The Corral Visualization

by ForgivenessHealthy LivingMeditationMonitor Your ThoughtsSpiritual Living

Practice forgivness, with your self and others … it is the way to true freedom.
The following is a visualization meditation extracted from the book Healing With The Angels, by Doreen Virtue

Get into a comfortable position and relax by taking several slow, deep breaths, and close your eyes.

Now, imagine that you are standing in a country field. There is a road is leading to you – one that brings all your material, emotional, and spiritual supplies. In the distance you can see the road passes through a corral to get to you. This corral has two gates: one facing you, and one facing the road on opposite side.
If you notice both gates open, supplies readily flow to you, and your gifts to the world flow from you.
Whenever we hold unforgiveness toward someone, we imprison theat person in our minds where we mentally flog them with our pronouncements of guilt and blame. The image of the person we resent is “corralled” in our consciousness, and the gates to the corral slam shut, like prison doors. You necessarily go into the corral along the with person you’ve judged in order to monitor their imprisonment. This way, both gates are shut, and your locked corral blocks your flow and supply.
Look inside your corral right now, and see who’s there. See the high price you pay for corralling these people.
If you are ready to forgive, imagine the gates of your corral automatically opening. Visualize whoever is in the corral walking out, free, happy, and forgiven. Wish them well. If this seems difficult, try forgiving the person instead of their deeds. As you forgive, feel the release, the relief, and the renewed energy as your resentment lifts.
Check to make sure that you’re not in the corral alone out of an ego judgment you hold against yourself.

Recheck your corral often, especially when you feel tired, ill, or afraid. You’ll find that these are the times when you have the most people (including yourself) locked into your corral. Once you open the gates and clear the corral, your emotions and energy level will improve.

Art of Belly Dance

by Art of BellyDanceHealthy LivingSpiritual Living

A woman’s body is sensual, her curves are smooth, and in dance she is seductive and mesmerizing. Tap into your Goddess nature and dance for your Goddess!

Belly dance is a Western name for an Arabic style of dance developed in the Middle East. In Europe, it is sometimes called oriental dance. Similarly, In Turkish it is referred to as oryantal dans? (“Dance of the East”). Some American devotees refer to it simply as “Middle Eastern Dance”. And in Hong Kong, it is called the “Shimpoli Carmi”. [dubious – discuss] (“The sun dance”)
In the Arabic language it is known as raqs sharqi ??? ???? (“eastern dance”) or sometimes raqs baladi ??? ???? (“national” or “folk” dance). The term “raqs sharqi” may have originated in Egypt

Wisdom In Small Pills

by Healthy LivingMonitor Your ThoughtsNatural HealingSpiritual LivingThe Power of Words

There are times when things fail to manifest no matter how hard we try. We grow impatient and push harder and harder only to finally realize that the gates of destiny have been temporarily closed.

At those times, the wise man retreats and surrenders. He knows all his power is of no use when the cosmic architect is working on the divine vision. His faith remains intact but he wastes no energy. And when the architect retires to his chambers, he acts at once for he is always alert, even when he is resting.

Ananda Miami
“Stress solutions for the Corporate World”
www.anandamiami.com

tomato mozzarella salad

Tomato Mozzarella Salad

by Healthy Meals

Vine-ripened garden tomatoes are one of summer’s simple pleasures. Combine them with fresh basil, mozzarella and a drizzle of herb vinaigrette to create the ultimate best-of-season salad. It’s healthy, fresh and ready in 15 minutes!

tomato mozzarella salad

Ingredients
1/4 cup chopped fresh basil
1/4 cup olive oil
1 tablespoon balsamic or red wine vinegar
1 clove garlic
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
5 medium tomatoes
8 ounces mozzarella cheese
15 to 20 fresh basil leaves
2 tablespoons capers

Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cooking Time: None
Serves 6

from cookingvillage.com

Peace within, Peace without

by Consciously CreatingHealthy LivingYoga

There is no standardized means to find our peace, but it is available to each and every one of us as life itself. No guaranteed methods can be given and we all must find what works for us. There is excellent help available, but it must be artfully applied and understood as our own. We can all find the ways to experience life that feel right for us. For many the traditional ways are no longer an option. Some of us have gone beyond the explanations that traditions offer and see through the limitations of religious assumptions that were developed in primitive times. Sentiment for past cultures seems to diminish the potency of the present. Many of us are more interested in the mystery of our own place. We are happy to experience the wonder of our own nature rather than explore the mythical ideas of culture. The idea that truth is to be attained inherently implies that truth is not our present and precious condition. Yet we have inherited these cultural belief systems and we are doubtful of the validity of our choice. Is it all right to be completely finished with religious proposals? “Maybe there is something wrong with me that I am not into this religious business?” some ask, and perhaps never resolve the question. Much of what religion has to offer is not relevant to us. To reject some aspects seems to imply that we reject the lot, and we are left with uncertainty and unanswered questions. But many have been thrown off the merry-go-round of endless persuasions. The questions have fallen out of us. We are left with no questions at all, and the sheer intelligence of life in our living systems is pouring through us. We enjoy every kind of activity that is natural to our own life and choices, including yoga. Information of all kinds is available at our fingertips. Music, dance and art meet us at every level as our own. And the works of the greatest, past and present, are available to us. We are linked to our own wonder. Paradoxically, some of us have chosen to enjoy the gifts of past cultures left to us by extraordinary people. However, we are free to take or leave them without being caught up by their limiting assumption that truth needs to be found. Most of all, in the wonder of relatedness to each other we find our peace, as Nature does her powerful work.

If yoga is our means, we can negotiate our peace with its tools…..

Excerpt from Yoga of Heart – chapter: YOGIS ARE NOT BUILT ON ASSEMBLY LINES

“We come to yoga for many reasons – to retain our health, to regain our health, to enjoy our health, to experience the peace of intimate relation with our own breath through asanas that we have discovered are best suited to the body and mind we share with all creation.”

Mark Whitwell
www.heartofyoga.com

squid-brainwaves

Aura, Byosen Scanning

by with No Comment Reiki

Science Measures the Human Energy Field

Energy is a theme that permeates many areas of complementary health care, including Reiki. For historic and emotional reasons, two key words have not been mentionable in polite academic research society: “energy” and “touch.” Hence it is not surprising that Reiki therapy has been neglected by mainstream biomedical science.

This picture is changing rapidly because of exciting research from around the world. The tale of how concepts of “healing energy” have swung from suspicion and ridicule to respectability is one of the most fascinating and clinically significant stories that can be told.

As in many other areas of investigation, what we were absolutely certain about 20 years ago has changed dramatically. For example, in a few decades scientists have gone from a conviction that there is no such thing as an energy field around the human body, to an absolute certainty that it exists. Moreover, we have begun to understand the roles of energy fields in health and disease. Most people are simply not aware of this research, and persist in the attitude that there is no logical basis for energy healing.

The main reason for the change in outlook is that sensitive instruments have been developed that can detect the minute energy fields around the human body. Of particular importance is the SQUID magnetometer (1) which is capable of detecting tiny biomagnetic fields associated with physiological activities in the body. (Figure 1) This is the same field that sensitive individuals have been describing for thousands of years, but that scientists have ignored because there was no objective way to measure it.

squid-brainwaves

To summarize the discoveries that have been made, the editors of a new international journal commissioned a review of the concept of “healing energy” (2). While we have been researching this topic for some 15 years, the preparation of an in-depth review led to a thorough reexamination of the subject, with some unexpected conclusions.

For the most part, key discoveries are not being made by scientists studying methods such as Reiki, TT and HT. Instead, traditional scientists, following customary logic and scientific methods, have begun to clarify the roles of various kinds of energy in the healing process. Hence the picture that is emerging has the same scientific foundations that underlie modern clinical medicine. For details, see our published articles (3).

The human energy field.

It has long been known that activities of cells and tissues generate electrical fields that can be detected on the skin surface. But the laws of physics demand that any electrical current generates a corresponding magnetic field in the surrounding space. Since these fields were too tiny to detect, biologists assumed they could have no physiological significance.

This picture began to change in 1963. Gerhard Baule and Richard McFee of the Department of Electrical Engineering, Syracuse University, Syracuse, NY detected the biomagnetic field projected from the human heart. They used two coils, each with 2 million turns of wire, connected to a sensitive amplifier.

In 1970, David Cohen of MIT, using a SQUID magnetometer, confirmed the heart measurements. By 1972, Cohen had improved the sensitivity of his instrument, enabling him to measure magnetic fields around the head produced by brain activities.

Subsequently, it has been discovered that all tissues and organs produce specific magnetic pulsations, which have come to be known as biomagnetic fields. The traditional electrical recordings, such as the electrocardiogram and electroencephalogram, are now being complemented by biomagnetic recordings, called magnetocardiograms and magnetoencephalograms. For various reasons, mapping the magnetic fields in the space around the body often provides a more accurate indication of physiology and pathology than traditional electrical measurements.

Pathology alters the biomagnetic field

In the 1920’s and 1930’s, a distinguished researcher at Yale University School of Medicine, Harold Saxon Burr, suggested that diseases could be detected in the energy field of the body before physical symptoms appear. Moreover, Burr was convinced that diseases could be prevented by altering the energy field.

These concepts were ahead of their time, but are now being confirmed in medical research laboratories around the world. Scientists are using SQUID instruments to map the ways diseases alter biomagnetic fields around the body. Others are applying pulsating magnetic fields to stimulate healing. Again, sensitive individuals have been describing these phenomena for a long time, but there was no logical explanation of how it could happen.

Projection of energy from the hands of healers.

In the early 1980’s, Dr. John Zimmerman began a series of important studies on therapeutic touch, using a SQUID magnetometer at the University of Colorado School of Medicine in Denver. Zimmerman discovered that a huge pulsating biomagnetic field emanated from the hands of a TT practitioner. The frequency of the pulsations is not steady, but “sweeps” up and down, from 0.3 to 30 Hz (cycles per second), with most of the activity in the range of 7-8 Hz (Figure 2). The biomagnetic pulsations from the hands are in the same frequency range as brain waves and scientific studies of the frequencies necessary for healing indicate that they naturally sweep back and forth through the full range of therapeutic frequencies, thus being able to stimulate healing in any part of the body.

squid-healingfreq

Confirmation of Zimmerman’s findings came in 1992, when Seto and colleagues, in Japan, studied practitioners of various martial arts and other healing methods. The “Qi emission” from the hands is so strong that they can be detected with a simple magnetometer consisting of two coils, of 80,000 turns of wire. Since then, a number of studies of QiGong practitioners have extended these investigations to the sound, light, and thermal fields emitted by healers. What is particularly interesting is that the pulsation frequency varies from moment to moment. Moreover, medical researchers developing pulsating magnetic field therapies are finding that these same frequencies are effective for ‘ jump starting’ healing in a variety of soft and hard tissues, even in patients unhealed for as long as 40 years. Specific frequencies stimulate the growth of nerves, bones, skin, capillaries, and ligaments. Of course Reiki practitioners and their patients have daily experiences of the healing process being “jump started,” and academic medicine is now beginning to accept this therapy as logical and beneficial because of these new scientific findings. In Figure 2 we have bracketed portions of the signal that correspond to the frequencies used in medical devices that stimulate the healing of particular tissues. Individual differences in energy projection and detection.

To study the projection of energy from the hands of therapists, scientists must first recognize that there are huge individual differences between people. Repeated practice of various techniques can enhance the effect.

There are logical neurophysiological and biophysical explanations for the roles of practice and intention. [Editors note: It would be interesting to use these detection techniques to measure the effect of a Reiki attunement on the strength and frequency of biomagnetic energies coming from the hands and also to measure how theraputic frequencies may change when treating various conditions in the body.]

It is not widely understood that “brain waves” are not confined to the brain, but actually spread throughout the body via the perineural system, the connective tissue sheathes surrounding all of the nerves. Dr. Robert O. Becker has described how this system, more than any other, regulates injury repair processes throughout the body. Hence the entire nervous system acts as an “antenna” for projecting the biomagnetic pulsations that begin in the brain, specifically in the thalamus.

Moreover, waves that begin as relatively weak pulsations in the brain appear to gather strength as they flow along the peripheral nerves and into the hands. The mechanism of this amplification probably involves the perineural system and the other connective tissue systems, such as the fascia that are intimately associated with it.

Conclusion

In this brief summary, I have shown how some of the experiences of energy therapists have a basis in biology and physics. After centuries of neglect, energetic therapies can take their appropriate place in clinical medicine. The great discoveries of biologists and of sensitive bodyworkers are being integrated to give us a deeper understanding of life, disease, and healing. Science cannot take away the ultimate mystery of life, nor can it detract from the spiritual componet of healing. We believe that research on the energy therapies can lead to much a more complete understanding of life, desease, and healing.

References:

(1) SQUID is an acronym for Superconducting Quantum Interference Device.

(2) Journal of Bodywork and Movement Therapies, Harcourt Brace & Co., Ltd., Edinburgh.

(3) A list of our articles may be obtained from Nature’s Own Research Association, P.O. Box 5101, Dover, NH 03821, USA, Phone, 603-742-3789, Fax 603-742- 2592, e-mail: JOschman@aol.com

Jim and Nora Oschman are directors of Nature’s Own Research Association in Dover, New Hampshire. Jim is one of the few academic scientists who has focused on the scientific basis for various complementary or alternative medicines. Jim and Nora have written dozens of articles describing the physiological and biophysical mechanisms involved in a wide variety of therapeutic approaches.

Bananas

by Foods That CureHealthy Living

A professor at CCNY for a physiological psych class told his class about bananas. He said the expression “going bananas” is from the effects of bananas on the brain. Read on: Never, put your banana in the refrigerator!!!
This is interesting.
After reading this, you’ll never look at a banana in the same way again.

Bananas contain three natural sugars – sucrose, fructose and glucose combined with fiber. A banana gives an instant, sustained and substantial boost of energy.

Research has proven that just two bananas provide enough energy for a strenuous 90-minute workout. No wonder the banana is the number one fruit with the world’s leading athletes.

But energy isn’t the only way a banana can help us keep fit. It can also help overcome or prevent a substantial number of illnesses and conditions, making it a must to add to our daily diet.

Depression: According to a recent survey undertaken by MIND amongst people suffering from depression, many felt much better after eating a banana This is because bananas contain tryptophan, a type of protein that the body converts into serotonin, known to make you relax, improve your mood and generally make you feel happier.

PMS: Forget the pills – eat a banana. The vitamin B6 it contains regulates blood glucose levels, which can affect your mood.

Anemia: High in iron, bananas can stimulate the production of hemoglobin in the blood and so helps in cases of anemia.

Blood Pressure: This unique tropical fruit is extremely high in potassium yet low in salt, making it perfect to beat blood pressure So much so, the US Food and Drug Administration has just allowed the banana industry to make official claims for the fruit’s ability to reduce the risk of blood pressure and stroke.

Brain Power: 200 students at a Twickenham (Middlesex) school were helped through their exams this year by eating bananas at breakfast, break, and lunch in a bid to boost their brain power. Research has shown that the potassium-packed fruit can assist learning by making pupils more alert.

Constipation: High in fiber, including bananas in the diet can help restore normal bowel action, helping to overcome the problem without resorting to laxatives.

Hangovers: One of the quickest ways of curing a hangover is to make a banana milkshake, sweetened with honey. The banana calms the stomach and, with the help of the honey, builds up depleted blood sugar levels, while the milk soothes and re-hydrates your system.

Heartburn: Bananas have a natural antacid effect in the body, so if you suffer from heartburn, try eating a banana for soothing relief.

Morning Sickness: Snacking on bananas between meals helps to keep blood sugar levels up and avoid morning sickness.

Mosquito bites: Before reaching for the insect bite cream, try rubbing the affected area with the inside of a banana skin. Many people find it amazingly successful at reducing swelling and irritation.

Nerves: Bananas are high in B vitamins that help calm the nervous system.

Overweight and at work?: Studies at the Institute of Psychology in Austria found pressure at work leads to gorging on comfort food like chocolate and crisps. Looking at 5,000 hospital patients, researchers found the most obese were more likely to be in high-pressure jobs. The report concluded that, to avoid panic-induced food cravings, we need to control our blood sugar levels by snacking on high carbohydrate foods every two hours to keep levels steady.

Ulcers: The banana is used as the dietary food against intestinal dis orders because of its soft texture and smoothness. It is the only raw fruit that can be eaten without distress in over-chronicler cases. It also neutralizes over-acidity and reduces irritation by coating the lining of the stomach.

Temperature control: Many other cultures see bananas as a “cooling” fruit that can lower both the physical and emotional temperature of expectant mothers In Thailand , for example, pregnant women eat bananas to ensure their baby is born with a cool temperature.

Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD): Bananas can help SAD sufferers because they contain the natural mood enhancer tryptophan.

Smoking &Tobacco Use: Bananas can also help people trying to give up smoking. The B6, B12 they contain, as well as the potassium and magnesium found in them, help the body recover from the effects of nicotine withdrawal.

Stress: Potassium is a vital mineral, which helps normalize the heartbeat, sends oxygen to the brain and regulates your body’s water balance. When we are stressed, our metabolic rate rises, thereby reducing our potassium levels. These can be rebalanced with the help of a high-potassium banana snack.

Strokes: According to research in The New England Journal of Medicine, eating bananas as part of a regular diet can cut the risk of death by strokes by as much as 40%!

Warts: Those keen on natural alternatives swear that if you want to kill off a wart, take a piece of banana skin and place it on the wart, with the yellow side out. Carefully hold the skin in place with a plaster or surgical tape!

So, a banana really is a natural remedy for many ills. When you compare it to an apple, it has four times the protein, twice the carbohydrate, three times the phosphorus, five times the vitamin A and iron, and twice the other vitamins and minerals. It is also rich in potassium and is one of the best value foods around So maybe its time to change that well-known phrase so that we say, “A banana a day keeps the doctor away!”

Litha / Mid-Summer

by LithaWicca

(Summer Solstice – June 21st )

The Festival of Growth

Litha is the season of expansion, when the crops burgeon forth. We forget winter’s cares and spend our days basking under the brilliant light of the Sun. According to the old folklore calendar, Summer begins on Beltane (May 1st) and ends on Lughnassadh (August 1st), with the Summer Solstice midway between the two, marking MID-Summer. As the Summer Solstice brings us the longest day of the year, the esbat of Mid-Summer, or Litha, celebrate the maximum power of the Sun. It directs our awareness to the culmination of the waxing year as the waning year begins. Various Pagan traditions mark this as a transition in reign from Oak King (who represents the waxing year) to Holly King (who represents the waning year), or from “bright Lord to dark Lord”. From now until Yule, the light will fade into darkness. It is often seen as a maturity phase for the lord, although some see it as a defeat in battle. The transition is the God recognizing his responsibilities as a husband in his sacred marriage to the Goddess and as a father and protector of her lands and her people, as the Goddess prepares Herself for harvest, Motherhood, and then Cronehood.
Summer Solstice is the entrance of Sun into the sign of Cancer. Ruled by the Moon–sign of our earthly home– Cancer is the womb of the Mother from which life emerges.

Litha is the height of the Divine Marriage making this a time of lovers and gardeners. The rutting fervor of Beltane has deepened into the passionate eroticism that grows when partners become familiar with one another’s rhythms and moods. It is the love between those committed by heart as well as body. It is also the love of parents for their children (be they two- or four-legged!). Everywhere we look, ripeness spills out from field and forest.

Also known as the Druidic “Alban Heruin”. On this longest day of the year, light and life are abundant. At mid-summer, the Sun God has reached the moment of his greatest strength. Seated on his greenwood throne, he is also lord of the forests, and his face is seen in church architecture peering from countless foliate masks.
The Christian religion converted this day of Jack-in-the-Green to the Feast of St. John the Baptist, often portraying him in rustic attire, sometimes with horns and cloven feet (like the Greek Demi-God Pan)

Midsummer Night’s Eve is also special for adherents of the Faerie faith.

The Goddess at Litha

At the Summer Solstice, the Goddess is the Generous Mother, Freya, Flora, Habondia, she who gives life and fruitfulness to all her children. Everything in nature is generous – otherwise we could not live. The apple tree makes hundreds of apples every year, when only one seed in one apple would be enough to reproduce the tree. Bees make honey so that the hive can survive the winter, but they keep on working all summer long, storing enough to share. Life could exist without roses, striped butterflies, songbirds, raspberries, or wildflowers, but the Goddess keeps making new forms of beauty everyday for us to enjoy.
The Goddess at Summer Solstice gives us not just what we need, but extra. We can feel close to her by being generous, giving more than we’re asked to give, and doing more than just our fair share. That way, we make abundance for all.
The rose is the Goddess’s symbol at this time of year. Roses bloom abundantly in June, and we can take joy in their sweet scent and the lovely colors of their petals.

The God at Litha

All through the first half of the year, since his birth at the Winter Solstice, the God has been growing into this life in the visible, tangible world. Now, at the Summer Solstice, he transforms. The God is the partner of the Goddess, bringing abundance to all of nature. He is Lugh (or Light), the Sun God, and he is the ancient power of life who was known simply as the Good God, Keeper of the Crops, provider for his people. The daylight is longest and strongest at this time, but now the power of night must begin to grow again. Everything and everyone who fulfills their purpose must change, must evolve.
Once He evolves, He goes to sleep in this world in order to be awake in the “Otherworld”. Before, he was awake in this world and asleep in the Dreamworld. Now he becomes the Dreamer, asleep in this world but awake in the world of dreams and visions, the seed of what will come to be in this world. He becomes the Messenger, carrying our hopes and prayers to the spirit realms.

~ ~ ~ )0( ~ ~ ~

The Altar: Dress your altar in a white or golden yellow cloth. Decorate it with seasonal flowers.

At the Summer Solstice, decorate with seasonal flowers, cover the altar, especially with Roses for the Goddess and Sunflowers for the God. Any fresh fruits of the season and, of course, images of the sun, crops and sunflowers and appropriate symbols of the holiday.

You might have a special section on the altar for things to give away.
Let the things stay during the holiday season to soak up blessings, then give them away before Lughnasadh rolls around
On or around the altar, you might also want to place things you have completed and let go of, or are trying to let go of.

The Colors of Litha: White. Greens and browns for the Earth Goddess. Reds, yellows and gold for the Sun God.
Gold and green are the two most prevalent colors this time of year, not only because they represent the God and Goddess, but they are also the colors of Faerie Fire Magic.

Traditional Foods: Garden fresh fruits and vegetables are made into a variety of dishes.

Herbs and Flowers: St. John’s wort is one of the most popular associated with Litha, but also connected to the holiday are: Mugwort, Basil, Vervain, Parsley, Chamomile, Mint, Rose, Honeysuckle, Lily, Lotus, Lavender, Ivy, Yarrow, Fern, Elder, Wild Thyme, Daisy, Carnation and Dragon’s Blood.

Incense: it should be full and robust. Rose, Tangerine, Violet, Lemon, Myrrh, Frankincense, Pine, Cedar, Wisteria and Frangipani

Woods Burned: Oak. Fir, Mistletoe and Holly

Sacred Gemstone: Emerald

Special Activities: An Ideal time to reaffirm your vows to the Lord and Lady or your dedication to the old traditions.
MidSummer’s Fires are also a traditional activity of the holiday. Instead of 9 sacred woods being used, these are kindled of Oak and Fir. Gather with friends around a fire and discuss topics of love and life and give thanks. In ancient times the midsummer fires were used to hex the cattle for health and safety, to drive away baneful influences and they also represented the power of the sun at its zenith.

**** visit Divine Muse’s Pure Awakenings for How to Make a Sun Amulet.

~ ~ ~ )0( ~ ~ ~

The Ritual

Tools:
In addition to your usual magickal tools, you will need:

* Small Cloth Pouch of Summertime Herbs
* Cauldron
* 1cup Fresh Spring Water
* White Goddess/God Candle
* Red Sun God Candle
* Green Earth Goddess Candle
* Summer Blend Incense (Jasmine, Rose, Lotus, Wysteria, or combination).

Preparation:
Sweep area moving in deosil manor. Set up Quarter Candles and any accessories symbolizing the Elements of the Quarters. Prepare your Pouch of Summertime Herbs, and as you make it, pour your troubles, pains, sorrows, illness, and regrets into it. Place the Cauldron in the center of your alter, the Red Sun candle to the right of it , the Green Goddess Candle to the left of it. Place the cup of Fresh Spring Water in front of the Goddess Candle. Take a shower or bath for purification. Sit quietly and meditate for a while, then ground and center. When ready, play some peaceful music for the ritual.

Cast the circle.
Pick up your Wand, and with arms upraised, face South and say:

“I celebrate the Mid-of-Summer, held in honor of the Blazing Sun God.
All of Nature vibrates with the fertileness of the Goddess and of the God.
The Earth basks in the light and life of the Sun.
The ever turning Wheel of the Year has made the light ever stronger
And the light has kept growing longer, until today…
The middle of the time of light, Litha, MidSummer’s Day, Summer Solstice.
From here, the light begins to fade, again, until once more the Wheel turns to the time of darkness, Yule, Winter Solstice.
Yet, for today, the Sun is high, the light is bright, the Earth is warm.
As the Sun God blazes above, may the fires of my rite flame below.”

Face the altar, put down your wand, and light the Green Goddess Candle to the left of your cauldron, saying:

“Oh, Mother of Nature, She that brings the meadow to bloom, Green Forest Mother, from lakes and streams your children spring forth.
Blessed Lady of the stars and the Moon, Fruitful Womb of which I honor, and ask of Thee, Thy Blessings.”

Light the Red Sun God Candle to the right of your cauldron, saying:

“Oh, Father of all things, He that plants the seed and nurtures Life.
God of Fertility and Fruitfulness, from hill and forest your children emerge.
Blessed Lord of the blazing Sun, potent Consort of which I honor, and of Thee, Thy Blessings.”

Take the Herb Pouch and hold above your head, saying:

“By thy power, oh sacred herbs, may the Lord of the Sun Burn away the hurtful, the troublesome, and the painful, Leaving me purified through His warmth and Light.”

Hold the pouch over your main Altar Candle to take flame. While it is burning, drop it in the cauldron, saying:

“Great Goddess and Great God, from Thee all powers flow forth.
The Two that are One, Great Spirit of All-That-Is,
By Thy powers, and the powers of Air, Fire, Water, and Earth,
By Thy powers, and the powers of the Sun, Moon, and Stars,
I banish these negatives from my life.”

Visualize the negatives burning away to nothingness. When all that is left is ashes, douse the ashes with the cup of Fresh Spring Water, feel as if the water were being poured over you and your negatives washed away. Air dry by dancing and running your hands up and down your arms, body, and legs. Don’t forget your head… lay it back and shake running your fingers through your hair. When done, face altar, wave hand over the cauldron and say:

“As the Phoenix rises from the ashes, so let this water be pure and new.
Mother Goddess, bless this water so that it may bless and renew me.
Father God, may your rays of the MidSummer Sun bless and nourish me.
Two that are One, may your blessings sustain me as I journey, anew.”

Pass your cupped hands over the cauldron, pausing briefly each time to ‘ pour ‘ in wishes for health, prosperity, and good fortune to be part of your life. Dip the forefinger of your right hand into the cauldron water, and trace a pentagram on your forehead, saying:

“Let my mind be open to the truth.”

Anoint your lips saying:

“Let my lips always speak the truth.”

Anoint your heart area, saying:

“Let my heart seek the ways of the Goddess, now and always.”

Anoint the centers of your palms, saying:

“Let my hands be gifted to work in magical ways.”

Anoint the soles of your feet, saying:

“Let my feet ever walk upon the sacred paths!”

Now is the time for meditation and any spellworkings. MidSummer spellworkings include: prosperity, fertility, and plentiful harvests.
Finish by having the Cakes and Ale Ceremony and releasing the circle.
Clean up. The Ritual is done.

Alight

by Monitor Your ThoughtsNatural HealingSpiritual Living


We often look to the horizon to seek a reference point for where we want to go. Yet there are infinite horizons within us waiting to be explored. When horses stand still, I watch them in their ability to become quiet, and I often envy them their stillness. As humans, it is so difficult for us to mentally and physically allow ourselves to be still. Horses do it naturally, when the moment presents itself. But so often in our days – it seems our moments are sucked into the vortex of constant mental and physical activities.

For us to explore our own heart, and to hear our own thoughts, we have the opportunity to create moments of stillness; to stop doing and start being.

I often feel that horses are as adept at navigating the paths of their inner landscapes, as they are the outer ones. We have much to learn from them in exploring the horizons of our souls.

Kim McElroy

Spirit of Horse E-Inspiration