Tag: Religion Spirituality

Pagan Sin

Pagan Sin

Author: BellaDonna Saberhagen

Sin is an interesting thing to consider in modern Paganism. With many believing that, “all acts of love and pleasure are Her (the Goddess’) rituals” (taken from Doreen Valiente’s Charge of the Goddess) , is there room for a Pagan concept of sin? Sin is perceived by many to be either sexual or violent in nature. Since many Pagans feel that to ignore your sexual needs is to do yourself a disservice, the common Christian “original sin” is not applicable to modern Paganism; and while such things as adultery may be frowned upon as emotionally damaging, we have no scriptures telling us to stone those that cheat on their spouses. Violent sin has been secularized into laws; murder and assault are typically seen as amoral regardless of religious background (or lack thereof) .

So do Pagans have sin? I would say they do, but first, let’s look at the role sin plays.

Humans thrive on hardship (and guilt) . If humans decided to live near an active volcano (which is a hardship, as well as a boon) , they then feel guilty when it destroys the village (they somehow angered the gods and must atone for their indiscretions) . If humans did not thrive on this cycle, we probably would not have civilizations that grew in some of the most unforgiving environments. So humans need some feeling of guilt. Where do many modern Pagans get this guilt they require? Eco-Guilt.

Eco-Guilt does have homes in the secular world; there are plenty of non-Pagans that try to live as “green” a life as possible. However, I have not seen another creed outside adherence to the Rede that can make a Pagan look down at another Pagan as somehow “not walking the Pagan walk” as much as this one does. There are different factions within it as well (vegan/PETA, home-steaders, etc) .

There’s this fantasy that ancient Pagans all lived in harmony with nature; that because they depended so much on the natural cycles that they never did any damage to the earth, ever. Because of this fantasy, many modern Pagans want to get back to that “deep connection to the earth” that has been lost. I can respect that. I myself fantasize about living Pagan-Amish style; growing my own wheat, brewing my own mead and raising my own goats (fainting goats, specifically, they’re so wonderfully silly) . I do buy into the Eco-Guilt mind-set myself, I just think that some Pagans get up on soap boxes and try their hardest to prove they are “Greener (and therefore more Pagan) than Thou.”

The problem is that ancient Pagans were guilty of harming the earth in their own way. If you go back two thousand years, you would find Roman strip mines. The only difference is how deep they could go with the level of technology they had. The Bronze and Iron Ages would not have existed without human impact upon the earth. As a race, we’ve never been too kind to rivers; in towns, human waste lined the streets. Land was cleared to farm, meaning trees were cut down. Even in Celtic society, who really loved their trees, woodland had to be cleared for building and farming. In fact, we know so much about ancient peoples, not just from their tombs and buildings, but because they left huge trash heaps that give us insights into their diets and daily living. Mining, landfills, deforestation: This was all part of life as much then as it is now. Granted, they may have done these things with more respect than what is typically given now, but they would not have felt guilty for bettering their lives through food, shelter, tools, art and commerce.

Let’s look at the organic argument. Not using pesticides and chemical fertilizers may be better for the environment, but such farming methods take more work and have a lower yield. This (as well as having a smaller buying market) is why organic food is more expensive. If you have four children and enough money to buy either four non-organic apples or two organic apples, which would you buy? The hard-core Eco-Pagan may suggest giving your children half an organic apple (which tend to be smaller than non-organic apples anyway) , arguing that they will get better nutrition from it (this argument has never been proven) . A more practical person would think it much better to wash the non-organic apples well, but buy those to ensure that each child is well nourished. This is the problem with trying to enforce your view of green-ness on someone else; they might not be able to afford the luxury you have. Starving people in Africa need food that will grow there consistently, and current organic methods just won’t work there.

How about recycling? Not every town in this country has its own recycling center/program. Sometimes, in order to recycle, you may have to travel pretty far to do so. At which point do the emissions from your car counter-balance the act of recycling? Not to mention that recycling itself creates its own carbon footprint. You could drive yourself crazy nickel and diming every moment of every day to find out just how much damage you are doing.

So, what about those little extras Pagans often need? Stones (quartz, citrine, etc.) have to be mined. As does the iron used for cauldrons and athames (and, most recommend that the blade be new to ensure it never let blood, so no reduce, reuse, recycle there) . The silver and gold used for our daily and ritual jewelry is also mined. Books require paper, paper comes from trees (granted much paper is recycled or comes from farmed trees these days) and there is (apparently, I never heard of this rule until recently) a rule against buying used Pagan books (I buy most books used, but I’m a very frugal Pagan, and I don’t think books can hold much of your energy unless you write them yourself, like your Book of Shadows) .

Now, you can use plastic for prayer beads rather than those made of real gemstones, but the argument can be made that this is worse since A) plastic is made from oil (and we all know the hazards of oil drilling) and B) fake stones (similar to synthetic fragrance oils) will not work like the real thing; why use something that will not work as well that creates as much or more harm to the earth than using the original would be?

You can decide to be Pagan, but worry so much about every little thing you do that your spirituality suffers. You can’t read books because that harmed trees; you can’t get information from the Internet because that uses electricity, which might come from sources that harm the environment. You can’t even attune to the earth in your own home because the stones you might use to do that may have been unfairly torn from Momma Earth’s womb.

I’m not saying that we shouldn’t be mindful, we should be, and we need to be. There are a lot more humans inhabiting Earth now (I would hazard to say too many, but that’s my opinion) and we live in a consumer-driven “disposable” society. Maybe, as Pagans, we can get used books; we don’t need a different athame for every Sabbat and we don’t need twenty-five pieces of the same type of stone. That does not mean that we can’t have one athame and a few stones (granted maybe only one or two stones per kind) ; spiritual growth shouldn’t stagnate because of Eco-Guilt.

Do the best you can, but don’t beat yourself (or anyone else) up over slip-ups. No one’s going to prescribe you to say five “Our Gaias” and three “Hail Horned Ones” to gain forgiveness from the gods. You have to forgive yourself. You can’t hold yourself to an unrealistic ecological ideal; you’re not always going to have the option of doing it the “green” way.

So never mind how bad Eco-Edna and Green-Gary might try to make you feel, be confident that you are doing your best and following your path. If they think you use too much and don’t recycle enough, take that criticism and see if you are capable of doing better. Just remember, sometimes you have to choose between what might be better for you and yours and what might be better for the earth. Don’t feel guilty about choosing you and yours.

Footnotes:
Facts on organic farming and recycling taken from interviews with experts as provided by Penn and Teller’s Bull****!

Your Daily Cosmic Calendar for March 29th

Since my own mother and father actually owned one of these, I am honored to offer advice for positive energies to infuse today’s ‘National Mom and Pop Business Day.’ There is actually a secret Feng Shui cure that promises Mom and Pop some success if they follow this empowering and effective tip. First, the owner will need a white vase with nine, eighteen or twenty-seven inches of red ribbon tied around it. A traditional Feng Shui bamboo flute with red ribbon tied around it will also be needed (real Feng Shui bamboo flutes come with a red tassel or red string tied around them). This magic flute gets put inside the white vase, and then, starting at the front entryway to the business, the owners should carry the vase with the flute in a clockwise direction around the entire perimeter of the space. The vase should then be placed in proximity to the place where payments will be accepted, be that a cash register, computer or even an accountant’s office. Either way, once the flute and vase are positioned in their proper place it won’t be long before the business owner’s assets make music to their ears! Strike up the band small business owners, this one’s for you!

By Ellen Whitehurst for Astrology.com

Paying for Wisdom

Paying for Wisdom

Author: Sarrestia

Recently I moved to Sierra Vista, Arizona and worked to find people of similar beliefs to surround myself with, and learn of new perspectives and gain experiences and, hopefully, wisdom of our elders. I even searched through Witchvox’s local pagans to determine if there were, at all, any pagans in the area. Thankfully, there are, but they are very difficult to find and meet. I’m not one to bounce right into someone’s life and seek his or her friendship, as I’ve always preferred the more subtle approach.

I was shocked in locating a spiritual center within the city and immediately called to find out where they were and what they did. Sadly, there were no pagans there. The ‘Reverend’ said that there used to be, but they seemed to have all disappeared.

I also drove down to Bisbee, near to Tombstone and up to Tucson to the pagan stores there, which obviously, would have at least one or two pagans around. Not only saddened and disappointed, I left each of these places with the great unease that these people were friendly in the extent that they really didn’t want new people around. Rather, they were happy to point me somewhere else. I will say, though, that Tucson was very nice, but it is such a long drive to attend rituals and group gatherings; suffice to say, it is something that will occur every now and then.

I know this, so far, has nothing to do with the title…but I’m getting there, as some things need ladders to reach rather than sudden jumps from one level to the next (you might lose someone in the jump) .

After searching for pagans and coming out empty handed, and wondering if there was a reason for this, I decided to visit this spiritual center to see if maybe another pagan will be drop in.
I will not be negative towards these people, as they are on a path quite different from mine, and I greatly respect their lives and their choices; but they are not pagans, not even Christian pagans.

My arrival was greeted with the usual “Who’s she?” looks and whispers, though not at all quiet because I could hear them quite well from outside the door. I introduced myself to the reverend, whom I had talked to on the phone. They were quite welcoming. Though as more and more people arrived, I became a little dismayed by the age difference. I believe I was the only one under the age of 50 and as I am only 25 that does say quite a bit.

The night consisted of them playing a DVD of a medium channeling spirits, pausing and talking about what they saw. The medium was a woman named Esther Hicks, who channeled the spirit, or spirits, of Abraham. Being completely pagan, without a Christian background, I was a little wary, but stuck it out in hopes of determining pagan tendencies in these people.

The words from these spirits were quite good, and displayed a good sense of humor towards the people in the audience, but I was struck by something that starting itching in the back of my mind as I watched: all of these people had to pay to see these spirits (I wondered, too, if they had to pay extra to actually ask the spirit a question) .

I heard later by the woman who owns the DVD that she has been on multiple cruises, plenty of visits to Phoenix and Tucson, and to various retreats that this woman channeled her spirits. I would have brushed it off, but I was told, by the Reverend, of the other activities at the center. That weekend they would have Reiki healers, but you had to pay for it. The next week they would have Deeksha healers, but you had to pay for it.

Before I continue, I greatly understand that in a world ruled and run by money that there is just no way that someone can do anything without requiring something from other people. It is irritating, this part of our civilization, but as I live in it, I understand it.

I began to think about how it seems we must pay in order to learn something, especially if it is spiritual in nature. This is even more so if you are unlucky to have a well-ordered and well-established coven/group/whatever near you.

It is a struggle to write this essay, knowing the rebuttals that follow (even in my mind: but they have to charge for it or else how can they pay for the materials; of course they charge a fee, if they choose to do nothing else with their lives, how else will they pay the bills?) . But it still gets at me that in order to learn something about ourselves, or to develop a spiritual nature, you have to pay for it. In order to learn Reiki, you will be paying for it. I found a website that offers the eventual reach of all degrees of Reiki for 350 dollars. Another website offered Wiccan degrees starting from 175.

Aside from paying bills and for materials: why do we pay for wisdom? Why do we fork over so much money, and even travel to far places, to meet with someone to give us a piece of wisdom – and if you want more wisdom, you can come to this retreat, as long as you pay this amount of money.

Even the main religions require you to give money for their wisdom. Especially if you’d like the wisdom to come out of a really fancy and modern building, wisdom doesn’t just pay for itself.

If you want to learn the wisdom of healing with plants…talk to the plants, meditate with the plants. No person will be able to tell you their wisdom, ‘cause they ain’t plants. This goes with anything else. We forget that we carry the wisdom deep within ourselves. That all it really takes is for us to quiet the consensus thinking (societal thinking) and listen to our inner selves, our deeper souls…and the wisdom is there. And not just any wisdom, the wisdom that is truest to ourselves and is individually ours.

Pay for the ideas if you want; pay for the time and travel if you want…but if you are in a position where money just isn’t something you can toss around here and there, stop and look inward and the wisdom you would have paid for will reveal itself, for free.

Sacred Disposal

Sacred Disposal — Diana Olsen

There’s always one detail left over after executing the perfect ritual:
what to do with the residue–the wax that melted on your altar cloth,
the ash left from the incense, the bits of salt either in a bowl or
sprinkled at the perimeter of the circle. All of these may remind you of
a ritual well done, but they do present a problem, both energetically
and physically, when you wish to move on to your next magical act. Few
books really say how to dispose of these items beyond a vague suggestion
to bury them. Since burial may not always prove Earth-friendly, please
consider the following options for disposing of used ritual items.

Convenient Methods

These methods require me to use more than one “sacred vessel” to sort out my
disposal needs. A flowerpot sits on my altar, serving as a ritual litter
basket. In case of overflow, I keep the empty glass holder for a
seven-day candle next to the altar after cleansing it with a salt-water
solution.

I sort the physical debris from ritual into three categories: the
recyclable, the nonrecyclable, and the biodegradable. For those
interested in conserving matter or cost, most items can be reused. I
advocate cleansing and reusing whatever possible as a courtesy to Mother
Earth. Some other occultists may argue that this practice leads to
frustrating energy buildups, but I have never had a problem in my
personal practices.

Among conservation methods, you can try melting down
wax from old candles and reusing the wax to make new candles or figures.
Also, I always save and cleanse my stones unless I am using them for an
offering, in which case I always bury them or offer them in a body of
running water.

I always take time to sort my ritual debris. I usually place recyclable
items, such as certain types of plastic used for wrapping, in the glass
candle container. After the jar is full, I sort out the items into
pieces to send to the recycling plant and pieces to cleanse and reuse.

Fortunately, few of the standard ritual items that I know of are
non-recyclable. Those rare items that are nonrecyclable, usually residue
from package wrappings and so on, I place in a box or garbage bag and
send with reservations to the landfill. A quick sprinkling of salt water
seems to clear any psychic residue I might send along, and I also mutter
a prayer that the items reach sunlight so they have a better chance of
biodegrading.

I think the only items that have ever significantly caused
me this problem was the plastic wrap from candles, but with recent
changes in recycling technology even those plastics now go to the
recycling bin.

Biodegradable items, as much as possible, go in the flower pot on my
altar. I take leftover wax, wet and dry herbs, and even incense dust and
put it in the compost heap in the back of the property where I live.
This way their remains can break down, and they can reincarnate as new
life.

Remaining salt, juice, and wine are tricky as each has a chemical
composition that can damage some plants. These byproducts I try to
consume myself, or else I offer them at some dirt crossroads.

In the process of determining how to handle my ritual byproducts I’ve
also learned how to manage typical household damage from ritual
products.
My favorite technique for removing candle wax from clothing,
cloth, and carpet is to place a paper towel over the stain and then set
an iron on low over the paper towel. After a few moments, the wax melts
into the paper towel and is nicely removed from the inappropriate area.
Red or white wine stains come out nicely with a mild solution of sea
salt, water, and lemon juice.
Burns do not come out well, ever.

 

 

Cleansing

After an intense ritual, I don’t always have the energy to give my altar
the immediate cleansing it deserves. In these cases, I have learned to
apply a “three day rule.” I clean my altar within three days of the
ritual, giving it a good cleansing with salt water, sage, and sometimes
a candle blessing as soon as I’ve completely wiped off all the dust.

There are exceptions to this rule:
If the energy from a ritual was particularly intense or volatile,
I try to have it cleaned by the next day at the latest. Ideally, after such an intense ritual, cleaning
should occur within two hours.

Cleaning up can usually take a small delay, but it is still important
magical maintenance, just as crucial as house cleansings. Energy builds
in all the magical workings you do. By cleaning out ritual byproducts
regularly and promptly, you can better control the type of energy that
surrounds you.

In extreme cases of neglected “housekeeping, ” the buildup
can lead spells astray and make room for some poltergeist activity. In
milder and much more common cases, the energetic “gunk” acts as a
demotivator, leading to a feeling of lethargy or disinterest for the
more psychically sensitive in a living area.

When this occasionally hits
me, I’ve always found a good, old-fashioned house cleansing sets me back
in the mood to do my work. By giving my altar a good scrub, I can
further motivate myself to return to my magical practices.

Don’t limit your cleaning to ritual tools and your altar. I admit that I
personally am a lousy housekeeper, but even then, once a month (New Moon
is a good time for this) I do my best to clean up flat surfaces, dust a
bit, and bring some order to my natural entropic state. Although the
process itself can be exhausting, it eventually rewards me with energy
and a positive outlook. The physical cleanliness will reflect itself in
the astral and make house cleanings and blessings a quicker and more
rewarding process as well.

If you need to clean your altar immediately, a simple solution of water
and sea salt that has been blessed will work. I’ve used this solution in
plastic spray bottles, sometimes enhanced with essential oils like
cedarwood for purification or sandalwood for psychic energy. If I have a
need to perform ritual two days in a row, a quick spritz across the
altar prepares the space for me so I can start on my work before giving
the space the intensive cleaning and attention it deserves.

For full ritual closure, you might want to offer a prayer to an
appropriate underworld, Earth, or reincarnation deity. Here is a simple
prayer that you might want to use:

“Blessed Gaea, all giving Mother
I return these children to you.
Hold them, love them, consume them.
Until again, they are ready for the world.
”

All things, even disposal, should be done with reverence. Humor is
appropriate, too, but keep in mind that these objects served your higher
purpose well and deserve to be honored for that service. All ritual acts
are sacred–even the ritual act of disposing.

Elder’s Meditation of the Day – March 26

Elder’s Meditation of the Day – March 26

“In our modern world today, we may seem like drowning men because of the loss of much of our spiritual tradition.”

–Thomas Yellowtail, CROW

Our spiritual tradition shows us the way to live in harmony, balance and respect. The tradition taught us how to behave and how to conduct ourselves. The spiritual way taught us to pray and to purify ourselves. Handed down from generation to generation were the teachings about a way of life. Our relationship to Mother Earth and to each other was very clear. The Modern World does not relate to spirituality but to materialism. If we do not allow spirituality to guide our lives, we will be lost, unhappy and without direction. We are spiritual beings trying to be human, not human beings trying to be spiritual. It is said, Know thyself.

Grandfather, lead me to spirituality.

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BINDING SPELL TO KEEP A SECRET

BINDING SPELL TO KEEP A SECRET

This should be used to prevent someone from giving away a secret. It is a form of sympathetic
Magick. A clay or wax figure may be used, or a clothe poppet (voodoo doll). In the ritual it is named
for the person whom it represents. Then, with appropriate word, the witch takes a needle threaded
with a twenty-one inch length of red silk, and sews up the mouth of the figure. She finishes off by
winding the thread all around the body of the figure. The concentration is on the fact that the person
is unable to speak on the forbidden subject – whatever the secret may be that is being safeguarded.
At the end of the ritual the poppet is stored away in a safe place, wrapped in a piece of white cloth.
So long as the thread remains in place, the person represented is bound.

A Book Binding Ritual

In natural magic, knots and binding are ruled by the element of Earth.    A
knot or binding represent both intangible goals (such as the return of
loaned property) and they also absorb personal power.  This ritual isn’t
intended to force or coerce another to return the book, it affects the book,
not the person the book is being loaned to.

Take the book, and hold it between your palms, sending personal energy into
it.

By hill and wind,
By flame and brook,
By shining moon and sea;
I place a bind
Upon this book
That it will return to me.
Wrap one foot of plain white cotton string around the book, securing it with
a knot.  Make sure the knot is tight, but not so tight that you cannot slip
the string from the book.  As you make the knot, visualize the book
returning to you, again chanting:

By hill and wind,
By flame and brook,
By shining moon and sea;
I place a bind
Upon this book
That it will return to me.

Slip off the knotted cord, and put it in a secret place or spell box.  As
you actually loan the book, again repeat the chant (silently) while
visualizing its return.  Once the book has been returned, untie the cord.
It is done.

Merry Meet & A Blessed Saturday to you and yours!

Fantasy Images, Pics, Comments, Wishes, Graphics, Photos
Good Saturday morning, my luvs! I hope everyone is having a great day so far. I wanted to let you know that today will be a little different from other Saturdays. Today, I am going to post just the Horoscopes, Tarot & Runes. Then I am going to add spell after spell on the blog. I haven’t added any new spells in a while. I feel like that is something that I need to do.

Now that you know what is going on, have a super, fantastic Saturday!

The Responsibility of the Witch in the Modern World

The Responsibility of the Witch in the Modern World

Author: wolf witch

In ancient times, the person most gifted in reading nature’s sign and in maintaining the health and well-being of the tribe became, essentially, the wise one or witch of that tribe. Through the periodic exchange of information with others of such kind and the constant study of herbs, natural phenomena, and basic human nature, such individuals gained an encyclopedic knowledge that vastly raised the survivability of the tribe existing in a harsh environment, providing an important barrier against human extinction.

Witches took responsibility for healing the sick, predicting the weather, determining the best times for planting and harvest, animal husbandry, finding the best places to live, and generally developing the circumstances under which a community could flourish. Lately, tremendous academic effort goes into delineating shamanism from witchcraft, and those individuals intent on proper nomenclature deny one in favor of another, but reality removes any doubt that function within a society belies any title. That the individual with a demonstrated talent for providing the tribe with information and service outside the practical efforts of hunting and gathering had significant value deserving of some distinction from the average person is all that mattered.

The progression of human development over time reduced the apparent need for these talented people, and the final blow to their overt existence came with the rise of organized religion and its dread of any source of spiritual power other than its own as an influence upon humanity. Culminating in the “burning times”, the position of village wise one was erased throughout most of the civilized world. The very capabilities that gave them note resulted in their demise, and the fact that the deaths of ten ordinary folk for every witch (counting those people accused of heresy and other such nefarious crimes among the ten) mattered little to an organization bent on control of human destiny in the name of its particular god.

One terrible consequence of those persecutions was the abandonment by the truly wise of humanity to its own devices. Spurned and burned, tortured and cursed, those who once directed the fate of entire communities retired almost completely from any participation in society, in part driven away by fear and, once the burning times ended, kept distant by the conviction that Man was no longer in need of their talents.

Currently a new openness and the removal of oppression from significant portions of modern society is allowing paganism to flourish and has removed most of the dangers associated with being publicly acknowledged as being a witch.

Unfortunately, the new witch is more dedicated to personal spiritual development that to helping humanity to survive in these trying times. There can be no faulting found for witches taking this direction. Hundreds of years of repression coupled with the present crop of very vocal fundamentalists determined to link the Craft to whatever devil they happen to fear go a long way toward pushing the average solitary practitioner back into the closet.

Exclusivity has always been a part of the Craft as well, so the IT revolution that has opened communications globally to anyone who can work a keyboard has actually increased the closed tribal nature of people within the Craft birthing a tremendous number of web sites each proclaiming itself and its owners the one true way to achieve whatever spiritual goal one desires. Forums are full of backbiting based on everything from the “true” names of the gods to the simple linguistics of “Wicca” and “witch”.

Considering that we live in a time when the errant acts of man, whether they be the push of a little red button launching a nuclear nightmare or the endless denuding of the planet to strip its resources at the expense of the very environment that sustains human life, witches have far more important matters at hand than debating what name best applies to the craft of the wise.

Not all of us are equipped to dedicate resources to organizations designed to provide help to those who are in need, but each of us can write to those in government responsible for the allocation of such resources. Our most valuable asset has always been our ability to persuade those responsible for some aspect of human existence to follow the wise way as determined by our talents for divination, conversing with the Otherworld, and understanding the special needs of nature as it applies to human existence. We are more than a lobbying group and much more than a political party.

We carry a tradition of aiding in the survival of humanity, and we cannot abandon that responsibility now or ever if we intend to live up to our calling.

Some of us have very little free time, but each of us can buy an extra can of food for the collection bin at the supermarket door.

All of us can ask those who have what others need to donate what may be no longer needed there to someplace where the need is great. One country in Africa has only a single working dialysis machine. A letter to major hospitals and regional dialysis centers asking them to donate replaced machines that still have a working life takes minutes, and email makes the whole process faster, it will cover more ground than any old fashioned conventional mail-out.

Many witches are already involved in charitable programs and deserve the highest accolade for understanding our real, historic place in society, but there are still a great number who are not involved and must become so if humanity is ever to find its true calling as a unified species dedicated to the well-being of each member of the species and the preservation of our greatest treasure, the planet upon which we rely for our survival.

The tribe is no longer a few isolated individuals in a tiny ecosystem. We are globally united, a genuine tribe of Man. The responsibility of the wise one is no longer the survival of a handful but of entirety of humanity.

We, as witches, must accept this responsibility, fir it is the single most essential element to our spiritual development and maturity.

Elder’s Meditation of the Day – March 18

Elder’s Meditation of the Day – March 18

“The sacred fire used to heat the rocks represents the eternal fire that burns at the center of the universe.”

–Dr. A.C. Ross (Ehanamani), LAKOTA

Our Sweat Lodge represents the womb of Mother Earth. This is the place of forgiveness. The altar is the place where the Grandfathers are heated. The Sweat Lodge and the altar represent the whole story of the universe. The Sweat Lodge and the ceremonies are sacred. The Great Spirit gave these things to us to help us. He taught us to do the ceremonies in harmony with Mother Earth. We need to know and understand these things.

Great Spirit, let me understand harmony.

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Magick Powder Potions

Magick Powder Potions

Magick powder potions are easy to make as most of them require no cooking. Make these by finely grinding up the ingredients listed in the powder potion recipes. Use your mortar and pestle and also your fingers to crush the ingredients. The whole time you are grinding the ingredient focus on your magical goal as it is essential to empower the ingredients. Always grind clockwise.

You can also purchase ingredients that are already ground up. If you do so, be sure to get in touch with the ingredients by running them through your fingers as you concentrate on empowering them. See and sense the magick powder potion working exactly the way your intended.

To use the magick powder potion, simply sprinkle it to release its power. As you are sprinkling it, be sure to focus on your magical goal. You can sprinkle magic powder potions in a clockwise circle around you, beginning and ending in the North or you cans sprinkle the powder in certain magical shapes, for example, a love powder can be sprinkled in a heart shape. You can also sprinkle magick potion powders on your altar, around altar candles, and on crystals and gemstones. Again, it is your intent and focus as you empower the potion ingredients and sprinkle them that really gets the magick flowing.

Nine Easy Steps for Making A Magick Potion

Nine Easy Steps for Making A Magick Potion

 
 
1. Gather together all the ingredients you will need to make the potion. Light a candle if you like, matching its color and dedication to your potion’s purpose. Be sure to place your candle(s) near your working surface as a focusing tool, but not in the way.
 
2. Draw a magick circle around your working area. For example, if you are working in the kitchen, draw a magick circle around the entire room.
 
3. Call in the elemental powers to your circle. A shorthand method for doing this is by saying something like:
 
“I ask that the generous powers of earth, air, fire, and water come into this circle. Come I pray you!”
 
4. Call in spirit, the Divine, into your circle by saying something like:
 
“May the Divine Ones enter into this circle and bless this potion with their Divine power.”
 
5. Next, empower the potion ingredients.
 
6. Make the potion.
 
7. Empower the potion once more with a magickal incantation, and then use it immediately as suggested.
 
8. Thank the elements and spirit.
 
9. Pull up the magick circle and put everything away.

THE ABC’S OF A WICCAN LIFE

THE ABC’S OF A WICCAN LIFE
by Victoria Martyn

Accept others as they are. We are all individuals.

Belief in yourself is a necessity.

Concentration is important in any endeavor, both magickal and in life.

Do what you will, so long as it harms none.

Empathy is an important life skill… learn it, practice it.

Find strength in yourself, your friends, your world and your actions.

God is multifaceted… the Lord and Lady, all deities take many names and faces.

Help others every chance you get.

Intelligence is something that cannot be judged on surface.

Judge not… what you send out comes back to you!

Karma loves to slap you in the face. Watch out for it.

Learning is something that should never stop happening!

Magick is a wonderful gift- but it is not everything.

Nature is precious. Appreciate and protect it.

Over the course of time your soul learns many lessons. Make this life count!

Pray.

Quietness both physically and mentally restores the soul; meditate often.

Remember to take time for yourself as well as others.

Spells can help you, but you must also help yourself!

Tools can only do so much… they are not the foundation of all.

Unless you enjoy worrying, keep a positive mindset!

Visualize the success of your goals before you set out to achieve them.

Wisdom can often be found in the least expected places!

Xenophobia (a hatred of those different from you) is a path to misery.

You are a beautiful person who is capable of anything!

Zapping away all of your troubles is not going to happen

What Is Magick

What Is Magick

 

I suppose I could ramble on for quite some time about what Magick of Wicca, Witches and Witchcraft is or is not. Instead, I will offer this brief writing I found somewhere. Unfortunately I cannot remember where I came across it or who the author was, but I thought it was clear, concise and to the point. It very simply dispels everything that some religions, old superstitions and of course Hollywood have tried to make people believe magick is.

Magick is finding your connection to the Earth and all that is natural, alive and moving in the universe! It binds all that exists together.

Magick is living in balance with the flow of life, and knowing that you are a vital force within that flow. Magick is everywhere! In the trees, rain, stars, and in the sea. It is the spark that quickens a seed to rise up from the soil.

Magick is laughter, joy, wonder and truth the of the world around us!

It is the subtle enchantment that reminds us not to waste a single moment of this gift that we call life! Magick is not greed, or power, or pretense…It is real. It exists. And it works.

Magick is the mystery that lies in the secret soul of the world. It is the essence of creation. What we imagine, we have the power to create!

MAGICK IS WITHIN YOU…

With it you can create your dreams, heal your world, love your life and find the peace that lives in every human heart.

Author Unknown

How Bad Kitty and Her Family Do Magickal Spring Cleaning

How Bad Kitty and Her Family Do Magickal Spring Cleaning

by L. Lisa Harris

The sun shone in every window making the entire house buzz with energy, newly alive and vibrant. The “warm” spring breeze floated through the open windows and doors, cleansing, purifying, and transforming the mini blinds into a worthy opponent for our self-proclaimed house guardian, Sabrina — also known as “Bad Kitty” — who was intently doing battle with “the enemy.” I felt new life and energy in the air and was ready to take on the world myself. Even the plants looked happy. It was time for Spring Cleaning.

“What are you doing with all the windows open? Are you crazy? It’s 50 degrees outside, It’s freezing in here!” cried my loving, yet obviously distressed spouse when he returned home from running errands.

He was still put out by the fact that we had taken a vacation day off–while the kid was in school–to enjoy a day of skiing, and there had not been enough snow to make it worth the drive. He had resigned himself to Chinese take-out, a video, and cuddling on the couch, only to come home and find his crazy wife dancing around the house like an idiot on an obvious “chai high” to boot.

Noticing that I had included incense, salt, herbs and essential oils with my cleaning arsenal, he said, “You’re doing witch stuff, aren’t you?”

I thought that was a keen observation coming from a man who thinks it’s amusing that he sleeps in the same room with an altar containing, among other things, a seven-inch “dagger.” He resigned himself to grabbing a comforter and curling up on the couch while I started my routine. He would have yet another interesting tale to tell the guys at work about his eccentric, dangerous life filled with daggers and the threat of hypothermia.

I have many seasonal routines, but none as important–or noisy–as spring-cleaning. It has always been important for me to clean magickally as well as physically. As usual, I started out this time with open windows so that all the mold, dust, cooking odors and yucky energy from seasonal depression, colds and other nasty stuff that builds up over the winter can escape.

After another cup of chai, I proceeded to dance around the house beating my drum, made a second trip with my tambourine to stir up all the old, stagnant energy, and to recharge any latent good energy that might have taken the winter off. I have recently added an element of ceremonial magick borrowed from a friend’s tradition, by doing a very cool banishing pentagram. This particular banishing ends with a dramatic “fencers lunge,” athamé at the ready, and the words: “Trouble not the servants of the gods!” I say this forcefully, like I really mean it.

The cat and hubby stopped what they were doing, took a moment to consider those words and then went about their business.

Consecrating and purifying the house with the elements is also part of the ritual. I walked around the house with each element in turn, incense for Air, a candle for Fire, my chalice for Water, and kosher salt for earth, sprinkling or waving it around as needed.

“Why don’t you ever use the chalice I got you for Yule?” came a voice from under the comforter.

“Because, it’s in my porta-witch-kit for public ritual honey.” I answered back.

Satisfied that his gift was appreciated, he returned his attention to his movie.

A simple chant for each element seems to help the process along, something like “I consecrate this house with the element of Air…” This time, I was in the mood to chant for all of them: “Fire, Water, Earth and Air, we call you to this place. Fire, Water, Earth and Air, to help create a sacred space.” This chant stirred up quite a bit of energy, as evidenced by Bad Kitty abandoning her battle with the dreaded mini blinds, then chasing me around the house swatting at me, adding the ringing of her little collar bell to the task at hand.

Next I turned my attention to the houseplants and the nature spirits that inhabit them. I brought each plant down from the shelf, removed dead or damaged leaves and cleaned the remaining leaves. Any plant that needed repotting was taken care of, and they were all fed, watered, and talked to.

My 11 ½-year-old daughter got home from school in time to see the kitchen counters and floor covered in leaves, potting soil and other debris.

“I hope you don’t expect me to clean that up!” she said with a disgusted and indignant look on her face.

“No, but I do expect you to clean your room. It’s spring cleaning day.”

She rolled her eyes as only an adolescent girl can, resigning herself to the fact that when I’m on a roll, there’s no point in trying to argue. She headed off to the wilds of her room, but just before her final, dramatic exit, she tossed her head and said accusingly, “You guys had Chinese food without me.”

The kitty was not brave enough to follow.

Next, it was the standard tasks: mopping, dusting, laundry and vacuuming that most folks consider a “normal” spring-cleaning, with a few modifications. I have an herb mixture, using the “nine time nine protects thee and mine” formula–any nine protection herbs will do–that I use for protection spells. I sprinkled it on the carpet as a sort of “Pagan Carpet Fresh,” prior to vacuuming.

I add cedar and rosemary oil, as well as salt, to all my cleaning solutions to magickally charge them. This is also added to the laundry when I wash all the bed linens and towels.

When cleaning the bathroom, I visualize any negative energy going down the drains when rinsing the sinks and tubs. I save the real “yucky stuff” to power flush down the toilet.

By this time, hubby was happily dusting the bookshelves and doing a little dance of his own. It’s amazing what a cup of chai and some magick will do to lift one’s spirits.

The next thing I knew, the girl emerged from the “Room of No Return” with a triumphant look on her face.

“Mom! Did you know that I have a floor?” She was positively beaming.

After the cleaning was done, I walked through the house reciting the initial house blessing chant I used when we first bought and moved into the place. I thanked the nature spirits that live in the house, and the green man who guards our front door.

Later that night, we all snuggled on the couch in front of the fire feeling well fed after an enormous spaghetti dinner, quite pleased with our efforts. Bad Kitty lay purring in our laps and the whole house had a new, vital energy about it. The entire family agreed that the cleaning ritual was a worthwhile project and made us all feel better. They “got” the magickal spring-cleaning ritual.

Now if I can just get them to understand why I run around the yard barefoot, in my bathrobe in the first big snowfall of the season yelling, “Woo hoo! Snow day, snow day, no work or school day” to thank the gods, or why I paint my toenails red every year at Imbolc, we’ll be on our way to true family understanding.

Powering Up the Circle

Powering Up the Circle

by George D. Jackson

One of the problems I have become aware of in our community is the low level of power we raise in the circles we cast. I have noticed this mainly through listening to and reading a litany of complaints from various practitioners in several magickal paradigms. At first I thought perhaps this problem was just in these people’s perception, but after inquiries among some long-time magickal practitioners in the region, I have found that these people are not alone in this observation. I also found a number of our fellows out there seeking solutions.

Several reasons exist why we may be having difficulty in raising high levels of power within our circles. Sometimes, low power levels in public rituals are deliberate so as to shield neophytes from psychic overload. I have some reservations concerning this, as I was originally drawn to my magickal paradigm by feeling the power present in a series of semipublic circles.

Another significant reason for lack of power is that some of us come from the major religious paradigms where group activities were performed in a follow-the-leader type of approach and the magickal dynamics were never explained. The leader of these activities probably had some concept concerning the methods being used to unite consciousness, but he sure wasn’t going to call them magickal. Also, any power that was raised was directed to the benefit of the religious organization involved. The congregation, powerwise, was left in a dead zone and just accepted that as normal. Because people learn from experience and many magick users go from major religions to being solitary practitioners, attendance of public magickal rituals with low power levels was not remarked on.

Another reason why there are difficulties in raising power in the group environment is connected to the personal psychological defense screens that most of us have installed in our individual subconscious minds over the course of our lives. These are necessary for us to go on with our day-to-day lives without being overwhelmed by outside forces. However, many of us don’t know how to lower these screens when the need comes about. The following is an exercise that can give the individual magick user the ability to drop her or his screens at Will when the circumstances warrant it.

This exercise includes a method used in the Huna (Hawaiian magick) paradigm. It involves using a pendulum to talk to your “basic self,” otherwise known as your subconscious mind. The Huna approach considers an individual as a gestalt entity consisting of three selves existing in the physical body. The middle self is the conscious analytical mind, tasked with aiding the evolution of the basic self as well as its own; the high and basic selves are both contained in the collective unconscious. The high self is the most evolved and is the source of individual power; the basic self is primal and is the source of emotion, as well as storing all memory, processing environmental items into energy and running the autonomic nervous system. It is also the conduit between the high and middle self, and as such it needs to be educated.

The materials needed for this exercise are a pendulum and a piece of paper with a circle drawn on it and a cross within the circle. The first thing one needs to do is set up the parameters of the operation. Suspending the pendulum over the center of the circle by finger and thumb, you tell your basic self that forward and back is “yes” and side to side is “no.” Around the circle is “I don’t know.” Now ask your subconscious to show you yes, no and I don’t know.

Once this agreement is set in place, you are ready to proceed. Holding the pendulum over the circle, you tell your basic self to lower its barriers and allow outside energy to flow through you. You then ask your subconscious if it understands this command and will comply. When it answers “yes,” reward it by telling it how much you approve of this decision.

This exercise is designed to be performed by two or more people who have learned to drop their barriers. The people involved join hands and command their basic selves to drop their barriers and allow the energy flow. Power flows into the right hand and out of the left. It should be cycled at least three times or until one can feel the tingle or surge passing through them. Practitioners can then direct the accumulated power into the center of the group and use it to perform operations agreed on before the gestalt (the whole that is greater than the sum of the parts) was formed. Alternatively, the power can be directed outward to form a cone of power. Once the group’s goals are accomplished, be sure to ground the power and raise the pre-existing personal barriers. This kind of work is a temporary magickal bonding. If it is not dissolved at the end of the ritual, you are going to leave with more than you planned on.

Like most worthwhile things, this exercise takes a period of practice. Once it becomes commonly used, it becomes second nature. One thing it does is allow the user to rate the levels of energy in any circle the user participates in. When among close associates, it allows for a lot of fine-tuning. I use this in my “Path of the Adept” magick course, and my students are strong!

Strengthen Your Magick by Learning Your Personal Color Key

Strengthen Your Magick by Learning Your Personal Color Key

by Melanie Fire Salamander

As I write, the deep green-blue of earliest dawn fades to clear royal blue, which lifts to a hovering grey that turns peach-yellow. Goddess Aurora, the herald of the sun, washes the east with color as every day begins.

For the sighted, color defines the first visual experiences of life. Before we see shapes, we see dappled colors moving before our infant eyes. From these shifting colors, the forms and the meanings of our lives come into focus.

Yet often, pagans take the color meanings for our magick from tables of correspondences. The rich traditional associations for color can certainly help drive your workings. But to work my own color magick, I have found it useful to discover the color meanings that already lie in my own deep symbol-speaking subconscious — the personal meanings that my deep self has accumulated for each color over my lifetime, and perhaps before. My teachers and my own work have shown me that the deep self is one of the main drivers of magick, and I find that my deep color resonances affect what my magick brings me. You too will probably discover that what your deep self associates with each color has resonances that affect your magick.

To discover your own personal meanings for colors, try the simple meditation following.

Color Meditation

1. Choose the colors you want to meditate on. For my work, I chose five: orange, green, red, yellow and blue.

2. Find a pure, unpatterned example of each color. I worked with sheets of colored construction paper, but use whatever you have handy, for example magazine pictures or plastic color gels. For best results, choose unmixed colors, without too much black or white muddying or clouding the tone. I chose colors that were all of similar intensity.

3. Cut a medium-sized, rectangular swatch of each color, say about five inches tall and three inches wide.

4. Set up your space for meditation. Find a comfortable place where you won’t be disturbed; take the phone off the hook and if necessary shut out your pets. Make sure an even light falls where you will place each color swatch, so you get the best visual image of each.

5. Set the first color swatch at easy eye-level for meditation, and set the others so that they’re ready to trade for the first swatch.

6. Ground, center and get into light trance.

7. Meditate on each color swatch in turn for five to ten minutes, enough time that you feel that you’ve worked through all the meanings your deep self has to bring forward for you. Write down your results, if you so desire.

My Results

One reason I’m glad I performed this meditation is that I didn’t always get what I expected from each color, as you’ll see.

Orange, I found, raised my energy immediately. It made me feel tense and nervous; the feeling was intense and unpleasant. That didn’t throw me, but I was a little surprised at how quickly I felt the energy change and how negative it was, because when just looking at the color I liked it.

Green also changed my energy level immediately and strongly — I felt a strong, pleasurable sexual sensation in my groin, most intense about the level of my ovaries. The color warmed me up physically, and I felt an almost smug pleasure. I had an image of the woods and thought of the god Pan. I felt horny, but not for anyone specifically — just that energy, without an object. I’ve found that green correspondingly works for me in love and sex magick. (Note that, for best karmic results, it’s best not to work love or sex magick to change another person’s will, but rather work to let the universe bring you your best partner or partners, whomever that may be.) Orange and green were probably the biggest energy changers of all for me.

Red wasn’t as intense for me as green or orange. I felt a slight headache, and a change of emotion rather than a strong change in physical energy. The emotion I felt was one of yearning or longing, not so much mine as of an ancient tragedy. I had an image of smoke over a battlefield, and I thought of the goddess the Morrigan. That was interesting to me, because I’ve always consciously associated red with love: Valentine hearts.

Yellow was moderately intense, more so than red, not as much as green or orange. I liked yellow. It raised my energy in a positive way, made me feel cheerful and made me smile. I thought of grassy lanes in sunlight.

Blue I found trancing; it had a reverberatory effect. It didn’t change my energy as the other colors had, because blue had for me the same deep thrumming energy as meditation itself. Blue did intensify and deepen my meditation, and I felt it strongly in my heart chakra. Its strength was on a par with yellow.

Your Own Work

You don’t have to work with the same colors I did, of course. Try meditating on the colors that you like best or that repel you, and find out why you react that way. If you like, you can use meditation to clear a color of negative meanings — simply bring that color up in your mind’s eye and run neutral cleansing energy through it until its energy changes. When visualizing color, I have found it best to work with transparent colors; if you find muddiness or cloudiness in a color you’re working with, try running cleansing energy through it. Check in with colors over time — you may find that their meanings change for you.

Once you know your personal color meanings, try using those in your magick. Find out which colors mean willpower or cheerfulness for you, and wear those to draw those feelings to you, or incorporate them in spell-work. If orange helps you concentrate, use it for your computer desktop and in spells about mental tasks. If blue or purple calms you and makes you trancy, paint your meditation room with it. If a clear pink means sex to you, dress your love rituals and your boudoir accordingly. Knowing your own personal color associations will make color an even more useful tool in your magickal toolbox.

A Romp Through the Palette of Life

A Romp Through the Palette of Life

by Freya Ray

Personally, I love color. I’m not an especially visual person, and yet I am vibrantly aware of the magical properties of color every day. Since theory fails to fascinate me, and inspiration to play around with the possibilities of this luscious world always fascinates me, let’s have a romp through the rainbow, shall we? Here are some bright ideas for expanding the palette of your life, for fun and profit, color by color. And it’s my romp, so we’re not doing equal time — some colors are more fun than others.

Luscious, Bloody, Sexy Red

Red. The root chakra. The primal invitation to life. The blood of birth and death, the red clay of the mother between our toes, that haze that comes over your vision before you do something really really stupid, fire, rage, passion, life. Red is a color that knows it’s alive, that feels the heartbeat of its own jugular, that wants and demands more. More what? More of everything, most especially more life. Red does not ask why it’s here or if these pants make its butt look big. Red is too busy sinking its teeth deep, growling and getting lost in the sensations of the juice running down its throat. By all means, if your life has gotten a bit academic or routine lately, invoke red.

Wear lipstick of that shade fondly called “Fuck-Me Red.” Paint your nails to match, especially your toenails. Dye your hair.

Char a big slab of steak, leaving the center bloody. Cut it into strips, pile them in a bowl with the blood released by your knife, and eat it with your fingers. Drain the bowl, knowing in your mind you’re drinking the blood of the beast as you do it. No, tempeh cannot be substituted. Have dark chocolate for dessert.

Paint your body with tribal designs of your own delirious inspiration. Use red finger paint, or lipstick, or menstrual blood, or catsup. Dance naked, covered in slashes and spirals, to the beat of a drum.

In feng shui, red is the color of the “fame” corner. Red always screams “pay attention to me!” Wear the color and act as though you deserve to be noticed. Call attention to yourself in outrageous ways. Laugh loudly and refuse to be cowed.

Feel your heartbeat. Feel the blood pulsing just below the surface of your flesh, and know you are beast. Know you are life. Know you are passion, awaiting expression. Know your blood, your heartbeat, is the blood and heartbeat of all your ancestors, all the ancestors, all the peoples and creatures of this planet. Know that the pulsation of all life is one, in you.

Juicy, Tasty Orange

The belly chakra. Relationships, sexuality. It’s a great color, I’m sure, but it makes me look like I have hepatitis, so I have a slightly estranged relationship with orange. Nevertheless, I can make a couple recommendations.

Bake cookies with cinnamon in them. Add saffron to your rice. Make juice from fresh oranges — it takes what, five minutes, and what a difference! Better yet, let someone you love wake up to fresh-squeezed juice and your silent smile.

Meditate on a candle flame, letting the shifting play of tones awaken your memories of warmth, family or sexuality. Let the connection of the belly and the flame lead you back through the past, before this life, to the beds of all your wonderful lovers. Let the memories of loving bliss wash over you in waves of time and space. Light all those candles scattered about and make love to someone in a glow of shifting orange reflections.

Want what you can’t have, and then answer the question, “If I could have it, or the feelings that I believe it would evoke, how would I get it?”

Let lust — primal, unreasoning attraction — lead you to a new friend. Let yourself acknowledge the little belly flutters of lust you feel sometimes, in unguarded moments, for a dear friend. Know that all of life is about connection, and that lust and love are allies.

Yellow, the Sun of Shining Self

The light of all life. The shining disk of the solar plexus, the home of the will, of personal power. The gold glitter of success. Yellow evokes happiness, confidence and power.

Get some sun. I know it’s early spring in Seattle, but on those days when Father Sun emerges, go worship him properly. Get out your shades and tip your face up to the sky. Paint your entire body with gold glitter and go dancing. Have a power dinner: warm melty brie and crusty bread, crab legs and dripping yellow butter, champagne…

Meditate on your solar plexus chakra, seeing a shining sun at home there, and feeling the strength of your will, your ability to create the world of your choosing.

Abundant, Grass-Stained Green

The color of money. The wonderful power of our nation’s choice of paper currency. This color is also associated with healing and the heart chakra, but, truth be told, I think first of big wads of cash and second of doing summersaults down an immense hill.

Play with money. Do some fun work with your abundance issues: take $200 out of the bank in one-dollar bills. Scatter them all over your bedroom. Clear wads of them out of your bed so you can sleep at night. Find them everywhere. When they gather in the corners, pick them up in handfuls and toss them into the air. Money is energy crystallized. A truly magical photosynthesis, as the energy of work is stored in flat paper. Nothing more than love in material form.

Engage with life in a basic form — the creatures that photosynthesize so that the rest of us can live. Buy some houseplants, or more of them, and make a luscious jungle inside your home. Plant a garden in a couple of months. Grow wheatgrass and feed it to your cat. Notice the moss in the sidewalk. Find trees and hug them already!

Have a healing circle with some like-minded friends. Allow the healing color of green to travel where it is needed. Meditate on ideas of love and connection, your relationship with all life. Be in love, without concern for a suitable object. “I’m in love” is a sentence without referent, and a beautiful place to be.

I Ain’t Got No Chakra But Boy Do I Rock Pink!

Blushes. Where would we be without pink for blushes? Challenge yourself: find the compliment outrageously true enough to get every one of your associates to blush.

In feng shui as in Valentine’s Day, red, pink and white are the colors of love. Live it up! Decorate the back right corner of your home as a love altar with candles, ribbons, pictures of Hindu goddesses, massage oils, photos of your true love — whatever evokes the concept of loving connection for you.

Pink is your friend. Pink has never had a self-important moment in its entire career as a color on this planet. It is impossible to stand on your dignity or take yourself too seriously when wearing pink. This is good!

Calm, Cool Blue

Blue is a money color in feng shui. Adding an aquarium to your home or business is said to bring prosperity. Create an abundance altar in the back left corner of your home, including the colors of red, blue, and purple, along with candles, plants, lights, stones and pictures that evoke abundance for you.

Meditating on the color will put one in touch with calming influences and the state of mind where creativity can be expressed.

Water — deep, flowing blue water — is one of the most profound healers on the planet. Soak in it, bubble in it, stand under a moving stream of it and ask water to take away that which no longer serves you. Offer yourself naked to the ocean. I guarantee a rebirth as you emerge.

There are some very groovy blue stones, including sodalite and lapis lazuli.

Royalty Loves Purple

If red says, “Notice me,” purple says, “Respect me.” Perhaps even, “Obey me.” Purple is a power color, and wearing it is guaranteed to help you feel on top of your game.

Violet light is a strong tool for cleansing in visualization. Amethyst is known as the “sobriety stone” and has a remarkable ability to puncture denial.

Violet is the color of the third eye, of psychic awareness. Put some lavender oil in the bath, light a bunch of purple candles and see where your insight takes you. See that violet flame between your eyes, and let the images of your deeper mind flow into your awareness.

Basic Black

Black has been the color of choice for clergy in many traditions. It gives the sense that the person wearing it has access to mystical information, mysterious secrets. I could tell you more, but as my own wardrobe is mostly composed of black clothing, I’m going to leave this color as an exercise for the reader.

Champagne

I’m mentioning this vital color for two reasons. One: I look like crap in white and so ivory, champagne, whatever, is my best option for trying to look innocent. Not like anyone buys it anyway. Two: it’s the color of vanilla-scented candles, which are on the short list of reasons why this is a cool planet to live on. Put a vanilla bean in your sugar bowl.

Oh, and girls! Buy some pearls. Your grandmother knew about pearls, even if many of us have forgotten, and have caught the delusion that somehow diamonds are more important. It’s crap. Diamonds are the junkyard of stones, collecting every stray bit of energy that comes through their life and they can’t be cleared. But pearls, well, get enough strands of them so that you can feel their weight (cheapest method: gem show, buy a hank, string them yourself). Drape them on yourself, and you will know you are woman. Guys, by all means do this when you’re wanting to access your feminine side. But beware, they will bring up fonts of estrogen you didn’t know you had!

White

They say white contains all the colors together. Visualizing white light is a tree-hugging crystal freak cliché, but you know, it works. For healing, protection, and clarity, see that clear, bright, almost bluish light of a halogen bulb or clear sunlight on a brilliant day.

It’s also a reflection of the truth that all of life is a hologram, every part contains the whole, every individual is connected to all of the cosmos. The Akashic records are always available, and in every moment it is possible for you to know everything you need to. Practice believing that there is no separation. Even if you only pull it off for a moment. We are all one, the light of each soul shines brightly if we only choose to see.

Bathe yourself in moonlight. Put a jug of water outside at the full moon, and drink the essence of lunar wisdom. Know that everything happens in its own rhythm and in its own time. Know that the only guarantee is that all life is learning love, and that we will all find that loving union in time.

White is your canvas. Draw on it what you will, and harm none.

Horoscopes and Tarot Cards: Handling Daily Readings

Horoscopes and Tarot Cards: Handling Daily Readings

Author: Raven Morgana Fae

Horoscope and Tarot Card readings are both forms of divination, and divination is the ability to tell the future. But how seriously are we to take these readings? And how are we to, in effect, to use this foretold information, to our advantage?

Millions of people read their horoscopes on a daily basis, most of the time at the beginning of the day. So at the end of the day they say to themselves, “Well, my scope was a little off today.” These people don’t realize that they might have somehow twisted their own fate just a bit that day. If someone has had a negative reading it makes him or her think in some way they are going to have a bad day. This sort of thinking occasionally makes some people put the day’s readings in the back of their heads, but subconsciously, they are telling themselves, “I’m not going to have a bad day.” The same can be said for anticipating something good to happen. It kills the moment, sometimes making the outcome different then expected.

The way to take advantage of a reading is to make those subconscious decisions, conscious ones. One thing I have learned is to not associate a reading with your day as a whole. It could very well represent one solitary event. But also don’t look for things to happen! Don’t expect anything; do quite the opposite: live your normal life and stop living like a paranoid schitzo!

No, I’m just kidding. Serious, in essence, but kidding about the whole paranoid schitzo thing. 🙂 So… first thing in the morning, we read our divination readings of choice, absorb what it could all mean, how it pertains to what is happening in the present, and once absorbed completely, forget. Forget what you read this morning off of the newspaper right next to the comics section under Dear Abby, for at least the next twelve hours. Did the undesired happen? Perhaps it passed you by. Or the worst thing that happened to you was traffic on the way home. You’ll find that when you don’t dread on things, like having just read your fortunate or unfortunate fate, they pop out when they have to.

Throughout the day, follow your routine as you normally would. If and when any situations make it so that something in your readings “pops up” in a way, make a note of it, and save it for later. At the end of your day, reflect on your day altogether. The ups. The downs. Now make any connections between your reading earlier that morning. Compare notes with your day; bring up your “pop up” moments, whether it is one simple word or phrase, or the entire reading altogether.

For example, here is how I handle my daily readings:
[NOTE: In terms of the way I define my tarot card reading, this is simply an example of how I perceive the cards. The meaning of any one card may vary slightly amongst psychics. This is why it is often said that art of divination is purely subjective; identifying the meaning in any one card is identified through one’s own perception of what is going on in that particular moment during that particular reading.]

October 25, 2010
Daily Horoscope (From “The Daily” News for iPad) – Capricorn: What occurs over the next few days will prompt you to accept that maybe you don’t know it all. It will force you to consider the possibility that what you call “truth” is in fact a rather fluid concept.
Tarot Card of the Day- XVI The Tower: Quarrel. Combat. Danger. Ruin. Destruction of plans. / Ambition. Courage. Sudden death. Escape from prison and all it implies.

Morning “At A Glance” Thoughts
At first glance I can already see that I am going to go through a sort of coming of realization according to the horoscope reading. Connecting that with actual events in my everyday life, I can say that I have been doing a lot of reading lately, mostly pagan articles. I have also wanted to start a daily exercise routine, and I have also wanted to start up my hobbies as I once did.

I just moved to Texas a couple of months ago, and have been doing little to nothing out doors since I have been here. In the last few days, I have come up with the resolution that exercise, hobbies such as blogging and geo caching, re-engaging in pagan practice, and taking care of myself are things I have to do to get out of what I felt like, has been a rut since I’ve been here. In the past few days, those are the truths I have come up with for myself.

Even though I know these truths, I have been a bit shy, and in some instances, pretty much scared, to begin my journey into re-establishing who I once was. All of last week I did my crunches, telling myself, that starting this week, I would start going to the gym (which I have available to me in my complex!) for AT LEAST 20 minutes. Monday, which was yesterday, came, and I didn’t go to the gym. And today is gonna pass and I still haven’t gone. Out of fear of being seen, or not being able to finish the 20-minute session because I haven’t worked out in over a year, or fear of starting and not continuing day after day. Who knows… XVI The Tower: Ruin and Destruction of plans.

End of the Day Reflections
There are two views or sides to every tarot card. The trump card of The Tower possesses the negatives aspects such as combat and ruin, but it also possess the positive aspects of ambition, courage, and escape. So a way for me to have consciously turned the fate of the card that was dealt to me today, per say, would be for me to go ahead and have gone to the gym tonight, even though I usually like the morning, when its empty. I, in a sense, (If I were to have gone.) possessed the courage to go on with my plans and perhaps upon going, I would have escaped from the “imprisonment” of the fear I once had of going. But let’s be honest, I didn’t go to the gym today either. Returning to its main negative aspect- Ruin and destruction of plans.

About an hour after my morning reading, I found myself in a sort of “lover’s quarrel”. But that was only brought on by my partner’s combative nature, and I had no way of going around it. This is an instance of a fortune unfolding itself, leaving me to deal with the situation. I quickly and swiftly corrected the situation upon remembering my earlier reading (ya, know, the one we are suppose to ignore till the end of the day. Well… you are supposed to put her back there because she comes in handy! I wasn’t thinking about it, but it came up.) In this situation I believe that I did not let the negative aspect of The Tower take control of my life in this particular moment in time by putting an end to what would have been a sizable argument. I, in a sense put “sudden death” to anything that would cause “destruction” or “ruin”, and then the situation was put behind us.

Even though we consciously try to live our lives to the best of our intentions, there are still times when what is foretold, whether positive or negative, cannot be bent around or changed.

Later on in the evening, my boyfriend’s uncle came by with his 3-year-old daughter, asking me if I would be willing to braid her hair this weekend. An escape from prison and all it implies. I can’t seem to get myself into the groove, so fate has brought it to me regardless!

If there is one thing I love, but haven’t done in ages, it’s braids! If I do a fair job, I will be doing her hair on a weekly basis for a small price. I was willing to do it for free, might I add! It was so strange how just seeing the little girl enlightened me in some way. I automatically wanted to just follow her around. I kept patting and touching her little hair bun. (LOL!) I was asking myself, “How would I part her hair to trail out the braids? Would it look better this way? That way? She’s a little baby so I have to do as little as possible…” I felt myself WANTING to do something. A sense of ambition.

Tomato… Tomatoe
It is important not to be looking for things to happen! For example: I woke up this morning and I’m out of toilet paper because my cat decided to teepee to living room (mistake for RUIN by the paranoid) , true story, btw. Or my Netflix got cut off (SUDDEN DEATH) . Also, did happen today. (-__-) . Not everything has something to do with that pesky little paragraph you read this morning! And not everything you read is LITERAL. “An escape from prison and all it implies, ” does not mean you are gonna get locked up today, and escape. “Sudden death” doesn’t mean that someone or something is gonna drop at any second. Your escape could just as well mean you finally were able to get out of the house to go get that mani/pedi you’ve been dying for. As a matter of fact, the definitions I posted for the tarot reading are not concrete definitions.
As I have mentioned before, divination is a practice that is subjective. The meaning of any one particular card changes from one person to the next depending on his or her own perception and concepts. One word can bring about different emotions and feeling amongst different people. The Tower card, to me, is entrapment and irritation, needing to find a sense of release but not being able to find one. Kind of like Rapunzel, stuck up in a tower, looking out into the world and all it’s beauty, but not being able to experience any of it. On the opposite side I see an escape by jumping off the side, or climbing down, which takes major courage and true deep desire for freedom and/or exploration. Is my form of expression in any way similar to what is written in text? I may say it differently, but the symbolism turns out somewhat the same. Tomato… Tomatoe…

Footnotes:
1. Crowley, Aleister. 2006. “Instruction for Thoth Tarot Deck.” U.S Games Systems, Inc.

2. Aleister Crowley’s Thoth Tarot Deck

Magickal Ideas for Your Ostara Sabbat Ritual

Magickal Ideas for Your Ostara Sabbat Ritual

 

*Color and empower Oestre eggs for health, wealth and prosperity.

 

*Celebrate the return of the Goddess by conjuring potted plants and giving them to friends and loved ones.

 

*Incorporate chocolate into your Ostara ritual.

 

* Review the items in your magickal cabinet or box and replace what is needed. Empower the supplies during the Ostara ritual.

 

*Bless seeds for the garden.

 

*Hold your ritual at dawn.

 

*Ostara (spring equinox) is solar driven. The sun moves from mutable, watery Pisces to cardinal, fiery Aries. Aries is a great “starter” sign, but it manages to poop out along the way. Any magick done while the sun or moon is in Aries should be supplemented with other workings later on.