Happy Beltane!

Happy Beltane!

Starting today we celebrate the union between the Lord and Lady.

We welcome fertility of al types and watch our endeavors give birth.

Step into your power, its time.

Fruit Magic: Berries

Acai Berry:

Nourishment, happiness, energizing, motivation, productivity, healing, and blissfulness.

Blackberry:

Banishment, abundance, affluence, healing, dispelling, warding, prosperity, and protection.

Blueberry:

Gratitude, tranquility, harmonization, contentment, understanding, balancing, and healthiness.

Boysenberry:

Growth, ambition, accomplishment, inspiration, rebirth, hopefulness, and transformation.

Cloudberry:

Illusions, nourishment, glamours, healthiness, energizing, distortion, and energy manipulation.

Cranberry:

Healthiness, romance, elegance, purification, healing, cleansing, majesty, and sensuality.

Elderberry:

Blessings, fortification, invocation, healing, summoning, warding, conjuration, and protection.

Goji Berry:

Longevity, growth, motivation, vitality, ambition, expansion, lasting life, and motivation.

Gooseberry:

Happiness, enlightenment, joyfulness, sacredness, delightfulness, transformation, and spirituality.

Huckleberry:

Protection, wealth, defense, insightfulness, fortune, warding, affluence, and enlightenment.

Lingonberry:

Creation, fortune, beauty, wealthiness, good luck, attraction, prosperity, and potential.

Mulberry:

Calculation, abundance, intelligence, prosperity, patience, introspection, strategy, and good wealth.

Raspberry:

Warding, romance, kindness, protection, admiration, fortitude, compassion, and true love.

Salmonberry:

Compassion, courage, kindness, romance, bravery, generosity, insight, and awareness.

Strawberry:

Romance, purification, magnificence, kindness, cleansing, elegance, and sensuality.

Pagan Holiday Ritual Template (Simple)

What is a ritual?

According to my definition and understanding, a ritual is simply a religious/spiritual celebration or the fancy word for a spiritual work. What makes it special is its structure and mixture of verbal and physical acts.

1.) Preparing the space

Both physical and spiritual cleaning should be done before a ritual. We are supposed to feel safe and relaxed in the place where we are going to perform a ritual. I believe it is pretty obvious how physical cleaning is performed (vacuuming the floor, wiping dust etc.). However, spiritual cleaning, that is cleansing is usually done by sprinkling some salt, or (salty) water or it is done by going around with an incense a.k.a smoke cleansing - my favourite. There are some other ways too, but these are the most common ones. The goal of cleansing is to remove any unwanted energies from the space. When it comes to my experience, since I perform my rituals at my home, I actually do not have a problem with negative energies but I still do the spiritual cleansing because it sets me in the mood for a ritual. If I am outdoors, however, then I usually leave some small offering for the natural world instead of cleansing, because I believe that the nature is actually pure in that sense.

2.) Self-cleansing

As we prepare our space, we also have to prepare ourselves for the ritual. This can be done by taking a shower or a bath, smoke cleansing, short meditation, short walk in nature etc. After this, we are supposed to be mentally and physically ready for what is to come.

3.) Drawing a sacred circle

Although this practice comes from Ceremonial Magic and Wicca, I like to use it as a part of my ritual structure. A sacred circle is supposed to be an energetic barrier, a ward that blocks unwanted energies and a place where wanted energies easily stay. From my point of view, a sacred circle is simply a border of my sacred space - as churches, mosques etc. have walls which determine a holy and special place in them, I have the sacred circle. The circle also reminds me on Stonehenge or a forest grove, so that is one reason more why I like to use it in my spiritual practice.

4.) Invocation

The word invocation comes from the Latin verb invocare, which means "to call on", "to beg for", "to cite". In this part deities, ancestors and the other beings could be invited to join the ritual. When I say "invite", I must say that so far I have never experienced anything supernatural (nor I have such expectations - at least not anymore) but this step is important for me because I believe that deities and ancestors are going to pay much more attention to me and to what I am going to say. I also like the gest of acknowledging that they are welcome in my sacred and special place.

5.) Celebration

This part of a ritual is what could be called a classic religious celebration. At this stage I usually firstly pray to the deities and my ancestors, then I put on some appropriate music, I contemplate about things that are related to the holiday I am celebrating, I do some divination etc. It is my favourite part of a ritual because it is the most informal - I can freely enjoy in all the beauty of my pagan path and practice.

6.) Feast

The Feast is a part of the ritual where food and drink is being consumed in deities' or someone else's honor. This is the time for the offerings.

7.) Closing

This is the end of a ritual. A farewell is bid to the deities, ancestors and the other beings, if they were called, and the sacred circle is being closed.

Note: This template is how I do my rituals. Not everyone's rituals must or should look like this - that is mostly why I wrote a lot of my thoughts and experiences, to maintain the subjectivity of this template. I hope some of you will find it useful for your spiritual/religious practice.

Witch Tip:

Get a copy of the map of your area. Not a country map, a state map, or even a county map. Your area. You can print off a Google map if a commercial version isn't available.

Take the map with you everywhere you go. Make notes on it of things you notice - does one area feel different to you? Does a tree live among many dead ones? Do you see the same cat sitting on the same fence post at the same time every morning? Where do bees live? What crossroads catch your eye? Is there a cemetary?

Once you've filled the map with your observations, keep it in your grimoire for reference.

How to banish an entity:

Learning how to banish an entity is a very important skill to know in case you come across an entity that you want to send out of your space, and is a good way to protect yourself from spiritual entities that may come to try to do harm to you. There are many ways to go about banishing an entity, and in this post I will be going over a couple of them. I will also be giving tips that may be helpful. This is not an extensive guide by any means, but it’s definitely a stepping stone to understanding the processes that coincide with the banishment of entities.

Protecting yourself:

Protecting yourself is very important especially when you feel a presence that should not be in your space. Through the act of putting up shields you will help protect your self against them by putting up a wall of kna between the two of you, and by putting up wards anything that’s already on the inside will be forced out. This will give you time to come back to yourself, so that you can focus on what you should do next in order to deal with this entity. These shields, and wards do not have to be elaborate, and should be something you can call upon quickly when your safety is in question from spiritual forces. A simple way to put up a shield is to simply focus your kna around you, by visualizing it flowing off of your body much like mist, or light well thinking that you are protected, this will send your kna out from yourself forming a shield around your body through the power of your will.

Learning more about the entity:

Learning more about the entity can teach you a lot about its reasons for wanting to hang around you in the first place, and will also help you decide if this entity is malevolent in any way towards you, or is just an entity that is naturally there, and not aggressive. Knowledge is power, and by you locking onto some of its key features such as its spiritual appearance, and it’s personality along with any other information you can gather from it, you will be able to interact with it more effectively. Knowing what you are dealing with before you deal with it can help the banishing process go more smoothly by allowing you to have the upper hand on it by knowing your enemy, or can help you realize that you don’t need your guard up around this entity, and can let it be, or ask it to leave.

Talking it out, and asking it to leave:

If the entity isn’t immediately aggressive you could always go through the process of talking to the entity to figure out why they are hanging around. They may just be passing through and not know that they are trespassing on your space, and you may be able to go through the simple process of asking them to leave. All you would really need to do in order to do this is to enter a meditative state, so that you would be able to hear, and recognize their communication with you, then you would just have to have a normal conversation with the entity. In this conversation you should figure out what their purpose for being in that space is, and see if you guys cannot come to a civil agreement. You may be able to ask it to leave, or it may just be allowed to hang around if it is not causing problems, but that’s all that really depends on the conversation that you guys have. If you cannot communicate with entities you can always go through the process of using a divination process to divine their answers.

Demanding that it leaves:

If negotiations fail, and you have gone through the process of talking to it, or you feel that it will not listen to you, then it is time to demand it to leave. Through the power of your will, intention, and assertiveness you can force the entity out of your space by demanding out loud that at leaves. This intention will send your kna to force the entity out of your space. You can also go through the process of using there name in your demands in order to connect your will to it targeting it with your kna, if you do not have its name you can always go through the process of making one up for it. By first telling the entity that it’s name is this, and then using that name in your demands to tell it to leave. During this entire process you should be strong, and assertive, and should not waver under the entity in any regards in order not to give it power, and to put your intention through. If done correctly the entity should be forced from the space from your sheer kna, and willpower.

Forcing it out with kna:

You can also go through the process of using a more energetic method by visualizing your kna as fire, or light flowing to the entity blasting it with all that you have, by focusing on this vision in your mind’s eye, while projecting your kna forward will send it out in order to manifest your desire of sending the entity out of your space. This is a much better method if you feel that you are better with visualization, and kna work, and will allow you to enter a more trance-like state, while projecting your kna at the entity.

Forcing it out with items:

Certain items have banishing metaphysical properties that can be quite helpful in sending entities out of your space. These items can be natural such as herbs, and stones, or can be more man made things such as sigil, tailsman and amulets. By bringing these objects into the proximity of the entity with the intention of forcing them out you will begin to use them. This is a good way to go to the process of banishing the entity from your space with the incorporation of other objects. You could even go through the process of hard binding the entity to an object, then getting rid of the object with the entity bound to it. This will allow the entity to be bound to something, so that that something can be gotten rid of more easily.

Here is a list of some items that can help in the banishment of entities:

Makna water

Rosemary

Sage

Garlic

Dragon’s blood

Bloodstone

Black Salt

Salt

Smoky Quartz

Obsidian

Black pepper

Cloves

Jet

Sigil of banishment

Asking for help:

You can also go through the process of asking another practitioner for help in banishing the entity from your space, especially if you do not believe that you can handle it yourself. If you do not know any other practitioners you could always go through the process of asking a yamasa, or yamasa ona, or your skacaga ona to banish the entity for you, or at least help you in the process of banishing the entity. This can help you out greatly, especially if you are not used to banishing entities, and want some extra help.

Cleansing the area:

After the entity is all good in banished it is a good idea to go through the process of cleansing the area where they were at. This will relieve that space from their kna, and will get rid of any negative feelings, or residual kna that the entity had left there. This can be simply done through any cleansing method such as burning herbs, placing crystals in the space , clap cleansing, or any other cleansing method that you are aware of.

What is Moon Water?

Moon Water is water that is charged by the moons energy.

What phases of the moon are best for what I need?

Full Moon

Power

Success

Charging Items

Goals

Waning Moon

Banishing

Releasing

Letting Go

New Moon

Fresh Starts

Cleansing

Setting Intentions

Waxing Moon

Planning

Growth

Taking Action

Where can I use Moon Water?

Moon water can be used in many places, and here are a few that are most common.

Spell Jars (Moon Water can be used for cleansing and protection)

Watering Plants (This comes in handy if you are a green witch)

Add it to your drinks {Only if you got it from bottled water or the normal water you drink} (It can help set your intentions, especially if you do stirring magic)

Wash your hands with it (This gives you a little boost of energy before rituals, or even daily tarot)

Moonlight bath

Cleanse/Charge Crystals {Make sure the crystals are water safe} (This cleanses and adds energy to your crystals)

You can even add it to watercolor paints

What Crystals can I use in Moon Water?

Any type of Quartz is water safe (Clear Quartz, Rose Quartz, Amethyst)

Citrine, Green Aventurine, and Shungite are all water safe.

What if I want to use my moon water on a crystal that isn't water safe?

Well, you can just set the crystals around the glass of moon water for them to charge.

(Or you can still set your crystals in the moonlight to charge)

Crystals that go with the Phases of the Moon?

New Moon - Laboradite

Waxing Cresent - Tourmalinated Quartz

First Quarter - Carnelian

Waxing Gibbous - Smoky Quartz

Full Moon - Moonstone

Waning Gibbous - Green Aventuring

Third Quarter - Lapis Lazuli

Waning Cresent - Bronzite

If you have any questions on moon water, please let me know, and I'll answer them!!