The Big Move

Hello from my new apartment! I recently moved, hence the lack of updates. Hopefully I'll be able to keep up more regularly.

Lately, I have felt drawn to graveyards, and have been considering spirit work. I'm not sure yet, but it something I will be researching. This is important to note, because there is a cemetery across the street from my new place, and today I walked through it.

I have been wanting to go into spirit work lately as a way of honoring those who are departed, as well as connecting with my ancestors. So I have decided that at the very least I want to go to the cemetery on New and Full Moons to visit with the spirits there.

When I went today, it was just to introduce myself. I took an offering and left it at the front gate. I left three pennies, a nickel, a dime, and a quarter.I also left my camera at home out of respect, but may take some pictures later when I feel more comfortable, and I silenced my cell phone.

 I went pretty early in the morning, and the groundskeeper was cutting the grass so I didn't stick around too long. However, it felt like a pretty powerful place, and I will go there again in a few weeks,

In addition to that, today is the New Moon, so I will be doing a cleansing/blessing of the new apartment. I will post that on here soon, as well as my Litha/ Midsummer altar.

I hope things are going well with my readers, and if you have any experience with spirit work, please let me know!

Full Moon Celebration

Tuesday night was a Full Moon, and I met up with a friend to celebrate it. First we met at Panera Bread for dinner and to discuss our beliefs. After that we tried going to a few metaphysical shops, but they were all closed. So finally, we ended up at our local Unitarian Universalist church for a Full Moon Labyrinth Walk.

The church has an outdoor labyrinth design in their courtyard, but since it was rainy out, they moved the walk indoors. They had a large mat that looked like this:

The idea of a labyrinth is that there is a set path, so its not like a maze. As you walk you can pray, or reflect, or meditate. For me, its a very calming experience, and it helps me to feel centered.

My friend and I walked it a few times, then brought our Tarot cards in to the hall by the labyrinth and did a few short readings.

I found my old Tarot deck from when I was around 12 or 13, so I am trying to connect with them. Here is a photo of my cards from this deck: The Mythic Tarot.

The top row got cut off a little, but they are The Empress, The High Priestess, and The Hermit. I am very glad that I found this deck, and look forward to using it as well as my Original Rider-Waite.

My friend has a set of Edward Gorey cards, that I wish I had gotten a picture of, because the artwork on those is very interesting and dark.

It was a great night, and I encourage others to search for local events in their area. I think the UU churches are a great place to start.

Talk to you next week!

New Moon Gathering

Saturday night was the New Moon, so my friends and I came together and celebrated! It was my first official spiritual get together, and it was a lot of fun, so I will definitely do it again.

I was little out of it, because I wanted to try fasting on the New Moon, and it drained me a lot more than expected. I may not do it again, I haven't decided yet.

Before people came over, I wanted to make sure my place would be protected, so I created a super brief protection spell. I hung a twig star on my door and focused on it protecting my home, and I also grabbed some stones that I felt were appropriate (sodalite, amethyst, shungite, jasper, and Botswana agate) and I placed them in five candles. As I lit each candle, I again focused on my home being protected.

We spent the evening doing Tarot and pendulum readings, and just generally discussing our spirituality, beliefs, spirits, etc. All in all, I think I had about ten people come out, and I would have had a few more people, but they were busy. I am going to invite them all out to my Beltane gathering as well.

It was really great to celebrate with everyone, and I am so grateful to everyone who came out. It's fun being a solitary practitioner, but there's something about practicing with others that feels better to me. I'll be sad to graduate and leave my group behind.

I will be having another Beltane/ Full Moon gathering next Saturday, so I will make a post about that once that happens.

Thanks for reading, and have a great day!

Creating a Sacred Space

I woke up this morning having absolutely nothing to write about. I finally settled on venturing back into the arboretum to play my ukulele and leave some offerings, and write about that.

So I grabbed my uke, some bird seed, and a blanket and walked down to the arboretum. I found the circle I was considering using, but with all of the melted snow, it was a muddy mess.

I walked up the hill to a reflective area set up in the arboretum, and as I began to setup my stuff, I received a text from my witch friend (I'll call her L, because I feel like there are a lot of people I talk about, and it can be hard to distinguish,) asking if I wanted to go for a walk in the arboretum. This was extremely coincidental, seeing as I was already there and I told her that of course she could join me.

A few minutes later L arrived, and we talked for a bit, until we discussed the circle she showed me earlier that week.

Remember this one?

Anyways, L's friend had made a circle near this one to combat any negative energy. I asked if I could possibly use this space for Esbat/Sabbat rituals, but I told her I felt weird using it, since it wasn't a space I had created. 

L mentioned her desire to create her own sacred circle in the arboretum, and I told her that we should make one while we were already there!

We wandered a little off the path and found a natural circle of trees which we decided to use. We moved some dead logs to better define the outline of the circle, and pushed all of the dead leaves out of the circle and onto the perimeter. I set a stone in the center to place candles on.

Here is a picture of it- but it doesn't do it justice

Some plants we found growing beneath the dead leaves

Once we set up the physical space, we left to grab some of our rituals tools, such as incense and candles.

We returned with three of our friends as the sun was setting and we performed the ritual right as it grew dark.

L created the ritual, and so I don't feel comfortable posting it here as it is not strictly mine to share. But I can say that it was beautiful, and everyone agreed that it felt very safe in the circle.

I will return tomorrow to work on my craft, and to better define the outline as well as help my friend with his first bit of spell work.

I am very pleased with my sacred space, and I am excited to begin using it!

DIY Pagan Prayer Beads

Today, I tried my hand at making a set of prayer beads. I have felt a sort of calling to make a set for a while, and last night I just felt like tomorrow was the day to make a set. I just realized that tonight is also the New Moon, which I think is pretty cool.

I looked at several varieties of prayer beads, and decided to go with one similar to a Rosary, because I liked the way it trails at the end. I have also seen a lot of Pagans use prayer beads in that are in a straight line, but I wanted mine to be necklace-esque because I liked the idea of my prayers coming full circle.

I used two different colored beads because 1) it reminded me of night and day, and 2) I wanted one color to signify a time to give thanks (gold) and the other to pray for someone/send positive energy to someone (black). I ended it with the big white bead because it reminds me of the Full Moon (Goddess) and the Stag to symbolize the Horned God.

It was pretty difficult to make them, but once you get the hang of tying tiny knots, its goes fairly quickly. I made this from scratch in a few hours.

Materials:
Thread
Beads (I used two strings, because I wanted two different colors)
A large bead (its called a Guru Bead for Malas)
Some more small beads to go after the large bead
A charm
Scissors
Patience

First, you need to tie a knot in your thread. Leave lots of room at the end, this will be where the larger bead and charms will go. After tying the knot, add one of your main beads, like so:

From there, you tie a knot to keep the bead in place, and then repeat the steps for all of your beads. Try to keep the beads close together, but if you want to run them through your fingers more, a little space might be better. This step is what messed me up, a lot of my spaces are uneven, but hey, its my first try. After adding all of your beads, it should look like this:

Once you've done that, you need to take both of the threads at the long end, and thread them through your large bead:

Pull it tight, and knot it to keep it in place. Then you can add your smaller beads:

And guess what happens next? That's right, knot it again. After knotting it, you add your final charm by tying it onto the loop of the charm. Again, try to keep it as close to the beads as possible:

And that's it! I hope this helps people looking to make their own set. You could customize the colors for whatever deity you'd like.

Now I'm off to cleanse it! Happy New Moon!

Full Moon Cleanse

Last night was the Full Moon! I celebrate by cleansing my crystals, cards, and whatever else I feel needs it.

Ready for cleansing!

My cleansing ritual is usually pretty short. I start by lighting some incense, last night I used Frankincense, and I walk around the space to cleanse it. Then I place it in its holder, which is usually in a small box to catch the ashes. I put the ashes in my jar that represents fire on my altar.

To cleanse the crystals, I run each one through the smoke and concentrate on cleansing it of negative energy.

The Tarot cards get a bit more. I separate the cards into each suit and the major arcana, and I order them from lowest to highest. This leaves five piles. Then I run each pile through the incense smoke and focus on cleansing it to help guide my readings in the future.

I also cleansed my Tibetan singing bowl, just because I haven't done it before, and I felt that it needed it. I held the bowl above the incense upside down to catch the smoke in it, and again focused on ridding it of negativity.

Ready to catch some rays!

After cleansing, I move everything over to my window sill to soak in the Full Moon and charge it with good intentions.

I thank the God and Goddess for aiding me in my work, and that's it!

The red liquid in the spray bottles is rose water, which I will be doing a post on in the future.

I hope you had a good Full Moon! Blessed Esbat!