Relating with Others

For this week’s entry I’ve decided to talk about a tarot spread one of my friends came up with. I asked her if I could share it, since I think it could be useful to others, and she said yes. I’m not sure if she has a name for it, but here I will refer to it as the relations tarot spread.

This spread has five cards, and it is designed to see how two people relate to each other and see each other. The two people sit across from one another. Each has two cards in front of them, one on their left and one on their right. Then there is a card in the middle that is always read right side up. The two cards in front of each person are chosen by that person and the card in the middle is chosen by both persons.

Now, the card to the left represents what you think the other person thinks of you. The card on the right is what you think of the other person. The card in the center is the card that describes your path together.

This spread also, while seeing how two people can connect, can also resolve disputes between two people. It can bring out into the air what each person is thinking, and the center card can be how to resolve the issue at hand, or the heart of the issue that needs resolving. I’ve done this spread a few times before, and one of the times was to work out issues I was having with a close friend of mine. We ended up working it out with a third party member there to help us interpret the cards so our emotions didn’t get the better of us.

So if you know two people wanting to work out an argument and they don’t know how, or you want to see how you connect with someone else, I suggest this spread. Happy reading.

Blessed Be

Cookies with Happiness Baked In

On Friday night, I was to attend a birthday party of a close friend of mine. She had asked that if anyone could bring a treat to share for the party, it would be appreciated. Worried that I would not have time to make anything because of my work schedule, so I decided to not worry about bringing anything. However, I really wanted to help out and cook. I do enjoy cooking and it’s a way I relax. So, despite the fact that I might not have enough time, I decided I would plan to make something anyway.

I pulled out all the cookbooks I could find, wanting to make something special and something grand. As I looked through the books on the night before the party, the grand recipes I found either took too much time, or I did not have all the ingredients. Disheartened, I started to look at simpler ideas. My grandmother suggested I make chocolate chip cookies. At first, I was a bit upset with the simplicity of the idea, but I was convinced. I did not have much time, but I was determined still to make them special.

So, while on break at work on Friday, I asked the birthday girl if she wouldn’t mind if I used magick in the cookies I was going to bring. She didn’t, and so I set to thinking about how I could make these seemingly ordinary chocolate chip cookies extraordinary. When I got to thinking about it, there was nothing very ordinary about chocolate chip cookies in the first place. They held the warm memories of my childhood and filled me with thoughts of happy times with the people I love.

I decided then to imbue the batter with happiness. When I got home from work (I even got let off early that day), I brought some elemental representations downstairs and made a small altar on my stovetop, asking for the elements to assist me. I felt their presence and began my work. I remained focused on my intent as I mixed, preheated, beat, and folded in every bit of happiness I could muster. When the cookies were done and I brought them to the party, they were very popular. By the time I brought the container home, it was empty, not a single cookie left. Everyone had a really good time at the party too, and I felt the warmth of happiness in the air. I hope to use this recipe again, and I wonder what else I can do to magickally enhance my comfort foods for myself. Below, I include the recipe for “Happy Cookies” in case you’d like to make them yourself.

Blessed Be

Ingredients:
--2 ¼ c. all-purpose flour
--1 tsp. baking soda
--½  tsp. salt
--1 c. (2 sticks) butter, softened
--¾ c. granulated sugar
--¾ c. packed light brown sugar
--1 tsp. vanilla extract
--2 eggs
--2 c. chocolate chips

Directions:

1) Pour flour, baking soda, and salt into a bowl, asking for blessings of joy and happiness from the sun and the god. Stir these ingredients with a whisk.

2) Beat together butter, sugar, brown sugar, and vanilla in a separate bowl, asking for these ingredients to be blessed with joy and happiness from the Lady and the moon.

3) Add eggs to the butter mixture, asking for the blessings of the Lady for life, new beginnings, and the joy that comes with these aspects.

4) Integrate the flour mixture into the wet mixture, combining the joyous forces of the sun and the moon, and the Lord and the Lady, together.

5) Fold in chocolate chips. Ask for the blessings of joy to be brought into the cocoa as you do so.

6) Drop teaspoon sized balls onto greased cookie sheets and bake in a 375 degree oven, asking the oven to bake in the joy and finalize the process. ask for the blessing on the cookies so all who eat them will feel joy and happiness in their hearts.

7) Bake 8-10 minutes and cool on a wire rack when done.

Notes: Play joyful music if you wish.          

Faith in the Rain

Summer is a time of heat and a time of growth, but when the heat begins to bake the earth, and the land dies, the residents of the area can feel the heat wilting their souls. The earth was struck by heat in my area, and for two weeks we went without rain and the temperature soared into the triple digits. Farmers grew worried about the drought that was beating down, and I myself, having to wear long pants to work and drive in a car without very good air conditioning, began to feel dread. Staying cool was the biggest battle I felt during those weeks, and I looked to the sky during those two weeks hoping to see a cloud or any tell tale sign of rain.

None seemed to appear. Not until I decided to do my research and try my hand at weather magick. Having never done this before, I tried my best to do my research, but like many magicks, it was just one I hadn’t tried yet. Finding the right spell proved a little difficult though. I was looking for a chant, and none of them seemed to hit home for my situation. We were in the middle of a drought, and many of the chants didn’t express the urgency I felt. So, I ended up modifying one instead.

Really worried about causing floods or unwanted weather results that could hurt someone, I said the following chant three times:

“May the spirit of water
Hear my cry.
May rain fall from the sky.
I cast this spell for the plants of Mother Earth,
May my cry be heard in death and birth.”

I then poured water on the ground by a tree in my backyard, imagining rain coming down. I also added this bit, which I got from one of Silver Ravenwolf’s books, though I’m not sure which, but all credit goes to that author for these words:

“With harm to none,

Including me,

I cast this spell,

So mote it be.”

And then, I waited. No rain came that night, or none that woke me up. The earth was still dry and hot, and I worried as I drove home from work that day that my spell hadn’t worked. I wondered if repeating it again would do the trick. Just as I was thinking this, a few rain drops hit my car. My faith was renewed instantly in spite of the doubt, but it did not rain then. Those water droplets were a reminder. They existed to lift me back up from the hole of self-doubt I was digging for myself. So, I went home and repeated the spell.

The next day, as I sat at work, I thought about how it had not rained yet. There were clouds collecting in the sky, but they refused to bring rain. I worried they might pass over my area, leaving no water once more. Just as these thoughts entered my mind, someone in my work area asked if I had my car windows up. They had just seen some rain. I did, fortunately, and was so glad to hear the rain was finally going to come down.

The rain did not come down. Just as some of my co-workers came back inside, worried the inside of their cars might get wet, they talked about how the rain had already stopped if there was any at all. I sat at my work station and listened to what sounded like thunder from above, but I was not near a window to see if it was actually thunder, or just a machine in the factory I was in. It gave me hope to hear the sound, despite the fact that it is a sound that scared me as a child. I knew what it could mean.

When I came home, my friend telephoned me. She worked in the next city over and told me it rained. I found out from my mom that it had not rained in our city, however. Then I realized what my spell was doing. I had asked to help cure the drought, and I was foolish enough to think that the drought only extended to my city alone. The spell was working, and I was thankful. Rain would come. For good measure though, I repeated the spell once more, since it would be the third day I’d said it and this repetition of three felt important to me at the time.

On the fourth day, I saw rain. It really rained, and I rejoiced. I danced in it when I could, thankful for each drop that replenished the earth and my soul. To think I had doubted myself, had doubted that my prayer had been heard by the Lord and Lady, and now here I was, dancing in the rain.

This experience taught me to have faith. Even when I feel small and as if I have done nothing to help, that is never the case. By trying and putting my best foot forward, I have done something to help. Even as we are crawling back up into triple digits again this week (as predicted by the weatherman), I was glad to help ease the drought. I’m alright with the warm weather coming back, as long as the earth doesn’t dry up again. It is summer, after all. I should enjoy the sun while I can. Being thankful for the rain that did come is what feels important at this time, and I’m very glad I found faith in the rain.

Blessed Be  

Tea at Hogwarts

I feel as if too much has happened this week in order to talk about it all in one blog post. So, I shall settle on one or two topics, and maybe this will prevent this blog post from becoming a complete incohesive mess.

Today, I had the honor of sharing tea with a magickal friend of mine. I had recently gotten a book on tea leaf reading from the library called Simply Tea Leaf Reading by Jacqueline Towers. I had been reading it all throughout this week, and besides desperately wanting tea, I really wanted to try my hand at some tea leaf reading. My friend agreed that it would be a good past time, and we prepared black chai tea by taking the loose tea out of the tea bag, pouring it into a prepared tea pot, and pouring boiling water over it. The aromatic scent was captivating and rather enjoyable. Following the directions in the book, we stirred the tea once, then let it steep, and then stirred it once more before pouring (This way, the tea leaves would not sink to the bottom of the pot and “leaf” us with none in our cups.). While enjoying tea, we also enjoyed a movie and I accidentally swallowed a lot of my tea leaves. It left some unpleasant residue in my mouth. I will have to be careful to sip my tea more delicately next time.

After our movie, we put the cups face down on the saucers and spun them around three times. I pulled out my book that has a fairly good glossary of interpretations and tried to divine what images I could in the cup.

From what I could tell, there was still liquid in the bottom of my cup, which my book said meant tears. I do not know what these tears mean, but maybe I will find out in time? I also saw an image of a dog. I was not too surprised by this, since I recently found out one of my animal totems is a dog, and I wondered if it referred to this recent find. Also in the cup was a maple leaf. When I turned to my book for an interpretation, I found four. It seems as if a lot of symbols in this book have multiple interpretations. I’m not too clear on which interpretation is correct, but I believe it has something to do with new beginnings. Time will tell. 

The cup of my friend was odd indeed. After looking at diagrams of cups in my book, it turned out that the symbol of a rabbit was in the part of the cup that represented the past. This also had many meanings, and my friend was not sure which was the correct one. They were all good meanings, but the fact that this symbol was in the past made me curious. The symbol on the future side of the cup was that of a goblin. Goblin was not in the glossary, however, so naturally we turned to the internet for some help. I don’t believe the internet did much good though. The goblin was cackling, and reminded me very much of the goblins in the movie ‘Labyrinth.’ I knew that goblin represented mischief and cunning, and many sites confirmed that. It seemed a warning to my friend to look out for mischief, though it did not seem to give any clue what one is supposed to do when one finds this mischief.

It seems that with tea leaf reading, I will have to practice more and keep detailed notes to see what comes up over time. As for something else that struck my fancy this week, I wondered what kind of witch I am. I’ve been reading this book called The Witch’s Bag of Tricks by Melanie Marquis, and she encourages the readers of this book to discover how they work magick the best and to discover what kind of witch they are. I am a midwestern witch, as is the title of this blog, but is that all I am?

One of my closest friends is a disney witch. Now, some may laugh at this, but I don’t. Her power resonates in her singing and in the sense of wonder and magick that the disney movies brought to her as a child and bring to her now. It makes sense that she is a disney witch, and it is the unique way that she chooses to practice. Many a time she has cured my ailments by singing a disney song.

So, while wondering where my power resides, I look back into my childhood. Sure, disney movies were a big thing when I was little, but when I think about my childhood and growing up, what has stuck with me and given me wonder was the Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling. I grew up listening to my father read those books to my family when I was a child. In many ways, as the story progressed and the characters grew, so did I. I believed in magick then as a child, thinking one day I would get my letter to Hogwarts when I turned eleven. I did not receive my letter when I turned eleven, but that did not stop me from believing in the power of magick.

So, when thinking back on my childhood when I believed anything and everything was possible, memories of sitting in the living room listening to my father read Harry Potter come into my head. A true Hufflepuff through and through, I now wonder what I can do to bring this personal touch into my magick and make it my own. Such are my thoughts for this week, and I hope I have encouraged you, dear reader, to think on what makes you special, be it in magickal or mundane affairs. Each of us is unique and different, and the Goddess and God made us that way on purpose. The world would be dull otherwise I am sure.

Blessed Be