29 September 2013

Spirit Communication Aids




*This article is also part of Kallan's wonderful Sunday Stew. Please hop on over there (when you are finished here) and read all of my friend's contributions. Trust me, you will love the flavor that each chef has to offer :)


Spirit board and matching planchette made by yours truly. This crow
and pumpkin spirit board will be a giveaway item in one of the upcoming
Samhain Siren giveaways that starts October 1st! Make sure that you don't miss out on it!


My oh my, when I started my blog I never even thought that I would be doing so many posts on spirit communication. I was making a blog for my artwork and maybe an occasional post or two on spirit communication......lol, so I thought anyway. I have been letting the spirits lead me and this is where they have gone. So, it looks like you will have another post on spirit communication boys and girls. After all, the veil is thinning. No time like the present to learn more, right?

Today's post will be about gemstones, crystals, herbs and incenses that will aid you in your spiritual communications. I will be adding pics of everything with the descriptions because I just hate to read about an herb or a stone and not see what in the world it looks like.

All of the pics are of my own herbs and my rock and gemstone collection.

Now, of course you don't need ALL of these. Just a couple will be fine. I'm just listing them so you can see what properties they aid in and you can make your choices. I have an extensive collection of herbs, because I grow them and I have been collecting rocks and minerals for 20 years.

BEFORE YOU BEGIN:


Sage and Myrrh
Before you begin you should cleanse your work area with sage. Myrrh is always a great addition to that because it aids in removing negativity. I use these before any spirit work that I do. During my work I burn herbs that aid in communication, these are discussed in a bit. Sometimes, I also add in a bit of frankincense. Frankincense is good for calming your mind and awakening your spiritual awareness. So, using them all together pre-work will get you in the right frame of mind and prepare your area.




Gemstones and Stones




Selenite


This beautiful stone helps you to attain higher states of consciousness by calming and focusing the mind. It fine tunes spiritual contact and it enhances the energies of any other crystals that you may be using. 

I love Selenite. It is a beautiful stone and it is also useful for cleansing your aura. This is definitely a stone to have in your communication collection.



Blue Lace Agate


Blue lace is a stone that is connected to the throat chakra and the third eye chakra, so that makes it a great stone for spirit communication. It aids in meditation and can also bring peace to an overactive mind. It also helps to cleanse your aura.





Quartz

Like selenite, quartz is an amplifier. However, quartz is the ULTIMATE amplifier. It trumps selenite.  It not only boosts the other crystals you use, it will concentrate your energies towards your goal.  It helps you connect  and speak with your spirit guide and it creates a bond to the spirit realm. This is one that you don't want to miss out on and if you could only pick one, this would be it.




Amethyst


Amethyst is my personal favorite......because hello? Purple! I love this stone! As you can see, it comes in a variety of purple shades, but that is not what makes it such a great little communicator. What amethyst does is open up your upper chakras so that you are able to reach higher states of consciousness, which in turn helps your intuition and clears your energy pathways. It aids in concentration and helps alleviate fears. This stone doesn't just cleanse the aura, it protects it.




Citrine

I named the big one in the back of this pic Coffee cake. It looks like a piece of coffee cake to me.

Anyway, this is a good stone to use when practicing automatic writing, because it helps to make you more intuitive by aligning your chakras with the ethereal plane.



Celestite

Here we have another blue stone. That's a good rule of thumb. Sky blue equals spirit communication. 

Celestite is a gorgeous stone, it just sparkles. It helps in opening your connections to higher realms by helping you to relax and clearing your thoughts. It will help strengthen your link to higher beings, like angels or your spirit guide. 


Prehnite

You probably can't see it very well, but this is a light green stone. It is a darker sage green color. 

Prehnite will help your receive communications from angels and spirit guides. It will also help you to listen to the wisdom from your Higher Self. Definitely a good stone to have.





Moldavite


The reason that I am holding the stone up in this pic is because moldavite is kind of translucent. So that when you hold it up, you can kind of see through it. It is a more rare and pricier stone. Even small pieces are a bit costly. Moldavite is a tektite. Meaning that it comes from a meteorite crash. Moldavite comes from Moldauthein, Czechoslovakia. It is glass bottle green. 

Moldavite works by elevating your consciousness to the highest of the spiritual dimensions. It also enhances the effects of any other crystals that you may be using by taking them to their highest vibrations. It also enables communications with your Higher Self and it promotes altered states of consciousness by opening, clearing, energizing and aligning your chakras. How is that for a stone? 



Sodalite


Sodalite puts you in touch with your Higher Self by raising the vibration of your conscious mind, which in turn raises your spirtual perception. Your third eye is also stimulated, which aids in meditation.


All of these stones aid you in raising your awareness, aligning chakras, and taking your consciousness to new heights. 




Now let's look at a couple that will bring you back down and help to ground you when you are finished with your communications.



Hematite


Black Obsidian






Herbs for Spirit Communications


Lavender

You carry lavender to help see ghosts and it aids in meditation. So it is a perfect herb for communication.


Roses

Roses are useful in enhancing psychic awareness and contacting spirit guides, so they are great added to an incense blend for communication.

Chamomile


Chamomile is good for meditation and helps you learn knowledge of your past lives. It is also very calming.


Mugwort

Mugwort is an excellent spirit herb. It aids in many things: astral projection, divination, intuition, meditation, psychic abilities, spirit guides, and visions. 

Wormwood

Since wormwood is in the same family as mugwort it does have some of the same great abilities for communication with spirits. You can use it to summon the dead, open your psychic centers, and divination.

Lemongrass

Lemongrass aids with communication by promoting visions and enhancing your psychic awareness.


Copal


Copal is offered to departed souls during "Day of the Dead" rites, it also clarifies the mind and holds protective influence.



Peppermint

Peppermint is sacred to Hades, so of course it will be included here. It aids in psychic development, dreams, divinations, exorcism, and spirit offering. 


Calamus Root

Calamus root is said to make the user be able to "travel for miles without touching the ground". This herb is highly revered by yogis and will enhance your awareness and increase communication. It's yogic name is "Vacha", which means speech. It works on your fifth chakra and helps you to speak from your highest level of consciousness. 




Sandalwood

Sandalwood has protective properties so it would be good to include in your incense if you choose to make your own.


Magaly from pagan-culture.blogspot.com graciously sent me pics that she took of her gorgeous Star Anise from the Dominican Republic! Thank you, Magaly. (I'm currently out and couldn't take a pic)
Star Anise 

Star Anise is good for not only psychic protection, but also developing and controlling your psychic powers. It aids in contacting other planes, divinations, and exorcisms. It is good for using as a base for any psychic incense.


I hope you have enjoyed all the information. Next week we will talk about making a medicine bag pouch with items for protection against spirits. I will also include incenses and stones for that. 

Brightest Blessings,
Loren




















































22 September 2013

Autumn Celebrations!



A pic of my backyard view, after a storm, a few years ago.

*This article is also part of Kallan's wonderful Sunday Stew. Please hop on over there (when you are finished here) and read all of my friend's contributions. Trust me, you will love the flavor that each chef has to offer :)


Firstly, I would like to thank everyone for your patience with me during my break. My best friends CT scan came back good, so even though she will still be having surgery, she does not have cancer. I will be celebrating with extreme thankfulness this Mabon. I am also looking forward to the birth of a 2nd grandson in less than a month!

So, can you feel Fall making its way to you? The mornings, this past week, have had a chill to them and they have been a bit foggy. I can't wait for the days to hear the leaves crunching under my feet. I made a batch of butternut squash soup and it brought fall happiness to my mouth. Just around the corner will be corn mazes, pumpkin patches and rides on my bicycle on the pathways with newly fallen leaves.

Since this is the Mabon edition of the Stew, I thought it would be fun to look at different celebrations of the Autumnal Equinox: 

Each year, crowds gather at the San Juan de Ortega Monestary in Northern Spain. The sun hits a column and lights up a perfect square that contains a relief of the Virgin Mary. This happens with the Vernal and Autumn Equinoxes. The Light Miracle

The ancient Mayans were extremely adept in astrology, accurately predicted the equinoxes. Today's Mayan still celebrate the turn of the wheel to Autumn. 
Mayan Celebrations.

Several Native American tribes celebrate what is known as The Green Corn Festival. While it doesn't fall exactly on Mabon, it is celebrated around this time. This festival date is up to the ripening of the corn. It is a time of thankfulness and forgiveness, and is celebrated at full moon. It lasts for several days.   



A yam harvest is celebrated in August or September at the end of the rainy season and when the crops are ripe. This is a celebration in Ghana and Nigeria. You can read more about it here: Yam Festival


Another holiday that is celebrated around the equinox is Michaelmas. It is also known as the Feast of Saint Michael. It notes the days getting shorter and common symbols are St. George slaying the dragon.  A very cute blog is here: Passengers On A Little Spaceship


Mehregan is the Persian Autumn Festival. and is held on October 2nd. It is celebrated in honor of Mithra.   Persian Autumn Festival site   



The Chinese Moon Festival which celebrates the birth of the moon, is also known as a mid-autumn festival. It is also one of their most important holidays. The Legend of the Moon Festival Also, here is a link to a wonderful little blog with Moon Festival Crafts: My Mommy Makes It







I hope you enjoyed my little "trip" around our beautiful planet highlighting the autumn celebrations. Please, if you would like, let me know how you celebrate. 






05 September 2013

Small Update



I'm going to be taking a small break from blogging, except for showing my art.

My most best friend/sister in the whole entire world  just received bad news from the doctor  and I really want to be there for her. My son has a fall break from school coming up in October and I am hoping to make some sales to help with funding the trip.

I have painted a few new plaques and I've turned one into a print (see above) and I am also handpainting plaques for Samhain.





I can add anything to these or change them any way you would like, these are just basics to show my work.

I also paint a familiar plaques



The pug portrait below was purchased using the familiar plaque item on etsy. It was painted on canvas and I was told what they wanted. 



My etsy shop is here: