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The Witches Spell for Nov. 2 – To Rid A Bothersome Spirit


To Rid A Bothersome Spirit

Before starting place your hands before you, and start the flow of power out your hands and then say the words letting the light form  you hand fill the room or house or any other place that you might be.  Consecrate salt and water and sprinkle throughout the house as you repeat three times in each room:

“What is dark be filled with light,     Remove this spirit from my sight.     Let it go to where it may find it’s eternal rest.”

Speak gently to them to them and cleanse each room with incense especially cold spots and all corners and cupboards.

Put salt along the sill of each windowsill and the bottom of all doors and steps to the house afterwards.

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Daily OM For November 1 ~ Anxiety about Change

Anxiety about Change

Anticipating the Good

by Madisyn Taylor

Change will occur in almost every aspect of our lives, we can learn to embrace it while releasing the past with grace.

 

When we find ourselves going through any kind of change in our lives, our natural response may be to tense up on the physical, mental, or emotional level. We may not even notice that we have braced ourselves against a shift until we recognize the anxiety, mood swings, or general worried feeling toward the unknown that usually results. There are positive ways to move through change without pushing it away, however, or attempting to deny that it is happening. Since change will occur in almost every aspect of our lives, we can learn to make our response to it an affirmative one of anticipation, welcoming the new while releasing the past with grace.

One thing we can do is change our perspective by changing the labels we use to identify our feelings. We can reinterpret feelings of anxiety as the anxious butterflies that come with eager expectation. With this shift, we begin to look for the good that is on its way to us. Though we may only be able to imagine the possibilities, when we acknowledge that good is there for us to find, we focus our energy on joyful anticipation and bring it into our experience while allowing the feelings to carry us forward.

We can also choose to do a ceremony to allow our emotions to process. Every culture has created ceremonies to help people make the transition from one phase of life to the next. We can always create a ceremony too, perhaps by burning written thoughts to watch the smoke carry them away, thereby releasing them, or we can welcome new endeavors by planting flowers or trees. Some ceremonial activities such as a farewell send-off or housewarming party, we may do automatically. Society also has built-in ceremonies, like graduation and weddings, which may satisfy the need we feel. Sometimes the shift from denial to acceptance is all that is needed to ease our anxiety, allowing us to bring our memories with us as we move through nervousness to joyful excitement about the good to come.

 

Daily OM

Calendar of the Moon for November 1

Calendar of the Moon

 
1 Ngetal/Maimakterion

Day of the Reed

Color: Blue-green
Element: Earth
Altar: Upon a blue-green cloth set a vase of reeds, a single blue-green candle, a pot of soil, seeds of some rare but useful plant, a bowl of water, and a bell.
Offerings: Plant seeds.
Daily Meal: Vegan

Invocation to the Green Man of the Reed

Hail, Green Man of the Autumn!
In this time of whistling winds
And growing cold, when we see
The year wind down towards
Inevitable winter, the reeds
Sing their mournful song
Along river and marsh,
And the eternal ocean’s shore.
Reed who thatched our ancestors
Homes, who gave them roofs
Over their head and shelter
From the wild elements
That your month promises,
Remind us that the best way
To assuage sorrow and mourning
Is by finding some way to work
With hands and body
Toward the coming of a new day,
Even if that day be only for the eyes
Of others not yet born.
Let us put roofs over the heads
Of all who need them, borne
Out of our own mourning
For what should already have been.
We hail you, sacred reed,
Green Man of the Autumn,
On this your day of falling.

(Use any keening, wordless, mournful polyphonic chant. Each comes forward and plants a seed in the pot of soil, saying, “Hail Green Man of the Earth!” Water is poured onto the pot, and then the rest is poured out as a libation. Ring bell and dismiss.)

[Pagan Book of Hours]

Samhain Spirit Incense

Samhain Spirit Incense

By Patti Wigington, About.com Guide

 

This recipe is for loose incense, but you can adapt it for stick or cone recipes. As you mix and blend your incense, focus on the goal of your work. Do you wish to contact the spirit of a long-dead ancestor? Are you hoping to bring some visions your way in a dream?  Focus your intent as you blend your ingredients.

You’ll need:

 

  • 2 parts Cinnamon
  • 1 part ground cloves
  • 1 part Dragon’s Blood resin
  • 1 part Hyssop
  • 1 part Patchouli
  • 2 parts Rosemary
  • 1 part Sage
  • A dash of sea salt

 

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

The veil has thinned, the moon is bright and I blend this magic on Samhain night. Celebrating life and death and rebirth with these herbs I’ve harvested from the earth. I send my intent by smoke in the air and call on those whose blood I share. I ask my ancestors to guide and watch over me, As I will, so it shall be.

 

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

Dancing with the Dead

Dancing with the Dead

by Sylvana SilverWitch

I am dreaming, I am in a dark room, I am afraid – but I move through the doorway anyway. Suddenly I am on a freeway, on the center-line, cars speeding past me on both sides. The wind rushes in my ears, whipping my hair around; I feel dizzy, as if I’m going to fall into the path of the traffic.

I see my lover walking down the middle of the other side of the freeway, his long dark curls flying in the wind. He looks far away, but he’s not really. I scream at him, trying to be heard over the sound of the traffic. I scream and scream for him, but he is careening, on first one foot and then the other, dancing in front of the cars.

He looks so pale and beautiful in the moonlight. Some of the cars pass through him, as if he’s not real. I find I am screaming, “But you are real! I love you! Please come to me! Get out of the traffic! Please!” I hear the screech of tires on pavement, as a car swerves to miss him, and it sounds like a phone is ringing somewhere, far away. Oh shit!

Oh, no, it’s my phone. I strive to wake up, reaching for the telephone. It is one of my friends -why is she calling at this hour? “Honey? Are you awake?” She is quiet, not at all her usual self. I instantly sense that something is wrong.

“What’s wrong?” I ask – I am suddenly fully awake. “What’s wrong!” I have a sinking feeling in my chest; I know that something is terribly wrong, and I start to cry as she says, “I guess you haven’t heard….”

“Heard what!?” I am screaming at her while she is speaking ever so slowly and quietly.

“Heard about Bobby…. He was killed last night.”

The room disappears from around me, everything goes black and I fall away from the reality I have been in. I feel as if I am falling forever, down, down, down. Down into an abyss of pain. I come to some semblance of awareness a moment or two later. The only reason I know it is only a few minutes is because she is still on the phone repeating, “Are you there? Are you there? Are you all right? Hello? Hello!”

I reply, “Yes. I have to go now; I’ll talk to you later.” She argues, “Are you sure?” But I hang up. My dream flashes in my mind; I suddenly realize what it was about, and I apprehend that I am sobbing. I take a Valium and go back to bed and close my eyes, hoping to shut out the reality and the pain.

I dream again, except this time I am with him, I am sitting in my living room talking to Bobby, and he is telling me that he is not really dead. I am so relieved! I hug him and feel him solid and large in my arms. I know he is really alive; it must have been a bad dream.

He says that he is sorry that we won’t be together anymore, but it is and will be okay, and not to cry any more. I am upset, and he comforts me. I ask him how I will know that this is not just a dream, and he says he can tell me what happened and why. He tells me details about his accident, which was a freak one. I know that he is telling me the truth, and I tell him how much I love him and will miss him. He smiles and says he knows, him too. And he fades away. I call out to him to ask him to stay, but I hear him saying he’s got to go and he will talk with me again. Later….

—

Most of us have had people go from our lives, but the most cruel loss is the death of a family member, friend, lover or even a beloved pet.

When this happens, it can be extremely difficult to let go of the intensity of emotion that we have around it; it “haunts” us, and we are sad and depressed – sometimes for months or years.

It is important, in my opinion, to allow the normal changes to happen in life with as little energy “getting stuck” as is humanly possible, because keeping the energy flowing causes the least pain. If you do your best to first feel and then let go the emotions around the demise of someone close, it helps your healing process and theirs too. You must let them go and let go of any extra energy you may have connecting you to them; by energy, I mean sadness, anger, hurt, resentment, longing. All of these are strong emotions and are “energy” that can keep us connected to the dead. If you attempt to grasp or hold tight to them, it just damages you in the long run. It can be especially tough when you haven’t gotten along with the person for a long time, or when there are big unresolved issues between you.

One way to deal with your emotions when attempting to let go of a loved one, is to do a ceremony to say goodbye. It can be helpful in this process, to contact the dead to communicate whatever you need to express to them and they to you. You can voice whatever and say your last good-byes, while at the same time acknowledging that they are still alive, energetically. Especially if they appear very clearly to you, this has made me feel much better about the passing of my loved ones. Performing the ritual aids in the grieving and healing process, if in no other way than achieving closure.

Connecting with the dead always seems scary at first, but it doesn’t have to be, when you are in the right frame of mind.

Why would you want the spirits of those who have passed on to appear to you? You might have incomplete business with them, for example if a parent dies prior to you working your childhood stuff out with him or her. Maybe you have a question that can’t be answered by any living person, or maybe you wish to honor the dead, as at Samhain. These are all valid reasons. Just for the fun of it is not a good reason!

You might want to be cautious and have respect for the departed, as they do have some power over the earthly beings that have put energy into them. If nothing else, they can communicate with you on the astral plane and make your sleep difficult. If you were to screw around with them or convene the wrong ones, there’s no knowing what might happen. There are all kinds of dead, just as there all kinds of living people – some good, some not so good. Use discretion when doing these workings.

I have chiefly communicated with the departed because someone else requested it of me, but at times they have turned up and talked to me on their own, just because they can I guess. When I work for someone else summoning dead kin, it’s always interesting. I usually try to get the departed to tell me something really obscure about the person doing the seeking, so that they will know it’s “for real.” It is something that a lot of people get spooked about.

I have, in years past, done psychic work with law enforcement agencies to help locate missing people. Usually they had several of us psychics working on the same job, they wanted to check out our information for accuracy, I guess.

—

I went and sat down at the table in the office I was told I would work in. I felt a feeling of dread, like I didn’t want to be there, or like something bad was about to happen. A detective came in and informed me they would be taping the session; I agreed that it was a good idea. He set up the recording equipment and brought out a manila envelope. He said, “This is a missing person; we’d like to have an idea where to look for her, and any other important facts you can tell us.”

With that, he showed me a picture of a young dark-haired girl, maybe 11 or 12. I immediately got what I call a “charge” from the picture, and I told him I’d do my best.

He sat across the table and passed me the remainder of the contents of the envelope. There were various personal effects in it, including a report card, a drawing, a bracelet, a hair brush with hair and a number of pictures.

I immediately knew that the girl was dead, even though the policeman didn’t say so. I also knew that she had been abducted by a stranger, not a person known to her. I knew this because of the terror that I felt from her energy. I closed my eyes and I saw trees all around me, big tall trees. I was very cold, and wet, and alone. I was scared, but happy to make contact finally. (In this process, I often feel as if I am the person I am connecting with.)

I opened my eyes and told the policeman, “She’s dead.”

He jumped. “Are you sure? That was kinda quick, wasn’t it?”

I replied, “No. When I make a good connection, it often happens like this. But it is really strong right now, and I want to get details, so I will talk with my eyes closed and tell you what I see, okay?”

“Uh, okay.” He was unsure about me but didn’t know what to do except agree.

I went on, telling him about the trees and the ravine, and the water and the car. Then as I was describing the scene of the abduction and the man who was the perpetrator, the girl’s energy just started weirding out, and she started calling for her mother.

I realized she didn’t know she was dead. Oh no, this is not good, I thought. She thinks she’s still alive, and I’m helping to rescue her. I tried telepathically to explain to her what had happened, but apparently she had no context for death where she herself was the subject. Plus she was dazed and confused, not thinking straight. I knew I’d have to do some work on releasing her if I were to continue, but then I would be risking the connection.

I had to do something, so I opened my eyes. The cop jumped visibly this time when I opened my eyes and said, “I have to stop; she doesn’t know she’s dead.”

“What do you means she doesn’t know she’s dead?” He was almost yelling at me, and I had to bite my tongue.

—

How can you solicit and communicate with your dead? A ritual follows, especially for the summoning, communication and making amends with and letting go of dead loved ones.

First, choose a night that the moon is dark, preferably around Samhain or Imbolc, when the veils between the worlds are the thinnest. Find a place where you can be alone, where you won’t be disturbed. Assemble all of your tools and talismans; a list of things you might need follows this article.

Cast your circle, drawing the circle in the air and visualizing it to be a sphere, taking you outside of the mundane reality of the time and space that we all normally inhabit. Next, conjure the elementals, and-or the directions, whichever you prefer, asking for their aid and protection, and light the candles. Next, invoke the God and Goddess into the circle, lighting their respective candles. You might ask a particular god or goddess who is associated with the dead, like Rhiannon, to attend your circle. You might also like to invoke the aide of the fey, who are the traditional go-betweens connecting the realms of the living and the dead.

Light some incense that is associated with either the dead in general or the person you wish to speak with. For example, if it’s your grandmother who always wore lavender perfume, burn lavender. Put a picture of the person, if you have one, on the altar, or any of her or his possessions or clothing.

State your intention for all to hear and take notice. This is important. Then invoke the person you wish to communicate with. Saying something like: “I invoke you ; please draw near and converse with me; please attend and illuminate this space with your presence. Kindly appear and assist me in my time of need. Please come; please come!

Speak their name aloud several times, then sit down, close your eyes and wait. This is a very interesting part of the rite, because you must listen quietly. Spirits don’t always appear á là Hollywood, in a superficial display of smoke and lightening. It is sometimes more like someone speaking softly to you inside your head, or a feeling of someone being with you. Listen and be open to them appearing to you. Hear what they say; don’t dismiss it as imagination. You can ask them for a sign if you are really skeptical. Say what you will to them, and know that they have heard you.

When you are finished or when they are done talking to you, thank them, tell them how much you love and appreciate them and then…say goodbye and let them go! Know that if you ever really want or need to talk to them, you can and they will hear you.

Lastly, ground your energy through the earth, making sure there is no residual energy from any other beings left in you. Then pull some energy up from the earth, let it bathe your heart in cleansing, healing energy. Dismiss your gods and the elementals and close the circle.

Afterward, take a cleansing bath or eat a small meal in honor of your rite. This is a good time to clean out the departed persons room, give their belongings to a deserving charity, or put their pictures or effects away. Keep some special mementos, but use the energy to really let go of them, you will find it makes you feel much better.

Some people like to use a Ouija board to talk to discarnate beings, I don’t like the Ouija board – I believe anything can come through it, not just the spirit you are specifically invoking. So use it at your discretion. You could also try a seance, in which you gather a number of people around a table and invoke the dead to communicate through one of you. This works best if one person is the designated medium and has experience “channeling” the dead.

However, being a medium for the dead can be quite traumatic, and I don’t recommend doing it unless you have some training. I used to do this with some regularity, and even though I am trained in the psychic arts, it was very hard on me to maintain my own energy throughout.

—

It is a still and quiet night. The room is dark and hazy-looking to you, even though there is no mist. Everyone is seated around a large, old, round oak table. There are candles flickering in the mist. Everything begins to fade away from sight, everything except the table directly in front of you, a narrow tunnel of reality.

Then you get a chill down your spine. The hair on the back of your necks prickles with electricity. “The spirits have arrived,” says the high priestess. About that time you feel something brush up to you, into you, and then you are above your body and to the side, looking at yourself smiling at everyone.

The high priestess turns to you and addresses you as if she doesn’t know you, “Who comes there?” she asks. “Who is it who joins our circle of love and light?” You see your mouth move and hear words falling from it, but they are not your words. You recognize the energy a moment later as a departed friend of one of your circle-mates. You sigh and relax, and decide to travel around while you are out of your body. Hmmmm – where to go?

—

I am fully aware that in writing this I might be summoning up the people who have been long gone from my life, and I accept that possibility.

Items for a ritual for the dead

Anything that reminds you of the person

Black altar cloth

Black candles

Black mirror

Crystal ball

Elemental candles

Essential oil

Flowers

Incense

Jewelry

Music

Paper and pen

Personal belongings

Pictures

Red wine

A Little Humor To Lighten Your Day – Signs That You Are Too Old For Halloween

Signs That You Are Too Old For Halloween

  1. You get winded from knocking on the door
  2. You have to have someone chew the candy for you
  3. You ask for high fiber candy only.
  4. When someone drops a candy bar in your bag, you lose your balance and fall over.
  5. People say, “Great Keith Richards mask!” and you’re not wearing a mask.
  6. When the door opens you yell, “Trick or…” and you can’t remember the rest.
  7. By the end of the night you have a bag full of restraining orders.
  8. You have to carefully choose a costume that won’t dislodge your hair piece.
  9. You’re the only Power Ranger in the neighborhood with a walker.
  10. You avoid going to houses where your ex-wives live.

     

    Turok’s Cabana

Today’s I Ching Hexagram for October 28 is 52: Keeping Still

52: Keeping Still

 

 

 

Regular periods of keeping still are an important aspect of personal development and forward motion. The most restful person may not be the one who sleeps twelve hours a day, but the one able to grab catnaps while cruising 600 miles-per-hour at 35,000 ft. Learning to act when it is time to act, and to keep still when it is time to keep still, is the key to obtaining the peace of mind which helps you stay focused when clear focus is needed.

Consider the spine, which serves as a switchboard for all the nerves of the body that mediate movement. When the spine is kept flexible and healthy through proper rest and relaxation, active movement can always be undertaken without strain. When the spine is held erect in a balanced sitting posture, the inner balancing of meditation can take place.

Treat your innate spark of energetic vitality like a candle in the wind you are protecting, as your only light in a dark forest on a moonless night. Avoid external conditions that threaten to snuff out the flame, and be careful not to suffocate it with your own ambitions of worries.

Time out. Relax now, take your shoes off and sit a spell. Let go of thinking. Breathe and meditate on the breathing.

The Witches Correspondence for Sunday, October 28th

The Witches Correspondence for Sunday, October 28th

 

Magickal Intentions: Growth, Advancements, Enlightenment, Rational Thought, Exorcism, Healing, Prosperity, Hope, Exorcism, Money
Incense: Lemon, Frankincense
Planet: Sun
Sign: Leo
Angel: Michael
Colors: Gold, Yellow, Orange and White
Herbs/Plants: Marigold, Heliotrope, Sunflower, Buttercup, Cedar, Beech, Oak
Stones: Carnelian, Citrine, Tiger’s Eye, Amber, Clear Quartz and Red Agate
Oil: (Sun) Cedar, Frankincense, Neroli, Rosemary

The first day of the week is ruled by the Sun. It is an excellent time to work efforts involving business partnerships, work promotions, business ventures, and professional success. Spells where friendships, mental or physical health, or bringing joy back into life are an issue work well on this day, too.

 

 

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Calendar of the Moon for October 27th

Calendar of the Moon

27 Gort/Puanepsion

Khalkeia: Weaving Athena’s Cloak

Color: Blue and white
Element: Air
Altar: Upon cloth of white set up a table loom which will be used over the next nine months to weave Athena’s cloak. The warp should be strung, and the shuttles loaded.
Offerings: Weave a line or two.
Daily Meal: Anything served with olives.

Khalkeia Invocation:

Call: Hail Athena, Weaver and Craftswoman!
Response: Hail Athena, Giver of Civilization!
Call: On this day we begin to weave our gift to you.
Response: On this day we begin to weave our worship.
Call: We weave into it the high flight of birds.
Response: We weave into it the firm earth beneath us.
Call: We weave into it clear-eyed vision.
Response: We weave into it skillful hands.
Call: We weave into it the grim struggle of battle.
Response: We weave into it the focus of strategy.
Call: We weave into it the spiral twirl of the spindle.
Response: We weave into it the clashing of swords.
Call: We weave into it the beating of owl’s wings.
Response: We weave into it the glare of the Gorgon.
Call: We weave into it the soft counsel of wisdom.
Response: We weave into it the draught that cools hot heads.
Call: We weave into it the ancient knowledge.
Response: We weave into it the new discovery.
Call: We weave into it study and seeking.
Response: We weave into it manifestation.
Call: We weave into it our hopes and fears.
Response: We weave into it the cry to heaven.
Call: Hail Athena, Weaver and Craftswoman! May you bless the work of our hands.
Response: Hail Athena, Giver of Civilization! May you bless all that we do.

(The one who is the House weaver should weave the first three lines with the shuttle, saying “Hail Athena!” each time the reed swings back and forth. All should come forth and weave a line or two, also saying, “Hail Athena!” Then the loom is carried to its place of honor for the rest of the year, where the cloak for her statue will be woven with pictures and symbols in her honor, to be presented to her at the Panathenaea.)

 

[Pagan Book of Hours]

The Witches Spell for Friday, Oct. 26th ~ To Rid A Room Of Evil Spell

TO RID A ROOM OF EVIL

Light a cinnamon incense stick in the center of the room and walk to the
north east corner or wall. Say:
“Earth and air, purify to good, blow away evil.”
Draw a pentagram of smoke and use the incense stick to stab through the
center. Walk to the Southeast corner of the room and say:
“Air and fire, blow away evil, burn away pain.”
Repeat the pentagram and stab the center, then walk to the Southwest part of
the room. Say:
“Fire and water, burn away pain, wash away fear.”
Repeat pentagram and stab. Walk to the Northwest part of the room and say:
“Water and earth, wash away fear,
bury all negativity, purify to good.”
Repeat pentagram and stab. Walk to the center of the room. Point incense
stick to the sky and say:
“As Above…” Now drop an ash from the incense and say: “So Below”

Samhain Solitary Ritual

Samhain Solitary Ritual

By Eden
Decorative Suggestions:
pumpkins, apples, masks, candles, black, red, orange,cauldron, besom

Supplies:
Photos of relatives or friends who have passed
White candle for each relative ( tea lights )
36 inches of yarn ( continuous piece) bright color such as red or orange
13 hazelnuts for tradition Druid method * or candy corn for a modern twist
1 apple (traditional)** or pomegranate, either cut in half
jack o lantern
4 mini pumpkins
4 votive candles for quarters
dried leaves (enough for circle size)
two candles one black one white
long piece of yarn ( this is a separate pc from above pc.)

Prep:
break off stems of mini pumpkins, hollow out big enough place for votive candles in top, cut doesn’t have to be deep,
just enough to keep candles form falling, set at quarters (use care when cutting!)
Outline circle with leaves Visualize jack o lantern as a protective ward (it’s traditional use) and have lit in circle from set up through ritual
Decorate according to taste
Have black and white candles on altar have black candle lit on altar, do not have white candle lit
Have photos with unlit candle in front of each, on altar if there is room or in other designated space

Ritual:

(Cleanse, Cast, Invoke)

” Blessed be the season of Samhain!
The time of the wise Crone!
The time of the last fall harvest
The time of the birth of winter
Night that we remember our loved ones who have passed from this life.
Night when we look on to the new year.
Night that reminds us that death holds the seeds of new life!”

(Prepare to light candles for departed)

” My dear loved ones, tonight as the wheel turns the veil which separates us is thin. On this night hear my words of love and honor”

(Light candles in front of photos one at a time, while lighting candle speak name of loved one and say what
you wish in honor or love, do this for each)

(Prepare to welcome the new year)

(Focus on black candle, while making banishing pentagram towards black candle)

” Farewell old year, take with you the season of summer”

(put out flame of black candle)

(Focus on unlit white candle, while making invoking pentagram)

“Welcome new year, bring with you the season of winter”

(light white candle)

“The wheel has turned yet again. Now at the time of ending that is yet also the time of beginning.
What is to come is, what was will come again, circling on and on throughout the ages.”

(prepare for meditation)

” And what of the past”

(close eyes with the intent to remember aspects of a past life, look at things in this life that you
believe could be related to a past life, focus on these things, see if this focus turns into scenes or
feelings about a past life)

( Prepare for resolutions)

” And what of the year to come”

(Take fruit, hold both halves in hands and visualize the habits you would like to rid yourself of over the next year being poured into it,when done place halves back together and tie halves together with one of the pieces of yarn, put aside to bury later)**

(Prepare for divination)

(Take bright colored yarn and make a circle on ground or altar if room, hold hazelnuts or candy corns in hands,focus on question, toss them into the circle and look for patterns of answer, such as y or n or if they make a shape or initial)*

(Offering, libation, feast)

(prayer for upcoming year)

“The wheel of the year turns on and on, from season to season, age to age. I remember and recognize that all time is here and now. I have paused to watch the wheel turn on this blessed eve, and, I praise the Wise Crone, in this time of Her glory. Blessed be Wise Crone.”

(Close Circle)

* according to Edain McCoy in ‘Sabbats’ pg. 42
** traditional Wittan Samhain practice per Edain
McCoy, ‘Witta’ pg 170 (adapted)

About The Author:  Eden, is a recent level one graduate of the
White Moon School of the Feminine Divine.  She lives in the North
Georgia mountains with her husband and three young children, where she practices eclectic paganism both as a member of a coven and as a solitary.

Witch Works: Spells and Rituals for Every Season

Witch Works: Spells and Rituals for Every Season

By Kelly

Happy Halloween! Is it Bedtime Yet?

After a long night of tricks and treats, many a witch will want to settle down for a long winter’s nap. Why
not work a little dream magick while you’re at it?Homemade dream pillows or sachets make very effective,
and very smelly (in a good way!), forms of magick. See what messages you receive when you try this dream
pillow spell for yourself, on Samhain or any night!

Dream Pillow/Sachet Spell for Dream Work

Ingredients:

Equal parts of the following herbs (amount will very depending on whether or not you are making pillows or
sachets, and the size of either):

Catnip
Lavender
Peppermint
Hops
Eucalyptus
Chamomile
Rose Petals
Mugwort

Felt/Fabric – Black and orange for Samhain, or any color you like.
Thread/Ribbon – The color of your choice
Essential Oil – Use one of the scents listed above. I recommend Chamomile, Lavender, or Eucalyptus.

Decide ahead of time if you will be making sachets or dream pillows. The pillows require more work and
materials, so choose wisely. If you are making dream pillows, you will want to pre-cut the material and
stitch the sides closed before casting a circle. Pre-cut your sachet material, but no pre-assembly is
required for the sachets.

Combine all of the herbs together in a large ritual bowl and then cast a circle in your normal manner.
Call on any deities/elements/guardians you feel comfortable with. Bless the herbs and empower them
with your intent. Raise energy, if you like, and run your hands lightly through the herb mixture to further
empower the herbs.

Portion out the sachets on the pre-cut squares or fill the pre-sewn dream pillows. Before closing the
sachet/pillow, place 1 drop of essential oil on the herb mixture. For sachets, draw up the sides of the
cloth and tie with a ribbon, or stitch closed if making the pillow.

Empower the finished sachets/pillow. Finish any magickal business you have and then close the circle. Sleep on your new dream pillow or pin a sachet to your bedclothes. Keep a journal next to your bed to record
your dreams upon waking.

Have a blessed Samhain!

About The Author: Kelly, is a solitary practitioner from the Midwest. She is currently a student at The White Moon School, studying to become a High Priestess. Kelly has been a practicing witch for 4 years and performs tarot readings and long distance energy work via the Internet.

Where Gods Dwell – Creating Altars and Shrines

Where Gods Dwell

Creating Altars and Shrines

by Amanda Silvers

An altar is, customarily, an area set aside for meditation or worship, or for working magick. A shrine is ordinarily an altar, specifically dedicated to a particular energy or deity. What is the purpose of an altar or shrine, besides creating a special place for your ritual or worship to take place? There are many answers, and I offer this as a guide for beginners and more experienced people as well.

When you transform a physical area or location to focus on a divine spirit, it is then possible for that spirit to manifest in the material world. Whether it is a god or goddess, an elemental or one of the fey, it has a space and energy to create from. The idea is to cause this to be a special and sacred place of honor and adoration of the deity or spirit, so put plenty of desire and effort into your creation.

To build an altar or shrine, begin on the correct day and hour for your chosen purpose. You may determine the day and hour by looking it up in a table of correspondences, in one of Scott Cunningham’s books or in The Spiral Dance. Start fashioning a place by contemplating how much space you have to devote, where you might like it, how accessible the area is to you and how secluded it is. Importantly, if you do not wish people to ask a bazillion questions, situate your shrines where they will be private. When you think about the purpose of the altar or shrine, the deity will help guide you where best to build it; just follow your feeling or instinct.

Next, clean the space, both physically and energetically. Do a clearing or banishing with water, incense or whatever you usually use, and at the same time clean the area well. Wipe it down and take away anything that was there before. (If you wish to replace an item on the altar, cleanse and bless it first.) Once you have accomplished this, purify and bless each item for the altar and place it in its correct position. Each piece is like an ingredient in a dish; it adds to the final product. There is a distinctive energy that is produced by an altar once it is blessed, and you will come to enjoy sharing the energy there.

If what you want to create is a shrine, say a prayer of dedication to the specific deity, and with your intention and desire affect the space to be sacred to that deity. Also, as you bring in each item you may anoint and dedicate them one by one, for more power, or you may wait until the whole shrine is set up and dedicate it at the end, as a whole. Chant, sing, play appropriate background music, burn incense, do whatever helps you be in the energy of the deity you wish to venerate. Put as much energy into anointing, placing and praying over the items as you can to make the shrine very powerful indeed.

Once you have accomplished this, it’s time to invoke the deity and ask that deity to lend his or her presence and power to your shrine. Be respectful, be sincere, be reverent, but do not forget that the gods do have a sense of humor. So do not be totally surprised if something unusual happens. When you are finished, spend some time communing with your chosen deity, and hearken to the small (or not so small) voice that will speak to you.

You might try creating small altars or shrines around your house and yard. Even the workplace can become an area of worship if you are discreet and use your symbology wisely.

I have a main altar that contains my ritual working tools, a couple statues of the god and goddess I traditionally work with, offerings and some other magickal items that are special to me. I create other shrines depending on what energies I am currently working with. I have had in the past and know several people who have a shrine blessed to each god or goddess they work with. A shrine can be a nice focus for bringing in more of the energy of a specific deity.

It’s a valuable idea to keep a journal of your communications with the gods, so that over time you can look back and see how you have grown and changed in your approach. Be conscientious; keep your altars and shrines clean and well-organized (unless they’re to Eris!). Spend time engaged at your shrines every day, and you will come to have a very close relationship with the gods. Raise energy for them, and offer gifts…. remember the gods and they will remember you!

Items that you might want to place on your altar or shrine

For a working altar, you will want a number of magickal tools including, but not limited to:

  • Athamé (sacred to the God)
  • Bell (air)
  • Bowl of water (water)
  • Candles (fire)
  • Cauldron (earth)
  • Chalice (Goddess)
  • Incense burner and incense (air)
  • Oil lamp (fire)
  • Representations of the God and Goddess
  • Rocks or crystals (earth)
  • Salt (earth)
  • Shells (water)
  • Wand (air)

For a shrine, you will want:

  • Representations of the deity; these may be pictures, statues or other things that represent the god or goddess in question to you
  • Altar cloth
  • Anointing oil
  • Athamé
  • Bells
  • Candles
  • Crystals
  • Earth
  • Feathers
  • Flowers (alive or dead)
  • Fruit
  • Herbs or greens
  • Incense and burner (the fire of consumption)
  • Meat or animal parts
  • Metal
  • Money
  • Oil lamp (the fire of illumination)
  • Poetry
  • Salt or sand
  • Shells
  • Stones
  • Wand
  • Water
  • Wine
  • Other offerings as appropriate

The suggestions following, regarding shrines to specific deities, will aid you in starting shrines, but use your personal preferences and the colors and items associated with your particular deities.

For Aphrodite, I recommend a rose-colored altar cloth, rose quartz, a statue or picture of a beautiful woman or sexually explicit photos, some Aphrodite incense, red candles, shells, pink or red flowers, water and a condom or two. Her colors are rose, red, orange, white and pink.

For Pan, think green! Provide a green or brown altar cloth. Pinecones, greenery, wildflowers, phallic-shaped stones, statues or pictures of the god, goats or a beautiful man are good, as well as animal skins (especially goatskins), Pan incense, green or brown candles, earth, mushrooms and phalluses (dildos). His  colors are brown, tan, forest green, leaf green and teal blue.

For Hecate, remember she is the goddess of magick and witches as well as the goddess of death and transformation (destruction). For her, I have a black altar cloth, a crystal ball, Tarot cards, crystals, dead and living flowers, animal skulls and bones, Hecate oil and incense, black candles, an oil lamp and a threefold statue of Hecate. She likes her devotees to write poetry and songs to her, and she is somewhat jealous. Her color is black.

Calendar of the Sun for October 25th

Calendar of the Sun

25 Winterfyllith

Selket’s Day

Colors: Bronze and Black
Element: Air
Altar: Upon cloth of black place a bronze figurine of a scorpion, and four black candles.
Offerings: Help someone who is a troublemaker.
Daily Meal: Lentils, flatbread, millet, pomegranates.

Invocation to Selket

Lady of the Scorpion’s Whip,
Implacable one, hardest of the Four Deaths,
Sun of the unforgiving desert at high noon,
You blast down upon all wrongdoing
And show those wrongs in their true light.
Lady of the Poison Tail,
You are entrusted with those souls
Who have not done what they should do,
Who have spurned the path they were meant to walk,
Who have struggled and lashed out,
Who have caused hurt and pain to others.
Your firm hand takes them in, guides them
To see what they have done through eyes
Unclouded by their own pain,
And leads them to a place of understanding
And perhaps repentance. And yet,
There is something of this is all of us,
Some part of each that needs your guiding hand
Lest we think ourselves too perfect
And become uncompassionate in our pride.
Lady of the Scorpion’s Whip,
Sting us to the heart, and show us
That poison still within us,
That we may better learn to ride its strike,
That we may better learn to heal its wounds.

(Each comes forward, one at a time, and touches the tail of the Scorpion, which should be sharp. Each tells Selket, aloud or silently, where the poison is in them which makes them hurt others, and asks for her help in controlling it.)

 

[Pagan Book of Hours]

The Witches Spell for October 18 – Mirror Spell of Protection for the Home

Mirror Spell of Protection for the Home

Spell to Protect Your Home

Ingredients:

Altar

Censer

Goddess image

Round mirror

9 white candles

Protective incense

The Spell:

Compose an altar; place a censer in the center before an image of the Goddess. Have a 12-inch round mirror there as well. Ring the altar with 9 white candles. Burn a protective incense (such as frankincense, sandalwood, copal or rosemary) in the censer.

Beginning with the candle most directly before the Goddess image, say these or similar words:

“Lunar Light, protect me!”

Repeat as you light each candle until all are glowing.

Now holding the mirror, invoke the Goddess in Her Lunar aspect with these or similar words:

“Great Goddess of the Lunar Light

And Mistress of the Seas;

Great Goddess of the Mystic night

And of the Mysteries;

Within this place of candles bright

And with your mirror night;

Protect me with your awesome night

While ill vibrations fly!”

Standing before the altar, hold the mirror facing the candles so that it reflects their flames. Keep the mirror toward the candles, move slowly, clockwise around the altar, watching the reflected firelight bouncing off your surroundings.

Gradually increase your speed, mentally invoking the Goddess to protect you. Move faster and faster, watch the light shattering the air, cleansing it, burning away all negativity and all line along which the ill energies have traveled in your house.

Charge your home with protective light of the Goddess. Race around the candles until you’ve felt the atmosphere change, until you feel that your home has been cleansed and guarded by the Great Goddess.

When finished, stand once again before the image. Thank the Goddess in any words you wish. Pinch out the candles one by one, bind them together with white cords and store items in a safe placed until you need to use them again for the same purpose.

Old Fashioned Mustard Plaster

Old Fashioned Mustard Plaster

Helps relieve chest congestion due to colds.
1 tbsp dry mustard
1/4 cup flour
Lukewarm water

Sift together mustard and flour in a bowl. Slowly add just enough water to make a paste. Spread the plaster on a piece of muslin big enough to cover chest. Cover with another piece of muslin.

Make sure the skin is dry. Place the mustard plaster on the chest. Check
frequently and discontinue if there is any kind of allergic reaction. Remove when skin begins to turn red, usually after 10-20 minutes, and don’t leave on any longer than 30 minutes at a time. Then rub the chest w/ petroleum jelly to keep the heat in. Treat twice daily until congestion clears up. NOTE: For children, reduce amount of flour to 6 teaspoons.

Home Remedies – 25 Old Wives’ Tales

Home Remedies – 25 Old Wives’ Tales

By Beth Black

Here are some old fashioned home remedies for common complaints. Many of them I am sure are “old wives tales” but modern science has proved many of these “old wives tales” to have a legitimate scientific reason for being effective.

How about the old tale about putting moth balls in the bottom of the bed for cramps??? I haven’t tested this one myself as it is very seldom that I get cramps. Some people swear by it.

If you have any tips to add I would be interested to hear them. Just add a comment.

All these tips have been gleaned from a variety of sources, mostly from a friend and the fact that the use of well known brand names might suggest a free marketing plug for their product but if you ignore the brand names these natural remedies that most of us have in the kitchen or bathroom cupboard are a much better way than loading our bodies up with chemicals.

I hope you enjoy and benefit from some of these folk remedies and I would love to hear if any more tips you can add.

  Did You Know That? Drinking two glasses of Gatorade can relieve headache pain almost immediately — without the unpleasant side effects caused by traditional  “pain relievers.”Did you know that Colgate toothpaste makes an excellent salve for burns.

Before you head to the drugstore for a high-priced inhaler filled with mysterious chemicals, try chewing on a couple of curiously strong Altoids  peppermints. They’ll clear up your stuffed nose.

Achy muscles from a bout of the flu? Mix 1 Tablespoon of horseradish in 1 cup of olive oil. Let the mixture sit for 30 minutes, then apply it as a massage  oil, for instant relief for aching muscles.

Sore throat? Just mix 1/4 cup of vinegar with 1/4 cup of honey and take 1 tablespoon six times a day. The vinegar kills the bacteria.

Cure urinary tract infections with Alka-Seltzer . Just dissolve two tablets in a glass of water and drink it at the onset of the symptoms. Alka-Seltzer  begins eliminating urinary tract infections almost instantly — even though the product was never been advertised for this use. (Note: Alka-Seltzer Plus Cold  Medicine is not the same..and contains aspirin, which can cause stomach bleeding if you have ulcers.)

Honey remedy for skin blemishes… Cover the blemish with a dab of honey and place a Band-Aid over it. Honey kills the bacteria, keeps the skin sterile,  and speeds healing. Works overnight.

Listerine therapy for toenail fungus… Get rid of unsightly toenail fungus by soaking your toes in Listerinemouthwash. The powerful antiseptic leaves  your toenails looking healthy again.

Easy eyeglass protection… To prevent the screws in eyeglasses from loosening, apply a small drop of MaybellineCrystal Clear nail polish to the threads  of the screws before tightening them.

Coca-Cola cure for rust… Forget those expensive rust removers. Just saturate an abrasive sponge with Coca Cola and scrub the rust stain. The phosphoric  acid in the coke is what gets the job done.

Cleaning liquid that doubles as bug killer… If menacing bees, wasps, hornets, or yellow jackets get in your home and you can’t find the insecticide,  try a spray of Formula 409. Insects drop to the ground instantly.

Smart splinter remover…just pour a drop of Elmer’s Glue-All over the splinter, let dry, and peel the dried glue off the skin. The splinter sticks to  the dried glue.

Hunt’s tomato paste boil cure….cover the boil with Hunt’s tomato paste as a compress. The acids from the tomatoes soothe the pain and bring the  boil to a head.

Balm for broken blisters…To disinfect a broken blister, dab on a few drops of Listerine … a powerful antiseptic.

Heinz vinegar to heal bruises… Soak a cotton ball in white vinegar and apply it to the bruise for 1 hour. The vinegar reduces the blueness and speeds up  the healing process.

Kills fleas instantly. Dawn dish washing liquid does the trick. Add a few drops to your dog’s bath and shampoo the animal thoroughly. Rinse well to  avoid skin irritations. Goodbye fleas.

Rainy day cure for dog odor… Next time your dog comes in from the rain, simply wipe down the animal with Bounce or any dryer sheet, instantly making  your dog smell springtime fresh.

Eliminate ear mites… All it takes is a few drops of Wesson corn oil in your cat’s ear. Massage it in, then clean with a cotton ball. Repeat daily  for 3 days. The oil soothes the cat’s skin, smothers the mites, and accelerates healing.

Quaker Oats for fast pain relief….It’s not for breakfast anymore! Mix 2 cups of Quaker Oats and 1 cup of water in a bowl and warm in the microwave  for 1 minute, cool slightly, and apply the mixture to your hands for soothing relief from arthritis pain.

Cranberry juice taken regularly helps prevent urinary infections.     (My friend, Director of a Geriatric Care Hospital, says it’s much better than expensive cures, and ultimately economically very favourable)     There is a honey available in pharmacies which is a medical     honey.. slightly different from the usual and from a different type of bee.. this is the best for curing skin problems.

Here is one for the Aussies A few drops of dettol kills cane toads. A diluted solution in a spray bottle is quick and easy.

Sore throat and nasal congestion… steep some fresh gum leaves in boiling water and inhale.

Today’s Tarot Card for Oct. 16 is The Hermit

The Hermit

The challenge of what has traditionally been known as the Hermit card is to be able to recognize a teacher in a humble disguise. This font of mysterious knowledge will not make it easy for the student to acquire his wisdom, as it takes time and long contemplation to fathom what he knows. He often speaks wordlessly, or in ancient and barbaric tongues, communicating with the elements, animals and Nature herself.

While the hourglass was an identifying feature on the earliest Hermit cards, more modern ones have shifted the metaphor, showing more or less light released from his lantern. In either case, the Hermit card reminds us of the value of time away from the hubbub of civic life, to relax the ego in communion with Nature.

Calendar of the Moon for October 16

Calendar of the Moon

 

16 Gort/Puanepsion

Day of the Blackthorn Tree

Color:

Dark Blue
Element: Earth
Altar: Upon a dark blue cloth set a vase of blackthorn twigs, a single dark blue candle, a knife, a pot of soil, herb seeds, a bowl of water, and a bell. Several wooden staves lean against the altar.
Offerings: Plant seeds. Face conflict.
Daily Meal: Vegan

Invocation to the Green Man of the Blackthorn Tree

Hail, Green Man of the Autumn!
Blackthorn tree of the hedges,
Whose thorns dissuade cattle
And intruders from trespassing,
Tree of the walking staff
Whose name is Strife
And whose job is Boundary,
You teach us that sometimes
Guardianship can lead to battle,
And that not everything can be held
Peacefully, be it land or goals
Or objects or rules or values.
Sometimes there will be strife
By the very nature of the universe,
Which encompasses both equally
And sees conflict as the necessary
Adjustment that points out our blindnesses.
Tree of thorns, hulking and sullen,
You will not stand to be mistreated
Or taken advantage; your nature
Does not lend itself to yielding.
We hail you, sacred blackthorn tree,
Green Man of the Autumn,
On this the day of your bloodshed.

(Let one who has been chosen to do the work of the ritual arm themselves with a staff, and guard the altar. Each approaches the altar, and is swung at; they take up a staff and meet the blow with it. After this they are allowed to approach and plant a seed in the pot of soil, saying, “Hail Green Man of the Earth!” Water is poured onto the pot, and then the rest is poured out as a libation. Ring bell and dismiss.)

 

[Pagan Book of Hours]

 

Your Home as Your Temple

Your Home as Your Temple
image
Author: Kestryl Angell

When you are seeking to make your life a magickal one in every sense of the word and every place you can, the first place to look at in your external environment to be influenced is your home. Therefore, let’s look at how the rooms of the home equate to the “rooms” of our internal landscape and parts of our own life’s expression to others and to our selves.

This practice will help us to recognize not only where we feel most comfortable, but also where we need the most work as well in tuning into our own personal expressions and needs.

Interestingly, you will find that sacred symbolism within your home/temple exists…wherever you put it!

Your yard is the first impression that people see of how you live. It doesn’t have to be “fancy” or professionally landscaped to make a good impression of someone who cares about the home they have worked so hard to gain.

A neatly manicured lawn and trimmed hedges simply shows you care enough to give the neighbors something pleasant to glance across as they drive through the neighborhood.

It is often, as well, a good first step toward making good neighbors you can rely on in emergencies, and can also therefore be a “good will ambassador” of sorts that lets people know you community minded. It is Earth to the Home.

Your foyer and living room, usually the first rooms to be entered in the home, are your own personal “first impression” to the world. This is where you can show yourself to either be a well-organized, homey sort of person or whatever sort of person you are. It is the “face” you show most of the world, usually, though on a more intimate front than say your office space would be.

If your home only has a living room then it is also often the place where you relax and enjoy your family and friends. If you have a home that also has a den, then the living room is often a more formal view on the world, where the den is kept for family and friends time. It is Air to the Home, and often an Earthy grounding influence as well. Coming home should always be a “breathe of fresh air.”

The kitchen is the hearth and heart of the home. It is where you feed yourself and those you love and where you place the basic foundation blocks of how you nourish yourself and those you love most.

A well-organized and tidy kitchen shows a caring heart and one that extends easily past its own needs. Someone whose kitchen is nearly always untidy and unkempt can usually be seen to have rather slovenly in other areas of life that pertain to the heart-such as selfishness, a disregard for solid boundaries or laziness.

Along this same line of thinking, those that keep a barren kitchen and only tend to bring in fast food or refuse to cook for themselves are those that expect their physical and emotional needs for nourishment of all kinds to come from other sources than their own work and instead, wait for it to be satisfied by those around them. It is the Fire of the Home, in the nurturing sense.

Your bathroom is where you clean up the messes in life. It is where we improve on what nature gave us by taking care of our hair, nails, body’s various needs and forms of cleansing and where we soak away the world’s worries and stress. As well, it can be a part of our healing process as well in times when things like flu keep us close to the “porcelain god.” It is the Watery Chalice and Cauldron of the Home.

Your bedroom is both a place of peaceful rest, of relationship’s harmony and intimacy to be shared and a place to heal body, mind and heart. The bedroom is the retreat of the home and should be treated with the most protective instinct, for it is where we reveal our most intimate selves. It is as sacred in its way as our temple space itself, if you are lucky enough to have a home that bears its own temple space and often, when in smaller living quarters, people choose to keep their altars active in their bedroom as a first instinct, for this is where they feel most comfortable being naked in every sense of the word.

Often, therefore, you will see the bedroom as a mix of the heart and spirit of the home. It is where our dreams begin and, for many, where the planning stages of the best things in life begin.

The closets in your home are those little nooks and crannies within yourself that you “stash” things. When company is coming, when family is too close to something intimate in your life, when you feel you don’t have appropriate time to “clean properly, ” the closets are where we toss all those things we plan to “get around to later.”

Therefore, if you’re one of those people that packrats everything into their closets and only cleans them out about once a year-if that-then likely you are one that has trouble letting go of things in life. It can also indicate someone that feels they have things to hide, or someone that feels they won’t be fully accepted if those closets fall onto the head of someone that happens across them.

Likewise, those with stuffed closets and disorganized hidey-holes tend to be ones that leave issues and tasks unfinished or only roughly so. They may start projects well but have trouble finishing them and can even perhaps be this way in relationship to others.

In any part of the home temple, the places where things tend to collect, remain disorganized and cluttered, these are often reflections to us of places on our internal landscape that need work. As well, if you are one that finds you feel disorganized all the time on an inside plane, mentally, emotionally or spiritually, you will often manifest moments where keeping your home in a state of clean tidiness will help you retain your sanity.

Taken to the extreme, however, a person that is a complete anal retentive when it comes to cleanliness around the home and can’t stand even the slightest signs that their home is occupied by actual human beings…these folk tend to have serious issues with self control and control their environments in order to feel more stable on a personal level.

The home should most definitely be cared for as well or better than you would treat any other sacred tool on your altar. It should be cleansed and blessed when you first rent or buy it and should be cleaned regularly, with the cycles of the moon and with intent on all levels pointed toward imbuing it as a safe haven in which to love, live, grow, heal and manifest your life.

That is not to say that it should be kept like a museum or architectural wonder, but simply that it should be cared for with the same Love and Pride you feel at being a child of the Gods.

Even within each room, I have learned that many witches keep small “altars” pointed toward specific purposes set in each room. What do you think “witchy knickknacks” are for?!

For instance, protection filters and grounding influences set in crystals and other items in the front room as you enter the house so that any negativity picked up from our travels throughout life outside our home does not influence the peaceful serenity within it.

Another example is to have healing magicks quietly setup within the little corners of the kitchen and bathrooms of the home to see to it that all things created, entering and leaving the body are as wholesome to our health and overall purpose as they can be.

My own children, once taught that the kitchen is one of the places where a Mother puts Love into her family, they would often ask in that child’s manner, “Mom, did you put the Love in?”

The answer, of course, was “Always, baby. Always! That goes in even before and with every ingredient in the pot!”

This is most definitely the case if, with every pot or pan that comes into your home, you take an extra few moments to cleanse it with intent, charge it even as you would wine and cakes in circle space, and see to it that all things entering the pot and the collective product of the ingredients is filled with loving, healthful intent and energy.

How much extra time does this take to a meal? The answer is…as much or as little as you choose to put into it, but these are the little everyday “religious experiences” that can truly attune and more strongly align a witch within his or her everyday home and family environment. But at the very least, you will find some very basic guidelines I use given below.

Feel free to use or adjust them as you may to your own space, likes and dislikes, needs and wants, because this is not a hard and fast “ritual.” This is a set of guidelines for living magickally and helping to assist your self into a more centered frame of baseline for living in a well and balanced way.

Setting the protective Circle outside the home is as simple as casting circle at the borders of your yard. You simply create the sacred space with a doorway and filters provided for well-meaning assistants and spiritual guides, as well as your human guests, family and friends. This is something that should be taken down, the yard cleansed and smudged and the Circle re-erected at least once a month, preferably during the three days influence on and on either side of the new/dark moon.

At this time, it is also good to make certain at the preparation celebrations for the dark months holidays-Fall Equinox, Samhein and Yuletide celebrations-that any charms made for the protection of the home are taken down, taken apart, their essential herbal pieces burned and/or buried near running water so that all the negatives they’ve absorbed can be taken back into the mother’s womb to be reborn as something positive in the future.

A great family activity is the making of these charms and the picking up, throughout the year, the little magickal pieces of wortcunning that go into these charms. Herbs, flowers, charms, beads, ribbons, colored threads, bits of bright cloth, shells, leaves, bits of ivy…anything that you feel works best for your needs. Kids can begin with the door to their bedrooms as their first work at learning to keep the good in and the bad out.

For children that have nightmares, this can be a very empowering exercise, if they are taught about the herbs and pieces of their charm as they build it and ask the Gods to use its power to protect him or her.

When washing your windows, see to it that a small amount of cider vinegar is in your solution to cleanse away the negative viewpoints, both from you and toward you and your home. Likewise with floors to see to it that anything trodden in upon the feet of those you love-especially unwitting younglings that often forget to wipe their feet at the door and rarely realize what they’ve been walking in until its too late-be it physically or spiritually.

Smudge the home whenever there has been stress in the house, for it only takes a moment to open a window or door for a brief few minutes, ask some air in to cleanse the thoughts and bring peaceful flow to the home again, and assisting whatever may be tempted to get “sticky” in the home toward a more positive end than remaining to stress your world.

I smudge my home at least once per week…more when the week has been rough and the world has been tough to handle. Many Native American women smudge their family’s feet nearly every time they come in from a day of work. Again, the practice can be taken to whatever degree you find most useful and comforting.

Every day, in a home blessed regularly and cleansed with intent regularly, you will find it far easier to wake up grateful for your life and happy with the space it takes place in. If there are things you don’t like or that you wish to change, then apply yourself and the magick and make it happen! But always be grateful for each stage on the path to that dream home or that dream life.

When you bring your pride in ownership into your life more fully, you show the Universe that you care deeply for the fruits of blessing it has already gifted your life with and if you do not take care of it…likewise you show the Universe that you don’t give a really good damn what the Gods present to you.

This kind of uncaring slovenliness can often bring a reaction from the Universe that you don’t want.

For after all, do you keep giving gifts to someone that consistently abuses, neglects, tosses aside and breaks the gifts you spend your hard earned energy to buy or make for them? Of course not, it’s wasteful and rather silly.

Likewise, the Gods do not take kindly to having the gifts They bestow looked upon as “spoils of war” to be used and abused “any damn way we want to!”

Like the hardship of quitting any bad habit, making our lazy human selves get up out of that chair and tidy our home after a long week is sometimes a difficult task. But even the task of cleaning and ordering the home becomes a dancing ritual if you make it so.

Have FUN with it; fill your home with laughter and joy as you clean-put on a comedy DVD! But however you need to do it, light the incense, perhaps a candle or two and get to work!

The rewards are definitely worth it!!!