Up comes Samhain

So up comes what has to be my most favourite time of year. I have always felt a connection to Halloween. And thats an odd thing.

Living on an island that does not celebrate this holiday at all there was a total absence of pumpkins, ghosts and goblins from my childhood days. There was, however, a feeling of something otherwordly hovering all around me between the periods of September to the end of October. At that time every year, I would get melancholy, pensive, in my analytical mood and it was only as I got older and removed myself from the prevailing mental constructs that I began to look inward more closely and analyze the moods I had.

I see the event as an opportunity to embrace things that we fear. Those dark,  decrepit feelings and moods that we are told are evil, wicked and destructive. As I grew older, I realized that there is the opportunity to take these very energies and channel them into something that may be positive. I have learnt that in time of emotional stress, or great challenge; summoning the powers of these moods assists in dealing with the seemingly great problem. The power of mischief can be very useful in dealing with fear.. mischief thought, not acted on. In this way, you control it, it doesn't control you.
I have summoned a warring spirit to deal with apathy.

None of these things, mind you required a whole lot of ritual. It was a simple matter of having felt the feeling and tapping into its strength to deal with whatever adversity was occurring at the moment.

Halloween, to me, gives permission to embrace the other side of ourselves. To look freely beyond the veil into those things that we fear, and learn to deconstruct that fear, turning it into a useful tool for taking us further spiritually.

Every year I pick one of those dark feelings in my inner self, and figure out a way to use those energies positively. I do not suppress them, for they will torture me and grow into something uncontrollable. I believe that finding a way for them to be expressed, in the context of being a useful tool is a much more appropriate way of dealing with them.

Embrace your dark side...and always remember...and ye harm none (including yourself) so mote it be.

To cast or not to cast..or maybe how can I cast?????

My mind is still out on this one. I have been robbed.....they took my digital cameras and my cell phone. Now how can I cast a spell to force them to return them??
My mind is twisting and turning and weaving today. My intent for the spell is revenge....bad that is....as much as I think about charming my items so that they will be returned...I realize that I may be interfearing with a beings free will....wish I could freak the living daylights out of the buggers. Wish I could send a message that would curl the hair on their eyebrows in fear.
But that will be harming a person......
How do you weave a spell, which does not seem vengeful, or does not interfere with the person's free will, on a robber who stole something from you?  "An it harm none" so doesn't apply........

I could do a spell for Justice...but Justice does as Justice will do....meaning that any unresolved injustices I have done will come back to be settled with me. Not that I can think of any deliberate injustice I have done on anyone......but then some actions which are noble can cause reactions which are not.

Sigh........ my mind wrestles with the ethics of this one......better to just let it go...and let the Goddess handle this in the manner she sees fit.
Will do some protection spells on the house for now.

Emotional Residue

I remember an essay that I read which put forward that our experiences shape our conclusions, and not always in the correct direction of truth. We go through life, experiencing, interacting, becoming hurt, feeling joy; and sometimes, similar experiences create emotional triggers in our future experiences.

I am noting this, because as I go forward, I am experiencing what I consider triggers in my interaction with new people. I seem to analyze a situation in terms of what was experienced before, and how the individuals reacted or acted then- and in my new situation which may be similar to one from the past, I have the expectation that the same result will be played out even though the players are different.

To what degree can we "learn" from our experieneces? And to what degree shall we keep an open mind and just observe how things play out? It is important to note, especially in close relationships, that emotional residue left behind (baggage) by the interactions of the last relationship, can warp clear judgement in the new one. It is important to tune into every reaction carefully, every uneasy feeling, and really try to discern whether your conclusion is "truth" for this relationship- or whether your judgement is clouded by emotional residue.
If it is, I think they should be noted, and a banishing spell at the next dark moon is in order. It also helps to be aware that they may pop up again....but you can mentally flick that beastie thought back into the ether where it came from, and immediately forbid it to enter your mind.

Magickal Ethics

To begin with, please understand that my ethics are mine, and not meant to be preached to anyone.
But this, my blog, is sometimes the place where I work out knots of my mind.
I was thinking the other day obout FREE WILL.
We have been granted Free Will, and hopefully have learnt and understood the responsibility that comes with it. To quote Spiderman "With great power comes great responsibility."

We have learnt the power to magickally ask for assistance from sentient beings which do not exist on our manifest plane, whatever level they may be. But in summoning these beings, aren't we interfering with their Free Will?

And what about creating a being using archetypical energies? Can these energies in their raw form essence be termed "Sentient Beings" and are they entitled to free will?

What about conciousness on a quantum level? Does each individual particle, as all seem to exibit conciousness at some level, have a right to free will?

My magickal work focuses on me. I do ritual to change my vibrations to attract my desires. I ask for no manipulation of any thing, and of course, my request is done with the condition "and it harm none."
It requires a constant analysis of your direction toward your goal. It also requires a constant anaylisi of everything you think, discuss and do....is it assisting your goal? It is indeed a very difficult exersice.