A Ritual Bath

Many years ago every Friday night instead of going out I would stay home and take a purifying bath, one that was set to ground me and lighten my spirits at the same time.  It was a wonderful ritual that I have often thought of restarting.  The bath included:

a handful of either rose or lavender, for purification, happiness, and tranquility
a handful of salt, for grounding
one glass of wine, for happiness and elation

The wine gets poured in the water along with the salt and herbs.  Soak for a while.  Done regularly it is a wonderful ritual which allows you to center after a long week and prepare yourself for the weekend ahead.

As the year draws to an end...

Mabon is over and the wheel continues to turn.  I read this morning that a sense of foreboding is coming across many.  For me it is as well but that sense is mixed with excitement.  When I started this blog it was with the intent of sharing information.  I have found that sometimes sharing information on Facebook is easier as a lot is contained in images that one comes across.  And today on my computer I found a lot!  But, the blog is much nicer when I want to share something in this format.

I am looking forward to the upcoming year.  As this year draws to a close I am starting to think of what the next year will bring.  Will I fulfill my goal of sharing the meanings of the Sabbats?  Will I remember to post the ways that I find to incorporate nature into my everyday life?

I look back on the year and think of what I have learned and accomplished.  I planted my first ever urban garden and had wonderful fresh vegetables this year.  Next year I hope for more.  I planted a new herb garden which provided me with amazing flavors all summer long.  And as the year draws to a close and I harvest the final fruits of the year, I see the many dried herbs on my counter and think of the power they will have going forward as I use them because I put the time and energy into creating them.

In the year to come I want to create a garden blessing for Ostera.  That was one thing I wanted to do badly this year but was so focused on getting the gardens in that blessing them never happened.  I want to write a thanking ritual for Mabon to thank the gardens for everything they have given me.  Although we tried to thank the gardens at every harvest sometimes the thought slips your mind.

I was to try to better honor my ancestors this Samhain.  Although I often celebrate it, the honor to those who have passed before me seems to be missing.  I want to correct that.  I look forward to celebrating Yule/Christmas/Hanukkah with my family.  We are very multicultural in our household.

I thank those who have followed this journey and hope that this coming year I can provide many more ideas, food for thought, and continue to share as I continue to learn.  Although it may be a few days late, I am thankful for the harvest and for my home and family.  But, I am also thankful to have a place to grow and share.  I look forward to the new year!

Where does God reside?

One of the complaints that I have heard from people about my path is that there is a Wiccan belief that the Divine resides in us all.  Many Christians will tell me how it is sacrilegious to believe that the Spirit of God resides within each of us.  How untrue this is!  The Bible gives many references to the Holy Spirit living within each of us.

I am reminded of an old song that I was taught in Sunday School when I was growing up, the refrain of which is:

The Church is not a building
The Church is not a steeple
The Church is not a resting place
The Church is the people

Going back to the Old Testament in Ezekiel the Bible states "And I will put my Spirit within you" (Ezekiel 36:25-27).  In 1 Corinthians we are told that "God's Spirit dwells in you" (1 Corinthians 3:15-17).

Romans 8:11 takes this a step further and tells us that the only way we may live is the have the Spirit dwelling within us.

Given this confirmation from the Bible how is it wrong to believe that the Divine lives in each of us?  The Holy Spirit is a part of the Trinity therefore Divine!  To be baptized is to invite the Holy Spirit to reside in you.

I recognize the Divine within myself.  Does that make me Divine?  No, far from it.  And I have yet to meet a Pagan who states that they are the Divine because the Divine lives in them.  They are part of the Divine.  Just as all Christians are one in the body of Christ, Pagans are one with the Divine.

I will happily allow the Divine to live within me and to commune with my Spirit.  As those intertwine I only become closer to my Divine family and closer to all those who are also entwined with my Divine family.

Here, There, And Everywhere

I tend not to post when I have nothing good to say.  People don't want to listen to me complaining all day long.  Therefore, I tend to be quiet sometimes.  Take last month for example.  There has been a lot of strife in my family.  There is one member who has decided all of his problems are caused by others.  But, most often he believes they are caused by me.  I do feel bad for him; his mother died several years ago and I am his stepmother.  According to him I stole his father away from him and changed his father into someone unrecognizable.  The rest of the family can recognize his father, just not him.  It is also important to know that my stepson has three young children, while I have two youngsters of my own.

I expect that everyone is asking what this has to do with natural cleaning or being a Christian Witch.  I am actually not sure, but I did need that background out there for this post because this post is all about a strange happening this morning.  I have not practiced yoga in some time and when I awoke this morning decided I was going to take a half hour for this activity.  After a while of planks and warriors, down dogs and trees I settled in for meditation as I always do.  Perhaps I picked a bad song for my meditation but is was a bit upbeat.

Normally when I am in this state I attempt to be still and quiet, acknowledge whatever thought comes to mind and allow it to exit my mind.  This was not happening today as a thought fought through.  With this music as a soundtrack I was transported to a mystical world.

First I had bricks of white energy that I was building with.  I thought I was building a building but it turned out to be stairs.  After I climbed the stairs I came to a woods.  I ran along a path in the woods in traditional witches garb including the hat (it felt that the hat was very very important here).  It was as though the sky was green and there was mist along the ground.

I got to a sunny yet misty clearing and became very powerful.  Several times I collected energy and released it seeing it flow in and out of me as a large blue stream and surround me as a blue ball.  When I collected it I was able to collect it so that the ball of energy around me was completely internalized and when it was released it was an explosive stream of energy from my head, hands, and heart directed at the sky.

I ran some more and repeated this scene in the clearing until suddenly there was at least one young girl, a protege, with me.  I thought at first it was my daughter but then I realized it was not.  She and I hugged and I showed her how to handle the energy of the woods we were in.  Then, she was my daughter, and she and I laughed and sang and danced.  I started imparting secrets of the forest to my daughter.  She ran down the lane smiling and giggling.

Out of nowhere then was a dark presence, flying, bigger than a bird, smaller than a dragon.  It was very very dark.  It kept trying to shut out the light.  Every time it would try to come down toward me I would propel light and energy at it from the woods.  This happened three times before it seemed to subside and I came back to reality, seeing my third eye.

When I finally opened my eyes I had this strong feeling I need to do a spell for family harmony.  It is supposed to have incense in it.  I don't know what kind it is but I can smell it.  I know that I already own the incense but due to a failure to mark the bags I really don't know what it is.  It has a slight sandalwood resonance with much lighter flowery scents.  I feel like I am being guided here but I really have no idea what this could mean.

I am off to see what I can learn about harmony spells and how to do them without changing someone's free will.  Hopefully it will come to me what this all means but until then, I put it out for the world...

Mosquitos Everywhere

Back to the real topic of this blog: natural cleaning, remedies, and Christian Witchy living.  Enough with the failure and not being good enough because we all are.

I have a few friends who I believe may need this post.  One in particular, whom shall remain nameless, has apparently fallen in love with skyclad rituals.  As I would not recommend using many chemicals along all those sensitive areas (male or female) I figured it was a prime time to share the chemical-less mosquito repellent:

In a 16oz bottle combine:
15 drops lavender oil
4 tbsp vanilla extract
1/4 cup lemon juice

Fill the bottle with water.  Shake before applying.

A few homemade mosquito traps strategically placed may also help.  I found a good one on The Survivalist Blog.

Ingredients:
1 cup of water
1/4 cup of brown sugar
1 gram yeast
1 2-liter bottle

Directions:
1. Cut the plastic bottle in half.
2. Mix brown sugar with hot water.  Let cool.  When cold pour in the bottom half of the bottle.
3. Add the yeast to the brown sugar mixture.  There is no need to mix it. This is just used to create carbon dioxide, which attracts mosquitos.
4.  Place the funnel part upside down into the other half of the bottle, taping them together if desired.  This allows the mosquitos to fly in but not back out.
5. Wrap the bottle with something black, leaving the top uncovered, and place it outside in an area away from where you plan to be.

I hope that these few ideas help to keep the bug population around your special place down and they leave you alone.  Enjoying outdoors is what summer is about!

Is failure a failure?

I have been thinking about this question a lot the past few days.  I know it doesn't really fit in with the topic of the blog but I feel as though I am being pushed to write it by that unknown entity.  So here is hoping that someone out there may need to read this.  Plus it follows up on my last post nicely.

We have a situation in my family right now where my step son is failing at a task.  He is failing miserably.  If it were school, he would have an F-.  I tried to help but wasn't in a position to do much.  My husband tried to help but no longer can.  I am the enforcer of the fact that we no longer can; therefore, I have become a Disney character - the evil step mom.  We tried, but helping was not teaching.

Over the weekend I had a conversation with my in-laws and they tried to tell me how it would be different if it was my own child because you never want to see your child fail.  I thought about it for a minute and then had to tell them, no, I would have the same attitude, maybe worse with my own children.  Of course I don't want to see them fail.  I don't want to see anyone fail.  But, failure is a part of life.  I think we have forgotten that.  Failure will happen.  My children will stay up too late and not study and get an F.  Should I go into school and complain to the teacher?  No.  I need to use the failure to teach my children how to make better decisions.

Remember, failure will happen.  The question is what will you do when it does?  Will you blame others, cry about it in your beer, and wait for someone else to pick up the pieces?  Or will you pick yourself up, examine what you did (or didn't do), examine your priorities, and set up a plan for success?  In the small failures that I expect from my children I really hope I can teach them to do the latter.  No one is going to succeed at everything they ever try.  Failure is a tool for teaching.  It is not the end but the beginning.

What do I do about the fact that my step son will no longer speak to me or his father?  Nothing.  What can I do?  I cannot control him.  I would love to talk to him but this is a failure of his emotions.  Either he will accept the fact that we can no longer help or he won't.  As I have said to my own children many times, "My job is not to be liked.  My job is to raise responsible members of society."  They may not like my teaching method but it is what it is.  Take the failure and learn from it.  Decide what is important and do it.  But don't blame others.  Only you can do what you set out to do.

Plan, prioritize, and find how to succeed and take responsibility!

Inadequacies

I am even finding the beginning of this post inadequate.  This is my third attempt to write my first paragraph.  There, I did it!

Often as I go through my day to day life I run into many places where I think, I should be doing better. Like right now I should be on my way to work but I am here writing instead.  It is probably good I was not on my way to work because an unexpected downpour came into being and I was able to frantically close all the windows in the house before it rained in.  That, by itself, is the message.  While we may think that we should be doing one thing, there is a reason we are not.  I choose today to believe that I stayed home for a reason.  Not only is that reason to share this with whoever happens to be reading this blog but to also close the windows so it did not rain in.

I have friends who post beautiful pictures on Facebook of altars and artwork that they have done; of wonderful scenery and places they have found.  My work seems to pail in comparison.  At least most of the time.  I am working on a book for myself.  And it is turing out beautiful.  But, I won't share most of it.  I did share the cover page and got some very positive response for it.  However, I don't want to be a show off, I don't want to burden my friends with having to respond about how nice they think it is.  Instead I focus on the negative of how my altar is not as beautiful, I could never make something as artistic as them.

In this season of growing, I think it is my attitude that needs to grow.  Instead of looking at my own work as inadequate, I should look to theirs for inspiration.  Instead of trying to banish the negativity caused by others, I should focus on banishing the negativity caused by myself.  I have learned a lot in the past few years.  The purpose of this blog is to share it.  Therefore, the only piece of true knowledge I give you today is this: you can only change yourself.  Promote what you want to see and who you want to be.  Do not let another's success feel like your failure.  We are here to help and support each other along our path, whatever that path may be.

Next time I post it will be more fun.  No more feeling like I can't do this.  I can write this blog and share what is in my head and heart.  What has you feeling inadequate and what can you do to change the situation for yourself?