September 6th, 2015

I've been watching a lot of YouTube videos on my day off, and also did quite a bit of work on my "Scrapbook of Shadows". Here's what I was working on.

I added some more decor to my Celtic tree month pages. We have some holly trees by my residence hall, so I picked one up and pressed it. The other lead is a piece of ivy from our garden at home. I'd like to add more to this still, but this is what I've got at the moment.

Here's the last Celtic tree month page. It definitely needs some plant samples, so I'll have to either find or draw some sometime. The right page is adorned with packaging from a bar of soap I got at Fairy Fest a few years ago. I added a tiny feather I found coming back from brunch this morning, and also wrote in a summary of how to make a magickal hand wash as demonstrated by Ashera Star Goddess on YouTube.

I have these pages mostly covered up because a lot of the information is pretty personal to me (not that you could read it, anyway, as blurrily as my laptop took these photos), but these pages were about my power animal, or patronus, the Hummingbird. 

Here's a detail of the Ruby-Throated Hummingbird I drew in the corner. 

I also put up another video today, talking about how I got into the Craft. If you're interested, a lot of it is things I haven't talked about much on here. 

March 16th, 2013

At long last, I'm getting around to posting this! 

Moonstone

 

 
Physical Characteristics: Moonstone can come in a variety of shades, from almost clear to a beautiful light blue. Looking closely, one might see pink, green, and apricot hues.

In Nature: This stone is composed of many thin layers of feldspar fused together; these refract light, giving the stone its characteristic rainbow-like appearance.

Chemical Composition: (NaK)AlSi3O8

Mohs Scale Hardness: 6 (middle)

Can be Found: Australia, Mexico, Madagascar, Burma, Norway, Poland, India, Sri Lanka, and the United States

Healing Properties*: Use Moonstone to assist with female bodily dysfunction and childbirth, or to relieve the lymphatic system, stomach, pancreas, and pituitary gland. It could also be employed to reduce swelling and excess body fluids.

Magickal Properties: Moonstone carries the vibration of Goddess energy, and is thus reflective and calming. It strengthens psychic and intuitive perception and brings the user into balance with Spirit. The stone is said to grant wishes, and aids in dieting, gardening, and meditation. Moonstone soothes stress, anxiety, and women's hormones; it further helps prevent one from being overcome emotionally. The stone assists those of either gender in becoming more comfortable with their feminine side. Water signs find Moonstone ideal, as do gardeners, dancers, and artists. To cure insomnia, pair Moonstone with Amethyst. In magick, Moonstone makes an excellent substitute for Pearl. It draws love and is gently protective of its bearer, especially while travelling and/or while on the water, while also providing wealth and prophetic abilities. Matched with Garnet, the stone reveals the truth behind illusions and will unmask enemies. Moonstone opens the gateway to the subconscious, especially at the full moon. Finally, employ the stone to strengthen one's connection with a patronus or spirit guide.

Chakra Association: Because of its range of properties, Moonstone works with several: the Second, or Sacral, the Fourth, or Heart, and the Sixth, or Third Eye, chakras.

Element: Water

Energy: Receptive

Planetary Association: Moon (I know it's not a planet, but it's considered one in astrology)

*Magickal healing should never take the place of seeing a doctor and following any recommended prescriptions, actions, or other advice. Magick works best in tandem with physical efforts, anyway, so don't skimp on those check-ups!

February 5th, 2013

Recently, the library where I work was getting rid of several cartfuls of old books (they were donating them to another organization), and they gave employees about a week to go through said books and take any they wanted, free of charge. I hadn't been expecting to find anything of interest, seeing as metaphysics isn't the world's most popular genre, but actually, I found probably six or seven that looked good! One of these is The Power of Creative Dreaming, by Pamela Ball.

 ~~~~~~~~~~

Creative dreaming, or "lucid dreaming", as it is more commonly known, is essentially where one recognizes that one is dreaming while dreaming. In this instance, one of two things happens - the dreamer wakes or the dreamer succeeds in remaining asleep and is able to alter and control the events occurring within the dream. How much control one actually has depends on the individual - practice, after all, makes perfect. Lucid dreaming is a lot of fun on its own, as one has the opportunity to do things that are otherwise impossible, like fly, walk through walls, explore outer space, etc. However, from a metaphysical perspective, there are a lot of other applications for lucid dreaming. One could, for instance, use such techniques to contact a spirit guide or patronus animal, or work with images in the dream to create inner peace and healing. Through lucid dreaming during a nightmare, for example, one has the chance to face the frightening images in the dream, shrinking the problem down to size and getting rid of it. Such actions in the subconscious can have an exponential impact on one's waking life. A particularly vivid, non-lucid dream could indicate the onset of an illness, a problem that you are avoiding, a chakra imbalance, or other issue. By later using lucid dreaming to look at the problem, one can more fully asses the issue and deal with any mental factors - stress, for example, is often the initiator for disease and illness. Lucid dreaming can help deal with and find solutions to that stress. So go ahead, give it a try - use a combination of focus on your desire to dream lucidly, affirmations, and sleep (that is a sort of essential component) and wait for dreaming awareness to set in. Don't push yourself. Results may not be immediate, and that's okay - "all good things to those who wait". Taking note of your dreams in a dream diary can improve both your dream recall and your ability to dream lucidly, and also gives you a record to look at later, examining your dreams for reoccurring themes or images. Sleep tight!

January 26th, 2013

Today is Esbat, isn't it? I just realized that. After six hours of building the set for our school musical, I spent most of my afternoon relaxing in bed, reading a collection of short stories from the library about the Green Man and other nature spirits. I'll be having dinner soon, and I suppose I'll do a nice little ritual for Esbat after that.
I re-learned the lesson that one cannot trust everything one reads on the internet just now. I was looking for pictures of Bee Hummingbirds, because they're small and presumably cute, and I wanted to know what they look like. I came across this picture:

The associated website labelled it a "Bee Hummingbird", but my brother, who is well on his way to becoming a zoologist, told me to look at the legs - they are much too long to be those of a Hummingbird. He identified it instead as a Cuban Tody. Bee Hummingbirds do live in Cuba; whoever took this picture simply mislabelled the local wildlife. Instead, Bee-birds look more like this:

Aren't they sweet? I figured that if I want to consider the Hummingbird my patronus animal, I should probably know more about their corporeal counterparts!