witchcraft

Blossom as the Real You

/ Moonwater / Leave a comment
Blossom as the Real You

Blossom into the New You

Starting Wicca is like cleaning a dirty car for the first time. Before I left for a trip I decided to get my car washed. Why? My car was “the dirt clog on wheels.”

Though it’s supposed to be white, my car remained a splotchy palomino gray, for most of its existence.

So at the car wash center, I lined my vehicle with the others and left the keys in the car for the attendant. I sat down in the waiting area and watched car after car coming out of the other end of the giant cleaning machine.

I was sitting there for a while. Vehicles emerged from the cleaning machine, one after another. Soon I’m thinking, “Where’s my car?!” I recognized the car that had been in line in front of my car. But then, it took me a moment to realize that the gleaming white car behind it was actually my car!

This, believe it or not, is like the beginning of your practice of Wicca. Throughout your life you collect “dirt.” This can be in the form of unhelpful thoughts from people who think they know what’s best for you. This degrading process can lead to bad self-esteem. You might even doubt your worthiness in the face of deity and others. “How can I be loved if I do “X?”

All this buildup up of  degrading thoughts is like the buildup of dirt on my car. Soon you cannot even recognize the goodness and value you began life with.

Here are some examples of degrading thoughts:

“God won’t love me if I don’t pray three times a day”

or

“God will punish me because I’m gay.”

and

“I wont go to the promised land if I don’t go to [church, temple, the Mosque and so forth].”

All of these thoughts and other people’s “shoulds” are crap–like the bird crap on my car.

The world places unrealistic demands on us. “Nice girls don’t make trouble.” and “Men don’t cry.” This is simply “Crap!”

How does Wicca fit in? Well, all that crap you are carrying can be cleaned out and washed off. Just like my car.

Coming into Wicca, you carry the world’s crap upon you. The practice of Wicca with its car wash of meditation and self discovery will help you rid yourself of the unwanted grunge the world places on you.

When we practice our meditation techniques we get rid of the world’s “cling-ons.” And when that happens a whole new world opens up to you. Just like I didn’t recognize my car at first, your family and friends may not recognize the new you either.

Be aware too that many people do not like change. So when they see you happier they may give you resistance. This is normal. Don’t be discouraged if this happens.

Only you know what’s best for you. Eventually, some people will accept you. Others won’t. But the most important thing is for you to accept yourself and enjoy your new clean and bright experience of life.

Tools of Wicca: The Wand

/ Moonwater / Leave a comment

Merry meet and welcome!

So far we have seen the athame, cup, water, salt, fire, and incense representing the element air. Now let’s talk about the wand.

Wand

The Wand

Wands come in just about any shape, from strait to bendy like a twisted tree branch.  People form wands out of almost anything from stone to various forms of wood–and even metal. We may wield a wand formed with a combination of these materials.

As a masculine tool, the wand functions much like the athame. But where the athame is  a forceful tool, the wand is gentler and softer in its approach. You use the wand, like the athame, to direct energy from you to a thing or place. You can direct energy to a candle, a person, and in some cases, you can cast circle with the wand. I feel the athame is a much better tool for casting circle though; it gives you much more protection than the wand.

Sometimes, Wiccans use a wand, instead of the athame, for handfasting (Wiccan marriage). Using the wand makes the circle semi-permeable, which allows small children to go through the boundary without too much disturbance to the circle itself. The wand brings a softer energy, which is nice for this type of ceremony.

In our next post we will talk about the different candles Wiccans use.

Blessed be,

Moonwater Silverclaw

Past Lives

/ Moonwater / 5 Comments
Renaissance Pleasure Fair

Renaissance Pleasure Fair

This weekend Casa de Fruta is where I will call home. I’m off to the Renaissance Pleasure Fair for more adventures and hopefully more stories. What does the Renaissance fair have to do with Wicca?

In a previous post, I mentioned how coming to Wicca was like coming home. And the first time I went to the Renaissance fair it was also like coming home. The ambiance was very familiar to me. I felt comfortable in my own skin there. This of course begs the question, “Was one of my past incarnations during this time-period?”

Since I haven’t done my past life work yet, I don’t know. But it makes me wonder: If this is so, what was my life like? Was I practicing Witchcraft then too?

Have you had any dreams or maybe a feeling of deja vu sometime in your life? Have you had any hints about what may have been a past life of your own?

Anyway, it will be fascinating to me to find answers to my own questions about past lives–when I delve into that journey. But for now I will just have to ponder.

Well I’m off to Casa de Fruta, see you next week.

Blessed Be,

Moonwater Silverclaw 

Why Wicca?

/ Moonwater / 4 Comments

Why Wicca?

Pentacle of Balance

The Pentacle of Balance

Why Wicca? Why not choose some other spiritual path? Well for me, I love nature and the natural world. Its beauties and wonders, they all surround me and fascinate me. In other paths you need to go somewhere to be with deity. But with Wicca the gods are not only everywhere around me, but they are within me too.

I am literally the goddess and god, and these gods don’t judge me! They love me for who I am and what I already look like. I don’t need to change or alter myself to be loved, no diet or creams required. And to go with all that spiritual “yummyness,” wicca is all about nature. The thing I love most. There are the trees, the birds, the stag, the earth itself. They all represent the gods in different forms.

Also the natural world is what I live in, it is reality and I’m not trying to get to some euphoric place I’ve never experienced or been. I’m not trying to jump impossible hurtles with the rules that can never be followed without failing. All I got to do is be me.

We are rewarded with love and kindness when we give love and kindness. What we put out into the universe, the universe gives us back three fold. This cycle, among all the others is all natural. Angry vengeful God, not included! And that’s the way I like it.

Blessed be,

Moonwater Silverclaw


The Tools of Wicca: Incense

/ Moonwater / Leave a comment

Merry meet and welcome!

We talked about salt in the last post. Now we will talk about air.

Incense

Incense

Incense represents air when burned, and is the last of the four elements represented on our altar. We burn incense in an incense burner, which we will also talk about in this post.

There are many types of incense which we will discuss in later posts. But three main forms include raw, cones, and stick incense. You have a choice of various burners, used for burning each different type of incense. Incense has these forms:

  1. Cones – You can use a specific type of burner specifically made for cones, or you can use a generic fireproof container. Fill it with sand or small stones. Such a fireproof container can be used with all types of incense.
  1. Sticks – Sticks have specific burners, usually with a hole at one end. You can slide the bare end of the stick into the hole, while the coated end remains visible. Tending to be long in shape, these burners catch the ash of the incense as the stick burns.
  1. Raw – Raw incense usually comes as a form of resin, but not always. Myrrh and Frankincense are well-known resin incense. You need charcoal to burn resin incense, and you can pick up some at your local metaphysical shop. The charcoal usually comes in a round tube shaped package. Each piece of charcoal looks like a round pad with a indent for the raw incense. Raw incense should be burned in a fireproof bowl or a cauldron. Be sure to fill the container with sand or small stones. Then place the charcoal on top of the sand and light the charcoal. Now wait until the whole charcoal piece smolders. Then carefully drop the incense on it.

Now back to air, which is a masculine element. We combine our incense with the other masculine element, fire, to create the smoke that represents air. This incense smoke is then used to charge and bless things and people. Each element on the altar proceeds to be  blessed and combined with the sibling element. Add feminine salt with feminine water. Apply masculine fire to masculine incense to create smoke. The process is you cleans with salt and water, and you charge with fire and incense. Both are utilized at the beginning of our rituals, to help clear the mundane space to make way for sacred space.

Now we’ve completed our discussion of the elements that we use on our altar. But we are not done. There are still other tools to discuss. Next will be the wand.

Blessed be,

Moonwater Silverclaw

New Fan Page

/ Moonwater / Leave a comment

The Hidden Children of the Goddess

We have a new fan page on FaceBook! The Hidden Children of the Goddess is a place where Wiccans and Pagans can share lessons and experiences in the comfort of their peers and community. This page is based on the new upcoming book by Moonwater Silverclaw.

Come and join the community of the Hidden Children of the Goddess!

Click Here for our Community

The Tools of Wicca: Salt

/ Moonwater / Leave a comment

Merry Meet!

We talked about fire in my last post, today we will be talking about salt.

Salt Bowl

Salt Bowl

We use salt to represent Earth on our altars. Salt is sodium crystals, and crystals represent Earth. Therefore, Wiccans see salt as feminine.

We balance our altars with salt as Earth energy. As mentioned in a previous post, we also mix salt with water to make our holy water. Salt is a natural cleanser and preserver.

Our ancestors applied salt to cure their meat and it functioned as the first preservative people employed. (And we still use it today.) Early people didn’t understand it at the time, but salt kills a lot of bacteria we come into contact with and so it prevented meat from spoiling.

So holy water purifies because it has salt in it. We sprinkle holy water to get rid of unwanted energies and entities. We mix three pinches of salt into our blessed water to make a salt-water solution. This blessed solution is then used to bless and cleanse other things and even people.

So this is how we use salt on our altar.

In the next post we will talk about air.

I wish you a blessed day.

Blessed be,

Moonwater Silverclaw

Being dyslexic sucks!

/ Moonwater / 2 Comments
Spider

Spider

Being dyslexic sucks!

“Write a blog” the gods say; “teach online” the gods say.

Well, you just don’t argue with the gods, I say. So here I am! Dyslexia in all its glory. Did I mention how much I love my editors?!

Without my editors this blog would be: “The hidden hcipen of the Doggess.”

So if there is anything not quite “write” with my “righting,” you will have to excuse me and my rapidly balding editors! They must scream a lot at night.

Growing up this way wasn’t a simple feat. Trying to learn anything was a challenge, especially when it came to Wicca. When I started out I didn’t have a mentor. So anything I was to learn came from books, and there was no one to explain anything to me. Yeah, you see where this is going, don’t you?

It took me obviously a lot longer to learn anything in the beginning. But I look at this as my “Are you willing to suffer to learn?” moment. When I was in 8th grade, I had a 3rd grade reading/spelling level. This is not something I am proud of, but it was a fact of life for me then. Then there were the children laughing at me, and pointing at me. Not good for my low self-esteem, either. Everything was in books when I started on my path with the craft.

So I’ve converted my long, frustrated hours reading, into condensed, convenient posts just for you. In fact, this is why I generally write brief posts. Now the next dyslexic witch will have an easier time with learning the craft, if they can’t find a mentor.

Now you know the story. ‘Till next time.

Blessed be,

Moonwater Silverclaw

The Tools of Wicca: The Working Candle

/ Moonwater / Leave a comment

In the last post we talked about water and what it represents. Now we will continue with fire.

Working Candle

Working Candle (photo by Arthur)

Fire is the spark of life! As a masculine element, fire is included as the flame of the lit candle on our altar. We light this candle, known as “the working candle,” first. Then we use the working candle to light other objects such as incense or other candles. The other candles have their own specific uses, and we do not work with their flames.

In the next post we will be discussing salt. So see you next time.

Blessed be,

Moonwater Silverclaw

How Wicca Changed My Life – As a young girl

/ Moonwater / 4 Comments
Wicca Wheel Mandala

Wicca Wheel Mandala

How Wicca Changed My Life

As a young girl I was shy. I’m not talking about just a little quiet shy, I’m talking about no friends and couldn’t talk to people shy. And not only that; but my self-worth wasn’t only in the toilet, it was nonexistent!

If I needed help I couldn’t ask for it. This left the door wide open for bullies. I was teased and tormented mercilessly. Day in and day out, the torment never stopped. The worst was at home. Home was supposed to be a safe place, mine wasn’t.

Three years older and much bigger, my brother beat me and even held me underwater in a swimming pool at a friend’s house. He finally let go when I stopped struggling.

My parents didn’t do a thing to stop the abuse from my brother, even when the abuse was blatantly in front of them. This was an even bigger hit to my self-worth. “If my own parents don’t think I’m worth saving,” I thought, “I must be not worth anything.”

As I grew up, these messages further gripped my reality. I was alone against a heartless world. I was beyond miserable.

Then I found the gods. The first book I read about the craft was a breath of fresh air to someone who had been suffocating for years. I found something that spoke the truth to me. As I continued to read the books it hit me: Goddess doesn’t make crap!

It was not that I wasn’t worth anything; the truth was the complete opposite of my thinking. I was unique and special to the gods just the way I was created. If the gods loved me because of the way I was, then I could love me, too! And I was worth standing up for!

At first people got mad when I stood up for myself. But after a while they did start to treat me with more respect. Not everyone changed, but that’s their loss. I am a beautiful, loving person. And no one deserved to be treated the way I had been. It is just wrong and not the way the gods want us to treat one another.

We are all loved of the gods. We are all unique and therefore special, no matter what anyone says, even yourself!