Keys to Unlocking the Real You

The following is an excerpt from my book, Spiritual Awakening, from Chapter 3:  Preparing for Your New Spiritual Life... Chpt 3, exercises, activities, and explorations, which begins on page 106.  If you don't have a copy of this book, you can purchase one at Amazon, in print or kindle.  

"This book is written to help you explore and experiment and discover a spirituality that you might not even be aware of. This book is here to help you embrace your inner pagan, to reconnect with your ancient roots and an earthy spirituality based in nature and magic and inspiration."

It is my wish that this beautiful and inspiring handbook & journal becomes your companion as you explore spirituality and seek enlightenment.

Opening your energy centers

Your energy centers are your Chakras, which for our purpose includes the seven main centers that run along the course of your spine and influence not only your physical body but your mental, spiritual, and emotional state as well. When these energy centers are open and working properly, they are in a constant circular motion. When they are blocked, or otherwise not working properly, they can cause problems spiritually, mentally, and physically.

Root chakra: located in the perineum at the base of your spine. The root chakra affects our physical sense of well-being; your basic needs for survival -- food, water, shelter; your sense of safety, the animalistic flight or fight instinct.

To open this chakra

1. Wear red. Put a red lightbulb in a lamp and bathe in it; paint something red – a chair, a table, a steppingstone in the garden, a wall in your house, a small stone to keep on your nightstand.

2. Dance, walk, hike, run. Do something that uses your physical body and exerts energy. Mow the lawn, or rake leaves; go for a bicycle ride; ride a horse; carry heavy stones for a new garden path; help a friend move by lugging boxes for them. Use your body and relish the physical sensation of physical exertion, embrace the sweat and the feel of your muscles in action.

3. Take a shower. Luxuriate in the feel of water coursing over your physical body, washing it, cleansing it, clearing it. Find joy in the feeling of rejuvenation.

Sacral chakra: located in the lower abdomen. If you’re a woman, it would be about over the womb, if a male, over the prostate gland. The sacral chakra affects our sense of sexuality and our ability to freely acknowledge and embrace the idea of “pleasure”.

To open this chakra

1. Carry or wear in jewelry orange stones, like carnelian. Eat orange foods – carrots, pumpkin, oranges; have a glass of orange juice; wear orange clothing; plant orange flowers.

2. Do something that gives you a great sense of pleasure, whether this is eating a banana split, heating up the bedroom with your significant other, or spending a weekend alone at a lake cabin. But the thing is… do something that gives you great pleasure while not feeling guilty about it. It’s okay to indulge your appetites.

3. Do some hip opening exercises or yoga postures, stretching, flexing, gently moving and loosening up this part of your body. Massage it. Yes, that’s right. Animals also have chakras, energy centers along their spines as well. Have you ever wondered exactly why your dog or cat loves to have its tummy rubbed? It will have the same effect on you.

Solar plexus: located about two inches below your naval. The solar plexus holds the place where our self-esteem is grown and nurtured. It contains our creative energy. It’s all about how we express ourselves and how we feel about ourselves. It is where our self-confidence is born, and where we are most vulnerable to negative energies. This is where our healthy ego resides.

To open this chakra

1. Wear yellow. Plant yellow flowers, carry yellow stones, like citrine or topaz. Buy something yellow, gift something yellow to someone who needs a lift. Eat something yellow, like lemon drops, lemon meringue pie, lemon pudding, or yellow apples.

2. Start a journal. This involves expressing your inner most feelings. This will only be seen by you, so don’t hesitate to open up and pour forth all those things you don’t talk about with anyone else. It’s an outlet for great creativity. Paint on its pages, use different colored inks, or make the pages a collage. It allows you to explore your ego and work on how you feel about yourself and your life: What do I love? What bothers me and why? What makes me anxious? What makes me feel nothing, and is this significant? What makes me feel strong? What tickles my imagination? What makes me incredible and unique?

3. Do something empowering, whatever this may be to you: start a group; set a goal; confront an issue; end something; begin something; try a new venture, something that scares you, whether this is rock climbing, or dating, or writing a book.

Heart chakra: located in the center of your chest. The heart chakra connects us with feelings of love and compassion. It’s this chakra that gives us the ability to love and the empathy for true compassion. If this chakra is blocked, the most notable effect will be the inability to successfully ignite or maintain relationships, all kinds of relationships.

To open this chakra

1. Wear green. Paint your nails green, buy a green eyeshadow; plant pots of “green” things – English ivy, ferns, philodendrons; mow the grass; buy green sheets for your bed and snuggle down; eat green things: lettuce, kiwi, string beans, peas, or mint ice cream.

2. If you’re in love, but you have never said these words to a particular person, do that. Assuming that you’ve been seeing each other and establishing a relationship, assuming that you either know the other person is in love with you or they have told you so, assuming that you have not been able to bring yourself to say it yet. Do that.

Whether you plan a detailed romantic evening, or you find yourself in the middle of a vendor’s hotdog stand on a street corner, look your person in the eye and say, “I love you.” That big swelling sensation in your chest will be your heart chakra, revving up and spinning wildly, finally open.

3. Do an act of kindness for someone, human or creature, who does not expect it and have not asked for it. Do it quietly, perhaps anonymously, without fanfare, without expecting any acknowledgment at all. That big swelling sensation in your chest will be your heart chakra, revving up and spinning wildly, finally open.

Throat chakra: located at the base of the throat, in the hollow. The throat chakra is responsible for communication, whether our ability to communicate with others, internal communication with ourselves, or communication with Spirit. With the energy of this chakra, we seek truth, and we learn to respond as an individual to our community.

To open this chakra

1. Wear turquois or light blue. Wear it as clothing, or a piece of jewelry. Plant blue flowers; paint your nails blue; buy a blue throw rug for your house, or a blue blanket for your bed. Take pictures of blue things.

2. Sing. If you can’t hold a tune, that’s okay. Sing when you’re alone in the shower and you’re all alone in the house. You (and Spirit) will be the only one to hear you, and you will be opening up and energizing your throat chakra.

3. Write a letter to someone you haven’t seen or spoken to in a long time. Write a letter to someone that you are estranged from. Write a letter to someone you’ve always wanted to talk to but never had the courage. You don’t have to actually send this letter to anyone, unless you want to. But you will be opening up the channels of communication, and your throat chakra as well.

Third eye chakra: located between your eyebrows and just slightly above them. The third eye chakra is the center for your intuition, your psychism, for dreams and visions. This is where that “little voice in your head” emanates from, the one you should listen to.

To open this chakra

1. Wear indigo. Place an indigo sticky jewel between your eyebrows and just slightly above them. Eat purple popsicles; wear a purple sweater; buy a divination tool – a deck of tarot cards, or a pendulum, or something else that appeals to your intuitive instincts.

2. Start a dream journal. Leave it on your nightstand and record your dreams when you awake in the morning, as soon as you can, lest the memory evaporate, as dreams do. If you say you don’t remember your dreams, you will if you begin recording impressions that visited you in your sleep, the smallest of impressions will be a good place to start: the vague feeling of a place, an animal, a food, a physical sensation. When your third eye chakra is cleared and open. You will remember your dreams.

3. Don’t block your daydreams. Don’t deny yourself this amazingly natural tool and instinct. You are not “wasting time” or “spacing out”. This is often your own intuition trying to communicate with you, your third eye chakra working, trying desperately to tell you something you need to know, to show you something you need to see. Allow yourself the luxury of daydreams. They are a necessity. They are so much more than you can imagine.

Crown chakra: located above the crown of your head. It connects you to universal wisdom and Spirit. It is what defines your spirituality, connecting you to a higher consciousness, enabling you to experience enlightenment, driving you to define life questions and seek answers. It drives our quest to connect with God and Goddess.

To open this chakra

1. Wear indigo. Bathe yourself in the deep dark purple of the cosmos. Wear or carry deep purple flowers, buy a purple thermos and drink your water from it daily, eat purple plums and eggplant, get a purple pillowcase to lay your head upon at night.

2. Make a list of three forms of spiritual practices that you know little, if anything, about. Now go and learn what they’re all about: google it; find a book; talk to someone who is a practitioner; find a group, attend a meeting, service, ritual, etc.; perform an act of spirituality, whether it means lighting a candle, composing a spell or prayer, or setting an intention; watch a sunrise, or a sunset, and think about all the sunrises and sunsets that took place before your existence, and before this very day. And now, at this moment, you are watching it with spiritual awareness.

3. Sit in a quiet and serene spot, whether this is the middle of your bed, or under the trees of a lush and magical forest. Ask the universe questions, then be still and listen for the answers.

Quantum physics tells us that nothing that is observed is unaffected by the observer. That statement, from science, holds an enormous and powerful insight. It means that everyone sees a different truth, because everyone is creating what they see.

~ Neale Donald Walsch

SOURCE:

The Little Handbook of

Spiritual Awakening

available @ Amazon
print & kindle

Mojo, a little bit of this, a little bit of that

True magic is neither black, nor white, it's both because nature is both. Loving and cruel, all at the same time.

The only good or bad is in the heart of the witch. Life keeps a balance on its own.

Lirio ~ from “The Craft”

Sympathetic Magick

This is that.

A specific object is chosen to represent the target of a spell. Through sympathetic magick, this object actually becomes the target. Whatever happens to this object, happens to the target.

A specific object is chosen to represent the target of a spell. Through sympathetic magick, this object actually ‘becomes’ the target. Whatever happens to this object, happens to the target.

The most common form of this magick, and the one I have personally used the most, are poppets-- those infamous dollies of hoodoo fame. A poppet does not just represent the

target, it actually becomes the target, with the addition of personal items and effects belonging to the subject, secret rituals to breathe it to life, and the movement of magical energy to manifest and transform the very being of this cloth creation into the flesh and blood essence of your target. This is why it’s so important to keep these poppets in secure safe locations.

Comparative Magick

A relationship and connection between a magickal object or objective are associated with and represented by a specific item or items.

A good example of this type of magick would be the Witches’ Bottle. Say for instance that you want to create a bottle to draw money and wealth. You would add to this bottle a number of items, all designed to draw the energy of money and wealth to the bottle, and thus to you. These items would include coins and paper money, herbs for wealth and prosperity, stones, and personal talismans. This bottle is, in effect, representative of your desires and your objective, which is to draw money to yourself. And it will do just that.

Directive Magick

This affects that.

This magick raises energy while the practitioner focuses and visualizes their goal and uses an item or items to move this energy toward manifestation.

The most common form of this magick, and the easiest to work, is candle magick. The candle is imbued with the energy of your goal by carving various symbols and sigils upon it, dressing it with oils and rolling it in herbs that carry the energy of your intentions. As the candle is consumed by the flame, you will maintain a visualization of the end results of this spell, so your goals and intentions are sent out into the universe and the cosmos with lightning speed and absolute assurance of magickal manifestation.

Transference Magick

Transference magick moves a malevolent energy out of one object or individual and into something or someone else.

The mildest example of this type of magick would be protective magick utilized to block negative energy or to send it back to its source. A more intense form of Transference Magick would be an exorcism; and the most extreme form would be a hex or a curse.

Money, Money
come to me

When it comes to money spells, it’s become common place to equate these magickal endeavors with such sanctimonious cliques as ‘I’m only doing this spell for necessities’, ‘money spells are not done to make you rich’, ‘only ask for what you need’, blah, blah, blah. Ya, right-- and who believes this. There isn’t anyone who wouldn’t love casting a money spell, only to wake up the next morning filthy rich. If I could-- I would, and so would a lot of people, they just won’t admit it.

But what we view as the successful manifestation of these spells, and what the universe views as successful manifestation of these spells is often two very different things.

This was brought home to me one fine summer day.

One of my daughters and I were going to take a walk together. When they were younger, I would love doing this on an individual basis in order to have one on one time with each child. This was also the day I was casting a money spell, and I was just finishing up this little ritual, and kind of hurrying through the end of it, as my daughter was calling to me, ready to go for her walk.

The green candle was still perking along, flaming in magickal anticipation as we started off down the road together.

We had gone quite a ways when we decided to turn onto a dead-end gravel road. The end of this road stopped at a wire fence, staunchly held in place with large square posts. Beyond the fence was a wide grassy pasture, where a beautiful black horse was lazily grazing and swatting at flies with its thick tail. Surprisingly, the horse came when we called, and we were enthralled to be able to touch this beautiful animal and to look into its big brown eyes.

We were leaning on one of the large square posts supporting the fence, and I just happened to glance down to see a small square object partially buried in the dirt. 

“What’s that?” I ask my daughter.

She bends down to retrieve it, and brings up a very dirty piece of paper, folded several times into a small square. She begins unfolding it, and unfolding it, and unfolding it, until it is fanned out in her hands. Her eyes open wide in astonished amazement…it is a $10.00.

Sugar Honey Jar Spell

Take a pint or quart sized jar that has a good lid with it-- I personally prefer canning jars-- and add to this jar: a good helping of honey; Drawing Powder; regular sugar; and brown sugar, just to sweeten the pot up with a little maple magick. To this sweet mixture you will also add a fist-full of coins and a dollar bill.

If you’re creating this money mojo for your business, add a heaping teaspoon of cinnamon and some of your own personal effects to stir the energy up and give it purpose and direction.

If you’re creating this money mojo to successfully complete a business deal, add personal effects from the person you’re doing business with. If it’s not possible for you to get your hands on anything of this nature, then add a pinch of dirt from this person’s home or the bank where this deal will be completed.

You can also create this money mojo jar to get someone who owes you money to pay it back-- but you’re going to need their personal effects to add to this jar in order for it to work, along with a slip of paper upon which you’ve written the amount owed to you.

Graveyard Dirt

Graveyard Dirt is exactly what the name implies: dirt gathered from the sacred consecrated ground of a cemetery.

Should you not have access to real graveyard dirt, the following botanicals can be used as a substitute: valerian, patchouli, and mullein.

Graveyard Dirt is one of the main ingredients of Goofer Dust-- the dirt, not the botanicals.

This consecrated dirt can be used to hex, curse, and for spells of retribution; but it can also be used for protection and healing.

You can gather cemetery dirt from particular graves: 

• A loved one who would protect you in life will protect you just as enthusiastically in death.
• The dirt from a mason’s grave will have an extra ‘oomph’ of magickal power to it.
• The grave from someone who had been incarcerated may add a potent punch to a hex.
• The banker’s grave may bring prosperity and wealth faster.
• The doctor who healed in life will still lend his healing energy after death.
  
  

It’s said by some that there is etiquette that should be followed when tampering with someone’s resting place:

• Ask permission from the spirit first, as a courtesy.
• Leave a silver coin as a token of thanks.
• Only gather dirt for positive magickal use on the waxing to full moon.
• Gather dirt for the dark side of magick on the waning and dark moon.
  
  

Quite frankly, if you don’t relish the idea of tampering with someone’s grave and risking disturbing their peace and raising their angst, you can gather dirt from the cemetery in other areas:

• from beneath a beautiful tree
• from the four corners
• from the elemental compass points:

north/earth for money spells and prosperity,

east/air for communication and mental endeavors,

south/fire for passion, lust, or love,

west/water for psychism, visions, and dreams.

SOURCE:

Natural Magick
the Gray Witch Way

available @ Amazon

print & kindle

Book Trailer

When did you first know you were a witch?

 

I knew that there was something "different" about me before I was old enough to know that there was a name for it. One of the earliest magickal experiences that I remember took place when I was about four years old, hidden in the cool shade of a grove of trees on a terraced hillside at my grandmother’s farm.

The day was very hot, but beneath the canopy created by the large grove of trees that covered the hillside, it was very cool; and I squatted on one of the wide terraced steps, beneath a tree that had small round leaves lining its branches. I took hold of one of the small new twigs at the base of the tree; and I slid my hand along its length, filling my palm with the cool green leaves.

As my head was bent and I was examining these leaves, I heard a noise. I looked to my right, through the fence lining this edge of the grove, into the world of brilliant hot sunshine, to see a large white cow grazing in the field beside me, only a few feet away.

The wind came then, through the tops of the trees. I froze as I listened to it, the roar starting at the opposite end of the grove and working it’s way through the tree tops towards me, till it was directly overhead. I recognized that this wind sounded like voices, voices that seemed to come directly from the trees.

It was then that a realization dawned on me, leaving an indelible print so strong that this memory is still starkly vivid to me over 60 years later. It was a realization that I was too young to form into words…but I knew.

SOURCE

Natural Magick the Gray Witch Way

available @Amazon

in Print & Kindle

Your Spirit Animal & For the Love of Trees

 

As you get back to nature and reconnect, as only a pagan can do. You will do so with new eyes, from a new perspective, and from a place you may never have imagined. There are those of us who actually believe that trees are sentient beings and that animals have a connection to the divine and the spirit world that human beings will never attain. There are people returning to their pagan roots who will look at trees and animals from a magical vista of awe and reverence.

Everything has an energy that vibrates at different levels. It’s taken some of us a lifetime to discover that this vibrational energy includes trees, as well as other plants, and animals. Over the course of centuries, from cultures and spiritual practices around the world, the power of the energy contained in the natural world and ways to use it have evolved. We’ve learned how to harness this energy and how to use these connections in our spiritual practice. And you will too.

What is your spirit animal? What animal, or animals, have you always felt a profound connection to? Have you ever noticed animals that have shown up repeatedly in your life, whether as live animals, images, statuary, art, or in your dreams? Are animals, or a particular animal, drawn to you? Does a particular bird show up at odd times, or routinely, wherever you may be? Are stray animals always finding their way to your home?

Some people may have more than one animal they have a magical connection with, and others may have a single creature that lends its energy to their spiritual journey. Some people may have a spirit animal that is of the real animal kingdom, whether domesticated or wild, and others will have for their spirit animal a creature from the realms of myths and legends.

Discovering your connection with an animal spirit guide will be part of the process during your spiritual explorations, and a great deal of fun.

Do you love trees? Do you feel an affinity for, or a special connection with, trees? Do you have a favorite kind of tree? Do you have a tree from your childhood experiences that has stuck with you, maybe a particular beloved tree that you think about even now, after all these years? Do you feel uneasy in a forest, as though you’re being watched? When the wind blows through trees, do you hear it as voices with a message, or at least feel this energy?

This is another exploration and magical discovery awaiting you. You will find that the energy of trees will lend itself greatly to your spiritual practice. You may spend time with trees, perhaps sitting on the ground with your back against a trunk to ground yourself. You may have an overwhelming desire to plant and grow trees, to protect trees, and to gather parts of a tree, whether twigs, leaves, or blossoms for use in magical spells, to adorn your altar or house, or to make magic wands and other tools.

Discover the special energies and connections of particular trees and know that their power is for your benefit and use. The trees are there to protect and shade you on your spiritual journey. Though immobile, rooted in the earth, they walk with you on your pagan path.

• Bear

Magical energies: invulnerability, power, strength, protection, healing

• Birds

Magical energies:

Blue bird: communication, eloquence

Blue jay: protective magic

Cardinal: love, passion, sexuality

Goose: loyalty, fidelity

Swan: new love, fidelity

Dove: healing rifts, peace, ending estrangements

Owl: wisdom, invisibility

Robin: domestic happiness, home protection

Sparrow: ambition, energy

Raven: magic, occult mysteries

• Bull

Magical energies: dominance, power, strength, courage

• Butterfly

Magical energies: transformation, rebirth

• Cats

Magical energies:

Domestic housecat: magic, occult mysteries, protection, spirit contact

Jaguar: rebirth, secrets, success, stealth

Lion: loyalty, home protection, courage, strength, fidelity

Tiger: sexuality, invisibility, power, intuition

• Coyote

Magical energies: transformation, cunning, luck

• Crocodile

Magical energies: guardians, longevity, new opportunities

• Deer

Magical energies: regeneration, independence, speed, invisibility

• Dog

Magical energies: faithfulness, intelligence, devotion, protection

• Dolphin

Magical energies: sexual energy, feminine mysteries, joy

• Elephant

Magical energies: strength, fertility, wisdom, ancestors

• Frog

Magical energies: fertility, creativity, abundance

• Goat

Magical energies: sexuality, agility (physical and verbal), mischievous gray magic

• Horse

Magical energies: friendship, wisdom, strength, speed

• Polar Bear

Magical energies: wisdom, invisibility, creativity, secrets

• Snake

Magical energies: transformation, rebirth, reincarnation, wisdom

• Wolf

Magical energies: fidelity, protection, healing, organization

SOURCE

Spiritual Awakening

Available @Amazon

in Print & Kindle

Sage, Scribe & Quill... today's rant

 

I just posted this on my new Facebook page --
Sage, Scribe & Quill...

23 hours ago, this page had 48 new views! -- and 787 views in the last 28 days!! I'm thrilled that so many people have clicked on links to this page from various sources. I am, however, disappointed that of those almost 800 people, no one clicked the Like or Follow button. Come on, peoples, be sure to hit the "like or follow" button on the way through. (It's free!) There's such a variety of articles and posts, there's something here for everyone.

Throughout my considerable internet experience, from my very first website, the Freewebs version of The Witch's Corner that hit close to 1,000,000 viewers before Freewebs wasn't free anymore, to blogs, and other websites created on a variety of platforms, there has always been a ghostly presence of invisible silent visitors.  

When I was getting ready to deactivate my Facebook Witch's Corner page, I made a post letting people know that this would be happening.  I decided to do this because I felt that I was posting to no one but myself.  Of the 40,000 people who Liked or Followed this page, almost none -- practically 0 -- ever, ever left a comment or clicked a post reaction button.  I honestly thought that this page just wasn't making the algorithm and wasn't being seen at all.

Much to my surprise, a lady left a comment on this post, something to the effect:  "I love this page and followed this page for years, I'm sorry to see you go, but you do what you think you need to do."

Seriously?

She loves the page, but never clicked a reaction button, never left a comment, never gave any indication that she had seen anything.

Here I was thinking that I was wasting my time posting and keeping this FB page up, that no one was seeing it anyway.  I tell you, my reaction, sitting there at my computer all by my little lonesome, was very colorful.

I don't know what else to say.  It's not that me, or any other creator, is looking for tons of accolades and constant pats on the back.  We just want to know that doing all this work is worth the effort, that someone is reading what we write, viewing what we post, has been impacted with it in some way, that someone has gotten a chuckle from something, or connected with something.

Otherwise, we might as well all go back to the old-fashioned days of spiral notebooks and private journals.

Episode #39 Daily Cards/Daily Wisdom ~ The Final Solution & Generosity Beware

 

As sometimes happens, two readings came through this group of cards. Some of you may connect with both readings, and others will most likely align with one. Either way, Spirit was generous with very particular information today. 

• First reading -- don't give up, and don't cave in! 
• Second reading -- listen to the voice of reason!

Print Version

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