Spell For Needed Change

Thought I already had this posted here somewhere, but couldn’t find it so posting again, since I need to reference it for someone. Sorry I haven’t posted anything else in a while… I’m going through a weird phase. Will be more than happy when I snap out of it!! XD

Anyways…

Spell For Making a Much Needed Change

Purpose:

The purpose of this spell is to strengthen resolve and bring about much needed change. It was originally written to be used in conjunction with a New Year’s Resolution, but is great for whenever you have a specific change or goal you are trying to reach. It can be done as a group ritual or solitary ritual. If being done as a group each person would need their own materials.

Items Needed:

• Gold Candle (small ones are fine): to represent each person  (Gold helps to increase understanding and knowledge, for harmonizing wills and emotions, for hope, healing, strength and success).

• Incense (chose one of the following, or if you have one you prefer that is fine as well): Frankincense (raising power), Sandalwood (grounding/centering)

• Oil (for anointing the candle…if you have it): peppermint (for encouraging change) You only need a  small amount of the oil for each candle, if you want you can add something personal to the oil mixture that will help strengthen the bond to the person the candle represents – (such as a small drop of spit, blood, sweat, etc… )

• Small bowl (if mixing anything with your oil)

When to do the spell:

This spell was originally written to be done during the Waxing Moon, so that it would help to increase ones resolve to make a much needed change. So that would be the best time to do it.

What to do:

• Cast a circle, call the Guardians, Elements, Corners, etc… and Invoke the God/ess – however you would normally do before a ritual.

• Take a few moments to ground and center. Meditate if you want on your goals and the changes you are looking to make in your life.

• At this point formally state your “resolution”…what your specific goal/change is. Say it aloud, clearly and firmly. If you are trying to quit smoking, lose weight, get a new job, etc… My goal is to …

• On your candle inscribe the goal you are trying to reach, or the change that you are trying to make. While you are doing this clearly see yourself reaching that goal/making that change, keep that visualization fixed in your mind as you inscribe the candle.

• Take a moment with your oil (or oil mix), hold the bowl in your hand and visualize all the things that you will need to do/change in order to achieve your goal. Fix the images clearly in your mind, then pour all those visualizations into the oil. Peppermint oil is great for encouraging change, so we want to charge it up with everything we can think of to help us over the coming months, as we work toward successfully reaching our goal.

• Anoint the candle with the oil. Continue to see yourself doing the things that you were visualizing in the previous step. When you are done, place the candles on the North side of your altar, so that you are starting from a strong foundation.

• Take a moment to think about the “resolution” you are making, know that when you make it you will keep it, and you will be successful in reaching your goals. Take a deep cleansing breath and say the following:

A resolution
Made on this night
A needed change
Our goal’s in sight
 
An extra boost
Is all we need
To find success
Our goals achieved
 
So added strength
Is what we ask
Lend us power
To stay the task
 
Successful change
Is what I see
So as I will
So mote it be

• Allow the candle(s) to burn out on their own, as they burn your intentions are released into the universe so that they may manifest and allow you to be successful in keeping the resolution that you have made.

If you have any other things to do in your ritual circle, you can do them now, otherwise you can end your ritual. Be sure to thank the God/ess for their assistance (if necessary), release the Guardians/elements, and banish the circle.

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Mercury Retrograde

*cries*

Like I wasn’t already having motivation issues – in terms of communication, now this… ugghhh!!

I will get my ass in gear soon, I swear, but it’s been a bit crazy. Between working like 7 days a week, and having to go out of town on a family emergency, it’s not left me much time to have coherent thoughts of my own. Which of course makes it hard to write anything, or do anything that requires a bit of calm or focus.

I tend to celebrate on the actual astronomical dates rather than “generally accepted”, which this go around makes for an interesting combination, as it turns out Mercury is going into Retrograde starting today as well. So anyways, hope everyone has been having/had a wonderful holiday – whatever you celebrate around this time.

Hopefully soon, I will get back to our regularly scheduled program!! XD

P.S…

If you live in the USA – GO VOTE!!!!!!

 

 

 

(S) Sabbat: Fall Equinox

While I don’t have a whole lot that I do on a regular basis, the Sabbats are something that I do make a point of acknowledging, even if it’s only briefly. Being Eclectic I do tend to sort of do my own thing – and while I do honor my God and Goddess, there are other aspects of the Sabbats that I honor as well.

I’m clearly a child of Fall, I relish in the crisp weather, the bright oranges and yellows as the leaves start to turn – that smoky smell in the air, of wood stoves or fireplaces that have been lit… and everything else that comes along with it. Spring runs a close second, but my true love is Fall. For quite a while I never quite knew what to do with myself on Mabon, and in truth I rarely call it that – preferring simply the Fall Equinox. At first glance it’s a sort of in between day – you’ve already celebrated one harvest, and if you really need to, there’s another one coming up… but that is the sort of beauty of it, when one takes a closer look (or at least there is for me).

Both Lughnasadh and Samhain have other components to them, that often overshadow their “harvest festival” aspect. So much so that I’ve really come to appreciate this particular day, as my actual day to celebrate the “harvests” of the year, and leave the other days to their other aspects. I rarely cook – it’s not something that I enjoy all that much and hubby is so much better at it than I am. He has that special gift of being able to throw things in a pot and no matter what it is, it almost always comes out amazing. A gift that I sorely lack. However on the Equinox, I usually will put forth the effort, and make it a true “thanksgiving” feast for the family.

This year, celebrations will be slightly tempered though – while I am thankful for a lot (and some things are a lot better than they were the last couple of years, so I am thankful), it’s been a pretty bad month so far. Even though it’s been almost 15 years, events earlier in the month brought the reality of my mother’s death crashing back down on me. Then – while I was still dealing with that, got a call from my dad that he likely has skin cancer, and (in his words) “hope for the best, but prepare for the worst”. He’s not the type to be overly melodramatic, so needless to say, I’m a bit worried. All of which is bad enough, but then came the worst part (yes… something worse than cancer), confirmation that one of my son’s teacher assistants was more than likely physically and verbally abusing him off and on last year. He’s autistic and completely non-verbal, so had no way to tell us what was going on, and we had absolutely no idea. This was someone we thought of as a friend, and needless to say we are devastated.

So… clearly not really in a festive, or thankful mood at the moment, but it’s still important for me to mark the turning of the Wheel. So I’m looking forward to cooking a bit of something good later on, and hopefully regaining some of the inner-balance that this day is good for.

Hope you and yours have a wonderful Sabbat!!

P.S… if anyone is in need of a good balancing ritual this is one I wrote several years back, feel free to use/modify as needed (please credit me though if you are posting it elsewhere). 🙂

Pagan Pride 2012

Action, Action:  Despite my usual issues with PPD, I almost always go, as I do feel that it is important to support my local Pagan community. Thought we were going to get rained out, but it dried up just long enough for us to take a run out to the Fair Grounds for the Central NC Pagan Pride festival.

There wasn’t really any workshops that I was interested in this year, but hubby and the kids tagged along and we picked up some nice Elderberry Syrup from Swanfire Farms, and got some info on Starrlight Mead. Which while they weren’t allowed to sell at PPD, are just a bit down the way in Pittsboro. So definitely going to have to take a little road trip and pick some up! There was a nice bit of drumming going on when we got there though, so thought I’d share a pic and music to keep the mood going.

Post a Pic:

One Tribe

Musical Musings: Not from this year, or even a PPD, but this is the group that was leading the drumming. Well worth a listen!!

(P) Pagan Pride

This post is primarily based on an experience that occurred in 2008, though in all fairness it’s pretty common at almost any PPD, that I’ve been to in recent memory. As we are fast approaching PPD season, seemed like a good time to bring it up.

So…my family and I go to our local Pagan Pride Day almost every year, and though some years it’s better than others, I am often left wondering if my standards and/or expectations of other Pagans are a bit too high.

I realize too, that there are a whole group of people who categorize themselves as Pagans, who are simply “wannabes”. These are the ones who are doing this too piss off their parents, or because they saw “The Craft” once and thought it looked cool, or any number of other less than “noble” reasons.  What gets me though, is it seems to be these particular people who often show up in droves to the PPD events. Maybe they think that since it is a gathering of other Pagans, that it is ok to let loose,  not that they really have any sort of understanding of Paganism, outside of stereotypes anyways. However, I still have to question…why? Why break out the fairy wings and renaissance wear – the Harry Potter gear, and extreme Goth wear?

In this case I don’t mean people who may normally dress that way on a regular basis, but the ones – and you can tell the difference – who are dressed up like PPD is one giant Halloween party. I also understand completely the concept of ritual wear, though again (and maybe this is just a personal quirk, but I know others that feel the same way) ritual wear is generally reserved for ritual purposes only. Wearing ritual gear out into the mundane world allows it to absorb those energies, which generally leaves them kind of icky (‘cuz you know people have all sorts of crazy energetic baggage – and especially when you are around a large group of people, you never know what you are going to pick up). Then you then have to go through the effort of cleansing them, and it’s usually just better to keep them away from that sort of thing.

So we shout Pagan Pride and expect others to take us seriously, and yet if this is the public “face” that we are putting on… can we really expect for anyone to take us seriously and give us the respect we deserve? I can understand that we don’t necessarily want to exclude anyone, but part of bringing Paganism to the mainstream (or at least raising tolerance levels) is letting people know that “hey… we are just like you”. That we should be able to dress however we want (be one Pagan or otherwise) is an issue as well, but until we live in that world, it’s still seems that one should be dressing some what appropriately (not particularly fond of that word, but it will have to do). At the very least, we should not be going out of our way to dress/act in a way that perpetuates the negative stereotypes we are trying so very hard to break away from.

There are many people who have chosen a Paganism because they are seriously seeking a religion or a spiritual path that they have not been able to find elsewhere. As one of those people, I find that I resent the “intrusion” of these “wannabes”. I am sick of wading through endless amounts of fluff, to find one small shred of valid truth. Just once, I’d like to go to a Pagan gathering and come away feeling like I learned something valuable, not like I’ve been violated. If I wanted to go to the a carnival or Ren Faire, then that is where I would go. As I said in the beginning, maybe my standards are too high – but if we are ever to be taken seriously, then maybe it is time that others raised their standards as well.

(O) Being Open-Minded

Don’t be so open-minded that your brains fall out!

A friend used to be rather fond of the above quote, and as we used to find ourselves frequently in discussion with those who were often accusing us of being “close-minded“, it really became a mantra of sorts. A rallying cry for fighting the good fight. It’s a variation of one that many often attribute to Richard Dawkins, however a closer look shows that the original author is unknown.

It’s one thing to accept that almost anything is possible, but it’s quite another to blindly believe every single thing that you read, or hear someone say. While there is a lot of UPG, and “doing your own thing” when it comes to many Pagan paths, there are still many things which can be verified, or that have historical facts/evidence associated with them. It’s also good to remember that “traditions” are not called such just for the fun of it.  Most importantly, we need to keep in mind that it is not “close-minded” to challenge those who attempt to claim otherwise, in fact it really comes down to a matter of common sense.

If someone asks you why you believe in something, or why you hold a certain view point to be true – you should be able to rationally discuss (even if you don’t give out personal details) at least some of the reasons which led you to feel the way you do. If you can’t, then maybe you need to take a bit of time and really think about it. This isn’t just important as a means to satisfy someone else’s curiosity, but a serious means of gaining a deeper understanding of your own beliefs and practices.

If someone points you to sources or information that contradict something that you thought you knew – don’t dismiss it out of hand. No one likes to be wrong, but a large part of life is growing and learning new things – take the opportunity that is being given to find out if you might have missed something. At the very least you’ll come out with stronger convictions, because you are able to support your own beliefs, but on that slight possibility that you are wrong, here is your chance to learn something new.  In either case you come out better for it in the end.

This doesn’t necessarily mean that you can’t believe in whatever you want to believe in, but using critical thinking skills in these situations goes a long way to ensuring that one’s practices, and beliefs are built on a solid foundation, rather than something a bit more tenuous.

(M) Mandating Ignorance

I want to start out by saying that I have issues with both main political parties, and at this point I am more or less fed up with both of them. However given that the GOP keeps saying the most ridiculous things EVER – they are slightly higher on my “shit list” as it were, than anyone else at the moment. I also know that there are good people in our government, who are working as hard as they can, but I also recognize that it is a very uphill battle for anyone at this point. I also need to point out that I don’t actually have any issues with most Christians – I do have issue with anyone who is trying to shove their beliefs down my throat, or who is trying to impose their beliefs as being more “moral” or “just”, or in any way better than mine. In short, I just really needed to vent and get this off my chest, so here it is…

I’m not entirely sure when this was released, though I’m guessing fairly recently as it’s just now making the news. At first glance, the official 2012 State Republican Party Platform (of Texas) might not seem related to my path, or even Paganism in general. However on closer inspection, it contains language that could (at some point) affect all of us, as it gives unsettling insight into just how far the ultra-conservative Christian politicians are willing to go, in order to insure that any child born in Texas (or potentially other states, that are led by those who are like-minded) is kept as ignorant as possible to anything outside of what their own family deems important, or worth knowing. It’s worth noting, that the national GOP Party Platform (at least from previous years) contains many similar statements as well.

There are a number of issue that I have with many of their stances, however in particular is the section relating to EDUCATING OUR CHILDREN. The official stances noted here (and to be sure there are actually quite a few more in the document, but these are some of the big ones) are all disturbing to say the very least.

American Identity Patriotism and Loyalty – We believe the current teaching of a multicultural curriculum is divisive. We favor strengthening our common American identity and loyalty instead of political correctness that nurtures alienation among racial and ethnic groups. Students should pledge allegiance to the American and Texas flags daily to instill patriotism.

Early Childhood Development – We believe that parents are best suited to train their children in their early development and oppose mandatory pre-school and Kindergarten. We urge Congress to repeal government sponsored programs that deal with early childhood development.

Knowledge-Based Education – We oppose the teaching of Higher Order Thinking Skills (HOTS) (values clarification), critical thinking skills and similar programs that are simply a relabeling of Outcome-Based Education (OBE) (mastery learning) which focus on behavior modification and have the purpose of challenging the student’s fixed beliefs and undermining parental authority.

Sex Education – We recognize parental responsibility and authority regarding sex education. We believe that parents must be given an opportunity to review the material prior to giving their consent. We oppose any sex education other than abstinence until marriage.

While I have issues (as mentioned), with all of them, it’s the “Knowledge-Based Education” one that concerns me the most, and is the main reason for this post. In particular – the idea that teaching someone to think critically, and ask questions is in some how detrimental to a person. The idea that we should teach our children to literally be sheep, who should follow anything said to them by a parent (and in turn any authority figure) without asking the eternal child’s question “why?”  The idea that we should turn our children lose in the world, when they have grown to adulthood, ripe for being taken advantage of. Because someone that they trust, or who is in a position of authority will come along and they will accept at face value what that person says, because they were never taught the critical thinking skills necessary to determine that what is being said, may not be an accurate reflection of how things really are (or in some cases may be outright lies).

What this particular stance also speaks to (as well as the “Early Childhood Development” one), is that they want [Christian] parents in their state to be able to indoctrinate their children from birth, in their particular faith, and then make sure that they don’t encounter anything else that might cause them to question that faith. Or if they do encounter other ideas, that they have been “groomed” so well from birth, that it doesn’t occur to them to ask questions. To be fair it could be a parent of any faith, but clearly this seems to be a response to what these particular members of the GOP have seen as a direct attack on their “good Christian values” of late.

I’ll be honest – that there are people in my country, worse people who are in positions of power in my country, who think like this scares me. I don’t understand how we went from a country that valued Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness, to a country that is moving full on towards denying those basic human rights. They say that they want less government involvement in things, then look to use that very same government to limit the rights of those they deem unworthy.

So of course the choice is to fight back, but it is clear… oh so very clear, that things that worked in the past  – such as protesting, no longer have any real effect on anything. If you don’t have the support of the media, or a large pile of money funding you – it’s like you are completely invisible. It’s really enough to make me despair for my children, and their children – of the country that they will inherit. As the current one seems hellbent on mandating ignorance, and I for one find that totally unacceptable.

(I was going to include some other stances that I had issues with, however in the end felt that it would potentially distract from the main focus of this post, so have chosen not to include them. Just note that there is a large number of other issues that I have with this document, and in many cases they all do have “ignorance”… in some way or an other, as a core component.)

Happy Solstice

Apparently it’s really hard to find good “Summer Solstice” music on YouTube… you’d think it would be easier, but there’s really not much to pick from.

I do really like this song  though, so despite the soft poly feel, and the fact that Herne is actually a forest spirit/ghost, rather than a God, I thought I’d share it with you all.

Here’s wishing everyone a wonderful Solstice!!!

Lyrics can be found here, plus you can check out other music by Dahm the Bard as well.

Enjoy!!

Note: Apparently for some of you, there is an advertisement video below – near as I can tell it’s something that is auto-populated every time I post a link to a video. Just noting that it is not something that I added, or that has anything to do with the rest of my post, and I have no clue how to get rid of it. Sorry for any confusion.

(L) Loki =/= Loki

Huh… whaaaaa?

As anyone who has a tumblr account can probably attest, it’s hard to get through a day without at least one Avengers related image zipping through one’s dashboard. After seeing a bit of a trend regarding some particular images, it occurred to me, and especially after I saw a friend mention something similar, that there are potentially thousands of fangirls out there right now thinking that Loki is just the coolest damn thing since sliced bread. Which for some he really is… however in this case they are really all squeeeeee-ing over Tom Hiddleston’s portrayal of (Marvel’s version of) Loki, not Loki himself.

In truth who can blame them… he’s got that cheeky grin, and the devil may care attitude (among other things), and there’s just that little (or large) part of us that is always attracted to that sort of thing.  It occurs to me as well, that the same could be said about Chris Hemsworth’s Thor, so with Heathenry suddenly looking oh so sexy, it really seemed like a good time to bring front and center the fact that Marvel Asgardian mythology and actual Norse lore are two very different things.

I think it’s great that some people may find themselves truly called to a Heathen path, because of these characters. However it’s cringe-worthy to think of those who may not do their “homework” (so to speak), and who might think that the mythology from the movies/comics is accurate, or that the way that the characters look/act in them has much to do with anything of how these particular Gods are actually described in the lore.

Just something to keep in mind, and to pass on to those that you think may need the reminder. Nothing wrong with being a Loki fangirl (or any other God’s for that matter)… just make sure you know who it is you are actually honoring.

Parting Ways

If you feel the need for a spell to ensure a successful break up or to ensure an amicable parting of ways, you can use the following. But in my book break up spells are on par with  love spells (just reversed) – you are still messing with someone’s free will, especially if they aren’t the one that wants to break up. However, there are definitely times, particularly if a relationship has turned ugly, where such things may be necessary. So, if you still want to use it I suggest adding a little personal note (*) allowing for “if it is meant to be, then it will all work out in the end”.

In most cases though, I would advise just breaking up with someone the regular way. Sure…it can be a hard thing to do, but it’s generally better to go for mundane over magic, unless there is a specific reason not to.

PARTING WAYS

our paths diverged
new lives to start
what once was merged
here now must part

with blessings bright
we’ll start anew
the time is right
we know it’s true

*(see note)
As I will, so mote it be.

While normally you would do an “ending” spell with the waning moon, since this one is focused more on starting fresh, you could do it with either. The spell is fairly simple – just say it like you mean it. Also, either have a picture of the person (or have a clear image of them in your mind) while you say the words. You, of course, are welcome to add any additional materials – candles, incense, oils, etc… that you feel will help increase and focus the energy behind the spell.

disclaimer: As always, spells are not an insta-cure or guaranteed. There are many outside influences that can affect whether or not a spell works, despite our best intentions. Use at your own discretion and be aware that all actions have consequences. Any spellwork should be considered carefully before attempting.