Monthly Archives: January 2013
Ritual Food
Eating something is very much part of my practice. Maybe I just haven’t mastered harnessing the universal powers yet – but after serious spell work or even a ritual I am wiped. I’m exhausted! Eating something has always been part of my magickal practice.
Lack of eating (fasting) has also been part of my practice. Let me tell you – as a fat girl – it is NOT easy to fast.
When to Feast:
Sabbats
As a yummy ‘thank you’ to your guides
When to Fast:
Asking the universe for a favor (gotta give something to get something)
Asking for anything that would be considered ‘above and beyond’
Show devotion
I eat something every day in my little sacred space. I offer the first bit of food to my Goddess, Hecate. When she has her offering and her candle is lit – then I eat.
Maybe this sounds crazy – but sometimes I even talk to her. Sometimes I talk out loud as if she were physically with me. There are times I communicate with her psychically. I would say most of my communication with her is ‘silent’. I anoint her feet with oil only used for her. I change her stones around (she has different stones at her feet at different times). I sprinkle some Hecate Water (rain water that has been charged under a dark moon) on her head.
I feast to say ‘thanks’ and I fast to say ‘please’.
All workings leave me tired. Many friends have told me that I should be tapping into the universe to channel my energy – but that doesn’t make sense to me. The energy of the universe is not my energy. I should use my energy and my intent in my workings to give it power. That’s my philosophy anyway.
Food as part of a ritual is really quite central to my practice. I always offer food to guests, too. I like to think that the positive energy of food radiates. If you eat something good or you eat something which replenishes you – then you will feel more positive and energized. I love to have a big glass of ice water and a big glass of ice cold wine during and after all my workings and rituals along with a fruit of some kind.
Path Searching
I have had lots of friend ask me:
How did you find your path?
Honestly? I just tried a bunch of stuff until something just felt right.
As a pre teen in the mid 90s I started out reading books about Wicca. I still own some of those books. There were things that resonated with me, but there were things which didn’t also.
A couple years later I looked into some Germanic and Heathen paths. Some of it sounded super cool. I was really interested in Norse mythology. However, it didn’t stick. The way things ‘went down’ just didn’t jive with me. No embodiment of the Lord and Lady spoke to me.
In the early 2000s I was introduced to a woman who simply called herself a wisewomyn. Sometimes she’d refer to herself as a hedgewitch. Now – this woman knew her shit. She knew every possible thing there was to know about herbs and dirt. How did she learn it? This is what she told me:
Well I looked up all the shit that was poisonous. I stayed away from everything toxic. Everything else I ate, drank, or used until I could determine its use. Then I wrote it down.
I said to her: They make books for that.
Her answer:
You think I’m going to let someone else tell me what works and what don’t?
To this DAY that is my advice to everyone. Don’t let someone tell you what works and what don’t. Try it. If it works or if it feels right – adopt it and shape it into something that is yours.
I understand that sometimes we have to be exposed to something new in order to try it to begin with – but don’t be afraid to try it. No one person is exactly right.
Here’s an idea:
Try casting your circle differently.
Typically it is: East-Air … South-Fire …. West-Water … North-Earth
Try it this way: East-Earth … South-Fire … West-Water .. North-Air
Why North as air?
Because the cold is blown in from the North every winter 🙂
Does anyone else do it this way? I’m sure someone does. I think each person needs to decide what element goes with what direction and what it means to them. I think each person should decide what everything means to them!
Is there something that you know you do differently? For example: I read tarot cards. However, I have never read a ‘how to’ book. I know that each card is supposed to have a meaning but I can’t for the LIFE of me tell you what each card means. Instead – I rely on my intuition and the order of the cards as they are pulled along with the pictures on the cards to tell me a story that I then relay to the person getting the reading 🙂
Does anyone else do this? Or do you do something similar? What things work for you that you don’t think would work for anyone else?
TotallyPagan 