Showing posts with label esbats. Show all posts
Showing posts with label esbats. Show all posts

Friday, May 08, 2009

The Book Of Yashar, The Song Of Amergin

ט"ו אייר תשס"ט
Annwn 16

This evening is the full Elf Moon - and it is (like my two Beltane shaman stones) seamlessly connected to my dream Two New Chapters Of Destiny.

In British folklore:

There is a legend concerning the Buckthorn vows that if one sprinkles Buckthorn in a circle and then dances within it under a full Moon, an elf will appear. The dancer must notice the elf and say, 'Halt and grant my boon!' before the creature flees. The elf will then grant one wish.

One species of Buckthorn is Alder Buckthorn. Alder Buckthorn mystically links the feminine and masculine principles to create balance and harmony (Tiferet) within an individual. When felled, an Alder Buckthorn tree literally bleeds, turning from white to red. Resistent to rotting from water, Alder Buckthorn was often historically used to build bridges, boats and milk jugs.

The Song of Amergin verse corresponding to Alder Buckthorn is this:

I am a Tear the Sun lets fall

My unique and magical version of the Song of Amergin verse is this:

I am a Tear the Sun lets fall
with highest love abundance gently sprinkles
within my circle as magic dances
with the Sun enchanted under the full Elf Moon -
halt! I write and grant my boon!

And as I sprinkled my ritual incense on this full Elf Moon, my wish was simply this - Blessed be my family!

It is written in the Book of Yashar, and on this night the sun still stands and the moon stays.

Thursday, April 09, 2009

Full Raven Moon Smudge Wand

י"ו ניסן תשס"ט
Raven 16

In follow-up to an earlier entry about the white sage smudge wand I didn't make, here is an entry about the Full Raven Moon Smudge Wand I did make.

Crafted under the Full Raven Moon during the planetary hour of the Moon, this exotic smudge wand contains buchu leaves and myrrh resin wrapped in leaves of black tang (also known as bladderwrack, seetang, sea spirit, sea oak, meeriche and kelp). All herbs correspond to the feminine power of the Moon and are certified organic.

A messenger of magic and mysticism, Raven is a creative and protective totem, bringing light and fire to ancient humankind in Native American folklore. Raven laughs. She is a keeper of secrets, a heroine and a fool, a juxtaposition of opposites, the creatress of the earth and all its mysteries. Bringing light from darkness (אתהפכא חשוכא לנהורא, in Jewish kabbalistic tradition), Raven is cloaked in black yet brings joy and mischievous humor into life.

Raise the wind, summon spirits, move the power of the hidden sea, experience transformation, dream prophetically and cast protection spells with the strength of the Full Raven Moon. Available at WITCHCRAFTS by Liorah Lleucu.

Pesach Esbat Blessing, Ruach Ha-Olam

Yah Nissan י"ה ניסן תשס"ט
Raven 15

My bedroom is jammed with craft supplies and tools with which I am using to handcraft items for my etsy shoppe WITCHCRAFTS by Liorah Lleucu. My own spell bottle of Passover Protection Ritual Oil stands before me as I compose this entry. I made one for my mother as well who wanted one too as soon as she saw the etsy listing and mine.

Last evening (erev Pesach, a full moon Esbat) as I was puttering around with my supplies, I set several of them on my bed as I was organizing. Among the items I set on my bed was the bowl of ceremonial white sage in pure spring water that I had been softening up to make a shamanic smudge wand. The bowl of sage water became jostled as I was moving things around and I spilled some of it on my bed and on one of my fine long black brocade witch skirts. The particular witch skirt is one a coworker recently remarked to me that it was a "beautiful" skirt, which it surely is. It's so elegant and finely flowing.

Anyway, instead of making a smudge wand with this batch of white ceremonial sage, I decided to offer the softened sage and the sage water to the Land instead. And I did so under the power of the full Raven moon of erev Pesach, offering it to the spirits of the Land right outside the door of the house beside the porch on the right.

Later this morning, I had a waking vision of unseen forces working together trying to pull my bed out the door of the house. The doorframe was bulging as the unseen forces worked together trying to pull it out, but the Force inside the house and door frame resisted, keeping the bed securely and completely inside the house. The manner in which the door frame resisted reminded me of a biological opening, with strong muscles contracting closed. I felt the forces trying to pull the bed out of the house were baneful forces, seeking to steal my blessing in some manner.

The forces trying to pull the bed out of the house through the door were facing and pulling directly opposite the door from upon the concrete sidewalk (in contradistinction to the spirits of the Land on the right side of the door where I had offered my sage and sage water). In other words, the spirits of the Land were in alignment with the Guardian of the house which rested upon the Land. The forces working from the concrete were alien forces.

Clearly, the spirits of the Land and the Guardian of the house are superior in strength to the alien forces which sought to steal my blessing.

There is power in the Land.

Barukh ata Adonai Eloheinu melekh ha‑olam, ha‑gomel lahayavim tovot sheg'malani kol tov.

Brucha at Yah Elohaynu ruach ha-olam, ha-gomelet l’hayavim tovot, sheg’malani kol tov, selah.

Friday, December 26, 2008

Dark Moon Magic

ל' כסלו תשס"ט
Grael 1

inside shattered dreams, insight licks the mind
a beautiful mysterious height, the deep deep night

[From my poem originally posted here.]

Sunday, December 09, 2007

Essence Of Understanding

א' בטבת תשס"ח
Grael 2

Question - does the Dark Moon always fall on the fifth of the eight days of Chanukah? It did this year.

Related entry: Secret Of Shalhevet

Saturday, November 24, 2007

Path Of The Just

י'ד בכסלו תשס"ח
Shamash 16

Acting with the energy of the lights of Tohu, in vessels of Tikkun ... because I can.

This shabbat full moon esbat at 6:33 am, I woke up and wrote down the major symbols of a complex dream so I would remember them.

I saw two Hebrew letters clearly in the dream, a tzadi (צ) was somewhat hidden behind a zayin (ז). The zayin "stepped forward" toward clearer closer identification. In the dream, I said,

"I claim the zayin for now."

In other words, while both letters were "mine", I indicated the one acting "for now" was the letter zayin.

There was another hidden letter as well.

Each letter was associated in some manner with a different and specific aspect of a dandelion.

The zayin, the clearer letter visually, was associated with a yellow dandelion set in a mid-horizontal line on a white door. (This mid-horizontal line corresponds to the path of the letter aleph (א) located "between" Gevurah and Chesed on the Tree of the Sefirot. Zayin is the letter corresponding to the path between Chochmah and Tiferet on the Tree of Life in the GRA array.)

The tzadi was itself somewhat hidden somewhat revealed in the background of directed observation, "behind the zayin", and was associated with a somewhat hidden, somewhat revealed red-like dandelion set opposite the yellow dandelion - out of the line of direct visual sight, but well within the higher mind's eye. In other words, though I didn't see the red-like dandelion with my dream eyes, I saw it through my higher mind beyond the eye - and as the tzadi was "behind" the zayin, the red-like dandelion was "opposite" the yellow one. In my mind, this kind of "seeing yet not seeing" is some "in between" form of quasi-reverse vision. (Tzadi is the path between Netzach and Malchut on the Tree of the Sefirot in the GRA array.)

Beyond both the zayin and the tzadi, and beyond both the yellow and red-like dandelion, I perceived the presence of both another "hidden" letter and another "hidden kind" of dandelion. I did not see directly or indirectly either the hidden letter or the hidden dandelion, but I perceived the Presence, associating the hidden dandelion with, not a color or color-like aspect, but with the essence of the dandelion - a dandelion essence. (This essence corresponds to all the "other" empty yet not empty space between the distinct letter paths on the Tree of the Sefirot which gives form to all the distinct letter paths. It is the pure Divine Feminine no-man's land of the vacated space, the chalal hapanui. This is complete reverse or negative vision.)

As I was waking from the dream, I clearly heard a word pronounced like "sern", spelled in English either as "sern" (like the enterotoxin-like microbial gene studied in medical research laboratories) or "cern" (like the high-energy particle physics laboratory). Both Sern and Cern pertain to "states in between" - the former (sern) to a place "in between" being a distinct toxin "code" or being distinctly non-toxin "code", and the latter (cern) to quantum non-localized fuzzy states existing "in between" distinct places in space. Like klipat nogah, both "sern" and "cern" point to a tachash state of being.

When I woke up from the dream, I remembered clearly that someone had been messing with my instrumental music CDs in my office at work. One of my CDs called Wishes has a dandelion on it - I noticed it had been moved slightly when I went in to work yesterday morning and returned it to its place.

Taking all this together, this dream in triplets pertains to 3 kinds of perception:

direct vision (physical/nefesh and psychic-dream/ruach, color-tzeva)
quasi-reverse vision (indirect/neshamah, color-like light-aur)
reverse-negative vision (hidden yet .../chayah-yechidah, radiance-aur gadol/darkness)

Interestingly, this dream follows the initial act shabbat evening of naming time according to the Witches' Year in parallel with the Hebrew date. The first Witches' calendar date I used for posting entries is today Shamash 16, where Shamash has correspondences to dandelion, the color yellow, the sefirah Tiferet, Hebrew Shemesh and the Hebrew letter meaning "door" (dalet ד).

The path of the Just is a great shining light emerging from within darkness.

The Generative Bone of Bereshit

Sunday, July 01, 2007

Behold Good In Tammuz

ט"ו בתמוז תשס"ז

Rabbi Yitzchak Ginsburgh writes regarding the appearance of Moses in every generation as it pertains to the month of Tammuz:

After the giving of the Torah (at the beginning of the month of Sivan), Moses ascended Mt. Sinai, where he stayed "forty days and forty nights" until the seventeenth (tov--"good" = 17) of Tammuz ("there is no 'good' other than Torah"--Ethics of the Fathers 6:3). Were it not for the sin of the golden calf--which came about as a result of the imaginative faculty's deception that Moses had died (Talmud Bavli, Shabbat 89a) we would have merited the ability to see concretely G-d's "goodness" each day (as it is known that "G-d is the essence of 'good'," "and by nature, one who is good always desires to do good"). That very day witnessed the completion of the giving of the true "good" to the "good" people, or as the Sages state: "Let the "good" one (Moses) come and receive the "good" (Torah) from the "Good One" (G-d) for the "good" people (Israel; Talmud Bavli, Menachot 53b).

Interestingly, one of my Esbat Tammuz entries, The Birth Of Messianic Consciousness, brings down a similar message; namely, "behold good", which concerns the transformation of Mosaic consciousness into messianic consciousness.

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Esbat Tammuz

ט"ו בתמוז תשס"ז

This past Shabbat marked the full moon in Capricorn, Shabbat Esbat Tammuz. Esbats are the ritual observance of the full and dark moons. Esbat corresponds to the Hebrew letter configuration אשבת, where את comes to add indwelling and immanent satisfaction שב.

The writings of Shabbat Esbat Tammuz 5767 -

Shofar
Witch Dance
Birth Of Messianic Consciousness

Avi Shalom of The Ararat Scrolls has a nice photo of the full moon of Tammuz, demonstrating just how bright the light of the moon can be in Mother Night.

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Saturday, June 30, 2007

Birth Of Messianic Consciousness

ט"ה בתמוז תשס"ז

Oh, what magic is real life!

Esbat Tammuz. I've previously posted (here and here) that my Hebrew letter tarot card deck contains 22 cards. There are actually 23 cards in my Hebrew letter tarot deck. I'd forgotten.

I've had these cards for years and I deliberately didn't look at the face of the cards as I shuffled them during the only two tarot readings I've ever used them for to date. I have no thoughtful reason why I do that (carefully and purposefully not gaze at the face of the cards prior to "reading" them). I just have a thoughtbare reason beyond reason why I do it. The only time I see the face of the cards is as I read them. I didn't count them either.

Today's Shabbat Tarot reading.

עד Moon 100% full in Capricorn, during the planetary hour of the Sun.

I set out to choose 3 cards at random from a shuffled deck spread out faces hidden, in order, the first two came easily,

tet-hei טה

but the third card had a fourth card stuck behind it as I pulled it out from among the many. I was motionless for a few moments, trying to determine which of the two cards to return, but I was not moved to return either the top card or the one hidden and stuck behind it. So, I chose both together, turning the two final cards over in order:

nun and "the missing letter"
.... נ

the missing letter... ט הן

Hain (Behold) Tov (Good) ---- the missing letter

Like in the poem I republished last evening, Witch Dance (HaShetiyah), with 55 syllables (the gematria of hain הן) and a original web address "behold", "behold" was again iterated into my experience, with "tov" and "the missing letter" added to it this time.

The word "hain" announces the death of Moshe in Devarim 31:14:

'Behold, thy days approach that thou must die; call Joshua, and present yourselves in the tent of meeting, that I may give him a charge.'

Significantly, the additional meaning "tov" (from tet) and "the missing letter" are absent in this "behold" pasuk (verse). Moshe dies and Joshua takes over in Devarim. Yet, now with tov and the missing letter ...

Behold, thy days of messianic consciousness must come ... where the "death" of Moshe is exactly the "birth" of messianic consciousness.

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Friday, June 29, 2007

Shofar

י"ג בתמוז תשס"ז

Esbat Tammuz. Three cards were chosen at random from a shuffled deck of 22 for this erev shabbat hebrew letter tarot reading. In order, the 3 cards are:

shin-phey-reish שפר

Meaning to harmonize and balance, unify elements.

moon 100% full in capricorn
planetary hour moon

Tuesday, June 12, 2007

New Moon Pidyan Haben

כ"ז בסיון תשס"ז

Thursday evening, the evening before my father's heart surgery on Friday morning, marks the new moon (ב) in Gemini, where the planet Mercury and the letter pei (פ) rule Gemini, and where Gemini corresponds to the letter zayin (ז). Taken together, these three astrological letter correspondences have a gematria of 89, the same gematria as the hebrew word פדה meaning "redeem".

My father is a firstborn son. My own firstborn son was born C-section. I will be performing a new moon esbat redemption ritual (a modified Jewitch's pidyan haben) Thursday evening for my father. The form the ritual will take is yet to come.

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Saturday, January 20, 2007

Reversal & Protection Ritual

ב' שבט ה'תשס"ז

Reversal & Protection Full Moon Esbat Ritual



  1. Take bath or shower. Put on Jewitch pentacle with blessing.


  2. Perform ritual bath with blessings.


  3. Set up altar.


  4. Carefully unwrap prepared reversal candle and place original top into holder.


  5. In the center of the altar, on a round mirrored surface (upon which a pentacle has been made with thin strips of black tape or inscribed with an inscribing tool) place a slip of paper upon which has been written: May the curses cast upon me by my enemies return midah kneged midah, measure for measure, back to those who have cast them.


  6. Place the reversal candle on top of the piece of paper.


  7. Call quarters [1] (athame-N, light black quarter candles; light charcoal for incense-E; water-S; wood-W) and cast circle [1].


  8. Perform incense offering ritual.


  9. Inscribe marks to distinguish 13 portions of the candle.


  10. Light prepared ritual reversal candle.


  11. Recite entire 91st Psalm [2].


  12. Recite blessing – Beruchah shem kevod malchutah le-olam va’ed. Amen. (ברוך שם כבוד מלכותה לעולם ועד, אמן) So mote it be.


  13. Let candle burn out over 13 days, 1 portion per day [3].


  14. Save any wax remnants and scatter in a wooded area.


Repeat ritual for 3 consecutive months, each time with the reversal candle prepared on the dark moon and the ritual performed on the full moon surrounding midnight.

Footnote:

[1] calling quarters and circlecasting procedure (basic, may be adapted)

[2] In Hoodoo, the 37th psalm is recited. Given my intimate connection to Psalm 91, I will recite this Psalm instead.

[3] use candle snuffer or pinch between fingers to extinguish, do not blow out candle

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Reversing Curses, Candle Preparation

ב' שבט ה'תשס"ז

Given the dramatic change in nature of my circumstances since my return to Torah over a decade ago and this vision last week of diverting a metaphysical attack, I've decided to create a ritual to reverse curses and to return them back to sender, whomever that may be. While my circle indeed protects me now from being psycho-spiritually struck, the new ritual is more than protection, it is an active defense. I have resisted doing this for years, but clearly, my enemies have chosen to persist. I am left with no alternative. To follow in the next two posts are the candle preparation and the ritual itself which others may individualize and incorporate into their own protection rituals.

Prepare Reversal Candle On Night Of Dark Moon

  1. Use 10 inch black Bella Candella candle with white musk scent.


  2. Butt candle [1]. Cut off the original top flat end (approximately 1/8 inch of wax).


  3. Carve a second flat tip on the bottom end. Save cut wax in sealable container.


  4. From original top, inscribe down (in 2 lines) Tehillim 37:1-2 (aleph-א) in Ivrit (Hebrew) preferrably [2] using block script. The word MHRH (מהרה) ends the first line. Do not “shake off” any wax clinging to the candle as you inscribe.


  5. From the new created top, inscribe down (in 2 lines) Tehillim 37:39-40 (tav-ת) in Ivrit using block script with the following changes if you are female: tzadikim (צדיקים) to tzedeket (צדייקת) with 2 letters yod, YHVH (יהוה) to YHYH (יהיה). YHYH ends the first line. [3]


  6. On the top of the original end, inscribe a 3-headed shin (flames pointing away from the wick, with central point proximal to the wick).


  7. On the new created end, inscribe a 4-headed shin (flames pointing away from the wick, with central point proximal to the wick).


  8. Dress the candle. Using each finger beginning with the left hand thumb, anoint the entire surface of the candle by rubbing pure virgin olive oil from old top to new top stroking away from yourself, saying – Baruch dayyan ha’emet (ברוך דיין האמת). Repeat using the right hand.


  9. Sprinkle oiled candle with trace ashes of incense used for Shabbat.


  10. Cover surface of oiled candle with “absorb negativity” incense blend.


  11. Pass entire surface of candle through smoke of a lit smudge stick (containing sage).


  12. Take hold of candle by wicks at both end, the original end with your right hand and the new created end with your left hand, and hold it horizontally opposite your heart.


  13. Recite the following: I hereby dedicate, consecrate, charge and empower you to fulfill that for which you were created.


  14. Recite the following: Beruchah shem kevod malchutah le-olam va’ed. Amen. (ברוך שם כבוד מלכותה לעולם ועד, אמן) So mote it be.


  15. Kiss the candle.


  16. Wrap in clear saran wrap and silver foil. Store within altar chest until the next full moon.


  17. Perform reversal and protection ritual on next full moon esbat.


Footnotes:

[1] using boline or small ritual inscribing knife dedicated to the purpose of preparing and inscribing ritual candles

[2] may substitute English or other magickal language if unfamiliar with Hebrew

[3] the taper candle itself represents the conversive vav of the tetragrammaton

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Friday, January 19, 2007

Embraced By The Night

כ"ט טבת ה'תשס"ז


artist unknown

The athame consecration ritual was completely awesome! During it, as I stood outside in the Dark of Night, the cold breeze penetrated my clothes to touch every inch of my body. The cold was alive! It embraced me wholeheartedly! With my athame raised, the entire Universe stood still with rapt attention as the hosts of heaven and earth smiled down the soothing Voice of the Gentle Wind. The moment the blade entered the earth - ohmygawd! - if I could only tell you what I felt! But, I cannot. There are no words.

There are just no words.

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Thursday, January 18, 2007

Consecrating My Athame

כ"ח טבת ה'תשס"ז

Tonight is the esbat of the Dark Moon. In contrast to Rosh Chodesh, which notes the first sliver of silvery light sighted each month, the Dark Moon is fully within the Shadow of Night. Light represents activity. Darkness represents rest. In other words, while Rosh Chodesh celebrates rebirth, the Dark Moon rests symbolically as a tzelem Elohim within the Dark Essence of Ein Sof.

Consequently, with the Light resting within the completely Dark Essence of Ein Sof, the Dark Moon esbat represents a shabbat of the moon. The moon generally corresponds to soul power of Emet (אמת truth) and to the sefirah Yesod (יסוד foundation). Thus, this esbat of Tevet, my athame will be infused with the Essential Foundation of Truth and the power of shabbat consciousness.

The esbat nocturnal ritual (performed surrounding midnight):

Complete steps 1, and 3 as found in Jewitch Shabbat Ritual.

Set up altar to basically include a central black taper candle standing upon a pentagram tile, a red pomegranate votive candle, and an incense blend [2] prepared with a teardrop within cauldron censer.

Light black taper (projective energy), saying:

Beruchah at Shechinah HaShem Chai, malchat shel Shabbat v'Esbat b'laylah, who transforms darkness into brilliance.

Use flame from the taper to light pomegranate votive (receptive energy) candle, saying:

Beruchah at Shechinah HaShem Chai, ruach shel Shabbat v'Esbat b'laylah, move through the Shadow of Night and be One with the Light.

Use flame from the taper to light the incense, saying:

Blessed are You Shechinah Acknowledger of Life, ruler of the universe, who has gifted me with a portion of Truth.

Beruchah at Shechinah HaShem Chai, malkat ha'olam, she'natnah li chemdat emet.

Wipe down both sides of the blade of the athame with a magnet.

Rinse with consecrated water [1]. Don't wipe dry.

Pass athame through incense smoke, saying:

ישמך אלהים השם חיי כאמת וחנה
Y'simech Elohim HaShem Chai k'Emet v'Chanah.

May the Goddess who acknowledges life make you as truth and favor.

Go outside and under the Dark Moon, cast the circle (step 7 here) using the index and middle fingers of the right hand.

Hold athame straight up with both hands directly over the crown of the head, saying:

With the Dance of Holy Darkness, I dedicate, consecrate, awaken, charge and infuse you.

Encircling the tip deosil overhead 8 times, saying each time:

ברוך שם כבוד מלכותה לעולם ועד
Baruch shem kevod malchutah le'olam va'ed.

Blessed is the Glorious Name, Her Kingdom stands forever and ever.

Following the eighth blessing, bring the athame parallel to the heart, point up, saying:

אמן
Amen.

Turning athame, point down, saying:

So mote it be.

Draw a pentagram invoking earth into the soil. Wipe off any dirt from the tip of the blade with the middle fingers, using the left middle finger for one side and the right middle finger for the other.

Kiss both sides of the blade near the middle and the hilt.

Bring the athame inside and place on the altar, saying:

With the Divine Shadow be embraced. So mote it be.

Allow candles and incense to burn themselves out. Leave up circle of protection. Wrap athame in black cloth and store with altar tools after the flames and incense have become dark.

Footnotes:

[1] Banished of negativity and blessed.

[2] Dragon's blood, frankincence, myrrh, pinch of salt, drop of vanilla oil, drop of olive oil, drop of red wine.

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Thursday, December 21, 2006

Smudging For Spiritual Renewal

I purchased a Native American made sage bundle (similar to the one pictured, except that mine is also wrapped with pink string) and performed my first Rosh Chodesh Esbat shamanic smudging ritual:

'Smudging' is the common name given to the Sacred Smoke Bowl Blessing, a powerful cleansing technique from the Native American tradition. However the burning of herbs for emotional, psychic, and spiritual purification is common practice in many religious, healing, and spiritual traditions. It is a ritual way to cleanse a person, place or an object of negative energies or influences.

More about smudging, ritual herbs and sacred smoke.

Shamanic Smudging
Smudging - How To Do It, How Not To Do It
Of Shamans & Smudge Sticks

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Dare to be true to yourself.