TIP OF THE DAY - HONOURING VENUS

The Roman goddess Venus (also known by her Greek name, Aphrodite) is commonly known as a goddess of beauty and love. However, in her aspect as Venus Columba she is a goddess of peace (symbolised by a white dove). Venus Felix is 'lucky Venus' and Venus Verticordia is the 'changer of hearts'. It is Venus Verticordia who turned into a spring goddess, since her festival, the 'Veneralia' was celebrated on the 1st of April in ancient Rome.

Venus is a goddess of fertility, both for women and for nature in general, so it is appropriate to celebrate her around the time of the spring equinox. Why not do something in her honour as part of your Ostara celebration?

In 'The Book of Goddesses' by Roni Jay, I found the following simple little ritual to honour Venus in her own element - Nature:

Put some flower seeds in a scallop sea shell and sprinkle the seeds where you want them to grow. The scallop sea shell is associated with Venus, and any flowers associated with love, such as Love-in-a-Mist (Nigella Damascena) are good to use for this ritual that can be performed either the first day you 'smell spring in the air,' on the day of the spring equinox or on the 1st of April.

Bright Spring Blessings

Lisa

http://tarothealingbylisa.blogspot.com/

TIP OF THE DAY: ST PATRICK'S DAY

Today is St Patrick's Day !

St Patrick is the patron saint of Ireland, who was born in the late 4th century to Roman descendants in Britain. In 403AD, he was captured by Irish raiders and brought to Antrim in Northern Ireland, where he was sold into slavery. It was there, while looking after his masters herds, that he first learned to pray.

After being able to flee on a ship to Gaul, he became a disciple of St Germanus of Auxerre, and for 15 years, he lived and studied in France, before returning to Ireland as a missionary and consecrated bishop, in 432AD.

At Tara, in Meath, St Patrick confronted King Laoghaire with the Christian Gospel and in the process, converted the King's daughters.

In 444AD he established his bishop's seat at Armargh and from there founded a strong foundation of the Irish church.

St Patrick died in 461 AD on Strangford Lough, Downpatrick.

With it being St Patrick's day, why not learn something "Irish" today, like this lovely Ancient Irish Love Binding Spell?

As you probably know, binding spells, including love bindings, can be a double edged sword as far as free will and benevolence are concerned.

In love bindings, there are two main categories of spells.

Mutual Bindings: spells cast on each other by a loving couple as an affirmation of their feelings for another. These are entered into with free will and the desire to do so.

One-sided Bindings: spells of this nature are cast by one party over another, often without their knowledge or consent. They are desperate attempts to save relationships and force the other to stay, a way of gaining 'ownership' of the other person. As these spells ignore the free will and consent, they very rarely work out happily for either party involved.

This little spell firmly belongs into the group of mutual bindings and should be seen as a romantic affirmation of each others feelings.

For this Ancient Irish Hair Binding Spell, give your partner a bracelet woven out of your own hair (or, if you are not in posession of a floating mane, make one from wool or leather, in which you weave a few strands of your own hair which you can pick from your hairbrush for example).

The power which lives in someones hair and comes with being in possession of it is widely known through a variety of sources (Samson in the Bible, anyone?). As such, the giving of your hair to another person represents an act of trust and love.

This binding will only be activated, if the gift is accepted and the spell itself is agreed to by the person of your choice - it cannot be imposed on another!

Warm St Patrick's Day Blessings

Ilona

TIP OF THE DAY - LEMON WATER

This is an ancient Ayur Vedic tip to help you start your day the right way. It's one of the best ways to cleanse, detox and energise quickly in the morning.

Squeeze the juice from half an organically grown lemon into a cup of warm (not hot) water. Drink up! Ideally you should do this first thing in the morning to revitalise.

Lemon is an acidic fruit but it actually helps your body become more alkaline, which is very positive for the immune system. Other benefits of lemon water are:

* Improves digestion
* Cleanses and stimulates the liver and kidneys
* Contains the minerals calcium, magnesium and potassium

* Contains vitamin C
* Cleanses the skin from within

It is always good to start the day properly hydrated, and don't forget to keep drinking plenty of water through the day to keep your energy levels up!

Bright Blessings,

Lisa

http://tarothealingbylisa.blogspot.com/

The Wheel of the Year

Hello and Merry Meet everyone!

As the wheel of the represents the idea at the heart of our group, we thought we would post a little summary of its history and main events.

The idea of the wheel of the year as a representation of the changing seasonal and solar aspects of the year constitutes a very ancient common heritage of humanity, with its origins possibly reaching as far back as the neolithic era. Depictions of wheels in stone are quite common, and may as well represent the turning of the times (their intended meaning is not known to this day).

So, as part of an underlying earth-based spirituality, the idea of the wheel of the year has accompanied humanity for thousands of years.

In this context of earth-based spirituality, as in Wicca or paganism, the Wheel of the Year represents the major events in the natural year, such as the seasons, solstices and equinoxes, which are celebrated in eight Sabbats, the four greater and four lesser ones:

In general, the Wheel is divided in two main parts: summer/light and winter/darkness. The two major deities of paganism and Wicca, the Goddess and the God, rule superior at specific times, with the Goddess dominating the summer months (the growing season) as the goddess of fertility and abundance, while the God dominates the winter months as the god of hunting and death (with hunting having been the major source of fresh food during these times).

The eight Sabbats divide into two categories, the seasonal and solar festivals.

The four greater Sabbats celebrate the natural shift of the seasons, with Beltaine and Samhain representing the main divisions between summer/winter, light/darkness. Imbolc and Lammas mark the midpoints in between, recognising specific occasions in the agricultural year, Lammas for example being a celebration of harvest.

The four Lesser Sabbats are solar festivals, marking the events in the solar calendar, the solstices (Litha and Yule) and equinoxes (Ostara and Mabon).

There is no singular way in which to emphasise or celebrate these Sabbats in the wiccan or pagan community. Some groups, for example, may concentrate on the seasonal (Greater) Sabbaths, while others put their emphasis on the solar festivals.

As you progress on your spiritual journey, you may be intuitively drawn to certain Sabbats and decide to only celebrate those important to you, or you might choose to treat all eight with equal reverence - the choice is yours!

As we are progressing through the Wheel of the Year, we will blog on each of the upcoming Sabbaths in more detail, giving you an overview of their meaning and tradition as well as ideas on how they might be celebrated, so do stay tuned for the blog on Ostara, coming shortly.

Crystal of the Month - Amethyst

Merry Meet!

This is our first blog post about crystals. We will focus on one crystal every month, in order to learn a bit about its healing properties as well as how it can be used in magick. We start with Amethyst since this crystal is related to the sign of Pisces, which we are in right now. Amethyst is also highly benefical to people born in the signs of Capricorn, Aquarius and Virgo.

Amethysts come in lots of different shades, ranging from a light lavender to a deep purple. They are also produced synthetically but as amethyst is quite a common crystal all over the globe, you don't need to worry about the amethyst you bought in your local metaphysical shop being a fake. It's the deep purple ones found in gold and silver jewellery that can be synthetic.

Amethyst is a wonderful healing crystal that aligns the energy centres (chakras) of the body and creates unity between spirit and matter. Amethyst is one of the few crystals that doesn't need cleansing, as it instantly transmutes negative energies into healing energies, and can therefore be used to cleanse other crystals. You could, for instance, place any crystal that feels a bit 'tired' on an amethyst cluster to cleanse and recharge it.

The main energy centres affected by the amethyst are the third eye (just above and between your eyebrows), the crown (top of your head) and the root chakra (base of the spine).

Placing an amethyst on the third eye increases intuition, and sleeping with an amethyst under your pillow (or wearing amethyst jewellry in bed) greatly augments dream recall. Just holding an amethyst in your hands during meditation eases the process and helps clear the mind. The amethyst raises the vibration of its bearer and shifts the mental focus to spiritual matters. It creates a sense of peace and oneness with the All-That-Is.

On the physical level, amehtyst is great for headaches and migraines. It also prevents inebriation and helps break addictive patterns. It's a great all around cell healer and regenerator as it helps the person working with the crystal vibration to see clearly what is out of alignment and thus creating the 'dis-ease' in the body. Amethyst is also an excellent blood purifier and is one of the main healing crystals for arthritis. It has a positive effect on the nervous system in general and on the brain in particular.

The numerological vibration of amethyst is 3.

Amethyst makes a wonderful elixir and is not toxic, so the crystal can be left to soak in water for as long as your intuition guides you. You can either drink the water straight away (don't forget to remove the crystal first!) or add some kind of preservative (brandy, vodka or vinegar are commonly used.) There are many different ways of making your crystal elixirs and there is plenty of information about this in crystal books and online. Just like when you choose crystals, choosing the method that works for you will simply be the one that 'feels right'.

Magickally, amethyst is the 'seer stone' and would be ideal to keep with your divination tools (tarot cards, pendulum, I-Ching coins etc) to cleanse and recharge them. Some even use the amethyst itself for scrying (crystal gazing). For this a 'dragon egg' shape would be ideal. The dragon egg has a polished 'window' on one side, and the seer gazes through this window.

There will be general information posted on how to work with crystals a bit later on, so watch this space!

Bright Blessings,
Lisa
http://tarothealingbylisa.blogspot.com/