Witchy Reads

Here's a video I made back in 2014, where I showcased some of my favourite books on the Craft.
These are still top of my list, but they've been joined by a few other notable reads.

•  WITCH - Lisa Lister

                                   Life changing, breath-taking, Unleash your wild Witch. Cannot tell you to read
                                          it enough.

• Mermaid Wisdom; Enrich Your Life With Insights From The Deep - Brenda Rosen

                          This might not be everyones cup of tea, if you're not into faery magic or mythology,
                              but as a woman, this book was a great resource for life skills. By using mermaid
                              mythology, and exercises, Brenda teaches you how to embrace that siren in you.

• Garden Witches Herbal; Green Magic, Herbalism, and Spirituality - Ellen Dugan

                                          One of my newest author discoveries (suggested to me by my fellow witch
                                               sister) if it's by Ellen Dugan, I'm going to read it. With an affinity for
                                               nature worship, and herblore, Ellen has plenty of books for you to
                                                choose from.

                                                         She also has a few fictional series, which are amazing.
                                                   The Legacy of Magic series, is delightful and witty. You can tell it's

                                                     written by an actual practitioner, and that seems to give these books
                                                       more sustenance.

Hope you find something here that interests you!
If you're looking for a book, on a specific subject within the craft, or about herbs, oils, drop me a message, and we can chat about the ones I've read.

Blessed Be,

Jade

xoxo

Maybe we've met before...

Sharing these musings from an older blog I had, that have been playing on my mind recently.

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In last weeks Parlour class with Veronica Varlow, we were talking about past lives, and connecting to the otherside.It's not something I've thought of often...honestly hardly at all.
Mainly because to think about things like reincarnation - creates questions about the death of this lifetime...and I'm a bit of a wimp really.

I do like the idea of reincarnation...the idea that we've all wandered this land for centuries, as French courtesans, maybe an inmate in bedlam, an Egyptian queen, a farmer, a healer in Salem.
 It brings new guidance to the meaning of fate. True love, those friendships that you're unexplainably drawn to.
How romantic is the notion that you have walked this earth a number of times, and each time you are drawn towards this person/these people. You unknowingly travel in their direction, a connection of old souls that will last for eternity.Maybe there was a life where you couldn't find each other?
Maybe it's this one.
And your ancient soul is wandering lost - seeking each other out. 

Does it not explain some of our irrational fears? Odd things that bring a shiver down our spine...those moments your heart beats a little faster in unknown fear.
Perhaps your fear of things wrapped around your neck, is because in a past life you were hung from the gallows.
Or by chance your fear of deep water, that thing inside you that you can't push passed to swim just a little bit further, maybe that is because you drowned in a past life...maybe not even you, maybe someone you were close to.

But you see, thinking about the concept of past lives opens up even more questions. Do our family lines stay the same? Is my mum in this life, also my mum when I was basking in the sweaty heat of ancient Egypt? Did I have siblings in a past life? Where are they now? Do our familiars return to us, life and life again? Or even family members on a different level of reincarnation in the form of the family cat?
It's a bit sad to imagine that we only get this family in this lifetime. 
Once. The connection a temporary and frail thing to be cherished.

Does the cycle end? Is there a time when we are done on this earth, and move to the Summerlands? Are ghosts those who are done with the transitions, preparing to move on?
Questions we can only fathom a guess at.

I have a strong call to vintage clothing, Marie-Antionette ball gowns, medieval gowns. Certain eras of fashion really draw me in.

I have always been drawn to Egypt, an odd infatuation since childhood. Somewhere I was lucky enough to visit recently. I was not struck with typical de ja vu, but when I was in certain areas, and I saw the atrocity of pollution in the Nile, or the demolition of dessert landscapes - an unexplainable sadness came over me. A sadness I had no right to feel, and all I kept thinking was 'this isn't right'.

At the tombs and the pyramids, as I discreetly trailed my fingertips along the stone, and the paintwork. Those thousand year old paintings of sacrifice and pharaohs - they spoke to me. My knowledge of heiroglyphs is fairly limited, and whilst I can manage basic sentences, I knew I shouldn't have been able to understand the depth and emotion on these walls...but I could. I felt it deep in my stomach.When I stood under The Notre-Dame in France, in the cloak of midnight darkness, with a fire-breather lighting the night-sky, causing odd shadows to skitter across the church. The flames lapping at my skin, cutting off the bite of the wind. A simple thought and emotion came over me;
Home.
I'd never been there before, but I walked the cobbled streets with some mysterious knowledge for my guide. I never got lost, meandering down side-streets, a sense of contentment filling my heart.

We all have moments like this.
Don't we?
Unexplained.
That feeling that we've met before...

Well maybe we have.


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These thoughts have been rekindled in my mind after reading the book 'WITCH' by Lisa Lister. This book has been a life changing experience for me, and is something I'd love to fully dive into in a future blog post. 

 But I mention it here, for Lisa's connection to her witch ancestors, something, she claims, lies inside every woman. She talks in depth about how when performing an initiation ritual in a cleansing well, fully immersed in the water, she could hear the screams of the witches that were drowned before her, could feel their panic, and sense the onlookers around her, despite being locked inside alone.
She talks about this being an ancient connection, birthed in our womb, and passed down to every witch (there's a little witch in every woman)

Thoughts??

Merry Part,
Jade
xoxo

Serpent

With the Full Moon rising in Scorpio, this moon calls for soul searching. Every once in a while there comes a time of deep reflection, when we have to realign our self identity with our core values. This moon pushes us to cut through the nonsense and pretences.

Today I wore my snake vertebra necklace, (which was created from the remains of a snake that died of natural causes) to help me keep myself in check.
 We may have all been feeling a little out of sorts recently, our emotions a bit high strung, and too many thoughts flying through our head.
I for one have been having the vivid-est of dreams - it is natural to happen around the Full Moon.

Why a snake?
In ancient religion, and the path of witchcraft and paganism, snakes represent the primordial life force. A snake is duality and balance, a sign of rebirth. If a snake bites it's own tail, it creates a sacred circle.
Norse mythology believes that it is a serpent god,  Jǫrmungandr  , who holds the sea in place, by doing just that. Holding onto his own tail, in order to keep the sea contained. Knowing that the element of Water is most strongly linked to our emotions, could we see this as the containment of emotion?

To tie in with the meanings behind this Full Moon, think about the way a snake sheds its skin, this physical transformation, that enables it to grow and develop. That is what you need to do. Shed that which is old and does not serve you, and you fill find more space and happiness for that which you hope to gain.

When we think about transformation, lets also think upon the Snakes representation of cycles; birth, death and rebirth. Snakes hide away during the winter months, and come 'alive' again in the Spring. The heat dragging them back above ground. This time is the perfect time to use the snake in meditation, or to honour in ceremony.

Morrigan Morrigan

"Morrigan Morrigan, Three times three,
Hear the words I ask of thee.
Grant me vision, Grant me power,
Cheer me in my darkest hour.

As the night overtakes the day,
Morrigan Morrigan, Light my way.

Morrigan Morrigan, Raven Queen
Round and round the Hawthorn Green.

Queen of Beauty, Queen of Art,

Yours my body, Yours my heart.

All my trust I place in thee.

Morrigan
Morrigan
Be with me. "

Witch

A deep rumble in the womb,

Reverberations of memories ages old.

Blood coursing with the tide,
Women running side by side;

Coaxed onwards by the moon.
An ancient connection,
Feral and Wild.

Walpurgisnacht

Beltane Blessings
&
Happy May Day

"Witches Night"  is the last night of the dark half of the year, in which the moon rules the sky. The Moon embodies the mystery, the subconscious, and the unknown. Beltane Eve begins at Midnight on the 30th of April, and ends when the sun rises on the 1st, carrying us into May Day. All things in life and nature are in a delicate balance of dark and light. This duality brings a wholeness to the cycles of the year.

At Beltane we thank the Green Man for his protection throughout the Winter, and celebrate the joining of The Maiden and The Young God, as they come into power. Due to it being a pivotal point in the wheel of the year, Beltane is one of the more widely celebrated, and powerful sabbats - second only to Samhain.
Similar to Samhian this period of festivities, is known for having a thin veil between our world and others. Magical workings performed around Beltane, are likely to be more powerful.

For Beltane this year, I visited Glastonbury. The company Glastonbury Dragons have began holding rites for Samhain and Beltane for the last few years. I adore the precession through town, with the giant red and white dragons.

Accompanied by the 'Pentacle Drummers', whose drumming put fire in my belly and music in my heart.

I stopped again in the healing springs at the very very base of the Tor, and across from the Chalice Wells.
Gods the energy in this place is always electric and grounding all at once.
I left an offering on the shrine/altar for Pan/The Green Man, which you can see photographed below.

I hope everyone had a brilliant night, and are welcoming in the new season well on this blessed May Day.

xx

The Fortune Teller

"Go ahead and read my fortune,
Cast your dice, Devine my fate.
I just want to know I have one,
Tell me that it's not too late."

Second Hand Faith - Emilie Autumn