To see or not to see, that is the question.

 Blessings Darlings!

I am not a visually-oriented person.  Ask me to 'visualize' something and I'm going to have a very hard time with it.  Or fail.  Ask me to describe something I saw, I'm likely to fail.  This extends to my use of makeup (I don't use it), my taste in museums (I focus on reading the information more than looking at the actual objects), the type of meditations I find the most 'to my tastes'.  As a result of this, while I'm old and have been doing all sorts of metaphysical stuff for a long long time now - 'visual' stuff is not something that is usually part of my practice.

Today while meditating, I kinda got a breakthru' of sorts.  I was sitting there, doing the mantra I learned 40+ years ago when I took a Transcendental Meditation class.  The mantra is the beginning of a prayer or invocation to a Hindu Goddess, but I don't know the prayer/invocation or recall who the Goddess is.  And I'm not going to claim that I'm consistent about meditation, or of even doing mantra meditation every time, or THIS mantra meditation when I do mantra meditation.

Yeah, I'm a Bad Witch.

Anyway, suddenly I realized I could 'send' and 'see' the energy from the mantra going thru' my body.  And I could change where they mantra was centered and sending that energy from - it DIDN'T have to be from my throat.  It could centered in any of the major chakras (It's not like I tried centering it on my thumb, or my shoulder, but I didn't think of centering it from my feet.)  Hey, , afor ME this is a breakthru', and one that I've gotten in my mid 60's.  I'm extremely chuffed!

I did a quick practice of doing it in all the levels of my auras, using Ivo Dominguez, Jr.'s  "Emerald Heart" exercise, which rocked.

The point here is less the 'technique' or 'visualization', and more that we all have things that we suck at, visualization being one of mine.  And that it's okay to not be good at some stuff.  Find your best ways of working, and rely on those for the most part.  BUT - keep practicing at the stuff you suck at, too.  Because you may or may not get better or get breakthru's, but then again you just might.  I'm here to give you hope that someday you might suck less at it, just like me.

Frondly, Fern

Picture attributions!

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You asked for it, you got it!

Blessings Darlings!

I'm assuming that most of the folks reading this are not 'essential workers' and working full time (or more) during the pandemic.  Which means y'all are at home, and have more free time on your hands.  But along with that free time, you don't have money since you're not working.  And most of  y'all aren't trying to adjust to homeschooling (I suppose I should blog about transitioning to that sometime, too.)

Have you ever said that you wished you had free time to work on your magic/spirituality/etc?  Well my dear - you asked for it, you got it!  All the free time in the world.

So what are you doing with this time?  What books are you reading and working?  What courses are you taking?  How much more time are you putting into your daily practice?  Doing more offerings?  More meditation?  Are you doing your basic self care, and drinking water, getting some exercise, eating your 5 - 9 servings of fruits and non-starchy veggies a day?

I'm trying a little desperately to catch up on the Strategic Sorcery course, reading several pagan/magic/esoteric books, failing on drinking enough water, and ... now that the restaurant I worked in is closed, failing on my fruit and veggie intake most days.  It was so much easier when I had a full salad case to make my salads out of!  Already chopped red onions, tomatoes, lettuces, spinach, cucs, carrots, etc.  Ah well.  I'll continue to work on improving that tomorrow. 

Most of you have that time you longed for.  So are you using it?

More on this tomorrow ...

Frondly, Fern

Start Menu - Part two - Focus your mind.

Blessings Darlings!

Having addressed your mundane life in the last "Start Menu" post, let's move on to another issue, focusing your mind/attention. 

No magic here yet - it all comes down to practice!

The most common technique that is used to develop mental focus is meditation.  This is not necessarily the same goal that some Eastern types of meditation have, although the techniques may be the same.  You are learning focus, not trying to still/obliterate, your mind. 

For this, pick a form of meditation and ... do it daily.  Twice daily would be even better.  Mantra mediation is fine.  Counting your breaths (usually to 3 or 5, then going back to one) is fine.  Focusing on a flame, walking your lawn digging dandelions, Zen walking meditations, studying the edge of a sword ... there are countless ways to meditate to focus your mind.

You mind WILL wander.  The goal is to have your mind wander less often over time.  So keep track of how often you get distracted.  Maybe have a bowl of dry beans, and remove one from the bowl every time your mind goes off on its own.  After you've finished meditating, count how many beans you've removed from the bowl.  Over time the number will go down. 

I've never hit zero myself, but I've gotten better over time.  You will, too.

Frondly, Fern

Extra Meditation

Blessings Darlings!

One of the things about being sick is that, having cut out as much physical activity as I could from my life (the better to rest and heal - being unable to breathe is exhausting!), I have more time to meditate.  So my daily meditation has risen from once a day to 3 times a day.  I increased the meditation as soon as I got sick, so by the middle of this week - when I had two regularly-scheduled workings to do (Commune With Divinity and a Coven Crystal Charging) I was in a particularly good space to do them.  I may have gotten past my problems binding with the new crystal, and I got a moon cycle (at least!) worth of tasks from the Stag.

And goodness knows what the wind is blowing in and out today, and for the rest of the month of March!

Frondly, Fern

Weekly Witchery

Blessings, Darlings!

It's been a quiet week here, thank the God/dess/es.  The ice storm we were due to get turned out to be just a lovely glazing over snow, for one thing.  But I did get some things done.

I'm on the team creating the Full Moon ritual for the coven.  Due to the car's issues, I couldn't make the planning meeting in person, but conference calling is a good thing.  The ritual writing went better than I think any of us had hoped it would.  But, boy, deciding on chants isn't easy.  Had to change that a few times!

I'm still doing daily morning meditation, and daily work with the Healing Cauldron.

Did a comment or two over at Patheos.

I THINK I helped a bullying issue online, both with providing some magical advice/spellcraft and doing a little secret ninja/skiptracing mundane stuff.

Oh, and made progress in figuring out what to make out of bones - listening to both online friends and the voices in my head on that one!  Be afraid.....

How was your week?

Frondly, Fern