My friend Lailoken Scathach interviewed me at PantheaCon this year. You can find this interview at:
For more with Lialoken you can check out his YouTube channel at:
https://www.youtube.com/user/Lailoken3?feature=hovercard
Blessings,
Moonwater SilverClaw
Spiritual Tattoos
“Lisa, are you okay with going skyclad with our coven?” Sharon asked.
“I don’t know,” Lisa said.
“Do you understand why we go skyclad?”
“No.”
It’s your choice to go skyclad (which means nude) or clothed.
First, several covens do not practice going skyclad.
Some British Traditional Wiccan (BTW) covens do. For example, Gardnerians tend to, but many Gardnerian covens opt out of going skyclad.
Why go skyclad? Witches raise power. And, clothing is considered to insulate and prevent power from flowing.
Not everyone believes clothing has such a big impact. For example, I feel that magick is stronger than being so easily thwarted by clothing.
I note that we Wiccans try to attune ourselves as close to nature as possible. This is why most witches worship in the outdoors and honor the cycles of the seasons. Being in nature we feel closer to the Gods.
When we are born, we are naked, in a completely natural state. We are one with nature at that moment.
When we’re skyclad, I feel, we’re in a natural state. I feel this is a sign of freedom. We’re free from society’s chains. For some, clothing ties into how lower social-economic groups are, in a sense, enslaved. Taking off those Reeboks and fancy clothes help witches to come together as equals in circle.
For a number of Gardnerians, going skyclad is a manifestation of tradition. (Again, not all Gardnerian covens practice being skyclad.)
For covens, who opt out of going skyclad, they use robes or even daily, casual clothing.
I suggest that you consider choosing some clothing that you keep only for ritual. Such clothing will help keep you in the ritual mindset.
Some covens choose to hold ritual in a backyard. And some neighbors would find seeing a group of skyclad Wiccans as “indecent.”
Some people get a permit to hold a ritual in a public park (for example, the Spiral Dance in San Francisco, California). In these cases, going robed is a good idea.
Going robed works well when it’s cold outside. You really can’t concentrate if you’re cold and uncomfortable. Honoring the Gods is supposed to be a pleasant experience after all!
Your robe gives you a cool opportunity: You can place all kinds of magickal symbols on your robe.
You can add the following to your robe:
In this way, you can create magick just by putting on your robe.
Where can I get a Wiccan robe? There are sources on the Internet and at pagan gatherings.
If you feel crafty, you can even make your own. Consider this pattern below.
When you make your robe, pick cotton or another natural fiber.
Remember, it’s your choice: skyclad, robed, or in specially chosen casual clothes.
Blessings,
Moonwater SilverClaw
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
And
The Hidden Children of the Goddess Book
And
“You can have that piece of sushi,” Paul said.
“No, that one is yours,” Rachel said.
“Go ahead.”
“Why?” she asked.
“Come on. It’s Valentine’s Day.”
“Well. Okay!” Rachel said, smiling and popping the food in her mouth.
In the USA, we celebrate Valentine’s Day, a holiday when we focus on being loving to a spouse or sweetheart.
But so many of us forget the most important person in our lives during this holiday. Who is the most important person to you? It’s you.
Do you feel too busy to pause and even acknowledge your feelings? Do you lack time to show some loving care for yourself?
I spend so much time too busy worrying about what other people think and feel. Are my friends okay? Is my mother irritated with me again? Is my father having trouble understanding people because he has a mild form of Alzheimer’s?
I’ve learned something important: Neglecting ourselves can really get us into trouble.
It’s even more extreme for those of us who have self-esteem issues. Some of us spiral down and need assistance from mental health professionals.
For example, I have struggled with self-hate and loathing my whole life so far because I deal with the symptoms of my depression.
There are times when I feel so depressed that I find it nearly impossible to demonstrate love and affection for my loved ones. At those times, I have retreated to my bed.
I’ve learned that I must practice self-care or I have no energy to be loving and kind to important people in my life.
Loving others must arise from being kind and loving to yourself.
I have learned that you need to love yourself before you can truly love another person.
How can we begin or reignite our journey of being loving, including loving ourselves? In my book, Goddess Has Your Back, I share the Self-Love meditation. This meditation really set me on a correct course.
In this article, I’ll now share a process to help you enhance your self-love.
Self-Love and Self-Esteem Ritual
What you will need:
Take the first two sheets and place them on a table before you.
Label one sheet: “How I like myself.” Write things you that like about yourself. If you’re feeling a bit low, just include small things like: “I like how I finish reading an article. I like that I call my sister just to say hello.” Write at least five things down or even ten things.
Label the second sheet of paper: “Things I want to change – Things I’m not happy with.” Write some things that you want to change or that you’re not happy about. Write a minimum of two things and no more than five.
Many of us will notice that our “not happy” list might feel “more important” or more intense. That’s understandable.
Now, we will use the third sheet. Look at both previous lists. There may be some overlap. For example, your second sheet may include something like: “I screw up everything.” But at the same time, your first sheet says, “I take good care of my sweetheart.” Is one true and the other false?
Is the “screw up everything” true because you find that you feel bad much of the time? Perhaps, it’s possible that your perception is off. I’ve learned from my own mentors that my depression symptoms can warp my perception and have me do something called “catastrophizing.” That means I might take one thought and let it overrun everything. For example, one time I was late in picking up my sweetheart. He remained in the rain and cold for 15 minutes. At the train stop, there was no shelter. I thought, “I’m thoughtless. I’m no good. I’m incompetent.”
Other vicious words swirled through my mind. However, the truth was that I’m on time or even early 199 times out of 200. That is the truth. But my perception was off.
So you’ll now use the third sheet to dispel perceptions that are off. Increase your positive feelings and demonstrate some self-love. Write down healthy perceptions. In essence, you combine the ideas in a fundamentally positive way.
For example, it could look like this: “I’m good to my sweetheart” plus “I screw up everything” becomes “I’m good to my sweetheart and sometimes I make a mistake. I can learn to do better.”
Go through the lists and complete at least three “positive and combined healthy perceptions.”
The next step:
Gather your fireproof container, your lighter and the “I’m not happy about” list. You will soon safely burn the “I’m not happy about” list.
Hold the “not happy” list over the fireproof container. Light the paper and let it drop into the container. Say,
My list of unwanted traits I hold,
harming my love for myself I’m told.
Now I release these thoughts to the light
burning now forever from my life.
Fire transform this list I hold tonight,
I now have self-love to its fullest height.
The next step:
The two positive lists “How I like myself” and “Healthy Perceptions” are gifts you have given yourself.
Look at the healthy perceptions and think of one small thing you might do that can help you improve your life.
Self-love is NOT self-obsession nor conceit. Self-love is recognizing that the God and Goddess have made you with positive traits for your joy and blessings to those people near you.
God and Goddess stand ready to support you. Simply ask for Their Support.
Blessings,
Moonwater SilverClaw
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
And
The Hidden Children of the Goddess Book
And
Going to PantheaCon? Meet Moonwater SilverClaw in person at the Double Tree Hotel on FEB 13 – 16th . . . often in the NWC/COG suite. Come and chat — and get books signed by Moonwater in room 957. Come and enjoy the snacks and the people. Get your questions answered by knowledgeable people about the Craft and more!
Blessings,
Moonwater SilverClaw
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
And
The Hidden Children of the Goddess Book
And
In several news broadcasts, TV anchors stressed the damage to crops and related water shortages caused by a severe drought. Angela could stand it no longer. She had to act! Angela cast a rain spell. Soon rain fell from the sky and the parched land soaked up the moisture. Then more rain and more. Mudslides caused property damage and even a few deaths.
Horrified, Angela realized that she had neglected to add a vital part to her rain spell—a timetable. She had not specified that the rain stop after the land was revitalized.
Destruction and death had occurred when Angela had only wanted to help the forests and farms.
Weather magick is quite tricky. You must ask for what you need and at the same time make sure there is a “stop-time” for the weather change you asked for.
The following is a little chant you can use to help the land, but at the same time stop the rain when you request it.
Rain Chant
Rain, rain come our way,
we ask you now to come this day!
Rain, rain come and play,
feed our crops now, in every way.
Rain, rain you’ve had your fun,
now go your way and give us sun.
Just like any spellwork, you need to tell the magick what to do and when its mission is complete. If you fail to do this, the results can be disastrous like Angela’s experience.
Here’s a way I can illustrate my point. You’ve probably seen the portion of Disney’s Fantasia entitled “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice.” In the cartoon, Mickey enchants a broom to do one of his chores—filling a water basin in his mentor’s home. Soon through Mickey’s magical mistakes, the one broom became an army of brooms over filling the basin, creating a tidal wave of water.
Mickey had not used magick properly by guiding the brooms to complete the work and avoid causing havoc. Lucky for Mickey, his mentor woke up and stopped the brooms’ onslaught of water.
Many of us may not have a mentor to save us from ourselves. This is why it is a good idea to think through our actions before we do magick.
Let’s think through our magickal plans and include “stop-orders” so we can avoid disaster.
Then we can simply enjoy the blessings.
Blessed Be,
Moonwater SilverClaw
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
And
The Hidden Children of the Goddess Book
And
“Sarah, I have a big test tomorrow and I’m having trouble. I’m testing myself and I keep having difficulty recalling the information I studied,” Joe said.
“Have you asked for help from the Element Air?” Sarah asked.
Do you need a little help with studying, whether for an exam or for a presentation at work?
Air represents thought, and getting assistance from Air for studying makes perfect sense.
So how do we bring in Air for help? Do a meditation. Go and meet the Guardian of the East—the Element of Air.
Meditation: Ask for Air’s Assistance
[Consider one of these options: a) have a friend read the meditation aloud to you or b) record this meditation and then follow your own spoken directions.]
Sit down facing East and relax. Close your eyes and breathe in and out continuing to relax. Concentrate on your breathing. Feel the air going in and out of your lungs. You feel light as air and totally relaxed.
Continuing to breathe, you now notice a cloud in front of you. See it glide on the light breeze of the day. You get closer to the cloud, until it eventually envelops you.
The air is cool and comfortable in the cloud. Soon the mist of the cloud dissipates and you see a figure.
The figure is transparent. It’s a Sylph who kindly smiles as you get closer. Now you ask the Sylph for help in your cerebral endeavors. Ask for suggestions on the best way to tackle your project.
(Pause for 1 minute)
Once you have received your answer, bid the Sylph a fond farewell
Focus your attention on your breathing.
In a moment, you will count backwards from 5. With each count your consciousness makes it’s way back to where you started in the present world.
5-4-3
You’re returning to consciousness. Feeling calm and full of energy.
2-1. Open your eyes, feeling fully refreshed.
After completing the meditation, you have the insight and energy to do better with your project. Consider lighting a stick of incense (which represents Air) to thank Air for the help you have received.
Blessings,
Moonwater SilverClaw
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
And
The Hidden Children of the Goddess Book
And
This is an interview by Karagan Griffith on WitchTalk which you can find at http://www.witchtalk.com/
Blessings,
Moonwater
“Do you really have to take a week away now? You know I can’t get the time away from work,” Paul said to his beloved girlfriend, Rachel.
“I know. But I’ve had this time at Yosemite booked for months now. And you know that nature is where I connect with the Gods.”
Do you have a family member or a close friend who doesn’t understand that you need to be out in nature to feel whole?
Many people don’t understand that we Wiccans go out into the natural world where it is easier for us to connect to Deity. Granted, you can connect anywhere but nature inspires us. As Wiccans we crave it; no, we need it.
Feeling our feet on the bare earth gives us an unencumbered connection to the Gods. The asphalt of city streets is just another barrier.
In the city, you get all your minerals in one breath.
Nature is kinder to our breathing—especially to those of us with asthma. (Can I get a Blessed Be?!)
With extended practice, Wiccans can connect to nature even if standing on asphalt. But we find standing on the bare earth more satisfying than on the concrete jungle most of us live in. It’s true that many urban Wiccans find it hard to make time for excursions out into natural settings. Obstacles can include work, commitments to family and friends and simply lacking energy.
Still, communing in nature is important to Wiccans like the next breath to an asthmatic having an attack.
What Wiccans Do In Nature
If you can’t make it to the woods, you can visit a park. You can still commune with the local flora and fauna. Most parks have trees and maybe a few squirrels.
Consider adding a bird feeder if you have a backyard. Plant flowers that attract birds and butterflies. Dedicate the corners of your garden to the four elements. Depending on the size of your backyard, you might set up a gazebo with meditation pillows and a small stone altar.
If you don’t have a garden, you can set up a windowsill planter box. Growing herbs and working the soil of your tiny garden still helps you connect with nature. And you can use the herbs in your Craft work.
Do you have other ideas? Something you have found that worked for you? Please share them in the comments section below.
Blessed Be,
Moonwater SilverClaw
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
And
The Hidden Children of the Goddess Book
And
Nora struggles to leave a message on Susan’s voice mail system. Feeling hurt, Nora realizes that she’s left eight messages with no replies from her friend.
Susan has dropped Nora, and it’s probably because Susan freaked out when she heard that Nora is a Wiccan.
We Wiccans have to endure a certain form of loss because of our spiritual path.
I, too, have lost friends when they found out I was Wiccan. A couple of people even stood up and moved away when they saw the pentacle I wear. Others merely stare.
Misguided people buy into the lies that popular TV shows and films paint against Wiccans.
We Wiccans know that we have nothing to do with an evil figure that Christians believe in.
Many people simply do not understand how Wicca is life-affirming and loving.
How to Deal with Negative Energy Thrown You Way
Only talk in positives and never put down the other person’s faith.
As we strive for better treatment, we stay true to being kind, compassionate and respectful. Let our exemplary behavior prove the good path of Wicca.
Announcement – Meet Moonwater at Feb. PantheaCon 2015!
It’s that time of year again! PantheaCon!
Come meet me in person at PantheaCon this year at the Double Tree Hotel in San Jose, California, February 2015. I will be there with my books and giving out ribbons. It’s likely that I will be in and out the COG-New Wiccan Church (NWC) Suite throughout PantheaCon. I’ll have my three books, and I will be also signing books. I’ll have some handcrafted jewelry, too.
I hope to meet you in-person.
Blessings,
Moonwater SilverClaw
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
And
The Hidden Children of the Goddess Book
And
I toss and turn in the bed. The same thoughts, the same regrets run again in my mind.
Why did I do that?! How stupid!
Do regrets keep you awake and haunt your day-time thoughts?
Sometimes, I get stuck with thoughts of regret and pain.
How can you release these painful thoughts?
You could try to take a rational approach. Maybe saying to yourself, “Oh. It’s not so bad.” However, many of us discover that merely ignoring such thoughts ultimately keeps them around!
Instead, I invite you to take a look. (You might need support. A trusted friend or even a counselor.)
You can resolve to really look at the regret. Feel some of the pain. And then resolve to start a process of letting go.
Ask yourself these questions:
After you have answered these questions with a truthful heart, chant these words:
The Release the Regret Chant
Regret of mine, running though my mind.
This moment I leave the past behind
Now Leave my mind
No more to bind
I release you
I release me
By sky, stars, sun and moon
This regret leaves real soon
By candlelight, I now clear the space
The open spot Goddess fills with grace
Envision the regretful thought. Give it a color. Imagine the thought floating away, leaving you with space. Fill this space with the Gods’ light. Feel the peace now present.
If this process does not fully work for you the first time, stay with it.
Repeat the process.
And do not hesitate to ask the God and the Goddess for help.
They want you to be free and fully present in each new moment.
Blessings,
Moonwater SilverClaw
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
And
The Hidden Children of the Goddess Book
And
GoddessHasYourBack.com 