Monday, December 29, 2014

Erecting A Mirror Shield To Protect Against Negativity And Evil

Venturing out in the real world with out a shield to protect you is like unprotected sex, if you are real lucky, you won't catch anything, but there are all kinds of "goodies" you may catch if you aren't lucky! And nothing is so tempting to a psychic vampire as an unprotected person. So how do you go about shielding yourself? Well, here is how to build a mirror shield that will send back any negativity sent to you, and also allow you to remain hidden if you wish.

Sit in a comfortable chair for this exercise, and allow your arms to hang. Do not cross your legs, or your arms. Crossing either short circuits your energy, and while an effective method of keeping someone from influencing your energy temporarily, is not an effective method of control on a long term basis. Now visualize yourself surrounded by a ball of pure energy, this ball surrounds you but remains further out than you can touch, and no matter what is in your hands, the ball expands so it is never pierced from within. If you were to look from the outside at this ball, you would see yourself, for it is a highly polished, reflective mirror. Now this mirror is just like the one in a police station, the kind that is a window on one side and a mirror on the other. So you can see out, but remain hidden. I want you to program this ball of energy to "hide" you so your energies do not give you away - all you do is visualize such "programming" being fed into the ball. Now you are surrounded and hidden.

Now lets add the defensive capabilities beyond hiding. Visualize the ball now having the capability to reflect anything thrown against it back at the sender, a "return to sender" function you can also program, and initially make it 3 times as hard and strong, and 3 times as fast as sent. You can use any factor of protection you like, I call this the "bounce back factor" - think of it as 10 to the nth power, so 10 to the 3rd power is 10 times 10 times 10, or 1000 times as hard and fast. Now, if that doesn't do it for you, just keep increasing the power!!! Your only limit is your own visualization power, so the sky is the limit! Make your shield as hard, strong, and fast as you like.

One further point - what good is such a shield if it isn't around you all the time, and does it go into the earth when you walk, or around the bed when you sleep? Of course it does, merely "see" it doing so, and it will. And if you see it up all the time, it will be! You may have to reinforce the visualization in the beginning, but soon it will be second nature for your shield to be there, then just check occasionally to see if it needs any bolstering. Presto, now you may go anywhere and be safe!

Sunday, December 28, 2014

Ancient Healing Chants and Spell

Some simple chants for healing are available in an old book by Ray Buckland. They come from old Etruscan magic according to him. They can be done on any day of the week and you should light candles and incense while you chant.

You should use your regular ritual candles (just do your circle as you normally would, if you do it at all) and add to the set-up a royal blue candle. Carve into the candle the healer's tree symbol (you'll find that in either of Scott Cunningham's Wicca books: Guide for the Solitary or Living Wicca).

As for the herbs/incense which would be appropriate, I'll list some common kitchen and wild/garden type ones after the chants. While you chant, use the candle to focus yourself and visualize the sick person vigorous and healthy, doing whatever it is s/he likes to do most. If you have a picture of the sick person, it's a good idea to have it on the altar, too. You can either chant the phrases 9 times or until you feel satisfied. You can do this daily whenever you have the time and it doesn't take a terrible lot of prep time except to grab the components, clear your mind and get your focus.

Here are several chants you can use.  Pick the one that seems to fit you best.  These five are intended to help bring about full recovery.

  1. Per il bene che ti ho voluto 
  2. A folletta di Norcia va ti a raccomodare 
  3. Che la fortuna mi voglia ridare 
  4. Sarei sempre il padrone 
  5. Mezzo di questa vada avral

Now the list of common healing herbs. You'll be able to get a lot of these from your kitchen, a garden or wild place or from a health food store in the form of teas or oils.

  • Allspice (not the blended stuff; you can usually get the whole seeds at the grocery store) 
  • Apple ( a couple on the altar, perhaps; and bonus if you can get them in for the sick person to eat afterward ;-)) 
  • Bay - take a whole leaf and mark it with the healer's tree; tuck it somewhere in the sick person's room, under his/her pillow if you can or put it in a little blue mojo bag for him/her to wear over his/her heart) 
  • Blackberry - you might even consider doing a spell paper with the juice for ink 
  • Carnations (on the altar and maybe you can take them after blessing and have them in his/her room?) 
  • Cinnamon 
  • Eucalyptus (you can get this dried in the floral department of a lot of stores) 
  • Fennel 
  • Flax (you can get the seeds at most health food stores or whole foods places) 
  • Gardenia 
  • Garlic 
  • Ginseng 
  • Golden Seal (very available in a lot of "herbal vitamin" sections at places like Wal-Mart and K-Mart) 
  • Ivy (would be good as an altar dressing if you want to go that far or maybe 
  • get a potted one to perk up his/her room?) 
  • Lime (check around; the grocery store might have the dried peels in the spice section) 
  • Mint (peppermint especially) (dried flakes in the grocery store) 
  • Oak 
  • Pine 
  • Rose 
  • Thyme 
  • Tobacco 
  • Violet 
  • Willow 
  • Wintergreen

Sunday, December 7, 2014

Indoor Pagan and Witch Celebrations

One of the obstacles city pagans face is the want of outdoor space for workings and rituals. One way to get around such problems is to hold workings indoors.

For indoor locations you have the option of using your regular ritual room/altar space. Or of clearing a room, such as living room, just for the occasion. Which you choose will depend on your circumstances.

If you share living space with someone that is non-pagan then perhaps keeping it simple and working in the privacy of your own room would be best.

However, if you can move out into a larger space it is always nice to do so. If it is a room that is used for other things this may mean cleaning up before and after. First, move any furniture out of the way. Then put everything back when done. It can mean a bit more work, but if you host a grove/coven/group you may need the extra space. *Don't be afraid to ask grove/coven/group members to help with the set up and take down in such situations. It will save you on both time and energy.

Indoors you may want to cut down by half the amount of incense you burn, unless it is warm enough to have windows open for smoke reasons and the overdone effect of scent in a small place. Remember you can always add more if needed, but you can't undo it if you get too much.

Candles can also be a hazard in small spaces with folks moving about. So always make sure that candles are set in sturdy holders that are on level non-moving surfaces. Make sure you have a little extra water on hand just in case one gets bumped over. I have found a medium plastic measuring cup works great for this. You can fill it with tap water and set it in a corner for emergencies. It has a handle and a pour spout which makes it easy to grab and pour where needed.

Whether you use a rug to denote the circle or a rope, or another item is up to you. I have seen some lovely rugs that are circular with Celtic knot work patterns. They come in a variety of sizes, smalls are about 5', mediums are about 8-9', large ones can be huge. The small ones are nice when working alone as it gives you a visual boundary when calling quarters. One could also use several rugs together to get the same effect. Rugs are a nice option that you might not want to use outdoors due to cleaning of rugs.

Also a nice thing about working indoors if you can leave you altar up overnight is being able to leave your nice silver out without worrying about it disappearing. Plus you can use a nice coffee table for your altar.

I hope these ideas help.

Note: For instructions on forming a pagan circle for rites & rituals visit my blog post:  https://www.dalehyde.org/2021/01/a-wiccan-ritual.html