CURSED OR BLESSED

CURSED OR BLESSED

You need:

Piece of burlap

piece of wool

piece of silk

Some polished stones (polished) from a river or stream

A live leaf

A bowl of fruit and/or bread

A dead branch

 

Lay the silk, wool and burlap at the foot of your bed in that order. About 5 feet from the foot of your bed, toward the left, lay the branch. About 5 feet from the foot of your bead, toward the right, place the bowl.  The branch is the barren curse and the bowl is the bountiful life that withers the curse.  Lay one stone on each cloth then lay a path from the wool, straight down the center, between the bowl and the branch.  The stones must touch. At the end lay the leaf.  By laying the stones, you show respect for the fates and the balance of life.  Light three candles and incense and meditate over the rite.  Sleep without touching the items.  When you wake, watch how much the stones have moved.  If they bias the branch, you are cursed.  If they bias the bowl, you are blessed.  If it doesn’t move, no outside force is affecting you.  If you are cursed, how far it has moved will determine the strength of the curse. Reset the path, and that night, light the three candles and the incense and meditate again over the rite.  Sleep again without touching anything. The path should have moved less than the first time.  Repeat this every night until the path stays in the middle.  Next, move the path toward the bowl following the same meditation and sleep process as before.  Continue this every night until the path stays at the bowl.  When it has done so, you may complete the rite.  Touch nothing, but for the three following nights, meditate over the rite, to seal your new fate.  The stones must be returned to the river or stream where you got them from .  The branch must be returned to the forest floor where you found it, and the leaf cast to the wind.  The bowl of fruit must be eaten,  and the cloth must be saved in a dark place, undisturbed.

Rid Yourself of Troubles

Rid Yourself of Troubles

Concentrate on something that is troubling you. When you are full of emotion, firmly tie a knot in the cord and then leave the room and the cord behind for awhile. Later on, after you’re relaxed and focused, go back into the room and untie the knot, releasing what has been troubling you. Visualize it disappearing.

Spell To Banish Anger

Spell To Banish Anger

 

Items You Will Need:

One onion

Black Candle

Cleanse an onion in fresh water, consecrate by you for your purpose. During a waxing moon, preferably on a Monday (unless you need to do it sooner) otherwise, Monday for the moon’s emotions.

Take the onion and light your candle. You can carve any protective symbols you wish on the onion to personalize it, or leave it as it is. Remember the onion represents you.

As you sit in the light of the candle, peel the onion, layer by layer, knowing that with each layer you peel, you remove on more layer of pain you hold within yourself, one more layer of hate, anger, rancor or greed.

After you have completed your task, and your onion is completely peeled away, place the remains in a white bowl on your windowsill, in the kitchen, recognizing that the moon’s power will remove the negativity around you, (even if the light of the moon is not visible, it’s the energy and thought that is important).

Once you have finished the spell, take a shower, or bath to cleanse and purify and complete your work. Know you are cleansed.

CHARM OF THE BEAST SPELL 

CHARM OF THE BEAST SPELL 

You Will Need:

mugwort
angelica
3 hairs of an imposing beast
black cloth
oil of frankincense or myrrh


Mix the mugwort and angelica in equal parts, add to it the 3 hairs and bind together in a black cloth.
Add a few drops of the oil onto the cloth. then say

” He who is strong, he who is mighty
Lend thine power to this charm
Demons turn on your heels and run”


Draw over it a pentagram and the charms of banishment.
Burn the mixture to drive away the spirits that ail you.
Burn it in your home or room you wish to exorcise. Bury it before your doorstep and no demon shall touch you nor enter. Wear the charm or hide it in the roof to ensure safety against any ills.

To Stop Unwelcome Guests

To Stop Unwelcome Guests

When someone drops in on you at an inconvenient time, you can make him want to leave your house with this spell. Take your trusty broom, put it, with the handle facing the visitor, behind the door of an adjoining room. Soon the person will feel very uncomfortable and leave.

(This is a one-day spell only; the next day the person regains his usual desire to visit you.)

To cut out someone’s visits entirely, cast this spell. At midnight, put your broom across the threshold of the door the visitor uses and say:

“Guard well this threshold.
Guard well this door.
Make sure that (the visitor)
Will cross it no more.”

Spell for Forgiveness

Spell for Forgiveness

This is a spell for self-acceptance when you have made a mistake or are filled with guilt or regrets.

You will need

1 black candle
1 white candle
cup or chalice of clear water
either milk or juice
image of the Goddess
green plant

Cast a circle. Sit facing North
Light white candle and say;

Here is ________whose spirit burns as
brightly as this flame.
I come to you for forgiveness
Light the black candle and say;
Here are the negative things in my life.
All my anger and shame are here.

Hold the cup in both hands, filled with clear water.
You should have before you the image of the goddess and the green plant.
Visualize all the negative things you are feeling about yourself, the mistakes you have made, the things you have done wrong. Admit you feel bad, think about what you have done wrong, and let your emotion build energy.

Project all the energy into the cup. Breathe on the water to raise your power.
Visualize the Goddess as a forgiving Mother. Imagine her hands cover yours. Hear Her say:

I am the Mother of all things,
I pour my Love upon the earth.
I drink you in with perfect love,
Be cleansed. Be healed. Be changed.

Pour the water onto the plant, and feel all your negative emotions draining out of you.

Fill the cup with milk or juice. Raise more power, and visualize yourself as you would like to be, free of guilt and sorrow. Now say,

“Mine the cup, the waters of life. Drink deep!”

Know that you have changed, that you are now a new person, not affected by the
patterns and errors of the past. Ground yourself and open the circle.

A Little Humor for Your Day: Top Ten Reasons Why Beer Is Better Than Religion

Top Ten Reasons Why
Beer Is Better Than Religion
  1. If you have a beer, you don’t go around door to door trying to give it to someone else.
  2. You can prove that you have a beer.
  3. It is against the law to offer beer to little children who are not old enough to think for themselves.
  4. Nobody has ever been hanged, tortured, or burned at the stake over his particular brand of beer.
  5. If you have a beer, you don’t have to wait over 2000 years for another one.
  6. There are many federal laws that make them print the truth on beer labels.
  7. No one will kill you for not drinking beer.
  8. Beer does not tell you when or how to have sex.
  9. There have been virtually no major wars fought over beer.
  10. If you have devoted your entire life to beer, there are groups you can join to help you stop!

 

–Turok’s Cabana

Astronomy Picture of the Day – The Cave Nebula in Infrared from Spitzer 

Astronomy Picture of the Day

Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer.

2019 June 11

The Cave Nebula in Infrared from Spitzer 
Image Credit: NASA, JPL-Caltach, Spitzer Space Telescope

 

Explanation: What’s happening in and around the Cave Nebula? To help find out, NASA’s orbiting Spitzer Space Telescope looked into this optically-dark star-forming region in four colors of infrared light. The Cave Nebula, cataloged as Sh2-155, is quite bright in infrared, revealing details not only of internal pillars of gas and dust, but of the illuminating star cluster too – all near the top of the image. The red glow around the Cave’s entrance is created by dust heated by bright young stars. To the right is Cepheus B, a star cluster that formed previously from the same cloud of gas and dust. Other interesting stars of Cepheus come to light in infrared as well, including those illuminating an even younger nebula toward the image bottom, and a runaway star pushing a bow shock, tinged in red near the image center. This region spans about 50 light years and lies about 2,500 light years toward the constellation of the King of Aethiopia (Cepheus).

Your Earth Sky News for June 11: Moon and Spica on June 11 and 12

Moon and Spica on June 11 and 12

Posted by 

On June 11 and 12, 2019, use the waxing gibbous moon to find Spica, the brightest star in the constellation Virgo the Maiden. In fact, Spica is Virgo’s one and only 1st-magnitude star. Although the bright moon will wipe out a number of fainter stars from the canopy of night tonight, bright Spica should withstand the moonlit glare. If you have trouble seeing Spica, place your finger over the moon and look for a bright star nearby.

We in the Northern Hemisphere associate the star Spica with the spring and summer seasons. That’s because Spica first lights up the early evening sky in late March or early April, and then disappears from the evening sky around the September equinox.

The constellation Virgo stands as a memorial to that old legend of Hades, god of the underworld, who was said to have abducted Persephone, daughter of Demeter, goddess of the harvest. According to the legend, Hades took Persephone to his underground hideaway. Demeter’s grief was so great that she abandoned her role in insuring fruitfulness and fertility. In some parts of the globe, it’s said, winter cold came out of season and turned the once-verdant Earth in to a frigid wasteland. Elsewhere, summer heat was said to scorch the Earth and give rise to pestilence and disease. According to the myth, Earth would not bear fruit again until Demeter was reunited with her daughter.

Zeus, the king of the gods, intervened, insisting that Persephone be returned to her mother. However, Persephone was instructed to abstain from food until the reunion with her mother was a done deal. Alas, Hades purposely gave Persephone a pomegranate to take along, knowing she would eat a few seeds on her way home. Because of Persephone’s slip-up, Persephone has to return to the underworld for a number of months each year. When she does so, Demeter grieves, and winter reigns.

The constellation Virgo is linked to Demeter (and also Ishtar of Babylonian mythology, Isis of Egyptian mythology and Ceres of Roman mythology). Virgo is seen as a Maiden, associated with the harvest and fertility. The Latin word spicumrefers to the ear of wheat Virgo holds in her left hand. The star Spica takes its name from this ear of wheat. Each evening, if you watch at the same time, you’ll see Spica slowly shift westward, toward the sunset direction. Eventually, Spica will get so close to the sunset that’ll fade in the glare of evening twilight. Once Spica disappears from the evening sky, we at northerly latitudes must harvest our crops and put away firewood, because the cold winter season is on its way.

The constellations of the zodiac – like Virgo – define the sun’s path across our sky. Putting it another way, each year, the sun passes in front of all the constellations of the zodiac. This year, 2019, the sun leaves the constellation Leo to enter the constellation Virgo on September 17, 2019. Then the sun leaves the constellation Virgo to enter the constellation Libra on October 31, 2019 (Halloween).

Three other 1st-magnitude zodiacal stars join up with Spica to help sky gazers to envision the ecliptic – the sun’s annual path in front of the backdrop stars: Aldebaran, Regulus, Spica, Antares and Aldebaran. Every year, the sun has its annual conjunction with Aldebaran on or near June 1, Regulus on or near August 23, Spica around mid-October, and Antares on or near December 1.

Of course, all these stars are invisible on their conjunction dates with the sun because they are totally lost in the sun’s glare at that time. However, six months before or after these stars’ conjunction dates, these stars are out all night long. Six months one way or the other of their conjunction, these stars reside opposite the sun in the sky and therefore stay out all night (Regulus around February 23, Spica around mid-April, Antares around June 1 and Aldebaran around December 1).

Bottom line: Use the moon to see the star Spica at nightfall on June 11 and 12, 2019, and celebrate this star’s presence in the evening sky.

 

BRUCE MCCLURE

Bruce McClure has served as lead writer for EarthSky’s popular Tonight pages since 2004. He’s a sundial aficionado, whose love for the heavens has taken him to Lake Titicaca in Bolivia and sailing in the North Atlantic, where he earned his celestial navigation certificate through the School of Ocean Sailing and Navigation. He also writes and hosts public astronomy programs and planetarium programs in and around his home in upstate New York.

Published on EarthSky.org