Mint family magic: A grab bag of minty fresh rites
To aid your mental abilities, make a tea of spearmint, peppermint, and horehound. Pray Psalm 19 and drink a cup of this tea, especially the night before any day with a major mental task. This will help your mental abilities, and give you peaceful and restful sleep the night before.
Put together Rosemary, Sage, and Pennyroyal and tie it together. Mix together Uncrossing bath salts and water and pray Psalm 90 and Psalm 91 over it. Use the small bouquet of herbs to sprinkle this water and in doing so you will cast out evil from any place
Take field balm aka Creeping Charlie (Glechoma hederacea) clarity oil and a yellow candle. Anoint the yellow candle with the clarity oil, and strew a ring of field balm around it. This will reveal enemies to you, especially enemies who are using harmful magic against you.For greater effect do this on a Tuesday.
Keep a bowl of mint leaves (fresh or dried) in your home to attract benevolent and helpful spirits to your home, to aid you and protect you from evil.
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I have never felt much of a connection to Imbolc and Brigid who is the more popular goddess associated with February and it’s beginning. In searching for alternatives, I found a connection to Juno. Having a preference for Graeco Roman divinities, this is who I choose to devote the first cross quarter feast to. Juno/Hera often gets the short end of the stick in most popular media these days. Usually the stories of her vengeance on the bastard children of Zeus from his uncountable paramours is the most often told story, and for that she is painted as being cruel, wicked, evil, vindictive, a harridan, and generally a bad example of a woman. They often overlook her other qualities, and other stories about her. One overlooked and rather important thing, that is often left out from modern retellings is that she was the divine patron of Jason of Jason and the Argonauts. Jason’s success in his journey came about because she favored him and helped him. As long as he held her favor, his ventures worked out for him. It wasn’t until he lost Hera’s favor, by screwing over Medea and breaking promises to her, and abandoning his own children, did his fortunes change and he ended up losing, hard. The month of February is also named for an title of Juno, that of Juno Februa, or Juno of Purification. The month February in the old Roman calendar was closely connected with purification, which would culminate on the 15th of February with the Februa purification. After this it would become a time of feasting and honoring the Gods, the dead, the Lares, and the prosperity of the people and the city itself as evidenced by it’s stability and prosperity.
Recently on social media I saw a post about the phrase “May you live in interesting times” and a reminder that the phrase is meant as a curse. The poster than followed this by saying their blessing was “May you living in boring, peaceful times” which I found a little lackluster, so I offer this up to the world. May you live in Peaceful and Prosperous times. I think people forget about the benefits of peace, tranquility and calm. Free from stress. Able to focus. You can rest, you can heal, you can recharge.
Todays is the Eastern Orthodox Synaxis of the Archangel Michael and all the Bodiless Powers. This includes the Archangel Gabriel is who is a favorite of mine and near and dear to my heart.
May the blessings of God through the Archangel Gabriel be upon you!
Another approach to finding personal empowerment can be found in western astrology. In his 3 books of Occult Philsophy, Cornelius Agrippa explains that all peope have a spirit or angel is assigned to them when they are born. By seeking out your personal angel or good spirit of your natal chart, you bring bring about an increase of good luck and fortune, gain advice, and numerous other benefits.
The key to this is spirit is understanding the nature of this spirit, which falls under one of the 7 Classical Planets ie Sun, Moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter or Saturn. There are many ways to do this. The simplest method is to look at the planet that rules the cusp of the 11th house. The sign on that cusp, and it’s exact degree can be examined to determine the which planet rules that house. In Hellenic astrology, the name of the 11th house was the Agathodaimon or the Good Spirit. Thus why the Lord of the 11th house is an indicator of the nature of the Good Spirit. The sign that rules this house has a ruling planet. The ruling planet is also the planet that your Good Spirit falls under. So if your 11th house ruler is Libra, then Venus is the nature of your Good Spirit. If the ruler was Capricorn, then Saturn is the nature of the good spirit. This is a simple method, but it can be made more precise with a detailed look into the most influential planet at that degree. For example, in Capricorn, at specific degrees of Capricorn, the planetary ruler of that degree might actually be Mars, as Mars is exalted in Capricorn and certain degrees have more Mars influence than Saturn.
Another method is determining the almuten figuris of your natal chart. This is a bit more complex method as it requires identifying several specific points in your natal chart. Even this method also has some variations. The foundational method is to identify the position of your natal Sun, Moon, Ascendant, Point of Fortune, and Syzygy. While the first three may be more familiar to people, the Point of Fortune and the Syzygy is not commonly talked about. The Point of Fortune is a calculated point. It is determined by looking at the distance from the Sun and Moon. This distance is then applied to the Ascendant, and it’s end point is the Point of Fortune. Depending upon if you were born at or night, the calculation will change, with it starting at the Sun in a day chart, and starting with the Moon in a night chart. The Syzygy is the position of the moon when it was Dark or Full before the time in the chart. Of course, if your moon is Dark, or Full, in your natal chart, then your moon position is also your syzygy. So, if the moon is waxing in your chart, then your syzygy will be the previous dark moon, and if the moon is waning, it will be the previous full moon. All of these points are examined, and added by which planets have dignities in them. All the dignities are calculated together, Rulership, Exaltation, Triplicity, Term and Face. In some systems, they will also include the planetary Day, and the Hour as well, and also the house the planet occupies in the natal chart, as some houses are considered to be more influential than others. A planet in the first house is much stronger than a planet in the 3rd house for example. The planet with the highest sum is considered the Almuten Figuris, or the Ruling planet of the Natal chart, and this planet thus also indicates the nature of the angel or good spirit of the natal chart.
With this method, sometimes the ruling planet may surprise you. The influence of day, hour and house can take a relatively weak planet and make it a powerhouse over a planet in rulership, but in a weak house, and lacking day and hour. This is not a bad thing however, and it can indicate that your fortune and spiritual advancement lays with the nature of that planet, which might require you to break out self imposed limitations and see things differently.
Once you know that planet, you can then start to reach out to call that spirit more closely into your life. For your consideration I will include simple connections on how you can construct and personalize the ritual, based upon your ruling planet.
For the Moon – You should start on a Monday, in the hour of the Moon. Moonrise, especially during a full moon, and also when the Moon is at the zenith of the sky during a full moon are also good times to commence or perform this ritual. White candles are recommended, but other colors can work as well, like silver, and pale or pastel colors, especially pastel blues, pastel pinks, pastel yellows, and pastel greens. A good incense to use is Jasmine, but camphor is also a good option. You can also make or purchase a complex incense blend for the moon. I also recommend using a planetary oil of the moon. A camphor oil blend can work well, as well as jasmine, or mugwort, and again there are also complex oil blend recipes online, and many shops sell such blends as well.
For the Sun – You should start on a Sunday, in the hour of the Sun. the first hour is at sunrise, but the 2nd Sun hour is often a little bit after Noon, so also choosing High Noon, when the sun is at the sky’s zenith is also a good choice. Candle colors of yellow, orange, gold, or white are recommended. A good incense is frankincense, but I also find that warm amber incenses draw forth solar influence quite well. A Sun incense blend that you make or purchase is also a good option. You can make a Sun oil with bay leaves and olive oil, or using the essential oil of bay laurel in olive oil that works very well. Other solar plants like St John’s wort works well, Sunflower petals, calendula petals, chamomile and angelica root also make a good solar oil.
For Mercury – You should start on a Wednesday, in the hour of Mercury. As Mercury tends to follow the Sun closely, and is difficult to see against his bright light, those are the best times. Sometimes Mercury is acting as the morning or evening star, and you can time this work to those periods as well, if you want to go to that effort. The candle colors I recommend are shades and tints of purple, brown, orange or gold, or rainbow or mixed colors, or sparkling candles ie glitter coated. I like holographic glitter, but any glitter will work. I find mercury works well with cinnamon incense, mastic resin, elemi resin, or storax if you can find them. A mercury oil can also be made from the same resins or from cinnamon EO. Anis, fennel, celery seed essential oils also make a good oil or incense.
For Venus – The day and hour of Venus works well, as does locating Venus as the Morning or Evening Star. Venus also doesn’t get very far from the sun, but when it is far away, it is often taking the position of one of these stars, and it can work well to invoke your Venusian spirit when those stars are visible above the horizon. The colors for Venus that I recommend are rich Green, rich or intense Pink, White, Turquoise, Blue-Green, Peach. I highly recommend a Rose incense and Rose scent in your oil, but Vanilla also works well, and any floral scent that you can enjoy. Orris oil aka Queen Elizabeth root oil is also a good.
For Mars – The day and hour of Mars. If you want to track Mars, he can be apparent at night and you can time him for when he rises above the horizon, or when he reaches the Zenith of the sky as well. The color of Mars is Red. No other color is really recommended. I prefer using the Pine as an incense, but Musk also resonates well with Mars. If you can afford dragon’s blood resin, that is also favored by Mars in my experience. For the oil, An herbal oil can be made with Basil, known to be a mars plant, but if you want something floral Tobacco flower makes a good scent although expensive essential oil. Just macerating hot dried chilis in oil can also make a good Mars oil.
For Jupiter – The day and hour of Jupiter, and also when Jupiter rises, or when Jupiter is at the zenith of the sky. The colors for Jupiter is royal blue, or cerulean blue, white or gold. The incenses I recommend is cedarwood, sandalwood, fir or juniper, or just burn powdered nutmeg on charcoals. A single scent Jupiter oil can be made from any of the incenses as well.
For Saturn – The Day and Hour of Saturn, or when Saturn rises or reaches the zenith of the sky. The colors for Saturn is primarily black, but shades (that is colors that have some black in them) of Green, dark greys, darker earth tones, and also White. For incense I prefer using Myrrh, but I also enjoying using Patchouli for it’s rich dark earth notes, if you want something unusual, Valerian root also makes a good incense, although it smells like feet in enough concentration. A good oil for Saturn can also be made with Patchouli, or Vetiver, of which the root is used to make the essential oil. Valerian root essential oil also makes a good Saturn oil.
As part of any of the rituals, I recommend making an offering of clean water in addition to the incense. Just about any spiritual being enjoys clean water, as a means to refresh itself. A simple blessing over the water is enough, in a clean glass.
You can call out the spirit through prayers, conjurations to the planets, poetry of the planets etc. A popular form is using the Orphic Hymns, which have hymns dedicated to the Graeco Roman Gods associated with the planets. You can also find prayers and invocations to spirits of the planets and then ask them to connect you with your natal spirit. The Olympic spirits, The Archangels of the Planets, The Planetary Intelligences and Spirits, and more. You can also freeform or compose your own prayer or evocation.
In Agrippa he also gives a method to determine the name of this spirit. It can be done using any alphabet, but Agrippa gave examples using Hebrew and Latin. Essentially each degree is assigned a letter, starting with A at the first degree of Aries, and repeating until the last letter at the final degree of Pisces. Then look to the previous planets and points ie Sun, Moon, Ascendant, Point of Fortune, Syzygy. Those points will give you the letter that make up the name of your spirit. This may not have any vowels in it, so you can use your own inspiration to fill in vowel sounds, or just make your best guess. You can also forgo this method, and just reach out the spirit, until it gives you a name to use.
You should repeat this ritual every week, on the same day and hour, until you feel certain you have made contact with your natal spirit. This can take many forms. It may come with a vision, or a dream. It may come as a knowingness, or as a clairaudient experience where you hear a voice speaking to you, and answering your questions and aiding you. It may happen quickly with just one session. For myself it took 9 months, starting on the Winter Solstice and finishing on the Autumnal equinox. Your mileage may vary.
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Recently I have been feeling the desire to create some magical/condition products (oils, powders, incense etc…). Part of my training is in African American Folk Magic (via Lucky Mojo) and that is the system I prefer to use when I create such products. What has been calling me recently is the desire to create some products for general benevolence, and also attracting benevolent spirits. To that end I created two items, that currently only exist in an oil form.
The first one I call “All Good Things.” It is a very sweet scented oil that attracts benevolent affection, good spirits, and uplifted mental state. When I first created it the scent was nice, but after sitting for a few hours (and a good healthy empowerment blessing) the scent transformed into this wonderful odor. I have only used it once, but my experience after wearing it showed a general increase of helpful and benevolent experiences for the remainder of the day.
The second oil I named “Good Spirits.” Good Spirits name indicates what it is meant to attract. The attention and aid of good spirits, benevolent unseen helpers, spirit guides, helpful ancestral spirits, spiritual guardians and pretty much any kind of incorporeal intelligence that is beneficial, benevolent and well, good. I recently used it on a candy for a spiritual ally of mine, and I found our connection clear, strong and empowered. I think it also helped to strengthen the spiritual ally as well, and so it might figure as a way to anoint offerings and gifts to benevolent spirits that you may wish to call, or are already apart of your spiritual practice.