Personal Power

I think that this is relevant for other women as it is for me. We all have to come to terms with a few serious issues as we grow into adult hood. The main issue being what exactly do we want out of life? I know that this is something men do too, but some woman have the habit of being incredibly giving to other people. I just finished a two year relationship. While I cherished and loved the time that was spent together when it was over the dust settled I was left feeling like I had just crawled out of the long dark of Moria. Who was I? Or better yet, who did I want to be? My life had become all about him and in that I completely lost myself.
            One of the things, that a lot of Goddess’s whom represent change and personal power tell us is that before anything new can happen the old has to come to an end. That to become ourselves we must travel through the dark of the forest to come back into the light of the day. This is something that I have always preached but I don’t think I had much self-practice. The forest can be a dark and scary place if we look at everything as a challenge. Yet instead of seeing it as a challenge we can look at it as an opportunity to find out new things about ourselves.
            Putting our ideals into alignment with this train of thought can yield tremendous results. Even at the utter and complete end of something you can come out feeling new and refreshed knowing that you have taken a step for yourself. All too often women and healers get wrapped up in taking steps for other people. We forget to love ourselves and to take care of our needs. We so often put the needs of others before our own. Is this a bad thing? No. One of the good qualities of the feminine is its devotion and loyalty to others. I believe that this is part of the great divinity of the feminine. By nature people who are feminine love to give their energy and love to other people. This is an exceedingly necessary part of the cycle of life. However, if this is also not tempered with self-reliance and concern for ones own self we can give to much of ourselves away. Sometimes that is not a problem but what happens when the people or person that we have given ourselves to is no longer in our lives? Now we’re trapped in the dark with no idea what to do.
            The practice of personal power is a relatively new idea, but at the same time an ancient concept. The huge spiritual wave of enlightenment in the early 1900’s brought with it women’s rights. Yet, in ancient times these things were commonplace. Married women in Rome had rights to everything the husband owned and could sue him for it in court if he divorced her. The Priestess’s of Ancient times were often held in high regards. In some places they even consulted in politics and held council positions to men in power. Wise women around the world were revered over the male chieftains or tribal leaders. The power of the women in these places was not feared or restricted but revered. With time and change the personal power of women was taken away until at one point they were no more than property of men.
            As I come into adulthood I am faced with the real world. A place where personal power is thought little of and where men and women alike are simply told what is expected of them.  That doesn’t make it any more important, in fact I think it should make it more. When we loose ourselves in what other people expect when those people move on (as people do) we are left not knowing what it is we should be doing. The answer to this question is “What do YOU want to be doing?”. When I came out of the forest, there was only one thing I had in my head that I wanted to do. Write. Write so much and bleed my heart and soul out onto paper. I know that not only will it help me find myself but it will give me a chance to do something I love more than anything.
            For myself personal power is about know and not being afraid of the real things in life you want. Simply knowing who you are and what you want gives you a firm sense of solidity in your life. I don’t think you will ever know exactly everything about yourself because our realities are so vast and different from one another we are always learning and changing. Though you should at least try to know enough about yourself where you can be comfortable within your own skin. Know what you want to expect from people, know how you’d like to be treated and don’t take any other treatment besides that. Know what makes you happy, and then see yourself making positive strides towards it.

Personal Power: Pages from a Witches Cabinet
Correspondences: Red, Orange, Gold, Black
Number: 1 (your OWN power)
Astrology: Aries is a deity of Power, any days or associations to Mars, During the Waxing/Full Moon
Hera, Hecate, Maeve, and other goddess of power can all be used for Personal Power invocations.
Daily affirmations are a good way to declare Personal Power: “I AM!!” is a good simple affirmation
Make lists or journal about the things that you want out of your life, write or about the things that make you happy or sad if you want to find out who you are. Actively see yourself taking steps to better your life and put yourself in a position that makes you happy.

Happy Solar New Year

As we welcome in the Solar New year, we are blessed with the powerful and positive energy of change. The ending of a passage around the sun to begin a new one is no small event, just as the ending of the seasons to welcome a new one. The Solar New year is the perfect time to openly welcome the positive side of change into our lives. Even though some people are afraid of change, it is a fact of life that there is GOOD change. This is also something the Temple of Hecate teaches. When we are aware of the events of our lives, it is very easy to see and ask for were change needs to be made. This can be about ourselves, or even our environment. Positive changes can be made by simply asking for them. Today, write a small list of the positive changes you want this year. This can be in the forms of Resolutions, or affirmations. You can make a spell of it if you’d like. As the new years ball drops be aware of the changes in your life that you’d like. Bringing this changes into your awareness at such a magnificent energy change will help boost them into action. Try to stay as sober, and aware of the night as possible so that our judgment isn’t impaired and our ability to stay focused isn’t lost. And as Always, Drive safe, and enjoy your evening. Have a Happy New Years. J  

Changing a house into a home.

If you read my daily cards yesterday, you can see that the focus of yesterday was change. So todays post will be just about that; Change. You can ask anyone, I hate change. If suddenly something changes, I get all worked up and upset. It may be because, as a water element I just prefer slower change. However, not ALL change is bad. Even I know this. Some change, including sudden changes are necessary for the benefit of yourself and the many. Sometimes change teaches us lessons, sometimes it offers us opportunities to better ourselves and the people around us.
    Currently, my boyfriend and I are living with some roommates. Both, pretty good friends of ours. However, my issue with this is it doesn’t feel like home. You know, that feeling you get after a long days of work and you sit down with your feet up and you go…”Ahh…”. Well, I don’t get that here. And it is frustrating. I like living with them, it is a good opportunity for me. Its cheap, clean, accessible, and the people are good people. Yet, I can’t make it my own space. Which, is something else that water elements like to do. Have their own space. Everyone else’s energy is always buzzing about, they’re always leaving it floating around and about. On top of that, it was the house that both roommates grew up in, so they feel a claim to the space. Leaving me just feeling like a guest.
    Although, this is the place I live. This SHOULD be my home. So, I’m going to work on changing the place to an energy that we can all feel comfortable with. I just bought a book called Cottage Witchery by Ellen Dugan, one of my all time favorite book, but my original copy seemed to have walked away. With the help from the book, some of my own magick, and hopefully cooperation from my boyfriend and roommates I’d love to change this into, our home. At the very least, I’d like to make it so that I am comfortable.

With all the anxiety issues I have, on top of being an empath, I have the unfortunate habit of collecting and keeping all their negative energy and all their straggling sorts of buzzing vibes and keeping it. I do my best to suffice, wearing a hematite necklace, grounding and centering often, but just can’t seem to do enough to keep the house level. So I’m really counting on help from this book.

The good thing about Cottage Witchery is it’s a relatively simple prospect, and can be as cheap or as expensive as you’d like it. The main prospect is about attuning the house with the natural flow of energy of the earth, channeling that through ones “Hearth” of the house and rippling that energy outwards. This can be done by adding different elements of magick to different parts of the house.

    And these elements don’t specifically have to be spells or charms, it can be all about what colors you paint the walls, flowers you bring in, and candles you arrange. The way you move your furniture has an impact on the overall energy of the house, the Chinese have been practicing this, Called Feng Shui for hundreds of years. Magick is not all about spells or rituals. It can be so much simple and far more subtle than that.
    That is what Cottage Witchery is all about. And these little and subtle changes are what I plan do to help me adjust.