This is our Samhain special!

What is Samhain for you Sylvia? 

• A time of rest and renewal

Samhain is the thinning of the veil, a time to let go and a time to renew. For me I feel a profound connection with spirits of all sorts. I feel a calling to visit the graves of people from long ago. To honor those who have gone before us paving the way and perhaps no longer have anyone remembering them. I feel a deeper connection with myself and the darkness that resides within. But I’m not afraid of it as it is a part of me and provides me with balance. It’s a time for me to look for what comes from that darkness and then can be transformed into the light. I celebrate the joy of a new year starting, and let my soul dance with my ancestors. I love doing divination as well on Samhain for sure.

Color correspondences

Red: Fire, south, passion, confrontation, anger, energy, power

Orange: Strength, work, mental health, confidence, harvest

Yellow: Air, east, thought, inventiveness, self-esteem, happiness

Green: Fairies, wellness, money, fertility, luck

Blue: Water, west, emotion, sea, wisdom, communication, healing

Violet: Inner knowledge, spirituality, dreams, divination

Brown: Security, animals, grounding, endurance, fruitfulness

White: Illumination, purity, freedom, safety, great stand in for when you can’t get the right color

Black: Earth, north, banishing, binding, protection, death, concealing, 

Silver: Moon, Goddess, divination, psychic awareness

Gold: Sun, God, money, prosperity, power

Sigil Release Magic (Activity 1)

Purpose: to release that which we do not need in the new year, to make a new start

Tools/ingredients

1 large potato or turnip (optional)

A piece of paper

A ritual knife or regular knife 

A fireproof container

A dish with enough water in it to douse the fire if need be

A stamp pad, a jar of ink (can be found at art stores) and a small plate, or a pen in the associated color

What’s a sigil might you ask? A sigil is simply an inscribed or painted symbol that is considered magical and is representative of the maker's desired outcome.

Sigils can be made a number of different ways, but the easiest to explain is this: Make sure you write out your intention in a short phrase and write your exact intention. Erase all the repeat letters and if you still have a lot of letters try erasing all the vowels as well. Then you use the letters that are left to create a sigil. How? Use the shapes of the letters to guide your sigil, overlap them, put them backwards, mirror them, change their shape a little, whatever works to create your symbol. That said if you have a symbol in mind, by all means use that.

Now you can use a potato or turnip and carve a sigil into it or you can simply draw the sigil on the piece of paper with the correct color ink. After you have your sigil you'll want to simplify it so that it will be easier to carve into your vegetable if you choose to go that route. 

This will be a spell of release. 

• Have your intention, a short phrase or word, figured out before you start the ritual.

I want to begin by dedicating this episode to my dear friend Kathleen who has just passed away. She was extremely supportive in many ways, not the least of which was for this podcast. I will miss her beyond words and she will be on my altar this Samhain.

This week’s episode: Let's begin the holidays: Samhain

Samhain history

Pagan practices

Starts before Roman times

Word of mouth predates

• Has survived changes in historical times over 6000 years

This week's episode is Earth, the Dark moon, and some fun activities

Favorite winter memory?

When I was a kid my family used to go up into the woods and play in the snow. One time we tied a snow tube onto the trailer hitch as we were leaving and so I rode the tube all the way down the mountain. By the end I was so covered in snow that all you could see was the sun glasses on my face.

• My fondest memories are of the snow falling silently in our backyard and seeing  the Icicles on the trees, telephone wires, and roofs

Osiris

Title

• God of the dead, fertility, afterlife, life, agriculture, and resurrection

Description

• Green skinned to represent his immortality, holding a crook and a flail, wearing a Egyptian crown with ostrich feathers, and a mummified lower half

Duties

• Ruled over the land of the dead

Lineage

• Eldest son of the earth god Geb and the sky goddess Nut

Stories

• Osiris was drowned or otherwise slain by his brother Set. Set then cut his body to pieces and hid them in different places.

Interesting Facts

• Osiris was associated with Pharaohs that had passed on, the Father, whereas a living Pharaoh was associated with Horus, the Son(also associated with the sun).

Symbols

• Crook and Flail, ostrich feathers, fish, mummy gauze

Poem

William Shakespear

That Time of Year Thou Mayst in Me Behold

That time of year thou mayst in me behold   when yellow leaves, or none, or few do hang upon those boughs which shake against the cold, bare ruin’d choirs where late the sweet birds sang.

In me thou see’st the twilight of such day as after sunset fadeth in the west,  which by and by black night doth take away,  Death’s second self, that seals up all in rest.

In me thou see’st  the glowing of such fire, that on the ashes of his youth doth lie, 

as the death-bed whereon it must expire, consum’d with that which it was nourish’d by.

This thou perceive’st,   which makes thy love MORE strong,  to love that well which thou must leave ere long. 

Sonnet LXXIII (73)

Earth Correspondences

Direction

This week's episode is Water, the Waning Moon, and some associated activities

We apologize for the quality of the fifth episode. We had some technical difficulties and we’re figuring them out.

Alright let’s jump right in - no pun intended- and get the ball rolling with our god/ goddess of the day!

Poseidon

Title

• God of the seas, horses, and earthquakes

Description

• A bearded man with piercing eyes, often with a trident

Duties

• Watch over the seas, sailors and many port cities.

Lineage

• Second son of Titans Cronus and Rhea

Stories

• Poseidon wanted Athens, so he challenged Athena. There was declared a contest between Athena and Poseidon for who should be the patron god/dess of Athens. Poseidon struck a rock with his trident and a salt water spring erupted from it in a temple. Athena planted an olive tree. And the first king of Athens, Cecrops, decided on the tree because you could get wood, fruit, and oil from it. So Athena was declared the patron goddess. Poseidon sent a huge flood in retaliation for not being chosen.

Interesting Facts

• Poseidon was the reason for Odysseus’ long voyage home, retaliation for the blinding of Poseidon's son.

Symbols

• Horses, sea water, tridents, fish, dolphin, and bulls

What was it that led you to picking Poseidon for today’s podcast?

Picking a deity was really hard. I went through a lot to try and find a male deity associated with water. I finally settled on Poseidon because he fit what I was looking for. I’m still on the fence though because of his mercurial nature.

Keeping in line with our water energy I picked the following poem.

Going For Water  by Robert Frost

The well was dry beside the door, 

And so we went with pail and can

Across the fields behind the house

To seek the brook if it still ran;

Not loth to have excuse to go,

Because the autumn eve was fair

(Though chill), because the fields

Were ours,

And by the brook our woods were there.

We ran as if to meet the moon

That slowly dawned behind the trees

The barren boughs without the leaves,

Without the birds, without the breeze.

But once within the wood, we paused

Like gnomes that hid us from the moon,

Ready to run hiding new

With laughter when she found us soon.

Each layered on other a staying hand

To listen ere we dared to look,

And in the hush we joined to MAKE

We heard, we knew we heard the brook.

A note as from a single place,

A slender tinkling fall that made

Now drops that floated on the pool

Like pearls, and now a silver blade. 

A perfect poem for this podcast. It’s so evocative of all we’ll be talking about, autumn, the moon and water. Thank you for that Tatjana.

Continuing on that note, here is a water invocation 

Water Invocation

Sacred Spirits of the West, waters of the setting sun,

I call you here, I ask you come!

Bring your waters and soothe my soul from the womb until my end,

Let your ebb and flow teach me, so that I may comprehend,

That compassion be my given name

‘Til the day I know is done

Sparkling waters of the West

I call you, come!

Welcome to Powered by Magic

This week’s episode: Fire, the Full moon, and some Activities

What's a favorite summer memory of yours?

Goddess Information

Amaterasu Omikami

Title

• The Japanese (specifically Shinto) goddess of the sun, creation, and order

Description

• White skin, black hair, dressed in a kimono, often shown with rays of light coming off of her

Duties

• Rules the gods, shines her light during the day as the sun

Lineage

• Daughter of Izanami and Izanagi, sometimes said to be the daughter of just Izanagi

Ask about Tsukuyomi and Amaterasu, are brother/sister or husband/wife?

• Had five sons Ame-no-Oshihomimi, Ame-no-Hohi, Amatsuhikone, Ikutsuhikone, and Kumanokusubi

Stories

• After being kicked out by his father for being troublesome Susanoo went to say goodbye to his sister Amaterasu. Suspicious of her brother, Amaterasu came out to meet him dressed in armor. To prove his sincerity he proposed a little contest whereby each chewed up and spat out a possession of the other. Three goddesses and five gods were born from this.

Interesting Facts

• Her great grandson was the first emperor Jimmu, the emperors of Japan show that their family tree reaches back to him and so link their lineage to Amaterasu.

Symbols

• Mirror, sword, and magatama ( a comma shaped jewel), the sun

Continuing on our theme of Moon phases and elements, we’re doing Fire and the Full moon. We’ll be presenting you with plenty of correspondences, as before,

Diana

Title

• Roman Goddess of the Moon, hunters, crossroads, childbirth, and fertility

Description

• A maiden in a short tunic, with hair up, always has a bow and arrows, and is often pictured with dogs or deer

Duties

• Watched over the rural lands, helped to conceive and also helped ease birth, gave light to the night

Lineage

• Daughter of Jupiter and Latona 

Stories

• There once was a hunter named Actaeon. He went hunting with his dogs one day and happened upon Diana bathing in a stream. Whether this was on purpose or by accident on Actaeon’s part changes with the story, but always with the same ending. She curses him and turns him into a stag. He runs away, but is torn apart by his own hunting dogs.

Interesting Facts

• Diana is the Roman equivalent of the Greek Goddess Artemis

Symbols

• Crescent moon, crossroads, hunting dogs, deer, quiver and bow, silver

Sylvia I thought I might ask for an intermission here between deities and share a poem to celebrate the waxing moon. Would that be ok?

Silver 

Slowly Silently, now the moon

Walks the night in her silver shoon;

This way, and that, she peers, and sees

Silver fruit upon silver trees;

One by one the casements catch

Her beams beneath the silvery thatch;

Couched in his kennel, like a log,

With paws of silver, sleeps the dog;

From their shadowy cote the white breasts peep

Of doves in a silver-feathered sleep;

A harvest mouse goes scampering by,

With silver claws, and silver eyes;

And moveless fish in water gleam,

By silver reeds in a silver stream

                                        by Walter De La Mare

Back to you.

Thoth

Title

• Egyption God of the moon, writing, magic, mediation, learning

Description

• Looks like an ibis headed man often depicted writing something

Duties

• Arbitration of the gods problems, Maintaining the universe, Guarding Ra’s boat along with Ma’at, pronouncing the judgement of the dead

Lineage

• Had no mother or father as he appeared fully formed

Stories

• At one point the calendar was only 360 days. Nut Goddess of the sky was infertile. So Thoth made a wager with the moon to get 5 days. Thoth won and during those five days Nut was able to have children with Geb (god of the Earth).

Interesting Facts

• Was said to have written everything human and Divine

Symbols

• Ibis, baboon, moon, paper, writing utensils, scales

At this point I’m going to give a forewarning, today’s episode is full of information you may want to revisit and take notes on. Or not.[lol] Either way we hope you will enjoy our efforts. N

Welcome! Here you can discover our show notes for this episode. This episode covers a little history of the Wiccan religion, our thoughts on the ethics, and the morals of magic. We had so much fun researching the history and bringing our thoughts together on what we've discovered over the years to be good guidelines for doing magic. We each bring a different perspective to the table, both solitary and group practices. Now to our show notes.

This week’s episode, Ethics, The Do’s and Dont’s of Magic smattered with a bit of history.

But first let’s start with the chosen deity for today’s podcast

Take it away Sylvia!

Saturn

Title

• The Roman god of planting, harvest, and the turning of time

Description

• Looks like an old man with a beard and is often pictured with a scythe 

Duties

• Reigned over the original site of Rome as its ruler, His rule is known as the Golden Age

Lineage

• Son to Caelus and Terra

Stories

• Many of the stories of Cronos became attributed to Saturn to the point that many scholars are unsure of what Saturns’ actual original place as a god was

Interesting Facts

• Is the Roman equivalent of the Greek god Cronos

Symbols

• Scythe, sickle, grain, I would say nowadays clocks and/or hourglasses 

OK lets dig right into our topic and begin once again with a definition; what are ethics?

Define: Ethics- the discipline dealing with what is good and bad, with moral duty and obligation. A guiding philosophy. Miriam's-Webster

Our first foray in Wiccan Ethics will be the Wiccan Rede. 

"Bide ye the Wiccan Law ye must,

AKA the three fold law that wiccans, Neo-pagans and occultists use as a moral compass or guideline 

In perfect love and perfect trust,

Eight words the Wiccan rede fulfill,

Rede being advice or counsel given by one person to another.

And ye harm none, do what ye will.

What ye send forth comes back to thee,

So ever mind the Law of Three,

Sometimes it's seen as the equivalent of the amount of intention you put behind your act either good or bad coming back to you. Also can be likened to the law of Karma

Follow this in mind and heart.

Merry ye meet and merry ye part."

This is mostly used as a closing of a ritual along with the preceding words, “may the circle be open but unbroken…” But can be used elsewhere as well.

Ritual= a sequence of activities involving gestures, words, actions, or objects performed in a sequestered place and according to a set sequence.

Sylvia I’ve been saying Merry Meet & Merry Part for over two decades and have never questioned the origins of it- I got cur

We introduce ourselves, we introduce you to the topic of magic and to answer questions about magic as well as talk about our own skepticism.