Weekend Happenings

Greetings all. Just a quick post for today. Yesterday, I used a 1 in 4 earned day off from mandatory overtime to spend some time with my sister, Aurora Skye. After we had lunch, we went shopping here and there at our favorite places. One of them was. "Gem on Penn" where I found some beautiful pieces of gemstone jewelry ...

 A pair of garnet earrings ...

 

A pretty peridot pendant and earring set ...

Larimar studs ...

And also a pair of emerald studs ...

 "Gem on Penn" was letting all of their customers pick out a piece of jade to celebrate "St. Patrick's Day". ☘☘☘☘

I bought another novelty tarot deck of "Cats" (really cute) at "Barnes & Noble" ...

This is what the box looks like on the sides ...

"Ulta Beauty" gives you a little gift bag of three goodies when you spend a certain amount ...

And, finally at "Michael's" this book ...

This book sounds like another version of the motion picture, "The Cutting Edge" ... one of my FAVORITE movies!! ...

💕💕💕💕💕💕💕💕💕💕💕💕💕💕💕💕💕

New Mermaid Tarot Deck

I very recently purchased a new Mermaid Tarot deck at "The Mystic Mind". The main reason that I bought it was because I really loved the beautiful artwork!

Now, do I plan on actually using this deck for my readings? Not exactly because my go-to deck has always been the Aquarian Tarot. It embodies my personal energy and so I am quite comfortable with it ...

My wooden hand-crafted tarot card box from my trip to Salem, MA many years ago! ...

The Mermaid Tarot Deck and accompanying Guide Book ...

Along with the new deck, I also purchased this hard cover book on sale at Barnes & Noble, "The Book of Tarot" by Sahar Huneidi-Palmer ...

And, I could not resist this cute little Cat Cafe Mystery book ...

TBT- Divining the Future Pt. 1: The Tarot

This is a post I had written back in October of 2010. I have decided to re-post it for two reasons ~ 1) for those followers who may not have been with me at that time, and, 2) because I have added a second part to this particular one which I will post on my blog next week's TBT ~ it will be titled, "Divining the Future: Speaking of Ouija Boards." Well, here goes!:

Who isn’t intrigued to some degree by the art of divination? Even those who are seemingly skeptical are still somewhat fascinated by the idea. From tea leaves to tarot cards, divination goes back centuries. It is simply astounding how many different types of tools are used. Pendulums, palmistry, runes, tarot cards, ouija boards, crystal balls/scrying, egg yolks and even coffee grounds are just a few examples of how to divine the future.

On Samhain 2002: Me with Waterfae at "Barbon's Tavern" in Reading, PA

The vast majority of witches whom I have known over the years have learned some form of divination skill along their path. As for me, I read the tarot and have been using the cards for several years. On an occasion or two, my friend Waterfae and I would be asked to read cards at various establishments – pubs, private parties, etc. Waterfae works with “The Fae” when performing her readings, channeling through "them.” While I, on the other hand, use the 10-card Celtic spread – combining the meaning of the cards with my own intuition.

Card placement is an important factor when reading for someone. Past, present, future and outcome cards – all tell a story! It is also very important to make sure that people understand that the future is not “written in stone.” The reading itself simply reflects the individuals’ own chosen path at the time of the reading. It can either be considered a warning of things to come or a kind of confirmation, if you will, of the good choices the individual has made in their life thus far. In other words, “if you don’t like the direction you are heading in, CHANGE IT!” We all have that power within us!

Tarot cards, when used correctly, can be an excellent source of guidance. The cards themselves date back to 1442 and were commonly used by Kings to predict the rise and fall of power. They survived religious persecution by going underground, reappeared sometime in the 1700’s and are still used by many witches today.

Whatever the method of divination you may be using, always be sure to use your tools wisely and never abuse any natural “gift” that the Goddess & God have seen fit to give you. ~ Blessed Be!

(Just a word of caution regarding ouija boards. THEY ARE NOT A GAME!!! Using these boards opens up doorways to the spiritual realm – inviting ANY spirit, friendly or not, into your life. Unless you are highly experienced and know exactly what you are doing in order to take the proper precautions to protect yourself, I strenuously advise you to avoid using ouija boards for ANY reason!!!!)

Our Samhain Celebration!

BLESSED SAMHAIN AND HAPPY HALLOWEEN TO ALL! Yesterday was a typically beautiful autumn day with a bit of a breeze blowing. My sister Aurora Skye and I held our annual Samhain ritual celebration in the early evening. I spent the entire week preparing everything and after adding some finishing touches, we were finally ready for this very special night ...

The sabbat stone we used on our altar was Smoky Quartz. Other gemstones and crystals may also be used such as snowflake obsidian, carnelian, lepidolite, and rhodonite.

My new black cat chalice we used for our ritual wine/libation.

Our ancestor altar set up for our ritual ceremony - adorned with photos to honor our loved ones who have passed on ...

We lit a pink votive candle to signify love and friendship.

After casting the circle and calling the four corners - the elements of west/water, north/earth, east/air and south/fire, we sealed and protected the circle with salt ...

As the veil between the world of spirit and the physical world is thin at this time of the year (most especially at Samhain), it is the perfect time for divination and connecting with our ancestors ...

Such as using pendulums, crystal ball gazing, tarot card and rune readings, etc. We chose to use our pendulums and crystal ball gazing ...

Since this is the "Witches New Year" we also performed our witches cords as well. After making our wishes for the coming year, we charged them "with postive intent by the powers of the Divine Lord and Lady" then hung them ...

After ritual, we enjoyed some DELICIOUS snacks Aurora brought for us! ...

Cranberry nut bread, dark chocolate Chex Mix, fudge graham cookies, and chocolate and vanilla decorative cupcakes! 

We both wore our pumpkin bells around our neck which we bought at "Celtic Myth & Moonlight" a couple of weeks ago for ritual - love them! ...

Some of the decorations in the altar room ...

Before our ritual celebration, we had lunch and did a bit of local shopping - one of the places we frequented was a store called, "The Gem on Penn" were we found a couple of new items ...

I found this Pisces symbol necklace, a moonstone ring with a moon face on it ... very cool!

And, in addition I bought these two chakra soaps - each soap has a gemstone in it ...

Amethyst and Carnelian soaps ...

They were giving out these neat little Halloween rub on tattoos for free at the check out register. Of course, I picked out a CAT! LOL!

From all of us here at The Wiccan Life, we wish everyone a VERY BLESSED SAMHAIN & A HAPPY HALLOWEEN!! 🎃

Getting ready for Samhain ...

Well, it looks like Samhain activity has already begun in my house. Monday night after I got home from work, I saw the glass plate that my friend Lady Sabrina Rhiannon gave my husband and I for our unity candle which we used in our wedding/handfasting broken in HALF and sitting on the kitchen table. I said to my husband, "What the hell happened? Did the cats knock it over or something?" He said, "No, we were just sitting in the living room (where I had it sitting on my coffee table) and all of the sudden I heard a loud CRACK!" He said it was not the cats or him it just BROKE - in a clean break at that - after all of these many years! Damn, someone in my house wants to be noticed. 😮

At any rate, this weekend is Samhain and my sister Aurora Skye and I are holding our yearly ritual celebration on Saturday. One thing new we are planning to do this year during our ceremony will be crystal ball gazing and pendulum divination. 

I have done very little work with scrying and crystal gazing and so I had to do a bit of rough research this week. Here is a very interesting article from The Celtic Connection's page which  I came across and I would like to share with you all ...

Crystal Ball Gazing

This technique is best if done with a Crystal Ball 2-5 inches in diameter and works best on nights of the full moon.

Note from Herne: If the purchase a Crystal Ball is not within your budget, a bowl of water with a Quartz Crystal Cluster at the bottom will suffice. True Quartz Crystal Balls can be quite expensive. Also, never substitute a resin or glass ball since they are ineffective for anything other than children's games.

Light one or two candles in a darkened, quiet room. You can hold the crystal or place it on a stand, but it should have a blue or black velvet cloth underneath it. Make sure that there are no reflections from anything showing in the ball. You can also burn incense if you wish. Patchouli works great for me.

Before beginning, center yourself. Gaze into the ball, but do not stare. Try not to blink that much. While you are gazing, breathe in and out slowly and deeply. Just relax and gaze. You will feel a sense of limitless time. Enjoy the peacefulness and simply gaze. Do this for at least 15 minutes, and increase your time by 5 minutes with each succeeding session.

Usually around the second or third session, you will notice a small cloudy glow in the center of the crystal. This is your focusing area where your visions will appear. You may get a vision on your first try, while others have to attempt it several times before seeing something. Go at your own pace.

Just a small warning: Always remember the saying "Be Careful What You Wish For" while gazing. Think about what you wish to see before gazing.

On my third session ( when I got my first vision ) I asked to see a vision of my previous life. I saw myself burning to death in a house fire. That was something that I didn't really enjoy remembering. Now I find that it is best to just gaze and receive whatever comes to me. Perhaps you can have more peaceful visions by doing that too.

There are also different forms that visions come in. You can get actual visions of places and people, or you can get symbolic pictures. Another form that visions come in are color clouds. Although no one has been successful in identifying what each color cloud means, the following has been pretty accurate for a lot of seers.

• Blue clouds symbolize success of career or business
• Gold clouds symbolize prosperity, steady cash flow, and renewed romance to come
• Gray/Dark gray symbolize ill fortune
• Black clouds symbolize some seriously bad stuff coming one's way
• Green clouds symbolize health, happiness of the heart
• Orange clouds symbolize hidden aggression and anger, troubled emotions
• Red clouds symbolize danger to come. This person must watch themselves
• Silver clouds symbolize troublesome times ahead followed by goodness
• White clouds symbolize very good fortune to come
• Yellow clouds symbolize upcoming obstacles

I have also been busy working in the altar room setting up things. Among them is our little Samhain Tree ...

And, our Ancestor altar as well ...

I am soo looking forward to Samhain - my favorite celebration at my favorite time of the year!!