Beryl—Stone of Power

Medieval historian Arnoldus Saxo said that warriors used beryl to help in battle and also reported that it was good for court cases. Saxo was perhaps a bit hyperbolic in his declaration that the wearer of this stone was made unconquerable and smarter and cured of any laziness! Thomas de Cantimpre’s German classic De Proprietatibus Rerum spoke about the power of the stone beryl to reawaken the love of married couples. Early crystal balls were frequently made of beryl polished into spheres, rather like J.R.R. Tolkien’s palantirs used by wizards. The Druids and Celts used beryl to divine the future, and legend has it that Merlin, King Arthur’s magician, carried a beryl ball around with him for exactly that purpose.

Brooches

Brooches symbolize virginity, faithfulness, and protection. A diamond-studded brooch is a double symbol of love and safeguarding.

Brooches were the costume jewelry of the medieval Irish, who decorated themselves with gems and valuable stones to show they were part of the aspiring warrior caste.

Goddess Blessings

A form of magic handed down from antiquity is to have a domestic goddess figure in your home; archaeologists have found them amongst the most ancient artifacts. It is a wonderful energy generator to have such a figurine decorating your home altar. The most important consideration is to choose the divinity with whom you feel the deepest connection.

Which of these beneficent beings do you identify with?

Agnayi- For the Indian subcontinent, she is the equivalent of Vesta as a domestic fire goddess.

Aradia –The Italian “Queen of the Witches” and protector of women.

Artemis -This goddess of the hunt is also the ruler of the moon and can be invoked for lunar magic. Call Artemis to aid you anytime you are looking for something and she is also a great bringer of luck.

Ashnan- Here we have a Sumerian grain goddess and protector of the fields. She is depicted in Babylonian imagery from ancient times as a beautiful young woman handing worshipful men a single stalk of grain.

Athena – The wisdom goddess also rules over battle.  Call upon her to help resolve any disagreements. Under her domain is the owl and also olive trees. She stopped wars in ancient times with the offerings of an olive branch.

Bast – Egypt’s cat goddess who protected the lands. Bast has childbirth, healing, passion, pleasure, happiness and, of course, cats under her sphere of influence. Bast can come into your life in the form of a stray cat, a familiar, and can become a real guardian for your hearth and home.

Brigid- This Celtic solar goddess of poetry, smithcraft and healing existed long before the Catholic Church adopted her and canonized her as saint. She is a protectress of all animals and children. Brigid can be invoked to bless your kitchen tools- pots, pans, knives can all have the strength if this bright being, forged by the fire of the sun.

Cerridwen- I was named in honor of is aspect of the Triple Goddess, she of deep elder wisdom. In Welsh legend, Cerridwen represents the crone, which is the darker aspect of the goddess. She has powers of prophecy, and is the keeper of the cauldron of knowledge and inspiration in the Underworld. She is a mother goddess who makes sure to feed her followers and minds the fields.

The Eye Goddess- This most ancient of Mediterranean deities is depicted as an all-seeing eye and represents justice. No transgression can be hidden from the eye goddess. Dating back to 3500 B.C.E., she is often depicted as a single, unblinking eye. Anytime you need the truth brought to lights, call up her. She can also protect from thieves by hanging her eye in your windows and she is an excellent resident in your magical kitchen. She is mistaken for the “evil eye” but is a benevolent presence who will watch out for you and yours 24.7.

Hathor – This “Cow goddess” represents life, beloved in ancient Egypt for her ability to bring fertility. Hathor was also associated with royalty and her priests were artists, dancers, trained midwives and seers. As the celestial cow, she held the golden disk of the sun between her horns. Hathor’s other sacred animals include the lion, cobra, falcon and the hippopotamus. The sacred sistrum, a rattle used in ritual, was used to summon her. Mirrors were also her sacred tool, during spring rains and floods, you can stage a ritual dance for her to sanctify the joy of life and bless your newly planted gardens.

Juno – The Latin word for a female soul is juno and Romans depended on this generous presence to watch over the daughters of the earth; she is regarded as the mother of all women and can be invoked for any magical gathering of women. Her special domain is as a protector of brides. When preparing feasts and cakes for wedding nuptials, ask Juno to bring her brightest blessings.

Persephone- daughter of Athena, Persephone is bidden to spend half her time in the underworld with her husband, Hades. She is a harbinger of the change to the warmer series as she rises from the dark world after the winter seasons, bringing spring and the growing season with her. The pomegranate is her significator. Invoke her for rites of spring. 

Healing Herbal Cure: Bay Leaf Balm

Any body oil or herbal oil can be turned into a salve with the addition of wax.  The ratio for a body salve is 3 ounces coconut oil to one ounce of beeswax.  If you have a bay laurel tree, pick some fresh leaves. You can also go to your spice rack and take three leaves from the jar and grind in your mortar and pestle until broken up into fine little pieces.  Set aside a fourth whole leaf.  Use a double boiler to heat the oil and wax until completely melted. Test the viscosity of your salve by pouring a dab onto a cold plate. If satisfied with the consistency, pour off into jars to cool. If you need to add more wax, now is the time to do it. Balms are simply salves with the addition of essential oils. Add two drops of eucalyptus essential oil and two drops of lemon oil when mix is still warm. Sprinkle in the finely crushed bay laurel into the mix, stir well and seal to preserve the aroma. Bay Leaf Balm will have a wonderfully calming effect anytime you use it and can be rubbed on your temples when you need to destress. I recommend Sunday night baths where you slather on the balm before stepping into a hot bath. Take a washcloth and massage your skin, then lie back and relax for twenty minutes. When you drain the tub, your stress will also empty out and you can start your week afresh and ready to handle anything that comes your way.

An Essential Guide to Essential Oils for Common Ailments

Use these oils in bath water, diffusers, dabbed onto pulse points, or sprays to infuse your home with the healing vitality of these plant essences:

Allergies: Melissa, chamomile

Headaches: lavender, geranium peppermint, linden.

Immune boosters: hyssop thyme, rose, jasmine.

Insomnia: clary sage, hops, lavender

Colds and flu: pine, thyme, eucalyptus, lavender

Tummy troubles: peppermint, chamomile, basil

Cramps, yarrow, sunflower, linden

Arthritis: marjoram, rosemary, eucalyptus, pine

Fatigue: rose, clary sage, neroli, bergamot

Saffron Serenity Spell

Light a yellow candle, for mental clarity, and anoint with calming and uplifting bergamot oil. Place a yellow rose in a vase to the left of the candle. To the right, place a bowl containing at least two citrine or quartz crystals.

Saffron water is made by boiling a single teaspoon of saffron from your cupboard in two quarts of distilled water. Let cool to room temperature and pour into the bowl of crystals. Put your hands together as in prayer and dip your hands in the bowl. Touch your “third eye” in the center of your forehead, anointing yourself with the saffron water. 

Now, speak aloud:

Goddess great, fill me with your presence

This night, I am whole and at peace.

Breathing in, breathing out, I feel your safe embrace.

And so it is. 

Pharmacopeia – The Spice Rack of Life

Did you know your pantry is like a pharmacy?  Thankfully, it is far cheaper.

Cumin is loaded with phyto-chemical, antioxidants, iron, copper, calcium, potassium, manganese, selenium, zinc and magnesium and contains high amounts of B-complex. Cumin helps with insomnia.  Cinnamon is truly a power spice. Just half a teaspoon daily can dramatically reduce blood glucose levels in those with type 2 diabetes and lower cholesterol. Cayenne promotes circulation and boosts metabolism. Clove is an antifungal and abets toothaches. Nutrient-rich parsley is a detoxifying herb and acts as anti-inflammatory and anti-spasmodic helping conditions from colic to indigestion. Rub it on itchy skin for instant relief! Sage is very beneficial in treating gum and throat infections. Sage tea has helped ease depression and anxiety for generations. Thyme is a cure for a hangover and doubles to alleviate colds and bronchitis. Cilantro is is a good source of iron, magnesium, phytonutrients and flavonoids and is also high in dietary fiber. Cilantro has been used for thousands of years as a digestive, lowering blood sugar having hypoglycemic properties, possibly the result of stimulating insulin secretion. Ginger stimulates circulation and is an excellent digestive, aiding in absorption of food and rids bloat. Immune champion turmeric boosts production of antioxidants and reduction of inflammation. Blue Zone centenarians credit their long healthy life by drinking turmeric-root tea daily. Pack your pantry with these seasonings for optimal health and happiness. 

Cooking Up Lots of Love: Spells to Attract, Create and Keep Love in Your Life

Like many before me, love spells were my first.  At the age of fourteen, I cast my first and soon my best friend was the object of amorous attention from a previously disinterested suitor. Since then, I have had many years and ample opportunity to perfect this most joyous aspect of the craft. I have happily watched these spells kindle and keep love’s passion alive time and again.

Any metaphysician will tell you the most common requests for help involve matters of the heart. Witchcraft is based in the knowledge that our destinies lie in our own hands, even where love is concerned. Why suffer the slings and arrows of romance gone wrong when you can do something about it? Below are lots of ideas for magical workings so you have a life you love and a life filled with love.

Light of Love: Altar Dedication

Use a small table or chest in your bedroom and cover with a rich red scarf or cloth.  Adorn it with objects that signify love- red candles, ruby-colored bowls, roses, a statue of Adonis, a heart-shaped chunk of amethyst, whatever stirs your feelings and senses. Give the area a good smudging to purify the space to refresh for new beginnings. Anoint your candles with oil of jasmine, rose or any scent that is redolent of romance to you and light similar incense. Light both and speak aloud:

I light the flame,

I fan the flame.

Each candle I burn is a wish,

I desire and will be desired in return.

Twin Hearts Candle Consecration

If you are seeking a soulmate, this simple spell will do the trick. At nearly any new age bookshop, you can find heart-shaped semiprecious stones. On the next new moon, take two pieces of rose quartz and stand in the center of your bedroom. Light two pink candles and cite:

Beautiful crystal I hold this night,

Flame with love for my delight.

Harm to none as love comes to me.

This I ask and so shall it be.

Keep the candles and crystals on your bedside table and think of it as shrine to love. Repeat three nights in a row and ready for yourself for amour.

Mists of Avalon Potion

If you are dreaming of real romance, you can bring about visions of your true love to come with this potent potion:

3 drops rose oil

3 drops lavender

3 drops neroli, orange blossom essence

4 ounces pure distilled water

Pour all these into a colored glass spray bottle and shake well three times. Fifteen minutes before you retire, spray lightly on your linens, towel, and pillow case. Keep a dream journal on your nightstand so you can record details of the great love that will soon manifest.

Conjuring By the Cup: Pagan Coziness

Growing and drying herbs for your own kitchen witchery brews is one of life’s simple pleasures. Tea conjures a very powerful alchemy because when you drink it, you take the magic inside. For an ambrosial brew with the power to calm any storm, add a sliver to ginger root and a teaspoon each of chamomile and peppermint to a two cups pot of boiling water. Let steep and as the mixture brews and cools, pray:

This day I pray for strength and health,

And the wisdom to see the beauty in each waking moment.

Blessings abound, good health is true wealth.

 Green Witchery Healthy Brews

Herbal tea nourishes the soul, heals the body and calms the mind. Try these:

Blackberry leaf tea reduces mood swings, evens glucose levels aiding in weight management. This miraculous herbal even helps circulation and such issues as inflammation and varicose veins. It is helpful to cancer patients and is believed to be a preventative.

Cardamom is a favorite of expectant mothers everywhere as it calms nausea and morning sickness; this East India fragrant is excellent for digestion, clears and cleans your mouth and throat. Anyone who likes cinnamon will love cardamom.

Nettle raises your energy level, boosts the immune systems and is packed with iron and vitamins.

Fennel is excellent for awakening and uplifting and is excellent for digestion and cleansing. Fennel also is a natural breath freshener. Catnip is a gentle but potent sleep-inducer

Catnip is one of the witchiest of teas and is not only grown as fun for your feline familiar. At the first inkling of a sore throat or impending cold, drink a warm cup of catnip tea, and head off to bed and you will awaken feeling much better. Catnip soothes the nervous system and can safely help get a restless child off to sleep,

Echinacea lends an increased and consistent sense of well-being and prevents colds and flu. It is a very powerful immune booster.

Ginger Root calms and cheers while aiding digestion, nausea and can also fend off coughs and sore throats.

Dandelion root grounds and centers, provides many minerals and nutrients. This wonderful weed is also a cleanser and a wholly natural detoxifier.

Heart’s Ease Cauldron Cure

Here is a soothing sip that can uplift your spirits anytime and also serves to ward off chills. This combination of herbs brings about “letting go” of sorrows, worries, and doubts and reignites feelings of self-love.

Stir the following together in a clean cauldron:

One ounce dried rosehips

Once ounce dried hibiscus

Two ounces dried mint

One tablespoon dried ginger root

Combine the herbs, pour into a colored jar and seal the lid tightly. When you are ready to brew, pour hot water over the herbs, two teaspoons per cup. While this steeps for five minutes, write down any thoughts or fears you need to rid yourself of on a small piece of paper.  Now say each one aloud, then chant, “Begone!” After this letting-go ritual, burn the paper with sage in the cauldron on your altar. As you sip the tea, enjoy your renewed sense of self and peace of mind. 

Hearth and Home- Creating Your Kitchen Altar

On a low table or chest of your choosing, place a forest green cloth and a brown candle to represent family and home. Add lovely objects you have gathered, including from the garden and outdoors: ocean-carved driftwood, a gorgeous flower, a dried seed pod, a favorite crystal, whatever pleases your eye. It is of the utmost importance to add a bouquet of wildflowers native to your area you gathered close to where you live or bought locally. These posies will help integrate you and your home into your neighborhood and geographic region. Add a sweetly scented sachet of herbs from your kitchen garden or those you intend to plant: rosemary, lavender, thyme, mint, all of which imbue your space with positive energy. Burn associated essential oils, those which will create an aura of comfort around your kitchen including vanilla, cinnamon, sweet orange neroli in an oil lamp. Finally, anoint the brown candle which concentrating on the power of peace and bliss surrounding your home and all around your kitchen altar. Chant:

Peace and abundance are in abundance

And here true bliss surrounds

From now on, all disharmony is gone

This is a place of powerful blessings

For here lives sheer joy.

And so it is- blessed be!

This consecrated space will ease your spirits at any time. Your altar connects you to the earth if which you are a part.

Power Potpourri

Simmer this mixture on your stove whenever you feel the need to infuse your space with protection or do an energetic turnaround from negative to positive. A bad day at work, family squabble, an unfortunate incident in your neighborhood; instead of just muddling along, you can do something about it and your creation of the positive will help you and your loved one as well as your neighbors. This Power Potpourri will also safeguard from outside influences that can be disruptive. Set your intention and gather these herbs from your stores:

¼ cup Rosemary

4 Bay Laurel Leaves

2 Tablespoons Basil

1/8 cup Sage

1 Teaspoon Dill Weed

1/8 cup Cedar

1 Teaspoons Juniper Berries

Mix the herbs together by hand. While you are sifting, close your eyes ad visualize your home protected bb a boundary of glowing white light. Imagine the light runs thought you to the herbs in your hand and charge them with the energy of safety, sanctity and protection. Add the herbs to slowly simmering water and breathe in the newly charged air. 

A major mojo power ritual for heavy times

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 or full moon  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.
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.

Today- gather the women and show your power!

Woman Power Ritual:

Gather a group of women together. Ask them to bring pens, paper, and offerings of fruit, flowers, or vegetables to Carmenta. Use these to build an altar, with the bounty placed around a black bowl filled with water that is used as the scrying mirror. Place candles around the room and turn down the lights.

Form a circle around the bowl and altar, and as each woman places her offering beside the bowl, she says aloud the name of her offering:

Pomegranate [or orange or lily, etc.], Goddess’s herb,

Perform for me enchantment superb.

You give us grain and bread.

Foretell for me the year ahead.

After placing the offering to Carmenta on the altar, each woman should kneel over the mirror and look upon the water. Some people may see images, but oftentimes the information comes as an impression, thought, or meditative reflection. People should only share their visions if they feel the need to do so.

After everyone has had a turn, everyone should chant and sing together:

Daughters under this sun

Sisters under this moon

Tonight we receive your blessings

Carmenta, goddess great and good—

We thank you for the year to come.

Now open the circle and sit in silence for at least ten minutes, so that everyone present can record her impressions and visions from Carmenta in a journal. In years to come, if you and your circle of women decide to observe the Feast of Carmentalia annually, as I recommend, you can share and compare notes from prior years. This is a wonderful way to process the passages of your lives. Afterward, a feast is called for. The fruit and veggies from the altar should be consumed, and the flowers should decorate the dining table. Make sure to smudge very well with sage at the end of the evening, as remaining energies should scatter and not stay in the home. Water from the scrying bowl should be poured into the earth outside.