![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif?v=92){kind=small}
snowy today. did my Imbolc rite tonight.
lit my Candlemas candle and jasmine incense. Centered a little, wished peace to the 4 Elements in their directions.
Invoked the Father in words similar to the invocation for the February Eve rite in the Gardnerian Book of Shadows:
Father, Drighton, Lord of life, death, and resurrection; Who is Life and the Giver of life; Lord Who dwells within us, Who is the Mystery of mysteries: encourage our hearts. Let the light crystallize in our blood, fulfilling us of resurrection, for we are Yours. Descend, i pray You, on me Your servant and be with me now at the feast of Imbolc.
Invoked Jesus as the holy Child and the Holy Spirit as the Holy Daughter.
Remembered the saints of the season, especially Brigid but also Blaise, Agatha, Agnes, Valentine, and Polycarp.
Sang "Way to the Well."
prayed the rosary: Joyful Mysteries, which includes the Presentation of baby Jesus at the Temple, remembered at Candlemas.
Asked St. Brigid to pray to the Three of our love to give me inspiration.
Thanked the Three of my love, said farewell to the Elements, and snuffed the candle. Left the incense cone to finish burning while i type this.
Aries
The Sanskrit word tapasya is translated as "heat," but in the yogic tradition it means "essential energy." It refers to the practice of managing your life force so that it can be directed to the highest possible purposes, thereby furthering your evolution as a spiritual being. Do you have any techniques for accomplishing that -- either through yoga or any other techniques? This would be a good year to redouble your commitment to that work. In the coming months, the world will just keep increasing its output of trivial, energy-wasting temptations. You'll need to be pretty fierce if you want to continue the work of transforming yourself into the Aries you were born to be: focused, direct, energetic, and full of initiative.
Taurus
"Live out of your imagination, not your history," says Stephen Covey, author of The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People. While that's always true, it will be especially crucial for you to remember in 2012. This is the year you can transcend stale traditions, Taurus -- a time when you can escape your outworn habits, reprogram your conditioned responses, and dissolve old karma. You will be getting unparalleled opportunities to render the past irrelevant. And the key to unlocking all the magic will be your freewheeling yet highly disciplined imagination. Call on it often to show you the way toward the future.
Virgo
"Poetry is the kind of thing you have to see from the corner of your eye," said the poet William Stafford. "If you look straight at it you can't see it, but if you look a little to one side it is there." As I contemplate your life in the immediate future, Virgo, I'm convinced that his definition of poetry will be useful for you to apply to just about everything. In fact, I think it's an apt description of all the important phenomena you'll need to know about. Better start practicing your sideways vision.
Libra
A Swedish man named Richard Handl decided to conduct a scientific experiment in his kitchen. Would it be possible to split atoms using a homemade apparatus? He wanted to see if he could generate atomic reactions with the radioactive elements radium, americium, and uranium. But before he got too far into the process, the police intervened and ended his risky fairy-tale. I bring this to your attention, Libra, as an example of how not to proceed in the coming weeks. It will be a good time for you to experiment around the house -- refining your relationship with your roommates, moving the furniture around, and in general rearranging the domestic chemistry -- but please avoid trying stuff as crazy as Handl's.
Aquarius
In summer, the pickleweed plant thrives in the saltwater marshes around San Francisco Bay. In many places, bright orange patches of the dodder plant intermingle with the pickleweed's sprightly jade green, creating festive displays that suggest nature is having a party. But there's a secret buried in this scene. The dodder's webby filaments are actually parasites that suck nutrients from the pickleweed. In accordance with the astrological omens, Aquarius, I'll ask you if a situation like that exists in your own life. Is there a pretty picture that hides an imbalance in the give-and-take of energy? It's not necessarily a bad thing -- after all, the pickleweed grows abundantly even with its freeloader hanging all over it -- but it's important to be conscious of what's going on.
Pisces
"That in a person which cannot be domesticated is not his evil but his goodness," said the writer Antonio Porchia. I invite you to keep that challenging thought close to your heart in the coming days, Pisces. In my astrological opinion, it is an excellent moment to tune in to your wildest goodness -- to describe it to yourself, to cherish it as the great treasure it is, to foster it and celebrate it and express it like a spring river overflowing its banks.
Virgo
Greek philosopher Plato suggested that we may become more receptive to spiritual beauty by putting ourselves in the presence of physical beauty. The stimulation we get when inspired by what looks good may help train us to recognize sublime truths. I'm not so sure about that. In my experience, people often get so entranced by their emotional and bodily responses to attractive sights and sounds that they neglect to search for higher, subtler sources of splendor. But I do believe you may be an exception to this tendency in the coming months. That's why I'm giving you the go-ahead -- indeed, the mandate -- to surround yourself with physical beauty.
Scorpio
"If you're in a good relationship, chances are you're bored out of your mind," spouts comedian Chris Rock in his show Never Scared. "All good relationships are boring. The only exciting relationships are bad ones. You never know what's going to happen tomorrow when you're in a bad relationship. You never know when they're gonna walk through the door and say, 'Hey, you gave me crabs.' That's exciting!" Rock is making a satirical overstatement, but it does contain grains of truth. Which is why, in accordance with the astrological omens, I deliver the following request to you: In 2012, cultivate stable relationships that are boring in all the best ways.
[stability in the Builder/Emperor card i drew in a New Year reading on the 1st]
Pisces
The coming months will be a time when you'll thrive by seeking out novel ideas, using new words, and regarding your imagination as an organ that's as important to feed as your stomach. In that spirit, I'm offering you a slew of freshly made-up terms that'll help tease your brain in ways that are in alignment with the upcoming astrological factors. They all come from a very NSFW dictionary. 1. Assymectricity: energy generated by lopsidedness. 2. Enigmagnetic: a person who attracts mysteries. 3. Indumbnitable: incapable of being dumbed down. 4. Beneviolent: helpful chaos. 5. Fauxbia: a fake fear. 6. Craptometry: ability to see through all the BS. 7. Adoregasm: when you treasure someone to the point of ecstasy.
y'know, i'm not a big believer in astrology...and yet, recently i was seeing communication difficulties and thought, hm, i wonder if Mercury is in retrograde? and, lo and behold, it is! and i could swear LJ was also down/having problems the other 2 times that Mercury was retrograde this year.
really kinda makes me wonder...
A pagan/witchy artwork.
Not much into faeries....Titania from A Midsummer Night's Dream.
Rune of your choice.
Don't know much about runes, but i'll pick Perth/Peorð from the Elder Futhark, because a friend of mine has that on a necklace.
Something that I think people who don’t know much about paganism/witchcraft should know.
Pagans and witches usually don't worship (usually don't even believe in ) Satan and many have ethics that preclude them from hexing people.
Flower of your choice, and its magical properties.
Dandelion, which is associated with Brigid (St. Brigid for me) and the element of Air
A famous pagan/witch!
Dorothy Clutterbuck, who allegedly initiated Gerald Gardner into a coven of witches. Look her up on Wikipedia...there seems to be some disagreement as to whether she was a Christian or a witch. I like to think that possibly she was both...like me!
Witchy tools: cauldron.
Mine is a mug painted black.
Something that inspires you.
The movie "It Might Get Loud":
Your altar, if you have one!
well. i use my pen as a wand, an Airy wand. and there's a long white candle i got at an Eastern Orthodox Easter service that my Fiery wand, i guess. although i'd like to maybe get a wooden wand for fire sometime...something less breakable than a candle anyway.
A favourite pagan/witchy movie.
i liked "The Craft" when i watched it last year (i think it was last year) in late October. i wanted to write fanfiction!
- Music:October~U2
i dunno...i like my lavender-scented candle
Your moon sign.
Virgo. not even sure what that's supposed to mean tho
How do your close ones feel about your witchy path? Do they know? Why or why not?
heh. mostly they don't. my aunt does, and she's ok with it. some of my friends know i believe in the divine feminine. some dont agree.
A witchy podcast.
Dining with Druids...but i only listened to this: http://www.stumbleupon.com/su/4sZXCf/din
Picture of nature (earth element).
holy crap while google image searching "earth" for this the word "earth" appeared in the song i was listening to.
A picture of a witchy I-Want-It-Now!
something with this design:
Water element.
about every week i try to connect with an different element, according to moon phase. the last quarter moon occurs during this week so for this week it's Water. and i often don't do much, but i do try to coordinate clothing color. so right now i am wearing blue.
