Recalling Near Death Experiences and a little bird

There have been quite a few OBE's for me over the years. I'll describe 2 here.

The first was when I was really young, and had chicken pox. I started running a fever one night, and stopped breathing in my sleep. My younger sister came in and was worried I wouldn't wake up. After shaking me for a bit I finally took a breath and came back to. While in this state though, which lasted a few minutes, everything was black until I looked up at these large black, elaborately decorated gates. There was a handsome man standing before them shaking his head. He had short black hair, blue eyes, and a jackal tattoo on his right shoulder.  I asked him who he was and he smiled and said "anubis". I asked him if he was the guy in my closet, and he nodded. (those who know me, know that I played with a guy and a woman in my closet) He told me it was not my time to cross through the gates, that I needed to return. At this point he smiled, and said that he'd see me again soon. I didn't think much of this and let it pass out of my mind.

This leads into my next story which happened several years later. I was about 4 or 5 years older and was at a swimming pool with my family, on a camping trip. There were a lot of people who were around, including a life guard and my family (of course). I was getting a little "ballsy" you could say, and went down to the edge of the 4-5 ft part of the pool. I didn't know at the time that it did a straight dip to 5 feet. Bouncing along and not aware of this dip, I lost my footing when I slipped into this dip. This is where the physical parts of this go hazy because I don't remember much of the mechanics that happened. I only know what my mother told me. I was bouncing off the floor of the pool, splashing and yelling for help, and as usual the life guard was more interested in the hot girls in bikini's that were present. My mom caught me out of the corner of her eye, and started straight for me after putting my youngest sibling on the upper part of the pool. By this point I had blacked out, and don't remember this, but I do remember everything going black and seeing the gates from my first experience again. Like before, the guy was standing there waiting for me. Anubis shook his head, and said to me "It's not your time, you need to stay away from this place for a while. I will come to you when you are capable of understanding what is happening to you. You need to return to your realm and find yourself. I will see you again and be watching over you." He poked me in the chest so hard that I felt liquid come out of my lungs, this is when, my mother who had grabbed me up, had thrown me against the wall of the pool forcing the water from my lungs. When she reached me I was floating on the water.

The reason I brought this up, is because everyone has their own experiences and their own beliefs as to what happens after death occurs. I did not see a white light, or a white tunnel with relatives. I just was... I have had a few other experiences, but none as vivid as the two I just mentioned. The point here, is that no matter what happens after death, we should live our lives in the moment. We can plan for tomorrow and hope it comes, but it's the moment we are in right now that is what effects what will happen later

A little bird experience I had

Yesterday (7/17/11), a little bird flew into the window and landed oddly in the bushes. I ran inside after I saw him fall and grabbed some oven mitts and scooped him up. I tried giving him water, and healing him but nothing worked. About 30 minutes later the little bird died. I buried him in the back yard near a hibiscus bush as I do with most animals that have died. I felt so moved while burying him I said a prayer to the Goddess, upon finishing I felt her with me, standing with me with not only a feeling of joy but of sadness as well. Death can be very sad, but it can be a very happy occasion as well, it's a matter of how we perceive the actions, in-actions and circumstances  that are presently happening during the time. It's finding your own trust and understanding in your mortality that will bring you inner peace during these times.

I give you this one thought to keep -
I am with you still - I do not sleep.
I am a thousand winds that blow,
I am the diamond glints on snow,
I am sunlight on ripened grain,
I am the gentle autumn rain.
When you awake in the morning's hush
I am the swift, uplifting rush
Of quiet birds in circled flight.
I am the soft stars that shine at night.
Do not think of me as gone -
I am with you still - in each new dawn.


adapted by person(s) unknown from the original poem Do not Stand at My Grave and Weep, generally attributed to Mary Frye, 1932

Tarot Cleansing and Quick Tips

A Short little tid bit on Tarot- Tarot has been a form of divination for hundreds of years. Originally based on the old Chinese game of cards, which many of you use today (your playing cards).  The Major Arcana or the "big player" or "spiritual" cards of the deck weren't actually a set number originally and depending on the decks today, there is still no set number. The other half of the Deck is called the Minor Arcana, which is based on the main 4 suits, numbers and the kings, queens, and 2 others which vary in names from the Paige to the princes and princesses. 

How to clean your cards- There are multiple ways of cleaning your cards. I'll list a few here.

Method #1 - The Salt Cleanse

To cleanse your cards with sea salt is a great way to not only remove old oils that are from your hands or other's hands, but salt is a natural absorber of energy. Salt draws in the excess energies and in turn, cleanses the energy from the cards.

To use this method, you can take a large, 1 gallon ziploc bag and fill it with about 1 lb worth of sea salt (course or fine, doesn't matter. I personally prefer course). Next, Stick your cards in the bag and move the salt around them so that it can absorb and strip the cards of the oils, you can do this for about 3-5 minutes or longer depending on how frequently you use your cards. Then let the cards sit in the salt over night. The next morning, take the cards out and feel the energy, if it's still too heavy in the cards, let them sit for another night or two. The longest your cards should sit in salt is no more than 6 days as the salt can be a bit corrosive to the cards if you let them sit too long.

Method #2 - The Flooding Method

This is a unique method that I picked up from a few other Tarot Readers. Essentially you are going to "Flood" the cards with your energy after doing a basic grounding and centering meditation.  By doing this you not only create a tighter bond with your cards, but with practice you can push out all the excess energy in the cards that is unwanted. I personally use this technique when I have multiple readings to do.

Do your grounding and centering. 

Then pick up the cards and begin to shuffle them. Visualize your energy from your Solar Plexus, moving up your body and down your arms into the cards, flooding them with Yellow light and pushing out all the excess and unwanted energies in the cards. When you feel they have been cleansed with your energy, you can either put them away, or use them.

Method #3 - Holy Water/ Blessed Water

I'm doing these 2 as 1 for the simple fact they are the same thing just from different faiths. Holy Water as well as Blessed Water, are charged water that removes and banishes negative and unwanted energies. This method is ONLY for laminated tarot decks. If your deck is not laminated, then DO NOT put water on your cards.

The How to- Lay your cards out, edge to edge so that they can all be clearly seen. I recommend doing this on a flat table top so you have plenty of room. Take your Holy/Blessed Water and lightly sprinkle a few drops on each card.  For those who are more Christian than Pagan, feel free to say a blessing or the lords prayer over your deck at this time. If you are More Pagan than Christian, you can say a small prayer to the Goddess and God to have them bless your deck as well.

These are only a few of the cleansing methods one can use. For those who use Angel Cards or Oracle Cards, these same methods are effective on them as well. Have Fun and Remember To ALWAYS Respect Your Cards. 

These are just some quick tips on using Tarot Cards.

1.) Light a candle- this helps give you and the cards a little extra energy while keeping the spirits around you at bay. You can use one of 3 colors for this, White, Black or Purple. Candles also help set the mood for a reading and help you relax, so don't feel uncomfortable about using candles.

2.) Never get up during a reading- by getting up during a reading you allow for outside influences to change the meaning of the card layout you are working with. You shouldn't get up during a reading anyways, as it's just rude to the individual you are doing the reading for. If you have to get up, I recommend a black cloth to lay across the cards to keep silly spirits from getting to them.

3.) Set up the Four Pillars of Light, a Protective circle or something similar- doing this reduces the chances of pulling in the person you are reading's "extra baggage" that many of them carry. This can be negative energy or even on occasion, negative spirits that have attached themselves to the person.  When doing this you are creating a positive little bubble around you and the other person to keep out other influences.

4.) ALWAYS Ground and Center- Grounding and Centering is not only a good practice to help you find peace and balance within yourself, but it helps get you in the mood for doing a reading, and it keeps excess energy from building up within you. Grounding and Centering should be done before a reading, and after to keep you in balance.

5.) Always Keep your deck wrapped and protected in a box, pouch, or in a cloth. This keeps unwanted energies out of your deck when you aren't using them, and it helps preserve your deck for years. Maintenancing your deck and protecting it is just one of many ways to show your respect to the deck. Black, Purple, and shades of Blue, are usually good ways to go for the boxes, pouches and clothes you can pick up. Color has a lot of symbolism, so make sure you go with a color that is suitable to you.

6.) Limit your decks presence around other decks. You don't want the energies to mix, and this can lead to inaccurate readings.

7.) MOST IMPORTANTLY!- TRUST YOUR CARDS AND YOUR FIRST IMPRESSIONS! - if you don't trust your cards or yourself, how can you trust to gain the right answers to the questions that are being asked of you? No one is 100% accurate at any time, so if you are wrong, deal with it and try to find the right answer. 

Crafty Moods

 It's been a bit since my last blog. This has been due to a lack of motivation, topic and several other random excuses you can think of. Lately though, I've been motivated to work on some crafts. Just the other day I made 6 poppets: 3 for protection and reversal of malicious energy and 3 for counter magic, binding and lessons that needed to be learned. Today I made pagan prayer beads, which turned out rather well actually. I'll put in some photo's for everyone to see towards the bottom of this blog.


The point of this blog post though is that, sometimes when the mood strikes you, you should act on the impulse. Now this isn't true of all times, but in the cases of creating crafts such as necklaces, prayer beads, poppets, paintings, etc... you should go for it. These are times where you are being inspired by the Great Lady. Go with the flow and embrace the feeling of inspiration. Move with the energy and find yourself entranced by it as it flows through your very being and let it guide your hands as you work the magic.  Sometimes it's just what you need to relieve pent up stress and give yourself a moment to relax and find pleasure and joy in the small things in life.

Pagan Prayer Beads

Protection poppet

Protection Poppet

Protection Poppet

Group Protection poppet production

Stepped Outside Tonight

I stepped outside this evening to just look at my herbs and felt a draw to look at the sky. I walked on the grass and felt the soft prickly texture rub against the bottom of my feet. I closed my eyes and felt the cool breeze and listened to the birds singing nearby. There was a few moments I felt the Goddess standing next to me and as I looked at the reservoir pond, and duck swimming along slowly, I knew things were good. As she stood next to me I felt her presence wash over me, and felt like everything was beautiful, as if I was looking at what she made and how she saw things. It was very beautiful, and there was a long quiet moment of peace within myself as well as without. It was so overwhelming I thought I was going to cry tears of joy, but couldn't seem to find them. 


I'm telling you this because sometimes, all it takes is to step out your door, and feel the cool earth on your feet to really find inner peace. I felt I needed to tell you this because there are some who look over this blog and are in a sense of turmoil within themselves. Finding inner peace, even if only for a moment, can be a true moment of enlightenment and joy.


Walk firmly friends knowing the Goddess IS with you, even if you don't always feel her presence.


Namaste and Blessings

Humor

As the title says, this blog post is about humor. We as witches can find it hard sometimes to laugh at some of the jokes that are told, mostly those that are derogatory in nature (which is understandable). Sometimes though we need to take a moment, and remember that we as any other are still only human, including those who may ridicule us for what we do. As is says in the Charge of the Goddess " Let My worship be in the heart that rejoices, for behold, all acts of love and pleasure are My rituals." 


Laughter can bring around much pleasure, and the next time people are ridiculing you, think about what they are saying, and think about what it may look like from their perspective.


For example: If someone says something about your cloak, or how silly is appears when you perform a spell or ritual. Step back and think about it. We the practitioners know it's a serious matter, and it shouldn't be taken lightly, but just think about how it looks to others. Standing around a lit candle and wiggling your wand at it and saying an incantation you wrote. It seems a little silly from the outside looking in, so when they start saying things about it, laugh. Remember "All acts of Love and Pleasure are My Rituals". 


Laughter heals, and it can hurt. Just remember to take a step back every so often and get yourself a good laugh. Sometimes it's better to laugh at yourself, and things around you than it is to get angry and cause harm to yourself or others. Be Safe out there, and remember to rejoice in the Name of the Goddess.






I'll be taking requests for topics as well, just leave a comment.

Harry Potter and Real Witchcraft: How should Witches Act?

Ok, I have multiple youtube video's on this subject but not a single blog post about it. After the "enlightening" moment on Yahoo! Answers yesterday to a question that was asked, I thought how appropriate for this blog.
I will be the first to say that I will stand up and defend my religion as well as any other, I will get angry and frustrated, and simply, I am still only human. This subject has aggravated me so bad that at times I  have had to step away from the computer and take a quick breather before I say something I would later regret.  Part of Walking the Path of the Goddess is to experience your emotions, whether good or bad, and embrace them at that time, then immediately let them go. Dwelling on things is not healthy at all, and it's better to take a few deep breaths and release the agitation and anger to the universe so that it can convert it to energy that will be more useful. Now, to get back to what I wanted to say.


"Harry Potter has been said to be created by a woman who is of hell itself." My usual response to this is that J.K Rowling has flat out admitted in several interviews that she is openly Christian and when she decided to do these books, that they were completely fictitious, meaning they were fake.


"Harry Potter converts kids to witchcraft." This is another one that I hear a lot of. It's variation is that it's what real witches teach to convert kids to follow witchcraft so they will go to hell and fuel the fires there. This is just silly. Here's why: 1.) Witches do not go out and convert people 2.) Witches respect that everyone has their own spiritual path they need to follow and if they find their spiritual enlightenment on a different path, then that is where they belong. 3.) Most covens don't let anyone in under the age of 18 (some will make the exception for people around the age of 16 to be outer court members, but parental consent HAS to be there). 4.) Majority of Witches DO NOT believe in a Hell (some traditions may but this is more of a personal belief than a regular belief). We believe in the Summerlands which would be the Christian equivalent to Heaven so to speak. The Summerlands are where the soul rests before being reincarnated, and everyone goes here not just the good souls (many of us joke about the nasty people in life having to do the dishes and go on log duty as the summerlands are said to be a time of relaxation, feasting and fun).


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Here's a question I responded to on Yahoo! Answers:

Has the world been infiltrated with books on witchcraft that make it seem harmless, and it is a sleeping giant?

Harry Potter books
“Billy & Howard”
“Duumvirate”
Books that are being used to destroy our kids by getting them to delve into the occult through these kinds of books and the reader has No Idea they are Satanic and demonic in their origin.
All targeting our kids to bring them to the devil in droves. Teens will embrace anything their parents are against because of the rebellious factor that their peer pressure that get them to conform to their ways, dangerous as they maybe being foolish and a "dare devil" as we all know we were in our teens got us into things we never should have been in.

Additional Details

To all naysayers go to this link please:
http://www.bible-knowledge.com/blog/inde…

This is my response: 

Honestly, As a witch, I seriously don't believe in the devil. I'm not a satan worshiper, and there is nothing "demonic" about what I do. It's people that say things like this that truly show the full level of brainwashing and propaganda spreading that has happened over the years about religions that believe in something other than Christianity. I was raised Christian, so I know full well the extent some churches go to, to accomplish this. We aren't dare devils, we don't want your kids, we don't drink blood, we aren't green and we don't go around trying to shove the Good Word of the Book of the Dead down your throats. It's not a "rebellious teen or peer pressure thing" either like you tried to mention. Witch's, bards, druids, heathens, all of us pagans push for free thinking, learning on your own, pushing you to do your own research and find your own path. Your misunderstanding of other faiths that you "don't like" is your own opinion. If it wasn't for the Catholic Church though, and other practices, Modern Day Witchcraft wouldn't have existed. Where do you think Prayer comes from? Where do you think exorcism comes from? Communion? Funeral Rites? Christening? etc.. etc.. etc.. 

These were all taken from pagan based paths in the old world when Christianity was first on the rise. You should learn the truth of your own religion before you blatantly Bash and disrespect another religion just because you don't think it's the "right" religion. I hate to be the one to say it, but there is no "right" religion for everyone, everyone is different, and no one religion has all the facts or is entirely right for everyone. Everyone has their own spiritual or lack of spiritual path they need to follow to learn more about themselves, who they are, and their own beliefs. We all have a spiritual enlightenment at one stage in our lives or another. If Christianity is right for you, then that's great, revel in it and find your inner peace, Do Not, however, Spew the verbal vomit of brainwashed propaganda onto all pagan faiths saying we all are devil worshipers. I for one do not worship an entity who's name is a Job Title. Quit Stereotyping all of us.


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This is a constant and never ending issue. If people aren't picking on Harry Potter, it's other movies or TV shows that don't properly represent witchcraft. Shows such as Charmed, Supernatural, Vampire Diaries, or Movies such as The Craft (though this one will be saved for later as it was funded by an authentic Pagan group), The Bell Book and Candle, etc...


So, to get to the point of this post: How should we really act when confronted with such bigoted ideas and closed minded individuals?


Speaking from personal experience and being kind of a hot head sometimes, my advice is to either politely agree to disagree, take a deep breath and excuse yourself, politely say you are not interested in the discussion, or just walk away.


I, personally, try to educate people as politely as possible. This can be very very difficult with some people as there are some who would rather quote bible scripture than give you an opportunity to actually state your beliefs and opinions on the subject matter. Anyone reading this has either stumbled across this blog by accident or was directed here from either Youtube (http://www.youtube.com/user/thedarkmoonmidnight ) or my facebook, or even possibly my Google account to which this blog is linked. Either way, I hope those of you who read this find yourself surrounded with the love of the Goddess and try to walk as closely to her as you can. I try my hardest to lead by example, but because even I am not perfect, I still make mistakes. Please Weigh your actions and inactions before you make a decision. Think before you speak, and take into consideration how you would feel if you were on the receiving end of what you are about to do.


Walk Firmly Knowing The Goddess Is With You Always,
Until Next Time
Rev. Lady SilverVixen








Feel free to check out my youtube channel 
My Website
and
My Coven (we are still just getting people together, I'm hoping to get things up and running soon)


Also, I know I haven't said this yet, but feel free to leave comments and opinions.

Silence

Usually I have tons to say, but lately, I have had nothing really to say. Sometimes it's better to be silent and enjoy it, than to open your mouth and verbally vomit all over everyone you talk to.

Today, I'm going to keep silent aside from these few words.

Walk in the path of the Goddess.