Cocyea Broom (Cocoyea)

And that's what a Cocyea Broom looks like.
Its made from the fronds (leaves ) of the Coconut Tree. The individual leaves are stripped leaving just the spine and all the cocyea are tied together in a thick bunch to make a broom. You can hold it in your hand or you can make it more like a besom by adding a long broom handle to the center of the bunch just before you tie.

Cocyea broom lore really centers around its use in cleansing, especially sweeping out the less desirable energies that might be lurking around. It is regular;y used in the Caribbean for regular cleaning, especially for sweeping out carpets when you don't have a vacuum handy, or for sweeping your yard clean.

There are "jokes" and whispers about it being a good spirit cleanser, and depictions of "beating" a possessed individual with one come to mine in some circles.

Having been "beaten" myself by the many " it have to be so, and only so is correct" ideas that pervade this country, I thought it apt to name the blog thus. It really assists in cleansing my mind of the limiting thinking that usually follows anyone who rigidly follows anything. I cannot follow anyone or anything for long. And I hope no one reading this blog takes anything word for word.

Cleansing yourself and ridding your person of things, thoughts and ideas that you no longer need is always important. Hanging on to baggage only weighs you down. And weight prevents you from flying.

Every ritual or spell that you do requires you to cleanse your work area. You can create your own enjoyable Cleansing Ritual, which would be the first step to all your spells and rituals. Make your own broom, besom, cocyea broom. Tie it with a ribbon or fabric which depicts your usual workings (see colour associations), and create your own Cleansing Chant.

Widdershins I cleanse my space
For to work my magick
Any beasties left about
for them it would be tragic!


(my favourite...said while sweeping widdershins about the work area. I like to work like a mad cackling witch who has gone nuts. Mwhahahaha)
You can also light inscense and chant the same chant.

Blow away the beasties dear
Cleanse my space of dread
the uninvited in my space
Will get a blown up head!

You get the general idea.....don't make lightly with unwanted spirits, make sure they stay out of your mental space always, and your magick space as well.

When Life Gives you Lemons

So every so often LIFE will throw something at you which causes you to stop and ponder. If you are a "crazy-maker" this would seem like a big deal and you would be like "how the hell can this happen to me? Why is this always happening to me?"

If you are the one to internalize it, it will grow on your mind like the biggest Pumpkin in the Universe and block your view of reality. Or it will warp you vision and twist everything associated with that issue.

Breathe.....your first step is recognizing that you are allowing the issue to control you. Magickally, you are in control, or should be. Nothing is to great for your mind to handle. Do not allow it to take over your mind and allow your emotions to spiral out of control. GRAB A HOLD OF YOURSELF!!!

Look up.... no matter how bad the situation get outside and find a piece of sky to look at. Just the act of looking upward releases emotions which would assist in clearing your mind.

Repeat your core goals which direct your life. As a Magician/Magick worker, you should have a few goals you are working on for self-improvement/success, and repeating them helps get back to the center of your focus, and off of the annoying/mind-crushing problem.

When the issue no longer feels like its in charge, imagine it like a flat coin. The issue is on the "heads" side. Imagine walking around the coin and seeing the "tails" side. Tail Sight is where the wisdom is...what can I learn from this lesson. This issue is a gift, meant to strengthen, to teach, to push me to learn. What can I learn from this gift.

If this is a difficulty, leave the issue alone, and continue to repeat your core Magickal goals every time it feels like its taking over. Talk to no more than three people about it. Understand that three is offloading, but more than that is obsessing...and adding fuels to its energy.

Continue to repeat your core Magickal goals to yourself. If that doesn't help, draw the issue as a "beastie" on a peice of paper. Colour the bugger, make it as ugly as you want with a big mouth, horns and warts. The beastie should only be an issue, not a free-willed being (no people please, they are not the issue. Your reaction to the situation is the problem, not the person) Draw that beastie locked in a box, or a cell, and burn the bugger with a nice little cleansing chant you have created for yourself. It always helps to be childish and playfull in times of stress!

Every issue that comes up is one step on the path to your Magickal Success. Experience is the best teacher, the the Universe will send things for you to experience and strengthen your mind. If you wish to learn to be more compassionate, experiences will be sent which require compassion...so the bad news about friends and family all around who are undergoing problems and seek you out for advice or help is your work-book for compassion.

Look for ways to make lemonade with your lemons, life suddenly becomes sweeter, and tastier too!!!

Spiritual Explorations of a Different Kind part 2

Avatar-the Last Airbender


A few years back some college boys from the USA "created" a character called The Avatar, who was a little boy, a least in this life. He was a reincarnated spirit of a long line of AVATARS whose spirit returned to Earth every one thousand years to assist the Human Race through a difficult trial period. Pointing out the similarity between that and Hindu philosophy which has a "god" descend to Earth every thousand years is another blog all together.

Any who, my point was just to observe this cartoon series in its brilliant exploration of this little boy of simple origin, with the knowledge and power to become great, but needed to experience the human condition as the "key" to unlock these special abilities. His Spirit has been here several times before, but his body, and his talents shift depending on the task he needs to perform in this incarnation.

Avatar the Movie


Then there was this Movie, Avatar. In this movie, (besides the other themes which are screaming at me to discuss but will be at a later blog) the conciousness of the individual is transfered to another body which is more suitable to do the job which is required. Thats all I would say about this movie which is relevant to this blog's theme. (So tempting.....)


Surrogates


This third one, Surrogates explores the type of world where we are able to choose our bodies. The physical appearance of the individual is dictated by their desires.n How ever, in losing themselves in these surrogates, the individual loses touch with what it means to be Human.

These are just three movies which address this theme of the Avatar.....the idea that the physical body in temporary, interchangeable,and that the individual actually resides in its own conciousness and not in the physical body.

The message is simple. We are not our bodies. Our bodies are simply the vessel in which we travel this life. Our true selves lie in our conciousness which remains regardless of which body and which lifetime we are currently engaging in. What is new in the Movie Avatar and Surrogates is that we can actually choose to change the body in our current incarnation, and experience different realities in one lifetime.


This idea is found throughout many writings in theosophy, magick and occult studies. That our physical body is actually created by our conciousness is one theme which can be founf in tibetian writings, christian theology, Magickal philosophy etc.
That we are spiritual beings which incarnated several times to grow spiritually is another. That we evolve at every incarnation, and what we are given in each incarnation are the tools we need to learn the lessons we need at that incarnation.

That we are spiritual beings, learning lessons in each life; collecting these lessons in our inner conciousness, and that we know more at each incarnation than we are aware of.

This is how the majority of the Human race is able to explore spiritual themes these days, through books, film and media. Those individuals who can, tap into the evolutionary stages of spirit, and present the ideas to the mainstream for their exploration. Those who see past the entertainment factor are elevated in spirit.
Now imagine if we could go through eternity retaining some of the memories or skills from previous lives? Or, perhaps we can, before we die, decide who we want to be in our next life? Suppose we do have this power, and never used it simply because it never dawned on us?

And this is my brain going off on a tangent again...........

Spiritual Explorations of a Different Kind

Perhaps it escapes most people. But spiritual ideas come in waves, the energies usually being picked up first by creative individuals. Each trend is actually an indication of spiritual themes being explored by the human race in their own way.

Lets take for example; the use of Angel Wings in Tattoos, and graphics for clothes etc. Even the swirls and scrolls used in graphics are an abstraction of Angel Wings. Note the prevalence of symmetry in t shirt designs symbolising balance. These wings indicate the need for transcendence of self. And indeed, look at the emphasis that has been placed on self improvement in all aspects of the Human Experience. Higher education, better health, the greater need for spiritual connections...the emphasis is on a different quality of life, one than is better than the present, regardless of which point the human soul is at. The Angel wings are a symbol of the human races' obsession with the Theme Transcendence. Look at the explosion of interest in creatures with wings, butterflies, dragonflies, fairies- images of which are making their way in graphics, art, tattoos spirituality etc.....they are the same theme.

Then there are the stories of 2012, which speaks to the ascension of spirit, a release of our human bodies, and the focus on our true essence as spiritual beings.

On th heals of this trend comes another...the concept of Avatars and the virtual reality craze, which would be explored in the next post.

The Dark side

Been one of those times when the darker side of things have taken over my brain. I have been carefully assessing this preference for the macabre, the dismal, and the darker side for a couple of days now. It has not helped my relationships, and has given me the tendency to look at the negative side of somethings that...really...were fabrications of my mind. I am reluctant to work Magick at this point because the rational wise Magician in me is not present.
This though...is not scary. During this time I use this energy to pull out the decrepit part of my thoughts...yank them from my brain, and torture them internally till their essence drips and is bled dry. What is needed is returned to the psyche; what is not will be rid of with a Lesser Banishing Ritual of the Pentagram.

OOOPPS

Oh dear....made a magickal mistake. The last full moon was not in Scorpio. It actually was in Virgo. The spell is still applicable to Scorpio. I apologize for the mistake........

Spell for Scorpio's Moon

~Magickal Graphics~

Sunday 28th February will see a full moon in Scorpio.
I am posting spells which use this energy.

Moon in Scorpio. Spells involving secrets, power and psychic growth


On a moon-in Scorpio Night to illuminate a secret bright
Mark a black Candle with the rune-sign Peorth.

Consecrate with Geranuim oil, that black candle for your toil
To bring hidden secrets forth.

Cast your circle good and clean, call the quarters to the scene
See the secret hidden behind a veil.

Allow the candle to burn through, the secret is revealed to you
The spell it will not fail.

Chant in the present that you see the secret’s veil now falling free
And all which is hidden is clear.

And it harm none so mote it be, is used as a precaution’ry
To keep your conscious clear.

Douens- French? Really? Are we sure?

This is a painting from A Codallo, a Trinidadian Artist long past. To the right under the tree is a picture of a DOUEN, a childlike creature with a large hat, whose feet are turned backwards.

Now since we were small, we have been told that these creatures were of French origin, and thats the story we stuck to and repeated to our little ones. But I find it intriguing the the Latin American countries have a creature called "Duendes" which varies in appearance depending on the country.

I am not making any conclusions, but there must be a link, the names are too similar. Maybe the creature is of Spanish origin and the French adopted the name?

The reason I am questioning is that I once sat back and traced an online thread about the Pierrot, right back to Italy...apparently, the character's origins came from Italian street drama, and the French picked it up in their street plays. Mind you, this was no aristocracy here...this was street art......and it became on of our leading Carnival Characters.

This lead me to question a lot of things about our "heritage" But I'll get to that some other time.

Why is this important?

Because we are working with energies in Magick. The energies of the Fae folk on the land in which you live shows the relationship that the people have with the land. Where did the Fae originate? And why, on this island in the Caribbean are the fae so hostile? Or were they originally friendly, and became hostile by what we were told? I question this again, because of what I read about the Silk Cotton Tree in another book about African Plant healing.

Silk Cotton Trees were seen as spiritual holy places, a place to meditate, pray and connect to the ancestors. Which is the total opposite to the fearful stories that we were introduced to about the trees.

Everything we have that is indigineous is attached to fear. Could that be why we as a people feel so fearful of new experiences? Fearful of explorations of the Spirit? Fearful of our own country?

Could be that the colonialists did more damage to our psyche than we care to admit. Or than we want to know.......

At the Crossroads

I feel like I am in the center of this picture. But honestly , there are a few more roads in my mind.
I am here, where I am supposed to be always, but feeling for the first time a sense of expansion, and opportunity. I feel larger than I have ever been before. I can spiritually pivot on one foot, and turn in all directions and cannot find the path to take which seems exciting. I am only talking about inner mental journeys here, please note that. Nothing which I used to explore anymore seems magickal. The sparkle of the inner has been lost a bit, and I know why.

There is someone, who keeps me in tune with the outer world. That someone is bent on living this life with as much fun as he can possibly have. His boyish good looks, and his zest for life and all the experiences it can offer; has pulled my inner child out facing the world to see what's there on the outside to be experienced.
On the outside, I am holding his hand and skipping down the pathway to happy experiences. Life with him is "rich" in experiences. Life is fun again, new again...and there is magick on the outside of my mind again.

So internally I am at a crossroads, and I will pause for a spell- because externally I may be prancing down some new reality holding the hand of someone I love.

Mass energies for spellworking

Come Monday the moon will be waxing in Pisces. It will still be in Pisces on Tuesday too. This would be a good time to spellwork for enhanced psychic ablilities, telepathy, and the inspiration of new music. It is also good for empowerment, and clarity.

Usually when spellworking, you raise energies by yourself or in a group throught meditation, dancing, spinning or any exhilarating movement. But on Monday and Tuesday, thousand of people on our island would be exhilerated themselves, raising energies as they dance through the streets in our Carnival.
I am trying to create a spell, using these energies, which would benefit all. The most needed spell for this island would be empowerment, as many people feel trapped by crime, lack of opportunity, and lack of vision. Fear of everything new and different abounds, and really, removing the fear requires a waning moon.

For those who wish to create a spell themselves, and chant to the beat of a soca tune as thousands dance close to you, you can imagine the energy as red light being given off as they "jump-up".
I think I will create a magick dust of earth, bay-leaf and red glitter, and summon some Mars energy to bring empowerment to our people. I still have to create the appropriate chant.

But the ethics has me concerned...am I interfearing with free will in asking for empowerment? Perhaps I am. Perhaps it is not for me to make that judgement. Perhaps I'd be better off spellworking for me alone.

Well..... in that case I'd prefer to work for clarity, and clairvoyance.

Imbolc

Yesterday, the Pagan / Witch community observed Imbolc, a festival of candles, Brigit and the coming of the Sun. Newness and springtime, new life emerging all resonate with this festival.

I could not observe it. Why. Because there is no such cycle where I live. There is no "coming of spring." In a tropical island, birth happens all through the year. Warmth happens all through the year. Our time when the Earth awakens is closer to the Spring Equinox when all the trees and flowers begins to bloom.

Wicca teaches about following the Wheel of the Year. The Solstices and Equinoxes are marked by the relationship to the sun and moon. These are termed the minor Sabbatts. The major ones are the ones that happen midway between these. For me though. The Equinoxes and Solstices should be the major ones, because they are marked by heavenly events larger than our experience. They influence the entire universe by their positioning. Evidence of these can be seen in Nature, the tides, the plants, the very air seems to be teeming with energies respective of the cycle.

The minor ones, which are not marked by any celestial happening cannot possibly resonate for the person who cannot experience them. I do not feel an Imbolc, Beltane, Lammas...and I only feel Samhain because it is marked a bit here.........

For us on the island, we are in the midst of a creative outpouring as our festival time heats up, and soon we will all be tramping up and down the streets, following music truck in our lovely Pagan Festival called Carnival. Its the only time that this country comes alive, really alive, really showing what the life-blood of the island is about. Is that our Imbolc? Is that our awakening?

There is a concept called the Souvreignity of a land, where the energy and needs of the people dictate or direct what is needed for the land. For me feeding off the already existing energies, and learning the cycles that already exist is just as important to Magickal practice. Now imagine using those energies around you, and spellworking in the middle of a large party. Imagine using the energy to create excitement in your life. Imagine, magickally, what could happen if the thoughts emminating from all the masqueraders on the road (about 60,000 plus revelers)could be directed to a focal point for the energy (say banishing Crime)? The Magickal results would be amazing.

Emotional Pavlovs

The image shows Pavlov's experiment, where the scientist conditioned a dog to drool at the sound of a bell, just by associating the sound with the arrival of food.
I remember two statements which I read concerning our conditioned response to situations. One was that we choose to respond to the same situations in the same way, (Deepak Chopra) and that our responses to situations have been conditioned into us by the expectations of society (google noospheric operating system).

If you step back from your life for a while, and look for cycles which you keep going through, you would realize that there are certain situation which you respond to the same way all the time. Ask yourself.....is this how I really want to react? Or am I reacting the way I was taught to react? What would happen if I reacted the opposite way, or a different way?

Having had the realization from my last blog that emotional residue is a real thing which can cloud your judgement, I begin to question if what is in my mind is really mine. Or am I just a bundle of programmed responses to situations?
What really fills me with passion? Do I even know? Or have I been taught what should fill me with passion because of someone elses passions? Most interesting thoughts for a woman who, at this late stage in her life is really trying to find herself.

What is me? No...not who am I. I know who I am.....my issue here is ; is who I am really me? which parts of my programming are me, and which parts need to be let go completely? This calls for meditation, quiet, and lots of reflection.

Magickal Mind 2 - Changing your belief.

Spells, Runes, Tarot cards and the like are all interesting. But what captures my attention most is how the mind processes information when working magick. Actually, learning Magick really assists you in focusing, and learning how to differentiate between fact, and opinion. When you can analyze your thoughts to the point where you know which thoughts are fear based, and which thoughts are "truth for all people" your world really opens up as you realize that the possibilities for the individual are endless. The only thing we have to fear is..fear.

I can bring to mind many instances where I have believed in something, and haven't discussed it with anyone (to be silent) and the thing came to pass. However I noted that when I believe something is possible, and have to share that belief with someone who thinks it is not, then the probability of it happening diminishes.

The belief in something, is directly proportional to its manifestation. Also, there is a process which you can undertake to "change your beliefs." People have serious doubts that this is possible. The number one rule to remember is " Anything you can imagine can be made manifest." Keep that statement. Hold it, repeat it, remember it when things are not going your way.

Lets analyze how to change your belief. Write down your goal. Then honestly write down all the thoughts that come into your head, positive and negative; about your goal. All...everyone. The mind has a tendency to look at all aspects associated with the belief and labels every statement that matches as confirmation of the belief. Those that don't match are labelled "execptions to the rule." It never dawns on us that if exceptions exist, then the opposite of what we believe is also true.

The next thing you are going to do is to take every negative statement and find an example which makes the negative untrue. If you can find more than one statement, fact, or example, so much the better. Write down all those too. Then ask yourself. "If this is truth for these people, in theses instances, how can I make it truth for me?" Find ways in which the thing you want can come to pass. Use your imagination...."It can happen if........."

Lets take an example: Winning the lottery.
I like to use this because it resonates with so many people. We never believe that we could win the lotto. Yet people win every week. As a matter of fact there are 104 winners every year. A minimum of 104 million dollars are given away to Average Joe person every year...here...in Trinidad and Tobago. Why do you believe that it can't happen to you? Work on changing those beliefs.

Now think about the goal again...have your beliefs in the possibility of its manifestation changed? If not, you need to go back to the thinking board and write down all the statements you have associated with the thing in the past. Look for the things that echo from your upbringing. "Money doesn't grow on trees." or the classic, "only people who do illegal things have that amount of money."
Follow this exercise with any goal working that you are doing. Declare waht you really want always, make steps to change your belief in the possibility. Know, that if your inner critic keeps coming up with every thought of what you want, then you really don't believe its possible.

When you state your goal......and there is nothing but a smile, and a "hell yeah, that would be cool!" from your inner voice; then you know you have indeed changed your belief.