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I am so excited about this newsletter. I finally got my shyte together with this project and in the process even went back and updated January’s debut issue, adding several things that were left out and needed to be included, so you might want to revisit this page. I’ve also set it up visually, musically, color-wise, and with a decent almost magazine page feel about it for the format. I feel comfortable now with the background, the color scheme, the greenery and waterfalls, and smiling Buddha.
I’m pleased as punch to send off (early) February’s edition, and here’s an excerpt from the introduction:
This month let’s look at the energy for February and what we could be, should be, working on right now for manifestation that will enrich our lives. You’ll also find a spell for the Gray Witch dealing with removing hexes, cleansing afterwards, and making sure the perpetrator gets the message. You’ll find a video of ambient high-frequency music provided for your listening pleasure as you browse this newsletter. Also, I’m going to be taping a new monthly video created just for this newsletter that will be informal, informative, cover a multitude of goddess knows what topics, and sometimes it might even get personal. Of course, there will be lots of other gems and nuggets ~ Read on! And please feel free to pass this newsletter on to a friend.
Enter The Witch’s Corner Newsletter here ~
http://www.thewitchscornernewsletter.yolasite.com/february-2018.php 
Tags: newsletter, magazine, writing
The Goddess celebrates renewed fertility, fertility of body, mind, and spirit. Seeds are sown now for future harvests; the bricks and mortar of new paths and new adventures are laid. The Goddess is reborn as her younger self, the Maiden, and it is her strength and power and sinewy young muscle that we imbue ourselves with, so as to have the strength and endurance to fulfill our life journey. This is also a festival of the Celtic goddess, Bride, so beloved by the people of the old world that the Roman Church couldn’t eradicate her. Instead, they made her a saint, Saint Brigit. In Celtic lore, the Old Woman of Winter (the Cailleach) was reborn as Bride, the Young Maiden of Spring. It’s this image that is most nostaligic in my mind, from the halls of Catholic Parochial School, the beautiful shining faces of the female saints, innocently biding their time among the patriarchal rhetoric, waiting for The Great Awakening…St. Brigit most prominent among them (the nuns adored her). The celebration of Imbolc is also a celebration of light, a celebration of the sun, in the fact that a successful new growing season depends upon it. The light and warmth of the sun is celebrated in the flames of candles and bonfires.
My Celebration:
This milestone passes all but unnoticed at our house, in all truth. I touch on it with a public comment and picture at social sites, or among my pagan internet friends; but here, it’s like a soft shadow passing over the house, sometimes lit with the glow of a blue candle on the kitchen table that hardly anyone else notices, since I’m always burning candles it seems. But I notice, and I remember, and I think…The time of The Great Awakening has come.
Imbolc Correspondences
Herbs: basil, bay, celandine, benzoic
Altar Flowers/Herbs: angelica, myrrh, flowers that are yellow/white/or blue
Feast Foods: bread, cakes, dairy products, seeds
Animals: burrowing animals, ewes, deer, goats, lambs
Incense: jasmine, myrrh, neroli
Rituals/Spells: candle magick, initiation, hearth/home blessings, fertility magick, healing magick, cleansing rituals
Imolc Recipes
Creamed Cabbage 1 lb. pre-cooked ham, 1″ cubed or shredded
1 heaping tsp. flour
1 firm white cabbage
1/2 tsp. each salt & pepper
1 cup cream
grated nutmeg (optional) Cut cabbage in half, then cut the halves once again. Drop them into a pot of boiling water and cook for 5 minutes, drain. Slice them up. Melt a little butter or margarine in a sauce pan and add the shredded cabbage. Stir it up good. Add salt, pepper, and a dash of grated nutmeg. Next add the cream and a heaping teaspoon of flour, still stirring, and let it come to a boil. Add the cubed or shredded ham, and lower the heat. Cover the sauce pan and let the mixture simmer for about 30 minutes. Serve hot. Makes 6-8 servings.
Interestingly enough, and just as a sidenote, Nutmeg is the most popular herb used to induce fidelity in a romantic partner. Think about this, when used with magickal intention, if you’re making this dish for your husband, boyfriend, fiance, etc. (“This is a perfect example of a little innocent kitchen witchery in the making.â€, she says with a wicked grin.)
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Brigit’s Biscuits 2 1/4 cup Bisquick
1/3 cup milk
1/3 cup honey Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Spray a baking sheet with non-stick spray or line with parchment paper. In a bowl, combine all ingredients. Drop by Tablespoon onto baking sheet, 2 inches apart. Bake for 10-12 minutes until golden. Serve warm with butter.
[Source: my blog, Magickal Connections, http://wytchymystique.com ) and my book, The Spiritual Feminist.
Tags: Imbolc Candlemas February Holidays
[Source: this post originally appeared on my blog Every Cat Has a Tale in July 2016]
Intro ~ Finally, a very personal blog post for this very personal mundane blog; it's about time. Surprisingly, this post has turned out to be much more than simply a list of 10 people I need in my life; it's turned out to be a surprisingly intimate look at my life. Writing is like that sometimes, you never know where you're going until you arrive.
These are the people I need/want in my life to help my life and all it's machinery run smoothly. These are the people I need in my life to make things lighter, to move the universal energy more efficiently, to lighten my load, to leave my brain free to write and think of cool video ideas. These are the people I need/want in my life to handle all the fine details that come together to make one gigantic picture. These are the people I need in my life because, at almost 60 years old, I want to be a spoiled bitch for a while ~
1. Housekeeper ~ I'm not rich, sometimes I don't even feel moderately middle class, but I still have a big house (5 bedrooms, 2 1/2 baths). Twenty years ago we needed every inch of this house, and there were still kids doubling up in bedrooms. Today, every room is still full, although I've confiscated one downstairs bedroom for a Witchy Room, and everyone has there own bedroom now (I still have kids at home). Yes, I've thought about downsizing, but after looking at the run down houses available, much smaller than this one, I'm thinking, "Where would I put everything?" (and the "everything" includes 3 kids, 3 dogs, and 9 cats). "Downsize" seems to be the mantra for people trying to give friendly advice, but it's easier said than done. I don't feel old yet (not really), and I'm not ready to get rid of most of my stuff-- I still have use for it!!!!
I am a hit and miss housekeeper and I seem to have passed this gene along to most of my kids, at least the ones that are still at home. And we ALL have jobs, everybody under this roof is working! It would be lovely, wonderful, unimaginable to come home from work and find a sparkling kitchen, sparkling bathrooms, and clean floors...dust-free bookshelves and kick-knack shelves would be an extra bonus. (Oh, Dust and Dirt, where art thou?) I need a housekeeper to wash the dishes that seem to breed beneath the kitchen sink. I need a housekeeper to discourage the army of spiders that take up camp in the downstairs family room each summer. I need a housekeeper to keep all the tables cleared of clutter. I need a housekeeper who will declare war on the bathtub ring with relish and fire in her heart.
2. Grounds Keeper ~ We have a large yard. One year, during our Home School foray and an awesome afternoon of Math, I gave the kiddos a unique math problem to solve...How big is our lot? After watching them sweating beneath the hot sun, wrestling with a carpenter's measuring tape, pencils and notebooks, while I sipped an ice-tea from the shade of the back porch, they came up with an accurate answer. Our lot is 1/4 of an acre.
It is unconventional by suburban standards. I don't use herbicides or pesticides; and my lawn has many types of green things growing in it besides just grass...ground ivy, dandelions, clover, plantain, and other cool looking nameless plants that all get mowed off at some point. I have several small, medium, and large flower gardens scattered around, which all need weeding and re-mulching this year, and there are (admittedly) a few trouble spots-- like the entire two foot wide strip along the neighbor's new fence. They were so kind *cough* as to move their new fence line over by two feet, leaving me their rocky, weedy, deep-holed mess, while they wound up with a nice new clean fence line (Bastards).
I need someone to do the incessant mowing, weeding, and watering during the growing months; and I need someone to handle big-ass snow removal on our huge driveway in the winter. If I never looked at another snow shovel again, I'd be just fine with that. ("Why not get a snow blower?" you say. Scroll down and ask my accountant; I'd like to know the answer to that myself.)
3. Cook ~ I use to cook. A lot. I was a stay-at-home mom for 20+ years, and before the hard-working long-suffering mind-controlling irritating bossy husband left for the plant, I dutifully made (every day of the week) a huge old-fashioned farm-style meal in the middle of the frickin' day. Which meant my mornings were spent cooking (while peeking over school workbooks and teacher's manuals), and my afternoons were spent cleaning up the gigantic god-damn mess making a big meal creates.
I don't cook no more. (I know, that's not grammatically correct, but that's how I want to say it.)
I told my kids that if I can't open a can, or pop it in a microwave, or pick it up at a drive-through line, I don't want it.
Yes, my girls can cook (somewhat). As for me, just the other day I tried (and failed) to make a pot of boxed macaroni and cheese. The kids claim that I ruined it on purpose. I told them that every brain cell I have related to cooking has either died off or morphed into some form of new dementia.
4. Laundry Person ~ I taught all my kids to do their own laundry when they turned 12. And then I stopped doing it for them. I know there are some people who would think this is harsh, but come on, give me a break-- you dump soap in the machine, push a couple buttons, and throw in your clothes. Hardly slave labor. They also have to remember to change it over to the dryer, and then they have to fold it and put it away. Laundry use to dominate my life...I always had a separate basket for the New Baby, because they go through a lot of stuff in one day; then I needed separate baskets for each one of the girls so that I didn't have to spend hours going through socks and underwear sorting out sizes and who's was who's. And then there was the husband's laundry. Eventually I stopped doing his too. What's with these men thinking their little wife is a laundry mistress? It's like having a gigantic god-damn child who never grows up, and you're expected to continue doing their laundry for decades. Bull shit. I stopped doing laundry for this husband, and for the two that came after him.
My laundry person would have a pretty easy work-load. My goal is to create as little laundry as possible; my goal is to wear every piece of clothing as long as I can before I have to reluctantly add it to the laundry pile. I figure if I can't smell anything, you can't either.
5. Pet Nanny ~ We are like a live-in petting zoo, even though we only have two species.
Cats...some are old and decrepit, prone to strange smells and infections, funky looking, and senile. Some are fat spoiled House-Cats who eat and sleep, and poop. Some are gangly teen-age House-Cats who tear around like horrible human children in the midst of their terrible two's. In-between raising hell, they eat and sleep, and poop. Litter boxes are an issue in our house. It's a contest to see who can put off doing them the longest.
I burn a lot of incense.
Dogs...Sophie (yellow lab/chow) has what's called Black Skin Disease. It's like Godzilla with eczema, only worse. She looks like something out of Stephen King's Pet Semetery. Sophie needs her meds; she's constantly scratching herself; she sheds hair in large handfuls and gray dead skin cells as well. She smells really funky; anything she lays on smells really funky.
I burn a lot of incense.
Then there are The Chins, two little boys who are dandy's. They're spoiled, neurotic, easily upset, barky, suspicious of strangers, jealous of each other, prone to poop on something just to prove a point if you ignore them too long, and are full of other personal disturbingly human-like quirks. They're like Don Rickels with OCD. They follow me from room to room as I move through the house, always keeping one eye on me lest I get out of my chair and move from their sight.
6. Accountant ~ I don't have a lot of money. I almost had a lot of money once (but that's another blog post). Even though I don't have a lot of money now, I still want an accountant. I want someone who will take care of money coming in and money going out; someone who will pay bills; juggle expenses; deal with foreign-to-me concepts like IRAs, CDs, Social Security, all of those Insurances the modern world thinks we need, as well as all the tax stuff at the end of the year, and the property taxes that go along with this Big Old House. I basically want someone who will literally remove from my brain the need to think about dollar signs, banks, and business stuff all together.
This would be another easy job. The only real challenge would be to see how far they could actually make the Almighty Dollar stretch...without breaking it.
7. Publicist ~ Not many people realize how much time and effort, and time, and persistence, and time, and ingenuity, and time goes into Promoting Your Shit. It's a Full Time exhausting thankless job. (If you have a publicist, get down on your knees right now and kiss their feet.) I write books, I blog, I make videos, I have a website with an online business, I give public psychic readings, I have lots of crap that I have to keep in front of people, at the top of social sites, in my blogs, on my website, etc. etc. etc...If I don't keep this stuff out in the front trenches of the World, I will disappear somewhere within the filmy gray internet realm. (Which sometimes I feel like I do anyway.)
I need someone willing to do Lots of Stuff on an almost daily basis-- promote my books; post reviews; post links; advertise my readings to hook me up with casinos, book stores, new-age shops, (billed as entertainment). I need someone to photograph merchandise for my website and post the beautiful pictures, and fix the prices, and create PayPal widgets for each individual item. I need someone to man the cameras and equipment for my videos; I need someone to masterfully and beautifully edit them; I need someone to post the damn things all over Tarnation and back. I need someone to keep track of the tarot reading requests coming in. I need someone to set up radio interviews and post more links. I need someone to sell me, because I'm getting frickin' exhausted and frustrated trying to sell myself.
8. Secretary ~ I need a secretary to handle all the email coming in. I need a secretary to handle all the serious requests and questions from desperate people; and I need a secretary to handle emails coming in with stupid questions, or emails from weirdoes and stalkers. (And yes, contrary to popular opinion, there is such a thing as a stupid question.) I need a secretary to answer the phone and field calls, even the oddball calls that come in during the middle of the night from people who want to find out what magick I can do for them, or someone expecting an instant tarot reading at 3am. I need a secretary to organize papers, to take care of invoices from my online business. I need a secretary to shoot emails out to customers letting them know that their merchandise is coming, or their tarot reading has been completed.
I need a secretary with a sympathetic ear who will understand bad days and good days, a secretary who will be indulgent enough to let me moan and groan and complain once in a while about the whole process of writing, or the difficult people encountered during public forays into the world of psychic readings, knowing that this is just a brief moment of unrest, or the result of a sleepless night and a tired mind.
9. Mechanic ~ My car has 185,000 miles on it. It needs new break pads; it needs new tires; and during the past week, it's been acting all funky, not idling on the RPMs that it should be, slow to take off, sluggish, with a funny cough and an intermittent hiccup.
I don't want to buy another car. This car is paid for. This car is comfortable. This car has personality. This car has a name..."Scarlett". This car was chosen for me by my late husband, Joe. I want THIS car; and I want this car to run so that I feel safe when I have to drive into Omaha, or when I'm picking kids up from work at all hours, or when I'm leaving home in the morning headed to work.
I want someone I can trust to work on this car, someone who finds Scarlett and how she runs just as important as I do. I want someone who's going to do what needs to be done at a fair price, or even better. I want someone who will handle her with kid gloves, knowing that she's more than just a car, she's like a faithful old horse, a part of the family.
10. Handy Man ~ OMG, this is going to be a daunting task for the most stalwart handyman on the face of the Earth. I have the mother of all "Honey-Do" lists, and since I have no Honey to hand it to, the handyman who finds himself before me is the targeted victim. This old house is a checkerboard of things that need doing...doors don't close right; doors don't open right; floors need refinishing; the kitchen needs updating; wiring needs fixing; rooms need repainting; areas need remodeling; leaky things need to stop leaking; sinks need to drain; washers need to wash, and dryers need to dry.
Most important of all, when something breaks, I want to know that I have someone standing at the front lines who can fix it.
I don't want to have to deal with hammers and screwdrivers, electric tools, nuts and bolts and nails. I don't want to have to try and figure out the intricacies of the modern toilet system. I don't want to have try to figure out how I'm going to wrestle something heavy and seemingly impossible to move up a flight of stairs, or down a flight of stairs, or into the next room. I don't want to have to look at a fuse box in wonderment and total fascination, wondering how many volts go through it and what happens if I touch the wrong thing. I want to know that in my realm there exists a wizard able to fix all the things that go wrong in my physical world. Someone able to maintain my space with confidence and robust enthusiasm...My Handyman.
Tags: personal, Life,
[Source: This blog post was originally published at my blog, Magickal Connections, and is an excerpt from my book, The Spiritual Feminist.)
Shitala
Her Story:
Shitala is the Hindu goddess of disease, attributed with the creation of small pox, among other insidious maladies. Ironically, it is Shitala you call upon to cure illness, to cleanse the body of disease. What a paradox this goddess is! She despises filth and dirt. When invoking Shitala, you must physically cleanse your home or sacred space, and you must have a ritual cleansing bath before beginning. To disregard these actions would mean an unsuccessful invocation.
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Healing Candle Spells
For physical maladies, go with the Element of Earth, the color green and all the other correspondences that are connected to this element and this type of magick. (You’ll find correspondences for the elements, as well as other information to help you craft your magick and cast your spells, at the end of this book.) But there’s so much more to it, and there are so many ways to be ill, or other reasons people need healing: For mental illness, you will call upon the element of Air, and your candle color will be yellow. For a victim of physical violence, or sexual abuse, you’ll use the energies combined of Earth (green for physical healing), Air (yellow for mental healing), and Water (blue for spiritual healing). For someone who is terminally ill, you will call upon Spirit, and your candle will be white. It will ease their passing and light the path for their journey to the other side. It will invoke their spirit guide, who will take them by the hand, helping them travel safely as they cross over. Household Blessing
The tools: white candles; sage, or a cleansing incense like sandalwood, and a bowl or holder for this; bells, if you fancy them; a broom, for symbolism and to “sweep†away negative energy from each room; a bowl of salted water to asperge (sprinkle) each room, as well as every nook and cranny. The method: I start from the bottom and go up, so begin in the basement, if there is one, or the lowest floor. Basically, you’ll go from room to room, cleansing it of negative energy, moving it out and “sweeping†it along until you push it right out of the house with the last room or space you clear. Enter a room, demand the negative energy and ghosties (or other spirits) leave. Walk clockwise around the room with the salted water first, dipping your fingers in it and sprinkling the space as you go. Then do the same with the incense, smudging the rooms, making sure that you include any closet space or cubbies. Energy lurks in these spaces, you know. That’s why children, who are more in-tune with it, are often afraid of these little dark closets and corners. For a final flourish, and to make your point to the spirits or other entities trying to take over this space, use the broom to symbolically “sweep†the negative energy right out the door. Sweep from east to west in large whooshes. The broom doesn’t even need to touch the floor. After all, you’re literally sweeping a space, not the floor itself. Make sure, as you do this, that you are ordering the spirits to leave, that you are reclaiming this space, and that you are in charge. Put some emotion into it! As a side-note, don’t be alarmed if you feel a rush of goosebumps up your legs as you’re doing this. It’s nothing scary, and it’s nothing that will harm you. It’s just the energy that you’re moving; you can often feel it. (Yes, peoples, it’s an actual “Real†thing.) Embracing the Goddess:
Call upon Shitala for the most obvious of reasons: to banish physical illnesses and maladies. Be respectful, be wary, be sure that you appease her with ritual cleansings. Remember that this goddess not only cures illness, she creates it. Shitala’s Correspondences:
Herbs: columbine, lemon balm, myrrh,
thyme, lilac
Color: blue, silver
Planet: Moon
Day: Monday
Element: Water
Feminine Face: Crone
Snake Woman
Her Story:
Snake Woman is often considered to be a household and fertility deity, as well as a powerful goddess and priestess. Seduction is her forte. Within the serpent lay her power. She represents the Feminine Mysteries and holds within her realm of magic healing and empowerment throughout all stages of a woman’s life. A goddess of Crete, Snake Woman is often depicted bare-breasted, clutching a snake in each hand.
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The small group of women, wrapped in brightly colored blankets or clutching a soft shawl about their shoulders to keep off the early morning chill, tread softly on the well-worn path in sandaled feet, rising up through the trees, ever higher onto the hilltop. At the end of this path, in a small clearing, a flat stone altar has been erected. The centerpiece of this altar is a tall ceramic statue of Snake Woman, her breasts bare to the morning sunrise, two writhing serpents in each of her raised hands. Placed around Snake Woman are a ring of tall red pillar candles rolled in herbs, one candle for each of the women in the group. Within the center of this altar stands a large cast iron cauldron. From beneath their blankets and shawls, the women bring forth small scraps of paper with their intentions written upon them…healing for an illness; the strength to make a necessary change; power to transition from mother to crone, from maiden to mother; the desire to find love, to re-ignite the passion of an old love, to celebrate lasting love. The women stand in a circle around the large flat stone, each woman stepping forward in turn, placing her written intention into the cauldron and then bending to light the red candle before her. When all the candles are lit, the women stand around the circle once more, hand in hand, each one chanting their personal affirmation, their desire, invoking the spirit of Snake Woman. As the chanting rings clear, becoming louder and more intense, one of the women bends to ignite the paper in the cauldron. As the flames rear up, a unified shout rises from the group…and then silence descends. Embracing the Goddess:
If you feel that you’ve lost the passion in your life for love, passion that drives you to succeed, passion that enables you to wake each day eager to leap into the fray of life, embrace Snake Woman and learn to turn the wild-woman within you loose. Cut the ties that bind with the enthusiasm and energy of this goddess. Snake Woman’s Correspondences:
Herbs: black snakeroot, coriander, goldenseal
Animal: snake
Colors: red, orange, yellow
Planet: Sun
Day: Sunday
Element: Fire
Feminine Face: Maiden
Symbols: the snake, wild bare-breasted women
Sophia
Her Story:
Sophia is one of the most powerful of goddesses, a goddess of the middle-east, entrenched in the legacy of the Gnostics, of Judeo/Christian culture. She is the ultimate Divine Feminine, the personification of divinity, the ultimate sacred feminine energy and entity of the universe. This goddess takes the patriarchal personification of “god†and stands it on its ear. Sophia is the voice of wisdom from the divine. She is the creatrix of all the universe. It’s believed that every human in existence carries a sparkle of her energy within them.
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“Conversation with The Divineâ€
Universe, I know you’re listening. You can be really, really quiet sometimes, trying to trick me into life and stark reality; but I know you’re there, and I know you’re listening. And I know you can hear me. Life is running its course…figuratively and literally. How? How do I know this? I know this by the living “Flow†of life, in a figurative way, a physical way, an undeniably human/mother nature way: I know this by moving rushing water in streams, and rivers, and bubbling brooks. I know this by the blood rushing through my veins in a mortal journey between my heart and the rest of my body. I know this by the miraculous flow of blood from a mother’s heart to her unborn child. I know this by the flow of sap from the roots to the limbs of a tree, all the way to the very top. I know this through the flow of moisture from a tree’s roots up through the trunk to each and every single leaf. I know this through the white and nourishing flow of milk from every human mother’s breast, and from the breast of every mother creature. Life is flowing…it never stops. When it ceases in one spot, it resumes somewhere else; forever, and ever, in an endless immortal blaze of Nature. Embracing the Goddess:
When you need personal power, when you need divine guidance, when you need protection or healing, when you need relief from mental anguish, when you need to connect with the divine on a personal universal huge in-your-face way…invoke Sophia. Sophia’s Correspondences:
Herbs: bittersweet, pine, sage, star anise,
anise, slippery elm
Animal: dove
Color: yellow
Planet: Mercury
Day: Wednesday
Element: Air
Feminine Face: Mother
Thalia
Her Story:
The Greek goddess Thalia is a goddess of vegetation and foliage, the “Blooming Goddessâ€, one of the three Graces. Thalia is the goddess of springtime. She represents the earth’s bounty, it’s abundance and fertility.
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Thalia’s Garden
Whether you live in a house with a nice-sized plot of land to till what you want for a garden space, or whether you are a city apartment dweller with only a balcony and some pots, you can create a magickal garden devoted to the goddess using the energy of Thalia. The following garden layout is equally do-able with both of the above scenarios. It’ll work. It’s about size and dimension and the relativity of it all. At the 4 corners: Plant hibiscus, to honor the goddess and your own feminine energy and power.
To the North: Plant primroses, for the element of Earth. May they bring to you physcial well-being and manifestation of your magick into the world of atoms and matter.
To the East: Plant sage, for the element of Air. May it bring to you mental well-being and manifestation of your magick into the world of the mind and it’s ever winding labyrinth of thought.
To the South: Plant marigolds, for the element of Fire. May they bring to you all the energy you need for all the passion it will take to make a difference in this lifetime and beyond.
To the West: Plant asters, for the element of Water. May they bring to you inspiration in the form of dreams and spirit contact; inner sight; honest emotions; and a cleansing of your body, mind, and spirit. And at the center of Thalia’s garden, what do you plant? Plant yourself. Stand, sit, or lay in this sacred center, absorbing the energies all around you, the energies of the elements, the energies of the plants, the energy of the goddess. Embracing the Goddess:
Thalia’s energy can be invoked for your spring planting, or to celebrate spring and the sprouting of the world once more into a magickal green blossoming realm. Thalia can be invoked when abundance is needed, abundance on many levels: material things– money, food; immaterial things– more…more laughter, more spontaneity, more happiness, just “moreâ€â€¦whatever it may be. Thalia’s Correspondences:
Herbs: vervain, corn, knotweed,
patchouli, wood sorrel
Color: brown, green
Planet: (Gaia) Earth
Day: all seven
Element: Earth
Feminine Face: Maiden
White Buffalo Calf Woman
Her Story:
White Buffalo Calf Woman influences agriculture, basic survival, and enrichment rituals and ceremonies. She embraces the nurturing side of our nature; she is what prods us to excel and succeed in the rough arena of the world. White Buffalo Calf Woman is who we invoke in rituals and ceremonies to honor the Mother in us all, the caretaker. It is her energy that is present in every woman holding a baby to her breast, raising a child, caring for the animals of the earth, sharing her life with a man. This goddess is what compels us to place another person’s well-being before our own.
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Women Surviving the Modern World
1. Start each day with a small ritual. It doesn’t have to be complicated– light a candle, or anoint yourself with an oil, or be still for a 5 minute meditation, or write down a thought in your journal.
2. When you become frustrated with the circumstances you are dealing with, put everything on hold for a half an hour and have a Starbucks. Yes, you are worth a $5 cup of coffee. You’re worth a gazillion $5 cups of coffee.
3. Take a solitary walk in a favorite spot, or take a walk with your best friend, or take a walk with your dog– who just might be your best friend.
4. Watch a movie that inspires you, that makes you laugh; or watch a movie that makes you cry…even though you’ll think you’re crying because of the movie, you’re really not, you’re cleansing yourself from bottled up emotion.
5. Do something creative: If you write, start a book, even if this means writing just the first sentence in an empty notebook, just one sentence, and you’ve started a book, more will come later. If you paint, start a painting, even if this means painting a canvas all over with one color; call it the background, and eventually you’ll think of things to put on top of it. If you sculpt, pick up a lump of clay, even if all you do is roll it in the palm of your hands to form a ball, and call it good; eventually the ball will turn into something else.
6. Give away something to someone who needs it. Soon after you do this, you’ll feel all warm and fuzzy inside. This is the Universe, rushing back at you with positive energy and lots and lots of Love.
7. Clean out your refrigerator. You won’t really just be cleaning out your refrigerator, you’ll be cleaning out all the unnecessary junk that’s cluttering up your life. When you’re all done (with the refrigerator), and you stand there holding the door open, admiring all the sparkling clean shelves and extra space, know that you’re not just looking at a refrigerator.
8. Call someone who’s lonely. The unexpected connection will jump start a chain reaction of positive energy. When you finish talking to this person, you’ll feel an inrush of their energy, and then a burst of Sun-Rays-Are-Coming-Out-My-Fingertips feeling. This is magick.
9. Buy: 1) a pair of earrings; 2) a new lipstick; or 3) a pair of shoes. This sounds so material, but what’s wrong with that? Know that you’re not just purchasing Stuff, you’re creating an affirmation with a physical action. In reality, you’re shouting to the Universe: “I’m worth it!â€
10. Be the first one to say: “I love you†or “I’m sorryâ€. Embracing the Goddess:
Invoke this goddess in rituals honoring the “Mother†aspect of the goddess, as well as the human “Mother†in us all. For deep within us all, every individual has the capability to nurture. It’s the print of humanity. White Buffalo Calf Woman’s Correspondences:
Herbs: quince, bistort, wheat, sage, hyssop
Animal: white buffalo
Color: white, purple, green, brown
Planet: Jupiter
Day: Thursday
Element: Earth
Feminine Face: Mother
Symbol: buffalo
Tags: goddesses, women, womensissues, pagan, mythology, matriarchaldivinity
[Source: This blog post was originally published at my blog, Magickal Connections, and is an excerpt from my book, The Spiritual Feminist.]
Oshun
Her Story:
Oshun is an Yoruban goddess celebrated in West Africa as a patroness of women and witches. She can also be found in some traditions of Santeria. She rules all bodies of water and all acts of sensuality. Oshun is the hedonistic nature within all women, she rolls in unabashed lust and physical delight with nary a qualm of guilt. Make offerings to this goddess of jewelry, tantalizing perfumes, and sea shells. Oshun is most often depicted as a female with large hips, and she is a triple goddess in the triad with Oba and Oya.
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Who are all the lovers in your life? How has each one touched your life, whether good or bad or indifferent, whether climactic or anti-climactic? What did you learn from them? Everyone comes into our life, whether permanently or just for a season, for a reason. Not all relationships are meant to last forever. And when a couple decides to end a relationship, it does not mean “failureâ€. It does not necessarily mean that someone did something wrong; it does not necessarily mean there is a “good guy†and a “bad guy†in this situation. It simply means that the relationship has run its course, and it’s time for both parties to move on with their lives. I’ve run into people within our society who were brought up under strict Christian (and Catholic) homes and divorce was frowned upon, or even forbidden. I had a heated head to head argument with one lady (Southern Baptist) about this very topic. She believed that once you were married, you were married forever– No Matter What. No matter what? What if you were abused? What if you were incompatible? What if you were unhappy? People change over time; needs change; personalities change; goals change; spirituality changes; physical needs and desires change; hopes and fears change. Life is not static. I believe that most human beings, living an average human life span, will have not one, but many lovers during their life time. As they should. Let go of the guilt. It’s all good. Embracing the Goddess:
Women coming from patriarchal based spiritual backgrounds often have a difficult time letting go of unnecessary guilt, guilt for a variety of reasons, but most often encompassing their sexuality and sensuality. If this is your issue, call upon the goddess Oshun to open you up to your true nature. Invoke this goddess to celebrate your sexuality, to wallow in unadulterated physical pleasure. Invoke this goddess and let her re-introduce you to healthy womanhood. Oshun’s Correspondences:
Herbs: belladonna, cardamom, raspberry, foxglove,
hibiscus, strawberry
Color: blue
Planet: Moon
Day: Monday
Element: Water
Feminine Face: Mother
Symbols: sea shells, undines
Pele
Her Story:
Pele is the infamous volcano goddess of Hawaii. She is depicted as a beautiful sensuous woman; and she is noted for being an alluring seductress, seducing males ruthlessly and relentlessly. Pele is also known for her volatile temper, a bitch among the goddesses, and it’s been said that many an unsuspecting tourist has brought down her wrath by removing a volcanic stone from her mountainside.
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It’s okay to be a bitch. Our society, mainstream mostly Christian society, has beaten it into little girls’ heads that we must always be “niceâ€, always, with no exceptions. Pele teaches us otherwise, telling us it’s okay to get up on our back legs and howl and screech when we feel the need; it’s okay to use our feminine wiles of seduction; it’s okay to pull no stops, to use our femininity to our advantage. Society– watch out, Pele has turned us loose. Embracing the Goddess:
Invoke Pele with the element of Fire to turn your inner Wild Woman loose. When it’s time to abandon “niceâ€, invoke Pele for the passion and fury needed to stand your ground, make your point, fight your battle, confront your adversary, or seduce your target. Pele’s Correspondences:
Herbs: angelica, mandrake, tobacco,
wormwood, rowan, bloodroot
Color: red, orange
Planet: Mars
Day: Tuesday
Element: Fire
Feminine Face: Mother
Symbols: fire, lava rock
Persephone
Her Story:
Persephone is the Greek goddess of spring. She rules agriculture, growth, and new opportunities; she epitomizes the natural magic of spring and the sprouting of new vegetation after the dark of winter. Known as “Queen of the Underworldâ€, this goddess is the “Keeper of Soulsâ€. She also ruthlessly carries through the curses of men upon the souls of the dead. Persephone influences the wisdom of life and death, magick and divination. Persephone is the daughter of Zeus and Demeter, a harvest goddess, and is most known for her abduction by Hades into the underworld. It’s when her mother Demeter comes to find and rescue her, returning Persephone to the world, that spring returns.
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For the goddess skilled in divination, through the tarot, what wisdom has she for us? 3/swords (R)…The Fool…Ace/wands (R)
2/pentacles…3/pentacles
7/swords (R) Through a series of heartaches and disappointments, we find ourselves on a new path, one of several in our life-time perhaps. New beginnings are right around the corner; but each beginning, we must realize, stems from an ending. Remember not to drag debris from life’s earlier disappointments throughout your entire journey. In all things there will be balance; the universe and the higher powers will see to that. Work will be our salvation; it will be our strength, and it will be the solution to many of the issues from this life and past lives. We’ll find strength, power, self-confidence, happiness, and a sense of fulfillment in the work we do, the contribution we make. Along this journey, you may run into people who feel they can take advantage of you, of your success, of your energy. Do not worry here, for what they think they are stealing is nothing of importance. These are people who do not see the whole picture, people who may have abandoned or turned on you at some point in your life for all the wrong reasons. Know that you are above the pettiness of the world, you are in fact ready to soar with the Goddess. Embracing the Goddess:
Invoke Persephone to strengthen your second sight and to fine tune your divination skills. Call upon this goddess to bless your garden at the beginning of spring, insuring lush growth and freedom from disease and blight. Use the energy of Persephone to enhance growth, growth regarding material issues, or a flowering of personal endeavors. Persephone’s Correspondences:
Herbs: daisy, ivy, lavender, mint, patchouli
Animal: bat, parrot, ram
Color: green, brown
Planet: Earth (Gaia)
Day: all seven
Element: Earth
Feminine Face: Maiden
Symbol: sheaf of grain, wreath of flowers
Red Tara
Her Story:
Red Tara is a Tibetan goddess of transformation. She’s worshiped throughout Eurasia in both the Hindu and Buddhist traditions. She manifests transformations at all levels: physical, mental, and spiritual. This goddess highlights positive intentions and actions. She also has the ability to calm wild emotions and turn them into quiet common sense and reasoning. Red Tara is a powerful goddess in that she affects the energies of magick and alchemical processes.
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Red Tara, she who rules over physical transformation, manifest for me a healthy body, beautiful in its own unique way. Red Tara, she who rules over mental transformation, manifest for me a healthy ego, self-confidence, intelligence, and above all, balance. Red Tara, she who rules over spiritual transformation, manifest for me tranquility and peace, a strong bond with my spiritual path and its practices; and above all, a connection with the Divine that will enlighten me in this lifetime and beyond. Embracing the Goddess:
When you are bat-shit over the hill crazy with anger, collect your wits and invoke Red Tara. She’ll calm you down so you can think rationally and react intelligently. “Get a grip!â€, Red Tara will order you. All magickal practitioners can call upon Red Tara for her energy and transitional qualities when performing magick…yes, casting spells. Her rational calm influence will insure the same in your magick. She’ll grab any helter-skelter energy and throttle it, so your magickal endeavors will work correctly. Red Tara’s Correspondences:
Herbs: holly, shallot, basil, cumin, marigold,
penny royal, fennel
Color: red, orange
Planet: Mars
Day: Tuesday
Element: Fire
Feminine Face: Crone
Shakti
Her Story:
Shakti is the supreme goddess of India. She’s the primal force (female energy) within all other Hindu goddesses, the ancient driving force, the “Breath of Lifeâ€. Shakti leads women to spiritual enlightenment. She is found in the energy of yoga and many tantric practices.
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The Liberated Woman
Who is she? Is she you? List three mundane and routine daily chores or activities that you do day, after day, after day, for yourself, for your family, or for your employer. List three daily practices or activities that you incorporate into your life for your own mental, spiritual, or physcial benefit and well-being. List three people you have positive connections with. What is your dream? What are your goals for the next five years? Who inspires you? Embracing the Goddess:
Connect with Shakti to open or celebrate the crown chakra, to directly connect to the Feminine Divine, to do energy work on a spiritual level. This goddess is an open line to divinity. Invoke her to help you find your way, to answer your questions, to alleviate your doubt. Invoke this goddess to discover who you are, where you came from, and where you’re headed. Shakti’s Correspondences:
Herbs: earth energy/patchouli, mugwort, oleander; air energy/dandelion, sage, slippery elm; fire energy/allspice, golden seal, dragon’s blood; water energy/belladonna, eucalyptus, ragwort
Color: green, brown
Planet: Earth (Gaia)
Day: all seven
Element: Earth
Feminine Face: Mother
Symbols: kundalini snake, lotus blossom
Tags: inspiration, goddesses, mythology, pagan, women, womensissues
[Source: This post was originally pubished at my blog Magickal Connections, and is an excerpt from my book "The Spiritual Feminist".]
Lilith
Her Story:
Lilith is considered the original “Queen of Heavenâ€, and in her glory days she was known as Adam’s first wife, a dirty little secret that’s been hard to sweep under the proverbial rug. Lilith is known for her dominating nature, her unquenchable lust, and her appetite for new-born infants. She raises storms and tempests with fiery might, sucks the life-juice out of men as they sleep, and prowls the night in search of unprotected infants to satisfy her hunger. In spite of the harsh side to this complicated goddess, you can invoke Lilith when this is the very energy that is needed, just don’t invoke Lilith in a home where there is a young child. And beware, her energy is powerful and unforgiving.
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The woman writhed uncontrollably in the flickering light from the hearth, clenching the rough hand-woven blanket between her teeth. The pain passed, and her body relaxed. But the next pain would come, and the next, and the next…until there would be a child. The old wise-woman seeing to this village birth rose stiffly to place another piece of wood on the fire. She went then, to the laboring mother’s cot, and gently slid her hand beneath the down-filled pillow, her fingers searching for the protective iron talisman. She breathed a sigh of relief when her fingertips touched the cold metal. A noise on the roof of the thatched hut caused both the mother and the mid-wife to turn their faces upward in fear and foreboding. But there was silence, only silence and a soft wind rustling around the corners of the cottage. The demon goddess Lilith would not enter this cottage on this night. Lilith would not claim this child, not this child, not tonight. Embracing the Goddess:
Lilith is all about lust and quenching appetites that are not considered genteel in the more prudish circles of society. But the pagan woman knows that when such energy is needed, when it’s desired, and when it can be used to her advantage, she can invoke this goddess with the promise of fulfillment in these areas. The pagan woman will also know how to protect herself from the harsher side of this demon goddess. Lilith’s Correspondences:
Herbs: sage, marjoram, slippery elm
Animal: screech owl
Color: yellow
Planet: Mercury
Day: Wednesday
Element: Air
Feminine Face: Maiden
Symbol: the dark moon
Metal: iron (Lilith detests this metal and it is often used in amulets and protective spells against her.)
Lucina
Her Story:
Lucina is a Roman goddess of light. She is the protectress of women in child-birth and the new-born infant. It is Lucina who guides new life into the world. In ancient times, at the height of worship to this goddess, Roman women and girls would do knot magick to call upon the power of Lucina to protect the birthing mother and new-born child. They would untie knots previously created in long lengths of material, and they would unplait their braided hair, all to prevent unpleasant entanglements during the birth process.
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Knot Magick
In most traditions knot magick is employed with the use of a 9 foot long red cord or ribbon. But I find that knot magick is so very versatile that I use different colored ribbons, depending upon the magickal intention: green, for health and healing, or prosperity; red, for passion, love, lust, and romance, but also, as in this case, for childbirth; yellow, for mental endeavors and creative projects, as well as for communication; purple, for legal and business issues, but also for calling in spirits; blue, for psychism and dreams, for divination, and for those ethereal realms of mermaids, fairies and dragons, and other creatures of myth and legend. We’re going to work this magick under the guidance of the goddess Lucina, and we’re going to work this magick for the safe delivery of a healthy baby into this world. Whether we’re working this magick for ourselves (Yes, it’s okay to take care of yourself!), or for our daughters, nieces, sisters, mothers, aunts, or friends, you can do this. You have the power to invoke this goddess in this magick and have your hand, figuratively, on this child’s head, as a blessing. (Cast this magick before the full moon that comes before the due date, and then keep this knotted ribbon in a safe place until the time to release it. Begin undoing these knots and releasing all this wonderful positive energy at the time that labor begins.) First, set the stage, so to speak, create the sacred space to invoke and welcome Lucina. You’ll want a tall white pillar candle for the center piece (the goddess candle); and you’ll want to circle this with several red votive candles (9 would be nice). The incense could be myrrh, but you can use a scent that resonates with you; my favorite is nag champa. You can be as ritualistic as you care to be. If you love music and dance, you can invoke Lucina in a blaze of glory. But if this type of thing isn’t your cup of tea, you will be just as successful at invoking this energy by simply lighting your candles and incense before you begin. Nine knots you’re going to tie, drawing in your intention with each one, reciting a mantra over and over. Don’t be alarmed if this mantra, this chanting, turns into a frenzied almost incoherent whisper. This simply means that you’re entering an alpha state, where energy is being moved and magick is possible. Chant your chant, tie your knots, lose yourself in this experience. When you’re finished, extinguish the flame on the white goddess candle, but leave the red votive candles to burn themselves out. Place this red knotted ribbon in a safe place, and begin the vigil, the age old vigil of waiting for that first pain, that first glorious sign of impending birth. It’s then that you will bring this ribbon out and begin undoing the knots, feeling the joy and the happy anticipation. Embracing the Goddess:
Of course, the power and magick of this goddess will be called upon for laboring women and their infants. Call upon this goddess in happy anticipation of a complication free delivery. Gather mothers, aunts, sisters, female friends and cousins to the laboring woman’s side to ritually unknot their braided hair, or long strips of red linen that were previously knotted in happy anticipation of this event (perhaps at the baby shower!). Lucina’s Correspondences:
Herbs: moonwort, peach, lemon balm, willow, myrrh
Color: white, silver, blue, red (feminine blood)
Planet: Moon
Day: Monday
Element: Water
Feminine Face: Mother
Symbol: the knot, blood, the full moon
Mama Cocha
Her Story:
Mama Cocha is an Incan sea goddess, called “Mother of the Oceanâ€. Her prime attributes are protecting fisherman and sailors, and those who make their living from the sea.
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At the time of this writing, I’ve never seen the ocean. One of my daughters traveled to the west coast this summer and saw the ocean for the first time. I listened to her wide-eyed rapt descriptions with bated breath. “You can smell the ocean a long time before you see it.†she begins. She went on, trying to tell me what it smells like, what it looks like, what it sounds like, what it feels like. She also brought me back a bottle filled with sand from the beach she stood upon. It is a precious thing. I realize that her experience and what she felt was both universal and unique to her, and that when I get to see the ocean for the first time, what I feel will be unique to me, yet there will be something universal about it as well. The ocean is considered the place where all life began. No wonder the goddesses who are connected with the ocean are considered powerful and are revered, filled with the energy of the Creatrix. It is the epitome of the Goddess, the ocean. As a familiar ritual song implies: we’re but a single drop of rain, and after our lives have been lived and run their course, we will return to the arms of our Mother. We will merge into the ocean of spirits and soar in universal knowledge and universal love. Embracing the Goddess:
The oceans cover over 90% of Earth, and just as Gaia is enveloped within the blue mists and veils of water, so you can be enveloped within this Mother’s embrace by calling upon this goddess for protection. I’ve discovered that Mama Cocha, infamous for protecting those who travel on water, also offers her protection to those who live beyond the sea, through the power of the element of Water. Mama Cocha’s Correspondences:
Herbs: sea weed, water lily, club moss, calamus
Animal: dolphin
Color: blue, white, aqua
Planet: Moon
Day: Monday, Tuesday
Element: Water
Feminine Face: Mother
Symbol: mermaid
Mami Wata
Her Story:
Mami Wata is another African water goddess. She embraces the symbols that are so universal to the Mother Goddess, those symbols that encompass so many cultures from all over the world. Offer Mami Wata rich perfumes and sweet liquids to satisfy her cravings so she will bestow upon you prosperity, good health, and healing. Make offerings to Mami Water at bedtime so that she will enrich your dreams with visions.
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I see pictures in my mind sent to me by the universe. I see pictures in my dreams. I see pictures in my waking moments, overlaid across real life before my physical eyes. As voices around me speak, people moving through normal life, the sounds take on patterns, and colors, and movement connected to objects in this, the earth plane…and it all comes together to form a collage, a beautiful miraculous pattern of life. Embracing the Goddess:
Use the energy of Mami Wata with the element of Water for magick and inspiration through dreams and visions, divinatory practices, and the strengthening of your personal intuition. Mami Wata’s Correspondences:
Herbs: African violet, comfrey, eucalyptus,
moonwort, kava-kava
Animal: dolphin
Color: blue, white, silver
Planet: Moon
Day: Monday
Element: Water
Feminine Face: Maiden
Symbol: mermaid
Morrigan
Her Story:
Morrigan is the Irish goddess of prophecy, a warrior goddess, often portrayed as a brunette beauty of great strength and cunning. She is connected to the battlefield and is known as “The Witch Queen of Deathâ€. She helps fallen soldiers pass to the other side. This Celtic sorceress rules the powers of prediction and enchantment, and the more squalid volatile aspects of love and sex.
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As I write this, the world and the news coverage is awash with the grisly execution of an American journalist abroad. As I’m reading the paragraph above, about Morrigan and how she helps fallen soldiers, I’m hoping that it was She who was there to help this hero cross over. For every civilian who valiantly gives their life for a righteous and worthy cause, for every soldier who falls in battle fighting for truth and freedom, may the great Goddess Morrigan take them by the hand and lead them through the wreckage of civilization to the glorious peace of the Summerland. So mote it be. Embracing the Goddess:
Invoke the energy of Morrigan to protect your loved one in battle; for all soldiers overseas, that they may be kept safe; and that they may have her support and guidance should they fall in battle. Invoke the energy of this goddess if you find yourself in a volatile and unstable romantic relationship. She will lend her warrior energy for self-protection, and she will guide you through the maze to a clear horizon. Morrigan’s Correspondences:
Herbs: cinnamon, cayenne pepper, ginger,
dragon’s blood, witch hazel
Animal: the battle horse
Color: orange, red
Planet: Mars
Day: Tuesday
Element: Fire
Feminine Face: Mother
Symbols: the battle shield, the sword
Tags: goddess, mothergoddess, womensissues, women, inspiration, spirituality
[Source: this blog post was originally posted at my blog Magickal Connections and is an excerpt from my book, The Spiritual Feminist.]
Inanna
Her Story:
Inanna is an ancient Sumerian goddess of love and war; known as Ishtar to the Babylonians, she was worshiped as the “Queen of Heaven and Hell†in Mesopotamia. She is a lunar goddess, believed to be embodied in the morning and evening stars. Inanna influences fertility and was invoked for ancient mating rituals. As a warrior goddess, she protects city dwellers from invaders, dispenses justice, and imparts the wisdom of life and death.
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From within all women, the seed will grow:
the seeds of life
the seeds of creativity
the seeds of joy
the seeds of wisdom
the seeds of ambition
the seeds of independence
the seeds of success
the seeds of love
the seeds of life
the seeds of continuity
the seeds of ancestry
the seeds of the future Embracing the Goddess:
Women suffering the pain of infertility can turn to the goddess Inanna for renewal and inspiration. Inanna will hear your call and grant you the miracle of conception, the wisdom for this undertaking, and the strength to carry it through. Inanna’s Correspondences:
Herbs: frankincense, nutmeg, wormwood, sunflower, hyssop
Animal: lion
Color: orange, red
Planet: Mars
Day: Tuesday
Element: Fire
Feminine Face: Maiden
Symbol: eight point star
Isis
Her Story:
Isis is the Egyptian goddess of healing and magic. She epitomizes the ideal of wife and mother, and is the patroness of women and children, marriage and marriage vows. Her energies affect or assist transformations, ancestral bonds, and manifestation of changes. Isis is perhaps one of the best known Egyptian deities and is infamous for her loyalty to her spouse, searching the four corners of Egypt in order to retrieve, reconstruct, and resurrect her murdered and mutilated husband Osiris.
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Sometimes we expect an awful lot from our spouses. Sometimes we expect them to live up to the fairy tale Knight-in-Shining-Armor. Sometimes we expect them to be all that we ever imagined. Sometimes we expect them to satisfy our every wish (without telling them what it is). Sometimes we expect them to be Bigger-Than-Life. Sometimes we expect them to be perfect. Sometimes we expect too much. Why do you love your spouse?
What drew you to this person in the first place?
What do you have in common?
What are all the “opposites†about the two of you?
If you could change one thing about your spouse, what would it be?
If your spouse could change one thing about you, what would it be?
Is there a “Deal Breaker†in this relationship; if so, what is it?
Do you trust your spouse?
Does your spouse trust you?
Does jealousy rear its ugly head?
Do you respect each other?
Do you always tell each other the truth?
In life’s Worst-Case-Scenario, could you depend on your spouse? If this person were to die tomorrow… What would you regret not saying to them?
What would you regret not doing with them?
How would their absence impact your life? Embracing the Goddess:
Call upon Isis when matters of family are on the line, when protection is needed, when loyalties come into play, when bonds need strengthening or protecting from destructive outside influences. Carry a talisman of this goddess on your wedding day to manifest and magnify the unbreakable bonds of love, marriage vows, and life-long commitment. Isis’s Correspondences:
Herbs: lotus flower, cypress tree
Animal: eagle,
Color: pink, green, turquoise
Planet: Venus
Day: Friday
Element: Water
Feminine Face: Mother
Symbol: tyet (Knot of Isis), eagles wings
Kalima
Her Story:
Kali Ma embraces the wild and untamed spirit of womanhood. She is the warrior goddess who can fight her battles with the vengeful lust of a soldier. She is the goddess of time, ruling both chaos and order, for
out of one comes the other. Kali Ma is most often depicted as a coal black image dressed in human remains, wearing a necklace of skulls. It is her wrath, her unabashed terrible energy, that you call upon when you need protection. Scream her name with all the fervor of a demon goddess, and she will come to your aid.
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The female voice rose in a howl of anger and defiance, “Kali Ma!!!†Before the man’s fist could touch this woman’s face a second time, there was a deep rumbling in the sky, as though a storm were brewing, ready to unleash. Something about the sound caused the man to pause in mid-swing, his fist only inches from his victim’s cheekbone. A look of utter horror crawled across his face; he glanced only for a second into the woman’s eyes and understood what he saw there. He was afraid, very afraid, and he turned and ran, the deep rumbling sound of thunder chasing him down the alley in ruthless pursuit. Embracing the Goddess:
There are times in life when women have to figuratively take up the club, the sword, the bow, and stand their ground to fight; fighting for their rights, their families, and sometimes even their life. Don’t hesitate to embrace the warrior goddess within you, call upon her strength and her furious power whenever you need it. Rejoice in this wild woman. Kali Ma’s Correspondences:
Herbs: hellebore, morning glory, skullcap
Color: black
Planet: Saturn
Day: Saturday
Element: all four
Feminine Face: Crone
Symbols: the skull, bones
Kuan Yin
Her Story:
Kuan Yin is a Chinese goddess of mercy, but has become so popular she transcends cultural and religious boundaries. She is a caretaker for deceased souls, comforting them, guiding them through the etheric realm to their next destination. She is the goddess of healing, curing aliments of the body, mind, and soul. This goddess is also a protectress and can be called upon to protect especially women, children, and animals. She also protects the traveler, whether by land, or air, or sea. Kuan Yin breaks the cycle of rebirth, retribution, and punishment.
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Kuan Yin, Mother Goddess, I do not know what to do. I invoke Thee, in thy infinite wisdom and mercy, to open your arms to your daughter. Speak to me, Mother. Direct me towards the path I should follow, gently lead me down the road I am to travel. And during this journey,
May I feel your hand upon my shoulder,
May I hear your whisper in my ear.
May I feel your love in my heart. Embracing the Goddess:
Kuan Yin is the Asian version of “The Virgin Maryâ€, showing compassion on the multitudes, on the earth, and on the creatures that dwell upon it. Invoke this goddess when you need help, when you need confirmation, when you need a divinity that will have your back and support you in times of crisis. Call upon this goddess for the purity and regeneration of her energy. Kuan Yin’s Correspondences:
Herbs: oleander, tulip, knotweed, primrose,
honeysuckle, orange blossoms, the lotus
Animal: horses and the peacock
Color: white, green brown
Planet: Earth
Day: all seven
Element: Earth
Feminine Face: Mother
Symbols: rosary, lotus blossom, sutra vase, willow branch
Lakshmi
Her Story:
Lakshmi is the Hindu goddess of prosperity, her name implies “Good Luckâ€. She embraces the epitome of wealth and abundance, both in the material world as well as the spiritual realm, and is a household goddess favored by women. October is the month that is traditionally set aside to celebrate Lakshmi, and full moons are sacred to her, embracing the feminine face of the Mother. This goddess is depicted as a beautiful woman with a golden complexion, usually seated on an open lotus blossom holding a lotus bud, which represents beauty, fertility, and purity. Lakshmi has four hands which represent four aspects of life: dharma (righteousness); karma (desires); artha (wealth); and moksha (liberation from the cycle of death and rebirth).
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It’s a warm rainy summer day as I write this, and I’m in the midst of revamping a downstairs room that has been left vacant with the departure of a child now grown up. I stand in the center of this space, still able to feel the personality of the individual who occupied it for so many years. This leaves me with a feeling of wistfulness and nostalgia, but also with an understanding of the progression of time and the life changes that must come to us all. I’m going to call upon the goddess Lakshmi, to bless this space, to clear it in preparation for it’s new occupant, and to bless the activities that will ensue within its four walls. “May peace reside within this room.
May wisdom visit with each full moon. May the spirits of my sisters past,
Hold tight the memories,
That they might last, For future generations of women true,
Pass this wisdom, this mystery, this glory to.†So mote it be. Embracing the Goddess:
Housewives, call upon Lakshmi to bless and consecrate the sacred space that is your home. Allow her energy to fill this space and to inspire you. Whether you live in the most fantastic of mansions, or the humblest abode, remember that you have the ability to turn this space into something beautiful, something peaceful, something inspiring and inviting. As you work to create a beautiful physical atmosphere in which to live, you may find that you are creating the same thing on a spiritual level as well. Lakshmi’s Correspondences:
Herbs: mugwort, oleander, anise,
Animal: spider
Color: red and gold (traditional colors), purple
Planet: Jupiter
Day: Thursday
Element: Earth
Feminine Face: Mother
Symbols: lotus blossom, gold coins
Tags: thegoddess, matriarchalenergy, women, womensissues, inspiration
[Source: The original source for this post is my blog, Magickal Connections. This post is an excerpt from my book, The Spiritual Feminist.]
Flora
Her Story:
Flora, the Roman goddess of spring, rules flowers, foliage, and springtime. Her festivals are celebrated in April and early May. Flora’s energies and influences include the protection of vegetation from disease, flowering plants and fruits, as well as menstruation– the flowering of young girls into budding womanhood.
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The Blood of the Moon (menstrual blood) is one of the most powerful magickal potions known. Menstrual blood is used in a variety of spells for love, as well as hexing, and has been used traditionally as such since ancient times. It is strongly connected to Flora through her very essence as a goddess of maturation, flowering, coming of age, the ascension to womanhood. In biblical times, menstruating women were considered unclean and banished to The Red Tent. Here they sat out there isolation from the rest of the community until their periods stopped and they had completed a rigorous “cleansing†ritual. Only after that were they allowed to resume normal life among the general population. Unclean? Really? I don’t think so. I have a different theory for their reasons behind isolating menstruating women: They were afraid of them. In those very ancient times, still immersed closely with pagan roots and practices, the power of menstrual blood and a menstruating woman would have been very clear in their minds, very close to their hearts. The people of this time were caught in a struggle, a struggle between the old ways, the old religion– goddess worship, natural earth based spirituality– and the new religions of Judaism and Christianity. The true power of women would have still been common knowledge. Embrace this aspect of your womanhood. Understand the inspiration behind menstruation of creation, and magick, strength, mystery, and miracles. Align your energies with the Blood of the Moon. Celebrate the miracle you are. Embracing the Goddess:
Flora’s most amazing magic, aside from a landscape full of beautiful blossoms, is the budding of young girls into maturity, the coming of age that brings with it the menstrual cycle, emphasizing the feminine connection to the moon and its power, fertility, and passage into womanhood. Western civilization seems to keep the blossoming of female puberty shrouded in out-dated shame and secrecy. When a girl gets her first period, it’s generally not something that is mentioned, much less celebrated, particularly in mixed company. By contrast, in the Apache Native American tradition, the onset of menstruation is a time of open celebration for the entire community. There are days of rigorous rituals involving a tribal celebration of young girls who are coming of age. They celebrate the fertility insinuated by the beginning of menstruation. They celebrate pride in feminine puberty and growth. They celebrate the wonder of nature and the miracle that it truly is. Call upon Flora to celebrate the coming of age for yourself, your daughter, your granddaughter, your nieces, or other young women in your life. Emphasize how special this time is, how beautiful, and how fulfilling it will be. Flora’s Correspondences:
Herbs: mugwort, oleander, tulip, barley, primrose
Animal: dove
Color: green, brown
Planet: Gaia (earth)
Day: all seven
Element: Earth
Feminine Face: Maiden
Symbol: spring flowers
Freya
Her Story:
Freya is the Norse goddess of love and war, “Queen of the Valkyries†and “Mistress of Catsâ€, a divine escort for the souls of the dead and especially for fallen warriors, taking them through to the afterlife. This goddess is considered a poet’s muse and inspiration. She’s invoked for issues involving relationships, particularly in matters of love and family. Freya is also a potent goddess in matters of sensuality and sexuality, igniting passion. She is considered the most beautiful of the goddesses and totally irresistable to mortal males.
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In honor of Freya, Mistress of the Cats, here’s a wee bit of herbal cat magick. Use the correspondences for this goddess, as well as the correspondences for this herb, to cast some wild wicked cat magick. Catnip is commonly used in sleeping potions. The easiest and most pleasant way I can think of to use catnip for this purpose is to make a delicious pot of tea. Catnip is one of the herbs that I grow in my own garden, so all I have to do when I want to brew a pot of catnip tea is to step outside and snatch a handful of the fresh herb. I usually use both the flowers and the leaves. How much you use is going to depend upon how strong you like your tea and the size of your pot. You can sweeten it with honey or sugar. Since catnip is a member of the mint family, I’m guessing that if you like mint in your tea, you’ll like catnip, though to me it is more pungent. Catnip has an absolutely intoxicating effect on cats, and it was actually hard getting the catnip started in my garden because my cats wouldn’t leave it alone. I’d plant a nice lush bunch of catnip, and the next morning I’d go out to find nothing but bare stems. I can’t tell you how many times we’ve looked out the kitchen windows to watch one of our cats, or a stray cat, rolling around our garden in drunken bliss. Catnip is sacred to all pagan gods/goddesses who manifest as a cat or feline creature, including: Sekhmet, Bast, Mau, Tefnut, Mafdet, and Freya. Correspondences for Catnip:
Energy: Feminine (Receptive)
Planet: Venus
Element: Water
Magick: cat magick, love, beauty, well-being It’s believed that a gift of catnip from you to your cat will create a magickal and psychic bond between the two of you. Since I’ve experienced this myself, I have to say that it truly works in beautiful ways. If you make a catnip talisman for your kitty, keep this in mind. Remember that concentrating on your intentions when crafting magickal items imbues that object with the magick. Catnip is also used in love spells, often as an ingredient in mojo bags or candle magick. Just as the cat finds this herb intoxicating and irresistable, so will the one you target in love magick, using catnip to draw them to you. Hang a bunch of dried catnip over the threshold of your home to draw good spirits and good luck, as well as to draw the blessings of cat goddesses. Catnip is also used in beauty spells, either as a tincture you can use to bathe your face, or with candle magic. It’s believed that this herb will mesmerize those targeted in such spells to see you as youthful and beautiful. This type of enchantment is considered a glamoury. Embracing the Goddess:
Freya is the goddess for all of us “Crazy Cat Ladiesâ€, and I’m proud to count myself in this company. Call upon this goddess when working cat magic, to call upon the cat as a totem animal, or just to honor this magical creature. Freya’s Correspondences:
Herbs: catnip, geranium, willow, goldenrod, magnolia
Animal: cat
Color: green, pink
Planet: Venus
Day: Friday
Element: Water
Feminine Face: Maiden
Symbol: cats, the number 13
Green Tara
Her Story:
Green Tara is known as “The Mother of Compassionâ€. She’s worshipped in a variety of Hindu and Buddhist traditions and guards against natural disasters, the elements of mother nature. Green Tara nurtures humanity on a worldly level, alleviating suffering and misery. This goddess influences self-mastery through meditation and can be called upon to help us strengthen those areas of our personality, ego, and self-esteem which need improvement.
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Light a green candle to Green Tara, and recite the mantra below out loud, over and over again, if necessary, until you believe it with all your heart: If I am weak, I will be strong; if I am stubborn, I will be flexible; if I am arrogant, I will be humble; if I am cruel, I will be kind. I will succeed at all endeavors, and if I should slip up on one or two, it won’t be because I have not tried. I am intelligent and worthy of success. I am beautiful inside and out; I am creative; I am sensitive; I am healthy; I am cunning; I am energetic; I am a shaker and a mover; I am a good wife, mother, daughter…I am an exeptional wife; I am an exceptional mother; I am an exceptional daughter. I shine.
I succeed.
I am. Embracing the Goddess:
When going through any type of life crisis, whether physical illness, mental challenges, or self-esteem issues, Green Tara can be invoked for deep meditation, allowing us to safely journey within ourselves to find and follow the paths lease tread within our psyche. She will open new doors of understanding, enabling us to grow from within and manifest our growth to the physical world around us. Green Tara’s Correspondences:
Herbs: eyebright, marjoram, mint, slippery elm, anise
Animal: sow, raven, mare, owl
Color: green, yellow
Planet: Mercury
Day: Wednesday
Element: Air
Feminine Face: Maiden
Symbol: malachite, emerald, mirrors (for self-examination)
Hathor
Her Story:
Hathor is the Egyptian goddess of love and beauty, wealth, music, and the arts. She rules womanhood and femininity and is the patron goddess of dancers and musicians. Worship Hathor with offerings of rich perfumes, songs, and dance rituals. This goddess is most often depicted as a beautiful woman with the ears of a cow carrying a sistrum.
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The Skrying Mirror:
There is an ancient Egyptian tradition steeped in the mystery of the skrying mirror and the goddess Hathor. It’s said that if you create a skrying mirror consecrated to this goddess, the mirror will give you the power of a vision which enables you to see your strengths and your weaknesses when you gaze into it. This is, in itself, an amazing revelation if you are strong enough and honest enough with yourself to accept what you see without flinching. The skrying mirror is actually an old divinatory practice. Not only will you see your strengths and your weaknesses, which will allow you to adjust your energy and retain your personal power, but you will also be blessed with a second sight that allows you to see visions of prophecy and revelation. It allows you to view the past and glean information from it, and it allows you to look into the future, giving you the ability to direct your destiny. A skrying mirror is not a piece of reflective glass, but a black surface. You can easily transform a traditional mirror into a skrying mirror by painting the surface. The important part will be consecrating it to the goddess Hathor with candles and herbs, incense and music. Embracing the Goddess:
Embrace Hathor by celebrating your womanhood and the passage of its stages, from maiden, to mother, to crone, with rituals, music, and dance. Know that you are beautiful in all phases of life, in all sizes and shapes. Know this and accept it. Hathor’s Correspondences:
Herbs: myrrh, goldenrod, lavender, cardamom, hibiscus
Animal: cow
Color: yellow, pink, green
Planet: Mercury, Venus
Day: Wednesday, Friday
Element: Air, Water
Feminine Face: Mother
Symbol: sistrum, mirror
Hecate
Her Story:
Hecate is one of the triple goddesses, often depicted in art as a single body with three heads. She is the goddess of witchcraft; the moon; the spirit realm; nature and night visions; considered protectress of the Witches. She also protects women in childbirth, is the guardian of the spirit world, and “Queen of the Crossroadsâ€â€“ a place of dark magic, spiritual wisdom, and terrible power.
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The moon’s shadow fell as a pattern on the dirt road beneath the trees. The young woman’s cloak hid her face as she leaned on her knees to dig a small hole, depositing a knotted scarf holding herbs and stones, a tiny carved image, and her menstrual blood. Her lips moved silently as she invoked the presence of Hecate. As the young woman covered her sacred bundle with earth and rose from her knees, the sound of a hound baying at the moon echoed in the distance. The breeze picked up, moving the tree limbs above, shifting the shadows on the road into eerie patterns. A chill ran up the woman’s spine, and she gathered her cloak more tightly about her shoulders, shivering with the knowledge that the great goddess Hecate was moving through the crossroads. Embracing the Goddess:
Don’t be afraid to stand up for yourself. So often women are under the impression that someone else is responsible for their protection, but this isn’t true. We’re responsible for protecting ourselves, and sometimes this can mean making difficult decisions. Hecate’s correspondences:
Herbs: garlic, lavender, honey
Animal: dog
Color: purple
Planet: Jupiter
Day: Thursday
Element: Earth
Feminine Face: Crone
Symbols: a torch; a dagger; the crossroads;
the moon; the serpent; fire Invoke this goddess in the sacred darkness of night, at a crossroads, which is her favored realm, in the light of a fire. The presence of a dog is desirable, and this creature will not only be pleasing to Hecate, but may very well announce her beautiful and terrible presence before you are aware of it.
Tags: goddess, paganism, inspiration, women
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