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.

Salt and Thorns (protection spell)

This is a protection candle spell I did for myself a few weeks ago.  It was for both general protection and to repel negative energy directed at me by others, whether deliberately or unconsciously.  This was one of those happy instances in which my mood was perfectly in line with the aim of my spell, so everything seemed to fall into place easily and I didn't really have to think too hard about what to do.  I also performed it when the Moon was waning and in Scorpio, and I was really feeling that dark lunar energy.

I used a black candle which I'd carved with my name and various words and symbols of protection.  I anointed it with Szemmel Veres oil from Conjured Cardea's Etsy shop and then rolled it in fine sea salt.  Then I placed it in the center of a circle of sea salt on a black metal candle plate and surrounded it with a small piece of hematite, a compact mirror (one which I keep for use in spells), and a small twig with thorns.  (No, I don't know the type of plant the twig was from.  Although I have a few pieces of blackthorn, I didn't feel the need to use them for this spell.  I decided to use this tiny bit of twig that I found quite some time ago, fallen from a hedge on the street where I live.  It's been in my magic cabinet ever since, waiting to be called into service.)  I also poured a bit of spring water at the base of the candle

The music I used to raise energy was Hex by Jade Sol Luna, which is one of my favorite songs/chants to use for this purpose.

As I said, the timing worked out so that both my mood and the lunar energy of the day were perfectly in sync with the spell and everything seemed to work smoothly.  Everything I needed was just right there, waiting to be used.

In the background, you can see Hekate's candle and the figure of Kerberos that always stands beside it.  I didn't invoke them in working this spell, but they are always present on my altar.  There used to be a statue of Hekate there, as well, but one of my cats knocked it off the altar so it broke *shakes fist* and I have yet to find a replacement that I like.