Kratom

Any individual who prefers not to use prescribed drugs for pain should look at the uses of Kratom. Similar to Morphine and Opium it is a powerful pain killer.



Kratom can also be used as an anti-depressant, analgesic, or a stimulant. It has immunostimulant properties and can also be used to treat diarrhea. Since Kratom has the ability to provide sedative effects it has been used to help induce sleep for those who have sleeping disorders. The leaves can be chewed, dried and used as a tea to reach desired results.



I am very familiar with Kratom and have used it before after having surgery. Kratom took precedence over my Vicodin prescription. I think my holistic readers will appreciate this Herb.

The Power of Spittle

I came across a page of superstitions that curtailed bad luck with spitting. I found it interesting and it made me think of how I use Saliva during my rituals. Saliva besides blood and sexual secretions have been used in charging my sigils.

Spit/Saliva is believed to hold a little bit of the essence of the person. With that it is a small (and effective) way of lending itself to magickal works as when you spit the expelled saliva has a sacrificial effect on the work being preformed. So as it is a sacrifice of sorts it holds a greater chance of attracting divine attention, and as we all know the gods favor sacrifice.

Spittle is a good way to go if the magician is too prudish to use blood.

The Gadfly

A persistent irritating critic; a nuisance, One that acts as a provocative stimulus; a goad. A fly of various species, of the family Tabanidae, noted for buzzing about animals and sucking their blood.



I detest flies, they are filthy and unclean. I have seen flies land on phglem, feces, carcases and any other digusting thing you can imagine, that has been discarded as TRASH.

These unsanitary little critters are persistant, shoo one away from your face and they come right back, usually aiming for the same spot, i.e. mouth, eyes, etc.

Hmm...its interesting, I see gadfly's not only in the bug form, but those of the human form roaming about the earth :)

- Oculus

Yellow Magick

I use yellow magic a lot more than the other 8, after much reading and studying I can see why :)

- Oculus


Most of the extant texts on what are traditionally called "solar magic", contradict each other or suffer from internal confusion. Astrological commentaries on the supposed powers of the sun are amongst the most idiotic nonsense that discipline can produce. This is because the yellow power has four distinct but related forms of manifestation within the psyche. This fourfold division has led to immense problems in psychology, where various schools of thought have chosen to emphasize one in particular and to ignore those which other schools have alighted upon. The four aspects can be characterized as follows.

Firstly the Ego, or self image, which is simply the model the mind has of the general personality, but excluding most of the extreme behavior patterns that the selves are capable of.

Secondly Charisma, which is the degree of self-confidence that a person projects to others.

Thirdly, something for which there is no single English term, but which can be called Laughter-Creativity.

Fourthly, the urge to Assertion and Dominance. All these things are manifestations of the same yellow power; although their relative emphasis varies greatly between individuals. Success in most human societies usually results from a skilful expression of the yellow power. The strength of the yellow power in an individual seems to bear a direct relationship to levels of the sexual hormone testosterone in both sexes; although its expression depends on personal psychology.

There is a complex interplay between testosterone levels, self image, creativity, social status and sexual urges, even if they are unexpressed. In esoteric terms, the moon is the secret power behind the sun, as most female magicians realize instinctively, and most male magicians discover sooner or later. The Ego gradually accretes through the accidents of childhood and adolescence, and, in the absence of particularly powerful experiences thereafter, remains fairly constant even if it contains highly dysfunctional elements.

Any type of invocation should make some difference to the ego, but direct work with it can achieve much more. Several tricks are involved here. The very recognition of the ego implies that change is possible. Only those who realize that they own a personality rather than consist of a personality, can modify it. For most people a preparation of a detailed inventory of their own personality is a very difficult and unsettling activity. Yet once it is done it is usually quite easy to decide what changes are desirable.

Changes to the Ego or self image or personality by magic are classed as works of Illumination and are mainly accomplished by Retroactive Enchantment and Invocation. Retroactive Enchantment in this case consists of re-writing one's personal history. As our history largely defines our future, we can change our future by redefining our past. Everybody has some capacity to re-interpret things which were considered to have gone wrong in the past in a more favorable light, but most fail to pursue the process to the full. One cannot eliminate disabling memories, but by an effort of visualization and imagination one can write in parallel enabling memories of what might also have happened, to neutralize the originals. One can also, where possible, modify any remaining physical evidence that favors the disabling memory.

Invocations to modify the ego are ritual enchantments and personifications of the new desired qualities. Attention should be given to planned changes of dress, tone of speech, gesture, mannerisms and body posture which will best suit the new ego. One maneuver frequently used in yellow magic is to practice the manifestation of an alternative personality with a specific mnemonic trigger, such as the transference of a ring from one finger to another. Various god forms such as Ra, Helios, Mithras, Apollo and Baldur are useful to structure fresh manifestations of the ego, and for experiments with the other three qualities of the yellow power.

Charisma, the projection of an aura of self confidence, is based on a simple trick. After a short while there is no difference at all between the pretence and the actuality of self confidence. Anyone wishing to remedy a lack of confidence and charisma, and uncertain as to how to begin pretending to these qualities, may find that a day or two spent pretending to absolute zero self confidence will quickly reveal both the effectiveness of pretence and the specific thoughts, words, gestures and postures required to project either pretence.

Laughter and Creativity may not immediately seem to be related, but humor depends on the sudden forging of a new connection between disparate concepts, and we laugh at our own creativity in forging the connection. Exactly the same form of elation arises from other forms of creative activity, and if the insight comes suddenly, laughter results. If you don't laugh when you see a seriously brilliant piece of mathematics then you have not really understood it. It also takes a degree of positive self-esteem and confidence to laugh at something creatively funny.

Persons of low self-esteem tend only to laugh at destructive humor and the misfortunes of others, if they laugh at all. Laughter is often an important factor in the invocations of the god forms of the yellow power. Solemnity is not a prerequisite for ritual. Laughter is also a useful tactic in drawing conscious attention away from sigils or other magical conjurations once they are finished with.

The deliberate forcing of hysterical laughter may seem an absurd way of ending an enchantment or an invocation, but it has been found to be remarkably effective in practice. This is yet another sleight of mind maneuver which prevents conscious deliberation. The "pecking order" within most groups of social animals is usually immediately obvious to us, and the animals themselves. Yet within our own society such dominance hierarchies are equally prevalent within all social groups; although we go to quite extreme lengths to disguise this to ourselves.

The human situation is further complicated by the tendency of individuals to belong to many groups in which they may have different degrees of social status, and status is often partly dependent on specialist abilities other than displays of naked force. However, assuming that a person can appear competent in the specialist ability that a social group requires, that person's position in the group depends almost entirely on the degree of assertion and dominance that person exhibits. It is basically exhibited through non-verbal behavior which everybody understands intuitively or subconsciously but which most people fail to understand rationally.

As a consequence they cannot manipulate it deliberately. Typical dominance behaviors involve talking loudly and slowly, using lots of eye contact, interrupting the speech of others whilst resisting the interruption of others, maintaining an upright posture of concealed threat, invading the personal space of others whilst resisting intrusion into one's own, and placing oneself strategically in any space at the focus of attention. In cultures where touching is frequent, the dominant always initiate it, or pointedly refuse it. Either way, they control it. Submissive behavior is of course the reverse of all the above, and appears quite spontaneously in response to successful dominance from others.

There is a two way interaction between dominance behavior and hormone levels. If the levels change for medical reasons then the behavior tends to change, but more importantly, from a magical point of view, a deliberate change of behavior will modify hormone levels. Fake it till you make it. There is nothing particularly occult about the way some people are able to control others. We simply fail to notice how it is done because nearly all the behavioral signals involved are exchanged subconsciously. Dominance signals do not tend to work if their recipients perceive them consciously. Thus in most situations they must be delivered subtly and with gradually increasing intensity.

One of the few situations where such signals are exchanged deliberately is in military hierarchies, but this is only possible because of the immense capacity for direct physical coercion that such systems exhibit. Break the formal rules of non-verbal communication with an officer and he will have a sergeant instill some submission by direct means. Eventually the formal rules become internalized and function automatically, allowing enough obedience to permit mass self-sacrifice and slaughter. The yellow power is the root of most of the best and the worst of what we are capable.

State of Confusion

Have you ever been confused, disoriented?

Confusion results from failure to behave predictably, a mental state characterized by a lack of clear and orderly thought, an act causing a disorderly combination of elements with identities lost and distinctions blended, a mistake that results from taking one thing to be another. Lastly, not seeing or understanding the true nature of mind and the suffering in conditioned existence that results from it.


As I roam about this earth I have encountered individuals running around in a state of confusion.

Do you know what you are? Do you know your meaning here upon this earth? If not, are you pursuing the answer? Or are you running blind thinking you are in the right state of mind, when in actuality you are not.....

Many assume they know their path but when I look, I see only prey for I am a predator in every sense of the word. I smell the putrid confusion dripping off of these lost beings.

What happened to the lost sheep in the woods?

It was slayed by the wolf....


- Oculus Crepuscul

The Elements of Life

In the Goddess tradition, as in many other earth-based traditions, the elements that sustain life are sacred. The four elements of life - air, fire, water, and earth form a circle, with the fifthe element, spirit, as its center. Each of the first four elements of life represents one of the four directions. For us, air is the east, fire is the south, water is the west, and earth is the north. In your circles, you must work with the correspondences that feel right to you. The elements teach us about ourselves. Air, fire, water and earth represent our minds, our energy, our emotions, and our bodies. When we face a problem or a challenge, we can ask ourselves whether we've looked at it from the point of view of each element. What do we think? What energies do we notice? What feelings do we have? How are our bodies affected? What does our inner spirit tell us? The circle of the elements of life helps us to remember to consider the whole, not merely one part, of any question or decision.


When these four elements of life are present and in harmony, the fifthe element, spirit, or center, is created. Spirit is what we call conscience, character, intuition, or the small voice inside. In Goddess tradition, this is the place where aquired knowledge and our innate wisdom meet and are touched by the Goddess to form an inner spirit, a sense of direction that steers us away from harm and toward our life's purpose.


In the task of raising children in Goddess tradition, we find that just as the four eleemnts earth, air, fire, and water connect to make the sacred circle, these elements, when translated into human attributes, make the child a whole vibrant person. Our goal, as people who are rooted in the world view of the Goddess traditions, is to rais echildren who are empowered. Empowerment is that combination of self confidence, independent thought, intuition, and egagement with the world that enables us to live by our princicples and stand up for what we believe in. By creating an environment that empowers our children and ourselves, we strive to create a culture based on concern and compassion, rather than apathy and indifference.


In the following sections we discuss each of the five elements and their primary associated qualities as they relate to child rearing and self-development. We focus on realistic goals and common sense strategies that we can all draw from, regardless of our personal preferences on a number of issues.


Fire


All life on earth depends on the energy of the sun. Plants use that energy directly to live and grow. Animals must eat plants or other animals. But directly or indirectly, we are all sustained by the sun.
In the Northern Hemisphere, the sun is brightest and hottest when it shines at high noon from the south. Therefore south is the direction we associate with fire.


Fire is also the element that warms our houses and cooks out food. the hearth fire is sacred in every earth-based tradtion, for fire is the living heart of the home. Before, television, people would gather before a fire to tell tales and sing songs during the long nights of winter, We still love to sing around a campfire or chant over a ritual fire in the center of our circles.


Fire is also dangerous. Like all thing of power, fire demands respect. A curtain wafting across a candle can burn down a home. The summers are dry where we live, and a careless match or stray spark can ignite a wildfire that may burn thousands of acres and hundreds of homes. Learning to knowfire means learning how to use fire safely and how to put a fire out. Fire reminds us that we are all responsible for each other's safety.
Fire is the symbol of human energy as well as the sun's energy. Health, strength, enthusiasm, and passion are qualities of fire. When we direct our energies, when we focus on a goal, we use our will, one of the powers we find in this eleement. Fire is connected to all forms of magic that direct energy, especially healing and protection.


The time of day connected to fire is, of course, high noon, just as the season is high summer. The colors of fire are red, orange, and bright golden yellow. The lion, because of its bright golden color and wild, dangerous power is often seen as a symbol of fire. So is the dragon, with its fiery breath. Legends tell us that salamanders could live in fire - but don't test the myth with any of the ones you may find!


Brigit, of course, is the Goddess of the sacred flame of poetry, healing and the forge. Pele is the Hawaiian Goddess of the volcano. Hestia is the Greek Goddess of the hearth. Lugh is the Celtic sun God. Wayland Smith is the ancient God of the forge. Set is the anceint Egyptian God of the hot desert sun. There are many more Gods and Goddesses of fire. On our altars, a candle flame brings the presence of fire to our rituals. The tool of fire in our tradition is the wand, which is used to direct energy, and wands are oftenmade of wood, which burns. You can make a wand of your own by cutting (with adult help if working with a wee one) a small branch from you favorite tree. Be sure to ask the tree's permission, and leave an offering.


Water


Life began in water, in the currents of the primeval ocean, and living things need water to survive. Our bodies are mostly water, and our blood is similar to seawater in its chemistry. Water carries nutrients to all the cells of our bodies and cleanses our wastes. Clean, sweet water is sacred to all people who honor life.


Water moves in a great cycle around the globe. Rain falls on the earth, bringing life to plants, soaking the soil or collecting in streams and rivers that flow to the sea. The great tides and currents of the ocean sustain sea life from the tiny plankton tot he great whales, influencing the weather, wearing away the shore. Water evaporates from the surface of the waves, forming clouds that bring the rain, and so the cycle begins again.


The summers are very dry where I live, so the first rains of winter are especially sacred. Suddenly new life appears. Seeds sprout, and grasses begin to grow. Our winters are often very wet, and rain comes down for days and days. Dry streams spring to life and rivers widen their flow. In flood years, we see the imense power of water to break through obstacles and carry away anything that blocks its flow. In drought years, water becomes extremely precious to us, and we learn to guard every drop carefully.


Water also represents our feelings and emotions. After all, our feelings flow and change like wtaer. We can bathe eah other in love and appreciation, but we can also rage and storm like the ocean waves crashing against the shore. When we honor all our feelings, the ones we think of as positive and those we think of as negative, we can choose how to act so that our emotions feed life. When we know our anger, we can choose to act peacefully. When we admit our fear, we can choose to act with courage.
For us, water is in the west, the direction of the ocean and the rain. Its time of day os the gray twilight, and its season is autumn, when the rains return. The colors of water are blue, blue- green, and gray. All water animals ~ all fish and sea creatures, including dolphins, whales, and the wise salmon ~ are symbols of water.


Tiamat, the ancient Babylonian sea seropent goddess, was mother of all the Gods. Aphrodite, Greek Goddess of love, is also Goddess of the sea. Brigit carries the power of the holy well along with the sacred flame. Oshun is the Yoruba Goddess of the river and of love, art, and culture. Yemaya is the Mother Goddess of the ocean. Ba'al is the Canaanite God of storms and the returning rains of winter. Tlaloc is the Toltec God of rain. Mananan mac Lir is the Welsh God of the sea, while Poseidon is the Greek ocean God, whose horses are the wild waves.


On the altar, the symbol of water and traditional tool is the cup or chalice. Seashells, water-smoothed stones, and images of water creatures can also be used.


Spirit


We have gone around the wheel of the elements and visited all four directions. Now we come to the center, the place of that mysterious fifth element we call "spirit," although we could just as well call it "mystery." The center is the place of change and transformation, and this element is not so much of a physical presence but the sense of connection that puts us in touch with the great powers of life and death. Spirit might also be called "relationship," as the center is the place where we connect with the Goddess and God, with our traditions, and with prayer, blessing, meditations, and personal practice. Another name for this section might be "core values," for here we contemplate ethics, right and wrong, and our responsibility to be healers, peacemakers, and protectors of the earth and her peoples.


Spirit is timeless. It corresponds to the whole cycle of the day and night, the whole wheel of the year, and the realm beyond time. Its color is clear ~ or the rainbow, which contains all colors. All the Goddesses and Gods can be considered as aspects of the center.


The traditional tool of the center is the cauldron, the magic soup pot that combines the earth/metal of the container, the fire below and the air to feed it, and the water within to bring about transformation. The drum, which holds the heartbeat of a circle and keeps a large group unified, is also a tool of center. Many symbols can be used on the alter to represent spirit. One of our favorites is a mirror, for our connection to the sacred must be found inside each one of us.


Earth


The Earth ~ Rocks, minerals, and the living soil beneath our feet. Plants draw energy from the sun, but they are nourished by the earth. Seeds are planted beneath the ground to begin their lives. The dead bodies of animals and plants are taken back to the soil to feed new life.


We think of earth as a solid thing, but soil is amazingly complex. A square foot of good garden soil is like an underground city full of space, caverns, crystalline arches, and mineral bridges, all teeming with life. Soil contains air, so that life within can breathe, and carries water to sustain billions of soil creatures and feed the roots of plants. When we truly understand the marvelous world below us, we can protect the soil from erosion by wind and water, and learn to help build new, rich soil where plants can grow. Gardening, tending trees and plants, and caring for animals are all ways to honor and protect the sacred earth.


The earth is the element that stands for our bodies. Our physical bodies are sacred, and we must take care of ourselves as we take care of the earth. All the food we eat, all the things we make and do and use, are part of this element. Because good soil is often dark, the color of the earth is black and its time is midnight. The green of living plants and growing things is also a good earth color. Its direction is north, the one quarter of the sky where in the Northern Hemisphere the sun never travels, and its season is winter, the time of darkness when seeds sleep beneath the ground. Plants, trees, and all land animals, especially big ones such as bulls and bears, are symbols of earth.


Gaia (GUY-yuh) is the ancient Greek Goddess whose name means "earth." Demeter was the Goddess of grain and agriculture. Eriu was the Irish Goddess who gave her name to the land itself. In many Native American stories, Corn Mother is the sacred being whose body feeds the people. Cernunnos is the Celtic Horned God, the God of animals. The Green Man in all his aspects is the God of plants and trees. Ogun is the Yoruba Lord of the forest. Robin Hood is an old English forest God. There are many, many more Goddesses and Gods of earth, of particular plants and animals, and of sacred places.


Symbols of earth for the altar can be stones, crystals, rocks, or living plants. Leaves, grain, fruits, flowers, and vegetables can also be used. The traditional tool of earth is the pentacle, a five- pointed star in a circle, often inscribed on a plate or made of metal. Its five points stand for the four elements, plus the fifth, spirit. They also stand for the five senses, for our five fingers and toes, and for the human body with legs apart and arms uplifted to invoke the Goddess. The circle around it stands for the wheel of life. For us, the pentacle is a symbol of wholeness and balance, and of the ancient mysteries of our tradition.


Air


Every Moment of our lives, we must breathe in order to survive. Air carries sounds and scents, and its clarity allows light to pass through so that we can see. Air is invisible, except when other things move in response to its motion, when the wind makes branches dance and leaves fly, or bends the grasses down as it passes.


We share breath with all life. Like other re-blooded creatures, we breathe in oxygen and expel carbon dioxide,which is used by plants and trees to transform the pure energy of the sun into food for all living things. Plants and trees give off oxygen, which we breathe in, and so a balance is sustained. We honor air as the breath of the Goddess and the gift of our most ancient fellow living creatures.


In our tradition, we associate air with the east, the direction of dawn or sunrise. Because air is invisible, we identify it with the parts of ourselves that are important but cannot be seen: our mind, our vision, our thoughts, and our dreams. Air represents knowledge and understanding, which we gain by looking closely at what is around us. Air is connected with springtime, the dawn of the year. The animals of air are, of course, birds and all flying insects,such as dragonflies and butterflies. Air's colors are pale pinks, yellows, and whites.


Some of the Goddesses of air are Iris, the Greek Goddess of sunrise and the rainbow, and Oya, Yoruba Goddess of the whirlwind and sudden changes. Boreas is the Greek God of the wind; Hermes is the power of thought and communication. Elegba, th Yoruba trickster, translates human language into that of the Orishas, the great powers of the universe. All could be invoked for the gifts connected with air.


Symbols of air to place on your altar might be feathers, incense or other good-smelling things, fans, pinwheels, or kites. In our tradition the tool of air is the athame, the Witch's knife. It stands for thepower of the mind to seperate things, to say: "I am me and you are you and we are not the same." Clearly, a knife is an inappropriate tool for young children. Substitutes might be a pair of scissors or a pen (the pen is mightier than the sword).

How To Easily Tap Into Your Subconscious Mind Power

The subconscious mind is the source of emotion as well as the depository of memories. The conscious mind is the command center of the will as well as the facility of receptiveness. The subconscious mind is utterly submissive to the conscious mind. The conscious mind is the leads, loves and protects while the subconscious follows, respects and trusts. Therefore, the subconscious mind is the assistant of the conscious mind.

When the conscious and subconscious minds are in harmony, the entire mind is whole in its functioning. A fully functioning whole mind is productive, creative and healthy in its endeavors. However, when the harmony is unbalanced within the two minds it dysfunctions and consequently there is a destructive collapse.

Personal reality is created by the beliefs of the subconscious mind. While the conscious mind transmits, a thought into the subconscious mind to create a belief that is then manifested into reality.

When you consciously assume that something is true, your subconscious mind accepts it as truth. When the subconscious mind believes something to be true it goes about drawing the conditions needed to indeed make it truth.

The power of the subconscious mind is stimulated or tarnished in accord to the thoughts of the conscious mind. If the conscious mind distinguishes prosperity, the subconscious mind produces prosperity. The reverse can also be stated concerning the aspects of the conscious and subconscious mind.

How and what you think about yourself dominates your outcome of events. That is to say, the energy you put into thought returns to you in a like way, if the energy that you project to the universe is positive, by nature positive is returned to you.

Recognize the essential value of consciously choosing the thoughts you maintain each day. Keep your thoughts and actions focused on what you really want to create in your life reality, for thoughts as well as actions are indeed living energy.

You can tap into power of your subconscious mind by acknowledging quanta energy. Quanta are a plural form of Quantum. Quantum physics is a study of the universe's building blocks, or the frame of its structure. In the world of quantum physics, every single particle, which are considered quanta, is a form of concentrated energy. All the particles of energy are basically the same type of associated particles.

The difference is found in the way which particles are together grouped into even larger frame structures. Learning how they operate is key in understanding how to create yourself and the world around you. The secret is that your recurring emotions and thoughts can and will revise your life's path. The process of creating your reality by the use of both the conscious and subconscious mind is called manifestation.

So basically, you own thoughts manifest themselves into your own reality. How you make use of this information of bringing about a change of reality determines the results, whether they are positive or negative.

When you take time out to create the life or reality you want to draw to you, you are in fact influencing the Quantum Field. As energy is attracted to its own like energy, and the associated energy produces a physical effect.

Your emotional state is a central influence of your physical state. Your reality is fundamental to your choice of thoughts and intentions. You must take charge of your thoughts to take charge of your reality, as the outside and inside are reflections of each other.

Changing the negative things you think by replacing them with positive thoughts gives you the power to tap into your subconscious mind power. Once you have taken positive charge of your circumstances, everything positive will follow suit. Remember like attracts like.

Once you have taken charge of your subconscious thoughts and beliefs, you are able to draw to you the things you seek by putting the law of attraction to work.

When you choose what you wish to perceive, that which you choose to perceive should be chosen with conviction and single-mindedness, this will cause the quantum field of energy to manifest over time the reality that you seek, and it all depends upon your clarity of focus and confidence that your reality will be manifested.

It takes an intense desire to cause reality to change, all that is needed is knowing the possibility of manifestation can be accomplished with a change of attitude and intentions, putting effort into creating your day, your reality causes quanta energy to arrange the things you truly wish for to come to you.