Clearing the Decks for the Brand New Year!

Cast Out the Bad Energy: Community Gathering

Here is an ancient way of casting out demons and bringing new tidings for your friendships and family. Buy a big bag of dried beans and invite all your friends over. In ancient times, many pagan people—from the Greeks to the Incan Indians—believed that beans contained evil spirits.

Ideally performed during an eclipse when that which is hidden is revealed, procure bags of beans and invite your tribe over.  Go to your roof, a hill or wherever you can “get high.” Give everyone a handful of beans and start throwing them down one at a time, with each toss calling out whatever you want to kiss goodbye—a job, a bad relationship, whatever your personal demons may be. After you have discarded all the discord from your life, you and your friends can celebrate the lifting of your burdens. this is a fantastic way to clear the decks for new energy in the New Year. 

Bright blessings to you and Happy New Year!!!

New Year's Ritual Bonfire

In addition to your personal New Year’s ritual with the significant people in your life, I recommend the Mayan Fire Ceremony as a powerful way to bring positive change of the New Year into your life.

The Mayan Fire Ceremony was considered to open a door or portal into the spirit world that held the promise of receiving the blessings of spirit—love, healing, prosperity, peace, and anything you need for personal transformation. This ritual is also an opportunity to pay respects and make homage to your ancestors and loved ones you have lost. For this reason alone, I suggest enacting the Mayan Fire Ceremony: our culture is losing the important connection to the older people in our lives. Involving them in the rituals, ceremonies, and passages of our lives could heal a cultural rift and bring deep wisdom to all. Mayan shamans could “read” the fire in a divinatory fashion, and I hear that some modern metaphysicians can do the same. If you are fortunate enough to know anyone with such skills, invite them to your fire ceremony to share what they divine from the flames.

January 1—Mayan Fire Ceremony

What you need:

Candles in the following colors: red, yellow, green, blue, white, and black

Herbs: tobacco, rosemary, lavender, cedar, sage, and rose petals

Incense: copal, myrrh, or any resin-based incense

2 cups sugar

1 chocolate bar per person

Bells, rattles, drums, and other noisemakers

A firepot, fireplace, or safe place for an outdoor fire, paper for your intention

The candle colors represent the six directions: north, south, east, west, up, and down (or sky and earth). They also represent the different people of the world.

Gather your friends together at dusk on New Year’s Day and ask them to bring a colored candle (assign them a color), a noisemaker, and an open mind. Ask them also to write out what they want to purge from their life and bring the paper into the circle. The Mayan Fire Ceremony serves to bring positive new influences into our lives and also to dispel what no longer serves for good. This “letting go” can be anything. For me, one year ago, it was cancer, and this year it was too much clutter. For you, it could be an unhealthy relationship, a job that makes you miserable, or a cramped apartment.

Here are the steps to the ritual:

1.     Build a fire at 5:00pm and have it burning brightly as your guests arrive. Place a big bowl of herbs, flower petals, and incense near the fire.

1.     Create a circle around the fire and ask the eldest in the group to slowly draw a circle of sugar around the fire.

2.     When the elder has moved back into place in the circle, each person should light his or her candles from the fire and place it in the sugar circle, creating a mandala.

3.     Ask the youngest person to lead the group in this chant:
My life is my own
I must but choose to be better,
Vital breath of life I breathe
No more pain and strife!
Wise ones, bring us health and life
Bring us love and luck
Bring us blessed peace
On this our New Year’s Day.
Into the fire, we toss the old
Into the fire, we see our future
On this, our New Year’s Day.
Harm to none and health to all!

Everyone should rattle and drum away, making merry and rousing the good spirits. The spirits of the wise elders will join you.

After the drumming, start around the circle, beginning with the eldest. Allow people to speak about what they want to release from their life, and have them toss their “letting go” paper into the fire. Then the eldest person should lead the group in a prayer for collective hopes for the coming your, and anyone who wants to add something should also speak out wishes for positive change, for themselves and for the world.

Thank the wise elders and ancestors for their wisdom and spiritual aid by throwing some chocolate into the fire. Be sure to keep some for members of the circle to share and enjoy. The Mayans held the belief that a plentitude of offerings to the ancestors would bring more blessings. They also believed that fire ceremonies helped support the planet and all the nations of the word. Gifts to the fire signal to the elders that they can return through the door and to the other world, until you call upon them for help in the future.

Solo Spells for Busy Witches: 5 Minute Magic

Sun Moon Spell

Many of us have jobs, relationships, hobbies, children to raise, friendships, houses to clean, classes to take, beautiful things to Instagram and much more How do you incorporate your spiritual practice into a very busy life? Solo spells can be done when it works for you. First thing in the morning and last rite of the night are prayerful times to perform these spells. If you can only do spells on occasion, I suggest New Moon and Full Moon. Light a candle that will conjure the energy you desire in your life and hold it in your hand as you say aloud:

Daughters under this sun

Sisters under this moon

On this day, we receive your blessings

Sun God, bold and bright

Moon  goddess great and good—

We thank you for the days to come.

Harm to none, blessings to all.

Place the candle on your altar and let it burn for at least five minutes. When you tamp out the candle flame, visualize the blessings to come.

Heal Yourself by Letting Go: A Releasing Ritual

Taking the Waters—a Releasing Ritual

Sarasvati is a Hindu goddess of the arts, and originally a river goddess. She is invoked by individuals seeking to improve the flow of their creativity and self-transformation.

A bath blessing that will both relax and purify you is a rare and wonderful thing. To prepare yourself, place 1 quart of rough sea salt or Epson salts in a large bowl. Add the juice from 6 freshly squeezed lemons, 1/2 cup of sesame oil, and a few drops of rose and jasmine oils. Stir until the mixture is completely moistened. You can add more sesame oil if necessary, but do not add more lemon because it will make the mixture overly astringent and potentially irritating to your skin.

When your tub is one-third full, add one-quarter of the salt mixture under the faucet. Breathe in deeply ten times, inhaling and exhaling fully before you do this recitation. You may start to feel a tingling at the crown of your head. The water should still be running when you proclaim:

Sarasvati, O Harmonious One,

Goddess and mistress, I ask your guidance.

Remove from me any impurities

Of heart, spirit, and mind. I open myself to you.

My wish is to once again become whole,

Free of pain, sadness, and all that is better in me.

When the tub is full, it is time to step inside and breathe deeply ten more times. Repeat the prayer to Sarasvati, and use the rest of the salt to gently massage your body. Rest and rejuvenate as long as you like, allowing yourself to feel refreshed and renewed by the ministrations of this Hindu goddess of harmony and artistry from whom eloquence, inspiration, and blessings flow.

Make Your Own Magic Wishing Box

Keep a magic wishing box on your desk. Every so often look at it and make a wish upon your heart’s desire. It’s easy to make: Take a bowl or empty box and fill it halfway with sand. Place these suggested wish stones in any arrangement you find pleasing. When need something, hold the stone relating to your hoped for outcome, close your eyes and visualize your wish coming true. 

-agate for a new home,

-amethyst for spirituality,

-carnelian or lapis lazuli for a job,

-coral for wanting children

-fool’s gold for money, an

-rose quartz for love.

What is Your Power Flower?

Potpourri went out of fashion for a long time and I am so very glad it regained popularity some years back. Potpourri was a medieval tradition revived by the Victorians, who used the symbolic meanings and powers of flowers. Grow them in your kitchen garden or buy cut flowers. Dry them; then place them in a pretty container. Choose flowers that you are drawn to or connect with your personal energy.

Choose flowers that connect with your astrological sign and personal energy from the following list:

Aries, ruled by Mars: carnation, cedar, clove, cumin, fennel, juniper, peppermint, and pine

Taurus, ruled by Venus: apple, daisy, lilac, magnolia, oak moss, orchid, plumeria, rose, thyme, tonka bean, vanilla, violet

Gemini, ruled by Mercury: almond, bergamot, mint, clover, dill, lavender, lemongrass, lily, parsley

Cancer, ruled by the Moon: eucalyptus, gardenia, jasmine, lemon, lotus, rose, myrrh, sandalwood

Leo, ruled by the Sun: acacia, cinnamon, heliotrope, nutmeg, orange, rosemary

Virgo, ruled by Mercury: almond, cypress, bergamot, mint, mace, moss, patchouli

Libra, ruled by Venus: catnip, marjoram, mugwort, spearmint, sweet pea, thyme, vanilla

Scorpio, ruled by Pluto: allspice, basil, cumin, galangal, ginger

Sagittarius, ruled by Jupiter: anise, cedar wood, sassafras, star anise, honeysuckle

Capricorn, ruled by Saturn: mimosa, vervain, vetiver

Aquarius, ruled by Uranus: gum, almond, acacia, cypress, lavender, mimosa, peppermint, pine

Pisces, ruled by Neptune: anise, catnip, clove, gardenia, lemon, orris, sarsaparilla, sweet pea

Protection Magic: A Spell in a Bottle

To ensure that your kitchen is peaceful, secure and grounded in “good vibrations,” gather a teaspoon of clean, dry soil from outside your home and put it into a bottle with smoky quartz crystal, or brown jasper any dark, earthen-colored semiprecious stone. Place the bottle in a potted herb on your windowsill and think about the sanctity of your space every time you water your plant. As your plant grows and thrives, so will the tranquility of your space.

For Love:

A bottle with a rosebud or rose petal, rose essential oil and rose quartz next to your bedside will help with love. For six days, rub oil from the bottle onto a pink candle and burn it for one hour. On the seventh day, your romantic prospect will brighten.

For Luck and Abundance:

For luck with money, place three pennies and some pyrite, green jade or peridot in a bottle and put it on your desk or workspace.  At least three times a day, visualize a lot of money and shake the magic money bottle. After three days, your fortunes will improve.