Rituals of Imbolc

Welcoming Imbolc: Ideas to Inspire

The view from my Reading Room

I must confess, I was supposed to have these Imbolc ideas written to go with the Imbolc Blessings post. Then got lazy and never posted it, so alas, here I am writing on a snowy day all about the Spring. The weather has been so weird this Winter. It was 9 degrees Celsius yesterday now today it is cold and there is a snowstorm going on. This is probably the first "real" storm we have had all Winter. I am not sure if the Gods are just being good to us on the East Coast or if there is something more sinister at play causing this warm and unusual weather. Snow or no snow, I wanted to talk a little about Imbolc.

I have always liked this Sabbat. Imbolc is all about hope, which is something we sure could use a lot more of in this world. When February 2nd comes around normally we would be in dire need of some sign of Spring or a message from the universe to let us know it is going to be okay. At this time in the year many of us are in the deepest part of seasonal depression and are struggling to stay positive. Imbolc comes to help cheer us up and give us a little nudge by reminding us that beneath the snow and cold, the Earth is coming alive.

Can you believe that in some parts of the world, little flowers are starting to poke their way through the snow? Or that birds are starting to make their way home? Even though we can't see it with our human eyes, nature is getting ready for the next season. We need to have faith that before long the sun will be kissing our faces with warmth once more. I don't want to go into the history of Imbolc or go into it too deeply, simply because there is information all about the Sabbats all over the Internet. I recommend doing some deep reading on this Sabbat if you are not familiar with what I am talking about here, because I think you will be excited about what you discover!

Growing up as a Wiccan- at the time (I really don't know what to call myself these days) I was very lucky in the sense that I had a group of like minded friends and even a family member (my dear magickal witchy Aunt Donna) to celebrate the Sabbats with me. We would all gather together, do a ritual and then have some delicious potluck food. I cherish these memories. These days our group has changed, people have gotten married, older, busier and new magickal people have come into our lives. We do not gather like we used to but I find comfort in knowing that we all share these same candlelit recollections.

Today I want to share with you some of the Imbolc activities I have done in hopes that it inspires you to make some Imbolc memories for yourself. Even if we are a few days late!

Here are some things to do on Imbolc:

• If you consider yourself a kitchen witch, why not try your hand at some bread making? You can make a simple dough (who I am kidding, is there a "simple" dough out there that actually tastes good?) break it into three sections and then braid them together. Your bread is going to come out looking AMAZING and everyone will praise you for your mad kitchen skills! When you braid the dough together infuse it with your awesomeness so anyone who eats it gets a blessing from you.
• Make some candles! This was always my favourite part of Imbolc. I used to go down to Michael's- I know, not the most new age kinda place, and buy some beeswax sheets and some wicks. Then I would heat the wax up with a hair dryer and roll them into candles. You can get creative with different colours or designs. There is pretty much no mess and they come out looking beautiful. You can add herbs, oils or even gemstones to your candles. I went to go do this last year and was told that it was so cold they were not getting any beeswax shipments in but other years I have had no problems getting the wax.
• Make a bed for Bride. Imbolc is heavily associated with the lovely, beautiful, inspiring Goddess Brigid. Back in the day people would make a little bed for Bride and put it beside their hearth. They would create an effigy of her from corn husks (or whatever you have on hand) and then would put her in bed for the night. It is believed that Brigid would visit in the night and bestow blessings on your home. You can also make an acorn wand representing the God and put that in the bed too. This is a great way to bring some fertility magick into your house.
• Take a bowl of milk and leave it out or pour it outside as an offering to the nature spirits. If you have a garden, I would recommend pouring your milk there. If it wont freeze (which is what happened to mine) you can leave it outside as a snack for any animals making their way through your yard at night. Almond milk, coconut milk etc. also work fine! Doing this is supposed to bring good luck to your garden and a fruitful harvest.
• Corn husk dollies and sun wheels are another great Imbolc craft to get you into the spirit of Spring. Here are some lovely links to help guide you: dollies and sun wheels also known as Brigid's Cross. Happy witch-crafting!

We will be back in full Tarot mode in my next post all about that infamous Death Card.

***Cue spooky noises.***

 



 

Imbolc Blessings

Brightest Imbolc Blessings!







Finding Peace With the Hermit

The Hermit IX

Fancy seeing you, old man from that Led Zeppelin album hanging out here!

Well its official, Fall is here! YAY! Its time for delicious desserts and sweet glorious sweaters. My chubby legs will no longer fear "short weather" this alone makes Fall extra special! The leaves are starting to burst into bright displays yellows, reds and oranges, in nature death if so beautiful, if only we could go out with the same bang! (I am feeling a touch morbid today). This is my favourite time of year.  At night it is cold and you can see your breath and the ground is covered in little frozen diamonds. If the wine wasn't blurring my vision, I think a seen frost a couple of nights ago. This is the time when things start to go quiet.  I feel like you can feel magick in the air. 
This is a good time to start planning for Winter and any inner work that you want to do.  My favourite aspect of the dark side of the Wheel, as I said above, is that everything is quieter. No more loud unruly children outside interrupting my beauty sleep. No more expectations to be going out at all hours and times of the day. The whole wildness of Summer, is coming to a sweet glorious end. Can you tell I am excited? On top of all this, this is also a perfect time of year to talk about the Hermit. The perfect mascot for those introverts we all know (and love!) or are *raises hand*! I say this a lot but I really do love this card. It makes me think of peace, quiet and self reflection- all things I am desperately in need of! It is here to say that it is okay to relax and just take some time out of the humdrum of life to spend some time with yourself. 

When was the last time you spent some time on your own? When you were cut off from the distraction of those in our lives? Have you had a break from your children, your spouse or your family and friends? Or work even? When was the last time you decided to do something for your spirit? Or for your own wellbeing? I bet for a lot of us, these questions are impossible to answer because life has a tendency to get in the way of the relationships we have with ourselves. The Hermit wants you to turn off your phone, get off social media and even avoid the family, if even for only a little while. He wants you to take a long look in the mirror and get to know the person who is looking back at you. When was the last time you spent time with that person? He wants you to meditate on what makes you happy. He wants you to nourish YOUR spirit and finally deal confront those inner demons. Recognize both sides of your nature and be OKAY with who you are. Are you up for the challenges that this card presents? I hope so! 

If you are doing a reading for someone and this fellow decides to make an appearance, I would recommend that maybe the person needs to hit pause for a little while and make time to be alone. This card can also indicate someone who is lonely and is looking for a positive omen that this dark period will come to an end. The light that the Hermit is holding is knowledge. Knowledge of oneself and what truly matters to you. Its a quest for knowledge. This card is never fun in a love reading, the querent will probably be waiting a little longer for that spicy lover to come into their life. They are waiting however because they need to learn to love themselves and embrace who they are before anyone else could love them. Take some time to get to know you. This card is about slowing down and the energy is very quiet, almost non-existent. Time will move slow for those involved with the Hermit, but that may not be a bad thing. 

Keys to remember: alone time, inner mysteries, quiet, contemplation, non-romance, knowledge, meditation. 

Hermit Homework

Here is your Hermit homework. If you are reading this right now, I want you to take out a notebook and write down some promises to yourself. Make a list, draw a picture, or whatever floats your little boat. Set some goals on what you want to accomplish this coming Winter. Do you want learn a new skill? Paint a picture? Write that amazing novel you never have time to write? Maybe its something as simple as just taking five minutes a day to show yourself some love *wink wink*- sorry that got too pervy but not pervy enough to delete.... I also want you to think about the things that bring you physical and spiritual pleasure. I want you to make a point before the next Full Moon to make sure you do something to fulfill both of these needs. Whatever it is, no matter how simplistic or extravagant, make time for it. Let the Hermit show you the way. 

PS: I tried to find online who this Hermit is or whoever inspired Pamela Coleman-Smith to draw him, but had no luck. If you know this little fact, can you please share it with me for my own inner work?

On being Mystical

"The first time I called myself a Witch was the most magical moment of my life..."- Margot Adler

Today I want to take a small break from our usual going over the cards to talk about something that I think is also important when it comes to reading Tarot or doing any form of divination. That thing is magick. It is about being mystical and different. What sets your Tarot reader aside from everyone else? What gives them that special energy that makes them truly different? I have been studying Witchcraft and the Occult since I was old enough to read and it has always been a BIG part of who I am. Now that I read cards professionally it allows me to put my studies into practice. When you do any form of divination for someone you are bringing the magick that is apart of your world into the world of someone else and that my dear readers is really special. 

“I want to make the world a more magickal place. To give magick a form that people appreciate, and that changes their lives. To create art that will make people want to forever reject the mundane and mediocre world they've been surrounded by”- Damien Echols

When I get ready to do a Tarot reading I always make sure to put on makeup that makes me feel beautiful and clothes that put me into a magickal mindset. Anyone who knows me knows I wear black 99% of the time, however oddly enough, I am wearing bright orange as I write this; but do you know why I wear black clothes? Did you know that the colour black brings about psychic energy or that it will absorb the negative energy around it cleansing the air. It is the colour of rebirth, creation, karma and patience. It is also the colour of stability and you best believe, I need more of that in my life. You may be asking yourself at this time, why I am I harping about my clothing choices in a post about witches... well friends, this is what makes me feel witchy. I don't need a broomstick and a pentacle around my neck the size of a dinner plate to prove that I am a little bit mystical. No offence of course to those who like their dinner plate sized pentacles, I used to rock those once too! My point here is that it can be as simple as your clothing choices to bring magick into your life. When you invite magick in you are opening yourself up to wondrous possibilities. Try it for yourself. Look up different colour correspondences next time you get dressed. Pick a colour that represents something you want to bring into your life and be surprised by what manifests. Sadly magick isn't so much Harry Potter spells- however I SO wish it was, it is so much more simpler than this. It is natural and is apart of all of us. 

Lets talk about pre-game rituals, now that I have a little sports know how, I have learned a lot about the "pre-game ritual" and Tarot readers usually have one too. Some Tarot readers, bloggers, authors and others have little rituals they do before they read the cards. Many will light candles, burn incense or sage. Some will cleanse their decks or put them out in the light of the Full Moon. All of this sounds great to me on paper. When I am reading these books I love the idea of putting my cards out to bask in the moonlight, like the little werewolves they are, but in my reality raccoons would just scoop them up for their next rousing game of "What can we steal from Tasha's deck tonight?". The idea of lighting incense and burning candles sound great until your candle makes a nice wax pool on your clients leather ottoman or you set off someone's asthma with your incense. These are reasons why I keep my magick to myself. Its through my beauty regime and enchantments I invoke my own mystical powers. I don't feel the need for the other tools. I want you to think I am magick not the room we are reading in. I am not knocking the ways of others of course. Its all about what works for you. I am both vain and lazy so turning my ritual into my typical pre-reading shower works for me. It may not work for everyone of course. 

Totally vulgar but totally perfect. I am really trying to keep my potty mouth off of here but I could not resist this picture. 

Now after you have had some time to digest that horrific picture above, lets talk about cleansing the cards. There has to be something I do with them right? I mean, I harp and harp on how much I love them, there is no way I just use and abuse them. Here are some facts about Tarot cards. First off they are weirdly shaped compared to traditional cards that most people are used to shuffling. Secondly if you put all of the cards in order and then let someone who is not used to shuffling, you will see when you lay out the spread a lot of the same suit or cards that follow one another. This is because they are not easy to shuffle if you are not used to how they feel. This is why I do not put my cards in order before someone comes for a reading. Before you come over, I will take out the deck and shuffle them for some time so I can make sure they are good and mixed up for you. No one wants an entire reading of just Swords for example. When its your turn to do some shuffling, your job is not to mix them up but to add your energy to the deck. This is where the real magick happens. People always say, "how did these cards about love come up out of all of the 78 cards when that is what I was wondering about?" or "these cards describe my current state exactly, how can that be?". I am no scientist  (I would however be super cute in a lab coat, just putting that out there!) and I am not the most rational thinker so my explanation is that when you shuffle them your energy goes into the cards and that is how you pick the ones you do. Remember, I am not picking the cards for you, nor am I setting up the deck. Plus how could I, when I read for people I do not know, for the most part at least. Its more important to me that you are putting your energy into the cards than it is for me to put them in order and put my energy in there. No one needs to know about my scandals, trust me. After a reading, I will usually just give them another shuffle and put them back in their bag for another day. The only time I used to put them in order and work on them like that was when I was first learning. Putting them in order and then reshuffling to repeat over and over again is a great way to learn your cards and pick up on their different vibrations. I am at a point with my cards where I feel like they are an extension of me, I am chaos so it makes sense for my cards to be a little mixed up too. There are people who think that you should put them in order afterwards to cleanse them of the energy from the last person that you read for. This makes sense, but I like to think of things a little differently. I like that my cards are full of energy. When you touch them you get a little tingle this is the magick of my clients and everyone who has ever picked up the deck. I want all of them, even the not so nice people- there has only been a very small few by the way, to be apart of my deck. Its all of our magick together that makes it a truly mystical experience for everyone. I find now the only time I put them in order is after a big party, simply so I can do a little role call and make sure all my little friends are present before I take off on my next adventure, which is usually just me going to bed- I live a very exciting life. 

It is my hope that anyone looking to learn Tarot remembers that they need to blaze their own path, I feel like a guidance counsellor lol, but its true. You do not have to do what I do and you do not have to do what a book tells you to do either. Do your own thing, whatever that is. If you have to light candles, dance under the full moon and take a bath in a the sea before a reading, than you do you. You take that moon bath and you dance your Tarot dance because if it works for you thats what matters. Until next time, spend some time with your cards, get to know them and their different personalities. 

Hopefully you are getting some nice Spring weather wherever you are. The snow is finally (I am feeling the italics today, did you notice?) melting and the little birdies are singing and I feel confident saying, Spring has finally come to Atlantic Canada! 

This pic below is a sample of giant dinner plate pentacle wearing me. Though the pentacle is not pictured, this is from that era, I was probably 16 and very angsty. LOL