Thursday This Is Your Spell - A Smattering of Midsummer Spells

A Smattering of Midsummer Spells
Melanie Fire Salamander, at Widdershins

 

As a pagan, you may well light a bonfire Midsummer night and jump it, for Litha is a fire festival. Likewise, you may stay up to greet the Midsummer dawn. If you do, keep a pair of garden shears handy. Midsummer's Eve at midnight, Midsummer's Day at dawn and Midsummer noon are prime times to collect plants sacred to the sun or special to the fey. In fact, any magical herb plucked at Midsummer is said to prove doubly effective and keep better. Divining rods cut on Midsummer's Eve are said to be more infallible, too. You can charge your charms, depending on their purpose, at midnight, noon or in dawn's first light.

 

Charms traditional at Litha include those for courage, dream divination, fertility, invisibility, love, luck, protection, wealth, the restoration of sight and the ability to see the fey. Midsummer is a fey time, both by tradition and observation. The scent of the air is thick, green and juicy; it's lost its spring astringency and is simply lush. The whole world is stretching its limbs and frolicking. The fey are big on that. Especially for charms of love, gardening and magical abilities, the fey are a great help in herb collecting. In exchange, they like gifts of milk and honey, cookies, sweet liqueurs, or any sweet food, drink or liquor. They also like baubles, particularly pretty or shiny. Or cold hard cash - but in coin, not paper, and it's best if shiny. To stay in good with the fey and the herbs you collect from, leave enough of the plant or other plants of the type that the herb survives in the spot collected from. Remember too to always ask the plant before taking a cutting, and to wait for an answer. A quid pro quo usually works: a shiny dime, some fertilizer, or a bit of your hair or clothing - whatever you think the plant most wants.

Courage: Tuscans use erba della paura (stachys) collected on Midsummer's Day as a wash against fear. Steep the herb in hot but not boiling water, then rinse the limbs with long strokes moving outward from the torso. You might substitute wood betony, a relative more common in North America.

Dream Divination: Litha is a good time for foretelling things in dreams. Specifically, to induce dreams of love and ensure them coming true, lay a bunch of flowers under your pillow on Midsummer Eve. That's what the  girls of old Scandinavia did. For effective dream divination, remember to keep a notebook beside your bed. At bedtime, relax, ground and center, then clearly define your question. Meditate on that question until it's firm in your mind, and assure yourself you will remember your dream on waking. Then go to sleep. As soon as you wake, record your dream. One trick is to set an alarm clock so you're wakened artificially, which can help dream recollection. Dreams dreamed on Midsummer's Eve are said to be more likely to come true.

 

Fertility For Your Garden: For a lush garden, mix ashes from the Midsummer bonfire with any seeds yet to plant. (You still have time to plant cosmos and a handful of fall-blooming flowers.) Likewise, for fertility sprinkle bonfire ashes on any flowers or vegetables you have growing.

Fey Charms: To see the fey, pick flowers from a patch of wild thyme where the little folk live and place the flowers on your eyes. A four-leafed clover not only grants you a wish but also, carried in your pocket or a charm, gives you the power to see fairies dancing in rings. A good place to look is by oaks, said in Germany to be a favorite place for fey dances. To penetrate fey glamour, make and wear an ointment including four leaved clovers. St. John's Wort, also known as ragwort, has a strong connection to the fey and transportation. You might add it to charms to travel quickly. The Irish call the plant the fairy's horse, and the fey are said to ride it through the air. But beware: The Manx say if you step on a ragwort plant on Midsummer's Eve after sunset, a fairy horse springs out of the earth and carries you off till sunrise, leaving you wherever you happen to be when the sun comes up.

Invisibility: Collect fern seed on Midsummer's Eve for use in charms of invisibility. To become invisible, wear or swallow the seed (that is, the spores) you have collected. Such spores also put you under the  protection of spirits. The fern is said to bloom at midnight on Midsummer's Eve, either a sapphire blue or golden yellow depending on your source.

Love: Plant two orpine starts (Sedum telephium) together on Midsummer Eve, one to represent yourself, one to represent your lover. If one withers, the person represented will die. But if both flourish and grow leaning together, you and your lover will marry.

Luck and Human Fertility: As at Beltaine, leap the Midsummer bonfire for fertility and luck.

Protection: Herbs traditional to Litha (also know as St. John's Day) in England include St. John's Wort, Hawkweed, Orpine, Vervain, Mullein, Wormwood and Mistletoe. Plucked either at Midsummer's Eve on midnight or noon Midsummer Day and hung in the house, they protect it from fire and lightning. Worn in a charm on your body, they protect you from disease, disaster and the workings of your enemies.

Sight: Dew gathered Midsummer Eve is said to restore sight.

Wealth: The fern also has a connection with wealth. Sprinkle fern seed in your savings to keep them from decreasing. The alleged golden-yellow fern flower, plucked on Midsummer's Eve at midnight, can be used as a dowsing tool to lead to golden treasure. Alternatively (the Russian version), you throw the flower in the air, and it lands on buried treasure. Or, if you're Bohemian, you pluck the flower and on the same Midsummer Night climb a mountain with blossom in hand. On the mountain, you'll find gold or have it revealed in a vision. If you wait patiently till midnight on Midsummer Eve and see no such golden fern flower, perhaps invisibility will have to do.

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Disclaimer: No one involved in this blog or its contents may be held responsible for any adverse reactions arising from following any of the instructions/recipes on this list. It is the reader's personal responsibility to exercise all precautions and use his or her own discretion if following any instructions or advice from this blog.

Friday Form A Circle – Solitary Faery Queen & The Green Man Summer Solstice Ritual

Faery Queen & The Green Man Summer Solstice Ritual
From the Aurora Lights Circle (I included the link, ‘cuz I had one, but it’s dead )

Litha - June 21. Litha or Summer Solstice or Midsummer is the longest day of the year and celebrates the Sun at the height of his power. It includes the elements of Fire and Water for the sacred marriage of the God and Goddess and to acknowledge the need for the Sun and the rain to help the crops grow.

Activities for Litha:

• Play under a lawn sprinkler
• Have a picnic in a park
• Bless some water and then water the plants you planted on Ostara
• Decorate your front door with birch boughs, fennel, and roses
• Make a bird feeder*

Introduction to the ritual: In Ireland, the summer solstice was dedicated to the faery goddess Aine of Knockaine. In Wales & Britain, this was a time of Cerridwen and her magical cauldron. However, it was said in a great many places that this was a powerful time for faeries, elves & other supernatural beings. Today, Pagans believe that all the Little People are abroad in great numbers during this balance of Light & Dark. If you are on good terms with them, it's said that standing within a faery ring will help you see them.

It's an excellent time of the year to become friends with faeries and other such beings June & the Summer Solstice was considered the time of the Green Man and the Faery Queen in Northern Europe in particular. It's certainly a powerful Moon month for you to work on & strengthen your psychic abilities & contact with other realms of being. In the Mediterranean areas, this was a time of Pan & the Forest Goddess. Pan, with his pipes, enticed nymphs & maidens to rendezvous with him in the green woods for love & pleasures. The Green Man and the horned god Cernunnos may well be the Celtic version of the very ancient Pan.

The ritual: If possible, hold this ceremony outside at night. If you don't have a secure place, or have nosey neighbors, hold it inside a darkened room lit only by candles. Have ready fruit & flowers as offerings. You'll also need a green cord long enough to go comfortably around your waist. Have a few cookies to share with the faeries & elves. Dress in a comfortable robe. A garland of flowers is nice to wear on your head. At least have a vase of flowers near by. Either play a tape of flute or pan-pipe music or make the music yourself. Have beside you a chalice to Pan & the Lady of the Greenwood. Be happy & enjoy yourself, for Pan & the Lady don't like long faces & negative vibrations. Raise the chalice in offering, then take a drink. Chant:

"Strange music floats within the glade,
From reedy pipes that Pan made
The woodland god of Nature old
Has come back as the tales foretold.
With horned head and tapping feet,
I shall not fear him when we meet.
Great Pan is Nature at her best.
His soaring notes can give us rest
From care and worries, synchronized us with
the water, Earth, and skies."

Take some fruit & flowers to an eastern point. Lay them there & say:

"Great Pan and Lady of the Greenwood,
Release your pleasant breezes
To blow sweet and fresh upon the land."

Take fruit & flowers to the South. Lay them there & say:

"Great Pan and Lady of the Greenwood,
Let the tender sunbeams warm the Earth
And bring continued life."

Do the same in the West:

"Great Pan and Lady of the Greenwood,
Bless us with refreshing, renewing rains."

Finish by laying fruit & flowers in the North:

"Great Pan and Lady of the Greenwood,
Let the seasons come in the proper times,
Both on the Earth and in my life.
Bless me with good things.
Let life's lessons not be harsh and cruel.
All hail Pan and the Lady of the Greenwood!"

Raise one end of the green cord and kiss it. Say:

"The Lady of the Greenwood is love and happiness.
Her consort bows to her will this night.
Great Lady, bless me with all good things
And make my life fulfilled and bright."

(Save the green cord to wear on other occasions when you contact Pan and the Lady.) Lay an offering of cookies at each circle-point beside the flowers,
always moving clockwise, and saying at each point:

"All you Nature spirits and faeries,
I welcome your presence and aid."

Relax and let yourself be open to communication with the Little Ones and the woodland deities. If you do a meditation, invite them to make an appearance during your quiet time. Ask their aid in protecting your property, home & pets. Some of the Nature spirits and faeries will stay in your home year round if they are made welcome. End your ritual by thanking them for joining your celebration.

*Nest Building – For the Birds
From Tori’s Mom - She does come up with some good stuff. (Per Mom "Once in a while)

Wash the bag that onions come in. Collect dryer lint (you know, the crap off the screen you hafta clean with each load) in it. When it is full weave a string thru the top. You can then hang it in a tree for the birds, for their nest building.

Disclaimer: No one involved in this blog or its contents may be held responsible for any adverse reactions arising from following any of the instructions/recipes on this list. It is the reader's personal responsibility to exercise all precautions and use his or her own discretion if following any instructions or advice from `this blog.

Saturday – Starting Midsummer Stuffs :)

Goddess of The Week For Midsummer: Goddesses of Beauty and Love
By Anita

Suggested Mantra: Magic Wishes

The wheel turns, and Midsummer, or Summer Solstice, celebrates the longest day of the year. The earth is juicy, rich, fertile and magic - the perfect time to empower wishes with Goddess Energy.

Suggested Affirmation:

• I have a healthy life rich with high purpose
• I have wealth to give others as it is given to me
• At my center there is a incandescent fire
• My creativity is energized
• Today is my chance to be healthy
• My vital energy resurfaces naturally
• I embrace life in its absolute fullness

Related Essences:

• Honeysuckle
• Cypress
• Frankincense
• Lemon
• Myrrh
• Pine
• Rose

Related Gemstones:

• all green stones especially emerald and jade

Midsummer, the Summer Solstice, arrives when the earth has reached the midpoint on her journey around the sun. The earth is awash with fertility at this time, her energy is peaking as she prepares to give us away to the journey into Autumn - from this time on, the daylight hours will begin to shorten again. In the past, bonfires were leapt to encourage fertility, purification, health, and love. Goddesses of abundance and fertility, power and order, love and beauty are typically invoked to increase midsummer magic. Goddess energy celebrated at this time include Aphrodite, Freya, Hathor, Ishtar, Venus, and others.

Tonight is a magical time for wishes, especially those of the heart...traditionally it is a time to lie with your lover, or: Seeing as the earth is at her ripest and most fertile, this is a good time to conceive your divine child you have been waiting for. If you are single, it is a good time to cast a love spell. If you are broken-hearted or experiencing unrequited love, write your feelings down with red ink on white paper. Smear it with honey, fold it gently and burn it in the flames, saying:

"I give my sorrow to the flames,
The Goddess of Fire consumes my pain.
It is done."

For protection in the coming year, jump over a campfire or a candle anchored in the earth. Or, if you live near the sea or a river, bay, brook or lake, practice sand and water magic (water being the source of life). Draw a symbol in the sand describing what you hope to achieve, then let the tide carry it to the Goddess for an answer. Alternatively, float a flower with your kiss on it - traditionally a rose - into the waves to carry your wish home. Decorate your home with summertime flowers, love amulets, seashells and summer fruits. Sprinkle aromatic potpourri along window sills, and use green, blue and yellow candles as you bless each morning with:

I open my ears
That I may hear the wisdom of my ancestors.
I open my eyes
That I may see with vision and clarity.
I open my mouth
That I may speak with gentle intelligence and compassion.
I open my heart
That I may love and be loved.
I open my arms
To receive the bountiful gifts of the Lady.
Blessed be this day.

-source unknown

Disclaimer: No one involved in this blog or its contents may be held responsible for any adverse reactions arising from following any of the instructions/recipes on this list. It is the reader's personal responsibility to exercise all precautions and use his or her own discretion if following any instructions or advice from `this blog.

Friday Form A Circle – Beltane Fertility Ritual To Have a Child

Fertility A Child Born To Us
This ritual requires both parents participation

Materials Needed:

• a small apple shaped bowl
• A starfish
• Soil from Mother Earth
• Milk (preferably fresh, unprocessed.. but store bought will do if you can't obtain fresh milk)
• A seed (any kind)
• Wooden Matches
• A pink candle if you wish for a girl, a light blue candle if you wish for a boy

Cast your circle and invite Goddess to join you.
The woman say aloud: (add each thing to the apple as you speak it)

To the image of the sacred apple I add the following:
A starfish from the waters of life
Soil from Mother Earth
Milk to symbolize the nectar of a mother's breast
A seed for growth, new life and fertility
(light a match and touch it to the contents)
A flame for the fire that burns within and the spark of creation

Place the pink/blue candle in your cauldron, as you light it say aloud:

Within my cauldron I light this (pink/blue) candle
To represent the Maiden, the Mother, the Crone
And the (daughter/son) of my heart.
Goddess, I ask of thee
Grant to us fertility
Sperm join egg and blessed it be
(man's name)'s babe to be born from me
With harm to none
New love to many
So mote it be

Allow the candle to burn, gaze into the flame and visualize yourself holding your child in your arms as long as possible. If the candle goes out, the man should relight it, if not, allow it to continue burning on its own. When you are ready, have the man take the apple bowl & matches in his hands. Open a doorway in your circle and proceed outside. Both the man and woman should kneel in a private place on the property as the woman digs a small hole into the ground. The man then says aloud: (as he places the contents of the apple into the hole)

Goddess please join us here in this place
From the image of the sacred apple,
I place the following within Mother Earth:
A starfish from the waters of life
Soil returning to Mother Earth
Milk to symbolize the nectar of a mother's breast – May it also feed the land
A seed for growth, new life and fertility
(he lights a match and places it in the hole)
A flame for the fire that burns within and the spark of creation
Within the cauldron burns this (pink/blue) candle
To represent the Maiden, the Mother, the Crone and the (daughter/son) of my heart.
Goddess, I ask of thee
Grant to us fertility
Sperm join egg and blessed it be
(woman's name)'s babe to be fathered by me
With harm to none
New love to many So mote it be

(the man then replaces the removed soil to refill the hole)

He should now thank Goddess. Return to your circle, both of you again giving thanks to the Goddess. Allow the candle to burn out. Close the circle and make love.

Disclaimer: No one involved in this blog or its contents may be held responsible for any adverse reactions arising from following any of the instructions/recipes on this list. It is the reader's personal responsibility to exercise all precautions and use his or her own discretion if following any instructions or advice from `this blog.

Sunday Surprise- How To Plant Your Garden

How To Plant Your Garden

First, you Come to the garden alone, 
While the dew is still on the roses... 

 

For The Garden of Your Daily Living,
Plant Three Rows of Peas:

 

1. Peace of mind 
2. Peace of heart
3. Peace of soul

Plant Four Rows of Squash:

1. Squash gossip
2. Squash indifference
3. Squash grumbling
4. Squash selfishness

Plant Four Rows of Lettuce:

1. Lettuce be faithful
2. Lettuce be kind
3. Lettuce be patient
4. Lettuce really love one another

No Garden is Complete Without Turnips:

1. Turnip for gatherings
2. Turnip for ritual
3. Turnip to help one another

To Round Out our Garden We Must Have Thyme:

 

1. Thyme for each other
2. Thyme for family
3. Thyme for friends

Water freely with patience
And cultivate with love.
There is much reward from your garden because
You reap what you sow. 
Happy Ostara

Thursday This Is Your Spell – Getting Pregnant Spell

The upcoming Ostara holiday is all about fertility, so in that vein…

Getting Pregnant Spell

You will need the following:

• ace of wands,
• 10 of cups,
• the SUN,
• something for a baby you bought specifically for this ritual (a bib, a small blanket...etc.....),
• 9 red candles.

Light the candles and lay out the tarot cards one by one.
Visualize yourself finding out your pregnant, staring at a positive pregnancy test. Repeat the following:

With these cards and with this spell
I call upon the good and helpful powers.
I desire to start a family
I desire energy and love to continue.
This small item (hold up the baby item)
Is the token of the commitment
We are ready to make.
We are ready to love our children
We are ready to teach our children
And we are ready to have our children
So it is - so it shall be!

Seal this spell with kisses and hugs followed by the actions necessary to start a family. Seashells represent fertility. She can create a small seashell altar in her bedroom. If she wants to add a deity, I'd use the Goddess of Willendorf. Any round and fertile/pregnant goddess will work, and there are many!

Holed stones are also symbols of fertility. Have her carry one her person or have her wear one around her neck as a charm.
Placing one by the bed or between the matters is also good.

Eat healthy! Diet plays an extreme part in fertility. Use visualization.

She must be relaxed. Also, studies show that when the man and woman climax together the woman has a higher chance of conception.

Full moons... In tribal times and pre-electricity, women would ovulate around the Full Moon and menstruate around the Dark or New Moon. One way to get yourself onto this cycle is to start paying more attention to the phases of the moon and also going out under the moon for even a minute or two.

Disclaimer: No one involved in this blog or its contents may be held responsible for any adverse reactions arising from following any of the instructions / recipes on this list. It is the reader's personal responsibility to exercise all precautions and use his or her own discretion if following any instructions or advice from this blog.

Friday Form A Circle – Ritual for Internal Well Being & Luck In A New Home

Ritual For Internal Well Being And Luck In A New Home
found at khakani’s mystical world

Timing: At the Waxing moon.
Be sure to  gather things you need for the second part of the Ritual/Spell when making your preparations. 

Needs:

• A vial (about 100 ml) of water from a steadily flowing river, rain water, (bottled mineral water or sea water will work, but shouldn’t be first choice)
• Two blue candles
• Two white candles
• A candle in the color you feel best represents yourself
• A grey candle
• A black candle
• An orange candle
• Freshly picked lavender
• Crushed leaves & petals of a white rose
• Sage (optional)
• Blessed salt (optional)
• Blessed water (optional)

Before you begin sweep or vacuum the floor and generally clean the room you will be performing the ritual in. Remember, you’re creating Sacred Space.

Light the blue candles and place at the north and south points of a circle cast in your main living room. Light the white candles and place at the east and west points of the same circle. Scatter the lavender and rose evenly around the perimeter of the circle and sit within it, facing the north point. Cross your arms loosely over your chest and focus your awareness on the breath entering your body and slowly spreading through it. Return your focus slowly to your environment and extinguish the candles using the river water, kneeling before each as you do so, in the order north-west-east-south.

Light the candle that represents yourself and say:

'This is me, me in all things'.

Light the black candle and say:

'This is all the bad luck that has dragged my footsteps.
Trouble, disappointments and tears are here.
This bad luck now leaves me forever'.

Light the grey candle and say:

'All that was bad is neutralized.
All my bad luck is dissolved'.

Light the orange candle and say:

'This is the energy coming my way,
To get my life moving
And speed up the change'.

Sit quietly for a while and visualize the negative energies being whisked into the grey candle and dissolved into empty nothingness. Visualize the orange candle drawing good energy and good luck towards you, see the air stirring about with possibilities and opportunities. Let the candles burn down completely (take the usual safety precautions). Now close your circle.

You may like to "smudge" each room with by burning sage In a small bundle. You could  also sprinkle blessed and consecrated salt and water in each room of the house as you say a blessing and prayer asking for a happy life and good luck in your new dwelling.

Disclaimer: No one involved in this blog or its contents may be held responsible for any adverse reactions arising from following any of the instructions / recipes on this list. It is the reader's personal responsibility to exercise all precautions and use his or her own discretion if following any instructions or advice from this blog.

Thursday This Is You Spell – To Welcome The New Year

Happy New Year! Since many people are known to make ‘New Year Resolutions,’ and those resolutions generally revolve around breaking some kind of habit, today’s “Thursday This Is Your Spell…” will include some spells designed to help you break a habit, along with a House Blessing spell, a House Cleansing Spell, (to start the new year with a cleansed, blessed home)  and a ritual for Peace (don’t we all – or almost all, anyways – want peace..?)

Self-Improvement Spell

Items needed:

• wooden clothespin
• black felt-tipped marker
• small piece or pieces of paper on which you have written the bad habit (s) or trait (s) you wish to dispel
• some black thread
• a pin
• black pepper

Shield, ground and center, cast circle, charge of the Goddess. Sit quietly and meditate on changes you wish to occur. Raise power by chanting the following:

"This spell I do, within my rights to be free
Darken my house no more! Begone! Begone from me!"

Color clothespin with black pen and tie pieces of paper (mentioned above) around the clothespin and secure with black thread. Sprinkle clothespin with pepper, and then stick pin into clothespin while repeating the same chant. Raise energy with chant and send off. Ground, cakes and wine, thank the Goddess, open the circle. Bury the clothespin near your front door.

To Cleanse A Home of Negative Energy 

These are especially good measures to take when moving into a new place, beginning ritual activities in a new space, or to release bad feelings when an inhabitant has been sick or has died.
To cleanse a single room

Needed:

• newspaper
• a blue candle
• salt
• sage

On top of newspaper, set a blue candle. Surround with a circle of salt. Burn a little sage in the room. Light the candle, making sure it won't tip over. Close the door and let the candle burn down. When finished, take newspaper, salt, and candle leaving and bury far from your home.
To cleanse a house

Needed:

• four candles –black, white, purple or dark red, and blue
• salt
• sage
• rosemary
• basil
• lavender
• other fragrant herbs you find appealing
• broom

Select four corners. Set the four candles one in each corner: north - black, east - white, south - purple or dark red, west - blue. Sprinkle a little salt at each doorway and window. Burn sage in each room, paying special attention to windows and doors. Strew the herbs then sweep them up with the salt. Cast the swept herbs out your front door. *You may want to sweep them off your porch so they aren't on your property anymore.

House Blessing

Needed:

• red wine
• chalice or cup

Find the center point of the house. If there is more than one  level, then use the stairs as the center. Take a sip of wine at each turn. Face the East saying:

Lady of Love and power and all blessings,
Breathe Love into this house.
Fill the air with good.
Through you and in you, I bless this house.

Face the South saying:

Lady of Love and living and all blessings,
Warm this house with comfort.
Make whole its hearth.
Through you and in you, I bless this house.

Face the West saying:

Lady of tide and time and all blessings,
Let every hour flow sweetly in this house.
Make pure its tides.
Through you and in you, I bless this house.

Face the North saying:

Lady of earth and stability and all blessings,
Plant security within this boundary.
Make strong its defenses.
Through you and in you, I bless this house.

Drain the cup at the end. Turn to all four points twice more and repeat each time: You are blessed

Peace Ritual

Design this ritual to suit your needs. Choose candle colors that represent the things you seek peace for (e.g., maybe green and brown for peace on earth).

"From out of the dark and into the light
A circular mark, a candle burns bright.
I look towards the sky. . . my song do I sing.
Spirits soar high and gifts do I bring.
I offer my all! My mind, I then clear
Hearken my call! I feel you are near!
Candle burns higher; my spirits set free!
Hotter than fire, this magic will be!
Let magic come 'round, from under the ground,
To form with my sound and then, to be bound!
Around me I feel the magic so real,
Before you I kneel.. The spell I now seal!
Let all hatred cease And let there be peace!
These words that I say, with magic away!
This spell that I send is now at an end.
Let the magic I’ve laid, go forth and not fade!
So mote it be!!!

Disclaimer: No one involved in this blog or its contents may be held responsible for any adverse reactions arising from following any of the instructions/recipes on this list. It is the reader's personal responsibility to exercise all precautions and use his or her own discretion if following any instructions or advice from this blog.