When Tragedy Strikes – How You Can Use Magick and Meditation to Ignite Your Inner Peace

November 21, 2015November 21, 2015 / Moonwater / Leave a comment

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In light of the recent attacks on the people in Paris, France, I feel overwhelmed with sadness and anger. I mourn deeply for the people who were murdered.

For a number of days I have been thinking about what to write. What would I discuss: Sorrow, rage, wanting justice, even the desire for some form of revenge?

Still, the idea that keeps arising in my mind is:

“An eye for an eye only ends up making the whole world blind.”— Mahatma Gandhi

Gandhi invites us to move beyond anger and vengeance.

Still, as I feel deeply about the situation, I realize that to maintain my own health, I need to get beyond pain, anger and sadness.

For you, I offer this meditation-exercise to help you maintain your own health and ability to take action in daily life.

Before I share this meditation-exercise, I realize that it is valuable for me to discuss two different forms of strength. These ideas arose in my conversation with one of my editors:

The Strength of Anger – in the short term, this can get us moving and it can be a channel for our own pain. But in the long term, it can lead to faulty decision-making. It is short sighted. Further, it can cause significant health problems.
The Enduring Strength of Inner Peace – Inner peace is an ever-renewing source of energy.

As my editor suggested, “If you get your inner energy right you can do more right. Inner peace can help you get past the sorrow and the anger so you can be in the present moment and have all of your resources.”

The below meditation-exercise is not about denying the need for justice and more protection.

The below meditation-exercise is designed to empower you to stay in a place of awareness and strength.

Meditation Magick Exercise on Letting Go and Finding Your Hidden Strength

You will need:

a blue candle
extra virgin olive oil
boline
incense
salt
water

Cast Your Circle in your usual manner.

Cleanse your blue candle with the elements Earth and Water. Then consecrate the blue candle with your incense smoke.

Use your boline and write (on the blue candle) the name of the event that is causing your pain.

Use the olive oil to “dress your candle.”

Concentrate on the blue color, which is for healing.

Light the blue candle and focus on its flame, representing the healing truth of love and strength.

Meditate on the flame. In your mind’s eye, see the flame burning away all the negativity in your aura and the space around you. Once you feel your space/aura is cleansed, go to the next step …

Now imagine the pain of the event in your life. The event may be a personal experience or a public one like the Paris attacks. Create an image (in your mind) that represents the event. See the image floating above the flame. Concentrate on the image until it is a solid image above the candle. Feel it; know it is there.

Breathe deeply in and out, in and out. In your mind’s eye, lower the image into the flame and watch it burn away. Feel the heat in your heart as the image and related pain is transformed into the purity of peace and strength. As the image vanishes, see that all that remains is a phoenix of peace and strength.

Do the Cakes and Wine Ceremony.

Close Your Circle in your usual way.

[When you’re done with the exercise, have the candle continue burning. Make sure that things are safe so that the candle can burn until it goes out on its own. Never leave a burning candle unattended.]

I hope this meditation-exercise supports you in your personal journey of healing.

Blessings,

Moonwater SilverClaw

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For more of Moonwater SilverClaw, consider some of her books:

Goddess Has Your Back: How Wicca Can Help You Raise Your Self-Esteem and Make Your Life Magickal

The Hidden Children of the Goddess Embrace Wicca, Become Strong, Be at Peace with Yourself and the World Around You

Beyond the Law of Attraction to Real Magic: How You Can Remove Blocks to Prosperity, Happiness and Inner Peace

Goddess Walks Beside You: How You Can Listen, Learn and Enjoy the Wiccan Path

How To Walk the Wiccan Path and Deal with a Family Member’s Discomfort

March 16, 2014March 16, 2014 / Moonwater / 5 Comments

Shhhhh. . .

How To Walk the Wiccan Path and Deal with a Family Members Discomfort

Do your friends know you’re Wiccan? How about your family?

Do you have to keep your beliefs a secret at your workplace?

I am fairly open about my practicing Wicca.

Unfortunately, I do have a family member who suggests that I keep a low profile when I attend a work-related event with him. He works in an industry that includes people who speak out a lot about their Christianity. So I turn my talisman with a pentacle around when I’m at a work-related event with him.

Many times I have argued that this form of “hiding” impinges on my freedom as a witch.

At one point, we had one of his friends, a born-again Christian visit, and we kept the door to the room with my shrine closed.

All other times, I wear my pentacle jewelry with pride and talk openly about my beliefs.

I observe that, in America, one does business with a significant number of people who profess that they are Christian and that they hold conservative beliefs.

When I’m in a business situation with my family member, I honor his situation. I am NOT dishonoring the Gods by turning my talisman around, and I am honoring my family member’s concerns.

I am still a witch. Now if someone asks me about it, I will tell them the truth. I am a Wiccan High Priestess. I will not cower in the corner, but that hasn’t happened yet during my family member’s work-related events. I still wear my pentacle; I just do it incognito.

As a matter of fact, I always wear my pentacle. It brings me comfort, and I feel it gives me protection.

Those individuals who are Anti-Wiccan appear to be ignorant (definition: lacking knowledge or awareness in general; uneducated in the subject at hand) about Wicca.

It bothers me when a person chooses not to learn, then the situation may become dangerous. When does the price of silence become too much to bear?

At present, we’re at a junction.

First, it is a blessing that many of our predecessors have hacked a path in the wilderness of fear and ignorance that other people have about Wicca. When a significant number of Wiccans openly express the beauty of Wicca, more people in this world start to appreciate who we Wiccans really are.

Fostering this appreciation is one of the reasons that I write this blog.

At this time, I have found my own path. I stand ready to share Wicca with others. And still at my family member’s work-related event, I do not broadcast my beliefs (I keep my talisman turned around).

As I continue to write this blog and my books, I’m encouraged to see other Wiccans continuing to have a positive influence in the world. May we all continue to express the beauty of Wicca.

Now, I invite you to share with us. Have you faced opposition in some form of conservative community? How do you deal with the situation?

Blessings,

Moonwater SilverClaw

Is Money Spiritual?

February 2, 2014February 2, 2014 / Moonwater / 8 Comments

Happy Imbolc

Happy Imbolc to everyone. Hope you enjoy the post.

Is Money Spiritual?

Have you heard in some form that “money is not spiritual”?

Some of us have heard a misquote that goes “Money is the root of all evil.”

(Actually, the correct quote is: “The love of money is the root of all evil.”)

There’s a real problem: ignoring money or actually looking down on having money causes unhappiness. Some say that having denial about money issues causes many people to end up poor and unable to take care of their own basic needs.

In Wicca we know our Gods want us to be happy. With this as true, does it make sense that our lacking money is what they want? No. Now I’m not saying you need to be making buckets of money or that it’s necessary to have a whole lot more than you need.

But for many in our community money is elusive. Why?

For a number of individuals, Wicca was not their first taste of spirituality. They may come from different faiths that look down upon having money. The horrible part is that debilitating beliefs about money often stick in a person’s subconscious mind. And these sick beliefs push us to be unhappy.

Let’s go back to the misquote that goes “Money is the root of all evil.”

Is it money? No, fear is the root of all evil.

Think of it. Fear pushes us toward greed. Fear of never having enough. I remember the famous line from Gone With The Wind: “I will never be hungry again!” In that film, Scarlett O’Hara does extreme things because of her huge fear of being hungry or losing her property.

Is it possible that having money can frighten us? Yes, that can be a problem. Some of us have been conditioned to think that rich people are money-obsessed and that they do bad things. So on a subconscious level, some people are afraid of losing themselves and actually avoid opportunities to become rich and successful. Again, I call these sick beliefs.

Some of us are really afraid of having money. It continues to come from subconscious beliefs drilled into our heads that money was not spiritual.

Instead, I suggest that money is spiritual. Money creates opportunities for us to be happy. It creates safety for us and our families. The Gods want us to feel this way.

If we’re doing well with our personal money situation, we walk around with an air of positive energy. We can be compassionate to others. Expressing compassion is an important part of one’s spiritual path.

We have many ways of creating prosperity. I think just doing money spells is not the full answer.

Ideally, we would use magick to get to an inner state where we can work out problems that prevent us from enjoying financial abundance. We can do meditations and inner work to change the limiting thought patterns and beliefs we have about money. (For more about this, see a free chapter from my book The Hidden Children of the Goddess. CLICK HERE.

Some Wiccans may default to doing prosperity spells to gain money. However, it may help more for you to do a healing spell so that any blocks dissolve to learning how to earn more money, save money and improve spending habits.

Let’s start with new and empowering thoughts about money. Look at holding empowering definitions of words related to money. For example, author Jason Miller talks about the difference between rich and wealth. I think he says it well:

A rich person has a high income, which is a stream that can feed being wealthy or being in debt, depending on how that money is used. There is no shortage of people with high incomes but no real wealth. . . . Wealth is not a flow of income; it is a state of positive finances.

What is a state of positive finances? Such a state includes enough money for bills, some money for entertainment, savings for tough situations in life, some money to be kind to others, and savings towards one’s retirement. Positive finances is not about having just enough to barely get by. It is really about having some amount of financial abundance (more than enough).

To live in lack (including difficulties about money) really isn’t the Gods’ and Goddesses’ plan for us. They invite us to grow, learn and adapt. They invite us to learn something about creating financial abundance.

Let’s begin today.

Blessings,

Moonwater