October

Samhain draws closer, and so does my birthday.

October is my favourite season for so many reasons.

It is the true start to fall, when you can really see the days shortening, and are forced to snuggle up by candlelight in blankets and warm jumpers. When warm baths filled with cinnamon and clove, are a weekly ritual. Pumpkin pie being made in the kitchen, and tea constantly boiling.

When a drive through the country is a feast for your eyes.

Hues of green, yellow, brown, orange, red.

Watching the flowers, and trees go into hibernation - seeing them wither and burrow deep beneath the earth, and finding life beautiful.

Spicy hot chocolate, and chai tea lattes.

Toffee apples.

Bats and pumpkins can be found all throughout the house.

We start to retreat inwards, into that hermit state of being.

Reminiscent of the tarot card - embracing the dark, and the power within ourselves...with the hope to come out shining in the spring.

Here is a little chant to recite at these times;

"Burrowing like the rabbit
Or the bear beneath the ground.
The winters hush upon me
I do not make a sound.
Let the world keep spinning,
Without me for a space,
I am turning inward
In search of peace and grace."

This is perfect for setting yourself up for meditation, or when the outside world just gets a bit too hectic for you.

Glastonbury Visit

Hello lovelies!

Today once again found me in the magical streets of Glastonbury. I went with my witch sister Suzie, and we went to do some shopping, visit the Wytches Market, and get matching tattoos...yep we're that cool.

  

The Wytches Markey was in the town hall of Glastonbury, and featured lots of lovely stalls of all magical persuasions. Such as 'Steel Stick .N. Stone', 'The Ivory Dolls', 'Tawny El' - The only thing I purchased from here was a beautiful art print by Vikki Yeates Illustrations, but there was so much creativity in that hall.

 Moving on from here, with plenty of time till our appointment at the tattooists, we hit all of our usual Glastonbury favourites; for some reason I feel like Suzie and I walk around more than most when at Glastonbury. We go up and down the street more times than necessary, letting our inner guide lead the way. We did discover a lot of new great stores, we've never seen before; Our favourite being 'ShieldMaiden' - A new store for all your Viking needs. Whilst the shop was a bit of a vegan minefield, there were plenty of interesting things to look at, and some beautiful ceramics, and clothes.  

StarChild is always a must on these trips.
This was actually the first time I needed to purchase from behind the till.

I needed a few herbs for upcoming ritual work I have planned, and a few ingredients for teas. They weigh all their herbs out on scales, and charge by weight. Literally like something from TV, you are watching the sales woman stand on a ladder, and reach for one jar, from a wall of multi-coloured herbs and plants, all with a hand written label.

After lunch, which was a delicious vegan tomato and bulgar wheat soup with ciabatta - we had to make our way to the tattooist.

 We'd already picked our design, something I really loved after coming across it on Pinterest (I know not very original) Our tattooist was a guy named Tom, who was great. He put up with all our weird questions and behaviours, joked with us, gave me 2 lollies throughout my tattoo, and just overall did a beautiful job.

Before heading home, we stopped in the George and Pilgrim, 15th century inn, and had half a pint of Guinness. Purely because this is Jason Mamoas' beverage of choice...and he is a God, so.... There was logic there somewhere.

It was a lovely way to end our trip.

And finally once I got home, I took a shot of all my shopping.

Final Shopping List;

Hare Art Print - Vikki Yeates

StarChild Happy Tea

Samhain Card

Poisons, Potions, And Aphrodisiacs Book

2 Rat charms (to be made into earrings)

Catnip

MeadowSweet

Raspberry Leaves

1 epic tattoo

Witches Bottle

This bottle of protection for the home, and your loved ones inside it, is some essential magical working.
These bottles work in the reverse of voodoo dolls. So like a voodoo doll, you need bodily fluids, hair, nail clippings, from yourself, and those who live with you. This represents your beings, and attracts unwanted attention, negativity, and bad magic cast your way. But then the other things you place in the bottle ensnare that negativity or magic, and they stop it from reaching you and doing harm.

(image found on google)

To create your own bottle, first find a suitable container with a lid. It can be a jam jar, a pretty glass perfume bottle, a glass water bottle, whatever you have available.
Although be warned your final result, will not look pretty. This is not pretty magic. This is raw magic at it's core, and you are essentially creating a trap to contain bad things you do not want to come into your household.

So once you have this container gather parts of your family.
Nail clippings, hair, spit, blood.
The use of blood is the most potent way to protect your home. My witches protection bottle, has period blood in, directly from my womb and the core of my power - if this option is available to you whilst creating this bottle, do it!!
Also in my bottle are nail clippings from my partner and myself, and hair from us both, and our cat (don't forget your furry familiars, they need protection to)

Once you've got these stored in your bottle, you need to go and hunt for jagged nails, rusty barbed wire, broken glass, knotted twine - all visualisations of things that will trap and contain negative things, and protect you.
 As you place these things inside your bottle, visualise them trapping invisible thoughts that are coming to you, and spells cast in your direction.

Now, having everything in your bottle, put on the lid, and now using a black candle, seal the lid on with the wax. Black is for banishment, so as you are sealing your witches bottle, visualise a force field of light coming from the ground beneath your house and gardens, and stretching up and out to create a dome, over your dwellings.
 Thank the gods and goddesses for their protection, and to finalise the magic, the witches bottle needs to be buried near your front door.
If this is not possible, in the back of a fire place or hearth. And as a last resort buried in a pot near the front door. As long as it is near an entrance/way of entry to the home it should work.

This is mine, in it's hidey place, within our boarded up fire place.

Blessed be,

Jade xoxox

Mabon

Otherwise known as the Autumn Equinox; the sabbat Mabon looms closer. Falling on the 22nd of September, this sabbat is all about giving thanks for the harvest that has come, and thanks for the harvest yet to come. With the fields nearly empty, it is a time of abundance and a time for gratitude.
The word 'equinox' comes from latin, and translates to 'equal night' - on the equinox the earth receives the same hours of light, as it does dark; which is why they are times of balance.

There are certain types of magic, that are most prosperous at Mabon.

• Home and Hearth Magic - a perfect time to protect your home with a witches bottle; or give the house a thorough cleaning, now is the time to rid everything from your home that no longer serves you.
  A ritual such as this ~~ https://www.thoughtco.com/mabon-ritual-for-home-protection-2562297 ~~ is lovely around this time.

• Whip up some kitchen magic - Use foods of the season, and the harvest, like apples and bread, to get hot in the kitchen. As you bake or make, pour your intentions for a happy, healthy family into the ingredients. Feasting at the times of harvest is an age old tradition, so anything you bake, can be shared between to spread the magic you've put into it.

Foods of Mabon

• Bread
• Apples
• Squash
• Pumpkin
• Grains
• Root Veg
• Corn
• Cider

• Prosperity Magic - Use this time of balance to draw in money and abundance. You can refer back to my blog post on 'Money Magic' here ~~ http://jadeaddismagicmusings.blogspot.co.uk/search?q=money+magic ~~ on simple tips to bring prosperity in.

Blessed Be,

 Jade xoxo

The Choice Is Yours...

                                                              

Choosing Paths

A little pull I did a few days ago...
It's a super easy pull, but one which can be devastating to the heart strings.

You pull two cards to start with. One focused on one option in your life, and you pick another card based on your second option.
 This can be a choice between jobs, houses, life choices, two people.

Once you've picked these two cards, take time to contemplate over them, and try and discern their meanings. Sometimes they'll be obvious; The Tower card appears for one choice - change is needed, you need to knock everything down to rebuild. Other times, they'll be less obvious.

Next you pick two more cards, one related to each first card, and original choice. This card is to show you an outcome or needed action.

I won't tell you what I was thinking about ;) but I will discern the cards for you none the less, so you can see how this spread would work.

Choice 1

 First card is the Six of Wands.

This path has led me to a darker path, one I am just now blossoming away from. I am the butterfly in this card, flying away from that path, and situation.

Second Card is The Chariot.

This card is a reminder that we are in charge of our own lives. We hold the reins!! It indicates movement, and re-taking charge.

These two cards tell me that Choice One, is best left alone. Essentially run for the hills from this option, it will not bring positivity.

Choice 2

First Card is The Four Of Pentacles.

This card promises stability, especially regarding material matters. The four pentacles, are harmoniously tied together, showing balance and security.

Second Card is The Nine Of Cups.

Cup cards relate to our emotional side. The Nine of Cups is all about bliss and harmony. It's tagline is wishes fulfilled.

So, on the opposite side of the spectrum, this choice seems much more positive, and will lead me to a place of positive completion.

The choice is simple.

Dream Catchers

One of the most therapeutic things I've ever done is make a dream catcher. It's an amazing magical experience, that is amazingly healing.
There is something ritualistic about weaving string and ribbon around wood, making patterns, losing yourself in the loops you're making. Working with your hands, and rough tools, it's a very organic process.

The History of Dream Catchers;
           Dream Catchers are believed to have originated with the Ojibwa people. They believed that the night air is full of both good and bad dreams. When a dream catcher is hung above the place you sleep it moves freely in the night air filtering your dreams. The dream catcher slowly spread throughout various tribes; it wasn't until the 1960s or 70s that it became known throughout all the Native American cultures.
    Dream Catchers used to be weaved by the woman of a tribe or household.
The mothers and grandmothers would weave magical webs from flexible woods like willow, as an honouring/offering to a goddess like force called 'Spider Woman' who legend said protected their tribal lands. They would hang these dream catchers over the cots of their babies, as well as their own beds. Aiding in peaceful sleep, as well as pleasant dreams.
   For me this is very similar to the witches "With Every Stitch A Wish" method.
 The web like layering of a dream catcher, meant good dreams who knew the way to go, would flow easily through the centre of the catcher, or in other cultures, it was said, they filtered down through the dangling feathers and into the sleeping persons head. Bad dreams however did not know the way, and couldn't navigate the trap, therefore they would get stuck, until the morning sun rose, and burned them into nothingness.

 I try to use as natural materials as possible to make my dream catchers. Wood from the forest, or twisted climbing wood from my garden. Twine that can be hand dyed using fruits and such.
Feathers and lace to decorate, crystals and symbols dangling.
Once you've got the basics down, you can get really creative.
As long as you stay rustic, there is no point of perfection, except what's in your minds eye.

It is said that Native Americans often find our modern day dream catchers "an undesirable form of cultural appropriation" - and whilst I do not mean to belittle their opinions, when you are making your own handmade dream catchers, and no one is profiting from them, I fail to see a downside.
Whether you are making one to look pretty on the wall, or you believe in the power they hold over dreams, it doesn't really matter.
 These histories can be altered and changed by the people who come and go from this earth, and therefore it makes true origin stories very hard to come by. We are often mis-informed that wearing feathers in our hair is a native American tradition, whilst we know from ancient oral tales and manuscripts, that Vikings and Druids also donned feathers long before Native Americans did.
 Both have claim to it, but that doesn't mean they own it, and can stop the other from doing so.
 Just because you are not from a culture, doesn't mean that some of it's motifs, gods, elements, will not resonate inside you. Go with what your gut tells you... don't buy into it for the 'cool' factor, feel a pull towards it, and run with it.

Apologises for the political note, but I felt it was important to talk about. I'm fully aware how many people will disagree with me, either because they actually think I am wrong, or because they love being PC.

Let me know if you make your own dream catchers, and post photos or links in the comments, so I can check them out!!

Merry Part,
Jade,
xx

Ferocious Vegan

I'm experiencing some serious 'world hate' right now... If you don't understand what this is, you probably have blinders on to what goes on around you; to what is on your plate, to what you're wearing, to the atrocities that go on all over the world around you.

I'm physically sick to my stomach - crying - mad - raging - distraught - beyond hope?

It's been an on-going debate on whether you can truly follow a path of nature worship, and eat meat and dairy in todays world.
Personally I think no.
You cannot claim to love mother earth, and protect her, if you defile and torture the animals upon this earth. We are a far cry from our ancestors killing for survival, and using every part of the animal for ritual, clothing, and food - in this world of mass production, you cannot pop to the supermarket, and buy a chocolate bar, or a chicken fillet with a clear conscience.
   Unless you rear your own animals, and honour them; killing only as a means for feeding your family, milking your own cows during their natural, non-hormone induced milk cycle. Collecting whatever eggs are left unfertalised at your feet - consuming without greed, and pain...in all honesty you have no argument I'm willing to listen to.

Today, I'm going to share a blog entry with you, that has come straight from my personal journal.
A trail of thoughts....of hopes...of dreams...of prayers.

I really hope with all my heart, that years from now, people will look back at how past generations ruined the world. I hope they will look and they will say 'Why?'
 I pray that future schools will teach the war on animals alongside Nazi Germany - that 'Eco' will be an important lesson taught. I pray for shops crammed with cruelty-free products. A world where our oceans aren't in threat - where 'Sustainable Environment' is more than just a marketing tool.
 I dream of children who run through forests, and can name the types of trees. Of children who can run home listing the wildlife they've seen that day, and running out of fingers to count them all on.
 A world where the common question is,
 "What do you mean you eat animals?"
A time when 'Cull' is no longer an except-able excuse, and the word is treated like the word, 'murderer'
A world where animals have won their fight for rights...and life!
A world of reading and intellect - where 'book worm' is a compliment. When ignorance is no longer bliss, and knowledge, not money, holds power.
 That love will conquer all in the end - and that romance and fairytales aren't taken for granted.
We have very nearly destroyed this planet, and I see no change coming in my lifetime. But I hold firm to my belief that one day, even though I will never see it - the revolution will come!
We are putting the base of the foundations in place for future generations to fix our devastating mistakes!!

Tonight I light a candle for the 150 BILLION animals murdered this year.
Some of us are trying...

Tonight especially has been rough. My faith is broken.
We experience periods like this. Times when it all seems so untouchable. And then their are highs. There are feelings of elation at progress, even the smallest kind. Like an ever turning wheel, are emotions flow and ebb...

Here are some potentially handy links;

• http://www.adaptt.org/killcounter.html
• https://www.vegansociety.com/
• http://therapytwins.com/documentaries-that-inspire-veganism/
• http://isitvegan.net/
• http://www.seashepherd.org.uk/
• https://www.animalsasia.org/uk/
• https://www.lush.co.uk/article/fighting-animal-testing-0

And there are plenty of facebook groups to nosey around;

• https://www.facebook.com/veganoutreach?fref=ts
• https://www.facebook.com/thevegankind?fref=ts
• https://www.facebook.com/AnimalEquality?fref=photo

Sorry for getting heavy with you guys...but not sorry really.