Consultations with Cassandra on May 6, 7 and 8 at Charlie’s Rock Shop, London, my only UK venue. I have been visiting Charlie's Rock Shop for 15 years now and so have many clients who have become old friends.
Half, one hour and two-hour sessions for absolutely any problem or worry from psychic children to major business or relationship decisions, using Tarot, crystal sphere crystal angels, runes, Egyptian Oracle, Power Animal and Goddess cards; also spells for any positive purpose and advice on psychic protection.
New clients are recommended to book an hour. I welcome old and new friends..
Contact Charlie’s Rock Shop: +442085441207
Unit 1 1929 Shop, Merton Abbey Mills, Wimbledon, GB, SW19 2RD
Spellcasting and Manifestation Workshop with Cassandra Eason on Saturday May 7 from 18.30- 20.30 at Charlie’s Rock Shop, London
Have you ever wanted to attract what or whom you most need, prevent someone from harming you or a loved one or remove whatever is holding you back from happiness and success?
Spellcasting makes it possible to manifest thesear Debi,
results using the psychic powers we all possess and following a simple format to empower your spell.
The workshop will include how to formulate your spell purpose, how to protect yourself psychically while spell casting and how to create and cast a basic spell for attraction, binding and banishing.
You will learn how to empower your spell with words and the four elements Earth, Air, Fire and Water that combine to make the magical space and energy where wishes can be manifest.
Discover how to make and empower a unique talismanic bag of small crystals to draw good fortune, health, the right career, money, love, good fortune, protection and happiness or for a specific purpose or event.
Learn also how to protect your home, workplace and self magically while travelling.
Spaces for both events are very limited.
Happy Full Moon in Libra April 16 at 1955, UTC from Cassandra, Debi and Caity.
Though the moon shines golden this is called the Pink Moon after the pink blooms of a wildflower in eastern North America called, the moss phlox or moss pink. Among the Algonquin people the moon is named Breaking Ice moon as frozen streams start to melt or among the Dakota the Moon when the geese begin laying eggs. This is a reminder of the first eggs after winter placed on the shrine of Ostara the Norse Goddess of spring on the Spring Equinox- or according to Eastern European tradition eggs decorated by the Virgin Mary to delight baby Jesus.
A moon for the restoration of harmony of hope, the end of suffering in Ukraine and other war-torn lands; new life bringing the pandemic and other endemic diseases under control; the pink moon is this year the Paschal Full Moon marking the first Sunday after full moon after Spring Equinox as Easter Sunday.
In many lands and religions this is the time of regeneration, rebirth and growth to replace decay and what has been lost.
Balanced Libra ruled by wise angel Zuriel helps soothe fear, promises we can find a way through these dark times; a reminder that under the pink moon through the ages other dangerous times have been illuminated by the shimmering moonbeams of the kindness, not of the great and inglorious, but ordinary people who reach hands across the sea and to those in the next street to those who have nothing or experience dire loneliness.
A moon not for seeking excitement and change, but stability in health and peace, so all have a safe home, a land free from bombs, weapons and hunger and that children can run free and laugh once more.
Wherever we are in the world we look up at the same lovely moon and this moon month do not for wish for irrelevancies, luxuries or frivolities, but for positive action that when we next see the full moon< the world will be a better happier place and none may walk in fear.
Shine on lovely moon, already in the sky waiting her grand entrance, grant us the light to create and recreate the beauty humans daily despoil.
A happy April from Debi, Caitie and Cassandra.
April springs fresh in the Northern hemisphere, scattering the blossoms, a stir-crazy month of shimmering sunbeams, sudden frost and the showers that tease in the breeze the moment we take off our coats. Birds are bustling with straws and grasses and pieces of rush matting stolen from suburban patios to make their nests and already lambs are tottering across the meadows.
The month is named after Aphrodite, Greek goddess of love, the sea and beauty and also Aprilis or Aphrilis, a goddess of the Etruscans, the people who once inhabited central Italy; she was associated with flowers and fertility.
Magically April promises love and fertility, creativity, increase in any aspect of life, especially health and money, for beauty, healing and happiness.
Asmodel, angel of harmony whose special colour is pink or green, whose fragrance is rose and whose crystal rose quartz, is the Angel of April. Never has harmony been more needed than this April in the war-torn world where millions are displaced from their homes and death and destruction rage through ravaged lands.
April too brings for many soaring energy costs where families must choose between eating and heating their homes, devastation in lands where there are floods and extremes of weather and where the pandemic still extends her tentacles across the world.
This is an Asmodel angel of harmony April ritual to call new life and preserve belief, even where this seems hard to imagine.
You will need :
Five pink candles along the base of the mirror so their light reflects in the mirror
Timing :
Any time in April, for five days after dark.
The Ritual:
- On night 1 light the first left-hand candle.
- Say: Asmodel Angel of Radiance, Let harmony and peace grow, as this candle glows, Asmodel make this be, double the light, let it be so.
- Blow out the candle, sending light and peace and relief of suffering to all who need it.
- On night 2, light the original candle and the next candle to its right repeating the words and actions.
- On night 3 light three candles including the original ones repeating the words and actions.
- On night 4 add the fourth candle to the three already lit, repeating the words and actions.
- On night 5 when all five candles are alight say: Asmodel, as candles glow may we know that hope will grow and new life flow, April welcome, welcome sun.
- Let the candles burn through and plan some small but significant practical help if you can.
And so we greet April and look forward to brighter days in the world.
Happy Equinox on Sunday March 20 at 15.33 UTC, the Spring or Vernal Equinox in the Northern hemisphere and Autumn or Fall Equinox in the Southern world.
In spite of war, Covid, floods, intense storms, earthquakes, high prices and shortages, the human spirit of courage and kindness towards others daily shines. People open their homes and hearts to those in need as in the North the flowers push through the earth defiantly and in the South the earth yields her hard won harvest.
Every year banks of daffodils bloom between suburban houses near where I live, planted years ago by an old man who wanted to bring the beauty of the new season into the town. They are still tended in his memory.
Mother Nature turns the wheel of the year and spring with its new beginnings and autumn with its reconciliation of what did and did not thrive.
She reminds us now is the time at the turning of the year to make up that old quarrel next month, next year and speak the words of love and appreciation. Give flowers to a loved one now on the Equinox to bring and share their pleasure rather than waiting to make offerings one day to fade on a grave.
We should not give up on people or situations where there is still hope and love, or where we discovered we are mortal, not angels or demons and so there can be forgiveness and understanding and new beginnings.
Wherever you live in the world on this Equinox, you might like to try this renewal of the home ritual to welcome the changing energies.
You will need:
A bowl of lavender, lilac or rose water or a floral fragrance diluted in a little water.
Timing:
Any morning around the Spring Equinox in the Northern hemisphere or the Autumn Equinox in the Southern hemisphere.
The Ritual:
- Anoint each doorknob or handle in your home with a few drops of fragrance, starting from outside the front door and sprinkling a few drops on each external window ledge too, saying for each, Blessings on all, May sickness, misfortune and sorrow call here no more, except to happiness do I bar every door. Let there be laughter, health and daily good cheer, bad luck and sadness depart now from here.
- Go indoors, again anointing door handles starting inside the front door and ledges in every room, repeating the words.
- Pour any fragrance that is left down a bathroom wash basin plughole, saying, Now, only goodness and good fortune dwell within. Blessings be on all who enter herein.
Happy, happy Equinox as equal day meets equal night and may by the time the next Equinox dawns six months from now, peace, health and enough for all have entered and remain in the world.
Happy full moon in Virgo on March 18 at 07.07 UTC marking the movement towards spring in the northern hemisphere. Called Eagle Moon or Crow Comes Back Moon among the Northern Ojibwe nation and Sugar Moon when the maple sap begins to flow by other Native North American people, the Virgo moon is a symbol of returning life. We are not quite there, because the first full moon after the Spring Equinox that determines Easter, the Paschal Moon is still a whole moon month away, but the energies are rising and with it hope and relief much needed in the troubled world.
At this time when so many people have lost their homes and are fleeing the horrors of the war in Ukraine, remain defending all they hold dear or caring for relatives too frail to be moved, we daily see the innate goodness of humankind who are opening their hearts and homes to the dispossessed.
As well as doing something practical to send aid however small, the Virgo moon energies remind us to be grateful for our own safe homes, our families, forgetting the petty irritations and niggling injustices that too often preoccupy the care that should flow from our hearts like the returning maple sap.
In the daily world the Virgoan full moon is the moon of health and healing, of striving for perfection, for completing any detailed matters and checking small print, for finding new employment especially if you have been jobless for a while, for developing skills with crafts, for gardening and protecting the environment and for keeping to diets and sensible exercise regimes, not extreme but gentle actions such as walking, swimming or cycling so you feel fit, harmonious and balanced.
Lady Moon in Virgo will also assist in reducing the effects of chronic illness or pain and any form of addiction, phobias or compulsion, for helping children or adults to become more coordinated and feel less self-conscious, for learning about natural remedies and removing the effects of the toxins of daily life from your body.
The full moon in Virgo is ruled by Hamaliel the angel of perfection who tells you not to judge yourself too harshly or put in 300% of the input at work and home especially if others are not grateful and take advantage of your conscientiousness. Above all make this the month when you refuse to accept second best in any part of your life, rather strive for the best and in return ask for the best from others.
As we try in small practical ways to send aid to our suffering brothers and sisters, we can also combine our blessing energies for those showing immense courage or to the bewildered children and older folk seeking comfort in unfamiliar lands, a reminder of the innate goodness of humankind to open hearts and homes to the dispossessed.
You will need
Three white candles of ascending sizes set in a row, smallest to the left.
- Light the smallest candle, saying, each day I send strength and stability.
- Light Candle 2 from 1, saying that each day protection of the innocents may be.
- Light Candle 3 from 2, saying each day restore the broken lands to unity.
- Sprinkle a pinch of salt into each flame, saying for Candle 1 Cleansed be.
- For Candle 2 say, That we may see,
- For Candle 3, Recovery.
- Hold your hands towards the candles, palms down, fingers together, then touch your heart, saying, So do I send from my heart, strength, protection ,recovery, let this be..
- Blow out the candles in reverse order, saying, And though the losses and destruction cannot be undone, let peace, new life and rebuilding come
- Leave the salt to absorb sorrow and throw it away the same night before bed.
Welcome to March from Cassandra, Debi and Caitlin. Though traditionally spoken on 1 March, it is not too late to be the first in your family or friends to say White Rabbits to herald the new month and this will bring you good luck throughout the month.
In fact, it should be a hare and not a rabbit we call for better fortune.
When I lived in Sweden and the snow lay still deep in the forests in March, I was told the story that explained this myth, how it was said Ostara, goddess of spring (her Anglo -Saxon counterpart Oestre gives us the name of Easter and oestrogen) found a white dove frozen in the snow. She knew even if she revived it, the tiny bird would not survive the freezing conditions. Therefore, she transformed it into a hare and said, Run and when people see you running they will know new life and new beginnings are coming.
The story is a reminder it may not always be possible to restore what has been lost, but we can move with optimism and determination into new beginnings, new hope. Nowhere is this truer than in the Ukraine where little children no older than my grandson who has not a care in the world and sleeps safe in his bed each night, pulling their suitcases towards the border. Some of the Russian conscripts are no more than boys thinking they were going on exercises and the Ukrainians are allowing them when captured to phone their mothers and sharing their food. We see too a Ukrainian pulling a Russian rocket launcher he found on the back of his tractor instead of the customary bales of hay.
Ironically March is named after Mars the Roman God of War, this was the traditional month war and conquest resumed after winter and was the start of the Roman year as late as 153 BCE. But Mars was also the Guardian of agriculture it was claimed the ancestor of the Roman people through his sons Romulus and Remus who founded Rome. March marked the start of the farming year also and promises rewards for hard work undertaken now within six months.
The angel of March is Machidiel (or Malahidael), a warrior angel with sparkling golden-red halo and wings, who protects the vulnerable and innocent.
It is said if March comes in like a lion it goes out like a lamb and never have we need that to be more true.
This ritual you can adapt for friends or family each lighting a candle from a central candle and keeping vigil till the candles are burned, perhaps preceded by a charitable venture to help those who have had to leave their homes and possessions behind.
Alternatively, alone as darkness falls light your single white candle for peace, saying, I create this light that all may be right, that I might send relief and healing to all those suffering or unwillingly involved in the Ukraine war whatever nation or creed.
- Blow softly into the candle/ saying, Blessings (naming a blessing to be sent to those trapped in the Ukraine or displaced and seeking the kindness of neighbouring lands .
- Blow softly into the flame once more, saying Wishes (naming a wish for the future for peace without further bloodshed).
- Blow out the candles saying Light in the darkness, peace to the babes who cannot understand humankind’s inhumanity to fellow beings with whom we should share the earth.
- In the darkness, say May there be light in the darkness, hope in despair and may peace come.
- Relight the candle/ and keep vigil
Happy Full Snow moon in Leo on February 16 at 16.57 UTC, the fusion of fire and ice that in the Norse world brought creation into being.
Not always an easy moon in colder climes, often called Snow Moon or Hunger Moon in Native North America; yet the Tlingit named it Black Bear Moon because it is the time the cubs are born and so life stirs anew.
Verchiel, the golden joy bringer, radiating sunbeams, is hard on the heels of the hearts and roses of Valentine’s Day. He is the angel of this full moon; if like me your Valentine’s postbag consists of a takeaway pizza leaflet and an advert for half price double glazing, the golden Leonine moon surges forward with power and courage; a reminder that as long as we value ourselves we can attain what constitutes for us happiness, success and fulfilment; whether this is hearts and roses, fame and fortune or an awareness you like who you are and what you are right now- and that the approval of others is a bonus not a necessity.
A powerful moon for reaching out dynamically and without doubt or fear of failing or falling, after so many dress rehearsals and maybe tomorrows.
A good time to apply for a job interview or promotion, a chance to shine in the workplace and overcome any challenges to your authority or identity. You can reduce the negative effects of critical or emotionally draining people with the radiance of this moon.
Try this ritual for whatever you most want to attain. All things are possible if we dare to dream and then strive without ceasing or doubt to make that dream a reality in our life.
- Light a gold candle for the Leo influence and a silver one for the full moon.
- Surround them with nine coins of any denomination, alternately gold and silver coloured (five gold and four silver).
- Pick up each coin in turn, moving clockwise round the coin circle and pass it close first around the silver and then gold candle, saying for each, Gold and silver to me come, Silver of the Moon and gold of the Sun. That I may shine brilliant as you, And fortune in my life daily renew (name what you most want in your life to achieve by the time the next Full Moon in Leo returns ). Golden sun, let my talents shine, power of the silver radiance, make the future mine.
- Now collect all the coins and shake them nine times in your open cupped hands, saying nine times, Gold and silver shall be won, Silver of the Moon and gold of the Sun, Into my life my own power I call, And to succeed I will give my all.(name again what you most want in your life to fulfil).
- At the end of the final chant blow out the candles fast saying Gold and silver have I won, silver of the Moon and gold of the Sun, Sun and Moon shine down on me, That good fortune I shall draw to me. And even as the moon does wane, In my own light I shall remain.
- Take the first step to your fulfilment. Give the coins to charity.
Happy Moonday.
Happy Valentine’s Day to all those who do not have partners, on the day of love when it seems the whole world walks two by two. Look into the mirror and know you are no better nor worse than those, knee deep in scarlet silk hearts and ruby rose bouquets.
You are yourself, whether you are alone by choice or circumstance, a unique complete person, worthy of admiration, respect, congratulations that you care for yourself and perhaps many others with different forms of love.
I did once get a reduced supermarket Valentine bear on February 15 from an ex who left the reduced- price tag entangled with the fraying ribbon.
And Terry the milkman the first man ever to propose and in hindsight my best offer I ever had, composed me a poem with the immortal lines And if you die and go to hell, I will follow you as well, for I love you and you love me, And I will bring you morning tea.
We solos are of great significance on this day on the day of lovers, no less than as on every day. Buy yourself flowers, a ring to wear on your heart finger to say I am complete in myself, not just an unfinished half.
Treat yourself to a special meal with friends, family, children, grandchildren, your pets or alone and eat both desserts; drink a toast to the power of love that makes the world go round, your world. Hold your head high, wear your brightest outfit, smile at all you see and wish them Happy Valentine. The circle of love is inclusive, totally embracing and even if love comes by next Valentine Day, you will be no more precious than you are this day, this moment, who walk in the radiance of your own beauty and goodness.
Happy, happy day xx
Named after the Roman festival of fertility and purification held on February 15th, the festival of Februa became combined with the love and fertility festival Lupercalia held on the same day, from which we get St Valentine’s Day.
Februum means purification and so the festival of Februa involved cleansing and washing with water to bring the new Springtime energies into being and wash away stagnation and what needed to be left behind.
This can be as relevant in the Southern hemisphere for a new start when life seems to have hit a brick wall especially in these times when the pandemic demands caution everywhere even as we slowly re-emerge.
The Goddess Februa was mother of Mars, and Goddess of passion.
Indeed, many modern Valentine’s day customs derive from Lupercalia, that was dedicated to the goddess she-wolf Lupa, who suckled the twins Romulus and Remus, later the founders of Rome. On this day, unmarried girls and young men performed love and sex rites in the Grotto of the She-Wolf, in order to bring fertility to animals, land and people. However, in true romantic myth St Valentine was said to be a Roman priest who performed marriage ceremonies for soldiers and their beloveds, a ceremony forbidden because it sapped their military strength. He was arrested and fell in love with the jailer’s daughter and scrawled on his cell wall before execution (when else February 14), Always your Valentine.
February is good for awakening new love and trust, for increasing good luck, melting coldness or indifference and planting the seeds of future success; also for any early Spring cleaning of the home and your life especially after misfortune and also for driving away what is destructive or redundant.
Barakiel (or Barchiel), the bringer of good luck, is the Angel of February and helps with reconciling differences, trusting intuition, combining two careers or interests, psychic development, changing bad luck, for dealing with any emotional matters and for overseas travel. Barakiel or Barchiel wears robes of blue and gold and has lightning flashing from his halo.
Avoid in February if possible, encounters with officialdom, committing yourself to binding contracts if you have doubts, matters involving logic or attention to detail, people who are manipulative or dishonest and those who show excessive emotions, sentimentality or changeability according to who is present.
The colours of February are white and mauve.
The crystals are amethyst, coral, bloodstone and all fluorites.
Incenses and oils include honeysuckle, sweet grass and lotus.
Its flowers are daffodils, early spring flowers, water lilies and wisteria.
2022 is not a Leap Year and so this February has only 28 days. Leap Year did not really come into being until the advent of the Gregorian calendar in England in 1752 and almost two hundred years earlier in Europe. It occurs on February 29 when the calendar contains an extra day every four years (when the last two numbers in the year date can be divided by four). This is to put the astronomical calendar back into synchronicity.
Traditionally on Leap Year, a woman might propose to a prospective partner and if declined, ask for twelve pairs of gloves as consolation, presumably to hide the fact the engagement finger was devoid of baubles.
In more liberated times if your beloved of either sex is being slow on the uptake of commitment try this any date, during February, Leap Year or not
You will need:
A mug for your would-be beloved. You can do this in the workplace, at home or even adapt it for a coffee shop.
Tea bag, herbal tea or coffee.
A spoon.
The Spell:
- Add tea etc. and the hot water to the mug to be enchanted.
- Begin stirring clockwise with the spoon in the hand you write with, subtly moving the other hand anti-clockwise above the mug (not too close) chanting softly or in your head Look on me with eyes of love, let lasting bonds between us grow, I bind and wind connection in, that lasting love we may soon know.
- Make your words (in your head if in public) become softer and stir more slowly until all ends in silence and stillness.
- Offer the drink to your would-be beloved and say in your mind With growing love from me to you, Together to be our whole life through.
- With ingenuity you can adapt this if necessary, by stirring a take-away Starbucks coffee before offering it.
Happy February from Cassandra, Debi and Caitlin.
Welcome from Cassandra, Debi and Caitlin to the festival of Imbolc, beginning on the eve of January 31 in the Northern hemisphere, the first stirring of life after winter, the fire in the belly of the maiden goddess Brigit as she melts the winter snows with her willow wand, marking the return of lighter and warmer days.
These will hopefully come to fruition at Lughnassadh the first grain harvest six months later (now in the southern hemisphere).
Imbolc is the time to awaken passion for life, love, health and joy, the tentative growth of new beginnings psychologically and emotionally, light in the darkness that became Candlemas, the Christian festival celebrated on February 2, the final day of Imbolc.
And as the world opens the cave door after the worst of the pandemic is slowly turning the tide, hope is redoubled for a better more thoughtful and cherished life, even as we still tread warily.
If you doubt or the days of your life are dark, reach across the world to absorb the warmth of the mirror festival. For in the Southern hemisphere, is celebrated at the same time, the Festival of Lughnassadh, in the old traditions the willing offering by the Grain god of his life cut down as the last sheaf, to be made into the first bread of the first harvest, Christianised as the Lammas loaf on August 1.
This willing sacrifice symbolically ensured the continuing growth of the land in the year ahead and that the people and animals would have sufficient to survive the winter until Imbolc.
Wherever you live in the world, the Lammas energies warn there may be necessary sacrifices to make your dreams to bear fruit. If life is unfair, dark and hopeless, extend your hand across the world to the northern festival and let the maiden goddess Brigit, melt your sorrows, letting fears, obstacles and doubts likewise flow away as we seek the almost imperceptible ever earlier daily sunrise.
Though some have suffered much and few been unaffected by the pandemic, we can plant the seeds of new plans to nurture in the months ahead and if they fail to plant again and again until they do take root and flourish. Then with diligence and sheer hard work not miracles, we can savour the fruits of our own well-earned endeavours by the time this point on the Wheel of the ever-turning year is reached six months from now and Imbolc becomes Lughnassadh and Lughnassadh Imbolc.
Though now we take nothing for granted, blessings are all the greater for that uncertainty and a sense as never before we are beginning to understand our fellow humans’ sufferings. We ask for peace in the Ukraine and other areas of conflict and know that we have enough external enemies in fighting this and future pandemics and natural disasters caused by climate change without attacking those we should be working with to rebuild the world.
I have been ill recently and life now is doubly precious, each day a blessing and bonus not to be squandered or wished away. We cannot always hold off the hand of fate but at Imbolc and Lughnassadh, the times of the planting and the reaping, we can make our personal mark on life as best we can and trust the sun will rise again and again to bring another day of promise.
With love, Cassandra xx
Today is the end of the Chinese year and tomorrow heralds the arrival of the new year of the Water Tiger. It also coincides this year with Imbolc, the arrival of Celtic spring (there will be a post about that later today when Caitlin has finished the illustration).
If you were born in one of the following years, from early February to late January of the following year, you will be under the sign of the Tiger: 2022, 2010, 1998, 1986, 1974, 1962, 1950, 1938 etc. This year has the Element of Water and that only happens every 60 years. The other elements are metal, wood, fire and earth and they are all interconnected and create balance between each other.
What does the year of the Tiger mean?
Tiger years are times of great change and strides forward especially in fields of exploration. Beware of restlessness, accidents through carelessness and violent outbursts.
Tiger people are dynamic, assertive, noble in aim, enthusiastic, born leaders and competitive but can be selfish, domineering and easily angered. They include Beethoven, Dwight D. Eisenhower and Marilyn Monroe.
What does the Water element mean?
Water is linked to the direct of North, the season of winter and cold and the colour black. Those born with the water element in their sign have a tendency for being creative, flexible and sensitive with good communication skills; fearless and strong willed; empathetic and intuitive with exceptional gut instinct. However there are also tendencies towards introspection and needing a lot of time on their thoughts as well as being reliant on the support of others.
The combination of Tiger and Water make for a complex character with many strengths - many of which are hidden from all but the closest of friends and family.
A little bit about Chinese astrology
On his last New Year on earth, Buddha called all the animals to his side. Only twelve came and as a reward Buddha is said to have given each one a year that would reflect its personality. The rabbit was the fourth animal to arrive and so is the fourth year in the cycle.
Each person is born under one of the twelve years and the year itself bears the characteristics of the animal. Because the date of the Chinese New Year can vary from late January to mid-February, people born around this period can find that they may belong to the year before.
For example in 1994, the year of the Dog, the New Year occurred on February 10th so anyone born on February 9th is a Rooster. In 1995 the Year of the Pig began on January 31st so anyone born on January 30th is a Dog. To compensate for this difficulty, people born on or around the Chinese New Year are said to be very psychic and open to new ideas.
While Chinese astrology is extremely complex, in folk tradition Chinese people identify themselves with one of the twelve animals, much as in the Western tradition, people think of themselves as Librans or Aquarians without worrying too much about ascendants and trines.
Debi, Caitlin and Cassandra wish everyone, regardless of their beliefs, a very happy and prosperous Year of the Tiger.
Welcome to the Full Moon on January 17 at at 6:48 p.m. EST (2248 GMT) called the Wolf Moon. The Seneca nation believed a wolf gave birth to the moon by singing her into the sky and in the northern hemisphere at the darkest coldest time (for the time of the full moon rise in your own location see timeanddate.com) we seek her light now, as last year, more eagerly than ever.
This full moon in cancer will bring emotions to the forefront. For some of us it will mean we have to face the challenges we've been avoiding head on and for others it may mean we have to lie low and let over emotional people flow over us, let them have their drama without a reaction. It is a turning point for many of us, as we step lightly forward in to the new year, with hopes and expectations. It is a time to let go of the old things that haven't worked out and bring on the new adventure; however big or small.
The Cancerian Full Moon is ruled by Muriel the silvery Angel of dreams and realistic wishes you can make come true through your own efforts. Muriel rides her magical carpet through the skies and on this moon, anything seems possible-and indeed it can be if you come out of the shell of self-doubt and ignore the discouragement of those who gain security from you staying just the same, ready and waiting to fulfil their needs.
Call on this moon for happiness at home, for family, children and fidelity, for bringing imaginative projects into the public arena, also for keeping necessary secrets, especially love that cannot be revealed because one or both partners are not free, for conceiving a baby, for overcoming a relationship problem or betrayal, for major home renovations or refurbishing, for protection of the home and family, particularly against accidents or hostile neighbours.
Dare to dream and to do, knowing those dreams are attainable through hard work and perseverance to open new doors, even as old ones slam shut. Your discarded or not fully developed talents are waiting in the wings to dance centre stage and receive the long overdue accolades of your worth.
Dare to love, to reach out risking hurt and rejection and if you are turned down then there is a whole world of love and life and fulfilment and an ocean of adventure beyond the rock pools of limitation.
Reach out to make your own good fortune....
You will need:
A smooth round white shell or white stone.
A permanent marker pen in green.
Timing: Any night leading up to the Cancerian full moon and/or full moon night or the day or two after.
The Spell:
- Write 'Good luck come to me' all over the shell inside and out.
- Take it out into the moonlight and say, 'Lady of the Moon, lady of the Moon, good luck be with me, stay with me, lady of the Moon'.
- Begin to turn around in alternate directions holding your good luck shell between your hands, very fast, all the while chanting the spell words.
- When you go dizzy and see the moon rushing towards you, sit down on the ground still holding the shell and whisper, 'So good fortune rushes to meet me, I thank you, Lady Moon for blessings soon to be received'.
- Sleep with the shell or stone beside you until the writing fades, in which case on the following full moon night or just before, cast it in water and make a new good luck shell moon charm.
Happy Moonday.
Another year is coming to a close, the second of the pandemic years. We are all learning to adapt to the massive changes these last two years have thrust upon us because of this worldwide health crisis - on top of all the daily challenges we all face. As we approach and enter in to the new year we can do things to help shift us out of any doldrums or phases of negativity and lift our energies higher, reaching towards the light. Before we know it the wheel of the year will be turning another notch and we, in the northern hemisphere, will be embracing the first callings of spring; the sun getting higher in the sky and the plants, flowers and creatures will begin to stir from their slumbers. For those in the Southern hemisphere, your will be drawing closer to shorter days and longer nights - a time to reflect on what has been and how you can take the positive light in to the darker months. For all of us around the world, challenges are increasing, whether it be climate change, war, poverty, family dispute - large and small they affect our day to day well-being. If you can, take each day as it comes, dance with the light, laugh at yourself and very importantly love yourself. Heal yourself from within so that you can be there and help those around you and share those energies.
For myself and my family we are facing difficult times, but I live with great hope that all will turn out well. There is no point in worrying about the past or the future when it comes to personal situations - one has already happened and the other is beyond our control in most cases - so the best we can do for ourselves and our loved ones is live in the now, in the moment and do our very bests to reject the negative and embrace the positive.
I want to wish you all the very best of times and a happy, healthy and prosperous 2022. I am not fully recovered, but I do hope to be back in January to continue with readings and spells - I'm so sorry I wasn't able to help some of you over the last couple of months - but all my online courses are available and Debi is at the end of the email line if you need to make contact.
Here are some New Year's Eve and New Years Day Rituals
- On New Year’s Eve, clear out all your old clutter, dust away any cobwebs and sweep last year’s luck out of the front door. Put all rubbish outside before midnight.
- Burn the old calendar as midnight strikes or at sunrise on New Year’s Day. Wind it nine times with red wool, throw it into the flames and say: ‘Old year burn, old troubles do not return’.
- In the morning or when you leave the party, dance around the nearest tree or bush twelve times clockwise (anti-clockwise in the southern hemisphere), naming a month and a wish for each circuit. You will then have happiness, luck and prosperity all the coming year.
- Clocks should be wound or batteries replaced at midnight on New Year’s Eve so that there will be good fortune all the year.
- On New Year’s morning drink a glass of water from a bubbling tap (traditionally a spring), eat a small piece of your favourite food and bury three coins so you will have enough food, drink and money throughout the year.
- On New Year’s Eve morning, choose a small rounded rock from close to your home as a dwelling for your house guardian and keep near the hearth or the centre of your home. Smudge it weekly or sprinkle round it with water, asking for blessings. When there are changes in the home, however small, light a candle near the guardian’s special place and tell them in advance and luck will remain with you through the year and all changes go well.
- You should not lend anything, especially money, on New Year’s Day or you will be lending all year.
A First Footing ritual to bring good New Year luck, health and prosperity into your home.
You will need:
- A copper, silver and gold-coloured coin.
- Wrapped sweets, dried fruits and nuts.
- Dried basil, juniper berries, sage or thyme.
- Coal or wood.
- A large bowl of water.
- A drawstring bag.
- Small crystals or glass nuggets.
- A purple candle
- A white candle
Timing
- Before midnight.
The Spell
- Five minutes before midnight send the person chosen as First Footer outside the front door with the items in the bag except the candles and the crystals.
- At three or four minutes before midnight one person lights a purple candle and from it as midnight strikes, lights a white candle from it to represent transferring all the good luck from the previous year. Extinguish the purple candle to represent leaving behind what did not work out in 2016.
- At midnight all shout, Come in, New Year. New Year, you are welcome, rattling pans or ringing bells.
- The First Footer enters, shuts the door and goes out of the back door (if there is one) or out of the front door again, saying: Out you go, Old Year. Your time is past.
- The First Footer comes back in, slams the door, walks upstairs to the top of the house and down again, shouting Happy New Year.
- She/he deposits the bag on the hearth or in front of the burning white candle.
- All toast the New Year and drop crystals into the bowl of water, making New Year wishes.
- Do not throw any of the party garbage out, sweep, vacuum or wash clothes until January 2 or you will put out the New Year Luck you have welcomed in.
A RITUAL FOR NEW YEAR'S EVE
New Year wishes
Whether you are celebrating with family and friends at New Year or alone as I have the last few years and enjoyed it thoroughly, try the following ritual as close to midnight as possible.
If you go away or to a big party you can do this any time in the first days of the year.
You can also share the ritual with family and friends if present.
You will need:
- A small dark blue or purple candle in a holder on a heatproof tray and a larger white candle also in a holder
- A pot of soil
- A small dish of dark coloured pieces of wool
- Ten or fifteen minutes before midnight, start tying knots in the separate pieces of wool and as you do so for each knot name something that did not work out in 2007 or an event that made you sad or angry.
- After you have tied each knot, hold it carefully in the dark candle flame till it singes and then drop it in the pot of earth either to burn or remain there.
- Continue until you have named and got rid of as many knots as you wish.
- Now put the pot of wool and earth outside your back or main door to be buried or thrown away on January 2.
- Put a pinch of salt into the dark flame and say, ’I lay it all to rest with blessings’.
You may not want to forgive people who have really hurt you, nor should you, but you can release your own negativity towards them that is holding you back as a blessing.
- Just before midnight, light the white candle from the dark one saying,
Old year turn
Old year burn.
Bad luck, do not return.
- At the last stroke of midnight, blow out the dark candle. You can throw it away on January 2
- Make wishes into the white candle as New Year begins and leave it to burn until you go to bed. Continue to burn the New Year candle in the days after New Year until it will light no more.
Good luck and love customs for the New Year
On January 1 you can follow one or two of the age old customs to ensure you have the right opportunities to make the future you want.
- The first water drawn from a well on New Year’s morning was said to bring great fortune and happiness. A modern version of this custom is to turn on the cold tap in the sink as soon as daylight breaks or before you leave the party whichever is earlier. Run the tap fast so that the water bubbles. Use a new glass if possible to drink a glass of water straight down and without speaking. This will bring you good luck and also ensure your words are wise and that others listen.
- In the morning or when you leave the New Year party, dance around the nearest tree or post twelve times clockwise, naming a month for each circuit. You will have happiness, luck and prosperity all the coming year.
- If you want to see your true love and have not found him or her, after midnight, light a small white candle from the New Year white candle and hold it up to a mirror in a dark room so you and the candle are reflected in the glass.
- Say, ‘I call my love to me, willingly that we may be together in joy eternally. So shall it be.’
- Blow out the candle and stare into the mirror and an image of or knowledge of who your love is and where you will find him or her will come into your mind or appear in the Afterglow.
Happy Winter Solstice 2021 (and Summer Solstice in the southern hemisphere).
We are all encountering yet another festive period of turbulent times - uncertainty, worry, separation from our loved ones, restricted travel...two years we have endured this and it is not getting any easier. But at this time where the longest night and shortest day meet for their bi-annual battle of who gains power over light or dark....remember that this time the light wins over dark for us in the northern hemisphere and this means a gradual change from long dark nights to an ever increasing lightness in our lives. Use this time to look forward to the new year. Look back on what has been and with the energies of our recent full moon, plan your path ahead for the new year. Use these next few days to restructure your goals and put your energies in to looking positively and leap in to 2022 with as much enthusiasm as you can.
The Caillieach of Winter was the grandmother and midwife of the maiden of Spring and yet is also a later life stage of the same goddess. Indeed at Oimelc, the early February festival sacred to the maiden Brighid or Bridget in the northern hemisphere (Lughnassadh or the first grain harvest in the south), was right into Christian times celebrated with a game played on a chequered board. In this game small figures or sometimes actual people on a life sized board, acted out the battle between the old witch or hag of winter with her dragon and lion and the maiden of spring with her lamb and hail storm. The maiden inevitably defeated the old hag so Spring could return.
Each festival in each hemisphere carries the seeds of its mirror festival six months and half a world away. This brings us back to December and Midwinter/summer. When the sun is at its height at Midsummer in the southern hemisphere we know that it must thereafter decline on December 21-22 and darker days begin. At the same time (give or take a few time zone differences) in the northern hemisphere when the sun is at its lowest December point the sun will be reborn heralding the return of life and lighter days.
The Celts saw this as an ongoing battle between the brothers of light and darkness, Llew and Goronwy in never ending cycle (even before people knew the earth was round).
So how you celebrate this and any change point of the wheel is your choice as to what feels right in connection with the rhythm of the earth beneath your feet and the sun above your head. Locally grown flowers, herbs and stones and crystals belonging to your region are always the best whatever the time of year or the way you choose to celebrate. But I believe it can be helpful to look across the wheel to the mirror festival and see them as two parts of the same whole. For at the height of growth are the seeds of decay and through decay is new life born.
Because you will be celebrating Christmas around this time in the southern hemisphere there may be aspects of the Midwinter festival you wish to add to your own Midsummer celebrations.
Alban Arthuran, Yule or Mid Winter Solstice from around December 20-22
Focus of the festival:
For the rebirth of light and hope, for domestic happiness and stability, family togetherness, anything to do with the home and property and for financial security; for long term money ventures, for patience and for accepting what cannot be changed; for very old people, for carers of the elderly, sick or vulnerable, for welcoming home travellers and the calling back people you still miss from the past into your life and for restoring enthusiasm and health in those who are worn down by illness or lack of hope.
Keywords: Hope, security and stability
Emphasis of the festival: Rekindling extinguished flames/light in the darkness
Energies of the Season: Turning point as the energies begin to rise again from the lowest point
Symbols: Evergreen boughs especially pine or fir, small logs of wood especially oak, pine and ash, holly and ivy sprigs, gold coins and jewellery, red, green, white and gold candles, silver, red, green and gold ribbons and baubles, tiny wrapped presents to be opened on the Solstice or a pre Christmas celebration
Tree: Holly
Incenses, flowers and herbs : Bay, cedar, feverfew, frankincense and myrrh mixed, holly, juniper, pine, rosemary, sage and all spices, poinsettias , scarlet and white flowers and rosemary
Candle colours: White, scarlet, gold, green and purple
Crystals: Amazonite, malachite, garnet, snow quartz, snowflake obsidian, opal aura
Angel: Gabriel, Archangel of the Moon, who took the news to Mary that she would have a son Jesus. Picture Gabriel in silver or clothed in the blue of the night sky with a mantle of stars and a crescent moon for his halo, with a golden horn and a white lily, alternatively with a lantern in his right hand and with a mirror made of jasper in his left.
Celtic Tradition
Alban Arthuran means in Gaelic the light of Arthur and refers to the rebirth of Arthur, the sun king as the Divine Child called the Mabon in Celtic spirituality. The Sun godking is reborn after the fear that the world will be overwhelmed by darkness on the shortest day of the year.
In Celtic rituals as in those in many different lands on Midwinter night, all lights are extinguished at dusk and the Crone Goddess or the person representing her invites those present to walk into the darkness with her, an act of pure surrender and faith that light will return.
In some myths it is the three mothers, the Celtic Madrones or the Romanised Matronae who are the midwives of the Sun King.
In passage graves throughout the world, such as Newgrange in Ireland people have waited in darkness for the first shaft of light on the Solstice morning to illuminate the inner shrine. Then their lanterns were relit from a single flint.
People from time immemorial have also hung lights from evergreen branches to encourage the trees and vegetation to sprout greenery again and lit bonfires (now remembered in the chocolate Yule log) to give power to the sun.
Norse and Anglo Saxon Associations
Because of the long nights and bad weather people gathered in homesteads for twelve nights or even longer to feast and ask that the deities would bring abundance, the origin of the mediaeval twelve days of Christmas in European lands the Vikings colonised.
On the night of the Solstice, the fertility god Freyr was said to ride over the world on his boar that shone with light restoring light into the world. Later this role was transferred to Baldur, the god of light who died and was reborn.
Huge wooden wheels were set alight and rolled from the tops of hills or mountains where possible into water. The boar, crowned with laurel and rosemary in honour of Thor, Lord of the winter, formed the feast. The father of the family put his hand on the boar’s head, called the Boar of Atonement and swore he would be faithful to family and fulfill clan obligations.
The Anglo Saxons named first December 21 and then in Christian times December 25 the Day of the Infant. Christmas Eve/Solstice Eve was called the Night of the Mothers or Modraniht after the shadowy guardians of the hearth and home, the midwife goddesses who protected all women in childbirth and their infants.
Christian
In AD 320 the Christian Church placed the date of the birth of Christ as December 25 to overwrite the pagan births of earlier Sun Gods at the Mid Winter Solstice.
In Ireland today and in other lands where there is Celtic ancestry a candle is sometimes left burning in a window on Christmas Eve to guide the Virgin Mary on her way.
The most famous midwife goddess of Christmas was St Bridget who immediately after Christ was born, according to myth placed three drops of water on the new born infant’s head, in accordance with Celtic birth custom, so confusing those who try to keep a consistency of dates Bridget actually lived four centuries after the birth of Jesus. This is probably a Christianised legend from old Ireland.
Mediterranean/Egyptian
Mithras the Persian Sun God, whose cult spread throughout the Roman Empire, was born in a cave at Midwinter, predating the birth of Jesus. Some legends record he emerged from a rock (Mother Earth).
Attis, consort of Cybele was also born on this day.
In Ancient Southern Europe, the Mid-Winter Solstice was called Brumalia, the return of the Unconquerable Sun.
The Egyptian Mother Goddess Isis gave birth to Horus, the young Sky God on this night, secretly in a cave and as with the infant Jesus Horus had to be hidden, because the reigning King, his uncle Set, like Herod, would have killed him.
Ways of Marking the Festival in the Modern world
- Stand in the centre of a circle of candle light. If you are alone light small white candles or tea lights one by one round the circle or if in a group each can light their own candle/tea light with a blessing and sit behind their light facing the centre of the circle.
- In the centre light a single dark purple candle (even for a group). Have a large unlit white candle also in the centre.
- If others are present choose one person to be the midwife Crone. She will ask if those present will walk into the darkness with her in trust that light will return. If working alone, hear the wise grandmother of winter speak the words in your mind or say them aloud on her behalf.
- Say softly: ’I/we will walk into the darkness with you, Wise Grandmother and Midwife, in trust that light will return.’
- Extinguish all the small candles so all that is visible is the flame of the dark purple central candle. After a few minutes of silent reflection, light the white candle from the purple one and say, ’The Sun is reborn and light returns to the world. Blessings be.’ In a group the Crone/midwife would say this.
- Blow out the dark candle or the Crone can do this in the group. You/all present should now look into the white candle flame, and say ’The dark times are ended and light returns.’
- From the white candle, if you are working alone, begin to relight the circle of small candles/tea lights by carrying the central candle round the circle. Light each candle with a blessing for Christmas for someone in the family or who is absent.
- If others are present they can bring their own candle/ tea light to the white candle and as it lights, name someone to whom they wish to send love who is away for Christmas or who is sick or estranged. Alternatively the Crone can light the small candles by walking round the circle.
- Alternatively light a dark coloured candle on the Solstice eve or the night of the Solstice day to represent the past that is gone or matters that now must be accepted. From this light a white or gold candle for the future and then extinguish the dark candle. Let the white or gold candle burn, allowing the cosmos to send what you most need.
- Make or buy small dried herb sachets or bath products for friends and family as a gift in the build up to Christmas for no special occasion except to say,’ I appreciate you.’
- Leave the Christmas shopping and on the day of the Solstice, go out into the countryside or local urban woodland and if allowed in the area, gather evergreen boughs with friends and family. Alternatively find or buy sprigs of holly, ivy and mistletoe to represent the potential of new life. Make this also the evening you put up and decorate your Solstice/Christmas tree rather than doing it weeks beforehand. Mark the tree decorating and lighting as a special occasion. Choose a tree with roots that you can plant outdoors after Christmas.
- As you decorate the house sing your favourite Christmas carols from childhood and some of the old songs with pagan overtones, such as the Holly And the Ivy, the Cherry Tree Carol and Green Grow the Rushes. Some of the modern commercialised recorded Christmas music has little to do with the old festival but is often taught even in schools instead of more popular folk heritage songs that span different religions and cultures. Learn and sing songs from other winter festivals of light such as the Hindu Divali.
- As darkness falls create a small fire outdoors or in a metal pot and burn sprigs of yew, oak and holly or pine needles. Alternatively indoors in a big white candle embedded in soil from Mother Earth drop grains of dried sage and rosemary.
As you toss on each fragrant handful or pinches of herbs into the fire or candle, name someone who cannot be with you and those causes dear to your heart that will benefit from the renewed power of the sun.
On Solstice night also fill a metal bowl with cold water and either alone or with friends or family in the age-old tradition take it in turns to drip wax from red and green Christmas candles on to the surface of the water. Use candles where the colour goes all the way through, one in each hand.
Either ask specific questions or allow the images to suggest opportunities in the weeks ahead. You will see a moving image as the molten wax falls on the surface of the water and a second more permanent image as the wax sets. The first will indicate an area of life or situation that will bear fruit over the coming days and weeks the second ways in which you can maximise the energies of the ascending light of the season.
Wash out the bowl between readings if you want to ask more questions.
If you are seeking love, on Solstice or Christmas Eve walk upstairs backwards eating a piece of Christmas cake and place the crumbs beneath your pillow. You will dream of your true love-or a secret admirer.
French villagers especially in Provence once created their own santons, tiny nativity figures from clay and often included village characters and local tradespeople. Take time with children or friends and family to fashion from modelling clay your own santons to paint and display. Include family members, pets and local characters. The scene can be adapted to illustrate the rebirth of the Sun King/Goddess myths.
Set the santons around your tree or in a cave made from rocks and crystals.
December's full moon this year is in Gemini, and reaches its fullest at 11.36pm EST or 0432 GMT on the 19th.
Known as the Cold Moon or Long Night Moon this year it's the opposite of a Super-Moon....which means it's at its farthest point from the earth - that's about 252 thousand miles! It is referred to as the Cold Moon by native Americans because of obvious reasons in the northern hemisphere! The Long Moon refers to the winter solstice, the longest night, shortest day. When it falls before the solstice, as it does this year, our pagan ancestors would use this time for cleansing and breaking of bad habits. In our modern day this allows us the opportunity to reflect on the past and let go of things that need to be released.
As we enter the last phase of the year this full moon brings with it some important energies and messages. It's time to say goodbye to 2021 and look forward to 2022 - but in this worldwide time of anxiety and uncertainty what are we looking forward to? This moon suggests we need to review what has happened in the past 12 months, review, assess and then plan for a way forward. The energy of this moon is perfect for just that. Take this time, before any holiday festivities, to consider what has been and what you can learn from it. Pause, be calm and assess where you have been and where you are now. Make a plan for your future. But take a breather before taking any action. Look to balance things in your life and find harmony. Enjoy as best you can this festive period but be ready to bounce in to 2022 with renewed energies.
Life is about now, says the Gemini full moon so do something on full moon night and indeed any of the nights after while the energies are still swirling to make yourself joyous. Alternatively take a step towards the grand Master plan to make the coming year the best year ever.
Happy Gemini moon, think lucky and then go out and make your own good fortune.