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Tarot and spell work (Guest Post by Bernadette Montana)

Monday, February 28th, 2011

Many people are interested in learning how to make their spell work more effective.  One way to do this, is to incorporate the tarot into your spells.

Have you ever thought of using the tarot in spells or magic? If you are already working with the tarot (and if you are reading this), then spells are great for manifesting whatever it is that you feel you need in your life. The only requirement is that you always concentrate on your goal. Simply direct your own energy into each of the cards to charge them. If you already work with the tarot, then you will already have a “psychic link” with your cards. I also recommend having an item that belongs or is related to the issue at hand. An example of this might be a photograph of a person, or a piece of jewelry. For money, use a piece of silver or gold etc.

To do almost any spell, pick out the one card (or cards) that most closely represent your intention, light a candle, burn the appropriate incense and say out loud what it is that you need in rhyme. Say this spell three times, let the candle and incense burn out and the spell is done!

Example: Money is what I need, may no harm come to none, so mote it be!

What is the purpose of your working?  Is it for money, love, or protection?  Having the correct implements will help you to achieve the results that you are looking for.

If you’re intention is to have more money in your life, then I would use the Pentacles/Discs as the suit of Pentacles is associated with money.  If your spell is about love, then I would use the suit of cups.  Cups is associated with love and emotions. A legal matter?  I would then use the suit of Swords.  I would use wands if I needed help with school, inspiration, projects or career.

Here is a chart that might help you pick the right cards for any given spell:

The suit of Cups: The element of water. Take a look at a cup. It is very feminine looking. A cup is meant to be filled with some kind of liquid such as water. We shed tears when we are emotional. Tears are made of water. Cups are associated with love, emotions and the feminine. This suit also represents issues of love and/or friendship.

The suit of Swords: The element of fire. If I were to put a sword in your hand, what would you do with it? Would you lay it down? Would you use for self defense? Would you stab someone with it? That says a lot about this particular suit. It is also associated with legal issues. A legal issue can be a battle of some sort. What are you battling? Are you fighting someone, or fighting for your rights? What kind of garbage are you trying to “cut” through?

The suit of Wands: This suit is associated with the element of Air. Wands can indicate a need to return to your “Artsy” side. You have creative, intellectual and artistic tendencies. Try to be rational and think logically.

The suit of Pentacles: The element of Earth. Pentacles are associated with money, but all money around the world is backed up by gold or silver. Where is that metal mined from? It all comes from the earth. You need to be grounded. Your family and traditions that make you feel grounded and more in touch with reality. What makes you feel grounded? Substance and Earth

Intentions Tarot Card
Peace, intuition and beauty The Moon, The High Priestess
For patience and overcoming limitations Strength
Love spells The Lovers, The two of Cups
Self confidence, new ideas, new travels The World
For self acceptance The Hanged man, Strength
To Enhance a Telepathic Link Strength, The High Priestess, The Magician, And The Hanged Man
Magical Ability Strength, The High Priestess, The Magician, The Star
Concentration and Meditation Strength , The High Priestess , The Magician , The Star , The Hanged Man , The Wheel of Fortune , The Hermit , The World
Creativity Strength, The High Priestess, The Magician, The Star and The Fool
Dreams Strength, The High Priestess, The Magician, The Star, The Sun
To Banish Negativity From a Place Strength, The High Priestess, The Magician, The Star, The Sun, And The World
Psychic Attack Strength, The High Priestess, The Magician, Justice
For Protection Strength, The High Priestess, The Magician, The Hanged Man, The Wheel of Fortune, The Tower
Luck Strength, The High Priestess, The Magician, The Star, The Wheel of Fortune
To Overcome a Fear Strength, The High Priestess, The Magician, The Hanged Man, The Devil, And The Sun
To Banish Obsession Strength, The High Priestess, The Magician, The Hanged Man, Temperance, The Moon, The Sun, And The Chariot
To Strengthen Spirit The High Priestess, The Magician, The Hanged Man, The Chariot, Temperance, And The Sun
To Strengthen Love Strength, The High Priestess, The Magician, The Star, The Moon, And The Sun
To Find New Love Strength, The High Priestess, The Magician, The Star, The Moon, And The Sun

As you can see, that the choices are almost endless.  I hope that this helps you in using the tarot in your magickal spells.

http://www.bridscloset.com


Bio: I am a mom to 3 sons, a dog, 2 parrots and a bunny. I own a metaphysical shop named Brid’s Closet in Cornwall, NY. A 3rd degree priestess in the Alexandrian tradition of Wicca, a 3rd degree Reiki practitioner, a professional tarot reader and I teach the tarot at various stores in NY State, I taught the tarot at the Starwood Festival in 2007, 2009 and 2010. A pipe carrier in the Sun Bear tribe. I’ve also written articles for The Witches Voice in the past called What Does It Mean To Be A Pagan In Today’s World and The Good, the Bad and the Tarot reader. I also write for the Sacred Mists blog, and run The Newburgh and Cornwall Witches Meetup, and facilitate two festivals in Cornwall, The Winter Solstice/Yule Ball and The Beltaine festival.

Thanks for a great read Bernadette!

Thanks for stopping by! Well wishes to you all and have a great day!

Lisa

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Hump Day Herbs – Calamus

Thursday, February 24th, 2011

CALAMUS

Botanical Name: Acorus Calamus

Folk Names: Gladden, Myrtle Flag, Myrtle Grass, Myrtle Sedge, Lubigan, Sweet Cane, Sweet Flag, Sweet Grass, Sweet Root, Sweet Rush, Sweet Sedge

Calamus are perennial flowering plants from the Acorus family. Native to to North America and northern and eastern Asia. The leaves grow between 0.7 and 1.7 cm wide, with average of 1 cm, and the flower is between 3 and 4 mm.

The Penobscot people would cut the root and hang it throughout the house to cure illness. When traveling, they would take a piece of the root, and chew to ward off sickness. To cure a runny nose, The Potawatomi people would powder the dried root and put up their nose. The Teton-Dakota warriors believed it prevented excitement and fear when facing their enemy, they would chew it to a paste and rub it on their face.

Diety: Maiandros

Element: Water (Fidelity, Friendships, Healing, Love, Meditation, Prophetic Dreams, Purification, Sleep).

Gender: Feminine.

Planet: Moon (Fertility, Healing, Peace, Prophetic Dreams, Sleep).

Powers: Healing, Luck, Money, Protection.

Medicinal Uses: The root is anodyne, aphrodisiac, aromatic, carminative, diaphoretic, emmenagogue, expectorant, febrifuge, hallucinogenic, hypotensive, sedative, stimulant, stomachic, vermifuge and mildly tonic. Internal uses: It Stimulates the apatite and can reduce stomach acidity in small doses. In larger doses it increases stomach secretions. (known to treat anorexia) Also known to treat bronchitis, digestive complaints,  sinusitis etc. If infused it can bring about abortion. Chewing the root  can alleviate toothache and kill the taste of tobacco. External Use: It is also used to treat neuralgi, rheumatic pain and skin eruption. It is a folk remedy for arthritis, cancer, convulsions, diarrhea, ddyspepsiayspepsia, epilepsy.

Magical Uses: Grow Calamus for good luck. Use powdered in Incense and sachets for healing. String seeds as beads for healing as well.  Used to strengthen and bind spells. Keep pieces of the root in all four corners of the kitchen in protection against poverty and hunger.

Ritual Uses: The Incense is burned to treat headaches, coughs, and colds.

Other Uses: Phenylpropanoid, produced by plants are used for defense against herbivores and protection against ultra-violet rays.

Health Hazards: Calamus is considered unsafe for human consumption by the FDA due to massive doses given to lab rats over extended time has proved to be carcinogenic.

FDA studies have shown that only Calamus native to India contains the carcinogen Beta-asarone. The North American variety contains only Asarone.

References:

Note: Consult with a Physician or certified herbologist if you are seeking medical remedies. The information is not intended as medical advice. PagansWorld.org is not liable for the misuse of the herb listed above.

Thanks for stopping by! Well wishes to you all and have a great day!

Lisa

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Who Are We? (Guest Post by Stacy Evans)

Tuesday, February 22nd, 2011

In the wake of “literature” published in connection with the Catholic Church, it’s come out to the main stream media that only teens and young people practice Wicca. We, as believers in our path, know this isn’t the case. Perhaps it’s our own fault that we are seen that way, and why our elders are faced with such surprise when it is discovered that yes, they are Wiccan. With books about teen witchcraft being published left and right over the last decade or so, is there really any wonder?

If we are ever going to be taken seriously as a religion, we need to define one simple thing for other religions and the media that panders to them.

Who Are We?

We can be anyone we want to be, more so because Wicca can encompass anything. We are everyone. We are kind and loving. We can be mean, because we are only human. We are not better than anyone else, but we are equal to everyone else.

This isn’t about rights, it’s about respect. We need to find a way for people to respect us, regardless of those who try to bring us down. And maybe, we can even look to Christianity for examples. Is this our arena, and are the Christians our lions? Perhaps. Not all of them certainly. Obviously, however, some of them fall under this category. We are in a young religion, and we are being forged in the fires. Will we break, or come out stronger?

The right way to go about changing the perception of Wicca is to be respected, and you can’t respect someone who you don’t know. We need to bring our definitions of ourselves as a religion to the forefront, so people can see that we too are human. Jackie Robinson said, “I’m not concerned with your liking or disliking me… All I ask is that you respect me as a human being.” We don’t need other religions to like what we do, or to understand it in its entirety. We just need them to respect our right to believe in it.

Christians have Heaven. Muslims have paradise. A lot of Wiccans believe in Summerland. Buddhists have the state of Nirvana. Every religious path has that last level that all it’s followers want to go to. I think we can agree that there is a higher power up there. Whether you call it God, Goddess, Allah or anything else we need to see that the only thing different about it is how we view it, and we need to respect how others choose to view it.

So who are we? That’s for all of us to answer. 

Be sure to check out Stacy’s blog: Inspired By Life
You can also find her on Facebook: Inspired By Life – Pagan Blog

Thanks for a great read Stacy!

Thanks for stopping by! Well wishes to you all and have a great day!

Lisa

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Hump Day Herbs – Bachelor’s Buttons

Wednesday, February 16th, 2011

BACHELOR’S BUTTONS

Botanical Name: Centaurea Cyanus

Folk Names: Bluet, Blue Bottle, Devil’s Flower, Hurtlesickle, Red Campion

Bachelor’s Buttons are annual flowering plants in the family Asteraceae. Native to Europe, it grows to a height of 16-35 inches tall. It is sometimes called Common Cornflower and may also be referred to as a basketflower.

It was John F. Kennedy’s favorite flower and was worn by John F. Kennedy, Jr. at his wedding in tribute to his father. It was also used in the funeral wreath made for Pharaoh Tutankhamun.

Diety: Robin Goodfellow

Element: Water (Fidelity, Friendships, Healing, Love, Meditation, Prophetic Dreams, Purification, Sleep)

Gender: Feminine

Planet: Venus (Beauty, Fidelity, Friendship, Love, Youth)

Power: Love

Medicinal Uses: Bachelor’s Button is used to improve digestion, regulate the gall bladder, liver and kidneys as well as for menstrual disorders and to increase resistance to infections. It can also be used to wash out wounds and is excellent on mouth ulcers as well as eye treatment. (Corneal ulcers and Conjunctivitis)

Magical Uses: Worn by young men/women in love, (on the breast) if the flower fades too quickly it is a sign that the love will not be returned. Place a flower in the pocket, it’s ability to retain freshness will determine the outcome in sex and love. (good or bad)

Ritual Uses: It gives energy to make one more desirable to the opposite sex and can be used in love and charm spells. Bachelor’s Button can also be used to open one to the divine love of the Goddess.

Other Uses: It is used in herbal eye gels, and can be added to shampoos and hair products.

Note: Consult with a Physician or certified herbologist if you are seeking medical remedies. The information is not intended as medical advice. PagansWorld.org is not liable for the misuse of the herb listed above.

Thanks for stopping by! Well wishes to you all and have a great day!

Lisa

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Valentine’s Day

Monday, February 14th, 2011

Happy Valentine’s Day to those of you who celebrate! Wade and I don’t do much generally, today I’m going to spend my day cleaning (thankfully a friend is to the rescue), while Wade works in his man cave.

It seems silly to me, girls everywhere are waiting for their flowers, candy and perhaps that blue box with the white ribbon. The way I see it, I spend every day with Wade, I get to show him 365 days a year how much I appreciate and love him. What makes this day any different? Just more money to spend that people don’t have, or maybe you do. In any case, I don’t buy into it.

Maybe today would be a good day to say thank you to a friend or family member that you don’t see very often. show them you’re appreciation instead of going out and blowing your cash on flowers that will be dead soon anyway.

That’s all for now!

Happy Monday, and thanks to everyone that checks out my page regularly.

Lisa

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Religion segregates people while faith brings us together

Tuesday, December 29th, 2009

Paganism, Christianity, Wicca, Muslim, Protestant, Jewish and Catholic are all terms that we’re intimately familiar with. Each term represents a group of people with like minded beliefs on God, religion, and to a certain extent, how individuals should regard and live their life. In theory, and according to the books of each denomination, the faithful should be the kindest, most tolerant, devoted, and accepting philanthropist in the world. Sadly, this is not how things usually work out. History has shown us that in the early days Christians used every trick in the bag to turn the old world Pagans to Christianity by leveraging terror tactics not unlike those used by the Muslim extremists since 9/11. Following the establishment of Christianity as THE religion for Roman Europe, no less than 12 Crusades were documented between 1095 and 1234 where Christians, Jews, and Muslims were pitted against each other under the guise of religious cleansing. Believe what you will, though, it seems that this was really just a simple ploy to expand the reach of the Roman Empire and the authority of the Pope himself. Let’s not forget one of the most significant and well documented example of ethnic and religious cleansing, Hitler and the Nazi regime in Germany (followed by most of Europe) where the movement accounted for more than 12 million deaths (before World War 2) of which over 6 million were of Jewish faith.

Enough with history, lets fast forward to modern day. Do you think that things have changed? No. Palestine and Israel are fighting over holy land and scores of innocent Palestinians and Israelis are being killed every day over the right to inhabit the Golan Heights. While the Palestine/Israel conflict isn’t typically thought of as religious in nature, it’s hard to ignore the religious differences that help fuel the war. Muslim extremists are killing innocent civilians throughout the the world, and in retaliation NATO is waging war against these extremists with civilian causalities. To be perfectly fair, I feel that I must note that the official justification for the NATO retaliation is to protect the world from terrorism, but the extreme Muslim rhetoric associated with the terrorist attacks make it hard to not define the war as religious in nature. Finally, we continue to see and hear hate based rhetoric against same sex couples, pro-choice movements, and any social behavior that doesn’t conform to the teaching from the religious texts.

While I haven’t studied the texts of most religions in detail, I’ve known many people from each faith and even lived in countries where non-Christian religions were predominant. The amazing thing that I discovered through these relationships with individuals and experiences in foreign religious customs is that at a very distilled level, each religion has it’s similarities. True, most faiths differ on the identity of their deities, historical events of religious significance, and traditions for celebrating faith, but for the most part, they all preach faith in a higher order and love for your fellow living soul. I think the problem is that the most vocal followers get so entrenched in over analyzing texts and interpretations of stories recounted for thousands of years by millions of people that they loose sight of the fundamentals – faith and love. While these vocal religious extremists are typically the minority in all faiths, they are the ones who preach the loudest and convince armies of weak minded to join their cause.

It’s not all bad news though, as individuals, I think the majority of us are slowly edging into a more understanding society that is more open to accepting individual differences as long as core values of respect, love, compassion, and humanity are shared for the prosperous future of human kind. So next time someone challenges your beliefs, remind them that texts written by men segregate the human race, while faith in a higher order unites us and use the similarities between your views as philanthropists to move past your differences and unite for a greater good.

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