Calendar April 2008
1. Tuesday-Color White-Waning Moon- April Fool’s Day- Bless your friends with happiness. Light a white candle and intone: May my relationships be/ Filled with Beauty and Joy/ May those I love know peace in their hearts/ May the love I send be healing and helpful to those I send it to/ Let my love be given freely with no strings/ Let me receive love graciously in my heart. As I will it, so mote it be.
2. Wednesday-Color Brown- Waning Moon- St. Francis of Paola- Patron of Sailors and Navigators.
3. Thursday- Color Green- Waning Moon- Work money spells.
4. Friday- Color Pink- Waning Moon- Spell for abundance. Small pot, soil, flower or herb seeds. Fill pot with soil and carefully plant the seeds in the surface of the soil, covering them lightly. Intone, visualizing a job, more or better pay, happiness: Seeds of hope reach through the soil/ Grow and bloom in the sun/ May blessed abundance my way come/ As I will it, mote it be done.
5. Saturday-Color Blue- New Moon- Trial of Alice Samuel and her entire family accused of bewitching the wife of Sir Henry Cromwell, 1593. Tomb Sweeping Day, honoring ancestors, in China
6. Sunday-Color Yellow- Waxing Moon- Scotland Independence 1320
7. Monday- Color Grey- Waxing Moon- Church of All Worlds founded 1962- St. John Baptist de la Salle- Patron of School Teachers
8. Tuesday- Color Black- Waxing Moon- Birthday of Siddhartha, Gatama Buddha- Buddhists may replace the color of the day with saffron or yellow colors- Work a Freedom from Fear Mantra: sitting comfortably, breathing deeply and slowly, repeat: I am protected and safe/ I am free from fear and danger/ I am loved and loving/ I am pleased and content/I am mentally at peace/ My life is unfolding slowly and at ease/ I awaken to my higher nature. Repeat the mantra nine times slowly and calmly.
9. Wednesday-Color Yellow- Waxing Moon
10. Thursday- Color Turquoise- Waxing Moon- Montague Summers born 1880; Catholic priest and scholar of demonology and translator of the Malleus Malficarum.
11. Friday- Color White- Waxing Moon- Major Weir, self-confessed Scottish witch, Burned to death 1670. St Stanislaus- Patron of Poland.
12. Saturday- Color Indigo- Waxing Moon- Uri Gagarin becomes first human to leave the earth’s gravity, 1962
13. Sunday- Color Amber- Waxing Moon
14. Monday- Color Lavender- Waxing Moon- Adoption of the principles of Wiccan Belief at witch meet in St. Paul, Minn. 1974.
15. Tuesday- Color Grey- Waxing Moon
16. Wednesday- Color White- Waxing Moon- Margaret Adler author of Drawing Down the Moon- born today- Magnus of Orkney- Patron of Norway
17. Thursday- Color Purple- Waxing Moon- Aleister Crowley destroys the original Golden Dawn. Do a tea ritual. Brew a good pekoe or Earl Grey or other black tea and with stirring spoon, going deosil as you stir, draw a pentacle and intone: Blessings be upon this tea/ May it bring good things to me/ Soothe my throat, my belly, my mind/ Give me energy or help me unwind. As I will it so mote it be.
18. Friday- Color Rose- Waxing Moon
19. Saturday- Color Black- Waxing Moon- St. Expiditus- Patron of Urgent Cases
20. Sunday- Color Gold- Full Moon- Passover Begins
21. Monday- Color White- Full Moon (waning)
22. Tuesday- Color Red- Full Moon (waning)- Earth Day- Time to stop bad habits or begin a diet. See our ritual to The Tree of Life.
23. Wednesday- Color Topaz- Waning Moon- St. George’s Day (British)- Patron of England, the Order of the Garter, Italian Cavalry- St Adalbert (Roman Catholic) Patron of Czechoslovakia, Poland. Prussia.
24. Thursday- Color White- Waning Moon- St. Mark’s Eve
25. Friday- Color Coral- Waning Moon- Orthodox Good Friday- Patricia Hutchins, 1st Wiccan to be given religious leave to celebrate the sabats, 1989.
26. Saturday- Color Grey- Waning Moon- Arbor Day- Connect with the Tree of Life; meditate on your life, family and your ancestry. Plant or salute a tree. The Blessed Virgin of Good Counsel- Patroness of Albania.
27. Sunday- Color Orange- Waning Moon- Orthodox Easter- Passover Ends- St. Zita- Patroness of Servants
28. Monday- Color Silver- Waning Moon- St. Peter Mary Chanel- Patron of Oceania
29. Tuesday- Color Scarlet- Waning Moon- St. Catherine of Sienna- Patroness of Italy and Nurses, especially Italian.
30. Wednesday- Color Brown- Waning Moon- Walpurgis Night the German Night of the Witches- May Eve. St Adjutor- Patron against the danger of drowning.
Saint of the Month
St Expiditus-Though no longer a part of the Roman Calendar of Saints, this saint may be a case of mistaken identity. The story goes that a convent received unidentified “corpus sanctus” holy bones, marked “Expiditus”. Quickly the nuns began to set up the cultus of this saint they called Expedite. He is still popular today among Afro-Caribbean religio- magikos and Santerians. Even if you are unsure of the reality of the saint, keep Expedite in mind when needing favors in a hurry and when you are in need of speedy justice. He is not the only saint that has been demoted. The ever-popular St. Christopher, patron saint of travelers, has been demoted as well.
Zodiac Signs of the Month
Aries- (March 21- April 19)- The Ram-The leader, me first, loner, pioneer, action adventure, quick to anger, ruled by Mars. Has energy and is able to start projects and lead others and set goals.
Taurus-(April 20-May 20)- The Bull- The builder, practical and patient, steadfast, enjoys physical comfort, and well being, ruled by Venus. Loves art, beauty and music and creates deep friendships and love bonds, seeks harmony, cares for money and resources of people and things.
Herb or Flower of the Month
Jasmine
Parts of Flower used: Flower and the absolute- lifts the spirits, enhances love, dispels depression, stifles worries, relaxant. Used and loved especially by women, and though traditionally thought of as a yang flower, it is increasingly being thought of as a yin flower because of its effacy with women
Tarot Card of the Month
XX
Judgment
Depicting dead people being called from the grave by an angel with a trumpet, Judgment tells the seeker that decisions are pressing and need to be made, the seeker must come to terms with the past, move forward with a more positive attitude. Karmic debts are being paid.
Spell of the Month
The Nine Sisters Spell
To heal someone who is sick
Bless the sick room with holy water mixed with salt, eucalyptus, lemon and sage (either oil or herb) Once the room is blessed, wash your hands with the water and lay them over the person and intone:
Nine were the sisters
Fever disappeared and then there were eight
Eight were the sisters
Cramps disappeared and then there were seven
Seven were the sisters
Sweats disappeared and then there were six
Six were the sisters
Inflammation disappeared and then there were five
Five were the sisters
Pain disappeared and then there were four
Four were the sisters
Infection disappeared and then there were three
Three were the sisters
Congestion disappeared and then there were two
Two were the sisters
Cough disappeared and then there was one
One sister left
And sick no more
As I will it, so mote it be
Honoring the Tree of Life
CoCreated by Aslinn Dhan Dragonhawk and Tanith LunaCrevan
Ideally you should have access to a tree or a grove of trees or you may wish to take the opportunity to plant a tree. If not, a symbol of a tree will suffice
Materials:
3 white altar candles (tea candles) set up in a triangular formation to define sacred space
1 green, yellow, red and blue candle to represent the elements
Cedar oil (if unavailable, a good olive oil will suffice)
At least ten 1” square pieces of paper
Pen
Favorite incense
10 freshly minted pennies
Chalice
Wine/Cider, bread, fruits and nuts and other treats to eat, share with friends or leave for the creatures of nature.
On scraps of paper, write ten affirmations (positive/growth words) Attach these pieces of paper to the tree with small stick pins or tacks or some other that will not harm the tree . Anoint all candles and your pennies. Place the elemental candles around the tree, calling the elements with a simple call of the elements. Set up the altar candles and place your chalice, drink and food inside the triangle. Light all of the candles and your incense.
Intone:
Holy nine woods of lore, lend me your ears through the spiritual door
Willow, elder, oak, pine, birch, sycamore, ash and hazel
Your roots do grow and intertwine
Wise willow, she whose branches reach the earth, beloved of the moon’s rise and rebirth
Ancient oak, he who reaches to the heavens, beloved of the sun and earth’s strength
Venerable Elder, favorite of our Virgin Lady, open the door of life and death
Beloved Pine, golden child of the woods, stir our minds to imagination
Illuminating birch, doorway to intuition, guide us to visions and new beginnings
Gracious sycamore, rod of divinations, help communicate and receive instruction
Loving Ash, teacher and guide, instruct us in the way of wisdom and sacrifice
Shy hazel, seeker of secrets, show me the unknown magikal ways
Holy Hawthorn, wand of creativity, endow us with magik and fertility
Wands and brooms and holy leaves too
Magical gifts we receive from you
The trees of life we honor you
In our hearts we find your roots
Joined with earth and divinity
Source of life eternally
Shed on us your wisdom and light
As our roots intertwine with the Tree of Life
The tree of life in Eden stood
And then our Christ, nailed in your wood
The stately tree, our forest priest
We your children of the heath
Offer us hope from violence and strife
Past, present, future; death, rebirth and life
We celebrate with libation
This symbol of Christ’s salvation
So bless us now, o holy one
We bring our hopes, our ritual now done
Brightest Blessings Be
Our circle eternally
And for that we honor and praise
God above all our days
So mote it be
Offer libations to the tree and eat and drink in celebration with friends and nature.
Essays
Should We Shun the Word Witch?
Aslinn Dhan Dragonhawk
I was reading the latest issue of PanGaia magazine and in one of the letters to the editor; the writer explores the use of the word Witch. Witch is of course a word coming from the word Wicce, which means wise and is the root of the word witch. The word has come to have negative connotations associated with the Burning Times. It is also used today to describe a disagreeable woman, along with the word Bitch, a word so popular in modern music today.
But should we taboo a word so many of us have worked so hard to accept about ourselves and now use with pride? Is the word witch the same as derogatory words used to denote and degrade others because of their race? Or is there a hidden agenda to make witchcraft a Pagan/Wiccan only club.
There is an argument inside the witchcraft community that they, through past life regression, have discovered that in one of their past lives they were witches of the Burning Times, had the name witch hurled at them, and they underwent horrible torture and degradation and ultimately to die with the word being shouted at them as they were burned or hung. Because of these uncovered memories, witch has become a word of trauma and unease and brutality, in short has become a derogatory word.
The meaning of the word, I would argue, is older and has a more reverential meaning from before the time of Christianity. Just as Jew has its own reverence and glory before the Holocaust, Jews do not shudder at the word because what was suffered by them or their kin. Indeed, the word Jew has become synonymous with being strong, noble and a survivor. Simply because one was accused of being a witch should not sully the word witch.
Being called a witch simply is not the same as being called a derogatory word like the N-word. Opinions vary, but generally the use of the N-word by whites to or about Blacks is a derogatory word and is inappropriate. African Americans are of the feeling that use of the N-word by and among African Americans is appropriate because it gives the word new meaning within the community. I am a woman and despise the use of the word bitch regardless of who says it, male or female. I am also Irish and the words once used to describe Irish people are all but forgotten in America simply because we do not use those words anymore. But, again, being called a witch is not the same as being black and being called the N-word.
So what is the real reason? Is it another form of deliberate prejudice hidden by an agenda for reform in the magikal community? I called on Clover Little Cat, a Christian Mystic and Witch about the word in question. She said:
“We in the Craft community have always had a problem with words. Particularly in modern times, we have had a great deal of confusion about words and language as more and more Crafting communities come together to create their own groves and temples of worship. When I first became a witch, I was a Wiccan, following a pantheon of gods and goddesses. Then I went back to Christianity and rediscovered my love of Christ and saw the notion of witch and witchcraft in a different light. Many people believe that Witch and Wiccan is the same word, but it isn’t. Wicca and Paganism are two of many nature-centered religions. Witch is a person who practices witchcraft and can be of any religion.
It seems to me that this is an attempt to do away with the word witch so that magik is associated simply with only non-Christian religions. This is an insidious move on the part of the Wiccan/Pagan community to shun whole other parts of the Craft community. While I hate to use euphemisms from Harry Potter (as much as I love the books) we Crafters from other religious communities are being made “mud bloods”, especially those of us who practice witchcraft as Christians.”
So, is Clover right? Is there a hidden agenda or is the word witch truly that traumatizing? For me, I am proud of being a witch. Witch, after all, is not a four-letter word.
Clover Little Cat is a professor of folklore and mythology and an active member in her Lutheran Church. She also runs a magikal grove for Christian and Christo-Pagan witches in the Midwest.
Auras
By John Ravenwind
I remember being a child and seeing colored lights shining around the other children and thinking this must be like the halos that are depicted in the religious cards and icons of my Orthodox Christian faith. The first time I realized that not everyone could see these colorful glowings was when I was sitting in the city park with my baby niece and I told her that she looked like a fairy princess with that pretty pink light around her and my aunt asked me what I was talking about and I said that she had a pretty pink light glowing around her and my aunt told me to dry up, that it was just my imagination. So I never spoke of it. I was eight
Auras are the energy waves that all creatures emanate. They are ultraviolet, meaning they are invisible to most people. Those of us who see auras are born seeing them, some of us develop the ability in early childhood and some of us train the ESP abilities that most of us have and can develop through exercises and mediations. Those of us who see auras can tell if a person is healthy, or sad, or sick, or evil and dangerous. We are also sensitive to smells also and associate certain smells with certain problems and situations, mostly illnesses and diseases.
Those of us sensitive to auras also feel that they can sense the past life of a person, identifying them by aura the type of person they may have been in another life. Not all auraists believe in or have developed this special ability. Others get an aura reading off places and things, believing that even inanimate objects have souls. They may even sense haunted places and the auras of people long gone.
There are some people that believe that auras can be photographed with Kirilian photography done with a special heat sensitive camera but I believe that auras are not heat waves but pure color phenomena. A Kirilian camera seems to photograph heat, the way a heat camera takes infrared photos of heat signatures.
Christians who see auras understand this phenomenon as being similar to the glowing countenance of Moses after being in the presence of God and the luminescence of holy people encircled by the glory of the Lord, as the angels who visited the shepherds on the night of the nativity. Christians who are sensitives and practicing witches often use auras to help them understand the needs of a person who turns to them for healing or exorcism.
Auraists develop their own sense of what colors in auras mean. Black generally means fatal illness or coming death or possession, green signifies illness, gray or blue-gray is depression, yellows and pinks are happiness, red are love or lust, but combined with green can mean fever, dark blues or purple are feelings of being abused, lavender denotes calm or shyness, white is impending traumatic experience or change of life.
If you wish to develop your sense of auras, meditate on people that you see. Study them unaware of your scrutiny and relax your mind and your eyes. Not all people see auras but you may open yourself up to the possibility of auras showing themselves to you.
John Ravenwind is a deacon in his Greek Orthodox Church and teaches Greek language at the local High School. He is also a spiritualist and psychic medium and ghost hunter in his town.
Why We Need Christian Witches
Cerrunos of the Wand
We Pagan and Wiccan covens are engaged in a hateful activity: We have become just as bigoted as we accuse other religions of being. We have become the worst version of ourselves. We are ignoring and persecuting Christian Witches. We ignore the fact that we were once the main religion in its various incarnations and that we victimized the Christians as their religion spread. We are arrogant in thinking that there are true “innocent” religions that have never victimized another religion to protect or further our own.
We are holding modern Christians responsible for the sins of early Christians. We judge modern Christians by the dogmas of a few and do not open the doors to embrace these fellow workers of the Craft, these brother and sister witches. We ignore them and scorn them in an act of bitterness and hate. We can’t do that and proclaim ourselves disciples of the Witches Rede.
Witchcraft, I keep telling people, is a discipline, a practice, knowledge of the natural and the supernatural. Witchcraft is not a religion. Wicca, Christianity, Judaism, Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam are religions and all have magikal and mystical traditions which are being explored and uncovered and revived by witches of these faith systems. These people are witches, just as I am, just as any Wiccan or Pagan is. W e must embrace them, understand their approaches to the Craft, encourage their community and teach one another.
May the Goddess thou bless o children of the God
Blessed Be
Cerrunos
Cerrunos of the Wand is a Celtic Culture reinactor and a priest in his grove in Leeds, England with his priestess wife Bodicea Rain Fox. He also writes for various Pagan and Wiccan newspapers and creates leather bound Books of Shadows.
Why I am Finally Being True to Myself
By Tanith LunaCrevan
Sitting down to write this, I thought it would be much easier. However, as I have noticed with several aspects of my life recently, there is no possible way to place my emotions and viewpoints on it to words, at least successfully. Thus, with White Zombie and Killing Joke blaring through to me via my enormous headphones, I will attempt to tell my tale. It is odd, off-the-wall and abstract, much like the poems that pitifully attempt to describe my feelings to my Creative Writing class.
This series of thoughts began as a rant to those who assume too much about witchcraft and somehow think it is incompatible with the Christian way of living. I chose after much deliberation, not to scribble that down just yet. I supposed it would be much more to the point to elaborate on why I am a witch and a Christian, at the same time no less. This en medias res style of doing things is normal for me and after hearing my story, it should make sense why.
In short, this piece should be titled, why I am finally being true to myself. My life has always been steeped in magic and the spirit. This is a realization of myself. It has been a long journey.
Imagine if you will, an old dirt road winding into a lane of trees leading towards an emerald mountainside. This locale, playing among the trailers where my clan-like family and I lived, was where I first became attuned to what would later become a vital thread in my life.
There is not much I have really had to research as far as the actual practice of magic. It has always come natural. When I was little, I attributed it to imagination. After watching Disney’s Pocohantas, I swore up and down that I could talk to trees. I began conversations with the pines growing tall upon my family’s lands and a large willow that soaked up water from the muddy road after a rainshower. I never stopped, not even after puberty hit. I never knew why.
Then there was the sight. After the death of a beloved relative of mine when I was five, I started seeing auras and ghosts. The auras came first, thankfully and watching multi-colored light bouncing off of my hands at that age was quite an experience. Ghosts were drawn to me soon after, appearing more frequently than I would have chosen. A majority of these I lack explainations of to this day so I will not describe them.
Junior high and high school were expeditions of the supernatural as my gift, as I eventually figured out it was, grew stronger and more attuned to my environment. As it matured I became terrified of what may lie outside, but some clever teachers, my parents and understanding friends helped me through. Most never understood in full what was going on. I started tapping into my ability to see auras to protect myself and others, doing advanced energy work that I would read about in my later research, only to realize I had done before on instinct.
I will wager that there are thousands of families in the United States that carry the proper genetic traits for the heightened spiritual awareness and have shunned it for fear of religious and social persecution or just downright ignorance. Recent psychological research has identified these families and individuals as HSP or Highly Sensitive Persons. They have been identified as making up a solid twenty percent of the population.
I am not going to force anyone to change their belief systems. I may argue with a lamppost, but that is not my goal. I want to point out that the line between wise women and prophets is thin, the line between miracles and magic is even more so. Why should I refuse the title witch because fundamentalist Christians and Wiccan traditionalists fear what I am: A Christian Witch.
Why the battle over words? Words are powerful indeed. Any self-respecting witch knows it, but definitions? Definitions are petty.
I am a witch because I was born to be one. I was the girl on the playground pretending to be one of the Sanderson sisters after watching Hocus Pocus for the hundredreth time. I am the teenager who is a Harry Potter freak and Covenant fangirl and happens to know that there is more truth to the fiction than most realize. I know magic is there because I quite literally see it every day. It is in the whisper of the trees, the glow of a friend’s life force and the shifting of the seasons.
I am also the girl at your church who invites people others see as outcasts to services and explains the true message of Jesus Christ to those guests. I am an alcolyte, baptised at five, confirmed at seventeen. I am not your prim and prude Christian by any means, but I fit the bill of what it takes. I am no holds barred in my approach because the bottom line is no one has the right to define me or my work as a Christian and my service to Him as a Witch.
Christianity has its own magikal history. One need only read The Key of Solomon or simply read the Bible. It is full of magikal symbols, herbs, and oils and rituals and charms performed by believers in both the New and Old Testament.
Christians should concern themselves less with the Harry Potter books and focus their attention on reaching out to the outcasts and the lonely. Or better yet, reach out to those of your children who are other gifted with special sensitivities to God and nature. Perhaps then we could all meet on a middle ground and serve God together.
Wiccans and Pagans, too must stop their hostilities. Christian Witches have much in common with you. Wicca is a religion nature and goddess centered. I, too see the goddess in her form of the Black Madonna and through her representation as Isis. For me, they are one and the same. To deny my understanding of the goddess is to deny her existence as she appears to all of her children in all of her many forms.
My religion is not be pigeon-holed, restricted in vision and scope to the teachings of fallible men. My Craft is not limited to simple prayer but from the knowledge of the ancient ones who knew the way of magik before the birth of the Son of God.
I follow my gift and my heart, period. That is why I am a witch.
I seek change and redeemption in this world. That is why I am Christian.
As a charm I wrote goes,
“Cloak me,
Shield me,
From those who would,
Mock me.”
For those sisters and brothers of the Craft hesitant to prusue your faith, I encourage you to go for it. Being a closet witch is not fun, take it from me. I still have relatives who do not know and it makes life hard.
I hope for a time when I can shout my odd mix of faith and spirituality from the rooftops, because you know what? I have never in life done anything someone else’s way, at least not to a tee. Remember, Jesus did not do things to satisfy the temple and the culture of his people. To follow in his footsteps is to do the same. I am being true to the witch I am. I am being true to myself.
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Tanith LunaCrevan is a college student, free thinker and writer in Arkansas. Formally initiated just recently, she is a student of Aslinn Dragonhawk and a first degree Christian witch.
