Spell Writing Challenge: Relief spell and Spell jar for Mom

My spell Jar for my Mom

Relief spell and Spell Jar for my Mom.

Ingredients:

Chamomile- to soothe

Nutmeg- to maintain health

Garlic powder- to promote health

Photo of my Mother

Small jar with lid

Fillable tea bag or cloth to make a sachet

Peridot stone- for protection prosperity, emotional balance, health, sleep- even better because my mom has actually touched it.

Light blue candle

White candle

Place a photo of Mom in a glass jar along with a small peridot stone. Put a pinch of nutmeg, garlic powder, and chamomile into a small cloth sachet or fillable, paper tea bag and add it to the jar. When you are ready set the jar on your altar and place a white candle and a light blue candle around, in front of, or behind the jar and say this spell:

Mother Goddess up high

Please look with caring, loving eye

Down on my mother who’s ill

And if it be your will

Heal and soothe jumping limbs

Heal and soothe emotions grim

Heal and soothe whole body and soul

So she might sleep and rest

I trust you know what’s best.

Light both candles and let them burn.

I'm leaving the jar unsealed with wax so I can refresh the herbs if need be. 

Spell writing Challenge: Healing & Comfort Spell and spell candle for Family

Ingredients:

White tea light candle

Lavender

Chamomile

Picture of family

Lighter

Instructions:

Pull candle out of tea light container, gently pull out the wick. Place wick back in the container. Sprinkle lavender and chamomile herbs into the tea light container. Stick something like a fork or butter knife into candle wax and carefully using the lighter, melt the wax so it drips into the container and over the herbs. Continue to melt the wax until the container is almost full, then add a dash more chamomile and lavender. Melt a little bit more wax and gently place in the freezer to set it quickly.

*** IMPORTANT WARNING*** 
Find something to put under you tea light or find another, flame resistant container or don't use but a pinch of herbs. I used a small but fair quantity and the heat melted my tealight holder and through my altar cloth. 

When you are ready, take a photo of your family, place it on your altar and light the candle. Then say the spell below. You may insert which ever Gods or Goddesses you prefer.

Frigga and Freyja watching us

My family’s health and comfort I do entrust

Keep them safe

Keep them warm

Keep them happy

And bring good health and comfort to the norm.

Let the candle burn for as long as you wish, either all the way or just a few minutes for later use with the spell when you feel your family needs it. 

Spell challenge

This month, it seems is a month of challenges. Magaly Guerrero has a Witches in Fiction writing challenge this month geared toward healing the world. Last year I'd wanted to join her challenge but didn't quite get my ass in gear. Since I've made the decision to make myself write every day again, this seemed like killing two birds with one stone. Not only that, but I told Amanda about this challenge too. She is interested but also had a writing challenge of her own to tell me about. 

Amanda's challenge is a spell writing one. It was sent to her by someone on facebook, back when she still had an account, as something that might be of interest, and I guess she's been holding on to it for quite some time. The challenge is to write a spell for every day of a month and while there are some prompts, Amanda and I both decided to write our own spells. Also, we aren't going to write one for every day of this month, but rather cut it in half, so that we write 15 spells, iron them out, and the next day preform/ do them. We'll be writing our own personal spells, I haven't asked if she wants or wanted to combine our efforts or not on that end, but we will probably preform some together. Tonight, for instance, we are doing her protection spell which she posted here. 

Since I am getting around to sitting down to work on mine late, all I have is a rough draft of spell ideas and these I will share now. 

1. Healing/ comfort spell for family in general.

2. Relief spell for my Mother.

3. Money spell

4. Dark days spell- anti depression spell for me

5. Depression & Self worth spell for my Dad

6. Physical energy spell- drawing toward- for me.

7. Self confidence spell

8. Spell of protection, health, and happiness for the kitty

9. Clarity of spiritual direction- sometimes its good to reevaluate

10. Spell of focus- for writing

11. Igniting Creativity spell

12. Spell for letting that which doesn't serve, go.

13. Prosperity for family and home spell.

14. Banish mental negativity spell.

15. House cleansing and purification spell.

I will share these when I have them written and hope to get started tomorrow morning. 

Healing Wyrd, an article I really needed to read.

Picture snagged from Pinterest

I recently took some time to catch up on backed up e-mail, you know the e-mail you really want to read but don't quite have time for it, so you save it for later? Well, a subscription to Happily Heathen, on The Agora: the Central Hub for the Patheos Pagan Channel, was one of those "I'll save these for later. That later came when I couldn't sleep one night. 

While playing catch up on this particular subscription, I came across Healing old wounds at a new ancestors grave. In a lot of ways, this was something I needed to read. There have been some people in my family that have negatively affected our Wyrd. My Mother's Step Father for instance. I do not want to honor this man. What he did to my Mother and my Aunt makes me sick. I have no love for him. I wish I could say that he means nothing to me and doesn't affect me, but he does. The things he did make me quite creative when thinking about vengeance and then I have to remind myself, as I did when he was alive, that he just isn't worth it. 

But there is a lesson in his existence, his crimes, and even my Mom's Mom's fear of being alone so much so she stayed with someone who hurt and abused her children. That lesson is in my Mother. For everything that happened, my Mom got herself out, she made a life for herself, and while she never forgave her step dad (he's dead now, had a heart attack and crashed his truck into a light pole- not quite the judicial end I would have liked but I will take it), she forgave her mother. She forgave her mother for looking the other way, for beating her when she tried to get help, for choosing a monster over her own daughter. She forgave all of it and she didn't do just for herself, she did it for her mother so that Grandma J, would have a chance to know me, her Granddaughter. Now, I was never left alone with my mom's step dad and I never got to spend the night with Grandma J until after he died. But that one night I was able to, meant more to my Grandma J than I could even express to my Mom. I feel in a lot of ways, my Mom doing that, helped to heal the wounds of the family Wyrd and taught me the importance of forgiveness, and getting back on your feet and pushing through. 

On the converse, my Aunt, my Mom's Identical Twin, did not learn these lessons. In fact, she fell into the victim roll and continued the cycle of abuse in her own kids, particularly to the one who actually cares about her the most. She is also horrible to my Mom, so much so that while my Mom still loves her sister, she wants nothing to do with her. I think hanging in there for 50+ years is long enough and at some point, you just have to say, "I love you, but we're done." I don't know exactly how that will affect the Wryd, if that's positive or negative. For me personally, I'm fine with this disconnection to my Aunt. I tried for a long time to be devils advocate, to be sympathetic, but she finally just pushed me beyond my limits. I love my Aunt, always will, but that doesn't mean I have to talk to her or allow her to cause more damage. 

But how does this play out in honoring my ancestors? How do you honor someone or people who have hurt you or others you care about in your life, even if you don't want to honor them? What about the people you don't know about yet? Or ancestors from long ago you know nothing about only their names? I think its a personal choice. I don't think anyone can tell you who you have to honor. That probably comes off as "pick and choose" in so far as picking what you like and discarding the rest. Well, I suppose in a way it is. I will honor my Aunt because I love her and we had some good times, but also because she is my Aunt and there are lessons in my life that she's taught me about people. I don't want to honor my Mom's step dad and while I may never honor him directly, I will honor the indirect lessons- those my Mother learned and then instilled in me, such as who and what to watch out for, getting back on your feet, and learning to forgive and what forgiveness can do. This may not work for everyone and I think that's okay. 

Why I call BULLSHIT on Cultural Appropriation- except when...

Why I call BULLSHIT on Cultural Appropriation- except when...

A while ago, a friend of mine wrote a blog post about some issues that span across multiple areas, pagan and otherwise, that inspired a response from me. In agreement with her, I hammered out my support piece but didn’t post it right away. I read it to Amanda, and I just decided not posting it would be for the better, at least until I had cooled off, because some of the topics my friend wrote about, are things that I get all hot and angry about, and believe it or not, there are times where I come off far stronger and intense than I intend to. I deleted it in the end.

Anyway, one of the topics within my friend’s post was cultural appropriation- a concept that while it has always been around, seems to have flared up with the Social Justice Warriors (SJW’s) in the last couple of years.

First, two things: Social justice- yes, we need some but with that said there are people who take things to the extremes and that’s what I find unacceptable. You can fight for a cause without name calling and being an overt asshole.

Second, cultural appropriation is and can be real thing if someone is being disrespectful to another culture. However, I call bullshit on cultural appropriation when it comes to someone celebrating another culture or even simply wearing clothes.

What I mean by the latter is that some people, SJW’s mostly, seem to think that certain prints on clothing are a form of appropriation. Bullshit. The fashion industry has been and always will be drawing inspiration from the different cultures of the world. It will never end no matter how much you fuss about it and instead of seeing it as appropriation, why don’t you see it as a form of celebration. Someone thought something from another culture was beautiful and wanted to celebrate it in their own way. I honestly don’t believe that a fashion designer maliciously thought about using a pattern, a design, or whatnot to hurt an entire people.

In fact I don’t believe that’s what anyone is doing. More to the point, while our planet is large, it is becoming very small in terms of communication and exploration. We see each other’s cultures and become excited about them. They are new, different, fascinating. Take me for example, I am not Japanese but I enjoy Anime, Japanese history and culture, Kimono, the language, ect… I have made a Kimono and I have one that someone gave my Great Grandma Richardson. I am even interested and fascinated in Shinto and have been to a shrine. But because I have some Kimono, eat the food  with chop sticks, listen to the music, and so on, someone would accuse me of appropriation instead of seeing that I just enjoy another culture so much that I am choosing to celebrate it. And it’s not just the Japanese culture that is celebrated in my house, there are cultures of Amanda’s and my heritage that are celebrated as well.

Speaking of heritage celebration, someone accused one of Amanda’s cousins of cultural appropriation because he was wearing a Native American headdress in some photos. He is a blonde haired, blue-eyed white kid and his friends and others on facebook assumed that because of his physical appearance, he was in the wrong, never once asking if he has Native American Heritage, which he, in fact, does. I keep seeing instances like this all over the place and excuse me for saying, but it seems to be geared toward white and white-looking people. There, I said it. Now while I don’t think dreads look good on a lot of white folks, there are some who look great in them, but you never hear that. You only hear that “the white person is trying to be black”. But you never seem to hear about or see anyone jumping down an African American’s throat for converting to Islam or any one bitching to anyone else for celebrating St. Patrick’s Day or Christmas or any other holiday.

Now, don’t mistake me, this isn’t me being trying to be a bitch, this me pointing out some flaws in other people’s logic. And this is also me telling you its bullshit, that it’s okay for you but not okay for anyone else. Here is the thing, as long as no one is disrespecting or defaming, or purposefully bringing harm to yours or another culture, why are you so upset about? Why assume the worst of people, when you could be excited that they are excited about your culture. Why not see this as an opportunity to teach and share? Especially when this move out of the hair style and fashion or physical arena and into more of a spiritual one. How many pagans worship and celebrate a religion that may or may not be from their heritage and more importantly, how can you tell? I mean, you can be black and have Viking ancestors and follow a Heathen path, and even if you don't, color of skin should never matter in this arena. And even more importantly than that, what business is it of yours to tell someone how they worship is wrong? I mean if you really HAVE to make your business, why not do it peaceable and again see it as an opportunity to share and teach- all without being a total dick.

I think in the end, what it all boils down to is, live and let live, mind your own business, and if you absolutely can’t help yourself, try to be understanding, sharing, caring, and helpful. Being an ass is what makes problems. 

Religious conversations in the middle of the night. Contains spoilers for the film.

The other night I had fallen asleep on the sofa watching something with Amanda. I woke up about the time that she'd settled on the other end to sleep so I decided to watch a movie on our Netflix queue to fall asleep to. Only I didn't fall asleep. For some reason I was suddenly very much awake, sucked into this movie, and the more I watched the more sadness and anger I felt. Amanda ended up watching it with me and it sparked a conversation between us afterwards, one that I've wanted to write about but needed a few days to cool my jets and remember a few things. 

Philomena is about a woman who, at the age of 17, went to a fair, met a boy, had sex, and got pregnant. She was Irish and Catholic. Her father was so ashamed of her, he dumped and abandoned her at a convent. The time period looked to be between the 50s-60s. When she gave birth, a breached birth, she wasn't given any pain killers and the pain was supposed to be an atonement for her sin. She and the other girls who had been dumped at the convent had to spend the next four years of their lives working off (difficult labor and kind of bad conditions) the "help" the Sisters of the convent gave to them, before they were free to go. They were only allowed to see their children for an hour each day. I don't think most of the girls there left with their children. Why? Because the Sisters sold the children for 1000 pounds to Americans.  Philomena's baby was taken and she kept the ordeal a secret for 50 years. Then, she and her daughter enlist the help of a reporter to find her son and they go on an adventure of a little excitement, hope, and sadness that ends with a little forgiveness. I wanted to sob my eyes out at the end. I wanted to jump into the tv and hug Philomena.

The religious conversation that sparked afterward was one wherein I just wanted to cry. Amanda and I came to the conclusion, at the time, that monotheism is horrible. We don't know a ton about Islam, but we do know quite a bit about Christianity since we were both raised that way- her more than me since she was Catholic and my main christian education and pushing came from my Grandmother.  Anyway, we were examining how the peoples of monotheistic religions treat people, and how the Bible, the old testament especially just seems cruel. The do this or else, only worship me or you'll be punished, mentality. We talked about the religions in terms of history, in terms of present history and current things happening in the world today.  Yes, there are some pagan religions that haven't been much better- for instance the Aztecs were not nice people. but it just seems that the monotheistic way of life seems to condone torture of people as a way of repentance. As a way of "you're not like me, so you must suffer until you are like me" it is sickening. I don't understand it. It is as if these religions are going to war against anything and everything not them- which is kind of Hitler-esque don't you think? For religions so much about love and peace, they sure spurn thousands of gallons of hatred. 

I had to have a few days to separate myself from the subject and focus on some homework before I could think about this again.  The religions themselves could be beautiful, but the written word of them are done by man and mad is cruel. I have to remember that the people of these religions have been, are, and will continue to use their religion as way to torture people for no reason other than their mistaken sense of duty and if you really want to get down to it, their personal twisted and sick enjoyment.  Not all, but a good plenty of them.

But why? Why and how does anyone have this kind of energy within them. How does a person find delight in hurting someone else and using religion as an excuse to do it? It is disgusting. And why does it seem so much more prevalent in monotheistic religions? Sure I hear about pagans tearing in to other pagans online- trolling per se-, and there were occasions in history with pagans attacking other pagans, but you never hear about that in the news, you never hear about pagans protesting gay marriage or other things, and so on. So what makes it so different? (keep in mind when I use the term pagan, it is an umbrella for everyone not monotheistic, not just the more magically inclined).  What is it now that sets pagans and monotheists apart? Is it tolerance? Sure okay, but what about the need to use religion to torture others? 

As of right now, all I think is that people who are predisposed to hurt and find delight and sick fulfillment in using religion to torture others, gravitate to these monotheistic religions because there are certain things passed down through the centuries from other disgusting people, that gives them license to get away with it. There is also a sense of control. I know that is a dark view, and probably skewed in a way, and it will most assuredly piss someone off, but those are my thoughts and opinions right now. No, this doesn't mean that I hate followers of monotheistic paths, no that doesn't mean that I am trying to bash them or will stop being friends with someone because of their religion. I'm not that lame, petty, or afraid. I know there are good people from all religious paths and walks of life. I know because I have met them and I'm not going to turn against them because of the hateful few that give the rest a bad name.

Loki- the god people hate or love and my stance on him

Loki is the Norse god who brings about Ragnarok. As I understand it, most Heathens don't like him, some hate him, and some worship him. Then there are the Hiddleston fans who took up interest in him because of the Marvel movies. 

But me, well, I don't hate him, I don't dislike him, and I don't worship him. I see his importance as a catalyst figure in Norse mythology. He has a purpose and even though that purpose is to bring about the end, I don't necessarily see that as evil. I suppose you could say that I respect his function. I understand that he is a trickster and instigation God, that he messes with the other Gods and got Baldr killed (no, I don't like that), but in the end, I suppose I have a sort of polite indifference. Perhaps that is rude. Perhaps that will inevitably piss people off. Either way, that's my stance. Take it or leave it, but don't bitch about it. 

House Full of Gods.

Norse Gods

One day while Amanda and I were driving somewhere, I forget where, we got to talking about the Gods. When I think about the Gods, I tend to view them as friends, as teachers, as guides, and most of all, as family. Perhaps that's wrong for others, but it is what feels right to me. I don't know Amanda's opinion on the matter because I haven't thought to ask.  I might do that...

Since I regard the Gods so highly, it stands to reason that I feel they have some presence in my home. And given that Amanda has those she likes and works with or has welcomed into her life and I have the same or others, we wondered if they would like each other, if they would fight or argue or get along. But then we wondered where they would be in our house, which rooms they would frequent. Keep in mind that while I consider myself a fairly new Heathen that is not all I am and the Heathen Gods are not the only Gods in my life.

Anyway, here is what we came up with. 

Hestia and Brigid spend time in the kitchen and near the fireplace/ hearth and I can imagine them discussing recipes over tea. 

Hecate- I'm not sure where Amanda thought she would be. Perhaps by the patio door? 

Hern is in the bedroom, enough said there. 

The Fallen Angel Penemue is in the office/ library (while he is not a God, he has a special place for Amanda and he's got one with me as well)

Kwan Yin is in the living room sipping tea and offering motherly advice along with Frigg and Freyja, perhaps even Nerthus is there. Freyja is often in the living room but she is also in the office, and kitchen depending on her mood, and most certainly with me when I am out. Her cats, I imagine school Narcisa in what it is to be a helpful cat although, I don't think she listens. Freyja's boar is outside with Frey's. 

Frey, maybe in my garden, I'm not so familiar with him. 

Njord I see spending time with me near water.

Skadi visits in winter.

Tyr, I am learning about him as well but I imagine him hanging out with Thor at the kitchen table and outside.

Odin, I see him in the office/ library as well, perusing books.

Loki is generally spying on every one and everything so he can create a little mischief. (I will be writing a post about my views on Loki soon)

Bast is watching over Narcisa. 

Buddha sits outside beneath a tree or on my patio, and sometimes in the office/ library. 

Ganesh spends time with Buddha but also in the living room.

Mani visits us at night, shining soft moonlight into our house, checking on us while we sleep.

Amaterasu and Sol visit us during the daytime, and though they are bright, I thank them for their warmth and light.

At dinner time though, I see them all congregating around the dinner table. 

I am sure Amanda has more she could add and as you can see we have a house full of Gods. 

Where do you see your Gods residing?  

Things change so fast

I realize that it has been awhile since I have truly posted here. Yes, I am still doing the youtube pagan challenge, there are more videos on my youtube channel, and yes, I fell behind in doing that too. For some reason windows 10 doesn't like my camera so every so often I have to go and download the drivers for it. *sigh* Which is part of the reason why I haven't caught up with the pagan challenge. The part was due to school and IEPG (Inland Empire Pagan Guild) stuff and I am getting to that. 

I was an assistant organizer on the Inland Empire Pagan Guild's council. the IEPG is what you could call a non-denominational pagan group open entirely to the public. This meant that everyone was welcome, it was family friendly, and we did rituals and workshops exploring different magical elements and explored many traditions. It wasn't just Wiccan, Druid, Heathen, Kemetic, Native American Shamanism, it was all things. It was fun, most of the time, however when you can't get people to share the hard work and responsibilities, or do what they say they are going to do, or even work with you to help improve the group's structure, it becomes an overwhelming chore and what was once a positive, beautiful thing, turns dark with frustration, pain, and anger- just negative all around. I don't have the time or energy for that, especially not when I am finishing up my Bachelor's degree, looking at Grad School, trying to jump start my writing career, being a homemaker, and still trying to maintain a social life of some kind. 

So, after much thought, tears, and struggling, I stepped down from the council. It was extremely hard. The IEPG got me through a really hard time in my life. But I got what I needed from the IEPG. I formed some great connections with people and have a great group of friends, who have become family. I've learned many valuable lessons from these people, not just in the spiritual sense, but also in the life lessons sense. 

So what am I doing and where am I going from here? Not sure. I'm part of a Witch Club that is developing and I go to a Heathen friend's house whenever they host something. Amanda and I have been talking off and on about the possibility of starting something small and private within our home. We love the idea of a pagan book club and discussion group and thought even some practicum would be great, but we don't relish the idea of inviting everyone. We just don't have the room and sometimes, even people we enjoy socially, suck the life out of spiritual discussions or make them uncomfortable, so we're thinking invite only. But they are only ideas at the moment. 

Trying something new!

One of my friends is doing the Youtube Pagan Challenge this year and I thought it would be a great way to get back into working on my pagan blogging as well as do some video blogging. So here goes. I am coming into the challenge late, but I recorded all the videos today in an effort to start catching up.