Daily OM for August 12th – Evolution of the Soul

Evolution of the Soul

Life Lessons through Reincarnation

Often we reincarnate on earth with our soul family and often our most intense relationships are with our soul family.

You meet someone for the first time and feel as if you know them already. You’re in a town that you’ve never been to before, yet you recognize streets and buildings. You start playing a new sport and amaze everyone, including yourself, at your natural abilities and intuitive knowing of the rules. We often describe such experiences as déjà vu: the experience or feeling that a new situation has happened to us before. Then again, the possibility does exist that we have actually lived these experiences in the past or, rather, in another lifetime.

Many spiritual practices believe that reincarnation is real: Our souls return to this earth over a series of lifetimes to evolve, learn, grow, transform, and become more spiritually attuned through the course of each life. When we reincarnate, it is believed that we tend to cycle through our different lives with many of the same people. Often these traveling “soul“ companions are the ones we enter into relationships with; we work through our unresolved issues together so that we may heal. When we struggle or keep encountering blocks that keep us from reaching our goals, there may be a specific lesson that we are supposed to learn in this lifetime. Being naturally blessed with a musical talent or another gift can be a special ability that you worked hard to develop in a past life. You may even have lived before as another gender or as part of a different social or economic class. Each lifetime brings with it specific lessons that are necessary for our spiritual evolution.

Past life recall can give us valuable insights into our past, present, and future lives. The knowledge of how we lived before can help us overcome present obstacles, understand phobias, and resolve relationship issues. There are workshops you can take to learn about past lives, and past life regression therapists can guide you on your journey backward in time. You can learn to visit your past lives through your dreams, meditation, and trance work. It is even possible to see full scenes of a former lifetime flash before you in your mind’s eye as if you were watching a movie. While looking back at your past lives can be exciting and enlightening, it is important to remember that the answers you are seeking to this life can only truly be found by living this one. Look to your past to see where you’ve been, but remember that the life that matters most is the one that you are living now.

Daily OM

Need An App for Meditating (Boy, they have everything these days, lol!)

Free Guided Meditation Tool

Becky Striepe

Have you been wanting to get into meditation but didn’t know where to start? There’s an app for that!

Former monk-turned-meditation-guru Andy Puddicombe wants everyone to learn the power of meditation, and his Headspace project is all about helping people learn how to meditate. His Headspace app for iPhone or Android is a powerful tool for anyone looking to learn the basics of meditation and start a regular practice.

If you’re not familiar with Puddicombe, check out his inspiring TED Talk above about the power of taking 10 minutes to meditate each day. Or, as he calls it “doing nothing.”

I just started using the app recently, and I’m already loving it! The basic program is a series of ten ten-minute meditation practices, which you go through in order. Each day builds on the previous day’s practice. After that, there are a couple hundred other meditations that you can try in any order that you like, though the additional programs are not free.

Before you do your first meditation, he also walks you through a short series of videos to help you get in the right headspace for your practice. He emphasizes that meditation is a skill, and that you shouldn’t force it. One of the things I’m digging most about this program is that he frequently reminds you that it’s OK if your mind wanders and it’s OK to have conscious thoughts while you’re meditating. The key is noticing when that happens and observing those things without letting them effect you.

I also love the tone of the program. There is no new-agey music, creepy whispering narrator, or strange sound- or voice-effects. He just calmly walks you through each day’s exercise. If you prefer more of a new-age spin on meditation, this app might not be for you.

Take Ten, Day One Video

This is the introductory video from the Headspace Take Ten series. The rest of the series is available via the Headspace app for iPhone or Android.

Exploring Your Crystals

For this visualisation exercise, choose one of your favourite crystals, one you already know quite well. A good place to hold the crystal for this exercise is at the solar plexus.

1. Sit in a relaxed comfortable position, holding the stone in both hands. Take a few moments just to relax and focus on the crystal in your hands.

2. Slowly let your awareness float down into the crystal until you reach a point where you seem to come to rest.

3. In your minds eye, identify how the crystal feels to you. is it warm or damp, cool or dry, smooth or rough? Take a minute or two to explore the energy of the crystal through your inner touch.

4. Now relax again and turn your attention to any quality of sound within the crystal, whether it appears to be a tone, a pulse or a tune. Is it high or low? Simple or complex? Listen to the sound of the crystal for a few moments, then relax again.

5. Take a few deep breaths, then imagine you are breathing in the crystal’s energy through your nostrils. What smell, what taste does the crystal have? Can you identify it?

6. Relax once more, then open your inner eyes. Imagine what the structure and the energy of your crystal looks like: the quality of light, the images, the landscapes, scenes and figures that may be related to you. Don’t attempt to analyze what you see. Just let the imagery play before your eyes.

7. Now become aware once more of the crystals taste, its smell, its sounds and its touch. Very gradually bring your awareness out of the crystal and become more aware of your body and the world around you. Record notes in your journal so that you may remember your experiences.

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.

Types of Magic Practitioners

White Magician Expert of Protective and Purifying Spells. Forwarded most notably by the New Age movement, it focusses on the use of the “White Light”, protection, protective auras, stasis, cleansing, suppression of discord, and working on the mystic level to sustain and strengthen ethereal structure.

Black Magician Master of Manipulating Entropy. Grounded in the application of the laws of thermodynamics, the nature of decay, radiation, the effect of emotion on the body, and civil engineering and/or anatomy.

Psi Mage Expert at Psychic and Mental Control. Studying recommendations include telepathy, telekinesis, magnetism, secular and occult empathy, general psychology, emotion, motivation, hypnotism, cognitive processing, consciousness, states of awareness, sleep deprivation, learning, decision making, group dynamics, “Zen” concept, and other aspects of psychological classification and analysis.

Nature Mage Master of Nature and Natural Forces. Stressing the relationship between sound and plant growth, holistic medicine, botany, ley lines, earth spirits, photosynthesis, and astrological, minerological, and magnetic influences on earth.

Enchanter Expert at Enhancing Objects, People, or Areas. Employs a working understanding of vibratory rates, radioactive decay, music, energy impressions, quantum and magnetic resonance, body conductivity, and Ayurvedic philosophy.

Elementalist Expert of Controlling the Four Elements, and Influencing Weather. Studies the nature of natural phenomenon (electricity, heat, cold, wind), biochemistry, composition philosophies (Heraclitus, Anaximenes, Thales, Empedocles, Xenobius, etc), body composition, thermodynamics, natural entropical disarray, and physical laws of attraction and repulsion.

Diviner Expert of Future and Fortune telling. Heavy study in the mathematics of randomization, probability, chance, psychology, deja vu, precognition, instinct, sixth sense, visions, dreams, self-fulfilling prophecy, chaos theory, game theory, sociology, group psychology, identification and interpretation of patterns, and free-energy theory.

Summoner Expert at Summoning Spirits or Entities. Academia for this art includes telemetry, attempts at long-distance telepathic communication, vibrational states, dimensional theory, multiple personalities, schizophrenia, possession, multiversal theory, the Ethereal realm,thought-forms, and the nature of the Mind. There are a great many ritual texts worth reading as well.

Life Mage Expert at Manipulating and Sustaining Life Force. Emphasis on anatomy, biology, kinesiology, alternative healing methods, herbology, theories of life force, chakras, meridians, acupressure, acupuncture, reiki, ethereal body, medicine, Breathism, and chi as vitality.

Necromancer Expert at Manipulating Death Essences. Focussing on dim mak, animal biology, study of chi, toxicology, viriology, bacteriology, immunology, the Kreb cycle, phosphorylation, free radicals, anatomy, psychological effects on the body, the nature of hallucination, auric poisoning, “miasma” concept, acupuncture theory, lou channels, chakras, life meridians, medical biochemistry, and death deities.

Sorcerer Expert Manipulator of the Twilight Realm. Focussing on interpretational abstractions, geometry, Jewish “hell” concept (abyss), pre- and post-Christian “hell” concept (both Greek), the nature of emotion, multiversal theory, lucid dreaming, astral projection, the nature of physical interpretation (the five senses + sixth), Eastern “void” concept, dimensional theory, meditative trances, trance states, and physics related to holographic reality models.

Wizard Expert Manipulator of the Astral Planes. Focussing on non-Euclidian geometry, geometry, mathematics, multiversal theory, astral projection, astral forms, dimensional theory, the nature of perception, meditative trances, trance states, and physics.

Celestial Mage Calls on Deities to Intervene. Relevant studies include history of religion, cultural sociology, historical sociology, anthropology, history of religion, theology, High Magic, the bible, the koran, the Keys of Solomon, the Sacred Magic of Abramelin the Mage, John Dee’s Angel studies, Johannes Trithemius, shamanism, Intelligent Design theory (ID), and examinaton of other various holy writs and mythologies.

Satanic Magician Expert of Manipulating and Expressing Internal Forces. Pertains to LaVeyan “Satanic Magic”, Luciferianism, thought-forms, chaos theory, mind over matter, nature of perception, chakras, cause and effect principles in open systems, “crimson” magic as per CoS, self-fulfilling prophecy, and specific emphasis on microcosmic effect on macrocosms.

Luna’s Grimoire

The Care and Feeding of Crystals

THE CARE AND FEEDING OF CRYSTALS
by Matrika

Crystals have been in the lime-light ever since celebrities such as Shirley
Mcleane and Cher have come out of the closet and admitted they were “New-
Agers”. However, along with this public scrutiny, has also been a whole bunch
of misconceptions. The most common of which is that a person just wears a
crystal like jewelry or carries it and it works like some kind of instant stage-
magic or prestidigitation. This, of course, is not the case. To get the full
effect of “Crystal Power” in your life means, as with so much else, that you
must put into it what you take out of it. So here are a few simple guidelines
for those of you who plan on taking this subject seriously.
1. Selecting your Crystal

To select a Crystal is not all that much different from selecting a pet or a
work of art. When you go into the store to purchase your crystal – or any other
stone used in healing or Psychic work – just pick the one that “calls” to you.
Handle the various stones and place them, one by one, in your receptive hand,
(the one that is not your dominant hand; if you are right-handed or ambi-
dextrous, your receptive hand is your left. If you are completely left-handed
your receptive hand is your right.) The stone that is right FOR YOU will “pull”
you to it. This may not be the stone that looks the clearest or the most
impressive, either. Our societies materialistic values and our conditioning to
accept them must not enter into our decision, which is very hard for most of us
at first. Our first tendency is to judge the stone -as we always judge
ourselves and everything else in a constant stream of thoughts- by what we have
been conditioned to believe is “good” or “bad”.

If the piece you are choosing is for a specific purpose; i.e. for healing, or to
enhance your psychic abilities, or for meditation; it will help if you keep that
purpose in mind while you are selecting the stone. An interesting phenomena
often happens to people who are just going into the gem and mineral healing or
psychic work. Most people start off with clear quartz, because it has the most
applications. They go into a store or a gem show to purchase a clear quartz and
find themselves drawn to all kinds of other “rocks” (as the collectors call
them) too. Many times they bring a bag of various mineral specimens home with
them. Later they look up the stones in one of the many reference books on this
subject, only to find the stones they were drawn to are exactly the ones they
need to deal with issues or illnesses that they need to work on.

The very first thing you need to do when you first get a crystal is to “clear
it” from the imbalanced energies of anyone else who has touched it. Crystals
“work” because of their piezoelectrical field. Researchers in Kirlian
photography and other subjects have long shown us that the body is surrounded by a field of electro-magnetic energies, which psychics call the AURA. People who have studied this subject tell us that Crystals help us by attuning their
piezoelectrical charge to the charge of our auras. So we must first remove the
charges from the stone that come from other’s handling of it. This is done by
leaving the stone in sea-salt (available at almost any health-food store) for 3
days. The only time you will have to use this technique – which is drastic – to
cleanse the stone is when you first buy it.The reason I say the technique is
drastic is because it erases ALL of your energy from the stone too, so the
stone has to be rebonded. (explained later) This piezoelectrical effect of the
stone is the same reason that quartz is useful in making computers, telephones,
watches, and in other electronic devices.

2. The regular maintenance of your stone

The regular care and maintenance of your stone is really quite simple. First of
all a gentler method of clearing the piece should be used at least once a week
and after any uses in either physical or inner (mental/emotional/spiritual)
healing work. This can be done in several ways. First of all, you can run it
under COOL – no extremes of temperature PLEASE – water in your sink for several
minutes, while visualizing (intensely imagining in vivid detail, from a
meditative or extremely relaxed state) all imbalanced energies leaving it. You
can also leave it in mugwort (an herb) for 2-3 days buried it in carefully. You
can also place it in a flowerpot with an African violet plant, but you should
know that if it has been used to heal any severe conditions, the plant will die.
The stones should also be re-charged about once a month or after every use. For
other stones, direct sunlight is not such a good idea as it can fade the colors.
You can get the reflected energy of the sun by placing them in the moonlight
during the waxing of the moon. (from one day after the new moon through the
night of the full moon) They can also be charged by surrounding them in a
circle of quartz points that have been charged by the sun, with the points of
the crystals facing inward toward the stones being charged. Another method is
to purchase an amethyst or quartz cluster and place the stones on it. A cluster
is a specimen with several individual crystals on it. Oh, and if you charge the
stone by a circle of crystals, be sure they have been cleared and charged
themselves before using them to charge anything else. The circle should consist
of at least 4 points, but 8 is best. These stones used for charging do NOT have
to be large at all.

3. Using your stones

Stones are tools in our psychic work and, as in any other object used, work by
focusing the mind’s powers. To get the best use out of them, more than just
wearing them or carrying them is required. They should be used from a state of
meditation, while visualizing the goals we wish to accomplish with them – such
as healing, increased Psychic perception, etc. A good way to do this for to help
you focus and a self-hypnosis tape that relates to your goals and use it. And
if you are using the crystals in healing, be aware that they are NOT meant to
replace the care of a competent health professional – but many people find them
a useful adjunct to it.

Tarot Card for Monday, February 18th is Strength

Strength

Monday, Feb 18th, 2013

What has traditionally been known as the Strength card represents Nature which, however wild in its primal form, is tamed by our subtler, finer (feminine, interior) self. The will and passion of our instinctive nature does not need to be broken, but refined and brought to consciousness — so that all levels of Creation, inner and outer, may come into harmony.

The feminine soul-force contains a persuasive power that can nurture and induce cooperation from others, stilling disruptive energies by harmonizing differences in the spirit of collective good will.

Sun in Pisces – It’s time to reconnect with your spiritual side

Sun in Pisces

It’s time to reconnect with your spiritual side

Tarotcom Staff on the topics of sun, pisces, astrology

It’s time to wrap up another astrological year! When the Sun moves into Pisces, the last sign of the zodiac, from February 19 to March 20, it signals the ending of one cycle before the next begins at the Spring Equinox.

And what do you do when something ends, before you begin again? Rest! That’s why the Sun in Pisces is considered a time to dream and heal and regain strength before starting the new cycle.

Pisces is symbolized by two Fish, which we like to call “the fishes with wishes.” The fish are swimming in opposite directions, which is representative of the Pisces paradox. This sign is at once caught between feeling the harshness of reality and the desire for dreamy escapism.

It’s normal to feel more spiritual while the Sun is in Pisces. It’s easier to tap into your intuition and we’re more inclined to follow our instincts and surrender to something greater than the individual self. But it can also be a lazy, daydream-filled period, so we must keep our escapist tendencies in check.

Those born from about February 15-21 were born on the Aquarius-Pisces cusp, and those born from about March 18-22 were born on the Pisces-Aries cusp. Being born on the cusp simply means that you were born during the transition time between two zodiac signs, so you retain some qualities from each sign.

If we can embrace empathy for others without letting their pain make us feel victimized while the Sun is in Pisces, this promises to be a very healing time.

Here’s how to make the most of life with the Sun in Pisces:

What to do: Take care of someone! Pisces is the most compassionate and caring zodiac sign, so they are at their best when doing something kind for others. Adopt this admirable Pisces quality now and use it to ease someone’s pain.

What to say: Something poetic. The dreamy fishes are artsy and creative, so now’s the time to channel your inner Pisces poet and write or speak something beautiful to someone you love.

Where to go: Bed! Pisces can sometimes be called “lazy,” but really they just need a safe place to lie down, close their eyes and dream the day away. If you find your mind meandering while the Sun is in Pisces, give yourself permission to take a sweet little nap.

What to wear: Who cares?! Seriously. Life is not about what we wear, it’s about who we are. That’s the typical Pisces mindset, of course, so if you’re tired of dressing for success, this is a good time to slack into some sweats and forget about fashion while you follow more spiritual pursuits.

What to buy: Anything that will help you feel more connected to your spiritual side. It’s easier to tap into your intuition while the Sun is in Pisces, so shop for New Age healing crystals, incense, candles, Tarot cards and all of Pisces’ favorite spiritual supplies.

What to watch out for: Highly sensitive, compassionate and imaginative, Pisces is at risk of wanting to escape when they feel too much or get caught up in daydreams. Alcohol and drug abuse are common to this sign, so be aware of escapism and try to keep yourself grounded (at least a little bit) while the Sun is in Pisces.

What to look forward to: Healing! By the time the Sun moves out of Pisces, you’ll be rested, renewed, reconnected with your spiritual self and ready to begin a new astrological year!

Introducing…Aquarius

One of the most common mistakes people make when discussing Aquarius is that they assume he/she is a water sign. After all, he/she is the water bearer. But the truth is he/she’s an Air sign and that’s an important detail!

To often you see Aquarius represented as the generic person pouring a jug of water or even worse just the jug of water. There is no hint to the intellectual and cerebral air quality of the Aquarian. As an air sign, she is focused on higher thinking and pushing the boundaries of common and closed thinking. If everyone is going one direction she will go the other in hopes of discovering a new and better way to meet the needs of the greater whole.

We started with a forward moving stance. She is a futuristic, forward thinking woman. Aquarians have no time to look or focus on the past, they focus on the future and believe that however something was done, it could be done differently or better going forward. Seeking to fight for justice and the underdog, our Aquarian is dressed and built to campaign for any cause she feels is under represented or oppressed. She also is a lover of technology and innovation. She is not afraid of technology or gadgets and widgets that can help better our lives. She is quick to adopt them to her arsenal of thought and solutions.

Her water jug is still a very important aspect of her character. Instead of her passively pouring water from it or carrying it on her head, we chose to have her securely sling it over her shoulder. This allows her to bring it into adverse or water starved situations. She knows that despite all the technology and advancements available, humans cannot survive without water. Water is the most powerful source of nourishment for our bodies and souls and Aquarians never lose sight of that. They know that higher thinking comes from well fueled minds – and the mind can be tricked or fooled if starved for water.

Physical Characteristics

Physically our Aquarian is in fighting shape but not because she likes to fight, rather she is about endurance. She relies on her ability to go long stretches of time without rest or nourishment and living solely off her creative vision. She is not a slave to fashion but definitely uses her cloths and accessories to express her inability to conform and desire to pioneer and blaze new trails of thought and visual innovation. She’s creative and a one of kind. Charged with technology she has a single strand of fiber optic hair lighting her way through dark and unchartered territories of thought.

Zodiac Super Power

Our Aquarian’s super power is her technology power hand and fighting physique. She has a leg up on the other signs of the Zodiac because she can see into the future and knows that there is almost always a “better way” to do or see things. Her water is magical and fuels even the most creatively starved thinkers are pushing stalled thought or injustice toward progress.

The Mysteries and Esoteric Witchcraft

The Mysteries and Esoteric Witchcraft

Author: Rhys Chisnall

“The most beautiful and profound emotion we can experience is the sensation of the mystical. He to whom the emotion is a stranger: whom no longer wonder and stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead. To know that what is impenetrable to us really exists, manifesting itself as the highest wisdom and the most radiant beauty, which our dull faculties can comprehend only in their primitive forms- this knowledge, this feeling, is at the centre of true religion.” – Albert Einstein

One of the hardest aspects of the esoteric initiatory Witchcraft to write about, or even communicate, is its strong mystery aspect. Yet, in my opinion, it is one of the most important things that distinguish it from New Age and Popular Wicca/Witchcraft. By its very nature the mystical aspects of Witchcraft are a thoroughly subjective experience and as such any cursory and brief exploration such as this article or any other in print are going to be subjective and inadequate.

“Second hand mysticism has generally an unsatisfactory experience, since if these notions are not the driving force of our life, are not the beat of our heart or are not personally integrated into our whole, then they are empty gestures. Then they are devoid of meaning similar to reading a literary criticism rather than reading the poem itself. The mystical experience is immediate not vicarious or deputed” (Armstrong 1999)

The mysteries need to be experienced, and they cannot be explained in everyday language, hence the need for the metaphors of myth and the communication of the experiences through the metaphors of symbols and ritual. The religious commentator, theologian and mystic Karen Armstrong said that.

“There is a linguistic connection between the three words, myth, mysticism and mystery. All derive from the Greek verb musterion: to close the eyes or the mouth”. (Armstrong 1999)

There are many roads to the mysteries and the mystical experience. As Prof Joseph Campbell (the late expert in comparative mythology) quotes from the Rig Veda, “Truth is one, but the sages speak of it by many names.” He also tells the story of an interfaith conference set up between Shinto and Catholicism. He was struck at how the priests of Catholicism and Shinto found it difficult to find a commonality or a common religious language to communicate with each other, but the monks and nuns of each religion could. This was because the priests were concerned with holding up their metaphors, their myths, symbols and rituals as ends in themselves, whereas the monks and nuns had moved beyond the metaphors to the experience of the sacred and the divine itself. They were not stuck with believing that the metaphors were the reality and the end goal. They had gone past the virgin birth, the resurrection, and even God, to find a community in the mysteries and mystical experience that were shared by their Shinto counterparts. As Campbell said, “Religion is misinterpreted myth”

The Armenian-Greek esoteric philosopher and practitioner G. I. Gurdjieff suggested that there were four paths to the mysteries. The first three, the way of the fakir, the way of the yogi (nothing to do with ) and the way of the monk are mostly eastern ways to experience the mysteries and represent the three disciplines of the mind, the body and contemplation. These three paths are typical of the Eastern Mystery tradition in that they all involve a withdrawal from society and the world.

The fourth way is ‘the way of the hearth’. It is the way of the Western Mystery Tradition of which esoteric initiatory Witchcraft along with Hermeticism, Qabbalah, mystical Christianity and Sufism are parts. It is the way of being fully integrated with the world, identifying with the universe and with life and not attempting to escape from it (with the notable exception of Gnosticism) . It is seeing no separation between humanity, nature and the divine.
To my mind esoteric initiatory Witchcraft liturgy and ritual are full of mystical language, myth and metaphor. For example within Gardnerian and Alexandrian Witchcraft there are phrases such as, “there is no part of us that is not of the god.” And of course the classic mysteries phrase of the Charge of the Goddess, “If that which thou seeketh, thou findest not within thee, you will never find it without thee.” These and other parts of Witchcraft ritual (not to mention many of the techniques used in ritual to help induce these kinds of states of mind) , strongly suggest the mysteries and mystical experience. The myths of esoteric initiatory Witchcraft point to the internal experience of the mysteries within the individual Witch, relating them to the cosmos, designed to take us beyond mere religion to the direct experience of numinous, divinity and the sacred. The systems, techniques and processes of esoteric Craft, to my mind, seem designed to take us beyond ourselves, and the sum of the parts of the tradition itself, into personal transformation and a new awareness.

So what are mysticism and the mysteries? According to the psychologist Lawrence Le Shan, “Mysticism from a historical and psychological viewpoint, is the search for and experience of the relationship of the individual himself (herself) and the totality that makes up the universe.” (LeShan 1974)

Karen Armstrong agrees when she writes, “Mystics have long claimed that he [God] is a subjective experience, mysteriously experienced in the ‘Ground of Being’…………..they claim that he did not really exist and it is better to call him No-thing”. (Armstrong 1999)

As such the mysteries go way beyond the dogmas, metaphors and systems that have been inspired by them. The techniques and participating within the metaphors of myth, relating it to the self and personal transformation give the practitioner a direct and vivid experience of a unity with a ‘different order of reality’, or perhaps, an expanded order of reality of which they are a part- unified with. They experience eternity within a second, being and non-being, beauty and horror but with no contradiction, no duality, no difference between sacred and profane. In essence the experience is indescribable expect through the language of metaphor, which sadly is mistaken for reality and an end in itself. The effect of these experiences is an inner alchemy, personal transformation- life and indeed you are never the same again.

Campbell hints at this when he says, “But the ultimate mystical goal is to be united with one’s god. With that the duality is transcended and forms disappear. There is nobody there, no god, no you. Your mind, going past all concepts, has dissolved in identification with the ground of your being”. (Campbell 1988)

Now sadly for the bit that people don’t like. The path to the mysteries is not an easy one. Rather it is one that requires hard work, commitment and dedication; it is not for people looking for instant results or an escape from reality. The starting point on the road to the mysteries and esoteric Witchcraft has got to be that of a coping adult, as Joanne Pearson reports in her essay Assumed Affinities (the difference between Initiatory Wicca- specifically Gardnerian and Alexandrian- and New Age spiritualities) .

“In the questionnaire, mentioned at the start of this chapter, none of the hundred (Gardnerian/Alexandrian) Wiccans who responded indicated that they had become involved in Wicca because ‘their life was not working’, and supplementary fieldwork does not indicate that these Wiccans assume there lives or the lives of other Wiccans are, or were Dysfunctional.” (Pearson 1998)

The Witch Dr. Dave Bracey confirms the difficulties and hard work of pursuing the mysteries when he says, “The mysteries are not easy to apprehend. It requires long training, usually with a spiritual guide or facilitator, and a considerable investment of time. This is not something that has much appeal to many in our present day society, conditioned as it is with fast cars, fast food, fast solutions and instant gratification and speedy communication. The mysteries do not arrive ready made and pre-packaged. They cannot be experienced as quickly as the instant high of the new age. But neither does the (esoteric initiatory) Witch’s ‘awareness’ wane, as does the let-down that so often eventuates when the newness of the ‘reborn’ convert fades to be left with the forms and structures of religion which so often become ends in themselves.” (Bracey 2001)

Like much else in life things that are of value are often thing that require a lot of hard work. Saying that though, there are circumstances where mystical experience arises quite spontaneously in some people. This may be down to horrific or beautiful situations, which invoke tremendously strong emotions within individuals that lead them to having an experience of the mysteries.

I am sure that there are many, many people who are perfectly happy practising their religion of non-initiatory exoteric Wicca and Witchcraft and good luck to them, each to their own. I am sure that people get a great deal of spiritual fulfillment from them. So just to reiterate so there is no confusion, esoteric initiatory Witchcraft is not better than New Age and Popular Wicca. It is just different, with different aims, philosophies and purposes and practices. So if the mysteries are not for you, then please feel free to ignore this article, remember that this is only one way and there are many others.

I shall finish with another quote from Dr. Bracey as he talks about the relationship between the mysteries and Craft. “So the mysteries are not for all, but is the way of (esoteric initiatory) Witches. We who ride beyond the ordinary, rejecting the supernatural in favour of the supra-natural, and who are aware of the relationship of the part to the whole.” (Bracey 2001)

Footnotes:
Campbell, J, (1988) , ‘The Power of Myth’, Doubleday
Campbell, J, (1959) , ‘The Mask of God (Primitive mythology, Oriental Mythology, Occidental Mythology and Creative Mythology) ’, Condor
Campbell, J, (1949) , ‘The Hero with a Thousand faces’, Princetown University Press
Campbell, J, (2001) , ‘Thou art that, transforming religious metaphors’, Joseph Cambell Foundation
Campbell, J, (2004) , ‘Pathways to Bliss, Mythology and Personal Transformation’, Joseph Campbell Foundation
Crowley, V, (1989) , ’ Wicca the old Religion in the New Age’, Aquarian Press
Armstrong, K, (1999) , ’ A History of God’, Vintage
Armstrong, K, (2005) , ‘A Short History of Myth’, Cannongate
Pearosn, J, Roberts, R, Samuel, G, (1998) , ‘Nature Religion Today’, Edinburgh University Press
Pearson, J, (2007) , ‘Wicca and the Christian Heritage (Ritual, Sex and magic) , Routledge
Fortune, D, (1935) , ‘The Mystical Qabalah’, Aquarian
Hutton, R, (2003) , ‘Witches, Druids, and King Arthur, Oxford University Press
Heselton, P, (1995) , ‘Secret Places of the Goddess’, Capal Ban
Underhill, E, (1993) , ‘Mysticism’, Oneworld
Lamond, F, (1997) , ‘Religion without Beliefs’, Janus
Lamond, F, (2004) , ‘Fifty Years of Wicca’, Green magic
LeShan, L, (1974) , ‘How to Meditate’, Turnstone
Bracey, D, (2001) , ‘A Personal View of God’, TNW

The Magickal, Mystical Month, February

Mystical Month, February

‘Oh, long, long

The snow has possessed the mountains.

The deer have come down and the big-horn,
They have followed the sun to the south
To feed on the mesquite pods and the bunch grass.
Loud are the thunder drums in the tents of the mountains.
Oh, long, long
Have we eaten
and dried deer’s flesh of the summer killing.
We are tired of our huts

and the smoky smell of our clothing.

We are sick with the desire for the sun

And the grass on the mountain.

Paiute Late Winter Song

The name February is believed to have derived from the name ‘Februa’ taken from the Roman ‘Festival of Purification’. The root ‘februo’ meaning to ‘I purify by sacrifice’.

As part of the seasonal calendar February is the time of the ‘Ice Moon’ according to Pagan beliefs, and the period described as the ‘Moon of the Dark Red Calf’ by Black Elk (Black Elk Speaks, Neihardt). February has also been known as ‘Sprout-kale’ by the Anglo-Saxons in relation to the time the kale and cabbage was edible.

It is a time when favourable colours to improve personal healing are amethyst, white and blue-violet (the colour of crocus). These are the colours often associated with winter whilst the delicate crocus and snowdrops, along with the scented carnation lend beauty and a glimpse of the fine weather to come in spring to a time of austerity.

The herbs and produce of the woodland too are closely connected, with nuts and cones, musk, marjoram and mimosa lending sweetness. As the second month of the winter calendar the holy thistle too reminds us of the link with winters rule and faith tested in times of extreme hardships. The fox and its brother on a distant shore the coyote find the ability to retrieve food in the harshest of environments. As we approach spring birds too are seen to be remembered with January, with the pheasant appearing from the hedgerow and the jay (and the blue-jay) taking to the wing as a sign of the skies and earth giving hope of insect life and nesting materials.

Metaphorical associations between the gospel writer ‘Mark’ and this period in the Celtic calendar known as ‘Imbolc’ which continues through to April. Mark was considered to be an ordinary man with incredible powers of communication evidenced in his writing which was thought of as colourful and exciting. The move between each story in the bible was seen to be swift and therefore was equated to the raging speed of the winds experienced at this time of the year. February is the first month of Imbolc, with the length of the day increases and with it the warmth and power of the sun, and the festival of ‘Candlemas’ (2 February) is central to both the Celtic and Christian beliefs.

The rhythms of nature are embodied in the woman, together with the ability to bring forth life. So the feast is associated with the potential fertility of the land, the preparation. In the Celtic church it is ‘Brigid’ (1 February) and in the Christian ‘St. Brigit’ (2 February) who personify these qualities. Both are associated with ‘Mary and motherhood’, ‘Gaia and the earth goddess’, the ‘motherhood of God’. This should be considered in connection with the astrological calendar, as here we see the symbol of the circle complete in ‘Pisces’ and the hope of life anew as we approach ‘Aries’, the end and the beginning, the old and the new, the death and the life. All indicate a higher spiritual awareness and growth. As a result the fish and the ram are important in animal mythology, although birds too have great significance as we approach the period of Easter

As part of the astrological calendar, February has many associations. This is the month of the house of

Aquarius (20 January – February 19) and the house of Pisces (20 February – March 20).

‘Crystalline brother of the belt of heaven,
Aquarius! To whom King Jove has given

Two liquid pulse streams ‘stead of feathered wings.’

John Keats

Aquarius is the eleventh sign of the zodiac and depicted as ‘Ganymede’, a youthful male water carrier, also known as the ‘God with Two Streams’. Ganymede became cup-bearer to the ‘Olympian Gods’, ruled over by ‘Zeus’, and borne to ‘Mount Olympus’ on the back of an eagle. Out of the carrier springs new wisdom, for the good of humanity. The ‘Age of Aquarius’, generally thought to commence around 2000 AD, is foreseen as one which will embody these qualities. It is also the subject of many predictions, some of which indicate Armageddon, the Second Coming of Christ, one of major natural cataclysmic occurrences, and a shift in the earth’s axis. Yet the New Age is also the subject of excitement not because as it has been suggested the beginning of Aquarius will prelude either the weakening or strengthening of Christianity, but that with the new era comes a religion will be wholly embraced. So far this has been deemed to be one based on the now famous statement ‘Make love not war’. A desire to move away from materialism and violence is predicted to surface. There has, however, been extreme concern shown on the place of drugs in all this with some predicting that the New Age will signal no more than the beginning of a period not of reawakening but of sleep dictated by a drug induced delirium.

‘Uranus’ is the ruling planet of Aquarius bringing with it the qualities of revolution, change, unpredictability and disruption. Aquarius is a fixed and positive air sign associated with the statement ‘I am the embodiment of all that society needs or desires’, ‘I universalise’, and ‘I will change’. It rules the circulation and ankles. It is associated with the Ash, Birch, Cherry, Elder, Fig, Plum, and the Rowan, and with the flowers Apple, Lemon & Peach Blossom and Orchid. Colours associated with Aquarius are aquamarine, electric blue and turquoise tones. The main stone associated with Aquarius is Aquamarine. Lucky number is four, lucky day Saturday. Metals associated are aluminium and uranium.

‘There is a tide in the affairs of men,
Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune;
Omitted, all the voyage of their life

Is bound in shallows and in miseries.’

Pisces is the twelfth sign of the zodiac, symbolised by the ‘Fish’ and the Roman ‘God Neptune’, also known as ‘The Mystic’. The ‘Age of Pisces’ witnessed the birth of Christ and the glyph more often associated with the Christian religion was, for the first five to six hundred years, the fish.

This period is generally taken to have started before the birth of Christ, approximately 200 BC. The duration of the Age of Pisces has been calculated to be one-twelfth of 25,725 years, working out to 2,143. The figure most usually referred to though for calculating the length of the Equinox is 2,160 years. The ‘Age of Aquarius’ which follows Pisces in the precession of the Equinoxes is generally thought to start at the beginning for the new millennium, around 2000 AD. There is dispute over he exact date of the dawn of the New Age.

We can be sure that before Pisces was the Age of Aries, and before this the Age of Taurus, thought to be around 4000 – 2000 BC. The progress of the Ages follows the opposite path to the one most associate with the annual path of the zodiac. Within each period it is also clear that the symbol of the house has held much influence and importance, for example in ancient Egyptian mythology, the God Apis was highly revered during the Age of Taurus, with many cult groups taking the glyph of the bull to symbolise belief, obedience and respect.

The influence of Neptune is clear in the house of Pisces possessing the qualities of spiritual development, romance, lyricism, dreaminess, caring, perception and intuition. ‘Jupiter’ is the ruling planet of Pisces bringing with it a belief in the highest most positive powers of the universe.

As the last house before ‘Aries’, Pisces strives to find peace before death with the cosmos, which must be achieved in order to move on, hence the extraordinary evolution that can occur as the month progresses. It is seen to represent the last stage of life and the ability to approach imminent change with ease, as of course Pisces represents the ability to progress from the material to the spiritual world. Pisces is a mutable and negative water sign associated with the statement ‘I am in harmony, in unison with the mysteries of the universe’. It rules the feet. Pisces is associated with Angelica, Iris, Orchids, Violets and Water Lilies, as well as Mosses, Ferns, and Seaweed.

Pisces is further associated with any tree that grows close to the water’s edge, including the Weeping Willow and also the Alder, Ash, Dogwood and Fig. Colours associated with Pisces are silver, sea greens, mauve, purple and violet. The main stone associated with Pisces is the Amethyst, whilst the man stone associated with the month of February is the Aquamarine. Lucky number is seven, lucky day. Metals associated are germanium and strontium.

‘Smooth runs the water where the brook is deep.’

William Shakespeare, Henry VI Part 2, Act III, Scene 1

Statement of Intent

My intent is to walk in Peace and Love, feeling that Love, spreading that Love, by BEING that Love.
My intent is to forgive and have compassion for all people, including myself.

My intent is to exist in the moment with no attachment to outcomes. To observe what IS, while also affirming what I choose to create and attract.

My intent is to see every person on this Earth as a Brother or a Sister and as a being of the Divine, for we are all One and so it is.

My intent is to recognize the divinity in each person, no matter what their external projection is.
My intent is to feel joy when I look out onto this world, and to let that love well up inside me like a raging river, flowing out onto everything and everyone I come in contact with.

My intent is to feel all that I feel. To honor all feelings as valid, and then choose to direct my energy in a way that best serves my higher goals.

My intent is to live in the energy of YES. Yes to myself. And to realize that sometimes saying “No” is needed in order to say “Yes” to myself.

My intent is to recognize that I am deserving and worthy of love and abundance. And that I am perfect just as I am in this moment.

My intent is to stay open to my intuition and to the messages of my soul. To trust that I am taken care of and provided for in all moments and in all situations.

My intent is to trust that I will know what to do in each moment to care for myself and those I love.
My intent is to tell the truth in all situations to myself and others.
My intent is to be aware of the sacredness that is all around and within me and to be aware of the sacred process that I am a part of.
My intent is to count my blessings everyday and give thanks for all that I have. To thank myself for I am the creator of my own Universe.
My intent is to stand brave and strong in the face of my fears. To feel my fears, allow them to be what they are and flow through me, embracing my Shadow Sister with compassion and acceptance.

My intent is to break out of any barriers and limitations that I’ve put on myself.
My intent is to fully remember, in every moment, my power of love and my power to create.

My intent is to acknowledge, embrace, accept, and allow every aspect of my being….giving them each a place at my table.

My intent is to shine a light for others by enjoying who I am and what I’ve created, letting them know by my actions and energy that they too are welcome to feast on life and enjoy themselves.

My intent is to affirm daily, to myself and the God/dess:

I AM light, I AM dark, I AM peace, I AM sorrow, I AM forgiveness, I AM compassion, I AM ALL THERE IS, I AM GOD/DESS!!
All that is around me is of my creation.
All that is around me is at it should be.
All that is around me is right and perfect.
All that is around me is balanced and whole.

All that is around me is LOVE….
As I am love….
Eternally, Never ending
And so it is….So mote it be!

About The Author: Lotus Moonwise is studying to become a Priestess of the Order of the White Moon.

Environmental Magic

The Return Of Wonder

by Eric Lethe

When I undertook the writing of this article, I didn’t want it to be a technical treatise on industrial processes or a political rant about environmental laws and regulations.

The feeling of wonder is a doorway to the elemental power that we utilize in magic. In order to gain an impression of this feeling, think back to childhood. Remember when you looked up at the clouds, or how you felt when you saw a shooting star, or really looked at a brilliant sunset. This sensation is the feeling of wonder. To recall this feeling is to make yourself open to the essential environmental energies that surround us. I feel that to lose touch with the earthly energies is to “take a vacation” from being alive. So many things influence us to disregard the expressions of the Goddess in this world.

It takes a conscious effort to regain this wonder-full perspective.

Yesterday I saw the crocuses had emerged from their winter sleep and had flowered in a purple greeting to the Spring. This then was my inspiration. All of us, as pagans, have a need to continually refresh the sense of wonder that comes from our recognition of the seasons, of natural phenomenon, and of those expressions of the Goddess that present themselves to us. This is of especial importance to those of us who live in the city. Our power, our magic, are expressions of Earthly energy, and need to be recognized and regenerated.

The First Peoples of this land knew the importance of renewing their connection with the Mother Earth at every opportunity. Why? Because their Shamans knew that the Earth, Fire, Water and Air were the sources of spirit power that the people drew upon, and needed to be replenished by ritual and sacrifice.

I’m not suggesting cutting or burning your household pets, but to emphasize the importance of recognizing and replenishing the sources of your personal power. I cannot recommend strongly enough the importance of regaining the energy, the wonder of feeling the connection with the Earth. The textbook definition of ecology is the study of the connectedness of all living things and their environments. These things that are living include the Earth herself.

Other than during ritual, when was the last time you did an Earth or element feeling meditation? It is my opinion that we who “walk between the worlds” owe a special debt to Gaia, or the Goddess, or whichever manifestation of the Great Mother Earth presents herself to you.

Consider the law of threefold return, and what you may do for the healing of the planet. Volunteer for an environmental clean-up or a reforestation project. Help restore a salmon stream, or devote some time to distributing literature for a good environmental cause. These are things which can be done on the material plane. Probably the most important thing you can do is include the conscious effort toward healing the Planet in all your rituals. Make time to experience the joy and wonder of those things as simple as the opening of a Spring flower, or the colors of a sunrise or sunset.

These things are the roots, branches and fruit of our spirituality. To lose touch with them is to lose the reason for our being.

Our power, our magic (again, my opinion) lies in the ability to come into contact with these wonder-full energies and utilize them in accordance with our will. The success of these utilizations depends upon their effect upon the natural world…in all its dimensional forms.

I will share one of my favorite meditations for connection to the essential energies: Imagine yourself lying on a raft with your eyes closed. The air is warm and the sun is shining. You begin to float downstream, with the water lapping at the raft. With your eyes still closed, you see the sun dappled by the tree branches overhead. You smell the trees, and the water plants, and the warm day. Your attention focuses upon the water sound: gentle, lapping and flowing around you. The water is all around you, and you feel it within you, pumping and flowing as blood. The smell of all the plants around you enter your senses, and you breathe deeply. Each breath suggests a gift, a blessing of life. The breath, the air, the smells are enveloping and enrapturing to you.

The raft passes from beneath the trees, and you feel the warm sun upon your face. Feel the fiery sun giving energy to you and to all living things the rays fall upon. You can almost feel your hair growing, plant-like in the sun. Your face feels radiant, as the sun beats down. There is an awareness that this gift will also burn and consume you with passionate, wonder-full heat.

The raft has come to rest in a small pool, out of the stream’s main flow. Reaching out, you touch the bank and sink your hand into the cool mud. It feels slimy and refreshing both. You open your eyes, and look at the handful of wet earth you hold. The prehistoric fishes and amphibians crawled out onto just such mud as this a billion years ago. Are we still so different? It is time to return to yourself in the here and now. Be aware though, that this place of wonder is one that is within each of us, just as assuredly as each of the elements are part of us.

Blessed Be!

Your Deck of Ancient Symbols Card for Today

The Phoenix

The mythical, endearing Phoenix has long been a symbol of rebirth, renewal, and coming full circle. Tired in both body and spirit the aged Phoenix combust into flames and from its ashes is reborn. The Phoenix does not indicate change so much as it does renewal and revitalization. It denotes the completion of a cycle and beginning anew.

As a daily card, The Phoenix suggest you are at a place where some aspects of your life have reached the end of a cycle. Your energies may be weakened from use and stretched over too many arenas to be as effective as they once were. As a result, now may be a good time for you to take a step back and allow yourself time to revitalize both your physical and spiritual self.

Does Spirit Go with Body? A Look at Reincarnation

by Janice Van Cleve

Reincarnation is a subject that keeps coming back (ouch). Seriously, the topic of reincarnation keeps showing up in magazines and books cloaked in mystery or psychobabble. Among New Age and neo-pagan believers, there is often talk of “past lives,” working out karmic justice over a series of lives and transmigration of souls. Hindus hold that we reincarnate many times until we achieve enlightenment or perfection and thus are able to escape the wheel of life, death and rebirth. Rabbi Shagra Simmons says that Jews sometimes get three shots at terrestrial life. Tibetan monks search for babies born at the moment of their lama’s death in the belief that his soul migrated into the newborn. Resurrection of the body is such a strong tenet of Catholic orthodoxy that the Vatican for centuries preached against cremation, supposedly because ashes are harder to resurrect than rotten remains in a coffin.

Not everyone believes in reincarnation. Many people believe that death is the end, finis, kaput. They do not believe in any afterlife or return to life in any form. Others believe that the body may die but some kind of spiritual essence or “soul” lives on and goes someplace, like heaven or hell. Plato was a great proponent of the theory of “essences” that exist beyond or outside of the physical body. Christians and Muslims believe in a paradise where the souls go and don’t come back. Ancient Sumerians thought spirits descended into a pit where they ate dirt, and the Greeks held that souls crossed the River Styx to linger in a dim underworld. The idea of spirits dwelling in a Great Beyond is advantageous if you want call on them in prayers or séances. If, on the other hand, souls do come back in new bodies, who will be left on the invitation list to your next Dumb Supper?

Modern technology and psychology have pushed the envelope in our understanding of death and rebirth. For example, Elizabeth Kubler-Ross has documented some amazing cases of apparent conscious existence outside of the body and/or after the body’s clinical death. Cryogenics labs are experimenting with freezing bodies to resuscitate them later. Cloning is a bit different in that a new body is generated, but the jury is still out on whether any conscious memory is transferred along with the genetic material. While these are interesting avenues of research that may someday prove or disprove some mechanical aspect of reincarnation, they are generally understood to be outside the discussion of reincarnation per se.

So what’s inside the discussion? One way to look at reincarnation is to examine its parts. The “carn” refers to a body and the “re” is a something that returns into a body. That got me to wondering: which body? Is it only humans who reincarnate? Do dogs reincarnate into new dogs, or trees into new trees? What about cross-species reincarnation? Can a fern reincarnate into a frog or a cow into a liverwort? There are some dire warnings in the literature about “coming back as a toad,” but for the most part we see the focus on humans returning as new humans. (Certainly most cat lovers will agree that cats believe that they don’t participate in reincarnation because no other living being could aspire to their level.)

People as far back as the Stone Age have understood that the body decays after death. They may have held many theories about where the soft tissue went, but they could see that soon all they had left was bones. Eventually, as in the case of the dinosaurs, even the bones break down and are replaced by minerals leaching through the soil. Occasionally nature has delayed decay, as in the prehistoric bodies found in an glacier in the Italian Alps or in a bog in Denmark. Children sacrificed by the Incas on Andean peaks still have hair and skin preserved by the cold, while Egyptians first learned mummification from bodies buried and desiccated in the hot Saharan desert. Yet even the most carefully preserved remains of a Pharaoh in Cairo or a Lenin in Moscow would be reduced to molecules if exposed to the normal processes of decay.

Scientists exploring biology, chemistry, genetics, forensics and the like have shown that as things decay after death, they break down into simpler and simpler components, eventually reducing into basic compounds or molecules that can be used by other living organisms. Gardeners practice this principle by composting. Dead plants and other organic materials are stacked in bins where, over time, they reduce to rich soil and are plowed back into the garden to provide nutrients for new plants. So a dead tulip may break down in the compost bin and its molecules eventually become incorporated into a turnip. Not all of its molecules may end up in the turnip, however. Some of them may wind up in the carrots, and others may become potatoes. Certainly a large number of the former tulip molecules will stay as dirt and may even become incorporated into stone, if said gardener happens to have a volcano in her pea patch!

So at least some of the material that was the physical body of the tulip may find itself after death reincorporated into other physical bodies, and therefore the tulip continues to participate in the phenomenon called life. In a way, I suppose that can be called reincarnation — at least of body material. Perhaps when we refer to a dead relative “pushing up daisies,” we’re closer to the mark than we think.

But if the remains of living things decompose and are scattered to be used by many other living things, or not used at all, is the identity of the original plant or animal or human forever lost? When do tulip molecules cease to be tulip and become turnip? And what about the turnip? If it got some material from a tulip and other material from a spider, where does its unique identity as a turnip come from? This is where the “soul” or “essence” comes into the reincarnation picture.

There have been times even in the historical past when the birth rate of new babies worldwide did not match the death rate. So according to the theory of reincarnation, did some souls get put on hold for awhile in a spiritual wait zone until there were enough babies to go around? Or did they hang out in the turnips? Conversely, our current population explosion clearly demonstrates way more births than deaths. So does that mean that some babies are born with half-souls or no souls? There can’t be that many souls waiting in turnips to fill the current demands!

Buddhists may help us out here. Buddhists seek to skip the Hindu wheel of birth, death and reincarnation altogether through discipline and meditation. They believe that they can reach a point at which independent identity is no longer relevant. The “soul” loses itself by merging with a universal mass of spiritual energy called Nirvana, something analogous to the universal mass of living energy that scientists call biomass. For the sake of discussion, let’s call this “spiritmass.”

That solves the mathematical problem, because math in the spirit world may not add up the same as it does here in the mundane world. If there is spiritmass, then some babies could inherit old souls directly and some may get new ones from the reservoir of spiritmass. Whatever the case, nature and nurture inevitably work to individualize the baby’s identity, just like they individualize his or her body into a unique new person. Old souls are either absorbed into spiritmass or changed in their new incarnation and new souls are sprung from spiritmass. In either case, the old identity is lost. Tulip becomes turnip, and essence of Uncle Frank becomes Little Carol.

Which brings us back to the two parts of reincarnation. If the body and the spirit both disintegrate and become reabsorbed into biomass and spiritmass respectively, then one could say they were reincarnated. However, such a reabsorbtion automatically means that the unique personal identity of the dead being ceases to exist. Reincarnation therefore implies that individual identity is temporary.

Humans don’t like that. Humans would like to believe that their identities will live forever. Since the body could not be counted on, humans proposed underworlds and paradises to maintain some manner of unique identity after death. Not content with just a spiritual existence, some humans attempt to preserve their existence in the physical world with statues and monuments, trust funds, artistic creations or by making a name for themselves in history books. Ultimately, however, we do not live forever in body or spirit or stone. We do know that we live beyond our death — at least for a little while — in the hearts of those who loved us, and probably in the memories of those who hated us.

So I can buy reincarnation if the most that is meant by it is recycling the body and the spirit. I’m certainly not going to lose any sleep over what kind of identity, if any, I will have after I die. I just hope that if reincarnation does pass identity along that John Ashcroft comes back as a gay, homeless black woman.

Janice Van Cleve has reincarnated several times. In this round, she is a writer.

Shine a Light into the Darkness

by Freya Ray

What does it mean, to shine a light into the darkness? If we’re going to talk about candle magick, what more powerful candle is there than the human spirit? In the face of a wide array of conflicting information, it seems worthy to explore the idea of how best to make a difference in the world.

What conflicting information? As you’re reading this paper, you identify as some form of witchy pagan, or are at least curious about such. That’s great, but it does not automatically liberate you from the Judeo-Christian heritage of our culture. That heritage says that to be a good person, to do good for others, you suffer. You give up yourself to take care of those in need. On the other hand, there is a streak of self-indulgent hedonism running through much of today’s Wiccan culture. “Do what you will and harm none.” What’s the harm in doing this little love or money spell, to create what I want in my life? A third opinion about how to be in relationship with the world that affects many of us is the metaphysical hive mind. That cosmic-consciousness PC-police brain hums out, “It’s all good. Everything is happening exactly as it’s supposed to. We have all chosen our own destiny, and can all choose perfect abundance and love if we just, well, choose it.”

Before you get all up in arms about my brattily simplistic summaries, I’m just making a point here. Which is: Most of us feel an instinctive urge to give back, to make a difference, and it can be hard to figure out how best to do that. Following are my musings on the question, “How can I up the wattage on this little light of mine, and shine it where it can do the most good?”

Rest Your Spirit

It’s hard to do anyone any good when you’re run down, crabby or emotionally overwhelmed. Somehow, some way, find the time to restore yourself when you need to. I could run through all the cliché remedies: Take a nap, soak in the bath, be in nature and so on, but you already know how best to take care of yourself. This is your monthly scheduled reminder from the universe to actually do it.

Have Cosmic Sex

Talk about upping your wattage! Great, chakra-blowing, mind-altering sex is better than any drug for opening you up to the beauty of others, increasing the generosity of your spirit and making you more patient with everything. Not only does it benefit your partner (we hope), but the energy of divinely inspired sexual congress overflows to benefit everyone. If you have a partner, seek to actively bring God/Spirit/Goddess/whatever into your lovemaking. Call circle before you begin. Focus every scrap of your attention on the energy between you and your partner, on elevating what you’re doing to the level of art. Take hours and hours. If you’re alone, do all of those same things. Be aware of your energy, of every subtle nuance of your reactions. Get a book on Tantra (The Art of Sexual Ecstasy by Margo Anand is a good one), and practice elevating your energy as you pleasure yourself. Some of the best sex I ever had was just me, my hands and my breathing.

Have you ever considered sending a shot out as you come? As you reach orgasm, take that juicy energy and send it to AIDS orphans in Africa, or the women of Afghanistan, or your ex-boyfriend, or whatever. It can’t hurt, right?

Make Yourself Available

It’s all fine and good to talk about reciprocity and balance in our relationships, but the truth is that sometimes I give a friend apples and get back kiwis. Common metaphysical lore holds that everyone in our life is a teacher for us in some way. But some of my friends just teach me about my ability to be there for someone learning stuff I already know. These “unequal” relationships are not only okay, they’re necessary. I know I never would have made it through the last 10 years without my older (or just wiser) friends who knew the things I was learning. They freely taught, gave advice or just let me cry on them. I do the same thing for a few people younger or less experienced than I.

I believe it’s good to have a list of people who are allowed to make outrageous demands on you from time to time. For some reason, a particular friend’s emotional crisis touches you, and you give them permission to call at any hour, and you’ll be a friendly ear. Conversation after conversation ends up being mostly about them, and their struggles, and you don’t mind or feel “owed.” When energy work, ritual or a Tarot reading happens, it’s for them, not you. Call them projects, call them puppies, call them friends having a hard time. Just have some people you personally care for.

Be a Relentless, Irrepressible Optimist

Think of it as a meditation, as a spiritual practice: Find the upside in everything that happens in your life. I can talk for five minutes about the good things I learned from being in an abusive relationship. Talk about impulse control! I’m not condoning all the ugliness of life, and certainly I’m not saying we should perpetuate it to help others learn hard lessons, but I do believe that any situation can be interpreted any number of ways. I feel more empowered if, instead of going to the “poor me” place, I answer these questions: What am I learning here, and how is it benefiting me?

For example, I recently fell completely, utterly in love with someone who I am not currently able to talk with. My friends who have heard every blow-by-blow think he’s a jerk and offer all kinds of sympathy. But I know what I’m learning from the situation. I finally found that place in myself that was unwilling to give up on someone, just because of something they said. I found the place in me that can be mad as hell and not walk away. I’m learning some measure of patience. I have a mantra, “Nyah, nyah, nyah, nyah, nyah, you can’t make me stop loving you.” It’s my process, I own it, I refuse to feel victimized by life.

If you’re at all prone to martyr or victim thinking, I can’t begin to tell you how much psychic energy will be liberated by running your thoughts along more positive lines. Giving away your power is a huge drain on the psyche, on your ability to feel positive about your own life and on your ability to have anything to offer to others. Try keeping your own power instead. You’ll like it!

Follow Your Impulses

Between the opposites lies the path. Sometimes we need to be selfish, sometimes we need to be selfless. The best way to navigate life between the poles is to listen to Spirit, to the voice of your own intuition, in every moment. If you’re in doubt about how to proceed, sit still (or nap) until clarity comes. Trust yourself.

Find the Connections

Alienation and separation do not help us help each other. The false sense that we are all alone, that we are different from others, leads to thoughts like, “Why would I want to help those ones. They’re nothing to me.” Seek to find the connections. Do some past-life work, so you can remember for yourself how a life could lead one to be dirty and poor. Meditate, finding the dark impulses inside yourself, so you don’t feel yourself better than the one who succumbed. There is no separation. What is done to the least of us, is done to us, we do. It’s all one.

We don’t all have to be bodhisattvas in order to care. Some glimmer of the kinship between all of us will open up remarkable compassionate vistas.

Reach Out

Ask yourself, “How does service best manifest in my life?” As a professional psychic, shaman and healer, I find most years that much of my time serving others is done in that way. I have a collection of friends I give my professional services to, without expectation of return. From time to time, I offer my services free to a stranger. For a while, I tithed. Sometimes I do shamanic work for strangers in my dreams. Sometimes I pray or do ritual for a person or family or part of the world in crisis. Sometimes I drive my mother to the dentist.

Not everyone is cut out to volunteer at the hospice. But everyone is capable of some kind of service. Your professional expertise might lend itself to occasional gifts of time and knowledge. Your body might like to express itself in some good physical barn-raisin’ activity from time to time. You might be a fundamentally lazy person, who can still feel like a good contributing citizen by gifting 10 percent of your income every month to someone deserving. Give it some thought, and find your own way.

Everyone needs to know that their flame helped light the way for someone.

Freya Ray is a professional psychic, shaman, writer and teacher. She teaches energy work, shamanic journeying, Tarot reading and how to live a more blissful life in general.

Mystical Months – January

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Mystical Months – January

…You’d be so lean, that blast of January
Would blow you through and through. Now, my fair’st friend,
I would I had some flowers o’ the spring that might
Become your time of day…’

William Shakespeare, The Winter’s Tale, Act IV Scene 4.

This is the second month of winter, the ‘Gate of the New Year’, the first of the Gregorian calendar, and the third month of the Celtic seasonal calendar known as Samhain, which translated means ‘The coming of the dark’.

The name, given to the month of ‘January’, is derived from the ancient Roman name ‘Janus’ who presided over the gate to the new year. He was revered as the ‘God of Gateways’, ‘of Doorways’ and ‘of the Journey’, later known as ‘St. Januarius’. Janus protected the ‘Gate of Heaven’, known as the ‘Lord of Beginnings’, is associated with the ‘Goddess Juno-Janus’, and often symbolised by an image of a face that looks forwards and backwards at the same time. This symbolism can easily be associated with the month known as for many the start of a new year bodes opportunity, casting out the old and in with the new. It is the time when many reflect on events of the previous year and often resolve to redress or improve some aspect of daily life or personal philosophy. January has traditionally been also associated with the qualities of ‘Goddess Venus’, ‘Freya’, ‘Hera’ and ‘Irene’, and the Egyptian ‘Nile God Hapi’ amongst many others.

‘Lauwmaand’ (The frosty month)
Old Dutch

‘Wulf-monath’ (Wolf month, a threat in a time of little food)

Old Saxon

‘Se oeftera geola’ (After yule)
‘Forma monath’ (First month)
Saxon (after influence of Christianity)

As part of the seasonal calendar January is the time of the ‘Wolf Moon’ according to Pagan beliefs, and the period described as the ‘Moon of Frost in the Tepee’ by Black Elk, Mystic and Medicine Man of the Oglala Sioux (Black Elk Speaks, Neihardt). It is a time when favourable colours to improve personal healing are black (jet stone), white and blue-violet (the colour of crocus flowers). These are the colours often associated with winter whilst the delicate crocus and snowdrops, along with the scented carnation lend beauty and a glimpse of the fine weather to come in spring to a time of austerity. The herbs and produce of the woodland too are closely connected, with nuts and cones, musk, marjoram and mimosa lending sweetness. As the second month of the winter calendar the holy thistle too reminds us of the link with winters rule and faith tested in times of extreme hardships..

The fox and its brother on a distant shore the coyote find the ability to retrieve food in the harshest of environments. As we approach spring birds too are seen to be remembered with January, with the pheasant appearing from the hedgerow and the jay (and the blue-jay) taking to the wing as a sign of the skies and earth giving hope of insect life and nesting materials.. A traditional belief amongst farmers in the British Isles said that a mild January was an omen of wet weather to come (from February through to May) and would give a bad crop in the field.

‘Bid the past farewell,
and receive the year that has just been born.’

As part of the astrological calendar, January has many associations. This is the month of the house of Capricorn (December 20 – January 20) and the house of Aquarius (21 January – February 18). Capricorn is the tenth sign of zodiac and depicted by the symbol of the ‘Goat’. The resolve to achieve is evidenced by Capricorn’s who work hard and long, like the goat, slowly but surely to reach the top of their mountain until they wish to move on to new and better pastures. The sign is said to embody authority and maturity being associated with the stage of latter life of the adult. Here is the chance for a Capricorn to work and rework ideas to get it right, as second best is not bad but things can always be better. In ancient Babylonian mythology Capricorn was depicted as the ‘God Ea’, fish-tailed, also known as the ‘Antelope of the Sea’. Capricorn is also known by the name the ‘Gate of Death’ (opposite sign Cancer, ‘Gate of Birth’). This is the time when the Sun enters its tenth phase of the journey and a time of new wisdom; Ea is seen to rise from the deep waters and instruct Man on the divine wisdom.

‘Saturn’ is the ruling planet of Capricorn bringing with it the qualities of wisdom, security, self-control, discipline, determination, responsibility and limitation. Saturn is also known as ‘Lord of Saturday’, ‘Kronos’ or ‘Time’. Capricorn is a cardinal and negative earth sign associated with the statement ‘I master’ and ‘I will refine’. It rules the skin, knees and bones. It is associated with the Aspen, Elder, Elm, Pine, Poplar, Weeping Willow and Yew, and with Burdock, Hemlock, Holly and the Black & Red Poppy. Colours associated with Capricorn are black, earth tones, indigo and orange. The main stone associated with Capricorn is the Garnet, and the main stone associated with December is the Turquoise. Lucky number is eight, lucky day Saturday. Metal associated is lead.

‘In spring, when woods are getting green,
I’ll try and tell you what I mean:
In summer, when the days are long,
Perhaps you’ll understand the song?’

‘Uranus’ is the ruling planet of Aquarius bringing with it the qualities of revolution, change, unpredictability and disruption. Aquarius is a fixed and positive air sign associated with the statement ‘I am the embodiment of all that society needs or desires’, ‘I universalise’, and ‘I will change’. It rules the circulation and ankles. It is associated with the Ash, Birch, Cherry, Elder, Fig, Plum, and the Rowan, and with the flowers Apple, Lemon & Peach Blossom and Orchid. Colours associated with Aquarius are aquamarine, electric blue and turquoise tones. The main stone associated with Aquarius is the Aquamarine (this also has associations with Pisces, but the main stone associated with the month of January is the Garnet . Lucky number is four, lucky day Saturday. Metals associated are aluminium and uranium.

‘The dream-child moving through a land –
Of wonders wild and new,
In friendly chat with bird or beast –
And half believe it true.’

This page was brought to you by Mystical World Wide Web

http://www.mystical-www.co.uk

Mystical Months – January

…You’d be so lean, that blast of January
Would blow you through and through. Now, my fair’st friend,
I would I had some flowers o’ the spring that might
Become your time of day…’

William Shakespeare, The Winter’s Tale, Act IV Scene 4.

‘Lauwmaand’ (The frosty month)
Old Dutch

‘Wulf-monath’ (Wolf month, a threat in a time of little food)
Old Saxon

‘Se oeftera geola’ (After yule)
‘Forma monath’ (First month)
Saxon (after influence of Christianity)

‘Bid the past farewell,
and receive the year that has just been born.’

‘In spring, when woods are getting green,
I’ll try and tell you what I mean:
In summer, when the days are long,
Perhaps you’ll understand the song?’

‘Uranus’ is the ruling planet of Aquarius bringing with it the qualities of revolution, change, unpredictability and disruption. Aquarius is a fixed and positive air sign associated with the statement ‘I am the embodiment of all that society needs or desires’, ‘I universalise’, and ‘I will change’. It rules the circulation and ankles. It is associated with the Ash, Birch, Cherry, Elder, Fig, Plum, and the Rowan, and with the flowers Apple, Lemon & Peach Blossom and Orchid. Colours associated with Aquarius are aquamarine, electric blue and turquoise tones. The main stone associated with Aquarius is the Aquamarine (this also has associations with Pisces, but the main stone associated with the month of January is the Garnet . Lucky number is four, lucky day Saturday. Metals associated are aluminium and uranium.

‘The dream-child moving through a land –
Of wonders wild and new,
In friendly chat with bird or beast –
And half believe it true.’

This page was brought to you by Mystical World Wide Web

http://www.mystical-www.co.uk

Your Ancient Symbol Card for December 31st is Wisdom

Your Deck of Ancient Symbols Card for Today

Wisdom

A very few of us are fortunate to be born wise. For most of us our Wisdom evolves, grows as we move through life gathering experience and knowledge. Wisdom denotes your thoughts and feelings derived from the melding of your life experiences with all that you have learned. Our Wisdom can get us through the difficult moments in our lives as well as provide the mental and spiritual tools we need to succeed.

As a daily card, Wisdom indicates a time when you should rely heavily on past experiences and knowledge attained to make important decisions in your life. This is a time where reflection and planning should guide your actions. To act rashly, on impulse at this time may well cost you in the future. Go slow, think things out, weigh all of your options carefully and then proceed.

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