Lady of the Earth

Lady of the Earth

Excellent resource for candle magic (and the rest of the site is good too).

A lot of info I've printed out for copying to my BoS... just keeping the link for later here.

Answer to a spell advice question

I talk to a girl at Facebook and she is always asking my advice on how to help her boyfriend out. Now, normally I wouldn't answer stuff about this issue as I believe that telling people what to do, craft wise, is not a good thing as it stops you from finding your own way and stunts your own craft-style from being found. General queries are fine, but giving out stuff to be said by rote (that you haven't had any input in creating) well, to me it feels all wrong.

But that's maybe just me... every time I've done stuff "from a book" it either feels very wrong or never works.

Anyway, I received this message yesterday and I felt I couldn't just leave her twisting in the wind:

My bf is in a really horrible position... he was beaten and neglected as a child and he is really sad right now where he is at he is always in a bad mood and he is never happy :( it makes me sad because i want to help him but i really dont know how, do you know any chants or spells i can do to clear negative energy from his life? And I just really want him to be okay so I really want an effective spell and I dont really have that many tools to do spells but I am very determined to channel all my energy and power to making this work... And if someone says magic can't help then I am officially giving up on the craft.

I sent her this reply, and I wonder where most of it came from? I just started typing and before I knew it the message was almost ready to go (apart from the words "aura cleansing", I couldn't think of the name and had to google for help, and while I was reading about it the part about catching the ash come up so I "borrowed" it and added it in to stop her from setting herself on fire, lol).

Seeing as all types of incense give me a headache it's not something I could ever perform myself, neither have I done it in the past, so how I got this in my head, I have no idea (very weird).

The rhyme I added as people seem to like them and I do find that something that rhymes sticks in my head and I remember it much easier than just words (of course when doing something "ab lib" normal words are all I have and they work just as well, but the poet in me seems to routinely prepare stuff that rhymes, so I have it and I use it).

This is the second time I've sent her something to do for her man and I'm wondering why she singled me out? Maybe my name (at FB I am minty.the.pagan), but her very first message to me was asking for help with her fella, and she always sounds so desperate to help him out, and he seems to have so much emotional baggage! I suppose if she does it and gets results, then it's all good :o)

Magic will only get you so far, hun, the rest has to come from within himself. It's a bit like going on a journey, the transport cannot take you there if you don't get to the transport in the first place.

Smudging is good for clearing negativity from buildings and places and I'm sure it can do the same for people. It's called "aura cleansing" and it helps to get rid of all the nasty emotions and other things we pick up throughout our lives.

You need to buy smudge sticks (your local craft supply store can help you there) and then you need to sit him down, or a picture of him or something else of his and imagine a protective circle of white of violet light surrounding you all and keeping all bad thoughts and things out. Then light the smudge stick (following the instructions) and walk around the object you are cleansing, wafting the smoke about them as you go... kind of "push" the smoke into the person/object and as the smoke rises visualise all of the negativity and past hurt getting caught up in the smoke and being carried away with it (you will probably need to open a window, or preferably perform this outside so that the smoke can freely flow away from you).

You could say a few words whilst you do this, but it's not really necessary, the smoke will do it for you. However, if you feel the need to say something to focus your mind, you could repeat:

"Smoke that cleanses, smoke of peace,

Bring back joy, make badness cease."

Keep saying this for as long as you need to or until the smudge stick goes out.

If you cannot find smudge sticks, then stick incense is just as good, either your favourite scent or something known for healing like lavender.

One tip: if you are walking around holding burning things please remember to carry something to catch the ash that they will drop (all over the floor if you don't catch it... been there, had to clean the carpet when the ash fell on it).

I wish you many blessings, and your boyfriend is very lucky to have someone that is so ready to help him heal... however, the craft cannot cure everything and anyone that tells you that it can is lying. If your bf is not ready to let the negativity go then the spell will have no effect... the spell can only aid those that are ready to move on... it can help you to release things, it cannot force you to do so.

What to do for Mabon?

At the moment I have no idea and the festival is rapidly approaching.

I'm going to have to do some research and see if my pain-addled brain can come up with something... far too often I let festivals slip past without marking them, and I can't keep doing so as I feel really guilty when I do!

It will be nothing huge or demanding, as I'm assuming that my arm will still be hurting (and if I plan something taking that into account and it turns out that my arm is better, than I've lost nothing and can always add stuff "ad-lib"). I'll have to have a think and see what I can come up with.

Hawk's Cry: The Blog of a Witch on Paganism, Witchcraft, Wicca, Magick, Occult, Pagan Hymns, Prayers and Rituals

Hawk's Cry: The Blog of a Witch on Paganism, Witchcraft, Wicca, Magick, Occult, Pagan Hymns, Prayers and Rituals

Info about the Witches Square.

Wicca: For the Rest of Us - The Witches' Pyramid or the Four Powers of the Magus

Wicca: For the Rest of Us - The Witches' Pyramid or the Four Powers of the Magus

Reflections at the Magick Tree: The 13 Virtues of a Witch

Reflections at the Magick Tree: The 13 Virtues of a Witch

Very interesting... I must remember all of these... will print them out so that I can read them and then copy them into my BoS.

Pathworking meeting finally makes sense!

Years ago I did a pathworking... it was my only time and I didn't get very far with it before I was warned off (short story, the face of the Goddess morphed into something with huge serpent-like fangs as I tried to hug her, and I was scared and took it as a sign that I wasn't ready to go further at that time).


Anyway... before I was scared off I had got to a clearing where I saw the Lord and Lady... now the Lady was beautiful with long silver blonde hair and she was wearing clothes that sort of reminded me of the kind of clothes that peasant girls used to wear in the Medieval period (just like Aurora/Sleeping Beauty wears when she's hidden from Maleficient)... so over the years I've come to associate the Lady I saw with Selene, Goddess of the Moon. I've felt connected to the moon for years, so that makes sense (well, to me, lol).

Now, the Lord that was with her was half man/half goat, and I always wondered if it was Pan, Cernnunos or a deity as yet unknown to me. Lately I've been somehow drawn to Pan, but I could never see a connection between Pan and Selene. The info on Selene is meagre, to say the least and I don't recall reading about Pan (although it is mentioned very briefly in the Wiki article about Selene, although at the time I first read her article a year ago I was not even registering male deities, I was more eager to learn about her. I haven't read it since then until I just went and read it following a link from the Pan entry to cross-reference it).

However, tonight I found something whilst reading the Pan entry at Wikipedia that suddenly made my pathworking make sense:

Quote:

Erotic aspects Pan is famous for his sexual powers, and is often depicted with a phallus. Diogenes of Sinope, speaking in jest, related a myth of Pan learning masturbation from his father, Hermes, and teaching the habit to shepherds. Pan's greatest conquest was that of the moon goddess Selene. He accomplished this by wrapping himself in a sheepskin to hide his hairy black goat form, and drew her down from the sky into the forest where he seduced her.

That would explain why they were in the clearing, sitting by a fire together as I approached them... they were lovers. I couldn't have known that two years ago, I'd never even heard of Selene then and I'd never read anything about the Greek Pantheon (I only had a basic knowledge, the kind you pick up without even realising it). I only fully realised they were connected to each other (apart from being in the same pantheon) about 30 minutes ago... but I was told two years ago.

To say I'm stunned is an understatement!

Finally gave my thanks for Mabon

I was a day late, as I felt too ill yesterday, but I have just done what I wanted to do.

I thanked Selene for allowing me to have her as my patron Goddess, and then I took a small red apple, cut it in two (across not vertically) and I used it as a thank you to the Earth (not a god, but the actual planet).

I said (and I can't remember the exact owrds, but it went something like this).

"I thank you, Planet Earth for everything you have given me, and everyone else this year so far. I cut this apple in two as a thank you, one half for the food and water I have had, and the other half for the food and water that I have yet to consume.

For all of your bounty, I thank you... and I bury this small apple as my symbol of thanks to you."

And then I buried it. After I'd done that I thanked Selene again for the strength she gives me to face each day, I fed the birds and came indoors.

I feel happy now, as I usually forget to mark the festivals, and feeling ill hasn't helped (damn this stupid cold!), so I'm glad that I did something, even though it was small and late (which is better than nothing and never, lol!)


I shall light a votive and place it in my cauldron later, too... and I shall write a proper prayer to Selene, and not something just "off the cuff". My aging memory means that I always seem to forget what I've just said, and therefore don't have an accurate record of my workings.

I wonder...

... if there is "something" watching over me. Whenever bad things happen there always seems to be a good outcome from them, in some way or another. Or maybe it's just the way that I seem to handle things lately. Take work... we always seem to get people in at the last minute (and have our bacon saved, so to speak).

Rarely (not wanted to tempt Fate, so touch wood, lol) has anything truly terrible happened that we haven't been able to get through (Mum and me, usually). Maybe it's because we are determined and stubborn, or maybe as Mum is a born survivor and it's slightly rubbed off on me... or maybe we get each other through tough things, I don't know.

It just seems strange that I've accepted Selene as my patron goddess and things are starting to look up for me. I wonder if it's a welcome home gift from Her... for some reason I want to thank Her for giving me the strength and optimism to get through the last few months. Everytime that I've felt nervous or anxious or I've felt myself starting to stress something has happened to take my mind off of it... usually something connected to the moon - like, I'll be trying not to worry about something and I'll have the urge to look up and there will be My Lady, shining down on me and the worry just disappears.

I think that is the greatest power of the gods... their ability to help us when we don't even realise it... there is something in me that shrinks away from bothering a deity with my very human troubles (I think they have enough to do without listening to my moaning and whining and asking to be helped out of the pits I dig myself in this life!) but I think that Selene has been subtly helping me, all of this time, from the moment that I first came across Her (or rather from the moment that She allowed me to find and connect with Her). I have sometimes felt an inner strength that I never knew I had (and I don't recall having it before I found Her) so I can only assume that She gave it to me, or maybe She woke up that part of me that has been dormant all of this time... whatever it was that happened, I don't know, but I doubt that I did it myself (or I would have done it years ago).

So, thank you, My Lady, thank you.

Chosen

I've finally come to the conclusion that I am a "Moon's girl"... more specifically Selene, the Greek goddess. No matter what pantheon or gods I read about I am always drawn back to her. I wake with her name on my lips, I think about her all the time (nothing dirty, I assure you, lol) and every time I see the moon I seem to drift into a sense of utter contentment and serenity. I become really calm and I can't stop smiling ( I can even calm myself by thinking about the moon during the day or in times of stress or anger which is good for me, it really is, it's something that I will have to remember to do, though, I easily forget).

I don't know why I tried to fight it or find 'something better'... I can only put it down to envying those around me their gods, and not paying proper attention to my own! **facepalm**

I started wondering and asking myself why I was constantly searching for a deity when one was right there in front of me the whole time!! So I've stopped looking and I feel better for it. It feels wonderful to finally have a sense of belonging, somehow. I have no way of really explaining it, other than to say that I feel as though I'm a real pagan now (not to say that those with no gods or beliefs in them aren't real pagans, it's just something that I never thought would happen to me, being chosen by a deity, and it's something that I've wanted for so very long, and it's a wonderful feeling to have it finally happen). Will have to do something to mark the occasion, either at Mabon or Samhain (Samhain would be better, I can better plan a little something and it's my favourite festival) as well as the new year.

Start a new year by accepting a Goddess... sounds good to me!

Found my old BoS

I found my BoS the other day...it was inside a box at the bottom of my wardrobe. I had a quick browse through it (it was a quick browse, too, as I'd only written two pages, lol). I had last written in it over two years ago, Beltane 2007. I'd done a self dedication to the Gods using a Wicca based ritual that I'd found in a book and adapted. Looking at the 5 pages of guff that I once used, I can't believe that I actually said it...just goes to show how much I've grown/matured/mellowed in my path since then!

When I think of how different my path is now to how I started out, it's hard to believe one led into the other.

I remember when I first started exploring paganism...I started with Wicca (I think that most people do as it's the most widely written about pagan branch), but I quickly realised that it wasn't enough for me. I got sick of hearing all the merry-meet's, blessed be's and all of the other word pairings that have been used by people that seem to bring nothing but scorn onto the pagan community. Or maybe I grew to hate the words because whenever I have used them I have been advised not to...by people who need to shut the hell up on later reflection, but at the time they made me feel like some sort of second class pagan for using them...like they were going to catch "fluffy" disease from the mere words. There is only so much eye rolling and snide little comment/s that a person can take before you just give in and stop doing something! Sad as that is.

Or maybe it's a kind of test, of sorts...you can tell the growth of the pagan by the words they use...people that are new or uncertain in their path use words that make them feel as if they belong, whereas people that have explored more and are now secure in their beliefs no longer need them, or find others to replace them that have deeper meaning, like FFF (flag, flax and fodder) or HOH (hand on heart).

I don't know...maybe I'm reading far too much into things.

On the other hand, why should people not use words like blessed be if they want to...there is nothing wrong with the words...they are just a way of saying bless you, or something of that sentiment.

Maybe the problem lies in the fact that they are Wiccan words and most pagans that are not Wiccans are horrifed at the thought of people thinking of them as Wiccan...I think that Wicca is the pagan leper...always there for slagging off and putting down, to keep at a distance for fear of being contaminated...so much for tolerance!!

I'm kind of angry to find that I have become a sort of pagan snob that looks down on people for the things that they believe...in actual fact I'm horrifed!! I never thought that I would become so jaded and unaccepting of people based purely on the words that they say...and they are not even nasty words, they are just words that I have come to treat as inferior by people that consider them inferior. Trying very hard to prove that I'm not a Wiccan to people whose opinion really doesn't matter one hell of alot.

Elitist Pagans...just as bad as, if not worse than, the very people that they dislike...in fact the people that they dislike are normally much nicer than they are, because they don't look down on people or consider them less than pagan because they dare to do things that Elitist's despise!!

Screw the Elistist's!! From now on if I want to say words, I will bloody well say them! No-one is going to make me feel inferior for saying words that I like...if people feel better by making others feel small and inconsequential then that is their problem, not mine...I don't like it, I won't do it and I am past the point of caring what others think about me now.