Moons and Totems 6

Everybody knows their western astrological profile and most people also know their eastern, or Chinese, astrological sign as well, but few know their moon profile from the Native American culture and the totems for each moon. As with the two more mainstream belief systems, the moon totem profiles are not only a very accurate read of an individual's personality, but they also add a rich dimension to who we are and where our weaknesses and powers come from.

Planting Moon

April 11-May 10

People of the Planting Moon are very hard workers who excel at preparing for each task and the start of new projects, working out every detail in advance and knowing exactly where they are going every step of the way. They're methodical and reliable and put a great deal of effort and enthusiasm into anything they put their mind to. Planting Moon people are people of the light, of new ideas and fresh starts but they can be stymied by their own abilities. They often tend to become overwhelmed by the task at hand, and no matter how carefully they prepare for it, can become lost in the details and confused about their ultimate goal. They aren't lazy, but without clarity they'll prefer to simply do nothing rather than forge ahead.

The element for this moon is air and the animal totem is the beaver. Like the beaver, the people of this moon can keep themselves very busy all day long and often well into the night, yet somehow never seem to finish the job they've begun. They're great at beginning new projects and working long hours, but being able to bring it all to a conclusion on their own is not their forte. The Planting Moon's plant totem is the dandelion, a strong and easily adaptable plant that's used for both culinary and medicinal purposes and its mineral totem is citrine. Citrine is a powerful stone used to channel the willpower needed to achieve one's goals, as well as granting courage and confidence and eliminating self-destructive tendencies. The color for this moon, vividly orange- yellow like its plant and mineral, is saffron. Worn by holy men the world over, this is the color of the rising sun and of a fresh spring day.

Everyone is most compatible with those people born under the moon opposite to their own and the opposite moon of the Planting Moon is the Harvest Moon (October 11-November 10).

Photo courtesy of Dan Newcomb Photography.

Higher Consciousness is a Beautiful Thing

Even those of us who are fairly well tuned into the energy out there: our own, that of others, the earth's, sometimes experience those moments we all occasionally have of a sort of hyper-awareness of all that is and all that has been. When it's on a personal level, Gurdjieff referred to these fleeting feelings of acute self-awareness as true self consciousness (as opposed to that awkward feeling we get when we need to do something in front of others that makes being in our own skin uncomfortable). But sometimes this feeling is more akin to universal consciousness, where the whole shebang becomes radiantly clear for just a moment or two.

The other night I built a big, beautiful outdoor fire. It had nothing to do with any sabbat or esbat, nor was it intended to be of a spiritual nature at all. It was, in fact, merely a way to clean up some spring yard waste and destroy quite a bit of old paper files that I finally cleaned out of the old filing cabinet in the cellar. (It was pointed out to me that this wasn't exactly eco-friendly, but it was efficient as hell and quite lovely to sit before, so sue me if I enjoyed it).

So, as I sat there on a chilly night before this gorgeous fire, I couldn't help but think of all the people through the ages who have sat before fires on dark and cold nights for various reasons. This thought warmed my heart and was just the beginning of my mind making a great many spiritual and philosophical connections (sometimes it doesn't take much for me to get rolling). And those feelings that occasionally overwhelm us all with such emotion, such joy and such awe rocketed through me for a moment or two and were gone, leaving in their wake that sweet feeling one feels when truly experiencing the inter-connectedness of all that is.

There is nothing on earth quite like experiencing this and it can be felt in the smallest and most humble of moments. It doesn't require being in a majestic place, though that would be sure to trigger these feelings. No, it can be felt anywhere, anytime. And it's in these moments that simultaneously emphasize the enormity of the universe and the incredible interconnectedness of everything within it (ourselves included) while also making us painfully aware of just how small and insignificant we are, that really gives the soul an energy charge it needs to continue on its journey towards enlightenment.

"Stars over the Church of the Good Shephard, Lake Tekapo, New Zealand" courtesy of petatt on flickr.

Goodbye Sorrow

There are times in our lives when we experience great sadness (for a variety of reasons) and during those times it's important to be gentle and allow ourselves to heal at our own pace. For some of us, this is a fairly quick process, but for others it can linger on, never fully dissipating and making our day to day life more difficult than usual. If you feel it's about time you got back to business, but are having a bit of trouble actually making this happen, perhaps a quiet energy releasing ritual is in order to take that last step to reclaiming your heart.

What you'll need:

nine very small white candles

one large red Goddess candle

a glass or small chalice of red wine

a few borage flowers

a sheet of paper and a pen

a cauldron

sandalwood incense

This ritual is best done at night, outdoors beneath the dark of the new moon, to facilitate a new beginning and new inner strength. Write on your paper all your feelings you wish to purge. It can be long or short in length, but pour the pain of your heart into every word and fold it up into a small square. Place the white candles in a small circle around your cauldron and place the red candle to the right of it and the incense to the left of the cauldron within that circle. Cast your larger circle first if you wish and call the quarters, or simply start by sitting before your candles and meditating, grounding your energy with the earth's. Light the nine healing candles deosil beginning at the top and then light the incense. Light the red candle and call upon a Goddess you feel comfortable working with: perhaps Athena for wisdom and strength, or Laetitia for happiness. Ask her to help you find your inner strength, the joy you've had trouble reclaiming, or to show you the clarity needed to see the wisdom of your experience.

Recite this spell (or write your own to chant):

No more sorrow, no more pain,

My heart is free to live again.

I release those bonds that held me tight

and embrace my spirit's powerful light.

(Chant until you've raised enough energy to release your sadness, then conclude with)

By the power of three times three, As I will it, so mote it be.

Light your square of paper on fire with the Goddess candle and let it burn to embers in your cauldron. Take a few borage flowers and place them in the chalice of wine. (If you don't drink alcohol, grape juice is a perfectly fine alternative). Drink half the wine and save the other half to make an offering to the Goddess. If you've cast a circle and wish to pour it away from where you are, offer it into the earth once the circle has been broken. If you have chosen to not cast a circle, you may pour the wine into the earth whenever and wherever you wish. Cast the ashes of your note to the earth as well.

When you're ready, snuff out the Goddess candle, thanking her for aiding you in your work, then snuff out the white candles widdershins. Allow your incense to burn down. Break circle if you have cast one and begin to feel yourself healing at last.

(As always, use common sense and the utmost care when working with fire. Use caution with your dish or cauldron of choice, your hair or your sleeves. Never leave a burning item unattended and when discarding anything burned back into the earth, be sure it is fully burned out and cool. Never discard a burning or smoldering object where it can cause damage.)

Photo courtesy of MatgorzataW on flickr.

A Brief Hiatus

I've been post-less for almost two weeks now due to a family crisis and most likely won't be back for some time to come (hopefully not too long though). There is just no way, given the circumstances I am dealing with, that I can focus enough to actually write something worth reading. I hope you'll bear with me during this difficult time and will still be here waiting for me when I return. Take care, much peace to you all, and a blessed Ostara as well!

Feathers in Ritual

I've been on a quest to find a perfect crow feather for both my medicine bag, as well as to use in ritual, and anyone in my life with ears (regardless of whether they even give a damn or not) has heard my endless kvetching over how lacking my magickal life is without this feather. I have all sorts of found feathers from all variety of birds: gull, jay, starling, robin, duck, chicken, male cardinal, and even an enormous and lovely wild turkey feather. But not a single crow, despite the woods behind my house being full of crows. It was suggested I gently ask the birds for a feather and perhaps leave an offering for them in return, but alas, still no feather has appeared. Now, the turkey feather is beautiful, and I know Ben Franklin was madly in love with the wild turkey (even going so far as to try to talk all his cronies into making it our national bird instead of the eagle), but to be honest, turkeys just don't for it for me. Not in any way, magickal or not. I want a crow feather and for me nothing else will do for the crow speaks deeply to me on so many levels.

Used in magickal ritual, feathers can channel energy and as they are ruled by the element of air, bring more open communication to your ritual, thus making your incantations more successfully heard. Calmer species of birds bring a sense of peace to a ritual, while those from more aggressive birds or hunters are ideal for defensive magick and spells that require more oomph. Likewise, the color of the bird's feather is equally as important as the species. Some of the more common bird feathers to be found and used are:

blackbird: ancient wisdom, inner knowledge and hidden insights

blue jay: courage to speak one's personal truth

cardinal: confidence

chickadee: joy and cheer

chicken: sacrifice, fertility

crow: magick, mystery, messenger from the realm of Spirit

dove (this includes pigeons): peace, gentleness and feminine energy

duck: emotional balance

eagle: spirit and power

hawk: strength, a messenger from Spirit

hummingbird: joy, boundless energy, hope

owl: wisdom, magickal visionary energy, feminine energy, secrets

robin: new beginnings, creative energy

sparrow: fertility, home

turkey: blessings and generosity

woodpecker: sacred rhthyms, hard work

With spring just around the corner, now is the time to keep your eyes open for freshly dropped feathers to use in your rituals. And to give thanks, be sure to leave a small offering that busy nest-building birds will appreciate.

Photo courtesy of hedgewytchhaven.com.

Crystal Ball

Crystallomancy is just what you think it is: the ability to accurately read a crystal or crystal ball and it's something I've always wanted to be able to do. Last week I bought myself my first crystal ball, a pristine clear dusky purple crystal that also reads blue in some light. I held an amazing clear quartz ball and an even more incredible amethyst ball but they were loaded with striations that I felt would make my first attempts at reading more difficult. That and their exorbitant price tags. I mean, what if I don't ever get the hang of this? How could I justify spending that much money on what would become merely a gorgeous paperweight, albeit one with really great energy?

So I spent some time handling and getting to know my new crystal ball, then I carefully cleansed it and a few days later sat down one evening for my first try at reading it. I'm aware that this form of divination is considered to be one of the most difficult to master, so I was prepared for a challenge. But seriously, this was hard. To begin with, I had trouble with my light source and despite fussing with my candles and dimming the room lights up and down, and up and down again and again for a good twenty minutes or so, I never truly did find a comfortable amount of light with which to work. I relaxed and grounded and then threw up around me a bubble of safety. And at last I was ready to try to read. Sigh. I managed to find my soft eyes, that sort of pre-trance, almost day-dreamy feeling I get when I read auras or do a visualized journey. But an hour later I had seen nothing at all, not even a wisp, and I had managed to give myself a bit of a sore neck and a violent and unexpected case of extreme nausea that took more than two horrible hours to subside.

Needless to say, my ball and I have kept a fairly respectful distance from one another since that night while I await the arrival of three new books on mastering the art of crystal gazing since I think it best I not try my hand at this again without at least a small amount of guidance beforehand. I'm anxious to give it as many tries as I need in order to begin to actually see something, but I'd prefer to do it without incapacitating myself for hours on end. Trust me, nothing is worth feeling the way I did that night, not even foretelling a strange and glorious future. And until my books arrive, I'll just have to admire my beautiful new purple-blue paperweight safely from across the room.

John William Waterhouse, The Crystal Ball, 1902 (detail)

Healing Gemstones

A selection of healing gemstones. Clockwise from the top: lapis lazuli, red jasper, blue fluorite, iolite, jet, orange calcite, clear quartz crystal, tiger's eye, aventurine. In the center: apache tear.

I decided that if a chakra meditation is great for opening them within your body and a chanting chakra meditation is good for balancing them, and if certain stones can activate or relax your chakras, then why not do a prone meditation that incorporates all three elements? Why not lay flat on your back with the appropriate stones placed upon your chakras and meditate while the healing stones do their job to balance and activate each chakra? It's taken me some time to decide which of the many stones that are effective for each chakra would be the best choice for my own personal chakra issues, and then it took some more time to find the specific specimens whose energy felt in tune with mine. At long last, I have all seven (with only one being a "second choice" as my first choice couldn't be found) and am now in the process of cleansing and purifying them. Soon, I'll be ready to put them to use for the first time and I really can't wait.

Red jasper for my root chakra, orange calcite for my sacral, tiger's eye for my solar plexus, aventurine for my heart chakra (I was hoping to find some green jasper but alas it was not meant to be), blue fluorite for my throat, iolite for my third eye and quartz crystal for my crown. I also picked up a few extra stones this weekend: jet for my spiritual journey, lapis lazuli not only for my spiritual journey (this is a very powerful ancient stone) but also to help me with the dizziness I've been suffering from courtesy of an on-going inner ear issue that's now months' old, and a tiny apache tear for protection and luck.

God, do I love rocks more than just about anything. And with the exception of malachite, which I hate with a passion and always have (I like to tell people I must have been stoned to death in a previous life with this stone), I adore them all and am on a perpetual, never-ending search for more and more and more.

Moons and Totems 5

Everybody knows their western astrological profile and most people also know their eastern, or Chinese, astrological sign as well, but few know their moon profile from the Native American culture and the totems for each moon. As with the two more mainstream belief systems, the moon totem profiles are not only a very accurate read of an individual's personality, but they also add a rich dimension to who we are and where our weaknesses and powers come from.

Strong Winds Moon

February 11-March 10

This is the time of winter when the winds blow at their hardest and their coldest, thus the name given to this moon, and the night skies are at their most vivid. People born under this moon are very bright and intelligent, with unique minds and a quick wit. Often these people are light years ahead of everyone else, thus giving them the label of "odd" or "quirky." Strong Winds folks tend to be easily distracted from their tasks and need to learn to be more consistent and steadfast rather than jump rapidly from one thing to another. Being on such a vastly different wavelength from others often leads them to feel lonely and isolated, something finding a kindred spirit or two can easily solve. This sense of loneliness frequently comes across as an intense neediness, something Strong Winds people need to acknowledge and address.

The element for this moon is air and the animal totem is the goose, a bird who returns to the north at this time of year, thus heralding the return of spring and the earth's new birth. The Strong Winds Moon's plant totem is the willow, a tree whose bark is at its most vivid color this time of year; a tree that is easily bent this way and that way. The willow is a medicinal, healing plant (aspirin originates from its bark). This moon's mineral totem is moonstone which is symbolic of the great mother goddess. Moonstone balances the emotions, brings clarity to one's thinking and is very potent when working with the moon. The color for the Strong Winds Moon is dove gray, the color of dawn and of purity. This is a soft color and is symbolic of the awakening of spirit.

Everyone is most compatible with those people born under the moon opposite to their own and the opposite moon of the Strong Winds Moon is the Hunters Moon (August 11-September 10).

Photo courtesy of ER Post on flickr.

Everything in its Time

Like everyone else on this earth, there are many things in my life I wish I had never chosen to do, or for which I wish I had followed a different path, or wished something hadn't taken nearly as long as it did to work out. Life is full of "what ifs" and "I wishes" and if we dwell too much on them, we're doing a disservice to our present and even our future. People like to say 'we all make mistakes' and while it's true that it's human nature to make poor choices, if you think about it, are they really mistakes or poor judgments? In hindsight, maybe they are, but at the time we do/don't do those things we so wish we could go back and change, they are right for us (even if they're ultimately bad for us). I believe that everything happens for a reason and sometimes it all really sucks, but whatever is happening in our lives at any given time is what we need when we need it.

Someone very close to me likes to argue that this belief is silly as it means our entire lives are planned out in advance for us and thus free will doesn't exist, but I don't agree. I believe that before we come here in our present incarnations, we do plan things out. I like to think of it as a brief outline of what we desire to achieve soul-wise in this incarnation. Are all the details laid out? Of course not, but the essential bones are there. And when we get into this life and begin to really live it, there are options, paths and crossroads at which we need to make the choices that will move us in one direction or another. Regardless of whether or not we've forgotten what it is we are meant to learn this time around, those "choice moments" are presented to us and we either go the right way for that previously drawn up soul outline or we go another route; a route which may take us to the same place albeit in a very roundabout way, or one that has us miss our "moment" entirely and perhaps learn other lessons or even nothing at all. At those times we either have to hope for another moment in time when we can make the needed decision or risk having to repeat that part of our soul's journey once again in another life. But regardless, everything is in its time; perfectly in its time. And everything we do and say and act on happens when it is meant to, even if it takes you half a lifetime to realize someone you've tried to love is not a very nice person and needs to be jettisoned from your life. Or you were meant to be a missionary and not a school janitor. Or you're never, ever going to master the violin enough to make it a lucrative career despite decades of hard work.

As humans, it's in our nature to regret that which isn't perfect to our eyes and to be self-critical to the nth degree, but life isn't about easy or perfect or timely, nor is it about our own feelings of regret or our own shortcomings we wish we didn't have, it's about the end result and that- despite our fears of having wasted so much time- is going to take just as long as it's meant to.

Silvery Snow

Winter came down to our home one night

Quietly pirouetting in on silvery-toed slippers of snow,

And we, we were children once again.

-Bill Morgan, Jr.

Photo courtesy of krystian_o on flickr.