November 2017 - Open Your Ears

November 2017 – Open Your Ears

The 1^st of November is seen in the Wiccan calendar as our New Year’s Day (Halloween/Samhain being our ‘New Year’s Eve’), it is also known as All Saints Day when the Anglican and Catholic churches honour the saints and martyrs from days gone by.  For many Wiccans the festival of Samhain crosses over from the 31^st October to November the 1^st, sadly for most of us it will just be another day at work, or clearing up after a Halloween party for the kids!  One thing I would say is take a note of the dreams you had on the night of Samhain (31 October/1 November).  If it is true that the dead speak to us through our dreams see if you had any significant messages whilst you were sleeping.  Write them down, they may not make sense right now, you can always come back to them and they might suddenly mean something to you!

November is seasonally a time for welcoming the dark nights, the days are getting shorter, the earth is barren and cold.  It is a time of quiet and reflection when we accept the death of the earth, knowing that in coming months the spring will come and life will once again take on meaning and flourish as the land becomes bountiful once more. 

For me the last few weeks have taken on a strange theme of ‘hearing’.  There have been three incidences.  Firstly my daughter has failed two hearing tests at school and I have literally had to ‘shout’ and really persist to get myself heard in order to take this matter further.  Luckily for us she appears not to have any actual hearing problems, certainly nothing that is impacting upon her learning and ability to lead her life, but she does need some further tests.  I left countless messages on various phone numbers: school nurse, hospital, audiology units, etc. and it really felt like no one was hearing my concerns.  Secondly my phone speaker (the bit you hold to your ear to listen to people) has decided to go to sleep.  I can barely hear anyone when they call me.  I have since discovered that if I have them on my Bluetooth in the car I can hear them and if I plug in an ear piece into the phone I can hear, but not if I just pick up the handset.  Again totally frustrating and terrifying especially when you are trying to get information off a person or having a business call.  Not being able to hear what is being said to you leaves you vulnerable and scared.  Thirdly, we were on the train and one of my daughters was trying to watch ‘Trolls’ on the tablet and we couldn’t get the sound to work!  Apparently after all the huffing and puffing from me, I discovered there was a fault on that particular file.

So, three sound related issues within a matter of a week….. It certainly got me thinking: is this a coincidence or is it something I should be thinking about?  Am I missing some great message?  Is there someone trying to tell me something or is it my voice that is going unheard?  According to my husband it’s a sign for me to ‘shut up and listen…..’ Of course listening and hearing are two different things.  You can be listening to someone but not really hearing what they are saying.  My problems were definitely hearing related, listening was the thing we were all trying to do!  I started to explore the concept of how being deaf must feel: a truly isolating experience.  Imagine never hearing the sound of your alarm in the morning (yes ok not a good example), or never hearing your partner tell you they love you, never hearing the sound of birdsong, your favourite song, the ring of the telephone, your children’s heartbeat, your cats purr, your dog’s panting.  The world would feel quiet, eerily so.  It would feel lonely and somewhat scary.  People would ignore you from time to time as if you cannot hear what someone is saying they presumably eventually stop talking to you.    Maybe these experiences are inviting me to pause for a moment and really listen to what my inner voices are saying, perhaps it is a sign to just forget technology, forget hearing what everyone else has to say and start listening to my own inner voice.

Practical Magic  

You will need a pen and some white paper, red paper, green paper, black paper.

This ritual will help you to identify and listen to your inner voice or intuition.  Firstly think about something that you need to make a decision on, it might be a job offer or promotion, whether to employ a certain person, which person to go on a date with.  The list is endless, the list is yours to choose from.  So once you have identified the ‘problem’ that needs addressing write it down on a plain white piece of paper.  There are three steps you now need to take, firstly:

Pause.  Take a moment to consider the different ways in which you might go with this problem.  There will be several avenues you could take.  Write all your different solutions down, if you feel one solution is too scary or feels weird put it on the red paper,(i.e. red for danger) if you feel neither good nor bad about it write it on the white paper.

Listen. Listen to how your body is reacting as well as your brain.  Perhaps one possible avenue is making you feel sick or shaky or dizzy.  Write down your physical reactions to each possible avenue on the red paper and lay it underneath the possible avenues you have made a note of.

Pinpoint.  Once you have explored all options and how they make you feel mentally and physically take a moment just to see whether you feel your uncertainty is coming from a genuine bad feeling or just fear of the challenges that are being presented to you.  Fear is completely different to having an instinct that something is wrong for you.  Fear is about our insecurities and lack of confidence.  Don’t avoid making a decision out of fear. However, if you feel it’s not about fear but more about a bad feeling that you cannot completely put your finger on, then it’s probably your instinct and you should always listen to this.

Sleep on it and then the next day look again at your choices and write the one that ‘feels’ right on the green piece of paper.  Go to bed that night with this green paper underneath your pillow and hopefully by morning you will feel assured and relieved that you have made the right decision.

Crystal of the Month – Moldavite

It’s November and as we’ve been on this voyage of discovery for 11 months now I thought it was time to get one of the ‘big boys’ out.  Moldavite is known as The Holy Grail Stone.  It is an incredibly powerful stone of healing and transformation and as soon as you come into contact with it you will usually experience a strong reaction. (E.g. tingly, electrical feeling in your hands and arms, sometimes a hot flush).  One of the reasons it has this reputation for being such a powerful stone hails back to its beginnings. Around 15 million years ago a meteorite exploded over southern Czechoslovakia, as it came into contact with the earth these green crystals of Moldavite were formed, so as it came from the sky, some people do actually feel the stones were ‘heaven sent’ so to speak.  If you are ready for the next stage of your spiritual development this is the stone for you.  It will help you go further into a meditative state, it is a powerful stone of protection and healing (I use it in Reiki) and it WILL bring about change in your life if that’s what you are after.  Use it wisely, have a strong clear objective as you hold it so that you are in charge rather than the other way round. 

Angel Card of the Month – Romance Angels Are Helping You

This is a rather lovely card to get, especially as we are accelerating full speed towards Christmas and the end of the year.  If you are looking for a soul mate then this card encourages you to focus on the qualities you are searching for as well as make healthy lifestyle changes for yourself.  Concentrate on self-improvement, get out there in the world and take up that hobby you’ve been thinking about, make new friends, and really listen to your intuition.  Possible specific meanings include: the person you are asking about is your soul mate, you will experience a happy change in a present relationship, you are learning to love yourself, you will soon meet someone special. 

Moody Moon

This month’s full moon falls on November 4^th at 05.22 in Taurus, (you will be forgiven for thinking the moon is full on Friday 3 November as it will appear so huge, but it is actually the 4^th).  This is a great time for any monetary dealings, as well as anything that makes you feel secure.  Perhaps you find out you’ve got a new job around this time, or you make an offer on a house, or buy new furniture or a beautiful painting.  The down side of Taurus is that it can be a very stubborn sign, so don’t allow yourself to be completely dogmatic and immovable on this full moon, remind yourself to show flexibility and you will come out best.

The new moon is on 18 November at 11.42 in the sign of Scorpio. Of course new moons represent offers and new beginnings.  Sometimes beginnings are disguised as endings, particularly at this time when Scorpio is very much linked with death/endings.  Don’t feel put off if something is coming to an end around this time, it marks a fresh opportunity which will be around the corner. Don’t mourn your loss, celebrate the fact that when one door closes another opens.  Look for those hidden opportunities and grab them with scorpion vigour. 

During this month you will see the planets Mercury and Saturn in the evenings in the west of sky.  In the mornings Jupiter can be seen in the east until mid-month and Venus and Mars also in the east.

On November 5^th as we are watching the fireworks, the sky will be producing its own ‘fireworks’, Taurids Peak will be producing about 5 – 10 meteors per hour, tonight it is at its peak, however the full moon light will block out all but the brightest meteors. 

On 18 November look out for Leonids peak which will radiate from the constellation Leo, this will produce up to 15 meteors an hour.  The dark skies of the New moon will give the ideal conditions to view these.

Eat: apples, artichokes, avocado, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, lemon mussels, oysters, oranges, potatoes, quince, squash, scallops, sea bass turnips and wild duck

Play: some of your favourite music.  Whether it be the lyrics or the tune that ‘speaks to you’ indulge in some sound therapy and change how you feel about something.

Love: Silence.  Sometimes we need to retreat to the natural sounds of nature, the ‘silence’ of a forest on a cold crisp day with just the sounds of the natural world around us remind us of what it is to ‘be’.

October 2017 - Seek and Ye Shall Find....

October 2017 -  Seek and ye shall find........

I had a wonderful dream the other night.  I dreamt I was flying around outside.   I could feel  the cool night air flowing through my hair, the leaves on the trees touching my skin gently as I zoomed past them.  They were very brown, crispy oak leaves about to fall from the trees and I felt so very powerful and liberated.  How vivid dreams can be, and yet when we wake,  the concept of flying through the night sky on a broomstick seems totally incongruous, in spite of having felt so real.  Why should it be deemed any less of an experience just because we were asleep?  Our senses still felt it was really happening to us. This ties in with how I feel about  'life on the other side'.  In my opinion there is a thin veil between this world and the next.  Sometimes during dreams we will see our long gone loved ones and their presence fills us with both sadness and deep joy, as on waking it seems that we really have spent time with them once more.  Again, we do not have to dismiss these encounters as merely dreams.  We can choose to believe they have really happened, and why not if one gains comfort or an alternative way of looking at a problem we are facing?  .  If it is true that the other side is only  a breath away then perhaps it is possible that our unconscious can gain access to that which is hidden from us during our waking hours.  When we are asleep we do not have that voice telling us that something is in our imagination, we just accept the experiences of the alternative reality our brains have created. When I think of what it must be like to be 'dead' or a 'spirit' I think it must be like how we feel in our dreams.  You have no 'body' in your dream because you are dreaming clearly, and yet in dreams you can run, jump, make love, think, smell , feel etc.  I think it must be the same for spirits, they can do all of these wonderful things, go where they please in the blink of an eye, they just have no earthly body anymore.  It doesn't stop you from feeling as though you do have one though.  How liberating that must be! 

So this brings me on the Wiccan Festival this month, Samhain, aka Halloween/All Souls night/feast of the dead:  when the veil between this world and the next is at its thinnest.   'Halloween' as it is commonly known has become more about spooky happenings and kids going out trick or treating, (an Americanism), yet its beginnings really lie in the fact that at this time the dark half of the year commences.  The harvests are over and the plants are shrivelling up back into the earth, death is close, yet remember that out of the darkness comes the light.  Death is always followed by rebirth, and endings always mark new beginnings.  The dark allows us to reflect and rest and remember the past, and to prepare ourselves for the future, for the new beginnings which will emerge in the next few months.

Practical Magic

Part of the Samhain tradition is to honour our ancestors who have passed on.  There are several ways you can do this; you can lay an extra place at your dinner table on Halloween, or put out dog food or cat food for your deceased pets.  My favourite ritual though is to invite family or friends over, enjoy some food together and then sit in a circle in  a darkened room with lots of little tea lights ready to be lit.  Then each of you take it in turn to talk briefly about a deceased family member or friend, saying something about them that you will always remember.  As you do so, light a candle to symbolise them.  As each person talks about their memory and lights a candle, so at the end of the meet you will have a whole host of beautiful glowing tea lights each representing the spirit of a loved one.  What better way to honour your ancestors than that.

Crystal of the Month : Blue Sodalite

This stone, with its beautiful blue colour, is associated with the throat chakra and will help if you are struggling to speak your truth.  The throat chakra is also linked to grief, so if you or someone you know is suffering with sore throats maybe grief is the part of the problem, or maybe they are unable to say what they really want to say.  If you lie down quietly and place this stone on your throat and try to relax it should help re- balance this chakra.  (for more on re balancing chakras see my Chakra stone kit available on Samantha's Spells Facebook Page).  Sodalite will also bring your attention to the qualities of idealism and truth, stimulating you to live up to your own ideals and allowing you to be true to yourself. 

Angel Card of the Month: Sense of Humour

As this card suggests, the current situation could benefit from your sense of humour.  You are invited to view your situation from a distance, as if watching a movie, try to detach from the drama/ sadness and see it from a different perspective.  This is a difficult card to put into practise because if you are going through hard  times laughing about it is almost impossible and being told to do so can feel insulting too.  I think what the  essence of this card is saying is, don't lose your sense of humour, in the darkest of times there can be moments of comedy.  Moreover it suggests that perhaps what you need right now is laughter as it is supposed to be the best medicine.   Don't  feel guilty about having a good old laugh, it doesn't mean you don't care, it means you have given yourself a release of emotion.  Laughter is as important as crying in terms of being cathartic and it releases feel good hormones which at the very least will help you get through another day.  Who knows you may even begin to see the light at the end of the tunnel.

Moody Moon

This month's full moon is on the 5th October at 19.40 in the sign of Aries.  Aries is the first sign of the zodiac so expect this full moon to mark some dramatic endings and glorious new beginnings.   You may not understand why you are feeling so raw and emotional, vulnerable even, but once the full moon has passed so will these strange feelings. 

The New moon is on 19th October at 20.11 in Libra, the sign of balance and harmony.  Libra is also the sign of beauty, so a great time to go for a new image or hairstyle.  Any  Legal matters being dealt with on this date bode well too.

If you look closely at the moon on these dates you will see the following planets showing up as next to them: on 17 October you will see Mars next to the moon, on the 18th you will see Venus next to the moon and on the 24th October you can see Saturn next to the moon.  Wow!

On the 21st October there will be a Orionids Meteor shower.  This can produce up to 20 meteors per hour!  The crescent moon will set early in the evening leaving dark skies, so your best viewing position will be from a dark location after midnight.  Meteors will radiate from the constellation Orion in the south east of the sky, but you may see them anywhere in the sky, although this is obviously a good starting point.

Finally don't forget to put the clocks back one hour on Saturday the 28th October before you go to bed!  Hurray an extra hour in bed!!

Eat: Pheasant, pumpkin, Swede, beetroot, cabbage, wild duck, wild mushrooms, sea bass, sloes, kale, celeriac, partridge, Swiss chard.

Play: Trick or treating time on 31 October!  Go with the kids if you have them, if not and you want to participate leave a pumpkin or something 'Halloweeny' outside your front door as a sign to the 'trick or treaters' that they can knock on your door.

Love: Remember those who have passed and that their love never dies but lives on in all those whose lives they have touched.

September 2017 Honouring Your Dark Side

September 2017 -  Honouring your dark side

On the 22^nd September we celebrate the Wiccan Festival of Mabon, also known as Autumn Equinox. At 21.01 on this date the sun enters the sign of Libra; there is perfect equilibrium between daylight and night.  It is no accident that likewise Libra is known as the sign of balance, symbolised by the scales.  Mabon or ‘Autumn Equinox’ is also known as the second harvest.  The first harvest was celebrated in August (Lammas), notably a time of plenty when the sun was high in the sky and we were rewarded for all our hard work, and encouraged to bask in its glory and enjoy our harvest.  This festival has a darker element to it; we are on the cusp of the earth’s descent into winter.  Plants are beginning to suck themselves back into the earth to regenerate, trees are about to start losing their leaves, animals are preparing for hibernation or the journey to sunnier climes.  The natural world cannot help but affect us, however much we resist it, we too are part of the push and pull of the earth.  We are 90% water and thus we are affected by the moon, like the ocean is, only our  tides are more recognizable as moods and feelings.  You know some days when you wake up and feel deflated or flat and you can’t find a reason why?  Or other times when you have so much energy and feel happy and content? Well the moon has more to do with this than you think!  Some people are more in tune with this and others have just learnt to ignore the basic instinct we have inside of us.

Mabon is named after the welsh god, son of Celtic mother and goddess Modron.  It is told in the Welsh mythological tale ‘Culhwch and Olwen’ that Mabon was kidnapped when he was 3 days old and imprisoned.  He was later freed and transformed into a young god.  His kidnapping symbolises the Autumn Equinox; as Mabon disappeared into the darkness, a tiny seed of a being, only to return fully grown, so the sun and nature’s energy disappears over winter and regenerates in the spring.  Interestingly the naming of this Pagan festival ‘Mabon’ seems to be a fairly recent addition, as researching the story of Mabon there is no mention of his connection to ‘Mabon’ the festival in the old tales. 

Practical Magic

One of the many rituals to perform at ‘Mabon’ is a ritual to honour the dark Mother.  Literally translated in my mind this means meditating on the darker aspects of your own soul. Do you have pain you need to bring to the surface and deal with? Do you have anger or frustration that you need to find an outlet for?  Do you have thoughts and feelings about yourself or others that you are ashamed or embarrassed of?  We all have negative traits, parts of ourselves we dislike.  That is quite normal, the key is not to dwell so much on these so that we lose sight of our gifts, our attributes and our unique magic.  Because Autumn Equinox is a time of perfect balance between dark and light it is fitting that we in turn acknowledge the darkness within us all, give it respect and then banish it, whilst releasing and focusing on the light within us. 

Take a piece of black paper and draw a pentacle on it, (a five sided star) make sure the two points are facing downwards, (see pentacle below)  otherwise it is a sign of the devil!!  Write on this your faults, the things you dislike about yourself or even negative situations that you feel you are in right now.  Burn it.  Take a white piece of paper and draw a pentacle on this too, write your attributes, your gifts all the positive things you have to offer.  Take an apple, (a symbol of Mabon) cut it across the fruit so you can see the pips formation inside.   You will see that they make the shape of a pentacle which is why this fruit is so closely associated with Wicca.  There is also a little circle around the pentacle of pips, this symbolizes the magic circle of protection that one draws around oneself when performing a spell or ritual.   Bury the pentacle of pips along with your white star of your positive attributes.

If you have children at school you will be aware of the Harvest Festival assemblies around September time too, when thanks is given for what we have, and when we collect non-perishable items of food to distribute to not so fortunate folk.   For those of us that don’t have children at school, have your own dinner party/tea party whereby everyone comes with a dish each to share at your house, plus an extra tin of something, so at the end of your meal you will have a bagful of goodies to donate to your local food bank,.  We are spreading the ripple of our celebration of Mabon far and wide.

Crystal of the Month – Turquoise

This beautiful stone has for many years been used as a talisman against evil.  Its protective qualities are still known to this day and it can be used to ward off evil as well as protect its owner from negative energy.  You can use this stone as part of a cleansing ritual to rid your house or office from negative vibes, or just keep it with you as a good luck charm.  It is both calming and balancing and can be used to support you during times of over work and exhaustion.  The colours vary depending on where the stone has originated, but whatever the variations I feel it is such a vibrant positive stone to behold. 

Archangel Michael Card of the Month – Take your time Making This Decision

This card suggests that there is a situation which you are confused or indecisive about.  Don’t feel bullied into rushing a decision, take as much time as you need.  More information will be available to you in the coming days and weeks so don’t jump in with both feet!  Slow down and take your time.  In terms of specific meanings this could be read as ‘Don’t sign the contract just yet/negotiate a better deal/don’t rush a new relationship/don’t be pressurised by other people’.

Moody Moon

This month’s full moon falls on September 6th at 8.02 in the sign of Pisces.  Pisces is a very dreamy sign, and a water sign, so full of emotion.  Expect emotions to be running high especially in the lead up to this full moon.  Your hopes and dreams could be the focus, are you really doing what makes you happy?  Perhaps it’s time to seize the day and make some changes.

The New moon falls on 20^th September at 06.29 in the sign of Virgo.  This is a great day to start a new diet plan or health regime!  Virgo is all about health, food, cooking and being precise. 

Planets visible in the evening are Saturn in the south, mercury and mars in the morning from mid-month, and Venus in the west.  There is a Piscid meteor shower on 9^th September which will produce about 10 meteors per hour at its peak and can be seen throughout September into October.  They will radiate from the constellation Pisces in the south.

Eat: Apples, plums, figs, grapes, pears, kale, squash, leeks, pumpkin, mussels.

Play: Invite some people round and celebrate Mabon with food, wine and merry making.

Love: Picking your own fruit. (Blackberries are around early September and damsons/apples/pears)