For those interested in getting involved in medicinal herbalism, chamomile makes a good first foray into the art.  It is readily available in any supermarket, has a long history of use, and has application for a wide range of conditions.  Additionally, it has an unoffensive apple aroma and a pleasant flavor and as a result makes a wonderful herb to use as a base when making an infusion that includes more potent herbs.

Chamomile can be used:

• to help alleviate nausea, including motion sickness
• to aid in relaxation before bed
• to help relieve cramps (stomach or menstrual)
• to ease the discomfort of arthritis
• to lessen the severity of a tension headache
• to soothe certain skin irritations  (as a paste)
• to add golden highlights to the hair (as a hair rinse)
• to ease discomfort related to colic or teething
• to lessen the severity of seasonal allergy symptoms

Additionally, chamomile can be used magically for purposes related to:

• healing magic
• love spells
• luck spells
• rites that invoke a Solar deity

Precautions:

• persons with allergies to ragweed may have a reaction to chamomile
• chamomile contains natural blood thinners and may be inappropriate for those with certain conditions or those taking certain medications

This was written as a compliment to a great new feature over at Clan of the Cats called Witchy Wednesday.  This new weekly feature includes sketches of one of my own favorite fictional witches, Chelsea (though after reading about her for like 9 years I feel like I know her), with a bit of comedic commentary about living a Pagan life.

Check it out!!!

Blessings

Mama Kelly

Sources:

http://www.gardensablaze.com/HerbChamomileMed.htm

http://www.altnature.com/gallery/chamomile.htm

http://www.anniesremedy.com/herb_detail13.php

http://www.webmd.com/vitamins-supplements/ingredientmono-951-GERMAN+CHAMOMILE.aspx?activeIngredientId=951&activeIngredientName=GERMAN+CHAMOMILE&source=2

Note:  This article is for informative uses only and is not meant to be taken as specific medical advice.  As always, do not try to diagnose yourself, consult your physician or pharmacist before adding any supplement to your regimen, and be aware that any product is capable of producing an allergic reaction in some segment of the population.

Written by Mama KellyTags:healing, herbalism, herbs, magic

Regardless of whether you and your family celebrate Ostara, Easter, or dye eggs as a secular springtime activity, here are some ideas for dyeing eggs this year

Get PAAS kits from the dollar store.

Easy, foolproof, only $1 but there is a limited choice of colors in a kit. Odds are I’ll still buy a kit as a “backup measure” but I really want to spread my wings a little bit creatively this year.

Use water vinegar and food coloring.
1 cup boiling water
1 TBSP white vinegar
20 (or more) drops food coloring.

Add colors 1 drop at a time until you reach shade you desire.

Since I have boxes of both traditional food coloring and neon food coloring this one is a definate!! If nothing else I want to make some really vivid red eggs – not pink, not almost red, screaming red.

Use natural ingredients you probably have laying about the house.
1 cup of “dye”
2-3 tsp of white vinegar

Dye suggestions:
purple grape juice, your favorite vibrant hued herbal tea (steeped longer than you might ordinarily for drinking), red wine, black tea, green tea.

This is a maybe. Most of the sources I’ve read indicate a much longer soaking time that we are used to, up to overnight!!! But I may try it with a few eggs just to see how they come out.

Eggs as Magic

Use a white crayon to draw runes, symbols, words on your eggs before dyeing them.

Match the color(s) you dye your egg to its purpose.

Example of Layering:
- draw symbol on white egg – dip egg in yellow
- dry egg and draw symbol on now yellow egg – dip egg in red
- dry egg and draw symbol on now orange egg – dip egg in blue
- egg will be a muddy marbled tone, depending on luck, the whim of the Gods and other natural forces your egg will either look very cool or really awful, I get more of the former than the latter

Treat your “magical eggs” with a sense of reverence. Dry them lovingly. Eat them with true intent.

Egg magic is perfectly matched for any purpose associated with fertility, growth, new beginnings, and anything you want to see yourself “birth” in the coming months. However, it can work for any purpose. Feed yourself “self-love”, feed yourself “wisdom”, feed yourself “inspiration”.

Take it a step further. Break your goal/dream/wish down into a series of steps and eat one egg a day.

2 day spell: God and Goddess
3 day spell: Maiden, Mother, Crone
4 day spell: Earth, Aire, Fire, Water

For the next two please keep in mind that eggs are only considered safe to eat for 7 days after they are hard-boiled.

7 day spell: chakra opening
7 day spell: North, South, East, West, Above (connection to Divine and the world of spirit), Below (connection to the mundane world), Within (your innermost truth)

Wondering what to do with all those eggs you dyed? Again, pemember that they are only good for 1 week after you hardboil them.

Enjoy!

Mama Kelly

Written by Mama KellyTags:dyeing eggs, magic, Ostara, spells, spring, springtime

This essay was written October 28, 2003, way before I knew about computers or blogs (found it in my old word doc files). It was written as I was beginning to recover from several years of extreme stress and life changing and often painful events that had happened. Reading it over – I still agree with it, in essence thoughts alone will do nothing, its positive thinking combined with positive action that will make changes – which for me is the basis for all magic (a.k.a. prayer; focused thought-emotion-intent). I am sharing it here, with very little editing, as an historical record of who I was back then and how I was thinking, and because I feel it is still relevant

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No amount of positive thinking is going to change your life or the world. I am sure that many believers in “positive thinking” are shocked and perhaps even horrified by this statement.

I agree that our thoughts have a great impact on who we are, what we become, and how our life manifests. However, thoughts alone cannot make the changes and overcome obstacles simply by being thought. Also our thoughts often are at odds with other aspects of ourselves, such as engrained habits, childhood hurts, unconscious motivations, addictions, and all the many facets of mind and emotions.

What does work is aligning your thinking, your heart, and your spirit as one in order to acquire the knowledge needed and put into motion actions that will bring your life’s dreams and goals into reality and to make a positive impact on the world around you.

Most of my life as I struggled through some pretty tough obstacles people would try to tell me to look on the bright side, think positive, there is always a light at the end of the tunnel, every cloud has a silver lining. On bad days I would agree with them – positive thinking works — I was positive my physical pain would last all day, I was positive I would be as poor today as I was yesterday. On good days, I would simply roll my eyes and nod. Then there were the occasional days when I would actually be able and willing to give “positive thinking” a try. But as weeks and months, and sometimes years would go by and life continued to pass me by and the obstacles continued to get bigger and bigger, I decided there had to be a better way.

The first thing I decided to do was to simply accept that life was hard (sometimes so hard it takes all your energy to just keep breathing when you wake up in the morning), and to stop waiting to live life until things got better – to just start “living” regardless of the circumstances. After accepting and accessing where I was at the moment, I then went in search of information and every available source of knowledge I could find in order to improve my current situation, primarily my health and finances but overall I wanted to experience the joy in life. As I learned I formed a plan, laying out the steps necessary to reach my overall goals. I had to look deep within myself and answer a lot of questions to find what was truly important to me, what did I really want to accomplish, how did I want my daily life to be, and many more. I had to spend time getting to know who I was, in order to eliminate or at least lessen the restrictions I placed on myself. I needed to discover what my true desires were in life, not what society said I should be, or what my parents thought was best for me, or what I thought I was limited to be. Once I had a plan outlined, I had to be willing to adapt and adjust to circumstances and allow for flexibility because life is never a smooth journey.

The next step was finding ways to put the plan into action. This is not always easy depending on what your current circumstances are and how far the road is to your overall goal. But it is important to set small achievable steps and to get started — even if you think it’s impossible, even if you feel so tired you can barely get out from under the covers — it is absolutely necessary to move forward regardless of the internal war that may rage as you begin the journey.

In time, as the small steps are accomplished, the incentive to keep going increases and you can find other ways to keep yourself motivated. Your thoughts and emotions stop fighting each other and you have more energy and awareness, which often results in seeing opportunities that you might otherwise have missed. Allowing your true inner spirit to guide your life, your thoughts and emotions will over time become more positive and in tune with your plans.

The key to finding the energy and willpower to take action and keep motivated is aligning your spirit, your thoughts, and your heart. When you uncover what it is you truly want out of life — you will find a way to accomplish it – through knowledge and actions you can empower your life, accomplish your goals, and create your dreams.

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Bright Blessings, Lady Rose

Written by Lady RoseTags:magic, positive thinking

What the “Bleep” Do We Know!? – Down the Rabbit Hole

Tagline: a quantum fable

Plot Synopsis: “WHAT THE #$*! DO WE KNOW?!” is a radical departure from convention. It demands a freedom of view and greatness of thought so far unknown, indeed, not even dreamed of since Copernicus. It’s a documentary. It’s a story. It’s mind-blowing special effects. This film plunges you into a world where quantum uncertainty is demonstrated – where neurological processes, and perceptual shifts are engaged and lived by its protagonist – where everything is alive, and reality is changed by every thought.

__________________________

Marlee Matlin plays the lead in the “story” part of the DVD, playing a bitter and disillusioned photographer who begins to question her perceptions of reality and the world around her after a bad break-up.

The “story” is spliced with interviews with both quantum physics experts and New Age authors.

The science and acted both portions of the film explore the concept of multiple realities existing at once.

It explores the concept of emotional addiction. That our brains actually become hardwired into whatever mindset we repeat over and over … anger … depression … hopelessness.

It explores how thoughts can have affects on the world around us, using the experiments on water by Dr. Emoto.

It explores particle physics (a branch of physics that studies the elementary constituents of matter and radiation, and the interactions between them) and quantum physics (a science that deals with how the atoms and subatomic particles in matter and waves behave) and tries to make all the concepts understandable to the lay-person.

The movie explores the teachings of JZ Knight/Ramtha, of whom the three directors are (according to Wikipedia) devotees. The movie loses me a little here. Yes I am a Witch and I believe that mediumship is entirely possible.  I believe in the concept of channeling, I believe in spirits and ghosts and in past lives.  I have drawn down the Goddess in ritual and so if I deny the “truth” that came to someone in an altered state of consciousness (not drug induced) I am certainly guilty of throwing stones while living in a glass house.

However, I tend to carry a large salt shaker with me when asked to believe in any specific psychic because there are many dishonest people in the world, and even someone with a good heart can be deceived by flights of imagination.  Add to the mix a psychic who claims to channel yet another entity from a hypothetical civilization (Ramtha is supposed to have originated in Lemuria and once battled the Atlantians) and I tend to get a bit cynical.

One big negative is that not every “fact” stated in the movie is 100% accurate. Wikipedia has a good list of the mistakes and errors on their site for the movie.

That being said, I liked the movie. I don’t care is some of it is more metaphysical than scientific.  I’m not even sure I care if some of it is more fiction that fact, or is exaggerated.  What I enjoyed was that the movie made me think about possibilities. It made me look at my own reality a little differently.  It made me think about the power of my thoughts and words.

The overall message of the film is that we, each of us, every day create our own reality. And that sometimes, changing that reality can begin as easily as changing our thoughts. Is this a bit “new age”? Is it a bit of “magical thinking”?  Sure! But since when did a Pagan take offense at that? LOL

Blessings

Mama Kelly

Written by Mama KellyTags:magic, movie review, movies, quantum physics

Summer Solstice is sometimes referred to as Midsummer, Litha, and in Christianity St. John’s Day. It’s the longest day of the year (and the shortest night). Summer Solstice is the meteorological start of summer, when the Sun enters zero degrees Cancer. It has been a grand tribal gathering time since ancient times. The Goddess manifests as Mother Earth and the God as the Sun King. Colors are Yellow, Green, and Blue. It is a festival of community sharing and planetary service.

Interesting Fact: The sun does not set at the North Pole today. There is 24 hours of sunlight.

Harvesting - It is the traditional time of year to harvest magickal and medicinal herbs. Cut them with blessed sharp athame, by the light of the Moon, while chanting an appropriate chant for the purpose for which the plant will be used. Leave an offering for the rest of the plant (such as a coin, compost, blessed water, small crystal). Try not to harvest more than 1/3rd of the plant so that the rest will remain healthy and vigorous. If you are harvesting the roots, try to find a bunch of them growing together, and then only harvest 1/3 of them, so that the rest will thrive in the space you have just provided. Harvesting a branch should be done at the lowest junction where the branch joins the main plant, and be careful not to damage the remaining plant.

Gathering Water – Since the Sun is entering Cancer, a water sign, this holiday is one of the best ones for gathering your magickal water which will be used on your altar and in your spells for the coming year. If you can visit the ocean to gather water bring lots of clean jars and offerings for the Goddess of the Sea (such as broken silver chains or jewelry, pennies, dimes, flowers). If you can’t reach the ocean, if possible locate a clean spring or unpolluted river (be sure to give thanks and offerings).
If you don’t live near a body of water, another excellent source of magickal water, is rain water from a thunderstorm.The more electrical energy the storm puts out, the more energized the water is, so the fiercer the better! Collect in a glass jar, or porcelain, avoid metal containers.

Store your jarred water on a shelf and keep covered. Don’t leave the jar on the ground, or the energy will ground. The energized water really only lasts about 6 months (return whatever wasn’t used to its source and collect fresh). Adding shells, rocks from the sea, or other non-perishable sea items such as coral, keeps the energy of the water stay higher during the 6 months.

NOTE: This water is not for drinking, but only for magickal use.

Honey - In June, the Full Moon is called the Honey Moon, because this is the time to collect the honey from the beehives. Honey symbolizes the sweetness of life, and also is a symbol for what combined energies to a single goal can accomplish! A wonderful way to celebrate the June full moon is to place honey on your altar and use for dipping small moon cakes or bread as part of your ceremoney.

Interesting Fact: In ancient times it was believed that since the Grand Union between the Goddess and God happened in May, at Beltain, that it was unlucky to have mortal weddings in May. In addition, many couples found that after the May Day frolic, they were “expecting” and so June became the most popular month for weddings, and still is today. Since the June Full Moon is called the “Honey Moon”, hence the term is used for the time right after the marriage ceremony.

Bright Blessings and Happy Summer Solstice, Lady Rose

Written by Lady RoseTags:magic, summer solstice