New Moon Old Magick

Waxing Moon in Cancer, a Hedge Witches Dream

Good morning, my lovelies!

What a fabulous day!!  Today is Saturday, the 9th of April, and this article is being written in the Southeastern United States.  At approximately 5:15pm this evening, Eastern Time, the moon will enter into Cancer.  She will now be in her first quarter waxing phase in Cancer.  There is no more fertile time in the entire cycle of moon phase than waxing (growing) moon in Cancer.  This is the absolutely best time for planting seeds, transplanting starts, planting trees, annuals, perennials, fruits, above ground veggies, below ground roots, herbs, you name it.  Plant it now.

Cottage Garden

Even if you have nothing to plant, and you are still in a cold climate and before your frost dates, go out into your garden and do SOMETHING to prepare for the time when you CAN plant.  Get the energy flowing.  If you are an apartment gardener, plant some pots of herbs for your window, or add a tiny rose or a new violet to your indoor garden.  Get your hands into some earth.  Now is the time to reconnect with the energy of growth and fertility.  Women, it is part of us biologically and energetically, and it is vitally important to spend time celebrating that Goddess energy in ourselves.  Men, you don’t need me to tell you, go wallow in some feminine energy!  Enjoy!

Correspondingly, it is also a fabulous time to do things in your life that will seed a new endeavor or put efforts into getting something going that you have been hoping for, WITH THE CAVEAT that Mercury is still Retrograde, and that one needs to avoid contracts, initiating new communications, purchasing real estate, and avoiding buying a new computer, car or airplane!  Otherwise, work those contacts you have already made.  Develop those products you have researched, do your homework on your business and take care of those things you have put off.  Come back to studies you have abandoned and wish to revisit, fix the car that has been sitting forlornly in your drive.  Revisit old friends, or an old flame.  In other words, now is the time to put effort into things you want to grow or to accomplish.

Cancer is the Cardinal sign of the Water triplicity.  Water is considered the most fertile of the elements, the source of life.  Cardinal is the most active of the Water signs, being the one who gets things going, the first and most INITIATING of the signs.  If it is possible for a Water sign to be Yang, this would be it.  So now is also an excellent time for ritual!!!

And any kind of ritual is worth doing now.  Not just the high holy qabbalistic Lodge ceremony, but the little hedge witch pick-a-leaf-and-blow-it-into-a-wish ceremony.  AND because it is the Water element, it is an excellent time to use that element in your ceremony.

If you live near a stream or an ocean, you are very lucky.  This is moving water, and you can definitely use this energy to carry your wish to the Powers that Be.  Even the flow of water into a storm drain is perfectly fine if there is none other available.  The point is to find flowing water, if you are using that element.

Here is a good and very simple personal ritual that uses either flowing water or earth.  You can do this at home, at work, or if you are travelling, really any place at all.

• As you are walking near a source of flowing water, a large fountain, a stream, the ocean, or the ladies room, find and pick up a leaf or blade of grass.  If you are indoors in an office building, and cannot find an indoor plant with small leaves, go outside the building for a moment and raid the landscaping near to a sprinkler!
• When you pick, remember that because this is a magical working, no matter how small, connect with the plant in your imagination and give it some respect and gratitude for the gift of the leaf.
• Take this leaf in your both your hands, and really look at it.  Look at the smoothness or roughness of the texture, at the veins of sap running thru, at the different colors of green and brown that mottle it.  There is no ‘perfect’ or leaf of ideal appearance, and to seek one would be to sterilize your ceremony.   Pick one at random and then really look at it.  This period of study will help take you out of your normal busy day mind.
• Take a few seconds to imagine the light coming on above your head and flowing down into you and around you, as we have been doing for the Divination 101 posts.  Let this light also flow into and fill the leaf in your hands.  Along with the light, let your wish flow into the leaf.  As you look at the leaf, really try to visualize the light of your own divinely connected energies filling it, carrying your wish.  Or if you are more kinetic, feel the warmth of that energy and your wish filling your leaf, as your hands warm it.
• You may hear a sound (sometimes I hear harmonics) or simply just know that the leaf is full.  It all depends on how you process information, but there will come a point when you will know or see, hear, or feel a signal that you are done.  If you don’t, don’t worry about it, just decide you are done and the leaf is full.  It’s your ceremony, after all.
• With a feeling of gratitude for a wish already granted, drop the leaf into the stream or the wave.  If your stream is the flow of water into a gutter, go for it!  If it is the ladies room in your place of work, fine!  Just flush.  Whatever works.
• Imagine that leaf flowing away from you and carrying your wish to the Universe, to the Powers that Be, to the Divine energies, whatever positive and fertile and active energy you wish to work with.

Here is a variation for those of you to whom flowing water is not convenient, if you prefer to work with the earth.

• You can also take the leaf and push it into the dirt near the plant, imagining in your mind that you are ‘planting’ your wish, and that it will grow with time.
• If it is a really big wish, obtain a small personal crystal and, using the method we just described, place your energy and your wish inside the crystal and ‘plant’ it.  Put it into the potted plant on your desk, as long as it is your plant and won’t migrate to someone else!  OR, simply push it into the ground somewhere outside in the landscaping and let the chips fall where they may!

Remember, as we’ve said before, casting a spell to harm or damage or manipulate another is not in our purview.  This is black magick, most especially if you do it in the name of prayer or religion, and it will backfire on you sooner or later.  Usually sooner.  That’s not shaking a finger, it’s just the way energy works.  As in life, you create the energy you will have to live with.

This type of hedgewitch ceremony is wonderful for real life problems.

• If you are forced by circumstances to work in a horrible environment where your finer qualities are not recognized, and bosses are taking the credit for your good work and blaming you for everything that goes wrong, even if it has nothing to do with you, this is a good way to work to change that energy.
• Since we do not want to initiate NEW communications, you can visualize that the truth of your good efforts and work abilities becomes known in your company. or among those you have contacted.
• You can imagine or visualize that your reputation for reliability and hard work, correspondingly along with your pay, grows and flourishes.

Then let the Powers the Be decide how that will look.  Try NOT to visualize your obnoxious boss getting the boot or being hit by something large on wheels, OK?

If you are searching for work, this is an excellent time to do ritual to obtain a job.  Plant your job in that leaf or crystal and let the Great Mother Earth grow one for you.  Remember to be as specific in your visualization or description of the qualities of your desired job as you can, WITHOUT GIVING A SPECIFIC COMPANY OR NAME OF AN INDIVIDUAL. Use positive language.  Do not say what you do not want.  Declare what you want.  Good pay.  Good co-workers.  Appreciative boss.  Recognition of your qualities.  Interesting and rewarding work.  To do some good in the world.  Whatever is of importance to you.  You can even write some of your requirements on a small slip of paper and bury it with the leaf, or wrap it around the crystal.  Plant your wish, or throw it into the stream or the ocean and walk away.

Alright lovies, there is another moon unit, with some little rituals thrown in.  Thank you again for your patience with the blog itself, and I promise that I will let you know when the RSS feed and the email subscription are fixed and all better.  Enjoy your weekend and get out and put your hands into the earth of the Great Mother if you can.

Blessed Be,
Marie Angeli

all text and images ©2011 Marie Angeli

Rocks at Water's Edge, by Angeli

Hello again, dearies.

I promised a divination assignment today, and now that the caffeine is fully absorbed into my bloodstream, I will be happy to comply.

One of the first ways I learned to read (or to ‘divine’ information using inanimate objects to pry open my inner vision) was to pick up stones.  Rough or smooth didn’t matter.  Color or material didn’t matter.  The only caveat was that they be small enough to fit in the center of my palm, sort of like a nice big marble.  The ones I picked were those that ‘spoke’ to me.  By that I meant that they gave off a sort of high frequency sound that exerted pressure on my ears.  Some of them pulled at my gut.  Some gave a feeling of overall serenity.  Some I just like because they were pretty.

In other words, I picked my stones by how they made me feel.  If I liked them, I picked them.  I did NOT pick anything that made me uncomfortable, because that would be a good way of shutting down the inner vision.  They had to be something that attracted me for some reason.

So I’d like those of you who want to proceed with our divination lessons to go out and get you some rocks!  These can be found or purchased or gifted.  They can be rough or smooth.  It doesn’t matter what they look like, only how they make you feel.  It doesn’t matter how they come to you, only that you LIKE them, or feel good about having them in your hand.  I’d suggest about a dozen to start.  PLEASE DO NOT PURCHASE A SET OF DIVINATION STONES THAT HAVE BEEN CHOSEN BY OTHER PEOPLE FOR YOU. The point of this, is that these are your own impressions, your own stones.  You cannot learn this art by having someone else tell you what you are feeling.

Take some time to do this, maybe a week or so, or even a month.  There’s no rush.  You can wrap the stones in a piece of cloth.  Cotton or linen doesn’t really matter, but what does is that it be natural material.  No polyesters or plastics please.  If you get cotton, please make sure it is 100% cotton.  You get the point.  A square of real denim or a cotton hankie will work as well as a square of ritual black linen.  The square should be at least 12″ X 12″, and up to about 18″ X 18″.  It can certainly also be round, as long as it is in the same size range.  I’ll explain the significance of size later.  Wrap the stones and find a bag for them.  Your bag can be any material as long as the wrapping cloth is natural.  But I like to be a little bit girlie, so I use a purple canvas bag.  For a long time I used black velvet, but with all my animals…. well…. black velvet gets pretty raunchy with a layer of cat hair on it….  Yech!  Now to top it off, put the bag into a box.  A small wooden ‘stash’ type box is probably best, if you can find one the right size for your stones, but anything will do, and this is where I suggest you go all out.  Something nice and special.  OR something completely plain that will blend into your environment.  The aesthetic is up to you.  But whatever you choose, give it enough thought so that it becomes an intentional choice.

Why am I suggesting three layers of containment?  Is this a game after all, or am I just being anal?  Well, I’ll leave the answer to that last question to you.  But no, this is not a game.  The repetition of three is not only a symbol of great significance, it keys the human mind into knowing that something is ‘real’, and creates aesthetic balance.  In Christianity, the significance of three is the Trinity, the triune reality of the divine Godhead.  In Qabbalism, the significance of three is related to triads on the Tree of Life.  In art, we are taught to make sure that an element occurs in an artwork three times so as to anchor it into the work itself.  To make it ‘belong’.  To create balance.  The human eye accepts that an element repeated three times means balance and manifestation, or existence in the plane of reality.  And in Sacred Geometry, the number three, or the triangle, is the shape that brings what we invoke into reality.  It is the shape of the manifest world.  We want the reality and seriousness of what we are doing to be real to you.  We want your subconscious to ‘take notice’.  So, because of all of the significance of this number three stuff in your head, we will wrap the stones three times: once in the cloth, then in the bag, and finally in the box.

Remember, we are doing this to train our own intuitive thought processes.  Those of you who have some experience in the arts, music, or poetry will fine this easier than others.  This is for the ultimate benefit of our own balanced thinking.  We are not assuming that we will reach ‘absolute Truth’ by looking at a handful of rocks (at least not if we are halfway sane).  We are not doing this to obtain control over others by catering to their gullibility.  We are training our minds.  And because we are doing this in the best possible light, I’d ask you to add the following to your handling of the stones:  when you have the stones wrapped, even if you do not have them all yet.  ANY time you unwrap them to take them out, handle them or otherwise look at them, pause a moment and close your eyes and internally become aware of the following phrase:  ‘For the Highest Good of all.’  If you are spiritual or religious, you can add your own dedication, or simply intone the God-name you prefer.  The reason for this is that it elevates the importance of the stones and the work you do with them in your own mind and spirit, and makes you much less likely to carelessly hurt another or cause harm.  And we remember the Wiccan rede: “HARM NONE”.   So, in exchange for the information I give you here, I would ask you to make that inner vow before unwrapping your bundle.  If you choose not to, this is up to you, of course.  I can only say that whatever energies we create in this life, we have to live with.

Onward!

I’ll be back with the next Divination installment at the full of the moon.  That is about two weeks from now.  In the meantime, enjoy the treasure hunt for your rocks and the cloth, bag and box.  Send me some pics, and I may post the really good ones here!  In the meantime, I’ll be checking in with the almost daily Moon Unit and anything else I can think of.  Be good.  Or not.

Blessed be,

Marie Angeli

prints of Marie’s artwork can be found at Imagekind

and at Zazzle