Magic of Music

Good morning!

I'm currently sitting in my mother's first grade classroom working on my own assignments for college, drowning out the enthusiastic learning of her students with Greg Laswell's How the Day Sounds. Which lead me to think about music and how wonderfully it enriches our lives. How it helps us through the morning grind and gives a little magic to our day.

Music is the earliest known method of communication and remains an integral part of society today. From dropping beats, to beautiful ballads, our deepest emotions and passions are sparked with the magic of music. Music gives us a form of catharsis, a way to release the energies that we build up in our lives granting release and calm. It  builds up soldiers to do battle, gives strength to sports teams, grants wings to dancers, and provides freedom to the human songbirds among us. Music heals, it enlightens, it strengthens, and encourages. It is the oldest voice, our true voice, and a looking glass into our souls.

Music is often used in rituals because it helps those who are casting spells and communicating on the spiritual level to ground themselves and find themselves in that calm place between the physical world and the world beyond.

But it is so much more than that. Music has its own power, its own energy which lends itself so wonderfully to increase our own strength and our own will when doing ritual work or casting spells. It blocks out the negative and the distracting, and pulses with the power that surrounds us.

What kind of music lends itself best to ritual work and spell casting? Well, generally you don't really want to try to connect with the universe on a spiritual level while grooving to Shakira's latest single...I really really vibe her music, but we're more likely to focus on the lyrics than our work, our inner space and our outer space.  Generally soothing meditative music such as chants or even wordless music works best. It soothes and builds at just the right times.

If you don't already incorporate music into your own ritual work, I encourage you to give it a try! If you do, what music do you find makes your rituals into a sense sensation?

Brightest Blessings!
~S

Your Power

Good afternoon my twitchy witches!

I’m sure that many of you have seen movies where witches had special powers and abilities. This is really not all that farfetched. Everyone has talents that are specific to him or herself. The same is true of those who follow a magical path. Some of us are empaths, some are psychic, some are healers, some are seers, some are kitchen witches, some are herb witches, and quite a few of us are more than one thing!  Many of us are drawn to specific elements, specific methods of practice (knot magic, animal magic, and crystal magic, etc), and specific incarnations of the Goddess and God. All of these things make us unique witches with different skills and insights. 

I will begin with empaths.  The word empath is derived from the word empathy. And this is exactly what an empath does. Empaths feel exactly what you feel, to a fault. He or she can’t stand watching romantic comedies in which the heroine or hero makes a complete fool out of him or herself because the embarrassment is just too much. Empaths will blush, close their eyes, or even fast forward through that part.  An empath walks through the store and sees a couple of strangers laughing; he gets caught grinning and laughing even though he doesn’t know the joke! This person knows exactly how you are feeling before you voice it. She feels the way you do…she may not even know why. Empaths experience so many emotions throughout a typical day that they often struggle to determine which emotions were originally theirs.  This can be a huge problem and is often something that they need to put up barriers against, and learn how to control, otherwise it is far too draining.  Empaths find themselves acting on emotions that were never even theirs. I am an empath.  Many have wondered whether empathy is a power, and just being able to put yourself in someone else’s shoes may not be; however, being able to feel the emotions or the energies in a room means that you have the power to influence them.  

Many of us know what psychics can do, so I’m just going to touch on it ever so briefly. Psychic is a very broad category which can contain many different types of psychics.  We are all psychic to some extent. Some of us are able to see with our third eye better than others. If this is something that interests you, the more you work at it, the better that you can become. Not all psychics read minds; some of them see auras or are very good at astral travel, or even predicting the future. A psychic’s power is based in the third eye and the astral plane (the spiritual plane).  While the astral plane heavily influences our physical plane, you’ll not get very far if you try to see it with your physical eyes.

Seers would probably fall under psychics, but their talent lies in divination. Each seer prefers their own method of divination. Some scry using crystals or mirrors. Other seers prefer tarot cards, reading tea leaves or palmistry. Not many seers focus solely on palmistry because palms only tell about people. And while people are great, it’s a rather limited field. Palms don’t tell the future of the person, they tell the character and the past of the person.  So, if I were a business executive, I might ask for a scan of potential employees’ palms along with their résumé.  More on that in future posts if I remember!

Kitchen witches are magical people who feed me! (I’m just kidding) Kitchen witches prefer to work their magic in the food, teas, and herbal remedies that they cook up in the kitchen. This is, indeed, the tastiest kind of magic.  You can do a lot with food because food has so many healing and nourishing properties in and of itself. Combine this potential with magic and you have some pretty powerful chow! Healing potions, beauty products, good luck bon bons, teas to improve the third eye, and many other things can easily be cooked up in the kitchen with the right spell and ingredients. Kitchen witches know how endless the possibilities are, plus…who doesn’t like food!?  While being a kitchen witch is more of a preference of crafting than anything else, I consider it to be a power. How many people do you know who go in the kitchen and end up producing sludge that was supposed to be tiramisu? That is why I include kitchen witchery in the power post! 

Moving right along to herb witches! That old lady down the street with the hollyhocks up to her ears? Herb witch! Herb witches or garden witches work amazing magic with herbs and other plants. Their gardens are absolutely breath taking. When you ask how their roses managed to avoid the aphid plague that killed yours they usually smile and just give you some sort of farfetched cure.  These earthy people revel in greenery and are very in tune with plant life and the spirits that guard them. They often have bird feeders in every direction and live in nearly absolute harmony with the animals that come in and out of their gardens. These women have a special knack for knowing exactly what their beloved plants need, and exactly how to cure what ails them. As a result the plants return in kind and offer a bounty of blossoms, herbs, and vegetables. Herb witches know that respecting their plants and nurturing them, keeping them happy and healthy is the best way to also preserve the sprites, brownies, elves, and fairies that have likely made this garden their safe haven. You won’t find any pesticides here- just magic.

Witches are not only in tune with plants, but many witches also have a special relationships with the animals that they come in contact with. From the den of foxes in their backyards, to the stray cats that they leave milk for, many witches find animals to be more than mere companions, but partners in magic and friends.  These witches are very sensitive to the importance of all life and often find themselves taking in any “lost cause” that crosses their path. These witches are eager to provide love and sanctuary to all walks of life, but they often find that they get along better with animals than people.  You know who they are. They’re the couple down the street with the elaborate chicken coop for the hens they rescued, the woman with three cats, a blind dog, a fledgling robin that she found fallen from its nest.  These men and women find animal magic and working with their familiars quite natural. They wear their animal totem around their neck, and have their house completely covered in pet fur. They often exhibit the traits of their animal totem, and sometimes it is easy to see what it is without even asking.

This is only a very small sampling of the powers, and casting preferences and witch “categories” (for lack of a better word because most of us fall in many categories if not all of them!). I encourage you to learn more about different powers. Meditate on your strengths and what makes you who you are. Meditate on what element you gravitate toward, what you have a knack for, and particular crafting methods that you prefer to work with. The more you learn about yourself, the more you learn about your power and who you are, as well as what you should work more on and what you can become (Geeze! Could that sentence have rambled any longer!?).  What types of embodiments does your patron Goddess and God take on? Are they known animal lovers or plant gurus? The answers to these questions can help direct your path to learning more about yourself and your craft! Never stop learning

Till next time!

~S