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Subscribe to this list via RSS Blog posts tagged in water

Posted by on in Paths Blogs
The Lady of the Lake

Keywords: Guardian, Enchantment, Mystery, Femininity, Intuition, Destiny, Magical Gifts, Balance of Power

 

Known also as Nimue or Viviane in different versions of the stories, the Lady of the Lake is a powerful figure of the Arthurian legends whose role shapes the destiny of more than one man. Her actions often maintained or shifted the balance of power in the Arthurian world. Her origins blend ancient Celtic water goddess motifs with medieval romance. She serves as a guardian of the lake, of the mystic isle of Avalon, the sword Excalibur, and a mentor of knights and warriors such as Lancelot.

This card arrives as a messenger from sacred, liminal realms like Avalon and speaks of one’s natural intuition, inborn wisdom, destiny and the divine feminine. The Lady reminds you that you are guided and supported by forces beyond the visible world. This card may signify a pivotal moment where you are called to step into a significant role or embrace a higher purpose. It highlights the importance of mentorship and guidance, either as a mentor yourself or in seeking guidance from others.

The Lady of the Lake teaches the vitality and the power of femininity. She demonstrates this power when pursued by an infatuated Merlin, and she learns and uses his own spells and enchantments against him, sealing him in a tree (or cave, depending on the version).

While the Arthurian stories, events and characters may seem overwhelmingly male, there is much feminine influence and control underlying everything. It is the women of the stories; the faeries and enchantresses and queens, who shape the men and the outcomes. Almost all the men of the story, at some point or another, find themselves lusting after a particular woman and this leads either to their compromise or downfall. Nimue understood male weakness and how to use it for her own purposes. While this may sound manipulative and toxic, it illustrates the necessity – often for survival – of working around male brutality and impulse with feminine craft and cunning.

The Lady’s story underscores the necessity of using one's unique strengths to navigate challenges and maintain balance. Just as she wielded her enchantments to shift the fates of those around her, you too are encouraged to recognize and harness your own innate abilities in order to take charge of your own fate. This card calls you to honor the mystical and unseen forces at play in your life, to embrace your destiny with courage, and to trust in the protective, guiding energies of the divine feminine.

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Posted by on in Paths Blogs
The Oracle of Water: Abyss

Keywords: Darkness, Mystery, Fear, the Unknown, the Unconscious Mind, Alien



The crushing abyss is a realm completely alien and all but completely inaccessible to humans. It’s an environment we can’t possibly survive in, but one that can teach us a lot about ourselves and the universe.

The Abyss represents the unknown, unseen, and unexplored aspects of ourselves and our psyche. It symbolizes the dark, mysterious, and often feared parts of our inner world. When the Abyss appears in a reading, it may indicate that you are being called to confront and explore your inner depths, including your fears, shadows, and unconscious patterns.

This card can also represent a need for transformation and rebirth. Just as the abyss is a vast, dark expanse that can also hold the potential for new life and discovery, you may be entering a period of profound change and growth. The Abyss can symbolize the dissolution of old patterns, beliefs, or identities, making way for new possibilities and perspectives.

The abyss is a strange, mysterious place that could easily pass for being on another planet. It literally is a whole other world that exists right alongside our light and air-filled world. It represents the unconscious mind, which is even deeper and less accessible than the subconscious. If cards like “Mist” and “Swamp” suggest shadow work, then Abyss represents even deeper and darker shadow work. It is frightening and uncertain, but necessary.

In a spiritual context, the Abyss can represent the void or the unknown aspects of the divine. It may indicate a need to surrender to the mysteries of the universe and trust in the unknown which is an inescapable part of life. The Abyss can also symbolize the collective unconscious, not just the individual, representing the shared human experiences and archetypes that lie beneath the surface of our conscious awareness.

Life is born and thrives even at the depths of the sea, below massive amounts of pressure and at the mouths of toxic thermal vents. There is always so much more that is so much deeper below the surface than we realize.




 

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The Power of a Piscean Solar Eclipse

 

We have an exceptionally powerful total solar eclipse occurring in Pisces in a few days. You may be thinking “the eclipse is in Aries!” but it actually is quite literally in the sign of Pisces. Tropical astrology is figurative, whereas sidereal astrology is based on where the constellations actually physically are, their actual size (hint: they definitely are not all a tidy 30°) and accounts for the precession of the equinoxes. Make no mistake, we are in Pisces through-and-through and I should like to make a case for this system and for working with the eclipse in the context of Pisces, not Aries.

Pisces is deep, no pun intended. It is spiritual, mystical, intuitive creative, and of course oh-so-watery. This powerful eclipse then is ideal for divination, enhancing intuitive and magical abilities, but also to banish or end any destructive or unhelpful energies, thoughts, feelings, relationships, etc. If there are any in your life that need extra firepower (or waterpower?), now is the time. Think of it as blasting your obstacles out of the way with the surge of a fire hose.

This is a great time to delve into ourselves, our true, deepest heart, and not the Sun-driven persona that everyone else sees. The Sun yields to the emotional Moon at this time, the Moon which guides and influences us and our actions far more than the Sun does. This is a time for shadow work, for scrying, for personal development and releasing whatever is no longer serving you. Chiron sits very near this eclipse, amplifying the healing energy in particular.

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Diving Into the Wreck: Working With the Dark Waters of Autumn

It is no secret or surprise that fall is probably most people’s favorite season, and it’s easy to see why: the beautiful changing colors of trees and falling leaves, the relief of cooler weather (in many regions), seasonal treats made from pumpkins and apples and, definitely not least of all, the ubiquitously popular holiday of Halloween. Halloween, or All Hallow’s Eve, originated as the pagan Irish holiday Samhain (SOW-in), which occurs when the veil between this world and the world of the dead is thinnest, and the spirits roam freely. Keeping unwanted spirits away resulted in enduring customs such as costumes and lanterns carved out of turnips (which would evolve into carved pumpkins, which Irish immigrants found much more readily available in the New World in the 19th century), as well as leaving out treats to placate the wandering souls.

There is certainly something in the autumn air itself that seems to testify to the inherent magic and mystery of the season. I know I’m not alone among worshipers of nature and practitioners of magic in feeling like I come back to life in the fall and have much more energy and motivation for journeying, rituals, meditation and magic. Summer stifles and suppresses me on every level, and just makes me cranky. Being fair-skinned and blue-eyed (descended almost exclusively from peoples of the far north) makes me physically sensitive to heat and bright light, and everything else about my personality means that darker, quieter, mystical surroundings are much more conducive to my magic and creativity.

I am especially and unsurprisingly appreciative of and tuned in to the watery energies of fall. Anyone who practices the more common forms of western magic or is familiar with classical occult correspondences knows that the element of water is assigned to the season of fall and the western quarter. While water in her myriad forms is obviously applicable to any direction or time of year, fall does seem to be the most fitting to water in her most common and basic forms.

I’ve come to see the Underworld as the main bridge between the element and the season. One of the more popular and detailed underworld concepts is that of Greek mythology, the realm of Hades which contains five rivers. One of those rivers (Styx or Acheron) is crossed by newly dead souls with the help of Charon, the ferryman. Each of the rivers’ names is based on an emotion associated with death. This is consistent with water being symbolic of emotions, and death is a very emotional thing.

An even more watery underworld is that of Adlivun, the realm of the Inuit goddess Sedna. She dwells in a whale bone palace at the bottom of the sea, to which she sank and transformed into a goddess and the mother of all warm-blooded marine creatures. There is no shortage of emotion in her dark tale or in the sea itself.

I recently discovered a poet named Adrienne Rich. I did so by stumbling upon one of her books on Ebay while searching for something completely different. I was characteristically attracted to the title of the book - “Diving Into the Wreck: Poems 1971-1972”, a winner of the National Book Award. I looked up the poem and read it online, loved it, and then ordered the book. I’d like to use this poem and the analogy it presents as a foundation for the kind of personal shadow work and other rituals of self-healing and discovery that are ideal to do this time of year.



First having read the book of myths,

and loaded the camera,

and checked the edge of the knife-blade,

I put on

the body-armor of black rubber

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One of my favorite books on the subject of my favorite element, water, is perfect reading for not only the upcoming new moon on the 13th, but for the whole long month of mystical Pisces which has just begun and lasts until April 20th. To clarify, in case any of you astrology enthusiasts are confused or getting geared up to tell me I’m mistaken, I follow sidereal astrology, not tropical. 

Sidereal astrology, unlike tropical, is based on the actual, physical constellations and accounts for the important precession of the equinoxes, which is continually shifting over time. The spring equinox has not actually occurred in the actual sign of Aries for quite a while, and now (as you may be noticing depending on where you live) occurs in Pisces. Each constellation is a different size, not an even 30º each as assigned in the dated tropical system. Pisces is one of the larger signs (more than twice the size of Aries) and therefore the sun is actually, literally in Pisces for much longer than tropical astrology has it. 

That being said, as you maybe seek to tune in to your intuition and deepen your spiritual practice with this watery new moon, I’d love to recommend the book “Sacred Water: The Spiritual Source of Life” by Nathaniel Altman.

This book approaches the element of water from a spiritual perspective and examines all the different traditions that have unanimously held water to be sacred. Altman gathers information from various sciences and sources including anthropology and astronomy, myths and legends and more to demonstrate the different roles and influences water has had in spirituality and lore throughout human history. 

Water becomes sacred when we recognize its powers: as a sustainer of humans, animals and plants; as a means of transportation, as a vehicle for cleansing, initiation or gaining wisdom; and as a source of inspiration and enchantment. Water is perhaps humanity’s oldest symbol of life, sustenance, abundance, fertility, movement, generosity, permanence and strength. Sacred water is all around us: from the tiny drops of morning dew on a spider’s web to the thundering cascade of a tropical waterfall, in the salty tears that we shed, and in the summer rain that we embrace." 
                                                                                       - excerpt from the introduction

 

In the chapter “Enchantment”, Mr. Altman writes about the beauty and connective and restorative powers of ritual baths and meditating with or near water. One can just as easily do a ritual shower though, and I personally find great comfort and communion in ritualizing my shower every day, it’s not something I only do occasionally. In fact my entire morning ritual focuses on a few steps, only one of which is my actual shower. 

Making a shower more of a ritual can be as simple as saying a short prayer or singing the same watery song each time, or as complicated as making moon water with specific intentions and pouring it over your head and/or body. You could also invite in more Pisces energy by placing relevant (and water-safe) crystals in your shower such as amethyst and moonstone, and use essential oils like rose absolute (my all-time favorite, roses being filled with spirituality, healing, health and enchantment), geranium (a good alternative to rose if you aren’t prepared to spend up to $50) and lavender. 

If you love water and work it into your spiritual and/or magical practice as much as I do, I can’t recommend “Sacred Water” enough, and I think you’ll refer back to it frequently and find lots of great inspiration and ideas to enhance your practice and your whole life which, after all, depends entirely on water! 


read more about the Pisces new moon here 


© 2021 Meredith Everwhite - All Rights Reserved

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Find Your Celestial Essence: 12 Floral Healers For Each Sign Of The Zodiac

Floral waters and flower essentials express emotional benefits differently and each has special healing application, As we can tell from the mass popularity of Bach’s Rescue Remedy, they work wonderfully to abet emotional health, mental outlook and positivity. The specific of these curatives can be pretty direct For example, the flower Impatiens helps those who struggle with impatience. Magical, right?  Below you'll find one flower essence for each of the 12 signs. Read yours and learn what can work for you:

Aries: Impatiens Renewal for  Rams

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Posted by on in Paths Blogs
The Elements

 

The Elements

The five elements are very important within Witchcraft.  Earth, Air, Fire, Water and Spirit make up the elements.  Each one has its own unique energy and characteristics.

Earth

When I think of Earth I think about soil.  Soil contains and keeps all the minerals and moisture that all the plants on the planet need to live.  Earth is everything we are and everything we have comes from the element of Earth.  We are born of it and we return to it at the end of our lives.  Earth is the foundation so it is no wonder that the element of Earth is associated with abundance and prosperity.  Earth also stabilises and grounds us, think of the grounding exercise mentioned earlier – it involves not only trees that grow but the earth, soil and rock of the planet.

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