I must apologize, it's been way too long and when I got the mail today and saw the latest issue of SageWoman, and realized that I can't remember the last time I had received the magazine, well, let's just say that I was sad.
Where do I start?
...PaganSquare
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Blog posts tagged in peace
If you and a friend have argued and you want to heal the wound, try this simple spell. It is remarkably effective and can even be used for bigger issues, such as an anti-war spell.
If you have a letter or even a printed e-mail from your friend discussing the conflict, roll it on a scroll, place it in a green glass bottle, and cork the bottle. If you don’t have such a document, write one. During the waning moon, take the bottle to a river or ocean at low tide. Draw a heart on the outside of the bottle with a permanent marker, then toss it gently into the water so it won’t break.
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 full moon night for the greatest effect. Place your stained-glass peace candle on your altar and light rose incense, which represents love and unity. Light the candle and chant:
I light this candle for hope,
I light this candle for love,
I light this candle for unity,
I light this candle for the good of all the world
I light this candle for love,
I light this candle for unity,
I light this candle for the good of all the world
That we should live in peace. And so it shall be.
Sit in front of your altar and meditate, eyes closed, for a few minutes while visualizing peace in the world. Let the candle burn completely for full charging. Whenever the world around you feels chaotic, light this candle and meditate on a sense of peace enveloping you. And it will.
“We come in peace!”
These days, if you need a visual symbol to indicate peaceable intent from a distance, you hold up a white flag.
How a white cloth came to mean “peace,” I don't know. I suspect that, in part at least, it's a matter of pragmatism: holding up a cloth shows that you have no weapon in hand. White tends to be visible from a distance, which is good—you want to be sure that they don't fill you full of arrows before you get close enough to be heard—and I'm guessing that, in any given group of people, we could probably come up with at least one piece of white clothing to keep us from getting our butts shot off before we're close enough to parley.
Of course, this wouldn't get you very far if you happened to be traveling with witch-folk, we being, in the main, wearers of black. Fortunately, there's another option for a sign of peace: an old sign, a pagan sign.
“We come in frith!” we say (“frith” is Witch—and Heathen—for peace), holding up our green branches.
The green branch makes a good symbol of peace. Like the white cloth, it shows that you have no weapon in hand.
Unlike a white cloth, you can find a green branch almost anywhere. Even during the winter, there are generally evergreen branches to hand. A green branch is like unto that old pagan distance weapon, a spear, but it's a spear of peace.
A green branch is alive, growing. (Well, it was up until just a little while ago, anyway.) Think of it as a branch from the Tree of Life.
We may even find a theological statement here. How if the Green God, lord of vegetation, is the proper pagan god of truce, of peace? It's the Red God, lord of beasts, that's the fighter; but under the sign of the Leafy One, we meet in frith. The trees are a peaceful people. Where but beneath the branches of a tree do we hold our peace parley?
In half a Moon's time, on Midsummer's Eve, the coven will be up on the hill, dancing the traditional Dance of the Wheel with fresh, green branches in our hands.
These past few months have been increadibly hard. I've tried throwing myself into various studies, using this isolation/quarantine time to my best.
Yet, I find that inside I'm hurting. I've loved having my family home and around me, yet, there's an ache.
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The snow has finally arrived here in NW PA.
It's a mixed blessing for me. I worry about my young drivers, I worry about my husband who drives for a living, I worry about me driving. Icy snowy roads make me nervous, and here I am, living on top of a hill that I have to descend to get anywhere. As well, to get anywhere in this town, you either have to go up or down a hill.
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