Doorways of Life....

One of the hardest things that we can ever remember is the fact that, in life, when one door closes another opens.

We have all been in a place before where it seems as if things are not going our way, are stagnant, or even coming to an end. The great thing about this though is that fact that it never really stops moving forward. You are bound to find some pitfalls along the way in your journey. Spiritual, physical, emotional, mental, all of these are going to have challenges associated with them when you travel down your path. Keeping in the back of your mind though that everything that is happening now is for a reason. It is all happening so that you can close a door on your path and open a new one to journey on. I can hear you now "Easier said than done there Thomas." and yes it is easier said than done, but at some point you have to just let go, and let Goddess! Let that hand guide you to where you are supposed to be instead of taking so much control that you wind up stuck knee deep in one of your pitfalls. Realize that you are guided by a higher power, a universal force, a Goddess or God. Let go of your control even for just a moment and let things play out the way they are supposed to.

I'm not saying that it is going to be good all the time, and in fact may lead to other stresses or "lessons" that need to be learned before that other door opens. The point is, that you have to shut down one end in order to open the other end. Sometimes in order to do that you need to simply let go. Its on of the hardest things that we as human beings can learn to do. We in the spiritual world are used to taking responsibility for our actions and emotions, sometimes so much so that we forget we are being guided in a larger scheme of things. Let that hand move you along, even if for a moment and experience it. Let if lead you forward to where you should be going and listen to what it has to say.

Those that fail at history...............

A long long time ago, in a galaxy far far away.....when I was in High School (well not that far for some but far enough for me), my history teacher mentioned a phrase to the class at the beginning of the year that made us all want to work a little harder. He said "Those that fail history are doomed to repeat it."

Now in my high school mind the first thing I thought was that if I failed his class I would have to go to summer school and take it over again. I'm sure that every other student there thought the very same thing as we sat wide eyed and trembled at the possibility of summer courses.

It wasn't until years later that the thought came to my mind again and I realized its deeper meaning.

"Those that fail history are doomed to repeat it."

Life, among other things is about lessons. We enter situations and meet people and make choices all in order to learn a specific lesson from it at some point. We have a choice in all of this mind you, to either learn the lesson, or not. This is the deeper meaning. All those times that we failed to learn the lesson we were supposed to, those times of anger, grief, annoyance, pain we will repeat. These are usually the situations that we fail to learn lessons from because we get so emotionally involved within them that we cannot objectively learn from them.

These situations will come up over and over, again and again, until we finally buckle under and learn what we are supposed to learn. It is quite possible the hardest thing that we can force ourselves to do when confronted by these types of situations. We get caught up in our emotions, its part of being human. The idea here is to allow yourself ample time to get out of the emotional round-a-bout, and then take a step back. See things from the wider perspective.

Part of self awareness is recognizing patterns in your life. Learning when certain things are going to come back around that great wheel and smack you in the butt! If we instead learned from these situations wouldn't we then be able to incur a better come a round from that wheel? If the wheel is full of nothing but positive life lessons than that is what is going to come back again and again.

This isn't to say that negative ones aren't going to manifest from time to time, after all there needs to be a balance and sometimes a person needs that extra kick in the bum in order to get the lesson learned, but all in all its about objectivity and awareness.

Next time you find yourself in a situation where you know there is a lesson to be learned, and you are so caught up in it emotionally, recognize it and take that step back. Try to view things from all angles, meditate, converse with your Guides, do what you need to do to see things objectively so that you can begin to learn the lesson that is in store for you.

Creating your own Guided Meditation

Guided meditations are found nearly everywhere within the New Age and Spiritual areas of study. They are used to help keep the mind from wandering as well as to experience something specific in order to learn or grow from it. Guided meditations, or visualizations; gently lead the participant through a series of events. This type of meditation is great for the beginner, and can help prepare one for deeper more fulfilling meditations.

Though there are many different guided meditations available, they can have faults with some people. Some find that the meditation is not aiding them in relaxation, or bringing them through things they want to experience. In this case one can create their own personal guided meditation by using a few easy to follow guidelines and equipment.

Before beginning to create a guided meditation it is a good idea to gather a few materials to start. A computer or pad and paper, and a digital recorder or recording device is good to start. After materials have been gathered, following these guidelines will help in creating a personal guided meditation suited to your specific needs.

Relax and Record:

            Guided visualizations have a clear beginning, middle and end. You should know how you will enter the meditative state, what you want to experience once you get there, and then how you plan on returning from that state. It’s a good idea to write down the generalities of what you want so you can better outline your purpose for your guided meditation. It is usually good to start with some sort of progressive relaxation method before getting into the actual guided meditation. This is done so that the body can relax and release the day to prepare for the meditative state. Keep this is mind as you begin to outline your guided meditation.

Music:

            Music can aid greatly in guided meditation. The music you select should be instrumental with either no vocals, or light chanting or singing. It’s best to not choose music that has harsh vocals or a lot of singing as this tends to take the mind out of the meditative state. Listening to the music before hand will help as well, that way you can be sure that it is soothing and relaxing, but won’t put you to sleep. Another thing to look out for in music is abrupt stops or abrupt spikes in sound or tempo; this too can jar a person from the meditative state.

Description:

            The key to a guided meditation is being descriptive. In essence the meditation is leading a person from one point to another allowing them to experience certain things. For them to experience these fully t is best to be as descriptive as possible. Using a lot of adjectives in your meditation helps in this. You do, however, not want to be too descriptive. If a guided meditation focuses too much on the descriptive nature of things it can make the meditation ineffective for two reasons. First, it will not allow the person experiencing the meditation to use their own imagination, and create and see the things that they may need too. Second, if too much time is spent describing something, the mind can begin to wander and get bored and tired, causing the meditation to be completely ineffective.

When you pull all of these steps together, you can start to actually record the guided meditation. Write, or type it out so that when you begin to record it, you have a clear focus, and don’t forget anything important. When you are ready to record the meditation on your voice recorder be sure to be in a clam relaxed state, with no outside noises or influences to bother you. You want to have the music playing softly in the background, but your voice should be the foremost thing being recorded. Speak softly and calmly, but with punctuation and inflection to your words.

After the recording has been completed be sure to try it out. You may find that you need to change some things, be more descriptive in certain areas, or even change the way you enter and exit the meditation to be sure its smooth and not jarring to the mind or body. After you have perfected it you can easily create guided meditations to suit any need you may find, and explore many different areas that you may not have been able to go before.

Personal and Space Protections

I am sure that you have heard the term protections at least once or twice within your psychic, pagan studies; but what does it actually mean to be protected and to use protections? First we need to talk a bit about two different kinds of protections (and I’m not talking about condoms or guns here either!). There are personal protections and space protections. The first focuses on people, and the second on a location.

Personal protections work on individuals, either you or others. This type of psychic protection is used to keep out negative energy or influences, keep from people stealing your energy, and keep your energy flowing strong and positively around you. Personal protections are usually used every day. Now there are a few different theories about them, and even a few different ways of doing them (saving that for another time). The theory that I follow is that personal protections should be re-done every 6 hours. The reason for this is that the energy of the poles shift every 6 hours, and in order to keep them strong you re-do them as the energies change. Some believe that every 12 hours is the pole change, it really is all according to what research you have done and follow. Personal protections keep you safe from negative people and energies, psychic energies that should not attach themselves to you, psychic vampirism and attack, and the appearance and creation of holes in the aura. The protections keep your energy flowing smooth and strong, keeping your aura strong and your energy high. For those of you that d divination or mediumship, it aids in keeping spirits that are nasty at bay and not allowing them to “enter” the medium to talk. Pagans and spiritual people that do paranormal investigating use protections for that reason as well, keeping the spirits at a distance in order to remain spiritually and energetically safe.

Space protections do much of the same thing. They protect a location from negative energy and create a “sacred space” in order to draw in positivity, or practice magick. Space protections are usually a bit more ritualistic and stronger than personal protections, though not always. Traditionally speaking one should do a space protection at least once a week. Now those that practice magick will be doing protections more often. This is because every time they do ritual, meditate, or practice magick they need a “clean and sacred space” in order to work. The most common space protections that you will run across are those for the home and the work place. This doesn’t always mean just your home or work space, it can be other peoples home or work space as well. It can even be locations that do not belong to you in order to aid in negativity removal.

Now that you know a bit about the two main protections it will be easier for you to understand and protect in certain situations. You are more likely to understand when to use a space protection, or a personal protection in your work.

A note on Spirit Guides

People tend to throw around the words Spirit Guides but aren't really sure what exactly it all means. Many people think that Spirit Guides are Angels, and though that may be somewhat true in some aspects it doesn't really describe what Spirit Guides are.

The theory (and I say theory because there are mnay different beleifs regarding this topic), that I follow is that we are all born with 2 Spirit Guides. These guides may take the form of loved ones, people from history, angels or whatever (usually to keep us comfortable in some way). They have certain tasks to preform with us, one is the Life Guide and one is the Protector Guide. The Life Guide is responsable for our ay to day activities and choices, they help to keep us on our greater path (so long as we are open to listening) but never push us (there is free will after all). The Protector Guide is there to keep us safe as we travel our path. Now there will come a time now and again where we need to experience pain, loss or hurt in order to learn and grow from it, but for the most part the Protector Guide will keep us safe. These two guides are the ones that are most commonly referred to as Guardian Angels. The difference here is that Guides can be humans that have passed on and then watch over us to guide us. Angels however (from the true history and information on angels) were never human, and though we may all also hav a Guardian Angel they are not the same as Spirit Guides.

Another thing to note is that as people travel throughout their lives they may pick up and lose guides along the way. Moving, startign a new job, getting married, going to school, all these things can cause a new guide to appear in your life if you are in need of them. Most often these other guides will stick around for as long as they are needed and then go on to aid someone else. When I first started my blogs and my article writing I came across a new guide that was there to help me put my thouhgts into words, (fortunately that guide has stuck around in order to continue to help). In fact I was please to recieve a Spirit Guide Drawing from my friend and Medium Charles Filius. He was able to capture my guide exactly and draw him for me in order to re-affirm his aid in my life.

There are a lot of ways to meet your guides as well, mainly through meditation, and it is recommended that a person that wants to study within Paganism and Psyhic work meet their guides at least once. Other pagans will continue to meet their guides and speak with them on a daily basis. In fact, pagans that do divintation may "channel" their guides or even other people's guides in order to give future, past or present information while doing a psychic reading.

Just a small note for you all, to get a clearer understanding on what Spirit Guides are and how they work. As always, if you hve any questions at all, feel free to ask!

I do Divination, do you?

Divination is a practice that has been used by Pagans for a very long time in addition to Psychics, Mediums, Channels and Sensitives. Divination is about seeing into the pas, present, or future in order to gain information about an event for healing or decision making. Often times when we do divination we see into the future of a situation in order to make a better choice for a problem, or see where a specific path we are on will head. This isn't the only use though. We can use divination as well in order to look into the past to find healing through an event that we have already lived through. There are literally hundreds of different ways to do divination, many of them you are already familiar with. I'd like to briefly talk about a few of my favorites here, not a complete list by far, so if there is somehting that you would like to add to the list, feel free to comment. Even comment if you have had a reading done with a specific form of divination, and what you thought about it.

Tarot: The art of Tarot actually started as a card game. No one is 100% sure on when or how the cards became used for divination practices, but it is one of the most common and well known forms of divination there is. You can ask the Tarot anything, and after practice (between knowing the cards themselves, and a little psychic development) you can tell the past, present and future from the Tarot cards. There are different layouts as well that will give you specific information (See my articles on Tarot to learn more).

Pendulum: The pendulum is a swinging implement that is used to answer yes or no questions. In addition to that you can sense energy or find lost objects using the divination of the pendulum. Pendulums can be made of metal, crystal, bone or wood. Either way it should be something that is natural and not man made.

Rune Stones: Rune stones are cast (thrown0 and then read in a specific manner in order to use them for divination. The Runes are Nordic in tradition and although they can tell the past, present, and future they tend to get to more of the "deeper" issues of a situation rather than the surface issues. This form of divination is also sometimes referred to as "casting bones".

Scrying: Whether you use a crystal ball, mirror, or bowl of water, scrying is often used by Pagans. You look for shapes, pictures, and even letters or words in order to answer specific questions. Scrying can go into past, present and future. In fact there are many ways of using the mirror to "see" into past lives and experience and learn from them from a distance.

Astrology: One of the most complex forms of divination that takes years to learn and even more to master. It works with reading the planets, stars and their positions in order to find out information. You can find out about a person, or even their lifes path in love, money and more if you know how to work with astrology.

Numerology: One of the most fun, and easiest (at east in my opinion) form of divination. It works with numbers, each number having a specific meaning. When the numbers are added (or subtracted) in a specific way, it gathers information on people as well as thei rlifes path and future. It can even tell you the specific energy of a certain item, name, address, phone number...whatever! I went numerology CRAZY when I first learned how to use it!

Palmistry: Reading the lines, curves, and forms of the hands and fingers can tell a lot about person as well as where their life is going, and where it has been. There is a lot more to palmistry than the simple 3 lines that many people know about, in fact a true palmistry reading can take a few hours to complete if everything is read from beginning to end.

Oracle Cards: Similar to Tarot cards but not entirely. Each Oracle deck has its own way of being read, as well as its own meanings, spreads and definitions. It is best to consult the beook that comes with your deck in order to read them correctly.

Nature Scrying: The same as scrying, but instead of using a bowl of water or a crystal ball you are using objects that you find in anture. Trees, clouds, a river or pond, any of these can be used to scry in. Using candle flames or smoke fall into this category as well.

So these are a few of my favorite divination forms to use. Believe it or not I actually use them for myself, and quite often too! I know there are a lot of books and information out there that say that a person can't "read" for themselves but there are ways around that. In fact what is best to do if you must read for yourself is to do it for a specific date in the future. I'm not talking two weeks ahead of time, try at least a month or two for starters. Do your reading and write it all down or record it. The reason a person can't read for themselves is because we cannot stay objective enough to take in the information. We can't take the cards for what they mean without trying to palce them into out lives (and sometimes we do that wrong). This way if you are looking at a few months ahead, you can stay more objective and then look back at the reading to see if it has worked the way it was supposed to in the first place.

Just a short list as I said, but one that it sull of the things that I tend to use most often as far as divination goes. If you ahve any favorites, feel free to comment!

Invocation and Evocation

Invocation and Evocation

Two words that get tossed around a lot and many are unfamiliar with the differences between the two. Invocation and Evocation are used often in Wiccan and Pagan practices but are also used in different areas of the Occult and Psychic Development. The words have also been used within the ever growing and popular Spirit Investigation fields as well.

The problem here is that the two have been used interchangeably but are in fact very different entities. Each of them have their own importance, but also have to be used correctly in order to keep from spiritual danger.

In Wicca and Pagan practice it is common to see spirits called upon to aid in a specific purpose. Even the Goddess and God themselves are called into certain rituals.

The first thing that needs to be understood is that energy is all around us, and cannot be completely controlled. Even when casting a spell you are not controlling the energy so much as you are gathering like energy and directing it to work for a certain purpose.

When you call upon a specific energy, like the elements for example you are not calling on them to control them, but to ask them to present themselves in order aid in your ceremony.

Here is the difference between Invocation and Evocation. Evocation is calling upon the energy to work with your specific flow of energy. You are not asking it to take control of yourself or anything else but simply aid in what you are doing. Much like asking a friend to help you move.

Invocation is very different. With invocation you are asking the energy to take home inside your body so that it can be controlled by you. This is something that should never be attempted even by the most experienced Witch, Psychic, or Spiritualist out there. It is like running 100 watts through a 20 watt bulb, when you flip the switch the bulb will blow. Two energies should never occupy the same exact space. Especially since one will always dominate the other, and in every case it is the energy that has been invoked, or invited in that dominates. Its like putting two male lions in the same den, they are going to fight and one is going to dominate the other at some point.

There is no situation that should ever call for an energy or a spirit to be invoked. This goes for those spirits that are positive as well, even Angels, Guides and Helpers should never be invoked but evoked.

The trouble here comes in many different ways. When a spirit or energy is invoked that energy takes hold within the person that did the invoking. Now at first things may seem well off, the spirit may give psychic information, it may aid the person in achieving a particular goal, but slowly the person begins to change and takes on the attitude, and personality of the energy that was invoked. This leads to the little understood, popular, yet misinterpreted term “possession”. Now I am not talking about head spinning, bed floating possession, that you see in movies. But possession is a true and actual thing that can happen if a person invites or invokes a spirit.

This is usually not even recognized at first. The person may have slight changes of attitude or personality at the beginning, gradually leading to more extreme changes. In fact many times the way it presents itself can be missed by even the most experienced professionals.

This isn’t to say that it is the only type of possession that can occur, but it is the most common type. People that attempt some sort of magic, or attempt a sort of communication with the spirit world and go about it the wrong way.

So how do you avoid this?

Never invoke the energy of a spirit, element, or whatever into yourself. This can be done very easily unfortunately if you are not careful. People that are in the Paranormal Investigative field know this, as well as people that have worked with spirit communication or magick. Simply asking a spirit, or energy to “use your energy” is an invitation to that spirit. Often times during paranormal investigations you see people asking to be “touched”, this is an invitation as well.

You need to be cautious of how you speak when you are in the presence of spirits or energy. You need to be conscious of your words in order to be sure that you are not invoking an energy into you that does not belong.

Evocation is different, you are protected from being taken over because you are not inviting the energy to take home inside you, instead you are calling it to lend itself to your work.

Because these words have very similar meanings it is easy to mix them up and use the wrong one in place of the other. Make sure that when you are reading and spell or ritual that you are aware of the use of these words. If a ritual calls for Invocation steer away from it in order to stay on the safe side.

Cover Photos

Those of you that enjoy the new look of facebook (yes i actually like it after i got used to it), will enjoy these wonderful cover photos that I created.

I'm all over apparently!

Every now and again I like to google myself. (not in that sense thank you very much!)

I like to see where the articles I write end up, and see if people are enjoying them, and are being helped by the information.

I would like to extend my thank you to the following sites for sharing my articles with your followers. I sincerely hope that you have all enjoyed reading them, and hope as well that they were informative enough to help you in some way! Thank you again!

13 preambles of Wicca
http://www.wiccaspirit.net/vol3is3/index_files/pg11.htm
http://witchescupboard.info/articles/wicca/13-preambles-of-wicca-by-h-p-thomas-moore/
http://whisperingwillow.yuku.com/topic/30/The-13-Preambles-of-Wicca
An Easy Start to Tarot
http://metaphysicstudy.com/?p=981
Anatomy of a Tarot Reading
http://www.spiritspa.com.au/the-anatomy-of-a-tarot-reading.html
http://metaphysicstudy.com/?p=985
Releasing Fear and Changing it through Meditation
http://www.spiritspa.com.au/releasing-fear-and-changing-it-through-meditation.html
http://metaphysicstudy.com/?p=1090
http://vitaminproducts.wordpress.com/2012/04/28/releasing-fear-and-changing-it-through-meditation/
The Ouija Board: A Metaphysical View
http://carayowell.com/blog/tag/ouija-board/
Candle Magick for Love
http://esoteric.2hav.net/articleviewer.php?artid=1281
What is Magick anyway?
http://www.starlark.com/Magick.html
I apologize if I have missed anyone here, If you happen across the site, please feel free to comment below with a link to your page as well.

Candle Magick for Love

What is Magick:

Magick itself is the art of manipulating energy in order to achieve a desired result.

Everything is made of energy and as Einstein says it can’t be created or destroyed simply changed. Magick changes the energy from one purpose to another in order to achieve what it is the caster desires.

Magick is all about belief. You have to believe that the magick will work. If you do not believe that it will work for you then you are wasting time…belief is everything!

What is Candle Magick?:

You have actually been practicing candle magick since you were a toddler. Don’t believe me? Well we all have birthday’s right? We blow out the candles on our cake and make a wish for ourselves. We concentrate and then blow them out and believe that it will come to pass for us. This is a form of candle magick. If you light a candle while meditating or taking a bath to relax you are performing a form of candle magick.

Candle Magick for Love:

When we talk about this we are not talking about making someone fall in love with you. You cannot force someone to do something that is against their free will. Besides, what happens if you get tired of the person or find out that they are just not right for you after all? Now you’re stuck with them and all because of a little spell to find love. Instead what we will talk about in this class are ways to perform candle magick in order to help produce self love and worth and therefore attract a partner to share that love with. You cannot give love fully until you are able to accept love fully and accept the love of yourself.

So if you thought that I was going to teach you magickal ways to force someone to love you. Well I apologize that it not what we are here for but I’m sure that you will benefit from the information that we are going to go over for this class today.

Types of Candles:

Beeswax candles are becoming more and more popular as far as candle magick goes because they are all natural. The only downside is that they can be pricy.

Paraffin candles are the more common form of candle that is found out there, and though not totally natural are the ones that are mostly used for candle magick.

Colors of Candles:

As we all know each and every color has a different meaning to it. Because we are talking in this class about candle magick for love we are going to focus on the candle colors that are best used for this purpose.

RED: red is the color of sexuality as well as the color for the root chakra at the base of the spine. This color tends to have a lot of energy to it when it comes to sexual matters. Burning a red candle in this situation will help aid in self manifestation of sexual desire by a partner as well as being more comfortable with ones own sexuality. I find that many people are uncomfortable with who they are sexually and tend to disguise it by acting in a way that they “think” is the proper sexual manner. There is no proper sexual manner to act in…unless of course it is YOUR sexual manner. Being comfortable in your own skin is a big part of attracting a partner, no one wanting someone that is uncomfortable. The people that you see that get the most dates are usually the people that are sexually comfortable with themselves. This color is good for couples that are having sexual problems in a relationship as well.

PINK: pink is the color of universal love as well as the heart center chakra. When I talk about universal love I am not talking about unconditional love they are actually separate beings. Universal love talks about both giving and receiving love fully and without doubt or prejudice. Unconditional love is loving a person no matter what. The two work very closely together but have very separate meanings. Burning a pink candle in this matter is going to help you to personally be able to give and receive love in all aspects of life not simply a romantic aspect. This is important because in order to really gain a relationship with the person that you have attracted you must be willing to accept their love as they give it and at the same time feed your love back to them creating a full circle of universal and unconditional love.

BURGUNDY: burgundy is the color of romance. Romance is important in any relationship in order to give the love an outlet to express itself fully and without hesitation. The words I love you simply have lost their meaning in this day and age, and it is an unfortunate thing. Simply saying the words does not instill in a person the feeling of being loved anymore, or at best not like it used to. Romance has become the outlet in which love can flow in a creative way and cause the partner to feel the care thought and love that was put into creating the romance. After the partner feels the love from the romance they can then easily feed that love energy back to their partner in a fulfilling way to be sure that each person is fully enjoying the sensation of love. This color is also great for couples that may be having some romantic difficulties in the relationship.

Now these are just the color correspondences for candles and have nothing to do with the extra stuff that you can do with them as well like spells, carvings, herbs or oils. Each of them have their own meanings as well and combined together increase the effectiveness of what you are trying to achieve but remember that most of all it is your belief in the spell and the power of it that will make it happen for you.

I want to mention here a few things as well when it comes to spells. Firstly they may not work immediately. The energy has been sent out into the universe to achieve your goal but sometime sit has to wait around for the right moment before it takes action. This is important because it means that you have to be open to the circumstances that appear to you when they do in order to receive what it is you have sent out into the universe. Be aware of the situation that you are in because it may be the one that the universe has been waiting for to aid you. Secondly, you cannot expect it to work if you are not going to put the effort in on the physical plane. You have to go out, date, go to clubs or meeting places and meet people. Just because you did a spell does not mean that the person that is meant for you is going to find your house and knock on your door in the middle of the night if they have never met you before. You have to be willing to put some work into it as well. The universe can only do so much without your application in the physical realm. This also doesn’t mean that the first date that you go on or the first person that you meet after you do the spell is the person that is right for you. You may find though that you become more and more comfortable with the self love and worth as you experience things after doing the spell but again it is not going to appear out of no where. Be willing to take the time to work on the self with these spells and grow into a better person that is able and capable of finding that true love that we all wish for. Don’t be upset either if you have to re-do the spell again at a later date. You may have some more to work on before the universe can direct you in the path that it wants you to go in order to achieve your goal. This dies not mean that you have failed, it simply means that you have to work a little more on the self love that you need in order to attract that perfect person.

Flowers:

We all know that flowers have a lot to do with love in itself, and I am actually not even talking about herbs at this point but actual flowers. Let’s go over some meanings of flowers that can be used in order to help with self love to ultimately attract the love of another. Flowers can be used in addition to any spell that you use for these purposes and can be carried with you or planted in order to grow that relationship. Be sure to keep them well so that the relationship you grow is fruitful.

Roses: roses for a long time have been associated with love. The energy that the rose possesses is one of lust love and romance. If you are looking for a highly active sexual relationship that also has its romantic side the rose is the best flower to use. Especially if it is red, going back to the colors from before.

Daisy: many people don’t think of this flower in a loving sense at all. The daisy however has an energy associated with it that produces a lasting friendship in a relationship. Though it may not be very sexually active, the daisy helps with communication and friendship in the relationship that you are looking for.

Orchid: the orchid flower helps with finding a love that is pure and unwavering. This flowers energy produces the thought that the relationship will forever be true no matter what the circumstances that come. This is what we call the fairy tale flower as well, being one that aids in finding that prince or princess that you have been looking for.

Herbs:

Here I want to talk about some herbs that can be used in order to achieve your goals of finding love. The herbs that I mention here can be used in oils to anoint the candle, can be burned as incense, or even carried on the body. Some herbs are poisonous so please do not ingest any of them without proper authorization from a licensed herbologist. I am simply giving you the magickal uses for the herbs here and not medical uses. I am not an herbologist and do not have authority to tell you what can and cannot be ingested by you or another.

Adam & Eve Root: This is a 2 part herb that is best used after you gain the relationship. One partner carries half and the other carries the other half this is to help make the relationship stronger between the 2 parties.

Rose Buds Dried: Same as before with the roses. You can burn these as incense or carry them with you to attract that love to you by promoting the self love that you possess.

Rosemary: working in a similar way as the roses do, rosemary works strongly with finding a lover that is going to be faithful to you.

Cinnamon: want a lover that is sweet? Use cinnamon in order to attain that sweetheart..

Willow: in order to attract a lover that is spiritual as they are romantic use willow as a charm to bring them to you.

Aromatherapy:

The herbs we listed though they have some great magickal uses are not usually the best smelling by any means. So let’s talk about some more aromatic solutions that you can use to help attract a lover to you.

Sex: these scents are best used as aphrodisiacs:

-Ginger, Jasmine, Patchouli, Rose, Vanilla, Ylang Ylang, Lilac

Love:

Apple, Freesia, Iris, Lilac, Tuberose, Ylang Ylang, Gardenia

As far as oils all of these can be used and are used as general attractants as well.

You can also get mixes of oils like Starchild’s Love oil that is a mix of essentials in order to attract love.

Stones:

Possibly the best stone that you can use to attract love is going to be a rose quartz. My personal belief is that all others will pale in comparison. Sure you can use something like a ruby to enhance the spell if you are purely looking for a lustful relationship but we are talking about love here…universal and complete. Use a rose quartz to attract that type of love to you. If it is in a piece of jewelry even better! It makes it easier to carry around with you to exude that energy.

Anointing the Candle:

Any oils that you want to use or even herbs can be anointed onto the candle to increase its burning power. If you are wanting to attract you are going to anoint from the top of the candle down to the base. If you are wanting to repel you are going to do the opposite. When you light a candle you should be sure that you can safely leave it lit for a period of time. This way the energy of the work that you have done can easily move into the universe and begin to take form. If you have to put out a candle that you are using for magickal purposes then you should do so by snuffing it. If you blow out the candle you are dispersing the energy that it is creating and so it cannot fully gather. If you snuff it you simply cut off the energy flow and allow all the energy that it has gathered by burning to go together into the universe.

Symbols:

Symbols can also be used for this purpose. You can carve them into the candle or write them on paper and carry with you.

Heart single or double, a plus or positive sign, double rings (especially if you are looking for marriage) you can even go as far as to write down all the things that you are looking for in the perfect mate and burn the paper with the candle that you are using for the spell.

Spells:

Spells need not be extremely ritualistic in nature; in fact just a few simple words will usually do, especially if you say them each time that you light the candle for the day. Here are a few simple ones that you can use to get started. Don’t be afraid to make your own as well…just be sure to keep it general remember you cannot force someone to love you if it is against their free will so no names!

“Perfect lover come to me, as I will so mote it be!”

“By the power of Earth and Fire, I call the lover of my Desire!”

“Through the air, across the sea, bring my lover Blessed Be!”

“Aphrodite, Blessed Be, bring my true lover close to me!”

The thing with magick is, that the more you have working for your intent as well as the strength of your intent itself is going to bring about the best results. You have to have that faith in your own power and what you do or it is not going to work for you.

Before you do anything magickally you need to be sure that it is what you want. Don’t go casting spells frivolously, after you know it is what you want take action by casting and then continue that action by working on it at your physical level and having the faith that it is going to work for you on all other levels.

Basic Candle Magick

Candle Magick is one of the simplest, and most used forms of magick. It has been used for ages by many people and religions; in fact religions today still use candles for devotion and prayer. In Pagan and Wiccan faith, candle magick is a staple of the use of Witchcraft. Candles are used to represent the Goddess and God, as well as the Elements; and are also used in many spells for healing, money, love, protection, and many others.

Basic candle magick uses a few small steps that any person (Wiccan or not) can do. More advanced techniques add objects such as symbols, stones, herbs and oils to the mix. In order to preform candle magick there are a few things that you first need to understand.

First, you should understand that you are working with your energy and the power of manifestation when you are doing candle magick. You are focusing on a want, or need and "charging" the candle with that energy so that it may continue to put it out into the Universe sending it to the Goddess and God. Second, you need to understand the power of the element of Fire. Fire is passion, creation, and energy. The flame should be respected as it is working to send your energy out. When doing basic candle magick it is a good idea to never blow out the candle when you are finsihed. Instead, use a candle snuffer to suffocate the flame. Blowing out the candle flame disperses the energy that you worked hard to create, and can affect your ritual or spell. Snuffing has the opposite effect, it contains the energy so that it may prepare to be lit once again. More advanced candle magick practitioners may have spells that require you to blow out the flame, there are certain situations that call for this, but I will save that for another time.

To start your candle magick you need to be aware of the different color candles and the energy that the color holds. There are thousands of colors of candles out there, even more if you make your own but I am only going to go over a few of the most common ones here. In addition to the color, it is usually best that the candle not be scented. Artificial scents may affect the spell casting, and certain ones can negate the ehergy that you are looking to raise. Save scented candles for a time when you become more advanced, and are more familiar with the magick of oils and herbs.

First you will need to have in mind the type of candle spell that you want to do. After that you can choose the appropriate color candle to use for the ritual.

Red: Energy, Lust, Sex, Fire, Passion, Root Chakra
Orange: Creativity, Art, Expression, Sacral Center Chakra
Yellow: Communication, Speech, Listening, Air, Solar Plexus Chakra
Green: Healing, Money, Unconditional Love, Earth, Heart Chakra
Blue: Emotion, Feeling, Trust, Clarity, Water, Throat Chakra
Violet: Psychic Prowess, Meditation, Psychic Ability, Third Eye Chakra
White: A "Do All" menaing that a white candle will work as any other color candle. Also represents Purity, Goddess, Innocence, Protection
Black: God, Negativity removal, Banishing, Binding

Now that you have your spell and candle color you need to know how to charge the candle with your energy.

Charging a candle for starters is a simple task. You are going to hold the candle between both hands and focus energy into it. Use your visualization skills for this part. "See" yourself attaining the goal, "feel" it on all levels of your being and push that energy into the candle itself. Sit for a while focusing on this, the stronger your focus and intent, the stronger the energy of the ritual.

Now it is time to begin your candle magick. Se the candle up ina place where it will remain undisturbed for small periods of time. Best to keep away from pets and kids, as well as things that are flammable! Some spells will require you to burn the candle continuously until it burns out, this can be a task being that you are not always going to be home to watch it. In cases like that, I like to take the candle and place it in my bathtub (after filling it with some water), this way if it falls over it will be snuffed out and not burn down the house. Doing a spell like that can be dangerous, so do be careful, for now though we are going to focus on intervals.

Burn your candle for about an hour a day, until the candle has completely burned out. Oh! Before I forget to mention, place a small saucer, or plate underneath to catch all the excess wax that drips off. This is to keep your surfaces nice and clean, and some spells use that excess wax for other things as well, so it's best to start getting into the swing of it.

When you burn your candle each day you can choose whether you want to sit and mediate with it (great for adding in some extra energy), or simply let it do its work for you. When it is time to put the candle out, remember that we are looking to build energy with basic candle magick, so we are going to snuff out the candle not blow it out. Another thing many witches like to do is to use matches to light their candles. In a home this works great, but outdoors sometimes you need a lighter! To me personally, though matches are a bit more "old fashioned" and "natural", fire is fire regardles of how it comes to be. It is the energy of the fire we want.

As with any spell or ritual you preform, don't expect immediate results. Think of it this way, you've spent the time gathering the energy, and now you need to release it to the Goddess and God in the Universe and allow them to mold it into your need and send it back to the physical plane. This takes time. A good idea is to keep a spell journal, (also known as a Grimiore) where you can record your progress, your successes and your misses as well.

That's your short into into Basic Candle Magick. Feel free to post below if you have nay questions, or comments!

An Imagery of Energy

I've said it before, and I'll say it again, everyone is Psychic. We all have the ability, and capability of enhancing those parts of us. Many of us choose not to, for whatever reason; others choose to grow these parts of themselves; there are some that are plagued by their ability; and still others that pretend they don't exist.

Energy is all around us all of the time. It creates that which we see, touch, smell, taste, and hear, and it especially creates those things that are "invisible" to us. Part of this is the ability called Empathy. Empaths are numerous, in fact chances are that every single person has had an empathic occurance in their lives at least once.

Empaths feel what others feel. If a person is happy, sad, angry, depressed, elated; the Empath will feel those emotions. There are different levels of Empaths as well. On the starting side the energy is more sympathetic than empathetic. Growing stronger the empathy rings in, and even further along than that a "true" Empath can not only feel the emotions of others, but can physically feel what others feel.

Being an Empath is hard work, it takes a lot of concentration, a lot of psychic protection, and a strong awareness of energy as well as what is "self" and what is "not self".

I have found that people that have not experienced certain energies before have a hard time understanding what they are all about. While I was outside today, I got one of those lovely sparks from my guides that may help with decribing three different energies in a way that everyone will understand. The three energies that I am talking about are positive, negative, and void.

Let's start with void energy. Simply this means that a particular place (sometimes a person but most often a place) is void of energy. Think of it this way, have you ever been outside right before a big storm is about to roll in? If you pay attention (and sometimes even if you don't) you'll notice a few things. First, the color seems to fade and become more grey in everythign around you. The sounds seem to dissapear and it becomes strangely quiet (no birds or animals around). The scent of the air becomes stale and stagnant, it feels very still and motionless. This is what it feels like when a place is void of energy. It is like the life has been drained from everything around, leaving a completely empty space.

Negative energy is much different. Take that same scenario of being outdoors before a storm. Now imagine that someone turned on about a million 1000 watt bulbs and pointed them right at you! Colors begin to become to bright they are sharp and hurt the eyes. You hear so many different loud sounds that you want to cover your ears, so many smells that you want to hold your breath. Everyhting around you is assaulting every one of your senses, causing confusion, and pain.

Positive energy is the opposite. The color is perfectly balanced, not too dark or light. There is enough sound to be serene and calming wihtout overpowering your ears. The scents in the air even out and mix together in a beautiful bouquet that feel peaceful to you.

These images of different energies help you to identify when you are experiencing them. You can have a better understanding of that positive space you want to be in, releasing yourself from that voided energy space, and protecting and removing yourself from that negative space. For an Empath this information is priceless. Once they learn to udnerstand and recognize energy, and energy patterns they have a better chance of grabbing a firm hold of their ability and controlling it, not allowing it to control them!

Think about it, and use this imagery next time your out. Try to get a feeling, a sense for each of the images and place them into the situations you come across in life. You are more likely to be able to control those situations better than before (with a little practice of course).

Beltaine May 1st

 Ah, another wonderfull Sabbat comes our way as the start of the month of May draws in. Beltaine also known as May Eve has been observed since ancient times. During this Sabbat one focuses on fertility, love heat, passion, cleansing and flame.

The Sabbat is named after Ba'al a Mesopotamian God of fire, and (as we still do today) is celebrated with a bonfire (or bale fire).

An activity that many people are familair with at Beltaine is the Maypole dance. A large pole is erected and covered in colorful ribbons. People grab a ribbon and dance around the pole in different directions. Women dance clockwise (deosil) and men counterclockwise (widdershins). They alternate as they pass, and may even kiss,

The maypole is a phallic representation of the God being thrust into the Earth (or the womb of the Goddess). The dance itself raises energy, spirits and magick ushering in the Summer to come.

Often times one would sing a song, or rhyme as they dance aroudn the maypole. This was called "Calling in the Summer."

If you don't have room in your yard for a large maypole, try a smaller one. A local craft store will sell the following materials you can use to craft your own small maypole.

Dowel Rod
Clay Pot
Colorful Ribbons
Flowers

Arrange some flowers in the pot and insert the pole. Attach the ribbons to the pole and begin to tie and weave the ribbons throughout, singing your chant as you go. if you ahve other people celebrating with you, they too can grab a ribbon and begin weaving.

It's a fun and lovely tradition that you just have to try at least once!

Happy Beltaine to everyone!

Stand up for your Religious Belief

Something very interesting has happened recently. As you probably know I am part of a few social media sites (facebook, twitter etc. though I only actually use a few), and I have come across something quite fascinating happening to the people around me.

It seems that on more than one occasion, people that once claimed to be Wiccan or Pagan and once stood very strongly behind their beleif are now going to (or back to) a form of Catholocism.

My standpoint on religion has always been this: "Every religion is a different road to the smae universal force. We may call it a differnt name, have different ways to worship it and work with its energy but the energy itself doesn't change." That being said the focus of a beleif system is the religion that you practice, Catholocism, Wicca, Judism. You have faith and belief that the practices within your specific system of study are the ones that are going to strengthen your relationship with that one universal force, and bring you to a place of spiritual calm and peace. For many people it takes years or even entire lifetimes for them to realize. Others are more aware of their spiritual self, and find it easier to connect with that force.

You follow your beleif system of a reason. Never falter from it! No matter how many people tell you its good or bad, right or wrong, stand your ground for what you believe. By moving swiftly back and forth between beleif systems, you could possibly be delaying that spiritual peace that you are after. I have friends from all walks of life, that follow a wide array of religions. Never do I (as an outsider) question why they believe what they do. So long as they are following something that in their heart is good for them, and will help them grow personally and spiritually who am I to judge? I do however have a problem with the ones that seem to follow a specific faith for a short period of time and then latch onto the next to quickly and easily. They have no core beleif, instead they follow like sheep to the next faith that they think will giv ethem what they need. Instead of dedicating themselves to something that they beleive to be right for them, they hop around and never find peace.

I would urge them all to take a strong look deep within themselves. Find out what it is they truly seek and need from a religious insitution and then dedicate themselves fully to the one that fits the bill. It doesn't have to be Wicca or Paganism, Goddess knows I don't push my beliefs on anyone! It should be however something that has meaning to them. Something that has a system that follows their morals and values, something that is a way of life for them; not a burden in any way.

Find that thingand stand up for what you beleive! Spiritual bungee cords never get any further than consistently going up and down.

The Chatroulette Psychic

Some of you may know what I am referring to here. Several years ago there was a site named Chatroulette that came onto the scene. You were able to turn on your webcam and flip through hundreds of different people to chat with. At the beginning it was a fun thing to do and as the site got older the people got more carried away. There have been many pranks and jokes pulled on people in Chatroulette, and even more men and women showing far too much of themselves (thankfully you can weed this out now).

I popped on the other day and decided to do something a little different. I decided that I was going to do 1 question readings for anyone that would take the time to talk with me. So at nearly 2am (I couldn't sleep a wink) I tilt my webcam toward my desk and shuffle the cards before shuffling through the people.

I was not sure what sort of reaction to expect. More often than not there are people there that are looking to chat with others in a more "romantic" fashion (or as romantic as you can get through the internet). I knew that there were going to be males, and females of different ages; as well as groups of people just having some fun in the early hours of the morning.

So under the name "Chatroulette Psychic" I spun the wheel. I was suprised to find the reaction to it was quite interesting. There were a lot of people that stopped and asked a question (this of course could have been simply because it was of no cost to them), and they were all but suprised that they got an accurate reading (from their feedback to me of course). There was such a variety of different questions, form the absurd "Where did I leave my Phone?", to the more emotional "When will I stop being addicted to drugs?", and even the tried and true relationship question "When will I find true love?".

The best part of it all was that in each person I read for at the end I saw a smile and a glimmer of hope. Ending all my readings with "Blessed Be and Spread Love", I was releived to see them take things so seriously. I felt as if the positive vibration I was sending out to them was not only being recieved, but transmitted by them as well. The loop had begun, and one good deed will affect another, and another, and so on.

One person even said to me "You're doing good work here", I smiled at that. I don't so these things for recognition. I don't do them for fame, or money (though sometimes I do ask for funds simply because of the time and energy put into things like classes and such). I do these things to help the world. To spread love, light and enjoyment and hopefully touch someone in a way that will change their lives to a more positive, healthy outlook.

I think that for now I will continue to give it a shot (now and again of course), and see how much positivity I can spread across the world, one person at a time.

Ostara

As many of you are aware, we just celebrated Ostara, the Spring Equinox on March 21st. The Christians adapted this holiday and transformed it into what we know as Easter. Ostara is a time to celebrate a rejuvination of life. The rebirth cycle of the circle. Traditional Ostara celebrations last from the Equinox up until the next Full Moon which doesnt occur until Friday, April 6th.

People would color or mark eggs (symbols of fertility) with prosperity symbols and then hide them for the kids to find in the house. This is an Ostara tradition that we still follow today. Magick that you preform during Ostara is stronger if it focuses on renewal, balance or fertility.

This is a great time to do a full house cleanse, and rejuvinate the home protections that you have in place. Renew you altar area and recast your spiritual space. Fertility doesn't always mean getting pregnant, it is simply the state of being fertile. This can apply to anything in your life that needs a little fertility, whether it be money, creativity, love, or healing.

Something that I personally do every Ostara is to create my own "Eggemental". All it takes is an egg and a marker. You are basically creating out of the egg and your energy a living elemental (hence my word eggemental) that will protect your home and property. These guys tend to last until next spring, but you may need to renew tham earlier than that as well. Be wary though, as you may "see" this little guy running around your yard at night!

On the top of the egg I draw an invoking pentacle. Then on one side I draw 2 eyes and a mouth (they dont have to be perfect). After that I take my little guy outside and walk him around the perimeter of the property. I explain to him waht I want him to do, patrol the property border of my home and chase away and negative forces that attempt to set foot inside. I will walk the perimeter 3 times (usually in a clockwise circle) while I hold him in my right hand and fill him with energy.

When I have completed, I will find a nice spot in the garden, or under a tree and bury him to live in the earth and begin his work. I will always make sure that the place I bury him stays fertile throughout the year to honor the work he is doing.

Give it a try this Ostara, and see your Eggemental protect your home from nasties!

It's a rough world outside the Circle

As many of you may already know, I recently re-ventured into the world of big business retail. After a few years being jobless (having lost the work that I loved so dear), I came to realize something again. Staying positive outside of the circle is HARD!

When I was working with like minded people (and customers) it was easy to keep a positive attitude. It was an unspoken understanding that there would always be a positive exchange of energy between myself and whomever I was dealing with. It was purely one of the best times of my life, but it came with a price. It was too easy. There was that understanding between people, it just happened and it was almost impossible to be in a bad mood or be filled with negative energy.

Now is a different story. Now more than ever I realized that my psychic muscles have gone weak (in some cases more than others). I deal daily with people that are in foul moods, and want nothing more than to drain you dry of the energy that you have. I have nearly forgotten what it is like to have to put up those "psychic sheilds" every day. I have let myself become affected by others negative intents, and have infected others with it as well (after all I'm not perfect, I'm human).

I am realizing more and more that I have succumb to the life I once lived before I knew any better, and in realizing that I have changed it. Like they say "You can't stop a truck but you can get out of its way" (and before you ask, no I don't know who "they" are).

Maybe I can't save the world (or at least awaken their senses). What I can do is this, blog about stuff and let the people that need to see it, take something from it. I can work with one person at a time in exchanging energy (or at least giving them positive energy). I can't stop the people from approaching me with negativity, I can't stop them from attempting to drain me of my energy. I can and will though block those negative forces around me, whether they are close or far, friends, family or strangers.

Life brings you lessons all the time, this was just another one of those lessons that I needed to learn, a reminder if you will. This was a lesson that had taken me by storm many a year ago, and I defeated it once. Back to basics time, and back to regaining the self from the outher world and bringing it back into the circle.

Perception

Perception is a funny thing. In the state of the world today, we look at a person and intantly judge them by their outward appearance. Those of us that are aware, strive to curb that flaw and seek to learn about each person we encounter, and never judge.

I have had very few issues in life in regards to being judged for being pagan (thankfully). We are not all that lucky, and many of us are still curled up in a corner of our broom closets wishing we could step out and face the world. It is a hard decision, with so many religious institutions out there condemning what it is we believe or do; but at some point the bravery steps in and we make that step to open the door.

I came from what some would call a broken home. My Mother and Father divorced at an early age, and in many ways it forced me to mature much quicker than other kids (not to say that I can't be an immature crazy person now and again). I was raised to be kind and gentle, to love others and be helpful to people and the world around me. I was taught to hold the door open for the person behind me, say please and thank you, and not act out inappropriately.

I like to try different foods, and experience different cultures. I enjoy watching television, movies, and reading, and even the occasional nap. I love to go to the beach or a park and be close to nature, or even go shopping (though this is on rare occasion). I learned to take care of my loved ones, and treat others the way that I would like to be treated.

I enjoy surfing the internet, and playing video games. I like fantasty, sci-fi, thrillers, horrors, comedy and action movies (heck of a list huh?). I was taught to honor the ones that we have lost and love the ones that are here.

I am not unlike you, your Aunt, Brother, or Friend. I share with you many of the same interests, and the same morals and values. In fact I woudl go as far to say that if we were to meet, we would become good friends.

Behind all of this, I am Pagan. Now you turn away, you explain to me how wrong that is, and that we cannot become friends with each other, even through all the things we have in common. You dissagre with my way of life, with my beleif. You chastise me for having the audacity to not believe in "your" God, in "your" religious system.

I will smile at you. I will not judge you by your beliefs. I will not judge you for your actions of judging me (that is not my place). I will allow you to speak your words and allow that negativity to sink before me. I do not comdemn you for what you beleive.

Perception. If you know me you know all of these thigns about me. You are a friend that sees me for the person I am whether you agree with me or not (happily many of you do). Others perceive me to be evil, malicious, vindictive. None of these things are the person that I am, and yet perception rules their eyes and closes their heart.

I ask each and every one of you, do not judge, do not allow perception to run the gambit of your life and close your heart and mind. Allow others to be free, teach tolerance and love and in the end you will be rewarded.