PaganSquare.com - WitchesAndPagans.com

Fire is heat and is the most visible form of energy. Fire is a powerful element, as it can transform and change the other elements. If you watch the flicker of your candle flame, the embers of your incense, or the blaze of your council fires, you will see a constant transmutation of matter. Fire has the ability to both excite and incite us, and fire is necessary to bring about change. Fire signs Aries, Leo, and Sagittarius are known for their strength and vibrancy. They can maintain this by employing their personal element of fire. Candle magic is a simple, powerful, and direct way you can invoke your native element of fore. 

Light the Fire of Self-healing

Even if you don’t ascribe to magic, you would probably guess that certain flowers and herbs have their own energies, in the same way they have uniquely lovely scents and oils. Simmer this mixture whenever you feel the need to infuse your home and hearth with the energies of quietude and protection. This will safeguard you and your loved ones from outside influences that could be negative or disruptive. Set your intention for how you want your space to feel and gather together the following dried herbs:

 1/4 cup rose petals

My next-door neighbor's husband is losing it.

A retired Baptist minister, his mental decline expresses itself in the form of public preaching to no one in particular. Sunday afternoon, while sitting on the front porch pitting cherries (pagan hands are never still), I listened with half an ear as he circled the block haranguing an unlistening and uncaring world about Sin, Salvation, and the Bible.

Generally I find public preaching noisome, but in this case what witches call ruth—compassion—wins out. He's not hurting anyone, and we all need to feel like we're doing something important in the world.

Besides, 20 years from now, that could be me out there, haranguing an uncaring and unlistening world about the Craft, the Horned One, and what it means to be a real pagan.

In some ways, the two of us—deeply religious people in a culture increasingly non-religious—have a lot in common.

The Deitsch people of Eastern Pennsylvania recognize a state of being that they call being “read fast.”

To be read fast is to become so obsessed with a particular book that one is driven to read and quote from it constantly, to the neglect of other aspects of one's life.

Among the Deitsch, the danger of becoming read fast is frequently associated with the classic grimoire the Sixth and Seventh Books of Moses, but experience readily suggests the term's potential for a wider applicability. Part of the danger of books—and, in particular, of book-driven ideologies—is their potential to possess—utterly and destructively—a soul.

Fortunately, there's an out.

Even if you don’t ascribe to magic, you would probably guess that certain flowers and herbs have their own energies, in the same way they have uniquely lovely scents and oils. Simmer this mixture whenever you feel the need to infuse your home and hearth with the energies of quietude and protection. This will safeguard you and your loved ones from outside influences that could be negative or disruptive. Set your intention for how you want your space to feel and gather together the following dried herbs:

 1/4 cup rose petals

 When you feel pain somewhere in your body, it is a small voice that needs to be listened to. It could be old energy that needs to be released or a blockage or imbalance. I was in a hit-and-run auto accident where I was hit by a drunk driver who plowed through a red light and totaled my car, and very nearly me. As I hit the brake, my foot and ankle were shattered, rather like a porcelain teacup thrown with great force. The doctors wanted to amputate my leg, but I managed to talk them out of it. I had to learn to walk again, but I can walk and even dance and run again after lots of physical therapy and healing. But nowadays whenever I hit the brake too hard, I feel pain because my body remembers. The tissue and bones old the memory imprint of that awful day and the terrible trauma.

Recently, I have been wishing and hoping for peace in this world of ours, as have most of us. I have been making, burning, and giving away candles with the word “peace” written with crystals embedded in the soft candle wax. If possible, perform this spell during a moonlit night for the greatest effect. Place your  peace candle on your altar and light rose incense, which represents love and unity. Light the candle and chant: