Protected: Litha Ritual Invitation 2017
Upcoming Class: Kitchen Magic
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In just seven lessons, learn kitchen witchery for prosperity, peace, protection, confidence, courage, and nearly anything else you want.
These are quick, easy spells for life’s essentials and life’s joys. The way I teach you, a complete beginner can be a powerful kitchen witch.
My style hearth magic is so easy to fit into your day. Most of it can be done while cooking, cleaning, and other customary activities, which means you can fit in plenty of witchcraft to manifest the life you want.
Use ordinary household objects, like kitchen spices and cosmetics, as mystical tools and potions.
When busy, stressed, or ill, it’s hard to find time and energy for spellwork. Learn sixty-second enchantments, manageable for anyone. These spells are so easy and powerful.
During lessons, you can ask for spells to manifest whatever is most important to you. I’ll channel wizardry that fits into your particular home life.
Plus learn how to express yourself by creating kitchen spells.
And learn longer hearth rituals: special occasions, when you have time and desire.
Some lessons covered in class will also be sent to you in digital Book of Shadows pages, ornamented by my original shamanic art, which blesses our work.
This class is Third Road tradition (the tradition I teach). In other words, it is typical of the particular Faerie shamanism I channel: deep yet accessible, ecstatic without pretentiousness, effective without being overwhelmingly complex. In addition, the Fey Folk add beauty and excitement to the magic, and reveal mystical secrets.
We’ll explore how powerful this style of hearth witchery is mystically, spiritually, and magically. Beginners and adepts gain huge improvement, inside and out. I have something so unique in this class—channeled from my past lives.
The immense enchantment, sacredness, and beauty I experience using kitchen magic equals my experience in formal ritual with an elaborate altar. Do not get me wrong, I love elaborate ritual with lots of formal ritual tools. And I’m a highly trained magician. But that’s my point! Kitchen mojo can match all that, and without needing all the training. I channel—and love!—many magical styles, and though I excel at several that require a lot of skill, my life would be sorely lacking without Third Road style hearth magic.
Starts Sunday July 23, 6:00 pm, EST.
Classes are group meetings by phone: just dial the phone to participate.
We meet seven consecutive Sundays, 6:00 to 7:00 pm EST, starting Sunday July 23. Reserve Sunday Sept 10 same time, for a makeup session, in case I’m unavailable for one of the planned meetings.
Tuition is $250. Long-distance charges may apply. If so, they appear on your phone bill. The event’s area code is a U.S. #.
Upon receipt of payment, your place is reserved. You receive event phone #, etc., by email. If you need more info, or want to discuss scholarship, trade, or payment plan, call 814-337-2490. No refunds.
Scroll down to enroll: enter your phone number and pay securely with PayPal.
You’re a Blessing
You’re a Blessing, Just as You Are
Meditating in preparation for a Faerie shamanism class I was going to teach in a few minutes, I affirmed three things I’d like to share with you. They’re useful in all areas of life, not just when teaching. For context, I’ll show how they relate to teaching first, then discuss how they affect everything else.
1) Instead of thinking I should hide my oh-too-human faults, it is so important just to be myself when I teach. if I pretend to be someone not riddled with faults, then the foremost lesson I’m delivering is the pretense of perfection. That is a destructive lesson, indeed!
2) Though I’m known for creating innovative shamanic modalities that radically change people’s lives for the better, what has just as much value to my students is me being comfortable in my own skin. The nature of our presence conveys as much as any of our words or methodologies will. Feeling at home in myself conveys the vital messages of self-acceptance and self-love. Those messages are core to inner transformation, happiness, and success. The three reminders in this post focus on us not trying to be “someone else” in order to be “worthwhile.”
3) In that vein, I need to trust my light. You see, even when people think their lights have been dimmed, I still see them shining brightly. I assume the same must be true of me. So, when teaching, I try to relax and trust that my light shines whether I notice it or not. One of my responsibilities as a shamanic teacher is to affirm the light in all of us. I can only do that job if I’m trusting my own light.
Whatever lesson I have planned, it is driven home if I’m at home in my own skin, trust that my light is shining, and do not hide my faults.
And so it goes in the rest of life: when one forsakes pretenses of perfection, trusts that one’s light is shining, and is at home in oneself, one bestows more blessings than all the words and ceremonies ever could. So mote it be!
What Sort of Witch Are You?
For some individuals, witchcraft is a journey of finding one’s unique style of magic, own cosmology, and personal philosophy.
This post was on Witches and Pagan in 2016, at http://witchesandpagans.com/sagewoman-blogs/a-faerie-haven.html
Have you seen the popular lists of different types of witches—e.g., traditional witch, Gardnerian witch, Faerie witch, eclectic witch, hedge witch—with precise definitions for each category? These charts help some beginners. Learning you fit a certain style can be validating and reassuring. It also makes some newcomers feel they belong.
But this post is for beginners who find the categories make things really difficult. Everyone else, I’m not naysaying what works for you; this entire post is simply ideas and methods that work for me, in case they’re useful to someone. I don’t want the charts thrown out. They’re great for some people. And with that:
There are individuals whose witchcraft entails a journey of finding one’s unique style of magic, own cosmology, and personal philosophy. Being new to Pagan community and being told there are specific witch types, each with very specific definitions, can box these folks in, lead them to think they won’t fit anywhere in the Pagan community, and ill-legitimize personal self-discoveries that transcend the categories.
What if you come from a traditional witch family, talk to fairies, and enjoy practicing Gardnerian magic occasionally? Sure, that might classify you as an “eclectic witch,” but that term is redundant historically speaking; it was once a given that witches were eclectic, because witches understand the connectivity of all things. To me, the term “eclectic witch” robs me of my heritage. My witchy heritage fuels spells, making them powerful.
As to connectivity, the Old Gods unite me with the enchantment that flows through the entire universe. That current carries me, its sweep making me joyful, as it bears me toward even more joy. But “eclectic witch” implies magic is not in everything around me and thus denies what’s inherent to many folks’ witchcraft.
In the same vein, I see witches as wild creatures, transcending every limit. I’m a child of the Gods. Their infinite powers are mine. Mind you, I’m not suggesting I can successfully cast every spell anyone else can cast. I believe witches can have specialties.
In any case, categorizing keeps some people from developing specialties. These are folks whose process demands they look not at definitions but into their own selves and, despite how scary it might be, journey into seeming formlessness until it becomes recognizable as their special gift—their specialty.
I love—and use—the different terms for types of witches. They’re great jumping off points, e.g., for connecting with like-minded individuals.
They also can be pointers. But I use the terms the old way: to evoke—lyric speaking to our wild witch hearts and whispering of the undefinable and unlimited—rather than as part of quantitative charts, mapping magic out so exactly as to be … boringly limited for some folks.
I love magic so much it makes me sad to realize charts might crush certain people’s magic.
Also, poor scholarship defines witch types incorrectly. For example, it’s sadly a current given that Gardnerian Wicca bears little resemblance to traditional witchcraft. I lived in a Gardnerian household in England with one of Gerald Gardner’s students and, as a traditional witch, I can tell you people living in that house practiced old-fashioned witchery. Furthermore, I met members of the family tradition that greatly influenced Gerald.
Lack of scholarship also portrays traditional witchcraft as consistently the same. It varied, village to village and family to family.
And many a scholar will say “eclectic witch” makes no historical sense. Global travel is not a modern occurrence. Various ancient cultures shared their rituals constantly.
Are you dismayed by witch categories because they make you feel the magical Art has been divided up like slices of a pie … and you feel like the whole pie? Be the whole enchanted pie.
If you’re a fledging witch who resonates with what I’ve written, I support you not by giving you categories to validate you, but by validating who you already are. Like most of us when we come into Pagan community, you’ve always had Paganism in your heart and life, perhaps without having named it as such. So trust what you already know and build on it. You have the intelligence and insightfulness needed to do so.
Enjoy the names for all the different types of witches, or use none of them. But claim your path as valid.
By “valid,” I’m not saying everything you do currently as a witch is always safe and effective. No one is perfect. Also, some spellcrafting requires substantial training. Get a teacher if you want. But don’t worry about what “type” of witch a prospective teacher is. Choose someone whose spirit calls you and who honors your spirit in turn, whether or not you know how to describe your path. Witches used to work together in all their differences and likenesses, getting along just fine, learning just fine.
I teach. Classes are mostly via group phone calls (aka telesminars): you don’t need a computer or any special technology to attend; just dial the phone. Subscribe to my free newsletter, which gives details about upcoming classes: https://outlawbunny.com/newsletter/
What sort of witch are you? You’re you! So mote it be.
Ancestor Work
Ancestor Work:
Mom’s Holiday China
The above plate is in the pattern with which my mom set holiday tables during my childhood. I forget our day-to-day pattern, but this one stuck in my mind.
As a child, I thought the dish pattern was tacky, but it remained a nice memory. Mom acquired complete settings for at least 10 people, obtaining the pieces one at a time by going to the movies. I love that Toni went to such lengths to add beauty to our home, not letting lack of income thwart her.
One of my brothers got the dish set when Toni died. I would not have used it.
But recently, I searched online until I found one dish in the pattern—just one in her memory and in reminiscence of her passion, amazing kitchen skills, and elegance—elegance I now see in this plate to some degree, and that showed immensely elsewhere.
Rest in peace, Toni. You were a model of exuberance, devotion, otherworldly flight, and competence both culinary and professional. You were also a true lady, in every positive way I use the word lady, including how the Goddess infused your spirit and your magic. Thank you for being a living example for all parts of my day, including my kitchen witchery.
… Later: The more I use the plate, the more beauty, elegance, and grace I find in it. I don’t know if that is objective. E.g., perhaps the grace I notice is a projection of my mother’s gracious maneuvering amidst the immense challenges of her life. She found reason to laugh and give, no matter what.
In any case, to snap the above photo, I had to wash the dish, since I’d eaten lunch from it. Handling the dish with soapy hands, I experienced more of its elegance, this time on a tactile level; the china felt so nicely made despite being a movie giveaway. I wonder if my mother loved handling it.
The Goddess … in Congee
After I made a topping for tonight’s congee, the topping struck me as so pretty. That got me thinking:
When I’m in the moment, I find the Goddess’ beauty.
When I’m in the moment, I find my own beauty reflected back to me.
I might run from the moment, especially when crisis hits. But, when I can return to allowing the painful, awful moments my full attention, I eventually find beauty again.
To be free, releasing my wild soul, I have to allow both the beauty and the pain.
Beautiful congee topping.
A Beautiful Goddess and a Dirty Spoon
A Beautiful Goddess and a Dirty Spoon:
Kitchen Magic
Even the remains of breakfast—egg shells, tangerine peels, a dirty dish and spoon—are blessings on me.
A blessing: the remains of this meal flooded by sunlight pleases my eyes.
A blessing: to eat today and nourish my body is beautiful—such a gift!
For me, to be a kitchen witch means to acknowledge and appreciate the immensity of the harvests given me by my beautiful Goddess and to gift others in kind.
Today I will make a donation to feed a hungry child.
A blessing: to have some money to help someone in one of the most important ways—food.
To be able to give is such a gift. Were I to instead view giving as magnanimous on my part, it would imply that I was bending down from on high to help someone less worthy. I’d be denying who they are by turning them into a character in a story I’d written to pump up my ego. Instead, we are all in this together. Farming communities have long understood that it is by having each others’ backs that we all survive and thrive. It is a lie perpetuated by the American upper class that the best way to “make it” is on our own, climbing over the backs of others.
Getting to give is a gift. It is part of the cycle of life, a gate into the sacred circle, a consecration of the four directions, and one of the great mysteries. Giving is a chance to be a human being—such a gift! Giving is a chance to be with another human being (even if you never meet them because you’re donating to an organization that serves them)—such a gift!
How to Enchant Your Cup of Tea
Add Magical Healing to Medicinal Herbs
Herbs have physical properties that heal and strengthen one’s body. Herbs also have psychic properties that heal and strengthen one’s spirit and physical being, if given a chance. Here’s how to access that magical healing:
When your cup of tea is ready to drink, simply say, “May this tea Mother Earth has given me in Her wisdom and generosity heal and strengthen my body and spirit.”
Then just drink your tea!
It’s that simple! Saying the words I suggested gives the magical attributes of the herb—or herbs—in your cup a chance to emerge. And the words’ grateful acknowledgment of Mother Earth’s gift opened you to receiving the herb’s magical healing and empowerment. You don’t have to get fancy about it by adding visualization or any other technique. Just say the words.
(If you want to add magical techniques, though, go ahead. I love magical techniques and am committed to teaching them. But the point of this post is a quick enchantment anyone can easily fit into their day. Even advanced practitioners can add more magic to their lives if they embrace some simple spells. In fact, I’m committed to teaching both easy and advanced magic. They both have their place.)
Never use magic in place of proper medical care by a trained, professional physician. Magic is a powerful addition, not a replacement.
And remember, when it comes to herbs’ physical properties: just because herbs are natural doesn’t mean they’re all harmless. And what’s a good medicinal herb for one person can be really harmful for another. Know your herbs—research an herb using several sources. There are many medical conditions and other circumstances—and even many herbs—that require you consult with a professional herbalist instead of just deciding what herbs to use yourself.
Enjoy the spell! This magic in a teacup is simple kitchen magic anyone can use, whether a witch or not.
Do You Fear Making Mistakes?
If I’m afraid of making mistakes, I will be afraid all day every day.
But I need help to not be afraid. When I receive Divine help, my fear dissipates. Here is my prayer for help:
May I not fear my mistakes.
May I have the highest ideal possible and do everything within my power to achieve it. May I realize that even my best attempts are riddled with imperfections.
May I remember mistakes are part of doing anything, and thus fearlessly reach for the stars.
May I feel safe knowing whatever problems my errors cause are nothing compared to the Goddess’ power as She carries me unceasingly toward beauty and happiness. May I fearlessly trust She is doing this even when I cannot see it.
May I love myself exactly as I am and celebrate my mistakes as part of my attempts to live fully and serve the Goddess well.