Magic Word No. 4 and No. 5 - Incantations for Courage and Comfort

Mitch-Dobrowner_Arm-of-God

Air - An Incantation for Courage

The air stirs and whips.

The air cleans and cools.

The air lifts and carries.

It can so gently drift the tiniest snowflake to the ground,

and it can rend a chasm in the earth in seconds.

Like the air, let me embrace change because we are change.

Let me embrace love because I am love.

Let me embrace anger because I am anger.

Let me embrace fear and hate because I am sometimes those too.

Like the air let me use each of those to take action,

to be a force within the world to instigate evolution and revolution.

Air - An Incantation for the Silenced

Let my words be leaves rustling and speaking on an Autumn breeze,

surrounding whoever needs it with whispers of solace, protection, and love.

Let the wind carry and echo my voice to the ears it will do most good.

Word Magic No. 3 - An Incantation for Balance

Earth - An Incantation for Balance

Earth, please lend me your wisdom and knowledge

so that I may find and recognize the balance in the world

and reflect it within myself.

As a tree stands strong and firm against the elements,

please too anchor me in the storms.

Show me how to grow the limbs of my intentions high and unfettered.

And how to send my dreams out into the world like whirling maple seeds

to be planted and grow anew.

Word Magic No. 2 - An Incantation for Clarity and Truth

Fire - An Incantation for Clarity and Truth

Let the flames of this fire light my path.

Let me use the radiant glow to look outward and inward,

to see and know myself, to see and know others.

Let no corner be left darkened.

Illuminate my way, true and bright.

Do not let secrets shrink and hide in the shadows,

even if they are my own.

Open my eyes to what they need to see,

and my heart to what it needs to know.

As the fire reveals so too can it burn.

Let me bear the heat of both unflinchingly and graciously.

Word Magic No. 1 - An Incantation for Strength

Water - An Incantation for Strength

Let me be the water, cool and laughing.

Let me flow over and around obstacles in my path.

Let me rush through the hard days, the dark days like water through the rapids,

and let me slow and then still to enjoy moments of calm and happiness.

Let me warm in the sun and soak in the crisp chill of the moon.

Let my heart swell like the river after a long rain,

and let my mind be steady and clear like the living currents of the mountain streams I love.

Witchy Wednesday 6/1/2022 - Kitchen Magic Cookie Edition

 Choose a recipe (cookies are good for their small size, portability, and ease of sharing), then break the ingredients down into their magical meanings. What kind of spell would this recipe work best for? Healing, love, workplace harmony?

I chose Lemon Lavender Tea Cakes. You will find the recipe at the bottom.

I've never really stopped to do a full analysis of one of the recipes I cook from a magical perspective. I cook what feels good and right when I want to provide comfort, warmth, a refreshment of energy, ect. It should be interesting to take a closer look. In the list of ingredients below, the first paragraph is my associations with the ingredient and what I feel and think when I experience them followed by a bulleted item or list of their published magical properties.

BUTTER

Butter can be either a solid or a liquid. It can flow through and around the other ingredients, or it can grease the wheel so to speak to ease the way for other items not to stick and burn. I use it when I cook comfort foods that bring to mind warmth and happiness like fresh biscuits, cookies, and pastries.

• Smoothes and soothes energies and relationships
• Increases tenacity
• Makes change easier
• Increases spirituality and connection to Deity on the physical plane
• Adds a nurturing, smooth quality to spells
• Can be an easy kitchen witch go-to spell: Simply roll butter in herbs and empower it for your spell. Serve with bread!

EGGS

Eggs are the glue that help hold things together in my cooking. To me they also represent life, fertility, hope for the future.

• An egg is a complete neat package of life and is very symbolic of fertility, new life, new beginnings and creation itself.  Within they also symbolize long life and immortality.
• The egg is a complete set of elements in one handy pack:  The shell represents Earth, the inner membrane represents Air, the yolk is Fire and the white is Water. 

FLOUR

I associate flour with bread, and bread equals warmth and comfort. Humble beginnings for flour to start out as a tiny grain and then become a dry powder and then to be transformed again into all sorts of lovely breads, pies, pastries, and sauces. It has so much malleability and versatility. When I think of flour and the wheat it comes from, I also think of the Biblical story of Joseph and his interpretation of Pharaoh's dreams. In the years of plenty there were beautiful sheaths of grain, full and rich and hearty. It would feed all of the people so that they would not suffer hunger during the lean years. 

• Magickal properties - abundance, fertility, money, rebirth, truth, strength and energy

BAKING SODA

Baking soda and baking powder have always been a bit magical in my mind when it comes to baking. They are the science and magic of why the breads can rise without yeast. I guess if I were going to apply a magical property to them, I would use them with the intent to assist someone to rise up to meet and overcome adversity, to give a helping hand to meet a goal or work through something challenging in their lives.

• Magickal properties - banishing, protection, cleansing, warding
• Magickal uses - ritual fire safety, cleansing altar tools

SALT

Salt has always represented protection to me. When paired with something sweet, it also adds an element of balance. A tea cake is traditionally round, so it could incorporate the same protection that a circle of salt represents for the receiver.

• Magickal properties - protection, cleansing, purification

SUGAR

Sugar is sweetness and first loves. Perhaps a little bad for you, but so enjoyable in small doses. A guilty pleasure.

• Magickal properties - attraction, love, used to amplify any attraction spell

VANILLA

In my mind vanilla will always be associated with holiday baking. Days filled with warmth, laughter, the smells of sweet treats, and occasionally a tummy ache after eating too many of said treats. The smell evokes sugary goodness and the deep brown color makes me think of roasting chestnuts. I would use it to invoke a sense of comfort and belonging.

• Magickal properties - love, passion, vitality, happiness, healing, friendship, stress and anxiety, luck, increasing mental capabilities, beauty, lust

LEMON JUICE / LEMON ZEST

In my world lemon is refreshing and represents something clean and new. Sometimes it's surprising and unexpected. It livens things up. I can almost feel the warmth of the sunshine and taste the tart of the lemon on my tongue from my grandmother's lemonade when I smell the zest.

• Magickal properties - longevity, purification, unity, uplifting, clarity, friendship, happiness, rejuvenation, awareness, love, fidelity, new beginnings, breaking hexes, cleansing

LAVENDER FLOWERS

I have a love-hate relationship with lavender flowers. It's beautiful and fragrant and delicate when used sparingly, but it can turn astringent and medicinal very quickly if used with a heavy hand. It's a nice balance to the acidity of the lemon and richness of butter. Like the salt, I have always associated lavender with purification and protection. It has become such a common place ingredient in stress-relief and sleep teas, lotions, body washes, that I also immediately think relaxation as well.

• Attract men: Wear lavender perfume or add lavender essential oil to your beauty and love spells to bring your next lover to you.
• Banishing harmful spirits: Sprinkle the flowers along the floor of your home or business to ward away evil spirits.
• Happiness: Bake lavender into cookies or flavor your lemonade with the flower to bring happiness.
• Increase intelligence: Drink the tea, make a sachet, or eat food crafted from lavender to increase your brainpower.
• Long Life: Use lavender in your beauty routine or carry the flower on you to promote longevity.
• Purification: Burn lavender or use the fresh sprigs to sprinkle blessed water in your home to remove harmful energies.
• Sleep: Make a tea, fill an eye pillow, or place a few drops of lavender essential oil into your full pillow; its scent and energy will help relax your mind and bring on sleep.

All of that in a cookie prepared and shared with love. Who knew? And if you've made it this far, below is the recipe.

Lemon Lavender Tea Cakes

1 cup butter, softened

2 cups white sugar

3 large eggs

1 tsp vanilla extract

3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1 medium lemon

1/2 Tbs dried lavender flowers

• 1) Combine flour, soda, and salt and sift together. Set Aside.
• 2) In separate bowl beat butter at medium speed with an electric mixer until creamy. Gradually add sugar, beating well. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating until blended after each addition. Add vanilla extract, dried lavender flowers, 1 1/2 teaspoon lemon juice, and the zest of one lemon beating until blended.
• 3) Add flour mixture to butter mixture. Beat at low speed until blended together.
• 4) Divide dough in half; wrap each portion in plastic wrap, and chill 1 hour.
• 5) Roll half of dough to 1/4-inch thickness on a floured surface. Cut out cookies with a 2 1/2-inch round cutter, and place 1 inch apart on parchment paper-lined baking sheets.
• 6) Bake at 350° for 10 to 12 minutes or until edges begin to brown; let stand on baking sheet 5 minutes. Remove to wire racks to cool. Repeat procedure with remaining dough.

Witchy Wednesday 5/25/2022 - Writing Prompt - What Happens in the Garden of your Dark?

What happens when you get naked and sit in the garden of your dark?

This sentence is so evocative for me that I had to start with it first. My dark is fluid and warm and forms a sphere around me, a womb in the middle of my garden where it's always dusk, purple and pale yellow, fire flies flashing among the night blooming flowers that are just waking up. There are mice in the roses. The darkness flows like water, but it has solid depth and the texture of slow pour molasses. My dark is like the amniotic breathing fluid in The Abyss. I breathe it in, and it fills me. The thick silence is deafening and amplifying. Sometimes it wraps me in its arms, and sometimes it crashes against and around me like a wave. It becomes what it needs so that I can be what I need.

My dark is surrounded by the corn from The Stand, both Mother Abigail's and Nadine's. A wonderful maze of green. Close your eyes and breathe deep. You can smell it. You can almost taste it in the air. Fresh, sweet kernels plump and sticky and full of milky fluid. Velvety fuzz, sleek silk, razor sharp edges. Sex and danger and life.

A riot of vines criss-cross the ground, bisecting the rows, growing up the towering corn, flowering and laden with fruit among the stalks. Dark purple fruit filled with red flesh, dripping juice that looks like blood. Sweet, tangy, salty all at once. Chaos in order. Comforting. Frightening. Exciting. Intoxicating.

We're all in our Dark. Everything happens in the Dark.

Do We Have to be Blind to Believe?

 

Goddess Blind by NeverlandCreations

The last few days, my mind has dwelled on faith. I envy those who can believe blindly, and I fear them. Blind faith is a such a double-edged sword. It's likely to cut your head off as it allows you to slay your enemy. And it makes enemies of those you should love. I know that's cryptic sounding, but it's true.

I grew up in a religious family. Both of my parents were happiest when in their Christian church. Fellowship was important to them, and their church family was Family to them. Reading and hearing the Word brought peace to my father. I saw people gripped by the Holy Spirit and speaking in tongues as a child. I saw people over joyed being baptized. I heard preachers give sermons of love and forgiveness and I heard others whose sermons sounded like they were straight out of "In the Hands of an Angry God." As in Polyanna, those essays on fire and brimstone would leave you with a sour stomach and a perpetual feeling of dread.

I was never happy to just sit in the pew on Sunday and let the minister tell me what God wants of me and how to go about achieving that. I had too many moments where I asked, "Why?" Too many moments where I said, "Show me where it says that." Too many moments where I wanted to know why we were told this over here and then two Sundays later told something over there that contradicts the first thing. And told both are absolute and right because both are the direct word of God sent to man. Prophets, scribes, and ministers are all human and all fallible. They aren't divine avatars of the heavenly source. If they are fallible, their guidance can be corrupted to meet their personal ends and can be bought by whoever needs votes and/or allegiance. It comes down to I don't trust anyone else to tell me what to think who also tells me to never question their direction. I have too many questions for that and too few answers I can trust. So I read the book. And I read the books some counsel decided weren't real books with a capital "B" in the middle ages. And I read other religious texts. And I read books about spiritual paths to enlightenment, meditation practices, philosophies. I read, I watched, I listened ... and I found it all beautiful but lacking. I have never seen myself fitting into any organized religion I have studied.

Jesus seems like he was a nice enough man. He asked us to love one another. He asked us to feed the poor and sick, to share fellowship with anyone who wanted to learn of God no matter their station. He told us the church was for spiritual things and not for material commerce or politics. He was a teacher and minister who practiced what he preached and is deserving of respect and reverence in my book. The church that sprang up after his death? I'm not so sure about it.

I took a few theology classes in college. They were a requirement for my Presbyterian institution. I chose to take a class on the Old Testament, one on the New Testament, and one on Southeast Asian religions and culture. The OT class was probably exactly what you would imagine. Fire and Brimstone, Hell and Damnation, humans continually misbehaving and God doling out punishments because he loves them. The OT is chock full of Thou Shall Nots. An all-knowing, all-powerful being creates two innocent, curious humans (maybe three ... it depends on the text) and puts them in a garden paradise full of wonder. There's a tree that grows fruit on it, and this one fruit God says they must never eat of it. And of course they do. Nothing else in that garden is harmful to them, and they are curious creatures. Wouldn't you want to eat a fruit that comes from a tree called the Tree of Knowledge? I would. And then the punishments and darkness begins and just doesn't end. It's one catastrophe after another. There isn't a lot of peace and love and happiness in the Old Testament. 

And the New Testament is about a carpenter's son who becomes a teacher and minister. He promotes love and generosity and acceptance. He teaches a separation of religion and state. Don't believe me? Mark 12:17 Jesus said to them, “Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” And they marveled at him. He didn't toe the line when it came to following traditions and teachings already in place within the Jewish faith. And this gentle, kind man who fed the poor and healed the sick ... they killed him for teaching his followers a different truth than theirs. And God let them do this to his messenger among his favored people.

If destiny or fate or whatever you want to call a pre-determine path exists, and it is all God's plan, then what the hell kind of plan is it? God set up a situation where Adam and Eve are destined to fail and fall from Grace (if all is within God's plan as people say), and then God punished them for fulfilling their destinies? God sent Jesus to fulfill the promises of the Old Testament only for him to suffer and die at the hands of the people he was sent to save? What kind of twisted fate have we all been given? People suffer and die horribly. Sickness ravages on all sides. People are killed every day for just existing. Being different is dangerous in so many ways. It's not just the deserving of suffering who are punished either. Often the best of us go first and worst. Sermons tell us if we live our lives well and we treat each other with genuine love and kindness that we will be rewarded. God loves us and will protect us. That's not what the world shows us every day though. It shows us that the rewards go to those who take what they want. Rewards go to the rich and the violent and the lucky. It often has little to do with earning the rewards.

I don't understand it, and my heart breaks for it. My soul aches for understanding of what this is all for and why good people are left to suffer without comfort.

And after this is all over, and we've suffered blindly through our earthly existence, there's the question of the afterlife. What comes after this? Is it more suffering in some hell dimension, some angelic paradise, or do we get shunted into a new infant body to do it all over again? The medieval church and Milton really created and spread the vivid and grotesque images we have of Hell today. If I were to buy into all the rest and believe in a Christian afterlife, I would think that Hell would be to exist outside of the presence and influence of God. It would be a sad continuation of your soul without purpose. I can't see a hell filled with caverns and lakes and rivers of torture. It seems a bit preposterous. And what would be the purpose of it all if the soul has already been sentenced to its fate? Shouldn't suffering have a purpose? Shouldn't it be the goad that pushes the soul to find redemption so that it could eventually join the others in God's circle? The image of the Heavenly host of angels and souls and the golden gate and city in the clouds is a bit ridiculous to me too. If we are going with a conscious Heaven, I rather like the Greek version of the Elysian fields. We get to live in our happiest moments and places forever with our families and friends. I would want to go where the puppies go. Fields of wildflowers to run through and butterflies to chase for the joy of running and not catching. Other puppies and humans to romp with. Sunshine to sleep in and cool water to drink and play in. A puppy Heaven sounds like the best Heaven. I find it hard to buy into any one version though because they all seem ... off, and flawed in some way.

Ultimately I think I most believe in the continuation of energy. The Law of Conservation of Energy says that energy can neither be created nor destroyed - only converted from one form of energy to another. We as humans at the very particle level of our existence are energy. I would think our souls would be energy too, a giant sentient battery that powers these bodies. When we die, the energy that was our physical form becomes food for other creatures still on their life journey and eventually becomes dirt for seeds to germinate in and grow into plants. Our souls are released from those husks. No longer trapped in a single form, they are free. So much energy. Maybe the energy that was at the core of me would become the energy that powers the current of a mountain stream or the energy that creates the gust of wind that twirls a whirlwind of snowflakes onto a dancing child's outstretched tongue. Maybe the energy that was me will be a ray of sunshine that helps a perfect purple crocus burst up through the snow in the Spring. Maybe all of the energy that powers everything around us is soul energy. Maybe I'll still have a notion of myself or maybe self will be gone entirely and all is just energy that powers the design of a higher being. God is in everything and everyone, and when we die we return to the formless energy we began as, a seamless part of God again. There's a simplicity and peace to it that makes me smile.

It makes me think of my favorite religious themed movie, Stigmata, where Jesus describes the world and his and God's relation to it (paraphrased here) "The Kingdom is within you and it is outside of you, not in buildings or mansions made with human hands. Split a piece of wood and I am there, lift a stone and you will find me." The gospel of St. Thomas adds more to this, "Jesus said: I am the light that is above them all. I am the all; the all came forth from me, and the all attained to me." The Creator whoever you believe that is, Heaven, the Universe is within us all and around us all, and at some space in time we shall every one of us return to the All. I think in that is the Truth.