Life is chaotic on a normal basis, the last three months have felt exponentially more chaotic as we are faced with a pandemic, businesses closing, economic concerns, and not protests and riots and looting, coupled with questionable decisions and actions from our country’s leadership. The air is full of frantic energy that is a jumbled mix of anger, frustration, worry and stress coupled with a deep desire for lasting change Dissenting voices are being raised on either side of any number of issues, leading to a deafening game of one-up-manship. As I mentioned in my previous post this can be overwhelming to those of us who are psychically sensitive. This time in our history has created an energetic maelstrom in which we are all existing. Many of us may feel like we are just hanging on for dear life. Add to this the fact that the pandemic has created a thinning of the veil between worlds ( it is my opinion that this occurs anytime, there are deaths on a large scale- as many souls cross over it brings the world of the spirit closer to our world of matter- now this is just my opinion based on what I have noticed through my own experience). All of this chaotic energy is wearing on us, luckily, as witches there are things that we can do to help mitigate the effects of all this energy. In my previous post I listed many changes in behavior that we can make in order to balance our energy and regain our psychic and energetic equilibrium.
Today, I would like to offer a ritual that I have taken up recently. I use this ritual to help calm myself and to enforce other changes that I am working towards making. Namely this ritual has become part of my daily routine, it helps to create a quiet space in which I calm my nerves. Furthermore, I perform this ritual before bed and it has helped me to sleep more soundly and to get to sleep more quickly.I start about an hour before I wish to go to bed (currently, this time varies, I have been on a very flexible schedule depending upon what I feel need to be working on or how my Clay One feels- sometimes I am awake longer than I am at other times, as I have begun to work with Mimir, I have accepted that this is part of life for the moment; to reside in sense of timelessness; that is that I am not usually aware of what time it is , how late I have been up or how much time I have elapsed.) I start by boiling water and choosing a tea for the evening. Currently, I am bouncing back and forth between sage tea and jasmine tea depending on what I need that evening.* For this tea, I tend to research and choose herbal teas and additives for their spiritual and magical properties. Making the tea is a ritual on its own. I mindfully place the tea in my tea pot after praying over it or energetically charging it ( I tend to charge my tea with Reiki energy as this is part of the work I do). If you choose to do this and are not a Reiki practioner, you can charge the tea in the same way you do for water or food used during ritual. For me I am lucky enough to have a sitting area tucked into my office and so I put my tea pot, my tea cup and spoon on a small tray and take this to my reading corner.I turn off the overhead light and use only a small desk lamp in order to dim the light to a more relaxing ambiance. I take a few deep breaths and settle comfortably on my love seat. I light a candle and say a small prayer. Currently, this prayer is the prayer that I use to start all of my rituals. It is known as the Star Goddess Prayer from page 13 of Evolutionary Witchcraft by T. Thorn Coyle. This prayer is incredibly poetic, after hearing this prayer in a class I began using it, as it struck a cord deep within my soul.
Star Goddess Prayer
Hail Holy Mother
In Whom we live, move and have our being
From you all things emerge and unto you they shall return
Open my heart this blessed day
Touch my body and my mind
Walk with me through the gates of power
In shadow and in starlight
In fire meeting the earth
In wind on the ocean
And in the sweet kiss of life
Blessed be my journey!
( I cannot guarantee that this is the exact quote from the book- this is how I have memorized it and I am willing to bet I have made a couple changes to it.)**
I follow this with a quick statement of intention, usually it is something like: This is my moment of peace within my chaotic life as I enjoy this still space, I ask that all others who need a moment of peace find it.I then make my cup of tea, as I stir it I chant ” Peace be in me, Peace be with me, Peace be around me. “While I drink my tea, I try to be very mindful of the action, I also spend some time (never more than a half an hour) reading a spiritually minded book (currently I am exploring the book “Radiance Sutras”)Once I have finished my tea, I gather up my tea pot, my cup and anything else that I may need to take to the kitchen. I spend a moment silently gazing at my candle and being mindful of the silence and the peace I feel before affirming “Deep within the still center of my being; may I find peace. Gently and powerfully within the greater circle of humankind; may I radiate peace. “I put the candle out and then go clean my tea set, and go to bed.
This is a ritual I have only recently started but I have had some amazing success with this. My results include going to sleep more quickly, sleeping more soundly, increased creativity during my waking hours and reading and learning about different spiritual topics that I have previously not had time to do. I offer this as a suggestion for a daily ritual that helps you to find some still space in your own life, while it works for me it may not work for everyone and I encourage all my readers to explore, and try different methods of daily ritual in order to uncover what the key is to your own daily spiritual rituals. I also want to encourage my readers to not get discouraged and be patient with themselves; it has taken me at least 20 years to find a daily ritual that truly feels right for me. It has taken a lot of trial and error for me to find the right action for my own life.
I hope everyone has a wonderful evening and find their own peaceful ritual.
*According to Cunningham’s Encyclopedia of Magical Herbs— Jasmine can be used for love sachets and can draw in a spiritual love, draw wealth and cause prophetic dreams. Traditionally the flowers were smelled in order to induce sleep.- my personal experience is that Jasmine tea with a small amount of sugar is very calming and soothing, after drinking a couple cups of tea I am ready to fall asleep and I have an easier time quieting my mind. Sage is a cleansing herb, it can be carried for wisdom. It can be used for healing and money spells. Sage leaves can also be used to make wishes come true. My experience with drinking sage tea (which I find best with a little bit of sugar and lemon juice- this just seems to round out the flavor) is a very interesting experience. I tend to use it if I am considering doing some meditation or magic before bed. It does help me change my state of consciousness in order to reach a trance state a little easier.
The Frith Wytch 