Magick Everyday, Everywhere

Over at the Balanced Witch, the second assignment (for lack of a better word) is to consider supposed “coincidences” and to try to look at it from a magickal point of view. I've written about my views of magick here, and here and I still believe that our intentions, the energy that we put out into the world we live in comes back to us. This is magick. Like quantum it's all around us.

I've been pummeling my poor little brain to think of other examples of how magickal energy works. My introduction to both my daughters jumped to mind but at first thought, both of those seemed to me to be less about active energy than passive.

For the Peanut I "met" her spirit on a Summer Land meditation during Samhain. As I was getting ready to leave that place I felt a hand resting in my right hand a sensation that has repeated over and over since she became a part of our little family. During the Summer Land meditation we meet with our beloved dead and the spirits of those who are meant to be in our lives in the future can introduce themselves. At the end of the journey they sometimes follow us back. The Peanut followed me back and I invited her to stay.

Before the Bean made her presence known last year (with a combination upset stomach and an uncontrollable desire for frosted croissants and poutine with dill pickles) we had come to the conclusion that the Peanut was going to be an only child. We'd been not not trying for a second child for three years and with no signs of pregnancy, we reluctantly decided it wasn't to be. Both the husband and I felt that if we were meant to have a second child it would happen, if not it wouldn't, no pressure.

It hadn't happened and we had no sooner acknowledged this to each other when I dreamed one night of kicks in my belly. I took this dream as my subconscious' way of mourning the loss of a second child; I'd mentioned to the husband that I would miss feeling the quickening of pregnancy. Little did I know, that the Bean was and is a real kicker. She spent a good portion on the inside working her leg muscles into the big juicy dumplings that still kick out at all hours of the day and night. Once we learned that we had a bean the dream took on a whole new meaning.

Both of those experiences were amazing and magickal, but not based in any overt active pursuit of a goal. As I mentioned, even though we had made the decision to have a child (and once the Peanut was thriving; children) we didn't do much more than stop practicing to have a baby. We weren't not trying to get pregnant. Of course we put our intentions out into the universe but only in as much as we wanted it to happen if it was supposed to happen.

Yule

Happy Yule!

What do I have planned? I'm afraid that it's not much. This pregnancy is getting to the point where I ache all over and where I'm not aching I'm being pummeled from within or experiencing lovely Braxton Hicks contractions from the time I go to be until roughly 4 each morning. So any ritual or magick that I participate in will be the barest of the minimum. Perhaps a shared cup and a sun shaped cookie to offer the goddess and the god. As for the lunar eclipse tonight, we'll see how things go.

I wish you all a most beautiful celebration tonight.

Let it begin with each step we take

Sunday night I attended the 18th annual Vancouver Reclaiming Spiral Dance. I've gone to this public ritual on and off for the last 11 years and I always get something out of it.

The first year I went was especially powerful for me because during the meditation portion of the ritual I was able to connect to my Dad, who had passed on 12 years before. It was a very healing and cathartic experience and I look forward each year to passing through the thinning veil to connect with my beloved dead.

This year was the first time I've participated in the Spiral Dance while pregnant; with the Peanut I was out of town for the ritual and held a private ritual where I felt and welcomed her spirit into my life. I can still sometimes feel her spectral hand inside mine; a sensation that stuck with me as I traveled back through the veil after my visit to the Summerland that year. At the time I thought I was welcoming her spirit to come within the new year; little did I know she was already nestled inside and her hand was there in mine to tell that secret instead. My trip to the Summerland wasn't as specific this year as with the Peanut or my first trip. I felt the pull of more than one spirit when I stepped onto the shore and instead of a one on one or small gathering I felt enveloped in joy which was exactly what I needed.

The spiral this year was very energized and energizing; our intentions as well as the greater work of bringing healing to our earth fed into the cone and I could feel the room vibrating at the end with the energy and joy that the dance had built up.

I'll be keeping my personal work simple as usual. I'll take a moment to honour my beloved dead again on Samhain night and I'll be working some divination to see what's ahead this coming year. I like to use the time between Samhain and Yule to consider what seeds and goals I want to give birth to over the new year. One of those goals is to start incorporating a permanent altar space. How do you celebrate the new year of the Witches?

Alive and Thankful

If you read my other blog you know that I've been super busy launching a new product line for one of my Etsy shops. I don't like to spend a lot of time on the Etsy stuff with this blog; mainly because this blog isn't about pushing my art. But that's what's been taking up my time lately. Well that and the whole building a whole new little person. My focus has been a little scattered lately.

But it's Mabon and I wanted to mark the day.

Last Yule I planted a few seeds for the coming year; the year that is coming closer to it's end now. Since Mabon is all about thanksgiving and the harvest, I've decided to take stock of the seeds that I planted last December; the ones that are ripening and the ones that have come to fruition.

This year we planted our first garden. We've started to reap the benefits of growing our own food and already have plans to expand, dig out more space, grow more next year.

I have put more focus on being creative; hence the new product line and a steady (for the most part) stream of projects ranging from photography to painting and glass work and also some embroidered mixed media. Of course with the Bean making an appearance the steadiness has met a few bumps. Of course it could be said that baking the Bean is another type of creative act.

As for thanksgiving I have so much to be thankful for; The Peanut and the coming Bean and the health and happiness of both (as far as I know the Bean is both). The strength of my relationship with the Husband over the last year and how close we have grown. It has not been a simple as pie year but compared to 2009 we're sailing.

As is the case with most of the Sabbats and Esbats we celebrated simply. Dinner was a simple vegetable based soup made with some of the herbs from our garden served with corn muffins. Had Gestational Diabetes not been a factor I would have added a baked apple dessert to the feast as it is next year will see one on the table. The Peanut and I went for an after dinner walk and talked about what we are thankful for; her list of thanksgiving included dinosaurs and recycling.

How has your harvest been? What did you do to observe Mabon?

So now you know

what's put a little bump in the road I've been taking on my journey. And the bump is getting a little on the big side.

I haven't been completely idle over the last few weeks, I've been reading and learning here and there. Luckily for me, my fabulous second Mom (read Ma-in Law) has similar interests; and I like to pick up knowledge wherever I can. So when I noticed that she had a few books by James Van Praagh in her library stack I picked them up and started to do a little reading.

I often find that Pagan concepts are sometimes interchangeable with the concepts of other spiritual practices. Up to and including some Christian practices; although in the case of Christian and specifically some Catholic practices and rituals I know that this is because these religions picked up Pagan practices as a way to bring more people into their fold (the celebrations of Eostara and Easter for example.) What I found with Mr Van Praagh's books was that some of the things he does to get ready to practice his talents are interchangeable with what is standard practice for getting oneself ready for ritual; these things have just been fit into a shape that is more acceptable to someone who has been brought up within an environment that frowns upon (and sometimes even more than frowns upon depending on how open and loving a mind is) those things that fall outside of the norm.

Mr Van Praagh's background is based in Catholicism, (at one point in his youth he was training to become a priest) but when he gets ready to speak to the spirits he follows the steps of cleansing, grounding (imagining energy filling his body and spreading out beyond himself) and calling in his spiritual guides and Deity to protect himself and to bless his work thorough prayer and meditation.

When I get ready to do ritual I go through the same steps of cleansing, grounding where the earth's energy is drawn up from the core until is cascades out my fingers, toes and top of my head. I cast a circle by calling in the quarters and Deity as I cast a circle to help me with the work I wish to do. Looking at the two practices side by side they are very similar; almost interchangeable if you take out specifics regarding spirit and religion.

I suppose what I'm getting at is that once more my thoughts about Deity (whether Deity be a singular God or Goddess or a whole pantheon) and spiritual practice (whether it be Pagan or a more mainstream religious practice) are all about the same thing.

At the water

after reading some of the posts from some of the other accounts of meeting at the water I'm almost afraid to say that my preparations and work was limited to my bowl of water a jar of full moon water to boost my intentions and a quiet trip into the back yard.

Like a lot of the spell work I do I tend to start out with grand plans that far outreach my means. With unlimited resources, time and space what I could come up with some amazing altars and rituals. As it is, I'm limited and make do with what I have.

While I have plans to set up a permanent altar somewhere in our home I haven't quite yet. I did not set up a working altar on Saturday. What I did was fill a bowl from my cupboard with water and took it out into our yard beneath the Cherry tree. I cast a simple circle and welcomed the elements. I welcomed the Goddess and told her my intent. To my bowl, I added the full moon rain water that I had collected from the last full moon to boost my intentions. Then I placed my hands in the water and sent out my thoughts and prayers for healing of the waters and the ocean floor.

I sat and meditated on the energies I was sending out with my hands still resting on the surface of the water in my bowl. I imagined my energies infusing the water and as I poured the water from my bowl into the earth I pictured all the other waters that had been blessed that night commingling together, the healing energy from all those sources mixed together, become stronger from the mix and our shared intentions. I opened the circle, thanked the Goddess, the elements and went in to go to sleep.

Did you meet us at the water last Saturday?

Housecleaning

As I've mentioned something has popped up that has added another element to my journey. It's caused me to take a step away from what I thought this was going to be and be about. I've put down some of the books I've been reading and re-reading and picked up other books that I've read before. For some reason these books seem more important right now and I'm going with that.

I have a busy couple of weeks ahead of me, the Peanut is turning 4 and there is a party on the radar.

We are headed back to Alberta and that means (if our last trip taught us anything that is) that posts here and at So Anyway... will be few and scattered if at all.

Tonight, once darkness has fallen, I'll be headed out to the backyard with a bowl of water and my heart full of healing intentions to meet a growing movement of people at the water.

And by the end of the weekend I hope to have sold my beloved 4x5 press camera. It's time to let it go, it's been sitting unused in it's heavy duty leather carry case for the last 4 years with very little time in the sun. It needs to be with someone who will put it to use and enjoy it.

Healing the Waters

Spell work is all about putting your intentions out there for the universe to pick up and amplify. The thing about the universe is that we are all connected to it and all those things we send out there are felt and put to work in one degree or another through that interconnectedness.

So when a group of people get together with similar intentions it ripples out into the universe a little farther and faster than if the intention was coming from a singular source. This coming Saturday is the New Moon, a time for setting the stage for change. Hanna at Divining Women has an extraordinary idea for a New Moon spell work that will send energy and healing to the waters in the Atlantic where a gaping hole in our ocean's floor is gushing toxic oil and gas into our living waters, killing and damaging so much as it continues.

Like so many others I am sickened, enraged and so much more over this avoidable tragedy. I won't put any energy into finger pointing, there are a lot of other people better equipped to do that, people with knowledge that I don't have and the capacity to put into words what I am feeling and thinking so much better than I can. I want more than anything for the damage to stop and for the waters that have been poisoned and everything that that poison is touching to be cleaned and whole again.

So I will add my energy to the healing with a spell of my own on Saturday. I will send my intentions out into the universe with everyone else who has pledged to do the same on Saturday. As I lay my hands on the waters and pour my thoughts of healing and strength into our Mother I will feel the combined energy of those who are participating and feel the wave of energy as it pours into the water headed out to where the earth needs it the most.

Join us won't you?

All things

This post is going to sound fairly quantum (as far as I understand quantum based on certain aspects of Terry Pratchett's Disc World and other popular media that I've gleaned here and there)

This week I went back to Starhawk again, and put my focus on the idea of patterns and relationships in respect to the idea of magical workings; which if we're going to be honest, is probably what draws most people to the craft to begin with. Casting spells by the light of the full moon and candle or firelight is a romantic notion that was (and is) one that drew my attention, when I first started investigating Wicca and Paganism as a spiritual path.

Ultimately creating magic is all about sending your will, your intentions, your wishes out into the universe. It is about changing your consciousness at will. It is about seeing the world in respect to patterns of energy, of cause and effect, light and dark... Looking at the world with a heightened awareness. This way of looking at the world is one that artists often find themselves using; which sets them apart from mainstream society; and is another connection between creativity and the divine.

It's about sending what you want out into the universe so that the universe will toss it right back to you; because; with sending out the intention, you are also working towards that goal as well.

I'm not quite finished the chapter I've been reading. There are some exercises in this chapter that I want to do in addition to the exercises in another book I am reading that I feel will be a great introduction to Starhawk's activities. My next post will be about those as well as any other thoughts that come up as I finish the chapter.