Apple Picking and Magic

With how much Cody and I have been working, it is rare that the both of us have an evening off together, let alone a whole day… But yesterday both of us were fortunate enough to be off work all day long with one another. Originally, we were talking about doing a lot of much needed shopping, running errands, cleaning house, then making dinner and calling it an early night; practical and boring, but thing that needed to be done.  However, as soon as we woke up and saw what a beautiful day it was, we decided an adventure was in order.

We got dressed, threw together some snacks, and jumped into the car and set off for Blue Ridge, GA. There is a family run apple orchard there called Mercier, which hosts a “U Pick,” where guests can pay for a bag and pick all the apples they could possibly ask for. Cody and I spent the day in the Orchards and picked more apples than I could ever dream of eating, so I imagine I will be spending the next several days putting  together obscene amounts of baked goods for my loved ones.

With all the time we spent in the orchards, surrounded by the mountains and apples, it was hard to not thing about all the wonderful, magical properties in which the apple possesses and the many ways that you can incorporate said properties into your magical and mundane life.

The magical properties of apples:

• Health and fertility
• Financial Abundance
• Happiness
• Protection
• Divination
• Connecting to the feminine
• Emotional and romantic love

As you can see, apples can be used for nearly anything you can possibly imagine, and using apples for these purposes are incredibly easy. For health, bless and apple before you eat it. Add apple seeds to a financial security mojo bag. Bake apple pies for your loved ones. Place apples on your altar to protect and bless it.

As you can imagine, you all will be flooded with magical apple crafts for the next week or so- in fact, as we speak I am waiting for my sweet potato and apple dog treats to come out of the oven, so you will be getting a post on the baking process within the day.

Apples…apples for days. I have a life time of magic laying across my counters at the moment (and at least a week’s worth of baking… at least), so I will leave you here for the moment. I hope you all enjoied your long weekend (if you did indeed have a long weekend).

Be Blessed,
-D

 

What is in my MoJo bag?

Just a short post, for in a few minutes I will be off to a job interview. Please cross your fingers for me, I need a second job pretty badly if we are going to be comfortable in our own finances… and plus also we are planning a surprise Disney World vacation for my mom, so the extra money would definitely help.
Because I am really needing a little extra “umph” in the working department, I decided I would make a prosperity and business MoJo bag to help me sell myself as best as I could to a potential employer and to help me stay calm and extremely productive whenever I am working. If you want to watch my YouTube video on what all I put in there (in case you want to see my make-up-less face and pony tail AND what the stones looked like) you can click HERE.

Within the bag I have a:

• Blue Goldstone- for good business sense and smart money investments.
• Tigers Eye- to keep you grounded and to protect the wealth that you already have.
• Citrine- to stay positive and promote a happy vibe, luck with money.
• Clear Quartz- to magnify all of the stone’s properties.
• Bluckeyes- something that has always been lucky to me.
• A Dollar- to represent the money we need.
• A note with all the needs of Cody and myself.

When I was finished stuffing my bag, I rested it in a bed of patchouli and cinnamon sticks so that it would be charged with their properties of luck and prosperity.

 

I got my mojo bag in my pocket… wish me luck, y’all. I need this.

-D

 

 

Five Crystals Every Beginner Needs

I’ve been feeling a little uninspired lately, so writing has become increasingly difficult. We are dealing with a lot of stress in the area of work and finances, leaving us exhausted at the end of the day. Lately, when I get stressed out, I’ve been going back to my basics and gathering my crystals, letting them heal my broken mind.

This being said, I have a pile of crystals sitting in my lap- a blue lace agate to help with my anxiety, black onyx to chase away negative feelings, blue calcite to help renew creative feelings, and so on. All of these crystals, most of which I’ve had for many years- from the days when I was first beginning my path. Thus, I bring to you, five crystals I believe every beginner should have in their collection.

Clear Quartz: Clear quartz, to me, is a stone of universal properties. Clear quartz carries and directs powerful energies, helping its handler to create sacred places in their home an in during magical workings. Placing this crystal next to another stone of in a bed of herbs magnifies their magical properties.

 

Amethyst: Sometimes, the world gets to be a bit too much for us all. One these days, Amethyst is one of the best stones to have on hand. This stone is soothing to the handler, easing their troubled minds. It is a very grounding stone, so holding it in your palm after magical working or a hectic day at work can help you return to center.

 

Tiger’s eye: This is another stone that is perfect for staying grounded. Tiger’s eye helps to clear your mind so that you may accomplish any task at that lies before you. It helps you unblock any worries that would affect your creativity. Keeping this stone on you or where you keep your money can help to protect the wealth you already have and to keep you from growing a greedy heart.

 

Rose Quartz: One of the best stones for your heart, Rose Quartz is ideal for aiding all matters of the heart; from self-love to emotional love, it helps mend broken hearts and to facilitate the growth of love. Carry it with you to boost self esteem and keep it near during your beauty rituals.

 

Black Onyx: I can’t think of a stone better for dispelling negative energy that may otherwise affect your mental and physical health. Placing a black onyx stone in all of the corners of your home can keep unwanted spirits away and any bickering within the home at bay.

 

These are five of my favorite stones and I find them to be some of the most useful to have. I hope some of you find this helpful and that you all have a wonderful day.

Blessing,
D

 

 

Magic with Cody

I’m very fortunate that my fiancé is my best friend. Seriously, he is the perfect person for me. I don’t say this just to be sappy or to portray an unrealistic relationship between us- we still bicker and have our issues, but that pales in comparison to the love, understanding, and support we experience from one another.

Waiting for the concert to begin… I was crying I was so excited!

I bring this up for two reasons. The first: last nights he helped me cross off a bucket list item and took me to see one of my very favorite bands ever… The Cure! Such a great time, they sounded amazing and I loved every second of it. The second reason: though we don’t necessarily share the same beliefs in terms of my spirituality, he still has a desire to learn and to be a part of my practice.

 

I was reading through some old books on witchcraft and was telling him about how I kind of miss practicing magic the way I use to; several years ago I was constantly crafting something, and now I am constantly reading about someone else’s craft. I then told him how I use to really enjoy making magical oils and using them to dress candles, tools, etc.

Being the person that he is, Cody then allowed me to elaborate on the making of oils, the steps I took to produce them and how I went about decided what ingredients I wanted to use. I got very noticeably worked up and excited while explaining it to him- I don’t always actively try to involve him in this portion of my life, I would rather him try to involve himself in it. Knowing how happy it made me, he asked me to make an oil with him.

Guys, I’m excited. Working magic with this man is always an adventure.

We have been working together to come up with a list of ingredients and a spell, I can’t wait to share it with you guys!

 

 

 

Witchy Haul

Last night, I took advantage of the full moon and charged all of my crystals. While I was sifting through my stones and laying them out in the dish, I came across a few stones that I had recently bought at The Ren Fest, but have never used or cleansed. I suppose it just got lost in the messy state my home is in.

When I picked up the stones, I didn’t really have much information on them. I simply grabbed them on impulse. As is would turn out, I grabbed exactly what I needed… funny how things like that always happen.

What did I pick up? I thought you would never ask…

Blue Calcite: I love light blue stones- they always seem to have a calming affect on me. Lately I’ve been having a hard time overcoming a lack of energy and creativity in my life. I have been so stressed out with my new job and my cluttered home that I constantly feel tired… After a while of holding this crystal in my hand, I felt as if I needed to write. My mind had suddenly cleared up and began researching my many new crystals. Blue Calcite, I learned, is often used to help overcome depression and anxiety, to boost creativity, and to help with communication.

Black Onyx: I have many bad habits that keep me from living my life to the fullest… bad habits that affect my decision making abilities that not only affect my life, but my fiancé’s as well… often resulting severe guilt that leads to depression. Wearing Black Onyx can help absorb negative energy that would otherwise affect you, help to change your bad habits (so long as you are actively working on changing the habit as well), and to help keep you from living in the past. I’ve been so haunted by my past mistakes that I am often unable to focus on the present- on fixing my past issues so that I may move forward with my life.

Blue Goldstone: Not that I’m all about looks, but the number one reason I picked up this stone is because I found it pretty… Sounds superficial of me, doesn’t it? Blue Goldstone is a man mad glass infuse with copper, so while it does not naturally come from the earth, much energy is put into creating this beauty. This stone is used in decision making regarding business and money and in helping to ease in job transitions (which is perfect for me, considering I am starting a new job). For empathic people, this stone can also help to protect your own heart when taking on other people’s emotions. My favorite explanation this stone comes from the Healing Crystals website, saying that the shimmering specks inside this navy blue stone capture the illusion of stars in the night sky, reminding us that even in our darkest times, there will be light.

These stones came to me when I needed them the most and I cannot wait to incorporate them into my daily life.  I hope I’ll have another witchy haul post soon!

Blessings,
D

 

 

 

 

 

Celebrating the Solstice

I’ve been struggling to keep my head above water lately, so I am sorry that I’ve been going to long between posts. My new job is starting off a little rocky for me and I’m still trying to get this house in order, but I am trying to get back on top of my game.

So, the Summer Solstice and the full moon… Can you think of a better time to practice magic? Instead of giving you a history lesson on the solstice or telling you all the ways that you could possibly celebrate it, I’ve decided to tell you what I am doing today.

If you have been reading my page for even a short amount of time, you will find a pattern with me: when I am getting ready to celebrate a holiday (or when I’m stressed) I clean. I hate cleaning, but I love a clean house. I feel like a clean, clutter free home lends itself to successful magic making- that having a fresh open room makes it near impossible for negative energy to gather in corners. So today, I clean.

When I am fished with my cleaning, I am baking blueberry and orange muffins as a summery treat and as an offering to the fae. Cody brought home tons of fresh blueberries and I bought more oranges than I can eat, so I am tinkering with muffin recipe and trying to come up with the perfect summery treat.

Other than that, we are simply going to enjoy dinner out on the patio with a glass of sweet wine… perhaps I’ll paint outside as well. But it is officially summer now, so I am planning on staying outside as much as possible.

What are you guys doing tonight?

 

Witchy Unpacking

The worst part about moving is undoubtedly the packing and unpacking. Sure, taking all of your belongings out of boxes has an air of “Christmas” about it… at first. But then it always seems to take a dark turn for the worst. You have more “junk” than you have room for and all the still packed boxes seem to multiply. It sucks.

To keep myself somewhat sane while unpacking and reorganizing, I’ve been slowly setting up altars around the house. It helps me channel my frustrations into creative, spiritual energy.

My Altar When I Lived With Cody’s Parents

When we lived with Cody’s parents, I wasn’t sure how his parent’s would feel if I had a full altar set up, so I had added a ton of “essentials” into a beautiful wooden box with flowered carvings.  Though I no longer need to hide all of my things, I still love having my box and have it on display on my main altar.

My Main Altar

I’ll be honest, I’m not 100% loving this set up. I thought having my altar on my dresser top would look wonderful and I would have a ton to room to spread out my tools, but now I’m not so sure. I guess we will figure that out later on.
My two white candles represent the god and goddess, I have taper candles to represent my elements, my tarot and oracle cards, my book of shadows and a few other’s here and there… but it still feels a little odd. I may begin looking for a smaller table and restart it from there.

My Living Room Altar

So far, this is my favorite part of my living room.
My living room altar, though to most it doesn’t appear to be an altar at all, I feel is even more magical than my main altar (which is a problem to me, but it is what it is). I have on it two of my favorite pictures of Cody and myself, all of the wine corks from the many bottles of wine I’ve shared with my family and friends, two lamps (one owl, on elephant), and my Buddha, Ganesha, and my owl totems, and a  few candles here and there. There is so much love on this small little area, it makes my heart happy.

I am still unpacking, still organizing, and still looking to create more altars, but so far this is where I am sitting.

As soon as I get a little more settled in, I will have more posts to come.

 

Witchy Tip: Use Rose

First of all, I’m sorry for the venting involved in yesterday’s post. My family is going through a lot right now and I had a desperate need to vent to the world without actually airing out all that dirty laundry to the people who personally know us. Today, I’m feeling a little bit better and I’m ready to write to you about all kinds of magical things.

Because I was so down last night, Cody brought up the topic of taking a Disney Vacation (I’m eat, sleep, breath Disney…) as a way of taking my mind off things. He promised that The next time we go, we will wait in line to meet the Beast- something I have never done before. That is when I began telling him about my life long fascination with roses.

From a young age, I have always believed that roses were magical. My favorite movie (then and now) was Beauty and the Beast and I was OBSESSED with that rose. My mother had a beautiful rose garden at the time, so any time we were outside I would pretend that all of those beautiful roses were magical, that they served as a “count down” to finding love. Sense then, I have always considered roses to be a sacred plant and I love using them in my magical workings.

How I use Roses in my magical workings:

• Have your received a bouquet from a loved one lately? Dry and keep the petals for future spell work. When my fiancé proposed, I pressed a few of the flowers to keep and I hung the others out to dry for upcoming spell work. When I need a spell for harmony in the household or to strengthen mine and my fiancé’s communication skills, I use these flowers.
• Boil the petals in water charged by the moon to make rose water. This can then be used in love related rituals, beauty spells, or as holy water. My favorite way to use rose water is to anoint candles with it when preforming love spells (love spells regarding my fiancé and I with his consent, so relax). When you are done with your rose water, store in a cool place.
• Add dried rose petals to homemade smudge sticks. It will purify your home and promote peace- I like to use sage, rose and lavender in one bundle.
• Take advantage of those thorns- they can be used in witches’ bottles and  home protection spells as a way to deter any negative forced from entering your home.
• Plant a bush as an offering to the Fae or the Green Man. Roses, to me, are the ultimate sign of beauty in nature. Planting and caring for the bush can be shown as a sign of respect and love to these nature entities, dedicating this special flower to these spirits may encourage them to look after and care for all of your other plants in your garden.

My magical used of roses may not be the Beast’s magical use of rose, but that magical movie lead to my love of this beautiful plant.

How do you use rose in your metaphysical life?

Blessings,
-D

An Abundance Check

**I was reading a random article that popped up on my phone today and the author had said something along the lines of “I wasn’t expecting the Spanish Inquisition.” So naturally, I needed to watch some Monty Python… Click HERE  if you wanna laugh with me, I’ve linked a video.**

Back to my original topic (sorry, I just really love all things Monty Python), last night Cody cast a spell WITH me… for the first time ever. While he has always been very supportive of my path, he has always “left me to it” when it comes to any metaphysical practices.

We were originally talking about why I lit my abundance candle last night- It was a new moon. My idea was that I would light it with the new moon- a time of potential. I would light it for some time every day after, as the moon was growing in power. Then, on the fourteenth day (our moving day) it would be a full moon, a time of high, actualized power. It all seemed very symbolic to me.
We spoke on about how every new moon I see the same simple spells come up again and again- easy but affective, can be done with every new moon. I told him about how a few years ago, I was watching a youtube video by Charming Pixie Flora where she wrote herself a check and signed it The Law Of Abundance.  She is no longer active on that channel but you can still view her old videos HERE. If you want to check out all that she is working on currently, you can view it HERE.

After explaining the spell to him, he looked at me with a raised eyebrow and said, “you wanna do it?” Of course I wanted to, I’ve never done anything like that with him.

What you need:
A blank check
A pen

What you do:

Start off your spell as you normally would- pray, meditate, cast your circle, and so on. We simply lit a white candle for the divine and I prayed that they would join us.

Before you start, focus on your needs being fulfilled. Do not be greedy, focus on your needs- Cody and I are in a serious financial bind right now, and honestly I’m not sure how we are going to get it done, all I know is that we will get it done, no matter how hard it is, we will work it out. Because we were casting the spell together, we spoke aloud our needs, what exactly our bills were, what we are being on, the amount we need to come up to move, the amount we need to be comfortable, and so on.

When you have you needs in your mind, you may fill your check using the guide listed above. Your name, paid in full, signed by The Law of Abundance.

What you do with the check from here is up to you. I’ve heard of people mailing it to themselves, burning it, or (what Cody chose to do) simply keep it in your wallet to hold on to.

The idea is not to have money show up at your door two days later, the idea is that while you work and save, you will find making and saving money much easier. The Universe will provide for you, so long as you try to provide for yourself.

Much love,
-D

Home Blessing Ritual

I’ve been having a high anxiety day- no particular reason that I can think of other than “just because.” I don’t know what happened, one minute I was writing down my shopping list and the next… well, it wasn’t pretty. I’m currently trying to shake myself out of it with by quickly changing my clothes (you know… out of my pajamas), dropping my favorite blue lace agate stone in my pocket, starting another pot of coffee, and lighting my Abundance and Prosperity Candle to the first time.
I’m trying to turn this day around.

By the time I was finally able to calm myself down from hyperventilating, I kept telling myself to “think of something nice.” I balled up under my favorite blanket and closed my eyes, trying to think of ANYTHING that made me happy- it is hard when you are covered in your own snot from crying for no known reason. The first thing that came to mind was making candles and soaps with my lovely friend over at Under the Moon Beams. For a while we passed the time together making and selling our goods as a hobby, but couldn’t keep it up due to our living situations. The second thing that came to mind was that in fourteen days, I would have the keys to my new place in hand… and if we wanted to (which I surely do), we could start up our fun little “business” yet again.

Now my mind is wandering to my new home- what it will look like, smell like, how it will be decorated, what the first meal I cook in it will be (probably frozen cheese pizza…), and how blessed I am that I will once again be able to say that “I’m home.” Because we have so much negative energy attached to us from being here, I have decided to come up with a Home Blessing Ritual so that Cody and I can ensure that we begin our lives in our new home with a clean slate.

What you will need:

• A bowl or a spray bottle
• distilled water
• vodka (only if you are planning to save your potion for future use)
• clear quartz
• a lemon peel
• sage
• lavender
• sea salt

I chose these items because it is what I feel will protect my home- I love the combination of sage, lavender and lemon! Use what speaks to you or simply use what you have one hand. If all you can come up with is a Mickey Mouse cereal bowl and tap water, so be it. Just be sure to really focus on your intention while preforming this ritual.

What to do:

Start by praying, mediating, invoking your deities, or even casting a circle- whatever you would normally be doing before a ritual. However, bear in mind that if you are casting a circle, you WILL be needing to move throughout the entirety of your home, so cast that circle WIDE!

Put all of your ingredients together in your bowl/spray bottle one at a time, focusing on the magical properties of each. If you are planning on saving you mixture for a future use, use equal parts Vodka and distilled water. Once everything is mixed together, hold your vessel tightly in both hands and charge it with you energy.

Starting at your front door, walk deasil (clockwise) around your home sprinkling your mixture high and low, making sure to hit every wall, corner, closet, front and back of door, window and so on. As you are sprinkling your water, say aloud “Bless this home, only happiness dwells here, protect all within, with the divines love so dear.” Speak every word confidently, envisioning each sprinkling of water purifying your home and banishing any negative energies that may linger around your home. Think of the cleansing properties of the lemon and sage, the peace and love of the lavender, and how the quartz magnifies all of those magical properties.

When you arrive back to where you began, wash your front door with the mixture. Focus on you blessings and the idea of happiness, abundance and prosperity coming in. Know that this mixture will prevent any evils in the world from entering.

When you are finished with your ritual, you may either save your mixture in a glass jar, or return the water to the Earth.

Hope some of you are able to make use of this little ritual. Writing it surely took my mind off of everything and I am very excited to use it when we move [in fourteen days].

Blessings
-D