Class in Session: Transformation Blends

There must be a lot of magick in the air on this June Full Moon. Aside from plenty going on among the heavenly spheres, and a rather dear AirBnb house guest named Ed from New York who has some deep insights and charming ways, I kind of went crazy on the potions.

I put up another post about what exactly is going on celestially, besides it being the mid-year or midsummer Full Moon in Capricorn. This is supposedly a great time to re-evaluate progress, goals and intention, rethink tactics about career and boundaries, prune what's still being a drag, and gear up to take another crack at things. I wanted to both capture and enhance my life's progress in the coming weeks by creating a potion, or two, that carried the energy of this moment, on earth and more importantly in the stars.

I've been keen on Aromatherapy and the use of essential oils lately, not just for mood-altering scents but for magickal uses in the vein of hoodoo-style annointing oils. I decided to make an oil-based potion first.

What was I aiming for? I've sensed lately that serious transformation is not only in the works (stars?), but is also what I want. It's close enough to the Summer Solstice, that's a good place to start. I wanted herbs and oils for cleansing, banishing negativity, and protection, if I was to be starting a fresh cycle of life. Uplifting, inspiring notes are good, via the Sun and also Jupiter. But visionary ability, intuition, and dreams are also important here, and are in line with a Full Moon. Finally, with the Moon in Capricorn (Saturn) and Saturn, Pluto and Jupiter all in retrograde, I need energies that will help clear out some serious gunk, so I can fully reclaim my power.

So I consulted my handbook of Herbal Alchemy, looking for correspondences and considering what ingredients I had in stock, and came up with this recipe. . . .

Capricorn Full Moon Resetting Oil

Invictus Reloaded: Open Road

Tomorrow night is the year's midpoint Full Moon, in June . . . and in Capricorn: the moon exactly halfway around the calendar from the Capricorn Dark Moon of January. It's a great time to take stock of life.

Curiously, it was last night that I finally finished my short fic from last winter, Anima Invictus, whose topic is the passionate love within the soul, achieving what is most desired, savoring the sacred Now, and combating your inner shadows with confidence and wise choices while on the path to fulfilment. More than anything, to trust one's inner power. This is an ideal time to re-address the soul's direction.

Full moon over Rotterdam

Astrologers warned back in January that we might not get done all we had planned, or even flirted with attempting. With first Saturn and now five planets in retrograde, my spring slipped away in a busy haze of work, and more work. Old habits, old patterns of life in this city, and planning how to break them. Being glad certain phases were o-ver.

Never mind a sprinkling of social events --- and forget the freight truck of anxiety about my damn house selling out from under me! Of always having to keep my psychological knees bent under me, ready to jump! Strangers, potential buyers, in and out with scarcely a moment's notice! Try to maintain a sense of structure and security about your year with that going on!

But despite this retrograde nowhere-insanity, I've been far from idle. I've accomplished a vast amount toward getting back my power, my connection to magic I felt so close to losing not long ago. I've either worked on, or gathered supplies for, pet projects on my to-do list for years. Ironically, with Saturn in Capricorn, I've made the most of an Earthly home and job situation that at times feels as tenuous as Jell-O --- learning some important lessons from it, namely, that true Home is a place inside yourself, as is true wealth. Even at my poor factory job, between watching the machines I've filled my hours with research and reading, with writing, reflecting and searching. I've paired that with more studies at home. Now the question hangs large:

What, above any and all else, do I most want to be?

Is there something that takes precedence over everything else, money, traveling, writing, sleep, sex, human love, and the rest included? What would that be? And how would it influence the decisions I find myself wanting, and needing, to make?

At the moment, I can't think of anything that big --- except, perhaps, being a mage. An alchemist of the soul. No matter what the hell else I am, what I do or where I go, I am more and more imagining it only in addition to walking a consciously magisterial path of study, of the Great Work. Of being happy in the moment, in the practice of that work in the Now.

Maybe I just never, ever want to give up my personal power the way I ended up doing this past decade, ever again. You can't draw happiness from an empty well.

But is there anything else, in addition to overall magistery, that I should focus on, yet cannot see from this moment or am having trouble making decisions about? Scientific work, maybe. But without seeing my immediate path ahead --- without feeling able to choose, command, or take charge right away --- this may be one of those times to "let go, and let God/dess."

I love how beautifully the Universe brings themes and energies together --- the pattern called "synchronicity". Following Sunday the 24th's Hawai'ian Solstice goddess ritual, I found Mooncircles has advice that continues to explore both Hawai'ian archetypes, underlying unity or interconnection, and the idea of taking back your power, of tapping into this greater web of force:


 "To be clear, these were triggers for my unfolding, not the planets or the Gods acting upon me. Astrology is powerful, but it does not ever have the power facilitate an event in your life that your Soul doesn’t already want to experience. This was about ME --- wanting me to heal & awaken.

Interconnection vs. Victimhood:

Interconnection is a reality. We aren’t taught to see it that way, though.  We think our childhood relationships are separate from our adult ones, and what happens in one part of the world can’t possibly affect us, here. We perceive the solid flesh of this body confirms our separateness, not our interconnection. We forget that our Spirit is intimately connected to One and All, not bound by anything. An eruption on an island 200 miles away, in the world out there, couldn’t possibly connect to an inner eruption, inside here. A movement of a planet in the sky couldn’t possibly be triggering the next phase of our unfolding. But as those of us who study astrology continually discover… it is all connected.

As I reflected on how to hold my experience, I realized that for those of us who feel soooo much, it is easy to give our authority (for feeling good, okay, happy, bad or sad) to forces outside of our self, which can create victim consciousness. Are we powerless to Pele’s dance… or made more powerful, more centered in Divine Consciousness herself, for being so connected?

Perhaps, in giving authority to forces outside of our self, we are empath-ing a larger field of “belief”. My neighbor suggested the islands test us. There is a fine line between superstition and reverence for Mystery. The idea that the Gods, Goddesses, planets… anything out side of our self… controls our fate, is an ancient one. It harkens all the way back to earliest civilizations, and lingers in the shadow of fortune-telling astrology (so many clients come to me with fatalistic ideas after being told what’s possible --- or more accurately, what’s impossible --- for them). Yet when we buy into superstition, we give power to fear. When we partner with Mystery, we acknowledge that there are energies beyond our understanding, and we locate the faith and trust to be okay with that.

The fates do not control us. Our Soul directs our life experience. The more we center in that Divine Self authority, the less likely we are to feel victimized when we experience events that rock and shock us.

At this Full Moon, where is your authority? In fear and anxiety, or truth and faith?

Because this is life, isn’t it? Aren’t we all in the same boat, the one in which none of us gets out alive? Hawaiians say, about this horrific and terrifying volcano event affecting so many lives, that this loss and destruction is a natural cycle. That this destruction isnecessary for cleaning house. And, that it’s the aloha of the community, the compassion and love shared for one another, that will create grace for all.

This is Goddess wisdom. This is tender compassion -and- sober realism. The bracing clarity of the Cancer Sun and Capricorn Full Moon require our compassion. Stuff happens that is sad, disheartening, terrifying. And since what we give authority to, grows, how we hold our experience, how we treat our self and one another makes all the difference. Indeed, it’s the only thing we take with us beyond the grave.

When the hot lava bubbled up from my depths, I was terrified. Yet it liberated me into a new relationship with myself. The inner landscape is new, now. Lava boiling up from the deeps, the destruction we experience, creates new land formations and gives birth to more of these gorgeous islands. How’s that for perspective? Every time our own unconscious erupts, as it often does, we also are giving birth to our self. Our Soul directs growth through these experiences. Not the other way around.

We are not leaves of a tree being blown about at the whims of the wind, planets, Pele or fate. We are the taproot, as challenging as this can be to remember. We are souls on a customized all-inclusive journey, one designed especially for our maximum unfolding.

For all of us, this will include at least one, and more likely many, dances with Pele.

At this Full Moon, take a moment to call back your energy, into your body. Feel it settle into your sitz bone, the root chakra and run through your pelvis, legs, feet, down to the Earth. You are the roots of the tree, the captain of your ship. You are the Divine made manifest, and you are having one of the most difficult, gorgeous, complex experiences a Soul can have: an incarnation on Earth. Savor the dance."

Savoring the Mystery: a weird little oil blend I bought at a neighborhood fair, multilayered and -coloured as is so much of life, sitting on top of a sheet of incantations

A small box I'm preparing with cutouts and paint, in which to keep magickal paraphernalia. Behind is my crystal sphere, on a nice pedestal I found for it at a dump-rescue resale shop

Hawai'ian Mothers, Cultural Roads

I've found a lot of summer solstice (Litha) celebrations are grand, multi-day affairs out of town. Which I often can't get to, because I'm working. And, because I don't always have access to a car. But mostly because I'm working.

But I was able to take part in a lovely rite on June 24th at Mt. Tabor Park, which honored --- but didn't invoke --- several dieties from Hawai'i, with stories, songs, food, drink and offerings.

West (water) altar at Midsummer rite

Hawai'i is in the news a lot lately. Kilauea is blowing (and dribbling out of) its top more than usual, causing forced evacuations with lava flows. Not so long ago, storms and floods made a mess of Kauai. The recent upsurge in volcanic activity, however, suggests Pele may have something to say.

There were six of us on this balmy day, beneath the shade of a huge redwood on the slope overlooking the reservoirs and city. As my friend explained, Pele --- the Hawai'ian volcano goddess --- represents to her less of a wicked, destructive fire than She does a controlled, cleansing and procreative fire, Her energy more like that of Kali. Pele's energy may be ideal for burning through old junk and getting ourselves moving into fresh paradigms, especially with all the retrograde planets and other cosmic dance steps happening these days. Disco inferno. . . .

But the well-known Pele wasn't the only divinity we worked with this time.

Why did we not invoke, or use anything from Hawai'i, in our rite? We were trying to avoid "cultural appropriation," a huge issue these days, what with so much global sharing and political sensitivity. None of us are Hawai'ian, including our facilitator, who looks like she could be. It's a careful dance between admiring and exploring, all done with respect, and appropriation --- the worst forms of appropriation, of course, done out of exploitation for profit.

For this rite, our facilitator offered us an oil for annointing. It smelled sweet, I really liked it, though I haven't done a ton with oils over the course of my witchstory. It rekindled in me a brief flirting interest I'd felt for perfumes, essential oils, and aromatherapy. The potential of this area of, yes, "potistry" is huge: Smells are magic to the brain, emotions and memory; and besides aromatherapy, the realm of hoodoo oils is vast and rich. I'd love to do more in this field, but what has held me back is what can hold a lot of people back from a lot of things: money. Oils can be prohibitively expensive.

My friend told me the Sun's Eye oils are carried by Moonshadow, a local shop, and I thought: I haven't been in Moonshadow since it was on Hawthorne Street. That was years ago! What the heck . . . Unless I'm destitute, I don't want poverty to keep me from exploring magick, or continuing to revive my long-suppressed power. I lived too many of those low-magic years, alone in downtown, at times barely surviving, perhaps learning a lot of useful lessons but also using a mere fraction of my magisterial "juice". Poverty can drain you.

On the way home, I went to Moonshadow, which is a fun place. They have a broader range of stuff beyond your typical white Wiccan or New Age shop --- I saw books and supplies for hoodoo, sorcery (i.e. of the Crowley type), alchemy and more. I bought a phial of the oil. Plus, well, a bunch of herbs. Sulfur! Asafoetida! Meafowsweet! Opoponax! Such treasures of apothecary and exotic land! I see banishing, cleansing, and empowering rites and potions in the near future!

A creepy-cool Palmistry hand at Moonshadow. Made by the Alchemy Guild line. Actually can serve as an aid to learning Palmistry.

The day's magicapades weren't yet over. After stopping at home, I went to the last day of Good In The 'Hood multicultural festival (related in spirit, I suspect, to the Juneteenth festivities earlier this month). It felt both odd and also good to be, for once, a minority --- most of the attendees were African American. I looked first for my pet interests, of course, in my desire to support local merchants. Sure enough, I found a Black woman selling oils amid the row of vendor awnings. Most were cologne-like, cheap-smelling or fragrance oils of certain brand names like Polo or Ralph Lauren --- even Barack Obama had a scent! --- or her own herb-in-oil concoctions of the kind I'd rather make myself. Some had labels, a few did not, and most didn't float my boat, scent-wise. But I wanted to walk away with something.

I sniffed and sniffed, nose starting to itch, and finally settled on a small phial of a strange teal oil with a distinct yellow-green layer halfway up. It clung to my fingers, but at least smelled passably useful. There was no label.

 "What's this?"
 "Oh, that one's just a bunch of stuff I had left over ," said the woman, Tamara, proprietor of her business, Afroscentrics.
 Best kind, I thought inwardly, feeling drawn by the mystery.
 "Smells sort of like Road Opener," I told her.
 "What?"
I explained about oils from the hoodoo tradition, and about Orleans Candle Company, now moved from Lombard Street back to New Orleans after civic rehabilitation from Hurricane Katrina. That shop was where I'd first encountered hoodoo supplies, and Road Opener (Abre Camino, as the oil is also called in Santeria) oil itself. I'd skipped the oil, since its smell really was too rank, but I'd bought lots of other hoodoo oils and some Dragon's Blood ink during Orleans's final, 20%-off closing sale.
 "That's where I learned about oils, was when I was down in that area," Tamara said.

Despite being shaken up in a hot purse, whatever went into this blend consists of two definitely immiscible parts. Oil and alcohol?

 She went on, "I just mixed in several odds and ends I had, you know, the little bit at the end of a bottle, and blended 'em together. . . ."
 Me, thinking: All RIGHT! Mystery formula! My favourite!
 ". . . .there's some Money oil in there, some Cotton Candy, and a bunch of other stuff."
 "I'll take it," I said, laughing.
Money? Cotton Candy? How can you go wrong??! Bring on the magic! I promptly decided the oil was my own funny little type of Road Opener, for which I could dream up various uses. Part of folk magick is driven by sympathetic connections, after all, and the rest is your own belief and willpower.

I paid Tamara five bucks, and put the oil in a place I hoped would protect it till I got home, for the scent was already all over my fingers. If I'm ascribing any power to this oil, I'll have to be careful --- I don't want to juju road-open everything I touch! Just some things.

The mystery "Sweet Money Road Opener" oil, showing its odd bilayered composition. What's inside?

My minority status at Good In The 'Hood brought an old idea back up: Should I, as a mostly White woman, practice hoodoo? My Black and Native blood runs maybe one percent, at best. But I am from the South, born in a Texan town about a good spit away from Louisiana, and I remind myself there were a couple of famous hoodooists or "root doctors" who were White; furthermore, the beauty of folk magick is that it is available to everyone, not just to initiates, holier-than-thou New Agers or coven-huddlers. Especially the poor, abused, disadvantaged or disenfranchised relied on root and folk magick to get by. I think my question is this: Do I want to respect the culture as I explore it, get to know its history, and give credit where due? And does that include, for me, mixing with people of color where possible, to acknowledge their expertise directly?
 The answer is yes.

A premade Road Opener oil. Piece of herb visible within.

So, what goes in a genuine Road Opener/Abre Camino, or Block Buster, magical formula?
Opinions vary. Many seem to agree that Orange is a very good oil, as is Lemon, Citronella, Lemongrass, or even Camphor oils --- ideally, a mix of several of these. The one I sniffed at Orleans Candle Company sure didn't smell like this! But a true Abre Camino oil must contain a piece of the Abre Camino, or Palo Abre Camino, herb(s).

 More on Road Openers later.

"Put it back!": Spell Jars, Witches' Bottles

"We don't dare open it ourselves, sir," he told me, in a quavering voice. "Do you think you might be able to run an analysis of it without breaking the seal?"

I looked carefully through the filthy glass of the old jar at its murky contents, through which a deep amber glow shone.

"Well, I see a lock of hair and a Muggle tampon," I replied drily, "in a menstruum that consists mostly of ---" I waved my wand at the jar, feeling for the signature, "--- honey."

He turned a dainty shade of red.

"Very good, sir. But if you'll forgive my ignorance, what's a tam---"

"If you really think a full analysis is required," I cut across him, "I'd be happy to take your Galleons."

"No, no, sir. It won't actually be necessary, if you're that certain ---"

"I am certain."

"Right. But what should I do with it?"

I smirked at him. "Be grateful you are not the target of the jinx in the jar ---" He looked suddenly and deliciously uneasy for a moment, "--- and put it back."

"But ---"

"I know for a fact that you attended Hogwarts, Mr. Gudgeon, and therefore I expect an occasional moment of idiocy from you," I say, "but I assume that even you are not stupid enough to try to consume the honey? Put. It. Back."

"Er . . . no, sir. I mean, yes, sir."

A post has been making the Internet rounds in recent months, with much speculation on the truth behind it. Someone was digging about in their yard, and unearthed a sealed jar with unknown, and decidedly suspicious, contents. Most recently, the news popped up as a post on one of several witch-oriented social media pages I frequent weekly.

What would you do if you dug up something like this in your backyard?

A jar like this may be someone's trash, or a failed canning project. But, depending on its contents, there's also a good chance it's a spell!

Jar or container spells come in several main types, although I can see how you might adapt this kind of "potion" to numerous uses.

One of the oldest jar spell types is the traditional protective Witch Bottle. The bottle acts as a trap for any negative energy that might target you and your home. Into the bottle, put rusty nails, iron filings, needles, barbed wire, and broken glass (or other items that carry a protective Mars energy). Vile or potent herbs and chemicals can also go in. Then fill the bottle the rest of the way up with your urine to link it to your personal vibration, a form of sympathetic magic. Now, seal it, and bury it. While some advocate burying a Witch Bottle far from your home, others suggest burying it on your property to protect the entire premises. If the bottle or jar is broken, the spell ceases to work:

"Witch bottles were also used as preemptive measures against evil acts. A common spell for a protection witch bottle involved pins and needles (to impale the curse), red wine (to drown the curse) and rosemary (to send the curse on its way). While preparing the bottle, one would chant:
  Pins, needles, rosemary, wine; 
  In this witch’s bottle of mine. 
  Guard against harm and enmity; 
  This is my will, so mote it be!
This bottle would then be buried in the furthest corner of the preparer’s property."

Clay witch jar from 1650, made from a Bellarmine Jug (in itself kind of scary!)

Archaeologists discover a witch bottle

A scan of the jug reveals its secret curious contents

One account writes:

"One of the earliest mentions of this type of magic came from a 17th century. A man was advised to make a Witch's jar for his wife, because it was suspected that she was being 'bewitched' and they wanted to break the curse:
'Take your Wive’s Urine as before, and Cork, it in a Bottle with Nails, Pins and Needles, and bury it in the Earth; and that will do the feat. The Man did accordingly. And his Wife began to mend sensibly and in a competent time was finely well recovered; But there came a Woman from a Town some miles off to their house, with a lamentable Out-cry, that they had killed her Husband… But at last they understood by her, that her Husband was a Wizard, and had bewitched this Mans Wife and that this Counter-practice prescribed by the Old Man, which saved the Mans Wife from languishment, was the death of that Wizard that had bewitched her.'
-- Joseph Glanvill’s Saducismus Triumphatus, or Evidence concerning Witches and Apparitions (1681)"

Glass witch bottle and contents, unearthed

Another account:

"When created for counter-magical purposes, a witch bottle often contained nails, pins, herbs, and samples of the afflicted, such as urine or hair. In the Old Bailey case mentioned above, the apothecary advised the man to prepare a potion of his wife’s urine, nail clippings, and hair, combining the materials in a pot of water and boiling it. Boiling was a key part of counter-magical efforts, as it was believed to help reverse the curse. Another key ingredient, if you could get it, was sulfur. 'If you think about where sulfur came from in those days, it spewed out of volcanic fumaroles from the underworld. It would have been the ideal thing to [kill] your witch, if you wished to,' said Brian Hoggard, an independent expert on British witchcraft who helped researchers understand a sealed witch bottle found in London in 2004."

Bottles are common finds in excavations; if lucky, you'll find one with contents!

Another type of jar spell is a "sweetening spell," often found in the hoodoo tradition of American folk magic. Affects from the target person, even a name written nine times, can be put in a jar along with honey, perhaps with Compelling Oil or certain herbs depending on the precise intent, so as to "sweeten" the person's attitude toward the mage, be it in love, business, or just getting along with friends and neighbors.

Then there are curse or hex jars, which is pretty self-explanatory. A mirror box is good for a specific type of hex, the Binding or Reflective spell, to send a person's evil or negativity back at 'em. Come to think of it, popular among today's interior decorator stores are mirror-lined or mercury-glass bottles, jars and candleholders. One of these might be good as a mirror hex-vessel, too. Witch bottles, interestingly, were designed to both protect the worker and curse the evil one, as is a mirror binding spell.

Do I spy a tampon string, wick of candle or mere stringy thing?

Last I heard, the contents of this particular mystery jar remain, still, a mystery. I'd likely avoid opening it, whether or not I could verify in person that it contained a tampon! A spell like this may or may not be designed to continue working long after being planted, but unless you know its purpose for certain, why meddle? If it's a sweetening spell, maybe it prevented domestic abuse or homicide. Barring advanced tracking, research, psychic and divining methods, we have little way of knowing.

Comments on the witches' social page varied, but the most frequent suggestion seemed to be:

"put it back"
"Put it back."
"PUT IT BACK!"

 For those who wish to make jar spells or witch bottles today, the possibilities are endless, whether nice or nasty. For further ideas, just search the 'Net. A modern protective jar might require these items:

• Bottle or jar, with a tightly closing cap or lid
• Sea salt
• Crystal or stone, for example: turquoise, obsidian or black onyx
• Herbs, for example: acasia, aloe, lilies, lime, lotus, agrimony, corn, cayenne and black pepper, dried onion, salvia, frankincense, basil, mint, myrrh, garlic, rosemary, mistletoe, pine needles
• A few nails or needles
• Wine, apple cider vinegar or urine
• Thread
• Black candle for sealing
• Ritual tools

In decorating a bottle that will remain visible, as opposed to being buried, the field of creativity is wide open:

New Moon Niffles

A virus came calling
Said,
  "Maybe?"
  "May I?"
But Thyme stood still
next to Elderberry with arms crossed;
Lemon cussed from the living room
Cider Vinegar waved a skillet in the kitchen
Ginger and Garlic had to be restrained
and Honey said,
  "Honey, I'm afraid not!"
Not all vagrants
  need be welcomed.


 Even at our best, we still are subject to physical-body problems. Some of them, yes, do stem from our mental vagrancies. I worked some odd hours, I ate too many corn chips and too much chocolate, then some darned germ-ridden, animated carcass walked by and, wup!
 * sniff sniff *
 The upside is, I'm a herbalist and potist --- one who's survived enough colds to greatly lessen the symptoms and speed the healing process. Cold-kicking brews are like the "Happy Birthday" song --- they're one of the brews I make most often, even during an overall brewing dry spell.

 The poem above was inspired during the last cold I caught, and successfully fought, using my now-automatic regimen of remedies. A social media friend replied, "That is the most elegant way of describing an herbal remedy I've ever seen."

 This time around, I didn't have a few of the ingredients (or was too lazy or cheap to buy them). But I still brewed my potions and successfully fought off the infection: I felt achy and produced mucus for only a single day! I still sneezed a bit for a day or two afterward, as my sinuses tried to rid the excess dried-up garbage, but the ache and "main thrust" of the illness was gone. Of course, a preventative lifestyle is best --- what if I ate garlic every day? --- but this shows how herbs can greatly speed healing, in a part of the world where a sinus cold can last two weeks, entering the glottis, bronchial tubes and lungs.

 My brews this time around contained:

-- A pint of water.
-- Heaping cupped-handful of frozen elderberries. I have a two-year-old bag of them, which has gone from freezer to freezer along with my numerous moves!
-- A couple pieces of candied ginger, cut into little pieces.
-- 4-6 cloves of raw garlic, mashed.
-- Pinch of cayenne.
-- Honey, to taste (typically 2 tsp. to 1 Tbs.).

 Makes two servings.
 Drink a couple cups in early half of day, spaced out, as hot as possible. Then make another batch for evening half of day --- two batches daily at mininum. Drink the last serving shortly before bed. Take a hot shower (on one of these nights, I made it a Jacuzzi bath!), then go to bed fully clothed. This will cause you to sweat the infection out.

 Obviously, the elderberries and garlic are the main power behind this brew, but it all adds up to create a very strong, warming, infection fighting blend. As my poem suggests, thyme is a good addition. So is a squeeze of lemon, and so are yarrow, oregano, and pennyroyal; add boneset for an especially gnarly fever. Eastern herbs ashwagandha and reishi aee also good, boosting immunity. Nature has given us a plethora of great infection-kicking herbs, especially for us "damp-cold" types (as suggested by Chinese medicine). A healthy gut also helps resist colds (note that ginger is also good for the digestion).

 Even if a virus does get its toe in the door, there's no reason to let it hang around for longer than a day.

At the Hundredth

Celebrating Post Number 100 of Snapeshifter! Some blogs have far more than that, but hey, I took a break.

Tomorrow is the New Moon in Gemini, inviting meditation on the dance of duality, a refocus on what most calls us on the path to wholeness (and which we may have gotten distracted from since the beginning of the year), and taking care in Mercurial interests such as writing, travel, and communication. With a fresh pulse of witchy and alchemical energies fueling my heart lately, already I can note several points for consideration:
• Unstable though you may feel at times, home is where you make it --- most importantly, it's within you.
• Keep the idea of traveling open and in focus. Don't chicken out, don't let it slip away.
• Writing is a gift, and you're hoarding it, depriving a world in need. Write, and forget about who does and doesn't care.
• Remember you're magic.

 All the words that I gather,
And all the words that I write,
Must spread out their wings untiring,
And never rest in their flight.
Till they come to where your sad, sad heart is,
And sing to you in the night,
Beyond where the waters are moving,
Storm darkened or starry bright.

~ W.B. Yeats ~

"Life isn't fair.
No matter what life throws your way,
no matter how unfair it may seem,
refuse to play the victim.
Refuse to be ruled by fear, pessimism, and negativity.
Refuse to quit.
Be a warrior and work through whatever life throws your way with courage, love and positivity. And continually push forward.
Because
you are a survivor of the unfairness of life.
You are stronger than you think.
And you are capable of achieving far more than you believe."

 "People never change because they are under threat or under stress. Never. They change because they see something that makes their life seem valuable enough to start moving toward a life worth living."
— Robert Downey Jr.

"Your story could be the key that unlocks someone else's prison. Don't be afraid to share it."

North of the Moon's notes for June 12th:

"A change of perspective. The Moon entered chatty Gemini overnight (USA). Emotions take on a lighter and more superficial feel as it's easier to relate to others through the intellect than feelings. Mercury, however, leaves Gemini to begin his stay in watery Cancer until June 29th. Over the next three weeks our perceptions surrounding the people and things we care about deepen. We are an integral part of everything we hold dear. Family, love, and yes, even money becomes personal. The intellectual detachment we've been under morphs into attachment of the heartfelt kind. Feminine energies soften our attitudes and sentimental memories color our thoughts.

The Moon is in her darkest phase until tomorrow when she'll be born again as the New Moon. Today we can let thoughts stream up from the back rooms of our psyches. Letting go of old fears is a gift this Moon can give. Don't over analyze what comes to the forefront. Bless it and let it go. There's so much more waiting to come in. It's an exciting time! Use your intuition to find the crystals that resonate with you today. Clear Quartz crystals are a perfect choice (again) if you're looking to gather information from the higher vibrations. The scent of Tobacco will bring in peace. Rosemary will help with releasing the old."


From Integral Astrology:

"Stepping Back...
Don't take on too much today: the waning Gemini Moon won't have all that much energy for major projects as we head to tomorrow's new moon, but will try to keep things light and easy. Emphasize the social aspects of work, and stick to more or less routine tasks.
Later this evening, Mercury dives into watery Cancer, where he'll help us express emotions and put feelings into words. With his first aspect a sextile to Uranus early tomorrow, we may find that it's especially easy to open up as the night progresses.
There could be a lot to express, as Venus spends her last full day in the sign of the crab. A protectiveness around home and security needs could reach a peak, echoing concerns from last week.
Sentimentality for the past and a need for action in the present will either align or compete with each other, setting the tone for the future. Use the inward-directed energy of the new moon to help you weigh your options."


From Sacred Dreams:

" Emotionally Intense New Moon~~
On June 13th, there will be an extremely powerful and potent new supermoon in Gemini, bringing with it an energetic emotional storm that is set to stay for the next two months.
The reason for this is that this supermoon is the first in a series of three new moon supermoons, with the the second on July 13th—and the third, which will be the completion of this intense energy portal, taking place on August 11th, 2018.
Cosmically, everything happens in sequences, and we have just stepped into one of these sequences—known as a supermoon triad, which happens when there are three supermoons in a row.
Unlike regular new moons—in which the energy lasts for a few days—the highly charged, intense, life-altering energy of this trio will be felt consistently throughout this two-month period. Those who are highly sensitive to energy will have been sensing the intensity in the atmosphere since the beginning of June and feeling the highly charged energy developing—because although there have been high and low periods, generally the intensity has remained at a peak.
A supermoon occurs when the moon’s orbit is closest to the earth, resulting in the moon being approximately 14 percent closer than normal. The moon is known to wreak havoc with Mother Nature, resulting in landslides, higher tides, and earthquakes. When we think about how the moon’s gravity affects the tides, it is easy to see how it also interacts with living creatures.
All zodiac signs will be affected by this lunar energy, but in particular those born with Gemini in their chart will feel impacted.
Gemini is ruled by the planet Mercury; therefore, Mercury’s characteristics will also be highlighted and intensified during this new moon. Geminis are renowned for being talkative and argumentative, and Mercury is known for communication, therefore conversations may have misunderstandings and quickly and easily become heated.
Mercury is associated with agreements, contracts, listening, learning, negotiating, purchasing, selling, speaking, travel plans, and vehicles. Therefore, when the moon is in Gemini, we can expect any or all of these things to be impacted. Gemini has both Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde personalities and can be volatile, so we may feel one emotion vividly one minute and an entirely different one the next.
New moons represent the end of one 28-day cycle and the start of a new one, and this lunar event is also the last of an intense and energetic half year. It is a turning point for clearing out old energy from the past six months and is a catalyst for beginning the second half of the year focused on creating space for high-vibrational, positive energy to enter.
New moons can cause us to feel introverted and introspective; however, our need to escape from the manic external world does not necessarily mean we want to be alone, but instead that we do not want to be surrounded by those whose energy feels tense, negative, and who bring us down. We will notice we have the desire to remove ourselves from dynamics that cause friction—and instead, we’ll find we are gravitating toward those with whom we feel peaceful and calm. In short, during this new moon, we will be drawn to those who feel like “home.”
  We have gone through many drastic energy shifts lately, which have taken us through personal transformation and caused us to vibrate on an entirely different frequency. This new supermoon brings another major awakening, in which we will see everything around us as though we are viewing and perceiving it all for the first time. This can feel terrifying, as we may suddenly question how we have managed to maintain certain relationships or continue in certain jobs or living arrangements for so long.
Gemini’s moon is giving us the courage to speak our truth, loudly and clearly, and we will intuitively know what we want and where we are heading. We will be looking back over the past six months and understanding why we have been through certain challenges, what they have taught us, and how they have led us to where we are now.
As we go through this deep inner reflection, we will receive a clear vision of where we want the journey through the second half of the year to take us. This could mean that we will need to commit to a dramatic detox of our lives, so that anything that is not aligned with where we want to be when the year ends has to be released.
This is most certainly the time to get rid of any habits, patterns, thoughts, obsessions, commitments, dynamics, or material items that have been weighing us down and keeping us stuck in a reality that it neither healthy or serving us. Anything that no longer resonates with who we are and how we want to be living will start to dissipate before our eyes.
We will be cutting ourselves free from the low-frequency entities that we have become attached to and burning through old paradigms, as well as setting alight a crumbling bridge or two in the process.
This leaves a gateway for those who reflect the same passion and desire to exist free from chaos, harm, and destruction—and for kindred souls who share a similar passion for co-existing harmoniously and lovingly on this planet to enter our lives.
During this period, we will have low tolerance for people who are only around to create dysfunction—or to continuously take, with no effort to mutually maintain and build the relationship. Those whose energy radiates with authenticity, integrity, and sincerity are the ones we will feel magnetically pulled toward, and we will discover that as we refuse to settle for less, people with pure intentions will flow our way.
The next part of this year is intensely powerful for manifesting exactly what it is we want, where we want to be, and who we hope will surround us. It is up to us to put the effort in now, so that we can end the year celebrating with people we love and appreciate and who feel the same way bout us in return—and at a stage where we can look around with pride at what we have achieved and close 2018 on the highest note.
Everything in the universe occurs in cycles, and yearly cycles are ones where we are able to look back at how far we’ve traveled, how much soul growth has taken place, and also where we can learn from anything or anyone that has disrupted our path in some way. It all happens for a divine reason—but at the same time, we are also creators of our own destiny, so the faster we transcend lessons and patterns, the quicker we will attract magnificent possibilities and magical happenings will enter our lives.
Gemini is so divinely placed as this six-month chapter comes to an end, as it is the “twin” energy and shows us how it is our individual choice as to whether we focus on darkness or light, our Jekyll or Hyde personalities, and that whichever one we put our time, energy, and attention into is the one that will ultimately win out.
It is the ideal time to move closer to integrating both our dark and light sides, so that we accept that everything exists—good, bad, pretty, ugly, dark, light, and all in between. We can then try to fully accept ourselves (and those around us) on an entirely different level.
 We all have darkness and light—however, we don’t all make the same choices, and we don’t all behave in the same way. Our thoughts, feelings, and actions depend on which side we decide to give power to, so if we want to live a highly vibrational, beautiful life, it is vital that we choose wisely.
A supermoon triad is a supercharged energy portal in which masses of luminous energy is believed to infiltrate Earth’s atmosphere. Absorbing it can be overstimulating, which might make us feel emotional, drained, and fatigued, and we may also notice the following occurring:

• People from our past reappear, so we have the chance to finally learn a valuable lesson, to make amends, or to forgive and release the past once and for all.
• Physiological symptoms may manifest, such as flu-like symptoms, ear ringing, or aches and pains.
• Frequent anxiety or feeling panicky without clear reason.
• We might “know” things without logical explanation and find it difficult to explain the source of our information.
• Irrational bouts of fear of the future.
• Temporary loss of memories, forgetting things, misplacing items.
• Time appearing to go extremely slow or fast.
• Taking more responsibility for behaviour and actions.
• Disrupted sleep, insomnia, waking between the hours of 2:00 to 5:00 a.m.
• Vivid dreams that help us find resolution with past emotional issues.
• Seeing and feeling energy such as orbs, sparks, or flashes of light; noticing energy warming the palms of hands.
• Irritable, triggered easily, mood swings, frustration, sadness, bouts of anger.
• Sensitive to noise, light, tastes, touch.
• Feeling as though something huge is about to happen.
• Awakening to past mistakes and no longer allowing ourselves to repeat them.
• Chronic fatigue and being around other people feels draining.
• Feeling zoned, spaced out, or ungrounded.
• Appreciation that all life is sacred.
• High intuition, sudden insights, heightened awareness, enhanced compassion and empathy, seeing things with clarity, and receiving answers or resolutions to ongoing issues.
• Releasing, healing, letting go of the past.
• Overthinking and obsessing over tiny details.
• Emotional, bursting into tears for no apparent reason.
• Noticing synchronicities—for instance, certain number patterns reappearing.
• More consciously aware of other people’s energy fields and highly sensitive to negativity.
• Sensitive to certain noises, particularly tones of voices.
• Becoming aware of things we have been conditioned to believe.
• Growing discomfort around certain family members, friends, or work colleagues.
• Wanting to spend time alone, introspection.

Overall, we are receiving an empowering opportunity for major personal transformation, to remove blockages and old patterns, to realise and manifest our purpose, and to expand our conscious awareness. If we are willing to actively attune and integrate this cosmic energy, instead of fearfully resisting it, and if we are able to remain positive and open so that we adapt at a fast pace to the constant changes taking place, we can take full advantage of this rare energy portal.
As the supermoon portal closes toward the end of August, anything we have been struggling with since the beginning of June will also come to a close and offer us heightened understanding of the challenges we have been through.
During intensive energy shifts such as this supermoon triad, it is highly recommended to regularly cleanse our energy field at the beginning and end of each day by drinking plenty of water, taking salt water baths, meditating, or spending time outdoors in nature, and taking time out alone to reconnect with oneself and to release any negative energy that may have accumulated."
~Alex Myles

Feelings lately: ---
 Well, our house still hasn't sold, and last week one of the owners outright asked me, "Feel like sticking around another month?", but I know I can't get too complacent by any means. My hope is to push through this month by finishing up waiting projects, possibly including a book, and begin searching in earnest for opportunities abroad and/or "the next step" as the moon waxes. The next waning moon cycle will be a good time to start final purging and rearranging storage, in the case of needing to fully move out.
 Late summer in France? England? Greece?
 My potions and books will always be waiting.