June 2008

June 2008

1. Sunday-Color Yellow- Witchcraft Act of 1568 takes effect in England. Waning Moon- St. Justin Martyr Patron of Philosophers
2. Monday- Color Grey- Waning Moon- St Erasmus (Elmo) Patron of Sailors and Childbirth.
3. Tuesday- Color Red- Waning Moon- St. Charles Lwanga Patron of African Youth.
4. Wednesday- Color Yellow- New Moon
5. Thursday- Color Green- Waxing Moon
6. Friday- Color White- Waxing Moon
7. Saturday- Color Brown- Waxing Moon
8. Sunday- Color Orange- Waxing Moon
9. Monday- Color Lavendar- Waxing Moon- Shavout- Our Lady of Grace Patroness of Skiers and St. Colmcille Patron of Ireland
10. Tuesday- Color White- Waxing Moon- Bridget Bishop hanged in Salem as the first “witch” 1692
11. Wednesday- Color Brown- Waxing Moon- St Barnabus Patron of Cyprus
12. Thursday- Color Turquoise- Waxing Moon- St. Onuphrius Patron of Weavers
13. Friday- Color Pink- Waxing Moon- St. Anthony of Padua Patron of Lost Things and the Poor- Birthday of William Butler Yeats, Irish Poet, and member of the Golden Dawn and Gerald Gardner Father of modern Wicca
14. Saturday- Color Grey- Waxing Moon
15. Sunday- Color Yellow- Waxing Moon- Father’s Day- St. Vitus Patron of nervous diseases, dancers, actors, comedians, and snakebite
16. Monday- Color White- Waxing Moon- St. John Francis Regis Patron of Marriage, the Illegitimate, and Social Workers
17. Tuesday- Color Black- Waxing Moon- Birthday Starhawk, Wiccan author
18. Wednesday- Color White- Full Moon- Church of All Worlds established and recognized by the IRS 1970
19. Thursday- Color Purple- Full Moon- Juneteenth
20. Friday- Color Rose- Full Moon- Litha- Mary Our Lady of Consolation Patroness of Pensioners and the Elderly.
21. Saturday- Color Blue- Waning Moon- St. Aloysius Patron of Children
22. Sunday- Color Amber- Waning Moon- Final Witchcraft Laws repealed in England 1951- St. Vincent of Saragossa Patron of Winegrowers
23. Monday- Color Silver- Waning Moon- St Joseph Cafasso Patron of Prisoners and Clergy
24. Tuesday- Color Grey- Waning Moon- St. John’s Day Patron of Health Spas- Birthady of Janet Farrar Wiccan author
25. Wednesday- Color Topaz- Waning Moon
26. Thursday- Color White- Waning Moon- Birthday Stewart Farrar Wiccan author
27. Friday- Color Purple- Waning Moon- Mary Our Lady of Help Patroness of Haiti- Birthday of Scott Cunningham Wiccan author
28. Saturday- Color Indigo- Waning Moon- St. Basilides Patron of Prison Officers
29. Sunday- Color Yellow- Waning Moon- Sts Peter and Paul Patrons of Lay Preachers and Fishermen
30. Monday- Color Ivory- Waning Moon


Saint of the Month

Saint Erasmus, also known as Elmo, Bishop and Martyr AD 303

Patron saint of sailors. He is said to have continued preaching while lightening struck all around him. Sailors came to call upon him because they were in danger of lightening. They considered the ball-lightening phenomenon to be a sign of his protection.

He is also the patron saint of those who suffer from stomach pains and child birth because of his martyrdom. Erasmus was murdered by having his intestines drawn from his stomach.

Feast day June 2

Tarot of the Month
From the Rider Waite Deck

The Lovers
Description

A sun high in the sky shines on the central figure of an angel over shadowing a pair of nude lovers. The female figure is the Eve archetype complete with tree and serpent and the male is the Adam complete with the burning bush. A high phallic peak stands in the background between them.

Meaning:attraction, love, beauty and trials overcome. Reversed: Failure and foolishness and being deceived.

Herb of the Month

Rue

Rue is used for calming nerves, strengthening the conscious mind and over all emotional health. Can also be used to overcome regret, particularly in connection with the dead.

Signs of the Month

Gemini- (May 21- June 21) The talker, quick witted, restless, easily bored, enjoys travel and new ideas, constantly on the lookout for new experiences.

Cancer- (June 22- July 22) The nurturer, empathetic, sensitive to the needs of others, imaginative, enjoys home and family

Spell of the Month

Spirit Aid

No materials are needed. As you say the spell X3 make the sign of the cross in your palm with your wand hand and encircle it deosil (clockwise) while chanting:

Gather Spirits to this hour
To protect me with your power
Harm and fear are out to get me
In your love, I’m in your keeping
Thank you for your gracious aid
I’ll with blessings to you repay
Gird and empower against the force
As I go along my course
Blessings Be, oh benevolent ghosts
And Merry Meet o loving host
So mote it Be


A Warning Sign on the Path of Enlightenment:
A Word about Cults and Potential Cult Leaders

By Tanith LunaCrevan

Merry meet to all. Much has happened in my life since that first article, where I declared my insistence to remain nothing less than me. One such event brings to light an issue that not only has been sufficiently driven into the ground, but also one that has been overlooked and forgotten by the witchcraft community, I think, particularly among young witches. That problem is cults and their leaders.

But what can you expect? Anyone who is attuned to a higher consciousness on any level will desire higher knowledge and seek to unlock it by any means possible. The question to be considered is how to go about this quest safely. For my fellow youth and to those new to the Craft, I offer this word of caution.

Say you encounter a particularly talented individual at a bookstore or a coffee shop and discover that you share similar spiritual interests and goals. That is all well and good; however, do not be quick to trust them, even if their abilities and wisdom seem light years beyond your own. Accept their advice and accept their insight yes, but only at face value. To take any stranger’s words to heart is a dangerous game and you risk being manipulated. And absolutely, do not follow them home or to any ritual space. Again, you risk being manipulated and in the case of ritual space, even magickally. All of this may seem obvious, yet even today countless teenagers do fall prey to these men and women.

But how do you know if you are even dealing with a possible cult leader? For me, an apparent clue was this young man’s repeated insistence that I receive a certain tattoo like he had and one his girlfriend would be getting. He placed an almost holy emphasis on this marking. Secondly, be aware of how those around him or her are acting. In my situation, this young man’s girlfriend was extremely submissive, almost too much so. She hardly dared to speak when he did, whereas I had no hesitation to interrupt him. Thirdly, listen closely to what he or she says in regard to past experiences. The young man of my experience mentioned previous kidnapping charges. That raised serious doubts in my mind. Finally, this young man possessed a trait common among all cult leaders. He believed he had a direct link to a higher or divine power. This, more than anything else, is surefire sign that you might be dealing with a cult leader. To open yourself to the belief that anyone besides yourself has this sort of link makes you venerable to exploitation. This not only applies to cult leaders, but to church leaders and coven leaders. For anyone to make this claim outside the context of worship and to take it that seriously is something to be looked upon with distrust. This form of religious extremism is deadly.

When walking the path in search of Christ-consciousness or Divine oneness, the only one whom you can really trust is yourself. Listen to trusted teachers and mentors yes, but do not risk your physical and spiritual safety in the hands of a stranger. You may not know who or what you may be dealing with.

Remember, we all are enlightened. We all possess what the Hindu call, kundalini or divine energy. It is realizing this divine mind, this divine energy that is the journey. Tapping into the divine that we all possess is the true goal of any priest or priestess. As my father likes to say, you already have everything you need. Seek enlightenment and higher consciousness, but remember it should not lie beyond your own soul and the soul of Earth around you.

Blessed be and may the Lord and Holy Mother protect you on all your sacred journeys.


Tanith LunaCrevan is a free thinker, writer and college student from Arkansas. She is a first-degree Christian witch and a student of Aslinn Dhan Dragonhawk.

Witchcraft and the Warrior Ways
A Christo-Pagan Perspective
Gaelyn Moonraven

These are troubled times. You know this, you read about it in the news papers and on the web and you see it on the TV. The war, regardless of who gets the top job next November, will apparently be going on for some time. Even when America leaves Iraq, the civil war will begin and war will likely go on for a much longer time
I have a wonderful friend who is serving his third tour in Iraq. He is a Christo-Pagan and a very bright and sensitive man. When he was between tours, he and I went to dinner and over steaks and brews, I got to talk to him about his role in the war and his Craft practice.

“I know there are many people who are in and out of the Craft who say this war is wrong,” he explained. “And to be entirely truthful, I think we were lied to by our government. But I am there to try to help people who are eventually going to be greater victims when we finally leave there.”

“What is your mission in Iraq?” I asked. “As a marine, my job is to protect indigenous personnel, secure the safe zones against insurgents and support the military mission in Iraq,” answered my friend. “As a witch I am trying to understand what constitutes the way of the warrior.”

“Come to any conclusions?” I asked. “Some will disagree and say the you can’t learn warrior ways because the war is unjust, but I say I can. Folks are basing their opinions on what they are seeing in the news. And like they always say the news is always the same, always bad. They don’t see the good we are doing there.” My friend looked at me, “I am not naive, I know exactly how bad things are. I have developed a real affection for the Iraqi people. I worked securing our hospital post and a group of tribal Iraqis, sort of like gypsies or nomads came to our hospital. We gave prenatal care to twelve women, inoculated babies and children and delivered two more over the two weeks they stayed near us. These people did not have this sort of care under Saddam Hussein. We help people, we build schools and hospitals. I haven’t met anyone who says they regret having us here.”

“So, how is this working with your Craft practice?” I asked. “Well, I am solitary and I practice in the broom closet. But I receive such blessings from these people by being a protector. You never get over the feeling of grabbing people, just ordinary people and pulling them behind you to shield them during a raid or a firefight, to feel their frightened hands at your back and you know they holding their breaths as you walk ahead of them. And I’m not just protecting civilians, I am protecting fellow Marines, fellow Americans. In the end of the shift I tend to end up being something of a spiritual advisor. It is as if they sense I get another kind of…positive energy from my work. They don’t know I am a Christo-Pagan and they don’t know I am a witch, but they pick up on the vibe. This really is about warrior ways. My mission is not to harm other people if I can help it.”

“Do you know if you have killed anyone?” I asked. “Yeah, I’ve killed people. I don’t know how many. I suppose my CO’s have my ratios. I regret having to do it but when I do it, it is protect fellow Marines, civilians, even POWs in our care.”

“Speaking of prisoners, how do you fell about Abu Graib?” I asked carefully. “That was so bad on many different levels. But I have to believe in the law of return and that justice will come to those who lose their humanity and do those unspeakable things. You can’t torture people, even if they are the enemy. Isn’t that like the Inquisition? And water boarding. Isn’t this just witch cradling and swimming the witch all over again? I know they will be repaid, “he answered.

My girl, Aslinn made you something. What was it and how does it effect you?” I asked. He smiled. “Aslinn made me a Christo-Pagan Scapular. She made a talisman with two patches on it, just like a Roman Catholic Scapular. On one patch she sewed a cross and the words “Be Not Afraid” and on the other patch, she sewed the pentangle with the words “Blessed Be”. It means a lot to me because she acknowledges my journey in this time and space and she acknowledges me as a warrior. It blesses me,” he said frankly.
Now my friend is in Iraq and Aslinn and I both pray and cast for his safety. My friend is a warrior, carrying on warrior ways and I have a profound sense of gratitude towards him.


The Christian Power of Three
By Chrystal Moonchilde

I am guilty. I loved the series Charmed. I loved it not because it was a bastion of Wiccan knowledge but because, as fictionalized as it was, there were some elements that were dead on and one of them was the notion of the power of three. I loved it when the girls at the last minute would come in chanting “The power of three will set us free!! The power of three will set us free!!”

Of course the power of three for them was the three sisters and their sisterhood and their unity. This of course harkens back to the maiden, mother and crone and the law of return that all we do comes back to us. Three is a sacred number in many cultures, especially in the Christian culture.

This led me to wonder if there was a power of three for us Christian Witches. There is of course the Holy Trinity: Father, Son and Holy Ghost and that is the most important element. Then there are the three talents and abilities: To heal, to free, to comfort. Then there are the three common sacraments: Baptism, Holy Communion, and Confession.

To make these powers yours, think about them and how you use or interact with these powers. Who is God the Father to you? When was the last time you contemplated him and the wonder of the world he has created. How about God the Son? Have you taken advantage of you full siblinghood with him and invited him to be your guide and teacher and brother before God the Father? And who is the Holy Spirit? Do you commune with the comforter and the source of miracles and power? Is the Holy Spirit perhaps feminine to you, the Sophia? In order to create a closer bond with the Holy Trinity, you must have spiritual conversations with them through prayer and meditation and study. They will speak to you and guide you.

How about the second elements of the Christian Power of Three; the three talents? As a witch are you healing people around you? Are you trying to heal the earth? Are you learning to understand and appreciate differences in other people? How about freeing those afflicted by negativity? Those who come to you afflicted by demons, either of the underworld or the demons of abuse, addiction, troubles or worries or spiritual bondage? How about comforting people? When was the last time you gave someone a kind word, a bit of hope or encouragement? When was the last time you sat up with someone who was afraid or sick? How about the lonely person who needed to know that they were not alone?

And third element to our Power of Three: Are you close to a church or other spiritual community? Are you interested in your own spiritual growth? Have you received baptism? Holy Communion, either with a church or at your own hand? Do you speak to God regularly about your good deeds and bad? Do you seek guidance from the Bible or prayer group or minister or spiritual guide?

When you act on all of these elements and make them a part of yourself, your Christianity and Craft, then you truly have the power of three. And in the words of the Halliwell Sisters: The Power of Three will Set You Free.

Chrystal Moonchilde is a Christian Witch and artist and dance instructor in classical ballet in Virginia. She lives with her husband, incidentally named Cole and has two little Christian Witches in high school where they run the school’s Prayer Club.



The Symbol of the Tree in Christian Craft
Aslinn Dhan Dragonhawk

All cultures and faith systems have some connection with a tree. In the Craft the tree is symbolic of one’s inner connectedness with the earth and the sky and one’s historical, cultural, and Craft backgrounds. The tree has various titles based on tradition but it is universally known as the tree of life.

In the Christian tradition there are multiple ways in which the tree is figured in scripture, tradition and art. There are two very important trees figured in the Bible. They are first mentioned in Genesis in the Garden of Eden. One is the tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. This is the tree Eve is said to have eaten from bringing the downfall of man. To eat of this tree was to lose your innocence.

The second tree is the Tree of Life. To eat of this tree you would have immortality. This tree is also thought of as foreshadowing of the Cross of Christ. The Bible tells us that when Adam and Eve are cast out of the garden, God sealed the garden and sets an angel at the entrance to keep humans from returning to it. When the flood occurred, the garden disappeared for all tie and we do not hear from it again until we read of it in the Book of Revelation 22:2 that the tree of life stands on either side of the river of life that flows before the throne of God.

As a Christian Crafter, the tree of life as a symbol is important, as it is the symbol of life renewing itself, reaching toward heaven and being in contact with the elements. Of course, just as all witches do of all traditions, we gather sticks as wands, seeds and leaves for talismans and visualize the tree in our castings and spells and charms and brew teas and potions.

Because we do not know the species of either tree (no, Eve did not feed Adam an apple, that is artistic symbolism) we Christian Crafters keep the sacred trees of witchcraft before us. The mighty oak, the wise old elder, the spiny hawthorn and holly, and many others witches keep as sacred in the Craft of the Wise.

So Christian Crafters, never forget that the symbol beloved by Wiccans and Pagans can and should be loved and respected by you. The trees are for everyone.


Balancing the Magikal and the Mundane
Michael Braveheart

Those who live with Magik in their lives love the lives they live. I personally love being a witch; it is a part of who I am. But I also live in the mundane world and there has to be a balance of magik and the mundane in the everyday world.

When I first became a witch, I wanted to live in a world of magik: intense, incredible magik. But it can distract you from the necessities of life. There must be a balance.

One of the things to keep in mind is that you do not have to be working magik to have magik around you. This is because you are magik, in and of yourself, bound to the forces of earth all around you. Magik is natural. When you become aware, awakened to the energy of the magikal world around you, it can have an intoxicating effect on the neophyte witch.

One of the ways you can balance your magikal life is to incorporate short rituals into your daily life. For example, when you shower or bathe, perform a magikal blessing on you and the day. Schedule regular full moon and new moon rituals through the month. If you attend church on Sundays, have a Saturday prayer and meditation session so you can do divinations, any casting and healing services or simply work with your herbs and oils.

Scheduling rituals and spell work helps you focus your energies, prepare in advance, gather materials, and organize group activities making rituals and spell work important, especially and truly magikal in a mundane world.

Michael Braveheart is an elementary school teacher and practicing Christo-Pagan. He’s also very shy and living in Salem, MA

Investigating Tarot Manuals
By Brian Johnson

I do not think of myself as an expert on reading or understanding Tarot, but through trial and error, I have investigated several decks and interpretation books and web sites. It was a little over a year ago when I started my readings with an ordinary deck of playing cards. I talked with my mother and told her that I was learning how to read fortunes with cards, and then she showed me a Rider Waite Deck her husband had found. He gave us permission to do a few practice readings with the deck and my mother became very interested in Tarot. About a month or two later, her husband had bought her a deck of her own, called The Cachet Deck, an updated version of the Rider Waite deck, which sparked the beginning of this entire review. The deck was beautifully rendered. There was a slot underneath the box that held a little 48 page booklet that was as beautiful as the cards. I went out and purchased my own deck.

When I finally had the chance to sit down and read the booklet that came with the Cachet Deck thoroughly, I was very disappointed. As I said before, the booklet only has 48 pages in which to describe, as fully as it can, each of the 22 Major Arcana and 56 Minor Arcana. The Cachet Booklet, while brightly colored and very beautiful, only had one or two sentences for the descriptions for the upright positions, and only one or two words for the reversed positions. And that was just the Major Arcana. The four suits in the Minor Arcana had absolutely no meanings for their reverse positions. It gave me the impression that the Minor Arcana either have no reversed meanings, or they mean exactly the same whether reversed or upright. I give the Cachet Booklet 4 Pentacles because it is useful for a quick reminder of what a certain card means, but it certainly is not a book for a novice.

After gaining what I could from the Cachet Booklet, I went to the internet to continue my search. I first went to the internet looking to find what the cards meant upright and reversed. When I first started my search, I didn't have much of a clue what I wanted to know about Tarot, but that would come in time with trial and error. Eventually, I found a site called "The Mystic Eye". Like I did with the Cachet Booklet, I took my time in studying this site. I keep all my readings in a little notebook, and I would often use this site to define what the readings meant. In the beginning, I did like the site and would visit it every time I gave a reading, but after some time, I became somewhat annoyed with the way the site portrayed the cards. For example: The Devil Reversed means despair, this, that, the other thing. After so long, I just became very annoying with this site. Call me crazy, but I don't like pulling my readings from a list of one word answers. In my opinion, the author of this site simply has no enthusiasm for his or her Tarot section. This site only gets 3 Pentacles from me for its lack of creativity and effort.

After using The Mystic Eye for a while, I remembered a site I had visited once before when I was randomly searching for sites about Tarot. Before I found The Mystic Eye, it didn't seem to have what I was looking for, but since I knew what I was looking for this time around, I decided to glance over it once more. The site I found was called ATA-Tarot and seemed to have almost exactly what I was looking for in working with Tarot. What I had decided I was going to look for after my encounter with The Mystic Eye, was a background story, so to speak, about each individual card. Although the site had nothing to do with everyday readings, it did provide a solution to my problem. I did try implementing this site in some of my readings, but as I said before, the site's sole purpose was to help you understand what each card means and why it is in the deck rather than help you do readings. The site has this nice, very organized list on the side where you can just click on the card you want to know more about and it will give you three to four paragraphs about that card. While I would not use this site in my readings, I would visit it from time to time and do a little research. I give this site 8 Pentacles because the site was created to educate but it is rather difficult to infuse this site with everyday readings.

Every once in a while I would go back to ATA-Tarot, but after I visited the site and obtained the information I had been looking for, I decided to find a site that has real meanings for the cards. I gave a reading for a friend one day who happened to stumble onto a site that I appreciate almost as much ATA-Tarot. It is called Bewitching Ways. Though this site was only half of what I was looking for, I really like it and still use it today. The layout of the site is very organized which is why it gets very high marks from me, and I also like how each card is represented in its entirety, or at least as much as it can be. For example: if you want to know what the 7 of Cups means in a reading, I would suggest using this site. However, if you wanted to know the reversed of this card, this would not be the place to look. It gives that annoying little one word depiction list that, as I stated before, I simply do not like. Although, as opposed to The Mystic Eye, not everything on that list, I found, is completely useless. I have found at least one reasonable description for the reverse of every card represented in both the Major and Minor Arcana. I give this site 7 Pentacles because it has been increasingly useful to me, yet in the way of reverse cards, I have to look elsewhere.

I am still on the search for more sites and short description booklets and would be very happy if you had any suggestions on something I could look at. You can e-mail me at BrianJ626@hotmail.com if you know of something that you would like to suggest to me or would like me to review. I doubt I can give you a next day response on anything you want me to review, but I promise to give an efficient response.

Brian Johnson is an eclectic Eastern Mystic and an enquiring occult student.