Samhain - A Day of Celebration

Today is Samhain. 

Sometimes referred to as the Witches' New Year it is also the Sabbat of the end of the harvest.  During this day the veil of the spirit world is thread thin, ghosts walk among us, and the goddess descends into the underworld as the crone. It is a great day to remember lost loved ones, celebrate life, and take notice of the turning of the seasons. Below is a nice way to celebrate this Samhain for the first time or for the last.

Ritual To Honor the Ancestors at Samhain

First, decorate your altar table. Decorate your altar with family photos and heirlooms. If you have a family tree chart, place that on there as well. Add postcards, flags, and other symbols of the country your ancestors came from. If you're lucky enough to live near where your family members are buried, make a grave rubbing and add that as well. In this case, a cluttered altar is perfectly acceptable -- after all, each of us is a blend of many different people and cultures.

Have a meal standing by to eat with the ritual. Include lots of dark bread, apples, fall vegetables, and a jug of cider or wine. Set your dinner table, with a place for each family member, and one extra plate for the ancestors. You may want to bake some Soul Cakes.

If your family has household guardians, include statues or masks of them on your altar. Finally, if a relative has died this year, place a candle for them on the altar. Light candles for other relatives, and as you do so, say the person's name aloud. It's a good idea to use tealights for this, particularly if you have a lot of relatives to honor.

Once all the candles have been lit, the entire family should circle the altar. The oldest adult present leads the ritual. Say:

This is the night when the gateway between
our world and the spirit world is thinnest.
Tonight is a night to call out those who came before us.
Tonight we honor our ancestors.
Spirits of our ancestors, we call to you,
and we welcome you to join us for this night.
We know you watch over us always,
protecting us and guiding us,
and tonight we thank you.
We invite you to join us and share our meal.
The oldest family member then serves everyone else a helping of whatever dishes have been prepared, except for the wine or cider. A serving of each food goes on the ancestors' plate before the other family members receive it. During the meal, share stories of ancestors who are no longer among the living -- this is the time to remember Grandpa's war stories he told you as a child, tell about when Aunt Millie used salt instead of sugar in the cake, or reminisce about summers spent at the family homestead in the mountains.

When everyone has finished eating, clear away all the dishes, except for the ancestors' plate. Pour the cider or wine in a cup, and pass it around the circle (it should end at the ancestor's place). As each person receives the cup, they recite their genealogy, like so:

I am Susan, daughter of Joyce, the daughter of Malcolm, son of Jonathan...

and so forth. Feel free to add in place names if you like, but be sure to include at least one generation that is deceased. For younger family members, you may wish to have them only recite back to their grandparents, just because otherwise they can get confused.

Go back as many generations as you can, or (in the case of people who have done a lot of genealogy research) as many as you can remember. You may be able to trace your family back to William the Conqueror, but that doesn't mean you have it memorized. After each person recites their ancestry, they drink from the cider cup and pass it to the next person.

A quick note here -- many people are adopted. If you are one them, you are fortunate enough to be able to choose whether you wish to honor your adoptive family, your biological family, or a combination of the two. If you don't know the names of your birth parents or their ancestry, there's nothing wrong with saying, "Daughter of a family unknown." It's entirely up to you. The spirits of your ancestors know who you are, even if you don't know them yet.

After the cup has made its way around the table, place it in front of the ancestors' plate. This time, a younger person in the family takes over, saying:
This is the cup of remembrance.
We remember all of you.
You are dead but never forgotten,
and you live on within us.
Take some time to meditate on the value of family, how fortunate we are to be able to know the connections of kin and clan, and the value of heritage. If your family has a tradition of music or folktales, share those as a way to wrap up the ritual. Otherwise, allow the candles to burn out on their own. Leave the plate and cup on the altar overnight.

Tips:

If you didn't do a separate ritual for animals, you can add photos and candles for deceased pets to your family altar.
If you like, you may wish to follow this ritual with a Seance.

Practice, Practice, Practice

When we first discover our psychic gifts it can like finding that missing piece in your life puzzle. You read about it, you learn a couple techniques, and you leave it be.Yet what is the purpose of understanding your gift if you do not use it? Here is where all that research comes in handy. Once you understand the extent of your gift and how to trigger it, its important to practice.

It can be hard with gifts like psychic dreaming, but its important to keep at it. For gifts that require another person ask your friends to step in. Even your pet can be a viable substitute, even though they will most likely be focused on food. The most important part is that you practice and explore your gift so that one day you can draw on it when you need to.

BOS Update and Love Spell

Here is a love spell for your friday!
The few quoted spells are from the WC Book of Shadows update we are working on over at WC. It will be up asap so stay tuned!

Ice Love Spell
Love spells using ice are extremely powerful because love spells are a transformation of energy, and ice is transformed liquid, the freezing and melting of ice releasing energy which magnified your love spell's energy.
Write your name on a piece of paper and the name of the person you love. On the back write your desire. Add your paper to a dish of water and freeze it. In the evening remove your dish for the freezer and leave your bowl of water in moonlight to melt and grant your wish.

Self Love Spell

Passing on a sweet little spell. In a time where depression and low self esteem is treated with drugs, lets try to love ourselves.

This easy love spell should begin on the evening of the New Moon and be performed every night until the Full Moon. For this working, you will need a red 7-day candle, a mirror, and roses (or your favorite flower).

On the night of the New Moon, put the flowers in a vase in front of the mirror. Light the candle and take a long look at your image in the mirror, transferring all the love that you have for yourself to your reflection. This might be hard at first, but stay with it, and repeat the following sentence many times, until you feel overcome with love:
"I would love myself in all of my parts"
Snuff the candle and perform the same ritual every night until the Full Moon.
Now that you have a good sense of self love, and feel ready to reach out to draw your soul mate closer, then it is time to initiate the soul mate spell.

Energy Push

 Understanding how to create and manipulate energy is one of the most important things you can learn when you are a witch. There are many books out there with chapters on energy work so accessing the information shouldn't be a problem. Most of it is visualization, but as you learn to feel it you can work with little or no visualization. One of the basic ways to use energy is through your voice and words.

  Empowering your voice and words with energy make them stick. The energy follows suit and carries the intention of your words. This is why animals react so strongly to words like "no!", "stop", or "good boy!" These are one of the most common ways we manipulate energy in our daily lives.

To Look Inside

During Winter, the energy of the earth is quiet and buried. It awaits for spring so that it picks up again. Winter is the best time for low energy magick and practices. That does not mean sit in front of the TV and eat sugar cookies. It is a time for reflection, meditation, and study. As we near the cold, dark portion of the year keep your mind open to what this season has to teach you. Whether you feel like focusing on meditation would benefit you or studying in a subject you are not as familiar with. But don't worry, there will still be plenty to do. With Samhain, Yule, and Imbolc you have plenty to party for, not to mention cook for. So enjoy the dark season! Revel in the quiet, steady beat of the season of Winter.

Zodiac Chants and Charms

As we draw closer to the end of the year, changes are afoot. One of the many things to enjoy is the emphasis on the Chinese zodiac. The animals of the Chinese zodiac can make great totems and allies in magick. Here are a few fun chants to go along with a few of them.

Rat: Find lost item

Beady eyes,
Scaley tail,
Find my (item you have lost),
That is out there.

Boar: To help see the truth

Tender boar,
Muddied beast,
Sniffing past the empty verse,
Through the lies,
Strip away the honeyed words.

Dog: to cut strings with bad friends

Friends that will betray,
protect me from their falsety.

Ghosts and Your Home

  As Halloween draws closer activity in your home could be picking up. If your home has never had activity consider yourself lucky. Sometimes it can be fun if your visitor is friendly or quiet. It can also be scarey if the visitor is anything but friendly. As Halloween is the pinnacle of this activity it is best to wait to begin cleansing and cleaning your home. However, keeping protection on your family is a very good idea. Anointing them and yourself with cleansing oil, smudging people, and wearing blessed jewelry are all good ways to keep safe from uninvited guests.
  Once Halloween has passed try to smudge your home, bless it, protect it and left things settle. Hopefully it will return to a quiet place.

Sweet Dream Sachet

If you have trouble with your dreams why not ask your guardian angel to guide your dreams. A great way to help keep your dreams positive is through the use of a sachet. A sachet is a small clothe bag filled with herbs. We can add an angelic twist by including your guardian angel in this sachet working.

Sweet Dream Sachet

Supplies:

-Small cloth bag
-Lavender
-Lemon grass
-Strip of paper
-Blue ribbon


Pour the lavender and lemon grass in a small bowl or cup. Rub your hands together until you feel the heat between them. Hold both hands over the bowl/cup, palms down. Imagine a blue light streaming down and filling the herbs with clear, peaceful energy. Relax and open the cloth bag. Pour the herbs into the cloth bag. On the strip of paper, write your guardian angel a note. Ask the angel to help keep your dreams happy and to bless them. Roll the paper into a scroll. With the blue ribbon tie off the bag and tie on your scroll. Keep the sachet under your bed or beside your bed. Sweet dreams!

A Healing Presence

There is more to healing than energy work, medicine, or dressing a wound. There are certain people that radiate a healing presence. These people lighten the spirits and the burdens of others with their smile, their words, and their hearts. On their best days they can hold up a person with kindness, but on their worst days they fall into their own self doubts. There are many ways to look at these people. As natural healers, wounded healers, sensitives, light workers, and the list goes on. They are not as uncommon as you would think.

Becoming a healing presence can be difficult if you don't empathize with others well. Understanding them from their point of view. Really wanting to help them in some way. This healing presence can be replicated with visualization, crystals, or herbs, but the human connection can't be replaced. They are out there, and they need those that can lend them strength just as they want to lend it to others. You probably have a natural healer around you already.

Turning the Earth

With the cold creeping in now is really the time to bring your precious potted plants inside. If you don't have potted plants, maybe now is the time to get some for your home. I recommend a couple of herbs. You can usually find them in big groceries or whole food stores. Common herbs such as peppermint, rosemary, or mint can be found in many places and have various uses.

When potting a plant try to lend it a bit of your energy to give it a boost as it adjusts to its new pot and soil. Say a blessing over your newly potted friend and put then somewhere that will be warm and sunny. Not too warm that they bake (like near the fire place), but somewhere where the cold of the coming months won't hurt it.

Matron and Patron?

In many pagan practices deity plays an important role. The faces of Deity are as unique as the people worshiping them. Although some prefer not to include Deity in their practice (which is completely up to them and does not mean their skills are any less valid) there is a newly occurring practice of finding your matron and patron deities. These two deities represent the face of the God and the Goddess on a more specific or individual basis. They can be from the same pantheon or different ones. Usually they come to represent a balance not only in nature but within your life. Using your knowledge, plus research, you can sort out your connection to Deity. Symbols, animals, even plants you have love could all be linked to your matron and patron. Research is key.

Here is a great little meditation to meet your matron and patron deities. Look for clues, symbols, colors to help sort out who they arm. ask questions and always be polite.

Guided Meditation to Meet your Matron and Patron Deities

   Close your eyes and take a few relaxed breathes. Try to keep still as you go through the meditation. Take in a deep breath and let it out slowly. Keep deep breathing with long, slow exhales. Feel it, hear it, and observe how this affects your body. As you breathe, mentally tell your body that it can relax. Keep your mind only on your breathing. Focus on the sound, the feeling of your lungs expanding and shrinking, and simply breathe. When your body has relaxed move into the following visualization.

   Visualize yourself standing on a plateau between two staircases. To your left is a descending staircase, moving down into a darkness you can not see into. To your right is a staircase that moves upward into a light that is too blinding to see past. Take a deep breath and turn to your right. Within your mind, let it be known you wish to meet with your matron and patron deities. Begin walking up the staircase. With each step you take allow your mind to move further into trance. Focus on the staircase as you climb and move deep into trance. The amount of steps will be up to you and your mind depending how much effort it takes for you to get into a deep trance state. When you reach the top of the steps you find yourself at the entrance of a huge room. How it appears to you will be different from anyone else. It is filled with people, but in the center is an aisle leading from the entrance to the back of the room. Walk down the aisle, which is very wide. Observe the clothing, coloring, and jewelry of the people you pass. When you get to the back of the room you see a raised platform with two thrones. To your right is a white marble throne, in it sits your patron and the masculine principle within your life. Look at him closely, remember as many details about him as you can. To your left is a black marble throne, in it sits your matron and the feminine principle in your life. Make sure to remember how she looks, her jewelry, and every detail you can. Bow low and show your respect. Ask to approach and speak with them. Be polite and try to get their names, attributes, and why they have claimed you as theirs.

    When the conversation is over and you are ready to go, thank them profusely and bow once more. Back up, turn around and head back to the staircase. Take a deep breath and begin walking back down the stairs. Tell yourself that with each step you are coming out of trance. When you reach the plateau take another deep breath and visualize your body. Become aware of your breath, your body and reconnect. Slowly open your eyes, stretch, and write down everything you can remember as quickly as possible.

Knight in Shining Armor?

They are out there. Those people that want nothing more than to provide for and protect the ones they love. But we must remember they are as human as any of us. Keeping someone on a pedestal, high above us mere mortals, is incredibly stressful and when these people do show their human colors you may be sorely disappointed. Remember flaws and faults aren't terrible things, they can end up saving you in the end. Mistakes will be made and apologies required.This is why being human can be so much fun and so hard.

The Hanging Knights

Gather up pieces of an old chess set, ones that won't be used anymore. Pick out the 4 knights. Paint them up. Give them crazy and beautiful designs. Get some colored ribbon and wrap it around the knight's neck, giving it a knot in the back to hold him in place. Decorate your knights with ribbon, beads or anything else. If you have a Knight in your life, hang one of your knights on their picture or in your space to remind you that they are just as human as you are.

Wedding Sachet

Not great at finding those stupid wedding registries? Everything a bit out of your budget? Or maybe your the bride in this situation? Well, don't worry a lovely array of wedding gifts can be crafted without too much cost to you. And for the bride, why not send your girls off with a few parting gifts and maybe one for yourself.


Happy Hearts and Wedding Sachet

Supplies:

• small white bag
• 5 apple seeds (per sachet)
• Lavender
• Cinnamon stick (1/2 per bag) 
• One piece of rose quartz (per bag)

Gather your ingredients together. Have an empty bowl or plate in front of you. Hold the rose quartz in your hand and feel the energy of love radiating from it. Focus on your want for a happy relationship and a wonderful marriage. Place the rose quartz in the bowl/plate. Before you pour each herb into the bowl/plate visualize their indvidual attributes awakening and blazing brightly. hold your hand over each one and say your intention in your heart. When you have poured each herb into the bowl/plate place your pointer finger on the rose quartz and say,

"Love is kind, love is mine.
Blessed here and for all time."

Stuff your bag with the herbs and rose quartz. Remember you should only use 1/2 a cinnamon stick because of its size. If you have left overs make another sachet or other herbal product such as an ointment or incense.

To Be You

Being true to yourself can be a very hard thing to do. There always seems to be obstacles in the way of you being yourself. Sometimes it is family, sometimes these are friends, and sometimes it can be your own fear. We are afraid that if we show who we truly are, others will hate us, scorn us, and avoid us. Sometimes those fears are justified but in most cases they are simply our doubts getting the better of us. Sometimes the biggest risk can bring forth the greatest gain. If there are obstacles in your life, preventing you from being free, be brave. Take the harshness and show it only kindness. Where there is not fear to feed it, cruelty will fade away.
Be brave!

Go in Peace and Love

It can be tragic when someone we care about passes from our lives. The emotional wounds left behind can weep for so long you might think they will never heal. The process of a funeral is to help us move on through the symbolic act of letting go. But sometimes it doesn't help as much as it should. When you feel ready, why not have your own private ceremony.

Go to a private place, outside or inside. If you are inside try to have at least one window open.Lay out a nice comfy blanket and place a fire proof bowl on one side, a bowl of dried tobacco or rosemary  beside it, and a lighter. Sit down on your blanket and simply allow yourself to remember your loved one. After a few minutes place a few dried herbs in the fireproof bowl and light them. Blow out the flame gently and allow it to smoke. Add more herbs a little at a time to continue to smoke. Re-light if the smoking stops. Place the bowl by the window so the smoke can move out into the world (if you are outside there is no need for this step). Sit back and have a conversation with your loved one, one sided, and tell them everything you need them to know. Sing, cry, and let out the feelings within your heart. When you feel ready, close your eyes and see your loved one surrounded in white light. Feel that they are going to be all right, and so are you. Thank them for the lessons they have taught you, including this one and allow them from your life. 

Nettle Hair Tonic

Nettle helps to make your hair super soft and silky and is said to battle dandruff, too.

You will need:

- 12 Young nettle leaves, plucked from the top of the nettle plant.
- 2 cups of water.

1. Boil the nettles leaves in the water for around 15 minutes.

2. Strain the leaves and leave the remaining nettle water to cool before use.

3. Use the hair tonic every other day as a final rinse after shampooing for super healthy hair.

For an extra healthy boost add a splash of apple cider vinegar to the cooled infusion. Its cleanses the hair and smooths down the cuticles.

Don't worry your hair won't smell of vinegar as amazingly it doesn't smell when its dry.


(From the WC forum)

Samhain Basket

Halloween is a wonderful holiday and the atmosphere is brilliant. As we begin heading towards Samhain let us share in the joy of the season. Get yourself a basket, preferably woven, with a handle. Line the bottom with hay and dried flowers. Place it in the center of your kitchen table or mantle. Go around your home and collect a few pictures of loved ones that have passed. Place these pictures in the basket. Decorate your basket for the season, be as goofy or serious as you want.
On the night of Samhain take the basket out to trick or treat with you. Place it in the center of your dinner. Share the experience of Samhain with your loved ones.

Singing in the Moon

Singing can be a very energizing activity. It can raise your energy and even the energy within a room. For this Hunter's Moon, start preparing in the afternoon. Bake some cookies, make some lemonade or buy some cidar. Bless everything and when the dusk comes go to your place of worship. Take a few minutes to clear your throat, test your voice. At the first sign of nightfall sing out to the moon. Let your voice sound with the song of the Hunter's Moon..

Psychic Sigil

 

Print this out. Cut it out and place it on the back of a hand held mirror or wall mirror. Each day when you get up, look into the mirror and into your eyes. Hold your own gaze for as long as you can and say, 

"The gifts of the Universe are open to me. I am gifted beyond my wildest dream."

The Wiccan Rede

 The Rede is very important to many pagan communities. You may hear its last line more often than you hear of the actual Rede itself. Its important to know and understand the full Rede in order to draw on its last tenet.

"Bide within the Law you must, in perfect Love and perfect Trust.
Live you must and let to live, fairly take and fairly give.

For tread the Circle thrice about to keep unwelcome spirits out.
To bind the spell well every time, let the spell be said in rhyme.

Light of eye and soft of touch, speak you little, listen much.
Honor the Old Ones in deed and name,
let love and light be our guides again.

Deosil go by the waxing moon, chanting out the joyful tune.
Widdershins go when the moon doth wane,
and the werewolf howls by the dread wolfsbane.

When the Lady's moon is new, kiss the hand to Her times two.
When the moon rides at Her peak then your heart's desire seek.

Heed the North winds mighty gale, lock the door and trim the sail.
When the Wind blows from the East, expect the new and set the feast.

When the wind comes from the South, love will kiss you on the mouth.
When the wind whispers from the West, all hearts will find peace and rest.

Nine woods in the Cauldron go, burn them fast and burn them slow.
Birch in the fire goes to represent what the Lady knows.

Oak in the forest towers with might, in the fire it brings the God's
insight.   Rowan is a tree of power causing life and magick to flower.

Willows at the waterside stand ready to help us to the Summerland.
Hawthorn is burned to purify and to draw faerie to your eye.

Hazel-the tree of wisdom and learning adds its strength to the bright fire burning.
White are the flowers of Apple tree that brings us fruits of fertility.

Grapes grow upon the vine giving us both joy and wine.
Fir does mark the evergreen to represent immortality seen.

Elder is the Lady's tree burn it not or cursed you'll be.
Four times the Major Sabbats mark in the light and in the dark.

As the old year starts to wane the new begins, it's now Samhain.
When the time for Imbolc shows watch for flowers through the snows.

When the wheel begins to turn soon the Beltane fires will burn.
As the wheel turns to Lamas night power is brought to magick rite.

Four times the Minor Sabbats fall use the Sun to mark them all.
When the wheel has turned to Yule light the log the Horned One rules.

In the spring, when night equals day time for Ostara to come our way.
When the Sun has reached it's height time for Oak and Holly to fight.

Harvesting comes to one and all when the Autumn Equinox does fall.
Heed the flower, bush, and tree by the Lady blessed you'll be.

Where the rippling waters go cast a stone, the truth you'll know.
When you have and hold a need, harken not to others greed.

With a fool no season spend or be counted as his friend.
Merry Meet and Merry Part bright the cheeks and warm the heart.

Mind the Three-fold Laws you should three times bad and three times good.
When misfortune is enow wear the star upon your brow.

Be true in love this you must do unless your love is false to you.

These Eight words the Rede fulfill:

An Ye Harm None, Do What Ye Will"

Brown Sugar Healing Spell

Supplies:

• Brown Sugar
• Jar with lid 
• Picture of sick person

As you sit and prepare for the spell, visualize the person who is in need of healing. Hold them in your mind as you take their picture in your hands. Place the picture to the side and scoop out some brown sugar. It should fill the bottle half way. If you have other ground healing herbs (cinnamon or  lavender work well), drop a little bit of those in as well. Take the picture of the person, a piece of paper with their name can substitute, and place it in the jar so it sits in the sugar. Cap the jar tight and visualize the energy brewing within the jar. Begin shaking the jar up and down say,

"Sweetness bind your blood and bone,

Sweetness to your strength

Sweetness build you up and up,

Sweetness dull your pain."

Say this three times as you shake. When you are done, go outside. Take the cap off the jar and pull out the picture, or name, of the person.  Pour the contents of the jar out on the earth. Keep the picture for yourself or give it to the person.

Best done on a waxing moon.

Its a Good Day for Love Spells

Today is a good day for love spells! With the moon coming to full its a great day to bring about love in your life. Here are a few simple love spells.

Taking in Love 

Write a list of the qualities you want on a boyfriend/girlfriend. Now get yourself a few strawberries, or a plum, or an apple. Hold the fruit in your hand and close your eyes. Visualize your fruit glowing with the energy of love. As you hold that visualization say, 

"For a lover, in thee I want."
Then say what is on your list. After you are done, eat the fruit.

 

 Rock Solid Affection
Get some plain rocks and an outdoor bowl. Get a marker and write a good quality on each rock. As you write visualize the way you think your ideal relationship would be. DO NOT think about the ideal person or specific person, just how a relationship would feel. Write the name of your favorite love god/goddess on the bottom of the bowel. Once you have finished writing qualities on the rocks, decorate the rest you have and put them into the bowl. Place the bowl on your porch or outside your door, visualizing your lover coming into your life.

Melting Hearts
Cut out a paper heart and write your name on it. Get a bowl and fill it with water. Drop in your heart along with any other items they remind you of love. Place bowl in the freezer. Once it is a solid piece of ice, place the bowl outside your door or on your porch. Visualize all your love and the love you want in your life trapped within the ice. As it melts that energy and desire will be released into the world.

Suggested herbs for love:

Lavender

Lemon Verbana

Raspberry leaf

Web of Life

As we draw closer to Samhain let's remember our interconnected nature not only to nature but with our fellow human beings. We are linked in ways we are not even sure of. Here is a great activity you can enjoy with friends, family, and spiritual brothers and sisters.

Weaving the Web:
Supplies- 
People
2 spools of back ribbon

Get a group of people, be it your friends, family, or coven. Form a circle with space in the middle. Pick one person to stay in the middle of the circle, two if the circle is more than 15 people. The person in the middle is our spider, they take the ribbon and tie a loop around someone's finger. From there the spider will weave the ribbon through the people. Behind a head, in front of the next head, behind a head and repeat. If you have a second spider have them start at the same place as the first spider but go opposite directions. As they weaver the spider should say,

"Wane and wax,
Web of Life,
Restore and renew."

Once both spiders have made a complete circle, or the one has done a double back, have the people hold hands. The spider says,

"Web is mended and rekindled,
Let the love within us never fall apart."

If you want to chant, sing, dance, or other energy raising activity give it a try. When you are done cut the ribbons. Let everyone have a small piece to carry with them.


Please enjoy the blogs of two of the Collective:
Secrets of the Faery Realm
Angel Updates

Protect Your Right to Worship

In California a law is trying to be passed to make Wicca and other minority religions 2nd class. They argue these religions are unworthy of the freedom and protection they have. What this means is that if the motion is passed pagans in California could be fired from their jobs for their beliefs, children could be taken from parents, covens would be disbanded, and public practice would be illegal. Visit the link below and you'll see. Sign the petition to protect your religion and others'. If it passes in California, who knows where it could be passed next.
Article and Petition

Spirit Communication

It can be difficult to differentiate between your thinking ego and the messages from spirits. Over time you can learn to tell what experience is you and what is the spirit. The only draw back is when you believe everything told to you in a literal sense. If you do not learn to keep your guard up and and stay grounded you can begin to weave an energetic reality within your mind that can unbalance you. Being able to walk that fine line is an important skill. We are beings of spirit and flesh, so we need to be able to function in both. Instinct, common sense, and a skeptical eye can held guard against a literal take on what you encounter with spirits.

Here are a few tricks you can use to help weed out good spirits from bad and keeping grounded.

Testing
Testing spirits is a great way to find the difference between your ego and a spirit. Asking for signs is a usual method. The spirit may say, "look for a red flag" or may show you images to keep an eye out for. Alternatively you can ask it questions that not even you know. Example: "My new friend's middle name begins with what letter?" Its ok to test spirits, good ones understand your caution.

Name of Deity
Bad spirits are cautious of the names of Deity. Most can not stand to be around when people utter them. When used with a push of energy behind it the name of Deity can be used to ward off bad spirits. This is another way to test the spirits you come into contact with. It doesn't matter what name you use for Deity, if it is sacred to you it can be used this way.

Shields and Protection
If you keep your shields up and the protection on your home up to date then there is a good sign your spirit may not be bad. Neutral spirits and good spirits are not always susceptible to the protection we place in our home. Especially if our intention is to keep "those that wish harm" out. Make sure to keep your shields up and have a space that you protect from all spirits just so you can get some peace.

Research
Researching about the spirit is the number one thing to do when you discover it talking with you. Everything it says should be recorded and checked to make sure it really has happened. Or if its telling you how things work in the afterlife, research who they are and if they have any room to talk.

Beware the False Spirit
Bad spirits can be very alluring and charismatic in how they approach us. They can take on any appearance or tone. Some will even mimic the other spirits around people and try to gain their trust. This is why testing is important, even after developing a bond with a particular spirit. Intoning a spirit's name can weed out a mimic from the true spirit. Also using the name of Deity can be useful in getting rid of disguised spirits.

Use of Names
Once you have the true name of a spirit it is easier to clear out the who is who. The best thing you can learn from a spirit is its name. Not only does this help in your research, but also in weeding out mimics.

Shadow
During your life and path you may experience something with spirits that just feels a little 'off.' It is not exactly bad, but its as if what you are getting isn't the whole truth. Sometimes your shadow, the subconscious side of us that carries our doubts and fears, can manifest or interfere with your intuition. It can block or distract you from true communication. It can also push you further from a grounded, stable state of mind. Your shadow isn't bad or evil, it is simply manifesting our doubts, fears, and anger. Working through your emotional problems is the best way to keep yourself balanced and your shadow from interfering.

Mending Your Broken Heart

For most people the risk of falling in love is being left by that person. It can be a real shock to find out one day that its over for them and you. Trying to make it work or force the relationship on further strains everyone. Although things can seem terrible or hopeless, as long as you are still alive there is hope. Once your emotions are spent clean yourself up in a good shower or bath. Anoint your wrists with a cleansing oil and smudge your home of that person's energies. Take a day, no more no less, to eat your favorite foods, drink your favorite drink, and watch the mindless action films that get our spirits up.

Lift My Spirits

Bless and charge your beverage with positive energy. Know that by tomorrow, your heart will begin to mend. Bless your drink in the name of the Lady and Lord, knowing that you are always in their care.

To Let Go

Tie a red ribbon around your pinkie finger. Tie it into a bow with no tail. Take a few deep breathes, remembering your relationship. The good things and the bad. When you are ready say,

"I release, relinquish, and refuse."

Cut the red ribbon off your finger. Let it drop into the trash can and forget about it.


Good luck to those that mend their hearts.

Visual Devotions

Showing a dedication to your path is important for nourishing your spiritual growth. Today, why not create a devotion for the God or Goddess? Instead of writing something try creating something. If you are an artist draw or paint. If you are more into crafting jewelry or wands, create something with deity in mind. Or if you like baking or cooking, stir up something you can dedicate to deity. As many people say, "actions speak louder than words." When you use or eat your devotion you are bringing that love and faith into your own heart.

The Change Cup

Its Saturday, and that means money is in the workings today. Here is a spell to start bringing more money into the home.

Print out a picture of Ganesh, the elephant headed god. Ganesh is the remover of obstacles and is called upon in many situations. In the most active part of your home place the picture of Ganesh on the wall next to a shelf or counter. In front of the picture put a cup or small bowl. Get some change from around the house and return to the picture and cup. Hold the change in your hand and visualize the money you want coming into your life. Think about the good reasons you need it and how it can benefit not only you but your home. Once you are done, drop the change into the cup and thank Ganesh for blessing your wish.