Love in a Bottle

So, it’s official. Classes will begin tomorrow at my university and I’ve been moved in and gone to countless events already to kickstart the year, including convocation. Needless to say, I’m super excited for classes to start. Oddly enough, my move-in day started on the new moon and classes will start during the waxing of the moon. Coincidence? I’ll leave that for you to decide.

Last week I talked about finding a space to do ritual. I think I’ve found one that’s secluded enough, but not an unsafe place. I’m very excited to try this space out. Also, I found a space for my altar in my room above my bed like last year. My living arrangements are wonderful, as always, and made even better by these few things. I’m looking forward to a great year.

At first though, I have to admit I was anxious. I was enjoying summer and enjoying seeing my friends from highschool. I was really nervous about leaving, but I knew that a lot of them were going to university too, some for the first time. Now that I’m here, I realize why I like university, and that, as always, it isn’t the end of the world to move. I’ll see my friends again, and our reunion will be awesome.

There is one person I really didn’t want to leave behind however. This person is very dear to me, and I still miss her. So, before I left, I decided to give her something. I wanted to make her something she could remember me by. I decided to give her some of my love contained inside a bottle.

I thought of all the things that made me think of love and went on a hunt to find them. I put in dried white rose petals, dried carnations that she gave me in the past (including the blue ribbon tied to them), a little bit of my Taurus oil (not only my zodiac sign, but also ruled by Venus), some rose perfume, lavender, a metal heart charm, wheat thresh (it makes me think of home and of a comfortable love), two marbles (one blue like water, one green like earth), rose quartz, a blue butterfly that makes me think of her, a piece of parchment with quotes from Shakespeare, and words I whispered into the bottle before I closed it.

When I gave it to her, I told her she could open it and read the note when she missed me the most. I know it might not be the same as having me there, but I wanted to give her something to remember me by and remember how much I care for her.

This bottle creation led me to think of other things I could bottle as well, and how I could use my bottle collection for my magick. Now, a friend of mine has been making magick bottles herself for a while now, and they are charms one would wear as jewelry. I have one from her, in fact, and I have to give her some credit for putting the idea in the back of my mind. In truth, glass bottles are appealing to me, hence why I collect them, and I’m realizing now that I can use them beyond the basic witch’s bottle for protection.

I’ve already bottled some of the beach from the Gulf coast. Now, I think I will work on bottling other things. On my list currently are theses:

Autumn Air

Ocean Air

Field Air

Fire

Earth

Inspiration

Home

Freedom (a little ironic, I know)

These are just a few, and my list grows longer each time I think about it. I’m very excited to give these a try, though bottling ocean air when I’m landlocked will take some planning.

I hope I’ve inspired you to look around your house at your collections and see how to make them into a magickal endeavour, a spiritual endeavour, or just a fun craft. Also, one  last note, now that I am at University, I may not be writing in this blog every week. I will try to go for every other week, since my studies should come first. Happy new school year!

Blessed Be  

Back to School

Oh my goodness... where did my summer vacation go? Okay, move-in day for university is creeping up on me, so I thought for this week I’d discuss being at college and keeping up with my spiritual studies as well as my academic ones.

Last year, I struggled with feeling connected to my faith. I kept it a secret most of the time, and didn’t practice a lot of magick. Second semester was a little better than the first, since I joined the pagan group on campus and got to know a few people who share my faith. I learned many things and shared some of my knowledge. My personal development struggled a little bit though. This year, I want things to be different.

So, for this year, I plan to find a space that is secluded, but safe enough to practice ritual. This ritual space hunt might be difficult. I went around campus looking for spaces last semester with my club and couldn’t really find the perfect spot that felt safe enough. But, I will look again this year in hopes to find a spot.

Secondly, I will need to find a good space for my altar. Since I share a space with three other women in my room, it will have to be somewhere special and I will have to make sure my altar doesn’t draw unwanted attention. Last year, the room I was in had a shelf above the bed. This was perfect for my altar and my magickal supplies, since I was on the top bunk and it was a space that was really my own. I’m in a new room this year though, so I’m not sure if there will be a shelf in that spot. I hope so, but if not, I may put my altar in a drawer and pull out the drawer when I want to use my altar.

Thirdly, I will continue to meet at the pagan club meetings so I can continue my studies and keep learning. My club also meets for holidays too, so I will probably be doing some ritual in that way.

I don’t have many ideas beyond these for now, but I will continue to think on them. I want this year to be different. A book was recommended to me by a friend of mine. I’ve seen this book before, but have never picked it up to read it cover to cover. It’s called Rocking the Goddess by Anthony Paige. It’s a book that focuses on wicca for the university student and seems to be a good read for those going to university. This book has now made it to my priority list and I hope to learn from it. I hope it is helpful to others too.

If you have any suggestions for a witch going to college, feel free to leave comments below. I know I’m not the only one, and I’m certain we could all learn from each other.

Blessed Be

Elements

Learning about different cultures, I have found, always makes me question my own. My most recent question: Why is North earth, East air, South fire, and West water? Each of these four elements has a direction associated with it, but who came up with these? Has the creator of this phenomenon been gone for so long we don’t remember why these elements are important to their respective directions?

This question hit me as I was studying a book on Feng Shui. The book is an excellent book and I am learning much about the ideas of Feng Shui and some of the ideas of eastern society. In the ideas of Feng Shui, there are five elements. They are fire, earth, metal, water, and wood. Not only is air not an element, spirit not mentioned as one, and metal added to the list, Feng Shui also focuses on eight directions, the four cardinal directions and the four directions between the cardinal directions. South is represented by fire, Southwest by earth, West by metal, Northwest by metal, North by water, Northeast by earth, East by wood, and Southeast by wood.

Interestingly enough, I found this so strange that I wondered why Feng Shui has these elements in these directions. Then I paused, and wondered why I had not asked the same for wicca? I had accepted that North was earth, that East was air, that South was fire, that West was water, and that the center was spirit. I never questioned such a thing before.

I found myself questioning now though. So, I decided to look online to see if anyone had an answer. Many didn’t seem to talk about why the elements were placed as they are. I then came across a website that talked about the elements and directions in relation to where you live. They insisted that this was what mattered, along with how one felt about where each element should be placed. If it felt wrong to put water to the West, then put it where it felt right. For people who live in the Northern hemisphere, the weather becomes warmer as we travel towards the equator, and this may be why the element of fire was put in the South. But, for people who live in the Southern hemisphere, the opposite is true. When you travel North, the weather warms.

Now, I have no qualms with the elemental placements. In fact, the traditional placements feel very natural to me. But what surprises me is that I did not question this before. I accepted, and thinking about it now, if I were to align myself with the land around me, the oceans are to the East and West of me, the land rises to the East (since in Kansas, the land goes down in elevation when you travel West) but the fertile farm land is in the West, air flows in all directions because I live in the Midwest, and the warmth comes from the South and the bright sun that moves East to West. The elements are all around me and they more surround me than are placed in only one quarter. This feeling of being enveloped and surrounded brings me comfort.

Now, does this mean I won’t cast my circle with the traditional elemental directions? No, but it does mean that I feel I have a deeper understanding of what it means to be connected to all the elements and to have them in all places. This also means that if someone were to put an element in a different location, I probably wouldn’t blink twice. What I love about my faith is that it is my own, and what I love about faith is that everyone else has their own too. It’s okay to believe something different, to think for yourself, and to have the grace to understand that others have the same right. Our differences make us unique, and they bring us together in new ways of understanding one another, not in ways that separate or break us apart.

So, wherever your elements are, whatever they may be, they are special to you, and that’s all that matters.

Blessed Be      

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