We all need to give ourselves a health and happiness boost. This spell aimed at abetting menial and emotional well-being is best performed when the hardy spirit of Thor is in ascendance. On any Thursday, take a blue candle, dress it with cedar or bergamot oil, and say nine times:
Fears and woes — I take respite; Worries and cares — you’re out of sight.
Stronger and happier, I will grow each day;
My soul has found its way.
If you do this for several weeks, your friends will notice as your health blooms and you simply beam with a bright, jolly and renewed sense of self and well-being.
This is a very stressful time for many of us. The news inundates us every day to remind us just how stressed we are right now in 2020. We've certainly had enough to contend with this year, but so many things seem to be riding on the outcome of our presidential election on November 3rd. That this level of stress could stretch on for days after tomorrow almost feels unbearable.
I was fortunate to share an insightful chat with Mary Ellen Pride recently, who will be my next featured guest on November's "Women Who Howl at the Moon" podcast. Mary Ellen was voted as "Milwaukee's Best Psychic" in the Shepherd Express for 6 years in a row. She has over 40 years of professional experience and was a leader in the California-based group, Covenant of the Goddess, with which prolific author and activist, Starhawk, is affiliated.
There are cracks where inspiration dwells and hope still wanders, places where wonder seeps back onto parched terrain and breathes a promise of joy to come. There are droplets of courage sprinkled across buds of faith and tender shoots taking root in hidden spaces where they will twine into possibilities, seeking and extending tentative petals to the sky, keeping the pact they made before being, to bloom when they can.
At this point in the year I feel held suspended in a space between summer's fire and summer's fatigue. The air is thick and stifling, the flowers are wilting, the ground is parched, and I feel a sensation in the air of the approaching time to "turn the page."
You can do this work. You can live this life. You are made for these times. You are capable. You are bold. You are brave. You are needed. You are strong. You can rest when you need to.
For people experiencing unfamiliar levels of isolation in their homes this month, here are some potential resources to check out for "home retreating":
“Do not forget that it is summer. Have you slowed down, taken days or weeks of vacation, let the air have access to your body, explored nature, or let your toes out of your shoes?
Archer
Thanks as always Jamie! Very interesting about stoicism and Buddhism and Marcus Aurelius. (You know, whenever I look up Spock's philosophy, stoicism c...
Anthony Gresham
I know that one of Odin's titles was Lord of the Spear, and that he hung himself on Yggdrasil for 9 days. By any chance was Kveldulf dedicated to Odi...
Anthony Gresham
In "Heirs to Forgotten Kingdoms" Gerard Russell mentions a Mandaean demon named Dinanukht who is half man and half book and "sits by the waters of the...
