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How Witches Deal with “When Your Life Feels Chaotic” Ep. 58
Author: Moonwater
How Witches Settle from Chaos into Their Meditation Session
“When I’m worried, I don’t want to settle down into a meditation session,” my friend, Jessica, said.
“What’s happening then?” I asked.
“If I settle down, then it would just be me and the worries—in the silence. I’d rather have my iPod on loud and stay busy. I want to be distracted,” she said.
I learned that a number of people have difficulties about settling down with a chaotic mind when they start a meditation session.
I have three insights you can apply to beginning a meditation session.
- Focus on your breathing
When you simply focus on your breath coming in and then flowing outwards, you can begin to calm down. The practice of slow, calm breaths can also help in other aspects of your life. The good news is that when you practice slow, calm breaths in meditation sessions, you can bring this conditioning to your stressful times with family or at work.
Anytime your mind wanders, redirect your attention to your gentle breathing in and out. Notice if your breath is fast or shallow. If so, slow down your breath and deepen it. Just concentrating on your breath will help you still your mind.
2. Repeat a phrase or mantra.
Once you have your breathing in a slow, deep, rhythmic pattern, you can then repeat a phrase or a mantra in your mind.
I’ll distinguish here between a helpful mantra and a stress-causing, old-fashioned affirmation*.
Here is an example of a helpful mantra: Goddess supports me in peace. This form of mantra is specific to this present moment.
(*On the other hand, a stress-causing, old-fashioned affirmation can sound like: “I am skinny.” This can cause stress if you feel a big gap between your present situation and your wish to have a different form of body shape.)
3. Begin with a set pattern
You can repeat the mantra while you meditate. Additionally, you can use another form of set pattern.
Here are some examples:
- Visualize that you’re walking down the steps of a staircase. This can help you go deeper during your meditation.
- Visualize that you’re standing in the middle of Standing Stones. For example, one set of Standing Stones is Stonehenge.
- Visualize that you’re sitting in a Sacred Grove of Oak Trees or another sacred spot.
Once you settle on a starting point, you can meet the God and Goddess there. In this way you can converse and devote time with the Gods.
May the above methods support your meditation practice.
Blessed Be,
Moonwater
Enroll in my Online Course At Udemy.com
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Looking for gifts?
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Goddess Style Weight Loss: Wiccans — Happy, Healthy and Confident
Be a Wiccan Badass: Become More Confident and Unleash Your Inner Power
Goddess Reveals Your Enchanted Light: Peace, Prosperity, Possibility Along Your Wiccan Path
Goddess Has Your Back: How Wicca Can Help You Raise Your Self-Esteem and Make Your Life Magickal
Goddess Walks Beside You: How You Can Listen, Learn and Enjoy the Wiccan Path
Goddess Style Weight Loss: Wiccans — Happy, Healthy and Confident
P.S. To sign up for our E-Newsletter click here.
Check out my site MoonwaterSilverClaw.com for spells and more.
How Witches Use the Power of “No” to End Victimization Ep. 57
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How Witches Use the Power of “No” to End Victimization Ep. 57
How Witches Deal with “Tired of Being Afraid”
“How are you doing?” my friend, Sarah, asked me some time ago.
“I’m tired of being afraid,” I replied.
How about you? Do you find that much of your day is clouded by your feeling fearful?
- Identify the moments of “Calm Acceptance in this present moment.”
I’ve learned that much of fear is connected to focusing on the future.
I remember this quote:
“I have been through some terrible things in my life, some of which actually happened.” – Mark Twain
This quote reminds me that much that I’m afraid of is likely not to happen. For example, I was living in a particular location, and I thought that I would get kicked out. The truth is: I lived in that place for several years, and things were relatively peaceful.
In recent years, I’ve focused on this idea: Calm Acceptance. When I need to get to Calm Acceptance, I focus on the here and now. I look at this present moment and think about just taking one step at a time. My starting point is to realize I can only deal with this moment. Then I shift into the understanding that I am doing the best that I can.
- Shift to the focus on “The Gods will guide me to what I need to do.”
To help me shift to Calm Acceptance, I center my thoughts on The Gods will guide me to what I need to do. I ask the Gods to guide my actions for the best outcome.
Recently, I had a conversation with a friend who taught comparative religion. He noted that in some spiritual paths, there is an idea: “You are having a human life which includes just enough problems so you need to shift into guiding your mind to peace.”
Holding my faith that the Gods will guide me to what I need to do helps me to return to Calm Acceptance. Furthermore, I have faith that the Gods are guiding me with my purpose.
- Realize that the solution to fear is not about “just doing stuff in the mundane world”
When we are in fear mode, we’re often thinking about the mundane world problems in our lives. Just centering on the mundane world will keep you stuck. So much of the mundane world is about drama, agony, unsolvable problems, greed, apathy, and fear. Broadcast news and social media thrive on drama and pain. We, witches, must realize that we need to turn to the spiritual world for truth and the essence of the universe.
Witches realize that the spiritual world is just as important as the mundane one. Both have their part in our lives. When we focus too much on one or the other, we find that we get into trouble.
Keeping busy is one thing. But ducking reality in either the spiritual realm or mundane realm is inappropriate. We need balance. Doing ritual and meditation can help you rise out of obsessive thoughts on only mundane world problems.
Instead, you can focus on this prayer:
Goddess, nurture me to know that my fear
Is merely a signal.
Time for me to shift to Calm Acceptance.
Lead me, guide me
That my fears not cast me astray.
Help me focus on balance.
Let Calm Acceptance lead the way.
May this process enrich your life.
Blessed Be,
Moonwater
Enroll in my Online Course At Udemy.com
Spiritual Solution for Depression Relief
Looking for gifts?
See my designs at Redbubble. For more of Moonwater SilverClaw, consider some of her books:
Goddess Style Weight Loss: Wiccans — Happy, Healthy and Confident
Be a Wiccan Badass: Become More Confident and Unleash Your Inner Power
Goddess Reveals Your Enchanted Light: Peace, Prosperity, Possibility Along Your Wiccan Path
Goddess Has Your Back: How Wicca Can Help You Raise Your Self-Esteem and Make Your Life Magickal
Goddess Walks Beside You: How You Can Listen, Learn and Enjoy the Wiccan Path
Goddess Style Weight Loss: Wiccans — Happy, Healthy and Confident
P.S. To sign up for our E-Newsletter click here.
Check out my site MoonwaterSilverClaw.com for spells and more.
My Prayer for You this Holiday Season
When was the last time you really felt relief?
For me, it was during the recent power outages and crisis in California.
Why?
CLICK HERE for your $13.99 (discount rate) on the Online Course
Because something finally went right. You see I needed to complete my new online course Spiritual Solution for Depression Relief before the Holiday Season. This season can be especially hard on us witches. So many of us, witches, don’t have a family who understands us. Feeling isolation and having to hide your true nature as a witch can increase depression symptoms.
Perhaps you’re like me and have experienced Holiday Blues. To make things worse I have clinical depression symptoms. I have to be careful about how I go about my daily life. This is even more vivid to me because one of my closest friends committed suicide. It is reported that there is in the U.S.A. 30,000 suicides per year – that’s one suicide every minute.
I felt called to complete my online course Spiritual Solution for Depression Relief before this Holiday Season.
My husband and I are forever changed by the loss of our close, dear friend “John” to his committing suicide.
I still remember how John traveled for three hours just to hang out with our family. He had a therapist, a psychiatrist, and medication, and he was on a fitness program. We thought John was doing well. However, we had no idea that something was going on when John decided just to sit with us in our living room, instead of going out for a cup of coffee. In his own mind, John was actually saying goodbye to us. We didn’t know it at the time.
With this spiritual online course, I’m honoring John’s life by reaching out and taking action to provide people with what I’ve learned in my own experiences with spiritual elders, therapists, doctors, and my own spiritual practices. (I’m doing much better. Years ago I had multiple attempts at suicide but I have daily practices that support me now.)
It’s possible that with this online course Spiritual Solution for Depression Relief may be some of the best work I will ever offer this world.
Holiday Season Prayer
May you know the comfort of the Goddess
May you feel the strength of the God
You are not alone, support is near
To the Gods you are dear.
May this simple prayer give you strength during the dark times.
Here are some other resources:
- National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 800-273-TALK (8255)
- National Domestic Violence Hotline: 800-799-SAFE (7233), 800-787-3224 (TTY) 800-942-6908 (Spanish)
- Teen Hotline Covenant House NineLine: 800-999-9999
- Grief Recovery Helpline: 800-445-4808
Blessed Be,
Moonwater
Enroll in my Online Course At Udemy.com
Spiritual Solution for Depression Relief
Looking for gifts?
See my designs at Redbubble. For more of Moonwater SilverClaw, consider some of her books:
Goddess Style Weight Loss: Wiccans — Happy, Healthy and Confident
Be a Wiccan Badass: Become More Confident and Unleash Your Inner Power
Goddess Reveals Your Enchanted Light: Peace, Prosperity, Possibility Along Your Wiccan Path
Goddess Has Your Back: How Wicca Can Help You Raise Your Self-Esteem and Make Your Life Magickal
Goddess Walks Beside You: How You Can Listen, Learn and Enjoy the Wiccan Path
Goddess Style Weight Loss: Wiccans — Happy, Healthy and Confident
P.S. To sign up for our E-Newsletter click here.
Check out my site MoonwaterSilverClaw.com for spells and more.
Halloween, Departed Loved Ones and a Forgiveness Ritual
Jack-O-lantern
“Halloween is a tough time for me,” Henry said.
“How so?” I asked.
“My father’s dead. But the Wiccan idea of inviting him to return in spirit bothers me,” he replied.
“Is there something specific?”
“My dad was a terrible person,” Henry explained.
A significant number of us, Wiccans, have truly mixed feelings about Halloween, which is really our holy day of Samhain. This is because many of us have valid reasons in that we haven’t forgiven a relative or friend who has already died.
To be helpful, I now share a Forgiveness Ritual.
Forgiveness Ritual
What you need:
- One white candle
- One black candle
- One pink candle
- Candleholders for all the candles
- Frankincense incense
- Incense burner
- Heat-proof surface to place the incense burner
- Boline
Prepare candles by carving the deceased person’s name with the boline. You’re carving the name of the person you want to forgive onto the black candle. Then carve your name on the white candle. Carve forgiveness on the pink candle.
Cense and asperge your candles.
Arrange the candles in positions that form a triangle. Place the black candle on your left and the pink candle in the front and center. Position the white candle to your right.
Light the black candle and recite the deceased person’s name three times.
Light the white candle and recite your name three times.
Then light the pink candle and say,
I grieve for our differences between you and me.
I forgive wrongdoings on both sides now I see.
Forgiveness and peace for us. So mote it be.
At the close of this Forgiveness Ritual, dismiss the spirit of your departed loved one. You do this by saying the departed person’s name in this way:
[Name], go in peace
[Name], go in peace
[Name], go in peace
And you snuff out the black candle.
Do the Cakes and Wine Ceremony, while you let the pink candle completely burn down.
Close the Circle
Warning: Make sure to dismiss the spirit of your loved one. In certain situations, you do not want the spirit to remain near you. Samhain is a specific time to get together with a departed loved one. However, some spirits retain negativity, and you may want to be free of them throughout the rest of the year.
May this process bring you peace.
Blessed Be,
Moonwater
Enroll in my Online Course At Udemy.com
Spiritual Solution for Depression Relief
Looking for gifts?
See my designs at Redbubble. For more of Moonwater SilverClaw, consider some of her books:
Goddess Style Weight Loss: Wiccans — Happy, Healthy and Confident
Be a Wiccan Badass: Become More Confident and Unleash Your Inner Power
Goddess Reveals Your Enchanted Light: Peace, Prosperity, Possibility Along Your Wiccan Path
Goddess Has Your Back: How Wicca Can Help You Raise Your Self-Esteem and Make Your Life Magickal
Goddess Walks Beside You: How You Can Listen, Learn and Enjoy the Wiccan Path
Goddess Style Weight Loss: Wiccans — Happy, Healthy and Confident
P.S. To sign up for our E-Newsletter click here.
Check out my site MoonwaterSilverClaw.com for spells and more.
Halloween – the Witches Antidote to Holiday Blues and Depression Ep. 56
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Halloween – the Witches Antidote to Holiday Blues and Depression Ep. 56
How Witches Shift from Fear-based to Goddess-based Ep. 55
https://www.podbean.com/media/share/pb-ryqf4-c51556
How Witches Shift from Fear-based to Goddess-based Ep. 55
How Witches Use Time Management So They Connect with the Gods
“What’s most important to you as a witch?” I asked my friend, Jessica.
“To connect with the Gods,” she replied.
“You look concerned,” I said.
“I’m just not doing it. I’m not showing up for ritual,” she said, frowning.
This began an important conversation.
I’ll share three insights here:
- The distractions and obligations of everyday life can strangle your spiritual practice.
Fear can exacerbate the situation. That is, many of us are buried in fear-inducing problems with the job, the kids and more. We live in a chaotic world. Not knowing what to do can stifle or even completely stall your spiritual practice. So many of us say, “I just can’t find the time.”
When you pause, you can realize that even just five minutes of meditation can calm you down and clear your thinking. That’s how a spiritual practice can be a lifesaver in the mundane and chaotic world.
- Gathering with your Coven will give you a safe space for ritual.
When I am with my coven, I feel deeply supported. We support each other and raise each other up. We are a strong group. Being in a coven is having a chosen family.
This family can encourage your spiritual growth. This can be especially good if you don’t have a supportive family at home. If you gather with your coven, someplace outside your own home, you can find it to be an oasis from your mundane surroundings.
- Pick your morning or evening as your sacred time.
I had a conversation with a friend who is a time management expert who authored three books on the topic. He noticed that time management is not really about lists, it’s about making great choices.
Have you noticed that your only “free time” is in the morning or at night before you go to sleep? You may want to choose one of those times as a designated sacred time. Mornings may work for some better than others because one can be fresh from the night’s rest.
However, if you are a night owl, you may prefer evenings.
I find that evenings seem to be the time I can spare. It may be better for me in the morning, but, at this time, I find that doing a brief meditation session (with my husband) before bedtime helps us both.
Don’t wait to have only an “ideal time.” Three minutes in your parked and locked car (someplace safe), may be helpful. You could recharge before going into your home for “family time.”
Remember, time management is about making great choices.
Choose to connect with the God and Goddess. Even a daily 5-minute meditation practice may truly brighten your life.
Blessed Be,
Moonwater
Enroll in my Online Course At Udemy.com
Spiritual Solution for Depression Relief
Looking for gifts?
See my designs at Redbubble. For more of Moonwater SilverClaw, consider some of her books:
Goddess Style Weight Loss: Wiccans — Happy, Healthy and Confident
Be a Wiccan Badass: Become More Confident and Unleash Your Inner Power
Goddess Reveals Your Enchanted Light: Peace, Prosperity, Possibility Along Your Wiccan Path
Goddess Has Your Back: How Wicca Can Help You Raise Your Self-Esteem and Make Your Life Magickal
Goddess Walks Beside You: How You Can Listen, Learn and Enjoy the Wiccan Path
Goddess Style Weight Loss: Wiccans — Happy, Healthy and Confident
P.S. To sign up for our E-Newsletter click here.
Check out my site MoonwaterSilverClaw.com for spells and more.
How Witches Deal with Feelings That Don’t Line Up With Reality Ep. 54
https://www.podbean.com/media/share/pb-q3tqb-c437c8
How Witches Deal with Feelings That Don’t Line Up With Reality Ep. 54
GoddessHasYourBack.com 