cunningwoman:
Day Eight: A photo of a magical place outdoors.
forests and sunbeams are the most magical of all places. they’re where i run in my dreams, wildlike, leaves tangling in my hair and naked as a newborn beast. there’s nothing quite so haunting as a misty forest with birdsong and the soft scurry of small things in the undergrowth. it feels like at any moment, you could turn and meet the Goddess head on.
i collect woodland things to keep this memory. bones of woodland creatures, moss on stones, horns and pinecones and sticks and feathers and leaves. i live in suburbia but that doesn’t mean i have to lose the forest entirely. the forest is my most magical of places. my heart’s home.
photos from nelleke @ deviantart
(Source: illusiorycomplex, via pagannews)
For hundreds of years, the plants that we grow have been used in magic. Flowers in particular are often connected with a variety of magical uses. Now that spring is here, keep an eye out for some of these flowers around you, and consider the different magical applications they might have.
- Crocus: This flower is one of the first you’ll see in the spring, and it’s often associated with newly blooming love. The crocus is also known to enhance visions and bring about intuitive dreams.
- Daffodil: The bright petals of the daffodil are typically found in shades of white, yellow or even pale orange. This flower is associated with love and fertility — place fresh ones in your home to bring about abundance. Wear this flower close to your heart to draw love and luck.
- Cowslip: The fragrance has healing properties.
- Dandelion: The leaf of the dandelion is used for healing, purificaiton, and ritual cleansing. To bring positive change about, plant dandelions in the northwest corner of your property. The bright yellow flowers can be used in divination, or placed in a sachet to draw good energy your way.
- Echinacea: Also called purple coneflower, this garden mainstay adds a little bit of magical “oomph” to charmes and sachets. Use it for prosperity related workings. Burn the dried flowers in incense, and use on your altar during ritual as an offering to deities.
- Goldenseal: This sunny yellow flower is often found growing in the wild, alongside roads and in fields. Use it in money spells, or for business dealings. Work it into charms connected to matters of financial gain or legal issues.
- Hibiscus: This lusty flower incites passion — use it to attract love or lust, or for prophetic dreams about your lover. Burn in incense, or carry in a sachet to bring love your way. Red Hibiscus flowers are used in love potions and placed in wreaths in marriage ceremonies.
- Hyacinth: This flower was named for Hyakinthos, a Greek divine hero who was beloved by Apollo, so it’s sometimes considered the patron herb of homosexual men. Hyacinth is also known to promote peaceful sleep, and guards against nightmares. Carry in an amulet to help heal a broken heart or to ease grief when a loved one dies.
- Lily: The Easter lily or Tiger lily is associated with all kinds of Spring connections — fertility, rebirth, renewal and abundance.
- Marigold or Calendula: Add calendula to your bath to win the respect and admiration of your peers. String garlands of calendula around the outside doors to stop evil from entering the house.
- Morning Glory: Morning Glory seeds under your pillow will stop nightmares. Grown in the garden, blue morning glories will bring peace and happiness.
- Narcissus: Named for another Greek figure, the Narcissus helps promote polarity and harmony. Its calming vibrations bring about tranquility and inner peace.
- Passion Flower: Placed in a house, it calms problems and troubles and brings peace. Carried, it attracts friends and popularity. Placed beneath the pillow, it aids in sleep.
- Rose: Used in love and harmony spells. Roses planted in your garden will attract fairies. Rose petals sprinkled around the house will calm stress and reduce household upheavals.
- Snapdragon: Place a vase of fresh snapdragons on the altar while performing protective rituals. If someone has sent you negativity energy (hexes, curses, etc.), place some snapdragons on the altar with a mirror behind them to send the negative energy back to the sender.
- St. John’s Wort: wards off fevers and cold when worn; burn to banish evil spirits; gather it on a Friday and wear it to cure melancholy — (also known as Hypericum).
- Sunflower: Sunflowers growing the garden guard it against pests and grant the best of luck to the gardener.
- Tulip: The tulip appears in many different colors and varieties, but is typically connected to prosperity. You can use the different colored variations in color magic — use a dark strain such as Queen of the Night for full moon rituals, or bright red flowers for love magic.
- Violet: In Roman myth, the first violet sprung from the spilled blood of the god Attis, who killed himself for Cybele, the mother goddess. However, today the violet is associated with tranquility and peace. The leaf offers protection from evil, and can be sewn into a pillow or sachet for a new baby. Carry the petals with you to bring about luck and enhance nighttime magic.
Tonic waters containing the energies of the moon embody very powerful healing benefits that bring about integral balance and wholeness throughout the body, mind and soul. Clear quartz crystal catalyses the absorption of lunar energies as well as amplifies the healing benefits. Wait for a clear night, preferably on or right before the full moon. Put your crystal in a clear glass and cover with one cup of purified water. Check an almanac for the exact time of sundown on the day you have chosen. At sundown, place the glass out of doors in a moonlit place (cover the glass with clear plastic wrap). Remove the glass at dawn. The water is now filled with lunar potency. Drink the moon water every morning to prepare your body, mind and spirit for the stress of the day.
Crossroads are considered sacred in almost all magical traditions. A crossroads is a universally accepted place to hold rituals, leave offerings, or dispose of items you wish to be rid of.
It is believed that Hecate rules over the three-way crossroads. She can see the past, present, and future. It is said that if you should approach a three-way crossroads at night, you would hear her black dogs howling. Her altars have been erected at such places for centuries.
The four-way crossroads are considered to be powerful because all four directions meet at one point. Dirt, rocks, and sticks gathered from such a crossroads are said to have powerful spiritual connections, albeit tricky ones to master. In Greek myths, Oedipus met his fate at the crossroads. From the Yoruban people we have Legba (a god known for his clever tricks) ruling the crossroads.
The strength of Ellegua lies at the crossroad. He is the remover of obstacles. An offering of twenty-one pennies and three candies left at the crossroad will prompt him to be kind and remove the roadblocks in your life.
Ancient people were afraid of what it meant when one direction met another direction. All manner of folklore is available concerning the crossroads. Fairies are said to hang out there, along with gouls, ghosts, and goblins. Even the Christian Satan is said to roam the crossroads.
Times Square in New York City is known as the “Crossroads of the World.” A true urban crossroads is any intersection where 3 or 4 roads mead and then continue outward unobstructed for eight city blocks in each direction. If any one path is blocked by a dead end, a cul de sac, or a park, it is not a true crossroad.
Metaphysically, a crossroads is a place of sacred transformations, a metaphor for transformational points in our lives, and relate to time and choices. It is a place to go to unblock your path.
(from Gypsy Magic)
Hello lovely followers. What are some witchy movies that you like? Movies or TV shows that would appeal to witches and magic-types and girls who wear jingly skirts. Movies and shows appropriate for the autumn season.
Ideas (some better than others):
Hocus Pocus; Beetlejuice; The Addams Family; The Witches; Nightmare Before Christmas; The Last Unicorn; Edward Scissorhands; Sleep Hollow; The Corpse Bride; Labyrinth; The Dark Crystal; Mirrormask; Practical Magic; The Craft; Ichabod; Hex; The Secret Circle; The Vampire Diaries; Charmed; Buffy; Stardust; A Midsummer Night’s Dream; Bram Stoker’s Dracula; Howl’s Moving Castle; Chocolat; The Princess Bride; The Company of Wolves; Harry Potter; Lord of the Rings; Sleeping Beauty; Ever After.
"They say that you should write about what you know. And what I know is that the world is full of magic."
Cobwebs and Magic
Picture a traditional Witch’s cottage and the chances are that you will imagine cobwebs. Now this could be because the folklore image of the Witch is as a poor old woman, possibly no longer able to clean her home.
But I like to think it may have something to do with the uses of cobwebs, for not only are they brilliant works of art and nature’s highly efficient fly traps, they have been used in healing and in healing magic.
Even when I was a child it was common to be told to place a clean (i.e. not dusty) cobweb over a cut or bleeding wound to help stop the bleeding, and if the wound is not too deep it will work.
It used to be said that, for every cobweb you see on walking, you will receive a kiss that day. But if you find one across your door, it indicates that your love is with another.
Cobwebs in the kitchen are said to indicate a house without kisses. If y ou can collect a cobweb with dew on it, without breaking it, place it on a dish of water to attract love into your life. Cobwebs are frequently used in spells to promote communication, perhaps after a disagreement. Name two objects after the “warring” parties and wrap them in a cobweb. Place in the light of the Sun for seven days.
Note that it is unlucky to kill a spider or to disturb it on its web, but it is permitted to remove old, or unoccupied, webs.
From: The Real Witches Year
, via gypsy magic
sitasays:
A Little Bit of Magic
This is a 6-inch tall door at the bottom of a tree at Lake Harriet in Minneapolis. People of all ages leave around 1500 notes behind the door every year, and every single one of them is answered. Each reply ends with, “I believe in you.” No one has seen the elf, but he’s known as “Mr. Little Guy”
(by Talis)
(via fairypunk)
