The Gods and Goddesses Know Best

/ midwestwitches

Hello Lovelies!

We do apologize for the radio silence this past month. It’s been a roller coaster for both SidheSidhe and I with a whole bunch of different life things being thrown at us… But I did want to take a few minutes to share something with you all…

This all started in the  spring sometime… I purchased a small tumbled piece of Larimar as a joke for a D&D game that we were playing with some friends. Our upcoming quest was to find the lost Larimar stone, so I brought it to show everyone that Larimar was a real crystal, and also see if I could get some XP (it didn’t work). After purchasing it, I found I really did enjoy holding the Larimar, it made me smile, and feel more connected.. To what I couldn’t say. Fast forward a couple months – I attended a drum circle at a friend’s. She and I were talking about this and that before the event, and she mentioned the Egyptian Pantheon, which I know some about… Not much, but some. As a joke, I said “the only thing I have in common with the Egyptians is a love of black eyeliner.” Well… jokes on me! Within a few days, I found myself on a Facebook live sale for a shop local to the Cincinnati area – Sterling Seraph. They have GORGEOUS crystal jewelry, so I highly recommend checking them out if you are in the market. Their live sales on Facebook usually have some pretty nice discounts, too!

Anyways, I digress… Within a couple of weeks I had purchased not 1, not 2, not 3, but 4 new pendants all with either Moonstone, or Larimar on them. Don’t get me wrong, I think those are gorgeous stones, but I never really desired to have them in jewelry. Sometimes it almost seemed like someone else was writing “sold” for me! So now, I have these pieces full of feminine energy, and the sneaking suspicion someone (an unknown Goddess) is wanting to work with me.

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Left to right: Onyx with Moonstone, Moonstone with Larimar, Larimar with Labradorite, Moonstone

After this realization, I started to find dove feathers EVERYWHERE! One night while taking my dog for a walk, a large dove feather fell right in front of my face and landed at my feet. I looked up in the tree overhead but there was no dove, no birds at all! So I picked it up and brought it home. Within the week I found another dove feather out in the yard laying at my feet. Which of course, since there are no coincidences, really got my brain working trying to put the pieces together… Moonstone, Larimar, Feminine Energy, Dove Feathers…

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I met with one of my Mediumship teachers who did a long over due reading for me. She said there was definitely a Goddess energy stepping forward that was going to act as an Ascended Master. My teacher said that she fully believes Gods and Goddess can act as Ascended Masters / teachers if they need to. So that I should not be afraid, or worried, but to just accept the beautiful gift. She gave me a few things to look up when I got home, and that’s when I discovered who had been whispering to me in the night. Who had been calling my name with a voice I didn’t recognize, and who I was meant to learn from for a the foreseeable future. The Great Mother Goddess of Egypt – Isis.

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A small painting I did of Isis, to have something for Her in my sacred space.

While Isis is not associated with Larimar, She is associated with the element of water and magick; so I associate Her with Larimar. Wife of Osiris who is the Egyptian God of the Underworld, Isis is viewed as a protector of the dead. This suites me just fine as a Daughter of Hades. The other thing that I found fascinating is that Isis is the Patron God of Loving Wives. The week after I discovered Isis was coming to work with me, my husband spent an entire week in the hospital (and I at his side) for cardiac complications. It was a long, hellish week of unknowns, but I felt Isis’ loving presence sitting next to me, and Her protection whenever I found a moment to sleep. 

As the Daughter of Hades, and I did ask my Lord and Lady Persephone how They felt about me working with Isis for a while. They both told me that much in the same way mortals send their children off to school to learn from another mortal, sometimes lessons must be taught by another who is better suited to teach that lesson. After all, the Gods and Goddesses know best!

With Love, and Light,

Iona

 

Patheos Pagan: Non-Traditional Witchcraft is Not a Crime

/ midwestwitches

Hello Lovelies,

Today I want to talk to you about something that has bothered me about the Pagan Community for some time. I want to talk about the idea of Non-Traditional paths and how those who follow the Traditional paths tend to look down their noses at those of us who don’t…

I think it’s something that more of us than not have thought about… My personal spiritual practices, and my craft are based on my own experiences with the world, and the Divine. What feels right, I do, what feels wrong, I don’t. Not hard, but not necessarily traditional because I don’t have a specific written text that I adhere to, I am not initiated into any traditions/covens, and I tend to mix a bunch of different traditions together based on the needs of my ritual, spell work, intentions, etc. Side note – while I do have one book one a specific tradition that I very much want to read, I can’t bring myself to do it yet. Which tells me, I am not meant to right now. My solitary, dark, and eccletic path are just what I need at the moment!

So rather than re-invent the wheel and discuss this any further… I would like for you to check out this link to an article on Patheos.com: Non-Traditional Witchcraft is Not a Crime. It sums up nicely what more I would want to say on this topic, and I think it gives the subject the right amount of levity and gravity it deserves.

With Love, and Light,

Iona

The Gods Provide

/ midwestwitches

Dearest friends,

As many of you know, my partner and I had a baby earlier this year. What I haven’t mentioned is that we have had significant financial troubles this summer. Back in June we noticed water damage in our basement, which led to us realizing that we needed to make major outside repairs. We learned that these repairs will cost tens of thousands of dollars…and then my brakes went out. So to say the least my family has been stressed for monetary reasons.

As a pagan witch, I have spoken to some of the gods that are associated with wealth and prosperity and left them offerings for just listening to my troubles. I have researched and cast spells for wealth and good fortune. I will link to some of the websites that assisted me in this process below. My efforts have paid off, because the Gods provide.

Mostly I want to write out my thanks to those Gods who have offered their help, particularly Hades. About 2 weeks ago I received a reimbursement check from the medical corporation where I had my prenatal care. While this was helpful, it no where near will cover the costs of our repairs. Still, I poured Hades a glass of alcohol in extreme thanks. As a God of wealth I found that the suggestions of offering him silver and money seemed pointless. And so I asked Iona what she would recommend as she has a close relationship with him and she suggested alcohol.

He responded by having our insurance company cover about half of our repairs, when they had originally only offered a few hundred dollars. To say the least he’s getting another glass tonight.

With love, light, and a bit of darkness,

SidheSidhe Teg

List of Deities

Fortune Deities (Wikipedia links)

Plutus

Ways to Worship Hades

First Day of Autumn Offering to Hades

Wealth Spells

Home Protection

/ midwestwitches

Hello Lovelies,

Last weekend while hosting friends, we had unexpected visitors drop by. Strangers came to the door asking odd questions, and even though it was clear they were at the wrong house; when they left I felt uneasy… I did not want them returning and poking around my home any longer.

The next day after I smudged the whole house (yes with my new spray!), I went to work adding protection to my home and property. Actually, I should say more protection. I have black tourmaline and other black stones strategically placed, and the gris-gris bag SidheSidhe made me… But I needed more. And while there are LOTS of different ways to protect your home using magic (feel free to Google!), I followed my intuition and did what felt right to me.

First, I created a second spray but this time for protection using Sage and Rosemary in Witch Hazel. I went around the outside of my home, clockwise, three times, and sprayed every door and window. I did the same on the garage and other out buildings. I also sprayed the entrances to my porches and gardens.

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Afterward, I created a mixture of Blue Vervain and Sea Salt. This I spread outside in the four corners of our property, as well as underneath all of the exterior doors, placing the stem of dried white sage plants in the four corners for added purification of intentions for those that cross into our borders.

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All of this was done with the intention that none shall enter my property or home with ill will or malcontent. No one shall enter my home that is unwanted, or intends to do any harm to me or my family. And as I did this work, I kept visualizing a barrier of white light around our property growing stronger and brighter. A week later, I still feel very safe and secure knowing the charms are in place.

My home is not much, but it is mine. And like the kid says in Home Alone “I have to defend it.” So I did.

With Love, and Light,

Iona

Go Smudge Yo-Self! (Spray)

/ midwestwitches

Hello Lovelies!

On Thursday I took a class at Sterling Seraph in Mason, OH – check them out on Facebook! It is a wonderful little shop, full of all sort of treasures. I look forward to going back when I have more time to peruse and review the shop properly!

The class was on making your own smudge spray, taught by our friends at Lavender Potions. Very reasonably priced, for $20, I got to make a sage smudge spray with a quartz crystal in it, and keep the bottle of sage essential oil so I can keep making the spray!

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Here are the highlights of what I learned…

***The base liquid for smudge spray can be things like witch hazel (yes the kind from the grocery store/pharmacy), or unscented body mist base which you can buy in bulk at places like Bulk Apothecary. This base can be used to make, you guessed it, perfume too!

***Water is not a base liquid for anything using essential oils because water and oil don’t mix! (I have made this error in the past when in a pinch, and while it kinda works you do have to keep shaking the bottle to keep it mixed…)

***Lavender Potions recommends Plant Therapy essential oils because of their GC-MS testing which you can look up the results of every bottle you purchase by the batch code number printed on the bottle. This GC-MS testing lets you know the purity and quality of the oil. After looking at the prices on their website, and knowing the rigorous testing they put their oils through – I intend to buy my oils from Plant Therapy from now on!

***There are specific herbs that are recommended for smudging purposes that can be translated to the oils you use when making your own spray. While you generally should use what feels right to you, here are SOME of the recommended herbs:

Myrrh Resin, Frankincense Resin, Sage, Palo Santo, Juniper, Lavender, Rose, and Sweetgrass.

For my spray, I used Sage, Lavender, and added Cedarwood. I don’t know why, but Cedarwood and Rosemary are two oils/herbs, that my brain associates with cleaning and cleansing even though they aren’t on the list. Our teacher made the point that, just like anything in the realm of metaphysics, do what feels right to you. Even if it doesn’t work for somebody else doesn’t mean it won’t work for you. Also, don’t let any one tell you what you’re doing is wrong. If it feels right, and it works for you, it can’t be wrong!

***Less is more. You don’t need a mixture of 1/2 base and 1/2 essential oils to make a powerful spray. For every 1 oz of base, plan to add 5-6 drops for a 1% dilution or 10-12 drops for a 2% dilution, etc. Now, since we started our sprays at the shop with just one oil, our Teacher had us use the 2% dilution for our 2oz bottles. Sage, being very potent, I did not use the full 2% (24 drops). Instead I used 15 drops of sage, then added at home 10 of Lavender, and 6 of Cedarwood.

***Adding a crystal to the spray enhances the potency of the intention. We used clear quartz, but if you are looking to add some protection to the spray you could add black tourmaline, or if you are wanting to fill the space with love add some rose quartz. The possibilities are endless!

***Set the intention. After the oils and crystals were added, we each took a moment to set the intention for our sprays.

***Lastly, smudging is not a “New Age” practice. It has actually been around for thousands of years. The Egyptians used to burn herbs to make the air smell good, and cleanse themselves. The Ancient Greeks and Romans used burning herbs in their rituals and religious practices, especially as part of their “burnt offerings” to the Gods. Anyone ever been to a Catholic mass where the priest swings a censor of burning incense as he walks down the aisle sending the smoke in all directions? He’s smudging the chapel! The owner of Sterling Seraph said that she gets Priests, Pastors, and Nuns into her shop a lot to buy smudge spray to take with them to hospitals and nursing homes and other other places where smudging with smoke would not be permitted.

Pope Francis

Pope Francis

So why smudge? Well, scientifically speaking… The bacteria in the air mixes with the essential oils from the herbs, and drops to the ground thereby cleaning the air. This is how smudging rids the area of negative energy / vibes too! It’s a process of positively charged meeting negatively charged, and cancelling each other out. This neutralizes the air, which neutralizes the energy of a space.

This morning, I used my new spray all over my house. Not only did the spray smell amazing, it also cleaned the air, and made my whole house feel good!

Thank you to Lavender Potions and Sterling Seraph for this class! In 90 minutes, I gained a lot of knowledge and was introduced to resources that will last this Pagan a lifetime!

With Love, Light, and a new smudge spray,

Iona

 

Orange cats

/ midwestwitches

Hello dearest friends,

My perceptions have been muted as of late, though I have still been noticing repetitions. And lately I’ve been seeing a whole lot of orange cats. While seeing cats is nothing special in my day-to-day life, a specifically orange cat stands out a bit. They aren’t nearly as common for one. I’ve been seeing them not only in the physical world though, but also in dreams.

My July calendar image from the ASPCA

What does this mean?!?!?

Well, accordingly to Ted Andrews cats as spirit totems typically represent balance between independence and togetherness, light and dark, inner and outer self, and action and observation. They also encourage curiosity, courage to explore the unknown, and being adventurous. To me cats seem to be both very self-reflective and also calculated risk takers.

The color orange also has its own correspondences. Typically the color is associated with creativity, self-expression, joy, fun, warmth, and celebration. It can also symbolize ambition, opportunity, action, and vitality. On the other hand, the color orange can also represent business success, investments, justice, and both legal and intellectual matters. More negative correspondences are pride and worry, though I didn’t get that vibe from these cats.

The cats in both my dreams and in person seem to be fairly chill, just hanging out and waiting. So what I can gather is that I should do exactly that; just hang out. Because it seems like an opportunity or creative outlet is going to present itself to me shortly. And when it does I need to spring into action and take that chance.

Wish me luck!

SidheSidhe

Litha Blessings from MWWs!

/ midwestwitches

Dearest friends,

We can’t believe we haven’t written about Litha yet! This Sabbat, also known as Midsummer, marks the first day of summer for the Northern Hemisphere. This year it falls today, on June 21st, which is the longest day and shortest night of the entire year. After today, the days will start to get shorter, and the nights longer until they are equal again in length at Mabon (fall equinox) in September.

Midsummer, traditionally, is a celebration focused on nurturing new life. “The Goddess is heavy with pregnancy, just as the earth is pregnant with the coming harvest’s bounty and the cattle in the field await calving…” – Edain McCoy in Sabbats.

While the focus is on new life, there is also a significance to fire symbolism at this time. Even though each of the Eight Great Days incorporates fire in some aspect, it is particularly prominent during Litha. Fire being associated with the Sun, which we just discussed is going to be in the sky for the longest amount of time today. Ancient Celtic and Norse rituals for Midsummer included balefires lit at sunset the night before, and burn through until sunset on the Solstice.

For modern Pagans, Midsummer has become more about the “summer” aspects. Enjoying the sunshine and warm weather, bare feet, and being outside near newly planted gardens, or enjoying the breeze off a lake or ocean. SidheSidhe works at a school, and can understand very much the excitement and anticipation of the summer months and activities to follow. When the solstice arrives, with it comes that summer feeling! Something many people long for during the colder months of the year.

For Iona, who is more of a cold weather person… She uses today as an opportunity to give offerings to all of the energies she works with through out the year. With her offerings, she gives thanks and gratitude for the work that has been done, is being done, and will be done in her life, the life of her family, and her home. As previously discussed, Iona built a zen garden in her backyard, and is allowing a section of the yard to grow wild as a safe place for animals and the Fey. Today’s offerings included food, drink, and crystals for the Elementals (Gnomes) in her yard as thanks for helping her to bring new plant life to the Earth. Iona also included offerings for food, drink, and crystals to the Fey in the wild part as a sign of peace, and welcome. We shall see if they accept!

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Offerings include Red Wine (Hades, Persephone, Greek Pantheon), Warm Milk (Dragons), Beer (Poseidon gets his own, House Spirit, Gnomes), Candle (Archangels), Coffee (Ancestors), Sweet Cream & a Cookie (Fairies)

Like any of the Eight Great Days, there are themes that can be followed. However, we are not here to tell you exactly how to celebrate the Summer Solstice. We believe the Magick has to come from within, and each person’s path is different. So if you, like Iona, dislike hot weather and lots of sunshine (true statement) – then perhaps you could make today about gratitude and offerings, or do a tarot reading with a Midsummer theme!

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If you are looking for something more traditional, Edain McCoy’s book recommends things like creating a God’s Eye amulet, making delicious treats like Buckeyes, or making a dream pillow to enhance psychic dreams (TONS of DIYs on the web). This time of year is also great for working with Elemental energy. While Iona prefers Gnomes, SidheSidhe likes to work with fairies. Both of these groups of beings love to be offered milk or cream, sugar/sugary treats, honey, and bread. In Iona’s experience, Gnomes won’t say no to alcohol either!

So there we have it – the Summer Solstice is upon us! Blessed Litha to you and yours from the Midwest Witches. We hope, however you decided to celebrate the day, that you do so with an open heart, good intentions, and sun screen! It’s bright out there!

With Love and (Sun)Light!

The Midwest Witches

Creating Your Own Little World

/ midwestwitches

Hello Lovelies!

Today, I want to talk briefly (following up Sidhe-Sidhe’s post) about creating your own sacred space outside. While it’s important to create sacred space indoors such as an altar, if you are able, creating a sacred space outside is a wonderful way to give back to the Earth AND give you another place to practice your craft.

Here’s what happened at my house… When we bought our home, the former owners had taken a 30ft by 12ft piece of the back yard, right off the driveway and turned it into a mulch bed full of hostas. That’s it. Hostas. Any one who knows me, knows that hostas not my favorite plant… Since we moved in and adopted our dog, that mulch bed area turned into his potty yard, and became a muddy mess! It was as unpleasant to look at, as it was to deal with (cleaning muddy paws daily all 9 months out of the year)! Finally, we decided it was time to reclaim that area. It was time to give back to the Earth, plant new life, and clean up the yard at the same time.

So, over Memorial Weekend, we built raised planter beds, planted USEFUL herbs, and added stepping stones and mulch around the raised beds to create a lovely landscaped feel. Also, I added a statue of Buddha , a Cairn, and some wind chimes to turn the area into a more peaceful zen garden area.

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After we finished the landscaping, I meditated, asking the Gnomes in my yard for help. I have never had a garden before – as an adult I’ve always lived in apartments… So I asked for help in growing a healthy, lovely garden. The response I got was simple – they would help, but I have to give them something in return. While the Gnomes are happy with the new zen garden, they feel somewhat exposed by the lack of ground cover. They would help but I had to provide crystals for each of the beds – clear quartz, rose quartz, and green aventurine were requested.  After a trip to my favorite Cincinnati based crystal shop – The Crystal Guy – the stones were gridded throughout the beds.

 

A week after the crystals were placed, the plants are all doing well! Everyone seems comfortable in their new raised beds, and I look forward to the first harvest of my herbs 🙂 This year, we planted lemon balm, rosemary, lavender, bee balm, & sweet basil. In the next week or so, I will be adding sage plants to the mix! I look forward to (hopefully) being able to make my own smudge bundles once the herbs are ready for harvesting.

Now, most people will look at my garden area and see just that – a garden. That’s fine. It’s not meant to be sacred for anyone else but me, which it is. While some day I would love to have enough land to have a stone circle, or labyrinth, or spiral; right now I do not have the means to create any of those. I did the best I could with what I could, and I love it! That’s what sacred space is all about. It’s not meant to be the biggest, most elaborate. It’s meant to speak to your soul, to help you feel connected.

Another great thing about creating outdoor sacred space, is it gives us the chance to give back to the Earth, our Mother. Taking care of Her, planting something new when we remove something old, having respect for the planet – these are the things that I think should be the foundation of creating an outdoor sacred space. Yes, you want it to be beautiful, yes you want it to be functional, but the outdoor realm does not belong to just the humans… Sometimes, I think, we humans forget that.

So, if you get the chance to create an outdoor space – make it yours. Make it something that speaks to your soul. Don’t worry about what others will think, if you want to create a pentagram planter, or moon shaped garden – then do it! But don’t forget to do so with gratitude for Mother Earth, and to give back to Her.

With Love, Light, and new plant babies!

Iona

PS – Anyone else notice that the landscaping stones make my garden look a bit like a cemetery? 🙂 As a Daughter of Hades, I’m pretty happy about that!

Nature

/ midwestwitches

Hello dearest friends,

I must admit I’ve been rather out of sorts and feeling very disconnected from my guides and my spirituality in general of late. I believe it’s mostly due to being super busy with work and a 3 month old. My mind just hasn’t had a break to just be. So yesterday I decided to spend some time outdoors to try to ground myself and reconnect.

I typically don’t particularly care for being uncomfortable (too warm, sweaty, too cold, etc) so spending time outside is sometimes a challenge. It was a lovely day in the Cincinnati area yesterday though, a bit too warm midday, but very pleasant after the sunset. I went out around 6 or so and stayed outside with the wee witch for a couple of hours. After putting on some sunscreen, we basked in the sunshine and let the warmth soak into our skin. And the brisk breezes that fluttered the trees felt amazing on our heated bodies. We even walked in the grass and let mud squish between our toes in a few damp spots of the yard. Mostly we just sat and let nature soothe us.

We ended the day with warm baths, which completed our experience with four of the elements. To say the least, I awoke this morning rejuvenated and feeling much more connected with our universe. The wee witch is still a bit tuckered out though. I’m sure it was a lot to take in for him, but it also could just be that he’s a sleepy baby in general. I thanked our guides for helping us even when we don’t necessarily know it (I asked mine to relay the thanks to his, since I haven’t met them) and can definitely feel their presence again.

I’ll have to make the habit of spending more time in nature this summer to maintain my connectedness. I’m sure it’ll be challenging, but it’s also clearly rewarding. I hope you try to do the same.

With love and light,

SidheSidhe

Pluto Retrograde, ugh… Why…

/ midwestwitches

Hello all,

Today I am going to take the easy way out… I am going to give you a link to an article to read instead of writing a long post. Why? Because for some reason, Pluto Retrograde is hitting me HARD! As a Daughter of Hades, I never thought about Pluto Retrograde much, but since I have become more open to things due to my work as a Medium, and my classes… I, for the life of me, have not felt totally myself since the small planet went retrograde on April 24th. I have felt very low energy, very introverted. Anything having to do with lots of people makes me upset. All I want to do is stay in bed, snuggle my dog, and watch TV in the dark. Not conducive to going to work or paying bills… So that is not really an option.

However, Pluto Retrograde is all about the Shadow Self coming forward and basically forcing you to deal with your shit. So, instead of boring you with my emotional roller-coaster of late… I am going to leave you with this article and wish you well.

Pluto Retrograde in Capricorn

Blessings to you,

Iona