A Triad of Spells

Hey all,

Once again I apologize for being M.I.A. Aside from the job hunting stress, there's been a family emergency regarding one of my Aunts. She reconnected with an ex from 20+ years ago, they started dating, and he turned out to be an emotionally abusive and verbally abusive loon. Said relative is also Bipolar II, so you can imagine how well that helped her state of mind.

Anyway, the ex was a real nasty piece of work and after I found out he was abusive too, I decided to do a bit of protection work for my Aunt. I created two sachets and anointed them with Protection oil and herbs. One was for protection against this loser, the other was to banish him from my Aunt's life so he couldn't be a negative influence in her life anymore. I called upon Aine, Goddess of Summer, Sovereignty, Love, Flame, Sunlight, and who is a Protector of Women, especially women who have been abused. Aine and Brighid often go hand in hand, and I think They see each other as a type of surrogate sister, as Aine is said to be the daughter of the Sea-God Manannan Mac Lir. Whatever Their exact relationship is, I often see Them as two sides of the same coin as both are Fire/Solar Goddesses. It's a similar relationship between Bast and Hethert-Sekhmet, if you want a comparison.

Moving on, I blessed each sachet with fire, thanked Aine, and ended the ritual. In two days time, my Aunt and her now-ex broke up after a really bad fight. Because of her already fragile mental health, while my Aunt knew intellectually that this was a good thing, emotionally she was a mess. I'd already decided to make a healing sachet for her when she had to be taken to the E.R. a few days ago.

To make a long story short, she had a pulmonary embolism and there's a nodule on her lung. For whatever reason, when she went on BC pills she neglected to tell her doctor that she's diabetic. Combine that with a very sedentary lifestyle and struggling with her weight, and it was a perfect storm for a blood clot to form.

The night she was taken to the hospital, I set up my altar and invoked my Mother, Brighid as I made my healing sachet for my Aunt. I rummaged through our spice cabinet for herbs associated with healing, put in a little salt for protection, added a dash of Protection oil, and voila! Another sachet, which I gave her today and told her to keep it on her dresser until she feels better.

In all honesty, she needs every little bit of help she can get. Her BPD has gotten much worse, to the point where it's practically resistant to medications (it doesn't help that she doesn't really want to get better), she mentioned several times that she'd be better off if the PE killed her, and her eyes just look….lifeless. Like there was no emotion, no spark, nothing. Just a psychic black hole. Her skin was ashen and there were bruises under her eyes. It was heart-breaking.

My Mum's going with her to the psychiatrist to discuss treatment options-she might have to get ECT once the pulmonary embolism's taken care of and once they determine if the nodule's cancerous or not. So yea, I hope they can find a good treatment option that helps her with her current depression. I don't know what's going to happen in the future, but I will do my duty as a Witch and try to help her anyway I can. Even if it's just sending good energy her way or including her name in my nightly prayers, any little bit helps, especially in this kind of situation.

Ending a Connection Ritual

You know, no matter how much you care about someone, sometimes you have to let them go. I'm a fighter by Nature-it's not in me to give up and I'm stubborn as hell. One of the hardest things I've had to learn IS when to let go and move on when there's no hope, and to end it on MY terms, not the other person's.

I was in a tangled emotional situation for a few months, and it took a thwack upside the head from a few Gods, some vivid lucid dreams, and my soul-sister telling me I really needed to just.let.it.go. before I decided to move on and get out of this really stressful situation before I lost my mind and my heart was broken.

Being a spontaneous Aries, I performed a ritual on the fly last night to "cut the cord" so to speak so I wouldn't have any lingering psychic connection to the other person and so I could move on. I set up my alter, grabbed a candle, my Boleyn "B" necklace (I feel a strong connection to Anne Boleyn. In a lot of ways, I think there's quite a few similarities between us, and goodness knows I have her personality, haha), two rocks, thread, scissors, and my Athame.

I wrote my name and the other person's name on a piece of paper, taped it to a rock and a crystal I had on my alter, and tied the black cord around them both, to symbolize said connection. I asked my Gods, my Blessed Dead, and the Elements to break the connection, and also to empower my B necklace with protection (to help keep me from getting hurt, just in case there's still some lingering psychic tendrils). I cut the cord, and let it sit in my cauldron over night.

This afternoon, I purified my B necklace over fire, and used a candle to kindle a fire that burned the tape, the pieces of paper, and the thread--thus ending the psychic connection to the person in question.

I won't lie, it was tough. I started crying in my circle because I know I'll probably never see this person again. It's over, once and for all. I had my iPhone (what I use to take the pictures of my ritual set up) and started to play a few songs I had uploaded on there that reminded me of the situation. It made me cry even more, but I felt cleansed and more balanced afterwards.

I'll also be wearing my B necklace tomorrow, in honor of Queen Anne Boleyn and also as a reminder that like her, I too am a strong woman.

Spontaneous Spell: For The Passing Of A Beloved Pet

While it's nice to have a perfectly laid out ritual with all your tools on hand, sometimes life throws a curveball at you and you have to make do.

On Easter, we had to put down my anam cara, my Aunt's beloved 18 year old Schnauzer-Poodle mix, Buttons. I grew up with Buttons; it was due to our instant bond that we took her home instead of her sister, Patches. She was my baby, my beloved pet before I was able to own a dog of my very own. There's also a certain irony that she came into my life: like Anpu and Anupet, Buttons was as black as night. Even in my mundane life, I was always watched over by a black canid.

No one was expecting it, least of all me. Sure, she was 18 and moved more stiffly with each passing week. But she was still so full of life that I thought she'd live to see at least 19 or 20. When my poor hysterical Aunt called to tell us the news, it hit me like a sack of bricks. The only thing I could think of was that it was my duty as a Daughter of Anpu, Wepwawet, and Anupet to do everything in my power to ease the pain of Buttons' passing for her and for my family.

I couldn't bring my tools and I was too much in shock to think to bring some prayers from my Book of Shadows, so I winged it: I donned my talismans, anointed myself with some of my magickal oils, and used my very outfit as part of the ritual. I wore a black shirt with a black skirt and boots: black, like the fur of Buttons, black like the land of Kemet, and black like the color of my Jackals. For eyeshadow, I wore silver and lined my eyes with kohl, almost mimicking the Wedjat.

As we brought her to the emergency vet, I was Googling Kemetic akhu prayers on my iPhone and even making up a few of my own, right off the top of my head. Once we were in the room, I began invoking my Gods who dealt with death and dying-Anpu, Manannan Mac Lir, Wesir, Het-Hert, etc and praying for an easy passing for her.

I started petting her and sending energy to her in my attempt to make her transition from this world to the Next as quick and painless as possible. I sent a few prayers to my akhu too, asking them to aide Buttons on her journey and to welcome her with open arms.

I held on as they put the IV in, and whatever I'd been doing, this spontaneous ritual…it helped. One moment she was here, and the next, I reached out to sense her energy, and she was gone.

When we got back to my house, the first thing I did was to find a picture of Buttons and place her on the Ancestor Alter in my living room, and over the course of the next few days, I wrote a series of poems in her honor and to thank my Gods for Their help in my spontaneous ritual.

While I pretty much made up this ritual as I went along, I believe that my efforts did help: that night, as I was falling asleep, I bolted upright because I could swear I felt Buttons nuzzle my knee. I'd like to think it was her way of thanking me for what I did.

Sometimes, the best and most effective rituals are one borne out of spontaneity, need, strong emotions, and some energy work.

Beltane Ritual 2012

Hello all!

As promised, here is my Beltane 2012 Ritual. I'm not going to post the entire ritual, but the break down looked like this:

Invoke The Deities With Prayer: I was working with my Mother, Brighid and An Dagda, Boann, Aengus Og, Caer Ibormeith, Aine, Manannan Mac Lir, and Fand, who are the Deities I honor on the Irish side of my spirituality.

State Goals for This Year's Ritual: New growth, one goal of which involves finding a full-time job doing what I love: writing/editing.

Now, the spell I used for this ritual involved apple seeds, as apples are often equated with Female Divinity and what better way to invoke new growth into my life than by using fruit? I also used a magickally charged green candle for money and prosperity that I bought in Salem from the store Hex Old World Witchcraft and Witchery to represent the power of fire and of prosperity and new growth.

I anointed the seeds with my magickal oils (Protection, Bergamot for luck, etc) and then charged them after my Invocation to my Gods and Goddesses. So they'd be charged for things like finding a new job doing what I love, good health, things like that.

Then I held the seeds over the fire and recited the spell, visualizing a positive outcome for each goal and asking my Gods to bring it forth as the Wheel of the Year turned. Once that was finished, I thanked my Gods for Their help in this endeavor and for all of the good things in my life and ended the ritual.

Also note that I offered my dinner in thanks for all of the positive things in my life and in honor of Beltane to my Gods. It was one of my favorite dishes from Fuel if anyone is curious, and it seemed to be a hit.

I'm going to leave the seeds outside in my backyard garden to help them grow to fruition; there's a nice purple flower in one part and aside from being one of my favorite colors, purple is also a power color as well, which will give the spell a boost (magickally speaking).

All in all, it was a great Beltane and I'm looking forward to celebrating the Solstice in June!