The Magickal Cottage

  
A week or so ago I spotted an old bathroom cabinet by the curb that someone had put up for grabs. After I had examined it and found it to be sturdy (if a little dirty), I realized it might be the answer to my herb and oils storage problem. It just needed some scrubbing and smudging and repainting. 

   
 
I left the cabinet outside the house and gave it a good scrubbing. I generally don’t bring any old previously used item in the house until it has been cleared. If something smells bad I don’t even bother to bring it home. I guess “Clair smelling” is one of my psychic gifts, but even a slight residual odor can really turn me off. Other people’s energy can cling to an object and its best to keep that sort of energy out of your magickal cottage. After the cats had inspected the cabinet and I had blessed it with palo santo, it was ready for a couple of coats of sage green paint. The cabinet had a towel bar that I figured would work well for hanging small bunches of herbs to dry. Rather than hang the cabinet on the wall I decided to turn it upside down and set it on top of my roll top desk (my next painting project).

I have acquired other pieces that I have repurposed in the same way. It’s just important to remember to clear the old energy away along with the dirt and grime. Some good ways to clear an item are: sunlight, smudge, your own energy, wind, or have your feline companion check out the article. Their purring is very healing and great for clearing as well. 

It’s so nice to have more space for my magickal  ingredients! Now everything is in one place and easier to find when I need it. 

  
Blessings,

Sarina

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The new moon is coming up on the 15th of July and I would like to share a video post that explains how I use new moon energy to manifest. 

New Moon Manifesting Candle Petition
This candle magick can be adapted to any of the new moons throughout the year. How do you celebrate the new moon? 

Blessings! 

Sarina

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Follow the moon as it passes through each of the signs of the zodiac and it’s different phases. I now have a YouTube channel and will give regular updates on the moon energy that is affecting us as magickal practitioners. I will also give suggestions for how you can harness that energy to work your magickal desire. For ease of access you can subscribe to my videos by clicking on the folllowing link: Moon Sign Manifesting with Sarina

Happy Manifesting!

Blessings,

Sarina

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As I get up to great the rising sun on this summer solstice, the magickal garden is alive with bright blooms that echo the warmth of the sun. The orange calendulas are rapidly taking over the vegetable patch, but I really don’t care. Their little sun faces are such a joy to see every time I look out the window.

  
Lately I have been getting the message from Spirit that I need to focus more on the solar side of myself. Too much lunar, too much of anything, can create an imbalance. Sometimes I wonder if many of us pagans focus so much on the lunar goddess energy that we create an imbalance in ourselves and our lives.

I took a trip to Sedona last month and it was an amazing first trip for me. The towering red rocks and their vortex energy were all about peace and calm and balance. Normally I favor purples and aquas and blues, but lately I have been liking reds and burgundy quite a bit. It fascinates me to see how our lives evolve in this way. It’s like Spirit’s way of mixing it up and bringing in some variety, and maybe that’s what balance is all about. I love chocolate but would soon grow to hate it if that’s all I had to eat. Well, maybe not hate it….at least not permanently. 

On this longest day of the year in the northern hemisphere when the sun is with us the longest, may the solar gods and goddesses shine some light on your life. Here at the Magickal Cottage we are steaming in the California sunshine, but I know you friends in other parts of the planet have been soggy and rainy for quite some time. Here’s wishing you sun and balance and a prosperous rest of the season!

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Most of us dread that ever unpopular period that pops up a few times a year known as Mercury retrograde. You know. You’re not supposed to start anything new, buy anything major, have repairs done, cast spells, make important decisions…and the list goes on and on. Not only are you not supposed to do or buy anything fun, but everything you already have will break and your emails, cards and letters will all get lost or delivered late. Pretty depressing, huh? Well, this time around I am discovering something pretty nice about ole’ Mercury and its back paddling through the heavens.

Mercury retrograde is a great time to finish projects you have already started. It’s also a good time to review and revise things. It’s a wonderful time for turning inward and just, well….meditating. Usually, even though I know the importance of meditating, I am prone to think of all of this reviewing and revising and finishing things as being pretty boring. It’s like when you were in school and the teacher would hand you back your poem or short story with all kinds of red marks where corrections were needed, and told you to copy it over NEATLY! In black ink….and skip lines between sentences. I suppose nowadays kids use word processors and spell check…..but you get the idea.

This Mercury retrograde has been a gift to me of sorts. I preordered a book back in January which just arrived and I am very inspired by it. The Book is “Holistic Energy Magic” by Tess Whitehurst.

Even though most of what Tess writes about in her work is familiar to me, I feel like this book is inspiring me to go back and review all the principles and practices about magic and energy work that I have learned in the past. Sounds like a great thing to do during a retrograde, don’t you think? I am especially inspired to reconnect with the four elements and Spirit right now. One of the activities for balancing the elements in yourself really gave me a lift today and I was forced to admit that I had let things slip by not taking the time to “connect” as I should. Visually burying myself in dark moist earth, feeling water well up around me and over my head, having the wind blow all around me in a spiraling fashion and basking in the warmth of a glowing fire was refreshing. And then connecting with Spirit as I gazed up towards  the infinite sky I thought, “Where have I been all these months?”  Let’s just say I have not been as “connected” as I should be. I am thankful to be reminded about this and many other practices about energy work by this lovely book. I am also grateful to Planet Mercury for slowing things down and making me stop to ponder. 

I highly recommend Holistic Energy Magic, and no one is paying me to say that! They can if they want to, but they aren’t. If you find yourself twiddling your thumbs during this retrograde period, or if you want to learn some great magical techniques at any time in the near future, I suggest you pick up a copy. I hope you enjoy this book as much as I.

Brightest of Blessings,

Sarina

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While working amongst the herbs today in my magickal  garden, I suddenly remembered the song, “Are You Going to Scarborough Fair?” and wondered about the meaning of the verse “parsley, sage rosemary and thyme.” I knew those four herbs probably had some magickal significance that would relate them to the song. Sure enough they do!

I feel the correspondences of these herbs are qualities  that are needed in a positive, loving relationship between two people. Parsley is said to take away the bitterness, and so I feel that in a relationship it symbolizes the ability to add comfort and sweetness during times of trouble. Sage is for strength and I would also like to throw in wisdom. Relationships require a lot of strength to make it through the years. And the wisdom part, of course, means knowing when to offer advice and went to keep quiet. Rosemary is for faithfulness. It goes without saying that faithfulness is important in so many ways in our relationships. Thyme is for courage. Forming relationships takes a lot of courage! Some people never decide to form meaningful relationships and to travel through life without a significant other.    There is a risk in offering your heart to another ! 

The song is speaking about love relationships between a man and a woman, but in many ways these four qualities are needed in all types of relationships. Parents and sons and daughters; friends and even coworkers need these qualities to make their relationships succeed. 

The song, ” Scarborough Fair”, deals with a man asking his former lover to perform some impossible tasks if she wants him to take her back. He asks her to sew him a seamless shirt that she must wash in a dry well. In some versions of the song the woman responds with some equally impossible requirements that he must first perform. We might laugh at the behavior of these two people and think their actions are ridiculous, but how often do we ask the impossible or nearly impossible of the people around us, wanting them to be perfect?  We gripe at others and yet we don’t hold the same high standards for our own behavior. 

What a wise and meaningful message this old folksong  communicates! This granny witch who has been married for over 40 years can testify to the fact that these four qualities represented by these four herbs are so very necessary in a lasting relationship . We feel we have come so far in modern times and yet we could learn a lot from the wisdom of the past. Anyone wanting to draw love into their lives and manifest a loving relationship would do well to use parsley, sage rosemary and thyme to bring positive energy to their work. Write your own blessing or spell and incorporate the herbs into sachets, dried incenses and to anoint your candles. Focus your intention to draw someone to you with these qualities as well as to draw these qualities to your own personality.

May all your relationships be sweet, with strength, faithfulness and courage to see them over the long haul!

Blessings, 

Sarina 

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Plant these lovely flowers to keep away unwanted guests. Lilies are also protection against the evil eye. Please beware, though, that they can be toxic if ingested.

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Mugwort has the ability to enhance magick and create vivid dreams. Dry some and burn it as a smudge. Sweet Mugwort loves to leave its energy around and join in with all your Magickal workings. This is one Magickal herb!

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I have been having quite a time of it lately! For a while there, a couple of weeks ago, I was having trouble sleeping and would be awakened in the dead of night with my mind racing. It took me a while to realize that it was the time of year plus a Mercury retrograde with some crazy eclipses and solar storms that were doing it to me. I had this feeling of impending doom that something horrible was about to happen! I finally figured that, being a medium, I was picking up on some restless spirits, and they were unhappy ones at that! This time of year is a prime time for the spirits to communicate and that’s what was happening to me. My psychic phone was ringing off the hook! When I finally started setting up extra shields at bedtime and calling in more angels I started to sleep better.

The period around Samhain or All Hallows Eve is a time when the barrier or veil between the dimension we live in and that of spirit becomes thinner or easier to pass through. The time of Beltaine in the spring is also such a time.  People are into the scary, spooky, Ouija board, horror movie mode big time! Combine that with the thinner spiritual veil, and people are just asking for some low energies to start hanging around and maybe causing trouble. There are also some impish, fun-loving entities who may find our parties and costumes attractive. The only time I seem to have orbs show up in photos is around this time of year when I am in costume and having fun. As I wrote about in a previous post, orbs are visual balls of light that indicate spirit presence. By keeping the mood light and fun I don’t think you are in too much danger of attracting something dark and harmful. Personally, I prefer to treat the time of Samhain as a time to honor my ancestors. It is a serious time for lighting a candle and saying some words of thanks for all the ancestors have done to protect and teach throughout the preceding year. I love dress up and trick or treaters coming to the house. I have a little witch who sits on the porch to greet the kiddies and they like to have their pictures taken with her.  And, of course, a real witch answers the door! What could be more fitting? This year we are having a costume party and I know it will be a blast. 

What I would like to recommend at this most spiritual time of year is to go easy on trying to contact spirits willy-nilly. I believe that spirit boards, also called Ouija boards, are a danger in that they open portals that are easy for spirits to pass through uninvited. Sure, you may be trying to contact Aunt Gertrude, but someone else may squeeze through instead. It’s a lot harder to get rid of a spirit than it is to invite them in, and there’s no telling what sort of mayhem they will cause in your life once they have attached themselves to you!

Pagans are generally a friendly group of people who are not into cruelty or harming others. Don’t even get me started on how the whole idea of a “wicked old witch” began! Dwelling on the macabre and cruelty, as a lot of horror movies do, is setting the scene for some scary spirits to come and feed off your fear. I know many people get a rush from seeing these movies and visiting over the top “haunted houses”, but just realize that the energy you give off when you experience that rush is sending up a beacon to some odd energies that you may not want hanging around you.

I don’t want to throw a damper on your Halloween fun! I love this time of year! Just be prepared to set up extra shielding and protection if you go hang around cemeteries. A good witch is always prepared. Oscar the Gargoyle will be watching over my house and yard as he always does.  Good ole’ Oscar!

I wish you the most blessed Samhain! Take time to honor the ancestors and enjoy this time of the thinning of the veil!

Blessings,

Sarina

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