Self Appreciation Ritual

So, I've been brewing this ritual/spell for a bit, since I kind of have self esteem problems. I always think I'm not skinny enough, pretty enough, don't dress well enough etc. to attract a guy; I know that's wrong, but I can't help but feel that way sometimes. Maybe that's just what teenage girls go through, who knows. Either way, I just did a ritual for it. This is my first spell- at least I think it's a spell. So this is how I set it up;

1. Cast the circle. I did this by walking around in a circle and pointing with my right index finger while saying "By the earth that is her body, by the air that is her breath, by the fire that is her spirit and by the water that is her womb, the circle is cast. So mote it be." I got that little saying from this link.

2. Call the quarters. I lit the candle on my altar that represents north and said: "The earth of the north, I call thee to protect me in my rite. You sustain me with fruit and grain, and you support me with your strength. So mote it be." I then lit the candle that represents east and said: "The winds of the east, I call thee to protect me in my rite. You cool me with your breezes and you fill my lungs with life. So mote it be." Then I lit the candle representing south and said: "The fires of the south, I call thee to protect me in my rite. You warm my body and show me the path in the darkest of nights. So mote it be." Finally, I came to water: I had a crystal goblet filled with water and a piece of quartz to represent it. I pointed at the goblet and said: "The waters of the west, I call thee to protect me in my rite. You quench my thirst and you cleanse my body. So mote it be." That was it for the quarters. These little sayings are mostly original: I got the basic idea from the same link above.

3. Invoke the God and Goddess. For the God, I said: "I welcome you, Great Father. Please join me in my rite." For the Goddess, I said: "I welcome you, Great Mother. Please join me in my rite." I got these invocations from this link.

4. State the purpose. I said: "Besides celebrating my devotion to the God and Goddess, I want to appreciate myself."

5. Energy raising. I turned on this awesome drum music and had it playing loud as I danced, chanting "Earth my body, water my blood, air my breath, fire my spirit." I acquired that chant from this link. After effectively tiring myself out and raising my heartbeat, I moved on to the next part.

6. Working of the spell. I wrote up a little rhyme-spell thing for this a month ago. I started dancing and said three times: "Great Goddess, hear my plea. What I want, is to love me." I followed up with three so mote it be's. Then I said: "Great God, hear my plea. What I want, is to love me." I also followed it up with three so mote it be's. This chant is entirely original, but if you want to use it, go ahead. Just be sure to credit me!

7. Meditate. After this, I danced a little bit then laid down and sang along with this song. I believe the lyrics come from the Charge of the Goddess, who knows. I thought about how I truly do love and appreciate myself, and how I must do it more often.

8. Thanks and Dismissal. To the Goddess, I said: "Goddess, thank you for blessing me with your knowledge and insight. Go if you must, stay if you will, hail and farewell." As for the God, I said: "God, thank you for blessing me with your bounty and dedication. Go if you must, stay if you will, hail and farewell." For water, I pointed at the goblet and said: "Farewell water, thank you for lending courage and protection to my circle." For fire, I blew out the candle and said: "Farewell fire, thank you for lending passion and protection to my circle." For air, I blew out the candle and said: "Thank you for lending knowledge and protection to my circle." For earth, I blew out the candle and said: "Thank you for lending wisdom and protection to my circle." I got the Goddess and God farewells from this link, and the elemental farewells from this link.

9. Open the circle. I said: "By the earth that is her body, by the air that is her breath, by the fire that is her spirit and by the water that is her womb, the circle is open. So mote it be." Same as the casting, I just changed it from the circle is cast to the circle is open.

And that's all there is to my little spell. You're welcome to use this and edit it in any way for your needs. Just be sure to give credit where credit is due.

Astral Projection

Hey, sorry about my 2 month absence guys! I ended up spending most of my free time out and about with my friends instead of working hard on my Pagan studies. School is starting for me next week, and I'm gonna be a high school junior. I'll probably be more likely to hit my Pagan studies along with my school studies- in my precourse work for AP US History, I read about the Salem Witchcraft Crisis, which reminded me of Paganism.

I never did a ritual for Lughnasadh which makes me upset since it's a Sabbat I really connect to. I did make some shortbread adorned with whipped cream and grapes but that's really it.

Last night I was reading Llwellyn's 2010 Magical Almanac and there was an article about Astral Projection, so it got me into the mood for some meditation. My journey on the Astral plane was quick, probably like 5 minutes, but it was energy draining though rewarding. I went to a lighthouse on a beach that I had went to in one of my previous sessions, and it was very uplifting and happy. I saw a herd of wild horses running up and down the beach and got to ride one. It was very fun! I'd love to go back to that place but like I said it takes a lot of energy, so I have to get into the mood. I lit some candles and put some meditation music on last night to help out.

Either way, have any of you traveled on the Astral plane? I'd love to hear about your journeys.

Blessed be. )O(

PS. I hope to update soon, since I've been reading the Almanac!

Ether Covening

Okay, so now I'm reading Llewellyn's 2010 Magical Almanac, and I came across an article called Ether Covening by Elizabeth Hazel. According to Hazel,

"Ether-sometimes called the fifth element-flows through the fabric of reality and is the natural conduit for magical energy. A ritual or spell done by a group of practitioners simultaneously at remote locations is called ether covening."

Basically, ether covening is useful when you want to do a group ritual/spell and your coven members or fellow solitary practitioners can't meet. This works when you don't have pagans living close by, but are in contact with pagans out of state or out of the country. Like, I live in Maryland while my friend lives in New Jersey. We can't drive up and meet each other whenever we feel like doing a ritual or spell. So, it would be useful to us to do the ether covening.
For this to work, all participants need to pick a date and time for the spell or ritual. If you're doing something that requires certain materials, like a white candle, then you need to make sure every participant has the materials. Likewise if you're doing something where you all have to chant or say certain things, everyone needs a copy of the script.
Time is really important. If the participants are in a different time zone, you need to check up and make sure all the times are lined up correctly. http://www.worldtimezone.com/ is super useful in this situation. If you want to start a ritual at 5 pm New York time, then your coven member in China needs to start at 5am their time, while your other member in Los Angeles needs to start at 2pm. The point of ether covening is having a ritual or spell done at the same time, but in different locations. Hazel calls it the Etheric Net, and compares it with the Internet. So, just like how it's 3am your time and you just met someone on Omegle and it's 3pm their time, but you guys are both talking to each other at the same time. Get the picture?
Another thing to remember is if all people participating in a spell want the effect of the spell. Hazel uses this example: a person with a good job shouldn't participate in a spell for attracting new employment. So, make sure everyone's participating for the right reasons. It's like clearing the tabs up on your internet browser so it can run faster or more effectively toward your goal.
Those participating should spend a few moments concentrating on the other participants, by saying their names or imagining them. It will help make the etheric net stronger.
I personally think this is a great thing to know about and use to your benefit. It can help you stay a solitary practitioner and use the benefits of a coven. If that is your wish, of course.

The days of the week.

Okay, so I was reading this book called Llewellyn's 2010 Witches' Companion which is some kind of yearly Almanac thing that the publishing company Llewellyn does. No joke, you need to check Llewellyn out my fellow Pagans. They publish tons and tons of Pagan stuff, and most of my books come from them. This particular copy was given to me by my best friend's mom, Cathy. She's your typical 40-year-old unmarried organic-food-eating hippie with a daughter. I love her lots. Growing up, I spent tons of time with her daughter Autumn and she'd take us all over the place- I think I was so open to Paganism because of her. She's given me candles and spellbooks and the such, and does Reiki in her spare time.
Either way, I was reading and came across an article called "Color Magick" by Raven Digitalis. In it, he describes the importance of color in magick. Totally obvious, right? Well he talks about the days of the week and their colors, and so I'd figured I'd better share this with you guys.

• Sunday (the Sun): Yellow


• Monday (the Moon): White or Violet


• Tuesday (Mars): Red


• Wednesday (Mercury): Orange


• Thursday (Jupiter): Blue or Indigo


• Friday (Venus): Green


• Saturday (Saturn): Black

Yeah, most of this stuff is pretty self-explanitory, but you know what? It's legit and useful. Digitalis suggests:

• Wear clothing throughout the day that is of the color at hand


• Research the astrological significance of the planet associated with the color


• Burn appropriately colored candles throughout the day


• Eat fruit and foods that are of the day's color


• Stare at an appropriately colored piece of paper or fabric for a length of time, allowing your brain to fully absorb the color


• Keep a journal of your findings (like the color's impact on your energy for the day and visions you receive in meditations) or jot notes in your Book of Shadows

Bada-bing, bada-boom. Now hopefully Raven Digitalis won't sue me for copyright infringement.

The Summer Solstice.

When I celebrate the sabbats, I do it for three days. The day before, the day of and the day after. I could say how I think it's more natural and whatever, but it's because I want to have more time If I forget about it. What a real witch I am, huh? I think I read about it somewhere.
Anyway, this is what I did for the Summer Solstice, otherwise known as Midsummer, also otherwise known as Litha. If you don't know what it is, here's a quick rundown- around June 21st, in the Northern hemisphere, it's the longest day of the year and the first official day of summer. Shakespeare thought it was such a magical day that he wrote a whole play about. Well, newsflash. It is pretty special, man.
Okay, I keep getting sidetracked. On the night of 20th, I made orange honey butter and started my solar tea. Here are the recipes from both and where I discovered them:

Orange Honey Butter (http://www.unc.edu/~reddeer/recipe/rec_litha.html#honeybutter)

2 Tablespoons Grated Orange Rind
3 Tablespoons Powdered Sugar
1/2 cup Unsalted Butter, at room temperature
1 Tablespoon honey Combine the orange rind, powdered sugar, butter and honey in a small bowl and blend until well mixed. Chill slightly and serve with scones or biscuits.

Solar Tea (http://witchery.wordpress.com/2008/04/17/litha-recipes/)
1 large jar with a very tight fitting lid
cold water
2 tea bags for each quart of water
1 orange, unpeeled, well washed, and cut into small pieces
1/2 lemon, unpeeled, well washed, and cut into small pieces
Fill the jar with water. Add the orange, the lemon, and the tea bags. Place in full sunlight for two hours. Refrigerate immediately. Serve over ice.

Next day, on the 21st, I put my solar tea in the sunlight for the recommended two hours. I used that time to make my final Midsummer dish:

Apfelpfannkuchen (http://www.unc.edu/~reddeer/recipe/rec_litha.html#apfel)
2 large Apples, any cooking variety
1/4 cup Butter
1 cup Flour
1 cup Milk
1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
1/2 teaspoon Salt
1/4 teaspoon Nutmeg,
Confectioners sugar
Preheat oven to 475. Peel, core and very thinly slice the apples: you should have approximately 1-1/2 cups.
Melt 3 Tablespoons of the butter over medium low heat in a small fry pan, and sauté the apples until they are just tender. Keep apples warm while preparing the batter.
Place a 9 or 10 inch cast-iron skillet in the oven to heat for at least 5 minutes--the pan has to be very hot for this to work. When it is well heated, add the remaining 2 T sp. of butter to melt and put the skillet back in the oven; the butter should be very hot buy not brown when you add the apples and the batter.
Place the flour, milk, vanilla, salt and nutmeg in a blender and whirl until smooth. Remove the skillet from the oven, quickly arrange the warm apple slices over the melted butter, and pour the batter evenly over all. Bake for 15 min., reduce heat to 375 and bake 10 minutes longer. The pancake will puff and climb up the sides of the pan. Sprinkle with confectioner's sugar, then cut in wedges and serve with maple syrup.

I didn't follow all these instructions because I realized last-minute that I did not have a cast iron skillet. I was not stoked whatsoever. Either way, it turned out pretty good. I regret that I didn't preform any ritual on the summer solstice, and my last day of celebration had nothing to do with the solstice. Again, I'm a superb witch. I did, however, make a prayer to the Horned God while consuming my summer feast. Litha is typically all about the God, so he was recognized. I'm usually all about the Goddess, so it was uplifting to be particular to Him.
Well, since Litha is over, hopefully next year someone will creep across my blog and use these little recipes- or find them at their legitimate location.
Blessed be. )O(

Merry meet.

Snazzy blog title, right?
Well, yeah, I'm Ally, and I'm fifteen.
When I was around thirteen my friend Christine introduced me to Paganism.
Ever since then, I've been interested in it. My relationship with Paganism is an odd one, I've never been an extremely religious person but I've come to realize that being Pagan is a lifestyle, not just a religion. So, ever since Lughnasadh 2010 I've been studying and learning as often as I can about Paganism (which really wasn't that often, screw you school).
This summer I really plan to step up on my Pagan studies and I think the best way to do that is to begin a blog. My online, public Book/Blog of Shadows. I want to help myself, and I think I might help a few struggling Pagans like me out there.
So, if you want, join me on my Pagan path.
)O(