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Embracing the Crone & Facing the Mirror… Let’s look at Baba Yaga and Cerridwen. Also included in this blog post, how YOU can embrace the crone. All about — mentoring a younger woman; starting a scrapbook; writing a bucket list; healing an estrangement; and doing something contrary to your usual nature… follow the link and read on.
The following is a brief excerpt from my book, The Divine Me. This is from a section titled “Facing the Mirror: How do you connect with your spiritual side?” This book is available at Amazon in print and kindle.
· Journal
I began journaling when I was twelve years old, inspired by Anne Frank. In my twenties, my journaling was sprinkled with more literary pizazz and the influence of Anne Lindbergh and her diaries and letters. (I also wrote terrific letters, “Your writing is so vivid, makes me feel like I was there!”, so I was told.)
Sadly, along the course of life, usually as I was passing from one phase into another, I have thrown away many of my earliest journals. However, there is a wide array of cheap spiral notebooks, leatherbound diaries, and note pads of various colors and design being held by a trusted family member, saved for the enjoyment and exploration of future generations of my family.
I do believe that the modern version of the old-fashioned idea of journaling is now called… a blog.
· Explore a spirituality you are unfamiliar with
If you didn’t skip the introduction of this book, which I do with books sometimes, you will know that I was touched by random connections with Catholicism; the desire to embrace Judaism (that Anne Frank influence again, I was thirteen at the time); and then I stumbled into witchcraft, without really knowing what I was doing, but hey, not completely guileless either, even if we didn’t have the internet, we had movies and tv.
I was raised in an open and welcoming atmosphere of spiritual exploration and discovery. How do you know what you believe if you’ve never studied all the options out there?
· Get acquainted with your spirit guides
During part of my journey on this pagan path, I was introduced to two of my spirit guides, in dreams.
The dark-haired cat lady: She resided in some sort of large helter-skelter kitchen, her countertops filled with bowls and cutlery and herbs and small bottles and jars and open cupboards and pots and pans all over the place… and cats. Cats of all colors sitting calmly on the countertops, stretched out on the floor under the table and lounging in a patch of sun by the window. All colors and sizes, wherever you looked. Cats, cats, cats.
She was small but thick, almost elfin, and her black and gray streaked hair was a wild untamed tangled frizzy mess, her nose was large, her features coarse but pleasing, her shoulders slightly hunched, with a hint of a widow’s hump.
She wore a long boldly colored shiny silk house dress, with lots of pink and geometric shapes and greens and yellows and blues.
As she busily tottered about her messy kitchen, seeing to the cats and the pot of steaming soup on the stove, she was talking to me, she was telling me wonderous and great things that would change my life. With her back to me, a large wooden spoon in her hand, slowly stirring her cauldron of soup, her words flowed. I was silent, and I listened.
The white haired goddess:
A woman was sitting on the floor a short distance from me, cross-legged, sitting so straight and tall, her back to me. I stood watching her, fascinated by a strange glow of light shining on her, illuminating her silhouette, casting a shimmer to her very long mane of silver hair.
I was in the presence of something very powerful and very sacred, and I knew that she had something important to tell me, possibly the most important thing I would ever hear.
I leaned in, cocking my head to listen intently. Her soft voice rose then, sounding calm and smooth, gentle and clear. She said: “Learn to control your mind.”
· Be still and listen to your inner voice
My inner voice has been with me since I was a very young child, only it was louder then, easier to hear. Sometimes I heard it over the voices of people around me, and sometimes it was a whisper close to my ear. It always made me pause, it still does; but now at my age, it comes and goes so fast, is so soft and fleeting, that I have to catch it like an elusive and mythical moth in flight.
Over the years, this voice has proven to be protective. It has cast a light on an intuitive instinct, it has warned of impending danger; it has caused me to change a course of action; it has told many a story and revealed many secrets during tarot readings; and possibly, and most disturbingly, it has announced impending death.
When this happens, the warning of impending death, this inner voice has always used the same words: “Look, look again.”
· Find Your Tribe
I couldn’t find my tribe, not in childhood, not in high school, not in the adult world, so I grew my own. Six daughters and one son.
They are a tribe of mostly women, only one tall quiet man among them. They are diverse, and intelligent, gifted, and creative. They are uniquely independent and solitary.
Each one has a personality that is unlike the others. They travel different spiritual paths; they hold jobs in diverse areas of expertise; they are homeowners; apartment dwellers; and still, surprising as it may seem at my age, some are young enough to be fledglings, just learning to spread their wings.
This is my tribe.
No matter the physical distance between us; no matter the different schedules and lifestyles; no matter the amount of time that’s passed since we last talked, we can bring daily life to a pause and reconnect at will.
· Give with no expectations
When I was eighteen, a very elderly man gifted me a beautiful sterling silver ring and bracelet of turquois. He was my great-great Aunt’s life partner. His name was Frank Petticord. There was no special occasion, there was nothing expected in return. He just saw this beautiful set of jewelry, and he thought that I should have it.
Forty-six years later, I still have the bracelet, and I think of Mr. Petticord whenever I wear it. The ring was lost, only a few years ago. It disappeared from my bedroom one day, never to be found.
Frank’s story is a rather sad one. In the early part of the twentieth century, he came home to his wife and kids one day to be greeted by his father-in-law, who threw him off his own property. Frank seemed quite surprised at this turn of events, totally caught off guard.
Mr. Petticord was such a sweet docile soft-spoken man, I can’t imagine what the reasons were behind this event, but never-the-less he lost all contact with his children, who were kept from him. His family, in this final stage of life, was my great-great Aunt, my great-great Aunt’s daughter and her son, my grandmother… and me.
This jewelry is one of my most precious possessions. RIP Frank.
Audio excerpts from The Divine Me
The Divine Me
get your copy, in print or kindle, @ Amazon
The Divine Me: Embracing Your Inner Goddess… [excerpt, from the chapter: The Goddess in Every Month]
• May ~ Maia
Origin: Greek
Influences: rebirth, fertility, motherhood
AKA: Maia Majesta
Symbols: flowers (she’s referred to as the “queen of
flowers”), braided or knotted items, doves
She was the eldest of the seven nymphs of Pleiades, the
daughter of Atlas. She is an earth goddess who also
embodies the energy of mother, nurse, and midwife. She’s
often referred to as the “grandmother of magic”.
Interestingly enough, Maia was a goddess whose rites were
restricted to women only. She was considered a “good
goddess”, or a Bona Dea.
It’s said that the nymphs, the seven daughters of Atlas had to
change themselves into doves to escape the hunter Orion.
When they flew up into the sky, they were transformed into
seven stars, thus forming the constellation we know as
Pleiades, or the Seven Sisters.
There’s not a lot of information found on this goddess,
though she was, for some reason, deemed important enough
to have a month named after her.
May’s Magick/Fairy Moon
Manifesting a Passionate Connection
So, what kind of “passionate connection” are you looking
for?
❖ A fling… a fun time once-in-a-while thing.
❖ a soul mate… and this is one of those forever
connections, supposedly being your “perfect
match” for all eternity, through several
lifetimes – I don’t know why this makes me
feel cynical, but that’s for another book.
❖ a twin flame… and you want to think on this
one – twin flames are those people we go
through lousy crap with over and over,
lifetime after lifetime, until we actually learn
the lesson Spirit has been trying to beat into
our heads.
Anyway, whatever your taste for passion may be, let’s get on
with the manifestation of it.
Let’s begin with a glass of wine, a wine of your choice. If you
don’t drink wine, that’s okay, substitute it with a glass of
grape juice, it’ll do.
While you’re working on the crafting of this manifestation,
you will enjoy the leisurely sipping of this magical wine. (It’s
magical because you are imbuing it with your intention as
you work and as you think)
We’re going to “fix” and light a red votive candle. Be sure
you have chosen a pretty and safe candle holder for it and
that you will be placing it in a safe place to burn.
Put a few drops of rose essential oil on this candle and
massage it in good, concentrating all the while on your
intention, your desire, and sending this energy into this
candle with the touch of your hands.
Set the candle up in its holder. You’re going to take a few
drops of the wine from your glass and drip them onto the top
of the candle as well, just a couple drops will do, and do this
before you light the candle, we don’t want any human
torches here.
Grab your matches, or your lighter, and light her up.
Sit back and finish your wine, thinking about what it is you’re
doing, what you’re manifesting. Take your time, maybe
you’ll need to refill the glass, at least once. And smile.
At Amazon in Print & Kindle
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The Divine Me: Embracing Your Inner Goddess… [excerpt]
• Dance
Long, long ago, I would dance. I would put on several layers
of the large discarded house dresses, party dresses, and
petticoats of my grandmother and my aunts, slip my small
feet into their oversized high heels, and spin in the middle of
my bedroom, making the long skirts fan out around me.
This was my dance…
[page 169, from the chapter: “Facing the Mirror: How do you connect with the physical you?]
Purchase your copy of The Divine Me at Amazon, in print and kindle:
click HERE
The following blog post is a short excerpt from my book, The Divine Me: Embracing Your Inner Goddess, pages 82-85, from the chapter “The Goddess in Every Month”.
Available @ Amazon in Print & Kindle
click HERE
· March ~ Eostre
Origin: Germanic
Influences: spring and dawn, fertility, birth
AKA: Ostara
Symbols: rabbits, eggs, spring flowers, butterflies
This goddess is all about spring, birth, fertility, and the changing of seasons, the return of spring bringing with it the planting season, the return of warmth and promise and new beginnings.
The oddest myth that follows Eostre is the story of how she saved a bird from freezing to death in the winter. Its wings were frozen together. Eostre magically changed the bird into a rabbit, a rabbit which retained its ability to lay eggs.
I don’t know about you, but this puts a whole new spin on the Easter images I grew up with.
I would imagine, in ancient times, when the rituals of this goddess were regularly practiced among the people, she was looked upon with a sigh of relief, as in another winter has passed and we survived. Symbolically, it seems, the celebration for this goddess on the spring equinox would herald the return of daylight, as well as preparations for planting and the birthing of farm animals for sustenance.
In other words, it feels like the world is coming out of a dark frigid isolating winter and things are starting to move again, coming to life.
Hmmm… “Eostre” sounds an awful lot like “estrogen”, just saying.
March’s Magick/Seed Moon
A Protection Spell
The main thing about someone who thinks they need a protection spell is that there’s something that’s making them feel threatened in some way.
Who, or what, are you afraid of; or what is the set of circumstances that makes you feel threatened? What do you think you need protection from? Think about it, and then proceed with the following spell, if you still feel that it’s needed:
Let’s create a mojo bag for protection, as this is a very versatile way to create protection for a wide variety of reasons.
v Start with the bag, a drawstring bag – I would choose black to repel negative people, entities, or circumstances; to banish unwanted things; to neutralize negative energy. But you choose whatever color makes you feel safe and secure, warm, and fuzzy… protected.
v Second – write down on a small piece of paper what you want protection from, be specific, be blunt and to the point. Next, take a red ink pen or marker and with intention, along with much vigor and emotion, maybe a little cursing and spitting, draw a large red X through this list. It’s okay to get emotional, get angry, get all riled up – what you’re doing is raising energy.
v Third – let’s add some other “ingredients” to this bag, just so the universe and Spirit get the full picture. This could be personal effects from an individual, and not just the stereotypical “hair and fingernail clippings”. It could be the button off a shirt, a coin from their purse or wallet, a photograph, a piece of jewelry (an earring, or ring, or necklace chain), a tube of lipstick, a cigarette butt – you get the idea. Be creative.
Tie this bag closed, preferably with three knots. Keep it in a secret safe place and allow it to work undisturbed. Should the time come when you no longer feel the need for it, you can: 1) toss it in the flame of a fire and let it burn to ash, 2) dismantle the bag and its ingredients and toss them into the trash, or 3) bury it somewhere off your property.
The following are excerpts from my book “The Divine Me”, a 2023 release that is available at Amazon.
From the chapter: The Goddess in Every Day
• Saturday: let’s cleanse
Burn candles of black; burn incense of mimosa, hemp, and comfrey; carry in your pockets or adorn your body with black onyx, Apache tears, and obsidian.
Let’s work on… making ourselves feel safe, in whatever capacity this entails; taking extra precautions to secure our home; laying a line of defense against unexpected negativity; drawing boundaries that may be difficult but necessary to our wellbeing.
Kali ~ Hindu
Kali is the banshee screeching warrior goddess, the goddess of death and doom. The black goddess of revenge and bloodlust. But you gotta’ love her. It’s her energy that will fight to protect the innocent; it’s her energy that’s needed for retribution and accountability for the bad guys.
As the myth goes, Kali was born when she emerged from the forehead of the Goddess Durga and is believed to be the manifestation of that goddess’s anger. No wonder Kali has an attitude.
The most notable story I found on Kali involved her husband, Lord Shiva. After Kali was called upon to save the world by going on a rampage against a demon army led by Raktabija, she had herself so wrapped in murderous energy that she couldn’t stop herself and began destroying any living thing within her reach.
To cease this frenzied murder spree, her husband Shiva laid down in her path, blocking her way. Apparently, he thought that this would stop her. Silly idea. She was blinded to rationality and restraint, and she wildly started stomping the sh… er, bejeebers out of her own husband.
Oops.
Upon suddenly realizing her terrible mistake, overcome with remorse, laced with a wee bit of embarrassment, it’s said that she stuck out her bloody tongue. In some versions, it’s stated that she pulled her tongue out, either way, it makes for quite a visual.
[excerpt]
From the chapter: Facing the Mirror ~ How Do You Connect with Yourself
• Be aware of changes in your energy
Yes, learn to do this. It could save your life.
I was at a stop light in Fremont, Nebraska, southbound on Broad St. I was driving, my now ex-husband was sitting in the passenger seat. All of the sudden, yep, there it was, that “change” in energy. It’s so hard to describe because it can be so subtle. My reaction to it was that I froze. The red light turned green, and still, I sat there, frozen. My ex was shouting at me now, “Move, go!! The light is green!”
Nope, my body wouldn’t budge.
Within seconds, a car went speeding through a red light in front of us, west bound on 23rd St., at 60 or 70 miles an hour. If I would’ve been making my left hand turn onto this street, it would have broadsided us.
After this vehicle whooshed through this intersection, yep, there it was again, that weird change in energy. I was no longer frozen. I was also miffed at the man in the passenger seat and his attitude, so I turned to him calmly as he sat there now in shocked silence, open-mouthed, and I said, “Okay, now it’s time to move.”
Book narration, an excerpt from The Divine Me
@ Amazon:
[Excerpt from one of the “Facing the Mirror” sections… Facing the Mirror: How do you connect with yourself?]
· Be aware of changes in your energy
Yes, learn to do this. It could save your life.
I was at a stop light in Fremont, Nebraska, southbound on Broad St. I was driving, my now ex-husband was sitting in the passenger seat.
All of the sudden, yep, there it was, that “change” in energy. It’s so hard to describe because it can be so subtle. My reaction to it was that I froze. The red light turned green, and still, I sat there, frozen. My ex was shouting at me now, “Move, go!! The light is green!”
Nope, my body wouldn’t budge.
Within seconds, a car went speeding through a red light in front of us, west bound on 23rd St., at 60 or 70 miles an hour. If I would’ve been making my left hand turn onto this street, it would have broadsided us.
After this vehicle whooshed through this intersection, yep, there it was again, that weird change in energy. I was no longer frozen. I was also miffed at the man in the passenger seat and his attitude, so I turned to him calmly as he sat there now in shocked silence, open-mouthed, and I said, “Okay, now it’s time to move.”
I used to keep dream journals, but then I used to remember my dreams. Not so much anymore unless it’s a visitation dream. That’s a dream where the spirit of a departed loved one visits you. They are usually very vivid dreams, you will acutely feel the departed spirit’s presence, and you will not forget the dream. Sometimes your departed family member may have an important message to leave with you.
My great-grandmother showed up to tell me it was okay. I hadn’t seen or spoken to her in several years before she passed. So, she showed herself with her lips tied shut, much like you see on voodoo dolls in hoodoo horror flicks, which was her way of emphasizing a lack of communication. It was an alarming sight at first, but I quickly realized her implications. Then I heard her voice telepathically in my mind: “It’s okay.” Immediately, there was a feeling of peace.
It was her way of acknowledging that even though it had been a long time since we’d seen or spoken with each other, all our ties and our relationship were intact. Always was, always would be.
Purchase your copy @ Amazon
Order your copy of my new book, The Divine Me: Embracing Your Inner Goddess, at Amazon, click on THIS LINK
There’s a little goddess in every woman… yes, there is, and you’re going to find the little goddess in you with the help of this book. Take an unorthodox look at the history, myths, and legends of goddesses from around the world. Learn how to tap into their energy and harness it to aid you in your mortal journey.
Along the way, let’s “Face the Mirror”, and take a good look at what you need to concentrate on to be the best you can be and let your inner goddess shine.
An update on the book I’m currently writing, along with a first sneak peek at the contents!
click HERE
Magickal Connections 