Showing posts with label metaphysical. Show all posts
Showing posts with label metaphysical. Show all posts

Wednesday, February 11, 2026

Kitchen Witch Practical Magic



Any good witch knows that the best ingredients can be found in your kitchen or your own backyard. Many plants now thought of as weeds have great healing powers and magical properties. Most of the herbs and essential oils in this book have become quite commonplace. With the plethora of aromatherapy products now available, most oil essences and scented candles can be bought commercially. For the more unusual ingredients, try your local health food market, herbalist, or metaphysical store.

Tuesday, December 10, 2024

Tips ’n’ Tricks: Wear This at Work

Geode jewelry can bring you success at work. At my favorite metaphysical five-and-dimes, I have been seeing baby geodes that can easily be glued to a fabric choker band or are already in pre-made pendants. If you are feeling like you are in a slump at work or want to impress the boss, begin wearing a pretty and professional geode necklace and things will be looking up soon! If this style is not for you, just buy a geode, set it on your desk, and look at it while picturing yourself climbing the ladder of success.

Wednesday, May 10, 2023

Chakra Crystals

The concept of chakras originated many thousands of years ago in Asia. The ancient philosophers and metaphysicians identified seven main energy centers around the body and saw each chakra emanating energy in the form of a rainbow color that affected the mental, physical, and spiritual balance in a human being. Chakra theory is the basis of many Eastern healing practices. One of the simplest ways to achieve well-being is to place crystals on the parts of the body where certain chakras are centered. Many people I know credit their clarity and well-being to chakra therapy. One sure way to relieve stress and fortify the emotional body is this laying on of crystals.

Chakra

Color

Energies

Corresponding Crystals

First, root (base of spine)

Red

Security, Survival

Garnet, Smoky Quartz

Second, sacral

Orange

Pleasure

Amber, Carnelian

Third, solar plexus

Yellow

Drive, Personal Power

Amber, Citrine, Topaz

Fourth, heart

Green

Abundance, Love, Serenity

Peridot, Rose Quartz

Fifth, throat

Blue

Creativity, Originality

Blue Quartz, Tiger’s-Eye

Sixth, third eye

Indigo

Intuitiveness, Perception

Fluorite, Lapis Lazuli

Seventh, crown

Violet

Holy Bliss, All Is One

Amethyst, Diamond



Wednesday, January 20, 2021

Crystal Meditation

Crystals are tools used to heal and transform our lives. I think of them as the tools of the metaphysician. Meta means “beyond” or “above,” and physics is the science of the physical world. So metaphysics literally means “beyond physics,” and there is much that cannot be explained by ordinary science and the laws that have been established. Physics is very much about tracing energy and the origins and effects of it, yet ordinary science and physics cannot necessarily explain how crystals manage and direct energy in powerful ways. They can be used to store, change, amplify, focus, and send energy.

Crystals can be a point for focus, an aid to absolute clarity of thought and intention. I was once told that these stones can be “tuning forks” for the consciousness, a though I just love.

I recommend this meditation exercise for training yourself to gain laser-like focus: Lie on the floor in a place where you will not be distracted. Clear your thoughts and open your mind. Place a small quartz in the center of your forehead. Your pineal gland is located here, as is your third eye—the source of all intuition. After a few moments pass, you should start to have visualizations that are sort of like daydreams, but these messages are from your higher consciousness. I have had friends and workshop mates report that while performing this technique they went into another realm entirely—a fantasy world, a paradise, an unknown and a very appealing place. Nearly everyone reports that they passed through a set of gates. You should perform this meditation for about thirty minutes, but no longer. We don’t want anyone to leave us for too long and remain in reverie.

After you try meditating solo, you may want to participate in activities with a group. At a retreat I organized for Z Budapest at the Ralston White Retreat Center in Mill Valley, California, she led us through a truly magical journey deep into Mother Earth. This was for the purpose of grounding us so we could get the most benefit from the weekend adventure. With Z’s permission, I will share this meditation with you. You can do it with a group of people who have a shared intention. Start by having everyone lie down in a circle formation with their eyes closed. Z’s guided tour follows:

Blessed beings, you are about to enter the Mother, our great earth goddess, Gaia. In your mind, you are standing with bare feet on the ground. You can feel the grass with your toes, the solid earth underneath your feet. Feel the solidity and fastness of the earth fill your body with strength; we are all made of clay. We come from the death, and we are made of earth. Feel your connection to the Mother. We come from the earth, her womb. We are made of stardust and clay and the waters of the ocean. Feel the blood in your veins. The water of life. Know that you are alive. Feel her winds, the breath of life. Breathe deeply ten times, completely filling your lungs and completely emptying your lungs. Breathe and feel your chest rising and falling with each breath.

Now feel your backbone connecting to the earth; you feel a cord connecting you and your life to the earth. Concentrate on the cord until you can feel it running all the way through you and deep into the earth. Tug on the cord; feel it give. Now, take the cord in your hands and follow it down, down deep into the earth. It is dark as you go down and down, but do not be frightened. Trust in the universe and keep descending into the bosom of the Mother. Down we go, not falling but moving purposefully, gracefully, following the cord of the earth. Now you see light. Keep moving toward the light and keep holding the cord as it leads you to the shining distance.

The light grows nearer, and you see that it is an opening, a cave, a safe place in which to shelter. Enter the cave. It is filled with light, firelight reflected off a thousand crystal points. An old woman sits as the fire, warming her bones in her warm and dry cave. It is beautiful, more beautiful than the palace of any king or the castle of any queen. It is the crystal cave of the Goddess, and you are with her. Show your respect to the Goddess and light the incense at her altar at the side of the cave, piled up with many shimmering stones and priceless gems, the bounty and beauty of our generous benefactor.

Sit quietly and head the special message she has for you. You are her child, and she has dreamed a dream for you. Now we listen and breathe. Blessed be.

Z led us back to the circle, and after that, nobody’s life was ever the same. In my experience with this particular guided visualization, I could smell the incense as we lit it. All the women at this retreat had profound experiences with Z Budapest and the Goddess that day. It helped greatly to have such a skilled guide as the Dianic priestess, Ms. Budapest, with her purring Hungarian accent. But with caring intention and the willingness to really let go, we can all achieve marvelous breakthroughs with these meditative exercises.

On that day, I received a very specific insight from the Goddess to go back to graduate school and pursue my abandoned dream of a master’s degree in medieval studies. I felt exhilarated by this resolute in my decision. I felt alive with purpose and so blessed to be pursuing both my scholarship and my spirituality. I remember that the reality of working full-time and going back to school at night wasn’t easy, but whenever I started to stumble on my path, I remembered back to the crystal cave and my time with the great glowing Goddess in her magnificent crystal cave, and I immediately felt stronger.

Here is an exercise I learned long ago from my mentor in all things magical, Z Budapest, for the transformation of energy: Fill a bowl with 2 cups of water, preferably distilled or, better yet, good old rainwater. Put a chunk of clear quartz crystal that weighs at least 6 ounces into the water basin. Take another bowl of the same size and fill it with the exact same kind of water and place it in another room at least 15 feet away from the bowl containing the crystal. After one full day and night, fill two glasses with the water from each bowl; you will marvel at the difference in taste. What makes the difference? There is a molecular change in the water containing the crystal. The water is transformed.


Sunday, November 1, 2020

Wear This at Work


 Geode jewelry can bring you success at work. At my favorite metaphysical five- and-dimes, I have been seeing baby geodes that can easily be glued to a fabric choker band or are already in pre-made pendants. If you are feeling like you are in a slump at work or want to impress the boss, begin wearing a pretty and professional geode necklace and things will be looking up soon! If this style is not for you, just buy a geode, set it on your desk, and look at it while picturing yourself climbing the ladder of success.

Thursday, June 11, 2020

Flower Remedy Ritual



Flower essences restore emotional balance and aid physical harmony. Naturopathic doctors and healers recommend using Dr. Bach’s flower remedies, which were originally created from the morning dew found on flower petals. These subtle medicines are available in most health food and metaphysical stores. To know which essences are right for you, take a pendulum and write the essence names on paper in a wheel formation. Holding the pendulum in the middle, wait for it to select one name while chanting:

Spirit of the flower, help me this day
To keep disease and depression far at bay. Blessed be.

To prepare the following remedies, mix two drops of flower essence in 30 milliliters of distilled water. Take four drops of the remedy daily until your health is restored. You can also apply the remedy to your pulse points: wrists, temples, behind the ears, back of knees. You can also add it to your bath, or spray it into the air. Following is a guide to healing flower remedies:

Addiction: skullcap, oregano

Anger: nettle, blue flag, chamomile

Anxiety: garlic, rosemary, aspen, periwinkle, lemon balm, white chestnut, gentian

Bereavement: honeysuckle

Depression: borage, sunflower, larch, chamomile, geranium, yerba santa, black cohosh, lavender, mustard

Exhaustion: aloe, yarrow, olive, sweet chestnut

Fear: poppy, mallow, ginger, peony, water lily, basil, datura Heartbreak: heartsease, hawthorn, borage

Lethargy: aloe, thyme, peppermint

Stress: dill, Echinacea, thyme, mistletoe, lemon balm Spiritual blocks: oak, ginseng, lady’s slipper

Saturday, June 6, 2020

Pendulum of Truth Invocation



Many witches carry a pendulum with them at all times to help make the right decisions. I sometimes see pendulums twirling over herbs and produce at the farmers market or hovering over restaurant menus. They have recently become available at most metaphysical stores, but a lovingly handmade pendulum is imbued with more personal energy. An easy DIY way to make your own pendulum is to take a strong string or length of leather and tie a ring, gemstone, or crystal to the end. By the light of the new moon, take a bundle of sage, light one end and pass the smoke over your pendulum, “smudging” and purifying your space.

Wear the pendulum around your neck for seven days. Each night, light black candles on your altar to absorb negative energy and, holding the pendulum still, chant:

Guide me to the path of truth, O goddess hear my song.
This pendulum I charge with my energy, to judge right from wrong. 

So mote it be.

On the seventh day, you can begin using your new tool. Any time you need advice before making a decision, dangle the pendulum and observe its movementswaying from front to back means yes, left to right means no.