Does the mundane world feel overwhelming at times?
Here is a prayer to help you reconnect with the spiritual reality that the Gods support you every day and every minute.
I am loved in this moment Prayer
Lord and Lady,
Give me the experience to know
That I am loved in this moment.
To know that I am cherished and
Held dear to You.
Let me know I am cradled in Your hearts,
And release me from fear.
Although the mundane world tears at my sense of worthiness,
Keep me close in Your love.
Guide me to always remember Your
Embracing love for me.
So Mote It Be
My husband looked so anxious. He was helping me finish my new online course. I felt unsettled, too. Why? At any moment, PG&E (in California) could shut down the power in my city.
Sure, they were not going to interrupt service to San Francisco, but the small town I live in was at risk.
The first day, they said that they would shut down power to many locations at 12 midnight. Then 12 noon on the next day, then 8 pm.
I had some thoughts about hope–and about how hope is connected with feeling that you don’t have any control.
Then I realized that the control we have is not over future events.
I had no control related to what the PG&E company might do. They might shut down the power right in the middle of my uploading my material to the online course website. That could wreck my hard drive.
My control was where I direct my focus … in this present moment.
Here is a prayer:
Gracious Goddess Hear my prayer Give me hope And not despair. Guide me on my true path’s course Being gentle with no force. Gracious Goddess Hear my prayer. Give me your guidance With all Your care.
Have you found that feeling tired—or having no extra time—has kept you from doing ritual?
We, Wiccans, know about holding an Esbat ritual during the full moon each month.
We also have the Sabbats that occur at specific times. They follow the Wheel of the Year.
Here’s a real solution. Connect your moments of worship of the God and Goddess with something you do as a natural part of the day.
For example, I have a friend who does daily exercises. Just before he begins his back-stretching exercises, he says, “Thank you, God and Goddess.” It just takes a moment. He tells me that it blesses his life.
You can use a ritual of massaging your feet with oil while you say a prayer of thanks—before you go to sleep for the night.
Here is a prayer you can use just before you brush your teeth in the morning.
Prayer of “Thank You for This Day”
Bless me, Goddess, this day Guide me on my way May I stay on the path And grow in the Craft May I express my best ‘Til night when I rest. Thank you, Goddess. So Mote It Be.
“Do Wiccans get help from the ‘Dark Mother’?” one of my readers asked.
Wiccans know that working with the Dark Mother is helpful when you need to rid yourself of negative energy, illness, and ex-partners.
It is vital to notice that the Dark Mother helps one do something we can call “positive deconstruction.”
Deconstruction can be natural. For example, a tree falls in the woods. It is natural and good for the tree to decompose. Then there will be nutrients for other things to grow.
Here’s another example. A Wiccan can appeal to the Dark Mother by doing a spell in the waning moon (light to dark) to get rid of an illness. You are using magick to get rid of that illness.
As you can imagine, the Dark Mother is the opposite side of the fertile and growing aspect of the Goddess.
A Prayer
Dark Mother, Help me get rid of _____. I realize it is natural and good To let some things decompose So I may embrace my new chapter of life.
“No, I don’t think I’m strong enough to move on from this hell I’m in,” my friend, Amy, said.
“If you realize that Goddess loves you, and you do the things so you can feel Her support—you can do the hard things in life,” I replied.
Here I’ll share three points.
You are not alone.
The God and Goddess are always with you. You can call on Them to help you through the tough times in your life.
“Keep pure your highest ideal; strive ever toward it; let naught stop you or turn you aside.” – Doreen Valiente, speaking in the voice of the Goddess – in The Charge of the Goddess
Sometimes, it feels like everything in the world is trying to stop you from your desired goal. At those moments, look beyond the mundane world. Call on the Gods for Their support. Ask the Goddess, in Her nurturing aspect, to help you and guide you on your path.
Goddess is the Loving Form of Deity.
“Nor do I demand sacrifice, for behold I am the Mother of All Living, and my love is poured out upon the earth.” – Doreen Valiente, speaking in the voice of the Goddess – in The Charge of the Goddess
The Goddess has explained that she doesn’t demand that you sacrifice your desires or dreams for Her. She wants you to be happy. The Gods don’t want us to suffer.
Sometimes, we get the answer of Light, having gone through a time of darkness.
“The dark and the light in succession,
The opposites each unto each,
Shown forth as a God and a Goddess,
Of this did our ancestors teach.” – Doreen Valiente – in The Witches Creed
If we don’t have the hard times or dark times in our lives, we can’t fully appreciate the light parts. In one discussion, one of my friends emphasized that an important part of happiness can be feeling relief after a dark time.
When we see the good times stand out from the dark, we truly appreciate the good times when they arrive.
The dark times can be a powerful form of teacher. Dark times teach us certain lessons we need to learn. When the Light finally arrives, the Light illuminates our progress through those lessons.
We need both times of Light and dark to grow into our full potential and full destiny.
“Why is it getting worse?” my friend, Stephanie, said.
“I know there’s a lot happening. Anything in particular?” I replied.
“More violence in this country!” Stephanie said. And, this began a significant conversation.
What if Goddess Serves as Your Source of Certainty?
Is it possible to be certain of anything, anymore? Some people complain, “Unbelievable. I could not even imagine that people in leadership positions would be so … disgusting.”
I’ve learned that there is value in seeing ourselves as “spiritual beings having a human experience.”
As many of you know, I believe in the Summerlands, a place of love and peace in between the times we incarnate. We return and incarnate into a new body, and the lessons begin. We use our bodies as a user-interface for our spiritual being to learn lessons on this physical plane.
I realize that it can be tough to see this spiritual level when we’re in the midst of suffering and confusion. It’s as if we’re wearing “human-tinted glasses.” I suggest that we pause and consider looking at our lives from Goddess’s perspective. Goddess knows.
A Source of Comfort
Sometimes, I return to The Charge of the Goddess for inspiration and comfort.
“Let my worship be within the heart that rejoiceth, for behold: all acts of love and pleasure are my rituals. And therefore, let there be beauty and strength, power and compassion, honor and humility, mirth and reverence within you.” – Doreen Valiente (speaking in the voice of the Goddess—from The Charge of the Goddess)
A couple of meanings rise up for me with the above quote.
Notice the phrase “all acts of love and pleasure are my rituals,” and see that the Goddess gives us the answer. We can derive comfort in honoring Her with our compassion, reverence, humility and more. Acts of kindness and beauty honor the Goddess and make us feel good.
A Prayer
Dear Goddess Release me from my stale, limited beliefs And give me compassion and mirth in heaps. Acts of love and Acts of pleasure. I honor You in this way forever.
May the ideas expressed here comfort you and invite you to listen to your heart. May compassion for others flourish in your heart.
I opened the large box that contained my holiday gift. Inside, I found a brewing kit. “Perfect!”
When I was in my mid-20s, I brewed mead. However, I lost my equipment in the move from my childhood home.
It had been a long time since I brewed anything, so I needed a refresher. So, I purchased a book about mead-brewing.
I eagerly read the book—and that takes some doing since I’m dyslexic. Learning about Vikings and how they brewed mead had my attention.
Today, I am once again excited to try my hand at brewing mead. However, this time I am trying an open-air brewing technique I found in the book. It’s brewing done old school—like our ancestors did long ago. Along this line, Wiccans like brewing mead.
Instead of using commercial yeast, I will be harvesting wild yeast. This is something our ancestors did at the beginning of their brewing exploits.
So, I gathered up all the equipment and ingredients that I needed, including a rod to mix my brew. I would dedicate my mead-brewing efforts to the God and Goddess. I wanted to make the mixing rod a sacred tool. Therefore, I wrote a blessing to imbue my new mixing rod with the powers of the God and Goddess.
Mixing Rod Blessing
Blessed Be this Sacred Rod May it Bestow with Healing Energies of the Gods Let my Rod mix my brew With Health, Wealth, Peace, and Joy anew All who taste the brew mixed with this Rod May Find Everlasting Blessedness from the Gods As I will, So Mote It Be
In the next days, I’ll see how my renewed interest in mead-brewing goes.
Are you considering adding something new to your daily activities?
