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To me, the essence of a witch is someone who trusts their inner authority and uses their own personal magic to navigate and negotiate the environment they currently find themselves in.
This is a ritual bath that I personally use before circles; but trust yourself, witch. Let your intuition guide you to the herbs and oils that YOU need right now. (Of course, be sure to check for contraindications if you have any specific health conditions or are currently pregnant.) What you’ll need: Sacred water (I’m blessed that I regularly visit Glastonbury, a town here in the UK that’s steeped in magic and lore. I’ll often collect water from both the Red and the White spring there each time I visit, but honestly? Sacred water is any water that’s natural to Mumma Earth: seawater, spring
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to add (check out the Witch’s Herbal in Chapter 11) Rose absolute oil A candle Wine or another libation of your choice to be drunk at the end of the rite
What to do:
Rise up out of the tub and do a self-blessing: Anoint each area of your body with the sacred water, while saying out loud: ‘Blessed be my mind that learns the way of the witch. Blessed be my eyes that have seen this day. Blessed be my lips that utter your names and keep your secrets. Blessed be my breasts formed in strength and beauty. Blessed be my womb for being the holy grail, cauldron and keeper of the mysteries.
Blessed be my knees that shall kneel at my altar. Blessed be my feet that help me walk this path.’ Pour a glass of wine or green juice – your libation is totally your call – to SHE and HE, and then take a sip. Dry yourself off; and when you’re ready, clean up the bathroom and take the libation offering outside to return it to the Earth (or pour it into a pot plant if you’re a modern, urban witch). The rite is ended. So mote it be!
Instead, it’s about enhancing your sensitivity and response towards both random thoughts and direct, loaded truth bombs. It’s knowing what’s for you and what’s for other people, and learning how to make sense of emotional changes within your body.
They say ‘once a witch, always a witch’; and standing barefoot in that temple, I remembered.
But mostly, in my experience, a modern-day Oracle shares the very best counsel when she remembers herself – the deep intuitive trust of the wisdom and knowing held in her body.
An Oracle remembers herself and her innate Goddess-given powers.
Tarot
cards
Anyone can learn to read tarot cards, but it does take some practice. It’s a highly intuitive process, so while books and charts will come in handy? The best way to learn what your cards actually mean is to handle them, hold them, sleep with them under your pillow and journey with each one. Feel what they’re telling you. I once spent 78 weeks studying a tarot card each week: letting it guide me for that week; studying its messages, signs and symbols; and charting what came up for me. I totally recommend that as a practice.
Pendulums
CALIBRATE YOUR PENDULUM
Using your pendulum for divination
Locating magical sites: if you’re outdoors, carry your pendulum with you. Some people believe that ley lines can be located via pendulum use. Oh, and if you happen to stumble across a location that makes your pendulum go crazy, consider holding a ritual or connecting with the Divine there.
In occult literature, the term scrying is used to describe the act of gazing at a shiny stone or mirror or into a crystal ball (anything that reflects will do) to see things past and future. When a crystal is used, scrying is known as crystallomancy. Some practitioners also use the flame of a candle to scry, which is called tratakam in Sanskrit.
Yep, back in the
day when bleeding with each moon wasn’t considered a curse, our menstrual bleed was a time to dream. When we shed our blood, we were given our deepest visions, and became natural seers and oracles.
Yet it’s in our rest time, specifically when we bleed each month, that we’re most open to receive direct communication with SHE, the Divine.
That’s why women used to gather in red tents, so that they could be in solitude and receive guidance. It’s why womb temples were set up specifically for women to dream and receive visions in. It’s why so many women suffer from pain during their bleed: because they’re not resting, they’re no longer open to receive their SHE-led wisdom.
You are an Oracle.
I am an Oracle.
Rest. Often. If you bleed, the entire second half of your cycle – pre-menstruation and menstruation – is a call to slow down and receive.
A woman armed with ancestral wisdom is an unstoppable force.
The fear exists because we’ve been taught that, as women, our intuitive nature is not trustworthy. That WE are not trustworthy. ‘Woman is by nature a witch, healer, shaman and medicine healer.’ - CHUKCHEE PROVERB
WAYS TO USE HERBS
A Witch’s Herbal
Tea Medicine
IMMUNI-TEA
What you’ll need: 1 part elderberries 1 part elderflowers 1 part chamomile 1 part rose hips 1 part echinacea
I Heart Damiana
DAMIANA TEA
Crystals and Caring for Them
Carnelian
Chrysocolla
Moonstone
Cleansing Your Crystals
THREE STEPS TO CLEANSE YOUR CRYSTALS
Charging/Programming Your Crystals
‘Where there is woman, there is magic.’ – NTOZAKE SHANGE
authority and wholeness. So yes, the Sorceress has the ability to change
situations and ‘manipulate’. She’s an alchemist. She’s the mother who turns tears into laughter with a reassuring kiss. The friend who turns fear into ease with her words. The activist who changes thought into action.
The Sorceress, with a heavy emphasis on the word ‘source’, is your reminder that YOU are source.
The Sorceress – me and you – is the container for potent and powerful alchemy.
When you stir your cauldron – through dance, sound, movement and breath – you connect with an inner power source. That source is like an internal ignition switch: something the ancient yogis called Shakti. Shakti is divine feminine energy that, when activated, allows you to express yourself fully and creatively. You feel fertile in ALL the ways.
Shakti Rising Shakti is life-force energy.
People who work with Shakti sometimes think they’re harnessing or controlling her, but Shakti is the fuel that powers all of creation. She fuels the universe, the planet and individual beings. She cannot be harnessed or controlled.
Connect with Shakti, connect with the witch. CONNECT WITH SHAKTI Stand up and plug your toes into the motherboard. Put your bare feet on the actual earth
