#blessedarethewitches

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Personal Cleansing for Inner Peace (Love this!)

All you need for this ritual is sea salt, a bundle of dried white sage, and a white quartz pendant. Begin by performing forty minutes of fairly rigorous cardio exercise. Throughout your workout, silently repeat the phrase: It is safe to still my thoughts and relax my mind. If your mind wanders, just gently return to the phrase. Then, relax deeply as you take a forty-minute sea salt bath that’s as hot as you can comfortably stand. (Be sure to drink plenty of water during the workout and the bath.) Get out, dry off, light the sage bundle so that it’s smoking like incense, and move the bundle around your body to purify your energy with the smoke. Extinguish the sage. Hold the quartz in your right hand and say: My energy is clean and clear and I am peaceful through and through. Hang the pendant around your neck.

Source: http://www.llewellyn.com/spell.php

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Piercing Correspondences

This is for those pagans who love body modification or are considering getting a piercing or two. Why not magickally charge the modification as a sacred act!? That way you can insure the piercing works with your bodies energy and not against it and benefit from the correspondences of the particular piercing. Decide on something you'd like to bring into your life that correspondes with the particular piercing. Such as if you are getting your tongue pierced you could focus on being able to communicate your feelings better with others.

When being pierced focus on your intent, not on the pain. Put yourself in a light trance. You can see this as a miniature rite of passage if you like.

Here are some correspondences:

"Ears: Rites of passage, clairaudience, wisdom, balance (if both pierced

Eyebrows: Psychic sight, clairvoyance, objectivity, balance (if both pierced)

Nose/septum: Rites of passage, personal growth, love, commitment, fertility, strength

Tongue: Anti-lying, communication, discernment, contemplation, sexuality

Lips/labret: Communication, beauty, creativity, art, love, lust

Nipples: Strength, courage, nurturing, protection, fertility, sensuality, love, lust

Belly button/ navel: Self confidence, maternaity, fertility, healing, rebirth, balance

Genitals: Grounding, sexuality, sexual healing, fertility, commitment, self-awareness"

If there is a piercing I haven't listed, maybe try searching it online.

Source: Book: The Goth Craft by Raven Digitalis (great book!) (The parts I put in quotations are straight from the book, the rest I re-worded and added too. 

Happy modifying!)O(

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More Witchcraft Symbols :)

Enjoy! <3

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A Candle Ritual for Managing Stress

                                  Candle burning is a practice that has become more popular with persons of both sexes, and of all ages and walks of life. When you ask people why they like candles, they commonly respond that the presence of a lighted candle reduces stress. Here is an exercise that takes the stress-relieving powers of a candle a step farther: you pour your stress into the candle to be burned up, then take some good energy back from the candle, to relax and revitalize you. Light the candle and say,  

As I light this candle,

My stress flows from me, Flows from me, and into the candle, Burned off, transformed, Converted to light and warmth. Then clasp your hands around the base of the candle or its container, and visualize your stress as a gray mist that flows from your body and into the candle. Continue grasping the base of the candle while breathing in a relaxed and rhythmical manner. Maintain the visualization until you feel that a significant amount of stress has been released. Then, let go o f the candle, and cup your hands over it, a few inches above the flame (at a safe distance, but close enough to feel the warmth), while saying: I draw from this candle, Its comforting warmth, Warmth that flows to every cell, Relaxing, restoring, reviving. Concentrate on the sensation of warmth, feel it drawn through your fingertips, into your hands and arms, and through your body. Warmth pours into every tense or tired muscle, relaxing it, reviving it. Warmth suffuses your entire body, filling you with a glow of well-being. When you feel that you have had enough, extinguish the candle or allow it to continue burning if you enjoy the ambiance. Later on, if you are at work or elsewhere, you can recall the image of the candle flame, picturing it changing into a ball of energy that spreads warmth to your tensest areas, or just gives you an over-all sense of comfort. Suggestions Any candle will help reduce stress, but you may prefer shades of blue or green for relaxation, or yellow, pink, or peach for comforting warmth. Also, some may choose to perform this rite with two candles: one for releasing stress and one for drawing warmth. If you can choose candle scent or anointing oil, or use incense to accompany this rite, this is a situation where the powers of aromatherapy can be especially helpful. While any pleasing fragrance seems to alleviate stress, lavender  is the aromatherapists’ top choice, because it is both relaxing and reinvigorating. Some other fragrances with these qualities are patchouli and ylang ylang. Vanilla, bergamot, cedar, orange, tangerine, sandalwood, clary sage, marjoram, and rose geranium have also been recommended for stress relief. 

To smiles! <3 )O(

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I like! Very good way of putting it. Easy to understand.

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Spell Bag For Continued Health and Wellness

Our bodies, minds, and spirits require balance. When one part of our system is out of whack, it’s our responsibility to realign ourselves. Imbalance leads to more imbalances, so it’s essential to come back to a place of holistic wellness. A fun and practical way to keep this balanced energy flowing is to make a spell bag. Spell bags, medicine bags, sachets, mojo hands, and so on, are easy magical workings that can produce wonderful results.

Ingredients:

Small Drawstring bag

Ginko Biloba flower leaves

Life Everlasting flower leaves

Sunflower leaves

a piece of hematite or fossil (optional)

Take your drawstring bag and fill it with gingko, life everlasting, and sunflower. Add a piece of hematite or a fossil for additional strength. Gaze at the bag and put yourself in a meditative frame of mind. Loudly chant the word “SANITAS” (which is Latin for “health”) into the bag ten times (or any other health chant you wish to use.)

Energy will continue to flow and radiate from the sachet, and recharging the sachet regularly keeps its own energy in tip-top shape. A spell bag such as this can not only help keep your own physical health and wellness functioning, but can aid you in self-healing work. Keep the bag close for any personal healings, and put it somewhere in the house so that it’s frequently in your presence.

To Health and Wellness!

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The Thirteen Principles of Wiccan Belief

It has been said many times, and I myself can be quoted saying “Wicca has no high authority, no single leader, no prophet and no bible to dictate its laws and beliefs”.  Yet in America during 1973–74, an attempt was made to uniform and define the many differing beliefs across the many paths and traditions prevalent at that time.  A short-lived alliance of contemporary witches was formed under the aegis of the ‘Council of American Witches’ spearheaded by Carl Llewellyn Weschcke.

  Weschcke believed that a common set of principles and definitions encompassing the many paths and traditions in America, would ultimately help to dispel many of the myths about Witchcraft, and distinguish it from Satanism and other misconceptions in the eyes of the general public, and such as proliferated though the general press media.

  As happened, some 73 or so representatives from the many paths and traditions convened in Minneapolis during the autumn of 1973.  They formed the ‘Council of American Witches’ and Weschcke was nominated as chairman.  Through his publishing company Weschcke published a newsletter called ‘Touchstone’ which the council used to collate information about their many differing beliefs.

 After many difficulties and altercations, by April ’74 the council was able to unify a general set of principles loosely acceptable across the many traditions operating in America.  Based on this, Weschcke then wrote and defined ‘The 13 Principles of Wiccan Belief’. 

  The 13 Principles of Wiccan Belief:

1.     We practice rites to attune ourselves with the natural rhythm of life forces marked by the phases of the Moon and the seasonal Quarters and Cross Quarters.

2.     We recognize that our intelligence gives us a unique responsibility toward our environment.  We seek to live in harmony with nature in ecological balance offering fulfillment to life and consciousness within an evolutionary concept.

3.     We acknowledge a depth of power far greater than that apparent to the average person.  Because it is far greater than ordinary it is sometimes called ‘supernatural’, but we see it as lying within that which is naturally potential to all.

4.     We conceive of the Creative Power in the universe as manifesting through polarity – as masculine and feminine – and that this same Creative Power lies in all people and functions through the interaction of the masculine and the feminine.  We value neither above the other knowing each to be supportive of the other.  We value sex as pleasure as the symbol and embodiment of life, and as one of the sources of energy used in magical practice and religious worship.

5.     We recognize both outer worlds and inner, or psychological worlds sometimes known as the Spiritual World, the Collective Unconsciousness, the Inner Planes etc – and we see in the interaction of these two dimensions the basis for paranormal phenomena and magical exercises.  We neglect neither dimension for the other, seeing both as necessary for our fulfillment.

6.     We do not recognize any authoritarian hierarchy, but do honor those who teach, respect those who share their greater knowledge and wisdom, and acknowledge those who have courageously given of themselves in leadership.

7.     We see religion, magick and wisdom in living as being united in the way one views the world and lives within it – a world view and philosophy of life which we identify as Witchcraft – the Wiccan Way.

8.     Calling oneself ‘Witch’ does not make a Witch – but neither does heredity itself, nor the collecting of titles, degrees and initiations.  A Witch seek to control the forces within her/himself that make life possible in order to live wisely and without harm to others and in harmony with nature.

9.     We believe in the affirmation and fulfillment of life in a continuation of evolution and development of consciousness giving meaning to the Universe we know and our personal role within it.

10.Our only animosity towards Christianity, or towards any other religion or philosophy of life, is to the extent that its institutions have claimed to be ‘the only way’ and have sought to deny freedom to others and to suppress other ways of religious practice and belief.

11. As American Witches, we are not threatened by debates on the history of the craft, the origins of various terms, the legitimacy of various aspects of different traditions.  We are concerned with our present and our future.

12.We do not accept the concept of absolute evil, nor do we worship any entity known as ‘Satan’ or ‘the Devil’ as defined by Christian tradition.  We do not seek power through the suffering of others, nor accept that personal benefit can be derived only by denial to another.

13.We believe that we should seek within Nature that which is contributory to our health and well-being.

Due to Weschcke's efforts these principles were later incorporated into the army's 'Chaplains handbook' for use in the U.S. Army.  Shortly after this achievement the Council of American Witches disbanded, this due mainly to the difficulties inherent in reconciling differences among its many member traditions.  The 13 Principles of Wiccan Belief lived on however, and today many American Witches continue to endorse it.

Source:  The Encyclopedia of Witches &Witchcraft  - by Rosemary Ellen Guiley.