May | 2012 | The Magickal Cottage

Archive for May, 2012

Hecate

Posted in Magickal Living on May 25, 2012| 3 Comments »

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Some deities are very appealing to the general pagan population. I have always thought of Brigit as being very approachable. She seems like she would be the perfect counselor and all round best friend, as far as goddesses go. My friend, Blaze, comments frequently of how she has been drawn to Brigit for as long as she can remember. I agree. I like Brigit, too.

That’s why I was surprised when I felt I was being approached by a goddess that I never thought of working with before. This was not really a goddess that gave me the warm fuzzies. I had a bad impression of her, through no fault of her own…..probably. She seemed kind of scary, in fact. Her name is Hecate. I was well into my “cronehood” when she started making her presence known. I started “seeing” symbols that made no sense to me. For instance, I would envision keys, and keys would appear everywhere in my physical environment as well. Most of these visions would appear as I was drifting off to sleep at night. One night I saw a woman holding up a torch as I drifted off. Finally, I did what I often do: I “Googled” those symbols and found they were connected to Hecate.

So why was a goddess of the underworld calling me? Wasn’t I about healing and angels and light? I decided to research Hecate more. I found that she was a strong protector and even though she is a triple goddess she is often thought of in her crone aspect. Maybe she just likes that I’m “old”, I thought, or that I own a black dog (another of her symbols). Neither of those facts seemed reason enough for her to be contacting me. Then I had a friend tell me of how Hecate had actually healed him in a very powerful experience he would never forget. He was so moved by the experience that it was absolutely life changing.

OK, so that made sense. I am a healer. Hecate is a healer. Things were starting to come together. As I read more and more about Hecate, I realized that even though she was not a goddess that you wanted to mess with, she was interested in interacting with us. I was starting to get to know the other side of Hecate that was more like a wise and caring guardian – a protector of witches.

The first time I worked with Hecate magickally was when I had a friend who needed some major protection from two other “witches” who were persecuting her in a big way. I was outdoors when I cast the circle and started the protection spell. I was pretty pissed at the two evil women in question, but I tried to work from a place of neutrality. I calmly explained to Hecate the situation and asked for her protection of my friend, a fellow crone. As I finished speaking the verse I had written and began to raise power, ( I kid you not) there was a sudden gust of wind and a thunder clap! The weather had been relatively calm when I cast the circle, but the timing was almost too perfect! “Hey, that was cool”, I thought to myself. Needless to say, the spell got results.

Hecate is a lovely, wise goddess who stands by and listens to what you are telling her. If you ask something of her, she smiles, nods her head as if to say, “Is that what you really want?“ She makes you think things through and is a wonderful teacher. I still read about other gods and goddesses: Airmed for my herbal practice, Aine for the fairies, etc.. But I guess Hecate is my go-to lady when I need some powerful action. Hail Hecate! Blessed be!

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Granny Knew!

Posted in Magickal Living, tagged granny magick on May 25, 2012| Leave a Comment »

What is your definition of magic? Does it involve sawing a woman in half or pulling a rabbit out of a hat? Or maybe you envision robed figures casting circles and carrying out complex rituals to create their spiritual objectives. I believe that magic surrounds us every minute of the day, and most of the time we are not even aware that it is there. When I first started being aware of energy years ago, I started seeing connections between various spiritual systems throughout the world and across time. I became curious to research, read and observe as many of these systems as I could just to see how they are connected through their similarities. What I am concluding is that magic or manifesting or energy work or whatever that system may choose to call it is basically about recognizing that all “things” are made of energy and that your thoughts are basically “things” in that they contain enough energy to bring about an intention. It’s interesting observing many people thinking that the knowledge contained in books like, The Secret , is new knowledge….knowledge of the New Age. It’s actually been around for ages, probably since the beginnings of human existence.

I, myself, believe that all things in nature carry an energy that we humans can work with to achieve our manifesting objectives if we choose to do so. This, again, is not a new concept. Our grandparents may have had some strange customs, but when you look at those customs with a magical eye, you can see that they are more than just some old superstition. I was reading an article recently about the Appalachian Granny Women or Granny Witches. They were a direct descendant of the Wise Women of Europe and brought customs from the Old World which mingled with the Cherokee healing and magical customs to create a new form of folk magic. These Grannies were the doctors and especially the midwives that the common folk consulted for their medical and emotional needs. I especially enjoyed reading about how the Granny would assist during a woman’s labor. She would place an ax under the woman’s bed to cut the pain. She would open all the windows to help the woman to dilate so the delivery would go more smoothly. She also had herbal remedies she would administer to the expectant mother based on the herbal knowledge that had been passed down through generations. Some might laugh at some of those “primitive” beliefs, but really, were they useless acts that had little to no effect on the new mother or others present during the birth?

Many magical practitioners will tell you that it is always helpful when casting a spell to have a physical prop or representation to assist in the magical work. Placing the ax under the bed and opening the windows was really just that. The combined energy of thought and the physical acts that demonstrated belief or faith were more integral to the success of a delivery than modern medicine would probably ever admit. The Granny was performing a magical act by simply focusing her intention and acting upon it. Folk magic is a type of magic that is interwoven into the daily lives of the people in a culture. It is very informal and user friendly. I remember years ago when my mother was visiting the house we had a new puppy. The puppy kept sneaking into the kitchen and stealing my dish rag. He would run away happily expecting me to chase him. My mother laughed and made the comment, “He’s trying to cure his warts!” “What?,” I asked. “That’s what my grandmother used to say when I was a child,” my mom replied. “If you want to cure your warts, hide your mother’s dish rag!” Of course we both laughed at the idea of the puppy trying to cure his warts, but I bet her Granny was at least a little bit serious when she told mother about the cure for warts. After all, isn’t manifesting all about carrying through on your intention?

We all do magic all the time, even if we don’t realize we are doing it. I am focusing on seeing and experiencing, and even making some magic every day now. I hope your life is filled with magic, too!

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