Daily Feng Shui News for Jan. 24 – ‘National Compliment Day’

Today’s ‘National Compliment Day’ recipe will have them eating right out of your hands, or, more appropriately, drinking a magically complimentary elixir from your kitchen. This next recipe comes from ancient Indian texts and tells how we can say or think the sweetest things, and how we can get someone else do the exact same. You need a small amount of saffron, almonds and milk. Mix sliced almonds and some of the saffron together and then boil that in milk. The lore surrounding this secret recipe says that whoever drinks this will then be blessed and think only sweet thoughts and say only sweet words. This legend continues that drinking this mixture will also allow anyone imbibing to expel their anger and forget their woes. Got milk? I hope so.

By Ellen Whitehurst for Astrology.com

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Living Life as the Magickal Witch – Acceptable Gifts and Offerings to the Gods

Living Life as the Magickal Witch – Acceptable Gifts and Offerings to the Gods

 

It is a common Pagan and Wiccan tradition that, in order to show respect and gratitude for , gifts and offerings are being made. Each deity responds best to a certain type of gift so when making an offering always think about what the god represents. While, in general, offerings such as bread, milk and wine are appropriate for any deity, this question still arises: “What are the acceptable offerings and gifts to offer each deity?”

Based upon the types of gods, here are some suggestions for specific food, drink and herbs offerings you can make:

1. Gods of Hearth and Home

– Offer food such as bread and grains, salt and cooking oil
– Appropriate drinks are milk, wine and cider
– Herb offerings you can go for are rosemary or thyme

2. Love and Passion Gods

– Best food offerings are apples , honey and eggs
– Drink offerings: wine and fruit juice
– Herbs: lavender and sandalwood

3. Prosperity and Abundance Gods. It is recommended that you offer the following:

– Dairy products and grains
– Milk and beer
– Mint, catnip and pennyroyal

4. Nature and Garden Gods

– Bread, fruits, cornmeal
– Milk and water
– Bay

5. Fertility Goddess

– Eggs and baked sweets
– Milk – breast milk too
– Rose, apple blossoms and sandalwood

6. Ancestor Spirits

– Offer any food and drinks from your family’s table and herbs such as sweet grass or sage.

 

 

Reference:
“The Wayward Wiccan”

Calendar of the Moon for November 19th

Calendar of the Moon

19 Ngetal/Maimakterion

Scathach’s Day

Colors: Black and Red
Element: Air
Altar: Upon cloth of black and red place three red candles, wooden practice swords, quarterstaves, and a cup of animal’s blood.
Offering: Mentor someone in something difficult that they fear, and do not be gentle with them.
Daily Meal: Meat.

Invocation to Scathach

Hail teacher of warriors!
Hail Lady who hones the edges
Of young hotbloods sharp and keen,
Who cools their seething heads,
Who makes them think of strategy and logic,
Who quickens their reflexes,
Who tempers their dross iron
Into serviceable steel.
Hail Lady of the sword and shield,
Lady of the spear and staff,
Lady many-weaponed, who knows the secrets
Of each killing blow,
Hail Lady of the Isle of Skye,
The crashing waves, the bridge of knives,
The salmon’s leap across the unknown.
You test our strength,
Giving us the cold reality
Of what we can and cannot do.
You push our boundaries,
Encouraging us to do more
That we thought possible.
You take no excuses,
And for that we must be grateful.
Hail teacher of warriors;
May we all learn beneath your implacable blows.

(The cup of blood is poured out as a libation. Each person steps up to the altar and names something that is difficult for them, where they need to be honed. They indicate one of the practice weapons, and one who has been chosen to do the work of the ritual strikes them three times with it. The first strike should be light, and the second and third strikes harder only if they ask for it to be so. Thus Scathach gives her blessing.)

[Pagan Book of Hours]

Calendar of the Moon for November 16th

Calendar of the Moon

Crescent Moon Night

Color: White
Element: Water
Altar: Upon a white cloth set a plate of round white cakes, a single thick white candle, a white bowl of water, and a pitcher of fresh milk from a local animal.
Offerings: Milk. Sugar. Nurturing another.
Daily Meal: White foods, such as rice, coconut, almonds. All dairy products.

Crescent Moon Night Invocation

In the dark of night
You are the source of light.
Our ancestors gathered at this time,
Protected by the silvery glow
That drove the demons from the dark fields.
Selene, Moon Mother of the white breast,
Milk-giver, fountain of life,
You speak to us of sustenance,
Of bringing to fruition, to climax.
Yemaya, reflection of the full moon
On the surface of the ocean,
You speak to us of inner tides,
Of feelings swelling like waves.
Thoth, writer and calculator
Who took pity on a mother’s plight,
You count the days, the moments,
You speak of trust in the universe
Proven by the lunar cycle,
Something we can always count on,
Something we will always see.
What is done under Crescent Moon Night
Is seen by the gods both of Darkness and Light.

(Let each come forward and be given milk to drink, and a moon-cake to eat. Then let all process in a slow spiral dance, chanting.)

Chant:
What is done under Crescent Moon Night
Is seen by the gods of both Darkness and Light.

 

[Pagan Book of Hours]

Calendar of the Moon for October 28th

Calendar of the Moon

28 Muin/Boedromion

Lakshmi’s Day

Colors: Blue and Purple
Element: Air
Altar: Upon cloth of blue and purple set a figure of Lakshmi, surrounded by many flowers and gold coins.
Offerings: Saffron rice, cow’s milk, sesame.
Daily Meal: Indian food.

Invocation to Lakshmi

Hail to Lakshmi, Wife of Vishnu!
Divine Princess of the sky
Whose stars lie like spray
Of scattered drops of milk
Wrung from the sacred cow,
Around whom flowers bloom eternally,
Your divine presence ensuring their life,
Whose lotus opens trustingly
To sun and rain and hail and sun again,
Teach us to trust that fortune can be kind,
And even when it is not,
All things will come around
To goodness again in their time.
For a wise man adapts himself to circumstances,
As water shapes itself to the vessel that contains it.
So it is that we pray to Lakshmi,
Wife of the Preserver of Life,
Whose hands bring forth riches and blessings.
Bless us now, Lakshmi, with all that we need,
And let us live trusting that we shall get
Everything that we may need,
As a child trusts that the rain
Will fall everlastingly from the sky.

Chant: Lakshmi Mahadevi

 

[Pagan Book of Hours]

Calendar of the Moon for October 26th

Calendar of the Moon

 
26 Muin/Boedromion

Lakshmi’s Day

Colors: Blue and Purple
Element: Air
Altar: Upon cloth of blue and purple set a figure of Lakshmi, surrounded by many flowers and gold coins.
Offerings: Saffron rice, cow’s milk, sesame.
Daily Meal: Indian food.

Invocation to Lakshmi

Hail to Lakshmi, Wife of Vishnu!
Divine Princess of the sky
Whose stars lie like spray
Of scattered drops of milk
Wrung from the sacred cow,
Around whom flowers bloom eternally,
Your divine presence ensuring their life,
Whose lotus opens trustingly
To sun and rain and hail and sun again,
Teach us to trust that fortune can be kind,
And even when it is not,
All things will come around
To goodness again in their time.
For a wise man adapts himself to circumstances,
As water shapes itself to the vessel that contains it.
So it is that we pray to Lakshmi,
Wife of the Preserver of Life,
Whose hands bring forth riches and blessings.
Bless us now, Lakshmi, with all that we need,
And let us live trusting that we shall get
Everything that we may need,
As a child trusts that the rain
Will fall everlastingly from the sky.

Chant: Lakshmi Mahadevi

 

[Pagan Book of Hours]

Calendar of the Moon for July 16

Calendar of the Moon

16 Duir/Skirophorion

Selene’s Day

Color: White and silver
Element: Water
Altar: Lay with a white cloth, on which is sewn moons of silver in cycle from new to dark. Set out two white candles rubbed with jasmine oil, a silver tray with round white cakes, a glass pitcher of goat’s milk, a glass chalice of white wine, a glass of clear anise liqueur, a round mirror, and a silver bell.
Offerings: White foods. Milk, poured in libation. A promise to aid those suffering from mental illness or emotional confusion.
Daily Meal: Nothing but milk or rice milk to drink. Rice. Custard. Cream soups and sauces.

Invocation to Selene

Lady of the Full Moon
White Lady whose rays shine on us
Lighting our path through the darkness
Round as a full belly
Pregnant with possibilities,
White as mother’s milk
And snow on high mountaintops,
Moon mother who sings to us
Lullabies of imagination,
Cascade through our dreams,
Sail us through the ebb and flow
Of our heart’s tides,
And light our spirits
With your serene love.

Chant: Luna Lucina Lumen Lumen

(The cakes are passed around, saying, “Eat of the Mother’s sweetness.” Then the pitcher of milk is passed around, saying, “Drink of the Mother’s love.” Then the chalice of wine is passed around, saying, “Drink of the Mother’s dreams.” Then the glass of liqueur is passed around, saying, “Drink of the Mother’s song.” Then the remainder are poured out as libations and the silver bell is rung six times.)

[Pagan Book of Hours]

Calendar of the Sun for June 21

21 Lithemonath

Day of the Crab: Beginning of Cancer

Colors: Silver and grey
Element: Water
Altar: Set a cloth of grey and silver, and a silver crescent moon, shells, a vessel of salt water, a cup of milk, cakes shaped like the moon on a silver tray, and the figure of a crab.
Offerings: Food, which should then be donated to the poor and hungry.
Daily Meal: Shellfish. Milk and dairy products, from any animal, especially foaming milkshakes. Moon-shaped cookies. Soft white food such as rice, tapioca, or mashed potato. Oatmeal. All food should be cooked, none raw save the milk.

Invocation to Cancer

Child of the changing Moon,
Dweller between earth and sea,
Dancer of the ebb and flow,
Mother whose breasts flow with life,
Loving fountain of karuna,
Whose gift is Feeling,
Bless us with the ability
To know our own hearts,
And to gather our loved ones
About our hearth
In love and safety.
By the power of kin and tribe,
You challenge us
To build each other a safe home,
And help each other to work through
The scars and heartaches of our childhoods.
May we all go forth in sanctuary.

Chant:
Luna Luna Selene Mater

(Let three who have been chosen to work for the ritual come forward. The first bears the cup of milk, and says, “Taste nurturing, and remember you were born from a woman’s womb.” Each drinks. The second bears the tray of cakes, and says, “Taste nurturing, and be full and fed.” Each eats a cake. The third bears the cup of salt water, and says, “Taste nurturing, and remember that to love is to someday let go, and drink tears.” Each drinks. The remainder is given as libation to Cancer and the Moon.)

[Pagan Book of Hours]

Crone’s Corner – Almond Custard

Crone’s Corner – Almond Custard
 
Imbolc is traditionally a time to serve milk and dairy dishes.
 
3 C milk
3/4 C sugar
4 eggs
1/2 tsp. vanilla
2 tsp. almond extract
1 T. finely chopped almonds.
 
Mix together all the ingredents, except the chopped almonds, and pour into an ungreased 2 quart baking dish. Sprinkle on the chopped almonds and bake at 325 for 60 minutes, or until a knife comes clean. Remove from the oven and let cool for a few minutes, then refrigerates. Serves 4-6
By Margenta Griffith

Lady A’s Spell of the Day for April 28: To Completely Immobilize a Victim

To Completely Immobilize a Victim

Ingredients:

  • (1) Small Glass Bottle
  • Piece of Paper, 1″ x 3″
  • Water

Directions:

Proceed as in the previous spell, but fill the bottle only 3/4 of the way up with water, and place it in the freezer instead of in the refrigerator. This will completely immobilize your victim and make it difficult for him to accomplish anything. You may wish to thaw your victim periodically if you do not wish to run his life completely into the ground.