Invoking Your Inner Goddess: Divine Essence Oil

This relaxation remedy is an excellent way to create personal space after a hectic week.

Gather together

    * 2 drops cedar essential oil

    * 2 drops sandalwood essential oil

    * 2 drops amber essential oil

    * 2 drops lavender essential oil

    * 4 drops carrier (or base) oil, such as sesame or jojoba

    * a small bowl or vial, preferably heart-hued red

Timing: This tincture is most potent on goddess Freya’s Day, Friday evening.

Mix together the essential oils with the carrier (or base) oil in the bowl or vial.

Touch one drop of the Divine Essence Oil on each pulse point: on both wrists, behind your ear lobes, on the base of your neck, and behind your knees. Wait a few moments and let the power of the goddess fill your senses as your mind, body, and spirit are renewed. Close your eyes and recite:

Freya, eternal and wise, give your strength to me now.

As I breathe, you are alive in me for this night.

Make sure to thank the goddess for all the blessings in your life.

Painting with Sand

With your intention set clearly in your mind and being, pour sand into a funnel (or a small bag with a tiny hole in the bottom) and let it fall gently upon the design you have drawn, one color at a time, allowing the divine to guide you. If you are creating a specific image, you can copy its color and design; otherwise, allow creation and inspiration to flow through you. Creating the design slowly and carefully is key, but in case of accident a damp sponge applied with care will remove any random sand. It is important to remember that there are no “mistakes” in this art; you are in the safety of the sacred space you create with the help of the celestial.

When you have finished your sand mandala, you will see it and feel it and know it in your heart. However, physical completion of the sand mandala is not the end.

Dismantling Your Mandala

While dismantling the sand mandala is counterintuitive to the Western mind, it is actually the next step in the ritual. When you are ready, take some time to look at your mandala and contemplate the image you have created. Look deeply and quietly and “receive” any insights or messages during meditation.

Offer thanks to the divine beings who helped you in this ritual and who help you in your daily life. Now take a small brush and move the sand to the center of the mandala.

Scattering the Sand

When I learned the art of creating a sand mandala, the monks who taught me carried their sand to the Pacific Ocean. It is in accordance with the Tibetan tradition that the scattering take place at the nearest body of water, accompanied by chanting and song. If you have no water nearby, but there is a garden or park near your home, you might feel like performing the scattering aspect of the ritual there to keep the blessing energy nearby.

Close the ritual by dedicating the blessing energy of the mandala to the greater good of the universe.

Datolite—Dividing Lines

Mineral collectors love datolite. The name comes from the Greek word dateishtai, which means “to divide.” Datolite is a fairly fragile rock; the name is no doubt a reference to the fact that datolite crumbles very easily due to its composition of calcium boron silicate hydroxide. It occurs in green, yellow, or brown, and very rarely in orange, red, or gray. It was first discovered in the United States in 1806 in the Connecticut River valley but has since been found in Russia, Canada, Mexico, Norway, Africa, and Michigan. Datolite has a group of sister stones, including bakerite, hingganite, and gadolinite, that can sometimes be found in sheet form. Datolite is most commonly found as a large nodule and in extremely infrequent cases is a faceted crystal. Pink datolite has the sweet name “sugar stone.”

Malachite

I received a beautiful malachite heart from my mother and father for Christmas this year—how I treasure it! Malachite has always been a connection to the Divine, especially divine inspiration. Malachite, named for the Greek word mallow (green herb), is formed from copper ore and frequently occurs in conjunction with chrysocolla and azurite. Malachite is a lovely green blue in color and has endless patterned bands. No two pieces of malachite are ever alike. Malachite was associated with royals and high priests and priestesses in ancient times. They loved to adorn their bodies, their homes, and their temples with this special stone. They would have entire tables and chairs and altars. One would certainly feel like a king of queen when dining from a malachite table! Even still, some of the largest sheets found in South Africa, Zamia, Zaire, Russia, and Romania are fashioned into small boxes, bowls, and obelisks.

Malachite can help you connect to your place in the Divine Plan. Malachite draws out old patterns and thoughts. It will aid in clearing away the deadwood from your life and your psyche. It offers psychic protection, too. This green grounding stone will also get you more in touch with the earth and more grounded as a person—more stable. As with most green stones, it has to do with prosperity, abundance, and money. Malachite will awaken your creativity. If you are allowing others to benefit from your creativity, this stone will help stop that draining in its tracks. Malachite requires extra care in its use because it amplifies whatever energies are already there. If anger, suffering, and deceit are present, these qualities could inadvertently be increased by malachite. Basically, malachite is really useful only for people who are typically helpful and happy. It is best for children, really. One theory is that malachite is still evolving and is becoming a master key for the future.

Malachite helps with maintaining boundaries and comes highly recommended for that purpose by many healers. Malachite can help restore anyone who is suffering from burnout. Those who do psychic work and healing are among those who are affected by this most severely, so they need to keep malachite nearby for rejuvenation. Malachite opens the heart and throat chakras and rebalances the solar plexus, enabling realignment of the psychic and etheric bodies. Malachite is best used as a ring on your right hand. Malachite is used to ward off insanity and has been used both as an eye remedy and as a cosmetic by the unstoppable Egyptians. I shudder to think of the Egyptian elixirs involving malachite, many recipes for which they left behind on papyrus; they are likely extremely toxic. Please avoid any malachite elixirs!

Seven Sacred Stones Bracelet

Take any silver chain-link bracelet and add “charm” to it! Bracelets act as protection jewelry, and, well, they look simply divine on our delicate wrists, do they not? Of late, the trend has been to layer bracelets, but with gem magic, there’s a danger that jeweled pieces worn together could cancel each other out because they have conflicting energies. So, I’m going to recommend that you wear this bracelet alone, without other magical wrist wear.

To make this piece, you’ll need seven stones on small pendent settings, a silver chain-link bracelet, seven jump rings, and pliers. Plain silver chain-link bracelets are easy to obtain at any jewelry department or store, from Target to Tiffany. Jump rings, which have an opening through which you can slide a pendant and then close up with small chain-nose pliers, are readily available at any craft or jewelry store.

Before you choose your seven stones, decide what energy enhancement you desire. If you want lots of energy and zest, choose red jasper or pink clamshell. If you want to be uplifted, try jade. To become wiser, pick sapphire. To stay safe while traveling, pick dendritic agate. To remain calm and overcome stress, choose blue lace agate. For more mental clarity, choose malachite. For a self- esteem boost, try rhodonite.

Once you have pursued all the gem and crystal descriptions in this book, you can and should experiment with all manner of combinations. But I highly recommend the Seven Sacred Stones Bracelet with the following very beneficial stones and energies:

Citrine for a better ability to communicate

Lace Agate for happiness with your job

Lapis Lazuli for mental brilliance

Moonstone for self-love and self-expression

Red coral for good health and physical strength

Rose Quartz or Opal to make you appealing to others

Turquoise for calmness and protection from the earth

Friends of mine have reported wonderful results with this banishing and boosting bracelet. Where else can you find jewelry that will make you feel good about yourself, protect you from harm, and help you to look even prettier? You have to make it! You can find these pendant-set stones in any jewelry or New Age store. The metaphysical stores have the best selection, however.

To begin, place the stones on your altar or in front of a candle for six days and six nights. Write on a piece of paper or parchment what you desire from each stone. While you light the candle each night, think about and meditate upon all the wonderful things you want in your life. On the seventh day, loop each pendant stone onto your bracelet with even spacing. Burn the parchment with the candle flame and then put your bracelet on and jingle it seven times. From now on, every time you hear the seven sacred stones jingle on your wrist, think about the qualities the stones are bringing you and you’ll refresh the crystal magic.

The Mystique of Minerals

Each gem, mineral, crystal, and stone discussed in this volume has its own unique properties. Look at it this way: We have a vast healing and life-enhancing trove of beautiful and sacred stones from which to choose, and each stone has its own inherent, divine qualities. Each one is unique for the energy it emits and how it interacts with our subtle energy field, or aura. In the same way that no two fingerprints or snowflakes are alike, each crystal is completely individual, never to be repeated again in nature. Man-made crystals are exactly alike, thus reducing their appeal and healing qualities, at least in my mind.

Crystals found in nature are imbued with special qualities from the minerals and rocks surrounding them. Geologists are fond of explaining the varying colors of crystals as chemical impurities, and while that may well be so, I prefer to liken the development of crystalline color to the making of a fine wine, wherein the soil and even the neighboring trees, plants, sun, and rain affect the grapes and the resulting nectar. So, gems have notes, like a perfume or a wine or even music. Truly gifted gemologists can distinguish these delicate differences, especially the vibratory sounds.

One Moon for All the World: New Year’s Council Fire

Any discussion of rituals for the month of January must include New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day. I remember the drama that ensued as people around the globe stood by to witness the sunrise on January 1, 2000, perceived as the beginning of the new millennium. While many other cultures observe their New Year at other times during the year, January 1 has also become a time of celebration, reflection and an opportunity to embrace change.

For many millennia, indigenous peoples have celebrated their own New Year in unique ways. One common element is the use of fire rituals by North, Central, and South American peoples. The Pilgrims who arrived to what was to become New England observed and documented that the Iroquois and other tribes they encountered had a New Year’s Council Fire, a time when the tribe gathered to review the past year, listen to their elders and speak their hopes, dreams, and visions of the coming year. In addition to your personal New Year’s ritual with the significant people in your life, I recommend a Bonfire Ceremony as a powerful way to bring positive change of the New Year into your life.

Bonfire Ceremonies are 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 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.

Clary Sage Clarity Incantation

Here is a handy spell for physical well-being as well as a self-esteem boost. For this witchy approach to preventive medicine, take a green candle on a Friday, dress it with clary sage oil, and speak the following three times:

My health is mine, under this moon divine.
I choose to be well in this healthy body I dwell.
No more pain and strife, vital breath of life.
Harm to none; health to me.
So mote it be.

Ritual Knotting – Cords to Strengthen Your Life’s Energy (New Moon is Optimal)

All you need is a paper scroll and a length of red thread or cord. The color red signifies life and active energy. After you feel you have fully focused your energy into the scroll, roll it up.

Now, proceed to tie knots in the order of the following traditional chant:

By knot of one, this ritual is begun.
By knot of two, my wish comes true.
By knot of three, so mote it be.
By knot of four, the magic is even more.

By knot of five, the gods are alive.
By knot of six, my intention is fixed.
By knot of seven, under the influence of heaven. By knot of eight, I change my fate.
By knot of nine, all powers are divine.

When you have completed the knots, tie the cord around your scroll. Note in your Book of Shadows when the power of this spell unfolds. This will be very useful for future knotting work.