Altar Placement

Blessings Darlings!

So, we moved again - now close to the house we first lived in in this area, only right on the cattle farm instead of it being  'across the street, and behind the house on the other side of the street' from us.  Moving is always hard when you're old and have 'stuff', but most of that is sorted and put away now.

But putting up new outdoor altars in the new location always takes extra time. The indoor altars are mostly easy - healing and ancestor altars in the family room, household spirits in the kitchen and/or by the fireplace.  But where to put those outdoor altars?

This time I was lucky, and there is a boulder in the back yard that is perfect for the Gods' altar -  which mirrors the huge flat slab of rock that was at the nearby house.  Bride, should I work with her, has the well in the back yard, and that will also be for the Sea of that triad.  But the Good Folk, where to put Their altar?  Spirit of Land ... okay, that's going to be by one of the Groundhog's dens, since they go into the Land.  Probably the den where the cow mangled the fence trying to jump over it, rather than the one (unoccupied) under the front door area.

Decisions, decisions ...

Frondly, Fern

The Gods are not your bitches.

Blessings Darlings!

Would you walk up to a random stranger on the street and ask them to give you stuff?  Like, "Hey - you don't know me at all, and I don't know you.  But my cat is sick, and I think you should take her to the vet, get her looked at, and get whatever the vet thinks she needs.  And I also think you should give her the drugs/whatever for how ever long it's needed"

Or "I need a job.  You should make sure I get one"

No?  That's rude?

Oddly enough, lots and lots and LOTS of folks treat the God/dess/es like this. 

Their pet is sick - they call on Bast to heal the dog.  Never mind that they have NEVER interacted with Bast before.  They know so little about Bast that they think that She is "protector of all animals'.  And that Her name is Bast ...

Look, there's nothing wrong with prayers to your Gods.  But for 'your Gods' to be YOUR Gods, you need to build a relationship with them.  Not just expect them to come thru' when you need something.

And we've ALL had those type of folks in our lives, who only come around when they need something from us.  After a while, we realize that they folks are using us. We are their bitches.

The Gods don't play that at all. 

At the very least, if you need to make an, ahem, Hail Mary pass to some God or other Being for a favor, and you don't have some relationship with that being - make some damn offerings.  And promise some future offerings.  Specify the future offerings that you are willing to give.  Because the stories of Beings who ask for one or more of your children, etc, ain't just stories.  People didn't pull those stories out of their asses. 

And make those future offerings that you promised.   Surely you already knew that, but ... I feel prompted to repeat that.

Frondly, Fern

Pearls before ... y'all.

 Blessings Darlings!

I believe that I'm going to start blogging again. The blogs will probably be mostly reactive, spurred by irritants I run into. But dealing with irritants is how pearls are made, right?

Frondly, Fern

Sensing Energy 101

Blessings, Darlings!

Mostly - sensing energy just takes practice. But setting up an A/B test (or A/B/C test, in this case) helps by setting up a setting where you have clearly different energies.

I'm going to assume that you have a kitchen floor that is not carpeted. If it is - I'll have ideas for you to use to modify this after the main article.*

Sweep your entire floor. Wash half of it in your usual way, with whatever products you usually use. Let it dry (wipe it dry if you're in a hurry!) Compare what you feel, standing on the washed vs unwashed parts. Use all your senses - you might be best as visual energetic cues, audible ones, scents, etc. Touch might work, but might not be the best sense for this, because clean surely feels different that a floor that might be sticky! Still, holding your hand just over each side might have you feel different things on each side - different temperature/pressure/other sensations (this is why a dry floor is best for this, being wet alone would give some false positives) And while you might sense a different taste on both sides, obviously don't go licking the floor.

Feel a difference? Wonderful! THAT is just from a basic cleaning.

Now, wash the rest of the floor, just like before.

That done? Great! Now charge some spiritual/magical cleanser, and add it to a new batch of wash water, along with your usual cleaning products. Salt, hoodoo floor washes, Florida water, a little lemon extract/oil/juice, all are good for this. To charge whatever you're using, put it in a small bowl, hold it in both hands, announce to it what you're charging it for (all these things can be used in several different ways, after all). Then - I'm really being basic here for charging, since I've not covered that in this series yet - do what you can to 'push' that flavor of energy into it. All of the products I named (save for the floor washes, which vary by purpose) easily pick up 'spiritual cleansing' vibes.

Now wash half of your floor with THAT mix, and dry the floor.

Repeat the 'sensing' part. Notice what you feel, in all your senses.

Write all results down in your lab notebook/journal/whatever.

* Carpet modification. Use Vacuum/don't vacuum and spread charged salt on half of it for 15 minutes before vacuuming all of it.

Frondly, Fern

Basic grounding and centering.

Blessings Darlings!

I don't seem to have posted on grounding and centering - and since I just did it in a group on FB, I'm going to share that post here.  Enjoy!

Grounding and centering is some of the most basic energy work you can do. The surprise is that so few folks seem to consider these things to be energy work!

Grounding is just keeping a clear and active energetic connection with the Earth/Malkuth/the material world - this is the energy of manifestation. There will be plenty of times that you will want to connect with other sources of energy for specific purposes, but for day-to-day magic, this is what you will need - magic to make changes in your life and the lives of those around you.

Much of what I suggested in my post in The Start Menu was aimed at clearing away barriers to being grounded, clearing away things that keep you from having a clear and active connection to Earth Energy. As you can tell from that post - I see most of those barriers as being self-inflicted.

What I do now for grounding is just turn my attention to the always existing connection between me and the earth, or make myself a cup of coffee or tea, invoke Earth with the cup (earth invoking pentagram: top middle of pent to lower left/lower left to upper right/upper right to upper left/upper left to lower right/lower right to top middle/top middle to lower left) and drink it mindfully. But for beginners, taking the time to learn it thru' a guided meditation is a good idea. There are many such guided meds out there - here's a link to one of Patti Wigington's: http://paganwiccan.about.com/od/dreamsandmeditation/ht/EarthMeditation.htm

Now - centering.

For me, centering is being clear on where you end and the rest of the energetic world(s) begin. Making sure that you have barriers keeps you from being blown about by random strands of energy that are in play in every day life. It gets even more important when you're out and about playing in the Other Worlds, too.

I LOVE the Emerald Heart meditation for this, published by Ivo Dominguez, Jr. in his book "Spirit Speaks" https://www.amazon.com/dp/B001EHE4K0/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1 I'm a fan of the entire book, for that matter. But that's not for every day work! For everyday work, I like to just move my awareness to what some call the 'transpersonal chakra' above my head, notice it bringing energy to my auras, and focus on having it pump out a silver sparkle colored (to me, at any rate!) energy to cleanse my auras/chakras/etc of uninvited attachments and strengthen my auras in general. I've also had great results on centering from doing what's like 'chakra tuning' work, just focusing on each chakra in turn, from sacral on up, spinning in it's appropriate color. Again, there are tons of other exercises out there aimed at helping you center, just like there are plenty of them to help you ground.

So - ground.  Center.  Be wonderful.

Frondly, Fern

Them Minor Challenges

Blessings Darlings!

Because the Gods have a huge sense of humor ... just when I decide to start blogging more regularly, we get a computer problem.  Not on MY computer this time, but on the computer we use for development of products/customer support for our business.

So instead of doing anything proactive on, well, anything at all, I'm spending several days this week driving to, and then home from, Washington, DC.  I dropped off the computer on Monday, they MAY have it finished later today, so  I'm not sure when I'll be driving back to pick it up.

And that pick up trip that is causing a problem with Job #2.  Which I'm supposed to be at tonight. And tomorrow night.  And I don't know which of those evenings I'll still be out driving the poor beast home.

So, while I called out of Job #2 for tonight, I might be free to work tonight, but not tomorrow night, which I have NOT called out for.

Our computer repair shop is GREAT, and turns things around quickly, but some things just take time - like back ups of a computer that has this much stuff on it.  I cannot and do not fault them for any of this. 

I'm just whining.  It's my blog, after all, I can do what I want here. 

At least I can do it when I'm not driving to and from DC.

Frowning Fern

Election Magic

Blessings, Darlings!

I'm blogging this as the 3rd US presidential debate between Clinton and Trump is going on.  I'm not watching it.  I'm reading friends live tweet it, drinking cocoa, and coaching a friend thru' her first spellwork (in PMs, tho' she's just 10 miles from here, because the Spawn has the car).  And I'm writing this blog.

So, yeah, I'm not watching the debate.  I know who I'm going to vote for/against/with/holding my nose/whatever.  And I'm letting the Presidential race take its own course/train wreck/reality show. Me, I'm working magic on the down ticket. 

And doing it at work.

Yes, I could do a honey jar at home.  OTOH, what I'm doing is a sort of sweetening spell at a restaurant, on a major highway.  I can do that woowoo I do there, and more directly reach travelers going all over the country.  Mostly I'm working to swing down ticket voters in NC who pass thru', but as surely as the sun appears to rise in the east and set in the west, I'm not limiting myself to that one state. 

Now I'm sure that I'm not the only person throwing roots at the election.  I'm sure that there are folks out there doing the 109th Psalm against the same folks I'm sweetening customers for, and plenty of other folks doing workings for the same candidates I'm working for.

Time will tell who's harnessed the most energy, worked most efficiently, involved the best set of magic helping spirits, etc.

Buckle your seatbelts, darlings, it's going to be a bumpy and exciting ride.

Frondly, Fern