Yesterday, the official death toll of American soldiers in Iraq reached 4000. Thorn Coyle blogs today about a candlelight vigil to be held tonight at 7 pm PDT at the San Francisco Civic Center. Again, I long to be in the city where my heart seems to have stubbornly planted itself.

If you are near San Francisco, please join Thorn and all the others in this solemn recognition of lives that continue to be lost for something that seems more pointless every day. For those of us far away, perhaps we can light a candle at the appropriate time (10 pm in my time zone) to join them in spirit.

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Listen, listen:
longing and loss.
In the struck bell's
recurrent calling,
no moment in which to forget.

- Izumi Shikibu

Posted by Angela-Eloise at 3:29 PM | Comments (0)

Thalia writes that making mandalas has become something of a daily devotional for her. I like that idea. I think about how it is possible to lose yourself in the image you choose and the process of creating a mandala from it, and how this does become a meditation on whatever that image means for you.

Although the past few days were rich with opportunities for ritual, celebration and devotion, I didn't participate in any public way and only observed the Full Moon in a small and private way. This morning it occurred to me that a bit of devotion might be a good thing.

Among all of my recent thoughts of change and life and what that all means, I've been thinking of moving. Among thoughts of leaving behind that which no longer serves us, I think about leaving my current apartment, where specters of an unhappy situation continue to haunt me. When I think of a place where I was happy, where things were simpler, where my heart yearns to go, I think of San Francisco. And I think of the beach at Crissy Field.

My devotional today is dedicated to that place, to my love for it, and to my hope for a return, if not to that place in particular, then to the simple happiness I experienced there.

Crissy Field Mandala

Posted by Angela-Eloise at 10:40 AM | Comments (2)

Here is a fun site for bunny lore around the world.

Posted by Angela-Eloise at 4:59 PM | Comments (2)

The Moon will be Full this afternoon at 2:40 EDT. As usual, I turn to my favorite resource, Cafe Astrology, to learn what to expect:

On Friday afternoon, the Full Moon occurs when the Sun in Aries opposes the Moon in Libra. The Full Moon is a time of culmination and the promise of fulfillment of that which was started at the New Moon. It is an emotional time—a time of romance, fertilization, and relationships.

The Aries-Libra polarity is a relationship axis, where Aries represents "self" and Libra represents "other". Where Aries is about self-assertion, Libra is about compromise. The energy of the Libra Moon is the awareness of the need for relationships and all that comes with maintaining them--compromising, negotiating, graciousness, and balancing. The Aries Sun, on the other hand, is self-assertive, leading, and personally courageous. This Full Moon urges us to strike a balance between meeting our personal needs and tending to the needs of a significant other, and between independence or autonomy and dependence or companionability.

The Libra Moon is diplomatic, equality-minded, and fair-minded. The Aries Sun, however, values authenticity over tact, and is energized by independent efforts. The Full Moon illuminates this conflict.

With the Moon full and bright in the sky, symbolic "illumination" occurs in our own lives. However, these new feelings and revelations are emotional ones, as emotions burst forth into our consciousness. It's time to express ourselves, and to let things out of our systems. Of course, we might want to exercise some care while doing so, knowing that what is coming out of us is new and not particularly rational as yet. Full Moons are about exposing or illuminating issues that are already there, but that have not yet been dealt with.

At the risk of sounding like a sappy romantic, I really believe that this Full Moon is going to be all about manifesting love, whether it's finding a new love or supporting the one you have.

For one thing, we just experienced Ostara. Remember that part of preparing for Ostara is about clearing out the old to make room for the new? So many women I know have ended relationships recently and made lots of changes in their lives, including lots of haircuts just like mine (I explain the significance of that in my post Cut the Crap). I wondered what was going on that could be influencing so many people in a similar way, and now I think I'm getting my answer. There's such a confluence of magickal energy that it would be difficult not to come to the conclusion that the universe has been preparing us to be able to use the energy of this Full Moon to fill the space we've worked so hard to create. It's Spring and we, embodying the Maiden Goddess, have returned ripe with fertility and filled with hope at the promise of new things (so, everyone make sure to stock up on birth control if a baby is not part of your romantic picture). It seems that we may be destined to find new love this Spring. Before long, it will be Beltane and we all know what that means.

This Full Moon has the potential to support love magick in a very positive and powerful way. The balance (another reference back to Ostara!) between the energy of the Aries Sun and the Libra Moon strikes me as representing the qualities that we need in an ideal relationship. It also seems like a stabilizing influence while Venus is in slippery Pisces (as it will be until April 6). Venus in Pisces can be the ultimate way to express love, tenderness and affection being at their strongest now. But borders and boundaries blur under Venus in Pisces, so it can be difficult to tell the difference between dreams and reality. Astrologically, there is a lot going on with Venus this week that also supports my sense that this Full Moon is the ideal time to try out that love spell you've been hanging on to. Check out This Week in Astrology to learn more details.

Speaking of that perfect love spell, Christopher Penczak included the spell he used to find his true love in the book Outer Temple Of Witchcraft: Circles, Spells and Rituals. I've been holding on to it, waiting for the perfect opportunity to use it. I think this may be it.

Lifemate Love Spell

You will need:

1 live red rose
Vase
Spring water
Sugar
Dragon's blood

On the last Friday before the Full Moon, or any waxing day with beneficial aspects to Venus (which makes today perfect as long as you do it before 2:40 pm), cast a circle and meditate with the rose. Pour your heart out to it. Tell it all the things you want in a partner, and how you envision your life with a partner. It's best not to get too specific about who, or about superficial qualities, but to express the essence of what you want in a partnership. Call upon the spirit medicine of the rose to make your magick.

Bless a pinch of sugar (white or brown) and place it in the water of the vase. If you can obtain water from a special spring or well, so much the better, but any pure water will do. Then place a pinch of dragon's blood in the water for power. Put the rose into the vase, raise your energy to the universe, release the circle, and leave the rose on the altar for three days. As the rose begins to wilt, take the petals apart, dry them, place them in a green, pink, or red bag or box, and put them someplace special. You can carry it with you, but one thing that works is to put them under your mattress. If you are ready to meet your love, you will meet within three months.

Posted by Angela-Eloise at 11:37 AM | Comments (1)

Thalia, my partner in blog mandala crime, had the excellent idea of taking photos from nature to chronicle the seasons and she has another amazing series of mandalas made from recent photos of blooming crocus. Here in Boston, Spring appears to be a bit more shy in making her appearance than she is where Thalia lives. Nevertheless, I went out this grey first day of Spring to see if I could find any evidence. I did.

This is what the first day of Spring looks like in Boston:

Posted by Angela-Eloise at 12:26 PM | Comments (2)

As we Pagans are celebrating the Vernal Equinox and the promise of life renewed, scientists are reporting that some forms of life on this planet may soon cease to exist - due to the effects that global warming is having on nature's harbingers of Spring.

AP Science Writer Seth Borenstein writes:

The fingerprints of man-made climate change are evident in seasonal timing changes for thousands of species on Earth, according to dozens of studies and last year's authoritative report by the Nobel Prize-winning international climate scientists. More than 30 scientists told The Associated Press how global warming is affecting plants and animals at springtime across the country, in nearly every state.

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The changes could push some species to extinction. That's because certain plants and animals are dependent on each other for food and shelter. If the plants bloom or bear fruit before animals return or surface from hibernation, the critters could starve. Also, plants that bud too early can still be whacked by a late freeze.

According to Borenstein's article (which I found at SFGate.com.), tree swallows and robins, who are now laying eggs and appearing much earlier than in years past, may starve as Spring cold snaps kill the insects upon which they depend to survive. Shifts in rainfall patterns cause butterfly larvae to die when the plants upon which they develop dry up too soon. From a shamanic point of view, it saddens me to consider the spirits who may be leaving this Earth, taking their lessons and their medicine with them.

In addition to threatening certain plants and animals with extinction, the list of effects from the early onset of Spring goes on and on. Allergy season begins earlier and stretches on painfully longer because pollen-producing plants appear earlier every year. Honey changes taste because bees are producing their peak amount of honey weeks earlier and the plants available to them are different now.

For those of us who consider Nature to be the very essence of our spirituality, the effects of global warming may not be startling news. But I, for one, who spent my Ostara morning navel-gazing, took this news item as a big wake-up call. It's all well and good to think about burgeoning Spring as a metaphor for a soul fulfilled, but we should remember to include Mother Earth in our prayers for healing and renewal, as the threat to her health is all too real.

Posted by Angela-Eloise at 7:01 PM | Comments (0)

Evn, our favorite Lover of Strife, says that while he doesn't normally go for this sort of thing, he agreed with his results to this test of What Tarot Card Are You? My results are uncanny given what today is and the fact that I turned up as the Empress in a reading I recently did for myself.

I'll take it.

You are The Empress

Beauty, happiness, pleasure, success, luxury, dissipation.

The Empress is associated with Venus, the feminine planet, so it represents, beauty, charm, pleasure, luxury, and delight. You may be good at home decorating, art or anything to do with making things beautiful.

The Empress is a creator, be it creation of life, of romance, of art or business. While the Magician is the primal spark, the idea made real, and the High Priestess is the one who gives the idea a form, the Empress is the womb where it gestates and grows till it is ready to be born. This is why her symbol is Venus, goddess of beautiful things as well as love. Even so, the Empress is more Demeter, goddess of abundance, then sensual Venus. She is the giver of Earthly gifts, yet at the same time, she can, in anger withhold, as Demeter did when her daughter, Persephone, was kidnapped. In fury and grief, she kept the Earth barren till her child was returned to her.

What Tarot Card are You?
Take the Test to Find Out.

Posted by Angela-Eloise at 3:47 PM | Comments (0)

Ostara is a celebration of the Goddess' rise from the underworld, refreshed and renewed as the Maiden of Spring. On the Vernal Equinox the equal day and night tips the balance towards light and life and Spring speaks to our soul in messages of hope, of growth, and new possibilities. As the Earth quickens, so does something within us. For me, the warmth of Spring can't come soon enough.

One of my favorite online Ostara references has always been Christina Aubin's post at Witches' Voice. Christina writes about all of the Sabbats with tremendous authority and knowledge about the lore, symbology, practices and spiritual significance that bring meaning to each turn of the Wheel.

On the subject of balance, Christina says:

Spring Equinox is also celebration as well as a practice of balance. For it is not quite Spring and yet not quite winter, it is the time when we are perched magically between the two seasons. The trees and plants are stirring with renewed life, and yet we still receive the March wintry storms. It is a time to remember our balance in the greater scheme of things, we are an important part of all that happens around us, our actions and inactions, our deeds and not, all have effect on the Earth, Her people, and the Universe. So it is the time of the year when we understand our need to walk in balance with the Universe much more clearly.

Of course, the observance of any equinox has to do with balance. As we are experiencing a time of equal day and night, spiritually and philosophically we turn to ideas of how to achieve balance in our lives. Whatever this means for each of us, Ostara is one of those times of the year when there is significant energy to support whatever work we feel the need to do. Are we balancing work and home? Are we balancing personal priorities with those of our relationships to others? Are we balancing inward looking with outward acting? Hecate's Ostara post addresses this issue quite eloquently.

Among the bases for the Wiccan Sabbat of Ostara is the tradition of planting the seeds that will later become the bounty of the harvest. On this aspect of Ostara, Christina Aubin also writes:

Seeding, of course, has a multi-level meaning, for the seeds we plant can be on the soil of our Being as well as the soil of the earth. It is the time after the final harvest of fields and of self during Samhain, the contemplation during the fallow periods of winter, to plant the new seeds given from our experience, pondered and understood. A time to begin to create new life, from the seeds of experience past. A life rich in the wisdom of experience past, brimming with the promise of times future.

On the issue of seeding I have been thinking lately that I'm feeling pretty sapped and, instead of planting any new seeds, maybe I need to lie fallow for a while, to let the "soil" of my being heal a little bit before I ask it to support the growth of anything new.

Although I haven't officially started training in the Feri Tradition, and now whether or not I will has been a question I've been asking myself, I have been doing lots of work and reading to prepare myself to embrace this new path, and my frame of reference on a number of matters magickal is starting to shift, including how I perceive the significance and observance of the Sabbats. I looked back on my preparations for Ostara in years past and found that I am in a very different mood this year. Perhaps it has more to do with what's going on with my life than what's going on with my practice of the Craft, but it is interesting and worth noting how Ostara's approach feels to me now.

Karina, my teacher-to-be and founder of the Blackheart Feri line, offers A Feri Perspective on the Wheel Year, in which she says:

If your natural tendency is to withdraw during the Springtime, it won't do you much good to try to do manifestation work then, will it? If Samhain is a time of deep creativity for you, does it make sense to try to force yourself into silence? What we are seeking is a marriage of sorts—between what our own natural rhythms dictate and what the energies of the Earth and Sky are bringing forth at anytime on the Wheel Year. This way, we both embody and ride the Wheel. This way, we both engage and become the Gods of our own mythology.

It's true that right now my most powerful inclination is to retreat a bit - if not literally then certainly spiritually - when everyone else around me is celebrating an acceleration of energy and the sprouting of newness. It's refreshing to discover a point of view that tells me it's okay if I want to be quiet now and full of excitement at Samhain.

As I consider another perspective on the turning of the Wheel, I also find it interesting that two of my favorite spiritual bloggers have recently addressed the idea of creating one's own mythology. Slade Roberson writes about Spinning Your Story and Dianne Sylvan writes that The Rest is Still Unwritten. Is it coincidence that they, and I, in this season of new and renewed life, are turning our thoughts to personal mythology and questions of whether or not the story we have been telling ourselves is even relevant any more?

Again I turn to Christina for wisdom:

The Vernal Equinox also serves to remind us that there are times when we must individually "clean house" in order to maintain fertile ground, clear out our outdated conceptions and misconceptions, our grievances and hurts, our self-perceived many times self-inflicted wounds, regrets of our past actions and inactions, our grudges and resentments, our inability to forgive others and ourselves. By clearing house we create the room for new experiences, new understandings, new hope and new joy that would elude us had we not cleared the way and made room for them to occur.

I've been doing a lot of "cleaning house" lately and all of that work has left me wiped out. This Ostara finds me at a place somewhere in between the old life I cleared away and the point at which the space I have created becomes refilled with something new. I'm not quite ready for the seeds of my new story to take root - I'm not sure I know yet exactly what they are. Even so, I'm not without hope. I am starting to manifest some growth in my personal business. I look forward with eager anticipation to the day when I can put away my winter layers to go out in light, Spring clothes, feeling the warmth of the Sun and the freshness of the Spring breeze.

Perhaps for a bit, the balance we experience at Ostara will remain as a kind of state of limbo for me, until I'm ready to truly tip toward the next direction. I have faith that everything will come in its time. Now, if it would just hurry up already . . .

Posted by Angela-Eloise at 3:27 PM | Comments (0)

As we all know, The Color of Happiness is yellow.

In the midst of writing a more serious post for Ostara, I wanted to see if I could replicate my earlier success with the thirteen-section mandala. With the intention of making myself happy, I chose another photograph from my old neighborhood in San Francisco, a place where I was very happy, and had at it. The result? A beautiful mandala, a personal and mathematical success.

Let's not forget that the iconic smiley face is yellow. And a circle. Happiness is a yellow mandala.

Posted by Angela-Eloise at 7:37 PM | Comments (2)

I finally did it - caught the elusive dream of creating a thirteen-section mandala. I figured out how to do it after a number of frustrating disappointments. How did I do it? I stopped being stubbornly insistent on following the rules and made up my own way. That is the lesson to be learned for the day - and the importance of my Thirteen Eye Mandala.

The image I used to create this mandala was a photo I took in Dublin of a cool, mysterious bronze eye embedded in a curb in Temple Place.

Thalia this one is for you.

Posted by Angela-Eloise at 12:07 PM | Comments (1)

Mandalas have been described as everything from an artistic representation of the cosmos as a focus in meditation, to the depiction of a particular deity, to a diagram of one's inner mystical state and a symbol of the innate harmony and perfection of being. With some important shared basics, the many interpretations of and definitions for a mandala differ depending on who you're asking. When I turned to The Mandala Project's page on "What is a Mandala?" to provide a post on the background of mandalas, I found this definition:

Representing the universe itself, a mandala is both the microcosm and the macrocosm, and we are all part of its intricate design. The mandala is more than an image seen with our eyes; it is an actual moment in time. It can be can be used as a vehicle to explore art, science, religion and life itself. The mandala contains an encyclopedia of the finite and a road map to infinity.

Over the last few days, I've been furiously making mandalas and filling this space with some examples of my work, and I started to wonder why. Why I am I so fascinated by creating these intricate circles of color and image? Is there some deeper meaning here for me than just a way to procrastinate on a boring work project? What am I chronicling for the encyclopedia of the universe? If there is something I'm exploring here, what is it?

If my mandalas are a diagram of my own inner mystical state, then I could examine the images I chose to make them as a place to start to answer these questions.

Lately I've been reminiscing about a time in my life that is in the past; my first mandala was from a picture I had taken at some point back then. It's not difficult to see why my subconscious went there. But then I was just playing around with pictures - there was no intent behind creating that mandala as a spiritual expression of anything in particular. I wasn't intending to create an image that would represent that time for me, upon which I might meditate to sort out my feelings or that I might release to the universe as a means of letting go. Perhaps I can see it now as such, but that was not what I was trying to do when I made it.

Carl Jung said that a mandala symbolizes "a safe refuge of inner reconciliation and wholeness." It is "a synthesis of distinctive elements in a unified scheme representing the basic nature of existence." Jung used the mandala for his own personal growth and wrote about his experiences.

In fact, there is quite a lot of writing by Carl Jung and a number of other psychologists on mandalas and their place in psychotherapy and in personal explorations of the emotional and spiritual realms. If I think about my first mandala in the context of Jung's ideas, then I see a strong argument for my subconscious guiding me to make a mandala from that image from my past because I needed to in order to process the things that had been preying on my mind. Perhaps I should make other mandalas from other images that relate to that time and meditate with them to see what happens. I certainly could use some "inner reconciliation and wholeness" on that particular subject. In fact, there may be other things going on my life that I could address through combining the creative act of making a mandala with images relating to something specific and then meditating on the resulting mandala.

There also is another way to consider making mandalas.

My most recent mandalas have all been with the same image of a tree blooming in my neighborhood here in Boston that I took on a glorious Spring day last year. I'm so tired of Winter; I so desperately want it to be Spring. Again, it's fairly easy to see why I might choose an image of Spring to inspire me to create mandalas.

Ostara comes this Thursday, heralding the return of Spring, the quickening of the Earth, and the turning of the Wheel of the Year. In times past, both ancient and not so ancient, many witches and other magickal people believed that they actually were responsible for making sure that the wheel did turn, ensuring that the seasons changed. It was through their work that life continued. Maybe making a mandala for Spring is my contribution to turning the Wheel and making sure that Spring arrives. With her beautiful Spring mandalas, Thalia at Audacia Muliebris could nearly bring in Spring all by herself!

My Spring Mandala. This was my first successful nine-section mandala using Thalia's template.

So far, in making mandalas I've mostly been playing with pretty pictures and honing my skills in Photoshop and math. (Thalia's new templates for nine- and thirteen-section mandalas are tricky.) With the exception of the two that I made specifically as "gifts" to friends, none of the other mandalas I created were originally made with any particular intention behind them. But we witches are all about intent. Our magick requires it. We strive to live our lives by it. So, like creating sigils, creating mandalas could easily be the literal crafting of a spell, choosing the image and going through the steps of making the mandala with a particular intention held strongly in the mind so that the image in the end stands for the spell itself.

Choosing the mandala as the physical representation of a spell strikes me as being one of the most potentially powerful things you could do. Think about that for a moment. With the entire cosmos behind you and the energy of people all over the world and throughout literal millennia of history pouring into the shared web of existence via the creation of mandalas, that's an awful lot of power supporting your mandala spell. Such wonderful, awe-inspiring potential! If you do a mandala spell, as in all spell crafting, be careful what you wish for! My guess is you will get it.

In the case of the Paint-It Pink Mandala Project, not only do I hope this is true, but I believe that this is a cause that we witches and magickal mandala makers could contribute to in a very meaningful way.

During times of transition mandalas serve as visual guides that gently lead us to a place of wholeness and healing self-reflection. They represent a microcosm of the self, harmony and sometimes, the act of divine powers at work. As breast cancer brings powerful emotions of transformation to the surface, creating mandalas can make the journey both more meaningful and more manageable. The cultural icon of the pink ribbon and organizations such as the Susan G. Komen Foundation have worked to make pink the unifying color for all who seek a cure for the disease, one that still affects one in every seven women and many men.

Beautifully, the Paint-It Pink Mandala Project incorporates both symbols--mandalas and the color pink.  Together they represent a growing body of art supportive of healing transformation and a hopeful cure. Each year the entire, on-going collection is presented for national exhibition. All donations and proceeds from entrance to the exhibition are given directly to the Barbara T. Sabo Scholarship Foundation.

Can you think of anything more beautiful, more powerful, more giving to our sisters in the universe than creating a beautiful pink mandala charged with the intention of healing breast cancer?

The Paint-It Pink Mandala Project has a cybergallery where you can view images from the collection, and on their "web page you can download a form to submit a mandala of your own. I'm thinking of sending my pink Spring flower mandala.

Mandalas seem to me an interesting lesson to have stumbled upon - as a person, as a spiritual being, as a witch. I will continue to ponder what mandalas mean to me. I will keep making them, choosing my images with more care and intent. I may even try a mandala spell. I will certainly remember one important message from this recent experience: "Where there is no you, there is no mandala."

Posted by Angela-Eloise at 1:05 PM | Comments (3)

This morning I tried to create one of Thalia's thirteen-segment mandalas. I must not be as talented a mandala maker - or as good at math - as she is, and I just couldn't figure that one out. However, I really liked the photograph I was using so I stuck with what I know and made an eight-segment mandala from it. This doesn't have quite the same effect that it would have in thirteen, but is pretty nonetheless.

Okay, ma'am, just step away from the computer. That's it - nice and slow.

Posted by Angela-Eloise at 12:24 PM | Comments (3)

Holly holy eyes, dream of only me
Where I am, what I am
What I believe in
Holly holy

Holly holy dream
Wanting only you
And she come
And I run just like the wind will
Holly holy

Sing a song
Sing a song of songs
Sing it out, Sing it strong
Yeah! Yeah!

Call the sun in the dead of the night
And the sun gonna rise in the sky
Touch a man who can't walk upright
And that lame man, he gonna fly
And I fly, yeah, And I fly

Holly holy love
Take the lonely child
And the seed
Let it be full with tomorrow
Holly holy

Sing a song
Sing a song of songs
Sing it out, sing it strong
Yeah! Yeah!

Call the sun in the dead of the night
And the sun gonna rise in the sky
Touch a man who can't walk upright
And that lame man, he gonna fly
And I fly, yeah
God (And) I fly

Holly holy dream
Dream 'bout only you
Holly holy sun
Holly holy rain
Holly holy love

by Neil Diamond

Yes, folks, tonight I have Neil Diamond singing in my head.

Posted by Angela-Eloise at 11:14 PM | Comments (3)

The following article is by Jenna Avery, CLC, Life Coach for Sensitive Souls. Reprinted with her permission.

Several empathic and sensitive readers have shared that they struggle with knowing when they're experiencing their own feelings versus feelings they have "picked up" from someone else.

To review, empathy is the ability to tune into and experience another person's feelings as if they are your own. Sometimes we even process emotions for other people so they don't have to, which isn't exactly fair to either person. For more information about empathy, see my article Understanding Empathy. Most empaths are untrained intuitives who haven't learned to strengthen their boundaries and consciousness to make their psychic ability work for them. Once you have developed your empathy, you'll be a clairsentient or skilled empath, able to clearly distinguish between your feelings and someone else's feelings.
Here are some key steps to developing your ability, and beginning to discern what you are experiencing:

1. Make It Conscious
As an empath, you naturally tune into other people. The key is to learn to do it consciously. Recognize and accept that you can pick up on other people's emotions. Name what you are experiencing, and don't second-guess it. This is part of learning where your boundaries are. My coaching teacher, Marcia Collins, uses a wonderful technique of naming out loud every emotion she picks up. She understands emotion as simply being "energy in motion," and chooses to experience it as such.

I also recommend using yarrow flower essences to help you raise your consciousness around your empathy and learn to differentiate your emotions from others.

2. Know *How* You Are
In order to tell the difference between someone else's emotions and your own, you first have to know how you are feeling. Regularly tune into yourself and ask, "How am I feeling right now?" Another helpful tool is the use of morning pages -- writing three pages, stream-of-consciousness style, every morning. Meditation is also a powerful way to strengthen your energy field and sense of yourself.

3. Know *Where* You Are
Are you in your body? Are you grounded? You can learn energy skills to ground yourself so you can be more present in your body and in your own experience. You might also try breathing into the places in your body where you feel tense, anxious, or are experiencing an emotion. This will help bring you back to yourself. Spending time in nature or simply getting outside is also of great benefit. I've heard it said that being around the nature spirits of plants and animals can help us discharge what we pick up.

4. Use Self-Inquiry
Once you are conscious and aware of your own experience, then you can start to dialogue with yourself when you pick up something that you suspect isn't your own. Simply ask, "Is this mine?" Then, allow the answer to come from deep within. When you do pick up on something that's not yours, spiritual teacher Sonia Choquette recommends saying, "This is not my experience." Also try, "This is not mine. Everything that is not mine, leave now!"

5. Establish Strong Boundaries
Strengthening your boundaries on both an energetic and interpersonal level will also help you learn the difference between what's yours and what's not. To do this, work with saying no, honoring your own needs, and learning energy shielding techniques. Consider also that others have created their own experiences on a soul level and that they don't need you to rescue or overly identify with them. In fact, doing so may actually be a disservice to them. Sonia calls that a "vote of no confidence."

6. Clear Away What You Do Pick Up
If something just won't go away, chances are it's not yours. Keep paying attention and keep asking questions. If you have picked up on something that isn't yours, you can use energy techniques, take Epsom salts baths, or you can get help from an energy healer to help you clear it away.

7. Know When and Where You Are More Susceptible
Your awareness will be much more resilient when you are taking proper care of yourself and aren't worn down or overstimulated. Remember, being highly sensitive is both a gift and a responsibility.

You may be able to prepare for your "trouble spots." For instance, spending more time with your family and friends over the holidays may be empathically tricky. I suggest putting a pre- and post-event plan in place to check in with yourself. You might even want to have an Epsom salts bath lined up in advance!

8. Consider Your Environment
Give serious thought to carefully choosing the people you spend time with. Make sure you have a good support system in place, made up of people who understand and validate your experience, for times when you do run aground. As a sensitive and empathic soul, you ARE affected by other people. It's worthwhile to be conscious about the people you choose to be with.

9. Keep Practicing
The more you practice the easier this will become, as you build up your own experience and learn to rely on it. The more you work with this, the better you will be able to differentiate and choose when you want to connect with someone empathically or not.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I give special thanks to Elaine La Joie, fellow coach, intuitive, and energy healer/light body worker, for consulting with me on this article.

Copyright November 2005, Jennifer K. Avery

Jenna Avery, the Life Coach for Sensitive Souls, offers an original coaching program designed to guide highly sensitive souls to a deep sense of inner rightness, so they are inspired to step forward and shine. You're invited to visit her website to take her free online assessment, "Is Your Sensitivity Working For You?"

Posted by Angela-Eloise at 1:25 PM | Comments (1)

All of my mandala making has actually served a purpose. I told the story of how I was reading Thalia's blog, was inspired to make mandalas, and explored the deeper meaning behind these beautiful circles. And I made someone's day. How apropos.

I'm about to take off for a wine tasting with a friend. My favorite neighborhood wine store is pouring Ridge, one of my favorite California wines. But I couldn't go without creating one last mandala. This time I decided to try a pentacle.

The photo I used is one I took in my old San Francisco neighborhood - some flowers on Dolores Street. I'm calling this my Dolores Pentacle.

Where there is no you, there is no mandala. Love and blessings.

Posted by Angela-Eloise at 5:28 PM | Comments (1)

Who knows what a mandala is? Class?

While I had a vague notion, I wanted to know what a mandala really is, so I Googled. Ask and ye shall find, for here is a web page that tells us precisely What is a Mandala?

Some excerpts:

The word "mandala" is from the classical Indian language of Sanskrit. Loosely translated to mean "circle," a mandala is far more than a simple shape. It represents wholeness, and can be seen as a model for the organizational structure of life itself--a cosmic diagram that reminds us of our relation to the infinite, the world that extends both beyond and within our bodies and minds.

~

The "circle with a center" pattern is the basic structure of creation that is reflected from the micro to the macro in the world as we know it. It is a pattern found in nature and is seen in biology, geology, chemistry, physics and astronomy.

~

The mandala pattern is used in many religious traditions. Hildegard von Bingen, a Christian nun in the 12th century, created many beautiful mandalas to express her visions and beliefs.

In the Americas, Indians have created medicine wheels and sand mandalas. The circular Aztec calendar was both a timekeeping device and a religious expression of ancient Aztecs.

In Asia, the Taoist "yin-yang" symbol represents opposition as well as interdependence. Tibetan mandalas are often highly intricate illustrations of religious significance that are used for meditation.

~

Representing the universe itself, a mandala is both the microcosm and the macrocosm, and we are all part of its intricate design. The mandala is more than an image seen with our eyes; it is an actual moment in time. It can be can be used as a vehicle to explore art, science, religion and life itself. The mandala contains an encyclopedia of the finite and a road map to infinity.

Carl Jung said that a mandala symbolizes "a safe refuge of inner reconciliation and wholeness." It is "a synthesis of distinctive elements in a unified scheme representing the basic nature of existence." Jung used the mandala for his own personal growth and wrote about his experiences.

It is said by Tibetan Buddhists that a mandala consists of five "excellencies":

The teacher • The message • The audience • The site • The time

An audience or "viewer" is necessary to create a mandala. Where there is no you, there is no mandala.

So now I know what I have been making all day!

Posted by Angela-Eloise at 1:43 PM | Comments (0)

This one is for Luna at Stars for Eyes. I made it from a photo I took of a Full Moon shining through clouds and trees in my neighborhood.

This one is for Lisa at Adorn + Cherish. I made it from a photograph I took of some of her jewelry designs.

Posted by Angela-Eloise at 1:20 PM | Comments (1)

Sorry everyone. Thalia has created a monster and I guess you'll all just have to indulge me until I get it out of my system.

Here is mandala number two:

Posted by Angela-Eloise at 10:28 AM | Comments (0)

First, my mandala, of which I am most proud, it being my maiden one and all.

And now all inspirational credit must go to Thalia at Audacia Muliebris, oh she of the wondrous fractal image making, who has turned her talents to making mandalas. After trying her hand at some free-form mandalas, Thalia was introduced to detailed instructions for making your own mandalas at a site called Earth Mandalas. My guess is that Thalia's latest spate of mandala-making is a combination of her photography with some fractal action in there as well. Her mandalas are truly stunning - some of them are pentacles. You should check them out.

I know what I'm going to be doing all day! As if I didn't need something else to help me procrastinate. But thanks Thalia. Really!

Posted by Angela-Eloise at 8:57 AM | Comments (5)

Most Wiccans are familiar with the idea of sacred sex, enacted in ritual symbolically as the blade is inserted into the chalice. But I've never encountered the Great Rite in its full glory and I'd wager that most Pagans I know haven't either. Yet we read so much about sex as a sacred rite, the ultimate raising of magickal energy, a powerful connection to the divine. What do we really know about these concepts, much less practice? A couple of recent blog posts got me thinking about the subject.

Susan Reimer-Torn, scholar, author and life coach, recently wrote for the Women and Spirituality blog about The Sacred Prostitute. In this post she presents a discussion of the role and historical significance of temple priestesses performing sex as sacrament vis-a-vis a conversation over dinner with a group of friends. A learned group, even they had to dust off their knowledge on the subject. But Susan tells us:

In the words of the Jungian scholar Marion Woodman, "She is spiritually receptive to the feminine power flowing through her from the Goddess and at the same time, joyously aware of the beauty and passion in her human body." Through physical delight and spiritual ecstasy, "she opens the masculine to the potency of penetrating to the divine and the feminine to the rapture of surrender."

The article goes on to describe a conversation with an acquaintance of the author who was an exotic dancer, with clients for whom she would have sex:

This refreshingly open and articulate woman explains that the Sacred Prostitute is an intermediary: it is she who soothes men brutalized by war or other combative arenas, she who absorbs their aggressive energy so they might return exorcised and balanced to domestic foyers.

While I can embrace the idea of a woman acting as a conduit for feminine divine power and through whom sex is a joyous means to find awareness of the body's beauty and passion for both partners involved, viewing sacred sex as something meant solely to benefit men is the point at which I take issue with the idea of women in the role of "sacred prostitute." I spent years in a relationship wherein I "soothed" a man brutalized by his own particular combative arenas and I wasn't so pleased when the domestic foyer to which he returned was someone else's. Intellectually I can appreciate the concept of the sacred prostitute - and even accept that as a matter of historic fact the role may have been primarily in the service of men - but I need to find a realm of sacred sexuality that doesn't involve me getting betrayed by my ex-partner in spiritual ecstasy.

Dianne Sylvan's great post Sacred Sexuality, or Something deals primarily with reclaiming sexuality after an abusive experience. Her early experiences with Wicca were "inundated with sexual imagery and language" which made it difficult for her to accept, finding her new spiritual path "terrifying and liberating" at the same time. She writes:

If a woman came into Paganism already bearing a traumatic sexual history, how much harder would it be for her to find any sense of her own sanctity if she reaches out to her newfound community only to be assaulted again by the very people, in the very place, that was supposed to represent that sanctity?

Dianne goes on to discuss her own personal journey toward finding the sacred in sex, despite her earlier experiences, both with abuse and within the Pagan community. I think the essence of what she's getting at here is how one goes about arriving at an expression of sacred sexuality that works for you. Each of us comes to the divine in different ways (pun intended).

My own personal practice of the Craft is about to take a left-hand turn as I begin training in the Feri Tradition. Feri is not Wicca, so I may soon find myself redefining who I am as a witch. One of the things that convinced me that Feri was for me was its emphasis on personal power; one of the things that intrigues me about it is its emphasis on sacred sexuality.

The Feri Tradition is a relatively secretive tradition, and while there is information available in books and online about Feri and its beliefs, there is much more information that is not available unless you are in training or an initiate. On the subject of sex, I found a discussion of Victor and Cora Anderson's views on sexual ethics at Lilith's Lantern, but actual practices are kept private. This is probably as it should be, to keep salacious detractors who would only defame Feri from sticking their noses where they have no business being. However, it's easy for anyone to learn enough about Feri to know that the philosophy is very sex-positive and the tradition encourages its followers to reclaim sex as a joyful and magickally powerful act.

One of the most widely available resources on the Feri Tradition that provides a fairly open discussion of sacred sex is T. Thorn Coyle's book Evolutionary Witchcraft. In her book, Thorn points out that sex is one of the energies that we reclaim from the dominant culture, where it has become "twisted beyond recognition." In teaching us to treat sex as sacred, she is giving us a way to reconnect with the life force and to fuel the passion that "creates our power" as witches and as spiritual, divine beings.

. . . to Witches, sex is holy. You can use your sexual energy for many things: charging tools and spells, aligning your soul, opening up to abundance, feeding Deity.

I have used sexual energy in spell work before and, yes, sexual energy is powerful. You don't have to be a witch to know that! However, that the Feri Tradition takes sacred sex beyond a means to raise magickal energy and adds an emphasis on sex as a way to find personal power and fulfillment brings me closer to the kind of liberation and empowerment that I hope to find from sacred sex.

Thinking about my past sexual experiences - at least those that could be considered in any way meaningful - I'm not sure that any of them have provided the kind of transcendental qualities that I believe take sex from the realm of really good roll in the hay to encounter of or with the divine. I believe in divine immanence, and I do include myself when I look to the world around me to find potential expressions of and vehicles for the divine. Mostly through meditation and shamanic journeying, I have had some powerful personal encounters with divine. And I do believe there is something sacred in the way that the Sun shining on my face has the power to transform me, even if it just lightens my mood. But I wonder what it will take for me to experience for myself sex as a sacred act.

Luna at Stars for Eyes has a few astute things of her own to say about how to recognize the sacred:

Something sacred brings us closer to the Divine. It doesn't drive the best part of ourselves underground or make us sick for a week. The "sacred" doesn't leave us feeling "scarred" or "scared." It will never scatter our energy to the wind. It will never betray.

About sacred sex in particular, she concludes with:

The sacred does not need to be validated by another, and yet another, and still another person's sex organs. Sacred sexuality, when we really engage it, pierces all illusions and connects us to our beloved on the absolute deepest levels of our being. People who scatter themselves across a sea of bodies will never know this. What I am talking about is transcending the self, the other, and reaching the Divine through the deepest love possible. The most profound honor one can bestow upon another is to see them as Radha, the lover of Krishna. Radha is the embodiment of total love, positively dripping with it. But, only through loving Radha can Krishna understand what it means to love himself, even though he is the God of Love. And he becomes enraptured with loving Radha because her love for him is the only thing hotter than he is in the universe.

Does love have to be present for sex to be sacred? Luna makes an extremely powerful case that it does.

Activist and social philosopher bell hooks, in her book All About Love, (which is a profound treatise on the subject and a brilliant exploration of what we, in our modern society, need to change in order to experience true love in our lives - but that is a topic for a different blog post) begins by telling us that in order to discuss love in any authentic or spiritual way we need to define what it is we're talking about. She chooses to put forward that M. Scott Peck's definition, from his famous self-help book from the late 1970's The Road Less Traveled, is the one we should be using. It is:

. . . the will to extend one's self for the purpose of nurturing one's own or another's spiritual growth.

If we use bell hooks' and Scott Peck's definition of love, as opposed to a more socially conventional definition of romantic love, to answer my question about whether love needs to be present for sex to be sacred, then I would venture to say that it does. At least for me (and clearly for Luna). It's difficult for me to imagine that I could experience sacred sex from a relatively casual encounter if I could not experience sex that felt sacred to me within the context of a relationship wherein I truly was in love. But if I was in love, what was missing? Was I the only one extending myself? Does this spiritual nurturing need to be mutual? Where does this leave me?

To imagine the context wherein sacred sex is possible, perhaps it's necessary to embrace the idea that there is more than one type of relationship that is capable of providing a commitment to mutual spiritual nurturing - love as hooks and Peck define it. As I begin to consider what my life as Feri might look like, I can imagine a relationship - either with a teacher or with a fellow practitioner - within which a level of trust exists that would lead me to be able to participate in a sexual encounter that would reach the level of sacred for me. I go back to my statement about being intrigued by the Feri Tradition's beliefs about sacred sex as a way to reconnect with the life force and to fuel the passion that "creates our power" as witches and as spiritual, divine beings. It is precisely the potential that following the Feri path may bring me to the point where my personal experience of the divine is expanded and transformed that is of paramount importance to me. If this includes a newfound ability to experience the Holy O then yay me.

I'm sure you don't have to follow the Feri Tradition to benefit from some of the lessons it has to teach us about sacred sex. But maybe a more accessible way to approach the idea of sex as conduit to the divine is from a spiritual point of view without any particular religious framework. One of the healthiest attitudes about sex and the divine I have ever come across is presented by Sera Beak as she explores her "deliciously unorthodox approach to igniting your divine spark" in The Red Book.

The chapter of The Red Book that deals with sex and spirituality, entitled Open Up and Say Ahhh, begins by telling us:

As Tantrists and mystics have been declaring for centuries, sex, with the right awareness and intention, is actually an incredibly valuable and wonderful tool for spiritual growth.

. . . the ordinary act of lovemaking can be just as viable a path to higher states of consciousness, to a connection with All That Is, as meditation or prayer or any other traditional religious or spiritual ritual. How great is that?"

How great indeed. Apparently this has been true for millions of people across history and cultures. Even celibate nuns experience the same physiological effects from spiritual ecstasy as do those people who have had incredible orgasms. I kid you not. It was part of a study conducted by psychologists at the University of Montreal. And Sera draws the conclusion from this comparison that "mystico-erotic experiences" are "actually a natural part of our organic wiring." She goes on to discuss the science of sacred sex, deities linked to sex, the history of when sex became a sin (and how women became the scapegoats for this), certain truths about sex and religion across the globe, and lots and lots and lots of other good stuff. Just go read the book already; I cannot recommend it highly enough.

But what about how we actually go about getting some of this sacred sex for ourselves? You've heard the expression that the body is your temple? Well, Sera's advice is "temple yourself to find yourself." There are lots of ways to turn sex into a more positive experience, to love your body and yourself, to have some fun, get the blood flowing, and somewhere in the process even to discover the divine. She implores us to find our own unique sexual expression, "to be as conscious during sex as you would during any other part of your spiritual practice," to treat our bodies as divine, and to "be aware of the divine energy swirling around you as you have sex."

This is good advice for all of us. There are so many ways that the sex-negative messages from our culture influence us, even if we think we are so progressive and evolved and hip. Even for those of us who are more accustomed to looking for the divine in unusual places it can be difficult to take that final step of accepting that we are just as divine as the tree we just danced around or the Goddess whose likeness we just pasted into our book of shadows (or as Sera Beak would call it, our Red Book).

. . . this is the thing about divine energy: It's supposed to be everywhere. See, sexuality is less about the actual act of having pretty good sex for seventeen minutes twice a week and much more about surrounding yourself with an ever-simmering sensual energy, pulsing just underneath your daily life and infusing almost everything you do. It's like you're always just a little bit horny, just a little turned on, but the object of your gentle lust isn't just your lover, it's divine life itself.

Isn't that the whole point of magick? Isn't that what we, as witches, strive to find and make of our practice of the Craft - divine life itself infusing everything we do? If I can find something magickal about taking out my rubbish (which I just did the other day, tossing out an old love charm that I decided was doing more harm than good), then certainly I can find a way to infuse my sexual experiences with a little divine spark.

Posted by Angela-Eloise at 6:40 PM | Comments (4)

Today at 12:14 pm EST we will have a New Moon in Pisces. As usual when it comes to a Moon cycle, I turn to Cafe Astrology, whose insight and analysis I find, well, insightful:

The New Moon in Pisces is a good time to commit to personal goals that express the positive energies of the sign of the Fish. These include taking a leap of faith, accepting imperfections in ourselves and in others as a different kind of "perfection", starting a project that requires imagination and visualization skills, consciously putting time aside for peaceful and rejuvenating activities, and sharing a dream with another. With this potent Pisces energy, we have the chance to make important changes in our lives.

This month's New Moon is conjunct electric Uranus and sextile Jupiter. New commitments and resolutions made now need to be unusual, nontraditional, and certainly not monotonous. It's time to make some solid yet realistic plans, and to set the stage for reaping the rewards from our new beginnings, as little or big as they may be, in approximately two weeks' time after the Full Moon occurs.

Lots of useful information here. The energy of this New Moon, as with all New Moons, gives us tremendous support for making positive change and new starts. There is something that feels especially gentle, creative and loving about this Pisces Moon. In particular, I like this idea of seeing imperfections as "a different kind of perfection."

I have a ring made with a Peruvian opal, a stone that is usually seen as a smooth, milky blue. In my ring, the stone has a number of occlusions that appear as a line of black and orange spots of color. The artist who made the ring liked the way the occlusions added visual interest and actually set the stone using the occlusions as an intentional design element. Rather than choose another stone or have the occlusions cut out, she thought this imperfect stone was all the more beautiful because of the things that make it imperfect. I couldn't agree more.

In us, the quirky imperfections are the things that make us human, individual, and yes, even beautiful. Most of us are so critical of ourselves, so quick to find fault and pass judgment. And yes, sometimes we are critical of others, too. This New Moon offers us a wonderful opportunity to shift our perspective to allow us not only to accept imperfection but to celebrate it, to find a way to appreciate how the things that are not perfect make us, and life, more interesting.

Someone I used to work with always used the phrase "It's a feature, not a bug." It comes from the high tech world of software development but we can apply it to the low tech world of spiritual and personal development as a way to embrace this new perspective. If someone, including yourself, focuses on a perceived imperfection, just say, "It's a feature, not a bug."

Posted by Angela-Eloise at 9:49 AM | Comments (0)

Dianne Sylvan, one of my favorite Pagan writers on the web, or anywhere, issued this challenge on her blog yesterday:

All right, it's your turn.  Go forth and make a list of ten things you love about your body, inside or out.  If you love the little mole on your elbow that's shaped like Missouri, or the way your eyes crinkle, or your mastectomy scars, or your right pinkie finger, say so.  We spend too much time talking about what is wrong with our bodies, what we hate, what we wish we could change--let's talk about things we love.  Your body will thank you for it.

Okay, so here I go, in no particular order -

1 - I love my eyes. Although sometimes they're mistaken for blue, they're actually green, and I like the fact that my eyes are an unusual, elusive color that people can only appreciate if they're looking closely. My eyes have this way of lighting up - sparkles when I'm happy and flashes when I'm angry. They are the true windows to my soul and one of the reasons why I will never be a poker player. They look great in purple eyeshadow and black liquid eyeliner - although not necessarily at the same time!

2 - I love my skin. I try to take care of it as well as the next person and generally stay out of the sun, but I am just blessed with good genes. I look about ten years younger than I am, and for that I thank whatever ancestress who passed along her skin to me. When I was a girl, especially during my college years, and everyone mistook me for younger, I hated it. My mother would say, "you'll be glad for that when you're older," and I thought I would scream if I heard her say it one more time. Well, guess what? Mother was right. I am glad for it now that I'm older. And now I feel like I should eat healthier and drink more water and wear sunscreen so my lovely skin will stay this way for many more years to come.

3 - I love my legs. They are strong. They can carry me for days walking around Paris or up the North Dome trail at Yosemite. They can dance all night (although the last time I went dancing I noticed my knees were none too happy at all the twisting and winding I'd been doing). They look great in cowboy boots.

4 - I love my gut. No, not my digestive tract, but that place deep inside me where my intuition lies. Over time I've learned to trust my gut instinct; it never lets me down. About a person, about a situation, about a choice I'm about to make. Ten times out of ten when I truly trust my gut instinct, I'm right. I suppose sometimes when my gut is trying to tell me something it feels a bit like a stomach ache, so maybe there is something to that digestive thing after all.

5 - I love my feet. They are cute and small and well-shaped. I keep them pedicured with red toes, sometimes a pale pink. They are a part of my body that I always feel good about, even if I'm not quite at my personal best. They indulge my shoe habit and endure high heels and pointy toes and odd straps. They like being able to show off in a pair of sandals. An extension of my legs, they take me where I need to go, and connect me to the Earth.

6 - I love my hair. It's always been very thick with a natural wave to it. The individual strands are fine and soft. It's fun to run your fingers through it. Although I confess to going a bit grey these days I have a Goddess of a hairdresser who makes my hair look better than it ever did before I started coloring it. It gleams like a polished chestnut. When I was young I always had short hair, so a few years ago I started to grow it out. It took a long time, but long it was beautiful. And a few weeks ago I decided to have it cut - I blogged about it here. And now I love it even more. It frames my face. It's fun and flirty and way more easy to wash! I can scrunch it with my fingers and a tiny bit of hair product and it's curly and wild (it makes me feel Fey, almost feral) or I can clip it here and there and, when it dries, voila - my very own marcel wave. I can take a flat-iron to it and flip out the ends for an edgy, modern feel. With my hair this way, I just feel more me.

7 - I love my hips. They are very curvy and give me a sexy, woman's figure. I look great in pencil skirts. But these curves are best appreciated when I'm lying on my side with nothing on. I've been told my hips are my sexiest feature and even when I wasn't feeling at my personal physical best I believed this to be true.

8 - I love my strength. Even though I haven't done any proper strength training in a while, my body is generally pretty strong. I can pick up things, carry things, move things. I can do pushups the "guy" way. I can give a big hug. My body always does what I ask it to, and for that I should be more grateful. As temples go, this one feels like it's built to last, but perhaps a bit of worshipping wouldn't hurt.

9 - I love my hands. They are the things with which I physically reach out and touch others, to comfort them or give them pleasure. They are the physical vehicle through which I create - knitting, writing. They are the things that allow me to do almost everything I do that gives me pleasure - hold a book and turn its pages, pet a puppy, work on my computer, perform a ritual, clean my house. The list is endless. While I believe that our eyes are the windows to our soul, our hands are the way we express and manifest our deepest desires and our will. It is with our hands that we DO. For me, that is one of the most important things.

10 - I love my heart. At night, when I'm lying in bed, I can hear it beating. It is strong and it keeps me alive. Despite how badly it has been hurt, how badly it aches sometimes, my heart still allows me to love with every fiber of its four chambers.

Now, it's your turn.

Posted by Angela-Eloise at 10:03 AM | Comments (0)

More witch clothes and dresses from the land of the Fey. Thanks Hecate.

I'd give you a peek but you'll have to check it out for yourselves. I just don't know where to begin.

Be still my heart. The damage to my credit cards will be worth it.

Posted by Angela-Eloise at 8:47 PM | Comments (0)

Labradorite is a favorite stone at one of my favorite jewelry designers, adorn + cherish. I have a pair of their wonderful sparrow charm and labradorite earrings. Beyond being a popular component in jewelry-making, this mysterious and beautiful stone has an interesting history and is known for its magical properties.

The name labradorite comes from the province of Labrador in Canada, whose coast is one of the primary places from which labradorite is mined. A member of the feldspar family, labradorite is often confused with opal. Most commonly found in varying shades of grey, black and blue, rarer forms of labradorite can also be green, white, pale orange, and even pink.

It is commonly believed that labradorite was "discovered" by missionaries in 1770 and some of the first stones were presented to the British Museum in 1777. However, there is evidence to suggest that labradorite was used by Algonkian tribes in the state of Maine dating back to the year 1000, although for what purpose it is difficult to know. According to an Eskimo legend, the Northern Lights were once imprisoned in the rocks along the coast of Labrador, and then a wandering Eskimo warrior found them and freed most of the lights with a mighty blow of his spear. Some of the lights were still trapped within the stone however, and thus we have today the beautiful mineral known as labradorite.

Labradorite does indeed capture light. When light shines into the stone it is literally trapped among the crystal layers within, reflecting from one layer to the next. When the light finally exits the stone, its wave length has slowed considerably. The thickness of the crystal layers within a particular piece of labradorite and the speed of the wave of light entering it determine what colors you will see. The most familiar color is blue. Rarer specimens will reflect red, gold, green or violet. Labradorescence is the term jewelers and geologists have given this amazing phenomenon.

Given the stone's ability to capture and transform light, it is easy to see how labradorite became imbued with magical abilities and associated with the power to heal, transform and illuminate. Humans quickly adopted it as a power stone, recognizing in its dual nature between dark and light a useful tool. Associated with both Moon and Sun energies, this balance can help us bring our physical and spiritual bodies into alignment with the natural cycles of the Universe.

Labradorite is thought to stimulate the imagination, release inhibitions, build self-confidence and aid in communication with spirits. It is an excellent gem for journeys or meditation, allowing us to calmly move through various dimensions of being. Labradorite also is said to give strength and enhanced intuition when one is experiencing times of change, helping to eliminate illusions and lighting a clear path to our goals.

If you deal with a stressful job, labradorite can help replenish your physical and emotional stamina. Its calming energies are wonderful for lowering blood pressure. Other healing energies from labradorite include relief from cold symptoms, rheumatism and gout. It can bring your body into a healthy regular cycle, aiding digestion and elimination, and it can bring clarity to patients suffering from brain disorders.

Labradorite is associated with the sacral chakra, the zodiac signs of Leo, Sagittarius and Scorpio, and the planets Neptune, Pluto and Uranus. Using labradorite can help you tap into their energies.

To utilize labradorite's powerful properties you can wear jewelry made from the gemstones, carry a piece of the stone in your pocket or a charm bag, place it on an altar or special place in your home, or use it in a ritual or spell.

Crystal Gemstone Spell: Labradorite

Crystal gemstones and other rocks were important tutors and tools of ancient shamans - the first healers and magical practitioners. Because they store information indefinitely, Earth's memories and secrets may be accessed through stones. Specific gemstones are used to magically enhance spells and enable us to discover and activate our own optimum power.

Labradorite repairs, cleanses and strengthens the aura. It also encourages perseverance and determination. Sleep with a labradorite under your pillow.

If you use any stone regularly for spells or other work, maintain a regular cleansing schedule for the crystal as well. To cleanse any stone of magical energy, put it in a bowl of water and leave it overnight in the moonlight.

Posted by Angela-Eloise at 7:48 PM | Comments (1)

Viking Women Had Bra Fashion Shows, proclaimed Keith Mcleod in Britain's Daily Record. It seems that "lift and shape" was the norm for bra design centuries - if not millennia - before Playtex even thought about the business of women's undergarments. Apparently these fashion shows were held fireside and colorful bras were designed specifically for the effect they would have before a flickering flame. Archaeologist Annika Larsson is the quoted authority on this ancient Swedish practice:

"It was thought these were shoulder protectors for women carrying heavy loads. But comparing them with figurines found at the site, they seem to have been worn as a metal bra. Vikings took oriental influences and combined them with Nordic clothing. Colours in cloth found in the mud were designed to be shown off in firelight. So the garments had an aesthetic lingerie effect as well as providing support."

Haven't you seen Die Walkure? Those valkyries were carrying heavy loads Annika.

Luella Bartley's recent presentation of her 2008 Fall collection has been making the rounds of the Pagan blogosphere: The White Witch, Sexy Witch. The Wild Hunt has YouTube video of the runway show.

First we had Alexander McQueen's witch-themed collection for Fall of 2007 (my personal coverage: From Coven to Catwalk) and then at Prada this Spring it was faeries everywhere you looked (The Fey at Play at Prada).

Luella wanted "something a bit raw and pagan," she said, and the result is a fantastically fun bunch of dresses, skirts and jackets that make this particular witchy fashionista veritably weak in the knees. Of course I love the iconic outfit with it's black dress and white blouse, whose sleeves give a cheeky nod to Pilgrim garb, worn over bright orange tights and clunky shoes. Would I wear this outfit? You betcha. I might save the pointy hat for Samhain, though.

I also love the ensembles she chose to top off with a woolen faery cap. There were a few of those to choose from, my favorites being the electric blue satin skirt under the grey toggle coat with a blue plaid ruff and the combo of witchy black skirt and green floral jacket. There's that ruff again. Luella must be anticipating that we Pagan girls will be getting lots of action wearing these hot little numbers and will have love bites to hide. Vampire fashion, anyone? Seriously, I could see those LA girls vamping down Sunset Strip wearing some of the dresses from this collection.

And take a look at those red shoes. You could click your heels and go anywhere in those. Thanks Glenda . . . oops, I mean, Luella.

I'll leave the social commentary to Jason Pitzi-Waters, but whatever has gotten into designers these days, I like it. I can literally wear my spirituality on my sleeves and the only questions I'm going to get are going to be "Where can I get one?" and "Do those tights come in green?"

Posted by Angela-Eloise at 5:10 PM | Comments (1)