
Today’s I Ching Hexagram for May 11th is 41: Decrease
Today’s I Ching Hexagram for Everyone:
41: Decrease
Wednesday, May 11th, 2011
General Meaning: Increase and decrease are part of the natural cycle of life. As spiritual author long ago put it, ‘To every thing there is a season, and a time for every purpose under heaven.’ Like a reservoir that is being used to irrigate the fields, learning to accept a decrease in position or material possessions is part of preparing for increase in the future.
We may live in materialistic times, but there is no disgrace in material decrease, particularly if it represents an investment in future gain — even if that gain be in the form of one’s education or the development of personal character. Likewise, the inner strength that comes from bearing loss can be balanced by a corresponding increase in inner strength and insight — as in the expression ‘what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.’ When letting go of attachment and personal demands leads to a greater simplicity in daily life, good fortune often comes calling.
In nature, the lake evaporates to form the clouds that drop the rain that nurtures the surrounding forest. As the forest grows thick, more rain is captured for the lake. Similarly, an ‘evaporation’ or decrease in one area of your life, may give rise to an eventual increase in another. A loss of responsibility at work can mean more free time; more free time may generate more career options. A period of decrease is not necessarily a bad thing; in fact, it can free the spirit and fill the soul.
Be mindful of the lesson of young lovers: even with a minimum of possessions, feelings of the heart can bring an unsurpassed richness to life. The smallest of actions, if sincere, have value. So remain confident, for a time of decrease may actually bode good fortune, especially if you remain open to that possibility.
Let go of frustration, resistance and regret over whatever may be going down at this time. Accept the cycle, and remember what goes down must come up
Witches Of The Craft® 
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