Worldwide Pagan Wicca Witch Paganism
MESSAGES IN THIS DIGEST (4 MESSAGES)1. Finding your Animal Totems From: holly@ravenmadness.com 2a. Imbolc Path Working From: Silver Fox 3a. Imbolc Ritual From: Silver Fox 4a. Imbolc Oil From: Silver Fox View All Topics Create New Topic
MESSAGES
1.
FINDING YOUR ANIMAL TOTEMS
POSTED BY: "HOLLY@RAVENMADNESS.COM" HOLLY@RAVENMADNESS.COM HOLLYBERRYSHEART
Tue Jan 25, 2011 7:30 am (PST)
Ok in the past few days I have had several conversations about how do
you find your totem animal or animals.. and how do you know which
animal is yours... soooooooooooooo I thought I might speak a few words
about this.
The first thing that I want to say is... the below are my own thoughts
and ways... I'm not saying this is the one and only way and I'm not
saying I'm right and everyone else is wrong... all I can do is give you
my perspective and speak from my own experiences... so please don;t take
it personally if my view differs from yours or from what you may have
been told by someone else..
ok whew.. now that the disclaimer is said and done.. we can get down to
business.
Note #1 - First of all there were comments by one of my friends that she
is connected to one particular animal more than any other and then she
said that told her that her totem was something else
.. her next statement was that she has never connected with that animal.
Well, I'm not saying that whoever told her what her totem was - was
wrong.. that totem may be around her but not yet showing itself to her
- but also I want to say that... YOU are the one connecting with YOUR
totem.. YOU are the one effected... YOU are the one being guided -
Don;t worry so much about what others tell you - instead... if you
feel strongly linked to one particular animal or 2 or 3 or whatever -
then that/those are YOUR totems.
Note #2 - You may have many totems throughout your lifetime.. some stay
with you for long periods of time and sometimes forever and some come
and go as they are needed. Sooooooo... you meet someone and they tell
you is your totem... or at least that's what
THEY see as YOUR totem... and that may be true for that moment in
time... but as your life progresses and you change.. your situation
changes and all things around you change.. your totem may or may not
also change. So don't get yourself stuck on... "so and so said this is
my totem so that's it.. forever" LOL
Note #3 - You will find your totem when you stop trying so hard to find
it..
It is not something to be forced or made to be.. when you relax and let
things just be.. you will see...
You must allow your totem to come to you.. welcome it into your life
and soon you will discover it has been there all along.. you will see
the signs and have that DUH! Moment.. LOL...
When you push and push and try to force things to be... the vision
becomes blurred and unclear. We all have our totems.. don't worry you
are not without one just because you are unsure of what it is. You just
have to relax and allow it to show itself to you.
Note #4 - Stan Hughes has a wonderful book called Medicine Seeker.. in
the back of his book he has a 100+ question survey to help you find out
what totems you may have. It's a very in depth survey that may bring
light to what you already know but may be suppressing.
Here's a link to Stan's page
The rounded grey stones of the well shine bright with green moss in the luminescent twilight. Withered grasses and the sharp brown umbrils of dead meadowsweet guard the depths.
Above, slender Rowan boughs net the darkening sky with a tracery of black lace. A solitary berry, overlooked by the hungry birds, hangs like a drop of dried blood over the well. It is Winter and the earth is crusted hard, dusted with silver frost.
It is not yet Spring, yet look up. The dry twigs are swelling at the tips, hinting greens as yet unborn.
Look down. Look down into the waters of the winter well. Look down into the darkness. Look through the reflection of your own being. Look into yourself, into Herself.
Look deeper. In the eye of the well, in the dark water, is a single flame, small and clear. Look deeper still. The quiet light illuminates a cavern, an earth cairn, the source of the well, where the water waits as yet unrisen. The flame burns, a small quiet leaf of fire.
There around the silent pool coil two serpents, dark in their interlocked sleep. They rest, patterned in a knot of winter rest. They lie as yet unrisen.
And look, silhouetted against the stone, there stands a figure. Tall, she is, a woman veiled in black and deepest amethyst, but through the dark veil her eyes glow like small flames. She waits, drawing you into her darkness.
The Goddess speaks "I am the darkness at the source of the well."
Now the stillness is within you. You feel the ageless cold of stone, the withering of flower and leaf, the cyclical lonely death of winter.
The Goddess speaks "I am the cave of the serpents' sleeping"
Now within the cold quietness, there is movement. The snakes are stirring. There is gentle undulation, a reforming of coiled pattern. Movement grows stronger. They writhe faster, forming a circle of interwoven darkness and light.
The movement is within you. Within the waiting womb of your being is a memory of light and fire. It winds and weaves turning through the deep coldness. Within you is a stirring, a disturbing, a searching, a longing for the linking of love.
The Goddess speaks "I am the place where the waiting seeds swell."
The figure is brighter now. Her robes shine darkly purple in the flame light. She holds out her hands. Cupped between them is a small golden bowl, round and smooth. From within it shines a soft green light. The green glow grows, illuminating the veiled face of the Goddess.
The bowl draws you, warms you, as you reach out to take it into your own open hands. Look into the bowl. Nested in green moss lie seeds of all kinds, seeds like drifting brown dust, round seeds of mottled green. Grey winged or wrinkled black, they lie waiting. Although none have yet germinated, all are swollen with potential fecundity, a promise of fertility.
The bowl is warm as you hold it in your hands, cradle it to your breast. Now within you is a heart's warmth, a seeding of hope. And you feel the hopes of your heart's depths swell into longing.
The Goddess speaks "All things wait in my cairn of keeping."
The dark Goddess shines. She lifts her hands and they gleam pale in the flame light.
The snake weaving changes, moving faster, becoming a rising coil, a spiral of rising pattern, a great cone of darkness and light, now shot through with fiery reds, now gold and green. Brighter, the whirling cone rises higher around the leaf blade flame. And the water is whipped into a cauldron of bubbling pattern.
Higher and brighter rises the swirling knot, up into the eye of the well, swept up into the starlit air, straightening swift as swords stabbing the night. And they are gone, released to the winter dark.
There is a stillness within the earth cairn. It is the stillness of waiting, of anticipation.
You breathe the waiting hope deep into your mouth. It fills your throat, rises through your head, a cold clear frosty clarity enhancing all your senses. You are revitalized with the awareness of the Goddess in the moment of transition.
She lifts Her pale hands once more, and Her white arms glow like frosted tree limbs. And then she is transformed, clothed with a white light, bright as Spring snow. Now she stands before you, a slender beautiful woman,all in white, her white hair flowing around her, shimmering like fresh snowfall or falling like river thaw
And you also are filled with light, clear and lonely as a February dawn. She surrounds you, enters you, transforms you with her cold illumination and anticipation. In the clear white light the walls of the earth cairn fade away and you find yourself standing once more beside the winter well, under the dark tree canopy.
Now She speaks within you. The Goddess speaks with your own voice.
"I am bereft and lonely. I am cold. I cry out for the comfort of the dark cairn, for the shielding peace of the dark veil.
I have held to myself the dreaming seeds, cradled them and sheltered them with my body. Now they are scattered each to individual growth. They must search out light and warmth, each in competition, seeking dominance. And I have let them go for I may nurture but I may not control.
I have held to myself the pattern of the serpents' sleeping. Now they are released to follow the heroes' path. They have entered into the conflict of hunter and hunted, each searching ever for the other, they will hunt for me. But I will pursue them to the year's end.
I am bereft and lonely in my compassion. I have birthed the years turning. The earth womb is empty. I cry in my compassion. The joy and sorrow of it. Oh the joy and sorrow of the heroes' path that is now loosed upon the earth. For I also must play my part in this cycle taking in turn the role of bride and lover, mother and queen until at the last I gather all back into my cairn's keeping where tears of joy and sorrow become one with dreams of promise."
The night is dark and cold. Slender branches of Rowan shine in frosty splendor under a crescent moon. The earth is hard and frozen. All seems Winter. But there is a new fragrance in the clear air.
The promise of Spring.
Silver Fox
"It is all true, it is not true. The more I tell you, the more I shall lie. What is story but jesting Pilate's cry. I am not paid to tell you the truth."
Jane Yolen; The Storyteller
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Messages in this topic (3) 3a.
IMBOLC RITUAL
POSTED BY: "SILVER FOX" SILVERFOX 57@HOTMAIL.COM TRICKSTER9993
Tue Jan 25, 2011 10:46 am (PST)
Imbolc Ritual
Arrange your light sources in a pleasing manner around the ritual space, but leave them dark. The center of the altar holds a coal or other fire source from your hearth or that of the groups leader. It is the only thing burning at the start of the ritual. Next to the fire source, leave a container of ice or snow. On the other side place your seed, the soil, and dish.
Corn husks are scattered on the surface of the altar like a cloth. Your personal journal and pen sit at one corner. The offering of toasted bread or ale rests on the other corner.
Invocation
Before starting the invocation, go to your door and open it, saying,
"Brigid, I welcome you to our sacred space.
As you enter, bring with you the fires of warmth and fertility."
Traditions similar to this are very old, the opening of the door symbolically making way for the powers of light.
Go to the center and pick up the sacred fire. As you walk the circle reciting the invocation, begin igniting the light sources in that quarter of the room. This creates the visual effect of the circle of magic coming alive around you.
East ~I welcome the Air, and the rising sun. Let the light-filled wind bring inspiration and the breeze of new beginnings.
South~I welcome the Fire, and the noonday sun. Let the purifying light of the Spirit bring energy and courage with which to walk my path daily.
West~I welcome the Water, and the setting sun. Let the twilight bring thoughtfulness and wisdom to my magick.
North~I welcome the Earth, and the resting sun. Let the moment of fertile darkness give my soul peace, and my magick foundations.
Center~Light the God and Goddess candles now from the sacred flame.
"I welcome the Spirit of ever-burning truth and light. Let your fires be ever present in my mind, my heart, and my magick."
Meditation and Visualization
Sit in the center of the light generated around the room. Look at the flame of the sacred fire until you can see it in your mind's eye clearly. Close your eyes and breathe deeply, continuing to visualize the flame. See it slowly growing in power and beauty until the fire encompasses your whole being, restoring strength, health, and insight.
Once you feel the energy of that light filling you to overflowing, shift your awareness. See yourself as you sit right now, with light shining all around you. Slowly shrink that light down into one brilliant spark that resides in your heart chakra, banishing any shadows that hide within. This ember of the Spirit, this light of truth is always with you, empowering and guiding your magick.
Sit quietly pondering the significance of light ion your magic and everyday life - when you feel ready - open your eyes and make note of any insights in your journal. Then continue with the ritual.
The Ritual
Stand in place, raise your hands toward the sacred altar, close you eyes, and whisper this chant three times.
"The Goddess in me, in my understanding. The Goddess in me, in my heart. The Goddess in me, in my spirit. The light in me, in my body. The light in me, in my mind. The light in me, in my soul."
Put your arms down, open your eyes, and say
"I welcome the light."
Walk up to the altar now and, taking the container of soil and seed in hand, raise it to the heavens:
"This soil of Earth is also the soil of my spirit. Today I plant the seed of "(fill in with a quality that you wish to develop) in this loam to be warmed by the returning sun, and grown with love."
Plant the seed in the soil, and put the container in front of you on the altar.
Take the container of partially melted snow or ice and raise it upward, saying,
"This is the Water of the Maiden who returns to Earth today, generating life and fertility with her warmth."
Pour the melted snow into the container with the soil and seed.
"This Water shall likewise nourish the seed of "now growing in my soil."
Pour the remaining liquid out to Earth as a libation. If this ritual takes place indoors, save the snow or ice until he circle is closed, then take it outside. After the ritual, the soil and seed should be transferred into a large pot and placed in a sunny window to activate the magick.
Silver Fox
"It is all true, it is not true. The more I tell you, the more I shall lie. What is story but jesting Pilate's cry. I am not paid to tell you the truth."
Jane Yolen; The Storyteller
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Messages in this topic (4) 4a.
IMBOLC OIL
POSTED BY: "SILVER FOX" SILVERFOX 57@HOTMAIL.COM TRICKSTER9993
Tue Jan 25, 2011 10:46 am (PST)
Imbolc Oil
Don't know a dram from a donut, worry not, it's just an eighth of an ounce.
2 drams of almond oil or olive oil
1 dram of dragon's blood
1 dram of sage oil
1 crushed garnet
Warm slowly on a very low heat in an enamel pan. Let cool and place in small corked bottles or jars. Charge the oil in your Magic Circle, wear it or use it to anoint candles in your rituals and spells.
Imbolc Oil
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