Sprung

Wittering on... 28/03/14

Well I certainly seem to have started posting again; I took a little time off as the Thurisaz posts had really took it out of me, I hadn't planned to be so affected by it. However, onwards and upwards…

My ‘This Witch’ post has been very popular and I have had some lovely comments so thank you for that. I like to put my spirituality out there… it’s something I am very proud of and so I feel that sharing it in this way is honouring the blessing I feel it is. I would like to talk about the last line of that post, which is “The Universe has got your back”. It is possibly my favourite of anything I’ve ever written; I think it implies everything that religion is about… any religion; therefore it should speak to everyone on a fundamental level. I feel a little unworthy to claim credit for it as I am of the belief that when I write like that, deity is giving messages through me. That being said, I am grateful for the interest and popularity of the post.

I am now compiling the magicks I will be using for the Ansuz Magick post; it may take me another week or so to complete so don’t start holding your breath in anticipation just yet. I am straying slightly from the ‘Talisman, Element Spell & Meditation’ format of the previous Rune Magick post. I currently have a blessing for an Ash wand of Inspiration percolating in my sub conscious, as well as an Air spell to call the muses but those ideas are still to be fleshed out and added to.

Hope all of you had a wonderful Ostara

Blessed Be x)O(x

The Astrologies of Acantha Rayne

Sun Sign – Gemini

My first dalliance into astrology taught me that the Sun was in Gemini at the time of my birth. This sun is a monumental entity and its influence is vast, therefore its presence in Gemini when I was born is what imbued me with the adaptability and intelligence of the sign. Its influence blessed me with an emotional temperament, an agile mind and a light-hearted attitude. It also had a few negative connotations – my nervousness and lack of concentration and my occasional bouts of irresponsible behaviour.

Moon Sign – Gemini

Gemini was housing the Moon as well as the Sun when I was born and this apparently makes me witty and charming… well, I like to think I am but at least now I have astrological back up when I say so – lol! Unfortunately, Gemini has a natural duality and the twin aspect of my witty and charming self is my moodiness and irritability – I know this is true about myself but I boast about it less often. The other element of this sign being Gemini that significantly relates to my personality is my need for various stimuli to keep my interest – I must be talking, reading, writing, or thinking – an active mind is essential to me, otherwise I get extremely bored and my irritability and moodiness rears its ugly head.

My Celtic Tree - Oak

Oak is the druidic tree of Strength and therefore being born under this sign explains my mental, spiritual and magickal strength, it seems to have passed me over in physical strength. The oak sign gifted me as a protective person. Other traits which come from my Oak heritage are my nurturing nature, exuding generosity and helpfulness – the gentle giant of the Celtic Zodiac. I have been blessed with optimism and an easy confidence whilst respecting deeply history and my ancestors. Oak is a sign that loves to impart knowledge to others – seeding the world with its acorns of wisdom and therefore often become teachers. Teaching did not become my path but my blog hopefully imparts the wisdom of my years.

My Chinese Sign – The Rooster

Being born under the sign of the Rooster has certainly added directly to my personality; specifically, the trait of being a deep thinker. The other areas of my personality which draw from the energy of the Rooster sign are my enjoyment of being busy and my devotion to the things I love beyond my capabilities and lends to my air of eccentricity. I also hold the Rooster sign responsible for my belief that I am usually right in what I think. I am a loner, which is also indicative of being a Rooster; this includes my outward persona of being rather adventurous but inside being a little timid.

My other rooster traits include selfishness, perfectionism, mood swings, my love of writing, optimism, determination generosity and pride.

Finding My Magickal Name

My magickal name started very differently. It began when an unusual plant haunted my dreams; upon researching it I discovered it was called an Acanthus and was a plant of the moon and as I was born under a full moon, this seemed appropriate. For a time I was happy to be just Acanthus but as I moved from just studying the craft into practising it the element of fire became dominant in my workings – I was very taken with candle magick. From this, my name grew to Acanthus Sienna, I consider the colour, sienna, to be a burned variation of red and so it fitted nicely into my craft at the time. My first dedication was under this name and it still holds significance to me when I work with the masculine energies of deity.

In time, I grew to find it too masculine; as I grew from a girl into a woman, I wished my magickal name to express that transition although I still desired the sound of Acanth… and as I have always enjoyed beginnings and at the time I was very drawn to the energies of Athena, I contracted the name to Acantha; I was losing my obsession with candle magick too and branching into other areas of study and practice which made dropping the ‘Sienna’ a natural move. It still was not quite right at so I postponed my rededication until it felt more suitable.

The more suitable time took almost 3 years to reach me; by this point in my exploration of spiritual and magickal endeavours I was very involved in water magick and working a great deal with undine energy and so I chose Rayne as the perfect accompaniment to my Acantha persona. I chose this spelling because I naturally avoid tradition as a matter of principle and when I wrote it down I preferred the look of ‘AcanthaRayne’ to ‘AcanthaRain’. I rededicated myself under the name AcanthaRayne and stayed that way until December 2013.

I was studying the Celtic Calendar and discovered I was born under the Oak Moon; this I found to be and incredible addition to my magickal repertoire.  I have always loved Oak trees I was very moved when I became aware that it was the Celtic month in which I was born – it strengthened my belief in myself and my magick. It then got adopted into my magickal name because as I mentioned before I was born on the day of the Oak Moon, 1981.

Rune Interpretation - Ansuz

Basic Meaning:

promotion – leadership – information through the spoken/written word – planning carefully – divine wisdom – inspiration – wisdom – aspirations - communication

Magickal Application:

Wisdom – eloquence – inspiration – sending information

Deity Association:

Odin – Loki – Eostre

Characterisation

Divining is the art of receiving messages and Ansuz in itself is a message. This is the rune of Norse God, Odin. It is characterised by its command of communication, creativity and control of divine power. In spiritual work, Ansuz is the bringer of prophecy and revelation; it therefore naturally follows that it is also the bringer of knowledge and wisdom but with the perspective of reason. When Ansuz appears in a reading it is a message to heed instruction and advice; this is likely to come from a letter, a book or other information source.

When considering Ansuz as the rune of Loki, take under advisement that Loki was a renowned trickster and as such the reversed character is likely to portend to a surprise, trick or deception.

This Witch

This is an edited and extended version of my I Am Witch post from December. After posting that original on a forum site - Dragonswood (see my list of favourite sites for link), I was asked several questions about the statements I had posted and it made me re-evaluate and analyse more thoroughly the beliefs I hold so dear.

1.          My belief in a higher power is not limited to a single deity. Nor, is it always dependant on any deity. Sometimes, it is stripped back to the core belief that I respect, trust and acknowledge Universal energy and power. This Universal energy, I consider to be all deity combined – source energy. As I do not conform to any one religion in this belief, I draw from many traditions, cultures and beliefs in my practice of worship, magick and ritual.

2.       Immanence vs. Transcendence: my belief has evolved over the years so both these concepts of deity can coexist within it. As I have already mentioned I believe in Universal ‘source’ energy, there is no denying that we, as individuals, as a race, as a planet, are a part of the Universe; each atom we are made of comes from and is made of the Universe. Therefore, it is logical that the energy of the Universe is not only within us but what we are as a whole – this to me is the definition of immanence – the feminine and masculine qualities of the Universe are manifest within me, expressed throughout the human race, the animal kingdom and all other life on the planet. When coming to these realisations about my belief, I thought for a time that I was perhaps atheist – unable to see beyond the science of earth’s creation, as I do believe in the scientific explanations as to how the planet formed. This atheist ‘phase’ lasted only a short time as my religious research and personal experiences led to growth in my magickal and spiritual practices. Believing in deity as transcendent was surprisingly not difficult to then seep into how I viewed my religion; I began to have faith, and I still have faith, that not all of the miracles of the Universe can be crammed into the human experience. Yes, I can speak to deity in meditation; yes, I can call on deity to assist me in my magickal practice; and yes, I can honour deity for being present in my life but what I cannot do, is convince everyone else that my faith in and view of deity is the truth of the Universe. If deity was 100% immanent and there was no level of transcendence then there would be no religious intolerance – the unreachable aspects of deity are what create individual belief systems as personal interpretation of the unseen and unexperienced cannot be measured, restrained or stopped.

3.        The cycle of the moon is very important to me; in fact I consider it the compass of my practice. When she is full, Lady Luna is a beacon of goodness (a light in the dark, if you will); as the milky orb wanes, her magick strengthens the art of diminishing negative energy; when she is Dark, it is time to put magickal work aside and rest; as her thin sliver returns and she is New the time has come to begin again with new projects and endeavours; from there she waxes and the time has come for magickal work to bring gain; until she is once again Full and ready to be the strongest force of positive energy in the sky.

4.      The cycle of the Sun is just as important to me as that of the Moon. The God is what drew me to the Craft originally and as a summer baby – born in June, I am very much devoted to the God’s strength during the Summer months.

5.        I live in alignment with the seasons; therefore, I celebrate the change from light to dark to light again, from warm to cold to warm again. I rejoice in the rain, I roll in the snow, I bathe in the sun and I howl at the moon. I do conform to the witches Sabbats as the most structured way of celebrating the cycles of nature but I find enjoyment in nature every day.

6.        I am a tree-hugger: a hug is an embracing way to express a love of trees and to give thanks to the spirit of that tree for not only providing beauty, shade from the sun, cover from the rain, but also the oxygen we need to breathe. It is not a silly thing to do but a genuine gift of love and respect for the oldest and grandest life force on the plant.

7.       I accept the elements: earth, air, fire and water, as the foundation and key components of magickal practice and trust that they are the cornerstones of my work. I discovered this early in my 18 years of study and I have never wavered from it.

8.        All living things have a life force; a spirit/essence/energy which is to be respected and treasured. This is not limited to people and animals; it also includes the elements, trees, plants, rocks, mountains, crystals, anything made by the natural world. I extend this belief in the life force of nature to the point of consciousness and even memory. To honour this life force is to believe it a blessing to the world. The term carbon-footprint is common nowadays, but the impression of the carbon footprint, of the human race is still in its infancy in comparison to what the trees, oceans and mountains have seen, felt and experienced since the beginning of this planet.

9.       I trust that life (or existence) is eternal, and when the physical body dies, the spiritual body does not. I believe in reincarnation and that when there are lessons that still must be learned, you are reborn to learn them. I also believe that when all lessons are learned, there is ascension of the soul to the ‘afterlife’ – this for me is Summerland. I struggled with the concept for a long time that all lessons can be learned, all knowledge and wisdom can ever be completely gained but what I mean by saying this, and what my belief is right now, is that when all the lessons your soul personally needs to learn are gained, then ascension is possible.

10.     Learning is something that as physical and spiritual beings, we all do constantly. We learn to walk in the first year of our lives, talk in the second, and we learn to feel and how to express feelings for the rest of our lives. It takes both the physical and spiritual existence to feel and it is the experience of feelings that generate the lessons of the soul: without feeling you have been wronged, how would you experience forgiveness? There is a well known phrase: “I didn’t know what I had until it was gone”; this is another lesson – without having felt loss, appreciating love is all the harder.

11.        The majority of magick I practice is channelled, created or generated for others. I do not mean by the word ‘channel’ that I am taking from other witches but that the magick used is from energies gained via invoking deity; I raise and ‘send out’ my own energy with this channelled energy otherwise I would not be practicing magick, only directing it. Creating magick is related more to personal crafting, for example if I make a wand, when I charge it, I am transferring my personal energy to it and therefore this and the energy of the wood create something new. Generating magick is a term I use to describe raising my own energy; this is when I am preparing for spiritual/magickal work.

12.      The only workings I regularly do for myself are to honour deities and ‘unseen’ energies and those for a life of balance. I deem ‘honouring’ as a magickal practice for two reasons: firstly, because I raise energy to do so – flex the same magickal muscles; and secondly, because I am honouring the energies I call upon and work with during my practice. It may seem like ‘honouring’ is not a practice of personal benefit but I believe it is as it makes me feel closer to the deity in question.

I believe in many things, some might be just in my imagination but as I believe in other realms, parallel universes, other dimensions, I don’t believe that they are just imagination. What I have outlined above is a summary of a set of beliefs that have taken my entire life to become something I am willing to defend. I am not a witch because of what I believe; I am a witch because I practice what I believe. If I was to say “I believe in faeries” but take no care when I am in nature, in their home then what is the point in saying it, or believing it. However, I DO believe in faeries (I DO, I DO) and so if I am walking in the park and I see litter, I will pick it up and put it in the bin; I will leave an offering for the faeries of cream or berries because I have researched what they like and taken them into consideration.

The path I am on is not something that I do, it’s who I am. You will hear the term ‘path’ a lot when studying religion, especially traditions of paganism; it’s just another way of saying how you live your life, how you experience it, what you learn from it, what you take from the journey. What I know right now from the life I have led so far is that there are no short cuts to happiness, fulfilment, enlightenment, there are only choices. Choose to be honest, choose to love, choose to give thanks, choose to keep learning… as for everything else, let nature take care of it; the Universe has got your back!

Rune Magick - Thurisaz Meditations

Aura Defence Meditations

Thurisaz, like all things in the magickal world has a number of diverse uses and so, as well as being the bringer of chaos, it can be used to heal and defend too. The aura is your personal energy field and as such requires both healing (or at least regular maintenance) and it requires defending against negative influences. Thurisaz can offer these things when fused into the aura during meditation. I therefore offer three meditation choices on this post: the first is purely defensive – I like to call it the Thorn Bomb; the second is protective – The Thurisaz Guard; and the third is for healing – Auric Asprin.

Thorn Bomb

This is a very defensive meditation; if you feel yourself under attack on a regular basis, psychic or otherwise, this method of arming your aura with Thurisaz power is a great way of levelling the playing field.

1. Sit comfortably on the floor and light 3 red votive candles.
2. Place them around you in a circle, approximately 3 feet away from your body – this is the approximate reach of the human aura – at least, it is the approximate reach of mine. These candles will serve as a barrier for the thorns. If you feel it necessary, you can charge them with this purpose:

Conceal the energy ebbs and flows

As my aura wanes and grows

Encircled wax create the frame

A protective shield of crimson flame

No attack can penetrate

Exterminate or extricate

While this circle is erect

Red defend, red protect

3. Take several deep breaths to ground, centre and reach a meditative, relaxed state.
4. Focus on bringing the image of your aura into your minds eye. Its colour and size are not important for this meditation but if you follow the fluctuations of your auric energy, take note of them anyway.
5. Watch how it moves; does it swirl, does it have lightning streaks, plume like smoke? Once you see the aura clearly, expand it out to the edge of your candle circle, and then bring it in to your base chakra.
6. Here, rotate the energy clockwise until it becomes a swirling sphere; turn the energy red, the strong powerful red of protection, courage and fire.
7. Inside the sphere, visualise a Thurisaz symbol and let it absorb the sphere. When all of your auric energy is inside the Thurisaz, it will glow red.
8. That glow will pulse, faster and faster, building in power and palpitation like a balloon growing until it pops.
9. Let it pop; the explosion of energy will return your aura to its original state but there will be thorns protruding from the exterior of your energy.
10. Once you are happy with the defensive energy of the thorns, bring yourself out of the meditation.

The Thurisaz Guard

There is a very comforting sense that you get from knowing you are guarded, protected. I call this meditation The Thurisaz Guard because the protrusion ofThurisaz' point is to me similar to a warriors sword or spear and this is how I drew inspiration for this meditation.

1. Sit comfortably whilst you ground and centre.
2. Hold a Carnelian Thurisaz rune and charge it with the following incantation:

Thurisaz, oh Thurisaz

In the aether please protect

Keep me safe and guarded

When my aura I project

3. Close your eyes and breathe in deeply.
4. Let your body relax and allow your mind to wander into the aether.
5. Once you are in a state of meditation, manifest a visualisation of your aura and expand it to its outermost reach.
6. Draw the image and energy of the rune symbol in your hand into your body; feel it travel through you, bring it to your third eye and project it out until you see it manifest in your aura.
7. Move it outside your auric field; the line of its shape should be flush against your aura with the point facing outward.
8. Once you have this visualisation solid, duplicate your Thurisaz ‘soldier’ so that there are many surrounding your aura, how number of ‘soldiers’ will depend greatly on the expanse of your aura.
9. Call your ‘guard’ to arms with the following verse, spoken out loud or thought internally:

Thurisaz, oh Thurisaz

In the aether please protect

Keep me safe and guarded

When my aura I project

Let your thorn prove punishment

To any who wish me harm

Let it serve as warning

Or by all means to disarm

Your quest is hereby active

And will not be undone

So I ask that unless in defence

This guard will harm no one.

10. At this point you can either continue to other astral/meditative work or come out of your meditation but the guard is active and will remain so until you choose to disarm/deactivate it. If you do wish to do that:

a)     Ground and centre

b)     Hold your carnelian Thurisaz rune

c)      Reach your meditative state.

d)     Expand your aura and visualise the guard in place.

e)     Recite:

Thurisaz, oh Thurisaz

In the aether you protect

You kept me safe and guarded

When my aura did project

But now your quest is over

For no threat is close at hand

In thanks I say farewell to you

For keeping me well manned.

Auric Asprin

I found a wonderfully inventive way to heal the aura in a similar way to how I subdue a headache – at least the physical act of subduing a headache. It’s not all meditation; it has some ritual elements too.

You will need:

• Sugar paper
• Chocolate pen (generally used to write on cakes)

1.         Cast a healing circle with lavender incense.

2.      Use the chocolate pen to draw a Thurisaz symbol 3 round pieces of sugar paper.

3.       Charge them by holding them in your hand and reciting:

Healing powers of the Thorn

Repair my aura where it’s worn

Ingested for a stronger boost

Auric damage be reduced.

4.     Eat each one in turn and then close your eyes.

5.       Take several deep breaths and reach your meditative state.

6.       Once you are aethric/astral expand your aura.

7.      Draw the energy from the ingested ‘runes’ with your visualisation skills out into your aura. The energy itself will appear as plumes of red smoke that expand as the energy pours into your aura.

8.       Let the smoke reach out to the edges of your aura and thicken in any darkened or thin areas.

9.      Once all damaged/weakened areas of the aura have been ‘smoked’, dissipate the smoke. The aura should be much brighter.

10.    Come out of your meditation slowly.

Wittering On 16/03/14 - Thurisaz Dilemma

Well as you may have noticed, Thurisaz Magick is well under way to being completed. It has been a long hard graft to find the right blend of magick for this rune and I am so pleased that I almost finished with this specific energy. I am struggling with the final piece for it though – an Aura Defence Meditation. I have two possible ideas for the post, both of which I have tried and found effective but I feel I should only use one of them in the post, I am just struggling to decide which one:

1.          Thorn Bomb – this is the idea that a Thurisaz symbol X be visualised in the aura and then exploded – the debris of which would be thorns protruding through the exterior of the aura as a defence.

2.      Thurisaz Guard – this is a ring of Thurisaz symbols, point facing outward posted around the exterior of the aura.

I have put a poll up on the left of my blog. Please vote as to which meditation would be more appreciated.

Many Blessings

Achieving a Meditative State

A meditative state can take practice to achieve; some can only reach the levels of relaxation needed with guided meditations and find ‘free fall’ meditation impossible. I am the opposite way, I struggle to relax when having to concentrate on a voice and receive much more when I free fall through my sub conscious. The method I use has been crafted and adapted by myself via trial and error for the last 15 years and now I find it the simplest way to get me into that world behind my eyelids.

• Cast a protective circle in the scent of frankincense oil heated in a burner.
• Let the circle absorb the scent of frankincense to increase its protective qualities.

• Light a candle, I find my working candle is good for this.
• Focus on the flame and take three long, slow, deep breaths.
• As you close your eyes let the image of the candle come with you…continue to see it with your third eye.

• The candle will burn down in your mind and as it does your body will relax and your mind will drift.
• Once the candle has burned half way down, extinguish it and you will find that you are in that dream-like state where anything can happen and the meditation will bring you where you need/want to go.
• You will use the other half of the candle to bring you out of your meditative state, so let it fade into the aether, with the intention of bringing it back later.

I will say here that because this is ‘free fall’, I put my trust in my guides to let my imagination flow and the messages I receive will come from them. Often I will see eyes (which in and of itself is a representation of contact with spiritual beings); wings are another popular vision I receive. I will post about my guides shortly on my Back to Basics tab.

Coming Out of Meditation

I find that many meditations will fade once you have received all relevant messages but returning to your full consciousness requires method.

• Visualise the half burned candle, focus on the wick and re-light it.
• As it glows, focus on the flame. Let your focus intensify to bring your mind back to the conscious world. Start to hear the noises from the street – bird song, traffic, rain on the window – anything that will bring you back.
• Continue to focus on these things until the candle goes out in your mind.
• Open your eyes.
• If the working candle hasn’t gone out, I will usually write down what I experienced by the light of it and reflect on some of the interpretations and thoughts that come to me.
• When you are completely done and the lit candle has died out, take down your circle and extinguish the oil burner. 

Move Closer - A Desire Spell

Move Closer

This spell is taken from Spirit & Destiny magazine (January 2003)

Associations:

Moon phase: Waxing

Day: Friday

You will need:

2 pink candles

Method:

1.       Begin on a Friday by placing the two pink candles on either end of your altar.

2.  Light the candles and spend 20 minutes or so meditating on how happy you’d feel with you’re intended partner, and what you can do to bring you closer.

3.      Blow out the candles and move them an inch closer to each other.

4.   Each day repeat this process until the candles touch by which time you should be arranging your first date.

Spin

Additional items:

• Pink paper
• Scissors

Cut a key out of the pink paper and place it in the middle of the two candles (at the centre of the table/altar where you are casting). This will serve as a focal point for the spell as it is to ‘unlock’ the desire.

Invoke deity energy, such as that of the Greek Goddess of Love, Aphrodite to increase the potency of the spell. Calling in Aphrodite should be done after casting your circle and calling the quarters. My personal Aphrodite Call is to the right →

Invoke Aphrodite once the candles are lit and in position. Then after the meditation, move the candles as the spell directs above and say:

Passionate Pink of Southerly Fires

Unlock the flame of carnal desires

Inch by inch the passion ascends

I cast this spell to reach these ends

Once the candles are touching, the final act of the spell is to drip wax from each candle onto the paper key and carry it with you until you get that date.