Spirituality Is Individual

From Antiquités de l'Orient, Monuments Runographiques by Carl Christian Rafn, 1856.

YULE Altar ideas: Put mistletoe and pine on your altar; put a candle up there to represent the Sun; keep your Yule log on your altar; use symbols of the Sun; decorate with red, green, white, blue, and yellow (red and green for holly, white and blue for snow and wintery colors, yellow for the Sun). Celebration ideas: Kiss a consenting person under the mistletoe for luck; give gifts; have a feast; make magickal wreaths with herbs corresponding to the spell intent (you might use lilac, lavender, and camomile for a wreath that brings peace into your home).

IMBOLC Altar ideas: Use candles to represent the return of spring; make a cute little corn dolly; put a Brigid’s cross on there to honor her; decorate with yellow and green to represent the Sun and return of spring. Celebration ideas: Clean your house; have a self-dedication ritual (to a particular path, deity, philosophy, standard of life, etc.); clean off your working altar and redo it; cleanse and charge any tools or crystals you need to.

OSTARA Altar ideas: Use fake eggs, rabbits, and other symbols of fertility or spring; put some potted plants on the altar; place some packets of seeds you might be planning on growing; decorate with purple, yellow, green, white, and other spring, pastel colors. Celebration ideas: Paint and blow eggs (take proper precautions when handling raw eggs, obviously, especially if you’re putting your mouth on them); if you have a greenhouse, want a potted plant, or it’s warm enough where you live to plant outside, plant some seeds; buy a potted plant; organize your herb shelf.

BELTAINE Altar ideas: Make a mini Maypole for your centerpiece; smack some candles up in there, especially beeswax, if that’s in your budget; put some faery symbols, like little statues or bells or something like that; a jar of honey or some beeswax is always dope; if you’re comfortable with it, some people like to put representations of genatalia on their altar. Celebration ideas: Light an awesome bonfire (also be very cautious with this because fire can quickly turn dangerous); leave offerings to the faeries; have a dance outside; this is a good time to plan to have a handfasting ceremony or wedding; cast any love workings you’ve been meaning to do; if you’re an adult and have a person/people who consent to it, you could choose to have sex during this time (but do be safe!); many people try to conceive children during Beltaine.

LITHA Altar ideas: Symbols of the Sun and the Moon, feminine and masculine symbols if that’s a thing in your tradition; decorate with black and white to symbolize the night and day. Celebration ideas: Get up before the Sun rises and go to sleep after it sets, so you can experience the day and night; have a bonfire (again, safety is important); have a picnic; just spend a lot of time outside.

LUGHNASADH Altar ideas: Put bread and grain on the altar; maybe some apples and other autumn fruits; pinecones and leaves are fall symbols; decorate with red, orange, yellow, brown, and other colors of the season. Celebration ideas: Bake (especially make the cute little bread men); give an offering to the Earth; go to an apple orchard and pick some apples; share a feast with the family or your friends.

MABON Altar ideas: Wine, or grape juice if alcohol is unavailable for any reason; leaves and pinecones; apples; a money jar (see first celebration suggestion below). Celebration ideas: For a week or two before Mabon, put money you can afford to give up in a jar, and donate it to charity or a cause you support on Mabon; have another apple harvest; have another feast; do a ritual to honor the Earth.

Alder - PRESERVING - (water) oracular magic, seership, dreamwork, preservation, concealment, bridging worlds

Apple - SINGING - (air) protection, blessing, calling, sending, opening doorways to other worlds, love, inspiration, enchantment

Ash - JOURNEYING - (earth, water) calling, direction of art and craft, moving toward a goal, healing, crossing bridges to other worlds

Beech - LEARNING - (fire) solar and positive magic, the enhancement of creativity, learning, the search for information, books, languages Birch - BEGINNING - (water) purification, discipline, spells of youth and fresh starts, creativity, procreation, birth, renewal and rebirth Blackthorn and Plum - BLOCKING - (earth) protection, faerie magic, overcoming creative barriers, persistence, patience, divining of precious metals Cedar - CLEANSING - (air) enchantment, clearing negativity, dedication of sacred space, poetry, smithcraft, healing Cherry - DESIRING - (fire) protection, conflict, sex, attraction, assertiveness, aggression, love, confidence, daring, union of opposites, root chakra, healing of injuries from conflict or loss Chestnut - PRODUCING - (water) fertility, feminine powers, motherhood, the sea, protection of waters, reflection, introspection, meditation, abundance, nurturance, cleansing, relationships, especially mother and child Ebony - DOMINATING - (earth) leadership, domination, penetrating to the core of any problem, control, sexual assertion, aggression, concealing, revealing, healing dark diseases, dragon energy, seduction Elder - REGENERATING - (earth) enchantment, healing, protection, regeneration, wealth, long life, nurturing Elm - CONTAINING - (earth) healing, fertility, growth, rebirth, destiny, wisdom, metamorphosis, endurance Hawthorn - GUARDING - (air) fertility, rebirth, renewal union, wildness, human being as animal, detects magic, counter-jinxes, warding, sending

Hazel - UNDERSTANDING - (air) female autonomy, feminine power, magic of wisdom, beauty, charm, love, navigation, summoning, attraction, creativity

Holly - PENETRATING - (fire) protection, work against evil spirits, poisons, angry elementals, and lightning; averting fear, allowing courage to emerge, dream magic and eternal life, success in business or endeavor, hunting or quests Juniper - TRANSFORMING - (earth) transformation, transition, crossing to other worlds, cloaking, revealing, letting go, yin power, shadow, meditation, seduction, binding, geas, fate Lilac - IMAGINING - (air) magic of union, attraction, cultivation of creative bliss, intellectual pursuits, imagination, information, mental power, creation of harmony, travel, illusion, detection, writing

Linden - ATTRACTING - (air) creation, transmutation, illumination, love, attraction, binding, obligation, healing wounds, enhancement of beauty, peace

Maple - CHANGING - (earth, fire) control, finding, binding, transformation, creation, ambition, passion, revolution, rebirth, poetry, beauty, harvest, healing, abundance

Oak - OPENING - (fire) leadership, wise rule, personal sovereignty, authority, power, protection, sealing or opening doors, endurance, invocation of wisdom, fertility, abundance

Poplar - FEELING - (water) emotions, feelings, sensitivity, intuition, empathy, dance, instincts

Redwood - ASPRIING - (fire) striving upward, travel to higher spheres, drawing down power from heaven to earth, religious seeking, discipline, mystical union, wild animals, wisdom

Rowan - QUICKENING - (earth) unites fire and earth elements, bridges worlds, astral vision, protection, warding off evil spirits, averts storms and lightning (sudden disaster and struggle), brings peace, growth, fertility, rebirth; supports women’s autonomy, poetry, metalwork, geomancy, work with ley lines

Spruce, also Fir and Pine - TURNING - (water) battling evil, astral flight, cleansing, purification, creation, potion-making, witches brooms, transformation, shape shifting, wisdom

Walnut - ILLUMINATING - (air, fire) wind and weather magic, expansion, vortices, enhancement of the powers of breath, spells to conjure or avert lightning, hurricanes, or cyclones; teleportation, astral travel, knowledge, wisdom

Willow - WEAVING - (water) dowsing, divination, seership, rain-making, funerary rites, love, easing childbirth, fertility, healing, glamour, bewitchment, concealment, secrecy, germination, herb-magic, potion-making, melody and combination Yew - REMEMBERING - (air, earth) death, grieving, travel between worlds, ancestors, trance, seership, divination, healing, transformation, knowledge, eloquence, persuasion, mediumism, necromancy

Establishing clear personal boundaries is the key to ensuring relationships are mutually respectful, supportive and caring. Boundaries are a measure of self-esteem. They set the limits for acceptable behavior from those around you. Weak boundaries leave you vulnerable and likely to be taken for granted or even damaged by others. Set aside some time to clearly define what your physical, emotional and spiritual boundaries are with friends, family, co-workers and strangers. Make a list of things you want people to stop doing around you, things you want people to stop doing to you, and things that people may no longer say to you.

Once you have established strong, clear boundaries, people will give you more respect. This means you can be your authentic self, asking for what you really want and need without fear of judgment. Emotional and spiritual manipulators will back off and in their place sustainable, loving relationships will thrive. Extending boundaries comes with a price, and this may be losing acquaintances along the way. Of course, those relationships that are worth having will survive and grow stronger.

So Monday I performed a stand up comedy bit at a local bar. I had been riddling off jokes in my journal for a few days, reading them over and over, asking my spouse if it was good. Then the day came. Ball of nerves doesn’t even describe how it felt. Then on the way got into a brief argument of miscommunication and I sat trying to recover my gusto, my light and courage. So I finally decide to at least face it and have a beer.

I had gone to watch a stand up open mic at a different bar a few days before and met a couple of the folks doing it. And they recognized me when I walked in, and encouraged me to sign up.

So it was either 2nd or 11/12 of 12. Definitely chose 11. So comics started going up, my nerves going up and drinks going down. And then I got up and ended up running over my time with the crowd laughing and not getting the hook.

One of the comedians has been doing comedy for 5 years and pulled me aside and said that they wanted to help me in whatever way possible. So I’m performing, hopefully, 3 open mics next week.

Gratitude rituals, meditation, fitness and shaking the worlds societal laws works. And I’m going to prove that I can live a peace loving and spiritual life everyday. I’m going to sleep when I want, drink, laugh and inspire others to find theirs, at least that’s the goal. I don’t care if I miss, if I miss then it wasn’t really for me but I will find my mark and leave one.

The Darkness that you fear? It’s within you, it might be disguised, but it’s fear itself.

In ancient cultures, from deep Africa to Eastern Shamanism, Celtic paganism, Native American or Amazon shamans… darkness is embraced, not like modern religions: there is a real connection with nature and its wisdom, not a twisted profitable organised religion man made.

I often hear from my clients that they are afraid of the dark entities, and that some of them fear doing soul retrieval because they’re afraid of “whoever-dark” will come up. And because I’ve been having people contacting me asking if I’m a “black shaman” being able to spell curses on others, and do harm to someone else, I ended up saying that I am a white shaman, which, even if you don’t know what it is, gives light and love to it, since “White is the light – Black is the evil”.

But the fact is that Shamanism has no colours: actual shamanism is meant to heal, to vision, to connect. And if we have to deal with dark entities, we’re sure that they will come as protectors… the fear you have then is nonsense, and worst: it might damage or blind you. Not the dark entities, but the fear itself. Fear is your own private dark entity, mostly due to religious beliefs deepened within our society…

I find myself nostalgic and trying to know what obligations and tendencies are mine. Or are they because of someone mentioning something or from having listened to someone afflicted by another having done an action and changing my course.

I’ve never seen any online sources talking about the type of divination i do, so i thought I’d make a quick tutorial on my favorite (and probably the funnest) form of divination I know

“alright, so… what is it??”

in a basic explanation- it’s where you paint a picture, and then interpret it. no planning, no sketching involved. you just pick a color that feels right and slop it on your canvas in any way you please.

“but, wait! I’m not an artist!”

well congratulations my friend, because you’re about to become one! in all seriousness, you don’t need a lick of creativity in you to do this. it’s incredibly impressionistic, which means you can basically do whatever you want and it’ll still work

“that doesn’t sound so bad,, how do i do it??”

supplies needed:

an array of colors (i recommend at least yellow, red, blue, and white)

an index card or other small base

a painting utensil- paintbrush, cotton swab, toothbrush, anything

your higher consciousness

a basic understanding of symbolism (colors, shapes, directions, etc)

while this is possible to do with other mediums, i highly recommend an easily bleeding paint (like acrylic or water) because it turns out a bit more “"flowy,”“ but you can totally use crayons, pencils, or whatever you have at your disposal

first, set your intention. ya know how you needa ask tarot cards a question before doing a reading?? same concept. if you don’t ask anything, you won’t understand the answer. i like to ask “how is my day going to be?” and then see if my interpretation was correct the following night

next, you’re gonna wanna pick a color, or mix various colors until you get one that just feels right. try not to go with just picking your favorite. in all honestly this is the hardest part, especially if you don’t know much about color mixing

next, just paint. do you feel like painting swirls? zigzags? dots? waves? large strokes? thin strokes? splattering? globbing your paint on? being a bit more meticulous? remember, this is supposed to be impressionistic. don’t go into it thinking you’re gonna paint a house and some mountains. if you do end up painting that, then so be it. but try not to plan your painting in the slightest. just go with the flow

after you’re done, you have some options: 1) let it dry as-is, 2) set it up at a slanted angle so your paint can run down, which can also be interpreted

once it’s dry, interpret it! i put some examples from my own readings below:

things to interpret:

colors- red and purple means passionate and creative respectively. you can also take into account the brightness of dullness of a color. for example, picture #1 is more vivid than #2

strokes- thick, blocky strokes means a steady day, while frantic, smeared blotches means a busier, messier day

directions- the 2 yellow dots in the first painting are in the western half of the picture, indicating happiness (from the color yellow) and emotions (which correspondes to west). in the 2nd painting the yellow dots are north, indicating happiness in the physical/material realm (which correspondes to north)

the amount of paper showing through- i like to interpret lots of white paper spots as emptiness in myself. so because the first picture has little paper showing through, i am very filled and content that day. whereas with #2, lots of white is showing, indicating an emptiness, or not feeling like myself (because the paper is also quite empty)

and you’re done!!

“wow, James, that was really easy!”

it really is very simple as long as you have the supplies, and it’s also useful for the aspiring artist! you know how ppl always say “draw at least one thing every day if you wanna improve”?? well voila! you’ve improved in both your artistry, and in divination! (not to mention it looks pretty) ✨🎨🔮