Celebrating Spirituality - January 11, 2013

Celebrating Spirituality

On this day:

In ancient Rome the festival of Carmentalia/English hogmanay was held to honor the nymphs of prophecy who were known as the Carnenae.  The principal nymph was Carmenta, the Goddess of prophecy who protected women in childbirth.  Pregnant women would offer Carmenta rice and fresh vegetables in exchange for a safe delivery.  Those women wishing to have children would ask Carmenta to bless wild berries that they would then eat to internalize fertility.

Magical Activity:

Ring on a String

If you, or someone you are close to, is pregnant this is an auspicious time to predict the sex of the child.  Take a gold ring and suspend it from a chain or string and hold it over the mother’s belly.  Should the string move in a circular motion it signifies that the baby is a girl.  If, on the other hand, it swings back and forth the baby will surely be a boy.

In old English folklore the 11^th of January was Hogmanay, the day after Christmas, when Witches were supposed to become active again.  The York Castle Trial Records of January 11, 1655, revealed the following charm to ward off bewitchment of cattle:

Put a pair of breeches upon the cow’s head, and beat her out of the pasture with a good cudgel upon a Friday, and she will run to the Witch’s door and strike threat with her horns.

-          Reginald Scott

The Discovery of Witchcraft, 1584

Medical tip of the day:

Understanding anxiety and depression

Anxiety is the brain’s “alarm response” to a physical or psychological threat, real or imagined.  Depression covers a complex range of conditions with a great variety of causes, both external and internal, varying from unexpressed anger or unfinished mourning to sheer physical exhaustion or illness.

If you are suffering from either severe depression or anxiety, seek professional help to enable you both to uncover the root cause and to learn new coping skills.

Try if you can to avoid relying on prescribed tranquilizers or anti-depressants – they may help you suppress or mask your reaction to a problem that could be better solved in other ways.  Some of these drugs may create dependency.

For acute anxiety, proper breathing, or a relaxation technique is invaluable, and for depression, exercise.  With depression, it is also important to consider food allergies.  In either case, the support of family and friends is crucial and a nourishing diet and a good balance of rest, exercise, and recreation is strongly advised.

Positive self-help

v  In their early stages, both depression and anxiety may respond to a combination of positive thought and action.

v  Sticking to regular mealtimes and doing mundane household chores encourages a sense of order at times when your inner life feels chaotic.

v  Try to keep active rather than sit and brood.  Physical activity, especially vigorous exercise, gets you back in touch with your body, and out of the habit of living in your head.  Exercise also raises levels of endorphins natural “feel good” chemicals.

v  Try to involve yourself wholeheartedly in whatever you are doing, whether it is cooking, writing a letter, or making love.  Learning to be fully in the present will give you more satisfaction and stop you worrying about the past or future.

v  Treat yourself with kindness and compassion.  Be tolerant and encouraging – don’t keep putting yourself down.  This may be easier if you imagine yourself as you were when young and realize that you still carry this child within you.

v  Take a look at the roles you play in life – for example, mother, lover, gardener, etc.  Don’t over-identify with any one of them, especially the “negative” ones.  The more conscious you are of your roles, the more they can enrich your life without ruling it and the more clearly you can distinguish them from your real self.

v  Choose natural remedies rather than drugs when you can, however still use under the guidance of a medical professional.

Herb of the day:

Angelica

Gender: Mascline

Planet: Sun

Element: Fire

Deity: Venus

Powers: Exorcism, Protection, Healing, Visions

Magical Uses: Grown, the plant is protective.  Use in all protection and exorcism incenses.  Sprinkle the four corners of the house with Angelica to ward off evil, or do this around the perimeter of the house. Added to the bath angelica removes curses, hexes and any spells that may have been cast against you.

The root was carried in the pocket as a gambling talisman among some American Indian tribes.

Angelica is also used in healing incenses and mixtures, and smoking the leaves is said to cause visions.

Stone of the Day:

Calcite

Calcite is a powerful amplifier and cleanser of energy.  Simply having calcite in the room cleans negative energies from the environment and heightens your energy.  Within the body, it removes stagnant energy.  The spectrum of colors cleans the physical and subtle bodies.  Calcite is an active crystal, speeding up development and growth.  This is a spiritual stone linked to higher consciousness that facilitates the opening of higher awareness and psychic abilities, channeling and out of body experiences.  It accelerates spiritual development and allows the soul to remember experiences when it returns to the body.

Psychologically, calcite connects the emotions with the intellect, creating emotional intelligence.  Calcite has a positive effect, especially where someone has lost hope or motivation.  It combats laziness, aiding in becoming more energetic on all levels.

Mentally, calcite calms the mind, teaches discernment and analysis, stimulates insights, and boosts memory.  It facilitates knowing which information is important, and then retaining it.  Calcite confers the ability to change ideas into action.  It is a useful stone for study.

Calcite alleviates emotional stress and replaces it with serenity.  It is a stabilizing stone, enhancing trust in oneself and strengthening appropriate colors of calcite cleanses, balances, and energizes all the chakras.

Calcite cleanses the organs of elimination.  It encourages calcium uptake in bones but dissolves calcifications, strengthening the skeleton and joints.  It alleviates intestinal and skin conditions.  Calcite stimulates blood clotting and tissue healing.  It fortifies the immune system and can encourage growth in small children.  Calcite works quickly as an elixir and can be applied to the skin, ulcers, warts, and suppurating wounds.  At a subtle level, calcite cleans and reenergizes the chakras.

In addition to the generic attributes, the following colors have additional properties:

Gold Calcite: is excellent for meditation and for attuning to the higher mental planes.  It instills mental alertness as it grounds the higher mental energies into the physical realm.  Place on the navel or crown chakras.Yellow or Golden Calcite: is a great eliminator and stimulates the will. Its energy, especially as an elixir, is uplifting. It enhances meditation, inducing a deep state of relaxation and spirituality and linking to the highest source of spiritual guidance. It stimulates the higher mind. Use at the crown and solar plexus chakras. Golden Calcite has an extremely expansive energy.

 

Green Calcite: is a mental healer, dissolving rigid beliefs and old programs and restoring balance to the mind.  It helps in letting go of what is familiar and comforting but which no longer serves, and aids communication and the transition from a stagnant to a positive situation.  Green Calcite helps children to hold their own in debates.  It is a powerful stimulator for the immune system and is especially useful in grids.  This stone absorbs negativity and rids the body of bacterial infections.  It ameliorates arthritis and constrictions of the ligaments or muscles and is helpful in bone adjustments.  Its green ray cools fevers, burns, and inflammation, calms the adrenals, and soothes anger-generated disease.  Green Calcite placed regularly on the body absorbs disease and should be cleansed thoroughly after use.

Optical Calcite (Iceland Spar): amplifies images and heals the eyes.  It can aid in seeing the double meaning hidden behind words.  It reduces the tension that causes migraines.  This for mof calcite is an excellent cleanser of the subtle bodies.Rhomboid Calcite: (shape of the optical calcite) closes off mind chatter, bringing mental stillness. It is a powerful healer of the past.

(From top left to bottom right)

Blue Calcite: is a gentle stone for recuperation and relaxation. It lowers blood pressure and dissolves pain on all levels. Gently soothing the nerves and lifting anxieties, it releases negative emotions. Used on the throat chakra, it aids clear communication, especially where there is dissent. Blue calcite can absorb energy, filter it, and return it to benefit the sender.

Black Calcite: is a record-keeper stone for regression and regaining memories so that the past can be released.It returns the soul to the body after trauma or stress, alleviates depression, and is a useful companion during a dark night of the soul.

Clear Calcite: is a“cure-all,” especially as an elixir, it is a powerful detoxifier. At a physical level it acts as an antiseptic and at the subtle levels, it cleanses and aligns all the chakras, higher and lower. A clear calcite with rainbows brings about major change – it is a stone of new beginnings. Clear calcite brings the gift of deep soul healing and revitalization of the subtle bodies. It opens and clears the inner and outer eyes.

Red Calcite: increases energy, uplifts emotions aids willpower, and opens the heart chakra. It removes stagnant energy, including constipation, and dissolves blockages. It resonates to the base chakras, which it energizes and heals. It alleviates fear, bringing understanding of the source. Red Calcite’s vitality energizes a party. At a physical level, it heals hip and lower limb problems, loosening up joints and on a subtle level it removes the blockages that prevent you from stepping forward in your life.

Orange Calcite: is highly energizing and cleansing stone, especially for the lower chakras.  Orange Calcite balances the emotions, removes fear, and overcomes depression.  It dissolves problems and maximizes potential.  This stone heals the reproductive system, gallbladder, and intestinal disorders such as irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) and removes mucus from the system.

 

Pink Calcite (Mangano Calcite): is a heart crystal in contact with the angelic realm.  A stone of forgiveness, it releases fear and grief that keep the heart trapped in the past, bringing in unconditional love. It aids self-worth and self-acceptance, heals nervous conditions, and lifts tension and anxiety.  This stone prevents nightmares.  Pink calcite’s loving energy gently dissolves resistance.  It is helpful for anyone who has suffered trauma or assault.